#insane things would be afoot | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

identityflawed · 3 months ago

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feels to me like the primary division between pro and anti jedi sentiments is narrative perception. pro jedi individuals tend to adhere to the ideas that are explicitly stated by lucas himself or very clearly put out and acknowledged within the fictional universe, whereas anti jedi individuals tend to lean more into analysis of the in-betweens. they both apply real-world morals and experiences to a fictional plane (and despite its various nonfiction influences, star wars IS fictional), and they do it in such excess that it makes the majority of more level-headed fans less eager to interact in such a heated fandom.

are the jedi bad? no. the majority of them were good people doing good things, even while the sith corrupted the galaxy around them. did the jedi deserve order 66? no. anyone who says that is insane. are the jedi completely blameless in the events of the clone wars? no. they became complacent in the idea that the sith were warriors and were incapable of changing their ways in order to win, despite victory being a key part of their code. the jedi are not paragons of perfection — they are human, and humans can be ignorant. did the jedi cause anakin to fall? yes, in part. while palpatine was the primary driving force towards anakin’s destruction, the jedi’s ignorance towards both anakin’s trauma AND his burgeoning relationship with palpatine did contribute to the rise of darth vader. (i know they let palpatine and anakin interact because they were concerned that denying palpatine would cause problems in the future, though this is sourced from legends. i take that and raise you one: what kind of grandmaster uses a 10 year old as a political game piece? and even in lucas’ canon, you can’t ignore that yoda, who is said by palpatine to be about equal in his strength, failed to sense that there were sinister things afoot, and failed to discern that having anakin spy on his pseudo father figure — and yes, his manipulator — would only cause problems)

as a fan of palpatine i can say wholeheartedly that the majority of the events leading to anakin’s fall are his doing, and that palpatine is not much of a tragic character at all. if you want someone to talk about where the dark side is your CHOICE, look no further than palpatine. thats called being self aware. any pro or anti jedi who believes you can’t blame someone for something they cant control — such as anakin's past or palpatine deceiving the jedi — becomes inherently hypocritical because CONTROL is a key theme in star wars. control of your emotions, control of yourself, control of others, on political, emotional, psychological scales. anakin’s lack of control in his life was not aided by the jedi, and when he finally got the chance to choose for himself, he fucked up. bad. and it WAS his choice, at the end of the day, though the odds were stacked against him, at least in his mind. (which is another issue — anakin is a traumatized individual. trauma victims are going to act differently than what adheres to common sense and logic. an ex-slave with attachment issues and a savior complex is going to freak out if he thinks the woman he loves is going to die if he can’t save her)

people tend to forget that lucas actually SOLD his rights to the franchise away, and nowhere in the contract did disney promise to adhere to the nuances (and there are very few nuances with lucas, unfortunately) of lucasfilm's initial six movies. george lucas was not even a good writer by most standards. he inserted a lot of racist stereotypes into his films, and drew from history in both thoughtful and moronic ways. he was a product of his time, sure, and he created an incredible idea that has gone strong for 40 years, with a solid idea woven within it of compassion and hope. but it isn’t his story anymore, and he cared more about the money than the message, at the end of the day. i have a hard time agreeing with anyone — on any topic, within star wars or otherwise — if they only listen to one person as their end-all.

yes, lucas created star wars. but its not a perfect creation — it is flawed. the jedi are flawed; anakin is flawed. the progression of star wars will continue to take new views on the events of the initial six films, and guess what? that happens with EVERYTHING in the world. perspectives differ by the hour, everyone has different experiences and ideas. if you want to watch something where the morals and central ideas never change, where everything is black and white, go watch the USA's two-party debates. or maybe coco melon.

star wars is complex and nuanced at its core, nowadays, but you are none the lesser if you have differing opinions. you can believe what you want to believe, when you want to believe it. that’s freedom. you are not required to accept everything that disney puts out as canon or even remotely accurate, but the MOMENT you start to put down people (and im talking full on insulting, targeting writers, specific blog posts, bullying, etc) for thinking differently than you is the moment you have gone too far. after all, what did the sith do, and why did they do it?

#rant #idflawed thinking #star wars #jedi discourse #pro jedi #anti jedi #anakin skywalker

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rose-tea-and-strawberries · 1 year ago

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So, Across the Spiderverse has had me in a chokehold since I watched it. Could you imagine a Yuu in the House Mouse au who is not exactly powerless, but her abilities are not magic-based? Welcome to the crossover that nobody asked for, and I'm gonna pretend that secret identities don't exist for a moment and that disrupting canon events from astv don't exist.

Spider!Yuu's spidey senses can tell when danger is afoot. Whenever she's on the clock, there's fewer accidents and just swings by before Goofy trips and tosses all the dishes. She can tell when either Pete or Mortimer are here.The staff can rely on her for cleaning the high ass ceilings because she can climb up walls with no problem. And her webs make the best Halloween decor.

Von Drake and Jumba being so fascinated with Yuu's anatomy and intelligence. Whether has organic webbing or made web shooters of her own, they want so badly to experiment on them (definitely not gonna try to get bit by a radioactive spider too, nope).

Jamil being torn from freaked out to having a crush on a girl with spider powers. Jafar trying to convince him that she's not an actual spider so that his ship could sail

Yuu making a web hammock to calm down the little kids in the club. Next minute she's having a strength competition with Hercules and Gaston because she can lift up to ten tons.

The clubgoers seeing her memories and freaking over the fact that Yuu has been up against so many dangerous foes and life or death situations such as the iconic train scene. It scares them even more than the overblots do.

The Parr family from the Incredible (if they're here in the au), feel so bad because she's doing vigilante work all on her own. Edna mode upgrades Yuu's spider suit to a new level with glee.

Yuu: No capes please. It's disrespectful to my image.

Edna: *sniffle* Would you like to be my daughter?

Okay okay okay first of all I'm going to vent a bit about ATSV because Pavitr my boy, my sunshine, my everything is literally so important to me like hell yeah give me the south asian/brown kid representation (now if only there was an young asian girl with a bob so I can feel better about that Dora the Explorer look my mum forced me to have throught 90% of primary school whilst all of my friends got to grow their own hair out)

Also not going to lie the only reason I'm into ATSV is because I've been a Mayday Parker stan since 2017 - like she is everything (and her backstory is just so sad like PeterMJ didn't deserve that). My favourite spider-people after Peter are his multiversal daughters because girldad Peter is everything (I actually own physical copies of the Renew Your Vows comics that are about Peter and MJ's daughter, Annie-May Parker, and they are so frickin good) but I digress...

Yes but Spider-Girl!Yuu is so cool. Thank you for giving me this idea.

I don't know if I want Yuu to have her own Guy in the Chair back in her universe and for Idia to feel jealous/threatened or for her to have no guy in the chair until she comes to twst and Ortho is like 'my time has come'

Ohh imagine the insane parkour skills she, Ruggie and Aladdin would have.

I know that being insanely smart in science is a Peter Parker thing and doesn't really apply to all Spider-People but I think she would be a science whizz (and joining the science club - making Crewel's already glaringly obvious favouritism skyrocket) and hanging out with all of the scientist characters like Prof Von Drake, Jumba, Yzma etc.

Her and Herc would be training buds. He'd see her and her heroics and superhuman friend and be like 'new best friend :D'. Phil loves the heroic potential she has and wants to train her but Pegasus and Megara are like nope and swoop him away.

Oh but imagine the beastfolk finding out about her enhanced senses and how sometimes they cause sensory overload and helping her out because they grew up like that so they know how to manage it better (I once read a fic that said that Savanaclaw showers have soaps with subtler scents to accommodate their enhanced sense of smell and like yes) whilst she's still getting used to it and has to keep it a secret back in her world.

I'm thinking back to all of the MCU!Peter Parker fics I read and all of the spider DNA tropes that tickled my fancy and I can just imagine the twst/HoM cast reacting to things like her having no thermoregulation (and going into hibernation), her purring, her being allergic/having a poison like reaction to peppermint, her having fangs (her being venomous would be cool as well - like imagine Kaa being all fanboying over her fangs and venom glands) etc..

Okay so I remember having a bunch of ideas about this but I can't recall all of them so here... 😅

#asks #twisted wonderland #twst #twst yuu #fem yuu #house of mouse au

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herejusttosufferalong · 3 months ago

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My delulu coming in hot with a theory. The chaos of today got me thinking about this past week's happenings. A lot has gone on, but I've been thinking a lot about why J's sister unfollowed L's private account. We know he didn't unfollow her because his following count didn't go down. She stuck it out following him through his break up with J, his HBS and then his relationship with A. What could possibly be the breaking point for her now? The only thing that makes sense would be N. There would clearly be bad blood/feelings about N and L getting together because of the history with J. So, what has L either done on his page to run her off (we know it's not a grid post) or what has she heard from mutuals that would make her unfollow?

There have been an awful lot of coincidences this past week...L comes out of social media retirement to share a Bton blooper reel, A posts at SF w/ her group of friends proving one of them has a membership therefore they don't need L to be there, N has started posting regularly again, A has broken her pattern of posting for attention immediately after N (so far). This all speaks to something changing...and that's without acknowledging some of the real insane delulu things people have been theorizing the last couple of days.

Something is afoot and I am dying to know what it is.

oooh i like this kind of delulu

more please....

#i will die in my delulu #this is all opinion #merely speculating #theories

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monstersdownthepath · 6 months ago

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Monster Spotlight: Howler

CR 3

Chaotic Evil Large Outsider

Bestiary 2, pg. 159

These cruel, sadistic porcupine-cats are one of many non-demon natives to the Abyss, stalking its numerous environs for prey worthy of their attention. Like most Outsiders, they don't need to eat; they hunt and kill purely for the fun of it, stalking sapient victims in groups as large as 4 at a time to maximize the target's fear and pain as they're torn into from every angle. The fact they don't need to eat and instead just kill whatever they happen to come across is reflected well in their statblock; they don't have Scent or any ranks in Survival, which would allow them to track potential victims, but instead they have monstrous Acrobatics (+10 normally, +22 when jumping), Climb (+12), and Perception (+13) to--respectively--get the literal drop on creatures they spot from afar.

Howlers don't have a climb speed, but they DO have a 60ft base land speed, making them faster than almost anything they could be chasing and allowing them to move as fast as most creatures sprint whenever they're using half their movespeed climbing around or using stealth... Not that they really want to be stealthy. Yes, they have a token +6 to Stealth, but one look at their name should hint to you about what they really want to do: Howl. Constantly.

And by god, do they howl. Their Howl is three things, the first and foremost being an intimidation tactic; the supernatural sound carries for 120ft in every direction around the Howler, allowing them to use their Stealth in a completely different way than most creatures because, much like the piercing sirens of an ambulance or fire truck, it's impossible to tell which direction the noise is coming from until the source is practically on top of you. The second portion of the Howl is that it serves as the language for these creatures; they can understand Abyssal, but their own max-decibel language can only be parsed by others of their kind (and very dedicated demonic handlers). The Howl not only disorients and distresses prey, but alerts other nearby Howlers that a hunt is afoot, and conveys just what is being hunted.

As for the third portion of the howling... While they'll kill anything they come across, Howlers especially prize non-Outsiders and mortal creatures, as such creatures are vulnerable to having the Howl reverberate throughout their minds until they go completely insane. Any creature that's within that 120ft shriek radius has to make a DC 12 Will save every single round or become cursed to hear the howling for hours to come, taking 1 point of Wisdom damage every hour from there on out unless they succeed another DC 12 Will save to end the curse. There is no 24 hour immunity clause; you have to make the saves against the cursed howl every single round until you either kill the creature, silence it, or get hit with the curse.

The curse only matters, though, if you escape in the first place, something that they're not exactly willing to allow. They thankfully lack the ability to Pounce or anything similar, and despite the visible presence of some nasty claws, Howlers don't have any claw attacks! They're also kept in check by a 5ft reach despite being Large, likely because all they have is a bite attack (1d8+4) and slamming various parts of their bodies into nearby creatures to jab them with the quills that cover their forms (1d4+2).

