#or maybe i'm totally wrong but either way this show is like a little puzzle box im turning in my hands <3< /div> Explore tagged Tumblr posts

[rontra]

So, I loved your Salem & Summer post but it does leave me questioning Hazel's narrative role, as how things went with him seem to go against the grain for much of it thematically.

okay okay okay before that, i'm panicking like a small rodent so i have to say first up that my post wasn't really made in the intent of like opening a wider discussion or anything (hence the several frantic disclaimers haha). as much as i love rwby analysis i'm also really insecure in sharing my thoughts publicly and i prefer to filter it through my art instead, to kinda Show you what im thinking instead, i guess?? and this is in the end an artblog so i don't want to put too many text posts in a row … so i was kind of like If someone tweets at me im just gonna ignore it.

but this ask intrigues me so much i can't help but come out and investigate, so consider it a cheat day i guess 😩

about hazel, i don't really...see anything about him that overtly contradicts my strange rambling notes. of course, this might be because he's not my primary field of study (lol) so ive been in bed just distilling him into another List Of Things to try and understand what you mean. to me, hazel is a guy who

Identified one of the core brutalities of the huntsman system, and

Had that realization corroborated by Salem, who did not lie to him (although she didn't divulge the entire truth either) before

The Oz Train derails him from this by pulling him back into the good brotherly remnant (4. and also death)

to me he's a bit similar to the summer rose concept, i think: he's not in this for the thrill of the kill or because he finds it pleasant to do salem's wetwork, he's here because he thinks it would be wrong to do anything else. that remnant as it is cannot stand. he doesn't typically indulge in needless violence, and he tries to go out of his way to protect the "little guy" when and if he can. he's the most restrained of salem's onscreen lieutenants, but just like her, he's willing to sacrifice whatever people need to go in order for the plan to move forward. he just hates seeing a kid get hurt most of all, because his teenage sister was killed in action before having the chance to even graduate.

You send children to their deaths for a cause that you know has no victory, no end. (8.6)

in no uncertain terms, he's identified a major issue with remnant in the huntsman system itself. he hates huntsmen and their academies. he knows remnant runs on hero blood and that ozpin has four factories spitting out cannon fodder. he knows the war can't be won, and he knows ozpin is sending people to die in it anyway. he knows this because salem, when she got to him, knew exactly what to tell him (she's unfortunately good at that); she filled him in on the important bits, demonstrated that she can't be killed and divulged that oz knows it too, and offered him the path to take revenge on the academy that murdered his sister. it's interesting that hazel has this to say about salem's motives:

We share a vision. She’s gonna create a new world order: no Kingdoms, and no Huntsmen Academies.

the destruction of ozma's remnant and construction of a new society is their "shared vision". i don't think salem painted the full picture for him (like, the stuff about the gods, and such), because she really didnt need to in order to convince him. this guy was ready right out of the gate to tear remnant apart for the thought of no one being dealt the same hand as gretchen ever again

(here's a funny aside—about gretchen, oscar posits that she "knew the risks" and made her own choice. oscar obviously has his own insane ozpin baggage given he is slated to "die" for him in a very different way as their personalities literally merge and the new combined oz overwrites him. extremely intriguing of him to say this. ozpin does this maneuver to get out of addressing my new band Raven And The Branwens, and also with Pyrrha, insisting that she must "choose" and he has to hear her decision out loud before he can bring himself to start the Soul Suckatron 4000 (machine that murders (literal), contained below machine that murders (figurative)). obviously those cases can Not be neatly chalked up to "she made a choice" either, and i don't think merely saying that and dusting his hands is the Move he thinks it is—although it certainly soothes his conscience)

(whether oscar suggesting nobody but gretchen made a choice here is just him being naive and 14 and raised by remnant, or if it's plain old ozpin bleedthrough, is up to interpretation imo. but it is. Interesting.)

(how do you make a choice like that when the people asking it of you are not divulging all the information? when you do not, in fact, know the stakes—because they are withheld from you on purpose?)

(...) Hazel denies that his twin sister's choice was ever hers to make. That the honeyed words of Ozpin, an immortal being long removed of the burdens of mere humanity, coaxed her to give up her life. (...)

