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holylulusworld · 4 years ago

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Obedient

Request: A/B/O dynamic, where omega! reader just agrees to everything her Alpha (Bucky) says, no matter how embarrassing or humiliating it is. Arranged marriage set up. Please.... Huge fan of your angsts. (He's embarrassing her on perpose, because he just doesn't like her at all. But omega! reader is just so docile and just won't talk back cuz she's raised like that. I think AU would be better, but I'll let you decide that. Happy ending. You are great. Thank you so much.)

Pairing: Alpha!Mobster!Bucky x Omega!Reader

Characters: Alpha!Steve x Omega!Peggy, Omega!Natasha Romanoff x Alpha!Clint Barton Bruce Banner, Brock Rumlow (oh look he’s not the bad guy this time), Sam Wilson

Warnings: angst, humiliation, degrading, collars, obedient omega, starving, implied smut, snippets of smut, heat, pain, abusive relationship, arranged marriage, shitty parents, medical treatments, Bucky being a shitty partner and asshole, suicidal tendency (I think?), mentions of violence, mentions of biting

Words: 2,8 k

A/N: This one took me ages as it was out of my comfort zone to write Bucky as an abusive alpha. Honestly, I was tempted to let Steve rip him apart limp by limp, but I saw this one as a challenge. I left the ending open as I could not write it as a happy ending, not with the way he treated her. Sorry.

Please be aware of the trigger warnings and do not proceed if any warning offends you! This is a warning not an advertisement!

Steve feels uncomfortable, just like Peggy when you kneel next to your husband or rather master as he likes to be called by you.

While Peggy uncomfortably shifts in her seat, tries to not glance at you kneel next to Bucky in your underwear wearing a collar calling you slut, Steve glares at his friend.

“What the fuck, Bucky! I thought you wanted to introduce your wife and mate to us, not embarrass her,” Steve finally grits out. He may be a mobster, a hard man on the outside but Steve never liked alphas treating their mate like a piece of meat.

“I did, Stevie,” Bucky pats his thigh and you sit on his lap, not meeting Peggy nor Steve’s eyes.

You should protest, scream at the way your husband treats you but raised to an obedient omega who gets punished for misbehavior you hold back the tears and swallow the tiny amount of pride you had left.

“This is bullshit, James,” Peggy angrily tosses her napkin onto the table when Bucky pushes you off his lap. He even tosses food to your feet, smirking as he simply has to snap his fingers to make you eat the food.

“That is enough, Bucky,” Steve gets up to pull his wife’s chair, holding out his hand. “I know you like to be the dominant part like to show your power but treating your mate like a dog doesn’t make you a tough man,” Steve grits his teeth, looking at you with pitiful eyes, “it makes you look pathetic.”

“I didn’t want to marry her, Steve,” pointing toward you Bucky scrunches up his nose. “Look at that pathetic little omega eating food from the floor like a dog.”

“Steve, I want to go, now,” Peggy already walks toward the door, giving you a sympathetic look before she backhands Bucky.

“She may not fight back but I am telling you that she deserves better than being forced to bear you and your behavior,” inhaling sharply Steve watches Peggy slap his friend’s cheek again. “You are the lousiest alpha I ever met, James Buchanan Barnes, you make me sick.”

Steve nods in agreement, not meeting his friend’s eyes he sighs deeply. “I thought you are a better man, Bucky. I’ll need a few days or weeks without you. Call Sam or Clint of you need anything.”

The moment the door slams shut Bucky falls onto the chair. He does not recognize you didn’t eat the food or that you suppressed desperate whimpers.

“Great, you ruined the dinner too,” Bucky spats. “Get up, on the bed and present. I will fuck my frustration out before I hit the club to meet a real woman.”

It’s always rough, fast, and without any pleasure for you. “At least you are a good fuck,” pushing off you Bucky slaps your ass, smirking as you dare not to move. “On your place, leave my bed.”

You hurry to leave the bed to lie on the tiny mattress he placed in front of the large window. All you own is a blanket and a pillow, so you cover your bruised body with the blanket to hide your face in the pillow.

“Next time, you’ll look happy,” Nodding you try not to anger your alpha. Your father’s strong hand, the conditioning on turning you into a perfect obedient omega do not leave any room for arguments. “I’ll be back in a few hours; you will stay like this.”

“Great you come to movie night,” Bucky exclaims. He is in a good mood. The last deal with Rumlow was a success and now he wants to watch a classic movie with Clint and Natasha who look at each other, not daring to say a word.

“What? Does she disturb you?” Natasha eyes you warily. She can see the sadness behind the fake smile while you kneel next to Bucky, not daring to move a muscle as you try to hide your pain. “She can go.”

“Steve wasn’t joking,” Clint finally chokes out. “I thought that you had a fight or something and that he told us you forced your wife to kneel on the floor during dinner was a bad joke.”

“I want to go, now,” Natasha will not stay any longer in the room watching you suffer. “Let the poor girl sleep, James. She looks like she’s about to pass out any minute.”

“Did you ever treat the girl with kindness, Bucky?” Clint can’t believe the man who used to be his paragon treats his wife like that. “I have to agree with Steve, this is just not right. Arranged marriage or not, Y/N is a human being.”

“Asshole,” Natasha adds walking toward the door, not waiting for her mate. “I’ll find a way to help the poor girl. I’ll call her parents.”

“What the fuck do you mean with that’s her purpose?” Steve balls his hands into fists, glaring at your father. “He’s treating your daughter like a dog and you have the guts to tell me that’s what you want?”

“She got raised to become an obedient omega, Mr. Rogers,” your father explains, not intimidated by Steve’s demeanor. “James wanted an obedient omega, he got one. Everyone is happy.”

“Everyone but your daughter,” Natasha grits out while Peggy tries to talk to your mother. “Mrs. Y/L/N, please. We need to find a way to get Y/N out of the cycle of obedience. She looks sick, thin, and sad.”

“She will not answer you, omega scum,” your father dares to say and Steve’s hand twitches. “Now out of my house and stop acting as if it’s a crime to treat an omega as she deserves.”

Steve must hold Natasha back, grabbing her wrist carefully as she was about to slap your father’s face.

“Don’t, Nat. You know he has enough power to let all of us disappear. I just thought the great Y/F/N is a better man, someone to look up,” Steve shakes his head. “You’re all the same…”

“Any ideas?” Peggy sighs looking at Clint who tries to find anything in the papers your father signed to seal your fate. “Clint?”

“Nothing, Peg’s,” Clint sighs deeply. “The contract, the papers, and marriage are ironclad. There is nothing I could do.”

“This can’t be true, alpha,” Natasha looks over her mates’ shoulder, sighing as he points at the papers. “There is nothing we can do to help her?”

“We could just kidnap, Y/N,” silence fills the room as Steve quirks a brow at Sam who was silent the whole time. “Sam, anything from you?”

“I still got the keycard to his house,” Sam steps closer to the table now, looking at the papers. “We go in, get the girl, and are out without Bucky noticing us. Of course, someone needs to lure him and his men out,” Sam ends his plan and Steve nods, liking the idea.

“Alright, it’s settled then,” Steve clears his throat, pointing toward Rumlow who watched the scene, an amused smirk on his lips. “Will you help us or just grin like the cat that got the cream?”

“I hate to admit I like your plan, Wilson,” Brock smirks, eying Natasha’s ass shamelessly. “I like omegas, like when they are soft and obedient just like I love a feisty wildcat scratching my ass,” now he gets up to crack his neck. “But I do not like someone treating an omega like a dog. Let us fuck Barnes over.”

“We got a problem,” Rumlow whispers watching the guards open the gate to let Peggy in. “According to my information, Barnes is out of the house for at least three days. No reason for me to lure him out. What’s with the plan now?”

“They let Peggy in, Brock. Don’t pee your pants yet,” Sam muses pointing toward Peggy walking into Bucky’s house. “She’ll fake an emergency, the guards will check on her, while Steve, Clint, and Natasha will use the back entrance to get Y/N out.”

“Shit did Barnes make her kneel next to the table and dropped food on her,” Brock blinks as Sam reluctantly nods. “Such an asshole calling me a jerk. Who fucked with Barnes's brain, dude?”

“Can you not talk the whole time,” Steve groans via intercom. “I can hear you the whole time. Check on the guards and Peggy. Tell us when it’s time to,” Sam yells ‘now’ and Steve picks the lock to sneak into Bucky’s house.

“Y/N, hello,” Natasha can smell your distress before she can see your weak form. Lie on the makeshift nest on the ground you shake in pain. “Fuck, Steve she’s in heat. God, we need to get Barnes.”

“No,” it is a silent whimper leaving your lips when you shake your head until you feel dizzy. “He’ll not help me, refuses to knot me,” close to drifting into unconsciousness you give Natasha a weak smile. “Let me die, please. I don’t want to live like that, but I do not know anything else.”

Tears spill out of your eyes when you lose consciousness right when Clint sneaks into the bedroom. “We got to go, guys. Grab the girl and run!”

“Y/N said she rather dies than living like that, guys,” Natasha sniffles. “How fucked up is James Barnes to refuse to help his mate during her heat? That asshole didn’t even knot her as any alpha would.”

“We got no time to discuss Bucky is the asshole of the century. Let me get her and we bring her to a hospital,” Steve carefully covers your body with a blanket before he cradles you in his arms. “Lead the way Clint, Sam we are on our way, need back-up and the car. Y/N is in heat and it’s life-threatening.”

“I am on it, Brock already storms toward the,” Sam groans, “gate. Too late he’s taking Bucky’s men down, laughing like a mad man.”

“Got it,” Steve walks toward the door, followed by Natasha who tries to hold back the tears when her mate grasps for her hand. “We’ll help you, darling.”

“I sedated her, gave her something to ease the pain,” Bruce explains. “Her fever is still too high for my liking, but I got it under control. Did she eat lately?”

“We don’t know,” Peggy chokes out. “According to Brock’s information, Bucky was away for like three days.”

“I assume she hasn’t eaten for one or two weeks, at least not properly,” Natasha gasps while Steve prefers to ram his fist into the wall. “Her condition is still life-threatening, but I hope we can bring the fever down.”

“Can we see her?” Peggy pleas but Bruce shakes his head, sighing deeply. “We will wait then, right Steve?”

“We will wait and help her find a place to be after she recovered,” Steve declares. “Whatever we have to do to stop James' abuse.”

“Count me in, Rogers,” Brock smirks. “Whatever I can do to piss Barnes off floats my boat.”

“She’s my wife, let me pass!” Bucky yells through the hallway, gritting his teeth. He has Bruce pressed against the wall glaring at the man saving your life. “Where is she?”

“Intense care, Mr. Barnes. We still do not know if she is going to survive her heat. She starved too, this adds to her bad condition, followed by your treatment,” Bruce is, by all means, no coward, so he purses his lips, glaring at the mobster.

“Starving? No, she got food,” Bucky gasps. “Maybe she forgot to eat while I was away over the last three days?”

“I must tell you your wife,” spatting the word ‘wife’ Bruce clenches his fists hard enough to hurt, “starved for more than two weeks, maybe even longer. She must have barely eaten anything. If not for Mr. Rogers and his friends, she would be dead by now.”

Bucky drops his hands, nodding silently as he steps back to make space for Bruce to leave. “I must ask you to not be that loud at the hospital. If you at least could show some decency and leave the poor girl alone after almost letting her die, I would be grateful,” Bruce walks off to talk to Steve and Peggy about your condition.

“Doll,” Bucky whispers sneaking into your hospital room. His eyes widen at the sight of you. Barely breathing, IV at your arm you lie on the hospital bed, not opening your eyes. “Shit, omega.”

Feeling like someone stabbed his heart Bucky steps closer to your bed, carefully reaching out to stroke your hair.

His claiming mark, the one he left after your wedding is a reminder of the way he treated you. It’s messy, too deep and barely healed as he repeatedly bit you to remind you of your place.

“Doll, m’ sorry,” Bucky whines now, sitting on a chair next to your bed. “I hated you for messing my bond with Dolores up, Y/N. I wanted to claim her but that’s no excuse for hurting you.”

“What do you want here?” The door flings open when an enraged Steve Rogers enters your hospital room. “Didn’t you do enough? Do you want to end her right here to get your precious Dolores back?”

“Stevie, I didn’t mean to,” Bucky gasps when his best friend wraps his hand around his throat to slam him into the wall. “Steve…”

“No more Stevie, you monster. Do you know what she told Natasha,” Steve grits out as Bucky struggles against his hold. “Y/N preferred to die, Bucky. That girl over there chooses death over a life with you.”

“She…did?” Coughing Bucky falls to the ground when Steve lets go of him. He’s nervously running his fingers through his hair, pacing as he doesn’t know if he shall attack his friend again or just shove him out of your room.

“H…hello,” voice hoarse you blink your eyes open when your alpha hits the nearby wall. Steve just threw your mate across the room; not caring Peggy screams his name. “S…Steve?”

