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doctorstethoscope · 3 years ago

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The Right Chapter 23 || Aaron Hotchner x Fem Reader

hello my loves! Some of you may have already seen this, but I have news! This fic is officially complete. There are thirty chapters, so you still have seven left after today’s update. I’ll be keeping the usual Tuesday/Saturday posting schedule, so you have a month left of updates.

Now that I am done drafting this fic, my requests will be open while I begin to bank up new chapters of the Hotch x Reader Scandal!AU that I plan to write next. Please send in requests here. I would also LOVE if you could fill out this survey about the Scandal!AU so I can get a sense of what you all would like. I will make sure to write it in a way that makes sense, even if you haven’t seen Scandal!

As always, thanks so much for reading, y’all are just the best.

Read previous chapters of this fic here!

contains: canon-typical descriptions of violence, cursing, hospital mention

wordcount: 2.3k

A little while later, Hotch sends JJ and Emily to the school to interview the classmates of the students who had been murdered, and you and Morgan head off to the medical examiner’s office.

“Find anything interesting in the calls from the tip line?” Morgan asks you as he pulls out of the parking lot, and you shrug.

“I need to go back through my notes. There were a couple kids' names that came up, but I want to go back and cross check for the names that came up more than once-- i figure if the name only comes up once, it’s kids pranking each other and I don’t want to waste our time on dead ends. Garcia’s looking into a teacher for me, though.”

“We just need a couple more puzzle pieces, and then it’ll all come together,” Derek says, more to himself than to you, and you murmur out your agreement as he pulls into the examiner’s office.

“Cause of death for Mrs. Mack and Mrs. Sutton was a gunshot wound to the neck. The daughters, to the abdomen,” the doctor says, passing over her report. “The men were all strangled. The boys by hand, the men with a garrote.”

“Any idea what order they were killed in?” You asked.

“My guess is the women first, one right after the other. Then the sons, and the husbands.”

“How did he stop the husbands from taking him down while he killed the sons?” Morgan asks skeptically.

The medical examiner points out a bruise on Mr. Sutton’s skull. “Looks like he was knocked unconscious, maybe by the butt of the gun or something in the home.” She explains.

“Thank you,” you said to the medical examiner, who smiled and left you both to your work.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Morgan asks you.

“White man in his twenties or thirties, snubbed by a woman he desired for another man, taking out the families he’s convinced he’ll never have?”

“Call Hotch,” he said, taking off at a brisk pace back towards the car and trusting you to follow. You pulled your phone out of your pocket and discovered that Garcia was already calling you.

“Hi Garcia, can you patch Hotch in?” You asked.

“Already here bug, and trust me, you’re gonna want to hear this.” She told you, and you put the phone on speaker so Morgan could listen in while he drove.

“What did you find, Garcia?” Hotch asked.

“So, I looked into Marc Vexper, and it turns out this long-term English sub has something to hide-- he didn’t make a single card purchase on either day that he was out, and his phone was completely off from the moment he stepped off the school’s campus to the time he returned.”

“Morgan and I are just leaving the medical examiner’s office now-- Marc fits the profile to a tee.” You interject.

“Oh but wait, the high school of horrors doesn’t end there,” Garcia warns you. “I took a peek at Marc’s texts looking for clues about his whereabouts, and I noticed some too-friendly chats with Victoria Sullivan, a student in his AP Literature class. Her phone was on both days, and I’ll give you one guess as to where she was both days-- and it wasn’t school.”

“You’re kidding,” Morgan sighs out.

“So did he groom Victoria into doing it herself, or was she an accomplice?” Hotch asked.

“The men were strangled, Aaron. There’s no way she could have done that herself.” You tell him.

“We need an address, Penelope.” Hotch demands.

“Already on your phone. The station’s closest.” She tells you.

“We’ll meet you there.” Hotch says, and the line clicks.

In a routine you’ve performed too many times to count, Morgan flicks on the lights and sirens as you mount your phone with the GPS sending you in the right direction. It’s all the same as it usually is, so why are you so nervous?

**********************

Hotch elects not to put on his lights and sirens as he approaches Mr. Vexper’s house, not wanting to alert him that anyone had found him out. There are two cars in the driveway-- a modest sedan with a few dings in it, and a shitbox of an old jeep with a parking permit for the local high school on the back bumper.

“The girl is here-- she might be a hostage.” Hotch tells Spencer, who nods. “We need to be careful. There’s no need for any other kids to lose their lives,” he says, quietly opening up his car door and gesturing for Spencer to take a back entrance while he takes the front. He climbs the worn wooden steps and peeks into the window, seeing nothing before he takes one hand off of his gun to swing open the front door of the home, where he’s met face to face with the Victoria Sullivan, standing on the main stairway of the home, gun leveled square at the middle of his forehead.

“Victoria, put the gun down,” Hotch says slowly, raising his own hands as a sign of good faith. “I’m here to help you. Where’s Marc?”

Before Victoria can answer, Hotch hears the woosh of metal in the air and feels an overwhelming crack in his legs, falling to the ground as he yelps in pain.

“Run, Vicky! You know where to go!” Marc yells, and the girl disappears from Hotch’s blurring line of vision as March continues to beat on Hotch with a crowbar, stomping on his legs.

Hotch vaguely hears Spencer's running footsteps, and Marc takes off, running in the same direction as Victoria.

Spencer falls to the ground next to Hotch, attempting to gently tend to his injuries, but Hotch weakly waves him off.

“Go, go, save the girl, he’ll kill her next. I’m okay. Go,” he coughs out, and after a moment’s hesitation, Spencer goes.

Hotch groans as he gropes around in his pants pocket, pulling out his cell phone and calling Garcia.

“I need help,” he says once the line clicks.

****************

If Aaron lived through this, you were going to kill him yourself. You knew you were being irrational, you knew it wasn’t his fault, and worst of all you know that he hadn’t even done something you could be mad at him for, like going in without backup. This was just the job. This just happened sometimes. And you were absolutely fucking livid that it was happening to him. Not to mention scared shitless.

Morgan had pumped the gas as soon as Garcia called, but it still wasn’t fast enough. Your leg bounced anxiously in the passenger seat.

“He’s gonna be fine,” Morgan attempted to placate you, but you wouldn’t have it.

“You don’t know that,” you spat out.

“He’s tough. He’s got a lot to stick around for. He’s gonna be okay,” He tells you, and this time you don’t argue.

When you finally pull up to the house, Aaron is on a stretcher being loaded onto an ambulance. You throw yourself out of the SUV before it’s even fully stopped, calling out for Aaron.

“I’m okay,” he sputters out as you climb into the back of the ambulance.

“No you aren’t, you asshole,” you scoffed at him, your voice a little watery. “Tell the paramedics what happened so they can help you,” you said, stroking at the hair at the top of his head as your chin quivered.

“Don’t cry,” he says, reaching up for you and you see that his hands are bloody.

“Shh, shhh. Don’t worry about me. Let them help you,” you calmed him down, trying not to let your tears interrupt the medics when his eyes roll into the back of his head and he loses consciousness.

Aaron will live, and you suppose you won’t follow through on your threats to kill him. Once he’s in the hospital, they wheel him back to a restricted area, leaving you alone in a waiting room while the rest of the team finds the unsub. You call Jess, let her know what’s going on, but ask that she keep it from Jack until you’re back in the room with him and Hotch is able to talk to Jack himself. You didn’t want Jack to worry, and you knew that Aaron’s assurance that he was fine was the only comfort Jack would accept.

After a while-- it could have been thirty minutes or three hours, Emily appears in the waiting room..

“I was appointed to come check on you,” she says by way of greeting. “Have you seen him yet?”

“Not since they took him out of the ambulance. He looked… bad,” you struggle to find a word that explains the magnitude of it.

“He’s gonna be fine. No gunshot wounds, just some nasty bruises. I’m sure it looked worse than it actually was.” She consoles you gently.

“I hope you’re right.”

At that moment, a doctor appears in the doorway. “For Agent Hotchner?” He asks, and you walk over to him.

“I’m Aaron’s partner,” you explain, the word “girlfriend” feeling entirely too childish for the scenario.

“Agent Hotchner is going to be just fine. His left leg is fractured slightly at the femur and the kneecap, but we’ve put him in a brace to stabilize the knee, and he should recover over the next eight to twelve weeks. He’ll need some physical therapy, and field work is out of the question until he is cleared, but he’ll make a full recovery. He has a mild concussion and a few bruised ribs, but we’ve given him some meds for the pain and the concussion shouldn’t present any further complications.”

No field work. Aaron was going to be pissed. “Thank you, doctor.” You said gratefully.

“He’s been asking for you, if you’d like to follow me,” The doctor responds, and you allow him to lead you down a maze of hallways, leaving you just outside Aaron’s room, where his eyes are shut and his chest rises and falls slowly. Figures, you were sure he’d been up all night running through profiles in his head.

You sat on his right side, away from his injured leg, and rested your head against his mattress, near his hip bone. He looked so fragile like this, wrapped up in a thin blanket and a johnny, bandaged from his collar bone to his toes. You wondered, briefly, if he felt this helpless and frustrated the night that he picked you up from your old apartment. The tears well up against your will, but you allow them to fall, for a few moments. You had earned the right to care for him, to worry about him, to fret. You had earned the right to sit vigil at his hospital bed and try to force images of a lifetime lived without him to stop passing through your head.

Aaron stirred, and you sucked in a quick breath, not wanting to wake him. He settled, again, and you rested your head back against the mattress, letting the gentle rhythm of his breath lull you to sleep.

He twitches a little while later, and the sudden movement jolts you awake. His return to the waking world is slower, and you let him come at it at his own pace, not wanting to overwhelm him when he was probably already going to be in pain and disoriented. You hear him mumble out your name and you stand, placing one hand on his cheek and the other in his uninjured palm.

“I’m right here, baby,” you whispered to him.

“Are you okay?” He asks, trying to look you up and down without moving his neck.

“Am I--” you chided gently. “Honey, I’m fine. Are you okay? Does anything hurt?”

“My leg,” he tells you, trying to sit up, but you push back on his shoulders.

“Absolutely not,” you tell him. “You broke your leg. You are staying in this bed until a doctor tells you otherwise.”

“Fuck,” Aaron muttered out. Suddenly, a thought occurs to him. “Is Spencer okay? And the girl, Victoria Sullivan?”

“The team took them both alive. Spencer is fine, just a little breathless from his run.” You tell him.

“When is it gonna heal?” He switches topics back to his injury.

“You mean, when are you going to be allowed into the field again?” You asked skeptically, and he at least has the good grace to look sheepish. “Not for at least six weeks, more than likely closer to ten, plus physical therapy.”

“God damnit,” Aaron sighs.

“It could have been a lot worse, Aaron,” you point out softly, and he looks up at you.

“You’ve been crying.” He says softly.

“No, I haven’t.”

“Don’t lie to a profiler,” He chides you gently.

“Well, I’m the woman who loves you and I’ve earned the right to cry when you’re hurt.” You said defensively, but not unkindly.

“Hey, I’m okay. Really, I swear. Come up here,” he urges you, and you roll your watery eyes.

“I’ll hurt you,” you tell him.

“You’ll hurt me worse if you don’t come cuddle,” he pouts.

“Corny bastard,” you chuckle, tenderly sliding into bed next to him.

Unable to shift and cuddle, Aaron settles for reaching out for your hand, which you allow him to take in his own. He strokes his thumb over the back of your palm tenderly.

“I’m sorry I scared you,” he whispers, and you might start crying again right there.

“Don’t do it again. I was ready to kill you myself,” you warned him.

“Noted.”

“We should call Jack. I didn’t tell him what was going on, I didn’t want to scare him. Jess knows.”

“I just… want to hold your hand for a couple more minutes.”

“Okay, love. A few more minutes.”

tagging: @romanogersendgame @wanniiieeee @zheezs14 @greeneyedblondie44 @angelic-kisses13 @baumarvel @ssamorganhotchner @ijustwannaread2k19 @rexit-mo @shmaptainhotchnersmain @qtip-blog @averyhotchner @the-modernmary @itsmytimetoodream @choppa-style @hotforhotchner11 @infinite-tides @isthatme-thatsme @g-l-pierce @bakugouswh0r3 @ssahotchie @sleepyreaderreads

#aaron hotchner #aaron hotchner x reader #aaron hotchner x you #aaron hotchner x y/n #hotch x reader #hotch x you #hotch x y/n #aaron hotchner fic #criminal minds #criminal minds fic

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crows-murder · 2 years ago

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I posted 9,783 times in 2022

That's 340 more posts than 2021!

94 posts created (1%)

9,689 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@sohotthateveryonedied

@dottie-wan-kenobi

@silverandsunflowers

@batshit-birds

@srbxzero

I tagged 749 of my posts in 2022

#goncharov - 112 posts

#unreality - 74 posts

#ghost writes - 27 posts

#batman spoilers - 17 posts

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#whumptober 2022 - 13 posts

Longest Tag: 136 characters

#i recently shared the wimdy post with my sister the other day bc i mentioned it to her when it was super windy and she didn't get it lol

My Top Posts in 2022:

134 notes - Posted October 18, 2022

137 notes - Posted February 24, 2022

One thing that's really interesting to me is Ammit and Harrow's approach to Randall's death which gives me a really clear insight on their whole "kill people before they do bad stuff" shtick and the way he views those people. To him and Ammit, whatever good they do doesn't matter, because they do something bad enough that their heart becomes heavier than the feather of truth.

Here, Harrow outright says that Marc is the one at fault for his brother's death and subsequently, its his own fault he is traumatized and his family is broken. Whats interesting (and REAL fucked up lol) about that take is that is robs Marc's mother of her own role in this situation and it robs Marc of his age at the time and of his intentions (or lack thereof, since Marc never wanted or intended for his brother to die). The circumstances don't matter to Harrow OR Ammit.

According to their logic, if Randall hadn't died then Marc's mother wouldn't have been driven to take out her grief on her surviving son, and Marc wouldn't have his trauma or DID. This completely takes away any blame Marc's mother holds, and puts the blame squarely onto Marc, putting him at the same level as his mother while forgetting that she's an adult and he was a child.

We know marc didn't want to kill his brother. He was too young to understand why his mother didn't want them to go into the cave when it rains. Marc could've been the one who died instead.

I think this really shows that Ammit's logic works in theory-- because who wouldn't want to get rid of murderers and dictators before they got the chance to be evil? But in practice? Getting rid of a child because he has the potential to do something bad? Like if someone killed a person out of self defense, would Ammit claim their soul then? For defending themselves? Regardless of circumstance? It hardly seems fair.

Maybe I'm reading way too much into this, but I've been mulling this over since I watched episode 6.

158 notes - Posted May 6, 2022

Have some mediocre reverse robins au memes I made while half asleep

See the full post

706 notes - Posted March 4, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

so how bout that new episode huh

2,345 notes - Posted September 27, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #finally getting around to doing this <3 #genuinely cannot believe my number 1 top tag is fucking goncharov #thats so funny

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achliegh · 4 years ago

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Golden

Yeehaw Leo… it's all because this song came on one day (I don’t even really listen to country anymore so it really is fate). Leo is based off that song, each chapter is going to be based off a yeehaw song too.

Characters belong to @lumosinlove

Beta: @the-most-slyterin-hufflepuff & @punkkkboi

TW/CW: Smut, terrible yeehaw sayings and jokes, injuries, mentions of past death, minor character death, underage drinking, mentions of past arrests, cringe

Chapter Songs (listening in order is recommended):

Chapter 6:

Boondocks

Man! I Feel Like A Woman

Dumo’s house was full, the entire team was over to watch the last ride of Leo’s summer in the US. After this he was going to Brazil to finish out the season, Clayton’s season would be over after tonight but he and Regulus would be joining Leo anyway. They had decided that the day after Leo got home from Brazil that the team and some of their significant others would travel down to Leo’s ranch and stay there. Finn and Logan tried to convince Leo to let the team stay somewhere else because there was no way there would be enough room but Eloise insisted.

So everyone decided to get together to watch this rodeo, kids, adults, babies and all. Finn was sitting on the couch with Marc on one side and Katie on the other. Logan flopped into his lap and rested his head back on his shoulder as Finn sent his usual good luck texts to Leo. Every time the event came on after commercials a song that reminded them all of Leo would play and there would be highlights of the people competing. The only part of the song that would play is: “ I feel no shame, I’m proud of where I came from.”

The only little shot of Leo they could find in the weird transition was of him swinging around the Louisianan flag after hearing his scores. It was kinda cute.

Today Leo was scheduled to ride Canadian Mist, a big bad bucking bull from up north. This bull had its states read off while they were showing Leo getting comfy on him. He was already trying to slam him off, Leo would just pat his side anytime he jolted him around and smiled. Leo was just about ready when suddenly the chute door opened and Mist went flying out the doors.

Leo, having not been completely ready, was thrown forward so his head smashed his face on the poll of the bull, right where the horns meet the forehead. Letting go of the rope he flies off, standing he sees Canadian charging towards him so he gets himself in the chute and closes the door. Catching his breath he waits for an announcement of a reride or of a score.

Logan was now on his feet and Finn was sitting forward as everyone watched the camera zoom in on his face. Leo looks up as someone hands him his hat, he nods a thank you, they see a small dribble of blood coming from a minor cut just below his eye.

The speakers come on and announce Leo is granted a reride after watching the footage back. The smile he has on his face basically lights up the whole arena.

Once Canadian Mist was back in the chute and Leo was properly situated this time. The doors were opened. Mist is a forty-five degreer, pulling those angles like it's nothing. Leo held tight for as long as he could, his tongue sticking out of his mouth as he concentrated. After one wildly sharp turn his arm gave out and he got bucked off. Mist was much easier to corral this time back into the pens. Leo rolled his shoulder a little and started walking towards the arena exit gates to get checked over by sports medicine.

A camera followed him back to the table to catch his reaction while they read off his scores. He nodded at his alright scores and gave a thumbs up to the camera knowing he wasn't going to place this time.

Clay didn’t compete for another hour and was on the phone with his mother while Reg used Peanut like a bed and took a nap. Leo decided it was too loud near the arena to call his boys so he walked back to the trailer. Pulling his phone out of his pocket he clicked on Finn’s sleeping face to Facetime him.

Finn heard the ringing of his phone and knew exactly who it was. He grabbed Logan and answered the phone in the living room where everyone was chatting and watching other people ride.

“Nice Ride!” Finn smiles bright at him, wrapping an arm around Logan who just sinks into his side.

“Why do you do this to yourself, you’re going to get hurt Leo.” Logan looks at him worried but also smiling which is an odd combination.

“ I’ve been doing it since I was 10. I'll be fine.” He sees them say something but can’t hear them from how loud people are cheering in the background. “I can’t hear you, can you go somewhere quieter?”

Finn and Logan share a smirk and wander downstairs to Logan’s room. Closing the door they flop on the bed stomach first and set the phone up against the pillows so it's standing on its own.

“Do you get an adrenaline kick from riding bulls?” Logan asked as he felt Finn’s hand oh so casually slip under his shirt rubbing his back.

“Yes I do, that's why I keep doing it.” Leo smiles as he sets his phone up on a table against a wall as he starts changing out of his rodeo get up into his normal yeehaw clothes.

“Hey, give us a peak!” Finn smiles as he hears Leo’s laugh, Leo turns on the lamp they have in the back and he puts his arms out to the side and spins around.

“Good?”

“Non.”

“... Okay horndogs, I’ll get naked if you do.” He smiles smugly and crosses his arms, he was not expecting them to get naked so fast at A FAMILY FUNCTION. What the hell. He just blinks at them for a minute and then laughs. “ Okay, okay hold on, I don’t want to scratch my new buckle.” Leo smiles as he hears them sigh at him, rolling his eyes he unbuckles his belts and slips it off carefully setting it next to his phone. Slipping off the rest of his clothes he looks up at them.

Now Leo has never been one for being shy but when two extremely beautiful people are looking you up and down like they want to gobble you up. You have this urge to cover yourself. Finn and Logan had moved round so Logan was sitting in between Finn’s legs and leaning back into his chest. Logan already looked dizzy with pleasure, his face was red and his breathing was already heavy.

Leo’s mouth was suddenly very dry, he felt himself harden at the snap of a finger. Finn smirked at him, having accumulated lube sometime when Leo was distracted he wrapped a hand around Logan and gave him a tight tug, quickly covering his mouth with his other hand because they suddenly remembered other people were in the house.

Logan pushes back into Finn’s chest and looks directly at Leo as Finn keeps working him, trying to keep himself quiet but also losing all self awareness in the moment. His eyes met Leo’s who just stared at him like he was frozen.

“Like what you see?” Finn smiles at Leo as his own breath catches as he grinds against Logan’s back. Leo nods slowly and looks around for a second, clay usually brings lube because… well he's Clayton. Leo shuffles through his bag to find some because he really didn’t feel like using his fucking spit. Making a noise of triumph he helps himself to his best friend's lube, he'd apologize later, or not.

Moving back into view he sees that Logan has taken Finn’s fingers into his mouth to keep him quiet as Finn moves his hand faster up and down Logan's leaking cock. Leo starts stroking himself in time with Finn’s hand and takes a shaky breath, reaching his hand into his hair he tugs out of habit and groans, closing his eyes for a second. Lazily opening his eyes half way he watched as Finn shifts a little and he flushes from his ears down to his neck.

Logan feels himself getting close and grips Finn’s thighs tight to let him know, he feels the hand on him speed up and twist at the head and his whole body goes taut. His head goes empty while he rides out his organism with Finn holding him in place with the hand back over his mouth, holding him to his chest. His heart is beating fast and he is lightly covered in sweat. When he comes back to his senses he blinks his eyes open to see Leo staring in awe, he looks up to see Finn wiping his hand on a towel that was balled up on the end of the bed because Logan can’t seem to figure out where the laundry basket is. Finn gives him a kiss on the side of the head and reaches to move Logan over to lay down. But, Logan has other plans: he grabs Finn’s hand and puts them on his waist.

“One more, I can do it.” He looks up at Leo who groans at Logan’s words. Finn tilts his head to the side a little confused at first, now that Logan has regained most of the feeling in his limbs he reaches over to grab the lube. Maneuvering Finn how he wants him, he straddles his thighs facing Leo, who is looking as confused as he is horny.

Finn catches on and takes the lube from Logan’s slightly shaky hands and whispers for him to relax as he reaches down to feel how lose Logan is from when they had sex earlier in the day. Feeling that he's still ready for Finn, he lubes up and puts his hands on Logan’s waist. Kissing between his shoulders as he feels Logan sink down on his cock. A little tight but nothing Logan doesn’t love.

Leo watches as Logan’s face completely opens up, his eyes going glassy and unfocused. His thighs shake slightly as he lifts himself up and down. Leo grips himself at the base as he watches Logan set the pace, he refuses to cum until Finn has. He sees the way Finn’s fingers dig into Logan’s side and Leo wants to mark Logan like that too. He could tell that Logan was already close again, Finn was resting his face in the crook of Logan’s neck as he moved his hips just right.

It isn’t long until Finn gives a warning to Logan, who pulls off and moves to the side to finish Finn off by sucking him off. Finn grips his hair as his eyes roll back and he cums down Logan's throat. Logan pulls off and has a familiar glow to him, he has cum again making a mess on Finn’s leg. Leo, watching the whole thing, finally cums into his hand and cleans up with some paper towels he has in the trailer. He tugs his boxer briefs back on and sits on the ground for a minute to catch his breath.

“Jesus Christ, we should do this more often.” Leo smiles at them as they laugh a little.

“It would be better if you were here with us wouldn’t it?” Leo nods and stands up again to get dressed in jeans and a shirt. “When does Clay compete? We didn’t make you miss it did we?”

Leo looks at the time in his phone as he buckles his belt back up. “I should probably go.” He lifts his hands over his head to stretch and yawns a little, putting his hat on. “I’ll call y’all when I get home alright?” They all say their goodbyes and hang up.

“Come on, let's get cleaned up?” Finn cups Logan's face and smiles when he leans into his hand, his eyes are tired but swimming with happiness.

“Finn.” Logan calls his attention as he finishes wiping them up, tossing his clothes on he looks at Logan who had stretched out on the bed like a starfish. Smiling he crawls on top of Logan and brackets him in with his hands on either side of Logan's head and his knees on either side of his hips. Resting his forehead on the brunets he hums.

“Yeah?”

“I love you.” Logan can’t help the laugh that rushes out of him as Finn starts peppering his face in kisses and blows a raspberry on his cheek. Still giggling he catches Finn’s face in his hands and rubs a thumb under his eye. “We are going to love Leo.”

“Yeah we are.”

Climbing the stairs after having a dick in your ass was not ideal, having Finn carry him he gets set down in the kitchen and drinks a glass of water. What they failed to notice was Dumo was in the kitchen watching them.

“Boys, I have one rule… Do you remember what it is?” His arms were crossed and he was tapping his foot. A real stereotype.

“....Don’t have sex in the house.” Logan was looking into his glass as Finn was looking everywhere but at Dumo.

“Remember that!” He huff and ruffles Logan’s hair and pats Finn’s cheek, a little aggressively mind you, walking past them to the living room.

Brazil was very warm and Reg was melting. He has seen so many spiders and animals just following around Leo like some weird ass Disney princess. The bulls weren't as aggressive but knew how to throw people off. Leo was doing extremely well.

“Here.” Leo hands Reg his sixth bottle of water in the last four hours. “Are you sure you want to do this? We can always go without you?”

“Rude.” Reg was finishing filling out the paperwork so he couldn't sue the skydiving company. “I want to go, it's something I’ve always wanted to do.” He smiles when Leo ruffles his hair, they haven’t gotten hair cuts in a while and all their hair was long. Reg’s was curling around his neck and ears. Leo’s was past his chin and almost always pushed back under his hat. Clays has gotten so wild he can’t wear a hat anymore without having Leo braid his hair. They all decided that when they got back to Gryff they were going to cut each other's hair.

Blowing his hair off his forehead Reg hands his papers to the secretary who gave him a flirty wink. He just nodded awkwardly back and looked at Leo for help. Reg has been trying to figure out why he isn’t like Leo and Clay during this trip around the country and now out of the country.

Girls would throw themselves at him but he wasn’t interested in the slightest and the guys noticed. So, they started acting like his ‘boyfriend’ to get him out of the situation. Reg also wasn’t interested in men or anyone who identified as others, he didn’t feel anything for anyone. At least not in a sexual or romantic way.