Similarly, any creature making contact with a Howler, be it through a non-reach melee weapon, an grapple check, or a natural attack, contends with its Quill Defense and takes an automatic 1d4+1 damage that offers no chance to avoid it. Any creature damaged by the quills through any means must make a DC 14 Reflex save or have one of the needles break off and wriggle deeper into their flesh, causing an irresistible agony to surge through their body, which sickens them... meaning they have a harder time fighting back, resisting the Howl, AND stopping further quills from jabbing into their flesh and breaking off. A DC 15 Heal check as a full-round removes the quill, but only one at a time (+1 quill for every 5 points you roll over the DC), and you may have seven or eight of the things sticking out of you by the time you've dispatched the Howler and its pack!

... y'know, if you survive. They don't have the highest damage, and they don't have any resistances or immunities, but they have a very reliable source of the sickened condition (which lowers the victim's damage rolls!) and constantly damage any creature hitting them in melee. It adds up, especially if you're at a point where the DM is sending a full back and then some after you and you're making iterative attacks, sticking yourself over and over on its spines and likely shouting increasingly creative expletives as you do. Don't worry, no one else can hear your rage over the constant howling!

You can read more about them here.

#monster spotlight #cr 1 to 5 #pathfinder #dungeons and dragons

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kourabiedes · 7 months ago

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Carmine and Kieran Roleswap AU: Teal Mask Edition

Sweet Arceus do I have a long AU for ya, because I am Very Normal about the Kitakami siblings and definitely don't go out of my way to find new ways to mess with their heads. Long AU summary under the cut! Beware all ye who enter here, for there are Ogres afoot.

There is now an Indigo Disk continuation to this!

So the most important thing to understand before we start is that Carmine and Kieran still retain aspects of their normal personalities. A 1:1 swap would be kinda boring (specifically, boring for me). However, their life experiences have changed here and that does give us some new juicy tidbits to explore.

Sketches provided by @funakounasoul... except for the Ogerpon sketch. I made that.

Kieran is the older sibling in this scenario. He's still shorter than his sister, but he's now older than the player character and probably has some devilish good looks. He's generally goodnatured, and being the older sibling and having to look out for a younger sister has balanced his personality a little bit. He's more mentally stable and mature than his standard self. He still has a pretty huge fondness for the ogre in the old legend, admiring its independence and strength. The major change to his personality here is that he's not as insanely shy, since he hasn't had a big scary savage sister to hide behind all his life.

Younger sister Carmine is shy of strangers and still wary of outsiders. Her posture visually in the Teal Mask is probably kind of stooped, like she's trying to hide how crazy tall she is. She has a bratty, slightly spoiled attitude in this scenario, because big brother Kieran is always hovering nearby to keep her out of trouble. She appears to be the player character's age or maybe a touch younger. Despite the initial shyness though, she's all aggression when she feels she or her family or really any of Kitakami as she sees it is threatened. She still dismisses Kieran's ogre obsession, but chalks it up to boys liking scary things. (You know, cuz girls never go for that kinda thing </massive sarcasm>)

The PC would meet them both for the first time in Mossui and Kieran is welcoming while Carmine glowers at you from somewhere behind him. Kieran's all about helping your classmate get safely to the community center and probably runs off to help, or perhaps to get the caretaker. Maybe you battle Carmine then because she's definitely not enjoying having these tourists in her fucking town. Whatever the scenario, Kieran and the caretaker get the rest of the Random Paldean Students safely to the community center and you get settled in.

Now, for a while, things don't change much in this scenario, except for Kieran not being super emotionally unstable. The next day, you're being introduced to the Blueberry kids properly and Kieran immediately suggests you and he pair up. Carmine isn't thrilled but as he points out, it's not like they can pair up together based on Briar's directions to make interschool pairs. She sulks off to find a Paldean student to deal with. Your character and Kieran have a friendly battle and he admires your skills. You go find the first two signboards and follow him up to the Dreaded Den more or less the same way as in Teal Mask. Then he invites you to the Festival of Masks and you go back to the family home. Carmine is not overly pleased to see you still hanging around, but she's unbending a little bit since you and Kieran obviously get on so well. They only find the two masks in the shed, Kieran tries to offer you his ogre mask, Carmine stops him, you get to the festival and do some balloon popping and maybe even beat Carmine's score.

It's Ogerpon's appearance that changes the story dramatically. At first, you are the only one that sees her, but then Kieran comes looking for you after pacifying Carmine. Ogerpon spooks, drops her mask, and you both have a moment of shock as you realize this is not a child, this is the damn ogre. Then Ogerpon bolts, leaving you with the Teal Mask. Kieran is stunned -- the ogre was so smol! And seemed so nonaggressive! And holy shit this mask is beautiful, except there's a chip in the big crystal! He's excited as hell to have one of his childhood dreams materialize before him. He wants to go after Ogerpon, but Carmine turns up at that moment. She has deeply internalized the ancient Kitakami legend of the Loyal Three, and when Kieran excitedly tells her you just saw the ogre, she insists it can't have been, because you and he are both not fucking dead. She and Kieran argue for a minute, long enough that once it's over, Kieran has to reluctantly admit you'll never catch up to the ogre in the dark. He tells you to hold onto the mask and you two can go ask his grandpa about it in the morning. You do, and it's Kieran who is with you when you hear the story of Ogerpon. Carmine appears at one point and is shooed off by Kieran, but overhears the majority of the story herself. Unlike Kieran, she can't believe it -- the heroic Loyal Three, actually villains?? Impossible! She realizes that if Kieran believes this story, he's likely to go chasing the ogre again, and probably get himself killed, a prospect that chills her to the bone. She ambushes you both as you leave the family home and demands that Kieran (and just Kieran, she doesn't care what YOU do) not go chasing monsters, making no effort to pretend she didn't overhear the whole damn thing. Kieran tries to correct her, but she insists you both go have a look at the final signboard, the one that reminds everyone that the ogre murders anyone it comes across without a mask on. You go, but discuss with Kieran how the story doesn't make any sense compared to the ogre you both saw and the story Kieran's grandpa told you. You go back mutually determined to get Ogerpon's mask back to her after gramps fixes it.

You go off to the community center and Kieran goes home. Something he says at home will alert Carmine to your resolve, and that kicks off the next event. Carmine demands you meet her at Loyalty Plaza, where she makes an impassioned plea to her brother not to be fooled into getting himself murderated. He tries to explain that she's still got the wrong impression and she blows up on him, refusing to listen to reason (he almost certainly points out that Gramps has no reason to lie to his own grandkids, for example). Truth is, she's afraid, afraid for his life, and that's making her act irrationally.

And then a thought occurs to her, a thought that marks a huge turning point in this scenario. It's you. You are making her brother act this way. You are the reason he's doing these insane things. She accuses you directly of manipulating her family. Kieran protests, but she's convinced.

Now, in canon, I am convinced that the venom in Kieran's thoughts is what somehow channeled Pecharunt's energy (or some variant thereof) into the Lousy Three's grave and brought them back to life. In this scenario, imagine the same, only it's the poison of fear which is rapidly spreading through Carmine. Her fear is being expressed as anger, but it's still fear, and it's consuming her rapidly. Before either sibling can argue further, the grave splits open, and the Three emerge. No one knows quite what is happening, so no one can really react effectively as they take off to Kitakami Hall. It's only as they're already receding into the distance that Carmine realizes they must be the Three.

You and the siblings rush to the Hall to hear the news of the Three's arrival and retrieving of the other masks before going up the mountain. Kieran starts to rush after them, but suddenly Carmine blocks the way. She is going to save him from himself if it's the last thing she does. You battle her and defeat her, and the idea that you are the cause of all this etches itself that much deeper. She has no choice but to step aside, but you can feel her furious eyes on your back as you run to save Ogerpon.

Poor little ogre is getting the shit kicked out of her and you save her, driving off the Three. She is nervous around Kieran because he smells like a local and therefore Dangerous, but while a little hurt, he is not crushed by this. You take her back to the town (she refuses to enter of course) and consult with Kieran's grandpa. He promises to fix the Teal Mask for Ogerpon if you and Kieran go get a crystal from the Crystal Pool to replace the chipped one, and suggests you and Kieran go pound the shit out of the Three to get Ogerpon's other masks back. Carmine is sulking at home and overhears the conversation. You and Kieran go to the Pool with Ogerpon shadowing you, but Carmine blocks your way at the top, angry at Kieran too now for bringing an outsider to this sacred place. The standoff is broken by Briar also appearing at the summit, distracting Carmine. Kieran slips past her and you stop her from following with a battle. Ogerpon stays near you, and her presence only serves to enrage Carmine more. Kieran retrieves a crystal cluster during the battle and you both bolt back down the mountain to give it to Gramps, leaving Carmine fuming. He begins to work on the mask and you turn your attention to finding the Three.

You find the Three with Kieran's help and return the shit kicking they gave Ogerpon threefold, retrieving her masks. Ogerpon becomes more comfortable around Kieran as you go. You return to the town only to discover Carmine stole the Teal Mask after Gramps fixed it and left Kieran a message telling him to come to the Dreaded Den. Gramps notes that she spoke with him about the story of Ogerpon before she left and seems to be disturbed by how the ogre has acted since the whole mess began -- Kieran guesses her good sense is starting to win out over her fear. You go back to the Den with Kieran and Ogerpon and find Carmine there. Kieran confronts her, finally convincing her that the story of the Loyal Three was indeed wrong, and she's been wrong about Ogerpon the whole time (probably aided by Ogerpon with her sweet lil face staring like a sad puppy at her).

Carmine finally accepts the truth of the matter, and apologizes to him and Ogerpon.

But there's one thing she hasn't let go of. She hasn't forgiven you. And Kieran doesn't realize that she's still hung up on that part because, while he's a lot more emotionally stable in this scenario, he's still pretty oblivious to subtle emotional cues from other people. When Carmine walks away from the Den, it's with a venom-filled look in your direction. Insert Heart's If Looks Could Kill here.

Inevitably, Ogerpon wants you as her human, because you're the damn hero. This version of Kieran is disappointed, but not shattered by this. He's spent a lot of time over the last couple days with you and the little cutie, and he's had time to get used to the idea. It's Ogerpon's decision where she wants to go, and he lets go of the long cherished dream with regret, but nothing worse. He does ask to have a battle with you and her in the morning, after which Briar calls to tell you to get your asses to the community center to finish the actual school trip thingy you'd probably forgotten all about. Kieran also tells you that Carmine has holed up in her room and won't talk to anyone.

You know more or less how this ends, with Briar yoinking the Kitakami sibs back to Unova to prepare for some globetrotting and the antagonistic sibling swearing to get stronger so they can kick your ass. In this case it's Carmine, and boy does she hate you right now. In the end, Kieran came to no harm, and Ogerpon was not a monster, but it doesn't really matter, because rationality went out the window for her where you're concerned a while ago. She's going to get stronger, and she's going to hand you your ass for humiliating her so often, and she's got a great idea for making that happen...