“We are here, darling. Do not worry,” Natasha whispers as you slowly sit up, looking at your alpha who crawls toward your bed.

Bucky gasps when you flinch away, not daring to meet his gaze. “m’ sorry for leaving the house. I swear I did not want to. I was not conscious when they brought me here. Please,” Steve blinks a few times when you start crying. “I’ll be good, daddy….”

“Why is she calling you daddy, Buck?” Ludicrous your mate shakes his head. “I don’t know, Steve. She never said much to me, to be honest.”

“Y/N,” Natasha tries again but you curl into a ball, whimpering silently. “Please, no more punishment,” your desperate sobs let Bucky get up to rush to your side.

“Doll, I am not your dad, it’s me, Bucky,” purring he tries to gently cup your cheek but you shake in fear. “Shhh, I’ll not hurt you, Y/N. You need to look at me and count to ten to calm.”

Weakly lifting your head you look at Bucky who counts for you. “1,” you take a breath, “2,” another breath and you feel lightheaded, “3 just like that,” Bucky praises while Steve runs out of the room to call for Bruce.

“She’s confused, disoriented and called Bucky ‘daddy’, Bruce. I think she’s…I dunno,” Steve watches Bucky sit on your bed to run one hand carefully over your hair.

“Just like that, doll. Look at me, no one is going to punish you, okay,” nodding you sniffle silently while Steve’s heart clenches in his chest.

“They’ll know you are not satisfied with me,” more tears run down your face when you hide it in the pillow.

“I am the one to blame, not you Y/N,” whispering the words Bucky grasp for another blanket to cover your still shaking body. “I’ll do anything to make you feel better, promised. Please, give me a chance.”

“Bucky, she’s confused, on strong meds to suppress the symptoms of her heat and starved,” Steve grabs his friends’ arm, tries to get him out of your room.

“If you want her to get better and start to act like an alpha, leave her alone for a few days. Let Peggy and Nat take care of her and if Y/N is willing to give you a chance, we will tell you so.”

Two weeks later…

“I think I am ready to talk to him,” whispering the words you look up at Steve and Peggy.

“What will you do now?” Peggy asks helping you into the chair to watch out of the window. “Y/N?”

“I don’t know yet, but I can’t let him do this to me again,” voice trembling you feel Peggy’s hand on your shoulder.

“Whatever you will decide to do, Steve and I will help you figure things out,” you nod, hearing the door open as Bucky silently walks into the room. He looks as if he did not sleep, eat, or shower for weeks.

“She’s ready to talk to you,” Steve says walking toward the door. “If she decides to go, we will take her with us.”

Nodding Bucky steps closer, looking at you before he kneels next to you, not saying a word he whines low in his throat. “I’ll do anything…”

Part 2

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#Obedient #tw: abusive relationship #tw: degradation #tw: humiliation #angst #abo #abo dynamics #request fill #alpha!bucky #alpha!bucky x omega!reader #alpha!bucky barnes #alpha!bucky barnes x omega!reader #alpha!bucky barnes x reader #MOBSTER!AU #mobster au #mobster!bucky #mobster!Bucky x Reader #tw: suicidal tendency #implied smut

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psychotic-psypport · 4 years ago

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“Words on Bathroom Walls”

So, I saw “Words on Bathroom Walls” the other day, and I feel like I’ve heard a lot of people saying they’re iffy and nervous about this movie because of concerns that it would be an inaccurate/offensive depiction of schizophrenia.

I just wanted to give my two cents on it. I’m going to keep my spoilers as vague as possible, but I will still leave everything I have to say about it under a read-more.

None of this is to say my opinion should decide whether you see this movie or not, I just know how important if felt to me to have a schizophrenic character as a protagonist rather than an antagonist, so I bet it feels important to other schizophrenic/psychotic people.

Spoilers and my thoughts below. Summarized thoughts are bolded.

Hallucinations are such a individual, personal thing. We all see things differently, those of us who hallucinate. Therefore, while some of the hallucinations Adam (our protagonist) goes through are not relatable to me specifically, I cannot speak for everyone and call them inaccurate. These hallucinations I’m referencing are three named people with different personalities. The one I do find a bit more accurate to my journey specifically is the overarching “enemy” of the film, a black smoke that speaks to Adam at several points throughout the movie. I find that this spread of experiences might make it a bit easier to relate to the character, as there is variety. I found the depictions of paranoia to be very accurate to my own experiences, so I give my schizo stamp of approval on the way they show the audience the paranoia the main character feels a few times throughout the movie. So in the case of whether this is a accurate depiction of schizophrenia: It depends on how your symptoms present, but it’s not offensive. At least I genuinely didn’t feel like it was, and I am a pretty angry guard dog when it comes to this community.

The other question I had going into this movie was “Is Adam going to be sympathetic?” Throughout the movie, he is shown to be a normal person and a genuinely good dude. There is one instance where he does end up accidentally hurting someone after shoving them while in the midst of an episode, but beyond this accident (which was not committed against his love interest or family) and a minor fight where people who were actively harassing him, Adam shows no signs of violent tendencies. The movie centers around his schizophrenia, but it’s not hard to get a grasp on his personality and it doesn’t become the only thing about him. Is the schizophrenic character sympathetic and fleshed out? Yes.

The ending was also a concern for me. I was not going to be satisfied with a “the power of love fixes it” situation. This isn’t what happens. The hallucinations do not just go away at the end of the movie, but things end happily. The character still has to experience growth and learning and hardship through the whole film. Nothing just disappears magically because of a love interest. But it ends happy. I won’t go into detail, but it ends on an optimistic note where he is both happy and still psychotic. Does the movie have a magical fix-all happily ever after? No, but it ends realistically happy. I think a lot of us can actually relate with the ending quite a bit, I certainly did.

Possible triggers throughout the film: Overdose, bullying, parental abandonment, chemical burn, alienation, institutionalization, psych wards/mental hospitals, various insults (schizo, psycho, straight jacket) etc, religion, suicidal thoughts/actions/intent, yelling, cursing, injury, restraints. I’m having a hard time remembering if there was anything I’ve missed, but I tried to be as thorough as possible. Better safe than sorry, right?

Overall: This movie was not the cathartic experience that I wanted it to be, but there is still something really neat about seeing a protagonist that sees things. While it might have not been a religious experience, it was a wonderful conversation starter with my mom. It made her see from my perspective a little and resulted in her asking me whether she’s done enough to be a good support system for me. If you have parents or siblings or friends who want to help and just don’t quite get it, this might be the movie to see.

#words on bathroom walls #scizophrenia #actuallyschizophrenic #pseriouslyschizophrenic #schizophrenic #pseriouslypsychosis #pseriouslypsychotic #actuallypsychotic

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365days365movies · 4 years ago

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January 30, 2021: Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior

So, now that I’ve gotten through the first of these movies, it’s probably time to talk about the director of all four films, George Miller.

Miller’s an Australian director and medical doctor. Yeah, dude went to medical school, and in his last year there, started getting into filmmaking! Nice. He immediately came off as a budding director, and made his official directorial debut with his first film...Mad Max. Yeah. Very interesting guy. Today’s entry is his second film, and he’s since made films including Twilight Zone: The Movie, The Witches of Eastwick, Lorenzo’s Oil, Babe (yes, the pig one), Babe: Pig in the City (yes, the OTHER pig one), Happy Feet (not the pig one) and its sequel, Happy Feet Two. So, a pretty good filmography!

But throughout it all, Miller’s flagship passion was the Mad Max franchise, continuing with this movie, and eventually ending with Fury Road. And from what I’ve heard about these remaining two films, I’m in for a ride. Pun half-heartedly intended. SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Recap

An elderly narrator brings us in, telling the tale of the Road Warrior, Mad Max Rockatansky (Mel Gibson). He speaks of the downfall of modern society, punctuated by increased savagery, and the takeover of gangs on the world’s highways. People are ruined and forgotten, and they lose themselves. And these people include Max, who’s wandered out into the wilderness since losing his family. Yeah, Jess from the last movie? Dead. Guess she wasn’t doing so great after all.

Max and his dog are on the roads of Australia, where things have definitely changed. Ho longer around any vestige of civilization, the Road Warrior’s driving the Interceptor, being chased by punks on motorcycles, led by Wez (Vernon Wells), a cray, screaming dude with a bike and a mohawk..

After the chase, Max happens upon a recently-wrecked truck leaking gasoline, a much treasured resource in this post-apocalyptic landscape. Wez leaves, having been defeated, and Max gathers the fuel and goes his way. He drives through the desert until finding a mini-helicopter (a gyrocopter, it’s called), abandoned on the ground.

After taking care of a carpet python (Morelia spilota; don’t know the subspecies), he finds himself ambushed by the Gyro Captain (Bruce Spence), who holds him up for his fuel. However, using his dog, Max gets the upper hand. Frightened, Gyro tells him of a huge supply of fuel somewhere in the desert. He agrees to show him in exchange for his life. Max agrees, and does this.

Yeah, he tied a string to the trigger of a gun, and tied the other end to Dog’s bone. Fuck yes.

Gyro’s true to his word, and he takes him to an oil refinery in the middle of the desert. It’s being used and guarded by a gang of some kind. Max sets up camp, tying Gyro to a dead tree and spying on the gang. That night, many gang members leave the refinery, and return the next day. I should mention, at this point, that we start to see some of the crazy vehicles I love so much in Fury Road. Which, yeah, HERE for that!

Anyway, the bikers, including good old Wez, go after a guy in a tricked-out buggy, incapacitating him and...taking...his wife. Yeah, these movies are really leaning on that to vilify their bad guys, huh? First it was Toecutter’s gang and the young couple, and now it’s these random people. Not the best gimmick in the world, but...OK?

Well, Max goes down to take their gasoline, and finds that the man has lived. Max brings him back to a small settlement, where they take him in. Meanwhile, a child with a boomerang, called Feral Kid (Emil Minty), watches. Cool.

Max is taken into the settlement, where oil is being refined as well. The settlers definitely don’t accept Max, and are ready to take his car and oust him into the wilderness without fuel. And then, the bikers return. And there are a LOT of them.

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These are the Marauders, and they’ve taken some of the settlers captive. They’d gone out, only to be taken captive by Wez and the others. But Wez isn’t their leader. No...no, that would be the Warrior of the Wasteland! The Ayatollah of rock-and-roll-ah! THIS...is Lord Humungus (Kjell Nilsson)!

...Am I in love with this movie? Holy shit, I might be I mean, LOOK at that dude! With his voice and his scraggly-ass hair and Jason mask, he notes that the settlers sent out sentries to find a truck, with which to carry their gasoline and take it out of the desert. And as this is taking place, Feral Kid pops up, throws his steel boomerang, and kills Wez’ right hand man. WHAT

YES. MORE PLEASE. Feral Kid’s boomerang is thrown at him, misses, comes back and severs the fingers of the hand of Humungus’ mouth of Sauron dude, Toadie (Max Phipps). Humungus tries to calm the throngs, Wez included, and ends up putting Wez in a Sleeper. He tells the settlers to “just walk away, and [he] will spare [their] lives. Just walk away.”

...Yeah, I love Humungus. And his inevitable death saddens me more than I can properly say. Anyway, the settlers start debating whether or not they should walk away, and Max uses a little music-maker that he found to befriend the Feral Kid. The leader of the settlers, Pappagallo (Mike Preston) tries to convince them to flee with their fuel to a safe place. They continue to argue, until Max interjects with an offer.

Max can get them the vehicle to carry the tanker of gas that they have, but demands as much gas as he can carry, and the return of his vehicle. They agree to his terms, and Max heads off into the night to get the truck from earlier, with gas canisters and Dog in tow. With a little help from Feral Kid, he escapes the notice of the Marauders waiting nearby.

He catches up to Gyro, who’s managed to break free of the tree (well, mostly), and is quickly caught by Max in order to carry the gas canisters for the truck. They get back to Gyro’s gyro, where someone has died after being bitten by his...nonvenomous snake. Yeah, these films haven’t shown very high knowledge of zoology, huh?

They take to the air in the gyrocopter, and easily fly to the truck from the beginning of the film. They get it started, and Max leaves Gyro behind, although he protests to this, and follows behind in the copter. And then.he drives past Wez, who’s still enraged after losing his partner to boomerang hit.

By the way, I didn’t mention this about the gang, but they’re literally all wearing what looks to me like leather bondage gear? Like...I’m pretty certain that’s exactly what that is; it’s pretty obvious. ESPECIALLY Humungus and Wez’s partner, lemme tell you. Just a note, as this change in visual tone and style is going to carry throughout the rest of the series.

The Marauders run Max down, and Gyro saves the day with his snake, throwing it at one of the cars chasing him. Max JUST makes it into the Settlement, but a couple of the Marauders make it in as well, Wez amongst them. He kills a Settler using his favorite weapon, HIS OWN HEAD (fuck, this movie rules), and makes his was through the compound.

