#like why risk so many lives chasing one guy when you were just gloating about how you cleared out everyone else in the area you're in

[vivalasthedas]

Bye Bye is the closest thing to a memorable song in Mufasa and it's still so boring I had to look up what it was called afterwards despite bye bye being repeated in it a bunch

I only remembered it cause the entire moment was pretty fun.

[logan-after-dark]

March 3rd 2018

I feel like I had someone else’s lucid dream last night. Many weird and wonderful details below the cut (trigger warning: a character in this dream was molested as a child, and I experienced some vague flashbacks of it/associated trauma):

The first thing I think I remember doing is floating around a place that was familiar to me, although the ‘me’ in this dream wasn’t really me, I don’t think. The elementary school I floated by was familiar to me, in that in my mind I called it Fallingbrook Elementary (which was a school I went to for a few years as a kid, grades 3-6 I believe), but then I turned around to see this castle monument thing (that doesn’t exist near Fallingbrook elementary school), and overheard some tourists nearby talking about how “the King” put a magical barrier around it to keep people out of the vicinity, so that the castle will always be in pristine condition. There’s supposedly a sign on the front of it talking about it, but nobody can get close enough because of the barrier.

I remembered hearing about that as a kid growing up in the area (once again, not me - whoever I was supposed to be in the dream, this girl), and I thought that, since I’m floating around having an out-of-body experience, might as well get a closer look.

Sure enough, there was a sign. Well, more like white letters protruding from the stonework on the front of the small castle, declaring the spell’s intent, the King’s name, and the date it went up. I suppose the sign had to be done first before the barrier spell was cast, which may’ve been a little pre-emptive on their parts, but what can you do when you’re lucid dreaming someone else’s life XD

Anyways, I start floating/flying around this hometown and night is falling, and I find, well, myself. I find myself asleep in bed next to my boyfriend, I guess, and she wakes up in a panic as I start looking through things in her room. See, this girl had a very traumatized past - I believe it was implied that she was sexually abused as a child by a man. The details of the horrible experience started to overwhelm me, and I started to fade out like I was going to wake up, but I struggled through the haunting ‘memories’ and stuck with it. That’s why I started opening drawers. I wanted to take away the last memories of her attacker and get rid of them for her (and for myself) once and for all.

I’m not entirely sure why I, in an out-of-body experience/lucid dream/astral adventure, was able to not only find my conscious and sentient body as if it was a different person, nor why I was able to interact with her environment so directly as to open her dresser drawers and a cupboard, but there I was XD And it woke her and startled her as if there was a ghost in the room, and her boyfriend, whom I knew to be very sensitive and supportive, woke up to hold her shoulders and try to calm her down. At that point I decided to stop haunting her, and decided to let myself be seen by her, instead of remaining as some invisible creepy ghost.

The familiarity in her eyes told me it was like looking into a mirror for her. I explained to her, very calmly, what I was trying to do for her, for both of us. I told her to let me take care of the last remnants of that time, to let me destroy the last few things of him that she had left, and to let me bear that burden. She started crying and hugged me. Her boyfriend left for a couple glasses of water, and when he got back and we both explained what was going on, he held her and encouraged my search.

I found some photos of him, and the memories they provoked made me feel so sick it was nigh unbearable. But I took care of them anyways. Next I found some notes and letters I had written to him, explaining that I didn’t like what was happening. Those were hard to look at. I couldn’t read them, I just couldn’t. I showed them to her and told her ‘I’m taking these to get rid of them, okay?’ She agreed uneasily. But she seemed to be faring a lot better. Her boyfriend held her by the shoulders and she savoured that glass of water as she watched what I was doing.

I purged it all. Anything that I could find that connected me/this poor girl to him.

Now I just had to make sure he was rotting in jail like he should.

I floated through the town to find the small police station and the lockup. I don’t know why he wasn’t in a bigger prison out of town, but that’s where I found him. He was rotting in some concrete cell at the back of the station, and I found him asleep, dressed in a ragged grey jumpsuit, on the can.

He woke up. And he could see me.

And he was silent.

And, somehow, I realized that this wasn’t like him.

There was something off about his demeanor, his mannerisms, everything. He didn’t gloat, didn’t have some one-liner prepped to torment me with, he didn’t even seem to recognize me. This horrible man was someone that I knew very well and at a vulnerable time of my (again, her) life. And he was just sitting in this cell, lifeless.