#pokemon #scarlet violet #gen 9 #teal mask dlc #musings #alternate universe #carmine #kieran #ogerpon #fan art #sketch #pokemon carmine #pokemon kieran #okay now for the funny blooper reel tags #I am so tempted to dub this Kieran “Stoner Kieran”#He really has that vibe #Carmine has graduated to Full Unhinged status #The moral of this story is don't be a younger sibling if you can help it #Also starring Juliana's back

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rorykillmore · 7 months ago

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if you have been as intrigued as i am by oz perkins' LONGLEGS (2024), here is a very preliminary shot by shot breakdown of its teaser trailer! will we discover anything profound? probably not, but there are some spoilers and speculation/potential spoilers under the cut, so if you want to go in completely blind, be mindful

maika monroe herself in our opening shot, standing in front of her crime board. which seems to mostly feature a cipher (one of what appears to be several that this movie and its marketing are using).

are we to assume that something Bad is happening in this car? probably.

next shot is cut as though this little girl is reacting to whatever is happening outside. i was squinting at whatever is on her desk because i have a feeling it may be important (for reasons mentioned later) but it is difficult to tell.

someone (maika monroe?) is doing research on what appears to be demonology or something related to it. titles of the books are 'a guide to the nine circles of hell' and 'the dark lord's hand' (both books were presumably created for the movie as they don't come up in any searches). beneath the books are notebooks in which she seems to be attempting to decode that cipher (maybe the killer is leaving our protagonist coded hints)

this opening of the book is intercut with a shot i did not include (to save space/because i had little to say about it individually) of the investigators opening a door to a dark room (murder scene?), which is a cool thematic thing. it also precedes...

also this shot is more heavily featured in this teaser with a cipher that when translated reads "hail satan" (check out the decoding work this person has done). well! if we had any doubt that these killings have some kind of religious motivation.

this is the 'guide to the nine circles of hell' book, but i can't make out the text with any clarity. to the right, perhaps another decoding effort is happening -- but i actually think this is maika trying to figure something out about the victims here. the order in which they're going to die, maybe? their locations/how they are chosen? there's a list of people's names beside a field of numbers, and she's drawing a line through some of the numbers.

starting to notice something odd with the aspect ratio - pay attention to how it swaps between standard widescreen and this more voyeuristic type of shot (you also saw this earlier, in the winter shots of the car and the girl), and we'll see if there seems to be any logic to that.

our first look at nic cage! is it scenes involving him/related to him specifically which are shot differently? maybe to induce said voyeuristic quality surrounding him and his kills? regardless: he's busy in his little workshop here. there's a nic cage interview floating around that seems to indicate that his character kills via creating cursed dolls or puppets which drive families insane in a sinister-esque fashion, which would check out here

something wicked is afoot in this hardware store (?) (i can't actually tell what is being sold here)

in presumably the same store, we see an unknown figure offer this girl some kind of small figurine (???). possibly nic cage planting one of his dolls (this is also why i was paying attention to the other girl's desk in the earlier shots, to see if she had anything similar). does he work here? (worth noting however that this is shot in the regular widescreen aspect ratio)

maika is finished with her triangle recreation.... but perhaps she is not alone

few interesting things to note here. 1) woman is getting hit in the back with an axe (in her own home, seemingly not expecting it, lending credence to the killer's MO). her murderer (husband? unsure) appears to be covered in blood. 2) she bears a resemblance to this woman, from a promotional poster and the setting looks as though it's the same one from this teaser. (cipher reads: "stood upon the sand of the sea", referring to a quote from the book of revelation describing a HYDRA, hmm)

3) a change of aspect ratio again, which immediately intercuts with....

maika flinching backwards as though bearing witness to this. could be just some misleading trailer editing, but the implication here is that she is 'seeing' these murders take place somehow. actually, maybe THAT explains the change of aspect ratio? it happens when we're seeing her "visions"?

gonna cover these quicker shots a few at a time: a shadow stumbling/dragging itself through a house as though wounded (not sure if it's the axe-in-the-back woman, because the house looks a little more modern, plus - different aspect ratio), an eerie figure in the woods (feels strangely out of place), another shot of nic cage in his workshop(?) (again with the aspect ratio switch - so if we follow the theory that these are maika monroe's visions, she definitely has some kind of direct connection TO him and not just a voyeuristic connection to his victims).

a person (i initially thought a woman, but that could actually very well be nic cage with his long, scraggly hair) slamming their head into a desk. the shot has interrogation room vibes (to me) but is too bare bones to make out for sure. maika is either... watching/interviewing (that's a camera beside her?) or this is another intercut reaction shot implying their connection.

(i didn't capture it but these shots are also intercut with images of red, gurgling blood, which seems a bit more deliberate than just an edgy choice - if there is a ritualistic element to these murders, perhaps it has something to do with blood)

i think this is nic cage again, but why is he upside down? interesting. unless i AM wrong, they actually show him a lot more in this trailer than initially assumed.

we're in maika-vision (calling it that until further notice) here again, this time to look at some kind of demonic entity (the same one we saw in that earlier shot of the woods?). this calls into question the objectivity of this voyeurism-whatever-it-is, although... obviously this film does have very clear supernatural elements, so hell, maybe nic cage IS being instructed by a demon.

another very clear intercut between maika and nic cage. is that nic cage?! it REALLY does not look like him from this profile angle, but it is possible that they've done some prosthetic work on his face (which they have been very careful not to show in full quite yet - nor do i think they should, since he is such a well known guy. you don't want your audience getting comfortable with him in this role before they actually see him.)

but i digress: another moment where the editing is implying an important connection or parallel (maika seems to be losing it a little - which i would too if i could no longer separate my identity from a killer's and/or their victims)

going forward i would pay attention to how promotional material for this movie is edited In General because they are using it as a very deliberate communicative tool at least in this teaser!

another couple of notable shots. in the first one, a woman (a nun? she seems to be wearing a habit, similar to another woman we will see later) fires a rifle into what seems to be an already blood-splattered car. then (which i didn't include) we see Maika With A Gun (hi maika), and what appears to be a car chase.

in maika-vision again, a man who has seemingly just got done slaughtering all of his cows. probably safe to call an animal harm content warning for this one, pals

ah! that WAS nic cage in the car paralleled to maika -- look at how he's dressed here. yet again they are deliberately hiding his face (also note the background - it would seem that yes, he is working at some kind of paint/hardware store).

two more maika vision shots. the first is the woman we see featured in this poster. the second is a small child who is closing a door to avoid watching whatever they're looking at. neither is having a good day!

there is a targeted amount of religious violence here, which makes sense if our killer is demonically motivated

and last but not least, nic cage murdering a guy (gender neutral) (interesting though because i hadn't assumed him to be the hands-on type given his rather indirect MO).

anyway: that's the longlegs trailer! the most telling takeaway here, in my opinion, is: how much it does actually focus on this sort of duality between maika monroe and nicolas cage and some apparent connection between them. my instinct is that that's going to be the meat of the story (although there is clearly a deeper mythology to explore too -- the cipher, the demon, the nature of the kilings).

one more thing to note: this movie seems to take place over the span of several decades. the teaser posters/captions released by neon are dated by year and reflect as much, and if you're looking for it you can see the aesthetics shift around a bit in the trailer as well.

send me your theories/observations! eager to see if anyone puts some pieces together that i might have missed.

#longlegs #longlegs movie #horror

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3lji · 2 years ago

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the moment Mo realised that He Tian bought the motorcycle to impress him/because He Tian was jealous from @19eyebrows

- i think tian would be kind of sus about it lmao. like going out in the evening and sneaking off at lunch. mo doesn’t think anything awry is afoot he’s just scared of what elaborate thing tian is up to now lmao.

- he tian already is a fan of leather jackets so a few new ones turning up in their shared closet aren’t that strange. mo will just scold him for wasting money when you already have ten of these jackets.

- i think maybe in the time tian was ‘away’ was when he learnt to ride a motorcycle. i imagine that it was all tian could do to conjure up the image of mo when they were separated. so this time was spent putting i. place the foundations of his life with mo, should he wait for him. he learns to drive, to ride a motorcycle, to speak a few different languages, he gets his qualifications and experience he needs so he can provide for them.

- also he totally does it because he doesn’t want 1. mo riding anyone else’s motorbike 2. he would worry too much to let mo ride it by himself most of the time lmao #overprotectiveidiot. 3. insane jealousy from Brother Qui is still very much on his mind. he must wipe away any suggestion of another man in mo’s life 😂

- when the day the motorbike arriving finally comes, tian keeps looking out of the window and getting on mo’s nerves looking at his phone constantly, until a huge truck turns up. tian smirks and leads them both out of the building.

- mo is totally expecting it to be some ludicrous bed (tian and him may or may not have… damaged their current one) but no. it’s a bike, it’s a bike that teenage him would have drooled over.

- ‘you are ridiculous’

- ‘i know’

- after tian reveals he also has appropriate clothing for mo, and has done a whole lot of persuading (baby, i swear i know how to- i’ve been practicing too at He Cheng’s place-) mo will gingerly climb on behind he tian.

- ‘trust me?’

- mo might not answer, he’s blushing a bit - he tian looks huge (more than usual) in his jacket, and he can feel how warm he is, pressed so close. he hooks his chin over tian’s shoulder and presses a kiss to his jaw, his arms tighten around tian’s middle.

- he can almost feel tian’s smirk but he doesn’t have long to contemplate it as his stomach flips with the speed tian takes off.

#i love them lmao sorry idk if this is what you imagined!!#19 days #tianshan #mo guan shan #he tian #headcanons

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megamindsecretlair · 1 year ago

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Be My Little Darling - Chapter 7

Chapter 6 Chapter 8

Pairing: Loki x Black!Fem!reader / Plus Size reader

Warnings: 18+. Minors DNI. You are in charge of your own reading experience. Angst. Torture, toxic Loki, use of magic, and mentions of survivor's guilt.

Summary: Loki is the exclusive owner of the hottest club in New Asgard. Dubbed the Nine Realms, each of the nine rooms represent a different realm. You are his second in command, working the floors and ensuring everyone is having fun. When a shipment goes missing, Loki has to question the kitchen staff and get to the bottom of who's hurting the club.

Word Count: 2,607k

Masterlist

A/N: There's just something about toxic fictional characters that tears me to bits LOL. Likes are always awesome. Please consider commenting and reblogging to help support writers!

Taglist: @cantstayawaycani @braverthanthenewworld @monaeesstuff @headcannonxgalore @chaos-4baby @dayjlovesromance @soft-persephone @mybonafidefeelings

Loki could still taste Darling in his mouth and it was driving him insane. He could hardly concentrate as he walked past all of his kitchen staff. He did have the patience of a god but he wondered just what Darling was holding on to.

If it were a matter of logic, he could present you with the facts of your attraction. As soon as you came to work for him, you drew an aura around you that captivated him. Not many people or things did. You had an easy working relationship and it was offset by your chemistry. He had backups for his arguments for why you would make a formidable pair.

If it were a matter of emotion, he had all manners of ways to appeal to your baser instincts. You always came undone when he touched you. It seemed like you were nearly close every time. He’d take you to the precipice and something called you back. Away from him.

He wasn’t too proud to admit that he was jealous of it. Of that secret part of you that you held so near and dear in your heart. He wanted the inside of your heart. He wanted your everything.

The kitchen staff before him trembled and watched him with a wary eye. You hovered in the background. Pride swelled in his chest whenever he’d see you flinch and hiss from him smacking your ass. His hand twitched with the urge to do it again. But alas, more pressing matters were afoot.

“We have a saboteur,” Loki announced. No one twitched. It either wasn’t one of them or they were damn good at lying. He doubted they were that good at lying. Loki stalked back and forth like a caged tiger.

He was sick of the puzzles and games. The mishaps around his club. An attack on his club was an attack on him. He could handle it, but he didn’t want his people harmed or his money interrupted. Whoever the person was…Loki clenched his fists. Perhaps Darling wasn’t the only one wound tight.

“The past few weeks, there have been accidents and screw ups. Kitchen fires, missing shipments. The other day, our own Angel was hurt on stage in front of witnesses. Our saboteur must be an embittered employee. Perhaps former. I should like to think I’m a fair boss,” he said.

The staff gave each other a look before bobbing their heads up and down. Some were tall, some were short. Some wore white chefs uniforms with aprons and stained kitchen towels thrown over their shoulders. Some had their sleeves rolled up, arms crossed in front of them. A few were shaking. Not from fear of guilt, it didn’t look like.

“I’ve vetted them myself, Loki. They wouldn’t mess with the club. It’s like home to us,” you said.

“Stay out of this,” Loki demanded. He didn’t need you clouding his judgment in the moment. He needed his wits about him.

“You. Where were you earlier?” Loki pointed to a man on the end, with short graying hair. The man startled before clearing his throat. “Prep, sir,” he said.

“And did you see Darling this morning? Sign for the delivery?” Loki asked.

“No, sir,” he said.

“Who did?” Loki asked. Hands tentatively wavered to the air. Loki questioned them all. They all saw you pop in and say hello. You went to the bay to sign for the shipment, you spoke with Justin, and then left. Justin delayed going outside but when he did, the shipment was gone. Poof. Vanished.

Loki sighed as he looked at the sorry lot. His patience was precariously thin. He singled Justin out and made him stand forward, away from the others. “Tell me what happened.”

Justin wrung his hands, sweating profusely. Loki didn’t detect magic on the man. But if the saboteur flitted throughout the club undetected, it stood to reason that they’d hide in plain sight as well. Loki didn’t recognize the man from before. He was Asgardian, but was he magical?