It scared him.

He was never one who wanted relationships, but being around Clay who exudes hypersexal energy and Leo who is so smitten with his boys that he can talk about their faces for an eight hour drive. He just wasn’t interested, he wanted to talk to Clay and Leo about it but he didn’t want to scare them off. They are the only friends he has ever had that weren’t only friends with him because of parents, or hockey, or money…. But never just for him.

Sometimes he wonders if Sirius asked them to be friends with him.

“Ready!” Clay and Leo both clap a hand on his shoulder and smile as they all finish getting into their diving gear. He nods, his mind still reeling with all the feelings he's been keeping to himself. Maybe he should take the fall and tell his friends about his feelings.

Up in the plane Reg was realizing what he had gotten himself into. The instructors who have known Leo and Clay for years, of course, Reg was standing in between the two yeehaws and fidgeting with a strap on his pack. He was still lost in his own world when they got the okay to jump.

Clay went first, throwing himself out of the plane without hesitation.

Leo was next, turning around to make sure Reg was behind him. Smiling, he falls backwards out of the plan while saluting Reg.

Walking towards the open door he looks down seeing the other two falling without fear. He decides he wants to fall without fear as well, checking the monitor on his wrist that tells him when to pull the chute.

He jumps.

Logan was bouncing in his seat as Finn followed the Google's directions to Leo’s ranch, Noelle and Lily were in the back talking about how nice it was not listening to James and Thomas squeal about seeing cows. The whole team and their significant others were coming to stay at Leo’s, they don’t know where they are going to stay because Ranches are usually small and dusty with a couple of horses.

Or at least they were on TV. Looking out the windows as the trees opened up into a huge open plot of land. Horses were wandering in pastures looking majestic, like horses do. It was a good five more minutes of driving and looking at all these horses playing around with each other, when they finally reached the entrance gate. They pull to a stop as the gates are closed and there is a speaker. The few cars and the van behind them come to a stop as well.

The gate and arch above it was giant. The arch was made of thick metal with a swinging board with ‘Knut’s Walking Ranch’ in rustic looking lettering swinging in the wind. The gate was beautifully made with little shapes of horses in the pattern. Finn cautiously rolls down his window and presses a button.

“Hello?” He waits for an answer from Leo but instead Clay and Reg start shouting over the intercom.

“WELCOME TO BOOTCAMP BITCHES!” The gate makes a clicking noise and slowly opens. Noelle was laughing in the back seat and sending the video she got of those two yelling and sending it to her boyfriend.

They weren’t expecting to drive another four minutes until they pulled into a large dirt parking lot. Parking and getting out, Finn puts a hand up to shield his eyes from the sun and looks around. There are circle fences with single horses in them, these horses don’t look like the ones in the pastures.

Finn knows nothing about horses and he doesn’t try to act like he knows but he thinks they are different breeds. He looks to the other side of the parking lot and there are more fences, one with Leo in it. He is in a dark grey cut off and his normal jeans, belt, boots, and hat. He is swinging a rope in a circle by his side as he follows a horse in a circle.

Watching him he sees the rest of the team also looking at Leo, who appears to be in his own world. The horse tries to go the other way and Leo clicks at it, the horse goes the other way and Leo praises him.

After a couple of minutes Leo turns around and stands still, breathing hard, the horse walks up behind him and sniffs his neck. The relieved smile that platers itself on Leo’s face is one that makes the sun seem dull, turning to rub the snoot and kiss the side of the horse's head he finally realizes that an entire hockey team was watching.

“Oh, Hi!” He laughs and climbs over the fence to walk over to them. “Welcome to the ranch, I know it's not much but it's home. Now, let's get y’all settled. Follow me.” He leads them over to a large house next to the gigantic barn, opening the door he lets them in. “This is the ranch hands house, they help Mama take care of the ranch during the summer. My cousins take over the ranch during the fall and winter because Mama and I are usually on vacation.” He gives them the grand tour and lets them choose rooms and unpack. “I think Clay and Reg have the radio that is connected to the speaker out front. Did they tell you where they were?”

“Your hair is so long.” Finn runs his hands through Leo’s hair as he is using his hat to fan himself. “I like it.” Leo kisses the side of his head. And Logan makes a noise of offense.

“I want one!” Leo rolls his eyes but can’t help but feel special. Giving Logan his own forehead kiss he corrals everyone back outside. Just in time to see Clay and Reg racing each other on Leroy and Peanut down the fence line. “I swear”

“I WON SUCK IT REG!” Clay trots over to them triumphantly, having rode horses all his life it was obvious that he was going to win. He smiles, his perfectly white teeth and tips his hat at Noelle, winking. He stops in front of the group and starts counting all of them. “Ma is gonna want to make a lot of food for y’all. Especially because Eloise isn't here.” He pulls out his phone and starts texting his mother.

Thomas was just staring at Clay with a cluster fuck of emotions, Noelle notices and takes his hand. Her heart is hammering in her chest as well. They had both been talking to Clay for the three months he was away over the summer. It all started friendly but then one night Thomas slipped up and mentioned how he flirts with Clay without even realizing it.

Noelle and him had a long talk about Clay that night. It’s different discussing him as someone they only interact with over the phone. Seeing him in person, tall, lean and being highlighted in the sun. They shared a look of ‘What the fuck are we going to do?’ Thomas has been sending memes and slightly flirty texts for about a month longer than Noelle has but they know this isn’t something they can just shove under the rug and forget. Clay was someone who would stick with them forever.

“Hey, that's not fair Peanut is fat!” Reg trots over and pats Peanuts head when he snorts in protest.

“Oh my god, he is not fat Reg, he is a different breed.” Leo rolls his eyes. “Anyway, I have someone coming to pick up Trixie in four hours so lets go to the main house.” Leo starts walking towards the house and everyone but Clay, Thomas, Noelle, Reg and Sirius follow him. They go to the stable to set peanut and Leroy up for the next couple of hours.

That night after Judy comes over with a feast of food and everyone eats themselves into a coma, everyone goes to their rooms for the night. Reg and Clay stayed in two of the guest rooms. Leo, Finn and Logan all go up to Leo’s room.

Opening the door to a room the size of Finn’s living room in his apartment, which is quite large mind you, Logan and Finn stop in their tracks. Posters and mirrors are everywhere, the bed that takes up half the room with camouflage covers on it and four posts with curtains stares them right in the face. The wood floor is smooth and matches the wood paneling on the walls. Leo turns on the lights and it shows off the glossy wood stain on his tables and chairs set up in the corner with the book cases overflowing. Some pieces of clothing are thrown on the floor and several pairs of boots line the entire left side of the room. The windows are from floor to ceiling behind the boots with heavy curtains bunches gracefully on the side.

“Y’all can set your stuff in the closet if you want.” Leo leads them over to these two heavy wooden doors and opens them by sliding them. Walking into another smaller room with carpet and white walls, they notice how many clothes Leo has. It’s a lot but most of it seems to be…

“Do you have an entire section just dedicated to sexy clothes?” Logan walks over to some satin thigh high socks that are hung up so they don’t wrinkle.

“I take a lot of sexy pics, and I might as well look good. Do you like it?” Leo smirks a little as those two drop their bag and start rummaging through all his clothing.

“Love it!” They start working together to put an outfit together for Leo to put on. Leo just sits on his little ottoman in the middle of the room and watches them, amused. They end up pulling out some red thigh high fishnets and a pair of black silk jock strap…

“Remind me to never let y’all pick out my clothes.” Leo laughs a little at their offended faces and shoos them out of the closet so he can get dressed, or undressed. He ends up trading out the jock for a matching red high waisted thong. Losers can’t even pick out sexy clothes right.

He hears some stumbling around the room outside the closet and just shakes his head. He opens the doors and pokes his head out to hear Finn and Logan trying to stifle their laughter behind the closed curtains around his bed. ‘I swear they are younger than me sometimes.’ Leo thinks to himself. Walking over to the curtains he throws them open scaring Finn so he screeches. Bursting out laughing Leo holds his stomach and throws his head back.

“Scare ya? What are you doing anyway?” He puts his hands on his hips and smiles. Forgetting what he is wearing for a second he raises an eyebrow at how the boys have gone completely silent and their mouths are hanging up. He looks down and remembers, snorting. “Horndogs” He reaches his hands under both of their jaws and closes their mouths. “You’ll catch flies.” He stands back up and grabs the back of the necks of their shirts and pulls them off as the two raise their arms still in a daze. Turning around he hears a groan and a loving sigh, smiling he folds the shirt and tosses them on the floor for no reason.

Next thing he knows there is a slap on his ass right where his skeleton hand is and he whips his head around to see Logan standing and smiling innocently at him with his hands behind his back while Finn has a hand over his mouth to keep from laughing, both have obvious flushes on their faces down to their chests. Finn’s being super red compared to Logan's because of his pasty skin.

“Alright boys, what's the plan for tonight, we can be as loud as we want.” He winks as he pushes Logan back on the bed and straddles him. “The room is soundproof.” He looks at Finn and motions him over with his finger. Finn scrambles to his side like a puppy.

“I want to try something…” Logan looks at both of them with a nervous look on his face as he runs his hands up and down Leo’s sides and thighs. “I want both of you… at the same time.” He looks up at them, nervous and hopeful. He has never wanted something like this before but the thought of it already has him hardening in his shorts.

“Baby that's a lot… are you sure?” Finn runs a hand through his hair looking as shocked as Leo, both getting that horny glint in their eyes that Logan loves. Smiling dopily Logan nods.

“That's going to take a lot of prep, I know you’re impatient but you will need to be patient with this okay?” Leo is looking at him seriously, biting his lip. “You can tell us to stop at any time and we will stop, no matter when it is or what we are doing, okay?”

“Leo I know, I wouldn’t have brought it up if I didn't already trust you two with everything.” Logan smiles into a sweet kiss that Leo steals from him after he finished talking.

“Let's get started then.” Leo smiles when he pulls away, putting his hand on the back of Finn’s neck he pulls him close and whispers something in his ear. Leo slides off Logan and wanders back into the closet for a moment.

Finn undresses Logan the rest of the way and starts to suck him off, he gets Logan to a state of almost coming in minutes. Feeling a hand on his back he pulls off, looking at Leo he leans in for a kiss and Leo shoves his tongue into his mouth wanting to taste Logan. Speaking of Logan, Leo pulls away and looks at him.

“This is how it’s going to go, I have never done this before but I want to make sure you are 100% comfortable while we do this. I’ve got lube, obviously, I have a viberator that’s small.” Leo shows him the baby blue vibe that was the length of his palm, Logan could barely focus as Finn has gone back to deep throating him as Leo Talks. Just nodding to Leo that he sees it. “And we have our fingers, I want to get you off twice before we even start prepping you. From the crazy amounts of porn I watched when I was younger, aka up until last year, I think I have an idea of what I’m doing.” He smiles innocently as Finn choked from laughing at what he said. Pulling off and coughing/laughing he pats Leo’s chest.

“I’m going to need you to shut the fuck up.” Finn shakes his head smiling and gives Logan a couple of tugs with his hand and watches as he cums on his hand and his own stomach.

Not giving him enough time to blink himself out of his daze, Leo and Finn flip him over, face down ass up. Getting him off a second time, one jerking him off, one leaving hickeys on his thighs and ass.

They get Logan’s verbal consent to start prepping him. One finger soon turns to one of each of theirs, to three, to two of each, to the vibe , to two and the vibe. Logan came for a third time when a third finger was added with the vibe. Logan was so loud and they loved it, he was completely gone on the feelings of pleasure running through his body.

“Imready” Logan mumbles as Finn sits him up and cradles him in his lap, he is sweating and hot all over. He sees Leo in front of him and smiles a little delirious.

“I’m guessing you said you were ready?” Finn whispers in his ear, Leo puts Logan's legs over his hips and scooches as close as he can get. Logan nods and leas his head back on Finn’s shoulder, closing his eyes for a moment. Finn lifts Logan by his hips and lines up whispering how much he loves Logan into his ear, Slowly pushing in Logan lifts his head and grabs Leo’s shoulders pulling him impossibly closer.

“Toi aussi! Toi aussi!” Leo smiles and gives him a quick peck as Finn slowly moves in and out of Logan making his horse voice crack. Leo looks at Finn for the okay. Finn nods a little and leans forward so the kiss over Logan’s shoulder.

Pulling away Leo lines himself up after adding a generous amount of lube, pressing his forehead to Logan’s and starts to press in. Logan pressed his forehead against Leo’s harder and some tears fall from his eyes. Leo pauses halfway in.

“Tell me how- fucking hell- how you're feeling Lo.” Leo is panting and spares a second to look at Finn who looks like he is about to explode from how he is completely still for Logan.

“More.” He looks at Leo in a way that is pleading for more but he is mumbling so fast that more is the only word either Finn or Leo catch. Leo continues to press the rest of the way. Logan tries to start moving up and down on them but his legs are so tired and shaky he can’t. Making a noise of frustration, he whines and digs his nails into Leo’s back as he starts to move out of sync with Finn. Dragging his nails across Leo’s back he throws his head back pulling Leo’s face into his chest as Finn marks up his neck.

Finn broke first, Wrapping his arms around Logan’s waist and pulling him tighter to his chest he groaned as he felt it dripping down Logan’s thighs. Logan breaks second, for the fifth time and he tenses up between the two and just falls back onto Finn after he finishes. Leo followed Logan by a few seconds. Being the first to pull out, Leo gets up to go grab warm wash clothes and to start running a bath, knowing Logan is going to need it.

He comes back after cleaning himself off, realizing he is still in his fishnets… he doesn’t even remember taking off his underwear but whatever. He peels them off and tosses them near the laundry basket.

Getting Logan into a bath is much easier said than done, the man does not like baths… at all. Eventually the endorphins faded with him being held between Finn and Leo who were reading jokes out of a joke book Finn found in Leo’s side table.

“Okay… can we go to the bath now?” Logan sighs defeated but he was starting to feel the soreness that will plague him for the next… honestly he didn’t know. Finn kisses his forehead and gets off the bed. Logan takes his hand and slowly sits up, Leo rubbing his back. Helping him stand Leo catches him as he stands for a few moments, shakily, and then falls back into his chest. “I can’t walk right now…” Logan is looking at the ground almost ashamed.

Leo and Finn share a look of worry, they decide Leo would carry him to the tub and set him down. Hours later after Logan has finally fallen asleep in Leo’s shirt and Finn’s boxer’s in the middle of the giant bed. Leo and Finn talked about how tomorrow would go before crawling on either side of Logan and holding each other tightly.

Leo was gone the next morning, they vaguely remember Leo telling them he was going to do chores. They looked at the clock, it was about eight in the morning. They made their way downstairs. Finn carrying Logan like a back pack. They were greeted with Leo and Judy in the kitchen making food for the team as a song played over the speakers.

Clayton and Reg had their arms linked and were skipping in the circle while singing, Regulus had really come out of his shell. Smiling Noelle hops in for Reg and Celeste hops in for Clayton.

Spinning the women around to the song the guys watched and James even sang along. Finn sets Logan down carefully in a chair and just watches them be rowdy in this multi-million dollar house.

“Man! I feel like a woman!” All the girls, plus James, Reg, and Clay shouted. Judy laughs behind them and whispers something to Leo who nods.

“Breakfast Y’all!” Leo wipes his hands on his apron after he finishes setting out plates and silverware. Everyone comes rushing over for food and moving to sit at the dining table that fits them all plus some more. Logan and Finn on either side of Leo, Thomas and Noelle oddly close to Clay who was chatting animatedly with Reg and Remus about how he got his scar on his face.

It was homey.

#leo knut #logan tremblay #finn o'hara #james potter #thomas walker #Clayton Bruss #o'knutzy #o’knutzy #lumosinlove #sweater weather #coast to coast

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black-streak · 5 years ago

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Waiting for the Worms - Outside the Wall

Part 19

Hey guys, very short, laid back chapter. I finished up writing my timari spitefest work and then immediately had a 6 month old puppy brought into my life. She likes sleeping on my hand. If you guys want, I'll post a picture of her, but the point is that writing may slow down significantly due to training and cuddles. Sorry this is almost more of a filler.

Wonderfully patient CLOSED taglist: @northernbluetongue @thethirdwheelfriend @shizukiryuu @theatreandcomicfreak @michellemagic @karategirl119 @moonlightstar64 @my-name-is-michell @mystery-5-5 @zalladane @queen-of-the-trash-planet-tm @miraculousdisapointment @dorkus-minimus @jardimazul @allthebooksandcrannies @g-arya @worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry @persephonescat @mycupisbroken @luciferge @18-fandoms-unite-08 @dawnwave16 @alwaysreblogneverpost @kris-pines04 @emjrabbitwolf @mysteriouslyswimmingfan-blo-blog @weird-pale-blonde-person @you-will-never-know-how-i-think @kokotaru @naclychilli @slytherinhquinn @clumsy-owl-4178 @ladybug-182 @darkthunder1589 @evil-elf16 @dast218 @lysslovsanime @emilytopaz @naoryllis @iloontjeboontje @thepeacetea @danielslilangel @finallyaniguana @i-like-fairytail-and-stuff @vixen-uchiha @yuulxd @bleeding-heart-romantic @magic-inthe-stars @st0rmy-w1th1n

~---~

Walking through the portal, Jason took in the sight of his team dropping their transformations one at a time, taking no mind to the kid who walked in behind him. Guess it didn't really matter. What are the chances he would recognize them in any manner that mattered? Plus, they wanted the kid to feel comfortable here. That he could trust them.

Marinette walked over to him, barely glancing at the awkward Robin standing out of place.

"Alright, reprieve is over. You'll never adjust to your body this way," she said with an apologetic smile, lacing their fingers together and both loosening their crushing grip on their bond they'd been holding for the last two hours. As they both relaxed their minds, they slipped back into their own bodies, souls settling happily into their rightful place.

Placed properly, Jason turned towards the Robin in the room, offering a lopsided smirk, "Welcome to the shitshow."

He shuffled his feet, "I don't plan…"

"On staying. Yes, we know Timothy. It's okay," Marinette helped him out, smile soft.

His shoulders tensed and narrowed eyes stared them down, staying quiet.

"Look, replacement, we're not trying to intimidate you or anything. We know Bruce's identity. Comes with being one of his charity cases, you know? It's not difficult to figure out which kid ended up in his care next," he intoned, trying to help Timothy see their lack of intentions towards revealing his identity.

"We only thought it fair you should be made aware of what exactly we know. I imagine it would be quite unsettling to think you had the upper hand on us only to find out later that we knew the whole time," Marinette chimed in next.

They watched as his face screwed up with an off put expression only to nod his assent, "That would bother me more, yeah."

"My name is Marinette," she put her hand out towards him, waiting patiently.

"Tim," he carefully shook her hand, staying almost formal despite the informal correction, "So the part about you getting stuck in the former Robin's body during his death. That's why you share the madness you mentioned before?"

"Lazarus Pit insanity. So fun. Definitely recommend," Jason decided to butt in, noticing the way Tim focused on Marinette the moment they switched bodies, "we were both dipped in a way, though she got the short end of the stick. My body, her soul."

"So some of it transferred due to it contaminating her soul then?" Tim asked, finally looking at him.

"Pretty much. Splitting it up this way makes it easier to handle," Marinette answered.

Tim seemed to consider this for a moment, "why are you answering me so willingly?"

"What purpose would hiding it serve?" He countered, receiving a surprised silence in response.

"I'm sorry you had to witness that out there. I'm sure that couldn't have been pleasant," Marinette slowly brought her hand to his shoulder, leaving plenty of time to move if the kid decided the contact was unwanted. When Tim allowed it, eyes still almost glaring, she smiled up at Jason and led the boy further into the room while he followed behind.

Zeroing in on where Marc stood on the phone, he gave a curious look only for Marc to end the call and curiously glance at the screen before turning back to the room at large, "That was Alfred. He can't make it here for a few days due to the giant man baby that's currently throwing a fit, but apparently someone else will be coming by tomorrow to speak to you two," This was partially directed towards Tim, but mostly to himself, "Said one would know her as a bat, the other as the eye in the sky."

"Barbara's coming? Oh great! It's been entirely too long since we've seen her!" Mari perked up, "did he say when to expect her?"

"Around eleven," they easily replied, picking their way over towards the trio, "sorry about holding you down by the way. Couldn't let you get caught up in that mess. My name is Marc," was directed at Robin.

"So… you were the mice?"

"They were the mice, yes. I'm Juleka. I was the one who brought you to the portal."

"The fox then, and you were likely the cat?" Tim directed towards Kagami.

"Kagami. In the next room over is Chloe."

"The one who opened the portal."

Jason felt a strange sense of appreciation for how quickly Tim placed the identities together. As well as a sense of dread. This kid was too bright, too sharp, based on what Mari told him, to be so easily fooled by Bruce. To not see how toxic that environment was. What happened to his replacement to make him so willing to overlook it all?

At this point a small hand slipped into his as Chloe introduced herself to the boy, having entered the room a moment before. Looking down, he took note of Damian huddling closer to him, watching the scene unfold.

"Another one?" The kid grumbled, tightening the grip on his hand and looking none too pleased, "I know you said I'd have to adjust to new people, but isn't this a bit much?"

"I don't know, kid, you seem pretty accepting of me," Jason tilted his head, watching the kid stiffen slightly, a blush overcoming his face.

"I hadn't realized you changed back yet," Damian replied, though he remained gripping his hand as they watched Tim interact with the others, "Will they all leave already?" The kid added, drawing his eyes back down to the uncomfortable shifting. Glancing at the clock, he figured he might as well indulge Damian every now and then.

"Chloe, lead the herd, would you?" He asked, maintaining eye contact to get his point across.

"Alright you lot, time to head out. Surely Robin won't be too comfortable around all of us for very long."

There was a touch of an argument over this, but eventually the team picked themselves up around the apartment and headed out, saying they might stay away for a few days. Jason caught the grateful smile on Marinette's face and took his small victory in how Damian pulled him back a little when he moved, as though afraid he might leave as well.

When the apartment quieted down and everything went still, he took a deep breath and led the kid over towards the kitchen, feeling Marinette move behind him to follow. He set a pot onto the stove and filled it with milk to heat up, turning to look through the cabinets while it heated up, "Have you ever had Hot Chocolate, kid?"

"You mean melted? Once. I was given a piece to hide, but it melted a bit," Damian answered, sounding disappointed, though at only having it once or having to admit letting it melt, he wasn't sure, "Why?"

"Not quite what I meant. But I'll take it as a no. We're gonna have some tonight then," Jason responded, pulling down a bag of milk chocolate chips. They'd have to do. He pulled his hand up to ruffle the kid's hair, chuckling as he yanked back with a sneer, shuffling over to duck into Marinette's side, who'd been holding easy conversation with Tim all the while, carefully not commenting on the way the Robin pulled off his mask carefully and was beginning to calm down now that there weren't as many people. Jason chose this moment to eavesdrop, now that he no longer had to occupy Damian.

"Why's the new one still here?"

"Damian, this is Tim. He needed a place to stay."

"Why does it have to be here?"

"The same one who wronged Jason and I has wronged him as well. I imagine being around people who understand his position and won't judge him helps."

Jason chose to speak up now, "Marinette took you in when you had no one. When the two of you understood each other and felt connected for it. That's how you came to be family. He and I have a similar understanding."

"So he is family to you?"

"Nah, think more like when you first met her."

"You are… Wanting to protect him despite not personally knowing him. Instinct."

"Now you got it," he responded, pouring four mugs of the beverage, ignoring the calculating gaze between his shoulder blades. Then went about handing them out despite Tim's reassurance that he was fine, "drink it or don't, won't bother me either way, but I'm not going to leave you out."

Damian remained silent up until this point, observing the young teen curiously before passing his final judgement, "okay, as long as he sticks with you," the unspoken threat to keep away from Marinette did not go unheard.

"No one will take your place in my heart, little one. That place was created for you. If I become close to anyone else, they'll have to find their own place. Yours is occupied," she assured, as they both pretended not to hear his unbelieving grumbles. That lesson would be learned with time.

Through it all, Tim kept to himself, sipping slowly and watching their interactions. Jason couldn't know what the boy thought, but if he had to wager a guess, he probably felt suspicious over how open and honest they were. Confused by their relation to Damian, but unsure if it was safe to ask. Likely, the teen just wasn't sure what to make of it all and wouldn't for quite a while.

It'll take time and reassurance, probably even multiple visits from Alfred and Barbara to convince Tim that this was a safe place for him, but they had time to spend.

#maribat #jasonette #ml x dc #WFTW #part 19 #Alfred and Barbara will be in part 20

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whitewolfmoving · 4 years ago

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Going For Gold || Bucky Barnes Mixed Martial Arts AU

Summary: Bucky made his choices long ago, now he has to live with the fallout. Can he return to the life he once knew? Can he mend the heart of the girl he left behind? Can he be a better man than he used to be? [Modern au] [Mixed Martial Arts au]

Trigger Warnings: lots of swearing, Bucky Barnes being a whole ass idiot, mentions of character death, mild detail of injuries, arguing, flashbacks, PTSD, alcohol and prescription drug use (non-addictive)

Word Count: 1817

Chapter Warnings: swearing, arguing, mentions of alcohol (non-addictive)

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Chapter Two: Go To Hell

Bucky sat on the bench outside of Serenity’s office; she hadn’t been happy to see him. Could he really blame her, though? After everything he put her through? He sighed, absentmindedly rubbing his left shoulder, it always seemed to ache more when Bucky was nervous. He tried not to flinch as he listened to Serenity Corbyn tear Steve Rogers a new one.

“Please, please tell me what I saw out there was a fucking ghost! Or�� or a figment of my imagination!”

“You know I can’t do that, I can’t lie to you.”

“You ‘can’t lie to me’, huh? Bullshit! You lied to me about where you were yesterday.”

At that, Bucky perked up. Steve lying to Serenity? Impossible. Steve Rogers didn’t possess a dishonest bone in his body when it came to that girl. Bucky and Mikey had done all of the lying when it involved Serenity as kids. Yet as a general rule, asking Steve Rogers not to lie was like asking a dog not to lick its own butt, it couldn’t be done.

“What do you mean I lied about where I was yesterday? I told you, I left work early so I could help Nat prep for dinner with Peggy and Marc. That way you could focus on closing the gym.”

“Then why’d she call me at 5:30 asking if I knew where you were? You left at 3:15 to be home by 3:45, Steve. You lied to me.”