Max climbs the top of the wall, and uses a flamethrower on some of the men. Feral Kid throws a boomerang at Wez, who runs off with the rest of the Marauders. Gyro also arrives, landing in the settlement. Pappagallo, in the process, is shot in the leg with an arrow. Unfortunately, the damage sustained to the truck will take 12 hours to fix.

The Settlers thank Max for his help, but that doesn’t mean he’s staying there. That night, however, Humungus retaliates, and strings up their captured settlers for all to see, torturing them throughout the night. Nobody will make it out alive, by his promise.

For the time being, Max and Gyro are still in the settlement, waiting for their chance to leave. Gyro tries to sneak away with a young woman, but she opts to stay out of loyalty to the Settlers. Also, her hair looks like a Who from Whoville. It had to be said...it had to be said. Pappagallo berated Max for just leaving, rather than helping the rest of them and driving the tanker. Max shoves aside Feral Kid, and he takes off.

However, this is NOT the best move on Max’s part, as he drives RIGHT THROUGH the Marauder camp, and Wez isn’t far behind him. Using a NOS system (EAT IT FAST AND FURIOUS FRANCHISE), they easily overtake Max and run him off the road, DESTROYING the V-8 Pursuit Special, and injuring Max something fierce. Somehow, though, he manages to escape. But one of them KILLS DOG WHAT THE FUCK MAN

Max crawls away and escapes, but is found by...Gyro! Gyro picks him up with the copter, and takes him back to the settlement. He wakes up in a medical tent, still quite hurt. Pappagallo details the plan: use the tanker as a distraction to allow the others to escape. Max, although still injured, volunteers to drive the tanker after all. He doesn’t say exactly why, but he is now stuck there without a method of egress, and he’s the best chance they have. I’m going to choose to believe that he does it for Dog. JOHN WICK STYLE BABY

The time has come. On both sides, they head for conflict. Gyro’s air support, dropping bombs on them. But he’s quickly shot down. Meanwhile, the settlers get out in vehicles of their own, taking advantage of the distraction of the tanker. And once they’re all out…

Now, all eyes are on Max and the Marauders! With the assistance of Warrior Woman (Virginia Hey), Feral Kid, and a few more settlers, Max tries to outdrive Wez and his group. And a LOT of shit happens here, so do yourself a favor and watch this video!

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Rebecca and the other two settlers die, leaving only Max and Feral Kid behind. A LOT of Marauders die in the process, and then Lord Humungus catches up. As they shoot out the tires, Gyro (still flyin’, baby!) and some of the Settlers show up as backup. And...yup, another video. Yes, really.

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After ALL OF THAT, Humungus ONCE AGAIN goes the way of Toecutter, and is killed by a head-on collision with a truck. Said truck careens off the road, and Mac and Feral Kid get out. It’s then that we see that the truck NEVER had fuel in it! No, instead it was a decoy! It allowed the vehicles, which actually contained the fuel, to escape to the safe North, away from the gangs.

The Narrator comes back, revealing that he’s the Feral Kid, and that their new leader was Gyro! And the Road Warrior. That was the last they ever saw of him. He lives now...only in his memories.

And THAT...was The Road Warrior, AKA Mad Max 2. WHOOOOOOOO!!! Second verse, same as the first; epilogue at the end of the weekend! LET’S GO PART 3

January 31, 2021: Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985)

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elencelebrindal · 4 years ago

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Honest Opinion - Hades

I’ve been dreading this day. Buckle up, I have some pretty angry things to say about him. I love you, Hades, but you done messed up.

Overall score (character not looks): - My personal liking: 10/10 - How he acted as a deity: what the hell are you doing/10 or 5/10 - More on this in the comparison with mythology

Hades. This fearsome deity that terrified the entire world and is the bane of every Saint in existence. This deity that, in his own series, appeared for maybe 15 minutes in total.

I’m mad about various things. Now, first of all, I want you to know that I absolutely love Hades. He’s my favorite character of this entire franchise, my favorite deity, my favorite everything. This cannot be denied. BUT Hades was definitely not good enough in this series. And I’m not talking about his short time on screen. That’s just one reason of my anger.

Let’s go in order.

Hades first appeared, more as a starting point for the series, at the very beginning, as a voice in Athena’s dream. Say what you want, that was him telling his arch-nemesis to fear his return. Which... was a terrible move. I get that you deities love drama, but shut up about your plans and leave Athena with her doubts. No way Athena dreamed that as a premonition, after all. But I’m not here to talk about these trivial things.

Let’s talk about Hades possessing Shun’s body. I already covered this particular thing in Shun’s post, so I’ll just say a couple things: I think Hades should have used his time in Shun’s body in a more efficient way. Rather than waiting around and trying to get Shaka to kill Athena, for example, he should have just... I don’t know, kicked the goddess in the shins and killed her himself. By doing what he did, for the drama basically, Hades gave Athena an advantage and ended up not only losing his host, but having to use his real body - which was hidden away - to fight a war he could have easily won.

This is a huge point against him. Not only that, but he wasn’t able to get rid of Ikki. Dude, I get it. Ikki is supposed to be the Phoenix, an immortal bird that never stops committing arson, but honestly? Hades rules over the dead. He might not be the god OF death, but he is the god of the dead. He is the emperor of the Underworld. He should have been able to stop Ikki from coming back, just because he said so. This is one of those things that keeps ticking me off in Saint Seiya, when deities could have more than logical powers but it never goes in their favor.

Now, back to the point I was making. Seriously, why in the everloving hell did Hades throw away his chance at victory because of pettiness? You could have ended it in less than three seconds. Shaka wasn’t going to be able to stop you anyway. But noooooooooooooooooooo, you HAD to be dramatic about it. And what happened? Oh yeah, Athena found a loophole in your plan and exploited it.

Fuck’s sake, Hades. I love you to pieces, but your dear author did you dirty with that.

But let’s move on, before I throw a chair in frustration. Let’s move on to Hades not living up to his full potential.

Those two episodes with him in his real body were disappointing, to say the least. Hades did basically nothing, aside from swinging around his sword and ultimately losing to the deus ex machina that’s our dear combo Seiya+Athena. I don’t even care what anyone might tell me, Hades lost just because the good guys had to win. There was no reason for him to lose. Athena shouldn’t have come back, first of all. That’s a miraculous bullshit I’ll never believe possible if not for plot convenience, because she was already gone. They way they told us about the urn, she was already gone and happy in the fields where our childhood dogs went. So that’s the main bullshit I address here, in is favor.

The second one is Athena actually having enough energy left to deliver that ridiculous attack. Which, considering the shape of her staff, was just hilarious to look at. Kurumada, dear, if you wanted to have that scene you should have given Athena her spear, not a staff. Anyway, that blow shouldn’t have killed Hades. Even believing in the bullshit that’s Athena with full power at that moment, she’s still weaker than Hades. She might be an Olympian, but Hades is still one of the big three of Greek mythology. He’s more powerful than her. Saint Seiya has no business making him lose with so little effort.

You might tell me that he just woke up, which is not entirely wrong seeing his body was dormant up until the series, but that’s not a valid reason for him to be so not powerful. He triggered the Greatest Eclipse while in Shun’s body, after all.

Hades could have flicked his finger and made all the Saints fly away like breadcrumbs. Divine Cloth or not, Hades is still Hades. He should have killed them instead of just... I don’t know, throwing them around like a ball in a football field. He could have killed them. Which leads to the final bullshit: the fact that Seiya, after being stabbed like meat on a skewer, was still alive to tell the tale. I mean... I still want to believe he finally kicked the bucket because no one should mess with Hades, but looking at facts he’s still alive. Which is another point that does Hades dirty.

To end it all, the Hades of Saint Seiya is to humanity what a Karen is to essential store workers. And he got the same sad ending to his story. Hades was a well presented villain, with so much darkness surrounding him and his power, but in the end we got 15 minutes of actual screentime and no justice for a character that should have been way better. I decided to still give him at least a 5/10 because he did do something. He didn’t waste his time and that was it, but he also wasn’t the deity I was expecting.

Comparison with the mythological counterpart

Overall score: 0/10

I’m sorry, but Hades in Saint Seiya doesn’t make the cut compared to the original god. If you’re not familiar with the mythological Hades, let me give you a very quick summary.

Let’s start by saying that Hades is not evil. Most pieces of popular culture out there, from movies to comics to videogames, likes Hades as a villainous figure, evil and malicious just because of his domain as a god. Well, he’s not like that. Quite the opposite, actually.

Hades didn’t even choose to be god of the Underworld. Him getting this particular reign is the result of him, Poseidon and Zeus randomly drawing to get their places to rule, and Hades was not happy of this. He later decided to not leave the Underworld, but still. His rule over the Underworld wasn’t his decision.

More importantly, Hades is not depicted as evil, but more as a passive deity, with altruistic tendencies. Ancient Greeks, because of how there were as people, avoided him because of his link to the dead, but Hades was never described as malicious. Also, opposite to his drama queen attitude in Saint Seiya, Hades doesn’t give a shit about the world, and only cares about people not leaving his domain. Which is understandable, because who wouldn’t be upset if a dead soul tries to leave the freaking Underworld? Same goes for people that try to steal souls from his domain, he gets understandably angry, and for people that try to cheat death. This is normal godly behavior, if you ask me. Not malicious or evil. Hades is the god of the dead, what do you want him to do if not guard over the dead?

And please, don’t forget Hades actually showed mercy. He gave Orpheus permission to try and reclaim Eurydice’s soul, urged by Persephone, and legit made Heracles borrow Cerberus for one of his trials. Persephone is also a good example herself. Obviously, I’m not defending Hades abducting her (that was a dick move, my dear), but at least he didn’t do what Zeus normally does to people. In fact, he accepted to have her in the Underworld for just one third of the year, giving her back Demeter for the remainder of the time, and he truly loves her. Try saying the same thing about some other god. You can’t.

Oh, and he didn’t punish the dead with something crazy like Zeus would (looking at you, Prometheus), and he didn’t punish souls with no reasons, like most of the other gods do (just look at Athena, beating Arachne and turning her into a spider just because she was better than her at weaving).

Who’s really evil, now?

The Hades of Saint Seiya is the complete opposite of everything I just wrote. He hates humanity with a burning passion and wants to kill everything in sight for no valid reason. Not only that, mythology doesn’t tell us about some kind of war going on between him and Athena. In fact, I don’t even think Hades ever met Athena, if not when he left the Underworld to snatch Persephone from her flowers. I really like Hades in Saint Seiya, once you take away all the protagonist bullshit that come with him being the villain of the series, but he’s still completely wrong.

#saint seiya #i cavalieri dello zodiaco #los caballeros del zodiaco #os cavaleiros do zodiaco #knights of the zodiac #hades chapter #hades #my opinion #honest opinion

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meetmeatthecoda · 6 years ago

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My 6x22 opinions that no one asked for which is totally cool

Okay I’ve had time to process kinda so here we go yolo

Some fun/great/meaningful Red/Liz moments:

1) Liz in trouble and Red literally thinking nothing of dropping everything to help, literally of course, cause why wouldn’t he, DESPITE him wanting Liz to just take care of herself. He manages to tamp down his instinct of worrying about Lizzie & only Lizzie and respects her as a knowledgeable & capable agent and listens to her battle plan & helps her without question THAT IS GROWTH AND I’M VERY PROUD.

2) Liz thinking nothing of using Red’s now-familiar resources for her own plan like hell yes, take control of your boyfriend’s criminal network like a bad-ass Liz I love it

3) Red meeting up with Liz in the Post Office with the line: “Fancy meeting you here.” Like WHEN has that ever NOT been used as a flirtatious LINE™?? get outta here with ur lies. He was flirting big time and I loved it.

Next 4) AND OKAY THIS MIGHT BE THE BIGGEST THING CAUSE ARAM MADE THE CODE TO THE BOX “SAMAR” AND RED DELIVERED A FUCKING CASUAL LINE ABOUT MAKING THE CODE A GIRLFRIEND’S NAME AnD The CAmErA haRD CuTS tO LiZ WHEN HE SAYS IT. PLUS LET’S KEEP IN MIND (!!!) THAT WHEN RED WAS TRAPPED IN THE BOX IN ANSLO GARRICK THE CODE WAS “JULIET” AND WHEN LIZ WAS TRAPPED IN THERE IT WAS “ROMEO”. LIKE ARE YOU KIDDING??? SYMBOLISM AND CLUES AND DOUBLE MEANINGS EVERYWHERE AND I FUCKING LOVE IT GOODBYE

5) and then the ever-popular Team Meal scene where Red & Liz stood the absolute closest they could to one another and they flirted and lip-stared and it was pretty great.

