#meanwhile victor's like “am i the only person who thinks there's something weird going on here?”

[enjoytheglow]

The owner of the Five and Dime found Lily's behaviour strange. Most kids came to the shop to avoid their parents, whispering complaints, not words of praise. But she had a feeling these three newcomers weren't like her usual customers. Maybe they'd tip better.

"Certainly," Miss Poppy replied, glancing over to the girl's parents. She turned to the mother. "What type of coffee would you like?"

Most of Mae's morning had been spent raiding her closet for something that wasn't too low cut or had too high a hem (Jack bought most of her clothes for her), walking down the stairs to compare whatever she'd picked out to what Sally was wearing and returning if they looked in any way similar, even if it was just the colour.

Mae had eventually decided on some heels that pinched her feet and a dress that, having last worn it in her good grades and so naïve days, had since become a size or two too small, so she would have to keep dancing to a minimum and decided to stand by the counter instead of sitting at a stool, lest she split a seam or burst a button.

She had to make a good first impression, which would be harder to do so considering the people she was talking to weren't high as a kite.

"Oh, I'm very pleased to meet you too."

She shook Victoria's hand slightly too enthusiastically, practically melting in response to receiving such kind words. And the formality. Any introductions that happened inside 420 Elm Street were brief and mostly pointless - no one cares about names when they're stoned, all that matters is that the person they're talking to isn't a square, a gumshoe, or a copper.

"Miss Mae Coleman."

The words left a bitter taste in her mouth.

"Otherwise I'd be Mrs. Mae Stone."

Like that'll ever happen.

Thirty-eight and still being Miss Mae Coleman was pathetic. She noted the looks of pity on the couple's faces and figured they thought as much. Unlike them, Mae was unmarried and had no kids.

That said, she wouldn't trade places with Sally in a heartbeat, with the blonde's unnamed baby and his unknown father. Not to mention the stress the two of them put Sally under, leading to her frequently yelling at her baby's crying, or forgetting he existed altogether. Mae had taken over parenting duties on more than one occasion and had grown quite fond of the 11-month-old.

The red-head raised her eyebrows as Victor introduced himself.

"I'm afraid I'm not familiar, we get a lot of takeout."

They were talking about jobs. A usual conversation topic when meeting someone for the first time but a terrible one for Mae.

So, why did you want to be a drug-dealer's girlfriend? Oh, definitely the joy of ignoring my guilty conscience while I deal dope to unsuspecting, wholesome teenagers.

Soon enough they would ask about her job and she'd have to decide between lying to purity personified or worse, tell 'em the truth and count the seconds between the word "reefer" and the Van Dorts ushering their precious daughter away, muttering in hushed tones and giving rushed goodbyes, if Mae even deserved that courtesy.

Or an easier third option - changing what they were talking about.

"Speaking of food, as much as I'd love to, I can't stay long. Sally and Ralph will notice I'm gone once the munchies hit. Plus, I don't know when Jack will return. This is usually his spot, I had to convince him to go elsewhere. But I'd stay here all day if I could. All week even."

She realised how strange that additional statement might have sounded and began asking questions rapid-fire, hoping that would distract the Van Dorts from her misstep.

"How are you finding Murphyville? Is Lily going to school here?"

@enjoytheglow

As Mae entered the Five and Dime, the first thing she noticed was how little it had changed over the years. It was still frequented by teenagers meeting up after school, the Five and Dime band featured the same hepcats Mae knew from her youth, the main changes were a fresh coat of paint and that it had been passed down from the kindly Mr Poppy to his equally friendly daughter Miss Poppy. Although, according to Jack, the latter was just as willing to let him deal reefer to her customers, as once kids got the munchies, they’d order more food.

Mae blushed as Lily called out to her, feeling hundreds of eyes turn to her. She knew the girl meant well but no one in the place so much as raised their voice in here, let alone yelled. She waved half-heartedly, hoping that would convey to the ogling teenagers that Lily’s outburst wasn’t a sign of danger.

“You must be Lily’s parents, it’s so nice to meet you both.” She turned from one to the other, unsure who’s hand to shake first. “Mae, Mae Coleman.”

“You Jack’s moll?”

She looked up at the counter, coming face to face with Miss Poppy herself. Mae gave a curt nod.

“I’ll have a cherry fizz, thank you.”

She’d intended for that to be the end of the conversation but Miss Poppy had more to say.

“When’s he stoppin’ by? Or has he sent you here instead? 'Cause I got a couple kids asking for - ”

The shopkeeper stopped short when she noticed how fervently Mae inclined her head to the people beside her, her mouth smiling but her eyes saying they have no idea. Apparently taking the hint, Miss Poppy turned to Lily and her parents.

“What can I get you three? Are you new to town? I know just about everyone here but I’ve never seen you around.”

She leaned over the counter, speaking conspiratorially to Lily.

“And for the record, swell is anything generally great, while swank is for more fancy joints, so either compliment would suit. Not that I’m fishing.” She added with a smile.

Victoria smiled, taking Mae's hand in hers. "We're very pleased to meet you -- would that be Miss or Mrs. Coleman?" she inquired, good-natured curiosity in her wide grey-blue eyes.

That's all but answered for her when the shop girl refers to the other woman as a 'moll'. A wave of motherly concern swept over her, though she tried not to let it color her face too obviously. Poor Victor, however, had a harder time with that.

It occurred to them both that perhaps she may have been a victim of the idle gossip that was wont to spread in these small towns. Lord knows they knew their share of it, especially in the early days of their marriage when another certain union was less of a distant memory.

They hoped, anyway. In the meantime, Victoria would try to balance being cordial and keeping a watchful eye on her daughter.

"I'll have a cherry fizz, too, please!" Lily exclaimed before her parents could get a word in edgewise. "With two scoops of vanilla ice cream!"

"Oh, ah, I'm alright, thank you." Victor nodded at the lady with a timid smile. "Victoria?"

"Just a cup of coffee for me, please," Victoria said simply, reaching for her little mauve coin purse. "And yes, we've just arrived here on business not too long ago."

"Victor Van Dort -- of Van Dort Fish," Victor introduced himself to both of the strange women, eyes darting to Mae in acknowledgment.

"Oh, forgive me," Victoria followed, realizing she hadn't properly introduced herself. "I'm Victoria."

Lily took in this secret information with a grateful nod and a giggle. "Aren't my parents swell?" she whispered to the other when she was sure neither of them were looking.

[themovieblogonline]

FROM Season 3 Episode 4 Review: Who’s Ready for a Ride?

FROMily, FROM Season 3 Episode 4 has come to throw us straight back into the chaos that is FROMtown. This week’s installment packs a heavy punch, and the twists just keep coming. Let’s dive into all the madness that took place, and trust me, there’s plenty to chew on here—literally and figuratively. Harold Perrineau continues to show us why he’s the real MVP of FROM, while the rest of the cast unravels the mysteries (and horrors) of the show. Spoilers ahead! https://youtu.be/HckCUBgdogE Tabatha’s Struggle: Girl, Where’s the Fight? Tabatha is back, but I gotta say... where is the energy? We’ve been rooting for her, but her passivity throughout the first half of this episode leaves us frustrated. Catalina Sandino Moreno nails the role of Tabatha Matthews, but her character? Sis, you’ve been in a car crash, and you’re driving straight back into FROMtown! Give us some emotion, some fire! As much as I’d love for her to have kicked, screamed, and thrown hands, her subdued demeanor might be signaling her exhaustion and despair. After all, Tabatha has been through it. Still, it felt like she could have fought a bit harder to avoid this hellhole. From the Ravens to Victor’s Drawings: More Mysteries? Of Course. If you thought things were about to get clearer—think again! The whole “ravens in the sky” situation left me scratching my head. Are the ravens tied to how people get transported into FROMtown? This theory could hold some weight because as soon as they appear, everything goes south for Tabatha, Acosta, and Henry. Meanwhile, back at FROMtown, Ethan’s going through more cryptic drawings from Victor. And guess what? The phone rings. And who’s on the other end? His dead brother Thomas, of course, dropping even more cryptic advice. Just another day in FROMtown, right? Boyd and Randall: The Dynamic Duo? Over at the bus, Boyd and Randall are having their own bonding moment, or at least what passes for bonding in this show. Boyd’s been keeping it together (barely), but Randall’s starting to get all "Monsters Whisperer" on us, trying to figure out their patterns. Randall really thinks he's cracking the code, and honestly, he might be onto something. Is it just me, or has Randall gone from cocky newcomer to someone we’re actually starting to root for? Fatima, No... Just No. This is where things really go off the rails. Fatima has had a weird pregnancy from the start, but this week takes the cake (or the blood?). Marielle checks on Fatima only to find that she’s been eating—and not in a normal pregnant-craving kind of way. When Fatima uncovers Nikki’s body and starts munching on her blood, I think we all collectively lost it. This demon baby storyline is getting darker by the minute, and I am not ready. What in FROMtown is happening to Fatima? Jade’s Hallucinations: Losing It, or Just Ahead of the Game? Then there’s Jade, who’s been seeing some truly wild things—Civil War soldiers, creepy mannequins, and now a pilgrim dude with a rod in his eye. I think Jade might be connected to something much bigger. These visions are clearly taking a toll on him, but it’s also obvious that his intellect might hold the key to unlocking the secrets of FROM. If only he could hold it together long enough to figure it all out! Victor’s Traumatic Past: The Boy in White Victor’s storyline continues to deepen, and we get some major revelations this episode. Turns out, his history with the boy in white goes way back to the first time he saw the massacre. Victor couldn’t handle burying the bodies, so the boy in white had him collect personal items instead. What does this mean? Why didn’t Victor bury the bodies? These questions keep piling up, but one thing’s clear—the boy in white isn’t just some random kid. He’s crucial to the mysteries of FROMtown. Overall Thoughts “FROM Season 3 Episode 4” was a wild ride, from Boyd’s emotional struggles to Fatima’s disturbing transformation. Harold Perrineau continues to anchor the show, but the rest of the cast also brings their A-game, particularly as the mysteries deepen. If you thought this show couldn’t get any darker—think again. The secrets of FROMtown continue to unravel, and I’m already impatient for next week. Read the full article

[duckieeart]

Victor’s - Moody Date

Hello! This is my entry for @little-butterfly-writes ‘s Contest . It’s my first time writing and I really enjoyed the process of it, enjoy reading this date!

Fandom: MLQC - Victor Li x Duckie (Mc)

Genre : jealousy jealousy jealousy , comfort , Filled with romance ( fluff)

Word count : 3,309

As If its not obvious enough to everybody.

I have feelings towards my boss, victor Li. I did fall in love with a person that I know i can’t reach even if i had him in my wildest dreams. I all i am wishing for is that no one know about these hidden feelings hoping that i will be able to maintain the decision i took and forget about him, But unfortunately things goes unplanned after I experienced certain feeling. jealousy .

If Kiki , Anna , the rest of my friends and colleagues found out about my secret feelings including the letters I wrote about victor secretly , I would get in big trouble , what letters you may ask? It’s simple. Basically, when i feel like I can’t control the love i feel towards him . I write down all my feelings in a letter and hide it somewhere , i got this idea from a movie i watched last year. At first , I haven’t thought not in a million years that I would use this idea and especially writing my unwanted feelings towards my CEO ,Aka victor li .

He was very strict and seemed to be very rude, i used to hate on him . He isn’t my type in men plus we’re completely different. Its not a big surprise since he is the CEO of an worldwide successful company ,LFG.

Just to clarify our differences. He made his company from the beginning meanwhile me, A young lady who inherited a show from her father once she Graduated from college. I didn’t even have an experience in life or the business field.

Everything were so difficult to me and it felt like an endless maze , the fact that I have him as my investor was like a miracle . Not only that but he really take good care of me . He is older in age , with a mature mindset . I am just young reckless, hesitant and inexperienced girl who just got a big position and so naive comparing to what she is responsible for .

I thought alot about giving up but victor make me change my mind and Instead of giving up he gave me the motivation to challenge him , i was in the mood to show him and prove to him that i can take the harsh responsibilities like an adult And be someone who is trust worthy enough to have his five hundred million investment in my show .

With time, i fall in love with him. And with everyday goes by it only grows bigger and bigger than the day before. The more i try to hide my feelings. The more it becomes obvious . When he confessed his feelings to me that day in the rooftop. I was beyond happy. I couldn’t sleep that day. But I quickly get back to the harsh reality, and remembered the huge gap between us, Victor deserve someone near to his position. Not me, comparing to him i am just a crybaby who rant about submitting reports and dealing with the deadlines every week .

But one day, I don’t know what’s goes inside my brain . I couldn’t even control my own body. When i found out that Victor would go to the awards banquet with another woman, I stopped thinking and I couldn’t care less about how weird i am behaving with my colleagues . In that night , i saw victor leaving the fancy banquet hall with another woman.

She looks way more mature and wiser than me. To put it in simple words she has everything i lack, and to my unfortunate luck. She does everything way better than me . And tonight , I witnessed My heart sinking in the ground. Its like i just got drenched in icy cold water in this snowy weather . I drank Alot . Wine, whiskey and even brandy . I couldn’t even recognize the bitterness in them . I just drink to be numb and ease my heart.

When the banquet came to an end ..

“ you two can head home first, its late . The weather is pretty today so i just want to walk and be alone for some time “ I spoke with a shaky voice tone, then left after grabbing my hand bag from the table.

“ whats wrong with our boss? She’s has been acting weird these few days especially today” Kiki spoke to anna.

Anna were worried as well , she just shrugs in confusion replying to kikis question.

“ i have never seen her like that before!” Anna added

“ it’s dangerous to let her be alone !, we can’t just leave her there! “ kiki said

“ she wanted time to get her self together, I think its very inappropriate for us to interrupt her wishes . * she smiled * Don’t worry minor would keep his eyes on her from afar “ Anna said while patting Kiki s shoulder gently to comfort her .

After leaving them. i rushed to the back beautiful garden to try and process everything happened tonight , the scenery were amazing but I couldn’t focus and appreciate it , I started regretting what i did, I shouldn’t push him away acting dumb and slow from the beginning. I love him more than anything, I admit i am very jealous and I don’t know how to deal with it because its my first time feeling this way about someone. I have never wanted someone as much I do for Victor.

These feelings were so exhausting to bear alone ,I was so hopeless that i even shared my story anonymously in tumbler with people but everyone advised me to stay away and forget about him for endless reasons. Yeah, they were right. But..

I also can’t… I CANT STOP LOVING HIM AND GIVE UP ON THIS . people wont have mercy on us and our relationship since we are a boss and worker in love but now seeing this . Realizing I might lose him forever. I don’t care, seeing him taking care of a random woman and accompanying her in the banquet really make me rethink about everything and even that thoughtful decision i took and was so confident about . I decided to head to the parking section for cars to follow them. I started running like crazy .

“GOD PLEASE PLEASE LET ME MAKE IT , PLEASE DONT LET THEM LEAVE TOGETHER ! . PLEASE.. I CANT LOSE HIM THIS TIME” i said begging .

I can lose anything and everything, but not him. I can’t lose Victor!

Because no one loved me like he did And I can’t imagine falling in love again with a different man.

Suddenly my foot slipped and i fall.

The expensive pair of high heel that i brought got ruined too. One of them broke But I couldn’t stop here! Im still in the middle of the way . My legs started be numb and it hurt a little because these shoes were new too , But I didn’t care, I can’t lose the path that can lead me to them! I still have to find Victor!

When i reached to the cars parking space , I couldn’t find them…

My nose suddenly started to burn and my eyes started sweating?, i decided to go back inside the banquet and sit . I couldn’t find chair there so I went to sit the corner on the stairs like a lost child. I started to cry heartily like a baby who lost her parents . But for me comparing to the baby I lost everything, I lost Victor..

My body is shaking and I couldn’t stop the thoughts in my mind. My mind went wild and started to even imagining how they would look together in the church . Kissing each other passionately after announcing them as a husband and wife. My heart suddenly started to beat so fast and I began to struggle breathing , while sobbing quietly.

Suddenly i felt a warm coat landed on my head, shoulders and has familiar manly scent ..

my face were swallowed, especially my eyes and nose. I was slow to react and realizing that this coat belongs to him…. And only him. Victor..

I felt strange feeling , i was happy and relieved that i was able to meet him again.. and that happiness give me strange feelings in my tummy . I believe that’s what they call “butterflies in the stomach” , I felt really warm. I don’t think it’s because of that coat. But him. Who give them his scent and body temperature

“ * sigh helplessly at the view* Dummy.. what are you doing here in this condition ? Don’t you know it’s dangerous area, especially in this hour? What if someone came for you ? Or even decided to kidnap you ,taking you away ? What are going to do? I searched everywhere for you and I couldn’t find you its like you weren’t in this earth from the beginning , WHERE THE HECK YOU WERE??? ………. But most importantly are you okay? Did something happen?……… Duckie , are you crying? “

my eyes couldn’t stop the tears from coming out when he were talking in such an sharp voice, he was really worried so he was furious to see me in such a state alone , but when he noticed that i was crying so hard, sniffing and wiping my eyes his voice turned so soft and calm

he grabbed my hands and hold them between his hands to warm them up

I refused to talk or face him because i wasn’t looking at my best right now, he just kneeled down to my level like prince charming and looked at me, he noticed how swallowed and red my face are.. he reached with his hands to hold my cheeks while massaging my under eyes

“ do they hurt A lot? “ he said quietly ,

I nodded while looking in the ground, my eyes fell upon his shoes trying to avoid his glare.

“If you don’t want to tell me, that’s fine too. Lets go home first … its getting late” he said..

I nodded because i was too tired to reply using sentences . I stand and remembered my broken heels and slightly injured foot.

Before I could explain, Victor carried me bridal style , I didn’t needed to explain anything. I felt warm , safe and happy, that I forget that I’m being held between his arms . I gave up to the warm sensation and fall asleep.

Victor put me in his car gently , wrapping my body with his big coat then went to grab hot tea and body warmers from the super market near by.

i took some time to wake up, when i wake up i was still in his car , the car was really warm. I didn’t find Victor on the driver seat so i looked outside.

i saw him tapping on his tablet working and answering calls . I also noticed that we’re near the sea and its 12am . I took my time appreciating the view , then i knocked at the window. Victor saw me and returned to the car.

“ you wake up, how do you feel now ? “ he asked with a soft voice

“ i am better now , sorry for making a scene back there. I was really upset about something so i was drunk , angry and upset thats why I decided to be alone , sorry i worried you and caused you trouble “i said while looking into his eyes.

“ dummy… And why did you drink? “ he said angrily ..

“ please don’t be mad i was just so upset, can’t you just allow me to drink only this time?” I said

“ yes, i am angry at you… but also glad to see you safe and better. After all , i can’t ask for more from dummy like you” victor said then poked the tip of my nose lightly with his fingers , after that he patted my head gently, smiling at me .

“ its late, let’s head home” he said

After few minutes driving i realized that we are in different path and its unfamiliar to me.

“ where are we going “ i asked hesitantly ..

“ to My home” he said

“ to your home??”

“Well, only if your apartment was nearby like my home. Its late already, just sleep tonight in my house” he said calmly

I nodded in agreement.

After few minutes we arrived.

Victor opened the door for me , i entered inside . His home was big but also felt so warm and cozy . Victor turned to face me “ go and take a hot shower, then dry your hair. Don’t get cold. I asked them to prepare you clothes. If you need anything ask me “ he said

i went to the room. It was big as expected and has a fancy bathtub. After i finished showering and preparing for bed. When i was about to head to sleep, I suddenly heard knocks on my door .

“Get in “ i said

The door was opened and it was victor, he was wearing his classic black pjs

“ as expected, you didn’t even dry your hair yet you headed to sleep anyways“ he said..

“What if you get cold?” He added

He went to grab a hairdryer from the drawer . Then turned to face me

“ come here” he said

I understand what he want so i sit and give him my back. He started to dry my hair, touching my hair so gently. After he finished drying my hair he took a hair tie and started to tie my hair.

“ there’s something I wanted to say to you” he said

“ hmm? “ I replied

“ i will get to the point “ he said

“ I might not know what exactly that got you so bothered like that , but you must know that there are a lot of circumstances in the world that are out of our control. The causes and reasons behind every circumstance is complicated. In a world where it’s impossible to know everything, it’s normal that we experience things we cannot understand and find difficult to accept. Even so, we have to accept it. There are many ways to accept it. Crying is also one of them. However, only for one night. ( he took my hand that was planning on reaching my face)…. And don’t rub your eyes, it will be better if you leave it and take a good sleep “ he added .

After leaving, he leaned to kiss my head .

“ good night “ he said

“ wait! “ i said

His eyes locked into mine , waiting for me to say what I want to say.

“ why did you went to the banquet, with her? “ i couldn’t stop my curiosity so i asked him .

He chuckled quietly then pinned my chin forcing me to look at him..

“ you jealous? “ he said

A bold idea came up to me ,

“Yes..i am! “ I didn’t wasted time and answered his question seriously.

He was frozen in his place , stopped chuckling and has a surprised face expression .

I gathered all my courage to say the three most difficult words ..

“ i love you victor! “ i said , while looking into his face..

then reached to his face and give him a quick peck on his lips ..

“ don’t make me feel this way again, I hate it !“ i said and then went for another kiss . But He didn’t kiss me back , still surprised by my bold move.

“ when i saw how you looked to her when she was talking to you . You were smiling while and looking into her eyes , I wondered if you ever started to lose your feelings towards me , i was really scared of losing you.. i even started to imagine how you would look in your groom suit .. standing beside her in front of everyone… i was so scared “ my voice cracked at the end.. i felt the tears forming in my eyes

“ I really… really don’t want to lose you . I did my research about her, She won countless times and even has the f-“ my speech were cut off with his hot kiss .

He closed his eyes and rested his one hand on the back of my head and the other on my neck.

He pulled his lips away from mine when he noticed how i was struggling to breathe.

“ … you talk too much” he said while maintaining his sharp eyes on me.

“Since when you had these thoughts on that little brain of yours? Instead of using it on useless things, apply this effort and worry about your unfinished weekly report instead. You thought I haven’t noticed how distracted you were ?“ Victor said.

“ relax dummy , Lili is just an older sister to me. She asked if i can company her since her husband on business trip outside china. Lili is busy in work but also dealing with three kids at the same time. I was just helping her manage the deal she had with SJ company , you don’t have to worry that little head of yours on such matters “ victor added.

“ Duckie, i searched for you, and luckily after 10017 years i was able to meet you again. The little head of yours could never imagine how bad I wanted to see that silly smile of yours again. I waited for so long , and you better make it up to me. In other words , Be mine” victor said , while holding my left cheek and went for another breathless kiss ..

“ i —-love —-you——-, Dummy “ he said between his kisses ..

“ don’t close your eyes, look at me when iam talking to you. You know that i love when you’re bold with me, right?” he said smiling at me then slightly biting my lower lip ..

“I was so happy when i met you, in the end of the banquet . I thought you went with her“ i said while having a big silly smile on my face

“ There is only one thing you should be happy about……. It has always been you and only you” he said while looking at my eyes and holding my hot blushing cheeks in his big hand .

After making out sessions for straight two hours , he lay me down on the bed pulling the quilt over my body.

“ go to sleep, and NEVER think about theses useless matters . if you want to ask me something Just ask me directly ... Goodnight dummy” he said ..

“Good night” i replied softly

He smiled then give me a final forehead kiss and went outside the room after dimming the lights ..

In the next day i went to LFG to submit my weekly report , suddenly i received a call from Kiki

“ boss, i made a surprise for you!! you are going to thank me for it . Don’t overthink about it, and just enjoy the surprise” she said while giggling in mischievous manner.

She closed the call, i was nervous and curious at the same time but I didn’t pay much attention on that because I didn’t have much time left, i have weekly report to submit! . I hurried to victors office and luckily I arrived on time but I found my secret love letters has been opened on victors office already and he had one of them on his hand , taking his time reading it while drinking his coffee ..

he noticed me standing near the door , surprised and embarrassed . Victor smirked in anticipation

“ You have a lot of explainings to do , Producer Duckie “ he said while giving me smirky face

what a Great start to my day.