Bucky worried his lower lip between his teeth. Ah, there it was. That’s where Steve had made his mistake. Sure, he’d left work at fifteen after three, but it wasn’t so he could be home by 3:45. No, he’d taken a detour, and that detour was to meet up with Bucky. Steve had parked his pickup right next to Bucky’s Harley, overlooking the old mill. The two of them had spent the better part of an hour and a half shooting the shit, reminiscing about high school, discussing the reasons for Bucky’s absence when Mikey died. Sure, correspondence was a two-way street, but it’s not like Bucky had made an attempt to reach out to Serenity either. Not once. And Steve wouldn’t let him forget it.

“Ren, I—”

“You were with him, weren’t you?” The way she’d said it—accusing Steve so easily—cut through Bucky like a jagged knife, carving his heart out through his stomach. God, she really hates me.

Steve sighed, defeated. “Look, can we talk about this later? After work? I’ll tell you everything you want to know then, I promise. But he’s home, Ren, he’s back and he’s here. And he came to see you.”

“Because you asked him to, right? Because you told him he should stop by, didn’t you? Because Bucky Barnes isn’t capable of making one simple decision for himself, oh no, he needs Saint Steve’s permission.”

“You know that’s not fair, Serenity.”

“Not fair? I’ll tell you what’s not fair, Steven. Having my best friend abandon me two weeks after graduation, that’s not fair. Having the man I would have moved heaven and hell for not showing up when my brother died, that’s not fair. He didn’t call, he didn’t write. Not once. My entire world was crashing down around me and taking me with it, and he wasn’t here! That’s not fucking fair! Don’t tell me I’m not being fair. Don’t you dare stand there and fucking defend him to me, because I don’t want to hear it.”

Bucky stood as the office door swung open, turning to meet Serenity’s pissed off gaze burning holes into his skin. He swallowed, unsure of what to say. He’d known this was a bad idea but he’d also known Steve was right, avoiding Serenity wasn’t a luxury he could afford.

“I’m only going to say this once so listen well. Whatever he promised you’d find if you showed up? I don’t have it for you, I’ll never have it for you. Coming here today was a waste of your time and mine. Got it?”

Serenity’s words were a punch straight to Bucky’s gut; they’d knocked the wind out of him with no hesitation, they’d snatched the ground from beneath his feet with no remorse, they’d taken everything he knew about life and turned it upside-down right in front of him. He was free falling with nowhere to land.

“Tasha and I are going to my dad’s tonight. We’ll be out late, don’t wait up.” This she’d directed at Steve over her shoulder before disappearing down the stairs.

Bucky stared after Serenity’s retreating form. He wanted to go after her, everything in him was screaming at him to follow her down but he couldn’t get his body to move. He was stuck.

Bucky Barnes was an idiot, but Bucky Barnes was also pretty intelligent. Especially when it came to his best friend.

He and Steve had met when they were five, met Mikey and Serenity a year later, and the four of them had been inseparable ever since. Bucky knew Steve like the back of his hand. He’d sensed something was off about the tall blonde when he’d appeared behind Serenity earlier that day. The way he planted himself at her back, staring Bucky down as if she needed protection from the soldier. Bucky knew there was something more to the story, something else that Steve hadn’t told him when they met up the day before. After witnessing the fight between him and Serenity, Bucky was sure of two very important things. One, was that he was going to have to work his ass off if he wanted to get back in Serenity’s good graces and two, was that Steve had lied to him, too—he wasn’t dating Natasha like Bucky had been led to believe for the last four years. Steve was dating Serenity, and he’d knowingly set Bucky up to have his heart shattered in front of everybody in the gym.

“Hey, Buck, you want a beer?” Steve asked, breaking through Bucky’s analysis of the day’s events.

“Uh, yeah, sure. Thanks,” Bucky replied. “Hey, Stevie, can I ask you something?”

Steve sat down on the couch next to Bucky and handed him one of the two beers he’d fished out of the refrigerator. “Sure, pal. What’s on your mind?”

“When were you going to tell me you’ve been seeing Serenity?”

Steve choked. “I’m sorry, what?”

“When were you going to tell me you’ve been seeing Serenity?” Bucky repeated, fire settled in his ocean blue eyes as he took a sip of his beer. He’d sit there and quietly wait for Steve to make his move, he’d sit there as long as it took to be sure that he was given the truth. Steve was stubborn, Bucky was more so. How could his best friend lie to him like that? How could he bring Natasha into it like that? And how could Serenity just go along with it like she had no idea?

“Buck, y-you got it all wrong,” Steve said slowly. “Serenity and me, we— I—”

“How long?”

“What?”

“How long, Steve?”

“How long what?”

Bucky slammed his beer bottle down on the coffee table with enough force to startle the man next to him, if he hadn’t been paying attention. He’d held everything together while they were at the gym, he’d watched Serenity go about her routine as if Bucky hadn’t been there. And he waited, waited for his friends to come clean. But they never did.

“Don’t play dumb with me, Rogers. How long have you two been seeing each other? How long were you going to let me believe you were seeing Nat? Did you think I wouldn’t figure it out? Think I wouldn’t catch you in your lie, huh? And while I’ve been countries away, you’ve been shacking up with Serenity behind my back for four fucking years!”

“I highly suggest you watch your tone. We aren’t shacking up, Buck. We’ve always lived together, you know that. And what was I supposed to do, huh? You weren’t here, you left her, Bucky. You know, Serenity didn’t even let herself cry over you? She told me and Mikey that she didn’t need to because if you could leave just like that, clearly she didn’t mean as much to you as she thought.” By now Steve was standing, pacing back and forth in front of the coffee table. He refused to meet Bucky’s gaze. Both of their tempers flared; Steve’s in defense of Serenity, in defense of the truth Bucky had yet to know. And Bucky’s because out of all the people he trusted never to betray him, Steve had done just that. He was sure his and Serenity’s relationship hadn’t gone cold before Steve swooped in and played the hero, and worse than that, neither of them had thought to tell him.

Steve stopped pacing and carded a hand through his short blonde hair. He chanced a glance at Bucky. “We never wanted to hurt you, Buck.”

“I was right, this whole time, I was right. She didn’t wanna see me. Why’d you tell me to come buy if she didn’t wanna see me?”

“You don’t get to blame Serenity for this. You walked away, you left her behind. When she felt like she couldn’t go on after Mikey died, I was there for her. I held her every night while she cried, while she begged me to let her die, too. And when she was ready to, I helped her put those pieces back one by one.”

Bucky’s arms hung at his sides, he clenched and unclenched his fists. Finally, he looked up, meeting Steve’s gaze. “Do you love her?” When Steve cocked his head to the side confused, Bucky elaborated, “Serenity. Do you love her, Steve?”

Steve nodded, considering his next words carefully. “Yeah, I do.”

Bucky squared his shoulders, eyeing Steve with rage in his eyes. “Then pick one. Her or Nat. But you can’t have them both.”

Steve reeled back, feigning disgust at Bucky’s implication. “I know.”

“Tell Serenity about Natasha. If you don’t, I will.” Bucky grabbed his jacket from the back of the couch and marched toward the door. He’d rode with Steve after closing the gym, leaving his Harley just inside the back gate. He wasn’t about to ask him for a ride back to his bike, he was far too prideful for that.

“Hey, at least let me give you a ride back to the gym.”

“No, thanks. You’ve done enough.”

“Come on, Buck. It’s the least I can do,” Steve offered, reaching for his keys.

“I said you’ve done enough. Go to hell, Rogers.” Bucky stepped out onto the porch and pulled the door shut behind him. He knew exactly what he had to do to get Serenity back…

Bucky Barnes was getting back in the cage.

——————————

A/N: Finally, chapter two is live! I’m so sorry it too so long to post tonight, I kept getting distracted. Whoops.

Uh... can we talk about the DRAMA?! #sorrynotsorry 😬

As always, feedback is greatly appreciated and encouraged. Leave a like, comment, and reblog if you love it!

-Auri <3

#bucky barnes fanfiction #going for gold #mma fighter!bucky barnes #bucky barnes fic

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aion-rsa · 4 years ago

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Zack Snyder’s Justice League Ending Explained: The Sequels and DCEU We Never Saw

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This article contains Zack Snyder’s Justice League spoilers.

Zack Snyder’s Justice League is a lot of movie. It’s four hours plus of superhero action with some heavy mythological overtones. And it’s ending isn’t even a single ending to this story…it’s multiple endings. And each of these multiple endings is meant to set up a host of spinoff movies and Justice League sequels that we will unfortunately never get to see!

We’ll consider the “main” ending of the film, the one that wraps up the initial story begun in 2013’s Man of Steel, to be the defeat of Steppenwolf. But from there, we get several epilogues, and that’s where things get even more complicated. There are no post-credits scenes in Zack Snyder’s Justice League because, well, it doesn’t need them, but the “additional endings” kind of serve the same purpose.

So let’s get started…

The Defeat of Steppenwolf

The key to defeating Steppenwolf actually comes much earlier in the movie when Barry is explaining to Bruce some of how his speed works, and his discovery of what he dubs the Speed Force.

“When I approach the speed of light, crazy things happen to time, but when I do it I create massive electrical power.”

It’s that “massive electrical power” that is ultimately used to help “wake” the Mother Box that’s used to resurrect Superman (who himself is, of course, a key to Steppenwolf’s defeat). Barry builds up enough of a head of steam to generate the necessary to spark the Mother Box and charge the chemical soup that brings Superman back to life.

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But there’s another key here, and that’s the “crazy things that happen to time” which comes in later…

With Steppenwolf in possession of all three Mother Boxes, he’s in position to bring about “Unity,” which grants him impossible destructive power, and which would allow Darkseid to easily access Earth and begin his campaign to attain the Anti-Life Equation. Since the Mother Boxes have already been joined, and “Unity” appears to be underway, Cyborg needs to “hack” into them (since some of his power and technology was derived from a Mother Box).

The only problem? Not enough power!

And that’s where Flash comes in. As Barry begins building up the speed necessary to generate the kind of power required for this, he’s hit by a lucky shot from a Parademon, delaying Cyborg’s ability to prevent Unity from happening. In the process, the Mother Boxes unleash a torrent of energy powerful enough to vaporize everything and everyone in its path (and possibly the entire world), including Wonder Woman, Cyborg, Aquaman, and even Superman. Barry witnesses this from afar and with only nanoseconds to act, decides to break his own rule about not surpassing the speed of light, for fear of the “crazy things that happen to time” he mentioned earlier in the film.

Needless to say, Barry succeeds in his goal and seems to reverse time by the necessary few seconds as he approaches the Mother Boxes, reconstituting everyone, delaying the explosion long enough for him to give Cyborg the energy needed to hack the Mother Boxes, and stopping things in their tracks long enough for Aquaman, Superman, and Wonder Woman to send Steppenwolf back home… in pieces.

We’re going to come back to Barry in a minute, but let’s just take a moment here to talk about Steppenwolf’s boss.

Darkseid Will Return

Or… he would have returned if Zack Snyder’s original plan for multiple Justice League movies had come to pass. “When I made the film originally, it was part of a five-part trilogy,” the director recently told Vanity Fair. “There were two more episodes of the Justice League to be shot.”

Darkseid isn’t cowed witnessing Steppenwolf have the extraterrestrial crap beaten out of him by Superman, skewered by Aquaman, and decapitated by Wonder Woman. Instead he calmly tells DeSaad to “ready the armada, we’ll use the old ways,” indicating that he’s ready to just invade Earth the old-fashioned way again with a massive alien army and warships.

Why he feels confident in doing this considering how it ended for him the last time is anyone’s guess, but the fact that he knows for sure that Anti-Life is here probably has something to do with it, along with the fact that he can use the Anti-Life Equation to control Superman, who just proved himself to be the most powerful champion in the galaxy.

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In other words, the Justice League 3 (yes, three…we’ll get to Justice League 2 in a minute…I told you this would be out of order) that we’ll probably never see would have dealt with Darkseid’s second invasion of Earth and his clash with our heroes. What this means now is that the Knightmare sequence from Batman v Superman (and which is revisited in this film) wasn’t just a nightmare after all, but a vision of a possible future in which Darkseid is successful, at least to some degree.

Which brings us to…

Joker, Batman, Knightmare, and more…

In the not-too-distant future we see Batman, once again wearing his desert togs that we saw in his Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice nightmare. He’s joined by Cyborg, Flash (wearing that weird armored get-up that we saw when he visited Bruce with his “too soon?” warning about Lois Lane in BvS), Deathstroke, and Mera. Why this team?

Well, it turns out the vision Cyborg had during the resurrection of Superman (see? I told you it would keep coming back to that moment!) was what would happen if Darkseid was not only successful in his invasion, but in acquiring the Anti-Life Equation. We know from that vision that Wonder Woman is dead, Darkseid skewered Aquaman just as Aquaman skewered Steppenwolf, and Superman is… not a good guy anymore. Apparently, Darkseid vaporized Lois Lane with his Omega Beams and then used the Anti-Life Equation in Superman’s moment of weakness to bend him to his will.

This explains why Superman is “evil” in Batman’s original Knightmare vision from BvS, and explains the wrecked Hall of Justice, the dead Green Lantern, and more from Cyborg’s vision at the moment of his resurrection. Things are apparently so dire that even the Joker, the Clown Prince of Crime and an Agent of Chaos, has thrown in his lot with Batman, the Flash, and all the rest in an attempt to reverse time and save Lois Lane from being obliterated. Hence Joker asking Batman, “You need me to undo this world you created by letting her die. Poor Lois.”

Of course, Joker also hints that the only way to truly undo this is for Batman to ultimately sacrifice himself, and Snyder has indeed said that the plan was for Batman to die at Darkseid’s hands, in his final bid to save Lois. Batman getting fried by Darkseid was a key part of the climax to Grant Morrison’s excellent Final Crisis series, too, but that’s another matter entirely.

And if a ragtag band of heroes and villains fighting an alien invasion and an evil Superman isn’t out there enough for you, Snyder ALSO told Vanity Fair that Batman’s ultimate sacrifice would restore the timeline to where Lois Lane survived…but was pregnant with Bruce’s child. No, not a typo. And then the Justice League trilogy would end with: “Twenty years later, on the anniversary of [Batman’s] death, they take young Bruce Kent down to the Batcave and they say, ‘Your Uncle Bruce would’ve been proud if you did this…something like that.”

Anyway, with this weird potential future stuff out of the way, let’s talk about the more immediate implications of what happened in the ending there.

The Flash and Flashpoint

Barry comes to a realization as he sprints towards Unity that he can “make your own future/your own past/it’s all right now.” When moving at this speed and when he’s this deep in the Speed Force, he perceives time differently than we do.

More importantly, from a wider DCEU standpoint, this is absolutely the moment when Barry realizes that he could potentially change the past. Specifically, he probably wants to go back in time and prevent the murder of his mother, and thus keep his father out of jail. In other words, this is the first seed of what would have been (or will be?) the long-gestating and troubled The Flash solo movie, which will be based on the Flashpoint story.

In Flashpoint, Barry goes back in time, prevents his mother’s murder and…does NOT live happily ever after. Instead, this causes ripples in the timeline that lead to a very strange and unpleasant world, and Barry realizes that maybe he shouldn’t be doing things like that.

The current Flash movie plans (the film is now in the hands of director Andy Muschietti) probably involve Flashpoint in some capacity, since Barry is able to access the multiverse and meets Michael Keaton’s Batman from the Tim Burton movies. So Barry might not have just gone back in time a few seconds here in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, he may have accessed the DC Multiverse itself. That, of course, is another can of worms entirely.

Lex Luthor, Deathstroke, and Batman

Think of this as what would normally be a “mid-credits scene” and a tease for the Justice League 2 that we’ll never see. Lex Luthor escapes from Arkham Asylum (which is a weird place for Lex, but whatever) by using a fakeout move kind of similar to the one Gene Hackman’s Lex pulled in Superman II.

But when next we see Lex, he’s in the recruitment business. His first meeting is with Joe Manganiello as Slade Wilson, better known as Deathstroke. You might remember this scene from the Joss Whedon version of the film, but here it plays out differently. While here, as there, Lex is indeed looking to put together a team of supervillains, he’s a bit more specific here, revealing Batman’s true identity to Slade, who apparently has a grudge against the Dark Knight.

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Deathstroke: The Most Versatile Villain in the DC Universe

By Marc Buxton

This was supposed to be the premise of the Batman solo movie when Ben Affleck was still involved as both director and star, but that, like so many other DCEU projects, fell to pieces. It’s a shame, because after Affleck’s terrific performance as Batman in this, that really could have been cool.

Lex earning Deathstroke’s loyalty here by doing him this little favor also would have helped set up Lex’s team-building efforts, which apparently would have paid off in Snyder’s planned Justice League 2.

Martian Manhunter

As we learned earlier in the film, Harry Lennix’s General Swanwick was actually J’onn J’onnz, the Martian Manhunter in disguise. Here, he finally reveals himself (in his true form no less) to the no-longer-xenophobic Bruce Wayne, who is now fully the hero we hoped he would be when he was introduced in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

It’s pretty self-explanatory stuff. Martian Manhunter tells Bruce Darkseid will come for the Anti-Life Equation, lets him know he’ll be around to help, and flies off. Bruce accepts this pretty readily, and we’re ready for a sequel, and for that “unite the seven” marketing prophecy to finally come true.

But while Lennix’s reveal as Martian Manhunter was always intended to be part of this film and Snyder’s DCEU in general, he wasn’t the superhero intended for this scene! Yes, just as Bruce wanted “room for more” at the Justice League headquarters table, this movie would have also introduced an eighth hero.

“We shot a version of this scene with Green Lantern, but the studio really fought me and said, ‘We really don’t want you to do Green Lantern,’” Snyder told Vanity Fair. “So I made a deal with them, and they let me do this [instead].”

The Green Lantern in question would have been John Stewart. But it turns out the studio has long intended for Stewart to be the center of their Green Lantern Corps movie, so according to Snyder, Martian Manhunter “was the compromise.”

Wait, did I say eight heroes? I meant nine!

Ryan Choi is The Atom

In case you were wondering, Ryan Choi, the STAR Labs scientist who works with Silas Stone throughout the film is indeed an important character from the comics. Choi is destined to become the Atom, the shrinking superhero who will one day become a member of the Justice League.

Here, we see him getting granted the position of “director of nanotechnology” for STAR Labs, a role which will certainly lead to some useful discoveries for him down the line. Hopefully someone decides to give Zheng Kai another shot at the role down the line.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

What do you think? Do you still want Zack Snyder’s vision of the DCEU and his plans for Justice League 2 and Justice League 3 to become a reality? Let us know in the comments!

The post Zack Snyder’s Justice League Ending Explained: The Sequels and DCEU We Never Saw appeared first on Den of Geek.

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royallyprincesslilly · 5 years ago

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Title: Going Through Motions {10}

Steve Rogers X Reader OFC Korral “Korri” Evans

Warning: Plot, Cursing, Angst, Violence, Slow Burn

Word Count: 2.5K

Summary: You and Steve had a hot, passionate, and wild romance seven years ago when you worked with the Avengers. It was the best year of your life; you’d never felt the things you’d felt in all your life. Then out of nowhere, Steve just ended things—in a letter. A heartbreaking letter, then the world deemed him a criminal, and he disappeared. Now, you’ve moved on and have gotten engaged to rich man Marc Spector. Tony brings you back to work with the newly rebuilt Avengers that is still led by Captain America who is definitely done asking for permission and not looking for forgiveness. Or is he?

Note: So, for this fic, we are going to alter the MCU timeline a bit. This takes place after Civil War, but Infinity War has not happened yet. Steve is off the grid for seven years before he comes back. {I know that’s a long time, but let me rock please} Also, I’m going to be introing/adding in Moon Knight (Marc Spector) in just because I feel like it and I want to start exploring other Marvel characters and of course I will twist him to serve my purposes.

**Loosely Edited/Proofread

~~~~~~~~~~~~

-Steve-

Eight hours. It had been eight hours since you were unconscious. Eight hours since you’d injected yourself with the Hydrolomed. Eight hours since you’d subsequently signed your death certificate. He was still in shock, still fuming, but even though he was shocked and angry, he didn’t expect any less from you. You always wanted to save people; it was one of the reasons he fell in love with you. You were selfless—now to a fault. He’d been working hard to stave away the emotion that wanted attention—terror. He was terrified of what this meant.

Tony and Bruce jumped right into action to get you through every scan that still worked at the compound. When that wasn’t enough, the quinjet was fired up, and you were brought to Stark Towers where they’d been working for the last six hours trying to assess the situation and get their hands on every piece of research from Zemo and anyone who ever came in contact with this virus. While they worked, he never left your side. How could he?

“Have you slept?”

The sound of Buck’s voice made him look away from you for the first time in hours. Stretching his muscles, he sighed out.

“Of course not, that was a stupid question.” Bucky sat on the other side of your bed in the empty chair and looked at you.

“I thought you were going to lay low and rest,” he said. Bucky smiled, shrugged, then rubbed his stubbled jaw.

“I’ve rested long enough. Plus, I got wind of something I thought you should know,” Bucky explained.

His eyes went right back to you. After seven years, he knew he’d never get over you. He didn’t know what he’d do if he lost you now—again.

“We’re gonna figure this out, Steve,” Bucky assured. He wasn’t so sure. From his encounters with Zemo back in his early Captain America days, he knew just what to expect, knew the types of sinister weapons he and his counterparts had the power to cook up. He knew the destruction that they always left behind. Pinching his nose bridge, he felt the pressure and tension from the added stress of worrying about you. He knew he couldn’t let anything happen to you.

“Damn it! I should have taken it from her and injected myself.”

“You know she would have never let you take it. You two are just so disgustingly protective of each other. She took it because she knew you would have. She didn’t give you the opportunity.”

“She’s so rash all the time. She doesn’t ever stop and think before she does something. God damn it!” He bolted up and paced the floor of the medical room.

“Calm down.”

“Calm down? Buck, it’s Korri! My Korri—my—world! How do I calm down?”

He was possibly one of the strongest if not the strongest man in the world, and right now, he felt the like weakest. He felt defeated. Bucky crossed the room to him and rested his metal arm on his shoulder.

“I know buddy. I know just what she means to you. I know how much you gave up for me, and if I could go back and change things, I would. I would have never let you leave her. I can’t imagine the world of hurt you’re in right now, but we gotta be strong for her. Remember what we used to say when we were kids?”

He scoffed because he did remember. They were two boys running around Brooklyn, causing trouble and eating hard candies. “It ain’t over till it’s over,” he said. Bucky patted his back and nodded then pulled him in for a hug.

“It sure ain’t over Steve.”

He looked at the watch on his wrist that he’d started after you passed out. It was now nine hours. They were slowly running out of time.

Another hour found him alone with you before he was called out over a development Tony and Bruce wanted him to see. Reluctantly he hurried down to the briefing room to hear what they had to say. Everyone was crowded in the room.

“What’s so important?”

“Is she awake?”

“No, still out.”

“Well, all the preliminary scans and screens are back,” Tony informed.

“And?”

Neither of the men spoke. They just looked between each other, neither wanting to speak. He was quickly getting annoyed with them. He was already at the end of his patience.

“Someone speak!”

Well, Zemo’s research looks to be correct--the pieces we have. Her blood shows no sign of being infected, she is not infected. Right now, the virus seems to be in an incubation period. Her body is assessing the new substance and is working its own defense. This defense will eventually break down and allow the virus to travel throughout her body. Slowly it will take hold of her organs and turn her into a—walking, talking death chamber. Anything or anyone she touches or breathes on will contract it, Bruce theorized.”

“How long?”

“It’s difficult to say, but we’re going to guess and say six days just like the research says,” Tony finished.

“So, she’s going to die.”

Again, everyone was quiet.

“I’m not giving up Steve,” Nat stepped forward to put her hand on his shoulder.

“None of us are giving up,” Tony confirmed.

He looked around the room at the faces of everyone he’d spent the last several years with. They all looked saddened but also determined. When his eyes landed on Ava, even she looked remorseful.

“What’d I miss?” The sound of your voice at the door brought everyone’s eyes.

“You shouldn’t be up,” he began as he took steps to you. You held your hands out.

“Stay back. None of you come any closer. You heard Zemo’s research. I don’t want to hurt any of you.”

“Korri, it’s fine. You’re fine. We have a few days before we’re there,” Sam informed.

“He’s right. Plus, I don’t give a shit anyway,” he said. After a few seconds, your eyes left him and moved to where he knew Ava was.

“Who’re you?”

They all looked to Ava, who gave a lackluster wave. “Name’s Ava.”

“Where you from Ava?”

“Not important.”

Wanda and Nat stepped to her, no doubt ready to beat an answer out of her.

“Like hell it isn’t. We just watched a man we were supposed to trust, betray us, and beat the shit out of us. We don’t know you from a hole in the wall. What’s to say you won’t do the same?” Wanda’s hands were glowing, ready to strike. Ava went on guard and began phasing in and out of solidity and glitching like a video game, making the lights flicker.

“Everyone cool it. Relax. She’s cool,” he vouched.

“How do you know, Steve?”

He sighed and decided to go the cautious route. “Ava has helped me, Sam and Buck, out with a few rouge missions before.”

“Not to mention, I swooped in here and saved your asses,” Ava shouted.

Wanda stood down as Nat put her batons back into place. “Look, I know we’re all reeling from what just happened, but it’s not the time to attack each other.” He looked back to the doorway, but you were gone. He sighed again.

“Cap is right. We have bigger problems. We need to find the rest of Zemo’s research ASAP and find a way to slow the virus in Korri. Needless to say, now that the virus is in human play, Johnson and Marc will come for her,” Tony announced.

“Let them try, they’ll have to get through me,” he said before he walked out the door to find you.

~~~~~~~~~~~

-Korral-

As you walked along the ledge of the roof, you closed your eyes and used your senses. Everywhere there was noise. Manhattan was the noisiest place you’d ever been. There was constant honking, talking, shouting, the hum of electricity was everywhere, not to mention the sounds of water. The place was downright sensory overload, but you loved it. Often times being at the upstate compound felt disconcerting because of how quiet it was—well, it did without Steve.

You opened your eyes and looked down at the city you’d lived for the last seven years. You’d walked those streets hundreds of times, taken the yellow taxis, done so many things there considered New Yorker. You grew up here, and it showed in your attitude and resilience. Resilience you had to tap into now.