How could an innocent and talented youth resist those seductive words? Talk of duty, untold glory, legendary exploits, and heroes of old? How was she to know that she was merely one little girl caught in a war between behemoths, immortals, GODS? (...) In the end, what did her sacrifice change in this wretched world? What difference did any Huntsman make in Remnant? What were a few drops of light in this ocean of black? (Amity Arena)

hazel saw the still-bloody bones remnant is built on on his own and said Hey what the fuck! and salem targeted him for her collection because he was Based. i have no idea what she told him and how much of it was true, but hazel was . right. about this stuff

like i said in my previous post (at least in the post nested inside it), characters tend to ascribe to salem whatever motivation fits their personal narrative and biases. but i have to say that compared to "salem wants to destroy the planet", this one is a lot more convincing; i don't think it's complete but it's closer, i guess, to my personal read on her actual feelings about remnant (as discussed in the other nerd posts). so maybe it's my own confirmation bias, hehe. whether it's the complete truth of her end-goal is unclear (since it seems doubtful that what she told him included things like "i am god's mistake") but i can at least very much believe they had a conversation about it where she was like Look Buddy , Shit Sucks ,

when confronted with this by hazel, ozpin does an immense ozpin maneuver: he says Actually have you heard the good word? and starts selling his own thing again—

"New world order". No. When Salem gets all four Relics, there will be no world left at all.

i touched on this in my previous post too but i do not believe ozpin when he says this. it does not feel true to me. this is Light's Guy doing Light's Guy Things and casting the Sole Evil out; she has to be unreasonable and driven only by death and destruction, and the people who know about her have to believe this, or else things begin to fall apart for him. if the redeemable remnant is destroyed, there is nothing else left for him or for humanity; there are no possible alternatives to him. the man is completely tangled up in his agonies and wearing horse blinders some deer guy put on him. it's my way or the highway, baby!

anyway, hazel doesn't believe him about this either, until an unrelated statement proves to be true, which convinces hazel to believe ozpin and oscar in general. but i HAVE to stress that nowhere was it said that THIS was actually true; hazel just is convinced to trust ozpin and oscar's word by an unrelated thing they said turning out to be true. he's being pulled back into ozma's remnant, and his ensuing mode of operation is explicitly described as

"WHAT GRETCHEN WOULD HAVE DONE."

he hasn't forgiven oz for what happened, but he's been convinced that salem's goals are too destructive, that she's going to end the world entirely. he commands oscar to ensure there be "no more Gretchens", but it's not like you can achieve that without taking down what oz built. none of this really changes the fact that she isn't One Girl who had an Unfortunate Tragic Accident: she was intended to be coke for the furnace just like every other huntsman, she just happened to die before getting in.

and now hazel is doing what she would have done: burning himself alive along with the witch.

(holy SHIT Witch is a good episode.)

one bonkers thing about hazel's self-sacrifice is that it would have done absolutely nothing. when oscar hangs back and jaune tries to prompt him to go, oscar refuses because

She'll just come after us.

to be clear: if oscar had not intervened by pulling the trigger on ozpin's stored-up Cane Energy, killing Monstra and Salem and Hazel (to shreds, you say??), this would have accomplished nothing. if a now-15-yo hadn't killed them both first, salem most likely would have dispatched hazel and resumed doing what she was doing before he cut in. hazel is pouring his blood into a futile fight against salem for no real gain just like every huntsman in history, and what oscar wrests from it is temporary relief; everybody knows salem will only be gone for a few hours at most, but at least they got away to lick their wounds and regroup. at least it's better than nothing.

but without that, it would have achieved nothing.

it's...what gretchen would have done.

i don't feel as though the story is exactly celebratory about this. it was a Big Damn Hero moment, but is that a good thing in rwby's eyes? his story is a tragedy and ends a tragedy.

i won't deny that the hours of respite it bought our heroes was invaluable, but again, hazel did not accomplish that alone (and does not have the Audience Perspective we do to gauge the full benefit). he just...didn't. if the little guys had just run as hazel intended, his death would have changed nothing at all.

those precious hours were important and mattered a lot to the overall plot, but were bought with blood. v8 didn't exactly end in a stunning victory either. we're still barely hanging in there, still on the brink, still feeding coke into the furnace to keep the lights on a little longer...

hmm...

well, anyway, summer and salem should kiss on the mou

[always-sleeepy-headd]

Idk this was labeled as chicken pox in my google docs but it's Underswap meeting Dream kinda but it's dreamberry and amazing

Summary:

Basically Underswap accidentally meets Dream at an unconventional time and also Swap being not mentally well a little bit. Dream too. Plus, they are engaged by the end!!