The End

Thank you for reading, see you next time!

[soupthatistohot]

Why do I write primarily mlm fanfic?

This was something I asked myself the other day. I am a girl, I think I'm queer (but I am attracted to men, whatever I am), so why do I fixate on mlm relationships? Why do I never feel compelled to write wlw or even just some good 'ol straight stuff? I brought this up to a few friends of mine who also watch anime. One of them said that it’s because lots of popular media only really focuses on developing their male characters well, and I think this to be a very suitable explanation (as well as the fact that I’m queer and thus gravitate towards queer stories).

Take Sk8 the Infinity for example. I could count the number of female characters in this anime on one hand, and one of them is a robot. The others are supporting roles who only serve to support the male main characters. I love Sk8 very much, and with the possibility of a 2nd season I’d love to see a prominent, well-developed female character (but if they make her Reki’s love interest I will literally stab someone). But as the anime stands right now, there are no female characters that aren't just basically plot devices.

Another show I love dearly, Yuri!!! on Ice, is much the same. While there can be more of an argument made here because 1) competitive figure skating is split up between men and women, and 2) I believe that the story Yuuri and Victor is absolutely meant to be a romance, so having the two men as the focus is somewhat necessary, there's an overwhelming lack of fleshed-out women in the story. All the female characters are supporting members that only exist for the benefit of male characters. Yuuko and Minako support Yuuri, Lilia exists so Yuri P. can improve, Mila is just... kind of there, and Sara's whole character is centered around her brother being overprotective of her.

Okay, so let's look at something a little less... fruity. Horimiya. I've only watched the anime, so if there's stuff I miss from not having read the manga (yet), please forgive me. I still think this is a valid perspective, though, because if there's female development that the creators decided was so unimportant that it could be cut, that still supports my point here. In my opinion, Miyamura is a lot more developed than Hori. He has his tragic backstory of being a loner, and having his secret piercings and tattoos and all that. A lot of the story ends up focusing on his side of things... despite the fact that Hori is the protagonist. The story follows her perspective for the most part, we learn things about Miyamura as she does, yet I feel like she's a bit dull. She has a uncommon home life and has to take care of her younger brother, that's her big bad secret? I get that it's kind of unexpected since she's the pretty, perfect, popular girl, but I still feel like it's a tad anticlimactic. It's hardly ever addressed beyond the first few episodes, too, and it just kind of exists as a fact within the story. Even beyond our main couple, it seems like the other female characters development and stories are all focused on the boy they're interested in (except for Sawada, but she's there for like a couple of episodes and then doesn't really show up all that much again... and her crush on Hori is handled really weird, I didn't exactly love it). Remi's entire character is pretty much centered around her boyfriend, and Sakura and Yuki are basically competing for Toru. Meanwhile, the guys have story beats themed around the girls they're interested in, but I feel like it's not as obsessive or dramatic as how the girls are depicted.

So, we're given these female characters, who are really watered-down and honestly kind of boring, and we're not super compelled to write about them. When we are given flat female characters, there's nothing to work with. It's more fun to use the characters who have had development and play around with the "what ifs" and our own personal headcannons. The characters who get this special treatment are primarily male. And while I commend a lot of shows for developing their male characters in such a way that doesn't exactly fit with society's idea of masculinity (ex: Reki's insecurities and depression, Yuuri's anxiety and femininity, Miyamura's isolation and depression), in the end these characters are still boys, men, males.

I also think mlm is so prominent because of both straight girls and queer people. For straight girls, it can often be fetishization (forgive my generalizing, I'm sure not all straight girls are like that, but an overwhelming amount definitely are). I think one of the best examples I can give for this is Phan. This is a bit different since it's not anime, but instead real people, but if anything that really drives home the point even more. The way Dan and Phil were (and probably still are) treated in the fandom internet space is disturbing, to say the least. Their audience, while much of it was queer, was also made up of an overwhelming amount of heterosexual girls who not only shipped them intensely, but also often sexualized them. And look, there's nothing inherently wrong with being a straight girl and writing smut, but it gets to a point where it can be kind of weird if its excessive. Like, if that's all the relationship is really about, and if the people you're writing about are real human beings, that's definitely overstepping. I will admit that I had a Wattpad and that I wrote Phanfic way back when, and this is something I'm not exactly proud of. Granted, I did not write anything explicit, it was still super weird, whether or not I was queer. And I'm not saying all the problematic aspects of the Phandom were because of straight girls, because what I contributed was arguably problematic, and I did not identify as straight at the time. At the same time, though, there were straight girls who wrote exclusively smut (or "lemons" as they might've been referred to at the time). There were those who analyzed every post, every bit of information they could find about these men on the internet. They obsessed over the fact that they occasionally shared clothes (which is fairly common for roomates of similar sizes to do), and gathered evidence to support the theory that they shared a bed. It was bad. It was invasive, and it got to the point where it wasn't about the people, it was about the fetishized fantasy these girls made up in their heads about these real, actual men.

Dan and Phil's online presence kind of disappeared for a few years... and I don't blame them.

Getting back on track, mlm is prominent for queer people because it's the LGBT representation they so desperately want to see actualized in media. If a show doesn't make their favorite queer ship canon (and they often don't), they'll do it themselves! That's what fanfic is for! I also know that queer people project onto these characters a lot, and that writing about them is almost like a form of therapy. They see these characters as queer, and they see themselves in these characters, so they write about these characters experiencing similar emotions to them. The thing is, the most compelling characters are male, so those are the characters they end up focusing on, even if the person in question is strictly sapphic. My best example is how I project onto Reki. Personally, I end up thinking of him as (and thus end up writing him as) having some internalized homophobia around being bisexual. That's literally what I am currently going through. I can't project this onto any of the female characters in Sk8, because I couldn't see them going through this experience because they're not developed enough to.

Despite all of this, I still enjoy all of the shows I mention a lot. I think it's just an interesting topic that I was thinking about. I'm not trying to bash anything that I used as an example, these were just my personal observations based off of what I know about these shows and their fandoms. I do, though, believe shipping real people isn't super cool, and I stand by that as someone who used to do it. I'm not going to stop you... I just think it's intrusive and inappropriate to pretend like you know enough about influencers to dictate who they should be involved with romantically. Their love life is, frankly, none of your damn business.

So, long story short, we should make anime (and popular media in general) less misogynistic.

(Also, please leave Dan and Phil alone, they deserve privacy)

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #1-3

May, 1984

THE WAR BEGINS

Oof, here we go.

Just gotta replicate the pace that let me do the Hawkeye miniseries in one go, three times in a row.

This is probably too much effort considering its Secret Wars (or more accurately Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars) and maybe there’s not going to be a lot of big changes from this in the Avengers book to really justify it.

But we’re getting Jim Shooter writing the Avengers and his non-consecutive runs were a lot better than I had remembered. And it continues the theme he had from the Avengers book.

It just makes sense in a nonsense way to cover this story.

Last relevant time in Avengers! Acting Completely Normal Vision warned the Avengers about some weird, possibly hostile energy surges right in time for an energy surge to surge energetically in Central Park.

When the Avengers went to investigate, they found a weird structure that looked like a techy coliseum maybe. When some of the Avengers wandered into it (apparently the most bankable Avengers? Sucks to be Vision and Wanda, shrug) they vanished.

In the next issue, after several days, these heroes returned, speaking of a secret war they fought. Weird stuff like She-Hulk taking the Thing’s place on the Fantastic Four happened. In other books, Spidey got a cool new suit.

Would you know more?

After being raptured in their various books, the missing superheroes all end up on one of those distinctive structures like the one that appeared in Central Park, except IN SPACE.

Its cool that the Avengers will have some company.

We’ve got a terrific 3/4ths of the Fantastic Four, the X-Men (including Lockheed but not including Kitty Pryde for some reason), the Avengers, Iron Man, Spider-Man, the totally Articulate Hulk, and hilariously Magneto is also here.

Maybe Secret Wars is just setting up the most awkward moment in the universe, as a prank show.

I think I’d enjoy a big event that turned out to be a prank show at the last minute. The fan discontent. Imagine.

Everyone introduces themselves to each other but mostly the audience and Ben Grimm claims his new codename as the Easter Bunny.

Checking, marvel wiki doesn’t have Easter Bunny listed as one of Ben’s known aliases. Cowards.

Looking up into space, Captain America spots another one of the totally cool constructs and Professor X scans that it contains EEEEEEEVIL.

Specifically Amora the Enchantress, Ultron, the Wrecking Crew, the Absorbing Man, the Lizard, VICTOR VON DOOOOOM, Kang the Conqueror, Doctor Octopus, and Molecule Man. Also, hilariously, Galactus is there.

I’m more convinced than ever that this is a prank show.

You know what would be more hilarious? If Punisher ended up on this construct.

The distribution of villains is kind of odd though. Galactus and Doctor Doom map to the FF. Doctor Octopus and the Lizard to Spider-Man. Ultron, Molecule Man, and Kang are Avengers foes. The Absorbing Man and the Wrecking Crew can go a couple ways but started off as Thor villains. And Amora is usually a Thor villain but supposedly has chilled out around this time or at least is less of a pain than her horny sister.

No X-Men villains. Because Magneto is chilling with them in the generally heroic pod.

Also, all the heroes were raptured from Earth while the villains were grabbed from Earth, from space, from Asgard, resurrected just to be here, or from the FUTURE.

I know marketing is wagging the dog but be consistent, secret organizer who we don’t know yet.

The Thing points out that Magnet is off-sides, re: being in the hero construct, and Magneto is like ‘hey, chill out dudes’ and denies specifically doing murders.

Magneto: “I know not what power transported me here from my secret lair, nor why I was placed among you -- but I find it more appropriate to ask why such as you were judged fit to be placed in my presence!”

Oof.

Burn.

Then the conversation is put on halt on account of the wildest shit any of them have ever seen.

An entire galaxy vanishes but probably not due to a wave of anti-matter.

Thor: “It’s gone! Gone -- ! Swept away like dust before some unseen, giant hand!”

And then around that last star left unswept, various chunks merge together to form some sort of world, perhaps for battle.

A nice touch for later is that you can definitely see that one of the chunks is a stray chunk of city.

Some of the villains start squabbling because close quarters, ego, etc.

But Ultron goes hey we’re allowed to fight? I’m the best at that.

Ultron: “I am Ultron! I do not understand the events transpiring! I do not understand how I came to be resurrected... nor how I came to be here! Nothing computes... Insignificant! I am Ultron! My purpose is to slay that which lives. You are all living things, ergo -- Ultron must destroy you!”

With the benefit of having read all the Avengers up to now, I feel that Ultron got up on the wrong side of the resurrection a little.

He’s not not like this but he’s not usually this turned on?

(Then again, maybe he just came back cranky)

DOOM grabs and shakes Molecule Man to do something about this because given enough time even the mighty DOOM might fall before Ultron.

Ultron is famously annoying to defeat, what with that adamantium.

But Molecule Man is in therapy after the Avengers kicked his shit and Tigra yelled at him for being a punk. He doesn’t want to hurt anyone.

So Doom with all his brilliant genius tells MM a cool way to help out that won’t hurt anyone. Directly.

Using his Molecule Man power over molecules to lightly toss Ultron into Galactus.

So that Galactus goes ‘who the fuck scuffed my boots’ and rips out all the energy in Ultron’s Ultron.

He can do that.

Why wouldn’t he? If he can do that to a planet, he can do it to a pissbaby robot. Even one apparently containing more power than an atom bomb.

Then, because this is one of those plots where things are always thenning, a rift opens in the nothingness of space and a heavenly esque light shines out. A warbly voice commands the action figures beat each other up.

I mean. Its more like

The Beyonder: “I am from beyond! Slay your enemies and all you desire shall be yours! Nothing you dream of is impossible for me to accomplish!”

But you have to admire that this toy commercial of a comic book is being honest and upfront about being a story where action figures bonk off of each other.

Galactus just hears ‘i can finally shake off these persistent forever munchies’ and flies off to demand prepayment for action figure bonking, with DOOM following behind him.

The Beyonder speaks up warning Galactus that hey, personal space. And that a guy that can effortlessly wipe out a galaxy is gonna have a sweet barrier but Galactus wants the hunger pangs gone and does not listen.

DOOM recognizes a bad idea when he sees one once in a while and hangs back but still gets blown out of space by the force of Galactus bonking off the Beyonder’s barriers.

Captain America: “They were swatted back like flies!”

Professor X: “To the Beyonder, even Galactus is less than a fly, Captain!”

Interruption dealt with, the Beyonder gets the show on the road and sends the two constructs to different parts of the patchwork planet.

The Marvel Super Heroes And Magneto land on some hill and quickly make sure that there are no villains excepting Magneto around.

With Magneto around, the non-X-Men raise an objection to Magneto being around.

He sank a Russian submarine with all hands back in X-Men #150 but he insists that it was self-defense and also they started it.

The X-Men’s position is ‘hey he’s a jerk but he’s our jerk plus we could use his help? The bad guys get GALACTUS, how is that fair?’

Well, they don’t say it but they’re probably thinking it.

And Hawkeye decides to be a little racist today.

Hawkeye: “You mutants stick together, huh? Well, sticking to a blood-soaked maniac like him doesn’t speak well of you, pal!”

Dude, Clint. Your dear old friend is Wanda.

Wait, why ISN’T Wanda here? Did the toy people really not want her? Fools. Her husband is toyetic as all get out.

Also, point of order, Wolverine? If anyone qualifies as ‘hey he’s a jerk but he’s our jerk!’ here its you.

Johnny “good life choices” Storm decides he’ll just kick Magneto’s ass and end the debate but yeah. Yeah, no. Magneto makes a fool of him.

And then Magneto decides eff this noise and flies off.

With Magneto alienated (good job, guys), Professor X decides this group needs some dang leadership and throws a nomination to Reed Richards. Reed defers since he’s thinking of Sue, left at home and not able to participate in the event.

Wasp, the cool leader of the Avengers, nominates instead Captain America.

Wasp: “We’re off in a strange land, up to our ears in a little secret war that may decide the fate of the universe! Some people don’t know me well! They might have doubts... and there’s no room for that!”

I’m baffled that there’s people here who don’t know Wasp who has been heroing since the 60s but sure. Cap(tain America) probably gets more crossovers and whatever.

I mean, heck, we’re talking a group of heroes consisting of the Avengers (who she already leads), the Fantastic Three (who she’s well acquainted with), and the X-Men (who I’m sure she’s met, although awkwardly its going to later be revealed that Wasp is in the Hellfire Club, but only the sex parts).

And I guess Wolverine’s extensive backstory with Cap doesn’t exist yet because Wolverine isn’t keen on him being the leader, describing him as the least of the assembled heroes. When Hawkeye is right there!

I kid because I love.

Meanwhile, DOOM wakes up adjacent to Galactus ankle and heads to a nearby fortress which he correctly assumes is where the villains have ended up.

Wait, the heroes get beamed down to a random hill while the villains get sent to an advanced fortress with weaponry and we later learn vehicles sold separately?

Kinda stacking the deck, the Beyonder.

You gave the villains GALACTUS and A FORTRESS PLAYSET right out of the gate.

The other villains tell Doom that they’ve (mostly) decided that he should be their leader. But Doom has bigger fish to fry than the prizes that the Beyonder is offering.

In typical Doomesque fashion, he wants the whole kettle. But the other villains what with their petty concerns think he’s too afraid to fight.

So he ditches.

He goes to steal-borrow a spaceship and even though he hates the thought, takes off to go talk to Richards. And then Kang shoots him out of the sky with a GIANT GUN THAT THE VILLAIN FORTRESS ALSO HAS? to stop him from allying with the heroes.

Said (marvel super) heroes see the distant explosion and fly as a group in the most hilarious way possible to check it out.

God, I have always loved this image. Its squished down into the bottom third of the page but its a delight.

They find Doom sprawled in the crash site, rambling that he’ll only speak to RICHARRRRRDS and about the Beyonder’s power. But Cap offends Doom mightily but offering him a hand up and because Doom sees pity in Cap and RICHARRRRRRDS eyes.

So he blasts the heroes and fucks off.

How very Bakugou of him.

And right as the heroes recover from that, a bunch of villains arrive to get this secret war started.

I have a fondness for this particular issue. For a long while, issue 1 was the only issue of Secret Wars I could find. So I just had the start of this story with all these non-Spider-Man non-X-Men heroes I barely knew cliffhangering into an attack by villains I really didn’t recognize except for Doc Ock and the Lizard.

It was a window into another side of the Marvel Universe. And for child me, this first issue worked perfectly to intrigue me. All these characters, the very straightforward conflict, all the complications that immediately pop up like Magneto, Galactus, and Doom. Alas, small child resources.

June, 1984

PRISONERS of War!

The heroes react slowly to the sudden villain attack but thankfully, the villains aren’t working together well. Unthankfully, half of the heroes were already knocked out by the first attack.

Meanwhile, over at Doctor Doom’s side of the plot, he flies back over to where Galactus just in time to see him finally rouse from being slapped down by the Beyonder.

Galactus floats to his feet and wanders off.

Doom: “He ignored me! As though I were a gnat buzzing at his feet! And so I am... Just as all of us, even Galactus himself, are but insects to the all-powerful Beyonder! Thus, the others have chosen to play the Beyonder’s simple game -- thereby, in effect, paying homage to him. Should I, too, pay homage? Should I worship at the feet of this god-like being -- or chose another path... one only Doom would dare!”

I think anyone that knows Doom knows which option he’s gonna choose.

He heads back to the villain fortress and finds Ultron’s deactivated body and decides Doom can use this.

Meanwhile, back at the first secret battle of the secret war, the heroes rally and start fighting back under Cap(tain America)’s leadership.

She-Hulk even gets a designated girl fight with the only female villain on the villain team.

I’d complain, I would. But at least She-Hulk isn’t the only heroine on the hero side.

She-Hulk: “Hiya! I’m the She-Hulk! You must be the Enchantress! Gee, I’ve heard so much about you -- ! You’re a not-nice lady!”

Enchantress: “A green woman? Is there no end to the varieties of mortals?”

The Enchantress magic slaps She-Hulk away and comments that she could crush She-Hulk physically but its beneath her.

Yeah, all Asgardians have some level of super strength, that’s right. Even the squishy wizards.

But all She-Hulk heard was, ‘someone I can really punch!’

She-Hulk: “I don’t often duke it out with someone solid enough to really unload on -- and slow enough to let me! Oh, wow! That was, like tubular, you know -- to the max!”

Uh. Jen, are you okay? Did you have a stroke? You don’t usually talk so much in Mario World secret world levels.

I think maybe Jim Shooter didn’t have a good grasp on her. I don’t think he’s ever written for her. And the other heroes mostly don’t vary too much from generic hero speaking patterns. Add some smart for smart characters, add some rude to Wolverine, and so on.

The battle wraps up with Kang, the Enchantress, and the Wrecking Crew captured and the rest of the villains fleeing when the battle didn’t go their way.

Cap sends Storm off to scout for a cool playset that they can use as shelter and she does so, noting that the winds on Battleworld are super easy to control. Like Battleworld was created to create ideal fighting conditions for everyone. Pretty neat, the Beyonder.

Storm finds a particularly rad fortress (”Bigger than fifty-four and a half Pentagons, I’d estimate!” Wow!) and the heroes move in.

I unironically enjoy how toyetic this story is with the fortresses and the vehicles and the weapons. Because I’m almost positive that Mattel barely capitalized on it.

There were only two playsets. Pitiful.

Over in their new headquarters, Reed stashes the captured villains in some form of psychostasis which “works by controlling aggression through brainwave modulation!”

He also sticks Enchantress in a healing pod to address that nasty case of being She-Hulked right in the face. Nothing will salve her ego though.

Captain America: “It’s no wonder that the name Mister Fantastic is renowned for compassion as well as courage! You give added meaning to the word hero, Richards!”

Whenever someone loudly announces that Reed is super compassionate, it makes me feel like they’re overcompensating.

Nobody ever makes note of, say, Captain America’s compassion.

With the prisoners (of war? Is that the whole reason for the title?) accommodated, Cap calls everyone for a meeting in a cool meeting dome he found which has a small waterfall for aesthetic and so everyone has to yell to be heard.

Wolverine yells that they should mop up the rest of the villains and get this over with.

Not mentioning that in order to “win it” they’d have to kill the villains, which none of the heroes have shown any interest in doing so far.

Cap(tain America) replies that A) planet big and they have no idea where the villains got to. And B) the remaining villains slash antagonists are Galactus, Doctor Doom, Molecule Man, Doctor Octopus, the Wrecker, the Absorbing Man, and Magneto. Not really people you mop up.

In a fun logistics bit, Cap sends out a patrol to make sure the area is secure but he also sends out two additional groups to find  if there are any places in this fortress they can sleep and whether there's any... food.

Makes me imagine a Secret Survival War where the sides have to wrestle over limited resources.

Hours later, the villains that escaped the fracas arrive back at their fortress.

I’m sort of confused here.

Maybe it took so long because they had to make sure they weren’t followed. Or maybe because they didn’t have the sweet tripod vehicle anymore. But think about the flow of events of: everyone beamed down to Battleworld > Doom ditches the villains and gets shot down > heroes investigate and Doom ditches > villains show up for cliffhanger fight.

The villain fortress should be pretty close to where that fight took place. And then the heroes find a nearby fortress of their own so their fortress should be pretty close to the villain fortress. Maybe not in the same neighborhood but surely the same zip code.

Anyway, they find that while they were gone, Doom swanned in and renamed the place the Doombase.

If they have problems with it, they can talk to his Ultron.

Which I’m surprised he didn’t rename Doomtron.

Doom also tells them that he’s in charge now.

Absorbing Man: “Aw! Who gives a hoot! I need a meal an’ sleep! You wanna be in charge, Doom? Okay by me!”

If you think about it, this is just some steps added what the villains wanted all along.

They wanted Doom to be their leader but he told them he had bigger fish to fry and fucked off. Now he’s fucked back on and told them all that he’s their leader. They initially object before reconsidering due to Doomtron but, yeah, its all gone full circle.

Doom is a lot more cordial to Molecule Man though.

Doom: “Molecule Man... uh, Mr. Reece, I believe it is? I trust you were not inconvenienced.”

Molecule Man: “Well, being absolute master of molecules I can just assimilate molecules when I want, so I never have to be hungry, and I can just shoo away dirt molecules, so I’m always nice and clean -- but I am tired!”

Doom: “I have prepared a special chamber for you! I hope you like it!”

Molecule Man: “If not, I can always reconstruct the molecules -- !”

Heh.

Nice to see Jim Shooter able to follow up on the trajectory he sent Molecule Man on.

The rest of the villains head off but Doctor Octopus, the only other brain cell in this group, hangs back to talk to DOOM.

He wants to know what he plans to do about Galactus and then shows Doom on the biggest screen TV that Galactus is standing on a mountain glowing with an awesome power.

Doom just retorts that his plans are for his forces to triumph.

Doctor Octopus: Something tells me he’s got ambitions that dwarf merely triumphing in the Beyonder’s little contest! The question is whether he will destroy us in trying to achieve them -- or immediately after fulfilling them?!

Like I said, the only other brain cell in this group.

Meanwhile, while Magneto secretly sneaks into the hero fortress for Reasons, the heroes have a quiet moment that lets this Secret Wars biz really sink in.

Wasp: “I’d be having tea in my studio now, Jenny... And lunch on my patio tomorrow... This... um... situation we’re in... is kind of... much, you know? I feel there’s just a little thin wall inside me holding back a flood of despair!”

Its a nice touch, if intentional, that Wasp only admits this kind of thing now that she’s passed off the leadership responsibilities to Captain America. Its been a recurring character beat that she’s been keeping these sorts of worries to herself as chairwoman.

