#like even if it's just hammering nails out of an old board he just naturally goes 'you want a go?' and of course i do

[youjustwaitsunshine]

[sophluorescentmusing]

2,104  Namsaek Sea Village, Choseungdal Region

The sun beats down mercilessly upon his back, as if it knows it’ll soon be shuttered behind walls of thick, grey, rolling storm clouds. Sweat plasters his shirt to his back and shoulders, it drips down his armpits and pools against his lower back. His work-gloves are smothering his hands and his boots are becoming so slick with sweat that he wonders if he’ll soon slip his way out of them and off the ladder.

At least this is the last of the windows they need to shutter in anticipation for the coming storm. Besides, Baekhyun’s doing harder work than he is—wrangling all of the cattle into the nearest storm dome available to their village. Or, if he’s finished with that, he’ll have made his way onto one of the neighboring farms to either prepare those evacuated farmhomes for the storm (so the evacuees have something to return to), or assist others who have stayed to weather it out with preparing their own land.

He’s more socially adept than Kyungsoo, after all.

As if on cue, the sound of the rumbling, rattling engine and cargo bed of Baekhyun’s farming truck reaches him. It’s faint, he’s probably still on the road that runs lower on the bluff, closer to the sea, but near enough that it won’t be long before Kyungsoo sees the faded, steel blue cab crest the road and come trucking over his way.

Kyungsoo resumes nailing another board across the window glass. The dull thudding of the hammer becomes as second nature as the sound of the breeze running through the dune weeds, or the sound of trees rustling, of distant dogs barking, perhaps even the seawaves crashing down to the shore. 

The truck should be coming into view now. 

Kyungsoo grabs another board up, begins nailing it down. It’ll be the last one, and then their home will be as adequately prepared for the hurricane as it can be. He doesn’t look over his shoulder, not even when he hears that storming engine turn off, nor when he hears the rusted door screech open and shut with a thud. He does laugh, though—giddy affection bringing a smile to his face. Baekhyun’s home. 

“She’s looking mighty fine,” Baekhyun singsongs, stealing an accent from one of the old American Westerns they found at a film shop in New Busan. “Is that the last window?”

Kyungsoo grunts something that sounds like affirmation and finishes pounding the last nail into the side of the house. He takes a moment to rest his hands on the top of the ladder, and then, starts to climb down (he was right, his feet are slipping in his boots). 

Baekhyun’s waiting on the porch. He’s got one of his arms pulled through the bottom of his t-shirt, exposing his side, and is just as similarly sweat stained and sunburned from the difficult work out in the fields. Just beyond him, the blue farm truck sports a load of essentials—like petrol cans, a tool box, and some sandbags for the sheds and storage areas down below their raised foundation. 

“How’re the neighbors?” Kyungsoo asks, finally making it onto solid ground. He begins folding up the ladder, but it’s Baekhyun who picks it up and turns it horizontal. Kyungsoo makes to hold the door for him. 

They finagle the ladder inside. Baekhyun sets it down on the kitchen floor lying flat. Later, when the power goes out—the solar panels shutting down to make the gridlines safe for those who come out to do repairs—one of them will end up tripping on the ladder, of this Kyungsoo has no doubt. He ought to prop it up somewhere else now, before the injuries of later, but he can’t bring himself to bother. 

[pinkhairedlily]

Chapter 8 - Student Council President Sakura

SCPS AO3 | PREVIOUS CHAPTER

“Oh, hello there Sakura.”

She almost lost her balance when she saw her next customers. Standing beside Kakashi with her arm entangled in his was a brunette, a spitting image of Dr. Aki Nohara, a giveaway that this was her sister. Sakura’s surroundings dimmed out of focus, and her hearing became muffled as if she was submerged underwater.

“Couldn’t mistake that green eyes for anyone,” Kakashi continued. “I’ll have a caramel butterscotch with extra whipped cream – make it super heavy – and Rin –“

“That’s supposed to be my order, you dummy,” the woman replied beside him. He chuckled in fascination and tightened his hold on her arm. “Besides, you don’t like sweets.”

“You’re still on a specialized diet so allow me to eat and drink whatever you want while you stick with – “ Kakashi glanced at Sakura, and she immediately mustered a tight-lipped smile. “One iced americano in your smallest size please. Thanks, Sakura.”

She took in a deep breath, suddenly aware that she wasn’t able to acknowledge her teacher and his companion, but so many things have been running through her head – like how did he know it was her? Why was he with Rin? Did he propose already? She hasn’t even confessed yet.

Somehow, in the dragging silence in her ears, she heard Sasuke cleared his throat. That was enough to break her from the spell, and she put on her bravest mask. “Hi Kakashi-sensei. Nice of you to drop by! I’ll have your order ready in a jiffy.”

Kakashi turned around and waved lazily at Sasuke. “One of my students is here too. Are you on a red eye advance study?”

“Can’t sleep so might as well have caffeine.”

“You’re too young to have this energy.”

Rin jokingly slapped Kakashi on the arm. “You talk as if you’re old already.”

“But aren’t I?” The pair slowly drifted away to find a table, but Sakura noticed the flash of recognition when Rin took a long good look at Sasuke, but her friend stared at them like he was throwing sharp draggers.

“He looks happy,” Sakura noted as she fixed their drinks.

“I want your favorite coffee,” Sasuke quipped out of nowhere.

“There’s a thing called palpitations. It’s caramel macchiato.”

“Might do me some good while I wait for you to finish your shift.”

Sakura sighed, feeling the tiredness come upon her all of a sudden so she relented. “Just take it to-go. I want to get out of here.”

She quickly asked permission from the manager, saying she felt sick and fatigued, and with her clocking overtime in the past few weeks, her request was immediately approved without deductions. The mixed winter and spring air hit her lungs as soon as she stepped outside. Sasuke waited for her across the street, a gesture that implied she could go to him or separate ways right now. As she vied for time to decide, she took one last look through the window.

It was a foreign sight. She has never seen Kakashi’s attention torn apart from his books. Even if he was talking, there would be an open page on his side, stealing glances on passages when the conversations got boring, yet there he was, fully attuned to whatever Rin was saying with no book around him…like she was his favorite book and he enjoyed reading every letter of her.

And Sakura realized she could never be the story he would even want to pick up.

She felt the tears coming so she started her pace on the same road. Across from her, Sasuke got the signal and went the other way.

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

The last term of their second year came like a bazooka. Sakura threw herself on her pet project as a sort of coping mechanism. The announcement was done during the general assembly which did not generate the intended buzz or reaction. After all, it was a tricky topic to handle and many facets of which were still stigmatized when talked openly in public. Naruto, ever the people magnet, broke the agitated atmosphere in the auditorium with a slow clap and was soon joined by many others.

The council created a Google form which allowed students to anonymously register, and they get assigned a schedule on the day their contracted psychiatrist comes to visit. All they had to do was provide their designated client number. The council further complemented this with short programs that serve as mental health breaks for the student body. Sometimes, this would be as light as a block screening of a coming-of-age film or heavy like a conference with faculty and teachers and questions and concerns are remotely flashed.

Then came Valentines’ Day, and the council organized this some kind of literary showcase that presented the opportunity to mingle woes of personal sadness and griefs with confessions that would have been left unsaid. Naruto and Sasuke both helped in constructing the makeshift stage in the middle of the soccer field that would be used later that afternoon.

“Cookie points for my crush,” Naruto grinned as he hammered away. “Thanks for picking the poem I will be reciting tonight, grumpy. Didn’t know you were into literature.” He jokingly elbowed the raven-haired beside him, and he got a death glare in return.

“Do it properly. Look at that nail sticking out like your porcupine hair,” Sasuke grumbled. “And yes, I’m not as uncultured as you are.”

“But I still don’t understand it though.”

“Ugh, just use the internet to search its meaning, idiot.”

“Meanie!”

A fellow runner peeked into their work area and knocked on wood. “Hey Uchiha. Some girl is looking for you.” Her face expressed grimace, having done this for more than five times already within the span of an hour. If it wasn’t Sasuke, it was one of Naruto’s fan girls or boys.

Sasuke went to her and fumbled around for cash in his pocket. “Next time someone looks for us, tell them we went home for the day. Here’s money for your date later. If you have anyway.”

“Whatever grumpy.” The runner replied, still half-angry, half-frustrated, but she took the money all the same and told the girls that ‘They told me to tell you they went home for the day so shoo shoo.’

Naruto laughed at Sasuke’s successful attempt at bribery. “Look at that rich money. I wonder whether Sakura will give us chocolates.”

“Have you seen their office?” Sasuke flipped open the curtains that will be hang as backdrop. “Their desk is filled with chocolates from her admirers – platonically, romantically, whatever. Some people from other schools dropped by too. You got serious competition.”

Naruto chuckled nervously. “As if I do not know that already. Haven’t you told me before- she likes everyone and everyone likes her.”

Not really true at all now, Sasuke thought to himself. But ignorance is bliss, Naruto.

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

The three sat on the grass beside the stage, having full view of the student body listening to the reciters. Throughout the program, Sakura went through each package given to her, visibly stressed with evident signs of sleepless nights under her eyes.

“Before I forget, happy Valentine’s day you two. My council-mates told me you didn’t get any chocolates,” Sakura gave each of them a pouch of small chocolate bars. Sasuke didn’t have to guess if it was store-bought or homemade based on the cuts on her fingers.

“Sakura, stop eating. I almost gagged at the seventh chocolate,” Naruto complained. He tried to get the basket of sweets from her, but she just moved it away from his reach.

“Everything tastes bitter,” she muttered under her breath. “I need sugar. My energy can’t keep up with the countless interviews. I understand that the school board liked the exposure, but the burden falls on me. At least have a teacher back me up?”

“Heard Kakashi-sensei volunteered to accompany you in interviews?” Sasuke was too late in shutting Naruto up, but the most that question got out of Sakura was an eyebrow raise.

“I need more sweets.” She proceeded to jam the rest of the Hershey’s kisses in her mouth.

“Okay, we have a submission from Uzumaki Naruto,” the announcer said. “Shout out to our rookie MVP!” A round of applause. “And who might be the recipient of this poem? We heard through the grapevine that he hid from his admirers all day. I know several people are waiting to confess to him!”

Sasuke instructed him earlier to send the poem anonymously and address it to Sakura, but the dumbass blonde mistakenly exchanged it. He rubbed his forehead in annoyance, but he can’t bring it up right now.

“Just read the poem!” Naruto shouted on the side, clearly embarrassed now. Sakura looked up at him, genuinely curious now, and her sticky chocolate-filled mouth was on the edge of firing him questions.

“Sasuke and I sent in poems! Just to support your program, nothing really too deep into it ehe.” Naruto glanced at Sasuke with slightly widened eyes. “Right, Sasuke?”

“Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare,” the person started.

“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day

Thou art more lovely and more temperate.

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimmed;

And every fair from fair sometime declines,

By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimmed;

But thy eternal summer shall not fade,

Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,

Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,

When in eternal lines to Time thou grow'st.

So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,

So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.”

Sakura slapped Naruto on the arm. “Didn’t know you read Shakespeare! What a romantic!”

“Isn’t it a tragedy?” Sasuke remarked, a look of disgust in his face when Sakura mindlessly offered him a toblerone. “No sweets for me.”

Sakura guffawed at Sasuke’s remark, and her laughing was a rare sight recently. She was in too deep in her student council functions that they barely see her. And when they did, she’d be a little bit closer to fatigue.

“What’s funny? Who’s Shakespeare? Let me in on the joke!”

“Let’s call on Kakashi-sensei, our very own student council advisor and youngest teacher in the university. He’ll be reciting a poem by Pablo Neruda. A man of culture, we see,” the emcee announced.

Sakura stopped laughing as soon as she heard his name. If Sasuke could glean into her thoughts, she’s probably making up excuses to escape right now.

Kakashi stood in the middle of the stage, holding an open book. “Let me just ramble on here for a bit. Neruda is a Chilean poet and a politician, but just as much as he is a revolutionary, he is a romantic and a worshipper of ideals and ordinary things. He often compared his muses to earth and nature – basic providers of our existence. It’s interesting to see. Now, this poem is what I would have wanted to say to someone who is fundamentally part of my existence, but she won’t listen to me.” Kakashi smiled even more at the onset of outburst of giggles from the students. “So you’re gonna be the audience whether you want it or not.”

I crave your mouth, your voice, your hair.

Silent and starving, I prowl through the streets.

Bread does not nourish me, dawn disrupts me, all day

I hunt for the liquid measure of your steps.

I hunger for your sleek laugh,

your hands the color of a savage harvest,

hunger for the pale stones of your fingernails,

I want to eat your skin like a whole almond.

I want to eat the sunbeam flaring in your lovely body,

the sovereign nose of your arrogant face,

I want to eat the fleeting shade of your lashes,

and I pace around hungry, sniffing the twilight,

hunting for you, for your hot heart,

like a puma in the barrens of Quitratue.

A thundering applause followed Kakashi’s poem and random shouts of, “Drop her name sensei!” “Good luck to your love life!” “Happy for you, sensei!”

As the lights went out on the stage, Sakura fished another pouch from her vest pocket, and Sasuke knew at once that it was Kakashi’s. She popped a bar into her mouth, staring blankly ahead.

“God, it’s so bitter.” Her lips started to quiver, and she started to cry.

Naruto threw a worried glance at Sasuke, but his expression must have given something away because the blonde didn’t prod, and he looked as if all the puzzles fell into place.

Sasuke just didn’t expect to be confronted about it as soon as the program finished. He was carrying blocks of wood to the shed when Naruto dropped the question – a question he already knew the answer to.

“You like Sakura.”

Sasuke inhaled sharply and halted his steps. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He stacked the wood against each other and turned to face the blonde. “Besides, shouldn’t you be worrying about exams?”

“What exams? We’re exempted from it,” Naruto bristled.

Sasuke smirked. “No, you’re not. You didn’t qualify for finals.”

“Oh shit.”

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

“What do we get in return?” Sakura asked as she munched on her bento box. Shouts of the practicing dragonboat team filtered through their space.

“But last time you volunteered!” Naruto said.

“We’re friends so my services don’t come free anymore,” she chided back.

Naruto glared at Sasuke. “If she’s not gonna do it, you’re gonna do it.”

Sasuke nonchalantly shook his head as he skimmed through Naruto’s notes. “What she said.” They weren’t notes per se, but doodles of Sasuke and Sakura and interestingly, projections of different batting stances. “I’m also not gonna forgive you with the duck butt hair.”

“But you have a duck butt hair!” Naruto crossed his arms and huffed menacingly. “Ramen?”

“Same old, same old.” Sakura finished her lunch and started to sip her cranberry juice. “Give us something new.”

“Ramen and…..karaoke?”

Sakura brightened up at the prospect. “Deal.”

“At least add snacks to your place,” Sasuke interjected. “And not just ramen. Put some nuts or fruits in your fridge.”

Naruto grumbled but raised two thumbs up in defeat. “Deal.”

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

Sasuke has thin patience when it came to teaching Naruto, Sakura observed. She didn’t know how these two managed to do the supplementary math lessons when she wasn’t a part of their group yet. She didn’t mind teaching, but Naruto’s short attention span was a devil of its own. He would be attentive to her for 15 minutes and then drowse off so Sasuke and her agreed on non-negotiables.

“No ramen break for you if you don’t finish this set of problems,” Sakura told him.

“You’re demon spawns,” Naruto cried out in defiance.

“If you don’t get a passing score on this sample test, no kani toppings for you.” Sasuke raised the stakes.

“Demon spawns,” Naruto repeated.

“You won’t call us demon spawns if you see your name on the list of passers.” Sakura started the stopwatch on her phone. “Now go.”

This took her mind off things, from Kakashi’s public confession to the blank career form hidden within the pages of her history textbook. It was a good distraction until the penultimate exams day. Naruto came in with a bandana on his forehead with FIGHTING written in the middle of it. Sasuke, as usual, breezed through it, already finished by the thirty-minute mark.

And she? Well, she liked exams. The time limit and the pressure allowed her the reprieve to shut the rest of the world out so she relished answering each number until the bell rang. It was a moment where she can focus fully on the paper in front of her, the sound of her pen scribbling, and her mind working full force to cull out the answers in her memory. Her utmost concentration on questions suspended her own questions on her feelings for a teacher, on her parents’ divorce, on her future.

When the school plastered the results on the bulletin board, she couldn’t help but release a satisfied chuckle. She turned to Sasuke who was surprisingly stoic about the results. “First place! The bonus point really helped.”

“Why should I bother with a teacher’s middle name for the bonus question?” Sasuke grumbled back. “Congrats. Stop rubbing it in my face already.”

Naruto was too busy pointing his name on the board and bragging about it to the student body, most especially the freshies. When he found them on the back of the crowd, he rushed to them and placed his arms around their shoulders “Drinks on me!!!!!”

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

“He really shouted drinks on me in the middle of the school, sauntered in here like he’s loaded, and ordered two pitchers of iced tea.” Sakura kept bringing this up since they entered the karaoke room ten minutes ago.

Naruto was preoccupied with inputting song numbers on the machine to respond to Sakura’s banters. “Technically, they’re still drinks!”

Sasuke was on the phone with the kitchen, and from what she could hear, he was ordering almost everything on the menu. When he sat down on the adjacent couch, Sakura leaned forward to him. “Are you gonna finish all of that?”

He jutted his index finger to Naruto. “No, but he will.”

The first notes of Michael Jackson’s Thriller wafted through the room, and the blonde made a quick impression of the artist’s famed moonwalk.

“Why are you opening with that?” Sakura cried out in amusement. “It’s not even Halloween!” Sasuke watched Naruto try to dance with a straight face, but she thought he was itching to face palm the whole time.

Naruto kept beckoning Sakura to join him in the middle of the room, but she was busy laughing at him and taking videos. “I’ll send these to Haru as a pick-me-up. I think this is the best remedy.”

Next was Sakura’s pick – Heaven is a Place on Earth by Belinda Carlisle. She couldn’t contain her laughter in between verses when the two boys finally heard that she was tone deaf. Naruto joined her with the other mic, trying to drown out the off-key notes. By the bridge, Sasuke stood up with them, a glass of juice in his hand, and mouthed the words.

“You know this song!” Sakura said excitedly.

“I don’t live under a rock!” He yelled back amid the loud music.

“OOOH BABY DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT’S WORTH OOH HEAVEN IS A PLACE ON EARTH. THEY SAY IN HEAVEN, LOVE COMES FIRST. OOH HEAVEN IS A PLACE ON EARTH!”

“Okay who’s next?” she asked when the next number flashed on the screen. Sasuke silently took the mic from her and faced the monitor with a hand in his pants’ pocket.

Naruto gripped the mic harder when the song started. “I’ll be your second voice, grumpy!”

She immediately went to the front and started recording. “One for the road.”

“No videos, Haruno,” Sasuke warned.

“Come on, it’s my remembrance,” she whined. He wasn’t able to clap back when the lines started to move.

“Turn around…” Naruto sang.

“Every now and then, I get a little bit lonely and you’re never coming ‘round,” Sasuke’s baritone voice filled the room like an empty coliseum.

“The fuck. You can sing?” Sakura gasped out loud. “How can you have that voice and not sing - like you know, every day?!”’

Sasuke gestured her to stop as he belted, stoic-faced, through the chorus with Naruto singing like a slaughtered pig in the background. Sakura stopped recording and joined them for the rest of the song.

Two hours and three pitchers of orange juice later, they finally settled on the couch and munched on Naruto’s leftovers of fries, buttered chicken, nachos, and calamari. On the karaoke monitor was David Bowie singing Heroes.

“Can’t believe we’re already seniors two months from now.” He stared at the ceiling, his eyes following the tag game of disco lights. “Elections of officers will be tomorrow which means Captain Haru will be formerly stepping down.”

Sasuke reached out and shook his hand. “Good luck next captain.”

Naruto immediately pulled out from his grasp. “What do you mean next captain?”

Sakura chuckled and patted his back as assurance. “Everyone knows it’ll be you. Have you seen how your teammates look at you when you’re discussing strategies?”

In the dimness of the room, she saw the flush on Naruto’s cheeks, and she found it amusing how he cannot take compliments.

Naruto scratched the back of his head. “Well, everything is possible, right? That said, I still haven’t filled out my college form, but I’m really set on getting an athletic scholarship and eventually be part of the national team! How about you grumpy? Changed your mind yet?”

“About what?” Sakura glanced at the silent raven-haired guy beside her. To be able to see this much of him was a nice privilege.

“I’m moving away after high school.” Sasuke fiddled with his half-empty glass, his eyes trained on the slushing juice. “I already sent applications to some universities in Europe.”

“We also have good medicine programs here. I don’t get why you have to move away so far. I’m so bad with converting time zones.”

Sasuke scrunched his nose in annoyance. “Are you dumb? The schools you listed are also out of this district.”