OH 6) WHEN RED’S CAR LITERALLY SMASHED INTO THE CAR THEY WERE HOLDING LIZ, RESSLER, & ARAM IN AND THE SHOOTOUT STARTED WITH THE DRAMATIC MUSIC AND RED RISKED EVERYTHING TO SAVE HIS GUYS CAUSE HE’S A GOOD. PERSON. AND WHEN THE CAR WAS GONNA EXPLODE THEY ALL DID THIS MASSIVE DOG PILE TO PROTECT EACH OTHER AND I FELL HARD & UNEXPECTEDLY FOR THE TEAM & FAMILY DYNAMIC AND I’M GONNA PRETEND THAT LIZ JUST HUNKERED DOWN NEXT TO RED AND HE THREW AN ARM AROUND HER I LOVE MY HAPPY PRETEND BUBBLE.

OH OH OH AND 7) AS MUCH AS I WANTED LIZ TO BE THE ONE TO SAVE RED FROM MCMAHON, DEMBE DID INSTEAD AND I’M FINE. WITH. IT. BC THOSE TWO ARE THE CUTEST AND I’M SO SO SO GLAD HE’S BACK AND THEIR SCENE LATER WAS ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING WOW OKAY.

Anyway, regarding the last few scenes, this is what I’ve decided to feel:

Red definitely would have stayed for dinner with his wife and daughter fucking fight me had the Katarina thing not been bothering him and Liz would have been thrilled & Agnes would have been #triggered by Red’s laugh at something Lizzie said and Agnes would have thrown her arms around him for a big hug bc OF COURSE she remembers her Reddy who she saw every day for 10 months while her mommy was in a coma JUST LET ME HAVE THIS

Oh, and that mystery dude is just confusing and I’m too tired but I think the picture he showed Red and Red’s resulting exhausted, Bob’s Burger-esque oh my god made it pretty clear that Red did not think Katarina was alive so he did not lie to Liz and he was not exactly thrilled that Kat is alive after all. I have opinions about the “twist” but I’ll leave those off and spare you all.

I also think that Red was pretty guarded and chilly when confronting Katarina, no desperate-love-struck-omg-you’re-alive revelation thank god and I think (and hope) that there is actually some bad blood between them (@codewordpumpkin play that track) that will make things worse between them going forward. In a good way. If that makes sense.

I was also very bolstered by the fact that Red did not seem to kiss her back, at least definitely not the first time, and, you know, then she fucking drugged him and had him kidnapped sooooo… hopefully no love lost there. Literally.

ALSO regarding the Katarina CRAP, she called him Raymond but (and TPTB confirmed this) that’s bc, for all intents and purposes, that’s his name now. (I refrain from using the word ‘identity’ bc that implies he adopted the real RR’s values and relationships. And, as we know, he sure as shit didn’t. #redloveslizinaveryveryromanticway)

LASTLY I’ve been thinking about the endless JB & JE articles that made me so angry and I’ve come to a conclusion:

If they can take every Shocking Unexpected Twist™ they half-retcon, half-make up at the beginning of the season & say that they had it in mind all along WHETHER THEY REALLY DID OR NOT and claim power & authority over those choices & shoe-horn them into the narrative to make it #organic??? What’s to say that this time next year, that Twist won’t be Lizzington? I know I’m reaching and it really may not happen, I know that, but HEY JUST HYPOTHETICALLY if they can bring Katarina fucking Rostova back from the dead when they clearly had no inkling of that in, say, Cape May when she was canonically v e r y d e a d, then what’s to say they won’t finally make it to Lizzington and tell everyone in every interview they ever give that it was the planned endgame all along? And, who knows, maybe then it will actually be the truth ❤️

My main point? Is there one, no one knows We can’t control what they write, we can only go along for the ride & try to get some enjoyment out of the resulting theorizing w/ friends & vid making & fanfic writing. And honestly? I get a hell of a lot of enjoyment out of watching our wonderful fandom members catch little clues & theory-build towards Agnesgate & Lizzington, using all those little gems like the box codes & their creativity to expand on the limited story we are provided. And, while I might be and who tf am I kidding lbr I definitely am biased for Lizzington, TPTB have yet to convince me that all those things little things that our fandom adds up to Agnesgate & Lizzington AREN’T completely intentional & planned for a GREAT, MEANINGFUL, EMOTIONAL, HARD-HITTING, MORALISTIC, & ACTUALLY TRULY SHOCKING endgame reveal. So yeah. This finale certainly wasn’t the worst we’ve had in terms of Lizzington (thank u for that perspective @ihaveyoulizzington) and honestly there’s tons of material for fanfic over this blessedly short hiatus. Moral: there’s no reason we can’t enjoy ourselves together as a fandom with the material we are given, despite other people’s opinions and views BC: entertainment is subjective and we can take what we want from it. That’s the beauty of fandom. So yeah. I certainly plan to write plenty of fun fics over the hiatus for anyone who wants to read them and I hope we continue to have fun together. Love you guys 😊❤️

#The Blacklist #Lizzington #mine #speculation #theorizing #fanfic #wow that was a long walk #sorry about that #if anyone made it thru #congrats to you #lmao #but whatever #we have fun #most of the time i think #at least i do #and i love you guys!#:)#<3

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quicksilversquared · 6 years ago

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There’s No Camembert in Tibet: Chapter 16

Nino- or, rather, Paon- sighed as he glanced around the dark ring of tents. Everyone else was fast asleep, with no sign of movement anywhere in the campsite.

Of course, that might have been just because he was there, guarding all of the tents and making sure that all of the secret identities stayed securely secret. It was impossible to know for sure, even if Nooroo had said that Mrs. Agreste had told the truth when she talked about not having any ill intentions with the Miraculous.

After all, curiosity could be a hell of a drug. And even if Mrs. Agreste didn't intend to look, it could be too easy for one person getting up for a midnight bathroom break to trigger several other people to get up for the same reason, leading to an accidental reveal. At best, Master Fu would be the one seen.

Worst-case scenario had Adrien accidentally running into his mom near their campfire ring when he was meant to be several countries away. That was why they had decided to have someone guarding the camp every night, and since the volunteer would get to hike less, Paon had naturally offered to do the job.

The night guard position also came with no set wake-up time, which was going to be amazing. As long as he didn't get accidentally launched out of Jade Turtle's shell at the speed of sound or something, he was definitely getting the best deal out of all of them.

Sighing, Paon propped his chin against his elbow. He glanced around again to make sure that everything was quiet before letting his mind wander a bit.

According to Alya- Rena Rouge, he corrected himself; after all, even if he was sleeping during most of the time that Mrs. Agreste was awake, it was better to be used to using their superhero names- the group had made really good progress that day. They had gone far enough that the Rat had bid them good-bye, heading back to his own home.

"If we keep going like this, we should be able to get back to the trailhead in less than a week," Rena had told him as they helped make dinner. "Which I think might be the plan."

That was good. Paon wasn't sure how much longer he could be both out of country and out of contact with his family before they started asking questions. The sooner they got back, the better.

Besides, he kinda really wanted to have some time to chill before school started up again. All of the walking they had been doing was hard on his joints or something.

He was starting to sound like an old man. Boy did he ever need that R&R before that became permanent.

Paon let his thoughts wander towards Mr. Agreste and what his reaction would be to his wife's return. Obviously he would be happy about it- after all, the dude had gone full supervillain in order to save her- but he would probably feel pretty crummy about having turned into a complete jerk when he could have just asked politely for help and gotten his wife back without getting himself jailed. Add in Mrs. Agreste's clear disapproval of his actions and hoo boy, Mr. Agreste was going to have regrets.

He deserved to feel crummy, in Paon's opinion. The dude had been a complete jerk to his own son and to everyone else in the city. Being kept away from properly being with his wife would just add another layer of punishment to his sentence- which, frankly, had been set far too short. In Paon's completely-not-expert opinion, there should have been one charge of domestic terrorism per akuma attack, instead of just one overall. There should have been child endangerment charges on top of that, and maybe some other stuff too. Mr. Agreste's lawyer had just been too good, and the judge had been too swayed by the oh I just wanted my wife back sob story that he had put together.

Paon also wondered what would happen with Mrs. Agreste and Adrien. Both had cared about Mr. Agreste at some point, and maybe even still did. Adrien had shown no sign of wanting to reach out to his father in jail so far, but it had only been a couple months and the betrayal was still fresh. Mrs. Agreste had never had to put up with an akuma attack, though, and hadn't had to deal with Mr. Agreste's Extra Level Bullshittery, so it was possible that she might forgive Mr. Agreste for his crimes. If she did that, then Adrien would be left in a crummy position.

Paon didn't envy his friend, that was for sure. If Mrs. Agreste forgave her husband, then it would be likely that she would try to get Adrien to forgive him as well. And once Mr. Agreste was released from prison, then Adrien might not be able to visit his mom without seeing his former arch-nemesis.

And if Mrs. Agreste didn't forgive her husband at all... then what? Would Adrien have to put up with his father dogging his footsteps once he was released from jail, trying to get Adrien to pass a message on to his mom? Would they move away to escape the memories? Paon couldn't even imagine.

His gaze slid to Mrs. Agreste's tent. She had seemed taken aback- horrified, even- at what her husband had done, but she hadn't let on to what she was going to do about him once they got back to Paris. Maybe she hadn't decided yet.

Paon couldn't blame her. It couldn't be an easy decision.

The moon moved behind some clouds and someone started snoring lightly, the wheezy whistle almost completely covered up by the sounds of the night breeze. Paon resisted the urge to flop down on his back for a bit because if he did, he might fall asleep. Instead, he pulled out his fan to see of Duusu could maybe connect him to a few games so he could while the night away without dying of boredom again.

Much to his glee, there were indeed games hidden behind one of the icons on his fan-slash-communicator-slash-weapon-slash-adaptable electronic device thing. A nudging in his head prompted Paon to check one side of his fan and push a Very Specific Spot, and when he did, a cordless earbud popped out.

(Only one, but considering that Paon was supposed to be sorta-kinda keeping watch, it was probably better to keep one ear clear.)

Sweet.

Paon popped the earbud in and opened Angry Birds. Duusu had altered the graphics a little bit so that the birds would look like peacocks, and Paon snickered.

Was he easily amused? Maybe. But really, who wouldn't find that at least a little bit funny?

At just past two in the morning, the sound of a zipper caught Paon's attention and he glanced up to see Sabine peeking out of her tent, only one eye visible.

"The coast is clear," Paon assured her, and Sabine nodded and popped out. She grabbed the bathroom-in-the-woods kit from where it sat on a rock and headed off into the woods, lighting the way with her flashlight. Nooroo floated out of the tent behind her but settled on Paon's shoulder instead of following.

That way, Sabine could have some privacy, but if anything happened then Nooroo would be nearby and more or less awake enough to respond- or at least Paon could wake him up. After all, Nooroo has already gone slack, relaxing on Paon's shoulder and practically already asleep.

It didn't take long for Sabine to return. She washed her hands in the basin of water that had been set out before coming over to retrieve a snoozing Nooroo from Paon's shoulder.

"Everything going all right?" Sabine asked, pausing by his side for a moment. "I know this isn't an ideal setup, but..."

"I'm fine," Paon assured her. "I can sleep anywhere, honest. I was the best choice for the job."

"Well, we certainly appreciate you doing it," Mrs. Cheng told him. She yawned. "But I'm going to go back to bed. I certainly need my rest to be able to keep up with Jade Turtle during the day."

Paon nodded. It really did take a lot of concentration to go super-fast in the suits, and getting distracted even for a moment by how fabulous his girlfriend looked in her skintight suit could lead to him falling behind and having to scramble to keep up. Mrs. Cheng didn't have that distraction, obviously, but the point still stood. "Yeah. Good night."

Mrs. Cheng waved to him and then turned away, unzipping her tent and ducking inside. The tent was zipped back up, there was a rustle of sleeping bag being rearranged, and then Paon was on his own again.

This time, he played chess on his fan. It was a little difficult figuring out how to move the pieces at first, but he managed. Who he was playing Paon also didn't know, but it was very possible that Duusu was the one manipulating the other player's pieces.

Closer to four, Adrien was the one to emerge from his and Marinette's tent, rumpled and shirtless, yawning widely. Paon wasn't sure if Adrien had just taken his shirt off because of the heat, or if Marinette had had a hand in the shirt's removal. He wasn't going to ask.

Adrien headed into the woods, and Paon caught Plagg as the cat kwami practically sleep-floated by. Plagg promptly curled up in his hand, snoring again. Paon tried not to laugh.

The kwamis, without fail, were all exhausted from the day-long transformations. Plagg, as the laziest anyway, took that as an excuse to sleep for every second of detransformation when he wasn't eating mushrooms and cheese. It would be interesting to see how Plagg functioned once they returned home.

It was entirely possible that Plagg would need to be temporarily parked at Marinette's house while he was out like a light recovering, just so Mrs. Agreste wouldn't accidentally stumble upon the snoozing god.