In starts and stops, Justin recounted what happened exactly as the others put it. Stockroom first, bar second. Loki watched Justin as he spoke. Loki huffed a laugh and looked at Justin.

“Do you take me for a fool?” Loki asked before his power unfurled and the kitchen staff behind Justin screamed out in pain. Justin whipped around as the staff were in various states of sinking to the floor.

“No!” You rushed forward. Loki held out a hand to keep you in place while he cast illusions over the staff. Their worst nightmares were brought to life. Except for Justin. He watched in horror as they writhed.

“Do you not think I can tell when someone is lying to my face?” Loki spoke calmly, jovially as he stepped closer to Justin. He grinned at the man but it was more like a baring of teeth.

“I swear–”

“Do not swear unless you mean it, wholeheartedly. Their suffering is on your hands,” Loki said. His voice dropped, nearly a seductive whisper.

“Stop it!” You cried out. Loki ignored you. “If you’re going to punish anyone, punish me!”

“Admirable, Darling. But not what I’m after.” Loki kept his eyes on Justin. “I will have the truth.”

The kitchen staff were still screaming. They were on the floor now. Some had merely sat, staring off into space. Shock got them by now. Others were fighting it, wiggling on the ground like listless worms. Justin shook from head to foot.

“I was in the stockroom!” Justin yelled out. “Oh gods, stop!”

“You must think so little of your fellow coworkers,” Loki mocked with fake sympathy.

“Loki, you bastard! Let them go,” you yelled. You pushed against his hold on you. You were a powerful sorceress in your own right, to be able to fight him off. He half wondered why you didn’t use your powers more.

Loki ignored you. His focus was on Justin, on the way the man dripped with sweat. Whatever he was lying about, Loki would hear the truth.

Justin sighed. “Stop it! Stop it! I was in the stock room. With…Carter,” Justin said. He hung his head with a sigh of defeat escaping him.

“Ah,” Loki said. Asgardians didn’t care about that but this Carter person must’ve. Loki released everyone, including you, and they panted on the ground. Their screams died away. Justin looked toward who Loki assumed was Carter but the man turned away from him.

You rounded on Loki, your earlier pain forgotten, and you pushed Loki. He was immovable. He arched a brow at you and smirked.

“You had no right!” You yelled. “You don’t punish employees like that! Ever!”

“I have every right!” Loki’s voice boomed and echoed in the tiled expanse of the kitchen. “I own this space, this club, the floor we walk on, and those in my employ. It’s mine!” He advanced on you, getting into your face. Not as a lover this time, but as a true god. The Prince of Asgard. The Heir of Jotunheim. No one stood in his path. No one.

“You will be left with nothing if you continue to push people around like pieces on a chess board!” You pushed him again. And again. Each time, Loki didn’t move because he didn’t want to move. He chuckled at your feeble attempts.

You slapped him. The bright sting of pain made him smile harder. “Bit harder next time, Darling,” he said.

You did slap him harder. He grabbed you by the throat and pulled you in closer. “You’re better than this, Loki,” you managed to squeeze out.

Loki chuckled and leaned in close. His lips brushed yours. “Do not attempt to tame me,” Loki whispered. He stared into your eyes. He couldn’t decipher the emotions there but he knew desire when he saw it.

Still, you fought him. Fought the side of you that needed release. It was beginning to irritate him. He was a god brought low by the part you refused to share. He wanted it. Like a spoiled child reaching for the last slice of cake when no one else had any.

You were mad at him. So be it. Perhaps you’d finally let go of the control you so desperately clung to. He wanted you to yell, to scream, to punch things. You kept such a tight leash on your emotions. He wanted to pick at the threads keeping your seams together and unravel it until he got your core.

He wanted the universe inside of you. Every star, every nebula, and every wayward black hole. He wanted your ugly, your beautiful, and your very essence. He wanted and wanted.

You pushed him away. Denied him once again. Loki moved back.

“We will find the saboteur another way. Not like this,” you said. Your teeth were clenched and you were no longer looking at him. He stared at you until your eyes met his.

“Pray, tell me how then?”

You didn’t have the slightest fucking clue. You weren’t a fucking detective. But it couldn’t be like this. If he tortured everyone in the club, there would be no one left who wanted to work here. This went beyond a mere occupational hazard. Despite his little tantrum, he did not have the right to treat desperate and hard working people like this.

These people lost absolutely everything. Their home, their families, their jobs. They were in a foreign land with foreign people and customs. All they had was the club and Loki was too stupid to realize it. Or to care.

You knew he was cruel. This wasn’t even the first time you’d seen him unleash his powers on someone. It should’ve sickened you. But nothing he did ever turned your stomach. You understood him. Sometimes, emotions were too big and too wild to contain inside. The big ones like lust, rage, euphoria were too much for one body to contain. As much as Loki wanted to project an aura of control and carefree mischief, he was still a man reaching for what everyone else was reaching for: to be understood.

“It must be together,” you said, throwing his earlier words back at him. His eyebrows raised a fraction before smirking.

“Very well,” he said.

You sighed. You felt like you had just defused a bomb. You turned to the kitchen staff. “Fan out. Someone saw something and there’s only so many places to hide our ale,” you said.

The staff gave Loki a wide berth as they muttered amongst themselves. You’d have to talk to them individually. Especially Justin and Carter. You had suspected but…

Justin crossed towards Carter. A human with honey-golden skin and dark hair and features. He recoiled from Justin’s touch and wiped at his eyes. You hated that Loki made Justin confess in front of everyone. Who cared if he was in the stockroom? The place was probably crawling with…unpleasant things from all the employees. It was one of the only rooms you could lock. There were no perishables inside so…

You turned to Loki who watched you, cold and calculating as always. Still, you couldn’t bring yourself to hate him. It would be easier if that were the case. He was the one that always riled you up and yet you were the one that always wanted to soothe him.

You stepped closer to him. “That can’t happen again,” you said.

“You’re giving me orders?” He asked and smirked. He looked you up and down and you hated that your body reacted instantly.

“Not everything is a damn sexual innuendo. That was too far,” you said.

“Not far enough in my view. Someone is messing with my club. The list of my enemies is not short. The list of my magical enemies is even longer. We are leagues away from a lot of them but it’s not difficult to surmise this is where I am after the destruction Thanos wrought. My enemies could have been snapped or remain in their own realms but someone hates me enough to make the trek here. Instead of facing me they’re…”

“Intentionally driving you mad?”

Loki’s lips parted but he nodded. “As a form of…”

“Punishment? Revenge?”

“Both. Either.” His nostrils flared as he thought about it. “I’ve made a career of caring for nothing and no one, Darling. I got my own mother killed by being petty when I was confined. But this…this I care about. And the saboteur knows it.”

You slipped your hand in his. He was as surprised as you were. You forced yourself to hold his hand and look into his captivating eyes. “They’re not trying to harm the place. Their tricks have been, well, petty as well. Hiding shipments, bewitching customers, sending Angel through the stage. They could’ve burned this place to the ground ten times over. They’re not going to take this from us.” Yes, you included yourself in that, don’t make a thing of it.

Loki smiled at you. An expected boyish smile that made his eyes crinkle and made you smile in return. You liked seeing that smile. And pleasure ran through you knowing that you put it there on his face.

“Uh, the shipment is in the bay.” You looked away from Loki to see one of the dishwashers, Harry, pointing outside. You glanced at Loki who frowned.

You followed him back out into the shipping bay. Sure enough, there was the shipment. Relief passed through the kitchen staff like a tangible thing. They kept their celebrations quiet as they eyed Loki’s reaction.

Together, you walked to the shipment. There was a giant red bow on it like it was a present. You were sure that if you checked the cameras, it would have just appeared. But who? Why? What did the saboteur gain from this? To embarrass Loki?

A dark thought raced through your mind. This would be quite embarrassing. Loki never usually lost his cool or let anyone see past the facade of a devilish club owner. These mistakes and mishaps were undermining Loki’s authority.

Fear gripped you as Loki approached the shipment. Like any good present, it came with a card. The card was long instead of wide. It was a deep, emerald green and shimmered as he flipped it back and forth.

You approached and read it over his shoulder. All it said was “remember”. Whatever the fuck that meant. You looked at his face. He scowled at the card as if it were to blame for everything that had been going on here. He flipped it between his delicate fingers.

“It smells faintly of magic. But I can’t place it,” he said quietly.

You turned to the staff and discreetly waved them away. They wasted no time getting back inside and getting back to work. Once you were alone, you put your hand on his arm and turned him towards you.

“It stands to reason that whoever this is, is constantly watching and listening in. Leaving this card, they must think they’re winning,” you said.

There was no way to hide what you had puzzled out earlier, so you just told him. He showed no emotion as you told him your theory but his jaw flexed as he thought it over.

“They want me to react, to split my attention. They will sneak in when I least expect it and strike while I’m distracted.” he said.

“Yes,” you said.

He smiled and nodded, looking out to the setting sun. He smirked at you. Devil indeed. He held out his arm and you took it.

“Well, then. Let’s give them a show.”

Masterlist | Chapter 6 | Chapter 8

#megaminds secret files #The Secret Loki Files #Loki x Black!reader #Loki x Black reader #Loki x Fem!reader #Loki x Fem reader #Loki x plus size reader #Loki x you #Loki x reader #marvel smut #Loki fanfic #Loki fan fic #Loki imagine #Loki fanfiction #Loki fan fiction

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prismaticpichu · 7 months ago

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*slides into your inbox, I almost slip*

you're stuck on a deserted island for a week. you have to choose between Zack or Sephiroth to spend the week with. who would you choose and why? (my phone glitched so bad as I was writing this I'm sorry if there's two of these 😭)

All good, my friend!! Only one copy received! No Genesis copies afoot here 👍

And on that note~

GAHHH WHAT IS THIS EVIL????? You’re making me CHOOSE between my two precious beans?????? What IS THIS TORTURE!!! 😭🫠

*scoops self off of floor, sniffles, composes herself*

God… there are SO many pros and cons to both Zack & Seph 😂 Obv Seph pros are that he’s prolly more clever than Zack, but at the same time is much more susceptible to going insane (in EXACTLY A WEEK LOL) and prolly wouldn’t hesitate to turn me into firewood at some point if things got desperate. Zack, on the other hand, would be loyal till the very end, but may very well eat a poisonous berry and leave me to find an antidote.

But then there’s the ENTERTAINMENT factor…— .._.

Zack.

Yeah, Zack.

I’m going with Zack 😂

Zack is still a very smart and tough cookie — PLUS he grew up in the more tropical climate of Gongaga and can prolly make do with his surrounds like a champ. On top of also having boundless stamina and energy when it prolly comes to playing games and surfing and finding other things to kill the time….? Yeaaah I think I’d take my chances with Zack vs. a grumpy Seph who’d prolly spend day after day making SOS signs with different materials and not care to just enjoy the place 😂

Adorable question!!! Tysm for asking!! x,D 💕

#sephiroth #ffvii #zack fair #crisis core #ff7 #randomness #asks #ty!!

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mermaidsirennikita · 9 months ago

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Share some stalking heroes 👀

HAPPY TO.

Historical:

Obviously, Valentine Napier from Elizabeth Hoyt's Duke of Sin, He Who Lives in Walls.

Mick Trewlove does a bit of stalking when he's staking out how to steal Aslyn (in order to ruin his half-brother's life) in Beyond Scandal and Desire by Lorraine Heath.

Magnus literally hunts Melissa down like a dog in S.M. LaViolette's Melissa and The Vicar (after she leaves him).

Shadowheart by Laura Kinsale has an EXTREMELY stalkery, villainous hero and I love the degree to which he's just a creep lol. Like, the heroine is all "... how does he know these things" and the answer is "baby girl, he's been watching you sleep probably". TW: the first encounter is noncon (forced marriage consummation). Kinsale is very true to 14th century approaches to consent, but Elena does very much take the reins in the rest of it.