She seemed to be moving farther and farther from their exchange. Like an outsider peeking in, she understood the frailty of the moments in front of her, and by the time the next two months set in, the stopwatch would have started running its last lap. The bonds she has made so serendipitously were in danger of being cut off by dreams. She breathed in, engulfing the noise and scent of this room, panning every color and shape assembled like supercut in her head, praying that someday if she would lose herself, she’d come back here right at this frozen memory and relive the wonderful indecisiveness of adolescence and the chance to say I don’t know without repercussions.

“Sakura to earth?” Naruto’s voice.

“Idiot. It’s earth to Sakura.” Sasuke’s voice.

She blinked fast, returning to the moment that wasn’t finished playing out yet. She quickly brushed her hands on her eyes as if something got into her eyes, hoping they don’t see the small droplets of tears that have formed. “Oh uh, I have a list of prospects, but I’m not quite sure what to take.” The form was still blank actually.

“That’s a usual problem of anyone who’s too good at everything,” Sasuke replied.

“Are you complimenting me?” I wish I was.

“Should I take it back?” He proceeded to gulp down the remnants of his glass.

The monitor suddenly turned off, indicating their time has run out. “Hey guys, for our last term, let’s make the most out of it, all right?” Naruto asked. “I’m so happy we became friends.”

“No hugging please,” Sasuke said, but it was too late. Naruto’s arms were too strong to pull away from so the two allowed him a few seconds of skinship.

Naruto’s words struck a chord in Sakura; it was a resolve she tried to form and disfigure for several months now. Before they could stand up to fix their things, Sakura blurted it out loud before her courage took the best of her.

“For our last term.” She flexed her fingers and curled them up against her palm, placing weight on her lap as she ground her fists onto it. “For our last term, I’m gonna confess to Kakashi.”

AO3 LINK | NEXT CHAPTER | CHAPTER 9

[randomingoftherandomness]

What I am hoping for from Winner is King ( 烽火流金)

Okay, so at this point, let’s just be reals here, Word of Honor has kinda set the bar for me in terms of standards to expect from the slew of danmei adaptations this year. Granted, I know that there are some who think the way it was adapted was not up to their standards and that it could have been done better, please don’t bring it on this post because this is not the post for it.

In this post, I’m going to talk about  Winner is King (*•̀ᴗ•́*)و ̑̑

Now, Sha Po Lang, the original novel, is for me one of the best things that I have read in a very long while. As such, I can be rather precious about what I am hoping to see come alive on the show and what I am hoping will be present in the portrayals I see. I know there are some concerns regarding the script and behind the scenes stuff - and they are very valid concerns that I feel too! - and with the recent announcement that instead of 45 episodes, we are only getting 40, I can foresee that there could be some rushed handlings of the very plotty nature of the source material and perhaps a sense that style can trump substance.

But as the actual show isn’t beaming right into our eyeballs just yet, here are some things I am looking forward to seeing in Winner is King and some things that I am crossing my fingers will make the final cut! 

Warning for some novel spoilers ahead. I’ll keep it under the read more.

Tagging @zhongwans because I said I would haha...

Things I am looking forward to:

The Changgu dynamic. I think it goes without saying that if the chemistry between your leads is a dud, the show doesn’t need to even pass Go, it can just shuffle itself off the board because it will be dead in the water. The Changgu dynamic has to be nailed; I need to see that self-doubt, that caring for the other but coming at it from the wrong way, that awkwardness that comes with trying to hold back the burden of your love and care because you don’t want to overwhelm the other... 

I need Gu Yun to be shamelessly sweet with his words and his coaxing of his Yan Wang from a sulk. I need Changgu saying “I hate you to death, Gu Yun” (pining)

Hu Ge Er. Let me just be clear here, I will cheer when she dies, but I hope that how they handle her characterisation will do her justice. There is no excusing the level of horrible that she is, but I hope that she isn’t written as a single dimension abusive piece of shit. Nuance, is what I am looking for. I need her to be the villain and the reason for Chang Geng.

I. NEED. THE. WOLF. ATTACK. SCENE. OUTSIDE. OF. YANHUI. TOWN. aka The First Time They Meet

There is legit no excuse for them to fuck this up, but the Steampunk elements. I would not know what else to say if they fuck this one thing up that is so integral and basic to the love of this IP. They cannot fuck this up. I am very sure I will join people in rioting if they do.

I need to see my Red Kites, my Heavy and Light Armours, my Dragons... I need to see the steam powered lamps, the iron puppets... I need them to get the Wind Slashers right. I need them to get this world-building right ok? I need to be dropped into this show and just swoon over just how accurate to imagination everything looks. Tencent does have the blessed ability to make very good looking productions, so on this note, I am assured. 

I need them to get the human element right; I need to understand why Gu Yun is the way he is, I need to know why the members of the Lin Yuan Pavillion will back Chang Geng and why they won’t. I need to know why Liao Chi would betray the Emperor. I need them to make me feel; I want them to make my heart hurt when Chang Geng’s heart is hurting, I want them to make me cry when Gu Yun is at his lowest and feels like he can’t go on. I want them to make me laugh, I want to feel for Shen Yi and Miss Chen’s awkward courting. 

On that note, I hope they get the Shen Yi and Gu Yun dynamic right too! These two are bros ok? Life and death, ride or die, best bros forever and I need, need them to nail just how integral these are to each other and how much they chose each other as family. I need the bickering, I need the protectiveness, I need the banter. 

I also need Chang Geng conspiring to marry Shen Yi off quickly so that he can have Gu Yun all to himself lol but lbr here if we can get an ending for this show from Tencent that even breathes the same atmosphere of air as satisfactory I will praise the heavens

The Bone of Impurity. I don’t know to what extent they will cover this or if they would do it the way the book does it, but this being an element that is integral to Chang Geng, I would be surprised if they dropped it entirely. So yeah, I am looking forward to seeing Chang Geng fretting and worrying and getting Bone of Impurity attacks.

Just the way that Gu Yun allows himself to be cared for my Chang Geng and how Chang Geng lets Gu Yun care for him

I want one acupuncture hedgehog scene please and thank you

I do want to see how they handle Chang Geng and his elder half-brother; how that dynamic unfolds will be something to pay some attention to, I think

Oh! That moment when Chang Geng kneels down in front of his brother and tells him to please bury any talk of his marriage and revealing to his brother the scars that he carries from his time living under Hu Ge Er’s roof (this is one brand of Whump that I promise you will hurt you very badly and it will be very good)

The argument at Jiangnan is something I really think will also make the final cut. It wouldn’t make sense to drop it seeing as this is a pivotal shift in their relationship where Chang Geng is finally holding his ground and not bending over backwards and believing everything his Yi Fu says. And this was the catalyst for their four year separation so yeah. I hope they do this justice.

I am not a betting person, but I high key bet that the scene between Gu Yun and the previous Emperor where he tells the man, “If you go, then I won’t have anyone left” and this being the moment that softens the dying fucker’s heart enough to give him a bracelet of beads that will be a major plot point towards the end

THE. BATTLE. SCENES.

Things I am hoping will happen:

At this point, speculation is that the point that tripped Winner Is King up for a recheck was the politics. This year is the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party in China and rumour has it that shit be sieving thick and so a lot of shows are erring on the side of caution. 

Politics is the highest likelihood of a recheck but I am hoping that it won’t be dumbed down or watered down too much because the politics and the way things played out in the book was absolutely divine and I really want to see that court intrigue and scheming and interplay unfold.

I’ve mentioned in my most recent podcast episode that I am banking on this show to scratch my itch for a Nirvana in Fire level of plottiness and infinite craftiness of the characters and I am crossing all fingers and toes for that to happen because All! The! Characters! Hold! Their! Own! And I need to see that play out please I am not asking for much...

The final sea battle with the Pope. I wouldn’t even know where they would even begin to shoot that scene but this is something I would love to see happen.

The Bone of Impurity attack after Gu Yun sneakily left the capital. That was the scene that caught me and hooked, lined and sinkered me for Chang Geng as a character. Listening to this scene be brought to life in the audio drama has really hammered it home that if they make this bit into the show, I will watch and weep if it is done right. 

Cao Niangzi being Cao Niangzi. I am thinking it might not happen the way I want, but I just need them to get them right.

Ge Chen peeing on the enemy’s face. Please. I laughed so hard. I need this. It will be a balm to my soul.

Please, I need Gu Yun’s soul crushing flute playing like I need Gong Jun to always be absolutely horrible at singing because baby this is your niche and this is your charm own it work it

I also need Gu Yun stealing a bamboo flute from a 10 year old because he got jealous please and thank you

Any flashback of Chang Geng and Hu Ge Er before Yanhui Town

I want to see that moment that Gu Yun hears first hand from someone who had knowledge of what Hu Ge Er would do to a baby Chang Geng and the horrible abuse she inflicted on him, because up to that point, he only knew that something went on, but never to the extent that revelation wrought unto him

Any of the Bone of Impurity moments; any mention of it, any visual representation of it... Gosh, just the idea of having the Bone of Impurity made visual is just... Ugh. Yes. Please. The suffering.

[bonus] Things I wish will happen but will probably not:

The hot spring scene or a version of it

An implication that baby cannibalism was involved in the making of a Bone of Impurity

The scene where they get to the goddess doll (the description of it in the book was so bone chilling and if they do this I will have nightmares, I’m just warning you)

I really, really want a scene where, after being crowned Emperor, Chang Geng goes to the frontlines to reclaim the South and upon hearing that he was there, Gu Yun immediately panicked like he was about to be caught with his pants down doing something illegal when all he did was ordered his subordinates to keep news of his injuries from being reported back to the capital

Any flashback of Chang Geng and Hu Ge Er before Yanhui Town; especially when they were with the Barbarians

I want to see some version of Hu Ge Er realising what she has done to her own child and to Chang Geng

Okay this got super long but what are you guys looking forward to seeing when Winner is King hits our screens? I’m looking forward to creating content for this fandom when it hits ೕ(˃̵ᴗ˂̵ ๑) In the meantime, sound off on what you’re expecting and what you’re maybe wary about!

[saturnznct]

previous / next

series masterlist

part 36 - baby table

word count; 1,390 words

note; holy shit so much has happened today!! reload is incredible, ridin is 100% my favourite song! according to my lastfm I’ve listened to ridin 43 times today I- whats everyone's favourite b-side? I think mines quiet down. ALSO Jongdae?? baby?? daughter?? 

ALSO if u didn’t catch my post about secret being updated every 1-3 days, from now on updates will vary in like,, time apart from each other as the majority of the remaining parts will be written!! However if a part is a social media part then it will be posted within a day of the previous one, if that makes sense. I’m sorry if this is annoying but it just helps make sure I’m putting out better quality writing and this way I’m able to take my time with the chapters and not rush them. I’m really sorry! I hope you lot are still enjoying secret and i appreciate every one of you so much!

‘Ow!’ You hear Jaemin hiss from the other room.

You’re sitting on the sofa with Doyeon, relaxing with some ice cream and Netflix, while Jeno and Jaemin are building furniture in the nursery.

‘I’ll go see what that was-‘ you begin, but Doyeon quickly interrupts.

‘No! You stay here, I’ll go.’

A few minutes pass before she comes back to tell you that he’d only caught his finger, and that he was just ‘being dramatic.’

You were getting bored of the TV, the pixels burning harshly into your retinas. You just wanted to be left alone, or be with Jaemin. You were far too tired for all the noise and interaction that came with Jeno and Doyeon being there. You wanted to just crawl into bed and nap, your body was so achy, but you knew you couldn’t since Doyeon had come to hang out with you.

As usual, you were drowning in one of Jaemin’s hoodies, and you were using your bump as a sort of table for your ice cream.

‘I hope when that girl comes out you don’t use her body as a table,’ Doyeon remarked.

You glared at her, before saying, ’but that’s why I’m having her.’

She smirks and rolls her eyes before standing up.

‘I can tell you want to tell me to fuck off so you can go to sleep but you don’t want to.’

You look at her, attempting to feign ignorance, ‘No, of course not Do-‘

‘You forget we lived with each other for 2 years. I’m fine here ok? You go and try to have a nap through this racket.’

‘No, you came to see me-‘

‘Well I half came because Jeno was coming-‘

‘Wow, I’m hurt,’ you fake gasp, clutching your chest.

’Shut up, we all know how much you thirsted over Jaemin when you first started dating.’

‘And I do now-‘

‘Now go to bed! Or I will carry you to bed!’

You reluctantly put your ice cream back in the freezer and trudge into your room, pulling the curtains shut and shuffle your way into bed, sleep overtaking your tired and sore body.

In the nursery, Jaemin and Jeno were building the drawers that you had recently received, as well as the crib.

At first, when they’d tipped the parts out of the box, they’d sighed in defeat.

‘We’re never going to be to put this together,’ Jeno says.

‘Well, we’re going to have to. Otherwise, my child will be sleeping on the floor,’ Jaemin replies, before reaching for the instruction manual and beginning to flick through it.

‘How’s Y/N?’ Jeno asks while the Jaemin is hammering a nail into the board that Jeno was holding into place.

‘She’s ok,’ he grunts, before leaning back to take a break, ‘she just seems really tired these days. I feel bad because there’s not much I can do really. I want her to stay safe and stay relaxed as much as possible but I don’t want to stress her out too much. I don’t know… I think I’m just worrying far too much.’

‘You never used to worry like this,’ Jeno says, also leaning backwards into a sitting position.

‘There was never a baby involved then.’

‘You’ve changed a lot since Y/N got pregnant. I’m proud of you.’

‘I haven’t really felt myself changing. I think I’m just doing what feels natural.’

Jeno is silent for a while before speaking up again, ‘Are you scared?’

‘Are you kidding? I don’t know how to parent. I- I’m 19, my girlfriend is growing my first ever child and I don’t even know what to do, I don’t know how to hold her, name her, feed her-‘

‘You have your classes, Jaem,’ Jeno interrupts his rant.

‘R-right. But what if I do it wrong-‘

‘You won’t. You’re already such a dad, all you’ve done is stick up for your daughter and Y/N. The way I see it, being a parent isn’t your ability to feed or change them. It’s how much you love them and are willing to protect them. You went against Hyewon for them. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you that angry, with the thought of someone going after your family.’

‘Wow, since when did you become so old and wise?’ Jaemin laughs.

‘Shut up,’ Jeno hangs his head.

‘And anyway, what’s the deal with you and Doyeon?’

‘I would’ve thought Y/N would have told you.’

’She probably assumed you would have already told me,’ says Jaemin.

‘That’s true - I don’t know why I haven’t. It’s going well, we haven’t put a proper label on it yet but our dates have been perfect.’

‘That’s great man, I’m happy for you guys.’

‘This reminds me of when you and Y/N started dating and you’d tell me all about your dates.’

Jaemin laughs, beginning to think of all of the first times you went out with each other, smiling fondly at the memories.

There’s quite a few minutes of no talking between the two, before Jaemin sighs and stands back up.

‘We should probably keep building.’

Your eyes flutter open when you feel someone touching you.

The first person you see is Jaemin leaning over you, hand in your hair, rubbing your hairline softly with his thumb.

‘Good morning,’ he mumbles.

‘It’s morning?’ You sit up, surprised.

’Really?’

He laughs, ‘No, it’s only 7pm. I made you dinner.’

You assume this means Jeno and Doyeon have left, and that they probably finished - or massively failed - building a lot of the furniture.

You groan, feeling annoyed that he’s interrupted your precious sleep, ’Not in the mood to eat.’

‘You have to, Cletus is probably starving!’

You smile half-heartedly, ‘Give me a minute to wake up properly.’

‘Ok,’ he says, before leaning forwards and kissing you on the forehead.

You don’t want to get up, knowing you’re more eating out of pure obligation, not because you want to.

Your symptoms are always in full force in the evening, the thought of food making you feel dizzy and sick. You feel as though one bite of anything will make you throw up everywhere. You know in the back of your mind that now, more than ever you need food for your baby.

Three minutes later, you’re walking into the kitchen, arms extending above your head, eyes squeezing shut.

‘C’mon pretty girl, come sit,’ he gestures towards the empty seat.

You suddenly remember the thought you had when you had first woken up.

‘Did you finish the crib?’

‘Yeah, I unpacked some stuff too.’

You stare at him for a few seconds before saying, ‘are you gonna show me?’

‘Oh- yeah,’ he leaps to his feet before grabbing both of your hands, leading you out of the kitchen and into the hallway.

‘You didn’t have too much trouble did you?’ You joked.

‘Fuck off, we were fine,’ he laughs, before you stop in front of the nursery door.

‘Hurry up,’ you complain, dragging out the syllables and stomping your feet in a mock tantrum.

‘Patience, patience,’ he says, before leaning across you and opening the door.

The light isn’t on inside the room, its pitch black.

Jaemin turns the light on, and instantly tears fill your eyes.

In the corner, there’s a small white and grey crib, the one you had only bought last week, and inside there was a pink blanket, folded, alongside a small dog plushie.

‘You did this?’ You asked, even though you couldn’t see him through the blur of tears.

‘Who else would have?’

‘Jeno?’ you joke.

He laughs, before turning to look at the chest of drawers they’d also built that day.

‘We did those too.’

You notice there are no longer piles of stuff on the floor.

‘You put the stuff away?’ You exclaim as you rush over and start pulling draws open.

‘Of course I did,’ he smiles widely.

‘I could’ve helped.’

‘You were asleep.’

‘You should have woken me up. We could have done it together…’ you trail off.

‘I’m sorry gorgeous, next time I promise,’ he says before pulling you into a hug.

‘To make up for it, how about we go eat a nice dinner?’

‘Of course you think about food when we’re having a moment,’ you laugh, kissing him on the lips before grabbing his hand and heading to the kitchen.

taglist (send me an ask if you’d like to be added!!);

@wendyaftrnn @kayleegglass @jaeminparadise @ncityy04 @mark-zone @soleilchannie @k-n-e-o @kiyeowooncity @thatanonymousgirl-as14 @peachykrystal @jesusagrees @moloprint @nctwhippedculture @aoitorii @ahnneyong

couldn’t tag;

@freshwitchpost @r2njun @greentea-beach

[angelicichor]

Okay, here we go again, hope y’all ready.

Slashers dealing with their S/O having a mental break down pt.2 in which I’m a horrible person and Bubba baby I’m so sorry.

TW: self-degradation, mental trauma, mental break down, depression

Michael Myers (OG):

♦ The very moment the infamous Shape of Haddonfield had spared your life on that fateful Halloween night you knew that your existence would get a whole lot harder.

♦ You’ve read Doctor Loomis’ book, it created a clear image of this being before you in your head, this devil, who took people’s lives to satisfy some gross urge inside himself, some repressed emotions, some perversion, who knew.

♦ Yet as the man with the devil’s eyes moved into your house and you got to spend time with him, willingly or not, you learned there was more to him than the psychiatrist claimed. It was hard to tell what exactly you saw in him, it might’ve been pure Stockholm syndrome after being forced to stay indoors for a week just after meeting him, but you grew a bond with this murderer.

♦ It clearly wasn’t love, but rather adoration, maybe friendship, it was impossible to decide, really, somehow you doubted there was a title for what you two had, so you just decided to call it a voluntary hostage situation.

♦ It was stupid and Michael just sighed heavily through his mask when you’ve told him about the name, but it was SOMETHING.

♦ And you needed a lot of somethings to deal with him, with who he was and what hiding you at your place made you. 

♦ You’ve suffered sleepless nights because of it, all too aware what was going on when Michael was gone, noticing all the missing knives, the axe from your shed, the rope, even the blade from your lawnmower. You’d stand up in the morning only to find his bloody coveralls on the top of your dark clothing, ready for washing, while he was walking around in your ex’s pants.

♦ But even though your mind told you of all the atrocities this man committed, you couldn’t pull away from him. Something keeping you in place and you feared it was the anxious awareness that if you betrayed him, he’d know, he’d find you and he’d end you in a heart beat.

♦ Each day your sane mind told you to call the police and get under witness protection, get away from this soulless monster, start anew and once you’re old and already satisfied with the life you’ve led, you can write a book about it and live the rest of your days in luxury from your sales.

♦ But it wasn’t that easy, because the twisted part of your self was attracted to this now familiar danger. His body, his touch and his voice, only sounding for you, dark and raspy, making you tremble whenever he called out your name.

♦ You craved his dark affection, his toxic touch and those piercing eyes gazing into you with a primal possessiveness to them. He had marked you his way too many times.

♦ And within the walls of the house you used to feel at home in you felt lost, starring into the pool of red beneath your feet, still shuddering from what happened, your gut clenching at the realization that it had been the second time, too.

♦ He killed someone in front of you. 

♦ Yet this time you felt nothing, an empty, raging void sucking your heart in, as you zoned out of everything, not even able to think, an empty husk.

♦ There was some distant sensation, something dark pulling forward, a part of you tried to push it away, but it was weak and as you heard the floor boards behind you creak, it lost.