I quickly realized that I didn’t really have anything to say to him, not in this state. So I left. Phased through the walls and just left him to rot.

I’m not sure how this transition occurred, but the next thing I remember doing was searching this guy’s apartment with my family - mother, father, sister, little brother. They weren’t at all like my family in real life, but I recognized them in the dream as my family. Anyways, we’re digging through his stuff, and someone finds this catalogue of masks, sort of? Long face masks like a founded sheet of paper printed to look like different characters from a video game I (apparently) recognized and enjoyed as a kid. Think sort of like League of Legends meets Team Fortress - big, buff, burly guys in a whole bunch of different roles and with different weapons and abilities. We left the apartment somewhat empty-handed. The place was a complete mess, but whatever we were looking for (evidence the abuse happened, maybe? Validation?), we didn’t really find it there.

As we’re leaving, dusk has fallen and there are very few people out on the streets. This town is old-fashioned, with interlocking brick sidewalks and old stone buildings and churches. So much so that there’s an older lady out lighting the lamps alongside the street and sidewalk. My father greets her and offers her some coin, for which she thanks him, and then I get a look at her face.

It’s not a her. It’s him, in disguise.

I recognize the eyes instantly - one grey eye, one blue - and that wicked smile. He’s out of jail and roaming the streets in a big heavy coat and a long curled wig of dark hair. We were just about to cross the empty street as a group, but I’m frozen in my tracks and have stopped breathing. I’m actually struggling for air, to make any kind of sound to alert my family, but I just can’t. At least, not until my dad comes to check on me, putting a hand on my shoulder once he sees that I’ve stopped.

“HIM,” I gasp. “IT’S HIM.”

He knows exactly what I mean, and my family leaps into action. This guy wasn’t just an average joe, I find out too late, as my family begins to fight him while I stay out of the line of fire and try to support. He cackled and gloated as he manifested some sort of pale white vine weapons from his body, all four taking down each of my family members, knocking them unconscious and putting their lives at risk. I was able to use my dream powers to push him back, to literally will the vines away from my family, rouse them, and heal whatever damage had been done. I barely understood how they were injured, I just willed them better, and I overpowered him as I did so. This caused him to panic a bit and flee, but not before my family’s own powers came into play. My adult sister (who had blonde hair and colourful leggings with a tank top) kicked him in the face from meters away. I think my dad had super strength, and I don’t know what my mom or brother had (yes, it was very reminiscent of The Incredibles - I watched a trailer for the new one recently so that probably inspired this part of the dream XD).

This asshole still managed to get away, despite the fight and effort we all put into it. Instead of chase him down though, my dad said we ought to come up with a plan and find some help.

So that’s what we did. Next thing I know we’re sitting around a table with a map of town, with a bunch of big, burly men. It turns out, these guys from the video game from earlier are also real in this dream, apparently? I definitely felt awestruck that they not only existed, but came to help me with hunting down this monster. The first thing we discovered was that the catalogue of masks that we saw at his apartment, were actually disguise masks that could change your whole appearance if you wear them. He had ordered quite a number of them through this catalogue, and even had one custom-made to look like himself, which was what the poor guy in jail had been stuck with wearing. This created a new problem though, in that the very people who came to help us couldn’t be trusted, because he could literally look like any of them anytime he wanted. Yeah. Great way to start things off.

These guys were very supportive of me though - they dwarfed me in size with their military gear and broad chests, and they were all holding my shoulder, clapping me on the back or hugging me. It felt nice to have that positive attention from a man, after everything I’d gone through in the past, and I felt warm and safe amoung them, in spite of the whole mask issue.

The characters in the game that I remembered were listed alphabetically I remember, with the first guy being caucasian with blue eyes and brown hair just long enough to have waves in it. He had a headset with a small blue screen suspended in front of one eye, and red and white body armour. His codename was Atllas I think. The next guy down on the list had a surname that started with B I believe, who was dark-skinned and looked fairly similar to TF2′s Demoman, except with both eyes, more wrinkles in his face, big broad chest, and no Scottish accent. He actually remarked at one point in the meeting that he thought the game was ridiculous, and he didn’t understand why anyone ever played it. I said “Well, here I was about to tell you that you were my favourite character to play,” and he looked abashed while Atllas had a good laugh.