In a different way, the preceding novel (set 10 years before) For My Lady's Heart is also a stalkery hero book. The hero is a knight whose wife left him to join a convent (lmao) and when he's dropping her off there he sees this beautiful (married) princess who notices that he's attracted to her and calls him out... but when he unexpectedly has to give up ALL his money in order to commit his wife to the order--a thing he doesn't want to do!--the princess does him a solid and gives him some cash to get on his feet. And as a result, he becomes obsessed with her, pledges himself to her, and serves from afar in her name for like. 13 years. Then they finally meet again and it turns out she's kind of a bitch! (In the best way.)

Pippa and the Prince of Secrets by Grace Callaway, of course, has Cull, who watches Pippa while she's out doing her vigilante shit and is like, ready to run interference and who knows maybe smell her hair.

Duke of Midnight by Elizabeth Hoyt of course has the truly insane and stalkery Maximus. Like Valentine, he refuses to call his heroine by her actual name lmao.

The Wolf and The Widlflower by Stacy Reid. Wolf Duke Duke of Wolverton is obviously a duke who lived with wolves for years, and after he realizes that his new shrink, a young man, is actually a woman in disguise (a fact he realizes when he SMELLS. HER. WOMANLY. SCENT. IYKWIM.) he's determined to catch her out lol.

Hotel of Secrets by Diana Biller has a hero who's admittedly a literal spy, but he does start lowkey stalking the heroine because he feels CRIME MAY BE AFOOT. And then he walks in on her... doing things alone.... and he goes "don't stop" and I lost my mind.

Again the Magic by Lisa Kleypas gives me this vibe because McKenna is so focused on revenge against Aline that it basically turns into this obsession with everything about her and what it takes to break her down. Like, McKenna gives strong murder vibes and I do find it hot.

The Dragon and The Pearl by Jeannie Lin gives me this vibe because he's like... keeping her captive for political reasons but you can literally see on the page when it starts to shift from politics to obsession lol.

Contemporary-ish:

Mafia Madman by Mila Finelli. I mean, Enzo watches Gia through security cameras while keeping her in a cage after setting up a faked death by bombing a bar after he buys in an Aperol spritz. Peak stalking.

Mafia Target--the book after Mafia Madman, m/m assassin/target... Alessio is literally stalking Giulio for months before they actually meet and he's obsessed with him and it's AMAZING.

All of Kresley Cole's Gamemaker books involve stalking but The Player is maybe the most intensely stalkery book of all time. I can't even tell you how. That would give it away. Trust and believe. This is a STALKER.

Sierra Simone writes some very possessive heroes. Mark from her Lyonesse series, though (starting with Salt in the Wound) gives strong stalker vibes. Partly because he clearly knows way more about Tristan and Isolde than either of them realize and has known it for a while lol. Also, he literally skulks around ruining people's lives, so. That's just WHO HE IS. And I do love it.

Paranormal:

Just shouting out the fact that every single IAD hero is a stalker, but special notes for Lothaire of Lothaire (on EVERY LEVEL, follows Ellie around for years before the book even begins, turns invisible to follow her around in his apartment, watches her from the shadows, has to carry her lingerie around in his pocket so he can deeply inhale it to cope); Cade from Dark Desires after Dusk (followed Holly around for years before the book began... again lmao); Trehan from Shadow's Claim (the MISTS!!!!).

Dragon Bound by Thea Harrison has a heroine who steals a penny from a dragon shifter's lair, and he literally hunts her down like a dog lmao.

#romance novel blogging #romance novels #book recs

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safely-in-vhagars-belly · 1 year ago

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DELICIOUSLY DARK! AEMOND X OC, SNOW FALLS (CHAPTER 7: THE THING YOU LOVE MOST.)

CONCEPT: You are Willa Wyldewoods, lady of Wyldecrest. After being denied your hand in marriage, Aemond murders your family and makes himself Lord of WyldeCrest, out-powering you. He claims you as his wife and spoils, He commands and goes over your home now and as you will learn right now: No one is safe under his reign. Not even you.

WARNINGS: Sexism, anti-feminism, murder, mentions of blood, mentions of gore, descriptions of executions, discriptions of cutting bodies into pieces, descriptions of blood, mentions of pregnancy, aemond having a breeding kink, non-con- dark!aemond and dub-con, powerabuse and fake-trials/showtrials.

You are surprised he is in the same room as you, reading some letters by the fireplace. You grab your robe from the ground. You put it on and walk to him. You softly lean in and kiss his right cheek. 'Goodmorrow, my husband. Did you sleep well?' You ask when sitting down in the other chair.

You open a letter with your house's sigil on it. You read the letters first words.

Dear Prince Aemond Targaryen, or Lord WyldeWoods of WyllowCrest, I regret to inform you-

The letter is ripped from your hands by Aemond. He glares at you. 'What do you think you're doing?'

'Reading my correspondence?' You say, a bit surprised by the rage in his voice. You are Lady WyldeWoods now. This is your duty. You already lost a few days process, and the banners must be prepared if war is afoot.

Your husband smiles mockingly. 'Your? The outside world doesn't know you exist, girl. Courtesy of your father.' Your father did what he thought best, and you both know it. You're sick of him pretending otherwise.

Ever since you slept with him, since you really found your voice and made love with him, you feel confident enough to take a stand against him. Despite what he did to you. 'Father wanted to keep me safe. I was quite ill when I was born.' You say.

Aemond's good eye rolls. 'I quite don't care how ill you were.' He grabs the letters. 'I'm your lord husband now, I'll take these out of your pretty lady hands. You shouldn't worry about upcoming wars,' He reaches out, and you flinch. He grins before petting your stomach. 'It's bad for our babe. Targaryen seed is very strong and dominant. You'll birth your first child soon. I hope for a son.' He speaks.

You even dont want to think about that. 'W-what if its a girl?' You wonder out loud.

He thinks before responding. 'Girls can be married off. Just make sure I do not end up without any son like my father did before he married my mother. I do not want any girls getting funny ideas about my legacy. Am I clear?' You scoff. What legacy? A Kinslayer? an abuser? You doubt anyone would want his legacy if it was handed for free.

'Am I clear, wife?' he grits out to you. You nod. 'As crystal.'

'Good girl.' You think back of last night. How he was pleasuring you and fucking you against the window and on the desk when calling you that and much more.

He takes you to your mother's big mirror and places you in front of him his arms around your neck. He can choke you with one movement. You are well aware. He opens your robe and touches your breasts before kissing your neck and rubbing your belly. You allow him to do so. You even like his hands touching your breasts and his arms wrapped around you. 'There isn't much to see yet.'

He leans in and whispers in your ear. 'But soon...You'll carry the next generation of an ancient line. You'll birth me beautiful sons and daughters with my Targaryen eyes and your black raven hair.' To proof his point he runs his fingers through your hair. You give a nod.

He becomes suspicious again. 'You don't seem very ecstatic about your future as mother and possible carrier of the Targaryen line.' You are not. Targaryens are known for insanity. You don't want your children to become like him. Or worse.

There is that scoffing laugh again. He grabs your chin. 'Don't you want to have my babies? Is that it?' He guesses wildly.

You shake your head trying to dismantle the danger. 'It's not you. Well, part is. But I told you before: There is so much I want to do. I'm scared of becoming a ghost when you force me to become a mother too soon. I'm scared of neglecting our children. The way you were neglected.'

He gawks. He thinks he hides himself very well behind those walls and his leather. But you know a lost soul when you see one .Gently you reach out and softly let the back of your hand touch his face. 'You think I didn't notice?' You ask with a soft voice. 'I am just like you-'

He rips your hands from his face and groans. 'Touch me again, and I'll take a few fingers. You know nothing about me, slut. You know nothing!' He shouts. You understand you crossed a line but so did he.

You raise your chin and stare him down. 'I'm not a slut. I am your wife. I do my duties you forced upon me from the day you met me. If you mind me so much, we can arrange a divorce.'

He chuckles at that and smiles. 'Perhaps I should just spank your disobeying ass red. Oh wait, you told me you'd like it if I got a little rough with you.' You feel ashamed and hurt he is using that against you.

'You win.' You say with a single tear escaping. Angrily you wipe it away.

Aemond leans in closer and you feel his cold hands grab your chin and squeeze a bit. 'But darling, we just started playing. I'm not done yet with punishing you for your little stunt.' He says and you feel the colour drain from your face and your blood turn cold.

You already were punished. Spanked, dragged, slapped and you even sucked him, fucked him, and there is the unspeakable tattoo now on your face. 'I...I shared the bed with you and I have a tattoo for you. What more could it be?' You wonder.

Aemond claps his hands delighted before grinning. 'My favourite kind of execution: Public.'

You are horrified. He is going to kill you. He is. 'B-but your babies! Our children!' You yell at him in despair.

His cold hands touches your face lovingly and he softly licks away some salt tears. You sob. 'I won't execute you, darling. Just whoever has the displeasure of offending my view today and some special guests. We as Lord and Lady of WyldeWoods should not accept crown traitors to roam our lands, Now, should we?' You are hissing like a cat at him. These lands are not his. They aren't his ancestor's either.

'They're not yours, you monster!' You shout at him before slashing at his face. You hit him on his nose.

You taste blood the next time you blink and an enraged Aemond has slapped you across your face. He stomps to the wardrobe and picks out a white dress with a fox fur coat. He throws it on the bed. 'We'll leave in a few moments. Don't be late, or there will be one dead person for every minute you make me wait!' He groans before strutting off.

-------- The nearest villagers are rounded up for trial. There is a little stage with two chairs made of velvet green black with orange and white. His house colours and yours. Aemond sits legs crossed proudly in the targaryen chair, and you sit in the WyldeWoods seat. You lay your hands in your lap and look at them.

Guards surround you, wearing green uniforms. They will do Aemonds biding. You know they will.

The first traitor is a beautiful woman. She is named Vasa and comes from Lys. Her crimes are stealing from the crown and seducing the guards on watch. Aemond doesn't ask for your input and starts the trail right away. 'You seduced my men? All of them?'

She lifts her head proudly. 'Yes, Kinslayer.'

You gasp by her insult next to Aemond. He shoots you a warning glare, and you quickly go back to minding your business. 'You must be really good, then. I'll make you a deal. I have a little troublemaker at home who loves getting cocks. I bet she loves everything shoved down her cunt, not just cocks. Why don't you try some things out on my wife, and I'll see if I can spare your life?' He offers and you are digusted and scared.

Your bannerman are here, villages gathered to watch and your servants are here too. You beg Aemond softly with your eyes but he ignores you. Aemond grins. 'Kiss my wife.' He says.

The woman comes over and gently kneels before you. Your mouth is grabbed gently. 'Obey him, you'll get in trouble.' She warns you before softly sucking your neck. Aemond looks on and you notice a few guards watching as well. You pull the woman on your lap and kiss her back. She opens her mouth and lets her tongue dip in your mouth.

Some of the crowd cheers when it happens most of them males but some females like it as well. The woman thanks you for saving her life before walking back confidently to Aemond.

He must be so pleased. 'I had a thought: I don't like sharing my toys.' He gets up and you are pushed back in your seat by a alarted guard.

Aemond takes his sword and slashes her head off with one clean slash. The head dryly tuds on the floor as you scream. Blood covers his face as he laughs before sitting down. 'Next!' He carelessly shouts before taking a sip of his wine.

A farmer is presented next. He has an argument with another farmer about a goat. Farmer Brownswood took the goat thinking he could get goats milk but the goat was barren. There was no milk for the man, but he paid for it either way. Farmer one got upset and tried to burn the house down of farmer 2.

Aemond turns to you. 'What do you think?' He asks. You are caught off guard and quickly stop pulling your nails. All eyes are on you: Aemond's eye, the farmers eyes, the guards and the other prisoners. You think many things but aren't sure Aemond would like hearing any of it.

Your parents didn't raise you like his parents raised him. They didn't taught you politics. They didn't taught you the law.'I-I am not sure my opinion is the best, husband. I am not like you, I have not been raised with knowledge of law and politics. You have.'

'I want to hear it,' He says. 'I promise I won't get mad or upset with you, little fox. Tell me.'

'I think they were both wrong. The man should not have lied about the Goat, but the other man should not have burned down his house. It feels all a little silly that two grown men are wasting our time with matters like this. A few nights in the brick might soften their attitude and restore their friendship.' You say.