♦ “Michael… Can you… kill me?” you asked, voice devoid of emotion, cold and distant, lost, without purpose and sitting before a window you didn’t notice his reaction, the way his body stuttered, head tilting and brows furrowing under the mask. He never had it in him to take it off in front of you for longer than a minute.

♦ And you noticed it starring back at you, unmoving and that brought a tired half-smile towards your pale face, a breath of a broken laugh leaving your chest, but not mouth, giving your body a single shake. 

♦ Of course he wouldn’t take it off, why would he, for some stupid play thing like you? You were too stupid to even understand why he wore it in the first place, with his looks he could have anyone he wanted, but he settled for you, why? You were pretty sure it was only because you hadn’t annoyed him that much when he tried to kill you, he just thought you were simple and stupid, perfect to use and throw away once he got bored, but now you wished so hard that he’d get it over with and move on.

♦ “Michael, I’m tired.” you murmured, and if listening to your words your brain let the wave of exhaustion wash over your face, body and soul, letting that one feeling go, your hands grasping at your hair, again blind to the twitch in his hands.

♦ “I’m grateful that you let me live then and… I adore you in a way I guess, though don’t ask me why, I don’t really understand myself.” you didn’t see him, but heard his footsteps, coming closer, but slowly, almost hesitantly. But you were sure he was just mocking you for being weak in front of him, drawing out your anxiety, the other feeling that slipped through the iron curtain your mind had set.

♦ “I just can’t handle it anymore, I know I’m pathetic, a coward, but I’ve been bearing with your… tendencies for so long… I’ve accepted you because there’s some fucked up part of me that wants to be with you but… I can’t handle being your toy, Michael… not anymore. I have feelings, too many of them, and they just… “ you didn’t get to finish, as The Shape pulled at your shoulder harshly towards him. 

♦ His throat clenched when you didn’t even make a sound, your tired, blank stare welcoming him instead. “Please, Michael. I can’t risk everything for someone who can never care for me.“ you spoke still, the darkness in your heart leaking, drop by drop, filling you to the brim as you smiled still, letting tears run down your cheeks. And at the angle he held you at you couldn’t even see the anger his eyes conveyed, but you could sense it. “I know this isn’t your fault.” And all too suddenly it was gone. “But I need you to let me go now. You’ll find someone better, prettier, maybe smart enough to give you enough stability to take get rid of this mask… Because god, you know I’m just a dumb little thing.” you huffed a laughter and yet he was still, unmoved, just like he always was, so you risked it, grabbing his hand and pushing your neck into it, anger overtaking your eyes. “Just fucking finish the job, Myers.” you cried, closing your eyes the moment his fingers tightened around you neck, squeezing tight. 

♦ And the feeling of relief in your gut was just sickening.

♦ Yet as you waited for your pipes to close, for a snap of your neck, for the stinging pain of his knife, nothing came. Instead your head spun with the sudden sensation of both of your cheeks being grabbed, painfully, but almost gently.

♦ You dared to open your eyes and froze instantly.

♦ “No.” Michael spoke from above you, digging his nails into your soft skin, his expression fixed into pure rage and you gulped. “You’re mine.” The growling of his voice made you tremble, eyes tearing up once more, landing on his rough fingers. “And you will be till the day I die.” He pressed his forehead against yours, his blue eye making your very souls shiver as it’s gaze connected with your own, letting you soak in the pure obsessiveness of it’s nature.

♦ And you nodded gently, struggling to catch air, clawing at his dark shirt in a desperate attempt to ground yourself to something, anything.

♦ And for once, Michael reached out to you without the intent to harm, pulling you into his chest and sitting still, letting you steal just of tiny bit of his emotion.

♦ And you whimpered in joy, realizing just how horrible of a person you were.

Bubba Sawyer:

♦ You didn’t mean to scream.

♦ Or at least not at the person you did.

♦ Both Drayton and Nubbins looked at you appalled, as their sweetest family member let his head lower, taking in your words.

♦ This whole day was horrible from the start, you waking up with a headache, no motivation, the old man calling you down to trick you into feeding grandpa, then Nubbins came, insisting on showing you his knife and attempting to cut you with it, much to Drayton’s disapproval. 

♦ You’ve been walking around irritated as all hell the whole day, but once dinner rolled on, everything was just too much. Four screaming, kicking people were shoved towards the table and sat down, much to their protest, muted by the duck tape around their heads.

♦ Then Nubbins decided that it would’ve been a great idea to rip the gags off! With a knife! Laughing maniacally through the whole thing and the screams that mixed in with it soon after really didn’t help your migraine, neither did the ceremonial smashing heads in with a hammer, as Drayton missed on purpose to scare the poor, poor girl that was chosen to be first.

♦ And of course somebody had to wiggle out of the rope and hold a knife to your back, not realizing that you could, in fact, defend yourself by grabbing a plate and smashing it in his face.

♦ Then there was that chainsaw, oh, it was family, alright.

♦ Family of loud, annoying noises swearing to rip your poor brain to shreds, because there were no pain killers ANYWHERE in the house, of course there wouldn’t be! Drayton took them almost every day to ease his back pains, even though everybody knew damn well he was just tense and needed to find somebody to massage him, because neither you nor Nubbins would do it and Bubba… was a wild card.

♦ The poor boy.

♦ He just caught you at your worst moment, when you were about to tip over, having noticed that you were agitated the whole day and babbling to you in his sweet, darling voice, asking if you wan”ted to go rest.

♦ And that high pitched series of noises was enough for you to raise your voice.

♦ “CAN’T YOU FUCKING SHUT UP?!” You shrieked, not even pointing the complaint at him, but with the whole situation, it landed right at his heart.

♦ And you were god damn heart broken the moment you realized what you’ve just done.

♦ “Oh no…” he shook slightly, eyes focused on the ground as you stood up from your chair and fretted towards him. “Bubba, baby, I’m so sorry I-I didn’t…” you started, reaching out towards his masked face, but his sudden hold on your hands stopped you, making you look up at him in worry.

♦ He was pouting, but in that way that let you know he was angry and this time it was your turn to hang your head, pure shame flooding your heart.

♦ Bubba’s big, meaty and incredibly warm hand shifted to somehow fit into yours and with annoyed grumbles he pulled you to follow him and you did, ignoring Nubbins singing about you being in trouble.

♦ The big man brought you to your shared room and lightly pushed you onto the bed, making you exhaust a small huff as you hit the springy mattress. You sat up and to your shock you found Bubba kneeling down in front of you, lips still pouting, but head forcing it’s way onto your lap with a dissatisfied whine.

♦ You immediately started stroking his head, giving him small kisses in the process, calming him down as you explained your day to him, hoping he could forgive you.

♦ And when he took his boots off and climbed on the bed with you, pulling your small frame into his strong arms, you felt your whole body soften and tears ran down your cheeks, your whole being getting pulled into the worst crying fit you’ve ever had, even as a baby.

♦ And being the sweetheart that he was, Bubba was soon joining you in your messy love confessions and needy attempts at cuddling, which just ended with you sitting up, legs wrapped around each other’s waists (which was mostly just Bubba’s body making your disappear, like a true magician) and falling into a fit of crying, kisses and mumbling.

♦ When Drayton finally came to check on you, you were both asleep, eyes red from all the crying, but grinning like damned fools even while deep in dreams, hugging as much of each other as you could.

♦ And somehow three hours later your migraine was just a thing of the past, your new found motivation leading you to stand up and make everybody a tray of cookies.

♦ They deserved it, those beautiful bastards.

[awkwardplant]

Sci-fi/Misc Short Story: Diorama

Weary travellers entered a building to escape from the zombies that had been chasing them. Night-time drew closer and only a little bit of sunlight filtered through the large dusty windows at either side of the room. Despite the dust, everything here looked pristine, unsurprising as it didn't seem the materials here were much use to survivalists.

"Is that an easel?" Johnny the Veterinarian wandered over to the contraption, lifting away a greyed cloth covering it, revealing a canvas with a few marks of brown oil pastels.

A younger member of the team who refered to himself as the Tailor (everyone else called him Ed, or the Cosplay Guy, or That Teenager) dove into some drawers and boxes. "Please tell me there's a non electrical sewing machine, or fabrics, ooh I'll even take sequins at this point! Anything I don't have to make from scratch."

"Don't think this type of place will have those kinda things, Ed. Looks like a kindergarten's arts and crafts room." said Johnny. "Might have glitter though."

Paul the Farmer rolled his eyes at his group. "No point lookin round 'ere, let's settle down, find somethin soft, and kip for the night." He shrugged off his backpack which carried the all the bare essentials it could hold, and popped his spine with a groan. "Food chain these days is all outta whack I tell ye."

At the entrance, Melissa the Engineer boarded up the door with some convenient planks of wood, nails, and a hammer she carried everywhere. "Oughta keep them out. Phew. Bit cold in here isn't it?"

Melissa's daughter, Isla the six year old, stood in the middle of the art studio, eyes filled with wonder at all the creations. Clay sculptures of graceful torsos, pencil drawings of still lifes that looked more or less exactly like the sketches, completed oil paintings of landscapes hung on the wall next to colorful, abstract ones.

Isla spied a light still on behind a door to another room left slightly ajar. "I see a light, do you think someone lives here?"

All the adults tensed and raised their weapons, eyes peering in the direction Isla curiously tiptoed towards. Paul hissed at her to slow down, firmly grabbing her shoulder and pulling her back behind him as he stared ahead. The air was silent aside from the floorboard's weak groans that sounded like a sigh of relief at the return of humans gracing its surface.

Johnny tapped lightly on the door which opened without any creaks or spooky noises, and revealed a warm orange glow of a desk lamp. The desk was cluttered with tiny objects you would expect to see at much bigger sizes such as doors and furniture. Several drawers of multiple sizes surrounded and sat on the desk filled to the brim with paints, glue, craft knives and other materials. A single mug rested on a green cutting board with some stale coffee inside.

Isla squeaked in delight as she darted across the room. "Mommy! There's dollhouses here!"

Melissa strode towards her daughter, blinking in surprise when seeing there was in fact what appeared to be multiple dollhouses meticulously displayed in glass cases on many shelves.

"Some strange looking dollhouses," Ed said. "Why would a kid want to play with a dollhouse that looks like a swamp?" He tilted his head, narrowing his eyes at the minature shack on stilts that sat atop fake greenery and resin water.

Paul chuckled. "And this ane's even got tiny critters from my farm! Now tell me that isnae just the spittin image of my wee goat." He tapped the glass of a mini farm with toy animals placed in the field.

"I think, uh..." Johnny clicked his fingers, brow furrowing. "I swear I remember... Ah well, I don't know the proper name of them but I've seen train sets that have these kind of things, do you know what I mean?"

"Yeah!" Melissa chirped. "This is how they used to make movie sets isn't it? Because back then they didn't have CGI to make places they couldn't afford to go to when filming."

"And humanity has reverted back to that time period." sighed Ed, who greatly missed his Friday night Star Wars rewatches with his friends. "Maybe even further back than that. Losing the internet was like losing the Library of Alexandria."

All of them wandered around the shelves to look at all the miniature sets. Mountains formed purely by plastic foam, a landscape of a picnic inside an open altoid tin, a greenhouse cluttered with plants no bigger than a pinkie finger. Some miniatures sat on the floor, the ones that were massive compared to the other sets yet still very tiny versions of medieval castles and gothic architecture.

Melissa stopped in front of a small library room that had holes in the ceiling with trees growing beneath them, books and furniture meticulously littered everywhere. Flashbacks to her days studying in her hometown's library filled her mind.

"This is what they thought the apocalypse would look like." she said, with tears welling up in her eyes. "They thought- they- they made art of stuff like this because they imagined it would look beautiful. How could they romanticise such disaster?"

Johnny walked up next to her, crouching down to see inside the library. "Hauntingly beautiful, maybe. I do remember certain types of people were fascinated with the idea of nature reclaiming the lands that humans built on."

"And that idea was dumb," said Paul. "Because now the deer are overpopulated and they destroyed the forests, and who knows what other animals are causing chaos without conservationists."

"There are pros and cons to everything that happens." Johnny replied. "But yes, it doesn't help that the handful of humans that are left don't know how to handle this... resurgence of nature."

Isla looked around, peering back through the door to the main room of the art studio. "This library dollhouse looks just like real life doesn't it? It's like we're little dolls too."

Melissa smiled sadly, stroking her daughter's hair. "It does put things in perspective." She hoped things would settle down enough for her to be able to teach Isla things she had learned in school at her age.

"The Earth is the size of a pinprick compared to the sun and we're all just ants in the grand scheme of things." Ed said, and one could guess he was trying to imagine how small he was compared to the Starkiller base.

Paul snorted. "But bigger than regular old ants and smart enough to put together nicknacks that make ladies cry." He nudged Melissa teasingly.

Eventually, the group finally realized that the lamp was connected to a solar powered generator with a back up of energy reserved and they attempted to recharge their walkie talkies. After a few near-electrocutions, they finally connected to a radio station broadcasting a rather laid back distress signal.

"This is DJ Smooth calling out to anyone, God, just anyone out there, from the abandoned military base in Alconbury. Been out here for uh, 3 months now, there's not been any zombie sightings for a while and I have been sooo bored. Come find me and we can hang out, maybe fight over my remaining supplies so I can remember how to feel something that isn't dissociation. Stay tuned after this music break for the co-ordinates to my location, and my heart. See ya soon cuties. Over."

Later that night everyone created some makeshift beds out of the cloths that had covered some artworks and easels, which Ed would repurpose at some point during their travels to make some new socks. They all lay on their backs in the dark, close to each other to conserve warmth. If there were any zombies outside they didn't hear them, only the rush of wind and rain pattering on the windows.

"Mommy," Isla whispered. "I liked the song that the man on the radio played."

"Yeah sweetie, I liked it too. It was... something from the 90's? I think? Probably not age appropriate but you didn't understand it so it's fine, I guess. Something funny to look back on one day."

Isla rolled over onto her stomach to look at her mom. "When we go back to Paul's farm I want to play the guitar we found."

"We can't go... Tell you what Isla, we'll go see the music man from the radio, and he'll help us cure the zombies, and then we can get everyone an instrument and all make music together."

"Yes! That's a good idea!"

"And we can do plays in theatres and make movies again." Ed added shyly.

"Movies that don't involve zombies and will make us forget this shitshow ever happened." Johnny sighed, unable to close his eyes and dreading the nightmares.

Paul growled and hushed the others, but then he said "Doesnae matter if zombies are out for us and we've got no artsy stuff, we can still sing."

They all sang Country Roads quietly (Isla could only sing the chorus yet sang with such sincerity), with gentle echoes of their melody bouncing off the walls of the art studio until they fell asleep.

The next day they left to find the military base and made up new songs along the way, with renewed and desperate hope that they might find a cure for the zombies someday soon.

The end.

[popculturebuffet]

Star Vs the Forces of Evil Reviews: The Blood Moon Ball (1-15)

Welcome back.. though to most of you probably just joining me, welcome. I’ve been on a sorta hiatus from revewiing due to a combination of procrastination, depression, and being really busy. But I finally decided it was time to put boots to the ground and get back to doing what I love: Going on way too long about children’s television.  As such, with She Ra taking a bow a few weeks back and nailing it I got to thinking about another show that just so happened to end the year before: Star Vs the Forces of Evil. Part of it was very simple: She ra ended on a trriumphant note, making a well set up romance that had been it’s backbone canon, having a wonderful final battle, tons of payoff and a throughly happy ending that satisfied all involved and got tons of well earned coverage for having a deep, meaningful relationship between two lesbians finally coming together being the thing that saves the universe. It was freaking great.  Meanwhile a year prior Star Vs, after having been treated like toilet dinner by disney for no good reason by having it’s final season shoved out over a few sundays after a yearlong hiatus.. ended not with a bang, but with a wah wah trumpet. The series ending was unsatisfying, left more questions than answers, had the title character loose all likeablity and was in general miserable. I hadn’t been this pissed off at a finale since How I Met Your Mother and hadn’t seen a romance botched this badly in animation since “Merry Christmas Mordecai”. It was BADDDDD.  However it did make me want to go back to the series; To revisit the good, the bad and the just plain weird to remember what made me love the series, what made me want to throw my tv into a river before reminding myself “No dude, shit’s expensive. “, and what COULD have been, what SHOULD have been and what WASN’T. So i’ll be reviewing assorted episodes.. and the best place to start for me was with the introduction of one of the series best characters, as well as at the same time the start of a ship that was a good idea at first but would slowly take the series down with it as it started to fall apart. This is Blood Moon Ball. There will be blood, and a dead horse, after the cut. 

Before we get into the episode, one of the series most notable and honestly a damn good one, for those 2 of you not familiar with the series a quick refresher: Star VS is the story of Star Butterfly, a rebelious 14 year old princess from the Kingdom of Mewni. Mewni is your standard medievil fantasy kingdom.. but you know with wifi because they have magic compacts that work as phones and large sale acess to the multiverse. Their also ruled over by a long sucession of queens with great and terrible magic power, which is channeld through an increidbly powerful wand that’s passed down from generation to generation.  On her 14th birthday Star gets her turn with the wand.. and not long after sets everything on fire. Not wanting the kingdom to get blown up while Star figures out thing, her parents send her to Earth, and after bribing the school principal into enroling her, that’s not a joke on my part but an actual joke from the pilot, Star soon becomes an exchange student, boarding with the Diazes and soon becoming best friends with their teenage son Marco, a saftey obessed, shy talented martial artist. The two are frequently forced to beat up the hordes of Ludo, a spoiled monster king who wants the wand for himself. Things would get way darker... like in literally two seconds as the revelation star’s people stole mewni from the monsters and Star’s hatred being revealed to be partly racisim instead of standard hero and villian stuff. But that’s for future reviews. Today we have demons, internet commentors and ship tease to get to. So with the basic premise set up let’s finally get on with it.  We open on the arrival of my boy and yours, hopefully, Tom Lucitor. Tom is the prince of the underworld, basically exactly what it sounds like: fire, brimstone, demons spooky scary skeltons sending shivers up your spine. He’s also Star’s ex boyfriend. How they broke up is.. never really explained. While more details about their relationship, includign the fact Tom bought Star her iconic Devil Horn headband on their frist date, were revealed in the tie-in spellbook, and reveals that star’s arson that got her sent to mewni happened right after her and tom broke up, but never explains WHY.  My guess is since the series clearly frames the breakup as Tom’s fault in this episode and on his anger, they probably didn’t want a scene of him screaming his head off at star, either to keep him sympathetic or , more likely, because a scene of a teenage girl watching her boyfriend having a rage fueld breakdown that leads to htem breaking up would be MASSIVELY uncomfortable to watch and unlike some uncomfortable to watch scenes, wouldn’t tell us anything we didn’t know already. So unlike some later things they never pulled the trigger on this one at least makes sense.  Anywho, Tom arrives, parking in the handicap spot (a nice little gag as Star’s crush at the time Oskar points it out, while the dead skeletal horse pulling tom’s carriage turns around to look at him), and all the girls stop and stare.. including Janna, who would probably regret this moment once she realize tom was a bad boy because he’s socially awkard and has anger issues. Basically he’s Kylo Ren but his redemption dosen’t come straight out of JJ Abrhams ass.  Tom arrives at Star’s classroom, removes his shade and damn if he dosen’t have game.. but naturally showing up unnannaounced to her school (Not that TOm probably gets what school is as Mewni dosen’t have those, but still), basically assuming she’ll go out with him, after they had a messy breakup it dosen’t go well and we get a great cut of Star shoving tom back into his carriage.. we also get the best joke of the episode.  Star: So take your invitation and your fire and your dead horse and go.  Dead Horse: wait.. i’m dead? Sad but hilarious. Anyways it’s quickly conved to viewers like us that Tom has anger problems, but he insists to star he’s doing better: he has an anger managment counsler he takes with him places, Brian, voiced by the wonderful and weirdly in Disney’s pocket these days Stephen Root, and a bunny he pets. Before star can pet said bunny Marco , KARATE CHOPS TOM’S HAND OFF.. I just.. until this review I hadn’t sat back to consider just how freakishly strong that boy is , that he can just accidently chop off a hand. I mean tom may have weak joints or something but even after taking far worse blows later on his hands just.. don’t come off. Tom flies itnto a rage and it becomes clear that yeah, whatever happened, it was tom’s fault, and given the kind of rage she flies into, you can see why i’d assume the writers really didn’t want the audience to see him at his worst. I certainly don’t.  Star both worried and clearly having seen this sort of thing go bad before urges Marco to run but tom quickly recovers, both reuniting with his hand and having calmed down, and he and Marco are formally introduced, with star explaning the invite. We also get a great line with marco encouraging her “Star never go with a preadator to a second location”. This show was damn good at getting shit past the radar and i’m here for it. Anyways, Star isn’t quite sold despite tom clearly TRYING to get better, and Tom , in a really nice  move, gives her a bell and tiny hammer to summon his carriage with if she decides to go but leaves it up to her, not pressuring her or anything. For how selfish tom is initially.. this is a spark that shows h’es not a TERRIBLE person, just one who has some growing up to do. Marco however is not convinced and wants to go with, with Star teling him no because A) he wasn’t invited and it’d be rude to ask and B), she appricates the concerns but she can handle this, and implicily, despite her reckless nature knows this is a risk but knows if the night turns she can handle Tom, and that maybe he’s changed. Marco insists Tom can’t change.. which I find hilarious given his massive character arc to the point I had as eires ofessays planned, and one don about his growth before deciding to change formats to doing each ep of his journey instead every so often, to the point where two years on in the series timeline.. we’ve gone from Marco thinking Tom is a predator to...