You were nothing but an assignment, a means to an end—this end.

Closing your eyes, you went over the events of the last few hours. Slowly you went over the chaos at the compound. Words mumbled and jumbled together as they echoed in your head. You were probably still feeling the after-effects of Marc’s powers. He’d actually used his powers on you. You began to wonder how many times he’d done it. Then you recollected the truth.

“It was all a lie. I never meant anything. He played me.”

You didn’t know how to feel or what to think. Your instincts were shit. You’d misread him this entire time. You were so lost in your thoughts and distress you didn’t realize anyone coming behind you.

“Thinking of jumping?”

When you looked back, there he was, Captain fucking America.

“You’ve been fucking good ol’ Captain America—behind my back.”

You almost laughed out loud. You must have been going crazy because none of this was funny.

“I probably should. Eliminate myself from the equation before I really do irreparable damage.”

You stuck your foot off of the ledge tempted to do it. If you killed yourself before the virus in you became lethal, then you could have foiled whatever Marc and Tilda were planning by making the virus unusable. It was a small price to pay for the safety of humankind. Right?

Steve must have sensed your thought because before you knew it, you were in his arms as he moved you from the ledge. Anger rose in you, and you fought against him, making him put you down. When he did, you walked across the roof away from him.

“God, Korri, why would you do something so stupid!?”

You spun to him and looked at him with all the anger you felt. “Excuse me?!”

“Injecting yourself with a virus that is meant to kill. A virus that has not been studied by anyone but a psychopath from Hydra. My god, this has to go down as the dumbest thing you’ve ever done,” Steve ranted. Every word he spoke, you found yourself getting angrier and angrier. How dare he call you stupid and dumb?

“Listen you blonde asshole don’t call me stupid!”

“Really, name calling?”

“When you act like an asshole, you get called an asshole. Don’t wanna be called an asshole, well don’t act like an asshole, Steve!”

He looked angry as he turned his back to you. He paced back and forth, an action you mirrored.

“Plus, if I’m so dumb and stupid, why were you thinking of doing the same thing. The only thing is I beat you to it.”

Steve stopped and looked at you. You knew he would have done the same damn thing. If he’d gotten the canister instead, he would have done it in a heartbeat. He knew you knew it. Steve closed his eyes, pinched his nose bridge, and sighed out as he walked to the ledge to stare at the blue sky.

When he began, his voice was soft, raw. “God, Korri, do you have any idea what you’ve done?”

You didn’t bother answering, you knew it was rhetorical. Instead, you walked to the ledge as well and stood beside him, but not too close.

“I took the virus off the table for them.”

“And pulled my heart from my chest in the same breath.” Again, Steve sighed. You chanced a look at him and saw the worry on his face.

“I did what had to be done, the same thing you would have done, the same thing Nat, Wanda, or Sam would have done. Whatever it takes. Right?”

“You should have let me do it.”

“The world needs Captain America; it doesn’t need me.”

Steve was to you, pulling you to look at him in the blink of an eye. Your body pressed to his, and that was all it took for your heart to thud against your chest like you’d just run a marathon. Marc never had that effect.

“I need you Korri--me. Fuck what the world needs. What about what I need? I’m tired of giving them and everyone what they need, I want to take what I need. I need you.”

The emotion in his voice broke your heart, and the tears in his eyes ruined you.

“You’re the one who told me sacrifice the needs of the few for the many.”

“Fuck the many. Seven years Korri. Seven. I missed seven years and now--.” The words strangled in his throat, and he dropped his head. You’d only seen him discouraged once before when he spoke about Bucky and losing him.

“Now you have six days to say goodbye.” Steve roughly pulled away from you and walked across the roof.

Your words sunk in. He would have to say goodbye. You were going to die. You were going to die.

“This whole time Marc was lying to me. He preyed on me, used me, and I didn’t see it at all. I was blind, but I don’t know how. It wasn’t by love or a sense of passion, or the sex. He was gorgeous but, it wasn’t beauty, I was blinded by my sheer stupidity.”

“You’re not stupid Korri.”

“You just called me dumb and stupid.”

“With injecting yourself with an old lethal virus, yes, but with that, you’re not.”

You stared down over the ledge and tried to piece together just how you’d been duped. Several minutes passed in silence.

“Was what he said—true?” His words were hesitant, reluctant even.

“What, that he’d had his fingers between my thighs?” You looked at him, but he couldn’t look at you. You thought it was funny, he had no problem looking at you before, or touching you, making love to you, tasting you. Now he was struggling. “Yes. It’s true.”

You thought to explain the context of it but decided against it. If he wanted to believe you were some slut, then fine. Steve didn’t speak again, and neither did you. After almost five minutes, you turned from the skyline and walked back to the door leading inside.

“Goodbye, Steve.”

You touched the doorknob but stopped when you heard his voice.

“Korri, I’m not going to let you die. I promise it, and I never break my promises to you. I’ve only made one before, and I still love you, forever until time and space collide.”

You actually felt your heart shake, and you were thankful your back was turned because he would have seen the effect his words had. As you walked in, you tried to shake it and remind yourself. Six days.

~~~~~~~~~~

***If you want to be tagged please SEND AN ASK SO IT WILL BE EASIER FOR ME TO KEEP TRACK OF. Thank you for reading!!! ❤️❤️

~~~~~~~~~~

TagList:

@quitepointless @yourwonderbelle @caramara3 @kaetastic @toniilaney @cltex84 @wildmindedbeauty32 @bellaamor88 @periodtcevans @peach-acid @queennanayaa @alyxkbrl @disneysdarlingdiva @useless-mork @vannahvannahhh @ areubeingserved @academic-glowup @patzammit @pennywisesmistress @ noramushroom @evemej @noramushroom @missyperle @coldmuffinbanditshoe @asguardianslut @killmongersbaby @laketaj24 @flawlessglamazon @thatrandomhetaliachick @missdeerstalker15

#going through motions fic #Steve Rogers #Steve Rogers fanfiction #steve rogers smut #steve rogers x reader #steve rogers x you #steve rogers x black reader #angst fanfic

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vendettacanons · 4 years ago

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Some Fun Facts About Antony

// Because I did a bit of research to develop him a bit more after that IMDB discovery and then kept writing-

It’s not made clear exactly what rank Antony holds in relation to others in the Legion but I have a deduction based off of some research, Caesar based his empire off of Rome. Antony is a reference to Marc Antony- Caesar’s Master of the Horse. Despite the title, according to my research, his actual rank was leader of the Roman Calvary and his rank would have been comparable to or directly below Brutus- you know, Caesar’s military leader.

Carrying that over into Caesar’s Legion, if Caesar is, well, Caesar, then that would make Legate Lanius his equivalent of Brutus (seeing as Lanius is next in line to be crowned and also at the head of seemingly all military operations under Caesar). And since Marc Antony was head of the cavalry and therefore just below Brutus, and Legion Antony is a direct emulation of him, that would mean he’s directly beneath Lanius in rank.

Looking at the Legion’s hierarchy those directly below the Legate are the Praetorians, which I personally put in a class of their own with Caesar since they’re basically his bodyguards. However, as we see with Lucius, they do have their own specialties. Theoretically, this means that Antony could be a Praetorian. The only problem is, Praetorians specialize and fight in hand to hand combat only. And Antony does have a gun and a machete in his inventory (additionally he’s wearing Veteran Legionary armor).

So really, it seems like it boils down to Antony being the same rank as one of Caesar’s Frumentarii. He is not a Frumentarii, but he has equal standing with them on account of being in charge of the cavalry, and he answers only to Lanius, Caesar, and the Praetorians really.

Going off of that, and basing it off of historical references, this means that theoretically, if Lanius was killed as Caesar Antony could become Caesar. Let that sink in.

For someone who works with dogs all day and does hard labor training them, Antony’s remarkably very clean. He bathes fairly often and stays fresh as he can. The tent where he sleeps and works the rest of the day is... less so. It’s not terrible nor is it unbearable (for most people in the Legion at least), but it’s definitely not as well-kept as he is. Thanks, Lupa.

I mentioned previously that Antony does have a machete and gun on him that he can use but in my portrayal, he doesn’t nearly use it as much as he could. Nah, Antony would rather wrestle someone to the ground and choke them out or fist fight someone to the death if he has the chance. Hell, this man will bite you if you get close enough to him.

Antony, much like Lanius, has no love for the Legion, and his opinions of it are overall very mixed but predominantly very negative. He has a begrudging type of respect for Caesar and what he’s built. He also respects the people that follow him so blindly for their loyalty and their dedication. But in all actuality, Antony does not like Caesar, doesn’t truly believe in his cause, and indeed he wouldn’t stay loyal to him if it weren’t for one thing: Lanius. He despises and is terrified of Lanius. Everything he does for the Legion, he does because he’s scared of having Lanius thrown upon him as a punishment. He’s seen first-hand what the Legate is capable of. He’s witnessed and experienced his callous cruelty and it is something that he fears with every fiber of his being.

Which is why when Caesar dies, if Lanius takes over he’s defecting. Caesar is the only reason Lanius has not obliterated him completely, and even now when he thinks Antony’s dogs do a poor job, he’ll have his men throw them into flames live for their failures and make sure word gets back to him out of spite. (And yes, Antony can, has, and will silently cry himself to sleep every time he hears that news bc fuck Lanius, those things are his spirit animals.)

Antony has a weird push-and-pull relationship with fire. Campfires and matches don’t bother him. In fact, he actually finds controlled flames very interesting and mesmerizing to watch and will easily become distracted by light sources in the distance (especially in the dark) because he’s become so sensitive to them. But larger uncontrolled flames terrify him. Wildfires or the kinds of scorched earth-style fires Lanius sets to try and erase things from the earth are just so scary to him. He doesn’t know why.

If Antony does not like something and it’s too close to him, he will bite it or smack at it. And not just regularly open palm smacks either. He curves his fingers so his nails are out and will actually claw at the thing bothering him and break flesh because his nails are surprisingly tough and catch flesh easily.

Antony gets a lot of looks and a lot of whispers about him for being so much more focused on his dogs than his comrades at times. He doesn’t really care what people say to him or about him. Now saying something about his hounds will draw more of a reaction.

If you think Antony spins around three times before laying down, you’re not entirely wrong. He actually checks everything in his tent three times before laying down.

Antony has a very sharp sense of direction. He’s very good at memorizing certain landmarks to indicate where he’s at. He only needs to pass through an area once to commit it to memory.

Likewise he’s also good at remembering names and faces. He has a habit of studying people’s traits and features and has an easy time putting names to their quirks. On more than one occasion, he’s found himself identifying the bodies of his comrades that either no one else can name or no one else can recognize for varying reasons.

Antony’s not the strongest swimmer but he makes up for it by being able to hold his breath longer than most. He can doggy-paddle and dive very well. It’s the coming back to the surface part that he has yet to master. Luckily, he’s learned that if he just holds still the air in his lungs will eventually cause him to float up to the surface.

He’s not great at climbing either. Lacks the balance and grip for it. Plus he get nauseated from being up high. He’s fine so long as he doesn’t look straight down. The problem is, Antony often gives into the temptation to look straight down.

Honestly, Antony is probably best on foot. He might not be as meaty as some of the other Legionaries, but he’s still a tough little bastard and his size gives him a remarkable advantage for being fast and agile. It’s harder to land a hit on him than you think, and even if you do, he tends to shrug it off and keep going. That’s not to mention Antony is hard to sneak up on.

Antony is a very alert person. Don’t let his odd demeanor or tendency to linger alone fool you. Tying into his memory, Antony has a habit of looking over his surroundings often. He counts the number of people around him and makes notes often of where they are. He also takes note of where things are (weapons or vantage points in particular), where sounds are coming from, and what is making them. He’ll notice if someone disappears or something suddenly starts or stops very quickly. The drawback to this is that his focus is immediately broken when he does... well, anything. And it kind of shows in conversation when he is not paying all of his attention. It’ll seem like he’s unfocused or spacing out. Luckily this is rare, as he was raised with some respect.

Whatever Antony doesn’t detect, Lupa and his dogs will.

Antony carries on some of the practices of his tribe in a secret. The Legion may boast that they assimilated him, but he refuses to let Caesar erase the Hangdogs completely. Especially because his old practices are something he clings to for comfort and security, just as much as he does his dogs.

Another cool thing about Antony is his ability to track things. Like seriously, this man could track a stray nightstalker pup across the Mojave. It’s not just because of his hounds either- Antony is great at picking up on tracks and footprints, determining how long they’ve been there, and following them. He can do it for days. He’d make a good Frumentarii for the fact that he can just go for weeks at a time tracking and following something undetected, studying its patterns and habits, and strategizing where the best opportunity to strike will arise. It’s because a part of the Hangdogs tradition was knowing how to hunt for yourself and survive on your own. If you could do that, then your dog would only make you more powerful. (They wanted you to have a symbiotic relationship with your sacred hound, not be completely dependent on it.)

For someone so good at keeping tabs on things and tracking things and being fairly decent in combat, you’d really think Antony is a well-rounded Legion soldier. But you’d be wrong. This man cashed out on luck and is only subpar on intellect. He’s only average intelligence but with how clumsy and ditzy he can be sometimes, it’ll leave you wondering if that’s the truth. And sometimes the things that come out of his mouth or the way he phrases them makes it hard to believe his Charisma is anything above a 2 (in actuality its a 5 but he hardly talks like it so-).

Antony is more emotional than most men of the Legion. He tends to think with his heart rather than his head sometimes (see: predominantly) and speaks out based on how he feels rather than what’s logical without saying it. (Ex: if something seems unfair or makes him angry, he’ll convey that without actually saying that he’s upset and simply try to intervene.) It also drives him to be a bit more interactive with others, especially if they’re distressed. His lack of experience leaves him a bit awkward about it, but he’ll do his best to comfort people and is actually pretty good at it.

Likewise, Antony’s strong emotions and quick-to-judge nature cause him to develop equally strong opinions of people fairly quickly. For example, he quickly began hating Lanius.

Antony has a tendency to throw his weight when he sits or lays down. Just a full body flop.

Antony doesn’t like having his hair touch unless it’s by someone he cares about. In which case, he loves having his hair touched. He loves being touched in general. He’s touch starved and very physically affectionate. He’s also big on giving gifts.

Antony knows how to carve wood and is fairly good at sculpting. He never gets to do it though.

He’s also fairly good at tanning, smithing, and sewing, and prefers to repair his own armor when it gets damaged. (And yes, he has tried making armor for his dogs.)

Antony has several tics that he does. He bounces his leg, taps his foot, curls and uncurls his fingers, cracks his knuckles and his neck a lot, taps his cheek or chin with his fingers, bites his nails, and tends to pace a lot. It’s not just when he’s nervous either. He just happens to do it a lot. Mans has too much energy.

Antony loves food. He knows how to cook a lot of things from his old tribe and cooks for himself mostly. Bring him ingredients and ask him to make you something new and he will love you forever.

Tying into that, Antony always has food and drink on him. Always. Like it is astonishing the ways in which he stores food and how much of it he can carry on him at a given time without anyone even knowing. It’s not like he has a super huge appetite either. Antony easily survives on just one or two meals a day.

Antony does have a regiment he follows in terms of walking his dogs. He wakes up early to go for walks out in the desert, gives them a small breakfast, trains the whole day, breaks for a walk or two, goes for one long walk by the river to drink and then take them out into the desert again, then returns them to the camp. He savors it too. He doesn’t like the feeling of being cooped up for too long. He prefers to be outside more.

Antony has a soft spot for children. So do his dogs.

Antony never took any slaves. He, like many who were brought into the Legion, could not bear the thought of taking any slave knowing that they could be one of his sisters or brothers.

He might not seem like he ever runs out of energy but he does, and when the batteries are finally empty, Antony crashes. Hard.

For someone so tough and so brutish, Antony sure is good at giving puppy eyes.

Antony has jokes. Lots of them. They’re mostly stupid puns. And pranks if he feels close enough with someone.

#// i had more but i finally blanked out #// enjoy this #you’re a natural : headcanon #‘’ master of the hounds ‘’ // antony #tw animal death mention #tw slavery mention

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sparklyaxolotlstudent · 5 years ago

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After a looooooooooooooooooooong time not writing for this silly AU, I had to reread the whole thing again to remember what was going on :p

The Whole Thing on AO3

A silly little chapter to get in the mood again!

THE LADYBUG PUPPET SHOW

EPISODE TEN

TRY AGAIN TO NOT GET SUED

“After so much blood, sweat and other body fluids I rather not mention, it seems our first episode was a success!”

Marinette was video chatting with Alya, while Nino uploaded their video to the Ladyblog.

“It was a hard journey, but I hope everyone will love it!”

“Everyone will, and even if they don’t it was a blast just doing it” said Marinette sincerely.

They talked about some homework and other things before they ended the call, and Marinette went to her own computer to be the first view of the First Episode of the Ladybug Puppet Show.

She wasn’t. When she got to the video it already had a couple dozen views, which was kind of a bummer to her. She still got to be the annoying person that comments “FIRST”(but in French) and nothing else.

Then she put play on the video, to see how Nino had edited it, and because it was the first time Tikki would be able to actually see it.

The little anthropomorphic personification of creation itself laughed her little ass off.

“If you’re not careful, your friends will discover you’re Ladybug!” warned Tikki after watching the video, wiping tears of joy from her eyes.

“They wouldn’t discover it even if I tattooed ‘I am Ladybug’ on my forehead”

Tikki raised her weird flipper hand thing in protest, but couldn’t actually find a good counter argument to that.

“Please don’t get that tattoo. Did Master Fu saw this?”

“I showed him the one Alya gave me before the editing…” Marinette trailed off, moving stuff on the computer.

“And…?”

“Well, he wasn’t amused by the Keeper, or how close to the truth their ideas actually were, but thought the whole thing was funny. He even gave me advice on how to sound like all I say is wise and deep and stuff when actually talking rubbish nonsense that the heroes have to interpret on their own instead of being actually helpful in any way. He was so very good at it”

Tikki waited to see if Marinette had any sort of realization about Master Fu, but none came from the oblivious girl. “So, he has no trouble with it?”

“No, just told me to be careful. He also gave me the tackiest Hawaiian shirt I have ever seen to get more in character. The colors actually gave me a headache, so that will be fun. Oh, and he loved the girly Hawk Moth”

Gabriel Abigail Agreste was mortified. He had seen the show his son had worked on with his secret girlfriend, and he actually enjoyed how much of a dumbass they portrayed the insect and that alley cat on it, and it goes without saying that he REALLY enjoyed how evil and scary they had made Hawk Moth, not to mention the Evil Monologues that they had come up with. He would be sure to add some of their puns to his own Evil Monologues.

On the other hand, their Hawk Moth was a girl. A scarily competent girl who made him actually forget they were playing puppets and it was all a performance, but still a teenage girl with a teenage girl voice that made him sound somehow even more evil than usual. That Rose girl was good. Maybe he could akumatize her into Princess Moth.

But she would probably kick his ass.

Still, seeing Adrien go to rehearsals and come all happy and giddy… he hadn’t smiled like that ever since Emilie… Gabriel was not pleased that Adrien seemed to be forgetting her, but OTOH, he couldn’t help but smile at how much Adrien’s relationship with his little secret girlfriend reminded him so much about his own youth, and Emilie’s.

“You would be so proud of him” He said to Emilie’s portrait.

He also made a mental note to commission a Hawk Moth doll (Or Puppet) from Adrien’s Secret Girlfriend.

The Ladybug Puppet Show took the internet by storm, and became a huge success overnight (*wink wink nudge nugde*). There were making even more memes of the show than of Chat Noir! (Adrien was a bit conflicted about that). Alya and her Alyanites(A name none of them actually agreed on) had been pleasantly surprised at the acceptance and the popularity their little awkward show was getting.

“I am pleasantly surprised at the acceptance and popularity our little awkward show is getting! Other than the death treat we received” Said Alya pleasantly, while placing her tray on the table they had selected for their lunch break. Juleka, Rose, Adrien and Nino were with her. Marinette had gone to eat at her house.

“WHAT? Death treats?? Is That Guy acting up again?” asked Adrien surprised, and a bit angry. Nino snorted, amused.

“What? No! Death Treat, singular. Rose got a bit too into character, but she promised to not send more of those”

“I mean, how many times I have to apologize for that message?” said an exasperated Rose. The others had managed to convince her to not wear her Princess Moth Costume to school, but she still wore the butterfly wings.

“Rose, you haven’t apologized even once” Said Nino, who was checking his cell phone.

“I was hoping the number would be zero”

“You Hawk Moth is showing” Juleka teased her gal pal playing with the shorter girl’s hair affectionately.

“I have to be ready for episode 2! By the way, when are we going to do that?”

Alya looked like a deer in headlights.

“You know, we should be writing that. I’ll grab Marc after classes. You in for some pun infested dialogue, Agreste?”

“Of course! I’d have to ask permission, but worse come to worse, we’ll videochat over it.”

“You’ll have a better chance if you say you’re going to Marinette’s” said Juleka with a sly smile, still playing with her Gal Pal hair. She had decided to play for both teams, Team Adrien and Team Luka.

“Uh? You think so?”

“Yeah, you father loves puppets and puppet making”

Adrien thought on what Juleka had just said. But she was right, lately, he had almost always gotten permission when he mentioned that he wanted to go to Marinette’s to work on the puppet show.

He must really really love puppets.

#miraculous ladybug #ml fic #Ladybug Puppet Show #Gabriel Loves Puppets #ml au #Princess Moth is canon

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scanned-goods · 5 years ago

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Spider-Man 3: Editor's Cut

This isn't a revelation one way or the other. It adds a brief scene with the Sandman and his family, while deleting the scene where Harry's butler tells him the truth about his father, making it so he just chooses to help Peter and MJ instead of having the truth about Norman dropped on his head like a load of bricks. (Man, remember when you could point out a giant plot hole in a movie, like Harry's butler never telling him that his father was the Green Goblin, and people would agree it was a plot hole instead of calling you a Nazi?)

So if you don't like the movie, you probably still won't like it, but if you did like it to begin with, this might make you like it a little more.I will say a few things that I noted this time around.

1. Okay, even as a certified Raimi lover, I can't defend the inexplicably British newscaster at the climax and how she basically narrates the movie for the vision impaired? Sandman is beating Peter to death and we cut to a news anchor going "Is this the end of Spider-Man?" Yes, that's the question, could you let us keep watching the movie so we find out? We can see what's going on. You don't need to point out.

2. Likewise, the bit at the climax where Jameson buys a camera off a little girl to capture this huge news story shouldn't work--it should be the worst kind of MCU bathos-in-the-midst-of-drama--but it's J.K. Simmons, so it works.

3. As spectacle, I still don't think this has been topped. When Harry and Peter team up as fight bros at the end, it's legitimately thrilling and something we hadn't seen before in a Spider-Man movie, and still haven't. In the MCU, we got what was supposed to be a Spider-Man Iron Man team-up movie and Tony just lectured Peter about being a crappy superhero. They never fought together or teamed up at all.

4. I think Peter figuring out that Venom is vulnerable to sonics and quickly using that at the climax is the one time in a Spider-Man movie where he actually uses his scientific knowhow. In the ASM movies, Gwen does all his thinking for him, and in the MCU, he has Tony's suit to do everything. Raimi, baby.

5. I do think the special effects can be iffy, even for the time. I remember Spider-Man 2 as having pretty untouchable effects, and this seems like it was more rushed. But the trade-off is that if you want Spidey action, this movie has a real steady supply of it. And even these days, Spider-Man's costume itself is a pretty unconvincing effect. I don't mind Spider-Man turning into a CGI effect in this to flip and dodge around in mid-air, but him being a CGI effect with a Tom Holland head when he's just standing around... bleh.

6. There are more contrived coincidences and "just go with it" plotting this time around. But I think if you're cool with the "baby mountain goats" scene in Spider-Man: Far From Home, you have no right to complain about Peter disco dancing. One is Peter acting weird within the realistic world of the movie, the other is the world being weird and making no sense because the movie is being a dumb comedy. But still, you've got

a. Flint Marko, the man who killed Uncle Ben, escaping and accidentally gaining superpowers.

b. Harry Osborn losing his memory after a fight with Spider-Man (and regaining it soon after).

c. The symbiote landing nearby Peter Parker during a meteor shower--and even if you want to say that it honed in on him somehow, you still have to explain it showing up right when Harry decided to go through with killing Peter and Flint getting his powers.

d. Eddie Brock being present as Peter gets rid of the symbiote.

e. Mary Jane believing Peter is in such danger from Harry Osborn that she'll break up with him on Harry's orders to save his life, instead of saying something like "Watch out! Harry has superpowers and he hates you and he's threatened to kill me!" (Okay, no technically a coincidence, but it is awful convenient.)

7. That said, look at this shot of Flint Marko picking up his shirt from right out of the comics.

Raimi is the only director who would not only dress Flint that way, but give his 'costume' this FUCK YEAH treatment. Marc Webb would probably put him in just, like, a black hoodie--because he's a bad guy!

8. Likewise, this seems about the last time we had real aerial duels and city-spanning action in a Spider-Man movie. When Harry and Peter fight, they go on top of rooftops and through alleyways. When Peter fights Venom, the fight goes from a giant web at the top of a construction site, to the girders, to the sand at the bottom, and everywhere inbetween. (And remember when Doc Ock and Spidey fought from the top of a clocktower onto a speeding train?) The fights in future movies are generally confined to single, easily greenscreened locations--I don't think Spider-Man and the Vulture ever really had a fight--and it feels so much less Spider-Man. Any superhero can have a fight on the top of a really tall building, but only Spider-Man can fight on, around, and on top of a speeding truck as it barrels through traffic.

8a. Speaking of, maybe they spent a ton more money on the security truck chase in Amazing Spider-Man 2 than they did here, with the bazillion crashing cars that Andrew Garfield blithely ignores, but man, Peter is so much more in-character here. He confronts Sandman, exchanges words with him (itself a sign that he's becoming arrogant and up his own ass), and then it's down to business. He doesn't do a stand-up comedy routine or call his girlfriend or remember what Denis Leary looked like while people are dying by the droves. Man, those ASM movies sucked so bad, they almost suck worse than the MCU movies.

9. As for the villains, it's a bit of a mixed bag, at least in terms of visuals. No one reaches the heights of Doc Ock, but no one is as dire-looking as Green Goblin either. Harry Osborn's "New Goblin" is bland, but functional. I like the twist of the skyboard instead of a more traditional Goblin Glider, but with his basic mask and bodysuit, he looks like he's going to play airsoft.