The meeting left off on a rather positive note despite everything else that happened in the dream, and after that we started searching for that asshole, but after some brief confrontations that I barely recall and him switching masks a whole bunch, my memory of the dream itself gets quite fuzzy, and I don’t know whether we actually managed to catch him in the end.

[marigoldbaker]

mermaid magic (5/6)

“wait a minute.” buffy looked between them. “giles, are you courting a mermaid now?”

jenny turned pink and ducked under the water. giles started stammering somewhat incoherently about unfounded accusations.

(featuring faith and buffy as smitten adventurers, willow and tara as smitten witches, and ethan as giles’s broody pirate ex-boyfriend)

this chapter: giles’s broody pirate ex-boyfriend

“Lady Cordelia’s locked herself in her chambers,” Tara informed Giles, strapping a cutlass to her waist. “Willow’s getting together an arsenal of spells to protect our ship, but if what you say about Ethan is true—”

“It is,” said Giles quietly.

“Then those spells aren’t going to do much good,” Tara finished.

“Giles, this defeatist attitude so isn’t your usual MO,” said Buffy nervously. “Weren’t you and Ethan in love?”

“Buffy,” said Giles, “my relationship with Ethan ended in what could be called a catastrophically awful explosion. In this case, we are actually at a disadvantage that I am this ship’s captain.”

Buffy snapped her fingers. “Hold on,” she said. “They’re only after us for Lady Cordelia, right? What if we pretend we’re a crew who kidnapped you and Lady Cordelia, we give them you and Lady Cordelia as a trade for safe passage, we keep sailing, and you and Lady Cordelia take down the ship and escape? It’s like—the epic stealth mission.”

“I don’t know, Buffy,” said Tara worriedly. “I don’t think Lady Cordelia is really the kind of person who’d do well with a stealth mission. Maybe if she’d been on our crew longer, but—”

“Yeah, but Ethan doesn’t know Lady Cordelia,” said Buffy. “All he knows is that she’s a rich dark-haired lady taking a cruise.”

“Oh, no,” said Giles.

“Oh, yes,” said Buffy.

“This is the worst plan anyone has ever come up with,” said Faith. “And this dress is the worst dress anyone has ever come up with.”

“Please!” huffed Lady Cordelia, crossing her arms in Faith’s dress shirt. “That dress costs more than this ship!”

“Well, I can see why we’re being chased by pirates, then,” said Willow. “Faith, you’ve got the weapons?”

“Hidden under my dainty little skirt,” said Faith, and winked at Buffy.

“You know, I still think this was just a ploy so that Buffy could see Faith all dolled up,” said Xander to Tara, who rolled her eyes and went to stand next to Willow.

“Giles?” Buffy hesitated.

“I’ll be fine,” said Giles gently. “I know Ethan. He tends to spend quite a bit of time gloating, and he won’t want to kill me.”

“But you said catastrophically awful explosion,” said Buffy.

Giles sighed. “We were once very much in love,” he said finally. “As much animosity as there is between us now, I don’t think that feeling will ever completely fade. He won’t want to kill me.”

“He better not,” said Buffy, and reached up, hugging Giles quickly. “Come back safe.”

“I’ll be back in time for supper,” Giles promised, kissing her forehead.

“Five minutes!” Gunn called.

Alonna tied Faith’s hands loosely behind her back; the sort of knots that would keep Lady Cordelia tied tightly, but not Faith Lehane. Buffy followed suit with Giles. “All right,” she said. “I’m Captain, Tara’s my first mate—”

“What about me?” Xander objected.

“Tara’s best with a sword out of any of us,” said Willow very proudly.

“I don’t know about that,” said Faith.

Willow gave her a look. “We’re not counting you or Giles,” she said. “You guys can’t really be part of our pirate crew when you’re our prisoners.”

“Anyway,” said Buffy, “Lady Cordelia goes by Faith, Faith is Lady Cordelia, Giles is the pirate captain of a small ship that we sunk, et cetera, we’re going to see if we can trade off Faith and Giles without much fuss.”

In the sea, Giles saw Jenny, watching with worried dark eyes. I’m fine, he mouthed, but her face didn’t relax.