Over in another part of the fortress, Cyclops complains that he was right in the middle of his dang honeymoon when he was yanked into this event.

Cyclops: “I don’t know about you, Richards, but more than angry or afraid, I feel cheated! I -- I was on the verge of real happiness...”

Oof. This really sets the tone for his marriage with Madelyne Pryor.

Spider-Man and the Human Torch even have a little conversation.

Spider-Man: “You mean it doesn’t shake you, Torch, being here? What if we don’t get home?”

Human Torch: “The Fantastic Four have been off on space missions a couple of times, Spider-Man! We’ll get back! Believe me!”

I like when they’re friends.

So, I’m not sure what Magneto’s plan actually was. He was going to sabotage the fortress’ fusion generator as a distraction but Spider-Man’s Spider-Sense Spider-Alerts him to shenanigans afoot and he runs off to the power plant while Johnny Storm goes to get the other heroes.

Magneto decides to abandon whatever his plan was and captures Wasp as a consolation prize.

Gasp, another prisoner of war!

The Thing tries to give chase but inexplicably turns back to normal, smooth skinned Ben Grimm.

Also, Magneto escapes with the Wasp.

It’s like the aardvark says, you can get what you want and still not be happy.

Captain Marvel is holding the randomly anti-mutant ball for Hawkeye here and comments that none of the X-Men showed up to help stop Magneto.

Cap(tain America) tells her to belay that.

Captain America: “Let’s keep our minds on solving problems, not creating more!”

And they can’t even go after Magneto or rescue the Wasp right now because they have bigger problems: Galactus glowing with an awesome power and a massive storm that’s forming on Battleworld.

July, 1984

TEMPEST WITHOUT, CRISIS WITHIN!

The Beyonder has thrown in a nice stage hazard to keep things fresh in the form of a massive storm raging on Battleworld, with lighting that shatters mountains and winds that could tear someone’s limbs clean off.

Or perhaps its the unintentional result of just slapping a planet together out of random stuff you have lying around. The climate must be shot to shit.

I like it either way. Secret Wars has a lot of very toyetic collisions between groups of characters so its nice when Battleworld itself manages to be an obstacle.

Over in his giant U-shaped fortress, Magneto finally unwraps Wasp from the ball of random metal crap he has her in.

He lets her wander around until she finds him so that he can be all casual and eating a space scone.

Magneto: “Do not bother trying to attack me, my dear! My person is magnetically shielded!”

Wasp: “Well, la-de-da!”

Wasp: -blows up his space scone- “You think I have to strike at you directly to hurt you, monster?”

Hilarious spite, thy name is Janet van Dyne.

She also makes the point that magnetic shielding or no, she could bring this whole room down. Her being able to knock over a small house with her pew pew hasn’t stopped being true.

Magneto hastens to ask her not to do that because neither of them want to be out in the storm outside.

Besides, he just wants to talk! And flirt!

Magneto: “You are obviously a woman of intelligence and understanding as well as great beauty -- and I am not the monster you believe I am -- which is precisely what I wish to discuss!”

Wasp: “Oh? My intelligence, understanding and beauty or your non-monsterhood?”

Magneto: “Why... both!”

Back at the hero base (which is apparently ROUGHLY THE SIZE OF CHICAGO?? I want that playset), the storm has almost completely flooded the area, leaving just the top dome and such poking above the water.

The storm keeps dropping chunks of mountain at the base but Thor is standing on top, protecting it while grinning like a loon.

Captain Marvel even speculates that Thor could calm the storm but is whipping it up into a greater frenzy instead. Those storm gods, amirite?

Hawkeye is also standing by, with his explosive arrow, thinking to himself that if Thor fails, Hawkeye will totally save the day.

I don’t know whether that’s sad or endearing.

Mostly though he’s trying to distract himself from thinking about the new wife he left behind.

Cap, Reed, and Hulk are watching the villain base because apparently they do know where it is. The storm is keeping the villains in too but Cap figures they’ll pull one desperate attack as soon as the storm breaks.

They’ve already lost four of their dudes. Plus, Galactus isn’t a team player.

Spider-Man is just swinging around, enjoying how good for swinging the random technological pipes and tubes and whatsits are when he stumbles upon the X-Men having a secret meeting.

Professor X has decided, possibly on the basis of two (2) rude comments from Hawkeye and Captain Marvel, that the X-Men just don’t belong here and that they’d be better off going and teaming up with Magneto.

This... sure is a take.

Rogue comments that the Avengers don’t trust her because of that time she kicked their asses collectively. Which, hey, very possibly. They haven’t really had a thing to say about you though. They’ve mostly been grouchy about Magneto.

Which is kinda born out by the way he tried to blow up their base and definitely kidnapped the Wasp?? And is even now aggressively eating scones at her?

That’s the Magneto you guys want to go join because he’s more your people than the Fantastic Avengers and friends are?

You know, there’s a pattern I sometimes see with the X-Men where they loudly insist that the other superheroes don’t help them and don’t care about mutant stuff while at the same time doing shit like this.

“Should we get Reed Richards, smartest dick in the world to help with the legacy virus or the techno-organic virus Stryfe shot into Xavier? NAHHHH Beast can handle it.”

“Should we stick with the other superheroes or go hang with Magneto instead in a cool mutants only U-shaped fortress? Well, U is the coolest letter that isn’t X...”

If you squint, you can definitely see Krakoa all the way in the future.

Anyway, Spider-Man overheard all of this and goes ‘I’M TELLING!’

Wolverine tries to tell him that snitches get stitches but the thing is?

Spider-Man is ridiculous. He’s a ridiculously good combination of skills and powers which lets him make chumps out of entire groups at a time.

He’s embarrassed the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, and now he’s about to embarrass the X-Men.

After making them all feel foolish, Spider-Man gets away and goes to tell Reed what that doody-head Xavier said when Xavier uses his psychic powers to just wipe the entire encounter out of Spider-Man’s memory.

Yeah, it’s to cover their imminent blowing off but also? I don’t think he wants anyone else to find out how badly his X-Men just got stomped.

Psychics are too OP, I tell you what.

In fairness IN FAIRNESS, the X-Men kind of have the right to fuck right off if they wish. I don’t even know what it had to be in secret. In fact, doing it in secret is a massive dick move of its own for reasons.

What would the Fantastic Avengers have done if the X-Men had just said ‘hey we’re heading out’? Would they have put them in stasis tube jail? I doubt it.

Professor X made the decision to handle this the stupidest way for whatever reason. That scamp.

Speaking of Magneto, he’s over at the U-Lair turning down a partnership offer from DOOM. So, hey, he has standards.

Wasp has become less ‘i’ll blow up this room and your breakfast’ about him over the course of whatever the hell they discussed in their offscreen chat.

Magneto even starts to make out with her and Wasp is like ehhhhhhhhhh what the fuck why not.

Why is this happening?

I guess he has a...................... magnetic personality?

Eh? Eh??

No, but seriously, I do have a theory that I heard someplace but it’ll have to wait.

What’s weird is that there’s a Marvel What If about some spinoff babies that come about if the heroes and villains got stuck on Battleworld and never managed to leave.

Wasp has a son with Human Torch. Which is pretty weird and comes from nowhere. I guess a lot can happen during a massive time skip. My point being though, its weird that they didn’t have a Wasp/Magneto baby instead given the weird chemistry they have here.

Meanwhile, over at DOOMBASE, DOOM has some women in giant tubes.

That’s So Doom.

Doctor Doom: “All is ready -- ! This alien technology, so rich, so subtle... so easily harnessed to serve my purpose... Energy, tapped from the raging tempest... And two mortal subjects who dare to gamble for power -- knowing that to lose is death, for truly, here I shall test the limits of power a human body can contain! With the throwing of a switch... so -- the die is cast! Hear me -- ! Power must be seized -- ! Crave it! Welcome it! Drink it in, despite the pain... or it will destroy you.”

And thus are Volcana and Titania created!

Talk about lasting effects of Secret Wars! Titania is going to be around forever! Mostly annoying She-Hulk!

Where did Doom find two random women to give superpowers?

Denver, Colorado.

No, seriously.

That city chunk we saw as Battleworld formed? That’s Denver, Colorado, USA, EARTH.

Why isn’t there a miniseries or one-shot about a normal ass civilian from Denver having to deal with OH MY GOD WHERE DID EARTH GO?

I actually read an interesting thing re: this scene. It exists because Mattel asked Marvel to introduce some new female characters so Shooter wrote in these two and a third who I’ll get to when I do.

Mattel then promptly used none of these characters for the associated toyline.

The toyline, in fact, used none female characters at all. It made toys of characters who weren’t in the story but did not have a single female character.

So its very weird that they asked Marvel to introduce some but I’m not going to knock the results.

Doom introduces these two new characters to the other villains.

Hilariously, Absorbing Man guesses that Doctor Doom just made women from scratch. Because doesn’t it sound like something he could do?

Volcana and Molecule Man immediately hit it off, her being attracted to his sensitivity and him being attracted to... positive attention at all, I guess?

He muses that he could easily stop the storm outside, because molecules, but his therapist told him to let nature take its course. “Unless Doom asks me to!”

And Titania and Absorbing Man. They don’t hit it off. She either wants to hit him or hit that and its not clear and it might be both.

(Spoilers: Its both)

Titania: “You! Absorbing Man! You look like the toughest man here! Get up!”

Absorbing Man: “Whatcha got in mind?”

Titania: “I’m going to do anything I want to you! Everything I always wanted to do to everybody who used to be bigger and stronger than me! Maybe I’ll just play with you... or maybe I’ll make you eat dirt... or maybe...”

Absorbing Man: “Woman, if you got somethin’ to prove, prove it tomorrow against the guys we’re fightin’!”

Titania: “You’re backing down?”

Absorbing Man: “Nope! I just ain’t getting up! I got nothin’ to prove... to a dame!”

Would you believe that they become one of the healthiest and most stable romantic relationships in Marvel?

Speaking of weird relationships, back over at hero base, Thor goes and pops the lid on Enchanteress’ healing tube because he’s bored and wants to talk to a peer. A god peer.

Enchantress is at first more characteristically worried about what her face looks like after being She-Hulked.

But she then creates a portal so she and Thor can go have a chat.

Later, it’s morning and Hulk has been too busy stressing over losing his Banner smarts to actually keep watch or wake up Cap for watch like he was supposed to.

So when the villains ram an airship into the hero base, the heroes are not at all prepared.

Titania hurls a giant slab of wall through the room the Terrific Three are sharing, breaking Johnny Torch’s arm and ribs and knocking out the other two. He manages to get himself and co out of danger by melting through the floor.

Meanwhile, She-Hulk is carrying a big heavy as she’s been doing since the previous night and is caught unaware by Volcana who blasts her off her feet and then collapses the room on top of her.

Doctor Octopus knocks out Captain Marvel who is in the hot springs dome but gets chased away by Hawkeye, claiming that long-range firepower is his weakness.

I’m stunned at the implication that Doc Ock is one of Spider-Man’s most dangerous foes but could be scared off by Hawkeye while Spider-Man could pretty easily drop Clint’s ass. There’s some rock-paper-scissors nonsense at play here.

Spider-Man and Iron Man are also taken unawares by Ultron but manage to hide under some rubble.

Hulk leaps into the fray at Molecule Man and Doom but Cap convinces him to fall back to a defensible position.

The villains reconvene with all the captured villains freed except Enchantress (since she fucked off to have a chat with Thor) and the heroes scattered and buried under various rubbles. How the fortunes of Secret War turn.

Sure would have been nice if the X-Men had been around to help or if they mentioned they wouldn’t be. Sure would have been.

Doom: “We have accomplished much here today! And to finish it, we shall level this place so that no stone remains on stone!”

No wonder Mattel didn’t make a playset of this base! Dammit Doom, you’re ruining the merchandising!

Follow @essential-avengers​ for more of Secret Wars! At this same pace! Its sustainable! This is fine! Like and reblog too!

[bxllafanficc]

¡Skate/sing your hearts out! (Yuri Plizetsky x reader)

(part five)

Part one. Part two. Part three. Part four. Masterlist

Summary: After last year's cancellation of Figure Skating Grand Prix, Yuri Plisetsky finds himself unable to bring out his inner skater after a year of doing nothing but enjoy life like a regular teenager. That's when you enter the picture; We Are Voice Grand Awards's currently hottest competitive vocalist come first place two years in a row. Just like the other competitors of Grand Prix, it turns out that Victor and Yuuri faces the same issue. With an arrangement between Victor and Yakov, they agree to travel to Japan and hire you as a mutual coach for Yuri and Yuuri to help bring back the emotion into their performances like before, maybe even more intense than ever. Yuri however, who's never experienced issues with his coaches before, for some reason finds this one particularly difficult to coexist along with in their (reasonably) odd partnership. Warnings: none

*Yuri's POV*

(One week later)

He groaned, still trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes even after breakfast. The sun was annoyingly bright today and the crowds chatting along the streets became a loud buzzing in his ears. They walk along shore at a smaller street where the typical fisherman has been standing, even years from now since Yuri saw him last. With a face mask up to his eyes and his hoodie up, it also came to be exceedingly hot underneath his disguise. Sweaty again.

In front of him walked Yuuri and Victor, sheering for him to hurry up meanwhile Victor snapped some photos behind his head on him and (Y/n). 'A selfie to remember' he said. Though the sour face of (Y/n) was far from something anyone would like to remember. Terrifying.

Right. Why? Yuri didn't exactly hit it off at its peak this morning with (Y/n) as his roommate. The cold shoulder hitting him like a slap in the face grew even larger every time he tried talk her back to normal state. A 'what's the matter with you? Stop being a drag!' Wasn't gonna get him an answer so far. Though, Yuri found himself surprised that he even made an effort into talking with her in this mood. One week with her and he's already softening up? Not great. He can't treat her as if she isn't a stranger to him, nice or not. Even if she always came at the late ending hours of his practicing at the rink and greeted him with a late snack after training. Star-shaped apple slices and a smoothie. He found it weird the first time and he still does. Every morning and every late evening because Yakov happened to mention that apples were Yuri's favorite fruit.

And this morning? Maybe he could actually admit that he screwed up. It probably could've gone better if he hadn't stolen Magnolia from her... Long story short, she was asleep with the cat in her arms and Yuri sneaked out a makeshift toy to lure him over. (Y/n) quickly noticed that Yuri was now the person cuddling the cat and she tried to call him over for his morning brush with a happy chirping sound. But Yuri had held Magnolia still when he tried to go until the cat was like 'meh whatevs' and went back to sleep in Yuri's arms. He knew now afterwards that it was already a little bit much to hold the cat back but the worst part wasn't past yet. No. The worst part was when he said 'He wants to be with me, not you, you clingy hag' and 'Maybe if you weren't so stubborn and tacky all the time he would be sprinting to you this moment instead of cuddling with his savior.' When she hadn't responded well to his words some unknown force told him to push it harder. So kept on pushing at her limits with spiteful manners and comments. He can't really understand why he'd said that now afterwards. All that came out meanwhile Yuri was still half asleep from past day's exhaustion, and he hadn't yet realized that he probably should filter the way he talk to his coach, nonetheless the,, he wouldn't say idol,, but- Nonetheless the acquaintance she is. Though he couldn't stand her. How itching and irritated he felt whenever she made her own sour looks. Isn't she supposed to be happy sunshine or what? Just get over it already, it was just an insult anyway.

But it was clear that (Y/n) took the insult to heart and has been doing so since then. At breakfast, he had received a bowl of starshaped cut apples put down harshly in front of him at the table. That along with blueberry pancakes. Why she was the one making breakfast, he didn't understand. But it had certainly not been unbearable to eat. No the opposite really. The entire Katsuki household was there along with them and everyone had been gulping it down like starved hounds. But the thing really throwing Yuri off was the fact that his appleslices were the only ones being but into starshapes. Just that she took the extra time even though or because she was upset at him?

Yuri gazed at the girl's direction as he thought of the event. 'So very unnecessary' he thought. Was it some twisted joke he didn't quite get or a revenge he didn't see coming? Because except for the apples, she had been totally snappy with him since they left for the unknown adventure Victor had described it as. And she wouldn't really have made that extra effort out of kindness judging on her mood today.

(Y/n) was very keen not to glance at him just one bit this morning since that breakfast. And when Yuri made a huge deal out of it afterwards, Victor had took him aside and whispered into his ear; 'There will come days where she won't put up with your bullshit anymore and today seems like such a situation. I don't know what you did to cause that reaction because it's quite rare. But I recommend you lay off and let her cool down on her own.' His words had been a sense of advise with a hint of bitterness in it.

Just minutes later he had gathered us four and announced that he would be taking them all somewhere to cleanse our minds and gather our thoughts. He hadn't really understood why all four would go there but that's when (Y/n) decided it was time to announce a pretty important details she almost withheld from him until now. Apparently the entire reason they chose to do this whole coaching in Japan was because she had taken Yuuri as her apprentice as well. It all seemed relevant of course. Why else would Yuri be here right now and not with her back in Russia? But it made him feel uneasy and let down for some stupid reason. Why she apparently thought it was much more important to teach Yuuri than him since they were in Japan right now. He's always gotta be the favorite even though Yuri won gold and proved himself to be better than the piglet. Victor already chose him. And clearly (Y/n) did too. But she made him believe that she came here only to coach him.

He didn't understand anything. He didn't want her coaching, didn't want to hear anything she had to say. She wasn't a real coach even. He certainly didn't want to share a room with her and he didn't want to feel relieved at the sight of her at the rink yesterday, coming to his rescue like that. He just wanted her to stop talking so much but now he couldn't stand the silence she was giving him.

Couldn't she just get her shit together?

"Ta-daaa! We're here!" Victor's shout made Yuri snap back to reality at the beat of a second. It took him a moment to understand the building the man was waving towards but soon he remembered the experiences he had there.

"No- nonono! I'm not going through that hellish session again. No damned waterfalls and no hitting me with a stick!" Yuri turned on his heels but was grabbed by the collar of his neck by a pouting Victor. (Y/n) who was clearly new to the subject gave Yuuri a hesitant look but Victor wasn't going down.

"Come on, it will be great for everyone. And I promise no hitting this time!"

'This time.' He didn't believe it one bit. He knew it was just an attempt to get him through the doors. Once in, no turning back. But if there was going to be hitting, he was secretly hoping that it would not be (Y/n) as the one doing it.

"Still no. There's no way you're getting me through those doors! Never am I ever standing under a waterfall again!"

...

The rapid flow of the water forcibly threatening to push him forwards was as cold as he remembered it. Screw the hitting with sticks, this just felt like someone rapidly slapping him across the back over and over. At least the water could've been warm. What was the deal with that anyway? He knew exactly why going here was kept a secret from him. They would never have caught him if he knew before. Now Yuri is standing in the middle, unable to escape. A quiet but intimidating (Y/n) who hasn't spoken up for hours and Yuuri who seems to actually be taking this whole thing seriously. Then there's the big question. Where is Little blondie Rasputin in the picture. The answer is right in front of him in a corner of the other side of the room. In a bubble bath taking it easy. He said that he'd be making sure we'd concentrate on opening up our minds and he'd tell us if he noticed otherwise. Yuri believed none of it. He just doesn't want to be here himself. Cause why was (Y/n) doing it if both the coaches aren't in on it. She's already in touch with herself and doesn't need it. Part of him guesses that she was participating on her own terms for some reason.

'This isn't working. I'm literally standing here thinking about everything and anything until time passes!' He thought. And...

He made the mistake of looking to his right. (Y/n) was standing close beside him with closed eyes. He was going to close his eyes as well but then he noticed how soft her skin looked. Like, all the wrinkles caused by her constant grumpy face were flattened out. Her mouth hung low and her lips were slightly parted. That made him notice her slow breathing making her chest rise and fall in a nice rhythm. Even though the water hitting his scalp shouted angrily in his ears, he was somehow able to here her melodic breathing. She was doing this the right way. And she looked completely relaxed. Almost asleep.

He kept on listening to her breathing and prayed that she wouldn't open her eyes right this moment. If so, she'd probably have realized right away how long exactly he had been staring at her.

He brushed it off and adverted his gaze, closed his eyes shut. It wasn't anything more than that. He had to get to know her at some point and her striking eyes were always too intimidating for him. He would always look away to feel less stripped of his soul in front of her. It was almost the first time he really could study her features up close, and without her knowing. (D-Did that sound weird-? anyway.)

He couldn't see her anymore but her light breath could still be heard. A part of it made Yuri think of music when he listened to it. He'll focus on that. Mach the breathing to his own.

Everything she did held a steady rhythm to it, unintentionally probably. The music was so much more than just the beautiful voice she had, but it consumed her entire being. Maybe that's why it felt so real on stage.

Does he have to let the skating consume him too? What if he loses control of what he's doing? Starts doing a different choreography or hits the wall again? What would happen if he just let go?

"I think we're done for today. Great job guys! You too Yuri!"

Well, he would never find out because he could never let that happen. Ever. If he doesn't hold control, then what does he have.

Yuuri and (Y/n) came back to reality and stepped out of the fall. Yuri followed short behind and watched the droplets of water running down the back of the girl in front of him. Her shoulders were much less tense than before they begun their session.

'If she thinks she's her to help me let go of all control and fly off the surface of the earth, then I'm sorry. For your coaching will have been in vain.'

...

Yuri was the last one out of the showers and was alone in the locker room as the piglet had already finished before him. He put one the clothes he came in since he came unprepared and set off to the main entrance. To his surprise, he found (Y/n) leaned against a nearby wall just outside the path leading the separate changing rooms apart. 'She's been waiting for me?' She still looks stern but this time Yuri's directly hit in the face by it. She's not ignoring him anymore. Her eyes are as piercing as always but not with excitement or content as usual. Yuri has to turn his head. The feeling's too much.

He walks beside her this time as well. Not a few feet behind like the way they came here.

Victor's tall back was seen outside the building through the glass doors and the two of them headed out. Yuuri was there too but they weren't alone. A large crowd of screaming teenagers as well as adults were swooning over the two skaters. Reporters and journalists were at the front struggling to ask the pair questions meanwhile guards from the center nearby held them all back. At the corner of his eye (Y/n) was turning slightly pale of the sudden screams that roared as they arrived together. As soon as Yuri was noticed the same reaction came for the second time and he joined in on the surprise. His first instinct was to run and hope none in the crowd ran faster than him. But is seemed like (Y/n) sensed his intentions before he did. A firm and calming hand was placed upon his head and as what- a warning? A threat? He looked at her and she smiled. Not to him, but to the crowd.

"Is that (Y/n) and Yuri Plisetsky?"

"Yes! But why are they in Japan? And together?"

"Aww look! They look so cute together!"

A couple pictures were taken of the two of them and Yuri was as stunned by the girl's hand as well as her warm presence towards her fans. He was even too caught up to snap her hand away.

"How long have you known each other?"

"Yuri YURI! What were you doing in there with the Aubade duchess of (nationality)?" Duchess? Right. One of her many titles created by her fan base. It's pretty funny. Why a duchess? Why not a queen or an empress? Yuri wasn't the one to complain though. He was called the Russian punk.

"(Y/n), any reason you're in Japan? Any hot news you'd like to share with us?" The woman asking leaned over the fighting arms of the guard and winked playfully at the two of them. He saw (Y/n) getting visibly  uncomfortable at the suggestive question and she stuttered, trying to come up with something smooth and contained for the reporter to use in her article. Yuri was just pissed off at how rudely this woman got all up in their private life like that. He felt like it had been put upon (Y/n) as her responsibility alone to answer that and that just made him angrier.

But the back of the tall Russian male hiding him from camera views stopped the salty defensive words he almost spit out.

"Of course! It's about time to announce anyway. On the behalf of myself and Yakov Feltsman, we're proud to announce that (Y/n) (l/n) will spend her time in Japan as coach for our competing skaters; Yuri Plisetsky and Yuuri Katsuki, in their preparations for this year's Grand Prix senior division!" Victor's worlds were happily announced to the audience and the next moment all hell of a screaming mess broke loose. The reporters rushed sideways to call their firms about the news and the guards almost failed to hold the fighting fans at bay. It all was a mess already. It went from being super private and secretive to Victor dropping the act without warning and soon the whole world would know in just a couple of minutes.