It sounds horrible But it's better than the death he has in mind for them.

Aemond grins amused by your insults and your jabs. He leans in close and kisses your hand lovingly. 'A wonderful answer, my dear. You are learning quicker than I expected.' He says with a smirk full of pride and joy. You don't know what he is talking about.

He sinks in his chair. 'I quite agree with the punishment that Lady Willa has in mind. Let them gather their minds in the bricks.' The guards escort the two farmers away.

It's the first case that doesn't end in a murder and it is all thanks to you. You know it. Aemond kisses your mouth, and you kiss him back gently.

Another man shackled and beaten is brought before Aemond. Aemond raises a brow when the man refuses to look at him. Not out of fear, out of pure spite. He doesn't grant Aemond his respect. The guard notices and punches him in the gut. 'On your knees for our prince and his lady wife!' He yells at the poor man. He is around the age your father was. And that hurts.

'Please, good sir. Show my husband your respect and they won't hurt you.' You gently speak, your voice calm and soft. You assume he will at least consider it. But he only scoffs and spits at your feet.

'Do I look like a Dragonriding kinslayer to you, girl? You have him wrapped around your little fingers, but I am not that easy, whore.' Aemond tenses up next to you and you see him debating with himself wether to punish the man or to not give him attention.

He continues berating you and you feel worse and worse as most insults are the truth. 'Aren't you ashamed, girl? Spreading your legs for the same man that nailed your family to the gates of your home? We mourned our lost family and friends, who all served your house so willingly!' He growls. 'My own daughter was raped, when they found her, she had hanged herself in the kitchen. Where were you, Lady "WyldeWoods"?' You think back of that night. When Aemond dragged you to the Gods woods and forced you to marry him. After that he forced himself upon you.

'I was ...consumating my marriage with my husband.' You say gulping thinking back of that night.

'And screaming like a little whore, is what I heard.' You don't know what he is charged with but you understand his motive. It's revenge against Aemond for the death of his daughter. And he somehow thinks you are responsible. As if you didn't try to stop the rapers.

The man has said enough. 'He'll never really love you. You aren't family, after all. They're dragons and beasts.' You feel insulted. You raise from your chair.

Aemond whispers with one of his close guards. You only hear a strange foreign language. 'Prince Aemond is my husband and my protector. He is my lord and my friend. He married me for love, we are very happy - you try to convince him but also to yourself.

'You're a whore! I wish they killed you, instead of your family. You're a disgrace to our people and to the North. You should leave here. You don't belong here. You belong nowhere.' He says. You sit down ashamed.

Aemond laughs interrupting him. 'As funny as this is, you came here for a trial. We are your judges. You already insulted one of us, will you insult me next?' He asks careless.

'You are guilty of her death too!'

'And?' Aemond barks without missing a moment. 'I am a Targaryen. The word blood is in my House Words. I will take what is mine, I will do so, With Fire and with Blood.' You feel chills as he says that. 'This lady here is my wife, she tried to save your daughter, actually. She tried to stop the sacking in general, the little dumb lamb.' He sounds so carelessly. So numb to your feelings. You wish you didn't care too, but his words hurt. Of course, you tried to save the girls. But it was all in vein. They were raped anyway.

'So I dragged her ass to some stupid old tree, and after saying some empty vows, I took her upstairs where I sacked her myself. It was quite satisfying. She was never sacked before.' He chuckles as you blush and look at your shoes. You don't want to face the crowd.

'You're a beast, Aemond. Your sister will murder you.' The man says. You feel conflicted by those words. He is a beast. But you don't know if you'll like Rhaenyra murdering him.

There is a scoffing chuckle. Aemond leans back in his chair and sips his wine. 'She is welcome to try, the old hag. Let's see what she brings. Actually, I think I'll send her a message.' Aemond stands up from his chair and walks to the guard.

Without a warning, he turns and slashes the man open. You watch as the blood comes pouring out like he is a barrel with a hole in it. Aemond cleans his sword by licking it clean. 'Add the body to the pile. I want them all to be sent to my sister. Let her know what happens to her people now.'

He nods to the remaining prisoners and wields his sword. You realise he is about to excute them all. You helplessly turn to the guards in the green unfiorm. One notices you and comes over, gently pushing you down in your seat. 'You cried so loud, the night you were first fucked. Aemond bragged you were wet like a little baby seal. Don't give him an excuse to fuck you again.' He whispers before returning to his silent treatment.

You watch as your husband cuts off ears, takes eyes, chops off hands, and tears tongues with a knife. There is an unusual glimmer in his eye when he kills. You think it's part of his ancestry. You see the flames of Old valyria burning there despite neither of you ever set foot there. never. You grab his hand gently. 'Husband, please. 'Sit down, you showed your fire. You showed your power. Now is the time to show your compassion. Your gentle heart.'

He scoffs and frees himself from your grip.'I'm afraid I don't have a heart, dear wife.' You watch speechless.

He does not like to chop heads cleanly. He likes to slash people open and watch them bleed out. To watch the life fade from their eyes and to hear their bodies drop to the floor. It reminds you of how he probably killed your family, too. You still sit in the chair, wordless and frozen as he starts to put out an eye from a man who spied for the enemy and the tongue of a man who called his sister a whore.

The wooden podium is dripping with blood from all sides. You watch it drip down through cracks and finally it ends in a large puddle on the ground, mixed with body parts and other gruesome human souvenirs like fingers, tongues, cocks, finger parts and ears. He insisted on keeping the eyes. He plans to do something with that, he told you with a chuckle before handing you a freshly taken bloodied eye.

He grins madly when he takes the edge of the sword and licks it clean. You thought you knew who you had married. You have no idea. You eye the line of left to be judged and fear for their lives. They start to shout or beg or pray. They beg for mercy as they are brought forward. They clutch to Aemonds legs, beg him, promise their loyalty, and explain their reasons. You think he enjoys that more than killing. Having power over someone. You saw it when you two slept together last night and you see it again. A monster that must have his way no matter the cost.

Their stories are the same. Farmers and villagers were starving and did a few favours for the Blacks. They didn't have any choice. Those who insulted the royal family only did so because they were starving. They don't believe the royals care about their problems. They do not, of course. And they care even less about the peasants' lives.

They need three big carts for all the bodies. Bodyparts are sorted and collected in big brown bags that turn an icky red colour after a while. You feel sick and heartbroken. These people were under your protection. You didn't save them.

You turn to the prince. You are scared. Of course you are. But you need to stop him. 'Aemond, it's been enough. You have killed enough. Most of these people didn't support your sister because they wanted her to be on the throne. They supported her because they were starving, and she fed them. Surely you must see that.'

'I don't care what their excuses are. Treason is treason. You know that, don't you, little wife?' There is a warning there.

An old woman with a stick is brought forward. She walks slowly and if she is broken. A guard kicks her to hurry her up, but she falls down. You rush to her and help her up from the bloodied planks. She smiles gently at you before facing the prince.

'You stand before Aemond Targaryen, rightful Lord of the WyldeWoods, Prince of House Targaryen and loyal brother to his grace-' the old woman yawns loudly.

She points her stick at Aemond. 'All this ugly white-haired man wants to do is kill people. Let him have me. I won't whine and bitch like the men did before me. You won't get that satisfaction.' She says before raising her chin and staring him down. He scoffs before taking his bloodied sword again.

'Stop! Aemond; She is an old lady. She...' You try to take the sword from him. You cut yourself on accident. Blood drips down between your fingers. Aemond huffs before slashing in at the woman.He takes his time cutting her open slowly like a butcher would do with a pig he would stuff.

He eventually executes everyone who was on trial. Only the farmers escaped. The carts are piling out, and eventually, seven big carts ride out to Dragonstone. To show the Queen what was done to her people.

There is blood on your shoes. And on your hands. Aemond has been drinking and watches patiently as his men clean up the mess he created. Your hands tremble, and you clutch your necklace.

'Come here, wife.' Aemond barks at you like you're his pet. You rush to his side and loyally curtsy before him.

'Y-yes husband?' You ask, trying to stablize your voice. He is covered in blood. His armour has blood from the neck to his back and his green with gold cloak, which is now a red colour. He grins anyway.

'You're so beautiful when you are frightened. Your sigil is a fox, but you are more like a weak bunny. I can smell your fear from miles away.' He grabs your behind, and you squeak alarming a few guards, but none do anything to save you. He puts you on his lap. You feel like a trophy.

'The fox is more than an aggressor. It knows when to walk away and hide.' You try to defend your sigil. You have to.

His hands toy with the lace of your corsets. 'You sure love doing that, hm? Hiding from me?' He unlaces your front and patiently watches your neckline become bigger and show off more of your breasts.

His other hand, meanwhile, pets your legs and goes under your gown and eventually under your skirts. 'Aemond, we aren't alone.' You mutter as he starts to touch you inappropriately.

'I own them. They will let us fuck, trust me. They might even hold you down if I ask them to.' There is a warning in his eye when he lifts your chin. 'Do you need someone to hold you down?' He asks. You have pleased him enough for today. Yesterday was fun, but it hurt.

You know yourself. You know when you are tired.

'I'm still so sore from the last time we made love.' You gently try to reject his proposal, but he already gets that aggressive smirk on his lips. You try not to cry or to tremble. He will win if you do.

'Are you now? A little sore from my rough fucking?' He is mocking you. You still nod accepting that you've dug your grave so you will lie in it now. 'Hm. You don't know what sore is, little fox.' He spits out.

Tears form in your eyes and threaten to fall. 'Please, I've been so good.' You let out a little whimpering sound. 'I tried so hard to be a good wife to you, but you ask and demand so much of me. You want to have sex every night, and I can't keep up with your desires.' You confess. 'It's too much for me.'

He raises his brow scoffing. He has this mocking smirk on his lips. You don't feel like he takes you seriously. You grow angry every moment that that annoying smirk is in your sight.

Eventually, he sighs and mocks sympathy when, in reality, he mocks you and threatens you. 'You'll adjust yourself. Your body will learn to think of other things when you perform your duties. Your mind will learn it. Your body will yield the moment your mind has accepted that.' You don't want your mind to change. You don't want to accept it, and you don't accept.

He makes it sound like whatever awaits you is even worse than the pain you are facing now. That one day; you will be nothing but an object for him to make heirs with, to lay with, and to come in. That no happiness or joy will be left in your life. 'I don't want to yield. I want-' You don't know, but not this. You don't want this for the rest of your days.

They already call you a whore. He grabs your chin and applies a bit of pressure warning you. 'You can be a good sweet girl, walk with me and I'll fuck you on the bed like a good little slut-' your sobs interupt him. You whimper and wail.

'Or, I can strip you and fuck you here, in front of my guards, in front of everyone to see and in the cold and in the dirt.' He adds. You know he is serious. You know him too well.

You cry but accept that this is your life now. There is some dignity left to be saved. You won't let him take it from you. You will pretend to enjoy his attention, and you will keep strong so he won't take you on the execution spot.

'Take me home.' You whisper. He grins, pleased. He likes to hear your consent despite it being forced. He loves hearing you beg, and he loves winning and outsmarting you. He enjoys it.

'What was that?' He asks, but you know he can hear just fine.

'Please, husband, take me home. I'll be a good girl.' You finally say and even give him a soft kiss on his cheek.

'That's what I like to hear.' He forces you to get off his lap and holds your hand when standing. He stands, and you are once again reminded how tall he is. You are tall too, just not as much as him. He grins before leaning in and touches your chin lovingly, and leans in for a kiss. You close your eyes and let him.

But you are grabbed by your hips instead and slammed over his shoulders. You yelp again, but it's no use. He presses your head against his shoulders and warns you with a smack on your ass to be quiet.

He walks to his remaining soldiers with you as a killed animal over his shoulders. 'I'm taking the rest of the day off. My wife needs a good fucking.' He smacks your ass again and you whimper.

The captain laughs, but it seems a bit forced. 'Your wife seems a little scared, my Prince. I don't think she's in the mood at all.' He says gently, taking in your red eyes and your soft sniffs.

Another soldier appears, and you recognise him as the soldier that had that girl raped. That same soldier who wanted Aemond to fuck you as punishment. 'While you're at it, teach that whore that we as soldiers have certain privileges even little whores like her can't mess with.'