Of course, the same criticism will be made of the MCU's Taskmaster--'New Goblin' mostly just takes the mask off and talks to Peter face to face. Also, there's a part of my brain that can't help but wondering where he keeps all the pumpkin bombs and missiles, not to mention fuel and engine, on that tiny little rocketboard.

Sandman looks note-perfect, down to his actor even having a strong resemblance to his comic book counterpart, but then, how hard is it to get right a guy wearing a shirt? (I say, remembering that the MCU Luke Cage doesn't even wear a yellow T-shirt.)

And Venom is, well, Venom-y.

He's not really much bigger than Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man, the webbing and spider-emblem on his costume is weirdly subdued, and he spends a lot of time unmasked to show off the very arguably miscast Topher Grace as Eddie. And between Grace's performance of Broke as a slithering reptile and everything else, Venom comes off as more of a screeching REEEE type villain instead of a guttural RRRRRRRRR! type villain. He's supposed to be brute force in contrast to Spider-Man's speed and agility, but instead he comes off as more of a gremlin. It's a bit of a bewildering choice. We know what a dark mirror to Peter Parker looks like--he's his own dark mirror for a lot of the movie. Shouldn't the Venom that's the ultimate manifestation of the symbiote be a completely different creature altogether, since the point of the movie is that vengeance is turning Peter into someone else? The Tom Hardy Venom is properly bulky in comparison.

#spider-man

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medea10 · 5 years ago

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My Review of Pokemon Sun & Moon

Hi all. Sorry for the delay on this one. I usually go all-out on my Pokemon reviews that I wanted to let out everything I wanted to. Plus I had real-life work and other stuff. With that said, here’s my final review of 2019 as well as the final review of the decade. See you in 2020!

As Ash mentioned at the end of XY, Ash said he was going back home to Pallet Town and “start at zero”. This means when he decides to go on his journey, he leaves all of his other pokemon at Oak’s lab and goes on a new journey with Pikachu. But unlike the start of other journeys, this one started with Ash’s mom, Delia and her pokemon Mimie winning a contest which resulted in a trip to the Alola region. And since they were heading that way, Professor Oak asks them to bring a pokemon egg to his cousin in Alola. So let’s begin with Ash’s adventure in the Alola region.

The Alola region is split into four different islands. Each of these islands contains trial captains, island challenges, pokemon of different forms, and pokemon guardians! But unlike the game, Ash ends up in the Alola region to go to school. That’s right, after being the envy of every child for the last 20 years, Ash must go to school. In this school, Ash will learn all he needs to when it comes to living in the Alola region. Along with new friends, a helpful professor, a Rotom Pokedex, an enthusiastic Oak that does impressions, and a special bracelet capable of unleashing powerful Z-moves, Ash’s journey is getting very interesting.

MEET THE CHARACTERS: This seriously has got to be the biggest ensemble for Ash’s posse. Each character has their own unique charm and their own speciality when it comes to their pokemon type preference (and their hairstyle will say so too). At the beginning, I was just okay on some of these characters, but I have definitely enjoyed watching them evolve. Here are all of Ash’s new classmates, professor, Pokedex and a brand-new Oak.

Mallow is a very cheerful girl with the love of grass-types and cooking specialty dishes for friends and pokemon. While some of her dishes can be a little surprising, even shocking, she has a knack for using only the freshest ingredients, mostly coming from wild pokemon.

Lana has a passion for the water and yes, even water-type pokemon. She’s quite soft spoken and spends a lot of her days fishing. She may even look into becoming a fisher like her father. But she does have an edge that makes her and her Popplio tough to beat. Not to mention, quite the sense of humor! She also takes care of her two younger sisters Sarah and Harper.

Kiawe is very handy in a battle with his fire-type pals. Unlike the other students in the class, he’s been given a Z-ring first as he has attempted the Island Challenge. Because of this, he’s rather high-strong about those who own a Z-ring. His days start early in the morning with delivering MooMoo Milk, then he goes to class, then comes home to take care of the farm pokemon, and let’s not forget all that training with Charizard and Turtenator!

Sophocles is what you’d call a computer nerd (yeah, we have another one). He’s able to handle any electrical error that comes his way with the help of either Togedamaru or Charjabug. The only thing he’s unable to challenge is sleeping in the dark!

Lillie is the mysterious girl with no pokemon (at first) and seems to get scared by them real easily. However, she knows quite a bit about pokemon without having physical contact with them. Luckily, Lillie lets her guard down later in the series when she gets the opportunity to take care of an egg. And when it hatched, she kept it. Other pokemon, it still takes her a while to open up to them, but when she does open up, it’s adorable!

Professor Six-Pack is too hot (hot damn)! Call the police and the fireman!

FINE, I’LL DO THE RIGHT THING!

Professor Kukui is the teacher to these fine pupils and has even allowed Ash to stay with him while Ash attends school. He seems a little laid back at first glance, but he does take special care into each and every lesson he gives his students.

Rotomdex is the talking Pokedex for Ash. Unlike all the other Pokedexes up to this point, this one can actually carry on a conversation with Ash. Not just that, but come up with strategies, watch detective shows on TV, and even write screenplays. It’s amazing how so much can come from a fushion between a Rotom and a regular pokedex!

Principal Oak…Okay, no, I can’t do that! Over 10 years ago, I wrote a fan fic called Romance 101. And I spent a good five years writing the words “Principal Oak” because that’s what I called Samuel Oak. This Principal Oak is just giving me vivid flashbacks.

…fine Principal SAMSON Oak is of course the principal to the Pokemon School. This Oak is a much tanner, buffer, and at times sillier man when you compare him to the original Professor Oak. He really loves doing pokemon impressions. And much like Professor Oak’s poems, Samson Oak’s jokes goes over a lot of people’s heads.

BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: With the exception of Kiawe, Rotomdex, and Samson Oak’s voice actors, this is literally a brand new experience for most of these new characters. And I gotta say, I hope these voice actors get more attention. I know Reina Ueda (Mallow) has been getting a lot more roles in the last three years and I love that. The Pokemon anime has had quite a history of either getting very prominent voice actors or voice actors who aren’t known for much else. But I do hope for more exposure for Lana, Sophocles, and Professor Kukui’s seiyuus. Extra points for having Nobuhiko Okamoto play Gladion!

I’ll mention more later in the review but due to the death of a very, very, VERY prominent voice actor, there was a major change. With the passing of Unshou Ishizuka, there were three important characters that had to be changed; Professor Oak, Samson Oak, and the Narrator. I started noticing the lack of these three (yes, even the narrator) in episodes prior to Ishizuka’s death. If we go several episodes without one of the Oak’s, it’s not a big deal. But the fact that the narrator wasn’t heard before the start of the show or at the end for several episodes at a time, it felt very weird. But after hearing about how Unshou Ishizuka died of Esophageal cancer, I can’t help but think he was doing treatments during the Aether Foundation arc. His replacement, Kenyu Horiuchi is not bad. But after listening to Ishizuka since…well at least two decades, it’s very noticeable.

The dub once again is putting hope in brand new voice actors and even a few veterans from the XY series. And so far, this is very promising since they casted Alsyon Leigh Rosenfield. However, one prominent voice actor who has been around for a LONG time has retired. Kayzie Rodgers, the replacement voice of Max and Wobbuffet (and long-time voice to Mr. Mime and Professor Ivy) has retired at the beginning of SM (2016). I can honestly say, I will miss hearing her voice. Out of all the dub changes, you were one of a few I accepted. That and I will always remember you as Professor Ivy and Mimie! With that said, here’s what you might recognize these folks from.

JAPANESE CAST: *Lana is played by Hitomi Kikuchi

*Mallow is played by Reina Ueda (known for Kisa on Fruits Basket 2019, Shiori on Sakura Quest, Jiro on Tokyo Ghoul, and Katra Paige on Inazuma Eleven GO: Galaxy)

*Kiawe is played by Kaito Ishikawa (known for Genos on One Punch Man, Naofumi in Shield Hero, Sakakibara on Assassination Classroom, Kaito on Tsurune, Mitsuo on Golden Time, and Urie on Tokyo Ghoul :re)

*Sophocles is played by Fumiko Takekuma

*Lillie is played by Kei Shindou (known for Carissa on Index III and Shijimi on Rosario to Vampire)

*Professor Kukui is played by Keiichi Nakagawa (known for Salamander on Beelzebub)

*Rotomdex is played by Daisuke Namikawa (known for Rock on Black Lagoon, Jellal on Fairy Tail, Italy on Hetalia, Kazehaya on Kimi ni Todoke, Fai on Tsubasa Chronicle, Yuu on Persona 4, and Arima on Tokyo Ghoul)

*Narrator & Samson/Samuel Oak (ep1-93) is played by Unshou Ishizuka (known for Mr. Satan on DBZ Kai, Jet on Cowboy Bebop, Hohenheim on FMA: Brotherhood, Dr. Gel on Space Dandy, and Grandpa Joestar on Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Pt 3) [R.I.P.]

* Narrator & Samson/Samuel Oak (ep93-present) is played by Kenyuu Horiuchi (known for Pain on Naruto, Mako’s father on Kill la Kill, Sasaki on Bakuman, Hachiken’s father on Silver Spoon, and Takafumi on Sekaiichi Hatsukoi)

ENGLISH CAST: *Lana is played by Rosie Reyes

*Mallow is played by Rebecca Soler (known for Hart on YGO Zexal)

*Kiawe is played by Marc Swint

*Sophocles is played by Alyson Leigh Rosenfield (known for Rio on YGO Zexal, Aina on Promare, and Ally on YGO Arc-V)

*Lillie is played by Laurie Hymes (known for Prana on YGO: Dark Side of Dimensions)

*Professor Kukui is played by Abe Goldfarb

*Rotomdex is played by Roger Callagy

*Samson Oak is played by Marc Thompson (known for Chaz on YGO GX, Astral on YGO Zexal, and Kevin/Mr. O’Neill/Mr. Demartino on Daria)

FAVORITE CHARACTER: Pokemon…why do you keep doing this to me? Do you want me to lose what little faith I hold onto?

With that said, this season has given me a “best girl”. Yes, the term “best girl” is given to the…well, you know, the best girl of the series. And ever since the creators decided to shake things up by giving Ash a new female companion every couple of years, fans have fought to the death on who is best girl of Pokemon. For me, my best girls of Pokemon were Prima, Zoey, Blue/Leaf Green, and Bonnie. But there are just a few problems there. None of them are Ash’s piece of arm candy! And there’s some unwritten law that it has to be the possible love interest like Misty, Dawn, or Blushy McIdiot. And my best girls have either been in only one episode of the anime, was just a rival to someone who isn’t Ash, a girl who was never in the anime, and too young. BUT…Sun and Moon did it! It friggin’ did it! It gave me a best girl! And that girl is…

LANAAAAAAAA!

I never tire of that Archer joke! But yes, Lana is best girl.

I knew I was going to like her when she first debuted, but I had no idea how awesome she was going to truly be. Is it her prankish nature? Maybe! Is it this creepy yandere vibe I get off from her every now and then? Possibly! Is it the way I’ve seen her grow as a trainer throughout this series. You fucking bet! Lana at one point seemed like the one character who wasn’t getting much growth when it came to catching and evolving pokemon. Then again, everyone (including Ash) gave me that impression compared to other arcs. But then she caught the shaggy Eevee! Serious wild card! No one expected Lana to catch Eevee. And then there’s Popplio. She and Popplio trained like crazy later in the series and it shows when it evolved into Brionne and eventually into Primarina. ESPECIALLY WHEN PRIMARINA EVOLVED! Did you see Lana and Brionne going toe-to-toe with that Kyogre? That was epically awesome!

Plus, she was like the only female in God-knows how long to reach the top 8 in the Pokemon League.

DISLIKED CHARACTER: My tolerance has taken a slight dip because there are three people I feel should be up here!

First, I would like to put up Cross from the 20th movie, I Choose You. I know that he isn’t in the actual SM series, but I’m putting him up here because I just downright hate him. He is on Damien levels of shit. That’s how much I hate the son of a bitch. He could cure cancer, kick Donald Trump in the crotch, and bring peace in the Middle East and I would still hate him. Cross was like a very bad combination of Damien and Paul. Abandons a pokemon the same way as Damien and shows this power assholeness that Paul has. But add to that, a bit of a cruel edge to him and sprinkle a bit of whiny little bitch on that. He has to hold a grudge against Ash in this movie because he was blessed with Ho-oh’s feather, but when he saw Ho-oh, he got nothing. Oh boo-freakin-hoo! Cry me a river!

Next…Faba! You fucking testicle! Heads up, I like calling Faba a testicle! When I first saw him, I thought that Lusamine was gonna be the one to hate because of the game setup. But this anime just proves how much Lusamine loves both of her children. The same can’t be said about Faba! At first, I thought Faba would be like Colress in a way…creepy how they almost look and act the same. But then his true side started to show. Oh, this guy wants them Ultra Beasts. And will not let anyone get in his way. Not little children, not birds suffering from Insomnia, not Team Rocket, not even his boss’s child! This greedy sonuvabitch is literally the reason why Lillie was afraid of pokemon and re-triggered it AGAIN thanks to UB Nihilgo. Yeah, fuck you Testicle!

Now after that incident, Testicle was demoted and serves under Wicke and Clefable (which is literally the best thing I could ever ask for). And in most scenarios where he’s shown, Faba was silly with his fanboy obsession with the Masked Royal or his stupid experiment shrinks the kids. So other than him being a dumbass nothing too damning! That was until the Pokemon League where he decided to play dirty by having his Hypno bring out Ash’s Meltan instead of going up against Pikachu. I’m glad he got beat within less than 2 minutes because this testicle needs to shrivel up now.

Who else?

Viren! I can’t help but think he’s this anime’s answer to Donald Trump. But I hate both of them so that’s a start! I could let things slide with him just being there for one episode where he’s trying to buy out Kiawe’s family’s farm and be done with it. BUT NO! This sonuvabitch has gotta wear out his welcome by showing up another three or four times doing that same shit! And even his very first episode where he uses illegal tactics to get Rango and Sima’s farm was warrant enough to hate this fucker. I just thought he would just be a one-and-done character much like the Mayor of Trovitopolis (OI episode). Aggrivating to say, this dickhead came back numerous times to do more shady-ass shit. And I hope to Arceus I never see him again!

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT: Kiawe and Lana’s mothers are total milfs.

DON’T ACT LIKE I’M THE ONLY ONE HERE! Kiawe’s mama, hell yeah total milf! Lana’s mother, I ended up having a lesbian dream about her and she became a milf.

Hey, usually I’m straighter than a honeymoon dick. But sometimes I peak over and can easily say that Sima and Lana’s mother are Mothers I Like to Fantasize about. Again, in the words of Forky, “I’m Trash”!

SHIPPING: Okay…let’s have some fun with this one. This is less vomit inducing than XY. Just keep that bitch in Hoenn for as long as it takes. I don’t want to see her for a long time.

Ash x Lillie: I honestly think this is rather cute. Ash is one of the very few who’s been able to help Lillie with her poke-phobia. Though this ship isn’t heavily pushed on us like a certain OTHER ship that just won’t DIE. I swear Amour is like the herpes. I really can’t say there’s much romance here. Although her goodbye to Ash was just honest-to-God cute! Now if there was one Ash ship that caused some sort of blushing, it would have to go to…

Ash x Lana: Whenever she could, Lana would drag Ash along with her. Whether it’s looking for a missing pokemon or on the hunt for a legendary pokemon in the water, she would take Ash by the arm and take him by force. However, none of this was romantically motivated. The only thing worth mentioning was her tsundere way of blushing and brushing off romance when her sisters pester if Ash is her boyfriend.

Mallow x Lillie: This was my OTP to be perfectly honest. While Ash was the actual first person to nudge Lillie to help her with pokemon, Mallow was like the best friend of Lillie’s. She would always show concern for her. I know this is more big sister syndrome, but I’ll still ship it. I never thought anything would happen until the episode where the class puts on a play and I see Mallow and Lillie dressed like Utena and Anthy from Revolutionary Girl Utena. To which I said, “HOLY SHIT, THIS IS AWESOME-BALLS”! Pokemon, are you trying to tell us something with this? You trying to tell us something with this clear and direct reference to one of anime’s famous Yuri couples?

Kukui x Burnet: THIS SHIP HAS SAILED! I’m actually surprised how fast this ship was. I know they’re married in all four games, but in the anime it seemed like they didn’t know each other that well prior to Burnet’s first appearance. And anime wise, they only spent 11 episodes with each other. And on the 11th episode not only did Kukui propose to Burnet with a ring, but they freakin’ got married! I guess there are such things as love at first sight. Kukui wanted it and put a ring on it. There’s a real man, yo! Now, he does lose some points here as he does lead that double life as the Masked Royal where he keeps it a secret from everyone, including his fangirl of a wife. But once she knew, she let him off the hook. And you know how much this ship is cemented? Watch the last 30 seconds of the final episode! It’ll blow your socks off!

On a side note, the way Kukui proposed to Burnet…BEST FUCKING PROPOSAL!

Nurse Joy x Officer Jenny: Amazing, it has taken over 20 years for anyone to think this is even humanly possible. But in Alola, there’s a Nurse Joy and an Officer Jenny that are constantly together. Maybe it’s because I hang out on Tumblr a little too much that it gets implied a lot, but I can’t help but have a guilty pleasure for this.

Pokeshipping: AAAAAAH! Yeah, Medea has to bring this old war back. Okay, okay, I won’t be long here. Just to let you know that I’m a fan of this ship, especially back in the day. As for Sun & Moon, at least we don’t see that classic tsundere syndrome Misty is known for. But she still cutefully teases Ash about several things from the past including the broken bike and their past gym battle. To add to this, Misty (and to lesser extent Brock) were the only ones from Ash’s past companions to see him this region...much to my dismay!

Brock x Olivia: Holy crap! Did Brock seriously get lucky? Is this it? Is this the woman to finally fulfill this pervy breeder/doctor? To me, it just feels like just another day in the life of Brock’s love life. However he has done his research of Olivia that makes me think he’s dead serious about her…I just think it’s a creative way to say he’s in the early stages of stalking. But nothing else came from it after Brock (literally) proposed marriage to her and joined in doing a Z-move with her. Then again, Brock does get a lucky break with at least one lady in each region. Sadly, that’ll probably be the end of that much like Professor Ivy, Pike Queen Lucy, Holly, and Autumn.

Ash x Gladion: Guilty pleasure…is it wrong that I want these two to dress up like Yuri and Yurio from Yuri on Ice. No, didn’t think so! Not sorry for that image!

ANIMATION: I’m sorry, I can’t stay quiet about this like most of the other fans of the show. What the hell were they thinking? This is not supposed to be One Piece. This is not supposed to that Rock Lee spin-off. This is Pokemon. Poke-fucking-mon! Ash went backwards on the evolutionary chart. And people have nerve to go off on the BW series for giving him wider pupils and a mediocre outfit. You people owe the animators for BW a fucking apology for one! Ash’s design now looks like he’s cosplaying to be Monkey D. Luffy’s retarded cousin. Even my own mother, who watches one episode once every couple of months commented to say Ash looks stupid. Thank you!

SADDEST MOMENT: It’s been a good while since I’ve had a Pokemon episode touch me to a point of almost crying. Close, but the Misty/Togetic goodbye still has it beat (which was then beaten by an episode of Violet Evergarden…Dammit 2019!). And even then, the touching moments in Pokemon would be because someone of the main cast released their pokemon like Ash releasing Charizard, Jessie releasing Dustox, and OH MY GOD, NO! ENOUGH WITH THE SAD TOGETIC SCENE! But that was just it, at least no one died!

…Until now! That’s right, deaths were usually only a movie thing as we saw in the fifth movie with Latios. But in the last three years, Pokemon got a little dark in both the anime and the movie trilogies. The 20th movie we saw a Luxray freeze to death, the 21st movie we saw a Snubbull burn to death, and because the 22nd movie is a rehash of the very first movie, we’re going to relive Ash dying.

The SM anime did a few things we haven’t seen in the Pokemon anime before. In the early episodes of SM, we were introduced to Litten and watched a very sad episode dealing with death. Before Litten joined Ash, it lived on the streets with a very old Stoutland. Now think of every sad animal movie you’ve ever seen and you’ll have your answer of what happens to Stoutland by the end of the episode. They don’t show Stoutland’s death on screen, but we know. This episode was very clever at tackling the death topic on a kid’s anime. And up to this point I thought this episode was going to take the cake in the sad department. Boy was I wrong!

The 108th episode of SM gave us one hell of a tear-jerker and it almost got me. It almost got me! We learn in this episode that Mallow had a mother. And this is a first because no one in any of the main cast talked about a dead parent before this episode! We learn about Mallow’s mother being sick a lot and it caused a rift between the two. Especially when Mallow snaps at her mother because all she does is apologize for not being there. Unfortunately that exchange was the last time she ever spoke to her. Where does the sad part get heavy? Here!

While everyone was on Poni Island, we hear about how Tapu Fini is able to communicate with the dead. And among some of the dead we saw Hapu’s grandfather, Kiawe’s grandfather, and Stoutland. But in the mist, Mallow came across her mother. And that one moment where she finally can see her mother after so many years! She breaks down and cries. She apologizes for the horrible things she said as a kid to her. But those sorrys turn into thank yous. She thanks her mother for what she’s done, thanked her for being her mother! God damn it, this is now #2 in saddest Pokemon moments. The second I saw this I thought it was going to make me ugly cry and trounce all over the Misty/Togetic moment. To my surprise, it didn’t. But came super close!

In short, Mallow seeing her mother again…this moment! Feels! Fucking feels!

COMEBACK: I have pretty much given up on people from the previous series to pay Ash a visit in the newest region. After XY where we didn’t get a single sighting of Iris and Cilan getting shafted to an episode that they didn’t even bother giving an English dub, I just gave up. But that doesn’t mean we didn’t get characters who “came back”.

In SM, there were two times where we got a blast from the past. In two episodes we had Ash, Kukui, and the class make a trip to Kanto where (that’s right) we get to see Professor Oak, Delia, Misty, and Brock again. Not only that but we get two more episodes where Misty and Brock come to Alola!

As much as I love Misty…and toler…ate Brock, many other characters are overdue for a get-together with Ash. If you want me to be blunt, May, Iris, and Tracey are the only ones who should get attention and everyone else needs to FUCK OFF. That’s right, we don’t need to see Brock hit on more whores of the day. No more fishing competitions for Dento-fruit (much as I love him). Blushy McIdiot, Dingus, and Bonnie can go fuck off! And that goes double for Dawn!

Shit Medea, that was cruel.

Yeah it was cruel and I’ll continue to do so. It’s been 11 years since May was last seen/heard. Iris got royally butt-fucked by everything in the anime. And as for Tracey, I don’t owe you pissants a fucking explanation. Tracey deserves better! Speaking of…

AN UNFORTUNATE THEORY: With the comebacks of Misty and Brock, Tracey has just been NOT THERE! They go to Oak’s lab and he isn’t there. Not even mentioned. Not a word about him. When Ash calls Professor Oak randomly, Oak is there and even Muk, but no Tracey. When Ash asks Misty and Brock about back home, they don’t mention Tracey…which is to be expected since they have to talk about their siblings, but still.

Pokemon doing anything island adventure wise kinda comes with a mixed bag. The Orange Islands came with immediate hate because loyal Brock fans are ass-hurt about Tracey’s existence. The Sevii Islands were a bust during the FR/LG games. And the less mentioned about Decalore Island in the BW anime, the better. But when they decided to do Alola, fans caught on quite quickly with some comparisons to the Orange Island anime portion.

Unlike all the other gyms in other regions, Alola had four grand trials/leaders. Orange Islands had the Orange Crew, which was essentially four gym leaders. Both the trials and the crew had Ash do different tasks before an actual battle. Next, pokemon with different colors/forms! In the early episodes of the Orange Islands, we saw pokemon just a smide different from their normal looks. We saw Vileplume with a different flower pattern, other pokemon with a different shade of color to them, and interesting designs on Butterfree. In Alola, they expaneded on that by giving “Alolan forms” to pokemon like Meowth, Diglett, Exeggutor, Marowak, and even Raichu! I do love Alolan Raichu! However, the pokemon that had small changes in the Orange Islands were not brought to the Alolan table. So maybe Orange Islands and Alola are in far different parts of the world.

Where my theory goes from here is that I think Pokemon really wants to pretend the Orange Islands never happened. That means the gym battles, the special pokemon, and yes, even Tracey. That’s the only way to explain why no one has mentioned him even when we’re standing in Professor Oak’s fucking lab! I hate to be blunt and say something so horrible, but every time I watch SM, it really does feel like that. Yes, I admit it, the Orange Islands were just filler until Ash and crew could go to Johto. First of all, it exists. No matter how much you try to white-wash us with Alolan features, the Orange Islands was a thing. And it was a great thing! Ash was in his first six-on-six match (and won), Ash’s first double battle happened here, and stellar episodes like Pikachu Re-volts and Tracey Gets Bugged should not be cast aside. Those were all great! Pokemon, you cannot run from your past! You can improve upon it, yes. But never forget! These were a thing! These were great things!

Thankfully, my death theory was put to rest in the first episode of Pokemon 2019 when the Orange Island trophy was shown. That’s great, now where’s Tracey?

Another theory! They couldn’t get Tomokazu Seki. That could also be it!

RUNNING GAG: We got two running gags throughout the SM series! First, there’s the return of that singing ball of pink, Jigglypuff! This little singer has not been seen or heard from since AG. That’s well over a decade, people. Well…when Ash and crew visited Kanto, they ran into Jigglypuff and by sheer coincidence, wound up riding the airplane back to Alola. So now we see it every now and then in Alola, singing in a Karaoke bar.

And the other…Bewear! It hasn’t been officially caught by Team Rocket. They don’t use it in a battle. But Bewear has literally made it impossible for Team Rocket to BLAST OFF ever again. Their life-long running gag died the minute they fell into Bewear’s meaty arms.

Also it doesn’t help that I constantly scream “KUMA SHOCK” every time it comes to collect Team Rocket. Anyone who gets that reference deserves a high five!

BANNED IN THE USA: Welcome back, banishment! I knew you couldn’t stay away for long as we do live in a SJW/PC time. So what episode never got to see the light of day in the U.S.?