Shit.

A/N; Aaand another chapter! I have so fun writing these and it's almost like therapy session for me too:') no waterfalls though. It seems like Yuri's starting to warm up to (Y/n) right? Well... Baby steps;) What do you think will happen in next chapter? Let me know what you think!

[zrllosyn-art]

As per request by pumpkin, its Adult human mantis!! a super rough sketch but it gets the concept across.

I also went off and did a ton of worldbuilidng so theres that under the cut.

So first of all THE HIGHER BEINGS. I was thinking originally this world was occupied by non-human monsters, who had a fuckton of magic and were the origin of higher beings.

Ex) dia originally looked way more monster and dragon

and then alot of them got into a big ol war, until one of them becomes the victor. THis guy, who i am not sure about their design yet. But theyre humanoid, and also has a masked face.

(based off of old angels quite a bit, and its super obvious so the design is just a concept for now)

After the ‘Victor’ comes out on top as the clear winner of the goddamn war, they basically go “YOU FUCKED UP A PERFECTLY GOOD WORLD IS WHAT YOU DID. LOOK AT IT. ITS A BURNT ROCK NOW”. And more or less manhandles the rest of them into recreating life on the planet. And also makes all the beings on the planet humanoid, as a treat.

(”because i won goddamnit at least let me have this”)

And thats how you get the start of higher beings? Theyre all humanoid and the masks were used to anchor souls into these new bodies, and give them access to magic/mana?

The masks eventually become obsolete, and become a medium for magic as souls and flesh become intermingled and anchored to eachother.

ALSO THE FATE SISTERS. This part is subject to change depending on how the three of us (me, pumpkin, nd KC) change up the fate sisters’ dynamics.

(third one yet to be designed but theres three of them)

Originally the three of them did NOT get along?? They were born around the same time but they were also born into a war environment and just. Were constantly at each other’s throats.

And then the ‘Victor’ comes by and goes, hey u three work together to make ppl for me please thanks. And just. Kinda lumps em together and makes em work. Which, they dislike.

Theyre not allowed to actively fight each other and also have to make a single group of ppl (not one group for each of them) so they just, kinda compete in giving favor to the strongest and just. kinda showing off to each other like my favorite is stronger than ur favorite.

That leads to a pretty combat oriented culture for the mantis-group. Eventually the ‘victor’ drops in to see what they were doing, found the three sisters being a TERRIBLE influence, and just. NOPE IM ASSIGNING YOU THREE TO SOMETHING DIFFERENT.

And just, kind of, takes the three of em away. Which leads to myths about the mantis’ higher beings leaving for ‘a better place’ and whatnot. The legend changes as time goes on, like the three sisters merged into one higher being that ‘ascended’ or that there were 4 sisters that ascended (the previous merged version becoming a 4th sister). The most recent version of there being 4 sisters that together created a ‘heaven’ and ascended, leaving behind the thrones and altar that will serve as a road to lead their people to this ‘heaven’.

Myths go all over the place as it gets older.

Meanwhile the 3 sisters get assigned to being the fates, which is basically paperwork hell. They just, sit and record stuff and make sure theres no weird inconsistencies and prevent the start of another wide scale war like before.

Its boring as FUCK but it also makes them all work together and slowly they get along. Theyre old and know each other for too long. They still fight sometimes though. Siblings.

Meanwhile new higher beings appear often. Theyre either made because of heavy belief, or they exist in the first place and gain belief. It goes kinda visa versa. The Pale King is a newer one. The radiance and the void is both pretty fuckin old, theyre from when the war was going on im p sure.

The void is older than all of them i think? and cannot really be communicated with. Maybe caused a ton of chaos and is too strong to be left alone, so had the radiance assigned to them as a seal. It clearly didnt work.

ALSO MANTIS VILLAGE.

was figuring out more cultural stuff and this was touched on by the fate sisters, but was thinking about masks and their cultural importance to them. As seen in the Mantis sketch theres 3 stages of masks?

The first one is the one your parents or guardian makes for you as a child. Its rounded and distinct shape indicates to everyone else that you are a child, and is meant to be protected. Someone else is responsible for your actions, and you cannot fight the kid. This is a babey.

In the first stage mask kids are taught? reading and writing, basic exercise nd stuff. Things to help them develop mentally and physically. Fighting is technically not allowed, but the kids fight amongst themselves anyways.

At the 2nd stage you’re deemed old and maybe mature enough to learn combat. At this stage no one is allowed to actually fight u seriously other than your peers, but sparing and combat is allowed. You make your weapon then, and the 2nd mask is usually self made following a template.

Weapons are made out of chunks of pale ore (found in a specific place). You kind of just, break it off and then chip and sharpen it. Weapons are made by the wielder and changes over time with them. Weapons tend to maintain their original shape, so they tend to maintain a pretty organic shape. Theres alot less ‘forging’ involved in the process.

(mantis has two, and theyre both pretty rough at the edges. Carvings and such are added as you age as you like, usually to signify and important event)

The third mask indicates adulthood. Each person dons their 3rd mask at different times, whenever they personally feel ready. Usually someone else, a mentor figure or some equivalent, tells the wearer when they feel the to-be adult is ready for a 3rd mask, but the choice is ultimately up to the wearer.

The 3rd mask has no template and is completely up to the wearer, and is usually decorated by loved ones. The symbols on the mask are typically pale and hard to see, and usually have some sort of deeper meaning to the wearer and whoever carved it.

Once the 3rd mask is donned, the wearer is considered an adult, and is permitted to wear armor. This means that in all combat (other than mutually agreed upon instances) there will be no holding back. Armor indicates people can come at you with full strength during spars, because the armor will give you the leeway you need to survive. If that makes sense.

IN MANTIS’ CASE.

Mantis probably only dons the 3rd mask when they leave or is close to leaving Hallownest. Their mask was carved by themselves, although there are a few large nicks in it from when they sparred with Cyrill and Ruby. Theyre left on there on purpose.

(Not that cyrill or ruby know that its on purpose, or the significance of it being left there. Theyre both just waiting for mantis to bring it up again, as a way to guilt them both into doing something)

Putting on armor is a pretty ceremonial thing probably, but probably done by Mantis in private. A short small ceremony. Its probably a little sad, cause its supposed to be a big ol ceremony but they have to do it alone. lmao.

Mantis is pretty traditional, despite not really buying into their culture’s religion. They still kind of, like the traditions themselves, and so keeps following them. Out of respect for those that raised them and also just. As traditions, rather than their religious aspects. 

Probs heavily dislikes a lot of the religious aspects of their culture probably.

[queenofgotham800]

I saw your requests are opened , I was wondering if I could request a Roman x reader fic/imagine. Reader is sick and Roman was out and comes home to her and takes care of her?

In the stars

(Roman Sionis x Reader)

Warnings: Gramatical Errors, Swearing, Medicine, Kidnapping, Weapons, Depression, Stalking

Summary: (Y/n) is sick and she terribly misses Roman who went on a bussines trip to Europe for a week. The bussines trip will not go as would Roman expect. He wants to go home to take care of you and if something or more like 'someone' gets in his way he will destroy it.

(A/n): I'm not quite of sure if I got the timezones right and the title is random. I decided to add something to it, I hope this meets the requirements of your request and I hope you will enjoy the story 💜

It was two hours in the morning. You sat on bed, coughing. Yesterday you were okay, but today the nauseating feeling gotten worse. Roman left yesterday to Europe, becouse he had to visit one of his bussines friends. Someone from Falcone family, you thought and fixed the pillows. Still, you couldn't sleep. Roman was literally on the other side of the world and you missed him. Does he think about you too?

Victor was sleeping in living room, becouse he knew you were sick and if you needed something he would took care of it.

"Victor?" you yelled from bedroom. Victor ran to the room and saw you sitting on the bed.

"What?"

"I miss Roman," you told him. Your eyes were teary and bit purple, becouse of lack of sleep.

Victor gasped, knowing that you were safe and went to sit on little seat near the bed.

"I just... I know that he's going to be there whole week, but I miss him already," you told Victor and closed eyes, becouse the nauseous feeling.

"Want some sleep pills?" Victor asked carefully.

"Yes please," you mumbled and waited. It were few minutes that Victor went for the water and pills, but to you it were hours. You missed Roman, feeling that his body was peacefully sleeping next to you, you missed even his snorting. You wouldn't be so sensitive if you weren't sick, but now everything was touchy subject for you. Your temperature was really high, pills didn't helped but you hoped that at least this sleep pill will do.

"Here you are," Victor came and handed you cup of water and the sleeping pill.

"Thanks, Vic," you said and took it.

After few hours, you stood near window. Still you didn't slept, pills didn't worked. It was just worse. You looked up to stars on the night sky, which were hardly visible due to the polution in Gotham. But you knew they were there. You knew that Roman is somewhere there.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

At the other side of world, Roman waited in his plane for car which would pick him up. They should be here any minute, he thought. Nervously he was looking on phone and then from window. Victor texted him that you were sick. Roman wished he could be there to take care of you, but right now he couldn't. Looking on blue sky, he thought about you. You were there, somewhere maybe thinking about him as he thought about you right now. It was just one day he was gone, but something was up. He could feel it. Something was telling him, that he should go back to Gotham, go back to you.

"Mr. Sionis, they will arrive in three minutes," waiter in airplane told to Roman. Roman looked up to him with frown and nodded. His thoughts were still on you even after he exited the plane and entered black limusine.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Victor sat next to you, thinking if he shouldn't call Roman. He knew he shouldn't, but you were really sick. You ate and drunk just a bit, becouse of your sickness. Victor was very concerned about your health.

"(Y/n), you should at least drink one cup of water," Victor scolded you, handing you over the cup. You took it and drank something from it. Then you put it away, and Victor pulled the phone. He had to call Roman. Those pills lowered your high temperature, but you felt sick anyways.

Exiting the bedroom, he closed the doors behind him and leaned on the cold wall, tired and exhausted.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Roman meanwhile sat in the limusine, still watching clouds above him through the window. At the meeting, there isn't going to be just him. There will be more families from all kinds of cities. At place like that a lot could go wrong. Part of him was glad that you weren't there with him becouse of possible danger, but the other part was affraid of leaving you alone when you were sick. Well...At least Victor was there.

Suddenly his phone started ringing, Roman answered, not caring about the glares that driver gave to him.

"Hello?"

"Boss?" Victor's voice came from other side of the phone, "I gave her those pills, which doctor gave it to her. They are slowly putting her together... But..."

"What Victor?" Roman said it more loudly than he expected.

"She can't sleep, it's like the sickness brought her some kind of depression," Victor told.

"Did she took sleep pills?" Roman asked.

"Yeah, for some reason they didn't helped."

"Sir, we are going to be there any minute," driver told and Roman shushed him.

"Then... I don't know bring her to doctor again," Roman yelled and cancelled the call. He was nervous. Maybe he should stayed home.

"Something serious?" driver asked Roman.

"Not your bussines," Roman answered and driver smirked. His behavior was strangely weird. At one moment Roman thought that this guy is going to kidnap him, but when he parked in front of Falcone's residence, this irrational fear was gone.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Through the day, you were feeling better, but the sadness was still somewhere there, hidden in your mind. The irrational fear of losing Roman. Why would you even thought about that? Well...He went to the world wide meeting of gangsters... What could go wrong right? But he should be already there at the Falcone's residence. Maybe he was going to sleep. You smiled and hugged pillows next to you. Victor brought you some food and water. You were bit better and you were starving, so you ate it in a minute, hoping that nausea won't come back.

You were thankful that Victor was here.

Roman wanted to take you both, but since you got sick, Victor said that he will keep an eye on you.

Five days... And you will see Roman again...

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

When Roman woke up in one of guests room, he picked his finest suit that he brought with him and went downstairs to huge dining room with marble floor. It had expensive paintings gained legal and illegal ways, long table and chairs from mahagony wood and fireplaces at it's sides. He was there alone for now. Quiet place scared him, it reminded him of one kind of trap where enemy's goons would popped up from random places with guns and stuff.

His thoughts were interrupted by one woman.

"Beautifull, isn't it?"

"Mrs. Falcone," Roman nodded, looking at one painting.

"I see you enjoy the art young Sionis," Sophia Falcone laughed.

Roman gulped when Falcone called him young Sionis. It reminded him of his childhood too much.

"Yes, I do," Roman mumbled, "Mine father knew your's. I heared that he was a good person." Roman knew what happened, but he had to tell some comeback on the nickname that she gave him. There was no young Sionis, there was only Roman Sionis or Black Mask.

"Oh, yeah, he was," she told and moved her wheelchair closer to look at the table, "Why so soon?"

"Excuse me?"

"I asked why are you here so soon," Sofia smiled.

"I..." Roman started but couldn't find right words.

"You couldn't sleep," she told and Roman looked away from paintings.

"I was thinking," Roman said.

"Overthinking can kill," she said and continued to the end of the table. After lunch there should be bussines talk and after dinner, there should be some kind of masquerade ball. Roman thought at how excited were you when he invited you with him, wishing you could be there right now with him.

He looked on Sofia Falcone, she was in coma for years. Then she woke up, faked her own death and traveled back to the residence in one of her family homes. This invite was more of an message she is alive and partially alright. As much as Roman despised Sofia, he also had respect for her. She survived a lot of things... Not that much like him, but she did.

Overthinking can kill...

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

It was bad again. Through the night the pain in your head intensified. Victor was exhausted nearly more than you. He refused to leave you alone after you nearly felt when you tried to leave the bed.

Moon was shining through the window, shining more than stars around it.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Roman was eating dinner, looking on guests around the table. They were politely eating and drinking vine. From time to time someone said something, mostly Sofia Falcone, but that was all.

The food was good, but he missed your food. Your smile when you gave him the good-morning kiss.

Roman smiled and didn't heard Sofia's question.

"Mr. Sionis?"

"Yes? Sorry," his hands in which he held fork and knife shook. He loved attention, yes, but here at the Falcone residence, his confidece somehow faded away.

"I asked how is Gotham doing," Sofia smiled. Everybody was looking at him.

"Ehm... It's good. I took a good care of the city," Roman said and took a sip from glass.

"I heared there were some problems with sales in northern part," she lifted eyebrows.

Other mobsters around the table let out little laugh or at least a smirk and Roman frowned.

"It wasn't that bad as when you were in charge. I actually managed to hold the crown longer than previous..." he smiled. This was aimed against the Falcone family. That respect that he had for them was slowly fading away every time when Sofia Falcone opened her mouth. Her face was bit disfigured from wound in her head.

"Miss Falcone, I am really interested how you woke up from coma," somebody asked Sofia, it was young woman in reddish dresses.

"Miss Lauyer I think this question was inaproperiate, but I will give you simple answer," her lips curled into weird smirk, "I had a great doctor."

Young woman stopped smiling and put her hands on her thigh. She probably had a gun under those dresses.

"I'm sorry," she looked in the food and didn't say another word. Roman thought that this would make Sofia shut up, but she still talked with others. Not like he minded small talks, but this was something else. Every information could kill someone.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

You managed to close your eyes. You didn't had nice dreams like usual. This was nightmare in which shadows were chasing Roman. He cried and screamed for help and you were there, watching it, unable to move, unable to help him. You were watching untill he didn't dissapeared from your sight in those shadows.

You woke up screaming Roman's name. Victor wasn't anywhere near you, maybe he was sleeping in living room. You took a phone and called Roman. You knew you shouldn't, but you had to know that he's alright.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Roman was finishing the dish, when suddenly his phone beeped. All attention was again on him and Sofia.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled looking at the phone. It was your number, "Actually, this is important."

"More important than this dinner with us?" Sofia asked.

"More than anything," Roman stood up and left the dining room.

He leaned on wall and picked it up.

"(Y/n)?"

"Roman, are you alright?" your voice was trembling.

"Yes, yes. How are you? Victor texted me you are sick and I think I will go home soon," Roman told.

"Wait... I know that the meeting is important, you can't just leave becouse of me," you coughed and Roman wished he could be with you, to take care of you.

"Don't tell that. I'm Roman Sionis, I can do whatever I want. In fact, I'm going to pack my things right now. I terribly miss you," Roman whispered and looked around. The hallway was empty. Only thing that made Roman nervous was the echo around the whole place.

"I miss you too, handsome," you smiled and coughed again.

"Isn't it like... A night now?" Roman asked.

"Yeah, I can't sleep," you mumbled.

"I'll be home soon, I love you," Roman smiled.

"I love you too."

You cancelled the call and Roman turned back to the dining room. But then he stopped and turned to stairs where were guest rooms. There was also elevator, but Roman prefered stairs.

After packing up his things, he made sure that he had everything that was needed.

He turned back to doors and was stopped by huge guard, who was actually the driver that got him here.

"Excuse me?" Roman tried to go around him, but the guard wasn't moving. Elevator rang and Roman rolled eyes. This was really the last thing he needed.

"Here we can see that Sionis, is still deep inside the little boy with bad luck," Sofia smiled on guards, which came with her.

"Don't you dare talk to me like that," Roman reached for his gun, "Let's see what will this bullet do!"

Guards were pointing guns at him, but Roman wasn't putting his gun down.

"You know... There was a reason I called you here. I wanted to make my return to Gotham a great thing. A party... You know, something special," Sofia smiled, "But we all know that there can't be a queen if there is already a king."

"So this is all about the crown," Roman laughed, "Yeah, I somewhat expected this shit to happen. What happened to others? Are they laying on the table poisoned?"

"Oh, those were my people. Everything was staged," Sofia took a pistol from the holder on her wheelchair. It had only one bullet, "It's funny, becouse Gotham actually has a Queen, since your... (Y/n)... What is even that name?" she laughed and pointed the gun on Roman. Roman frowned, how could she know about you?

"If you insult her again, I'll assure that you insulted her last time," Roman held the finger on the trigger.

"Are you sure you want to shoot? I mean, everyone is pointing at you with gun. When you will be gone who will take care about (Y/n)?"

Roman threw the gun on floor, putting hands behind head, kneeling down.

"Yeah, that's right. Remember your place," she smirked and snapped her fingers. Guards put down their guns, ready to take Roman.

But this was the moment, that he waited for, "At one moment, I thought you were smarter," he mumbled, "Either this will go very good or very wrong." As he finished this sentence, he ran and jumped out from the window. As he felt down, he heard shooting. They were after him. Those bags that he had could stay there, he needed to get home, get to you and nothing could stop him from doing so.

His arm and leg hurted, but he kept stumbling across the parking lot. He heared shooting behind him, so he dropped behind some car. It had keys in it. What a timing, Roman thought and entered the car. It wasn't limusine, this one was more like BMW. Since Roman drove a car only when he had to, which was rare he was stressed, but he had to go. As he left the parking lot, Sofia Falcone looked up on Roman's suitcase. He had there few suits, money, few guns and photo.

On the photo he was smiling with one woman, which Sofia never saw. She only heared of her. (Y/n) Sionis.

Roman managed to escape from Falcone's reach to the airport where was waiting his pilot.

"Boss? Shouldn't you be there whole week?" he asked.

"Start the fucking plane! We are going home now!" Roman yelled and threw himself on the seat.

Plane was slowly getting up from ground and Roman was hoping that nobody's going to shoot after it. Roman took out his phone, with cracked screen.

"Shoot, I'll have to buy a new one," he said and threw it to bin. It was broken after all.

He decided to call you from his cellphone that was in plane.

"Pick it up... C'mon..." Roman whispered, waiting. He didn't waited too long, becouse you picked up.

"Hello?"

Roman smiled when he heared your voice.

"Babygirl, I'm already in the plane, I'll be anytime with you. We are going to cure that sickness," Roman told.

"Babe," your voice was shaking, "How long will it take?"

"(Y/n)? Is everything alright?" Roman asked. Was something bad happening, "Can I talk to Victor?"

"No... Not now, he went to shop... Vegetables and Roses," you let out a little laugh, but stopped in second.

"Tonight were beautiful stars on sky," you said, "I love you, bye." You cancelled the call and Roman's smile faded away.

Tonight were beautiful stars on sky... That was your code word for help...

Roman held the phone in his hand. What did he done...

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

5 minutes before the call

You exited your room, going for something to kitchen. You were slightly better but Roman insisted on going home. You knew that the meeting was very important, but you were glad you will see him again. From what you heard Sofia Falcone was a smart person and nobody wanted to get on her bad side.

"Victor?" you called in apartment, entering the living room with yoghurt.

"One move beauty and you are dead," somebody pushed a knife to your throat. Victor was beated and tied to chair. You dropped the yoghurt on floor.

You lifted hands, slowly walking to the another chair.

"That one is for you," he whispered and pushed you on chair. You were quiet, but shocked. He tied your hands and you were finaly facing him.

He was wearing black hoodie. It didn't covered his face much, as if the person didn't cared.

"Who are you and what do you want?" you asked. Roman taught you what to do in moments like these.

Remain calm. Your head hurted and you asked once again.

"You know... She told me you are sick. But I didn't expected this to be so easy," he said in deep voice.

"She sent you? Sofia Falcone?" you asked. Maybe Roman was in bigger problems than you thought.

"Yes, for you it's miss Falcone. The queen of Gotham. At the end of the day, there will be no trace of you or your whiny husband," he said and looked on Victor, stepping closer, "Victor Zsasz," he smiled, "Maybe Sofia will give you another chance, since you were so good guard dog for her."

Victor was still unconscious, you didn't knew how would he react.

"Oh... For you it's Mrs. Sionis and Mr. Sionis. Tell me, what the bitch wants," you hissed.

"She wants you out of the town," he said.

Phone rang and you looked on it, it's Roman?

The man in black hood brought the phone closer to you. Then he put a gun beside your head and put his finger on lips.

"Hello?" your voice was shaking. Tears slowly slipping from your eyes.

"Babygirl, I'm already in the plane, I'll be anytime with you. We are going to cure that sickness," Roman told.

"Babe," your voice was shaking, "How long will it take?" You quietly cried.

"(Y/n)? Is everything alright? Can I talk to Victor?"

"No... Not now, he went to shop... Vegetables and Roses," you let out a little laugh, but stopped in second. Feeling of the cold gun on your head you gulped.

"Tonight were beautiful stars on sky," you said, "I love you, bye." You cancelled the call.

"I wouldn't tell it better," he clapped with hands, "What's with the stars?" he laughed.

"In case we talked the last time I just needed to tell him something nice," you said.

"Oh, you were," he laughed even more and left to kitchen, "Do you have something to eat? I'm starving."

You rolled eyes. You were used to all kinds of villains in Gotham. But this one was new.

"Perhaps you could eat yourself," you yelled at him and coughed.

"Carefully or you will choke yourself on that disgusting cough," he yelled back.

"Victor? Victor?" you whispered, trying to wake up Victor. He didn't even moved.

"So, let's talk more... About you," hoodie took an empty chair and sat next to you.

"I don't even know your name. Just get out from this apartment," you said, turning the head away from him.

"What? Do I have a problem with my face?" he asked, rubbing his eyes.

"Nah... More like you are the problem," you turned to look at his eyes. One was green and other one was blue.

"Too handsome for you?" he asked and caught your neck. You spat on him, pulling away.

"Don't touch me you monster," you yelled.

"Why? I'm exactly your type, like Roman. Evil monster," he smiled and you. You frowned, refusing to say anything. Roman wasn't like this, he wasn't a monster.

"Run out of words?" he asked. You smiled, you weren't talking to him anymore.

"Say something!" he yelled and pushed a gun to your head. He couldn't shoot you, at least not now.

Then he caught his head, throwing the gun away.