But star decides to go and .. it’s clear from the subtext that while part of it is clear concern for star, Marco’s line about “it being fun here all the time” may mean that while he DOES have the best intentions.. part of him is jealousssssss. More on that in a bit.  For now we go to the underworld with the second best gag of the episode as Tom is toning down the spookiness to please star, and one of the guys in the picture at the top insults him... and when tom asks which one he says me. We sadly don’t get an answer but it’s small gags like this that made me want to do this episode by episode. Star arrives.. and things quickly go south. Tom tries giving her a corsage that’s a live spider and she rejects it. This admitely looks bad on both as Tom , living in you know, a hell dimenson probably sees it as a sweet gesture, and Star is refusing it.. but star does so POLITELY, and for understandable reasons, and Tom is still clearly pissed about it. Not long after, they line up for what’s essentially a prom photo.. and to get Carried by a bucket of unicorn blood, another nice little gag. Star refuses since well her best friend is a unicorn, one of them anyway, or at least it’s head.. and yes one of the species in this series multiverse is a bunch of headless unicorns. IT’s wonderful. And star also notices tom needs his anger managment bunny and is clearly pissed about it when, having dated her for several months, clearly should’ve KNOWN this might bother her.  That’s really tom’s problem here: He wants everything his way on his terms and only compromises if he thinks it’ll get star to do things with him. He’s made the PRETENSE of changing.. but he really dosen’t WANT to yet. He just wants her back and wants to change just enough to get her back so he can stop trying again. He also may , due to the underworld being diffrent and a place where being covered in a bucket of blood is a time honored tradition instead of the thing that turns a young mutant into a mass murderer, and yes I think a carrie x-men crossover would be the shit. He probably dosen’t GET that star wouldn’t like a spider corasge or bathing in her best friends blood.. but the problem isn’t that. that’s culture shock, that can be bridged with some talk.. the problem is tom dosen’t want to talk, he just wants her to do what he wants and things to be all cool and to get his way. Being a prince with two loving parents, we’ll meet them soon enough just not this episode, and tons of servants, I get the impressionf rom this and other episodes tom simply isn’t USED to not getting what he wants.He’s not USED to being told “No”, and thus has no way to deal with it healthily and isntead lashes out like an angry toddler. It dosen’t make his actions RIGHT but it does make them more understandable and makes it so Tom’s later growth FEELS natural depsite some of his sketchier actions beforehand. 

Back at Marco’s house, Marco is depressed eating nachos in a sumbrero.. which if I had corn chips, cheese and a sombrero would probably be my daily life right about now. It’s then we get a WEIRD dropped bit, as Marco hears a weird piratey voice telling him the blood moon is the moon for lovers and stuff. This is IMPLIED to be his monster arm, from an earlier episode.. but it’s.. never explained. Whatever it was going to be was dropped. Which would be fine if the blood moon itself and the end of this episode didn’t get a full explination in season 4 with the writers clearly going back to it to resolve the dangling thread.. but still not explaning the spooky voice. I mean what was it? Marco’s pirate ancestor? the sea captain from the simpsons? the monster arm? terry that bastard? Burt Macklin FBI? Old Man Withers the guy who runs the amusment park? Dirk Dastardely? A sentient payphone? The alps? Tell us damn you! Okay that tangent aside Marco decides to party crash at the advice of the ominous voice.. seriously is it Flintheart Glomgold? Nevermind. Back at the ball star is bonding with a small skeletal fish int he magma punch whent his random asshole comes up and whines for a good minute,if hilariously so, about the ball being changed.

He’s feels, looks and acts like the combination of those morons who were mad adora wasn’t “as hot” in the she ra reboot and was aged down to a teenager and the threw it on the ground guy.  After that interlude, tom shoos away a guy asking star to dance and the guy makes vauge comments about tom wanting his and star’s souls to be link while making kissy nosies. Before Tom can explain what he means by that, or at least lie about what he means by that, the blood moon is about the drop, the lights turn red and tom walks off because he wants the music to be perfect. And then Marco arrives in his really damn cool calevara outfit. Which fair play, I can see why, besides ship reasons, it gets a lot of art: it looks really damn neat.  Speaking of shipping.. it’s time. Star, not realizing it’s marco, dances with him.. quite romantically in fact. It’s here that the show conciously starts Shipping star and marco together. Starco is born, and the scnee is really good: romantic, well animated, jsut great all around. While the ship would .. end up done rather poorly and lead to some really terrible stuff at the time.. it wasn’t abd and already shipping them I loved this and even now, even knowing what woudl come later... it’s not a bad sequence. The only bad thing is what would come later, but I can’t fault the writers of THIS EP for what they would do in a LATER ONE. That’s just not fair. The ship wasn’t bad to start and the later arc springing from it in season 2 would be good.. it just quickly went in bad directions as the series went on , then disappeared, then how it finallyc ame about was just awful. But as much as I want to.. I can’t blame the sequence on this. It didn’t create rabid shippers or poor writing, it was just good and deserves to be praised as such.  Naturally tom takes this about as well as me when I found out HBO max wouldn’t be on roku at launch and prepares to murder Marco.. and promptly gets frozen by star who decides to wisely get out of there. It’s a ncie moment.. and  reminder that Star is crazy powerful, as is the wand itself, because as we’ll see later, tom is no slouch himself in the power department, but even if her attack was from behind, she still stopped him in one move.  So Star takes marco home and dresses him down for sneaking in, understandbly so: while it was an iffy situation, Star knew who she was dealing with and as shown at the end, was strong enough that tom was no threat to her, and given what we learn later, Tom’s parents would likely never let her come to real harm. For all her reckless decision making, Star thought this one out and Marco shoudl’ve repsectied that and didn’t for his own reasons. To his credit though he apologizes, Star admits to liking the dance, then the two speak in unison a few times, and we wont’ get followup on that till the last season! Roll credits. I don’t have the credits for this episode so enjoy this instead:

Final Thoughts: Blood Moon Ball is a spectacular ep. A good plot, a great introduction for tom, and great animation and humor really make the episode pop and it’s nice to get our first look at the underworld and tom himself. Tom would be back, and i’ll be back to tom eventually, but on it’s own the episode is really good and it’s standout sequence still holds up even as starco ended up in the sewer quality wise. All in all a great ep and a great starting point if you haven’t watched the show yet.  Coming Soon: A return to Star in the near future probably since Tom is great and his second ep deserves love too, as do several other star eps, as well as a look at the saluna episodes of the loud house because i’m in a gay mood for obvious reasons, and a loud house mood for less obvious reasons. Until then, feel free to hit me up with asks with suggestions or commisosns for future reviews, and until next time, later days. 

[lvrdfiji]

Top 10 greatest inventions That Changed the World

Human beings are a nifty little species. Though we have been on earth for a comparatively short period of time (Earth is normally 4. five billion years old), contemporary Homo sapiens possess imagined up and created some amazing, far-out sometimes, things. From the brief moment somebody bashed a rock on the ground to make the first sharp-edged tool, to the very first of the wheel to the development of Roter planet (umgangssprachlich) rovers and the Internet, several key advancements stick out as revolutionary particularly. Here are our top picks for the most crucial inventions of all right time, along with the science at the rear of the invention and how they will come into being.

1- wheel

Prior to the invention of the wheel in 3500 M. C., humans were limited in just how much stuff we’re able to transport over land severely, and how much. Evidently, the wheel itself wasn’t the most challenging component of “inventing the steering wheel. ” In order to come period for connecting a non-moving system compared to that rolling cylinder, issues got difficult, relating to David Anthony, a teacher of anthropology at Hartwick College. “The stroke of brilliance was the wheel-and-axle idea, ” Anthony told Live Technology previously. “But then which makes it was also hard. ” For example, the holes at the guts from the tires as well as the ends of the set axle assemblies had to be almost perfectly circular and soft, he stated. How big is the axle was a crucial factor also, as was it is snugness inside the hole (of course not too small, however, not as well lose, either). The hard work paid, big time period. Wheeled carts facilitated commerce and agriculture by enabling the transportation of goods to and from marketplaces, and also easing the burdens of people touring great distances. Right now, wheels are essential to the lifestyle, present in from lighting to automobiles to generators.

2- The nail

Without nails, civilization would crumble. This important invention goes back a lot more than 2, 000 years to the Ancient Roman period, and became feasible just after human beings developed the capability to cast and form metal. Previously, hardwood structures needed to be built by interlocking adjacent boards a more arduous construction process geometrically. Before the 1790s and early 1800s, hand-wrought nails were typical, with a blacksmith heating a square iron rod and hammering it on four sides to make a point then, according to the College or the University of Vermont. Nail-making machines came between the 1790s and the early 1800s online. Technology for designing nails continued to progress; After Holly Bessemer created an activity to mass-produce metal from iron, the iron fingernails of yesteryear waned and by 1886, ten percent of U. S. fingernails were produced from soft steel wire, regarding the School of Vermont. By 1913, 90 percent of nails stated in the U. S. was a metal wire. In the meantime, the mess a more powerful but harder to- insert securer is considered to have been invented simply by the Greek college student Archimedes in the 3rd century B. C.

3- The compass

Old mariners navigated by the stars, but that technique did not work throughout the day or on cloudy evenings, therefore it had been unsafe to voyage far from land. The Chinese invented the first compass sometime between your 11th and 9th century; it was made of lodestone, a naturally-magnetized iron ore, the appealing properties which they had been learning for years and years. (Pictured is a style of a historical Chinese compass from the Ryan Dynasty; it really is a south-indicating ladle, or Sinan, manufactured from polished lodestone. ) Soon, the technology passed to Arabs and Europeans through nautical contact. The compass enabled mariners to navigate definitely not land safely, raising ocean trade and adding to age Development.

Also, learn Why Inventors Switch to Professionals Like Invent Help

4- The printing press

The German Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press around 1440. Key to its advancement was the tactile hand’s mold, a fresh molding technique that allowed the quick creation of large levels of metallic movable type. Although others before him - including inventors in Cina and Korea - acquired developed portable type made from steel, Gutenberg was the first ever to create a mechanical procedure that transferred the ink (which he created from linseed essential oil and soot) from the removable type to paper. With this movable type process, printing presses increased the acceleration with which book copies could possibly be made exponentially, and thus they led to the widespread and rapid dissemination of knowledge for the very first time in history. Twenty million volumes have been printed in Western European countries by truck. Among other activities, the printing press allowed wider usage of the Somebody, which resulted in alternative interpretations, including those of Martin Luther, whose “95 Theses” a document imprinted by the hundred-thousand sparked the Protestant Reformation

5- The inner combustion engine

In these motors, the burning of gas releases a high-temperature gas, which, since it expands, applies a potent force to a piston, moving it all. Thus, combustion engines convert chemical substance energy into mechanized work. Years of architectural by many scientists proceeded to go into designing the inner combustion engine, which required its (essentially) modern type in these half from the 19th hundred years. The engine ushered in the Commercial Age group, as well as allowing the invention of an enormous variety of machines, including modern aircraft and cars. Pictured will be the operating steps of a four-stroke inner burning engine. The strokes are the following: 1) Intake stroke - air flow and vaporized gas are used. 2) Compression stroke - energy vapor and air flow are compressed and ignited. 3) Power heart stroke - gasoline combusts and the piston is pushed down, powering the device. 4) Exhaust system stroke – exhaust is certainly driven out.

6- The phone

Though several inventors do pioneering work on the electronic tone of voice transmission ( many of who later submitted intellectual real estate lawsuits when telephone make use of exploded), Alexander Graham Bell was the first to be awarded an obvious for the electric phone in 1876. His patent drawing above is pictured. Even though many creators did pioneering focus on digital voice transmission ( a lot of whom later on filed rational property legal cases when telephone use exploded), Alexander Graham Bell was the first ever to end up being awarded a patent pertaining to the electrical telephone in 1876. ( His patent drawing is usually above. ) He drew his motivation from teaching the deaf and appointments to his hearing-impaired mother also, according to PBS. He called the initial phone an “ electric speech machine, ” relating to PBS. The invention took off and revolutionized global communication and business. When Bell passed away upon Aug. two, 1922, regarding PBS, U. H. telephone assistance stopped for a full minute to honor him.

7- The lamp

When all you need is daylight, productivity is bound to hours of sunlight. Lights changed the global world by allowing us to be active at night. According to historians, two dozen individuals were a key component in inventing incandescent lights through the entire 1800s; Thomas Edison is definitely acknowledged as the principal inventor as they produced a totally functional light system, including wiring and generator in addition to the carbon-filament bulb like the one above, in 1879. And also starting the introduction of electrical power in homes throughout the burkha, this invention also had a fairly unexpected consequence of fixing people’s rest patterns. Rather than going to sleep in nightfall (having nothing at all otherwise to accomplish ) and sleeping in sections through the entire night separated by intervals of wakefulness, we have now stay up except for the 7 to 8 hours allotted meant for sleep, and, ideally, we rest all of them at once.

Also, learn The vibrant business of invention ideas

8- Penicillin

Is actually probably the most famous discovery tales ever sold. In 1928, the Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming observed a bacteria- packed Petri dish in his lab with its cover accidentally ajar. The test experienced become contaminated with a mold, and the mold was almost everywhere, the bacterias were lifeless. That antiseptic mold ended up being the infection Penicillium, and over another 2 decades, chemists purified it and created the drug Penicillin, which fights a wide array of microbial attacks in humans without harming the human beings themselves. Penicillin was being produced and advertised by 1944 mass. This poster mounted on a curbside mailbox advised World Battle II servicemen to consider the medication to rid themselves of venereal disease. About 1 in 10 folks have an allergic attack towards the antibiotic, according to the study published in 2003 in the journal Clinical Critiques in Immunology and Allergy; even so, most of those social people go on to be able to tolerate the drug, experts said.

9- Contraceptives

Not really only have birth control pills, condoms and other forms of contraceptive sparked a sexual trend in the developed globe by enabling women and men to have sexual intercourse designed for leisure instead of procreation, they will also have significantly reduced the common quantity of offspring per woman in countries exactly where they are utilized. With fewer mouths to feed, modern families have achieved higher standards of living and can offer better for every young child. On the other hand, around the global level, contraceptives are helping the human population level off gradually; our amount will stabilize by the finish of the century probably. Certain preventive medicines, such as for example condoms, curb the pass on of sexually transmitted illnesses also. Herbal and organic contraception offers been used for millennia. Condoms arrived to use in the eighteenth century, as the earliest oral contraceptive “the tablet ” was developed in the past due 1930s by a chemist called Russell Marker. Researchers are ongoing to create developments in the contraceptive, with some labs even pursuing a male form of “the pill. ” A permanent birth-control implant called Essure was approved by the Drug and Food Administration in 2002, though in 2016, the implant was warned by the FDA would need more powerful warnings to tell users about serious risks of using Essure.

10- The internet

It certainly desires no introduction: The global program of connected with each other computer systems referred to as the web is used simply by billions of individuals worldwide. Countless people helped develop this, however, the person most credited using its invention is the computer scientist Lawrence Roberts often. In the 1960s, a united team of pc scientists doing work for the U. Ersus. Protection Department’s ARPA (Advanced STUDIES Agency) built a communications network to connect the computer systems in the company, called ARPANET. It used a way of data tranny known as “packet switching” which usually Roberts, a known member of the team, developed predicated on the prior function of additional computer researchers. ARPANET was your predecessor of the web.

[veinsandknuckles]

It's a bad life if you don't weaken, pt 5 (Tallahassee/Reader)

You had found a house. You’d found plenty of houses along the way, but this one looked especially promising with its two stories, a tall foundation that left the front door as the only entrance you’d need to guard, wide fields spreading out in every direction to lay bare anyone, dead or alive, who might try to sneak up on you. There were old tire marks in the soil running towards and away from the building, the latest set belonging to a car parked awkwardly against a wall with leaves and debris scattered on the roof - no one living was staying here.

Tallahassee tried to kick in the door and made a wonderful scene when it swung open without any effort, leaving him to land face first on the hallway carpet.

He looked so baffled and crestfallen when he got back to his feet that the three of you laughed at him even harder and he turned tail and ran on into the house until he found a door that hadn’t already been kicked in by some other survivor. You heard a crash, boots running across wooden floors, then another crash. Columbus and Little Rock entered after him and fanned out like a well practiced SWAT team to make sure Tallahassee’s display hadn’t awakened anything.

You carried in the bags, pushed the door back into its frame and secured it with the hallway cabinet and, gun at the ready, went to explore the next floor up. Those fools were making a lot of noise down there but you were sure by now that the house was empty. Thanks to their eager bad-ass antics, you had first choice of bedrooms.

Tallahassee came up the stairs once he’d gotten some of the smashing out of his system and he froze in the doorway to the master bedroom, his grin twisting into a mask of utter grief.

“No,” he breathed.

You were sprawled on the king-size bed, arms crossed behind your head, legs stretched out and luxuriating on the soft sheets. With a smile, you made the bed bounce and there wasn’t so much as a squeak of complaint from the springs. Three of you could have fit on the bed without brushing up against each other. “Oh yeah,” you purred. “This house was a great pick, Tallahassee - I can really see us making ourselves at home here.”

The other two finally caught on to what was happening and followed close behind. Little Rock elbowed Tallahassee aside and cursed at you. “Come on! I’m not sleeping on the floor again - Tallahassee, tell her.”

“Oh, wow,” came Columbus’ voice from somewhere down the hall, “this room is so nice! Hm, doilies.”

Little Rock bolted immediately and through the walls you could hear her flinging herself onto the bed in there and shouting “dibs!”

Tallahassee’s face was dark, and he glanced towards where your hand rested on your gun. “I could have you over my shoulder and out of here quicker’n you could get the safety off of that thing, missy.” He drew himself up with injured dignity and pressed a hand to his chest. “But I... am a gentleman. A gentleman with a sore neck and aching muscles and very long limbs.”

You raised your eyebrows and wondered if you could bring him back to the idea of lifting you up bodily. “Yes, that’s what we all call you behind your back. Gentleman.”

He shook his head. “You know, I give you kids everything I have and I get nothin’ but lip in return. I despair of your generation.”

Tallahassee did that a lot, drew attention to his own age and the gap between his and yours. He was welcome to fish for reassurance about his own all he wanted and you usually obliged, but lumping you in with the other two?  “Watch who you call a kid. Columbus makes me feel ancient by comparison.”

He looked at you oddly before he smiled. “Figure of speech, sweetheart.” Something made him pause, as if he was weighing up his options. Then he sighed with exaggerated melancholy. “Well... if you won’t take pity on me, I’d better find somewhere else to bunk up.” Tallahassee touched the brim of his hat to you and walked off with his duffel bag slung over his shoulder before you could gather up the nerve to point out the bed was wide enough to fit both of you. ----

In the end, there were enough bedrooms to go around and then some - this house had obviously belonged to a real old fashioned country family. No one wanted to speculate further than this in any real way, but Little Rock made fun of all the framed photographs she found and amused herself by throwing them out the window, trying to hit the roof of the old abandoned car. Maybe she was working through something.

The other survivor(s) hadn’t stayed here long enough to ruin much. Their footprints had stained some carpets and there were broken egg shells and empty packets of food clogging the kitchen sink, but all of that would have expired by now in any case and in the cabinets there were cans, spices and nonperishables galore. There was also a corpse in the sitting room, but it was the still sort, so you pulled on some long rubber gloves, grabbed the edges of the rug it was lying on and dragged it, half wrapped up like a perversely over-stuffed burrito, slowly out and down the front stairs.

There were a few offers of help, but you wanted to stay busy so you declined, found a bucket and some soap, opened all the windows wide and eventually with a lot of elbow grease and retching, got the worst of the stink and the goo out. Tallahassee kept himself busy and alone in the rest of the house doing something mysterious, Columbus and Little Rock split up to rest a while and came together in the kitchen to cook and after a good few hours of quiet, hard work you felt your stomach rumble as the smell of death was replaced by the (honestly speaking, only barely) preferable smell of food.

It was amazing how quickly the unacceptable became commonplace - if you couldn’t learn to build an appetite with maggots crawling on your hands, you would have starved a long time ago.