This one…yeah, I can totally agree with. So in the U.S. there is indeed ONE episode we were not given. In this episode, Ash decides to help a group of Passimian. And throughout the majority of the episode, Ash is dressed up like a Passimian from the pajamas to the…OH MY! I actually let it slide when I saw the Japanese viewing (because I’m half-awake at 2am), but I can definitely see why this one would ruffle a few feathers. Let’s just say Ash’s costume was a little too borderline blackface and that’s why it’ll never air in the states.

Anything else!? Not in terms of full episodes. Certain scenes, absolutely! Little baby things were edited due to being not kid-friendly. What’s in those drinks Kukui and Burnet are drinking out of at their own wedding? Champagne? Blasphemy! That’s Orange Juice now! What’s in Delia’s drink in the first episode? Oh we can’t have her pull a Miriam Pataki here! Turn that shit into Pinap Juice! Okay, besides the censorship of drinks, was there anything else? Why, yes, yes there was!

We all know how creepy Team Rocket’s Mimikyu can be. That’s why it’s placed in my top 10 list of characters that scare the shit outta me! Well one scene had Mimikyu’s shadow scare Meowth so horribly, the next scene had Meowth DEAD! Face down in the water! Don’t worry kids, Meowth comes back to life. The U.S. said “OH HELL NO WE CAN’T SHOW THIS! FUCK IS WRONG WITH JAPAN!” And so the face down scene was completely chopped from the dub. Add to that, there were several instances where Meowth almost dies and parts of those scenes are cut from American broadcast.

REFERENCES: If there was one thing this new animation has given us, it has open the doors to using references from other animes and even a few western media projects. And we haven’t really seen much of this since the original series and AG. And even back then, it was mostly just Rose of Versailles references with Team Rocket. I know I give the animation flack for it being a pile of shit compared to better animation shown in XY and DP. But I think the animators do have a little more fun when doing Sun and Moon. And I think it’s loosened them to using other animation styles seen in different and popular animes.

And boy did SM use a butt-load of anime references! Here’s a list of what I was able to remember!

*Facial expressions matching those scene in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure in several episodes *A Mr. Osomatsu reference tossed somewhere *Ping Pong the Animation being used when Illma entered in the Ping Pong competition *Kiawe doing the famous Gendo Ikari pose from Neon Genesis Evangelion in the same episode mentioned above. *Ash and Kiawe making the scary, demonic face Popuko makes when she’s mad on Pop Team Epic, when the two missed out on catching a UB Pokemon. *Transformation scenes with Ash and crew that match those of Power Rangers or every magical girl show. *The girl with many Pikachus has one Pikachu with hair like Boruto (Naruto Uzamaki’s son) *Ash and Pikachu looking like they’re doing the Kamehameha attack during their league match (DBZ, duh) *Rotomdex mentioning it wants to do a sci-fi feature and the image strikes a chord with Star Wars fans everywhere. *Lillie dressed like Utena. Mallow dressed like the rose princess, Anthy. HOLY SHIT, MY OTP IS DOING A REVOLUTIONARY GIRL UTENA REFERENCE! Take my revolution!

And the mother of all references goes to Jessie! Or should I say, her seiyuu Megumi Hayashibara! Pokemon animated many of her iconic roles in one epic scene. Just to name a few of Hayashibara’s roles shown there was Ranma Saotome (Ranma ½) Rei Ayanami (Evangelion), White Kitty (Hello Kitty), Faye Valentine (Cowboy Bebop), and everyone’s favorite Lina Inverse (Slayers). At least in the English dub, Lisa Ortiz popped in for the Lina Inverse moment! Epic on epic on epicly God levels of YES!

MUSIC: Okay in recent years, the English openings have gotten tolerable and the same can be said about the opening themes used this time around. So I won’t bitch about that. So how about I bitch about the BGM?!

Background music, I know a lot of complaints are expressed by loyal Japanese version fans that the English version has completely changed the BGM throughout most of the episodes and even the motion pictures! Yeah, in the I Choose You movie only ONE original BGM was used. The BGM topic never really got to me. But if I remember correctly when 4Kids lost rights to Pokemon and went to the new company, they said that they were going to keep a lot of things true and the BGM was one of them. Yeah, that went to the waist-side real fast! I do believe that they listened to that complaint because in the following movie, the entire score was kept (with the exception of the ED theme by Porno Graffitti).

The Japanese openings…I used to like Alola by Rica Matsumoto. Yeah…used to. Okay, that’s too mean. I don’t hate it on the lengths of V(Volt) from the previous series. It’s just that they used this song in certain scenes that took me out of liking it fully. Now anytime I hear Alola, all I can think about is Ash, Litten, Pikachu, and Rockruff wiggling their asses. Some of the other openings were just okay, I wasn’t too thrilled about them. But there was another thing I feel I should bring up.

Just like the English dub to XY, they wanted to capture a nostalgic feel to the general audience watching, Sun and Moon gave us some of that here. Because of the release of the 20th movie, Rica Matsumoto ended up singing her signature Mezase Pokemon Master again. And as a result, it was the show’s opening for quite some time. Not only that but the last ending theme to Sun and Moon was a cover of Rica’s other hit song Type Wild (now sung by Shoko Nakagawa).

MOVIES: The movies have taken a different turn from what we’ve seen previously. Let’s face it folks, the 10 movies that came out prior to these last three were average AT BEST. And with many other series doing reboots to their old classics, I guess Pokemon decided to do it on a large scale when it came to the story of Ash and Pikachu. With all new animation and a new story, we follow Ash and Pikachu in a much different take on their journey. A much faster-paced story where Ash doesn’t have much of the filler stuff and doesn’t travel with Misty, Brock, or the rest! To which I say, good! I know it means the Sun & Moon gang will never be in a movie, but it also means that animation won’t be there either.

I Choose You was the first movie and from the get-go, fans were upset over seeing a reboot of Ash’s beginning journey with Pikachu and not seeing Misty or Brock. Instead we get a kind of condensed version of certain moments of Ash’s original journey, mixed with new material and get introduced to new characters (who come from Sinnoh of all places). The pokemon featured was Ho-oh, who after all this time was going to be featured in a film and Marshadow because it’s not a pokemon movie without featuring a brand-new pokemon from this era.

The Power of Us, Ash ends up on an island where he meets several new characters who each have their own story to tell including a high school girl, a shy scientist, a pathological liar, an old woman who hates pokemon, and the daughter of the mayor. And we are introduced to another new pokemon, Zeroroa. All five characters (plus Ash) are put through their own trials and tribulations in order to save their town during a festival.

Mewtwo Strikes Back EVOLUTION: It’s the first movie…in CGI/3D/Robot-Chicken-ized, whatever! There’s no need for a synopsis since everybody and their mother knows this story. It’s literally the same story as Mewtwo Strikes Back. Ash and company get invited to an island, Mewtwo causes storms and clones to mess with the people, Mew appears, Pokemon fight, Ash dies, Ash doesn’t die, Mewtwo says profound speech that even Jon Stewart praises, everyone’s minds are erased, and that’s all! They even got the original cast to come back and reused Unshou Ishizuka’s old footage as the narrator for this movie!

The thing about this last movie is that, The Pokemon Company dropped the ball on this. SEVERELY dropped the ball on this! They had the perfect setup, the perfect opportunity to get this in the theaters just in time for the 20th anniversary of the first movie’s release in the U.S. and they do jackshit with it! Not even on Disney XD. For shame!

I will say that these three are a SEVERE improvement on the Pokemon movies. Can anyone with full honesty say that any pokemon movie that came out after the Lucario movie that any of the others were even good? Be honest, almost every movie since AG was just essentially a long side-story with an annoying mythical/legendary that can talk. It got annoying! Plus it just felt like Ash and whoever he was with would just be dragged in the middle of some bullshit and have to save the day. It was fine in the first couple of movies, but the pattern got worn out.

Plus with this alternate timeline to the Pokemon story, it gave the Sun and Moon anime more to work with legendaries and mythical pokemon. Hell, all the main cast was able to catch (and later release) an Ultra Beast pokemon. Not only that, but Mallow got to take care of the mythical pokemon Shaymin for over 40 episodes. Don’t you wish we got that with May and Manaphy? Plus, Ash got to take care of Cosmog and Poipole for an extended amount of time. Okay, my favorite movie of the three.

I Choose You is my favorite out of the bunch. I loved the retelling of Ash and Pikachu starting out on their very first journey. I love the new path they took with this story. I love the new characters introduced, Verity and Sorrel. I love the pokemon that were shown as it gave us a bit of everything from every region up to this point. Yes it was a cluster-fuck in some portions as I had to see past characters shown way different. Cynthia’s Verity’s mother! I can’t unsee this shit! And I will never unsee the messed-up dream Ash had where he was in actual real-world with no pokemon and in a real school where I’m given vivid flashbacks of my fanfic. Regardless, I enjoyed this movie so much. And I got to see many things here that I would always imagine would happen in a final episode of Pokemon (where Ash dies, Pikachu speaks, and an epic fight with Ho-oh). It is now my 2nd favorite Pokemon movie.

+1000000000 points for showing Tracey in the ED credits! Medea screeched in the theaters. I apologize for nothing! Best five seconds I’ve had in years.

TEAM ROCKET UPDATE: As this region does not have Pokemon Contests or that tact on Princess crap from Kalos, we’ll find our favorite trio (+Wobbuffett) going after the twerps and wandering around the area. And while I do enjoy Jessie dipping her foot in the contest arena, this pace can be boring and a blessing at the same time. Unlike previous seasons, we will go episodes at a time where we don’t see Team Rocket. But the episodes where they do show up aren’t the most thrilling. Usually they’ll just be in the background serving treats to background characters.

However, one major improvement with Team Rocket this season is with their pokemon. In the past, Team Rocket has had some unique pokemon that they’ve captured (or stolen…still not letting the Yamnega thing go). In Kanto, James had Victreebel that would eat him. In Hoenn, James had Cacnea that would pinch him every time it came out. In Sinnoh, James had Carnevine that would eat him…Okay, a lot of it is James torture-porn! Regardless, they were entertaining to watch. And I felt a complete slump with their pokemon during BW and XY. This season, pretty much ALL of Team Rocket’s pokemon are entertaining.

Marenie loves James so much that she would blow off being with her own kind to be with James. Even hearing the sounds of wedding bells every time James asks a favor of her! It’s actually adorable to watch Marenie. Jessie’s Mimikyu…I’m almost convinced Mimikyu is the reincarnation of a serial killer. And the biggest pokemon to cause Team Rocket so much grief is one they didn’t even catch, but it sticks around to take care of them like they were children, Bewear! And trust me, they’ve tried catching Bewear. And Bewear smushed the pokeball into poke-dust! Bewear would just come right the fuck out of nowhere, defying logic, gravity, and absurdity to bring Team Rocket back to its cave! This, making it the longest period of time where Team Rocket went without blasting off!

Every time they had the twerps cornered, in comes Bewear to take them back! Whenever they were about to do their traditional blast off, Bewear would come in and take them back to the cave! Even when they’re in fucking Kanto, it managed to swoop in and take them back to the cave. Team Rocket even DEFEATED Ash in a battle and had the perfect opportunity to take the twerp’s Pikachu. But no, Bewear came in and swooped them up! These pokemon were fun to watch this entire series! This was definitely an improvement from the last few seasons. Seriously, I can’t even remember what pokemon Jessie and James had during BW!

BIG TEAM BATTLE: Just like in Unova, Team Rocket ended up getting more attention than the antagonists of Alola. Except here, it’s a little more accepting. It’s just that in Alola, was there really a big team to cause major havoc with world-shaking consequences? Technically, the Aether Foundation wasn’t the big bad team and Team Skull was just a bunch of angsty punks. Regardless, there were two arcs with something epic happening.

The first of course was opening the wormhole and discovering the Ultra Beasts. And in almost the same fashion as the game, Lillie and the rest have to go and rescue her mother from the Ultra Beasts (because Lusamine got taken over by one). Only difference is that game Lusamine wanted to use this power. Anime Lusamine pushed her children out of the way so they wouldn’t get taken away. We did get some great moments with Ash doing a new Z-move with Pikachu, Nebby evolving, and Lillie’s relationship with her mother become stronger.

The second big battle was with Necrozma. Now this one heavily involved Team Rocket as Giovanni disbatched several other members including his assistant Matori and some eye-patch gorilla to try and get this pokemon. However after this incident, we never see Giovanni try to get his hands on this pokemon again or talk about it again. Even when he makes a big foreshadowy deal when he dialed Nanu about it! But in this arc, a mysterious power throughout Alola was making all of the adults listless and lazy. And it was up to Ash and the other kids to get to the bottom of this strange phenomenom.

ENDING – POKEMON LEAGUE: Yeah, this league was going to be different. In the Alolan League, just about anyone can join this certain Pokemon League, as long as you have a Z-crystal, it’s all good. Well, Alola has never had a Pokemon League, which is sort of like what was in the game. So Professor Kukui decided to put this dream into an action and now Alola will hold its first ever Pokemon League! So expect to see the entire cast compete! I’m not kidding!

From the get-go I was worried since Ash’s team here in Alola is pitifully underdeveloped compared to past arcs. And if he were to fight, he’d probably lose to Gladion or Guzma! But since the first task was to knock 151 competitors down to 16, we all know Ash was going to survive this trial. Now in past league competitions and even Pokemon Contests, thinning a big number down would take some time like an episode or two. Here, IT’S A FUCKING FREE-FOR-ALL BATTLE! Trainers coming at you from all angles and you can only use one pokemon! It’s like a mini-game from Mario Party it was that crazy!

The 16 trainers that made the cut are all trainers we know! They all had at least 1 debut episode prior to this moment. So no surprise bastards like Tobias to muck things up! The sixteen competitors are Ash, Mallow, Lillie, Lana, Kiawe, Sophocles, Jessie, James, Faba, Aceorla, Mina, Ilima, Guzma, Hau, Gladion, and Samson Oak! Unbelievable! The entire main cast, Team Rocket, trial people in the games, the head of Team Skull, the island heartthrob, Ash’s two main rivals, and a freakin’ Oak! We could not make this up!

From the Top 8, we wind up with Ash, Guzma, Hau, Gladion, James, Sophocles, Kiawe, and Lana advancing. These next battles had some pretty decent moments including James trying to hold his own against Gladion, Lana and Primarina trying to survive a poisonous dick move from Guzma, and action-packed moments with Kiawe and Sophocles.

…

I don’t want to talk about it. NO, I DON’T! NO ONE WANTS TO TALK ABOUT ASH’S BATTLE WITH HAU! First of all, their rivalry only expands to like two episodes. One episode prior to the league and the rest during the league! You’re just butt-fucking us on this sweet little cinnamon roll. I know the anime really wants to stand out on its own by not giving us awesome rivals that we get in the games like Cheren or Brendan, but God-forbid if you give them some awesome moments before you have them get beaten by Ash and sent back to wherever the fuck they came from! And this battle is just an insult of every level!

I know Ash has been known to pull off some stupid moments in his day when it comes to pokemon battles. He’d put a clear type-disadvantage against a powerhouse pokemon. He’d put all his faith in one pokemon and if it failed, absolutely fuck all. And most common of all, have one of his non-evolved pokemon go up against a fully evolved pokemon. We get the latter when Ash’s insomniac-stricken bird, Rowlet, go up against Hau’s fully-evolved Decidueye. But before the battle, we get some last minute training in done by Toucannon and its bird-kin. You’ve got to be the stupidest mother fu…Forget it, you’re just wasting your breath! Well, it’s because Rowlet is DETERMINED so that gives the green flag to fight in Ash Ketchum’s book.

You stupid fucking idi…

During the fight, Ash and Hau did use their Z-moves early on and both did little to no damage to either one. But it’s freakin’ clear that Hau’s Decidueye is clearly more trained. That’s why the two birds duked it out to a point of both of them being close to knocked out. But in the end, Nanu calls the battle for Decidueye because it got up first. AND ASH LOST!

…Or did he?

No, upon further inspection, ROWLET WAS FUCKING ASLEEP! God, no! No! Good fucking God, what were you writers thinking? You’re trolling us again, aren’t you? Ever since the Sinnoh League, you thought it was a good idea to troll the fucking audience. Like Tobias having another legendary or Davey winning with a fucking Eevee or Ash losing to Alain. You people are fucking with us!

Long story short, Ash and Rowlet get a second chance. They win the battle. Hau cries. Moving on!

NO, WE’RE NOT MOVING ON FROM THIS SHIT! WHO THE FUCK DECIDED THIS TO HAPPEN?! A lot of us fans are still sore over that retarded call back in the Kanto League where Squirtle falling asleep was a K.O. I can’t accept this, not after all the league battles Ash has had before this. Especially the last league against Tierno, Sawyer, and Alain! They are probably watching you and facepalming. Bonnie is laughing at you! Lysandre is calling you a dickhead from beyond the grave! Serena tore up a picture of Ash and went lesbian! Okay, that didn’t really happen. But this episode got me so fucking twisted I find myself eating thunder and shitting out lightening.

And now with Lana’s defeat by Guzma, we’re now in the final four. So…huh…um, new category! I know this is where I’m supposed to talk about the ending with the league, but I feel like I should talk about this.

GENDER AND LEAGUE PLACEMENT: Is it just me or are most competitors and even winners of these things majority male? It’s unknown who won the Kanto League. Johto went to some douchebag no one remembers. Hoenn was won by Tyson. Sinnoh went to Trollbias. Unova went to Davey. And Kalos went to NOT ASH…Alain! And even in the top 4 and 8 sometimes, it’s all men. I really don’t want to put the pussy hat on and claim unfairness to a show I’ve been watching for over 20 years, but…putting Lana up against someone we all know is going to go to the semi-finals…come on man! I probably should have questioned some gender stuff especially with that princess crap in Kalos where it was most, if not all female. But Pokemon Leagues are usually coed! It’s just that prior to Lana, the only other girls I remember competiting in past leagues were Katie from AG and Astrid from XY. Maybe I’m making too much out of it.

BACK TO THE LEAGUE: Thankfully the semi-finals fights were great (compared to that bullshit Hau/Ash match I wish would die). Gladion and Kiawe bro-downed with their match! Guzma learned the hard way of being defeated in the semi-finals by a twerp. Guzma, you may be older than Ash, but Ashy-boy has been defeated so many times in this position it’s not even funny. So the finals were a three-on-three match between Ash and Gladion.

Ash got some good traction with his newly evolved pokemon Melmetal. Gladion was able to put his father’s pokemon, Zoroark into good use. And there was even a double knockout near the end. But somehow, we knew it would go back to a finale of Lycanroc vs. Lycanroc. And this was a nail-bitter. Who the heck knows who was going to end up victorious?

…Actually, a certain publication leaked the result three days before the episode aired…

I fucking hate the internet sometimes.

So Ash won…

*CRAZY-ASS APPLAUSE TIME*

You’d think Jesus “Tap Dancing” Christ rose from the dead with how crazy this was. The internet lost it because after the Kalos League’s close-call and Sinnoh’s B.S. match against the legendaries, they saw this as Ash’s staple in becoming a Pokemon Master. Whatever…

WHAT NEXT?!: Actually, much like what happened after Alain won the Pokemon League, the ceremony was quickly interrupted by the appearance of the gluttenous Ultra Beast, Guzzlord. And it took the power of everyone’s Z-Crystal to get rid of this beast. However, at the end of this powerful battle, Ash and everyone else learned a shocking secret of Professor Kukui.

Kukui is really Alola’s most famous battler, Masked Royal!

Well now that the Delcatty’s out of the bag, might as well have Kukui actually go up against Ash in a six-on-six match. NOW THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT! This was one hell of a match, spanning over three episodes (it was that bad-ass). Kukui’s got one hell of a line-up featuring pokemon from nearly every region. Now because of a certain battle, seeing Rowlet take out one of Kukui’s finest kinda pisses me off. But the biggest fights came from Incenaroar and Torracat. Because they fought, not one, not two, but THREE times! And their bout ended with Ash’s Torracat evolving and a double knockout! OH MY GOD, HOW COULD THIS GET ANY BETTER?!

In comes Tapu-Koko! He said, “Fuck your sixth pokemon, Kukui. I wanna battle this boy I’ve been stalking since 2016!” Yeah, we get one major fight between one of the Tapus and Ash’s Naganadel and Pikachu (and whatever pokemon that isn’t dead) and believe it or not, Ash won! He defeated all of Kukui’s pokemon AND Tapu-Koko. He’s seriously out-doing everything he’s ever done from XYZ! Even going above and beyond with Pikachu by doing a solid reference to Dragon Ball Z…You all know what they referenced.

So Ash, you just won the Pokemon League, you defeated your mentor, you took out one of the island deities, what are you gonna do next?

I’M GOING TO DISNEYLA…PALLET TOWN!

Yeah, I would choose that too Ash. Only for different and hornier reasons! Actually, Ash gave a lot of thought to what was next. Not only him, but everybody in his class! The biggest one of course was Lillie as she has been reading up on her father’s old journals and trying to figure out that gift he left her as a baby before he disappeared. I still can’t believe he got her quite a rare pokemon like Magerna. But Magerna has been a husk until Lillie took care of it and now it’s freakin’ mobil. Back to Ash, it wasn’t really until he fought Kiawe in a post-match fight that he buckled down on what he wants to do next. And I think Olivia mentioning traveling kinda sparked Ash for his next journey.

And wouldn’t you know it, Team Rocket at the same time gets word from Giovanni to pack their shit up and return to Kanto. Mimikyu in its satanic fashion tries to take out Pikachu one last time. But it failed, almost drowned in the water, and was then SAVED by the very Pokemon it’s tried to kill the last 145 episodes. Okay, vendetta over, later bitches. Team Rocket ended up leaving Maernie and Mimikyu in the dead of night. And Bewear promised to watch after them in their absence and gave us something we haven’t seen since this show began…a proper blast off! Team Rocket blasted off once more. I’m feeling quite nostalgic because it’s been a while.

Hey, I just realized. What happened to Jigglypu-

WHO CARES!

Okay then, I’ll probably see it in another 10 years.

Lillie decided to go off with her mother and brother to travel. Lusamine handed over her responsibilities to Rotomdex. And on the day of Lillie’s departure, she ends up almost in the same fashion as Serena’s goodbye (but thankfully we’re on a boat and she can’t do any last-minute smooches). Lillie remembered all that Ash has done for her and how much she’s grown, so she gives him a very earnest “Thank You”. Now for Ash’s goodbye to his host family! Now I’ve pretty much heard and seen the internet cherish this cute bond between Kukui, Burnet, and Ash. And yeah, it’s pretty genuine! Whenever we get an opening scene of them in Kukui’s home, they’re usually doing something family-ish. And they’re definitely going to miss that! Poor Burnet was even crying!

On Ash’s flight back to Pallet Town, he looks out the window and sees his friends giving him one final farewell as they fly through the skies with their partner pokemon.

In the aftermath we see, Sophocles leaving to go with his cousin, Mallow’s older brother returning home, Shaymin transforming into its flying form (yes, flying away leaving Mallow), Kiawe is doing some training with Olivia, Lana traveling with her father to fish for a mythical pokemon, Hau taking on Nanu in a grand trial, Team Skull just hanging there, Bewear looking after Maernie and Mimikyu, Lusamine traveling with the kids, and something that shocked the shit out of me! Even though I called it in the back of my mind!

We close out the episode with Kukui and Burnet sitting together and...

WHAT THE WHAT?!

NANI?

NANI THE FUCK?

IS THAT A BABY BUMP?! It is. It freakin’ is! God I hope Ash didn’t walk in on them having sex. Don’t be silly Medea, they probably conceived this child when Ash was either training or having a sleepover. Truthfully, I say they did the nasty when Ash, Kiawe, and Sophocles spent the night in the woods training.

OOH, BETTER IMAGE! They did roleplaying during sex and Kukui wore the Masked Royal mask! Just let me have this moment guys. I really enjoy frolicking in my gutter mind!

Oh and closing message, “and your dreams!”

I seriously hope the English dub keeps the end credits to this. They have a lousy reputation of skimping on things like that. They even skipped the photo scene at the end of BW. Please for crap’s sake, keep the ending scenes!

Yes, in the back of my mind I thought Sun and Moon would be radical and give us a pregnant Burnet. I knew this would happen sometime after that wedding episode a year and a half ago. But then a few weeks before the Sun and Moon finale, I wound up dreaming about Kiawe’s mother pregnant and she was wearing the exact same dress Burnet is wearing in the final scene. Sometimes my dreams can be fucking spooky and spot-on at the same time.

WOW-EE-WOWEE-WOW-WOW! Okay, um. Some thoughts! This anime gave me such a huge slump during a lot of it. I cannot lie. There was a long period of time where I was just disinterested in Sun and Moon. And seeing how other people were (especially those who were staunch XYZ fans) yeah I can see that. One big, annoying factor was once again, the animation. Yeah, you whiny bitches complaining BW Ash was the worst? You owe that one an apology! Because this Ash looks nothing like the past 5 Ash’s! And they tried this comedic style that won on some parts and failed in other departments. Though, spot-on whenever we get a Jojo’s reference! There were episodes that were just absolute MEH. And this is coming from the same person who sat through all the fillers in Johto, MORE THAN ONCE! And I had some severe reservations about seeing a main cast this huge trying to get some character growth. I had absolutely no expectations for anyone and thought they were gonna serve as dead weight (except for Kiawe and Lana).

Once again, I’m glad to see my expectations are blown away. There has been massive character development and they managed to hit all the main characters and even some of the minor ones. Lillie especially has blossomed throughout the series. As a girl who was afraid of Pokemon, I am impressed at how far she’s come. She was able to overcome her fear of pokemon eventually, hatch a pokemon from an egg, excel the power of Z-moves, bring back to life a rare/mythical pokemon, and even make it to the top 16 of the Alolan League. While Lana is still my best girl of this season, Lillie is definitely a wonder to behold. Sophocles, I had the littlest of hope or care for him. I still am not a fan of him really, but when you see this boy overcome certain anxieties, hurdles, and one sad moment involving the meteorite pokemon, you see he’s a pretty solid character.

And then there’s Mallow…Dammit! So I just realized as I’m wrapping up Sun and Moon.