"You are pretty, it would be a shame to... You know. I'm giving you an offer. You can live and leave with me to Europe. Or you can 'stay' with Roman," he smiled and picked up the gun again, pointing at it's trigger.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

When the plane finaly landed in Gotham. Roman entered his car, hoping it's not too late. He wanted to go take care of you becouse of your sickness and becouse he missed you, but now he was saving your life and he was more than needed. Maybe it was becouse of him.

He didn't bothered with parking the car, he just stopped and runned up, as fast as he could to the apartment.

He took out revolver and headed to the living room. He heard voices. He saw your eyes, which spotted him. You were calm as you could, ignoring the man in black hoodie, who was talking to himself.

Victor at the other side was unconscious sitting on chair next to you.

"Hands up! Who are you?!" Roman walked to the living room, aiming with the revolver on the guy.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm holding a gun as you can see. You will never know my real name. But you can call me Changer," he turned aiming a gun at you, "Maybe if you stayed with Mrs. Falcone, then this wouldn't happend. She would take care of you and like this... Well our (Y/n) is involved in this too," he leaned his head on your shoulder.

"She is not yours!!!" Roman yelled and shot him to arm. He was so precise with aiming, you weren't scared about him somehow shooting you.

But you flinched, becouse it was only few inches from your head. His gun felt out of his hand.

Roman had hurted leg and arm but he was faster then Changer. Before Changer could grab his gun back, Roman jumped at him and pushed him on ground and punched him multiple times. Then he stood and untied you.

"(Y/n), are you okay," he looked at you. On his hands and suit were stains of blood.

"Yes, now yes," you said and sneezed.

"Come here, I missed you so much," Roman said giving you hug, kissing you on top of your head.

"Don't, you are going to catch the cold," you said.

"As if I cared. I love you more than anything."

"I love you too Roman," you said and noticed his hand, "Are you okay, we should call a doctor."

"It hurts as fuck. Yes we probably should," he said and untied Victor.

"What happened?" you asked, looking on the guy that called himself the Changer. You took his gun and shot multiple times into the Changer's chest. Roman quietly watched you, "I missed you."

"But what really happened there?" you helped Roman bring Victor to the couch at the other side of room.

"When I heared your voice, Victor called me you were sick and I just knew I had to go back to take care of you. Becouse I love you, I care about you. Then Sofia Falcone came to my guest room and she threatened me and you... You saved my life. If I didn't went home, she would kill me," he said, holding you in his arms.

"I love you, please promise me you will be careful next time," you said.

"I promise," Roman whispered, "Now let's get you to bed, you should sleep."

"Yeah," you began to feel nauseous. You nearly felt down but Roman caught you, walking with you to the bedroom in bridal style.

He gently put you on the bed and covered you with blankets.

"I'm going to stay here with you okay? Victor should wake up anytime too. He wasn't so badly injured. And after sleep, I'm going to bring you your favourite food." Roman laid next to you, holding your hand.

"Roman?"

"Yeah?"

"Where was that clown in hoodie?" you asked. Leaving the living room you didn't remembered seeing him on the place where he got shot. Roman frowned, he didn't remembered it too.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Somewhere in the dark alleys of Gotham, the Changer put down his bulletproof vest. He had red marks all over his chest. He opened doors to his basement safe house that he builded years ago, when Sofia Falcone sent him on mission to Gotham first time. As much as he was obsessed with you, followed you on every step years and years without you knowing about it, he promised himself that Sofia Falcone will be the Queen again.

[hayleyb100]

Shattered, Part 9

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Midquel - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 - Part 8 - Part 9- Part 10 - Part 11 - Part 12 the end

⚠️WARNING!⚠️

*A twisted story of Pokemon Sword and Shield, with Leon as main character. *Lots of fanons. *Everything is headcanon. *It isn’t spoiler free. *It includes death of a character. *SUPER ANGSTY.

"Wow, it's Leon!"

"So cool, so cool!"

"Welcome."

"Hello, Leon!"

Leon was caught off guard. It was surely not the sight he was expecting to see. I mean, he already felt that it would be something weird, considering a strange combination of Gordie, Milo, and Piers inviting him over for a sleepover at Circhester Town. But he never ever expected 6 younger children would greet him.

"Umm... Hi?"

Leon smiled awkwardly, asking with eyes to three inviters what was going on.

"Oh, sorry for calling you out of blue. You see, my mother was going for a Gym Leader meeting elsewhere so I had to call for help to take care of these babies together! My sister and I are short in hands." Gordie chuckled bashfully.

"So I came to help!" Milo beamed from ear to ear.

"And urr... Marnie and I came to lend a hand as well."

Finally, Piers added.

"Okay..."

Leon wore an awkward face. He would never know why his mother readily allowed him to come here. Maybe she felt safe because there are three Gym Leaders and his pokemons to take care of him?

Despite Leon feeling much better now, the children were much energetic than he imagined. They were climbing up and down the furniture, were running around the whole garden playing tag with each other, pulled Leon's long hair, and stuck some stickers on his cheek(Gordie had to stop the kids). Leon stacked blocks and played hero vs villain for them. For those moments of playing, Leon felt strange. It was another jumbled up feeling twinging from within.

The feeling grew the most intense when Leon saw Marnie together with Piers. Since Marnie was the same age as Hop, it overlapped so much with...

_______________________________________

"Well, that's what we call a whole day!"

Milo smiled, as they see the little ones all tucked in the bed sleeping.

"I cannot thank all of you enough. I could never have done it without your help!" Gordie beamed.

"Welp... I am so drained." Piers complained because he was pestered the most by kids due to his eye-catching appearance.

"........."

Leon didn't say anything. He was still processing his emotions gained from the experience.

    "Say, now that all the kids are in bed, how about we have some long overdue chat while enjoying some tea?"

"Tea sounds fantastic!" Milo smiled and agreed.

"If there's anything to relax, I am sold..." Piers said with a drained voice while turning his left shoulder.

"Well, if everyone wants it why not?"

Leon felt like his emotions might hinder him, but he reluctantly joined in.

"There. Cream and sugar?"

Gordie asked after pouring tea in Leon's cup.

"Just some sugar, thanks."

"So... How was today?"

Milo worriedly asked Leon, who was putting two cubes of sugar and stirring his tea.

"Huh?"

Leon stopped the stirring and looked up.

"You haven't noticed anything? You're quite clueless, aren't cha?"

Piers sighed and shook his head.

Still looking lost, Leon stared at Gordie, Milo, and Piers in turns. Then he noticed something.

"Oh."

Leon realized that everyone here is 'older brothers'. The only difference was that Leon lost his, while others still have.

"Mr. Kabu asked us to talk with you. He said since we have younger siblings, we might sympathize with your pain better..."

Oh, Mr. Kabu. Always considerate.

"I see..." Leon said shortly, but the silence quickly devoured four of them.

"I am so sorry for your loss."

After a while, Gordie broke the silence.

"I was dying to say this to you but didn't know when would be a perfect time. I know that you were in no mood to hear us."

"Thanks," Leon replied gently.

Leon was even more relieved, realizing there are more people to solace him other than Raihan and Mr. Kabu.

A whole hour passed by so quickly with some cups of tea. Leon didn't realize he was talking his emotions to his friends. Maybe the fact that they are all in the same position as older brother opened up his mind easier.

"Yeah, it sure is subsided now, but the memories from that day just pop up at random moment and tortures me..."

Leon sighed.

"It's like contradicting emotions swirling in me towards my brother. I hate him so much when it comes to how he left me so ruthlessly, but then... I..."

That was as far as Leon could go. His emotions disturbed his speaking again.

"I bet it is called ambivalence,"

said, Piers.

"I may not be an expert or anything, but I think that's what it is... But let me ask you... Do you seriously hate your brother?"

Leon looked up, completely caught off guard.

"I mean... Surely there must be great memories too like happy, heart-warming, joyful moments."

"There are..." Leon bit his lips to continue.

"So many, actually."

"...Why don't you tell us?"

So Leon started to tell everyone endless happy memories of their brotherhood. The first encounter, the first day Hop toddled to him, the time when they played together at the back yard, how Hop's voice always soothed him whenever he was down, fighting to retain the Champion's spot... It was surely a short memory because Leon became Champion when he was young. However, it sure was such a beautiful piece of time embroidered in his life. Came to think of it, Leon forgot about all that for such a long time now. His heavy shoulders as Champion made him forget about it and then the unwilling farewell blinded him.

"That was beautiful..." Milo said, all ready to cry.

"Yeah... It sure is." Leon sighed.

"How was it telling us all this?" asked Piers.

Leon had to think hard to come up with the word to describe his feeling at the moment.

"I know it sounds crazy, but I felt... cozy? And a little easy too. Funny, isn't it? Feeling cozy for talking about my brother who passed away..."

"No, it just shows that you still love him so much."

With Piers's words, something sparkled in Leon.

"Yes, your brother wounded you, but is that everything that is left of your brother's life? Just like you told us, he gave you a lot of loving moments too. I personally think your memories with Hop is much more valuable to just conclude with a mere bad ending. That will just push you to bear a grudge on your beloved brother and that is not so hot. I bet that's what's causing you to agonize... You love him but keep fighting to get angry at him."

The words hit Leon hard.

"Can I be honest with you too...?"

Milo started carefully.

"I might be jumping to conclusions, but you looked so happy when you were taking care of our younger siblings. It seems like it's still inside of you. The good memories."

No. Milo wasn't surmising. He was right. Leon felt really happy, taking care of the young ones. He didn't know why he was feeling jumbled up earlier. He was cozy for taking care of the younger sibling in a long while, but his mind was refusing to admit it.

"You're right..." Leon smiled gently.

"Because of sadness, I almost forgot how much I loved him..."

Gordie stroked his back.

"I guess it isn't a good idea to keep trying to forget about your brother... As an older brother, I know how my siblings are important to me. I know he meant so much to you too, and forgetting him is like forgetting that much of yourself. I'm scared it would break you, Remember, despite he made the worst choice, he still presented you with the priceless name of 'brother'."

Part of myself...

Leon thought.

Gordie was absolutely right. He cannot deny that ever since their first encounter, Leon was stuck with Hop like glue. It was Hop's smile that supported Leon when he was feeling low. Erasing Hop would be denying all the support he gave him. It would be denying all the love, joy, and precious memories they shared. A simple misstep on the way of parting isn't enough to throw all that in a garbage can.

"Embrace it. If you're ready, that is. Cherish the legacy that your brother left behind. I bet Hop would also want you to move on."

Leon could feel the empty space of his heart filling up. Leon finally returned to a whole after accepting back the part of him that he pushed away. Did he really try to push Hop out of his life when he meant this much to him?

Leon wore another smile of relief. It was okay to long for his brother. Thank god. It felt even better because it was 'older brothers' who told him that.

____________________________________

"I hope my son isn't too much trouble."

Meanwhile, at Victor's home in Postwick, three moms were gathering.

"Not at all! Gordie loves having visitors around. And I'm sure your son would make a lovely guest!"

"...Your son and other gym leaders are doing so much for my son."

Leon's mother sighed deeply.

"When his mother can't do anything for him."

"Nonsense!" Victor's mom started.

"I'm 100% sure that your very existence is great support for your son. I mean, you are working so hard to stay as the strong mom for him, right? That's enough. You're doing so well, honey."

"I agree," Melony added.

"The pain you're going through... I bet it is extremely intense. The fact that you bear all that and look after your son alone is amazing. So share that burden with us. We're more than ready."

With what they say, Leon's mom burst out crying.

It was a long night for both mother and son.

[ey8508]

5 minutes encounter with …… (…… X MC)

Chapter 11

"Victor are you sure about this?! This is insane. I don't wanna do it"

 I was seated next to the driver’s seat as I tried to stay put in the car.

 Victor shook his head sideways, but proceeds to unbuckle my seat belt instead.

 "You agreed. Can't take back what you've said"

"I didn't say anything about this"

 He didn't reply but casually opened his side of the door and in an instant was already opening mine.

 "And I have not prepared any words for this..."

 I dreaded this kind of thing the most.

 "Did I say you need to do the talking?"

 He questioned me while extending out his hand to me.

 I sighed, completely feeling defeated.

 "What would they say about you being the same person? And I have never talked about anyone that I'm interested in..."

 He chuckled.

 "That would be weird... Also, I have never go out to dates or talk about man in general. And you just met them once... Then suddenly you're gonna talk about that?... "

 I started rambling on about it.

 He sighed as he calmly listened to my over reacting thoughts.

 "So, you're embarrassed?"

 He casually stated that out knowingly.

 I looked at him finally realizing that I actually was feeling that too.

 "I'm also nervous..."

 He nods seemingly acknowledging my actual feelings about the matter.

 I thought he was gonna drop the idea... But nah... I should've known that better. He's nowhere near the 'I surrender' type.

 "Well, I'll go ahead then... You come in if you're feeling better about it"

 He pats my head with a smile before disappearing and was now standing at the front door.

 My heart dropped. Eyes widen as I stared at his index finger seconds away from pressing the main door bell.

 Is he crazy?!

 I couldn't even take a breath before quickly jumping out of the car's door and slamming it close right after.

 His head turned to look at me as I run up towards the main door.

 While I was a few steps away, my mom was already stepping out from the main door.

 She looked at him and then at me who just arrived at the scene.

 Everything turned out so fast as my mind went blank.

 Heartbeat increased...

 But the feeling of constant butterflies inside my stomach can't seem to calm itself.

 I gulped while looking at my confused mother.

 "Good evening Mrs. (MC's last name)"

 My mom's eyes were now focused on him.

 I stayed silent and tried to mentally calm myself while constantly looking at either Victor or my mom.

 "May I introduce myself, I am Vincent Li Zen..."

 I slightly frowned upon listening to the different name Victor was addressing himself.

 He wasn't giving his actual name.

 But I understand, it must've been weird if he said his actual name.

 My mom knows who's the younger Victor in our world...

 Plus, Victor can't reveal his actual name to anyone without them realizing it themselves.

 So, yeah... I got the point.

 "I've seen you before. You're the guy who called us about the incident before..."

 He nods.

 "Yes, ma'am. That was me."

 Wait.

 Does that mean-

 "Well then, if you don't mind we would like to invite you for dinner tonight. It would be as a token of appreciation from us."

 Mom no!! I was totally screaming in mind.

 "Well, perhaps if you're busy we could arrange another suitable time."

 I looked at Victor... Hoping if-

 "No ma'am, it's fine. I'll accept the invitation"

 My mom smiled upon hearing his answer seemingly happy.

 Meanwhile me... I was totally feeling defeated.

 "Thank goodness. We'll be having dinner at 8 sharp tonight right after my husband's arrival from his business trip"

 It's 7 p.m.

 Right.... Now I'm definitely dead...

 Victor nods again.

 "That would be my pleasure. However, I hope I'm not interrupting anything..."

 Way the go... I told you, he's good with the neat talking...

 "No, if only we knew your address before... We would've had already called you earlier. Thanks to you, our daughter here is safe and sound"

 My mom then looked at me before smiling at Victor again.

 Victor haven't even managed to give her a reply when my mom urged us to come inside.

 He walks in the mansion without a word. I walked inside too as my mom joined us too.

 I'm more nervous right now... I can hear my heartbeat way better than our footsteps or the door being closed by the maids.

 Well, at least that part went well.

 "So, why are you here honey? Anything happened?? Your shoulder is fine right?"

 I almost jumped when my mom started talking to me but of course I could keep my cool.

 "Well, I was just bored at home. And no, nothing happened, my shoulder is way better too"

 I beamed a smile at her.

 "That's good to hear."

 She smiled back.

Somehow, my mom doesn’t seem to ask about why we’re both here…

 "Do please make yourself at home while I prepare the meal for the dinner tonight."

 She was now talking with Victor who was standing right next to me as we arrived at our mansion's grand living room.

 "Thank you ma'am"

 He nods politely before taking the nearby seat.

 "Mom, I'll head upstairs"

 My mom nods before gesturing the maids to serve Victor some tea and biscuits.

 "If you need anything else, please don't hesitate to ask from the maids"

 She beamed before heading her way towards the kitchen.

 He nods again with a smile.

 Mom loves cooking and will do it herself whenever she's free. It's why the chefs are only helping her with the plates and stuff.

 I was walking my way towards the staircase when someone called out my name.

 "MC..."

 The stairs were quite close with where he was seated and I know it was him.

 I ignored him.

 I didn't even look or stop on my tracks.

 "MC."

 I ignored him again.

 "MC."

 But by the second his voice becomes louder than before... Seemingly ignoring the maids nearby.

 I sighed and finally turned my head towards him.

 He quickly motioned his hand indicating for me to come over.

 I shook my head sideways as I tried to refuse.

 A frown was suddenly visible on his forehead as he yet again motioned for me to come.

 He's not giving up on this...

 I calmly walked my way down the staircase as I approached him.

 "Yes, Sir. What can I help you with?"

 "You can call me Zen"

 He seemingly was amused by it but then naturally act out to close the suspicion from the maids.

 I nodded in response.

 "How have you been after the attack?"

 He asked me as he motioned his hand to take the seat next to him.

 I sighed.

 I can't escape then...

 He's totally trying to keep me here to accompany him even when the maids are present.

 "I'm recovering quite fine. Never been healthier..."

 I had to act this out... He totally knows about this already.

 He nods.

 "Zen, if you don't mind I'll be going now"

 "Hmm, I'll just help your mom with the cooking then"

 This Victor... Why is he out of his mind?!

 "Fine, go then."

 I whispered to him while not even hiding the fact that I'm slightly annoyed.

 "Then, stay with me"

 He softly whispered back.

 Right, I was the one who's problematic here.

 "I'm sorry..."

 I whispered. Somehow, this whole situation is making me disappointed with myself.

 Why can't I even accompany him here instead of constantly wanting to walk away.

 He's not even asking me anything that could trouble me.

 "No need..."

 He whispered, reassuringly.

 Somehow, I can't even believe how did we become friends at the first place anyway...

 We were totally the opposite and yet similar at the same time.

 I don't even understand it myself.

 "Victor, how is it that you're confident in everything?"

 I was now looking down at my hands. I couldn't really look up at him but I can sense that he was.

 He sighed seemingly unhappy.

 "Look at me."

 I hesitatingly turned my head to face him.

 "I'm here and you don't need to worry about anything. Okay?"

 I nodded.

 "Plus, this is your house. Isn't it me who's supposed to be nervous"

 I smiled.

 "But have you not been doing this in your world before or previously?"

 I just suddenly thought about it...

 It's a bizarre thought-

 But I'd rather not assume anything

 He suddenly chuckled.

 "No, I've never had the chance before..."

 I nodded understanding the fact that it's actually sad.

 I felt bad for him.

 He had to go through so much just to be here today.

 "Victor..."

 "Hmm..."

 "What would you do if you're not a time evolver?"

 I shouldn't be asking him that because he seems to be thinking about it himself for quite a while... as we then stayed in silent.

 "Nevermind... That would be-"

 "No, it's just that... I've been thinking how would you be then?"

 He cuts through my words adding up a question that I can't even answer myself.

 I blinked as we were starting at each other and finally had the courage to say my thoughts out loud.

 "I- I'll probably die alone..."

 He smiled.

 "There wouldn't be anyone else, but you. Do you understand?"

 His replies are sometimes not connected with whatever we're talking about but I do get what he meant by that.

 He would've absolutely be doing the same thing as what I would do.

 That is-

 Living a single life without even trying to be with someone.

 The heart who would never accept love again.

 Just thinking that now, made me acknowledge how precious this chance that had been given to us.

 I beamed him a smile.

 We went on talking about random stuff afterwards.

 We weren't that talkative ourselves but somehow knowing that we needed each other's company is definitely something I can't explain.

 "It's almost 8"

 Victor reminded me of the time as I quickly looked at my wristwatch.

 "Right, I'll go upstairs for real now"

 He nods finally agreeing on the idea.

 I quickly walk my way up the staircase straight to my room.

 The real thing is about to happen.

 I'll just trust him on that.

 I just calm myself down and waited for another 5 minutes before finally the maids started knocking on my door.

 I'm definitely feeling nervous again.

 But yet again kept my cool and walk my way towards the dining room.

 As I walked in...

 The table was all perfectly set and both my parents were there.

 I just smiled at them and sat across my mom.

 Just from the corner of my eyes, I know it's Victor who was seated across my dad.

 They seem to already have a conversation even before I entered the dining room.

 So, I guess everything's fine.

 Somehow, we started eating the meals...

 I could barely eat it but I tried to slowly eat the food eventually...

 "Son, you said you were an accountant... Were you perhaps working for the bank or a company?"

 My dad suddenly asked Victor as I act as if I was focused on my plates instead.

 But really though...

 An accountant?

 I could've laughed at that but yeah... I couldn't do that.

 "For a bank, Sir"

 "I see. Son, if I may ask you about the incident that day..."

 I looked at my dad, than at Victor

 Victor was of course calm as a cucumber. He was just casually holding his spoon while carefully listening.

 "How were you happened to be there that day? It was so late at night"

 "If you don't mind, Sir... I do want to clarify about that in detail."

 He then carefully placed his spoon and fork beside the plate.

 My dad casually nodded as my mom was now focused on Victor

 "Under the circumstances, I'd like to take the chance to announce something important for the both of you"

 I gulped. This is going to be real.

 Mentally screaming my lungs out.

 Slowly, I take the courage to take a glance at Victor... But he was already looking at me.

 We stared at each other for a few seconds before he averted his gaze towards my parents.

 They were now somehow had already stopped eating.

 "That day, we promised to meet each other right after she was finished with her daily schedule. I know, she was gonna be late from work but she was always on time regardless. So, I decided to look for her at her workplace instead, when she had not arrived..."

 I looked at my parents, but both of them seems to be intently focusing on Victor.

 At that moment, I don't even know what they were thinking.

 They looked rather calm.

 "I arrived there and went straight to her office but she wasn't there... Then, I walked back to the parking lot and noticed that her car had already been there all along. I checked the surroundings and saw her handbag"

 I've never seen Victor talking in this way. He had always made the sentence shorter.

 "I didn't walk far from there when I finally saw her there. Lying helplessly, trying to stay conscious."

 Victor looked at me again. He surely didn't show much emotions but you'll see the truth in his eyes.

 "I'm sorry, I couldn't help much"

 I didn’t know that he still felt guilty about that…

 "Don't worry son, you've done your best…"

 He nodded with a faint smile.

 "Son, how long have you been dating with our daughter?"

 There it is...

 My dad really be asking that as if it's a casual question as his stare never left Victor.

 "MC...??"

 My mom seemingly finally realising about it as she looked at me than at Victor.

 I was about to answer my mom when Victor suddenly answered to my dad

 "3 years, Sir"

 My dad nods

 "Why didn't you tell us MC?"

 My mom asked me again.

 "That would be on me ma'am. I didn't want to trouble her about it. She looked quite stressed out if I suddenly mentioned about introducing myself to the both of you"

 My mom nods, but now seemingly a frown was visible.

 "How did you guys met?"

 My mom looked at me than at Victor.

 My dad however was now had continued eating with his food. He seems to enjoy the moment.

 Victor looked at me as I looked at him too.

 "Well about that..."

 I sheepishly started the talking this time.

 "We met at the beach on a usual sunny weekend"

 Victor replied back seemingly backing me up.

 "He actually helped me from almost drowning"

 I added another reply

 "What, you never told me about that?!"

 My mom was obviously shocked.

 My dad however tried to calm her down and asked us to continue with it.

 "He told me something like "I'm not gonna safe you a second time" and from that day I actually hate him"

 I could sense that Victor wasn’t going to accept that.

 "But we had quite a lot of encounters, which I don't even know why it happened... I was always annoyed to see him every time he shows up in my view..."

 My dad was now slightly laughing while hearing me talking about it.

 It was quite true at some point.

 "Then, one day I had a really bad day at work because of a case. But don't worry it's solved now... "

 I looked at my mom again as I tried not to overwhelmed her with too much information.

 I used to share everything with my mom so, I know she's quite not okay with me keeping secrets from her. Even though the actual secret is heavily hidden...