When it was all done, the four of you sat down exhausted on the porch to the first hot meal you’d had in ages. The table was covered by an old sheet, there were wild flowers in a jug of water, there were beers to drink and the already empty bottles held flickering candles that picked up some of the slack from the setting sun. Someone, perhaps all three of them, had obviously had a hankering for the domestic and right now it didn’t seem like the sort of thing that any of you wanted to mock.

Tallahassee had gone to work with hammer, nails and whatever wood he could find and had already boarded up most of the windows that could be reached on the first floor. Everything that could and should be done today had been done and there was as much stillness and safety now that there would ever be again. In short, this was exactly the time when at least one person would be gearing up for a breakdown. The silence around the table could be excused while everyone was still ravenous and busy shoving the weird combinations of pickles, spam, noodles and preserves into their mouths but it worried you when things slowed down and there was still no talking. Something had to be done.

“Anyone feel like they’re going nuts?”

Well, that made them sit up. Columbus coughed and Tallahassee froze, fork half way to his open mouth.

Little Rock sighed. “I mean, yeah. Obviously.”

“You ever gone proper camping, like strapped into a heavy rucksack?” You addressed the question to her since she’d made the mistake of replying first.

“Ew, no. I had better things to do than subject myself to ‘nature’.”

Tallahassee kicked her chair under the table and she jolted and gave him the finger.

“Well,” you pressed on. “My point is, when you take the pack off and sit down, that’s when you feel how tired you are. And it’s almost impossible to lift the thing back up again after.”

Silence descended again. No one looked like they disagreed with you or were in doubt of what you were getting at. After a moment, Tallahassee opened another bottle with his teeth, took a drink, belched and said, “that’s a fair point, princess, a good analogy.” There was no knowing whether he meant it or if he was being sarcastic.

“You’re saying we shouldn’t get comfortable here,” said Columbus. He hadn’t looked away from you since you started talking, which was rare for him.

“No... we’ve got plenty of supplies, this place looks safe enough and the propane tank is almost full. I think we need to rest. I’m just worried, if we’re not focusing on moving and surviving...”

“Well, my plan,” Tallahassee said and leaned back in his chair, “and you’re more’n welcome to join me, is to get absolutely, incoherently, pants-shittingly hammered. Ain’t nothing in this world can’t be solved by drinking.”

“Drinking what? Did you find liquor and just... hide it from the rest of us?”

He smiled and trailed his fingers lazily up and down the neck of his beer bottle, and you’d gotten completely off the subject but everyone was talking and ready to strangle Tallahassee, so for the moment at least the crisis was averted.

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” he drawled. “Bet you wish you’d given me the master bedroom now...”

“That’s such a great plan, Tallahassee,” said Little Rock, each word dripping with insincerity and with only lemonade in her glass. “And are you finally going to let me have some? I mean, I can find other ways to let off steam, if you think that’s better. I still say your hat could use some glitter... who knows what I’ll get up to while you’re passed out in a pool of your own vomit.”

Tallahassee drew himself up, puffed out his chest and held on tight to his hat. “I swear to God, you so much as touch this hat and I’ll show you what your own kidneys look like.”

“I’m practically 13! Give me a goddamn beer!”

“Actually, you’ve got almost another three months.” Columbus looked thoughtful. “Wow, I’d better start looking out for some toy stores...”

“Toy stores? Are you deaf? I’m a teenager.”

“Hah!” Tallahassee cackled. “Give me a break - you’re barely out of your diapers. Oughta get you some velcro shoes, I’m sick to death of watching you struggle with your laces.”

Little Rock turned her indignation back on Tallahassee and he welcomed it with open arms.

You’d never articulated this thought to yourself before, but he really did rile people up on purpose and you were beginning to see why. It might very well have started as a way to keep them at arm’s length, but he had another reason now - better they were angry at him than sad. Or numb. As the saying went: don’t mourn, organise against the idiot who hogs the booze and farts on your pillow ‘to remind you of home’. It wasn’t a very nice favour he was doing them but you couldn’t help feeling cheated that he never needled you the same way. It’d at least meant he was giving you some attention.

...Christ, you must be getting desperate indeed if that’s was the sort of attention you were willing to settle for.

“Tallahassee.” Columbus’ voice was soft but firm, and he glanced over at you. “Bring us your stash and pour Little Rock a very small drink.”

“Make me.”

“I don’t have to make you. You’re outnumbered. I favor a nice merlot, myself, but I will settle for whatever you’ve got.”

[avengerscompound]

The Tower - Chapter 26

The Tower: An Avengers Fanfic

Chapter 26

Series Masterlist

Chapters:  one / two / three / four / five / six / seven / eight / nine / ten / eleven / twelve / thirteen / fourteen / fifteen / sixteen / seventeen / eighteen / nineteen / twenty / twenty-one / twenty-two / twenty-three / twenty-four / twenty-five / twenty-six / twenty-seven / twenty-eight

Word Count: 1943

Warnings:  angst, action, violence

Synopsis: Elly and Alexa escape the SHIELD compound. Elly finds out exactly what HYDRA are up to and what they’ve been doing to her missing family members.

Author’s Note:  Co-written with @fanficwriter013

Chapter 26 - M.E.D.U.S.A.

Alexa lifted her head as I entered the room.  I wasn’t worried about her telepathy. The way she had messed up her DNA had meant that she was able to project thoughts, but not read them.  I was terrified though.  Terrified my body language would give me away.  Terrified she’d spot Scott as he hid on me.  My heart was hammering as I went to the cell with the ‘stolen’ passcard and typed in the code.  The door clicked and I pushed it open.

She got to her feet and approached me hesitantly.  “Are we leaving?”

I nodded.  “We don’t have much time.  They’re all in the conference room.  You need to be quiet because Steve can hear really, really well.”

“Let’s go,” she agreed.

I led her quickly down the halls and outside.  The SHIELD headquarters were underground and quite remote.  I only really had a vague idea of where to go.  The others had been sure Alexa would call for someone to collect us, but just in case I was told to walk North and eventually we’d hit a town.

“I haven’t been outside the building before.  I looked at maps before we left, I think there’s a town that way,” I said, pointing North.

“Do you have a phone with you?”  Alexa asked.

I nodded and pulled my phone out of my pocket.

“We’ll need to ditch it.  But for right now…”  She started tapping away on the screen.  “We’re walking in the opposite direction of the town,” she said and tossed the phone.

I followed after her as we jogged along.  “Where are we going?”  I asked.

“You’ll see soon enough.  Thank you for letting me go,” she said.

I shook my head.  “I can’t… I couldn’t do what they wanted me to,” I said and held out the tablet.  “I brought my work.  Maybe you can use it to fix the mistakes in your genome.”

She gave me a dark smile.  “Maybe you’d like to help me do that.”

“I can try… but I don’t know… I can’t do … If I do…”  I stuttered.

Alexa grabbed my arm and pulled me closer to her.  “Quiet,” she said.

I perked my ears up and heard the engines of a jet.  I could see it off in the distance flying low to the ground.  We started walking toward it and as we neared it Alexa waved her arm.  The jet looked similar to the Quinn but less sleek.  It landed and we boarded quickly through the back.  It was in the air again before the rear had even closed properly and we hurriedly buckled into jump seats.  When we were at altitude Alexa got up and moved into the cockpit.  I could hear her talking but not what she was saying.

I felt Scott crawling around and he rested against the shell of my ear.  “You’re doing great”, he whispered.  “Hang in there.”

The jet touched down and Alexa came back out of the cockpit followed by the two pilots.  “We’re here.  Let me show you around your new home.”

She led me through the hanger and into a brightly lit building.  This is MEDUSA.  We create pharmaceuticals.  That pays for our other research,” she said as we beelined straight to an elevator.

“I’ve heard of Medusa.  You guys put a 200% markup on that HIV vaccine,” I said.

She smirked at me.  “It’s all business.”

When the elevator stopped I was led through into some labs.  This will be where you’re working.  There are 15 floors dedicated to R&D.  The first five are the legitimate business.  Up here is where it gets fun.  You will get your own lab and a team working under you.  However, you will also be monitored.  At least for a while.  We have to be sure you’re not going to do anything stupid.  I felt Scott run down the back of my neck and the next moment he was running along the floor.  No one else seemed to notice so I just kept following along after Alexa as she led me through the labs.   “For that reason too, you won’t be able to leave.  Not until we’re sure.”

I looked over at her.  “I’m a prisoner now?”

She laughed like I had said something so blatantly stupid she couldn’t keep it in.  “Only until we know for sure you’re with us.”

“But I let you go.  I risked everything for you,” I protested.

She patted me on the back.  “Then you have nothing to worry about.”  She led me back to the elevator.  “Now we’re going to scan you to see if you have been bugged at all, and then I can take you to see your ex-lovers.”

She took me to another lab, this one more medical in nature.  I had blood taken and I was put in an MRI.  I wasn’t worried because the tracker was so small it wouldn’t show up on any kind of scanner.  It was a couple of hours later when Alexa came to collect me.

“Let’s go see the soldier first, shall we?”  She said.

We took the elevator down into a sub-basement.   She led me down a dark narrow hall and I could hear him screaming even before we got to where they were keeping him.  He was in a room on the other side of a two-way mirror, strapped into a machine and it looked like they were electroshocking him.  It stopped just as I saw him and I ran to the window putting my hands on the glass.  “Bucky!”  I yelled, completely forgetting everything I was here to do.

Bucky looked up his eyes wild.  He spat the mouth guard out and started fighting in his restraints.  “Elly?”  He shouted.  A few guards rushed over and one injected something into his neck while he struggled.  He quickly became sluggish and passed out.

“Well, now.  That was an interesting response you both had,” Alexa said.

I turned to face her.  “Why are you torturing him?”

“He’s our property.  We’ve lost the old trigger words, so we’re programming some new ones into him,” Alexa explained.  “Why do you care?  You left them.”

I balled my hands into fists.  The nails biting into my skin.  “He’s still a person.  He never tried to force me to do anything,” I said, almost snarling the words.  “Besides we … they treated you well.”

“Except for the fact they were going to kill me,” Alexa countered.

I slumped. “He’s still a person.”

“He’s our asset.  But I’ll remember how he responded now.  We took the archer to try and get him to comply.  He always remained quite stony-faced.  I guess you’re the innocent one though aren’t you?”  She said.  “Shall I take you to see the Witch too?  Keep in mind, that she also belonged to us.  We are just taking back what is ours.”

I frowned nodded my head.

I was led down to another room.  This time I was taken right into the room with her.  She was strapped to a bench, her arms locked into place, hands covered, and pointing into her face.  She had a cap that with wires coming from it attached to a machine and several IVs in place, including one that seemed to be collecting blood.  She was pale and looked out of it.  I had to hold myself back from rushing to her side.

She looked over at us as we entered.  “Elly?”  She said, her voice sounding both weak and confused.

“Wanda,” I answered.

“What are you doing here?”  She asked.

“I couldn’t stay with them anymore.  Steve… he said…”  I trailed off hoping really hard she could hear my thoughts, though I knew she couldn’t.  I also hoped that she’d read between the lines.

Wanda started to cry and once again I had to remind myself what I was doing here.  “I loved you, Elly.  I love you.  How could you?”

“Okay, enough talk,” Alexa said.  “Elise, you’ll be using samples from her and the soldier to help correct my DNA.  I want the healing factor, the strength, and the little witch’s powers.  You think you can do that?”

I nodded my head.  “I think so.”  It was an outright lie.  I had never done anything like this and I knew for a fact that the serum used on Bucky and Steve made people like her even crazier, but it wouldn’t be much longer.  I just needed to wait until Scott had backed up the company’s data and he’d call the others in to save us and arrest everyone.

“Excellent.”  She gestured for the door and I gave Wanda one last look before I left the room.  She started ushering me down the hall.  “Now I’m taking you to your cell.  We’ll bring you food and something to drink.  Take this,” she said, putting a buzzer in my hand.  “You can press it if you need anything at all.  I don’t trust you fully yet, but that doesn’t mean I won’t take care of you.  It’s a temporary situation.”

I nodded my head.

“Cheer up, Elise.  We’re going to do some amazing things you and I,” she said, patting me on the back.  She led me into a group of cells.  There were twelve in all, 6 on each side of a hall.  When we reached the one that was meant for me, someone rushed to the bars on the cell opposite.

“Elly?  They caught you too?  What happened?”  Clint said, staring at me.  He did not look good.  He normally was covered in bandages from cuts he’d received.  Now he was more bruises than not. He was covered in cuts.  Many covered up, some not.  Some still seemed to be bleeding.

“You can catch your ex up if you like.  I’m sure he’d love to hear it,” Alexa said, shoving me into my cell.  “Get a good night’s sleep.  We have work in the morning.”

I waited until I was sure she was gone and turned to Clint.  “Ex?  What does she mean, Elly?  What’s happened?”

I frowned and looked at him.  “I had to leave,” I said, making my voice shake a little.  At the same time, I signed the word ‘cameras’ to him.

“I don’t understand, El.   What do you mean you had to leave?”  He said, his voice sounded both hurt and confused but at the same time he signed ‘Fairly sure halls only.’

“They told me… they told me I had to do a procedure that would have killed her, Clint.  That’s murder.  I can’t murder anyone,” I said, feigning a desperate need for him to understand all the while I was signing, ‘We have a plan.  They’re coming.  Just waiting for the signal from Scott.’

‘Took you long enough.’  Clint signed back with a wink.  “So you betrayed us?  Is that it?  You joined fucking HYDRA!  I trusted you!”  He yelled the last bit and it actually made me jump.  He signed ‘sorry’ after I did.

“You don’t understand, Clint.  I can’t kill people.  Even if they are the bad guy.  The fact they even asked me to do that…”  I said while signing to Clint about what happened.

“They’re torturing us!  You’re okay with that?”  Clint yelled and started telling me about what they’d been doing to the three of them.

That’s how we talked.  Him yelling at me while I pretended to get more and more withdrawn.  And signing the whole time.  Eventually, we decided it was best if we stopped and got some rest.  I signed ‘I love you’ to him.  And he signed it back. 

[eddycurrents]

For the week of 11 November 2019

Quick Bits:

Batman & The Outsiders #7 throws some further ramifications of Ra’s al Ghul and his minions meddling with Duke and Sofia. Some particularly disturbing transformations going on with Duke that should be interesting. The level of intrigue that Bryan Hill is keeping in the story is gripping.

| Published by DC Comics

The Batman’s Grave #2 is another excellent issue. A little more packed with action than the first one, allowing Bryan Hitch to cut loose with some of the sequences. Also, I’m loving the humour that Warren Ellis is giving us between Alfred and Bruce. That acerbic wit is something we’ve seen from Alfred a lot and Ellis just nails the voice.

| Published by DC Comics

Battlepug #3 is more fun from Mike Norton, Allen Passalaqua, and Crank! Some really nice stuff here as Bryony cuts loose on Nobody’s Ponies. I absolutely love the mix of traditional sword and sorcery storytelling with rather over-the-top humour that basically lampoons it at the same time.

| Published by Image

Black Cat Annual #1 is a fun tale of a heist on the Maggia by Black Cat and Spider-Man from Jed MacKay, Joey Vazquez, Natacha Bustos, Juan Gedeon, Brian Reber, and Ferran Delgado. It features the usual humour and action that we see in the series and I quite like how the artists are broken up each following one particular aspect of the story. Though it’s all one narrative, it gives a nice differing feel to each part.

| Published by Marvel

Black Hammer / Justice League: Hammer of Justice #5 concludes what has been an excellent series from Jeff Lemire, Michael Walsh, and Nate Piekos. Ultimately, this has reminded me of the old JLA/JSA crossovers of old, and just feels great as an overall story. Plus the possibility of seeing a sequel.

| Published by Dark Horse & DC Comics

Black Panther and the Agents of Wakanda #3 begins “God Loves, Moon Kills”, another two-parter for this series, from Jim Zub, Lan Medina, Craig Yeung, Marcio Menyz, Federico Blee, and Joe Sabino. I love this story format, giving us essentially quick-hit missions dealing with a problem and then moving on. It’s yielded some pretty tight storytelling and some fascinating situations.

| Published by Marvel

Black Stars Above #1 is another incredible debut for Vault, with Lonnie Nadler, Jenna Cha, Brad Simpson, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou delivering an incredibly deep and unique horror story. It centres around a young woman in a family of fur traders, as the trade itself begins to die in Canada, and it’s impressive as to how real the characters and their struggle feels. The artwork from Cha and Simpson is exquisite.

| Published by Vault

Buffy + Angel: Hellmouth #2 continues Buffy and Angel’s descent through hell. It’s much more cerebral than you’d expect, with the demons trying to get into Buffy and Angel’s respective heads in order to manipulate and destroy them. Plus, a rather interesting surprise. Jordie Bellaire, Jeremy Lambert, Eleonora Carlini, Cris Peter, and Ed Dukeshire are doing some great work with the core of this event.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Collapser #5 somehow gets even stranger in this penultimate issue as Liam creates a “perfect” world to run away from the problems he’s having in the real world. The real world bleeding through and a revelation of his girlfriend’s true intentions just ratchet up the strangeness further. Mikey Way, Shaun Simon, Ilias Kyriazis, Cris Peter, and Simon Bowland are just doing amazing work here.

| Published by DC Comics / Young Animal

Detective Comics #1015 takes an interesting turn as Nora decides that she likes being a villain. Through this, Peter J. Tomasi is definitely showing an interesting side to Mr. Freeze, emphasizing again that he’s a rather conflicted villain, only doing the various heinous actions to save his wife. Who now doesn’t need him.

| Published by DC Comics

Doctor Mirage #4 features more incredibly beautiful, inventive artwork from Nick Robles and Jordie Bellaire. The visual storytelling as Shan faces the Embalmer is just incredible. Magdalene Visaggio, Robles, Bellaire, and Dave Sharpe continue to deliver magic with this penultimate issue.

| Published by Valiant

Edgar Allan Poe’s Snifter of Terror: Season Two #2 is another entertaining issue. The lead tale from Tom Peyer, Greg Scott, Lee Loughridge, and Rob Steen has traditional EC Comics horror vibes, as a scientist tries to communicate with our worm overlords. In one of the comics back-ups Mark Russell, Peter Snejbjerg, and Steen revisit the world of the breakfast cereal monsters. And there’s the usual prose pieces, poetry, and Hunt Emerson’s Black Cat. 

| Published by Ahoy

Event Leviathan #6 concludes this series from Brian Michael Bendis, Alex Maleev, and Josh Reed. How much you enjoy it will hinge on how much you enjoy Maleev’s art and the realization that most of this tale is about moving one person off the board and the reveal of Leviathan to set up further stories. Also, Bendis paints a Batman who is ridiculously terrible at hiding his secret identity.

| Published by DC Comics

Fallen Angels #1 is the final new first issue of this first wave of “Dawn of X” titles and in many ways it’s more personal than the other X-titles, even Excalibur, delving into Psylocke (the former Kwannon, not Betsy Braddock) and her past. Bryan Hill, Szymon Kudranski, Frank D’Armata, and Joe Sabino deliver an interesting story with hooks on the darker side of the X-world, including some ominous bits from Magneto and Sinister, but I question the inclusion of X-23 and Cable. They don’t exactly seem to fit the roles they’ve been put into here.

| Published by Marvel

Family Tree #1 is a phenomenal debut from Jeff Lemire, Phil Hester, Eric Gapstur, Ryan Cody, and Steve Wands. This first issue perfectly captures that insidious nature of family drama mixed with creeping terror and body horror as a bizarre plague begins spreading across America.

| Published by Image

Far Sector #1 is one of the most impressive debuts I’ve read in a long time. NK Jemisin, Jamal Campbell, and Deron Bennett create a rich new world in the City Enduring and a compelling character in the new Green Lantern, Sojourner Mullein. The murder mystery that ties everything together is just the icing on the cake. Incredible world-building here and drop dead gorgeous artwork. Do not miss this.

| Published by DC Comics / Young Animal

The Flash #82 is part one of “Rogues’ Reign” from Joshua Williamson, Rafa Sandoval, Jordi Tarragona, Arif Prianto, and Steve Wands. It features a Central City taken over by the Rogues, transformed into their own personal playgrounds, as the Flash is nowhere to be found. It’s not bad, but the amount you’re going to like it may be relative to how much you’re also enjoying “City of Bane” and the recently concluded similar arc involving the Trickster.

| Published by DC Comics

Folklords #1 is off to a fantastic start from Matt Kindt, Matt Smith, Chris O’Halloran, and Jim Campbell. It starts off with a precocious kid in a fantasy world who’s been having visions of what essentially amounts to our world, whose quest sets out a rather draconian lockdown on their society when the Librarians rein in everyone from illicit action, like finding the Folklords. Highly recommended.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Forgotten Home #2 reveals more about Jannada, its history and society, and how an unjust queen was brought to rule through racial warfare. Love the artwork from Marika Cresta and Matt Emmons.

| Published by Vices Press

Gideon Falls #18 unleashes the Laughing Man on reality in part two of “The Pentoculus”. Jeff Lemire, Andrea Sorrentino, Dave Stewart, and Steve Wands are beautifully unfolding this twisted and horrific flower of a story.