The rest of the night was quiet, and Paon was ready to faceplant into the ground by the time people started to emerge from their tents, already transformed. There was a bit of a kerfuffle in Adrien and Marinette's tent as they tried to find Plagg until Paon lobbed the still-sleeping kwami in their direction. Plagg woke up mid-throw with a squawk of alarm, phasing through the tent and out of sight.

"Plagg said that he's going to kill you later," Chat Noir told Paon when he emerged from the tent several minutes late, looking a bit ruffled. "He says that gods are not meant to be thrown around."

Paon just shrugged and grinned.

It wasn't long before Emilie emerged, still yawning. None of them wore the same size clothing that she did, so she was in the same outfit as the day before, only more rumpled. Chat Noir looked slightly distressed as he watched her try to smooth out her clothes and detangle her hair, which made Paon suspect that he wasn't used to seeing his mother looking anything but immaculate.

Both Mrs. Agreste and Chat Noir looked grateful when Queen Bee offered up her comb to share.

(The non-magic comb, that was. Not the Bee Miraculous comb.)

Paon shoveled down breakfast- or was it dinner for him, technically?- and practically sleepwalked through clean-up. By the time he was piling his sleeping pad, bag, and pillow into Master Fu's shell, Paon just wanted to pass out.

And so he hopped in, pulled the sheet well over his head, and detransformed. Even with the warm, stuffy air under the sheet, Nino was asleep in moments.

If it weren't for the magic of the suit, Chat Noir's muscles would have been aching. As it was, his body was a bit numb, set on autopilot as he ran, jumped, and poled as fast as he could across the landscape, all day long. They only had a brief break for lunch, and then they were pushing forward again. There wasn't any time for talking- or, rather, if they even tried talking, it would distract them enough that they wouldn't be able to keep up.

There really wasn't much to discuss anyway. They had all been there for absolutely everything that had happened in the past few weeks.

They were joined by Paon mid-afternoon, though he spent a good hour perched in Jade Turtle's shell before he woke up enough to keep up with the rest of them. Once he took to the air, Lycaena flew forward and hung onto the back of Jade Turtle's shell so that he could pull her along while she struck up a conversation with Mrs. Agreste.

It wasn't anywhere near as enjoyable as the trip out had been, but it would be faster. They were apparently aiming to cut their heading-out time in half, not counting rain days or the side trip to the Rats' house.

And Chat Noir could see it happening. They were going full-out, all the time. They were cutting cross-country, ignoring the path winding along the easiest hiking route in favor of the shortest route.

Well, shortest without it being too difficult. They weren't going to go over extra mountain passes or anything. That would just slow them down enough for the shorter distance to not be worth it.

At least the concentration required to keep up their speed kept his mind from wandering too much. Then by the time they stopped for the night, he would be exhausted enough that he wasn't up for conversation and could go to bed pretty much right after dinner. Most of the group did, actually- well, with the exception of Paon, who was going to be sitting guard every night to make sure that there were no accidental midnight reveals- but it gave them a good excuse to not get sucked into conversation with his mom.

It would be all too easy for him to forget to check himself and let something slip that she might recognize, so it was better to keep his distance. Ladybug copied him, sticking to his side like glue.

She had told him that if he wanted to talk to his mom, she would stay with him and make sure that he didn't get carried away and say anything incriminating. If he wanted to keep his distance until they got back to Paris, then she would keep him company while Mrs. Agreste and Queen Bee talked fashion.

"Hey, we're coming up on a lake!" Ladybug called in his ear. Chat Noir blinked back out of his thoughts and refocused on the landscape. Sure enough, another large lake was fast approaching. "Let's speed up a bit so I can snag our wakeboard out of the shell before we hit it!"

"Your wish is my command, my Lady!" Chat Noir dug in with a bit more force, slowly gaining on the rest of the group. "We're going to have such a pile of Lucky Charms by the end of the trip. The wakeboard, the umbrella, my mom's coat..."

"I'm going to ask Tikki tonight about Lucky Charming your mom a new outfit," Ladybug told him. "Or two. And a bathroom kit, because she looked so uncomfortable with using her finger to brush her teeth this morning. She'll have to really recharge, but I think it'll be worth it."

Chat Noir had to stop himself from coming to a screeching halt just to kiss Ladybug. He had noticed the same things- his mom hated wearing the same outfits over and over and definitely hated not being able to wash up properly- but he had assumed that she would just have to make do with what she had and what she could borrow from the rest of them. If they actually could do it entirely depended on if Tikki was willing to go through the extra work, but Tikki was as kind and giving as Ladybug herself was, so it was very likely.

They passed up Rena Rouge and Paon as they reached the lake and Ladybug snagged the wakeboard from Jade Turtle's shell with a yo-yo. They landed at the water's edge and wasted no time in getting set up on the wakeboard. In no time at all they were flying across the water after the stuffed-full shell like seasoned pros, avoiding the wake that it was kicking up.

"Oh man am I going to miss doing this once we get back to Paris!" Chat Noir yelled over the sound of wind and water. "I mean, I know we've only done it, like, three times, but still!"

"There's the Seine, but we would have to dodge all sorts of boat traffic."

"We could do it!" They wouldn't be able to go as fast as they were going now- there were speed limits on water traffic, and they had to respect those even as superheroes (when they weren't fighting supervillains, at least)- but it would still be pretty fun. "Maybe later in the summer, once we've had some time to sit back and relax."

Ladybug shifted her grip on her yo-yos and leaned back a little more, and they accelerated further. Chat Noir chanced a glance behind them and saw a huge rooster's tail of spray flying up behind them.

So cool.

"Are we trying to pass up the shell?" he called. "Because if we do, we're going to soak everyone in it."

Ladybug let out a little huff. "Aw, man. You know, if Mrs. Agreste weren't there, I would totally zip right past for the express purpose of doing just that."

Chat Noir barked out a laugh. "You've spent too much time around Plagg."

"Hey, it would make the day more interesting!"

They drew closer to the shell, then hung back a little to stay out of their spray and keep from passing them. Chat Noir grinned when he saw his mom turn around and spot them. She looked amused by their antics, which-

Well, she hadn't exactly had a fabulous past couple days, what with the whole finding out that she had been missing for a year and in that time, her husband had been arrested for being a supervillain thing, plus the less-than-ideal clothing and washing-up situation, and being subjected to Jade Turtle's somewhat maniacal driving. So if their antics could amuse her, well...

Chat Noir grinned and waved.

Their dismount onto dry land was much better this time, with Ladybug slowing them down enough that Chat Noir's vault into the air was properly controlled. She reached down and pulled the wakeboard off in one fluid move before swinging it down to Rena Rouge to put back in the shell before she got out.

"You gotta take me out on this thing sometime!" Rena called up to them as she hopped out and started running. "It looks fantastic!"

"Are you trying to steal my girlfriend away from me, Rena?" Chat Noir called back. "Because I'm not gonna let her go without a fight!"

He could almost feel Ladybug rolling her eyes. "We can try the waterskiing with three people next time. There's no need for you to be a jealous tomcat."

"Mmmrrrrrrrrrrer."

Ladybug laughed, loud and clear. "Have you been practicing your cat noises?"

Chat Noir just sniffed. "A cat never gives away his secrets."

The clouds over head blew away and the sky cleared as the group continued, pushing forwards as fast as they could go. They slowed and sped back up periodically as Rena and Paon needed to let up for a bit. Ladybug shifted on Chat Noir's back, adjusting her position as he shot them up into the air again. The bit of a grimace on her face told him that her legs had been cramping again after clinging to his back for so long.

It would be really nice to just sit for a couple days once they got back to civilization again.

A rise flashed past, and then a low mountain pass that took all of Chat Noir's concentration to speed over without his pole slipping on loose rock. They finally tumbled out the other side of the pass and into the foothills as the sun dipped below the horizon, and then they stopped.

"I hate loose rock so much," Rena Rouge groaned as she flopped down for a second. She popped back up after a couple seconds. "It makes running so much harder. Thank goodness we can't sprain our ankles or anything in the suits."

"Never mind spraining our ankles, I'm glad we can't break them." Paon had sat down on a rock and was rolling his ankles. "I'm glad I didn't look down at all during that. I could just feel my ankles going all over the place."

"Guys, I know you want to rest, but we have to get camp set up and dinner prepped," Jade Turtle reminded them. "We have a tiny bit of daylight left, and we have to make the most of it."

Mrs. Agreste was already helping Jade Turtle pull a tent out of his bag. The rest of them took turns detransforming in the middle of the group to retrieve their backpacks before re-transforming. Their kwamis all looked exhausted as they spiraled out of their Miraculous, but they didn't say a word about it as they had to go right back in less than a minute later.

"I feel so bad about that," Rena Rouge murmured as the group broke up, backpacking bags now in hand. "I'm going to bed early tonight. I might not go right to sleep, but Trixx needs the break. I'll just sit in my tent and chill for a bit."

"I think I'll do the same," Ladybug chimed in. She squeezed Chat Noir's hand. "Kitty?"

"If you're going to bed early, then I will, too," Chat Noir said immediately. "Plagg needs a break, too. He's more used to being transformed than Wayzz and Trixx are, but there's only so much that he can take. And- oh!" He remembered a conversation from earlier and snapped his fingers. "Have you had a chance to talk to Tikki about using a Lucky Charm?"

"Ooh, not yet." Ladybug shifted, and then her face brightened. "How about we get our tent set up, and then I can detransform in there and ask? We might need to get her bonus snacks for the extra de- and re-transformation, even before the Charm."

Chat Noir patted her arm. "I'm on it. Uh- unless you'd prefer that I help with the tent before anything else?"

"Yes, please."

Tents popped up all over their impromptu campsite in no time at all, and then Chat Noir dug out a few extra servings of sugar for Tikki while Ladybug got everything arranged inside of their tent. Jade Turtle gave him a bit of a side-eye at that, but, well, there was plenty of Tikki's food left, even if the sugar cubes were getting a bit crumbly.

Marinette was flopped out on her sleeping bag when he ducked into the tent. Tikki was sprawled across her stomach but perked up when she saw the sugar in Chat Noir's hands.

"I can do everything you want in one Lucky Charm," Tikki told him, snatching up the largest sugar cube first. "Ladybug will just have to think of all of the things that she wants me to include. We've already thought of some things- a full change of clothes or two, a toothbrush and other toiletries-"

"Definitely a comb and, y'know, deodorant," Chat Noir said, knowing how much of a difference just those small things would make for his mom. She would be so much more comfortable if she could just freshen up a little. "Maybe some hair ties, if you can?"

"I definitely have extra hair ties in my bag," Marinette assured him. "So do Alya and Chloe. We can add those in after I summon my charm."

"Great!" Chat Noir settled down next to Marinette. "How soon do you think you could do that? I don't want to rush you, Tikki, but..."

"I can manage a short transformation and a Lucky Charm, but then I'll probably need a half hour after that before I can transform Marinette for the rest of the evening."

"We can manage dinner without Ladybug's help, I think," Chat Noir said immediately. "We can't fit all seven of us around the camp stove anyway. Not that we ever try."

"Okay, let's do this thing," Marinette said, calling Tikki over. "Lucky Charm!"

Red light filled the tent and Chat Noir only narrowly missed getting hit over the head with a polka-dotted duffle bag. Ladybug caught it as she detransformed and immediately unzipped it, peering inside. Chat Noir waited as she shuffled through the bag, checking on what was in it. She finally looked up with a grin.

"Everything is there! It's, like, the perfect overnight bag."

"You're welcome," Tikki said tiredly, landing in Chat Noir's hand again. She practically inhaled the rest of the sugar he held. "Do you want to give that to your mom now, or...?"

Chat Noir glanced out of the small opening in the tent. His mom had moved over to join Lycaena and Jade Turtle in their impromptu kitchen area and was talking to them. She looked cheerful enough, but he was a bit worried that if he went over, she would try to strike up a conversation with him. That wasn't necessarily a problem in itself- he had no problems with his mom trying to be friendly- but Chat Noir was really, really worried that he might let something slip that would give him away.

Sure, his friends hadn't figured him out during the school year, but he hadn't interacted with them as Chat Noir that much and besides, civilian Adrien tended to keep to himself enough that any little details that could immediately give him away hadn't been shared. Sure, Marinette hadn't figured him out and she had been by his side all the time as Ladybug, but Ladybug and Chat Noir were careful about their personal details (and high-risk akuma battles weren't exactly the greatest "get-to-know-your-partner" time) and Marinette and Adrien hadn't exactly been that close prior to the reveal. His mom actually knew him and knew him well, and they would be spending a decently large amount of time together until they got to the airport and went back to Paris. It was hard to know if she would pick up on any mannerisms that he wasn't even aware of doing.

"I think it can wait," Chat Noir decided. "Bugaboo, could you...?"

"I can give it to her," Marinette assured him right away, not even asking any questions. "Maybe at dinner. That'll be when Tikki is recharged enough to transform me again."