The captain grins at you. 'She is not a whore, she is the prince's lady. She will be treated with respect, soldier. Or else I will make sure you are taught some things about proper etiquette.' The soldier bites back insults and glares at you but leaves. You are the captain thankful for saving you.

Aemond simply raises a brow before leaning in the captains face. 'I'll decide how I handle her. If you had a brat for a wife, you would be strict for her too. She needs to know where the line is drawn.'

'She is your wife. You vowed to protect her.'

'I did, I vowed to protect her helpless little ass. Just not against me.'

22 notes · View notes

silvr-skreen · 1 year ago

Note

I wanna hear about the reboot's season 1 finale, I'm actually quite interested

(MFN)

*big smile of insanity* ok!!! So this one is a 2-parter! Sorry for misspellings I am on my phone it’s 5am and I just woke up and I don’t have my glasses on.

Look out. HUGE POST INCOMING!!!

It talks about bigotry and is really kind of dark at points. Like the first half starts kind of funny but slowly loses the jokes, and part 2 only contains 2 jokes at all.

So some stuff that builds up before this includes “Ray has been getting less work” and “on of the human kid characters has a mechanic dad.”

The implication is that he’s been poaching Ray’s customers. Why is a not-so-nice person in the neighborhood? Well the reboot posits that the puppets are moving back in, and realized people aren’t so friendly so they’re trying to bring friendliness back!

So over the course of the first season it’s all pretty lighthearted and silly, with a few consistent moments where you can see the father being short with Ray. You can also slowly see as he manages to cause most of the puppets and other human actors to follow suit.

Now apparently Ray overcharges, talks funny, doesn’t know what he’s talking ABOUT. At first it wasn’t that bad, he still got work, but by the end of the season it’s obvious he hasn’t got any.

So he wasn’t able to keep the deed to his shop.

The human kid character who shall henceforth be known as Marcy has been getting apprenticeships from him (basically he’s been training and teaching her since he’s got nothing else to do and he enjoys it) and she’s distraught. That’s her friend and he’s leaving? It’s not fair!

She goes home to dinner with her dad and he mentions some land investment he made, and it comes out. He took Ray’s customers, made everyone more judgmental and harsh to him, and lo and behold, it’s out of bigotry.

The specific form of bigotry for this one is the kind shown against th Irish, as Ray is Scottish/Irish. The “he talks funny” is derogatory towards his accent and Ray knows it. He knew the whole time.

So she realizes what her dad did and why and she’s horrified and she tries to call it out but he yells at her for not seeing the bigger picture and she’s so distressed she runs out of their house and she ends up crying on the steps outside one of the neighborhood buildings. (The one with the mailbox you know the one.)

Part one ends.

Part twos got a darker tone and a bit more edge to it in an impactful way, so one of the main things in part two is we’re only ever shown the left side of Marcy’s face until way later on.

Another big thing that I didn’t mention is, her dad is a good speaker, he can convince you of a lot, so he’d previously (like in an episode earlier in the season) gotten the puppets to write down negative thoughts so “nobody needs to hear them.”

The message of that one had been about how it’s not good to bottle up your feelings.

However lo and behold he’d taken those papers and gone and dumped them in Ray’s workshop for him to find. Of course, after he removed any information that would help Ray realize it’s not about him.

So Pearl comes over and spots Marcy crying at the start of part 2, asks what’s wrong and Marcy tells her that her friend is getting kicked out because he doesn’t have enough money to keep working and everyone here hates him.

Pearl is sad, and Marcy even offers her one of those sheets of paper to prove it because “look at what they’re saying about him!” Turns out the one she gives Pearl is the one Pearl wrote, and Pearl is confused.

“How did he get this? I was told it was going in a safe, because nobody needs to see it.”

“Well there were like… ten of these!”

At which point Pearl realizes something is afoot, and asks for more info like “well who is it?”

Big reveal, Ray’s Fix is kind of over now. He’s gotta go, he can’t stay because he’s got no house or job or anything - well legally he could but he doesn’t want to.

So Pearl squawks out a distress signal and all the puppets come running to see what’s up, confused.

Marcy gives a much more concise explanation with a lot of tears and crying, the group takes off, hoping maybe he’s at the shop and they can talk to him, but he’s not.

It’s her dad, some contractors, and the mayor. They’re discussing the remodel or possibly taking it all down and starting over. That’s when they try to confront him and the dad feigns ignorance, there was no bigotry, Ray just wasn’t as talented.

A train whistle sounds and they realize there’s a train station nearby and so yet again the group rushes over and Ray is there.

And while in the old show apologies and forgiveness were easily earned/shown this one doesn’t have that. Sure they make up but there the undertone of some upset hurt feelings even after. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

So Ricky tries to extend the branch first, only for Ray to get very angry with him because he wasn’t immune to the “being tricked into believing bigoted talking points and acting on them” thing.

At one point Ricky tries to minimize it by saying that maybe Ray does talk a *little* funny. And ray is. He doesn’t like it.

“Funny to you! Because to you its an accent, you can put it on and take it off whenever it suits your tastes. This is my life! I can’t change who I am and I don’t want to! I just… I want people to like him.” <- almost 100% direct quote

Marcy tugs on his sleeve and he looks down at her, still mad (not at her specifically), but then horrified into silence.

We see her entire face for the first time and the right side of her face has a split lip and bloody nose. The implication being her father hit her.

There’s silence for multiple long minutes as they stare at each other. I can imagine the framing in the back of my mind. It’s the right side of her face and the left side of his, just the two of them front and center, only the soft ambient wind sounds.

She apologizes for not stopping him and Ray crouches down and gently brushes her hair away and tells her he forgives her. “Marcy. You’re nine, you’re not supposed to save the world yet. It’s okay.”

Obviously signaling how while children are the future they need to have their childhood to become the people they can be, and how children aren’t as capable of holding responsibility for something like this as an adult may be due to reasons like family, not being old enough to understand, etc.

The puppets do all apologize again, with real apologies that don’t minimize the situation or imply Ray is overreacting, and he forgives them but says he’s “gonna keep an eye out.” For any bad behavior.

The train goes by and Ray doesn’t get on it, but Ricky mentions a rule he learned never got changed when they left the neighborhood the first time, “If 2/3 of residents believes a building to have been of exemplary service the deed can be reassigned to the owner at the time of service, regardless of current condition, location, or status of life.”

Basically the short is. If they can get 2/3 people to agree Ray’s Fix was a good place, they can get it back. So they’ve got to get a petition. I mean the mayor is already on site. They can do it!

Which they do. It takes a while since they also have to inform a few people “yeah it was bigotry that chased him out the other guy is not so nice.”

Marcy gets the most because who’s going to say no to a nine year old who’s hurt?

Ultimately they present the petition to the mayor and he’s about to grant the deed back and return the shop to Ray, but the dad throws a fit about how “you’re giving this place back to someone like him?!”

Then the phones ring… and keep ringing a lot.

Ultimately as it turns out some of his work was shitty and rushed. He was undercharging people to make it seem like Ray was overcharging them, then when he got rid of Ray he could raise prices all he wanted and there’d be no other repairman to go to.

However his work ethic included “they’re not paying industry standard so I’ll just cut a few corners who’ll know?”

As it turns out? Everyone. As now there’s a couple of issues with lights flickering or turning off, showers spraying like hoses etc.

Guys arrested for a couple of safety violations due to the low quality of work. Ray gets his shop back but it’s been kinda trashed and so he’s gotta put it back the way it was but it’s HIS AGAIN!

End.

It’s. A lot.

Season 2 ep 1 begins with him putting stuff back in its place.

Also funny enough I’ve been typing this for an hour on my phone and I’m so tired man. Ray.

Can you tell he’s my favorite? I hope I’m his favorite.

#my friendly neighborhood #mfn game #mfn ray #it’s Ray-centric.#Marcy is also really near and dear to my heart I made her up like. 3 days ago.

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sammyboyimagines · 2 years ago

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Friendly Competition

Pairing: Henry!Sherlock Holmes x Reader

Summary: The famous Sherlock Holmes never had any competition regarding solving a case. Until you came along, and he learned to appreciate some friendly competition, very friendly competition.

Warnings: Smut 18+ MINORS DNI, praise, unprotected sex, swearing, little bit of degradation, idk what else

//I fucking love this character he's perfect in every way and I finally wrote something about him. Also sorry if this is trash I honestly just wrote it for fun. Also, I listened to strictly Lady Gaga so I'm sorry if the main characters are too girlboss I was dancing the entire time while writing this. also with like 5 minutes of classical music for the sherlock vibes

The game was afoot. You were hot on the trail of some insane criminal with an aptitude for kidnapping women. And you have every intention of catching him before he could harm any other woman in London. That was until you found out about a new victim this morning.

The headlines read, "Woman reported missing by her family. Police and detectives are on the case!" you groaned to yourself, massaging your temples as you grappled with the news. You had been searching for these women for two weeks, and every time you had been closer to finding the man, he inched further away by grabbing another girl.

You knew that the paper meant "Sherlock is taking the case" when it said there were police and detectives on the scene. How could anyone say no to a world-renowned detective taking your case? It enraged you to no end, as you had already had him snatch two cases right from under you!

Sherlock wasn't your worst enemy, you hadn't even met the man. But you had no intention of allowing him to steal one more bloody case from your grasp. Not without a fight, anyway.

Your bag slouched across your body, and you made your way to the house where the woman was taken from. You assembled with the family. It was curious. Sherlock was nowhere to be found. So you spoke to the police, gathered your wits, and developed a few theories. Of course, you would preserve those theories for yourself. You not-so-fondly recalled the time when you explained your theories to the police and they told the paper without a single credit to you.

You examine the scuff marks on the floor, made by a cane. "Ah, this must be the Y/n L/n everyone has so graciously told me about." a voice behind you made you stand up, smoothing out your dress.

The man was very handsome, his broad shoulders and curly locks making your face flush a little. You put your journal away in your bag. You kept all your evidence in it, to keep your ideas to yourself.

"Yes, I am. And you are?" you shook hands with him, proving that you weren't shy and meek. If the men thought you were weak, they'd try to manipulate you, and you couldn't possibly allow that to happen. Though nobody who truly knew you would ever call you shy.

"Sherlock Holmes." He flashed a disgustingly charming smile at you. "Ah, it's you." you pull your hand away. "Come to steal another one of my cases, have you?" you smirk as you examine a few things around the house. Sherlock followed you, glancing at the bookshelf you were admiring.

"It was not my intention to solve those cases before you. Next time you might want to be faster," he says matter-of-factly. "And you've missed a couple things if you're looking for clues. Cane marks on the floor, obvious signs of struggle." Sherlock underestimated you and thought you needed his help. You, however, thought he was foolish.

"Already noted, dear. And it seems you've missed some things. Gunpowder and blood on the bookshelf." You watch his eyes widen in shock. Sherlock hardly ever missed a clue.

You were throwing him off his game. "It seems we're not all that different. Let's see who finds the woman first. Don't be upset if you don't find them faster than me." he puts his hat and coat on, ready to walk out into the rainy streets of London. You grab his arm.

"Don't fret, darling. I won't be upset because I'll be the one to find them." You pat his shoulder. "Good luck, though. I might implore your sister about the case. I think she'd be fascinated." Sherlock turned to you.

"You know Enola?" he looks you up and down, his eyes lingering on your chest for a few seconds longer than he should have. You took notice of that but decided not to say anything. Sherlock was a nincompoop at times, but he was awfully good-looking. If you were being honest, it didn't feel bad to have his eyes on you, looking at you lustfully.

"I've spoken with her many times, yes. She works with me on my cases and visits my establishment a couple times a week. You know she can't stay away from a good missing person case." You smiled, remembering the way her eyes would light up at the mention of an interesting case.

"Perhaps we could work together on the case? You're very intelligent, and I'd like to get to talk to you about the case from one detective to another." Sherlock wanted to meet with you under the guise of "talking about the case" but really, he was very intrigued by you. Your knowledge of the case, detective work, and his sister, all made him more interested in you. And it certainly didn't help that you were one of the most gorgeous women he'd ever seen.