| Published by Image

Gotham City Monsters #3 adds another element of DC lore to the series as Melmoth claims a particular prize. I really quite like how Steve Orlando, Amancay Nahuelpan, Trish Mulvihill, and Tom Napolitano are pulling together disparate bits of Gotham and beyond to craft this story.

| Published by DC Comics

Guardians of the Galaxy #11 is the penultimate issue of this series from Donny Cate, Cory Smith, Victor Olazaba, David Curiel, and Cory Petit. It’s basically a big fight between the remaining Guardians and everyone else. It doesn’t go so well.

| Published by Marvel

Hawkman #18 takes a somewhat different approach to Hawkman’s infection than what we’ve seen of the others so far. Rather than being a dark reflection of Hawkman’s own desires, he’s taken over by an Earth-3 incarnation in Sky Tyrant. Robert Venditti, Pat Olliffe, Tom Palmer, Jeremiah Skipper, and Richard Starkings & Comicraft instead use that to play the spirit of our Hawkman against.

| Published by DC Comics

Hit-Girl: Season Two #10 is part two of “India”. The artwork from Alison Sampson and Tríona Farrell is impressive, given an amazing level of detail to bringing Mumbai to life. Brutal and rich in colour.

| Published by Image

House of Whispers #15 takes a new twist as the Corinthian finds the House of Watchers, takes over, and everything changes. Nalo Hopkinson, Dan Watters, Dominike “Dono” Stanton, Zac Atkinson, and AndWorld Design kick off some new terrors as even Erzulie’s status quo is upended, and we get another guest appearance of John Constantine’s homecoming.

| Published by DC Comics - Black Label / The Sandman Universe

Invaders #11 pushes deeper into Steve and Namor’s history and relationship, as Steve refuses to give up on his old friend. There’s some very heavy, very good character work here as we head into the final issue. Chip Zdarsky, Carlos Magno, Butch Guice, Alex Guimarães, and Travis Lanham continue to astonish at the incredibly high bar they’ve set for this story.

| Published by Marvel

Justice League Odyssey #15 is a fun tale from Dan Abnett, Will Conrad, Rain Beredo, Pete Pantazis, and AndWorld Design. Jessica Cruz leading a rag tag band of villains (and Orion) against Darkseid and the previous JLO turned evil is unfolding as a very entertaining story with some interesting twists. Also, Dex-Starr is awesome.

| Published by DC Comics

Morbius #1 isn’t a bad start from Vita Ayala, Marcelo Ferreira, Roberto Poggi, Dono Sánchez-Almara, and Clayton Cowles. This first issue is largely just action as Morbius sets out on his quest to cure himself, again, but it’s not bad. The art from Ferreira, Poggi, and Sánchez-Almara is very nice.

| Published by Marvel

Oblivion Song #21 continues the slowburn investigation and reconnaissance of the Faceless Men’s base, as Marco tries to map it out and discover where they’re holding all of the people who decided to stay in Oblivion. Gorgeous artwork from Lorenzo De Felici and Annalisa Leoni as we see more of the Faceless Men’s technology.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Psi-Lords #6 does a bit more world-building as we find out more about the Psi-Lords and the Starwatchers, even as the four Earthers are beset by the other Marked in a bizarre farce of a trial. Fred Van Lente, Renato Guedes, and Dave Sharpe are telling a pretty great sci-fi adventure tale here. It largely stands alone in the greater Valiant universe framework and deserves more attention than its getting.

| Published by Valiant

Punisher: Soviet #1 is another welcome return to the Punisher by Garth Ennis, stepping back into Frank’s adventures like he never left. Ennis, Jacen Burrows, Guillermo Ortego, Nolan Woodard, and Rob Steen deliver a brutal and bloody beginning as Frank chases down someone who everyone seems to think is him.

| Published by Marvel / MAX

Reaver #5 is a fairly impressive spotlight for Breaker as he does what he really didn’t want to do again in order to help his “friends”. Justin Jordan, Rebekah Isaacs, Alex Guimarães, and Clayton Cowles present a number of twists and surprises in one of the most brutal issues yet.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Ronin Island #8 sees the remaining islanders largely stand together as they try to both stand up to and flee from the Shogun’s soldiers and madness. With a terrible occurrence that looks like it’s going to cause even more problems for the survivors. Giannis Milonogiannis and Irma Kniivila’s art continues to be everything.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Sea of Stars #5 very nicely puts the pieces together as a disconsolate Gil has been captured and basically given up thinking Kadyn dead is brought to the world where his son is about to be gutted. Jason Aaron, Dennis Hallum, Stephen Green, Rico Renzi, and Jared K. Fletcher are telling an incredible story here and this issue throws even more twists at the reader.

| Published by Image

Seven Days #2 unfolds some of the fallout of people learning that they only have seven days left, as the superhero community is enlisted to try to stop whatever the shiny harbinger things are. Gail Simone, José Luís, Jonas Trinidade, Michelle Madsen, and Saida Temofonte are continuing to build an intriguing story here as we get more and more of the breadth of the Catalyst Prime universe.

| Published by Lion Forge / Catalyst Prime

Superman #17 is kind of a housekeeping issue from Brian Michael Bendis, Kevin Maguire, Paul Mounts, and Dave Sharpe, acting as a prologue to “The Truth”. A bit of reflection on the Unity Saga, Event Leviathan, and Year of the Villain.

| Published by DC Comics

Tales from the Dark Multiverse: Blackest Night #1 might well be the best of these one-shots yet. Tim Seeley, Kyle Hotz, Dexter Vines, Walden Wong, Danny Miki, David Baron, Allen Passalaqua, and Tom Napolitano give us a bleak look at a world where Sinestro chose not to share the power of the White Lantern light and essentially everything fell to Nekron and the Black Lanterns. It’s a very unique take on the zombie apocalypse on its own, made more interesting as a fallen Sinestro, Lobo, and Dove try to save this universe. The art from Hotz, Vines, Wong, Miki, Baron, and Passalaqua is perfect.

| Published by DC Comics

Trees: Three Fates #3 continues to build up the weird atmosphere from last issue, then turns around and focuses on more of the gritty aspects of Oleg, Mik, and Nina. Gorgeous artwork all throughout from Jason Howard and Dee Cunniffe.

| Published by Image

Triage #3 shifts to Commander Marco’s reality as the group flee from the Hunter. I really like what Phillip Sevy and Frank Cvetkovic have been doing with this story. Great high concept, but the interpersonal relationships are where it’s really at.

| Published by Dark Horse

Usagi Yojimbo #6 is a beautiful updating and embellishment of the very first story of Usagi from Albedo by Stan Sakai and Tom Luth. This single issue story really captures the spirit and magic of all of Sakai’s stories, wonderfully portraying his mix of action and folklore.

| Published by IDW

Vampirella/Red Sonja #3 explores more of what the Russians were doing in regards to Drakulon and more. More very nice humour from Jordie Bellaire in the interactions between Vampirella and Sonja.

| Published by Dynamite

Wonder Woman #82 begins “The Wild Hunt” from the new creative team of Steve Orlando, Kieran McKeown, Scott Hanna, Romulo Fajardo Jr., and Pat Brosseau. It very much continues on from the plot threads and elements of the previous run, continuing to build on the current conflict between Wonder Woman and Cheetah.

| Published by DC Comics

X-Men #2 is pretty damn great, going back to the big and wild ideas bringing new elements into the X-universe, all while Cyclops gives some of the strangest parenting. Jonathan Hickman, Leinil Francis Yu, Garry Alanguilan, Sunny Gho, and Clayton Cowles give us a new mystery with the arrival of Arakko and the first of -|A|-’s missing original horsemen.

| Published by Marvel

Other Highlights: Age of Conan: Valeria #4, Agents of Atlas #4, Catwoman #17, Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor Holiday Special #1, The Dollhouse Family #1, Elvira: Mistress of the Dark #10, Firefly: The Sting, Future Foundation #4, Ghosted in LA #5, GI Joe: A Real American Hero #268, Girl on Film, Go Go Power Rangers #25, Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy #3, History of the Marvel Universe #5, Marvel Action: Spider-Man #11, Midnight Vista #3, Moonshine #13, Runaways #27, RWBY (print) #2, RWBY (digital) #6, Savage Sword of Conan #11, Star Wars #74, Star Wars: Jedi - Fallen Order: Dark Temple #4, Star Wars: Target Vader #5, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #50

Recommended Collections: Babyteeth - Volume 3, Dark Red - Volume 1, Fallen World, GLOW - Volume 1: Versus the Star Primas, Justice League - Volume 4: The Sixth Dimension, Savage Avengers - Volume 1: City of Sickles, Star Wars: Age of Resistance - Heroes, Star Wars Adventures - Volume 7: Pomp and Circumstance, Wonder Twins - Volume 1: Activate

d. emerson eddy can hear the scratching at the walls of reality.

[hayffiebird]

Taste of Strawberries, chap. 18

Hayffie Post-Mockingjay Multi-chapter, Rated M

Chapter 18

Trouble in paradise

And another year was coming to a close. The surrounding woods of District 12 stood covered in white. Merciless storms whined around the houses and shops and it snowed sometimes all day and all night.

The roads were a constant trouble but Sae’s granddaughter Nella’s family, the one who owned horses, put Blaze and Misty to good use so the people of Twelve could still go about their business. Katniss, Peeta and Posy built a colossal snow lantern in Haymitch’s back garden and Buttercup refused to set so much as a paw outside.

Twelve’s mentor always got surlier in winter. Just like the cat he spent most of his days cooped up in the house, a bottle of spirits in one hand and his knife in the other. Effie made him put it away in a kitchen drawer during her visits. Said she wasn’t keen on getting stabbed in the middle of the night. But since she hadn’t been around in almost two weeks now it had resumed its old purpose. He needed something to hold on to in the night.

With an array of bottles at arm’s reach Haymitch stared sullenly at the phone, his head against one of Effie’s fancy sofa cushions. Less fancy after he spilled on it. The house without Effie was like a garden without a gardener. Sooner or later it went back to its original state. He just couldn’t find a good enough reason to clean up his mess when she wasn’t around.

She tried to get some school trip to a district approved and the Board was giving her a hard time. That’s why she had to cancel but would it kill her to give him a call now and again?

He lifted the bottle to his lips and grunted when he swallowed the last drops. Why was it, that no matter how many seals he snapped he was always sucking the dregs out of it? He grabbed another and let the empty one roll onto the floor where it clinked against the rest of them.

He turned and shifted on the couch. It was exactly 13 days since he saw her and he couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt this uncomfortable. Even in just his pyjama pants the fabric strained against his business. Hell, you could camp under there.

He knew alcohol withdrawal. Was there anything such as sex withdrawal? Because he was horny pretty much all day long. Phone sex just wasn’t the same and Effie hadn’t had much time or peace for that lately either.

 I won’t call her, he thought. What little pride he had left he liked to keep.

 That’s what annoyed him most about all this. If anyone, Effie was the one supposed to be pining, not him! They’d been together for less than three months and already he’d grown dependent on her!

And it wasn’t just the sex. He was better with her. The nights were never easy but he wondered if Effie knew how hard it was to go solo again after he got used to having her arms and legs wrapped around him. Her kisses distracted him and calmed him down faster than a bottle even.

“This is bullshit,” he told the ceiling. Real good thinking. Getting hooked on someone who lived 24 hours away. ”Bloody woman,” he muttered and slipped his hand inside his pyjama pants. ”All weird clothes and… s-silly accent.” He groaned and screwed his eyes shut.

Lost in his own dirty imagination he never heard the door when it opened and closed.

“Haymitch? You awake? Oh! God, I didn’t need to see that.”

Peeta. Great. Exactly what he needed. Disgruntled, Haymitch pulled his hand out of his pants and saw the boy stand there with a loaf of bread and his hand over his eyes.

Meddlesome kids.

He tossed a threadbare, old blanket over his groin and sat up.

“Since when did you get so squeamish?” he muttered. “Wotcha expect when you walk into a man’s house?”

Peeta peered through his fingers and when he saw his mentor was decent he handed over the loaf, wrapped in a towel. Haymitch muttered out thanks and poured himself a glass of wine. He carved off an uneven slice of the still warm bread that he offered the boy.

“No, thanks, I already ate,” Peeta said and watched his old mentor dunk it in his wine. “You know, Haymitch,” he said and walked over to the hearth to build up the fire. “If you miss her so much just take the train. Before you get completely chafed.”

”Good one,” Haymitch muttered. He looked at the boy with a pair of blood-shot eyes. “What day is today?”

“Saturday,” Peeta replied. “December 1th. And I spoke with Annie”, he added. “We’ll go there on the 11th instead. Theresa works all through the holidays.”

Haymitch nodded to show he heard. Ever since Tessa moved to the fishing district, her relationship with her daughter had shrunk to a call or two. Mostly just birthdays and Christmas. But she had reached out to the girl this year, or so he heard.

Too little, too late, he thought but kept to himself. He wasn’t going to butt in. He left that to the boy. Besides, even if he could come up with something helpful, Peeta would say it anyways and say it a hundred times better.

“Sarah and Cassia will mind the bakery,” Peeta went on. “And Annie said if you and Effie want to join, there’s plenty of room.”

A flame danced up from the coals and so Peeta left his mentor to his own devices. Now was his chance to lock the door and pick up where he left off. He considered it a moment but fuck it, he wasn’t in the mood and soon it was going to be dark. Those damn winter nights that went on forever.

 He drowned another piece of bread in his glass. He should just drink himself into a stupor and have this day be over and done with. Yeah, he liked the sound of that.

 xXx

*ring ring* Hello, this is Effie Trinket’s answer phone. I can’t pick up at the moment but do leave a message and I will call you back. Until then: have a very very nice day! *peep*

*ring ring* Hello, this is Effie Trinket’s answer phone. I can’t pick up at the moment but do leave a message and I…

Yes, hello? Effie Trinket.

Hey, Effs. Remember me?

Oh, hi Haymitch. How are you?

Bored. Bit hammered.

Well, of course. Did you eat at least?

When you comin’ over, Eff? You never said.

…

Hello?

Yes, I’m here. But Haymitch, I’m afraid I won’t make it to District 12 this week. Half the parents are already furious with me and the Board…

So to hell with it. We’ll go to Four. Annie says…

It’s not for me. It’s for the girls. And this trip will happen, I’ll make it happen!

You didn’t come last week either.

I know.

I …*sighs* I can come over.

Haymitch.

What?

It’s not a good idea. I really need to focus on this 100% and you are…

A big, fat distraction.

Exactly! No, I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just… I won’t be home a lot and it would be no fun for you in the Capitol if…

*snorts* Yeah, cause I normally have a blast in the big C. But fine, whatever. Just forget it.

Oh, Haymitch. Don’t be like that. I promise I will make it up to you.

*mutters and takes a mouthful of something*

I’ll call you tomorrow night, OK?

*mutters continues*

Haymitch…

Alright. Alright. I’m not angry. Not even a little. *drinks another mouthful* I can do without you kickboxing me in bed anyways.

Goodnight, Haymitch. We’ll talk tomorrow. And please don’t drink too much.

Night, Eff.

*toot toot*

xXx

If Haymitch believed he couldn’t be further from Effie’s thoughts he was wrong. She missed him dearly.

I should tell him so properly, she thought as she poured herself a glass of water and made a mental note to call him again during her lunch hour.

It snowed in District 12 but here the lamp posts reflected themselves in rain puddles on her street. But the Captiol would let the first snow fall any day now and it might very well be the last time too.

There were serious talk about de-funding the weather control altogether and use the money where it was more needed. It stirred a heated debate in the media. To here the negative voices say it, it would be the final nail in the Capitol’s coffin.

As for Effie she found the whole circus rather annoying, especially since she knew something else in much greater need of raised awareness.

With one last critically look in the mirror she reached for her purse on the bed. She knew what Haymitch would say about the bandana but showing up with her natural hair wouldn’t win her any points with the school board.

She turned for the door.

And jumped back.

“Haymitch!” she gasped, hand over her heart. “W-what on Earth…?” Because leaned against the doorframe, face puffy and red, stood the man she hadn’t laid eyes on in two weeks.

”Thought I’d surprise you,” he said. “Believe it or not but I missed you, sweetheart.”

He pushed himself off the frame and wrapped his arms around her.

Haymitch, you’re hard! Did you drink?”

“Not a drop.”

“You’re not supposed to be here,” she said, voice muffled by his lips. ”I told you… I told you, now is not a good time. Haymitch!” she groaned in frustration when he nuzzled her neck. ”I don’t have time for this. My cab will be here at any moment.”

“Five minutes,” he mumbled and pecked and licked the tender skin just below her earlobe where he knew she liked to be kissed and Effie groaned again. A different kind of groan this time. “Come to bed, sweetheart.”

“Haymitch,” she sighed, torn between lust and aggravation. She wrapped her arms around his neck. ”You are totally ruining my schedule.”

They sunk down onto the bed. Effie’s carefully painted lipstick smeared out on both their face, their kisses stressed and eager. She fumbled with his belt and Haymitch trembled in every limb when she pulled down his pants, his underpants. Their lips clashed together again and she grinded her thigh against him.

“No! Ohh!” Haymitch got out and before he could even try to rein himself back in he climaxed. All over Effie’s skirt.

“Haymitch!” She pushed him off of her and stared at his mess. “I don’t believe you!” she hissed and hurled herself out of bed. “This is exactly why I never should give in to you and your goddamn hands, Abernathy!” A car honked outside. “And there’s my cab. Brilliant! Just brilliant!”

She locked herself in the bathroom and Haymitch sat on the bed, rather foolish and with lipstick all over his mouth. He heard the sound of water running and soon she returned, flushed and half dressed, hopping about on one leg to try and get out of her silk stockings. He grinned at how sexy and ridiculous she looked.

Big mistake.

“You think this is funny!?” Effie spat. “How would you feel if I shot my bodily fluids on you!?”

That only invited bad jokes but he knew he was one wrong word away from being thrown out so he just pulled up his pants and got out of bed.

“Sorry, Eff,” he said and tried to pull her into one of his bear hugs. But he could just as well save his breath.

“Careful,” she said and pushed him away. “Before you to blow all your fuses. I have to go.”

And she closed herself in the walk-in closet and didn’t come out again until dressed in an identical outfit as before, only turquoise this time. “I’ll see you tonight,” she said when she brushed by him.

He listened to the fading clatter of her high heels and the cab when it drove off a moment later.

This spur of a moment trip didn’t go at all the way he pictured it.

He wiped the lipstick with the back of his hand.  Last time he showed up unannounced they kissed on her doorstep and he got both her and coffee.

This was something else.

And to come on her leg like a teenager. Course, he wasn’t famous for his stamina but he should really be past that point at least.

He sighed and stripped the mattress. Normally he never bothered to make the bed. Effie complained about it all the time. But he’d have a hard time getting back into her good graces as it was so couldn’t hurt.

Not that he wasn’t used to pissed Effie. He’d spent half his life fighting with that woman. Only reason they hadn’t these past few months was because they were both breaking their balls to try and impress each other. Was only a matter of time, really, before they were back to their bickering, old selves. And in a way it was a relief. Familiar ground.

Half an hour later he poured himself a glass of orange juice that he brought with him into the living room.

It would be a long day. He should have brought a book or something. But they spent next to no time here so he never bothered to leave his own stuff around the place like she did in Twelve. Besides, with a butt naked Effs Trinket, who cared about reading?

The glass clattered against his teeth when he drank. He didn’t lie when he told Effie he was sober. One positive thing about her job was that he could drink himself blind when she wasn’t around and thereby stay sober enough once she was.

Chaff would laugh if he knew his old friend rationed his liquor for a woman but really it made life a hell of a lot easier.

Dawn broke into full morning. He wanted to get some shut-eye while he waited for her but between the shakes and the painful sunshine he wasn’t getting much rest.

He rubbed his temples. It was the same each time. The tremors, the headaches. Nausea was next.

And those goddamn mirrors! How many did one person need? He struggled with the blinds, pulled the curtains together but the light was still too bright.

I’m not gonna drink. Not yet. Later. After we’ve made up and she’s asleep.

But Haymitch Abernathy’s perseverance had never been strong. Not when it came to alcohol. He soildered on, for an hour, two. But before long he stumbled through her apartment in search for his bag.

He looked in all the usual places. The hallway, her bedroom, the living room, even the wardrobes in case Effie found it and put it away. Cushions flew through the air as he searched the couch, he tore at the curtains despite the evil sun, checked all the window sills, twice.

Nothing.

And then he realized it and headache or no headache he slammed his palm against the wall.

He forgot the damn thing on the train! He’d been so occupied with thoughts of what he was going to do to Effie when he saw her he went and left it on the seat!