Buffy kissed Faith. “I don’t even need to tell you how many people I’ll kill if you end up dead,” she said.

“Bunches,” said Faith, smiling.

“More than bunches,” said Buffy, smiling back.

“Look, if you guys could stop the creepy pirate love talk, that would be really great,” said Lady Cordelia, “because the pirates are almost at our ship.”

Buffy nodded. “Hate to admit it, but Cordelia’s got a point,” she agreed.

“Lady Cordelia,” corrected Lady Cordelia archly.

“You’re a part of the crew now,” said Faith. “The whole hoity-toity act doesn’t work with us anymore.”

Lady Cordelia hesitated, then gave them all a reluctant smile. “I suppose I’ll let you use this informality for now,” she said finally. “But mark my words—”

“Ripper,” came Ethan’s incredulous voice as the boat pulled up next to them. “As I live and breathe.” He glanced around. “Got yourself into a spot of trouble, then?” he said with relish.

“I’ve been apprehended by these ruthless brigands!” Faith gasped theatrically, leaning heavily on a surprised Willow. “Please, kind sir—”

Buffy elbowed Faith. “Quiet, Lady Cordelia,” she said very pointedly. “Your dramatics are unbecoming for a lady of your bloodline.”

“Actually, I think it’s pretty on point,” said Xander. Lady Cordelia stepped on his foot.

“Ethan,” said Giles, holding his head high. “What do you want?”

“Only the lady, really,” said Ethan with amusement, “though I’m beginning to wonder if I’ll take you along with me as well.” He jumped neatly from his ship to Giles’s. “Which one of you is the captain?”

Buffy stepped forward, head held high. She’d tucked her hair into her hat to lessen the risk of Ethan making the connection between the small blonde girl Giles had gone after and the brave young woman who wielded a cutlass with easy grace. “I am Captain Summer,” she replied, “and I don’t want a fight.”

“We’re not looking for one,” said Ethan. “Just want the lady.” He gestured towards Faith. “We heard she’d boarded your ship a few days back.”

“She fell in love with a pirate,” said Buffy, and gave Faith a sideways smile. “She simply had to be with her.”

“So not the time,” said Giles through his teeth.

Buffy turned a bit pink. “What? Oh! Uh, anyway, we tricked her into trusting us, and we were, um, planning to…sell…her?”

“Well,” said Ethan thoughtfully. “You’re in luck. I offer the reasonable bargain of letting you pass freely if you give me the lady. And—” He paused, looking at Giles. “Throw in your other prisoner,” he said casually. Only Giles saw the tense way he held himself.

Buffy surveyed Ethan with a long, thoughtful look. Finally, she said, “I suppose it’s a reasonable bargain. But you must swear to us that no matter what happens, neither you nor your crew shall harm me or mine.”

“A scoundrel’s oath means nothing,” said Ethan with a shrug.

“Our sorceress will hold you to your word,” said Buffy.

Willow stepped forward with a polite smile. “It’s only fair,” she said. “We are giving you a very important prisoner.”

Ethan hesitated.

“Why, Ethan,” said Giles, choosing his words carefully. “Are you that willing to risk your crew for me?”

“Fine,” said Ethan, glaring at Buffy. “Fine. I swear my crew and I won’t hurt you after you hand over the prisoners, as long as you don’t steal them back from me. How’s that?”

“Perfect,” said Willow cheerfully. “Just sign here.”

“You drew up a contract?” said Ethan doubtfully as he signed the paper.

“We always keep paperwork on hand,” said Xander. Ethan gave him a look. “Xander Harris,” Xander added with a grin. “Second mate.”

“Since when?” demanded Lady Cordelia.

“Good lord,” muttered Giles.

“They captured you?” Ethan sounded half bemused and half delighted. “You must be slipping in your old age, Ripper. Whatever happened to that girl you went chasing?”

Giles raised his chin. “That’s none of your concern,” he said shortly.

“Died, hmm?” Ethan motioned for Giles and Faith to follow him.

“I refuse to go with you!” Faith cried dramatically. “What would my mother say?”

“Oh my god,” muttered Buffy, picking Faith up in her arms. “Looks like I’m going to have to carry Little Miss Drama Queen over to the pirate ship myself.”