 "Anyways, I went outside and randomly started walking in the neighbourhood but I was actually planning on buying slices of cakes on the way out. But then I met him again"

 "Well, actually she didn't even payed attention on the road. Almost got-"

 Victor added before briefly his words being cut off by my mom.

 "MC, how many times do I have to tell you about that"

 Once again, my dad calms my mom down.

 "Yes Mom..."

 I nodded sheepishly, act this out.

 When I actually have been really careful on the road....

 Well, that can't be helped.

 "So, Zen actually saved me that day again. But this time he said "You wanna get killed?!"

And I obviously ignored him because I was already stressed out about work and he just happens to scream at me"

 "I did not scream at you..."

 Victor exclaimed from the background as I briefly glanced at him.

 "Anyways, my face must've looked really ugly when he suddenly frowned at me before saying ‘You need the cake more than I do’ then he offered me the box of cake. I refused of course but he insisted..."

 My dad chuckled upon listening to my story.

 "I told him that I don't trust food from strangers and he could've poisoned it but he replied back saying ‘Well, eat it together with me then’. So, he ended up eating the cake first as I finally took a bite of the cake"

 My mom finally smiled as she continued on eating the meals.

 "We had a lot more of weird encounters together. At some point, I thought he was stalking me but he's just really trying to do his daily basis."

 "I don't know how or when did we actually started dating because he doesn't talk much but he'll be there if I said ‘my head hurts’. That one time, he even came by my work place just because I told him my shoulder hurts."

 Somehow, started laughing myself.

 "Then he told me that I should go to the hospital because it could get terrible. I couldn't say no because he threatened me to carry me instead if I didn't go-"

 "I did not threaten you... You could barely move your left arm"

 Victor made another comeback yet again from the background.

 "What happened MC?"

 My dad was the one who's questioning me this time.

 "I actually fell from trying to get the books high up the shelves. Somehow, dislocated my shoulder. But the doctor did fix it really quick"

 Both my parents shook their heads sideways.

 "So, it's actually like that... We're in a stable place now. I do sometimes argue with him but he's calm about almost anything"

 My dad chuckled seemingly amused.

 However, my mom was looking quite okay with it.

 After my parents were seemingly accepting the fact about us being a couple...

 Victor yet again caught their attention.

 "Mr. and Mrs. (MC's last name), we're actually here to inform you about our engagement plans"

________________________________________________

?DNE

[ayeateez]

The Hunger Games AU - Part 3 - Finale: The Final Fight

GENRE: Angst

PAIRING: None

WARNINGS: Major character death, sexual harassment, mentions of murder, weapons, and just harmful things in general

WORD COUNT: 3182

It had been days since Seonghwa died. It was miserable. I was too familiar with this feeling, I wanted it to stop, I wanted it to end.

Knowing the same man who killed Seonghwa was coming to my district today made me sick. I wanted to throw up, I wanted to kill him. He deserves it.

I’ve learned how to live with the blood on my hands. It doesn’t mean I still don’t get nightmares, or that I don’t feel bad, it means I can deal with it. Hongjoong had been so cocky on his tour, meanwhile I couldn’t even speak properly.

•

I was on the far right of the stage, where the only victors of 12 stood. I watched as Seonghwa’s family struggled onto the podium in front of the screen that had Seonghwa’s face on it. They were as broken as me. I couldn’t imagine how his brother or his parents felt. I looked away before I could catch myself crying, now wasn’t the best place or time.

Minutes passed as people got all settled in. I saw the face I never wanted to see. I wanted him to die. He deserves it. As we sit down finally, I zoned out, not wanting to hear his cocky ass speech about how good he is for killing Seonghwa. Then something caught me off guard. Something caught all of us off guard.

“I did it for y/n. I want her to be mine. If she accepts, of course” He smiles and looks towards 12’s victors, towards me. His smile was full off all the cruel things he has said about the other tributes, and the nasty words he said to Seonghwa came from the same mouth. He waved me over, on live tv as victory tours were aired, and I had no other option but to walk towards him.

“What do you say, Y/n? Will you be mine now?” He asked, oh so innocently. The smile was wiped off his face the moment I had slapped him, hands closing in on his neck. Peacekeepers immediately came to separate us as Hongjoong collapsed, half conscious as he tried to regain his breath and steady his breathing.

The peacekeepers dragged me off the stage, away from Hongjoong, and I let them. Anything to be away from him. I kept a straight face the entire time I watched him try to get back up.

•

“Please, I’d do anything BUT go out with him. I don’t fucking care about publicity, he killed my boyfriend then asks me to go out with him. Who in their right mind does that?” I yelled at my younger sister as she tried to help me come to an understanding. It was a bitchy move, but still.

“Y/n, what if they put you in that arena again? Hm? What would you do?” She asked.

“Why the hell would they put me in that arena? They aren’t allowed to! That isn’t legal!”

“It is when President Snow says it is” She shrugged.

“But why? They have no reason?”

“You slapped him and tried to fight him. They’re probably going to take that as a sign that you want to fight. Fight to the death. A special type of games”

•

I stared blankly at the holographic tv in my room, as it suddenly turned on due to it being ‘urgent’.

“Due to recent events while Kim Hongjoong was touring in District 12, we’ve decided to hold a - special games. There will only be 2 tributes, who shall not have a choice whether they participate or not and volunteers are not welcomed. The tributes are:

Kim Hongjoong, District 2

Y/n L/n, District 12

the games will take place October 31st at exactly 12:00 and shall only continue until November 2nd at 12:00. Dear tributes, may the odds be ever in your favor”

I dropped the remote as my breath shortened. No... no they couldn’t have. But the games just ended - this has to be a joke.

I’m going to fight to the death with him, Kim Hongjoong.

•

It’s didn’t take long for peacekeepers to

come break into my house to collect me and bring me to the capital. I really had no choice but to cooperate with them. I was back, back on the train for what seemed like the hundredth time. The first time I took this train to the capital, I was with Jongho. The second, I was with Seonghwa. Now, I’m here. By myself. Trying to mentally prepare to fight Hongjoong.

•

The 26 hours went by quickly as no one spoke to me. It was like they understood what was happening. He murdered my boyfriend, now I’m going to murder him.

The clapping and cheering and all the bright and fancy colorful things went by in a blur as I tuned out all the loud noises.

They took me to the place where I would be stayed for the next 3 days. They’ve given us less training as we’re both victors, I’m assuming. Last time we had 2 weeks. There’s no way I’ll even be close to in shape or prepared within 3 days.

I knew I should’ve head down to the training area, but I just wasn’t in the mood. I was about to go into a whole ass fight with the same person who killed Seonghwa. I wonder how they feel in heaven, San, Jongho, and Seonghwa? Are they okay? Is it alright up there? Whatever it is - they’re definitely doing better up there than down here.

“Y/n, I know you aren’t in the mood, but you have to train if you want to stay alive”

“I don’t want to be alive. I want to see Jongho, Seonghwa, and San up there” I sighed, noting even sparing a glance. Who ever it was, they gave up easily and left.

I eventually got up on my own, getting dressed and heading down to the small, enclosed, dark, training room. Deciding to test a new skill, I picked up a sword. It wasn’t too heavy, it felt just right. I swung my arm a few times, not that bad.

Walking up to a dummy, I worked on a stance, that would probably be useless, and well, kind of cut up the dummy. I don’t know how mad they would be to see their dummy all cut up, cotton spilling from all angles so I stuck to knives and throwing them.

•

It was the same. It was the exact same every time. I did the same thing for the past 2 days, while eating and drinking as much as I can. There were no parades, there were no festivals, nothing. Just announcing the games, that’s it. Of course though, my stylist still made sure I played and killed while looking good, so he came up with ways to make me seem less dead, more appealing to the camera, claiming that the prettier I look, the more sponsors I get, and I don’t doubt that. I mean, it’s the capital.

20 minutes.

Realization started to set in. I’m going back. I’m going back into the games, except this time? I’m targeted and targeting. There’s a 50/50 chance I’ll die and that he’ll die. What happens if I die? What happens if he dies? What will happen? I mean, either one of us will win but... what will happen?

“You’ll be fine in there, calm down. You’ve won one of these games before, haven’t you?” My stylist sighed, making an attempt to calm me down. I looked at him.

“What if I don’t make it out alive? I’m rusty, he just won the recent games-“

“Yeah, he’s still scarred and injured-“

“How many victors do you think have nightmares about the games? How many do you think can’t figure out a way to live with innocent people’s blood on their hands? Think about it. It’s not a lot” I snapped. Our silence last for minutes until the countdown from 30 started.

The arena was set up where our cornucopia’s were set up on opposite sides of the arena, and every day the arena shrinks until we fight to the death. But it’s not easy to get to the cornucopia. I think I heard them saying we have to get past landmines and some weird type of hyena that happened into the 67th games.

After putting the final touches onto me, I stepped into the tube as it shut around me. The remaining 5 seconds were counted out then it started to move up again. My heart raced as panic surged through my veins. This is it. I’m really getting my revenge now.

I was hit by the wind of the arena, the fake sun shining oh so bright, fake birds chirping. If I didn’t know what was going to happen, I just might’ve called this paradise.

The countdown remained only 10 seconds left. I unintentionally tuned out the counting, listening to my heart and the wind race.

“3”

“2”

“1”

The cannon went off as I avoided all dirt piles. Hopping over everything, I made it to the center, grabbing everything I needed and could hold. Grabbing the first backpack, it was empty but for a blanket and some matches. I grabbed 3 sets of 24 knives, just a guess. Stuffing more weapons into a backpack, I chose to carry a sword by hand. 3 weapons I could use, I had a choose from 3.

Realizing what was going to happen, I jumped down from the top, grabbing another bag as I sprinted my way to the forest, away from the growling.

Heavy. Weight. That’s all I could feel in my hands and on my back. I grabbed too

many things. I was going to have to abandon something soon.

I stopped at a tall tree, quickly grabbing any branches I could to pull me up, only hoping that there were no tracker jackers in this thing. I have 2 days to kill him. I need to get to him first.

•

Night came quickly, as I stayed in a tree all day. Far in the distance, I could see smoke. He started a fire. He must know I wasn’t going to come after him this early. The capital wanted a show? I’ll give them a mother fucking show.

I groaned as I leaned back against the uncomfortable bark again. I wanted to get up and walk around. I wish I was in my bed, maybe eating something and reading. But no, here I am, stuck in the middle of the games.

A sleepless, restless night passed and I hopped down from the tree in hopes of being able to walk around freely. It’s already the 1st, I have until tomorrow to kill him.

I saw the edge. The edge of the barrier, and I ran. I ran like my life depended on it, which it really did. Only god and the gamemakers know what happens when you touch the edge of the barrier, and I don’t want to find out. I realized that they were driving me straight towards the smoke, where Hongjoong was. At least that’s where I thought he was.

He wasn’t there. It was a trap. As soon as I realized the trap, I looked around, and ran, climbing up another tree. Another day in another tree? Thought so. This was boring people had to be losing interest or something. Maybe if people don’t watch, they’ll stop the games? No, they don’t care if people watch or not. They’ll kill both of us and erase this game from existence if they have to.

I heard a twig snap and my hand instantly flew to my belt, grabbing a knife as I sat there, eyes looking around sharply. I spotted something with crazy colored hair sprinting, and I could even hear him cursing. Hongjoong. As much as I wanted to throw, I didn’t. After I heard my name, at least. I couldn’t hear any more words come from his mouth. Audible ones, at least.

I sat back in my tree and waited. My stomach growled loudly. I just had to wait. But if I had thrown the knife, there was a high chance it would’ve hit him and at least would’ve slowed him down enough for me to kill him, but curiosity took over.

After having enough of my tree time, I slowly and carefully climbed down the tree. I made my way through the forest, occasionally leaning down to feel the dirt. It was damp, meaning water was nearby, but so was the barrier.

Deciding to continue on, I found the smallest patch of water. It was as clean as water in the games could be. I instantly dropped to my knees as I splashed water all over my face, a relief to have all the dried sweat off my face and having something to drink. Now? I just need something to eat, but I could actually survive without food. Food isn’t my bigger concern now, it’s Hongjoong. Hell, he could even be behind me right now, about ready to stab me. Becoming paranoid, I turned around only to see trees and the forest.

I watched the branches and leaves sway with the light breeze. I had to move. Something felt off. I took one last drink before getting up and moving quickly, killing a rabbit on the way.

It was hard without allies. No one to help you, no one to help, it was weird. I’ve only known playing in the games with others on my side.

•

It was boring. I’ve said this plenty of times before, but it was so boring. Watching me, at least. I did nothing but wander around the arena, secretly hoping to be able to stab Hongjoong in the back or something like that. Who knows what Hongjoong is doing? I could only guess.

A large noise scared me as I almost fell from my - you guessed it, tree and I was temporarily blinded by the flashing light. I was at the edge of the barrier, and I could see the other end. We were that close. I looked up at the sky to see a timer counting down. 59:37. It’s already 11 on the 2nd.

I climbed down, leaving everything but my weapons. I decided it’s time to end this man.

I walked through the woods, making as much noise as I possibly could to try and draw him out. I looked up, I looked down, but I couldn’t find him. Did they take him out of the arena and just leave me in here to kill or embarrass me? I heard a twig snap behind me and I quickly turned around, throwing my knife that pinning Hongjoong’s sleeve to the tree.

“Hey gorgeous”

I hadn’t ever thrown so quickly. He dodged my knife, throwing one back at me but his aim was way off. How did he win this again?

“Come back here!” I yelled, chasing after him. I spared a glance at the clock. 28:39. I still had time. He turned and threw another knife at me, and it grazed my arm, cutting my sleeve and leaving a painful cut. I cursed under my breath as he tripped in front of me and fell. I wanted to kill him with my own hands.

I held him down as my hands tightened around his neck, but he quickly flipped over so he was on top as he held my wrists down. I used every strength in every muscle in my body to get out, but I couldn’t. It was useless. I was going to die.

“What have we got here, hm? You see, princess, if you had just agreed we wouldn’t have been here-“

“If you had died in the 73rd games we wouldn’t be here” I growled back at him, cutting his words and he raised an eyebrow and chuckled.

“Feisty, are we now? Hmm, that Seonghwa guy was so lucky to have you. Look, you’re a gem” His smirk grew as he touched me places I never gave consent for.

“Fuck, let me kill you already!” I shouted, squirming under his grasp.

“I bet I could make a deal. If you date me, we won’t ever have to be in these arena’s again. Snow would probably agree, yeah?” Hongjoong looked away, as to show he was supposedly thinking. I wanted to slap that stupid smirk off his face.

“What time do we have left?” He asked, looking up at the sky.

“20:19, yeah? What could I do with you in 20 minutes. Angel, there’s so many things we could have done together. We would’ve been so so powerful, but here we are, fighting to the death - are you crazy?” His words bled into my brain.

“And look, you’re bleeding. How did that happen?” His finger traced the cut, spreading the blood across my skin.

“Stop it”

“But why? You look so nice under me like this... imagine-“

I suddenly jerked my knee up into his crotch, cursing at myself on why I hadn’t thought of that earlier. He fell into the dirt, groaning in pain as I took the chance to hit his elbow and making him release my wrists, giving me the chance to get up.

I smirked down at him, just kicking him repeatedly. No knives or sharp things, just my foot in his fucked up face. Satisfaction occurred when I spotted blood dribbling out of his mouth, nose, and other places. I pulled a knife from my waistband, flipping it a few times.

“Y-You don’t want to do this princess... you won’t be able to live with it...” Hongjoong’s words were slurred from the thick, red liquid filling his mouth.

“Are you sure about that?” I asked, raising an eyebrow in amusement. He opened his mouth to speak, but only screams of pain came out as my knife flew into his chest. Shrugging, I threw another into his stomach for extra measure.

The sound of the cannon I knew all too well sounded in the arena as the clock stopped.

Hongjoong was right. I couldn’t live with the blood on my hands. I couldn’t live knowing I had killed numerous people. The bitter feeling overcame the victorious one. I became nauseous at the sight of Hongjoong’s dead body right in front of me.

Slowly slipping my last knife from my waistband, I chuckled crazily.

“This one’s for you... San”

The pain burned in your chest as I fell to the ground with a crazy look plastered on my face. I looked down at the blood dripping down my body. I felt my heart stop and my brain stopped registering. My vision went in and out of focus, spots dancing around my vision. The urge to shut my eyes became so strong, so I shut them. Then I stopped. I just stopped.

[simonjadis]

Anon I’m ASSUMING that these are from the same person; apologies if they are not

I would say that my feelings are similar to yours, but not quite identical ...

Disney’s handling has been imperfect, and some of the mistakes have been made the highest level (I know that people give Kathleen Kennedy a hard time, but if rumor is to be believed, some of the interference that made IX kind of weird came from higher than that)

for example, Kennedy said in an interview that she tries to find people who just make big, successful movies to make sure that these are also big, successful movies. I can understand that as being a safe bet from a business stand point, but that’s not the same thing as finding someone passionate about very specifically telling good, new Star Wars stories, which we did not really get in the Sequel Trilogy

(one of the most common theories that I saw from TLJ apologists was that people didn’t like that it was new/different than what they were expecting, which was really not the issue for me or my friends. Also it was just a speedrun of parts of Episodes V and VI)

I think that I’m “too close” to Star Wars to see it as a financial asset rather than a beloved universe full of characters and stories that I adore, but I don’t think that “literally just rehash the Original Trilogy for two movies and barely acknowledge any other part of Star Wars until IX” was a good idea

Rey deserved her own story. and Luke deserved to not be retroactively robbed of his

as for George Lucas, I do think that years of backlash over the Prequels sucked the fun out of it for him. Also, who doesn’t want four billion dollars? it was a sweetheart deal for Disney, of course

the sad thing is that this meant the end of Clone Wars, because Disney took one look at Lucasfilm’s budget and was like “OH NO YOU CANNOT SPEND THAT KIND OF MONEY ON A CARTOON” which is why Season 6 was paid for by Netflix and why Maul: Son of Dathomir was a comic

I love Star Wars Rebels and I’m not trying to knock the show at all, but the budgetary difference was palpable. Clone Wars did have it a little easier because of the Clone Troopers (all having the same face), but on Rebels, you notice that 90% of the Imperials are the same guy wearing a hat with his visor obscuring most of his face. market scenes show just a few people (but plenty of Storm Troopers)

the designs of the main characters -- Ezra, Hera, Sabine, Zeb, Kallus, Thrawn, Kanan, etc -- are great and loving and detailed and most of those change a little over time, but there’s a reason that we only see so many planets on Rebels. look at the huge armies and crowds in Rebels. my friend @drunkkenobi​ is the first who pointed out to me that in Clone Wars, you sometimes see lines of ships (Space Traffic) and each ship in line will be unique, distinct from the others

it’s not Rebels’ fault that they didn’t have that kind of budget. that’s also why their space battles (and space ships) never quite look right. meanwhile, for Clone Wars, if they wanted a particular scene or ship that went over their planned budget, all that they had to do was ask Uncle George

eccentric billionaires funding expensive media isn’t necessarily the most sustainable model for storytelling, but it sure worked out well for Clone Wars and for The Expanse

(Jeff Bezos personally called up the head of Amazon Prime programming, who had already been considering acquiring the extremely good but expensive show, and was like “hey the cast from this show is at a thing where I am, I’d love to just tell them that their show is saved, give me it?” and we saw as many new locations in Season 4 as we did in the first three seasons)

but streaming -- where you actually get money directly from customers who then, through their activity on your platform, show you exactly what they want to see aka what is keeping them on your platform -- offers a new opportunity for high quality genre media. remember, scifi and fantasy were EVERYWHERE in the ‘90s and the early aughts, and then because too expensive for regular TV unless they had huge audiences. only through streaming do we have these new Star Treks, The Witcher, and the real possibility of a new Stargate series

why do I bring up streaming? because

The Mandalorian goes to show that Disney can 100% do good Star Wars. Rebels was good, despite its budget, but can you imagine how much better it would have been if it had aired on Disney+

as with the DC movies (three of which are good and I’m also excited for Birds of Prey), the solution to the our-movies-made-a-lot-of-money-but-aren’t-strictly-speaking-good is literally just “let the people who do the cartoons make the movies”

and now we’re getting a final, seventh (half) season of Clone Wars! twelve episodes looking better than the show has ever looked!!

if you’re like me, you probably thought to yourself “gee, only 12?” and, cynically, you figured that it’s a trick -- announced at ComicCon in 2018 to build up the first wave of hype for Disney+

and it is ... but it 100% worked on me, I signed up for Disney+ and will pay anything for Clone War

my HOPE is that this is a test run to see if people really like high-quality animated Star Wars stories enough to continue with it. there’s only so much clone wars that one can cover (my suspicion is that we will see Ahsoka fake her death during Order 66 in these eps, so yep, that’s the end of the Clone Wars right there)

imagine a well-written series with everything that Clone Wars had in terms of content and visual quality, but it’s set after Episode IX. to my frustration, IX ends with effectively the same worldstate as VI which essentially means that nothing much happened in the Sequel Trilogy. but imagine a series set after IX. we could see a new set of (Force-wielding) characters. we could see Rey, Finn, Poe, and Rose during some episodes. Rose could finally get to do something that’s not an insulting fool’s errand (she deserves so much better!!!!!)

we don’t need a new Big Scary Empire/First Order thing, just organized crime and pirates and Hutts and bounty hunters and individual planet systems going to war as the characters try to assemble a NEW New Republic (gods I hate the unchanged worldstate)

now, I know that Star Wars Resistance is not ... reassuring. this is the only screencap that I have from it because I couldn’t get into it. it’s not the animation (I enjoyed Tron Uprising and Iron Man: Armored Adventures and this is the same kind of deal), but three things:

-I watch Star Wars for the Force primarily; other stuff can be cool but I need the Force

-I will never care about ships racing and really I don’t care about an individual ship flying; I’m a Command Ship kind of space nerd

-apparently the writing doesn’t improve much during the first season. people tell the main character to not do something, then he does it, and disaster ensues. that’s ... it’s fine, it’s fine to exist as a show, it’s just not for me

obviously, not all Star Wars media is for me, but when something -- like TLJ or the Sequel Series as a whole (even though VII and IX are enjoyable) or Resistance -- disappoints me, I would never accuse it of “ruining Star Wars”

Star Wars is a whole franchise. the breadth of canon isn’t all wiped away by some disappointments. was the MCU ruined by Age of Ultron? no. it was a bad movie but from the same franchise that gave us The Winter Soldier and Thor Ragnarok. hell, Dawn of Justice doesn’t “ruin” Wonder Woman or Aquaman or Shazam. bad movies aren’t contagious

for the past several years, the Entitled Dude crowd has felt empowered. they were radicalized in the altright/redpill/MGTOW/meninist/nazi/gamergate/comicsgate/etc spheres of the internet and now they just have a reflex where they see any sort of representation and decry it as “SJW,” which they also seem to think is a bad thing

in the same way that well-meaning people on tumblr can get radicalized into being antis/puriteens, people with certain vulnerabilities on reddit or youtube can get sucked into a world that tells them that they are the default and that other people existing is “political” in media and in real life, and that people being upset by outright cruelty towards them is both funny and means that the cruel person is the victor. they need therapy and studios need to not listen to them

unfortunately, sometimes there are movies that are bad despite having things like solid representation. Ghostbusters 2016 was a delight, but my friends and I with whom I saw TLJ (all of us queer feminists) left the theater angry. we’ve bitten our tongues a lot (even if it seems otherwise) because publicly criticizing the film too often leads some incel monster to chime in with agreement, and we’re just like

the redpillgate crowed et all is a natural ally of conservative white evangelicals, even though the former group is generally made up of New Atheists (the short version is atheists who hold socially conservative views because racism/misogyny/transphobia benefit them without using christianity as an excuse). it’s kind of like how terfs will side with conservative hate groups because, though they’re natural enemies, they both despite trans people just for existing

unfortunately, when you’re looking at who went to see a movie or who hated it, not everyone posts with an ID card saying exactly their demographic. which is only going to make studios like Disney even more nervous about including queer content in Star Wars and in the MCU (I mean real queer content with characters whose names don’t have to be searched on a wiki)

that was a bit of a tangent, but yeah. sorry if I missed anything

[themovieblogonline]

FROM Season 3 Episode 4 Review: Who’s Ready for a Ride?