Spewing profanities over himself, he stalked off to Effie’s drinking cabinet but his indignation just flared up all the hotter at the sight of the empty shelves. Since when had he given her a reason to hide her liquor? Not lately! And it wasn’t like Effie had gone and boozed through her entire supply all of a sudden.

He wondered how she would like to see him go cold turkey. Katniss and Peeta could tell her how fun that was.

And all at once, his anger turned to despair. He sunk down onto the couch, his aching head in his hand. An ache for which there was only one cure.

xXx

Maybe I was too hard on him.

Effie climbed out of the cab, umbrella folded in hand. It was dark when she left home and it was dark now. Her breath stood like a cloud in the cold air.

He came all this way.

The apartment was also dark and she turned the lights on with a double clap. A soft clap just in case he was asleep, but she doubed it. He seldom slept this late in the day.

“Haymitch?”

When she didn’t found him on the couch she went from room to room, even the gym and library.

Once back in the living room Effie’s eyebrows were furrowed together. Did he go back to District 12? No, surely not.

The sofa cushions were all in the wrong places and distractedly she put them back where they belonged.

He must have gone out, she thought. Maybe to walk her home from the Academy and they missed each other. Or perhaps even get her something to make up for this morning.

Yes, he’d show up eventually and she’d already decided not to mention what had happened. She didn’t want to spend their night fighting too.

She took a magazine from the rack just as the first few raindrops fell outside. Before long it poured in such relentless sheets you could hardly see across the road even and if Effie thought reading would take her mind off things she was sorely mistaken.

As the hours passed it was impossible not to think about Haymitch trapped out there in the wet and cold. All she could hope for was that he found refuge somewhere. Maybe a coffee house. Yes, Haymitch probably enjoyed a cup right at this moment. No reason to worry.

But Effie was a worrier and worry she did. She sat on the couch, magazine long forgotten and stared out the window.

What if he got lost? Or hurt? Yes, she could see it so clearly. How he crossed the street, soaked and freezing and just desperate to come home to her again. How stupid of me, he’d think, to leave Effie’s nice and warm and well-furnished apartment when I could be in her arms right now. I should listen to her more.

But then a car came and Haymitch got hit, of course he got hit! He never looked both ways properly. And now he lay there on the road while the rain washed his blood down the street and the world floated away and the last thing Effie ever did while he lived was to snap and yell, all because of a little ejaculation.

The vivid images had Effie on her feet. Pacing the floor she wrung her hands in distress.

5 minutes, she thought. I’ll give him 5 more minutes and…

That’s when a pair of head lights sailed across the wall. Effie whipped around and even before the knock she was at the door.

“Evening, ma’am. This man says he lives here.”

On her welcome mat stood two police officers. The rain splashed off their uniforms and propped up between them was Haymitch.

He barely noticed what was going on. His head hung low, hair in wet tangles over his face. You could smell the whiskey on him a mile away. Effie watched the man she shared beds with and knew she was an idiot. A complete idiot, even after all these years. Because she never learned, never truly accepted this was how Haymitch ended up. How he always ended up.

“Ma’am?” the officer repeated and snapped her back to reality.

“Yes,” she said. “Yes, that’s just about right.”

They helped Haymitch inside and filled her in on what had happened. Apparently he’d gone to the pub on Heaven’s Square. When the bartender finally told him he’d had enough, things got loud, he wouldn’t leave and finally she had to call the police to come and get him.

“I’ll manage it from here,” Effie said when Haymitch leaned heavily on her, swaying from side to side. “Thanks for your help.”

The two men nodded. When they walked back to their car, one of them turned to the other and said,

“That was Haymitch Abernathy, right?”

“Yes, I think so. He hasn’t changed much, has he?”

And they both chuckled.

“Oh, Haymitch,” Effie said as she half-led, half-carried him through the apartment. “I was so worried about you.”

“Wanted to see you,” he slurred and Effie grimaced at the smell of his breath. It could light a flame. “Better with you, Effie. Better. Oh, ” he groaned. “I don’t feel so good.”

”OK, OK, come here,” said Effie. She struggled to open the bathroom door, her hands full with Haymitch until she managed to get them both inside. Haymitch reached blindly for the toilet and for the next half hour Effie held his hair as he puked.

His shirt and trousers were damp from the rain and once she got him on to the bed she stripped him down to his undergarments. She went to get a blanket but changed her mind mid-way and headed for the broom closet first.

Which was good thinking because she had no sooner re-appeared with the bucket before Haymitch groaned again and she stuck it under his face just in the nick of time.

xXx

“Wha… what’re…?”

The pounding that had woken him only grew worse as Haymitch slowly came to his senses.

“What’re you doing?” he murmured.

“What does it look like?” Dressed in a fresh teacher’s outfit, navy this time, Effie walked back and forth across the room, getting her last minute things. Each step of her high heels sent a jolt of pain through his skull.

Very slowly Haymitch pulled himself to sitting. He winced when she snapped her purse shut. A gunshot couldn’t have made a greater sound. He rubbed his bare chest and watched her lift a water carafe off the vanity table.

“Oh, thanks, sweetheart,” he croaked. His throat felt like someone had dragged it along the asphalt.

Effie eyed him coolly.

”This is for me,” she said. “Unless you want to get me pregnant on top of everything else.” She swallowed the pill. “Not that I am going to sex you up anytime soon.”

Haymitch rubbed his eyes, wished nothing more than to go back to sleep. No, most of all he wanted a drink but he fought the nausea and forced himself to stand.

”What do you want?” she asked when she had his hands on her shoulders. “If you’re thirsty, then…”

”Don’t shout, sweetheart,” Haymitch murmured. ”’m sorry ’bout yesterday.”

”Do you even remember yesterday?”

He tried to pull her into a hug but Effie resisted, squirmed like she sat on an anthill.

”I have to go.”

“It’s early.”

“To you maybe. No.” She pressed her palms against his chest and made him take the empty glass. “Drink water if you need it. Breakfast is on the table.”

And he was alone again.

He felt his way to the bathroom like a boat in full storm and spent some quality time with his best friend the toilet.

This was his reality every time he had a withdrawal. Afterwards he always drank more than he could take. He soaked it up like a dry rag.

And later when he sat in one of Effie’s armchairs, wrapped in a robe and his hands around a mug of coffee, he tried to piece together exactly what had happened yesterday.

 He went out to get his bag. That much he remembered. But he never got that far because… he took the route through Heaven’s Square. Yeah, to have a drink at the pub first. And one drink became two and two became three until he was an absolute wreck for Effie to take care of.

In other words, same old same old.

He slurped his coffee.

I should find some way to make it up to her.

xXx

*ring ring* Hello, this is Effie Trinket’s answer phone. I can’t pick up at the moment but do leave a message and I will call you back. Until then: have a very very nice day! *peep*

Haymitch, it’s me. I’m running a little late because I bumped into Octavia. She’s very upset because her boyfriend just broke up with her. She needs a friend right now so I promised I’d stay with her for a while. But I should be home by eight. You can make your own dinner, right?

“Great,” Haymitch muttered. “Just great.”

But then he had to caugh again and he whisked the smoke that billowed up from the roast pan.

He’d never win an award as “Chef of the year” (Neither would Effie for that matter) but he cooked when he was a kid! How out of practice could one person get?

 He eyed the dish to try and assess the damage. It was supposed to be roast beef with potatoes and vegetables but it didn’t look right. Not like the recipe. But maybe if he just cut away the burned parts and jumbled it up a little perhaps she wouldn’t notice?

Man, why didn’t he just order catering and pretend he made it? A romantic dinner. Fuck, what a bright idea.

The bottles of red wine had stood untouched in their paper bag all night but now he seized one of them. Just a glass. Just to shut his damn body up.

He found the corkscrew, his breaths more rapid at the mere prospect and he sighed with relief when the red liquid wet his tongue.

It was amazing how much easier everything got after that one drink. The tremors disappeared and so did most of his worries. It would still be great. It looked great, at least it would once on the table.

Ten to eight he spread the beige table cloth (champagne coloured, Effie would say) in the dining room that they hardly ever used. He set the table, dug out some candles and the fancy plates.

Last of all he dropped a handful of lemon slices into the water carafe and paused only to pour himself some more wine. He admired his work – the food, the folded napkins, the candle light in the pretty glasses rimmed with gold.

He saluted his reflection and drank.

xXx

By the time Effie pushed inside the apartment it was past midnight. Her head throbbed from having to console Octavia for the past hours and she couldn’t stop a moan when she finally got out of her high heels.

All she wanted was to sleep but her hands shook from low blood sugar so she limped off to make herself a sandwich.  She opened the kitchen door.

And stopped short. For a full minute she just stared at the scene before her, like she couldn’t take it in. Unwashed coppers and pans balanced precariously on top of each other. Used plates, silverware and kitchen tools filled the sink. The counters and the floor were covered with carrot and potato peels, smushed tomatoes, withered lettuce and pools of vinegar. The butter was left to melt, the fridge door not even closed. And the smell of burnt meat she hadn’t noticed through the door filled her nostrils.

It was the paper bag, the empty paper bag, that finally brought life back into her numb limbs.

“Haymitch!”

It wasn’t hard to find him. She needed only follow his snores. She pushed inside the dining room and there he was. Face down on the table, surrounded by empties.

I should just leave him like this. Go to bed and leave him like this!

“Wake up,” she said and shook him.

Haymitch mumbled something and his snores resumed.

”Wake up!” She shook him harder and just when she seriously considered Katniss’s cold water method he cracked opened an eye.

“Where you been?” he slurred and slowly lifted his head from the table.

“With Octavia. I told you so over the phone. Haymitch, how could you!”

“There’s dinner.” He gestured towards the cold food and would have knocked over a candle hadn’t she been there to straighten it up. “Made it so you wouldn’t be pissed no more.”

“Good thinking, Haymitch.”

“Just have to heat it up.” The chair slammed against the floor when he pulled himself up. “I’ll heat it up for you. I’ll do an’thing for you.”

“Come here now.” She tried to steer him away from the table. “Haymitch. Oh, don’t bother with the food!” she said when he grabbed the roast pan. To heavy for him in his state it tilted and potatoes, beef and root vegetables bombed the parquet floor. He staggered back a step when she tried to take it from him and the salad bowl smashed to pieces when he bumped in to the table.

"Careful!"

She tugged at his arm and tried to pull him away but his foot slid forward on a piece of tomato and Haymitch slumped down on his ass. He grunted, confused and crawled on all fours as he tried to find his footing.

“Watch out for the broken glass, Haymitch. Come, I’ll help you.” She put his arm around her shoulder, her own around his back and under his armpit. “Push with your feet,” she said and made a gigantic heave. He was like a sack of potatoes and the smell of wine was so overwhelming it would have brought her dinner up if she had any.

She’d gotten him half way up when Haymitch suddenly gasped and then he vomited all over the floor. A vile, red mixture that splattered Effie’s legs and skirt.

She didn’t know how she managed to get him back to her bed. But just like the night before he collapsed face down and she stripped him out of his clothes. Vomit dripped down his chin and nose and she wiped him off, rather roughly.

“Do you need to throw up again?” she asked and reached for the bucket. “Haymitch, do you feel sick?”

But he looked at her cross-eyed like he didn’t hear or understand.

She left him with the bucket nearby and went into the bathroom to get out of her soiled outfit.  But she hadn’t gotten even half-way before she had to steady herself against the wall. The lack of sleep combined with the fact she hadn’t eaten finally took its toll on her and tiny, black spots swam before her eyes. With no chair closeby she let herself slide down the wall until she sat on the floor, waiting for the dizziness to subside.

Through the ringing in her ears she heard Haymitch’s groan.

“Eff. Effs, I…”

And then there was only the splash of vomit when it hit the floor.

Effie closed her eyes.

xXx

 *ring ring*

Pallas’s Academy. This is Ruby.

 I need to talk to Effie. Can you get her to the phone, please? Effie Trinket.

May I ask who’s asking?

That’s… no one.

She’s got class.

Well, it’s important. Will only take a minute.

She’s got class.

Yeah, I heard you the first time. Tell her … tell her it’s Haymitch.

Haymitch … That Haymitch? As in Haymitch Abernathy?

So can you get her to the phone now?

I’m not supposed to interrupt unless there’s an emergency.

Well, it is.

It’s an emergency?

It’s an emergency. Now go get Effie.

Alright. Excuse me a moment Mr. Abernathy.

 …

Haymitch? Are you alright?

Yeah, I’m fine. Look Effs, about last night …

Why do you tell Ruby there’s an emergency if you’re fine?

Only way I could talk to you.

Haymitch, you interrupted me in the middle of class!

I just wanted to say…

I’m not interested in anything you have to say right now! I’ve barely slept in days, you’ve ruined two outfits for me and my girls are waiting!  Do you have any idea …

Oh, for God’s sake woman! Just let me tell you why I called and I’ll hang up!

No, I am hanging up! And don’t you ever call me at work again unless, of course, you’ve drunken yourself back into the hospital! Goodbye!

*toot toot*

xXx

The flat audio tone rung in his ear. Haymitch sighed and hung up. He slumped down on the couch and rubbed his forehead.

When he woke today, finding her long gone, he hoped against hope that he could at least clean up his own mess and felt a fresh pang of guilt and regret at the sight of the spotless kitchen and dining room with the strong fumes of cleaning fluids that badly masked the familiar odor underneath. Poor Effie.

How could he let everything reel so completely out of control? Must be some kind of a record.

Of course, it wasn’t the first time she’d taken care of him drunk but she was still just his colleague back then and when he was too much to handle she always had help from the Capitol attendants. To have to clean up his mess as his woman… It was a difference.

And then it was this last, brilliant move of his. To call and apologize. He bent over backwards to fix things and only made it worse.

Maybe I should just go home.

He didn’t want this trip to be just like when Annie, Finn and Johanna came over and he made a complete arse of himself. At least then he had some kind of a mitigating factor to his actions.

But he knew Effie. If he left she’d take that as an offence too.

He drew a deep sigh and with nothing better to do he grabbed her newspaper and opened it at a random page.

And as if fate had a hand in it, it happened to be a full spread add. Of a dance palace.

“Atlas Halls open for the Christmas season,” he read. The picture showed a bunch of weird looking couples twirling around a winter scene with fake trees in the background.

Atlas Halls? Sounded familiar but he was pretty sure he’d never set foot in the place. No, Effie mentioned it at some point. Yeah, she’d spent New Year’s there a couple of times.

Haymitch knew a few Capitol dances, believe it or not. He let Effie teach him years ago. Part of their whole charming sponsors away from their money act. Back when he still thought their district might have a shot in hell.

She’d be home in three hours. That gave him plenty of time.

Because if a night out dancing wouldn’t brighten Effie’s mood nothing could.

He shouldered out of his robe once inside the bathroom. He didn’t exactly smell like roses and he liked Effie’s shower. Felt like standing in a warm summer rain. Of course the products weren’t great. She had so many bottles and jars and tubes in here she could open her own beauty parlor. Half the stuff he didn’t know what it was for and even the supposedly ‘male’ scents she bought especially for him smelled weird as fuck.

Finally he poured something blue on his head and as he massaged it into his hair he made a mental note to bring his own stuff next time. That was to say if there would be a next time.

Back home he did nothing to his hair after he showered, just left it to sundry. But if desperate times called for desperate measures. He punched a few buttons on the panel and stepped onto the math so the currents could turn his wet, tangled hair into something he knew he’d hate. 

Baked and dried he went to have a look at himself and true enough. His hair had gone from familiar to Capitol. He hung a towel over the mirror so he didn’t have to see it.

 There was an electric razor on one of the shelves but he didn’t touch it. Effie would have to live with his stubble. He looked enough like a Peeta blonde little boy as it was. Instead he went to have a look in his closet. She always sneak bought him stuff. One of the habits she was unable to kick and well, it was her money.

 He dumped the garment bags on the bed. Damn, this would be an exhausting night. But he’d suffer through it, the looks and the whispers. He’d dance with Effie and afterward everything would be good again.

Which was why, an hour before Effie went off work, Haymitch sat on the couch dressed to the nines.

And as much as he hated to admit it he actually liked this outfit. The dark blue suit went well with the checkered waistcoat and the lilac dress shirt underneath. Even his pink and blue tie with the matching pocket square looked good. The collar was a little snug but he couldn’t afford to be whiny.

He should’ve thought about this days ago.

 But the hour went by and no Effie showed up. He tried to remember how far away her school was. Even if the Capitol was big (not like District 2 or Eleven but still) the public transportation was so advanced here, nothing lay far off. He could call a cab. Go and meet her. But with his luck Effie would be just around the corner the moment he left the house.

So he remained where he was.

The minutes passed at a snail’s pace. He tugged at his collar to get some air in. 

How many friends with boy trouble did she have? If she was running late again why didn’t she call?

One hour became two and still no Effie to go. Sweat trickled down his back and he squirmed and pulled at his pants and underpants that kept worming their way in between his butt cheeks.

And when she’d been gone three hours, Haymitch tore off his tie. Effie was never late like this! It was just her way of getting back at him for how he treated her.  He saw his reflection in the window, all those ridiculous curls and that decided things.

Screw this.

He grabbed the spray bottle, the one she used for her potted plants and he sprayed his hair until it lay flat and lifeless again. He had never changed for a woman before and he wasn’t going to start now! This was a joke. He was a joke! Dressing up like some damn Capitolian.

She’d been away all day already and she expected him to, what? Lay jigsaw puzzles until she had time for him? Because obviously she didn’t have time for him. She just spent it with everyone else.

His hair dripped on the newspaper when he scribbled down a note. He could just as well go restack his liquor supply for the journey home. He almost never got to drink those expensive brands. Effie refused to buy them for him. Said she wouldn’t “enable him”, like that made a difference what so ever.

By the time he reached the Heaven’s Square it had started to rain again.

The shops and stores lit up the icy drizzle and the stall owners who packed up for the day.

And cramped in between a music store and a shop which sold naughty underwear, was the pub. Like a jewel with its bright colors and promises.

But Haymitch never got that far. Because now he saw her.

By the window inside the coffee house sat Effie across from Katniss’s prep team.  Haymitch’s brow crinkled at the sight of their serious faces and Effie’s waving hands in the air to emphasize her words. None of them had noticed him yet, standing out here in the rain.

But now she looked up, startled at the sight of him and excused herself from the table.

”Haymitch?” The cold wind rustled her skirt when she appeared at the door. “You… dressed up?”

Haymitch looked from her to Octavia, Flavius and Venia who practically misted the window in their effort to see what happened.

“Having fun?” he said. “Do carry on. I was just leaving.”

“Haymitch, I … Haymitch?” But he had already stalked off. “Haymitch, wait!”

 He knew it was childish but he didn’t stop. He just couldn’t. He felt vomit at the back of his throat and it was the look on the prep’s faces. No doubt she had poured out all her heart’s bitterness over him to those three, telling them what a good-for-nothing drunk he was.

He kicked off his shoes in the hallway.

Haymitch!” Effie called when she entered a moment later, flustered and with rain in her hair. “Why did you run off like that?”

“Sorry if I messed up the image, princess”, he said and shouldered out of his jacket. “I know how much you care about your looks. Must be important when you have little else.”

“Why are you like this?” Effie cried. “We just had a coffee!”

 “Yeah, sure. What’s another three hours when I’ve already waited all fucking day, Effie!”

“Well, I told you not to come this week, remember? I told you I was busy!”

“At work,” he threw back at her. “Not out on the town. Bet you had a great trash-talk.”

“We didn’t talk about you! Not at all! But perhaps I didn’t want to come home, ever thought of that? You haven’t exactly been a lot of fun lately.”

“What do you want from me? I was gonna take you out dancing.”

“That doesn’t make up for the horrible way you’ve acted!” Effie yelled. “Ever since you got here, Haymitch, I’ve been nothing but worried, disappointed and exhausted. Taking care of you drunk is not my job anymore! It never was!”

It got very quiet after Effie finished.

“Eff,” Haymitch finally said, his face hard and closed off. “I know you shouldn’t have had to deal with all that. But it’s not like it was some big mystery to you that I drink. I’m tired of this argument, alright. This is who I am. If you can’t deal with it then…”

“Well, maybe I can’t!” Effie cried.

She never meant to say it but now the words were out.

The truth was out.

Haymitch stared at her in the silence that followed those words and all the things she implied. Effie’s eyes were filled with tears now and when he didn’t speak she only got out of her painful shoes and said,

“You can have the bedroom. I can’t sleep with that smell anyway.”

Author’s note: Extra long chapter to make up for the long wait and it was an absolute pain to edit lol! I hope you liked it. Leave a review if you wanna make my day and I’ll see you in the next chapter!