"I can wait with you." Chat Noir flopped down on his own sleeping bag and relaxed into it. Even if the Miraculous protected him from aches from all of the exercise and from injuries when he and Ladybug landed too hard, that didn't mean that he wasn't exhausted. The mental toll of keeping his speed up as high as they did was pretty high, and he just wanted to sleep, never mind dinner. But if he did that, he would probably wake up absolutely ravenous partway through the night. "They have things under control, I think, and I don't really feel like getting up."

"I could use a break, honestly. But we can have a break when we get back to the start of the trail." Marinette had copied his position and her eyes had drifted shut. "It'll be nice. Of course, we get a couple days of sitting in, and then we'll be practically bouncing off the walls."

"I'll believe that when I see it." Chat Noir let his eyes close. "Mm. Don't let me fall asleep."

"That would require me to not fall asleep."

He grinned. "Fair. Tikki-"

He peeked over. The red kwami was already asleep.

"Well, I'm sure someone will come over to wake us up," Marinette said. She pushed herself up to fully close the zipper on their tent and then flopped back down. "I know I said I would just go to the tent early tonight to give Tikki more time to rest, but honestly? I'm just going to go right to sleep."

All Chat Noir could do was nod absently.

The next thing he knew, Paon was shaking his ankle to wake him up. It was dark outside now, and the only light was from their normal set-up of flashlights around their little circle in the middle of the tents. His friend looked a bit amused as Chat Noir sat up, groaning. "We leave you guys for, like five minutes and you fall right asleep."

"We were tired."

While Chat Noir headed over to serve up some food, to serve up his dinner, Ladybug made a beeline for Mrs. Agreste. His mom looked startled as Ladybug dropped the spotted duffle bag at her feet before heading over for the food. After a moment, she set her food aside to slowly unzip the bag. Chat Noir tried not to be too obvious about his watching as his mom peered into the bag.

Her face positively lit up as she saw the contents of the Lucky Charm bag. "Oh, this is lovely! I have a change of clothes- two changes of clothes- and a bathroom bag full of stuff and my own comb-!"

"We only thought to try Lucky Charming it today," Ladybug told her apologetically. "I mean, better late than never. Hopefully the clothes fit."

"It's wonderful!" Mrs. Agreste assured her. "I can't wait to unpack this all tonight."

Chat Noir grinned. His mom looked so happy with the bag, and her dinner sat forgotten by her side as she shuffled through the bag. Everything in the bag was Ladybug-patterned- it was a lot of red and black polka dots, that was for sure- but it was good quality and sturdy. It would work well, which was the important part.

Dinner went by in a flash, and then the superheroes were pushing themselves up to go to bed. Chat Noir was ready to faceplant into a wall by the time Ladybug gave him a hand up, exhausted enough that even brushing his teeth sounded like too much work. Thankfully for his dental hygiene, though, Ladybug insisted on him actually following through on his nightly routine. They had just started heading towards an out-of-sight spot behind a rise in the hill to detransform and wash up when they heard Mrs. Agreste addressing Jade Turtle and Lycaena.

"Do their parents know that they're sharing a tent?" Mrs. Agreste asked, clearly talking about him and Ladybug, and Chat Noir froze. It was only Ladybug's tug on his hand that got him moving again. "They don't look old enough to be making those decisions for themselves, but they're definitely old enough that it isn't appropriate. I know I wouldn't let my son share a tent with a girl he's not related to."

Oh boy. They could never let his mom find out about his (numerous) sleepovers at Marinette's house, in her room, in her bed. She would not be happy.

She could also never find out that he was Chat Noir, but that was another can of worms altogether.

"Oh, they know," Lycaena assured Mrs. Agreste cheerfully. "And they're fine with it. Ladybug and Chat Noir are responsible, after all. They've proved themselves."

Chat Noir chanced a glance backwards. His mom still didn't look convinced. "Being responsible when hormones are involved and being responsible for fighting supervillains- or doing anything else, really- are two different things. I had a friend who I always thought was responsible, but she got pregnant before the end of lycée."

"It's hardly as though they're in a room on their own," Jade Turtle pointed out. "They're in a tent, in the middle of all of our tents. And they did get permission."

Lycaena nodded, glancing towards Ladybug. Chat Noir exchanged a look with his girlfriend. Technically, only she had gotten the go-ahead to share a tent (or her room) from her parents. Nathalie had been fine with him sleeping over at Marinette's house, too, and while he had no doubts that she knew that he was in Marinette's room (though perhaps she didn't suspect that he was also in Marinette's bed), she was also not actually his parent, just his temporary guardian.

"But it's hardly necessary," Mrs. Agreste continued to push. "I mean, Queen Bee and Ladybug could share, and Chat Noir could take the single tent-"

"We have our reasons for having the kids where they are," Jade Turtle said firmly. "And we trust them to behave."

"I wonder why she's asking about it now," Chat Noir said as he and Ladybug finally moved out of earshot. "I mean, it's been several nights since we freed her, and we've been sharing a tent all of those nights. And we gave her that bag tonight, so you would think that she wouldn't, like..."

"That might be why, though," Ladybug said. She glanced backwards to make sure that they were out of sight of the campsite and then detransformed, gesturing for him to do the same. "We gave her a gift, so she might feel more comfortable with us now, enough that she would question what might look like a oversight in supervision."

Adrien nodded. That made sense. He personally wouldn't have done it, but he had always been shier than his mom. "She's gone into Mom Mode. I bet she wouldn't if she knew that Lycaena was your mom." For all his mom knew right now, two adults were supervising five teens that weren't related to them or each other and so they might make decisions about what was or wasn't okay that they might not otherwise. "But I suppose it's safer not to tell her, just in case she sees your mom."

"If she saw that it was my mom, that would still be a disaster." Marinette pulled her toothbrush out of her bathroom bag and squeezed some toothpaste onto it. "She would get back, meet me, meet my family, and then go hey, if this person thought it was fine for Ladybug and Chat Noir to share a tent, she probably thinks it's fine if our kids do sleepovers and then we would be found out and in trouble."

"It would probably be safer if all three of us keep some distance," Adrien added, though he didn't exactly want to say it. It was getting progressively harder to be so close to his mom and not just behave like he normally would with her, and of course he didn't Lycaena to distance herself, either, since she and his mom seemed to be getting along even with the need for secrecy. But he could also see his mom not being hugely supportive of their relationship if she knew that Marinette's parents were so comfortable with them sharing a room overnight. "Or do you think that's not...?"

"My mom definitely needs to be careful about what she shares," Marinette said after spitting out a mouthful of toothbrush foam. "But we already knew that we have to be careful with detransforming and we don't spend that much time talking to your mom, so that doesn't change."

"It just seems like we need to do something more." Adrien didn't know what, exactly, but when they initially had decided that the Miraculous magic would do enough to protect them, he wasn't so sure that they had taken the whole extended contact thing into consideration. "Something to make sure she doesn't get suspicious at all. I don't want her to end up suspecting something and not liking you as much as she should."

"Well, tomorrow is another day," Marinette reminded him, reaching out and squeezing his shoulder comfortingly. "We might just be tired and overthinking things. Let's go to bed, kitty."

#Miraculous Ladybug #My writing #There's No Camembert in Tibet

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benbarnesescape · 7 years ago

Text

Blood, Sex and Whiskey - Part 4

$ecret – Part A

Warnings: None for this part. Cursing?

A/N: Two things. Teaser clip triggered this. Was going to hold out for a few days to write this next bit but that cute little exchange of men perfectly aligned where I was going to take this. Secondly, Ben with a southern/Bostonian accent might be the death of me. Also sorry that is just a part within a part – can’t help but be a tease 😃

Tag list: @iheartbinbons @binbonsadoration @delos-mio @lafemmedemon @la-fille-en-aiguilles@ladyblablabla @drinix @padfootagain @princesse-de-ravenclaw @lovelysiriuss

Iraq 2002

The air was thick with tension as the shadows of four soldiers slumped their way to the hidden bar. Didn’t matter that they were in Istanbul for the next two days, temporarily considered a safe zone, to find time to unwind. They still walked with their eyes in their pockets, their trained eyes watching civilians on guard.

It was a tough week.

They had lost almost a quarter of their recon team over the past three days and the weight of that realization laid heavy on their minds as they slunk through the door of the well-used establishment. They had decided to go out to distract themselves. Get drunk. Maybe get laid. Anything to help them forget about the impossible mission that was taking them out one by one, like a row of cans standing vulnerable to be shot at.

Billy refused to allow it to bring him down.

He knew loss. Knew what it felt like to look someone you loved dearly in the eyes and tell them that everything was going to be all right while you slowly watched the light burn out of them until you’re left with nothing but their shell. He didn’t get attached anymore so that sort of human experience – grief - could move past him.

His comrades had yet to learn such an art.

Except Frank. Frank, similarly to him, understood that to maintain sanity that meant sacrificing intimacy. It wasn’t the best exchange but it guaranteed an existence that didn’t end with you shooting yourself in the head or getting yourself killed. Ironically, they were closer because of this knowledge, and Billy nudged him now as the group slowly made their way to a booth.

“Bet we’re a sight to see.” He says, his eastern drawl causing a few naked ears to turn their way but nothings done or said. Just watching. Like an exhibit at a museum.

“What do you mean by?” Franks asks, sliding into the booth and Billy shrugs, following his motion.

“You got two white guys, a black dude and they probably think Rafi over here’s Iraqi or Afghanistan or whatever. Never guess the guy was from the islands. We’re like the start of a horribly racist joke.”

Rafi laughs, motioning for a waiter and Billy looks over to their last friend, Jason, who has his head down. In this last run, his good friend and childhood friend had been the last victim. They were mainly out for him. To distract his brain for falling into that dark place that takes away any sense of hope.

“You ok J?”

Jason looks at him, nods before slinking back in his seat and they all exchange glances knowing it was the opposite. Better to pretend that it was fine then dwell on the memories. Memories that could only temporarily fulfill.

“Plan on getting laid tonight Rafi?” Frank interjects as a man with a turban walks over, four beers in his hands. They don’t ask how he knew they wanted beers. Figured it was because of their dog tags, the way they commanded the room when they had entered. It was hard to disguise the fact that they were soldiers, despite how hard they tried. Couldn’t turn it off because that was the difference between living and death.

“I mean, I was going to just sit here and listen to you idiots drone on about who jerks off the best,” That earns a soft kick from Billy from under the table as Rafi smiles, “But I just saw a cute little thing that’s just begging for me to go say hello.”

Billy rolls his eyes as Frank laughs and Rafi slinks out of his seat, his beer nestled safely in his hands.

“I don’t understand how that guy gets so much pussy. He doesn’t have a nice face. Looks like Mohammed Ali practiced a round on it.”

Frank shrugs, taking a sip and shaking his head.

“It’s Rafi. He’s got personality and charm and…….” Frank tappers off before looking at Billy. “I really don’t know how he does it either. He really does have a fucked-up face.”

That causes even Jason to give the smallest of laughs as Billy falls back, playing with his beer, shaking his head.

“I mean it. Back in New York, I could get a dame easy. Didn’t even have to say much. But ever since this Marine life, I’ve been striking out that I might as well call my hand my girlfriend.”

Another laugh from Jason, causing Frank to smile as he slaps him on the back.

“Well, we all hear you moaning out her name each night so it’s no surprise there.” He fires back and Billy smiles, taking another swig and surveying the room. Not because he was paranoid. Because it was what he was trained to do. What they were all trained to do. And he couldn’t turn it off.

“It’s because Rafi is our intel guy. Knows how to read women and tap into them to get what he wants. Then, make them believe they wanted him to leave. Guy has it down to a science,” Jason finally makes eye contact with Billy before giving a sad smirk. “You just are kind of an idiot when you talk to women. It’s like fear – they can smell your stupidity a mile away.”

Frank is laughing harder and Billy can’t help chuckling, shaking his head.

“Whatever man.”

He takes another swig of beer, before placing it on the table and noticing that something has changed. The room’s energy has shifted and he sits up in his seat, hoping that it’s not the worse scenario playing in his head. Recounting the exits and the people he’s already suspected might be in on it.

Frank and Jason notice too, but there not on edge like Billy. Instead, their eyes are too busy following the figure that’s just walked through the door across the room, their beers still frozen on their lips before Jason’s whispering out,

“Damn.”

“Hot damn.” Frank echoes before Billy follows their movement and raises a speculative eye.

“Holy hot damn.” He finishes. The figure that has just walked isn’t wearing anything particularly sexy. Black pencil skirt that hugs you in the right way. Burgundy button down with a jacket pulled over. Your hairs down and it’s a contrast to the business look you are donning. You only have a single bag and they’re all wondering. Journalist? Reporter? You were too cozy with the bartender – speaking perfect Turkish before handing him over a lira and drinking your beer. You sit at the bar, a notebook in front of you as you jot down notes, not paying attention to the men who are watching with ravenous eyes.