FROMily, FROM Season 3 Episode 4 has come to throw us straight back into the chaos that is FROMtown. This week’s installment packs a heavy punch, and the twists just keep coming. Let’s dive into all the madness that took place, and trust me, there’s plenty to chew on here—literally and figuratively. Harold Perrineau continues to show us why he’s the real MVP of FROM, while the rest of the cast unravels the mysteries (and horrors) of the show. Spoilers ahead! https://youtu.be/HckCUBgdogE Tabatha’s Struggle: Girl, Where’s the Fight? Tabatha is back, but I gotta say... where is the energy? We’ve been rooting for her, but her passivity throughout the first half of this episode leaves us frustrated. Catalina Sandino Moreno nails the role of Tabatha Matthews, but her character? Sis, you’ve been in a car crash, and you’re driving straight back into FROMtown! Give us some emotion, some fire! As much as I’d love for her to have kicked, screamed, and thrown hands, her subdued demeanor might be signaling her exhaustion and despair. After all, Tabatha has been through it. Still, it felt like she could have fought a bit harder to avoid this hellhole. From the Ravens to Victor’s Drawings: More Mysteries? Of Course. If you thought things were about to get clearer—think again! The whole “ravens in the sky” situation left me scratching my head. Are the ravens tied to how people get transported into FROMtown? This theory could hold some weight because as soon as they appear, everything goes south for Tabatha, Acosta, and Henry. Meanwhile, back at FROMtown, Ethan’s going through more cryptic drawings from Victor. And guess what? The phone rings. And who’s on the other end? His dead brother Thomas, of course, dropping even more cryptic advice. Just another day in FROMtown, right? Boyd and Randall: The Dynamic Duo? Over at the bus, Boyd and Randall are having their own bonding moment, or at least what passes for bonding in this show. Boyd’s been keeping it together (barely), but Randall’s starting to get all "Monsters Whisperer" on us, trying to figure out their patterns. Randall really thinks he's cracking the code, and honestly, he might be onto something. Is it just me, or has Randall gone from cocky newcomer to someone we’re actually starting to root for? Fatima, No... Just No. This is where things really go off the rails. Fatima has had a weird pregnancy from the start, but this week takes the cake (or the blood?). Marielle checks on Fatima only to find that she’s been eating—and not in a normal pregnant-craving kind of way. When Fatima uncovers Nikki’s body and starts munching on her blood, I think we all collectively lost it. This demon baby storyline is getting darker by the minute, and I am not ready. What in FROMtown is happening to Fatima? Jade’s Hallucinations: Losing It, or Just Ahead of the Game? Then there’s Jade, who’s been seeing some truly wild things—Civil War soldiers, creepy mannequins, and now a pilgrim dude with a rod in his eye. I think Jade might be connected to something much bigger. These visions are clearly taking a toll on him, but it’s also obvious that his intellect might hold the key to unlocking the secrets of FROM. If only he could hold it together long enough to figure it all out! Victor’s Traumatic Past: The Boy in White Victor’s storyline continues to deepen, and we get some major revelations this episode. Turns out, his history with the boy in white goes way back to the first time he saw the massacre. Victor couldn’t handle burying the bodies, so the boy in white had him collect personal items instead. What does this mean? Why didn’t Victor bury the bodies? These questions keep piling up, but one thing’s clear—the boy in white isn’t just some random kid. He’s crucial to the mysteries of FROMtown. Overall Thoughts “FROM Season 3 Episode 4” was a wild ride, from Boyd’s emotional struggles to Fatima’s disturbing transformation. Harold Perrineau continues to anchor the show, but the rest of the cast also brings their A-game, particularly as the mysteries deepen. If you thought this show couldn’t get any darker—think again. The secrets of FROMtown continue to unravel, and I’m already impatient for next week. Read the full article

[dragon-kazansky]

The hypnotist - Jervis Tetch x reader

Summary: Gotham is under threat and the dead are rising. Meanwhile, you’re still on the outside and Penguin wants your help with the Court of Owls.

Mostly you and Oswald in this chapter. Long chapter ahead!

Chapter 7 - Gotham’s judgement

The next few weeks were defiantly very exciting. Gotham always had a surprise up it’s sleeves. 

Jim had shot Mario because of the virus, which Lee didn’t believe right away. She demanded Jim be arrested, or at the very least an investigation took place for the murder of her husband, could you blame her?

Your only enjoyment out of that was watching Jim Gordon suffer. You had been through enough to find satisfaction in his misery.

Unfortunately, you were less than thrilled to bump into him while on a job. You had done such a good job of avoiding him up until now, but it was going to happen sooner of later.

Neither one of you said anything for a moment. Jim just looked you up and down, wondering what it is he should say. There had been a lot on his mind lately, but he hadn’t forgotten about what Jervis had said.

“Jim.”

“Y/N.”

“On a case?”

You wanted to keep the conversation clear from Jervis and you. You doubted that would last after what happened with Mario, but he didn’t need to know you knew. You didn’t want to explain how you had eyes and ears around the city.

“Yeah, I don’t know if you know, but Jerome’s body was taken... We think his followers have something to do with it. You heard anything?”

“Not specifically, only that apparently some of the dead have risen. Do you think Jerome will be resurrected?” You tilted your head to the side. Jerome was as good a topic as any.

“Possibly. If you hear about where they might have taken him, will you call me?”

“I guess. I should get back to work.” You went to walk past him, hoping that would be the end of it, but he reached out and grabbed you gently by the arm, causing you to turn and face him. You sigh quietly.

“I spoke to Jervis.”

“Oh?” You knew this from the letter, but you’s humour him anyway.

“He... He backed up your story. I have no reason to think he was lying. I’m sorry I put that pressure on you. I just don’t understand why you would willingly follow him. He killed people, he shot Vale in front of you, you heard what his sister said about him.” Jim was trying to read your expression, but you didn’t give him the satisfaction.

“I like him.” You shrugged. “Everyone in this city is guilty of something.”

“Not everyone.”

“Most people, then. He had been nothing but kind to me, he didn’t hypnotise me to do anything, he just talked to me. He’s sweet, sure he’s sinister and creepy at times, but I think that’s just you feeding into the loss of Alice. He’s not exactly your number one fan.”

“Right, maybe you shouldn’t visit him any more.”

“Why would I do that? I’m the only person he has.” You released your arm from his grip and took a step back.

“I’m concerned about your feelings for him.” He stares at you blankly.

“I don’t see how this is any of your business.” You glared at him. “Why don’t you go back to your case and leave Jervis and I alone? I’d much rather you did.” You hissed through your teeth.

“Y/N...”

“Unless, does you knowing the truth now change anything?” You looked up at him curiously. 

“You mean, do I think you’re an accessory to he murders Jervis Tetch committed, and am I going to arrest you?” He asked, sighing.

You nodded your head eagerly.

“No, it does not. You’re not guilty of what he did, no matter which way I look at this. You are not being sent to Arkham with him.” Jim looked at you seriously. “There is nothing wrong with you.”

That had to be! Why else would you do it?

“Whatever.” You stepped even further away from him. “I’d assume Jerome’s cult would need a lot of electricity to jump start him back from the dead.” You shrugged. “Start there.” You walked away.

Jim could only sigh and watch you go.

Within the hour you have finished up your job and take to the city. You didn’t quite feel like going home just yet.

Victor Zsaz was a well known assassin in Gotham. He took down all his targets, no matter who they were. His kill count was marked on his body. You had never met him personally, but you had heard about him.

He was currently standing across the street.

You briefly made eye contact.

“Hey!” He called out.

“Hey.” You replied.

Zsaz crossed the road and looked you up and down. He taller than you, so you had to look up a bit to make eye contact with him.

“Do you know Jim Gordon?”

“I know him.” Last you heard, Zsaz was more than capable of finding people on his own. It felt weird to be talking to an assassin. He seemed so chill.

“Where is he?”

“Did Falcone hire you to kill him after he murdered Mario, his son?”

“Maybe. Do you know where he is?”

“Not exactly. He went looking for Jerome Valeska’s cult. I told him they were somewhere with a lot of electricity. That doesn’t exactly narrow it down, but maybe you can find him from that... or just find Harvey Bullock, he’ll go to Jim.” You shrugged.

“Thanks.”

“Sure...”

Zsaz turned and left. You’re not quite sure what happened, but he was pretty cool for a hired assassin. You blinked, got over it, and left.

Later that evening, Jerome was on TV. He had woken up thanks to some dude, Dwight, who had taken his face to pretend to be him. Jerome had taken his face back and stapled it back on. It wasn’t exactly a good look, but it was the best he could do.

Jerome cut off the power in the city, telling Gotham to do whatever they wanted. Kill, steal, cause chaos. 

Luckily you were back at the house when this went down. You were sure you were safe from the chaos. Jervis wouldn’t like it if he heard you got caught up in that mess.

Though you had to admit it was rather exciting seeing the city go crazy one way or another.

By the next day Jerome had been arrested and sent to Arkham, with a newly sewn on face, after kidnapping Bruce and almost killing him. You saw it all on the news in the morning.

Deeming it safe to leave the house, you decided today you would visit Jervis again. It had been a while since you had seen him in person. The letters were nice, but you wanted to see him. You had so many whispers around the city you wanted to share with him.

As usual, Jervis was pleased to see you. He reached for your hands as soon as you sat down and you chuckled. You had missed him just as much, it felt good to hold his hands in yours.

"It's been so long since I saw you last, without you here time doesn't pass fast." He sighed and gave a little shake of his head, his curly hair swishing with the movement.

"It's good to see you to, Jervis. The house is quiet since it's just me." You also gave a sigh.

"Tell me, my dear, what have you been up to?" He smiles and leans in closer, eager to hear what you have been doing. He had long since ran put of tales to tell you on his end, well, maybe except from one.

"I've been mostly keeping to myself, Gotham has grown more curious than before."

"Oh? Do tell."

"I hear whispers that the dead are rising again. Turns out to be true because Jeroma Valeska was causing havoc yesterday. Turns out he woke up without a face and went after Bruce Wayne because that's all he remembers last." You chuckled. "I'm sure you've crossed paths with him at some point."

"He is here. I heard his laughter late last night. I have yet the pleasure of meeting him." He chuckled. "I hope James Gordon hasn't been a problem."

"Not really. I bumped into him yesterday. He believes me now, but doesn't think I'm guilty for anything. I was almost hoping for my one way ticket here, you have no idea how much I want to be with you again."

Jervis didn't like how sad you sounded.

He could only smile at how mad those words were. There isn't a single soul in Gotham who would want to be in here, but you just wanted to be with him. He was flattered.

"Arkham is no place for such a wonderful soul." He smiled.

"I don't care. At least we would be under the same roof and I wouldn't have to see Jim again." You chuckled, no actual humour behind it.

"I would like nothing more than to see you everyday."

You both just gazed at one another for a moment. You took in all his features. His dark brown eyes, his curly hair, his smile. As dramatic as it sounded, you were afraid of forgetting any small detail about him the longer you go without seeing him.

Being in love with a criminal who was locked up in mental asylum was beyond difficult.

You bit your lip shyly and looked down at your entwined hands.

"Please don't shed tears," you felt him wipe away the tears you were unaware were falling, "tell me how to ease your fears." He whispered.

"I... I should go." You let go of his hands and got up quickly, leaving without saying goodbye.

Jervis wanted to call out you, but couldn't find his voice. He was stunned that you left so quickly. His heart ached to go after you, but alas he couldn't.

He wasn't sure what got you so upset, but he knew he didn't like it.

Visiting him was getting hard. Every time you came here to see him, you were just reminded that you would be leaving alone.

Your loneliness was really starting to take effect on you.

You told yourself you wouldn't visit him for a while.

Turns out you wouldn't have to worry about that as Oswald Cobblepot had returned to the city after being shot and pushed into the river by Nygma. Ivy Pepper had saved him and told him she could help him put together an army of freaks from Indian hill. While in the topic of hired help, he had thought of you. Barbara hadn't seen you all day and didn't know where you were living now, but it seemed like fate was its game today when he saw you in the street.

"Just the person I was looking for!"

You turned around and saw Penguin waddling your way.

"Penguin, what do I owe the pleasure?" Since he didn't seem to hold any grudge on you for that founders party dinner, you figured you could at least hear him out.

"I need your help." He smiled.

"Uh, sure, what do you want me to do?" You figured it was a favour.

"Actually, this is a little different. Would you be ever so kind to come back to the mansion with me?" His smile remained present ad he looked at you.

"I suppose. Lead the way."

You needed the distraction, so going with him didn't sound like too bad of an idea. Oswald actually remained quite pleasant all the way to his mansion, which he hadn't seen since Ed pushed him in the river.

When you reached the mansion there a three other people there:

Ivy Pepper, who is beyond pleased to see Penguin return with a friend.

Victor Fries, who is standing in the far corner with a blank expression and making you feel cold just by being in the room with him.

Bridget Pike, otherwise known as Firefly, who has put as much space between herself and Fries and giving a forced smile.

"This is everyone!" Oswald announces proudly as you take in the state of his make shift crew.

“So, what am I doing here? You have two pretty cool team mates already. no pun intended.” You looked at Fries.

“Well, you seem to be able to handle yourself. I know all about the Tetch thing that happened.” Oswald smiled. “I think it’s in my best interest to have you on my side too.”

“Your interest? What about my interest?”

“What do you want?” He shook his head lightly, wondering what your price was.

“I want Jervis Tetch out of Arkham.” You crossed your arms.

“I don’t think-”

“That’s my price. Take it or leave it.”

Penguin saw that this was the only way he’d get you on the team and sighed, nodding a couple of times. “Very well, I’ll see what strings I can pull, but you only get that if I get what I want.”

“Yeah, you haven’t told me that part yet.” You walked past him and went to sit next to Ivy on the sofa.

“And yet you’re already staying.”

“Just tell me the detail before I reconsider everything.” You gave a long drawn out sigh.

“You’re going to help me take down Ed and Barbara Kean.” He stood there with a smug grin on his face.

“Ed?”

“Edward Nygma? Maybe you have heard of him. He used to work for me.” He shifted on the spot as if there was more to that story, but he didn’t tell you what it was.

“OK. I can help take out a few people.” You shrugged. “Looks to me like our job just got a little easier though.” You gestured to the TV which Ivy had put on, turning up the volume.

Penguin went and got a closer look.

‘The Riddler’ had been apprehended, then he escaped.

“How long did it take him to come with that one?” Oswald chuckled. He turned around with a grin and looked at each of you. “Rest up, tomorrow is going to be a busy day.”

You glanced at the TV once more before going off to find your room.

You were ready bright and early in the morning. You had no real reason to trust Oswald Cobblepot, he was known for stabbing people in the back and tossing them to the side when he was down with them, but you would make sure he kept up his end of the deal when this was over.

You thought it best not to tell Jervis about what you were doing, you could explain everything when you saw him in person.

“Come along!” You hear Penguin call from down the hall.

Along with Firefly, you followed Oswald out of the mansion and, as his request, you drive to Jim’s place. Apparently there was more to this plan that he had told you last night. You sort of expected it as, once again, he isn’t trustworthy.

Jim leaves his crappy little apartment after talking to Harvey on the phone, his path his blocked by Penguin and you. He looks over his shoulder to see Firefly blocking off the other side.

Clearly Penguin wanted to talk to him.

“Oswald.”

“Hello, Jim.” Penguin smiled at him.

“I didn’t think you two would be working together, not after the dinner.” Jim looks at you.

“Let’s just forget about that night, shall we?” You sigh.

“I haven’t seen you for a while, where have you been?” He asks, looking concerned about your well-being.

“Non of your business.” You hiss.

“Have you been visiting Jervis?”

“Again, non of your business.”

“I’m concerned about what he’s doing to you.” Jim keeps pushing and pushing.

“He’s done nothing to me, leave it alone.” You can feel your anger boiling with each word that leaves his mouth.

Jim drops it for now.

“Guess I shouldn’t be surprised you’re still alive.” Oswald goes down the steps and closer to Jim, you remain where you are.

“Yes, I’m quite hard to kill.” Oswald says proudly. 

“I take it this isn’t a social call.”

“I’m looking for Ed. We have some unfinished business. And it turns out you are the last one who saw him.”

You furrow your gaze Jim.

Apparently Ed disappeared after being apprehended. No one has seen him since. It made you wonder what was going on in this city.

“Yeah, before escaped police custody.”

“Escaped? From the great Detective Gordon? I think not. Ed Went on television demanding information about a group that runs Gotham. A group called the ‘Court.’ And you called him and said you had that information.”

This was the first time you had heard about this ‘Court’ and you wondered what else you had missed while focusing on Jervis all this time.

“A ruse to get him to the GCPD.”

You scoffed.

“Perhaps. But then you arrest him, and, voila, he disappears. Sorry, ‘escapes custody.’ Can you see how I might think you may have handed Ed off to this all-powerful group from some reason?” Oswald got right up in Jim’s face.

“For your own sake, Oswald, drop it.”

“I knew it.” Oswald turns to smile at both you and Bridgit.

“You don’t know anything.” Jim grabs Penguin and pulls him closer to him. “Trust me, let it go.”

“Jim Gordon concerned about our safety?” You shook your head with an assumed smile. “I thought I was free from all that.”

He chose to ignore you.

“Sorry, no can do. I assume the Court doesn’t like publicity, hence Ed’s sudden disappearance after his television debut. But that is exactly what they’re going to get. Unless they deal with me in a civilised and professional manner. I’m sure you wouldn’t mind facilitating something on my behalf.” Oswald pulled out a phone and handed it over to Jim. “My number is the only one in here. I will expect a call by the end of the day.”

“Why do I get the sense I’m being threatened?”

“This is a favour, Jim. After all, we’re old friends, right?” Oswald turned around and came back to you, not sparing you a glance as you remained stood on the steps looking at Jim.

He looked back, but neither of you said anything. You slowly turned on your heel and left, following Oswald back up to the car.

You all head back to the mansion.

When you get there Ivy is waiting with a letter in hand, she give it to you with a smile and leaves. You already know who it’s from by the handwriting. You go over to the table and open it up.

My dear Y/N,

Something curious happened late last night, almost enough to give me a fright. Captain Barnes was being escorted away, then someone strange got in their way. 

The man and the captain had a fight, the man won and took him out of sight. Barnes is now out there roaming free, the rest I’ll share when you next see me.

Jervis

You smiled as you folded the letter up. Best not to let Penguin know about this, he would only start a riot. You rose up from the table and tucked the letter away.

You would make time to visit Jervis later.

For now you passed the time until Jim called.

Jim didn’t call for several hours, Penguin couldn’t pick up the phone fast enough when it did ring.

“Hello, Jim.”

You looked up at him as he answered the call. You got up and moved closer, hoping to hear Jim’s side of the conversation.

“I was beginning to think I wasn’t going to hear from you.”

“I met you the other night, didn’t I?” You heard Jim say. You and Oswald shared a look of confusion. “When you took Nygma?”

It became clear to you very quickly that he wasn’t talking to Penguin.

“Jim?”

“I keep wondering what it is the Court is planning to do with him.”

“Stop talking.” You heard in the back.

“This used to be a bank, right? First bank of Gotham?”

Oswald caught on to what Jim was doing. He looked at you and you nodded.

“I just hope it can withstand whatever the bomb’s going to do to it.”

‘Bomb?’ You mouthed at Oswald. Was this the weapon you had heard whispers about?

“It sounds like we don’t have much time.”

“Shut up.”

Penguin hung up and rushed off, you followed him as quickly as possible. Jim was in a dangerous situation right now and he had reached out to Penguin for help.

“Let me get this straight, this Court runs Gotham and they are going to wipe it out with a bomb?” You asked quickly, trying to keep up with everyone as they got ready.

“That’s it.” Penguin confirmed.

“And they have Ed?”

“Supposedly.”

“Why the hell am I even still here? What are my services even for? I don’t know how to disarm a bomb.”

“You’re an extra number on my side.” Penguin sighed, tired with your questions.

“An extra number? For real?” You crossed your arms. “If I stick with you, will you keep up your end of the deal?”

“Yes, if you come with me now and help rescue Jim.”

You were doing this for Jervis.

The first bank of Gotham. Very well then.

You arrive just in time to help Jim with his fight. Firefly turns on her flamethrower which causes the guy to back up and fall through the window, landing down below where a gathering was taking place.

Jim calls out for everyone to get out.

The bomb was sitting on top of a table in the centre of the room.

You stand beside Oswald.

“Took you long enough. I need to get these people out of here.”

“And I need to talk to the Court.” Penguin tried to stop him. “Have them turn over Ed. Remember?”

“There is a bomb down there with a weaponized version of the Alice Tetch virus.”

You perk up at that.

“They turned the virus into a weapon?” You peered down into the room curiously.

Jim glanced at you.

“If you want to be here when it goes off, be my guest.” Jim marched passed Penguin.

“What about out deal?”

“You just torched their assassin. My guess is, they’ll be in touch.”

You shook your head and backed away from Penguin. “I’m out.” You turned on your heel and ran as fast as you could. The Court was Penguin’s issue, you had to see Jervis now. There is no way he knew about the weapon.

Then again, the weapon would be doing exactly what he was doing, just on a bigger scale. He might even be pleased to hear about it.

You put as much distance between you and the Bank as possible and made your way to the safe house. You decided it might be best to lay low for a little while. If the Court knew about you helping Penguin, would they bring you in too?

You knew the deal would be out the window as soon as you left Penguin’s side, but it seemed like the better option. You really didn’t like the sound of this Court and wanted out before they could get to you too.

You didn’t leave the house until the next day.

Penguin had surely been taken in by now and no one seemed to be after you. Perhaps you weren’t a threat to them, despite the fact you knew of them. Perhaps they were just waiting.

You took your chances and made the trip to Arkham.

Jervis was waiting. He wasn’t entirely sure you would visit him again after your sudden leave last time, but he hoped you would come.

When he was told he had a visitor he perked up, hoping it was you who had come to him. He wanted to know you were alright and 

It wasn’t.

It was Leslie Thompkins.

“Twinkle, twinkle, pretty doctor, how I with I could unlock her.” Jervis kept his gaze on her as she chose to stand rather than sit with him. “Here in Arkham, what a wonder. Too bad her husband’s six feet under.”

“Clever. How is life in the nuthouse?”

“Oh, you know, it has its ups and downs. It’s a little lonely, if I’m honest.” He thought of you. “Forgive me for saying this, Leslie, dear, but, uh, you don’t look yourself.” He didn’t want to talk about you and decided to get straight to the point. After all, she had come to see him for a reason. “Have you been sleeping? Or are you plagued by nightmares?”

“You want to hear the funny thing, Jervis?” She sat down.

“Oh, do tell. I do so love funny things.”

“I never really blamed you for infecting Mario. I just thought, ‘Why blame the lunatic?’ So I blamed Jim.”

“Wise... though hardly sidesplittingly funny.” He narrowed his brows and gazed at her in slight confusion.

“Why did you infect him?”

“Oh, Doctor, is that the question that’s been ruining your sleep?”

“You wanted to hurt Jim. Why not infect me? Why make Mario suffer?” She tried to search for answers in his gaze, but couldn’t find any.

“Do you remember our tea party at your lovely home?”

“When you shot Valerie Vale.”

“Yes! Good memory. Well, I saw the way that you looked at James Gordon. You loved him. And that love doomed Mario.” Jervis had a tiny grin on his face.

“That doesn’t make sense.”

“It makes perfect sense!” He raised his voice and leaned forwards slightly. “Jim Gordon does not deserve love! Jim Gordon does not get love!” He yelled. “I infect your husband. You blame Jim. Your love him becomes hate.”