"I'd love to, Mr. Holmes. How about tonight we meet up at the pub down the street for a drink and a place to conversate?" you proposed, your eyes never leaving his. Sherlock admired your forwardness. It reminded him of his sister, very headstrong and confident. He could tell why Enola visited you so often.

"So be it. I will arrive at...how does eight sound?" Sherlock continued eye contact, his piercing blue eyes gazing into your very soul. Sherlock wasn't trying to intimidate, he'd hardly intimidate anyone, much less a woman.

"Sounds fantastic. I'll tell Enola you and I had a lovely conversation. And that you're technically still my competition. This is still my case, y'know?" You give him a sharp look, making him nod.

"Of course, Ms. L/n. This is still your case." he agreed to your aggressive statement, he liked seeing you worked up. In his eyes, it was cute to see you so defensive about your work. But it was also admirable. He'd never seen someone so dedicated to their craft since Enola became his ward.

So, here you were at the pub waiting for Sherlock. He was late. 1 hour late. Suspiciously late.

Just as you stood up to walk out, ashamed of yourself for believing he wanted to work with you, Sherlock walked through the door. He rushed over, panting as if he had just run a mile before entering. You eye him, "Where were you?! I waited an hour. That's no way to treat a lady." you could barely look at him you were so mad. His eyes widened at the dress you were wearing. You didn't wear any shapewear, just a corset around your waist and chest. He couldn't stop himself from staring at how well the dress hugged your body.

"I stopped by the house to gather some more evidence." he shrugged, to which you slapped his shoulder. "Ow! What?" he looked puzzled. "You went without me? Traitor! We're supposed to be working together!" you were frankly very offended and in need of a drink. Sherlock gazed at you, finding himself unable to be freed from your beautiful eyes. You reminded him of sunshine, of home, of everything pretty in this world. He'd only just met you.

"Just for that, you're ordering me a drink before we share our findings." You watched him laugh, his hypnotizing smile was enough to make you melt.

"Very well." he paid for your drink and his before he took out some of his notes. "So, here's what we know so far. He's got us going in circles, but we'll find him in time." you two share evidence. It was clear that neither of you had any ill will toward the other, so sharing was an easy feat. Sherlock admired your work. "Your handwriting is very pretty, I've tried calligraphy but I cannot seem to grasp the concept." You laugh. "Writing class must have been awfully difficult then, Sherlock." His heart skipped a beat each time you uttered his name. It was an unfamiliar feeling but he knew exactly what it was. Attraction.

"Forgive me if I'm overstepping but you look stunning tonight, Ms. L/n." he takes a sip of his drink, a large hand cupping the glass. You smirked. "I thought we were talking about the case. That's highly unprofessional of you, Mr. Holmes." you teased him. He chuckled, watching you try to hide your enjoyment.

"Thank you, though. You're very attractive as well." you felt a little shy under his gaze. He ran a hand through his hair, unable to find the right words to say.

"We might be able to get some more productive work done if we go back to my apartment. We can go there now if you'd like?" Sherlock had no intention of going back to his place to do more detective work, and neither did you.

"I'd love nothing more. My drink is warm anyway." you chuckled and set your drink down. Sherlock took this moment to drink in your features. Your warm appearance melted his cold heart with every word spoken from your pretty lips. It confounded him.

He escorted you to his house, loving the feeling of your arm wrapped in his. "How come I've never seen you around? I'm always around London completing things for my cases and I've never bumped into you. Why?"

Here came the truth. He was avoiding you. "You are my competition, Y/n. I knew that if I met you, I'd let you win. And that's exactly what's happened." he laughs to himself, feeling pathetic for confessing his weakness.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I've been avoiding you. Each time you take on a case that I'm working on I drop it because I thought you'd take all the credit if we worked on it together." You stepped inside his apartment, and the smell of lavender and old books filled your nose.

"Y/n I would never take all the credit. I won't take all the credit for this case because it's not fair to you." his words convinced you to entertain him for a while. Even if he was a nincompoop.

"If this was any other detective, they would have taken the credit without a second thought." you smiled, suddenly aware of how close Sherlock was to you. You could feel his presence behind you.

"Well, I'm not like any other man, am I?" he smirked, his flirty behavior starting to show itself. "No, you're...different." you hesitated.

"How am I different, darling?" You felt butterflies in your stomach at the pet name. "Use your words," he whispered from behind you, his voice low and raspy. He hadn't even touched you yet and you could feel wetness pooling in your panties.

You were at a loss for words. "You've said I'm attractive. Is that it? Is that why you're blushing right now? Because you like what I'm doing to you?" one of his hands snaked around your waist.

"Don't think you can hide it, love. You're flushed, you've been clenching your thighs together for the last five minutes, and you aren't talking," he smirked in satisfaction.

You couldn't take it anymore. You turned on your heel to face him before pulling his face down to meet him in a deep kiss. Neither of you came up for air, you didn't want to. The feeling of his big hands holding you in his strong arms and his soft lips on yours made your head spin.

"God, I hate detectives," you say before returning to make out with him. He chuckled. "Yet you're kissing one," he mumbled against your lips. Your back leaned against the wall, and Sherlock's hands traveled over your soft dress. His hands found the straps holding your dress up. He pulled away from the kiss, his blue eyes now sharper, lustful. The darkness gave the room a dark blue ambiance as he watched you.

"Are you comfortable with this, love?" he slowly pulled the straps down, brushing his warm fingers along your collarbone and shoulder, making you shiver. "Yes, keep going please.." you weren't usually this eager. But Sherlock looked deliciously striking in the moonlight, reflecting off the many objects scattered across his floor.

"Eager aren't we?" he worked faster, reaching behind you to slowly take off your garments. "Darling, you look so needy for me." he took your chin in his hand. He pressed your arms against the wall, his eyes scanning your body. "I've been imagining what you'd look like underneath that pretty dress. But this...is much much better than I could have ever dreamt." he pressed sweet kisses along your neck.

You tried to relax under his grip, but one of his legs slipped between yours, spreading your legs. Sherlock kissed your collarbone, relishing the sweet little gasps coming from those lips he loved to kiss. "So responsive for me, love. I wonder what you'll sound like on my cock." he smirked against your hot skin as you blushed. You had no idea the cold detective could be so seductive.

"This is not what I was expecting from you, Mr. Holmes. You're so dirty." you teased him, pulling off your top, exposing your breasts to him. He groaned lowly at the sight of them. "Mmm, as are you my love." you couldn't hold back the moan as he took one of your nipples in his mouth, massaging the other. The pet name made you grow wetter under his grasp.

"I must confess this was not what I was expecting from you either. I was expecting a chase to gain your favor." he teased you, looking up at you from where his mouth kissed your tits.

"Well, you were eager to get your hands on me. We're both being a little friendly here." you pushed him back. "You're too clothed." You felt a little too exposed in nothing but your undergarments as he remained in his suit.

Sherlock began to undress with fervor, smirking at your obvious staring. "Darling, weren't you ever taught not to stare?" he teased, his toned, muscular torso fully exposed to you. You cross your arms over your chest.

"Oh please, like you weren't staring at my breasts during our conversation this morning." Sherlock didn't say anything, knowing it would be worse to argue with you. He was in fact, staring at your breasts all morning.

After all your clothes and his were taken off you took that as your moment to take in the sight of him. His arms were very big and muscular as well as his chest, it was difficult to look away. "Now who's staring?" he chuckles, his hand reaching out around your waist and pulling you closer to him, your bodies not even 5 inches from each other. You could feel the heat radiating from each other's bodies in the cold dark room.

"Do you have a bed or something? Not that I'd complain if you took me here.." Sherlock's eyes lit up at the idea. "I don't think I can wait that long." he chuckled, "Might have to bend you over this table, you'd like that wouldn't you?" his hand felt up and down your body, grabbing handfuls of your ass. You whimpered at the thought of him pressing your front down onto the cold, messy table and fucking you until the morning.

"Mmm, you're such a pretty little whore. So desperate for me." his hands gently ran over your thighs, biting his lip at the feeling of the soft flesh against his rough fingertips. "Yeah yeah, don't let it go to your head." you chuckle, your arms wrapped around his neck.

He lifts your chin and looks into your eyes. "Don't pretend like you don't want this, love. I know how badly you want me, I've seen the way you stare at me. Just say the word and I'll give you exactly what you need, darling. Beg for me, love." he places a soft kiss on your lips that leaves you wanting more.

"Please Sherlock I need you so bad, been waiting all day for you to take me." you pressed against him, feeling his hard erection against you. He smirks, "The truth finally reveals itself. Good girl.."

He kissed you, full of burning passion before turning you around by your shoulders. He placed a hand on your back, slowly pressing you down onto the table. He brushed off the many scattered papers, letting them hit the floor out of their order.

"Feeling comfortable?" he rubs his hands over your ass, groaning to himself. You pressed your face against the heavy wooden table, ready for whatever he would give you. "Hurry up, Sherlock.." you whined, pushing your hips against his.

He grabbed his cock, rubbing it up and down your pussy. He hums and lets out a breath he wasn't aware he was holding. "I wish we would have met earlier." he pushed in, his dick stretching out your warm pussy. "Could have been inside this sweet pussy months ago-fuck" he bottoms out, your walls squeezing him tight.

You moan his name softly, the feeling of him buried inside you felt euphoric. He began thrusting, his hips slamming into you, making your body move with every thrust. "Fuck, you're so good for me, you're fucking perfect.." he could hardly believe you were real. Sherlock usually spent his time around prissy, judgemental old detectives. He hardly had any time to meet a lady, let alone a woman with your glowing personality and detective skills.

It was a dream come true.

As his pace quickened, you could hear skin slapping fill the room as you arched your back. Sherlock groaned, his body leaning over yours as he slammed into you. Your legs were shaking at this point, weak from both the pleasure and standing. You were a moaning mess underneath him. Hearing his harsh breathing and groaning brought you closer and closer to the edge.

After a while of relentless pleasure, you had already cum once. Sherlock was still going, fully convinced he needed to make you cum twice before he did. You weren't complaining. "C'mon darling give me one more please.." Sherlock was sweating and barely holding back any of his groans and grunts. With every few thrusts, he lost a shred of his dignity, but he didn't care. Not when you sounded so delicious underneath him. Not when your pretty pussy was squeezing him so tight he was seconds away from cumming early.

"I wanna feel it, love." you were gasping for air at his point. Your mascara, you suspected, had already started running down your face as you were fucked into oblivion. Sherlock was big, but he also knew exactly what to do with it.

"Sherlock please.." you weren't sure what you had been begging for, but you wanted him so bad, one orgasm simply wasn't enough. You adored the feeling of his strong body over yours, his arms caging you underneath him.

You were sweating, your whines and moans filling the large room as he filled you to the brim with his cock. You were trembling and gasping, Sherlock could tell you were close. "Cum for me. Fuck-I need you to cum for me.." he pulled your hair, dragging you into a sloppy kiss. He was so close, his groans got louder the closer he got to cumming. "Where do you want it, darling?" he mumbles against your skin, his hands holding your hips as he thrusts at a relentless pace.

"Inside! Inside please!" //we're gonna pretend that birth control exists for right now

His eyes roll back at that. "Fuck, you're gonna be the death of me." your pussy clenched around him as you came, your body shaking as your orgasm washed over you. "Mmm good girl, so perfect for me.." he mumbles as he spills into you, thrusting slowly to ride out both of your orgasms.

You heard Sherlock move away from you and shuffle around the room before coming back with a rag to clean you up. "When they say friendly competition, I don't think this is what they meant." he helped you up and brought you to his bed. "We're just being extra friendly.

"I don't want you walking home this late. Stay here, I'll take the couch." He smiles as he admires how you look in his bed. Your makeup was messy, your clothing discarded somewhere in another room, your tired eyes admiring him just the same.

"No, stay here with me. It's too cold to sleep alone." you hold your hand out to him. "You don't think it's improper?" he asks.

"We just fucked. I think anything is more proper than that." you pull him into bed with you.

"Fair point."

//ah!! thanks for reading!

#henry!holmes x reader #henry!sherlock #sherlock holmes #enola holmes #enola and sherlock #sherlock smut #sherlock fluff #sherlock x you

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