Perhaps you were American. Or British. Definitely new world – your mannerisms speaking for themselves.

“She’s mine.” Jason fumbles out and Billy shoots his head toward him.

“Wait, what?! No! That’s not how this works.”

Franks laughs as Jason counters.

“I saw her first.”

“Doesn’t matter! Besides, aren’t you sad? She’s not going to be into a sad dude.”

Jason cracks his knuckles, shaking his head.

“She’ll condole me. Chicks love that.”

“Does she look like a simple chick to you? No way. ‘Sides, I’m the one with the streak. I should get a chance of talking to her before you all swoop in.”

“Looks like Rafi wins, once again.” Frank chuckles, pointing toward the bar where Rafi has already dumped his previous conquest and is moving toward her. Billy and Jason groan simultaneously, watching as their friend stand beside this new woman.

“Fuck, back to being depressed.” Jason mutters, waving his hand to the waiter for another round.

“Basically.” Billy mutters.

Billy’s all about forgotten about you by the third-round in. Not because he wasn’t intrigued – no, he had chanced to many glances your way. It was the fact that Rafi always got what he wanted and if he wanted you, that left little chance for him.

Except it doesn’t.

He’s walked up to the bar, trying to figure out where they can grab dinner when your voice cuts through the crowd.

“Who’s your friend?”

He hasn’t realized how close he’s stumbled to you and Rafi and he hears his tall friend shrug, immediately returning his attention back to you.

“Oh him? That’s just Billy. Like I was saying, about that time when I went to London-“

You cut him off, placing your hand on his lips as you maneuver your view to look over at Billy, whose drumming his hands on the countertop.

“Hey. Billy.”

Hearing his name roll off your tongue causes him to stop his whistling to look over at you and you smile as you hold up a beer.

“Wanna beer?”

He gives a side grin, cocking his head to the side and you laugh.

“What? Not a beer drinker? Into something earthier. Like bourbon or whiskey?”

Billy chuckles, walking toward you and Rafi who he knows is glaring at him with eye daggers as he moves between him and you.

“While I love a solid cup of whiskey, I’d be more than happy to have a beer with you.”

“Done!” You smile, snapping your fingers and turning toward the bartender. You deliver the order in quick tongue and look back at him. Billy goes into his wallet and you shake your head, stopping him.

“Don’t worry about it. Couple of weeks back, I saved the owners daughter. So I get all my beers for myself and my guests for free.”

Billy smiles as Rafi watches the both of you, his both dropped low before asking,

“What the hell? I bought our past rounds!”

“Because you invited yourself into my space. You were never invited and quite frankly I’m bored by you. So if you could…..” you nudge toward the table where Frank and Jason are watching in amusement and Billy can’t help to start laughing as Rafi looks at you, mouth still agape as you turn your attention back to Billy.

“So Billy -what’s a gaggle of soldiers like you doing in Istanbul. Far from the sandbox and the rest of your units?”

Billy turns to you as your beers are delivered and shrugs.

“We got the weekend off. Wanted a change of scenery.”

You nod, not pressing as he asks,

“What’s an attractive, smart lady like yourself doing out here?”

You smile, bringing the beer to your lips and taking a slow sip. When your finished swallowing you shrug,

“Journalist. It was more fun to come out here to report updates then stay in a stuffy office in Paris to talk about some stupid party or political move or whatever.”

Billy laughs nodding,

“Restless spirit.”

“Something like that.”

Silence. You both are sizing each other up and down before he asks,

“You bored, restless spirit?”

“I’m horny.” You say and he coughs on his beer at your boldness as you lean closer. “Your friend talks a mean game but I’m not an insecure woman looking for validation in the form of his dick. I’m more into a guy of shy confidence and an air of humor about him.”

He leans closer to you, whispering back,

“What makes you think I’m shy.”

“You’ve been eyeballing me for the past forty minutes but did nothing about it. When you got up I thought you were finally making your move not wimping out.”

“I didn’t wimp out.” Billy barks back and you laugh, getting up and shaking your head.

“A game of pool says otherwise.”

Billy quirks up an eyebrow before asking,

“You saying if I beat you in pool, I get the satisfaction of saying I’m right.”

“Yep,” you smile as you cross your legs and eye him under your lashes. “and if I win I get the satisfaction. Either way gets you laid.”

He shakes his head smiling, not believing his dumb luck.

“You’re on.” He finally relents.

#billy russo #billy russo x reader #frank castle #the punisher #ben barnes

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vehlika-pelican · 7 years ago

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warning for long post! i always get my best ideas at night when im on mobile and cant do a read-more. sorry. blacklist "vehl's headcannons" to stop seeing my stuff. no rvb season 15 spoilers i dont think. me3 is like 5 years old now so im not tagging it as spoilers for any of the games. OKAY, RVB X MASS EFFECT TRILOGY CROSSOVER ( mostly ME 1 because its been two hours since i started writing this post now and oh shit) #TuckerFightsARobotArmy is gonna be the tag for this and the inevitable sequel posts at first i thought, with default Femshep being a badass red-head that would make our local badass red-head Carolina the obvious choice for the role but it occurred to me that she would make a better Miranda Lawson than Commander Shepard. The Director is The Illussive Man (Tim). Aside from the daddy issues, Miranda is a big supporter of Tim's until she finally sees his dark side and resigns during the end of ME 2 just like Carolina was a staunch believer in the Director until she had to face the music. The Freelancers are involved in Project Phoenix and ultimately its every man for himself when the Director starts indoctrinating/reaperfying troops. She gets assigned to the Normandy SR-2 just before the agents make their escape and she's left out of the loop and feeling betrayed. She carries that well into hunting the Collectors and her loyalty mission involves maybe saving York and getting answers. Carolina goes into hiding just like Miranda during ME3, trying to take down her former employer and his organization on her own until she needs help. Thats where our best dudes come in. but then if she's taking the place of Miranda, who could be Shepard? let's start with the Reds. Sarge is too...Sarge. Maybe he could take Admiral Hackett's place as Admiral Colonel Sarge because obviously (everyone knows he's crazy but going from enlisted man to fleet admiral makes him a legend, and he really earned a name for himself during the First Contact War. that name was legally changed to Colonel.) Grif would be Joker, so our esteemed pilot/vehicle operator who's all back-talk and bitching. Simmons is where it gets tricky. Simmons could be an engineer, possibly a quarian, who got prosthetic limbs from when he temporarily served with Sarge on a joint human-quarian deployment and became enamored with the freedom to experiment in the Alliance opposed to the strict policies in the Migrant Fleet and sought to return to his service by trying to kiss ass. but i also like him as EDI because of the proximity to Grif and how they would develop that friendship leading up to Joker's Mission when Grif unshackles Simmons to save the Normandy in ME 2. i also kind of like krogan!Grif, and you know the two of them would have the greatest time messing with the Alliance's engineers during the retrofits. then when Simmons gets a body in ME3 he tries to get a faux-skin to look human but there's a problem and its missing in places on the left side and Grif decides to tell people he's just got some prosthetics from an accident. all shiny and chrome on the fury road. Donut is Kelly Chambers. trained in psychology but rarely clinical, loving all the species, somehow spreading a space-dog STD around the ship, a bit too naive if pretty gung-ho about the mission but give him a belt of lift grenades and hot damn we're in business. Lopez is the AI who robbed the bank? embezelled money? (ME 1) and threatened to detonate a nuclear bomb inside a shopping center but actually managed to buy and download himself into a ship and set sail for sweet robot freedom in the Persius Veil. he was caught by Sarge and officially "destroyed" when he's really locked in a Rampart mech with AI shackles that force him to aid Sarge in his crazy science endeavors. he refuses to speak anything other than spanish out of spite even when he genuinely needs assistance. now the Blues. Washington will have been with Cerberus until about the beginning of ME3 which is when Tim starts indoctrinating troops and members of Project Phoenix take their chances so thats too late to start trying to save the galaxy from the Reaper threat. Caboose takes the place of David (i might be getting the name wrong), an autistic savant who can communicate with a race of alien AI (the quarian-made geth) and is unwillingly mentally linked to the geth for an unknown period of time by his own brother (one of his sisters then? my poor boy imsorry). This would cause the neural trauma/scarring resulting in Caboose being... more Caboose. but he isn't found until sometime in ME2 by Shepard and co. Freckles is the mad AI who goes rogue on Luna (not EDI or part of Simmons in this au) but ends up being befriended by Caboose. he inhabits an Atlas/Titan mech and together they're unstoppable. Tex is an attempt to recreate Allison as an AI inside a cloned body made by the Director during the early stages of his madness. now she's taking Ashley's place as a trigger happy space racist, a double agent inside the Alliance and on Tucker's squad. Church almost dates her but something...feels off...and instead spends his time fighting with her because it feels...familiar? like when he used to argue with his mom when she was alive. huh. Kaikaina and Grif petitioned to serve together so she's on the squad as an infilitrator of all things. she and Wrex commiserate over the story of how she stole a krogan warlord's biotic hammer and she tramatizes Grif by flirting with his 800-pound ass. (not that it goes anywhere. Wrex thinks humans are too squishy.) which leaves...Tucker. because who else. Commander Shepard took the responsibility of proving the existence and defeating the Reapers only because they happened to be at Eden Prime when the prothean beacon was to be recovered. it could have been anyone caught in the beacon- Ashley or Kaidan or any other marine- and that person would have tried to do the same. Tucker in RVB isnt so much chosen to be the savior of an alien race (Doc said he was but that was more Junior) as he gets caught in a bunch of shit that went down in ways he was not expecting when he interacted with an ancient alien artifact thank you very much. so he's on the Normandy SR-1 because he's an N7-in-training or outright failed to get past N1 (which is still impressive because he was considered and thats not easy criteria to meet. let my man be a badass space marine. just a little bit. badass-in-training. HE'LL GET THERE.) but is noticed for his potential and is to be evaluated by turian!/salarian!Felix for Spectre candidacy. the first human Spectre. he's a biotic, i can't decide between adept and vanguard. Tucker and Grif are Totally On To the mission's importance because "spectre's(Felix) dont come along for shake-down runs" in their new experiental human-turian ship and they arrive at Eden Prime mid-attack. Tucker and his squad try to clear a path to the beacon while Felix scouts ahead. but then they find his body and eyewitnesses say it was someone he knew by name that shot him once he let his guard down and his back was turned. "Locus" they say. supposedly leading the assault with an army of heretic-geth and a massive ship emitting a terrible sound. they fight to the beacon, disable bombs along the way, and find it just as Locus's ship departs. as the squad's engineer is scanning it, Tucker notices they're starting to levitate and rushes in to grab them and throw them aside only to get caught himself. he gets the prothean vision-warning about the Reapers and maybe a special prothean omni-blade and its on. he has to prove to the Citadel Council that their Spectre Locus is a traitor and that the Reapers are real but visions? galactic extinction cycles? oh you humans are so full of it. you've been part of the galactic community for 30 years and now you're here with a conspiracy theory at best? i cant believe we thought you could work for us. blah. Tucker marches off but meets Church who's been trying to take Locus down from within the system to no avail. Alpha!Church is the Director's son but Allison got custody after the divorce and now he's a grouchy C-Sec cop getting nowhere real quick. Tucker invites him along and he's a shitty sniper but actually pretty decent with the Mako's cannon considering it handles like a drunk krogan who can do a flip it you drive off the cliff edge fast enough (what are mass effect booster jets for?). they track down a krogan mercenary (Wrex is probably still Wrex. because who could hope to live up to him?) and fight through a strip club and kill Fist and rescue a quarian (Palomo? make that Jensen) with evidence proving Locus is guilty. then they save Dr. Emily Grey and help her keep her small clinic in the wards from being shut down and she gives them sweet discounts and all the free medigel they can shove into their pockets. they rescue asari!Doc from inside a prothean ruin (got lost on a yoga retreat and panicked when geth started attacking...i guess he could be an archeologist but maybe they drag Grey along for the ride instead...) but he's developed a split personality due to how long he's been alone in there and its kinda murderous but coupled with biotics its pretty useful. (and yes, asari are mono-gendered and are all "female" but ME: Andromeda confirmed that some asari use masculine pronouns/identify as "male" and there's no way that wasn't a thing in ME 1 canon so Doc is he/him). on Virmire, he almost shoots Tex AND Wrex on the beach- put down your shotguns you fucking lunatics i will biotically throw you into the ocean! he helped Wrex get his family armor so Tucker manages to talk him down but man Tex could you chill its been months already. he has to leave Tex behind though to protect the bomb while he and Wrex save Kaikaina and Kirahee and fight Locus. they evacuate and the bomb detonates and atleast it was instantaneous. she wouldn't have felt herself be vaporized, it was quick and we stopped Locus from getting an army of krogan. Church is devastated and knowing that Tucker leaving Tex behind was a conscious choice splinters their friendship. but. Tucker has to finish this. its bullshit and why us. why'd it have to be us on this ship in this life shewasmyfriendtoo- but its a race against the clock to the lost relay and Ilos and theres no time to have a real talk. its complete bullshit. they get to Ilos but Locus is ahead of them and they have to fight so many geth and find a 50,000 year old message which only Tucker can understand but fuck this we're being left in Locus' dust openthisstupid templedoor*swish* oh shit this things a fucking key "guess we didnt have to fight all them robots" he said stepping over the mountain of slain robots because fuck my life. Wrex how'd you live so long life fucking sucks. "i've been drunk for a lot of it" great. yup. can the Mako go any faster. and then they meet Vigil but dont record it because they're still idiots who forget/dont mind the details until Simmons shows up in the sequel you morons but hey remember THAT CHASE WE WERE IN LETSGO and they drive the Mako into a relay and if Tucker made sure to crash into a geth colossus no one says anything- and they fly out into the Presidium Commons like if the Mako had wings but itfuckingdoesnt and why are there even jets on this tank. Locus and Sovereign beat them to the Citadel and the arms are closed but Hal-9000 over there is just chillin' on the Citadel Tower like he's shishing the kebab himself. then gravity goes off and they fight sideways all the way up the tower and those turrets sure are being turrets you know and not differentiating between us and the assholes ahead of us. but they finally make it and stop Locus short of the apocalypse. Tucker goes all renegade Locus was just afraid, the Reapers put his life in persepective and we are all so small and insignificant, "is servitude not preferable to extinction?" you're just a puppet, they're using you because you're weak, because you let them, do yourself a favor-! but Locus claims its too late and they fight and kill him. but he rises anyway. the fight the first and only Possessed Marauder- Sovereign controlig Locus' corpse through implants. he was mostly implants. and once its ash ashashashes Tex didnt even get to be ashes its unfa- and Sarge is over the comm, open the Citadel's arms son so the Alliance can save the day and Tucker has a choice. save the Council and sacrifice thousands of soldiers. or kill the Reaper and worry about new leadership later. its Tex again. worse. i need to think, theres no time, you know what this thing can do you saw in the vision i believe you so what do we do. make the call. and Tucker needs the Council's support...but the Reaper needs to be killed...but saving the Council will cost too much...but the Reaper could still call the others from dark space...they'll trust me... will the new ones? will the Alliance? Anyone? no. but someone will definitely be alive. kill Sovereign. the Council dies. the Destiny Ascention is destroyed. the Alliance suffers minimal loses. humanity fills the vacuum of power. humanity is no longer trusted. they blame him. he does too. have any of his choices been good enough? right? much of the crew goes their own way. Church goes back to C-Sec. maybe he'll call. Wrex returns to Tuchanka, faith in his people restored. Doc joins Grey at her small clinic. Jensen returns to the Migrant Fleet with geth data. and Tucker and the rest are... disgraced. no one says but they dont have to. every breath is a reminder of his failures and what he did. so much potential in him once, they say. he could have been great. instead he did this. and they fight geth. chase geth. fight more. they head to Alchera. more geth, they said. it isnt. the ship is blown apart. Kaikaina shoves anyone who cant walk into the escape pods. The XO is killed almost immediately. Grif won't leave. Tucker, please, Dex! Get Dex! she yells as she's dragged into an escape pod by a Yeoman and he storms over because he wont lose anyone else but the hull is gone and you can't run in mag boots. Grif is fighting for Normandy. Tucker can hear him asking for just a little more just enough to- to- but Tucker's having none of it and pulls and heaves and forces his idiot pilot into the pod. of all the times Grif chose to be the opposite of lazy. a streak of yellow catches his eye and its coming this way and he pushes off and hits the launch button but the engines blow and he hits something as he is set adrift. he's losing air. fuck, its- its behind him. he panics and scrambles for the puncture but his arms are geting heavier and he's already wheezing short little breaths shortlittlefailures youfailedyoukilledthem youkilledher. the sun in the distance is bright. he can feel his body tilt toward the planet, sees the sunlight cresting over the horizon. his vision goes dark around the edges. but the sun is bright and he doesnt notice he isnt afraid and he falls *maniacal laughter* someone should have stopped me. i think its super out of character but this is a rambling monster and not meant to go super in-depth or anything. god help me.