Lee understood it now.

“It makes perfect sense.”

Lee stood up.

“And it worked. But you know the funny thing? There’s poor Mario, cold in the ground... and here you are, blaming Jim, even blaming me, but guess who’s really to blame?”

“I am.”

“Now, see, that’s funny.” He smiles.

“I feel sorry for Y/N. It’s true what they say about not helping who you fall in love with, but I’m sorry it had to be you.” She didn’t find any of this funny. She wanted to hurt him for what happened.

Jervis’ smile seemed to brighten up. You were in love with him? Truly? Oh, he hoped that was true. Denying his feelings for you was beginning to hurt. He had lots of time to think in here, and think of you he did.

“It’s a shame that love story is as tragic as mine.”

Jervis frowned and glared up at the woman.

Now that, he didn’t like.

Lee left him alone.

Jervis sat there for a moment, frowning. He had no intention of staying in Arkham, he also had no intention of leaving you out there alone. If what Lee said was true, then he just couldn’t.

He wouldn’t let this end tragically too.

Jervis waited to be escorted back to his cell, but confusion took over when he realised the guard hadn’t come in to get him.

“Excuse me, are we not returning to my cell?” He called out.

“You have another visitor.” The guard replied.

Well, Jervis certainly felt popular today. He turned back to the gate to see who had come to see him now.

His gaze softened when you walked in. He was so happy to see you. Jervis had been so worried after you left so quickly last time. He wasn’t sure what it was that made you so upset, but he was glad to know you seemed alright now.

You smiled at him as you sat down.

“Hello Jervis.”

“Hello, my dear. What a wonderful surprise!” He couldn’t contain his excitement.

“I’m sorry about running off last time... but don’t worry, all is good. Well.... sort of.” You bit your lip sheepishly.

“Has something happened?”

You glanced up at the guard who had his back turned on the other side of the gate. You leaned in closer and placed your hands on Jervis’. He also leaned in when he realised that what ever you were about to tell him was important.

“I got your letter about Barnes... something weird is going on in Gotham.”

“It is the type of place to attract weirdness.” He chuckled softly.

“I know that, but this is really weird. Have you heard of the Court?”

“I can’t say I have.” He furrowed his gaze at you. “What’s going on? Are you in trouble?”

“No, at least, not yet. I think Gotham is being run by some secret alliance... and I think they have turned Alice’s blood into a weapon. I didn’t stick around for all the details, but if I had to guess, they want to wipe out Gotham...”

“My dear Alice has been turned into a weapon?” He covered his mouth and shook his head. “My poor sister.”

“James Gordon is looking into it, but something it weird about him too.”

Jervis reached for your hands again and leaned in close once more.

“Stay away from him. He will being you no good.” Jervis frowned. “Perhaps you should leave Gotham for a while? You’ll be safer.”

“No. I’m not leaving Gotham, what about you? I can’t leave you here alone.”

He smiled.

“You don’t have to worry about me. Spend enough time in here and you become accustomed to it.” Jervis chuckled. “I just want you safe.”

“I’m not leaving.” You gave a small grin. “You can’t make me either.”

Jervis chuckled too.

“Before I forget, I saw Lee before I came in... Did she come to speak to you?”

You assumed as much considering what happened on her wedding day. Talk about the worst wedding ever.

“She did. I wonder what she will do. Curious.” He chuckled.

“What did she want?”

“She wanted to know why I infected Mario and not her. Under other circumstances, she would have been impressed, but alas, she was a part of the equation.”

You rolled your eyes, “I’m impressed.”

“I’m happy with that outcome.”

“I should go, I need to find out what happened to Penguin after I left yesterday.” You began to rise from the table, Jervis reluctantly let go of your hands.

“Penguin?” He tilted his head to the side. “What were you doing with him?”

“Working. I just didn’t realise just how bad the job would get.” You gave him a soft smile and made your way over to the gate. “I’ll try and visit again soon.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

You smiled as you bit your lip again, moving over to him and placing a kiss to his cheek. You left before he could say anything.

Jervis was once again left alone filled with happiness.

The guard came in and escorted him back to his cell.

However, neither of you knew what else was to come. The bomb in the bank was just beginning of Gotham’s judgement.

Things were about to get more complicated.

Tags:

@mistressoftorture @fandombeehive @awyr

[lhs3020b]

Post Mortem

I promised some thoughts on the nightmarish debacle that has happened. Here they are.

TL;DR I am scathing about everything. Everyone who should have helped us, failed.

It's the morning after. They've won. Continuity Remain is dead; there isn't going to be any second referendum and Article 50 won't be revoked. You cannot imagine how I feel right now, typing those words. However, I have never sought to deny reality (however lovely denial might be) and reality is what it is. We've lost a referendum and two general elections; we're finished. There is no come-back from this. The country has made a sick, twisted, greedy, myopic and stupid decision - but that's the decision it's made. I have nothing good to say for what happened, except that it did happen.

Well, let's look at the one tiny silver lining: since the ship has now sailed, I can indulge my deep, seething pool of vitriol for our collection of useless opposition parties. I'd held back previously because I didn't want to add to the circular firing squad. But they've all shot each other now and the corpses have largely stopped twitching. So off we go. (Before we start, I won't be writing about CUK/TiG/Change-UK, because they were just annoying, and I can't be arsed. I think we've all spent enough time on that shower of idiots.)

Here's the core reason for why I'm so angry: all this was completely avoidable. The media will, of course, spin BoJo's victory as a paragonic triumph of political conservatism. Like that infamous Pravda article from the 30s, on the Soviet constitution, they'll fawn over BoJo and declare him a visionary and a victor, a veritable genius of the ages, dripping with lyricism and wit. He isn't. He's an over-promoted buffoon who lucked into the top office due to the self-destruction of his inept predecessor, aided and abetted by a lying and sycophantic media - and, by a collection of opposition parties whose sole interest was in fighting each other.

Here we have the real core problem. The people on our side only switch on for fighting each other. There's little sign that they actually really care about Brexit, or the wider state of the UK. But pursuing partisan vendettas against each other? Wheeeeeeeeeee!

Let's think back to the summer, when BoJo was faced with stalling polls and a hung parliament. He could have been ousted then - but, of course, the Lib Dems were adamant that they couldn't countenance the idea of Mr Corbyn as Prime Minister. They'd had this tendency for a while - it's not new - but it accelerated and was nurtured under Jo Swinson.

When she was elected as leader I was initially a bit sympathetic - it seemed reasonable to give her a chance. Unfortunately, it turned out that she might be the most rightwing leader they've ever had - I actually suspect now that she might be to the right of Clegg. And she went and turbocharged all of their most self-destructive tendencies. I think what she thought she was doing was clawing Tory Remainers off of the Tories. This ran into two problems; 1) there weren't that many Tory Remainers to begin with and b) most of them are more Tory than they are Remain. So they mostly stayed put, and they few who did leave (thank you, to those of you that did) just weren't enough. Meanwhile, the hard-right tilt scared off the Lib Dem's left-leaning supporters.

A while back I predicted they'd lose seats at this election; I'm sad to have been proved right. I am, however, grimly-amused that Swinson herself lost her seat. The other problem with Swinson's rampany anti-Corbynism was that it partially demobilised continuity!Remain. A lot of people sensed that she was more anti-Corbyn than anti-Brexit; that also implied no plausible chance of an anti-Brexit coalition. Hoenstly, given how overt and personal the vitriol between her and Corbyn got, it's hard to see how it could ever have worked. And there's no point voting for something that you know is impossible. I do wonder if maybe this switched some left-leaning people off, or perhaps even sent a few ditherers back to the Tories (under the assumption that any sort of government is better than no government, I suppose).

As for the Lib Dem campaign, it was a mess. At one point their leader went on air to deny killing squirrels (yes, seriously, this actually happened). She got all excited about thermonuclear genocide at one point, because that's not at all weird and creepy, amirite?! Then there was the bizzarity that was "skills wallets" (don't ask - basically, the sort of policy abortion that happens when a collection of wonks are locked in a room with a boxed set of the West Wing and too much cocaine).

[OK, I'll expand this one. Briefly, skills wallets were a weird continuing-adult-education idea, where you'd have a pot of money that you could access at certain ages, apparently to take some kind of training or re-education or something. Why the ages in question, why that amount of money, and why not just make adult-ed free at the point of use, were never really explained. Then there was the can of worms that was additional voluntary contributions - what I took away from this was it was the adult-ed version of pensions auto-enrollment. I spent the last four years fighting a corrupt auto-enrollment fund, so I have strong feelings here!]

As for general themes, really, the LD campaign didn't have one. There was a lot of "Corbyn, THE MONSTER, the monster, Corbyn!". And, kind of oddly, there wasn't actually that much about Brexit. It actually didn't figure very strongly in their campaign. You came away from watching it all with a) a bad taste in your mouth and b) a nagging feeling that these people didn't know what they were doing.

To be fair to them, their vote share did go up, a bit - from 7.4% in 2017 to 11.4% yesterday. Which is, uh, not exactly dizzying. And it seems to have happened in all the wrong places, so they still managed to lose seats overall.

OK, we've gawped at the piss-stained ashes of the old Liberal Party, lying in state where some eggregious family-member has dumped them, on a roadside verge in the middle of nowhere. (Perhaps some enterprising squirrel has buried a nut amongst them.) Let's move onto the other vast, soul-sucking black hole of despair, also know as the Labour and Co-operative Party.

Oh dear god. The Labour Party.

The Labour Party is Britain's perennial second party, and nothing that happened last night challenged its second-place status. Their vote share dropped by 7.8 percentage points on 2017; this is what produced the Tory landslide, essentially. The Tory vote went up a little, by about 1 point, but otherwise stayed largely flat on 2017. This time, though, Labour collapsed. They lost a swathe of seats across the country, including places like Bolsover and Blyth Valley, which were previously rock-solid.

What went wrong? Everything. Basically, the stars aligned against us, in every single way.

First of all, Labour's campaign was dogged by the antisemitism scandal. And you know what? It was bloody well right that it did. The leadership dealt with antisemitism by ... doing nothing. Anyone who tried to raise the issue instead would get "Corbyn outriders" dumping on them on Twitter. Apparently we're suddenly not allowed to be concerned about racism on the Left anymore? Frankly, fuck that.

What they should have done was a quick-and-brutal party purge, perhaps early in 2018, when there was still time. Take some initiative, get control of the narrative again, and get rid of people who are only going to shit all over your campaign. But, uh, no. That didn't happen. I'll note that the Chris Williamson show in particular went on far, far longer than it should have.

Then we come to Brexit itself. Corbyn spent three years equivocating on the issue. OK, I'll allow that in hindsight, perhaps strategic ambiguity made some sense back in 2017 (though note that they still lost that election too). It didn't by 2019. But Corbyn was still trying to stand in the middle of the road as late as the summer - and by doing so inadvertently opened up political space for the (brief) Lib Dem revival, which in turn shunted Labour onto the defensive. And as I believe Paddy Ashdown once said, if you stand in the middle of the road, you get hit by traffic.

Eventually, the Labour leadership reluctantly adopted a second referendum position, but by then the damage was done. Basically, Corbyn had convinced Leavers that he was a Remainer, and Remainers that he was a Leaver. Labour appears to have lost votes about evenly across both Remain/Leave areas(!). In a way, he actually did unite the country - just against him. Ooops.

The rest of Labour's prospectus was a mess this year. Home Office reform was de-emphasized (arbitrary deportation by the Home Office is a huge concern amongst ethnic minorities). Drugs-law reform seems to have fallen off the agenda. There was no obvious theme to the campaign - surprising given that 2017's "For the Many" theme did cut across. Instead the "offer", such as it was, appeared to be a largely-incoherent grab-bag of spending promises, some of them with very large headline numbers. (The £58 billion for the WASPI pensions thing stands out there.) A lot of people simply didn't believe the country could afford it. You don't vote for things that you fear will bankrupt you.

Also, in a way, there's a parallel to the skills wallets thing here. Labour would have been better off, I think, just doing something straightforward like saying, "If elected we'll raise disability, sickness and unemployment benefits by £x per week, and we'll get rid of the ATOS fit-for-work assesments". It would have the advantages of simplicity, clarity and a clear political theme. Instead we got this weird fiscal machine that would produce some of those effects, except via a complicated multi-part kludge (which probably wouldn't even work properly anyway). I don't know how this came about; presumably it was an after-effect of one of the party's unending internal power-struggles.

Corbyn himself is a controversial figure, from his past associations with the IRA (more vague than the press would have you believe, but still a drag on the doorstep) to the perception of socialist extremism. Again, let me note that the "but he's a Communist, because that starts with 'C' too!" stuff is disingenuous, but this perception exists, and the Party have not found any apparent way to challenge it. Honestly? If your candidate is a ship that's holed below the waterline, yes it is horribly-unfair and all the rest of it, but you do need to run someone else. (I see no point softening that punch ; while Corbyn's been leader, the whole UK has voted 4 times, at 2 general elections, 1 referendum and 1 EU Parliament election. Every time, Labour has bombed. It's hard not to see a pattern here.)

Finally, the Labour Party itself has failed to ever re-unite. It's effectively two political parties in one - or possibly three, depending on how you want to look at Momentum. On a fair day with a strong wind, the Parliamentary portion sometimes manages to move just-about-consistently, but nothing else seems to have that behaviour. Honestly I suspect a lot of people's real fear about a Labour government is not that it would be a socialist tyranny, but rather that it would implode within about six months. Labour has lost its way amongst a storm of factional infighting. To be fair to Corbyn, this isn't new. Ed Milliband's desperate tenure was derailed by internal struggles. Even the 1997-2010 period had the ongoing squabbles between Brownites and Blairites (remember them?).

So yeah, Labour's campaign was an absolute shambles this year, and the whole country is suffering now for that.

Lastly, let's have a quick look at the Green Party. Where were they this year? With Extinction Rebellion making headlines, the Amazon burning, Australia on fire and weather records being smashed everywhere - remember that day when we had summer back in February? - it should have been the Greens' year. Environmental concerns are going up in salience - people are starting to get genuinely worried. And, uh, where were they? I can't recall hearing a single peep from the Green Party during the election. Whatever it was they were doing, it seems to have completely failed to capitalise on the moment. Perhaps they should have been a bit more visible.

The only people who come out of this with any credit are the SNP. I haven't heard anything teeth-grinding about them - though, that might just be because I live in southern England.

Oh, and let's take a final kick in the teeth, shall we? If you add up the shares of the votes received by pro-second-referendum parties ... guess what it comes to? Yup: 52%, versus 48% for the pro-Brexit parties. 52/48 - aaaaargh! Yet, the 48% had a narrative that kept their vote all in one place, so they won an absolute majority at Westminster. Ours got scattered to the four winds by several separate inept campaigns and several useless party leaders. Had there been a second referendum, we could have won it. But we never got the chance, because everyone supposedly on our side were completely, perfectly, useless.

Sigh :(

[fly-pow-bye]

ThunderCats Roar - “The Legend of Boggy Ben”

Co-Executive Producer: Victor Courtright

Supervising Producer: Nate Cash

Producer: Marly Halpern-Graser

Written by: Victor Courtright

Directed by: Victor Courtright

It sure is "boggy".

So, the first episode of Roar was essentially a re-adaptation of the first few episodes of the original ThunderCats, with a few jokes thrown in there. It was actually kind of entertaining. How does this episode start?

Cookie-O-Clock!

With some of that good ol' fashioned choir text humor! Okay, there's a little bit of build up to that. Lion-O decided this hour was the hour to open up an old jar of Thunder Snaps from his home planet, and everyone is excited. See, it's a little bit more high stakes than one might expect, since they couldn't exactly order another jar from Thundara, since, well, everyone knows at this point.

Unfortunately for all of these Thunder Snap lovers, Lion-O can't seem to get the jar open. Tygra offers to help, but Lion-O believes a leader shouldn't ask for help. Tygra responds to this lack of wanting to call for help by saying that he means he should use the “call for help” function on the Sword of Omens. Just like in the last episode, he decides to let the sword help by using it opener of cans and/or jars, which was apparently wrong. What was Tygra even meaning with that piece of help, anyway? The ThunderCats are all already here, so doing a "ThunderCats Hooo!" isn't going to do anything.

I want to give this episode some credit for that particular joke: while trying to open the jar with the Sword of Omens, the Sword of Omens seemingly leaps out of Lion-O's hand and lands right into the carpet. The Sword of Omens can disobey Lion-O in the original, as seen in the last episode I reviewed where it did the same action when Lion-O tried to use it for hunting, and it's fitting that it wouldn't obey him here, either. Whether this cookie jar was just that much powerful, or the act of using a sword on cookie jars is considered an evil act is never really touched upon.

Cheetara offers a better idea for Lion-O that isn't "just let Panthro take off the lid with his super strength": she knows of a magical elixir that can give Lion-O enough strength to open any cookie jar. The only problem is that it's in the soppy swamps of Boggy Ben, a powerful swamp monster that only exists in legends. Only she knows where it is, so Lion-O lets her join him in the magical quest...

...as he sings a powerful rock ballad about how he doesn't need anybody's help on his mission. It's essentially a montage of him talking about how mighty he is. He would sing about how he can lift rocks, he would be seen right next to a huge rock, and the camera pans out to show him pushing over a much, much smaller rock right next to it. The joke is that Lion-O is childish and weak.

To prove even more how unqualified he is, he keeps singing until he ends up falling right into the swamp. After seeing a cute frog that tells him he's going to croak out here, because that joke wasn't telegraphed from a mile away, Lion-O comes to the obvious conclusion:

Lion-O: This swamp is spookyyyyy!

Somehow, saying that makes the TV Y7 FV rating appear with a giant flash, complete with a clang sound effect. Honestly, it took me a few times to realize what was going on; I thought my video glitched. This doesn't become a running joke, and I don't even get what this joke would have been. Was Lion-O going to say a bunch of expletives about how he was in this bog, and the TV Y7 FV prevents him from saying it? Honestly, I'll just chalk it up to it actually being a glitch. He then falls into the bog again, with the animation degrading to Atari 2600 levels.

No, the animators didn't give up, this is actually a transition to WilyKit and WilyKat playing an old video game on their Snarf video game system. Apparently, an old bad video game that seems to star Lion-O. Maybe they're playing their own C64 adaptation.

WilyKit: This game was in fact, the toots.

Jaga said "oh, Thunder-Toots" when he had to introduce the mutants from Plun-Darr, and I am glad to know that's going to be a saying throughout this whole thing. Cyborg had "boo-yah", this show has "toots". Seeing their boredom with the video game, Panthro tells the ThunderKittens that he's working on a super sweet secret weapon for the Thundertank that he hypes up a lot, and he needs their help. While they don't want to do help, a curiosity fail gets them to help anyway. We know this because of giant text saying

CURIOSITY FAIL!

because the viewers can't see what's going on unless someone screamed it at them. This show is really reminding me of a reboot, and I'm not thinking of a Disney one.

Meanwhile, after leaping across several rocks, giant skulls, and muck, Lion-O and Cheetara end up at the lair of Boggy Ben. Lion-O walks in only to find Cheetara in a cage. Did Boggy Ben lock her in there? Not even she seems to know. Suddenly, Boggy Ben shows up, and Cheetara tells him to raise the Sword of Omens.

As is the case for Lion-O, he knows exactly what to do with that sword. He raises it, and slices Boggy Ben's head off. Since this is a TV Y7-FV cartoon, which apparently this cartoon really wanted us to know in the middle of the episode with that weird gag from before, anyone can guess that something is off.

Apparently, that anyone even includes Lion-O himself, who knew that it was just Tygra in a costume. Cheetara and Tygra admit that the whole thing was a sham to get Lion-O to use the Sword of Omens properly, and accept that maybe letting people help him is a good thing.

Lion-O looks down and takes all of this to heart that his friends are filthy liars, possibly literally filthy due to all of that swamp water. To be honest, I was barely listening to this scene, because my mind was going, "he's going to ask if Boggy Ben is fake, who's that guy, he's going to ask if Boggy Ben is fake, who's that guy, he's going to ask if Boggy Ben is fake, who's that guy..."

Lion-O: So if Boggy Ben isn't real, who the toots is that guy?!

Gee, my surprise cup runneth over! That's because I have never watched a cartoon in my life, except for every one of them! This comes as a shock to everyone involved, as Cheetara seemed to think this swamp lair was uninhabited by anyone and that the mythical house dweller was just a legend. Turns out, the only legend that isn't real is the cookie jar opening elixir.

Lion-O: Toots.

Believe it or not, there's no actual fart jokes; it's possible they felt the amount of "toots" in this episode was enough. I am referring to both the amount of times they say the word "toots" and the brain-toots of this episode. Left with no choice, Lion-O, Tygra, and Cheetara have to face off against this monster, and...

...I'm not going to lie, it's actually a pretty decent fight scene. No joke! As much flack as I've given this episode so far, this is a pretty big saving grace for the episode. There's bits of great animation here and there, like one scene where Lion-O rides on a piece of the ceiling to try to bop him on the head with that sword. They still add bits of comedy here and there, with Tygra getting played with like a yo-yo, and the monster using just one of his hands to sword-fight with Lion-O, using his nails like swords. This isn't bad at all; there's a lot of creativity here that doesn't really show up in the rest of the episode, and the only problem is that the pacing can get hectic.

Then I have to think about all of this: what did Boggy Ben do to deserve this? This whole thing was supposed to be a ruse to get Lion-O to learn the value of teamwork, as constantly throughout this episode, they tell him to call for help. Looking at it from Boggy Ben's point of view, though, he just came home and found people in his house. Sure, attempting to kill them may not be the greatest thing to do, but it's not like the ThunderCats were really in the right, anyway!

Despite their combined efforts, they're not successful. They need more ThunderCats in the action. It would be here where Lion-O would do the classic "I'm sorry I'm such a jerk scene", but he instead decides to accept his and his friend's death. Cheetara eventually talks some sense into him, and, for the first time in the series, Lion-O finally does the "ThunderCats Hooo!", making the sword shine that symbol.

I like how we get to see that Cat Signal burst through the ceiling, as if the symbol was like a giant laser beam. If it can project itself onto nothing, it might as well be able to do that! Panthro, the ThunderKittens, and Snarf see this symbol, making their eyes glow yellow. This comes just in time, as Panthro was finished with that much bally-hooed secret weapon!

This episode still does what it was set out to do, as with the teamwork of all the ThunderCats, they manage to do a lot more against Boggy Ben. Tygra tries to do another bola attack, only to be caught in the same paddleball trap from before. Panthro jumps up to take Tygra's place, using the spikes on his outfit to bruise his knuckles. Snarf, the now robotic cat thing that can't talk gets in on the action too, using Ben's now bola whipped up hand to make him punch himself.

After the ThunderKittens use their trademark smoke bombs on his eyes, giving me a screenshot that makes the show look a lot gorier than it's supposed to be, it all ends with Lion-O doing a finishing blow...by literally blowing him away. It is supposed to be a comedy-take on an 80's cartoon, and that is a joke I actually didn't expect them to do. That was something that was needed in this episode.

Also needed in this episode is a conclusion to the cookie plot, as much as the cookie plot felt kind of tacked on. We get one with Lion-O accidentally dropping the cookie jar, breaking it and all of its contents. Is all hope lost? Well, just guess what Panthro's secret weapon was. Here's a hint: it makes everything all better. Lion-O falls into the bog again, proving that he has learned absolutely nothing, and the episode ends.

How does it stack up?

Yeah, it was a good and well animated fight scene, arguably better than any of the fight scenes in the first episode. It's too bad it didn't come with a story.

I debated on whether this should be a 1 or a 2. Even with the fight scene, there's some baggage with that. However, the fight scene does raise it a little, and it would seem odd to rate something with such a low rating when I've only seen two episodes so far. Maybe if this turns out to be the worst episode, I'll re-rate it, but as it stands, I give it 2 logos.

Next, the apparently totally adult Lion-O has to prove that he really is a kid.

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