Faith smirked at Giles, who personally thought that she should be taking the whole affair a bit more seriously than she was. “Right,” he said, and did his best to clamber aboard the other ship with his hands tied; Ethan’s crew had brought the two boats close enough for him to do so with only minimal effort. Giles hoped they hadn’t scratched the paint.

“We’ll be off, then,” said Ethan cheerfully. “Pleasure doing business with you.”

“Certainly,” Buffy agreed, placing Faith down on the deck of the Eyghon.

Faith blew a kiss to Buffy. “Farewell, my lovely pirate,” she said with an exaggerated sigh. “How I shall suffer through these lonely nights without you by my side—”

“Okay. Quit it, Cordy.” Buffy was very clearly trying not to laugh as she jumped back onto their ship. “Um, we’re late for…pillaging, so we have to go. But—good luck torturing your prisoners?”

“How long have you been pirating?” Ethan sounded delighted. “You’re quite clearly new to this. My word, Ripper, you have lost your touch if you let a girl like this catch you so easily.”

“Hey!” said Buffy indignantly. “I’m a brave pirate!”

Something in Ethan’s face shifted at that. “Yes,” he said slowly. “I suppose you are.” He turned to his men. “Change of plans, boys,” he said. “I know we really were looking forward to all the ransom money from Lady Cordelia, but I think it might make a bit more of an impression if we throw her overboard.”

“Are you mad?” one of the men demanded.

“Start sailing,” said Faith.

Ethan smiled slightly. “We’ll have to tie the knots a bit tighter, then,” he said. “I have no intention of letting either of you live.”

“Giles, that was so not part of the plan!” Willow burst out. “You were all like ‘oh, he’s not going to kill me, he still loves me’ and now he’s going to kill you!”

“Shh!” said Buffy in a panicked whisper.

“I’m sorry,” Willow replied miserably.

“Why, Rupert,” said Ethan with theatrical surprise. “Do you know these people?”

Giles looked from Ethan to Buffy, and saw the small, clearly visible tendril of blonde hair that had escaped from the latter’s hat. “Oh, no,” he said softly.

“I’m shocked,” said Ethan. “Really, Ripper. The lengths you take just to protect your ridiculous crew of children, and it’s all for naught.” He nodded to the gentleman next to him. “Ready your weapons,” he said. “Spike, if you don’t mind—”

“Actually, I do,” said the gentleman next to Ethan. “I very much do. I was fine with you chasing down your ex-boyfriend’s ship when it meant we’d be getting ransom money for the lady,” he tipped his hat to Faith, who rolled her eyes, “but now you’re just throwing them both overboard? That’s a bloody waste of our time, Rayne.”

“Who is in charge?” Ethan demanded.

“For some godforsaken reason, everyone around here continues to listen to you,” Spike continued, his voice getting louder. “Even when all you do is run after Giles like he didn’t choose the girl over you twelve years ago. Well, I’ve had enough of it, and so have the rest of us!” He turned to Ethan’s men, who were nodding in agreement.

“Way to go, Giles,” said Faith with interest. “You started a mutiny.”

Spike grabbed Faith around the waist. “She isn’t going overboard!” he roared. “We’re getting that money if we have to kill you for it, Rayne!”

“Hey!” Buffy shouted, jumping over and landing on the deck of the Eyghon. Her hat tumbled off, hair spilling down her shoulders as she pulled Faith away from Spike and into her arms. “Nobody messes with my sweetheart.”

“And you were calling me out for being theatrical,” said Faith dryly, tugging at her bonds. They fell neatly to the ground. “Looks like we’re in for it now.”

“Not now,” said Spike irritably. “I’m trying to stage a mutiny here. Can you all just—hold on a second so we can get things sorted?”

Buffy and Faith looked at each other, then at Spike. “No,” said Buffy.

Tara drew her sword. Xander, Wesley, and Gunn all followed suit.

“Oh, come on,” snorted Ethan. “You’re all clearly outnumbered. What on earth do you think’s going to hap—”

A piece of kelp hit him in the face.

“Oh, lord, Jenny, not now,” Giles muttered.

“I heard that.” Jenny pulled herself up so that she was sitting on the edge of the ship.

“Wait, did that mermaid really just scale the ship?” inquired one of Ethan’s men. “That’s pretty impressive.”

“Thank you,” said Jenny, smiling sweetly, and then stabbed Spike in the arm.

All hell broke loose.