[yuissamidare]

@codes i think i may have put this on my artblog but... Here

i guess ill start w ichi bc i always forget about him somehow like i always come up short when im making lists and im like 'oh wait shit yeah that guy’ bc im stupid n i only think of fishing trio + choro. I’m an Idiot. idk i never thought too hard on ichi bc i so rarely think about him but he looks so high its really funny i said this on main but he looks like my friend when he decided to try a weed gummy bear then started babbling about hentai then watched to watch porn with me but got mad all the intro scenes are a billion years long and started ranting about the industry but now that i think about it he looks like someone who used to send me weird shit when he was high like bad pick up lines about body parts i wish i didnt have

and thats so funny that its Ichimatsu who looks like that but also proof that hes high. but anyway!! hes really cute and im mad hes boutta ruin my reputation for my complete and utter lack of care and interest in him no matter what im mad. my friend gwyn said 'Sp lubing us up for the fuckening that is the reason why Ichi is sad in present day’ im really curious at the change like if hes trying a fake it till you make it type thing bc really emotionally exhausted or if hes just genuinely having a good time or hes puttin on a front since like. nails who stand get hammered down right??? just gotta do your best n Never Relax n i can relate to all that. but uhhh old hcs i guess

in kun ichi was the most serious! really smart but just as bad w school as the rest of them apparently but!! yeah so id think that!! ichis that guy who participates in class discussion constantly and is always willing to debate the readings, but turns in sloppy papers with typos and no a coherency or stucture or anything. he’s A+ in participation but has an average of 60% on most of the written assignments with points knocked bc of lateness then more bc its A Mess. you could ask about the prompts for one of his papers, he could babble about his position on it complete with paragraphs and footnotes but like the day before its due hes playing rpgs and watching horror movies.

his classmates think hes so smart n so intimidating. the family knows hes a hot mess. the teachers tell him he has a lot of potential but they don’t think hes applying himself. all are right. also he doesnt cheat or let people cheat off of him since hes always been about rules and boundaries and Rightness n he n jyushi were the only ones who Minded Themselves in kun

uhh jyushi!! let me talk about schoolwork again bc yeah i love jyushi so so so so much and thinking of him in a school environment is so weird i thought about it a lot n i thought about it him in kun n san and Woah!! i really really love delinquent jyushi, bc when i saw that i was like 'huh! that fits actually!!’ i love that like him and choro flip flopped completely from what i thought. his school must be so cold theyre too cheap to afford heating in the winter and in summer the acs Blast. he was so Shy and quiet and he cried and he liked to sing so i always thought that when he participated in chorus festivals hes always like right in front!! he hums a lot in class and also moves around alot bc he actually like school and people like primary trio are the types that make friends often. i wasnt supposed to talk about this yet whoops.

unlike ichi who relatively neat despite everything but has shit notes, jyushis notes are amazing and understandable and utterly illegible.

theyre covered in doodles, arrows and lines leading every which way, different colors but not like color coded n theyre not in order by date, but he opens to a random page every time yet somehow always seems to know where to find each lesson. he writes footnotes and caveats and corrections and criticisms of the teachers and random thoughts and just smears ink everywhere. sometimes his notes are on a completely different subject. the notebook itself is a horrifying mess, the front and back covers both covered in drawings and designs and falling apart, random papers shoved between the pages, coming apart at the seams, covered in stains of unknown origin. assignments are full of emoticons and informal language, and they always manage to make his teachers feel like hes smarter than they are (most likely). he does his projects the minute theyre assigned, and is finished a minute later so can talk to his friends. he loved school.

sophie told me once about how she thought was Like That was bc one of his main concerns is that he thought he had nothing that made him Jyushi n in kun she said he might have been the one who was the most concerned about having a distinctive personality and i talked about how that sorta carried over san and how he always blended in bc of how gentle and soft and push-overy he was. he was actually the and most gullible and weakest in kun so i was like :0 when i saw that and intentionally did stuff like only carry 14 yen in his pockets to be quirky but it always sorta fell flat and he was still invisible so i was like hmmmmm. and i can see how he couldve toughened up and thinking of this now!! i love that. oh im so happy. this is so much better than i ever couldve imagined ever.

totty…. i do not think he was very popular or good at school. i think he’s very decent at schoolwork but he never put much effort into it. just copies whats on the board but if the class runs out of allotted lesson time n he couldnt finish his work he just didnt do it like cram schools a pain in the ass. if he put effort hed be a star student but he just craps out whatever since hes was the laziest!! oh but something i noticed was that him and jyushi would play together often since sometime he felt overwhelmed by karamatsu a lot. also hes the money thief and scammer its great kun todo is so good. he gets shy and flustered easy too!!

but uhh yeah!! depending on the day im always like 'zaimoku love each other so much they are best friends and the perfect other halves!!’ then im like 'these mofos hate each other what the fuck is this trainwreck’ did you see their shitty small talk in the horse episode. what was that. like they are genuinely trying to communicate and are pretty easy with each other but they have nothing to say. its like when youre having a boring day at school and theres nothing to talk about with an acquaintance so you just look at the walls and go 'have you ever noticed how stupid these posters are’ then you both start reading posters aloud but you both know its not that funny and youre just doing it to waste time but you still enjoy their company you just dont want silence. thats their relationship. and i think they are just very similar in very different ways and like. the key things that make them both similar and different and the same fuck them up (like suiriku!! theyre both really similar even if it doesn’t seem like it at first which is why their compatibility in the relationship chart was so low in s1, but i saw a lot of improvement in both of their behaviours and their communication and honestly. s2 was worth it for that sophie was so happy to see her faves get along) like sometimes when you look in the mirror all the things you see are the things you dont like about yourself instead of what makes you wonderful and unique. also i didnt mean to talk about this but i guess i am.

but yeah. totty is bitter n resentful at kara during hs n karas more confused and upset at tottys behaviour in their twenties n thats bc like i said. theyre dumb. karamatsu!! i think was actually pretty popular in highschool n had a good amount of friends - i genuinely think theatre kids are well liked bc i literally know everyone in my department and im friends w a good amount of people and im not even That extroverted. my actual extrovert friends know everyone in the school by name and everyone in my department is so nice even though theres a lot of bitchiness and drama its not as bad as w other humanities studies (jesus christ humanity students outside of theatre are a hot mess.)

uh yeah n that ultimately makes totty feel a bit… betrayed? karamatsu is his partner! theyre supposed to be there for eachother! kara’s the first one to branch out, get friends etc etc and todomatsus left behind bc hes always the one playimg follow the leader and he breaks out of that once they graduate - he grows up resenting karamatsu slightly though he still cares. but this time Hes the one cancelling plans to hang out with friends instead. my friend katie put it best when, in response to me telling them this, they sent me:

'kara: totty you have so many friends now. We barely see you anymore.

totty, applying chapstick: well, I learned it from the best.’

when i told them about it. but at the time gwyn and i were babbling about possibilities and different storylines and how theres a possiblity the movie might break down into three manageable plotlines n she gave zaimoku 'popularity’ and this was me throwing out ideas but honestly. Good. (aha, the end of this scenario ended up with todo throwing hands and shoulder checking someone outside a window and then getting removed from the premise n hanging with atsushi all night after) why am i on this. shit what happened here.

uhh but yeah totty is Def someone with learned behaviours rather than being a natural extrovert honestly just look at him hes an introverted mess masquerading as a decent human being and i know full well how people like that are bc some of them have been my best friends for years n seein the new hs promos solidifies that fact bc look at him. Crybaby. He is Miniscule. A Child.

then its 'delinquent who looks like an honour student’ choro. i never studied him until sophie started liking choro n since i love sophie i wanted to take an interest in him too. n i started to think very hard about him! then gwyn planted this in me n its taken root and im just never not gonna think its great. yall see his shitty gokudo impression what a bossy lil shit. he pulled a whip on kara once and it was mad funny but also Gwyns Big Evidence for him just being the absolute worst not like a casually skips class type but a Choro was a legit a bully and really mean n sabatoged other classmates to make him look like he was 100% That Bitch. maybe not him being Mean and cruel but just an asshole who bums around, is something i really like that one a lot its been one of my faves since gwyn n i started talking about it but i just!! have a ton of other things too!!

hes a lot like karamatsu in that theyre both stupid and weird and embarrassing and they put on airs but they also!! dont try!! they talk so big and such high goals n expectations and they dont do shit bc they have so much hubris but i always talk about them bc suiriku is sophies Beloved so ill like. Not. but he acts like he’s better than all of them n forces the role of the straight man on himself because he wants to be seen as the responible, level headed one even if hes just. So Much.

i think the movies calling back to how touchy feely and clingy he was in kun and adding on to how jyushis a delinquent and kara… Is Like That he’ll be around them the most bc jyushi might either be really protective or push him away and then they do something to mend their relationship later on or hell cling to kara and they just. grow apart. sticking to my hc until the end bitches. oh.

for choro… personally!! i thought hed be a slacker instead of a delinquent but not in the way totty slacked - totty was lazy n knew the work but didnt want to put in effort but choro just. Doesnt. choro has so much energy all the time and choro Can Not deal with school situations. bc like… you always hear people say that studying is meant to be done at the desk, silently, no distractions what so ever!! focus on notes and nothing else!! ise a highlighter but dont use it too much!! make your notes legible but you only have five minutes before the board gets erased!! review!!! look at your notes or youll die! take breaks bit dont take too long and honestly. listen. kun choro wouldnt be able to stand that shit and id think hed just think he was doing it The Wrong Way n he just wasnt meant to do it.

he doesnt like quiet classrooms!! he cant study like that and hell get distracted. he cant sit still n thats why totoko broke up w him in the beer ad and why hes just Everywhere in kun!! hes understimulated and its just Ugh! you know??? he’ll fidget w his pens until he breaks them or hum or tap his foot and annoy everyone or leave for the bathroom at least three times a class just to get up and move.

eventually he just. gives up even though hes super smart he like, stops caring bc if you dont care to understand material then you wont have to read and read and reread and rereread something to get it! classes just make everything uncomphrehensible and makes any idea he may have sublimate into nothing. but he can work on the trains and the buses! he needs something kenetic to get him moving and trains n shit always have enough going on to work with, just like with home!! chorochoro motherfuckers. he works much better moving forward, ironic as that is. he feels sorta set apart from every thing like hes behind some big plane of glass doing everything wrong and being all set apart from everything. eventually he takes to acting like a real fussy mom to avoid his own problems and help everyone else out even though hes annoying and even when he graduates but it gets Worse bc then figures out how much!!! he fucked up!! then he kicks himself into high gear n still cant do shit. ahh.

its illegal for me to talk about choukei bc i talk about them so much and im always being annoying n typing stupid essays about them bc theyre… my faves.. But this is so long…

it actually makes me super happy that he kara acne he still can be really fighty and he cries and he still does stupid impulsive shit for others and even though hes really sweet and caring is still an utter monster and fucking mess of a person. love him. i always like to think his shittymatsu nickname came from iyami n it just morphed from there bc in 66 you can hear iyami calling him specifically garbage. ive always been glad they kept his sewing hobby too. ahh, actually from what i see hes pretty similarities to kun so i wonder when he decided to air out that teremity. idk what to say about him that i havent in tottys section. he just Feels like someone who had a good support group and nice friends bc of how hes able to move in the world. kara feels like some whos doing their growing up in their twenties bc highschool came easy to them and now theyre just really struggling with the real world. like i shouldve expected softboy hs kara and i appreciate him very much!! i talk about choukei a lot bc they were the first characters that spoke so i immediately attached myself to them n i talk about karamatsu Specifically but im not sure i ever mentioned how much i appreciated how smart and cautious hes proved himself to be time and time again, like how hes the only one to point out totokos fish shtick aint doing her favours or how he was the first one to notice osos irritation n how you can pick out his voice warning jyushi to calm down in the bg of 24 or how in the comedian episode he was ready to take Notes from iyami and a lot of other small things!!

i would think hes actually a bit more serious n calm in hs and san is him amping up traits that drew people to him in hs and it backfiring on kara spectacularly - kara is always gauging people and their reactions and acting in a way he believes will get something positive, but at the same time is utterly oblivious when it comes to actually Getting them n i talked about the girls on the bridge but this is also prevalent with ichi who kara just. Doesnt Get and can not figure out how to maneuver their relationship. like oso, kara is and elder brother!! and elder brothers have an image theyre supposed to uphold, but while kara acts the part he doesnt do the shit a big brother does and shrugs that responsibility off on oso until oso fucks up until s2, where they share the role more evenly and his relationship with ichi improves but this is another essay entirely. what im trying to get with that is that hyperfocus on what other people think of him, but his complete disregard when it comes to their actual reaction and instead what he wants their reactions to be would also greatly impact him transtioning from a teen to an adult im sorry im getting sloppy now

osomatsu… i really adore him too much and i understand how totty felt in their episode bc i also lent my phone to a friend who needed to desperately jack it before meeting new people n i talk about him a whole lot too. hes mean and an asshole and garbage n i know a lot of people find him plain n boring but idk. i dont think thats the case hes a really complexed n nuanced character n hes literally has always been way back from kun n thats expected from a main character but… hes always been mean n dumb n sly and he can get so pathetically vunerable and thats literally!! him. hes a normal dude nothing wrong with that n it can be real refreshing. n i suppose im so fond of fishing trio+choro bc they remind me of my friends. but yeah even if hes 'plain’ i dont see why thats a bad thing. n this they always have the most interesting body language like despite kara being So Much his body language was always closed off n singled him out as everything But exuberant and bright, and osos quirks like how he stands on his toes a lot had always been so cute… its relaxed and open n screams Talk To Me!!!!

ahh but i always end up thinking oso was. oso??? theres not much to say that i havent before but i do think that he was a lot more like he was in episode 2 when ranting to chibita about having shitty brothers and then actively Chose to be a good brother even if he wasnt a good person and be a stable rock and be someone they could all come back to at the end of the day. and hes good at math im never letting this die.

[ellispup91]

Day 16: Deiform

“Ell, get that last window over there. Hurry now.” Klaussen barks roughly, gesturing towards the window on the adjacent wall with his hammer. Ears perked, the Miqo’te nods, hammering one last nail into the board he’s already working on before crossing the room to the next window—now the only one not haphazardly boarded up with thick planks of wood. 

Holding up a board to the frame, he makes the mistake of looking out, crimson eyes catching on the horizon. Even the rain splattering against the glass can’t hide what looms off the shore. A wall of wind whipped cloud, dark and threatening. It’s almost upon them now, blotting out the late afternoon sun. Trees bend over backwards, their leaves reaching like fingers, and the heavy rain sweeps near sideways. Below, the ocean swells, crashing against the pier with such force the spray leaps yalms into the air.

A chill runs down his spine to his tail, fluffed and lashing. He has never seen a storm like this. Its power is terrifying and for a moment he wonders if their seaside town will still be standing when it has passed. 

“Ell!” 

“Ah! Y-Yes!” 

There are only three boards left and the gaps between them are large. It will have to do. 

A large hand grabs the back of his shirt, hauling the eighteen-year-old into the Highlander’s bulky arms. Jakob is dragged in beside him, the two crushed together in Klaussen’s grip. The man’s wife, Leesie, is last, tucked in on the far side. All three of them are dragged onto the floor in the middle of the room, held protectively—shielded—by a muscular frame as the wind howls outside and shakes the windows in their frames. 

Ellismus looks up at the man who had taken them in. His breath catches, ears pinning back—because he has never seen him look scared before. Under his breath he can hear him murmuring fervently.

“Llymlaen, protect us from your rage. Shield us from your winds. Let us not be swept away by your tides…” 

Lighting streaks across an angry sky, lighting up the frothing ocean below. Ellismus blinks away the shadows the blinding bolt leaves on his vision. For just a moment he’s back there again, huddled with those he loves, in fear that they will be swept away by lashing winds and snarling waves. 

The storm outside now pales in comparison to the hurricane that had pressed down on them then, but he thinks back to it every time—to the desperate prayer Klaus had repeated until his voice was hoarse. Because he has faced Primals and would-be Gods times too tiresome to count—and nothing awes or cowes him more with its raw power and destructive potential than nature itself. It was like the star itself raged. 

“It’s quite a storm out there…” Elja murmurs from the sofa behind him. 

“Aye, though I don’t think it’s gonna get much worse.” Khri. His ear twitches as he listens to her pass behind him and flop down on the other side. Aska has already commandeered the armchair. 

“I hope not. A small island in the middle of the ocean isn’t the best place to be if it does.” The click-click of Elja’s knitting needles continues without pause. He thinks maybe it helps distract the Rava. “Ell, come away from the window.” 

His tail flicks. Turning away from the crashing waves and thunder, he joins them on the sofa, claiming the space left between his friends. He tugs an orange knitted blanket off the back of the couch, spreading it over the three of them. Khri smiles, wriggling closer to curl up against his side and he rests an arm around his dear friend’s shoulders. 

Together they wait out the world’s anger.

[goremade-a]

A  CONTINUATION.  @decaynoir​

the   doctor’s   words   prompt   him   to   laugh,   though   there   is   not   an   ounce   of   humor   in   the   dry   chuckle.   most   clones   learn   to   be   suspicious   about   originals   given   their.      .      .     opportunistic   nature.   too   many   horror   stories   of   organ   black   markets&        even   personal   companions.   things   that   even   the   strongest   clones   would   have   nightmares   of.   Will   grasps   at   the   wine,   swirling   it   in   the   glass.      ❝      so   i   hear,      ❞         he   says   with   a   smile,   because   it   is   the   one   thing   in   his   research   that   stood   out.   Hannibal   Lecter’s   impressive   medical   history.  

just   how   many   clones   have   gone   under   his   knife      ?     he   wonders   briefly.  

Will   picks   at   his   food      &      only   halfway   through   he   finally   asks,    ❝   nothing   for   yourself,   Doctor   Lecter      ?      ❞         licking   his   lips,   Will   feels   a   strange   sense   hovering   at   the   back   of   his   thoughts,   the   same   sensation   that   reminded   him   of   his   flashes         &        scrambled   dreams.   colors         &        shapes   pass   through   him   like   an   old   picture   show,   black         &        white,   hazy.   or   perhaps   a   flipbook   with   uncoordinated   images.      maybe   it’s   the   food,   a   taste   he’s   had   before,   or   maybe   it’s   the   man   in   his   head   he’s   so   intimately   connected   to   but   still   a   stranger   to.     Will   picks   at   the   table   linen,   flickering   his   gaze   towards   Hannibal’s.   his   face   is   in   sharp   shadows,   polite         &         almost   without   emotion.      ❝         charm,   manipulation   -   they   go   hand   in   hand   in   order   to   be   effective,   don’t   they         ?        ❞        he   has   arrogance   that   Will   often   associates   with   Originals.         ❝         i’m   not   much   connected   with   any   grapevines,   so   i   still   have   yet   to   piece   together   why   i   of   all   people   received   your   invitation.   unless   you   have   a   soft   spot   for   carers         ?            ❞

𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐛𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐥𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝 .     the  prospect  of  inquiring  into  just  what  he’d  heard  only  occurs  to  him  for  a  moment  at  best,  no  longer  than  it  takes  for  him  to  wet  his  lips  with  the  wine.     inside  his  mind,  the  sound  of  clocks.   the  grim  disciplinarian  of  his  frontal  cortex  trying  to  soften  the  blow  of  will’s  smile.   it  still  punches  into  him.  he  imagines  the  hammering  of  nails  into  coffin  boards,  blinking  away  the  night  he’d  suffocated  his  will  graham  to  death.   there would be no peace until his return.  this  much  hannibal  knows.     ❝   ah - no,  i’m  afraid  there  are  times  in  which  i  find  my  art  just  . . . too  superb  to  eat. just  the  liquid  dinner  for  me,  tonight.  ❞  

watching him eat still pleases hannibal.         that  much  stays  the  same.   perhaps  he’d  phone  up  the  facility  to  thank  them  for  his  table  manners.    his  gaze  strays  between  his  mouth  and  his  throat,   over - loading  the occipital  lobe  with  visual  snapshots  of  this  will.  hannibal  finds  himself  indulging  in  his  melancholic  yearning,  cognizant  that  it  would  only  fester  into  a  painful  throb  at  his  absence.

❝  i think  you’ll  find  that  i  have  no  soft  spots.      you  and  i  are  in  the  same  business,   mr . graham.    there  is  always  a  degree  of  .  .  .  responsible  detachment  in  what  we’ve  been  assigned  to  do.     you  wouldn’t  survive,  otherwise.  ❞   and  detached he  is:   the  man  that  gazes  back  into  will’s  eyes  is  a  vacant  thing,  bolstered  together  with  expensive  cloth  and  gossamer.   if  one  inspected  him  closely  they  would  find  thick,  bruising  bags  under  both  eyes,    gaunt  cheek  bones  and  a  strange,  deterrent  to  any  and  all  sustenance.    

how  cruel  it  was  to  rot  while  his  twin  flame  stayed  frozen  in  his  youth.    hannibal  leans  to  set  his  glass  onto  the  table.    ❝ i  knew  your  original.     he  was .  .  .  .  philtatos.  he  went  missing  last  month.    [  .  .  .  ]    i  won’t  apologize  for  deceiving  you,  but  i  needed  to  see  if  -  i  needed  to  see  him.  ❞