One of the biggest things I saw was “Family”. And seeing as Alola is a take on Hawaii and one of the biggest things people pride theirselves upon is family, this totally makes sense. In Sun and Moon, we saw a lot of different kinds of families. Small ones like Sophocles. Bigger ones like Kiawe and Lana. Families that have had their own share of heartache like Mallow and Lillie. Ones that end up starting like Kukui and Burnet! Hala and Hau’s little relationship. And even families that are reunited like Bewear and Stuffel! These particular moments and episodes were ones that touched me in a way only Miyazaki can reach. Particularly Mallow’s story! I already mentioned this in the saddest moment category, but Mallow with her deceased mother is one of the best character growth episodes in Pokemon history. Up until that point, we’ve seen Mallow pretty perky, a good cook, and a supportive friend, especially to Ash, Lana, and Lillie. But then we get hit with this one story that no one expected. And now, let’s discuss Ash in this part! We got to see Ash settle in with a second family life with Kukui and Burnet. I mean let’s face it, all the other places Ash traveled he would roam from town to town. Here in Alola, it’s like Kukui was the father he never had and Burnet was like a second mother. And I suppose they felt like Ash was a son to them. So quite fitting they wound up having a baby after his departure.

And it wasn’t just the humans that have grown, but their pokemon too! Many of Ash and his friends’s pokemon were able to grow and shatter all expectations. Two of Ash’s pokemon especially deserve that praise and that’s Lycanroc and Incenaroar. Back when Lycanroc was a Rockruff, he always strived to get stronger. And in later episodes, it looked up to other Lycanroc like Olivia’s and Gladion’s. Then it evolved and it’s been quite the journey to try and train this doggo to it’s full potential. And because this is one of Ash’s pokemon, this has gotta be a one-of-a-kind pokemon (dusk form). Well Lycanroc has overcome some tough obstacles (yes, including bearing through getting dirty) and went on to be one of Ash’s top pokemon.

Litten, THANKFULLY didn’t have a dickhead trainer abusing him like many of Ash’s other fire-type pokemon. But Litten’s story was far from perfect as it was a stray cat pokemon living on the streets with an old Stoutland. And Ash took in Litten after Stoutland passed away. Litten was a pretty decent member of Ash’s team, but definitely got the fire in his eyes when he saw Masked Royal and Incenaroar. That encouraged Litten throughout the series to get stronger. Even leading to one of the best fights during Kukui and Ash’s match! Good doggo, good kitty!

Oh yeah, probably should talk about the battles! Unlike the other gyms up to this point, Ash went through Grand Trials (just like you would in the game). Except Ash really didn’t do that many of those mini trials since Kiawe, Lana, Mallow, and Sophocles were his classmates and not giving out tests! But Ash still wound up battling the big kahunas like Hala, Olivia, Nanu, and Hapu. And in the old Ash fashion, there were battles he won like a champ, ones where he’d have to try again, and ones where he got supremely lucky. Yeah, that Ash vs. Hapu match was such bullshit. But I’d still take that match over Ash vs. Hau in the Alolan League!

I will NEVER get over that match. Yeah aside from that travesty, a lot of the Pokemon League matches were pretty stellar, even the ones not involving Ash. I really enjoyed Sophocles vs. Kiawe and the Lana vs. Mallow match.

LET’S LOOK BACK AT MY HIGH HOPES: At the end of Pokemon XY, I made a nice list of things I would like to see. Did any of my high hopes come to fruition? Let’s see…

First of all, NO, I DID NOT SEE MY ANIME HUSBAND! For fuck’s sake Pokemon! If Snorlax exists at the Oak lab, Tracey Sketchit should too. They both came from the same arc. But NO! He’s not at the lab and doesn’t even get a mention. That is messed up! I don’t know if this is because they couldn’t get Tomokazu Seki to stop playing Gilgamesh for a second to come back or they’re trying to distance themselves from the Orange Islands as much as possible, or if they just FORGOT his existence, but I’m not digging this. No, Medea hates this with a holy fucking passion.

Old characters returning under this new style! Yeah, it happened. I think I was only a fan of how the women looked, so Misty and Delia looked okay to me. I just wasn’t a fan of Professor Oak and Brock. Although, kudos to the anime for having Brock take his shirt off and show off his six-pack. DAMN BOY! The animation ended up staying the same throughout the series, but I managed to tolerate/muscle through it.

I know I forgot to write this part, but I really wanted Kukui to remain single for the series. Yeah, that fell at the waist-side! Kukui was single…but then he got married. Okay, I can accept it. That was the cutest proposal, I have to admit that. And I was howling when I saw pregnant Burnet at the end. So alls well that ends well!

Let’s see, Lusamine wasn’t voiced by Miki Itou like I wanted. Then again, this Lusamine wasn’t a psycho bitch. Although kudos for getting Nobuhiko Okamato voicing Gladion. I am forever happy with that outcome.

Did I get more Clefables? FUCK YEAH, I DID! Holy shit, I forgot Lusamine had a Clefable in the games and didn’t even think the anime was going to keep that, but HOLY SHIT THEY DID AND I’M SO HAPPY! Not only that but we were able to see Clefable every so often. It’s so adorable. I just wanna hug her!

Lillie’s egg of course wasn’t Cosmog, it was Alolan Vulpix. Cosmog can’t be hatched. It just magically appears. Hey, cute choice though!

Did Ash catch a psychic pokemon? Uhhhhhhh…no! Still no psychic type.

Did I see Wicke and Olivia, fuck yeah I did! Wicke is adorable especially when she bosses Faba around. My only thing with Olivia is that, I wish the anime didn’t make her into a clumsy oaf the whole time. My God, she tripped more times than Bianca did during Best Wishes. That’s sad! Now her being the object of Brock’s eye, that I wasn’t expecting. I’m wondering if Brock will keep in contact with Olivia or if he’s moved onto another booty-call of the day.

Overall, it was a bumpy start for me to get into Sun and Moon. But it wasn’t until we got to important things like the Aether Foundation, Mallow’s mother, and Guzma’s debut that got me back fully invested. I know it’s damn near impossible to convince staunch XYZ fans to watch this, but give it a shot for the stories. The animation is just so undoable after what XY has given us, but still.

Currently, most (if not all) episodes of Sun and Moon dubbed will be available on Hulu, Netflix, Pokemon TV, and Disney XD. Yeah, no one has gotten around to giving us legal subtitled episodes sad to say. Here’s hoping Disney XD will continue holding onto the Pokemon license as they happen to be the ONLY one that literally has all episodes available. On the channel, they still kinda restrict themselves to only playing the current season, but sometimes we get lucky with the movies.

MORE HIGH HOPES: Okay, new high hopes for the new Pokemon series, Pokemon…um, 2019? Seriously guys, what’s up with this cryptic-ass series?

*Signs that Tracey Sketchit exists. Just show him at Oak’s lab or somewhere in this series. That’s all I ask. I will even swallow my pride and allow him to be at the Waterflower Slut Brigade in Cerulean. Just please, for the love of Arceus, show him to me. That flash in the 20th movie does not settle me. Give him to me, now! Don’t care how, I WANT IT NOW! I am the Veruca Salt of seeing Tracey again.

*Aside from Tracey, and seriously show him to me already…If at possible, update on May and Iris. Everyone else can go fuck off! These two deserve an update if Ash is doing this around the world adventure with his new boy-toy Gou. I know it may be difficult to get their voice actors back as I’m sure Aoi Yuuki’s schedule is insane and Kaori has an illness preventing her from voicing. Still! Something from those two…AND ONLY THOSE TWO FEMALES! I’m sick of Misty popping in without giving us what we want. Dawn and Serena need to go to the Pokemon version of Antartica until 2030. And unless Mallow, Lana, and Lillie make a shocking discovery, I don’t want to see them for a few years.

*CLEFABLES! Okay, yeah, that goes without saying!

*YAMPER or as I call him, Winston Corgles Ein Handbanana the Breadloaf must be seen at least once every two episodes.The opening theme doesn’t count. I want to see Winston Corgles Ein Handbanana the Breadloaf.

*Eventually spend some time in Galar and fight gym battles there. I know the Pokemon anime wants to take a sharp left turn into WTF territory, but sometimes don’t mess with the status quo and have Ash take on some gyms. Mmkay?!

*If Team Rocket and Giovanni really have to show up again, could we PLEASE finally get Ariana, Archer, Petrel, and Proton to be in the anime? Or as my friend calls them, the Stupid Sexy Rocket Execs!

*And while we’re at it, could we get an arc in this series where Ash goes to the Battle Tower in Sinnoh?

*Give James a Galarian Weezing.

*Rica Matsumoto must eventually sing an OP theme for this series. Goes without saying!

*Give Ash a Psychic type.

*I know nobody ages in this show, but please don’t keep Burnet pregnant forever. Also, if Ash decides to visit Kukui and Burnet again, I wanna see their baby.

Final category (I promise)!

IN MEMORIUM: I would like to close my review to Pokemon: Sun & Moon to talk about a certain voice that has been at the center of the Pokemon anime from day one. That was Unshou Ishizuka. If you watched the Japanese version of Pokemon, chances are you have heard this man’s voice in any episode you watch. Whether as Professor Oak or the narrator! Not only those two, but voiced Alder in the Black/White series, Samson Oak in the Sun/Moon series, several versions of the Pokedex, Magikarp Salesman, and many notable pokemon including Misty’s Gyarados, Cilan’s Stunfisk, Dawn’s Mamoswine, Ash’s Muk, Brock’s Onix/Steelix, and even Tracey’s Scyther. In August 2018, he passed away from Esophagus Cancer. So losing someone of this caliber is a huge hit to Pokemon.

I didn’t start watching the Japanese version religiously until 2006 (right around the time the dub murdered eardrums). But I was able to hear him as Onix and Gyarados early on because they had the same voice throughout the entire series run in English. But I had a lot of fun listening to him as Professor Oak when I switched to the Japanese version. Not to mention his other roles outside the Pokemon series including Mr. Satan in the later Dragon Ball series and Grandpa Joestar on JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. I seriously miss him. May he rest in peace.

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lockdownuk · 4 years ago

Text

Lockdown Diary Part 1

A personal account during the lockdown in the UK due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

23/03/2020 8:30pm Boris Johnson, UK Prime Minister, gives a live address to the nation to, effectively, put the country on lockdown to stem the spread of the deadly coronavirus strain, Covid-19.

Many of us have been self-isolating for days but this latest development within the UK in reaction to the pandemic feels very serious and very scary. I decided to keep a simple diary and where better but online.

Day 1: Last night Boris called it, today we’re doing it. I had started working from home (wfh) yesterday as had most people at my work (RCI)..last week I had been preparing laptops as fast as poss for everyone. Even just today, the idea of going into work seems alien and dangerous. Now lockdown (ld) means that it would soon be illegal to do so unless utterly necessary.

Online, FaceBook (fb) especially, is awash with reaction…a lot of calling out people who are out and about in greater numbers than 2, which is against ld rules.

Day 2: Just trying to let work occupy my thoughts and time which is easy enough ‘cos everyone I support (IT engineer) is new to wfh and is having teething problems with all the new laptops. Meanwhile, I keep abreast of comings and goings online…actually socially interacting more than I might otherwise, weirdly

Day 3: Highlight of the day is an online quiz organised by a chap called Jay Flynn on fb…a bunch of us took it as individuals while chatting on Messenger while Jay streamed quiz over fb live and YouTube. It was a good crack and I had two cans of Coors Light which got me pissed!

Day 4: Work is still mad - so many people with IT issues wfh…it’s challenging trying resolve all these probelms remotely but I am rising to it. I actually enjoy it. It satisfies my want for problem-solving.

The ld is in full swing but it’s very early days. The news is dominated, obviously, by Covid-19 and the ever changing stats of infections and deaths. Today, for example, the USA took over, from China, as the country with the most infections. I know there will be an end to all this and I am determined to be there, going out, getting pissed down the pub, gigging, shaking hands with my mates, hugging anyone and everyone who’ll let me - it’ll be a proper party. But I am filled with a dread that it’s going to be a fucking long time coming.

This evening was spent virtually with Foggy, Ham and Andy P…doing a quiz - a rehearsal for Foggy in the hope of doing one to a wider audience next week. It was good fun and great to have a few beers chatting with everyone, Later I video called Fog and we drank ‘til gone midnight, putting the world to rights. I was well pissed.

Day 5: First non-work day of the ld. Housework, daily walk, out for supplies (drop a script order off…queuing outside boots for 15 minues!, bread, baccy and booze). This evening, I’m listening to the next album in NME list of 1985 albums I’m working through - Grace Jones Slave to the Rhythm…fucking pain in the arse ‘cos it’s not on Spotify so I am searching for each song, in order, on YouTube. Plus eating and drinking, of course. Quick video chat with karen and Grace, Dan in the background. I wanted a tin of kidney beans for chilli but Karen hasn’t got one ffs. Burger it is. They are all playing scrabble - I’d love to join in…

Day 6: A quiet day…housework, cooking, daily walk. Highlight was a half hour chinwag with dad who, as I would expect, despite his 84 years, is coping and doing just fine. Most other people with a dad that age would have, on top of their own concerns, something more to worry about during this crisis….for me, it feels like I’ve got someone to turn to, should I need to.

Day 7: Work is starting to feel more routine but it’s a long way off being in the office, which is never routine anyway. That may seem surprising since I do IT support but it’s a varied role, especially at the modern dinosaur of an organisation that is RCI. I try to be as disciplined as possible but I miss not dressing for work, not driving to work, not needing to actually prepare lunch (until lunchtime). I don’t actually need to shower every morning. I don’t think I have to ordinarily but do because I’m mixing with others in the office. I certainly don;t need to now. I only mix with me, so showering becomes a chore but I’m doing it every other morning in the name of the aforementioned discipline. I am worried how long RCI can keep going before laying staff off. I dread being out of work full stop, let alone during this ld, or even thereafter. I think the economies of the world will need time to recover so finding work will be tough à la 2008. I think, if lay-offs were to occur, I’d be in real danger. Last in first out and all that. But, I’ll cross that bridge if and when I come to it.

Day 8: At work there was a large online meeting whereby the MD told us that RCI are going to furlough some staff. The UK, and Ireland staff will be consulted this coming Thursday and Friday (it’s Tuesday today). I shall be reading up on what the furlough arrangements are in the UK due to Covid-19. I know the government have set aside some money, I need to know what I might get paid and how to claim it. In the past, when I’ve been out of work, I’ve been entitled to jack shit other than JSA, This time around, should I be laid off as I expect, I might not have to eat into my savings, fingers crossed. Meanwhile, I have decided to knock up another blog with a photo of myself each day of the ld (from now on) - it’s a sister to this diary.

Day 9: Actually typing this on day 10. Yesterday was a strange day as I contemplate being furloughed (hope for the best, expect the worst)…I’d be paid 80% of my wage according to what the government have said to assist in the Covid-19 crisis…so, were that to be true, I’d be OK money-wise, although still earning way less than I want to prepared for retirement (I am currently still waiting for feedback on a pay increase request I put in at work last year!) I’m more worried about how I would fill my day if I wasn’t working. So, that being said, I flopped and moped about all yesterday evening after my daily walk and, without achieving much at all, didn’t find time to write this entry on the right day…so maybe I can fill my days without much effort!

Day 10: I was furloughed today, starting 5pm tomorrow (Friday 3rd April) and it’s fucked me off. I know it’s not personal but, actually, do I? They’re cutting back the Kettering Desktop team by one, redacted It seems obvious to do this by the ‘last in, first out’ maxim but what about money? others are on more than me (redacted). What about offering it voluntarily - others might go for 80% pay for fuck all - others have family at home to occupy the day (redacted) . A little bit of me thinks it might be preferable furlough me (redacted) …others seems to be a favourite and that annoys me. It annoys me because I think I shoot myself in the foot too often. I’m too vocal about some of the (redacted) decisions and practices at work, plus other reasons that I know but can’t be bothered to type. But, my point, is I don’t play the politically correct, corporate game and therefore forget to look out for my own best interests. FUCK.

So, as of tomorrrow evening, I’ve no work to do. The challenge will be to find a way to occupy my day. I’ve already registered to volunteer for the NHS during the ld…let’s see what becomes of that. And I’ve signed up for web development course. I’m going to get fucking pissed this w/e, starting early tomorrow evening.

Day 11: It’s day 12 as I am writing this entry…that might tell any reader, and remind me, that I did as I promised and got pretty drunk. I spent the day geting my work affairs in order i.e. clearing down support tickets assigned to me. I did a good job, nothing left to handover to the remaining team (Jim, Cristina and Mark) and onky one ticket put into the assigned pool. Some nice converstaions were had with associates, many of whom are, too, being furloughed. Nice words were said and Jim and Mark both were supportive in conversations and messages - they both know I don’t wnat this and, I think, they are both relieved it’s not happening to them. 5 pm arrives and I shutdown my work laptop for the last time for at least 12 weeks. After my daily walk, I video chat with Karen, crack open a beer, make Chinese chicken curry (fucking loads, fucking tasty), finish watching The National Theatre stream of One Man, Two Guvnors (really good, see twoinchreview) and the caught up with, and talked bollocks with Andy, Marc and Ham - we tried getting Rog in on it, no dice. I then watched The Heat (I fucking love that film), ate some more, smoked several single-skinners, drank, in total, three cans, seven bottles. I went to bed shortly after 4am. I felt resigned to my furlough and pleasantly wasted.

Day 12: A subdued day…didn’t wake until gone 1:30pm. Jaded but not really suffering. Mooched about, social media, listening to music, watching telly, farting about on the iPad. My daily walk, over the last fews days, has taken a twist…I am trying to run parts of it. Mainly short distances, 80-100m (I estimate) three, maybe four times. It’s fucking knackering me out. I used to run everywhere when I was a teen. Attempting to run now just makes me feel fucking old. Well, I am, so that’s about right.

Day 13: Another day like yesterday except I got up at 10:30 and didn’t feel jaded. The subdued feeling comes from the realsiation that the ld isn’t being treated as seriously as it should be across the board. The news and even posts by locals on FB (Oundle chatter group) suggest groups still meeting up. The weather this w/e has been a factor - 17°c today. I think a total ld will be enforced soon and that would fuck me off. My daily walk is pretty essential for me nowadays not least for the ‘good for your soul’ benefits that dad has always mentioned. Even today’s walk saw a car parked at the gates to the field on the way to Ashton and people on a blanket soaking up the sun, dogs off their leads and people (looked like a family) playing footy on South Road field. Individually they are not presenting any danger, what with the fact they are either living together or far away from others. But they are flaunting the rules and the more that happens the less likely they’ll carry on getting away with it, which will mean total ld for all! I finished the 50 1985 albums today. It mostly confirms to me that I only listened to two albums released that year (Kate Bush, The Waterboys) any other vinyl I spun would have already been in my collection pre-85.

The sausage casserole I made for tea was fucking lush - 4 birdeye chillies. I saw and spoke with Dan and Grace this morning, they were just coming back from a walk. I am pleased to fuck they are together and sorted out the issues they had earlier this year.

Day 14: My first day proper of furlough. Finished my two inch review of the NME 50 albums. Long chat with Rita, quick one with dad. Messaged Sam about Romiley’s present - she’s 10 on the 9th April (Thursday) - ordered some Lego thing from Amazon. Turned the car engine over (reminded myself the driver-side wing mirror is fucked) and moved it to another spot in the Co-op car park - bumped into Matt T. He’s struggling - no work coming in and he can’t claim any of the money on offer ‘cos he’s not being totally honest about his circumstances - made me realise I’m not that bad off…..but I feel depressed about it all, especially with the news that Boris has gone into intensive care.

Day 15: I began a diploma (?) course on web design with Shaw Academy (it was free). They have actual classes (which are recorded) which you schedule yourself. The first one was, I have to say, really interesting - I look forward to continuing. On my walk today, I saw a car parked at the gate to the field at the bottom of Riverside Close; it was branded with Cunninghams Estate Agent with a 01536 number. I am pretty sure I saw the driver walking her dog (unleashed) on the field. I took a photo and rang the number. Yes, I ratted the culprit out…fucking annoys me that I had to. Better than reporting to the police, all round. Hopefully her work will put a stop to her doing it and, the more people that adhere to the rules without the police getting wind of infractions, the more likely we’ll be able to continue to exercise away from home.

Day16: More online learning including checking out other sites (pluralsight) for more learning opportunities. Coded my first web page, basic but mine, in HTML and CSS. A few beers & smokes and watching White Boy Rick in the evening, interspersed with the usual social media / messaging shit, incuding this entry, of course!

Day 17: Typing this on Day 18. After a few beers last night while chatting with Fog (twice - the first chat ended with him ‘having’ to go to bed. Later, I noticed he was commenting on FB, so I video called him…round two of chatting!). I got quite fucking pissed. Bed around 4am.

Day18: Up at 1pm. Long walk today, 7 km. Anything over 40 minutes, I’ve realised, results in a hypo.

Day19: Well, having gone to bed at gone 5am I got up at nearly 1pm feeling far better than I should have. Breakfast followed by a walk, spoke with Karen (mowing her front lawn) and Dan. He and Grace have split up which is sad news but he seems OK. Went shopping (milk and sweets) and ended up with a shit load of booze, the post of which on FB was quite amusing. Homemade burgers for tea (they’re in the fridge as I type) - gonna try and make Five Guys…

Day20: The Five Guys burger attempt didn’t go as well as I wanted. I think less than 5% fat mince just doesn’t bind that well. However, I managed to get something resembling a burger into the bun and, with cheese, hot sauce and jalapeños, it was tasty enough. More of the same when I finish typing this entry. Strange Easter Day today, as I knew it would be. The best thing I saw today was a video Tom posted on FB of him and Molly doing a mashup of Starsailor and George Michael - Tom on guitar singing the former, Molly singing the latter. It was fucking fantatstic.

Day 21: Easter Monday. Surreal…it’s feeling very surreal now, this lockdown.

Two things that bother me right now:

i) The political point scoring on FB. I get it, I really do…people like to bring up ‘obvious’ failings in the party’s mistakes. For example, Marc posting comparisons between UK and Germany’s figures of cases and deaths due to Covid-19. I doesn’t make impressive reading for the government and it should be held accountable. But not fucking now!

ii) Will they introduce rotational furloughing at RCI? It’s only been a week, 11 to go. And, it bothers me that I was furloughed rather than Mark. Pathetic of me, I know! But, should it last the 12 week stretch, I want to go back to work and let someone else have the chance to have fuck all to do all day! That being said, I’m still learning web design through Shaw Academy. Even today, bank holiday, I revised Lesson 2.

Day22: Nice catchup with Dad today - he and Rita seem to be more than OK with lockdown. I actually cannot wait until we can meet up at The Farmers again!

Day 23: While I had a Corvee engineer come to the house today to do a gas safety check (I waited upstairs while he was here, self-isolation and all that), and had the fourth online web design lesson, had a trip to Boots to pick up insulin, got milk from Tesco’s, saw American Rachel and had a chat (while we both queued to get into Tesco’s) and had a very nice walk along a different route from the norm, in the pleasant sunshine and watched Contagion on Netflix - all today - I AM STILL BORED AS FUCK!

Day 24: I had plans for today - revise the last two lessons of Shaw Academy’s web design course, investigate a ethical hacking course, do some washing, clean upstairs (or at least the bathroom) plus all the usual stuff. Then, as a reward, have some beers. Well, guess what. I am not having beers this evening. I managed the laundry. Plus I manged to subtitle my YouTube perfect snabby video (something I have been meaning to do for a while, but, come on!) It took me fucking ages. But it is funny! So, a fucking far from fruitful day. Plus the government announced at least 3 more weeks of lockdown. There’ll be loads more, I reckon. Tomorrow…I promise I’ll be better tomorrow…

Day 25: I did do better! Firstly the Corveee man fucked the boiler which I only noticed late yesterday but still managed to get sorted today. I did some excellent revision and learning of HTML (tags) and CSS. I cleaned the bathroom and hall. And I discovered TikTok (fucking excellent dancing and funny vids) plus discovered a new FaceBook word game (Sam sent me an invite) called WordBlitz and I am pretty good. Having beers now (nearly 11pm).

Day 26: Today I found myself calling 111. I had a pain in my side last night, I thought it might be constipation! That not being the case (!), today I went to 111.nhs.uk and, following their questions, it recommended I seek out a GP straightaway. Once I let the website know that is not possible, it directed me to visit walk in centres. I spoke with Karen thereafter - for advice about whether it’s a good idea to enter such an establishment - I really don’t want to increase me chances of catching the Covid-19 virus. Karen recommended ringing 111 since the website does not take into account my diabetes (so bloody sensible a suggestion!)

After ringing and answering many questions, the lady said she’d get an OOHS GP to call. The doctor called soon after and it seems most likely I have a grumbling appendix (chronic appendicitis) and to ring again (well, 999) if the pain becomes unbearable.

I now have a bag at the ready for hospital which I really hope I don’t have to use. Today, I have, therefore, done fuck all - not even a walk - but I am having a beer now (midnight) and shall attempt to sleep as well as possible and hope this pain subsides naturally…

It occurs to me that I turn to Karen when things become flumoxing - my excuse, this time, is she works at the surgery but that was mere convenience.

Day 27: My ‘appendicitis pain was the same when I woke up (10:20) but no worse. I managed to change bed clothes and clean my bedroom but didn’t risk a walk (in case something drastic happens when I’m in a fucking field).

People’s responses and questions online have been heartening (Rachel Harris, Susie Grange, Bethan, Jo, Tracey Weber, Debbie De Prisco and, not least Dan). As the day progresses, I feel better but not right. I spoke with Dad about it and, as I told him, I shall ring Oundle GP tomorrow. Meanwhile, I did Sam Clew’s FB Live quiz, which was good, and am now having a beer or two.

Day 28: The pain in my side has definitley diminished. I called the Oundle surgery today to talk about what treatment I should have for ‘grumbling appendicitis’. The reseptionist organised a call back from a GP - Dr. Cash. Basically, he said he didn’t believe the condition existed, that acute appendicitis doesn’t happen after the age of 35, and ‘his gut felling’ is it will all just clear up.

I shall seek a more sensible diagnosis after lockdown and hope it doesn’t flare up again before then.