#vehl's headcannons #TuckerFightsARobotArmy #lavernius tucker #rvb #mass effect

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bwprowl · 8 years ago

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We’ve got little looks at some adorable toys this week, with a cute lil’ plush dog, cute lil’ SD figure, and even a cute lil’ Death Star! Heck, we’ve even got tiny swords and shrunk-down toy *dispensers*! We’ll also take a peek at some new fantastical figures, and then I’ll run head-on into more new Transformers acquisitions (I’ve had quite a few of them). So take a little time out of your day for these Tuesday Night Toys!

New Stuff: Ein-al Fantasy

Quantum Mechanix has pre-orders up for their new plush of Ein from Cowboy Bebop. While I’m certain this isn’t the first time the cyber-courier corgi has been seen in stuffed form, this one is *new*, and pretty darn affordable too. He looks cute, and Bebop’s an evergreen property, so I’m sure there’ll be plenty of people who want this.

Boss Fight Studios revealed the next round of entries in their H.A.C.K.S. series of 3 ¾ inch figures. Along with a bunch of customization parts for their ‘blank’ bodies, there’s three new ‘fantasy’ character figures coming out: A knight, an elven archer, and a ‘cave faerie’. These are looking really nice as far as ‘generic’ fantasy figures go; that knight in particular fills a much-needed niche. I’m also super-into the design of that faerie myself, love the goggles and the demon wings, might have to look into picking it up. It’ll be interesting to see what various colors these get repainted into (for instance, Boss Fight, guys, can I get that archer as a Drow?).

Wishlist: Ball Pit

Our good buddies at F-Toys have a new line of blind-packs coming out. These are Bakumatsu-era sword replicas. They actually include the sword, sheath, and a larger replica of the sword’s blade itself. The blade is…just a blade, and is in 1/8th scale besides, but the real point of interest here is that the swords are 1:12 – figma scale! So if you’ve wanted some extra swords for your figures to arm themselves with (maybe in contrast to all those Little Armory guns), this would be a good way to do it. They've even got a musket wielded by Ryouma Sakamoto!

If you need a fun way to dispense little toys like that, then Bandai has you covered with the ability to get your own half-scale gashapon machine. It works and everything, even accepting real money (well, if you have yen coins on hand), but at half the size of a ‘typical’ capsule machine. I love the way the description recommends it for ‘weddings and parties’. It only comes with six capsules, you might have a lot of disappointed friends and family members left over.

And continuing on the theme of fun scales, Sega’s Premium Ship Collection from Star Wars has a Death Star coming out in detailed miniature: exactly 1/800,000 scale to be exact! This brings the Space Station that’s no moon down to just under six inches in diameter, and the absurdity of that scale measurement alone makes this an entertaining listing to me. It’s amusing how making something so small can effectively call attention to how big it would actually be. It even comes with a little superlaser attached!

And there’s a new entry in the Cu-poche Friends series coming out, a cute little dude named Dino. He’s got pajamas and glasses and his hair looks a little like cat ears. I dunno, I like him.

On Desk: Playing catch-up

So *of course* the day my BBTS shipment of new TFs I’d broken down and ordered online arrived was the same day Target finally restocked their TF section, so I came home with an armload of new ‘bots at the same time a whole box of them was waiting for me. I had a lot to open. So for now I’ll only take up your time talking about two of my favorites from that huge-haul day.

First up is Triggerhappy. Everyone who got their hands on this remake of the ’87 Target Master at the end of last year was raving about him, and now I can finally see that they were not joking around. Triggerhappy rules, guys. Like, I wouldn’t have expected a later-G1 line filler to be anything special, but for whatever reason, Hasbro really brought their A-game. Triggerhappy is made out of some very nice, sturdy plastic (I know it’s weird, but I can’t emphasize enough how he just ‘feels’ a bit nicer than the other toys in the line) with solid joints all around and a very well-accomplished color scheme. The dark blue with the white and gold and all the extra paint apps, he really ‘goes the extra mile’ as it were. I like his face with the eyes and all actually painted like a face behind a plate.

He’s got good play-value here too. Most notable are the cannons on the arms and how you can pop his hands in and fold them forward, and then even THOSE have holes in ‘em so you can peg his guns into them to make him especially trigger-happy. It’s like the designer on this saw Triggerhappy’s original toy, and how he couldn’t actually use those big guns in robot mode and was like “Oh no, this will not do”. He’s at once just a good ‘generic Decepticon’ for your bad guy shelf, but also dynamic and interesting enough to stand out and look cool and entice you to pick up and fiddle with him.

And he is great for that. His transformation is just a delight, particularly the whole torso spinning 180 degrees, but also with how solidly those arm panels lock in, or the way the legs bend around to meet to form the rest of the jet mode. It’s clever and fun to do, which is everything you could ask for in transforming a Transformer.

And Triggerhappy’s jet mode is just the icing on that cake. It’s this beautiful spaceship-fighter thing that’s a bit X-Wing but mostly just awesome. Like it’s a fantasy vehicle but they don’t use that as an excuse to half-ass it, it’s well-designed with the guns pointing out from the wings and the slick design of the nose/cockpit. Love the tailfins in the back. I love it so much you guys, I’m already super-psyched we’re getting two retools of it as more Decepticon Target Masters.

Like if you’ve been on the fence about trying out Transformers toys but seeing all the stuff I’ve posted here and especially with my insufferable constant raving about how cool the Titans Return line has been, I encourage you to start by checking out Triggerhappy. Just on his own, he will not disappoint you.

The other new TR TF I was really excited to get though was the new Voyager triple-changing Megatron. I think I’m an outlier and the only one this toy was appealing to *that* much, but really, I’ve been chomping at the bit for this thing since we first saw it displayed last year. Just the design of the whole thing appealed to me. And I didn’t care that it was blatantly a pretool of Blitzwing, I like Megatron and I liked this design for Megatron. It swings way closer to the current comic design appearing in MTMTE/Lost Light, and I wanted a Megatron like that to stick some Autobot symbols on. This guy fit the bill, and I am happy to report that as a toy, he doesn’t disappoint.

Like even without that comic connection, I think I just plum like the look of this Megatron more than the Leader class toy from Combiner Wars. Sure it’s not soaked in shiny silver paint or as slavish to the cartoon look as that one, but I uh, don’t care. I like this guy’s grey. I like his built-up, panel-y look. I like his clean, simpler head design even more than the (admittedly nice) detailed evil-lookin’ one from the CW toy. This Megatron looks like my new pal and I want to keep him on my desk forever. Adding the Autobot symbols helps a lot with the look I think, the mix with all the red in the deco very nicely.

And Leader Megatron’s transformation (nice as the tank mode ended up being) was such a simple disappointment, but this Megatron is a triple changer, and he’s a nicely complex one at that! Like I was actually caught off-guard by it, the relatively simple triple-changing of Sentinel Prime and even Alpha Trion had me off my game, but Megatron actually feels like a workout! It’s the kind I like, no mistake. I love the way the arms unfold into panels and wrap around in different orientations for jet and tank modes. I love the shifting chest panel with the deep-red painted interior chunk and the way *that* swivels around and unfolds into the jet nose. I don’t quite love the amount of Excessive Force you have to use to mash the legs into place, but I got used to that after a couple of tries.

The vehicle modes are definitely what you’d expect from Triple-Changer vehicle modes, particularly those associated with Blitzwing, but I like them all the same. The jet mode is chunky from the bottom, but solid and whooshable. You can mount the cannons in various orientations on it, and in one of my favorite features on the toy, the cockpit can be popped open and his Titan Master, Doomshot, actually seated inside! You can view his tiny little head through the tiny little window, it’s adorable.

The tank mode isn’t quite as good as the jet mode, but I still like it. Yeah it kinda looks like it backed into a jet and crumpled the wings about it, but the front end with the thrusters pointed forward and the pointy bits from the wrapped-around tread panels looks weird, but cool. And I’m amused by seating Doomshot in the top of the turret with the little pop-up viewscreeen. It’s all very Action-Master-y.

I love the toy myself, but no, it’s not perfect. The stickers are hot garbage (the ones on the wings are already lifting up on the corners) and I might go in on some Reprolabels if/when they make some to replace them. And the fit for the cannon-peg on the right arm on mine is a bit loose. This isn’t a huge deal, especially since the Megatron I’m imagining this one as isn’t really supposed to be using the cannon anyway, but it’s a thing all the same. But I can excuse any of these little issues, since the toy delivers on the looks and ability to fuss with it that I was looking forward to. I’m very happy with it, and hey, it’ll also make a great Blitzwing.

Also appropriately, looks great with the new Hot Rod

And you’ve all been great too, everyone! Have fun tonight, and I’ll talk to you again next week!

#cowboy bebop #vitruvian hacks #boss fight studios #star wars #transformers #megatron #toys

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