Day 29: I sent an email to the team at work today (Jim, Mark, Cristina and Sueanne). I hadn’t heard from them and I wanted to check in and, also, make a point that I will be posing the ‘rotational furlough’ question to HR at some point. It was as I wrote the email that I realised it’s only been two weeks and two days of furlough, and that includes Easter! Seems so much fucking longer. Anyway, everyone replied and it was good to hear from them….Mark came off his bike and broke ribs and collarbone! Lesson 5 of the Web Design course with Shaw Academy. It’s becoming apparent that, if you don’t pay for the course ‘toolkit’ it’s all rather patchy! The instructor dives into lines of code (HTML, CSS and Java) with no explanation….I feel like I did on the ifrst lesson of further maths ate Stamford School! I shall soldier on and beef up the missing parts with W3Schools (a great website and learning aid for coding). Two quick points. I am no longer running any part of my daily walk; hurts too much. I am addicted to Wordblitz and TikTok. Day30: I am writing this on day 31, I just forgot yesterday! It was a non eventful day. I did watch Midnight Run (again!) and had a couple of midweek beers though.

#diary #tumblr diary #lockdown #covid19 #lockdownuk

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thecomicsnexus · 5 years ago

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THE WILD STORM #13-18 JULY - DECEMBER 2018 BY WARREN ELLIS, JON DAVIS-HUNT AND STEVE BUCCELLATO

SYNOPSIS (FROM DC DATABASE AND COMIC VINE)

It is raining in New York when Jacklyn King arrives in the alley, summoned by Director Miles Craven and Deputy Director Ivana Baiul. She is surprised to find a crimescene - and horrified to find the victim is Mitch Saunders, her subordinate. Baiul rattles off the timeline - forensics puts the time of death almost immediately after when they know he let IO headquarters yesterday. Baiul is condescending to Jacklyn, but offers to contact Henry Bendix, head of Skywatch, whose computers they just hacked, and who had both motive and means to order such an assassination.

Craven demurs on a diplomatic solution, ordering the mobilization of three CATs (covert action teams) and the beginning of a plan to kill everyone Skywatch Ground Division in New York. War between the agencies may have already begun.

On the Skywatch satellite headquarters, Henry Bendix and his XO Lauren Pennington are wondering if Craven will back off after what they did. Bendix admits that if it doesn't, they could target the families of agents - and also start disabling research facilities. Pennington interjects that wasn't productive when they did it last time, so Bendix gives her an order: he wants two sets of plans, one where they stealthily disable a research site, and one where they leave a public pile of corpses.

In Levin's Diner, in the desert, John Lynch is being watched. Looking up from his greasy breakfast, he locks eyes with a distracted man at the counter, who states that "they all know" what he did, and that he doesn't know what grew from his actions. Musing, Lynch leaves the diner immediately.

That night, he arrives at a farmstead in the middle of nowhere. Musing that the man he seeks used to like being around people, he almost doesn't notice the field of stakes behind the barn, each one topped by a crude arrow, all pointing at the same area of the night sky. Entering the residence via the back door, he sees his target is watching an adventure show on the television, but is also aware of his entrance. Lynch introduces himself, and identifies the man as Colonel Marc Slayton.

In shadows, Slayton tells him there is beer in the fridge. Lynch takes two cans, and throws one to Slayton. He wonders what drew Slayton here. Grinning, Marc explains he looked up his surname. It comes from the Norse word sletta, meaning "level field", and the Old English word tun, meaning a farm. So, he went to be a farmer on a level field, hunting and planting.

Lynch cuts to the point - IO is looking into Project Thunderbook. He tried to destroy all the files, but he left an index that he could watch, so that he could tell if someone ever came looking - and he might not have gotten all the files. So, he has come to warn Marc Slayton.

Slayton accuses him of not knowing what was done to the Thunderbook subjects. Lynch rattles off a potted history of the project - how IO found corpses in ancient burial sites which contained active genetic material they identified as alien. How their gen/active samples were found to plug easily into human DNA. How he went to his best and brightest, and offered them a place in a project to use the gen/active samples to become human enhanciles. And how, despite the unknown factors, despite the dangers, Marc Slayton had been the first to volunteer, stating his desire to push the possible forward and improve the world.

Slayton lashes back verbally, saying his position has changed. As his wrist starts to glow, he explains that the sample he was bonded to turned out to be a genetic engine that grew an organic computer inside of him. It grew other things, too, he says, as a glowing barbed tendril emerges from his wrist. And he has been feeding it. Feeding it enough that he has started to hear it talk to him, hear it pull him towards... something, possibly the other Thunderbook subjects, possibly beings far stranger. It wants to eat people. It can tell there is something unusual about Lynch. And it occurs to him that whatever IO knows, the only person who definitely knows his location... is Lynch.

Slayton strikes out with his barbed tendril, but Lynch dodges right. Firing wildly, Lynch punctures Slayton's beercan, which distracts Slayton, Slayton lashes out again, but Lynch tricks him into burying his tendril in the fridge, then knocks over the fridge and shoots rapidly into it as he runs. The resulting explosion wrecks the kitchen, giving Lynch the space to escape to his car, at which point, he considers Slayton warned, and drives away at high speed.

In the doorway of a closed-down music shop, the homeless man known as "the mayor" is trying to sleep when he is shaken awake by two women, who introduce themselves as Shen Li-Men and Jenny Mei Sparks. Opening a portal, Li-Men tries to recruit him by letting him sleep on Jenny's couch.

At his farm, Marc Slayton is bandaging small cuts in his face. He has decided that he does not like John Lynch, who always escapes the fallout of whatever the situation is, only to return and judge others. Slayton turns to self-pity, remarking he has "hunted" so many humans and "planted" them so that their souls could be launched to the world his alien implant came from. In the mirror, an alien creature with six glowing eyes seeks to calm him, saying he has done so much for it, and that to save himself, he should of course flee John Lynch or IO or whatever authorities they can summon and hit the open road. Crying tears of gratitude, Slayton identifies this being as "the Carer".

In her home, the popstar known as Voodoo sleeps drugged and deeply. A being emerges from the shadows, and placing one massive hand on her head, it orders her to "dream of the world as it truly is".

On the Skywatch satellite, a mission to Mars is undocking. With its drive running and its stealth systems operating, it will be at Mars in a week. On the control deck, Bendix and Pennington are making small talk, when Pennington says that Bendix and Craven have exactly one thing in common. They are afraid of a public scrap. A public scrap would reveal the power games both agencies have been playing. So, while she has compiled a list of people it would be useful to assassinate, and a list of facilities that could be destroyed or disabled, she has also written up a plan to break IO's control on Earth, radically destabilizing life and making it impossible for another polity to take their place.

It is night in New York, and John Colt is recording a video on his smartphone. Though he does not know his birthday by the reckoning of his home, he picked tomorrow as his birthday, long ago, and he makes a point of alerting Jacob Marlowe of its arrival every year, so that he starts the day angry. And he does this because when arrived here, on their spaceship from the homeworld, Khera, Jacob made them assume human shapes, to an unknown end. And then, for a reason he never explained to John, Jacob trashed the expedition by blowing up the spaceship, stranding the survivors here.

As he holds the camera, John marks his birthday as he always does - by temporarily shedding his human disguise to appear in his true form. Holding the phone in one hand and a glass of champagne in the other, John holds the camera to expertly frame his monstrous six-eyed face, and raises a toast to his own continued good health.

In New York, Lucy Blaze - Skywatch Ground Division, codename "Zealot" - is arriving five minutes late to work. However, before her co-workers can reassure her that this is fine, their office is attacked by a pair of I.O. covert action teams (C.A.T.s), who spray bullets across the office. Thinking fast, Lucy directs the last other survivor to the elevator banks to escape, then throws a desk at the attackers using superhuman strength. Using this as an opening, she proceeds to kill all six attackers using a silenced pistol. In the ensuing silence, she radios security for advice.

In a garage in the desert, John Lynch pulls in and addresses the lone employee by name: Alexandra Fairchild. Alexandra is suspicious, so John comes clean - someone in I.O. has started looking into Project Thunderbook, and he is warning all the project subjects so they can properly prepare. Accepting this, Alexandra brews him a pot of coffee and explains that she originally moved here because it is down the road from a town full of nice people who keep to themselves.

John asks if there is anyone around to eavesdrop, which gets Alexandra talking - about how she's been merrily surviving since she got out of the service, armed with nothing but some fake IDs, the "severance pay" that John gave everyone, and her skills as a mechanic who fixes things. How she tried to live with humans - mostly men, some women - and tried to fix them, before giving up in resignation. The tipping point was when she told her then-boyfriend that she was pregnant with their child, and he tried to kick the fetus to death, so she broke his neck with her bare hands.

The alien genetic implant that she got as part of Project Thunderbook wants her to fight. When she fights, it feeds on her anger, making her stronger and tougher every time. And realising the damage she could do to that child, she gave the baby up for adoption and vanished.

At this point, a plume of dust is visible on the road, and Alexandra mentions the other detail - the town down the road contains a family of ne'er-do-wells who like to mess with people. Recently, they stepped over the line, and Alexandra had asked them to stop. When they responded by targeting her, she killed the family matriarch. They are coming for her now. Today she will either die by violence, or vanish in the chaos - and she's not sure she can die. As Alexandra prepares to heft a pickup truck as a melee weapon, John Lynch asks what her daughter's name is.

Alexandra says her daughter should be in the system under the name "Caitlin Fairchild". She thanks him for warning her, and says that John ought to leave before the fighting starts.

As John Lynch drives away, he sees the garage explode behind him, and regrets that his life has led him here.

In New York, Miles Craven is having a video-call with Henry Bendix. Bendix is furious that I.O. would send C.A.T.s against his territory, and vows that Craven will atone. Craven responds that he took no pleasure from the attack, which was a punitive measure in response to the attack on I.O.'s Hightower facility and the subsequent hack on I.O.'s server - actions for which Craven will hold Skywatch responsible. Then Craven hangs up on him.

In Jenny Mei Sparks' London flat, Jenny and Shen Li-Men are explaining the world to the vagrant known as "the mayor", using Jenny's full-wall mind-map. The mayor is visibly agitated, and accuses them of talking about him as though he were not present. Li-Men thinks she has a solution to his predicament, and hands him a pill, saying it is medicine. The mayor responds with paranoia, but Jenny zaps him with electricity from her fingers - he is eating the damn pill.

Once he has swallowed the pill, Li-Men asks him his name. In amazement, the mayor says his name is Jack Hawksmoor.

On a country road with nearby foliage, Marc Slayton is experiencing car trouble. He flags down a passing motorist, who seems helpful, but Slayton undercuts him by asking which secret agency he works for. The man in the car demonstrates glowing eyes and says he works for Skywatch, prompting Slayton to tear the car apart with his whip appendage. Taking his attacker's spines, she starts singing.

In Skywatch Headquarters, Henry Bendix is fuming at the outcome of his last conversation with with Miles Craven. Skywatch has been blamed for an attack on an I.O. installation. Faced with the news from Pennington that their organization is not responsible, Bendix orders the deployment of the Little Stick - an experimental weapon developed in the Eighties, a foot-long diamond rod, which, when dropped from orbit, achieves sufficient velocity to strike the target with the force of a tactical nuclear device.

In London, Li-Men Shen is having a vision - a man, pinioned, his mouth in a gaping, silent scream, while science is perpetrated on his body: skin removed and reattached, treads on his feet, wires in his brain, bugs in his guts. Snapping out of this vision, she names the perpetrators as Skywatch, the secret space agency. The victim, the homeless man known as "the mayor", introduces himself as Jack Hawksmoor. He is still recovering from the drug Shen gave him, but he has a theory - Skywatch kidnapped and experimented on him, to make him into something that could survive and labor in a toxic city. And that he doesn't think he was the only one.

In orbit, a diamond rod - the Little Stick - breaks atmosphere, landing on the Hightower facility with a colossal boom.

In a gas station bathroom, Marc Slayton is having doubts. He regards his work for the being he calls the Carer as holy, but still he feels ill at the necessary killing. The being appears in a nearby mirror, and announce itself as "the Khera", and explains that it is what is necessary. Crying in gratitude and repentance, Slayton exits the bathroom, returning to the scene of three gruesome murders, and pausing only to craft an arrow to launch their souls as the Carer told him, he moves on.

In a small bar, John Lynch enters. Talking briefly to the barman, he sits down with a shy-looking man of Chinese descent in a corner table, and identifies him as Andrew Kwok. The shy man demurs, introducing himself as Philip Chang. John pulls out a scanner, insisting that this device identifies the shy man as Kwok - and that he came to warn Kwok that I.O. is looking into Project Thunderbook. At this, the shy man stops smiling. He explains that while Lynch gave him a new fake identity, he didn't trust Lynch to crack under torture, so he used his money to get plastic surgery and a new fake ID, and moved on with his life. He has a wife now, and two children - Hector & Percival, both named for their mother's love of Arthurian myth.

At this point, John Lynch starts to bleed from his good eye, as Chang explains that he will kill Lynch in the most painless way he can find, and then hide the body. Lynch responds by shooting him in the face, but Chang is able to slow the bullet in midair. Chang boasts that a single bullet will not be enough - so Lynch fires six more. As Chang sweats from holding all of them, Lynch explains that while Chang's ability to hyperfocus made him a great assassin, it left him unable to multitask, which is why he's about to die. Pausing to shoot the barman, who has pulled out his shotgun in response to the noise, Lynch questions why, despite the respect he has tried to show them by giving a fair warning, all the Thunderbook enhanciles have done is boast of their offspring, or try to kill him. As he struggles against the bullets, Chang stutters that this may be because the alien enhancements they have mean that the agents are no longer strictly human, but are driven by goals of conquest or colonization. Lynch muses, says he will see that Chang's kids are cared for, and then shoots Chang in the head. Pausing only to throw a grenade which starts a fire and covers his tracks, he flees the scene.

In New York, Miles Craven is having a videophone conversation with Henry Bendix. Bendix shows footage of the remains of Hightower, and insists that he does not care enough about I.O. to cover his tracks when he attacks them. That he truly believes that the Earth would be best used as a resource supply center for the space-based civilization Skywatch is building. And that if I.O. touches his people again, he will use one of the Little Sticks on I.O.'s New York headquarters, and leave Craven to bury the dead and explain the damage.

Craven responds by saying he will relinquish control of the Skywatch Ground Division offices, but that the surviving agent, Lucy Blaze, is officially barred from New York, on pain of death. With a gesture of contempt, he ends the transmission.

Walking back to his office, Miles Craven meets his head of Analysis, Jackie King, who explains that forensics on Mitch Saunders' phone showed the presence of spyware - spyware that Skywatch specifically tried to erase. Skywatch knows what they did, but not how they did it. But Skywatch's reliance on hardware leaves them vulnerable to basic electronic weaknesses - by deploying countermeasures against the recent bot attack, Skywatch showed where their space station was. Should I.O. require, they can just nuke them.

Miles asks Jackie if she wants a war, and Jackie responds in the negative - she wants an execution, and if Miles will not give the order, she will pursue her goal by other means.

Going to her office, Jackie throws a computer monitor through a glass divider in frustration.

In a Skywatch safehouse, Lauren Pennington is congratulating Lucy Blaze on her recent actions, and his informing her of a new, roving brief, where she covers cases all over America. Lucy wonders if this is a punishment for her actions during the I.O. attack on the New York offices, but Pennington insists - this is all good news.

Besides, says Pennington as she raises a glass of wine, given the current détente between Skywatch and I.O., New York might not be around long enough for Lucy to properly miss.

In Jacob Marlowe's safehouse, Angie Spica has "found" a copy of the machine telepathy data the wild CAT brought back from the Hightower blacksite, and has used it to change how she interacts with her implanted technology. Unprepared, she wonders if she can use it to access the internet... and her technology responds by logging her onto the internet, visualised as a set off central hubs with individual nodes splitting off them in neat patterns.

Angie is amazed at this scene, but is even more surprised when she is greeted by Jenny Mei Sparks, who immediately imposes herself on Angie's electronic view and introduces herself, saying that she is the person who lives here.

The two introduce themselves - Angie as a woman who built a robot suit into herself and is on the run from IO, and who has been taken in by the tech mogul Jacob Marlowe, but is also stealing from him; and Jenny as a woman who is over a century old, not entirely human, distrusts IO and Skywatch, can live inside communications systems, and carries a lot of electricity.

Jenny decides that she likes Angie, and that if Angie ever needs to escape from Jacob Marlowe, she only needs to call, and Jenny will come and help - her and every friend she can bring. With a lazy wave, Jenny Mei Sparks vanishes - leaving Angie's world a little stranger and a little nicer.

Somewhere west of there, John Lynch parks his car in a driveway. He walks a path through rocky grounds in a red twilight, towards a minimalist two-story house with a hexagonal tower sticking out of it. Seeing the front door ajar, he remembers the danger he faced at his previous stops, so he pulls out his gun and moves carefully through the building.

He finds nothing on the ground floor, moving through a spacious and expertly-cleaned house, before checking in the hexagonal tower. And there, a floating woman with glowing red eyes advises him to put his gun away before she makes him have an accident. John recognises her at once: Gloria Spaulding, the woman he came here to see. He compliments her on her house and warns her that IO may be looking into Project Thunderbook, the program which gave her an alien genetic implant, and that she should be careful for a bit, but that considering the obvious costly nature of her house, the care she has taken to protect herself, and her untroubled status, he thinks she will be fine.

Curious, he asks her if she has had a child since they last saw, like Kwok, like Fairchild. Gloria admits she felt a great compulsion to have a baby, but once she had given birth, her normal detached nature reasserted itself, and she abandoned the child with Gloria's mother.

Gloria's detachment always served her well in her IO role as a black bag operative specialising in retrieving items or data. It served her well in the private sector, where her skills have earned her money, and the trust of "all kinds of interesting and spooky friends". But her Thunderbook implant, in addition to granting her superhuman power, also worked to calm her anxieties, to the point where now she feels... nothing, neither positive emotions or negative.

Gloria says that Lynch needs to leave, as she has to pack up and go into hiding, but in thanks for the warning, she leaves him with one in turn: Marc Slayton's implant can remember where it came from.

As the floor tiles starts to float loose, Lynch runs for the door. He makes it to his car as the house disassembles, and as he drives away, in the rearview mirror, he sees a feminine silhouette against the red moon, dragging the substance of the house into the twilight sky behind it.

In Jacob Marlowe's fortress warehouse, Angie Spica is asking Cole Cash for help, as he knows more about guns than she does. Cole wonders aloud what she would do with such information - whereupon, Angie uses her implants to create an object the same size and shape as a handgun bullet cartridge. Without Cole's training, she can only create prop. With Cole's help, she can safely pull apart bullets and guns, scan them all - and she will never be unarmed again!

Stephen Rainmaker was the most dangerous man John Lynch knew even before he was inducted into the Thunderbook program. So much so that nobody could quite define how Thunderbook changed him. On his trip around America to warn his old team, Lynch left Rainmaker until last— for a reason. This is the visit that Lynch always knew could kill him. Meanwhile, Marc Slayton is discovering new things about America, IO and Skywatch.

Miles Craven needs a minute, but Jackie King, who has an appointment with him, insists that he do his job as the head of International Operations. Based on the data her team recovered from their illegal hack on the computers of Skywatch, Cole Cash—the former IO operative they presumed dead but who showed up as part of a wild CAT who interfered with an assassination—is not working for Skywatch, but they now have a positive ID on one other member of the wild CAT, who was an astronaut who died decades ago. She thinks they can investigate more.

Miles Craven lists off his problems: Jacob Marlowe, the tech billionaire whose death he ordered, is still alive. Angie Spica, the rogue IO engineer whose capture he ordered, is missing. Mitch Saunders, the IO office worker who was the victim of a Skywatch phone bug, is dead, and when he attacked the Skywatch office in New York in retaliation, the two heavily-armed teams he sent were singlehandedly shot to death by Skywatch agent Lucy Blaze. Michael Cray, the IO assassin who he ordered to be "retired", is alive and working for a San Francisco division of Skywatch. Hightower, the IO research station, was hacked by parties unknown, and then destroyed from orbit by Skywatch as a show of strength. Craven is left feeling like someone is pulling a con on him, and that they are winning at his expense.

Angry, Jackie responds that Craven only feels like this because he is weak. Craven is angered by this, but becomes defensive, saying he has to be proportionate in his actions. Jackie recites the speech he gave when he took control of IO, about how the agency was beholden to a mission to save the world from chaos and anarchy, and in the service of that mission, they would do great and terrible things. Now chaotic events are assailing the world... and Miles Craven is sleeping in his office and complaining to her. If he cannot be equal to the burden of the times, she says, he should give the job to someone else.

On Skywatch's satellite, Henry Bendix, the agency's head, is talking to Dr Ragnar Helspont, the head of the agency's posthuman experimental reseach office. Helspont has good news—Christine Trelane sent him the medical readouts about Michael Cray, who Skywatch secretly implanted with something years ago which activated recently due to a surge of electromagnetism he received while trying to assassinate Jacob Marlowe.

Helspont boasts that he has been watching all the people Skywatch perpetrated posthuman research on, and says that his mind-control implants will perfectly when the time comes. Helspont wonders why Bendix does not keep these slave posthumans on this space station, to be teleported to Earth on his whim, but Bendix shoots down the idea, saying that if one got free, they could easily rupture the hull and kill everyone.

Helspont mentions that he used to work as part of Project Thunderbook, but left with all his research when John Lynch shuttered the program. Defecting to Skywatch, he was able to create fascinating—and controllable—human variants. Skywatch's previous subjects were prone to neural damage, but Helspont is confident in his work. "Everything in Heaven is fine"

In Jenny Mei Sparks' London flat, Shen Li-Men has recovered from trying to treat Jack Hawksmoor, who is in the shower with a shaving kit and a bag of new clothes. She says he has neural damage which is causing his amnesia and his eccentric actions, and while she can treat the symptoms, she needs to find the cause. Jenny says she just needs to know if Jack is able for the vigilante actions she plans to start, or if he needs to be somewhere quiet, to recover. Jack, clean-shaven, emerges from the shower and defends himself—though he may never fully recover, he is absolutely ready to get revenge on the people who gave him amnesia.

On a country backroad, John Lynch is driving. When he comes across Marc Slayton with, he responds fast, firing a flashbang from a grenade launcher to stun Slayton, and then another to further incapacitate him. Exiting the car, he spells out his position—the whole time Slayton has been trying to track him, Lynch had a tracking device on Slayton's car. Before, Slayton was able to surprise him, but that advantage is gone now.

Lych pulls out his handgun, and explains how fearsome his bullets are. Slayton pulls out his coils, and prepares to lash back, but Lynch fires first—and shoots a hole in Slayton's car's, from the engine to the license plate. As Slayton pauses in confusion, Lynch spells out his position—he does not want to kill Slayton. He does not care about Slayton. But if IO is coming for Project Thunderbook, then they will strike at him from their New York headquarters, and the only way for Slayton to defend himself is with an offense against IO and its head, Miles Craven. Confused, Slayton looks to "the Carer", the hallucinatory embodiment of his alien implant, and it agrees with Lynch. Wishing Slayton good fortune, Lynch gets back in his car and drives away.

In the wild CAT's safehouse, Angie is writing a goodbye letter, explaining her respect for Adri, how she is leaving all her data on Kenesha's computer, and how she hopes to meet them again but will not come looking for more favors. That done, she puts out a message just as Jenny Sparks told her... and Shen appears appears and invite to walk through a doorway in space. Perplexed, Jenny complies and finds herself in Jenny's London apartment. Shen introduces Jack, who Angie immediately recognizes as the New York homeless man known as "the mayor". Angie explains that what finally convinced her to join Jenny's gang was a phantasmagorial visitation from a being whose likeness she produces—who Shen recognizes from her magical knowledge—and who referred to Jenny as having "the authority". Jenny accepts this news without blinking.

On a train somewhere in America, Michael Cray is explaining to a fellow passenger that his former employers were all jerks and he is travelling to New York by train to give one in particular a piece of his mind. She accepts this information at face value, but in the reflection of the window, the face that represents Michael's superhuman implant is smiling.

In the wild CAT's safehouse, Jacob Marlowe, the team's patron, is reading Angie's letter in mild frustration, but before the team can read it, Kenesha bursts in and informs them that an IO research station has just trapped a cosmic particle of immense power, and they need to raid the facility at once to stop any research.

At an open air cocktail bar in Los Angeles, a pair of aliens whose faces resemble the true face of John Colt—and the faces of Slayton & Cray's implants—are ordering drinks and complaining about how difficult it is to manage Earth. They are both glad that nobody else can perceive as as strange—especially when Lucy Blaze walks into the bar and orders a water. The aliens recognize her as "Zannah of the Khera", a former underling of Emp, the rebel who sabotaged the Kheran mission to convert Earth into a slave state. Zannah in turn rebelled against Emp, and so today, the two aliens have to balance Emp & Zannah's agendas, and IO's, and Skywatch's, all in secret, just to give the humans a chance at evolving naturally. And for this thankless job, they have rewarded themselves by choosing to get drunk on this, their night off.

On the Skywatch satellite, Bendix and Pennington are looking out over a view of Earth and a backdrop of stars. Bendix is considering giving Helspont a higher budget. And doing something radical to make Earth more "useful". And killing Miles Craven. As he considers, he sings a children's song and grins maniacally.

REVIEW

By an annoying mistake, there are two issues #13. It will surely bug people forever.

As I said before, this story is too decompressed. Had it been bi-weekly, it would have been acceptable. But it took a bit more than two years to complete and it’s nothing but a big long prologue.

But I’ll tell you why that is great instead. Unlike DCU and MCU... and even the early Image Universe, the world of WorldStorm is cohesive. Everything was designed from the same world. It’s not a panache of properties, all banding together in the same universe. I feel like that is the strongest appeal of Wildstorm, well at least the properties around StormWatch. In these issues we are kind of seeing the groups forming (WildCATS, Authority, Gen13), but as I also said before, I do not know if these properties will take off anytime soon. But at least they are better now than at the beginning of the New 52 (Although StormWatch/Demon Knights was quite good).

Ellis and David-Hunt are also perfect for this title. It’s their work together that delivers amazing action sequences with some mind-bending graphics. Sure, it is pretty violent, but that was to be expected from WildStorm.

One of the moments that gave me the most pleasure, was seeing Apollo and Midnighter, even though, we do not actually see them, it is very obvious it’s them. They have history in the DCU as well, very recently, so I guess that may have... gone away.

Do you think Sam Elliott is too old to play Lynch?

I give these issues a score of 9.

#jon davis-hunt #the wild storm #wildstorm #dc comics #comics #review #2018 #post modern age #the authority #gen13 #stormwatch #wildcats

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