Sans has been gone so often recently.

They all noticed it, Alphys, Undyne, Papyrus, Chara, hell even Temmie realized.

On top of that he hasn't been following the script he was set on during and after resets. It just started off simple, looking distracted, skipping over dialogue.

But now, he has managed to miss entire scenes he was supposed to be in. He has started responding in insanely different ways, he has... stopped caring about what the monsters of snowdin thought of him.

That was one of Sans's main things, he would exclaim about how cool he was to hide his own insecurities.

Now he... he seemed so much more distracted, so much so that Papyrus had gone to even Chara about it.

He had this sort of... untouchable aura that he'd never had to him before.

Sans was currently missing from the group right before the monsters break the barrier, he wasn't there during the Temmie fight either. Everyone began to feel uneasy, whether they knew why or not.

"Papyrus...? Where is your brother?" Alphys asked slowly in an attempt to keep herself and everyone else calm.

"I don't know." Papyrus confesses, a sigh ringing out from what mimics a throat. "Sans has been so... strange recently."

The air settled in a tense fog before Alphys let out a frustrated groan, "First he stops showing up at his sentry station in Snowdin, doesn't show up for cooking lessons, hasn't shown up for training and now he's nowhere to be found again?!"

Everyone who knew Sans had to admit that was strange, he was a hard worker and very motivated. Papyrus knew this the best and Sans's newfound disappearances worry him to no end.

Chara spoke up, "I've seen him a total of two times, once for him to briefly attempt to explain the puzzles and second to fight him at the edge of Snowdin. He seemed to be in a hurry both times."

"That is... s-strange based on the things I've heard of him from P-Papyrus." Undyne shyly added, the absence of Sans to comment on them knowing each other felt wrong, even if they knew it to be so or not.

"Yeah! Sans is a hard worker and a relatively happy guy, it doesn't make sense for him to just abandon everyone for hours at a time." Alphys said, crossing her arms in confusion. "He also has unwavering loyalty deep embedded in his bones, it doesn't make any sense."

"This... Sans is close with you Alphys, yes?" The Queen asked, she put a hand on Alphys' shoulder, "Surely he'll have an explanation."

"Maybe so... but this isn't like him at all. I'm... worried." Alphys coffessed, biting her lip in distress.

"This Sans of yours seems to be a good character and quite strong from what I hear, I'm sure he'll be fine." Asgore said in an attempt to console Alphys and probably Papyrus, who for once wasn't smiling.

Suddenly, there was a loud pop and the sound of two voices, they appeared to be arguing over something. The monster's heads all turn towards the noise and suddenly two skeletons come into view, one recognizable as their very own Sans yet the other, dressed in yellow, was unfamiliar.

Sans and this unidentified skeleton were arguing over what was now more clearly made out to be... the difference between affect and effect?

The monsters stood uncomfortably for a moment, watching the duo argue before Queen Toriel cleared her throat. The pair cease their squabbling at once, the yellow one gasping and muttering an apology, bowing to The Queen.

Sans, however, while stopping did not even acknowledge Queen Toriel's existence, eyes still trained on the yellow skeleton.

"No worries, not worries at all, it just seemed you two would never stop if I hadn't intervened." Queen Toriel said, smiling at the yellow skeleton, the skeleton smiled back.

"Yes, well, that may be true." The skeleton sighed, a melodic chuckle escaping his mouth. "But your Sans and I would have resolved it eventually." The skeleton gave a look that came off as almost mischievous to the group, one Sans simply huffed at, a smile finding its way to his face.

"Now, I must ask, who are you two? I've gathered that you," Queen Toriel pointed to Sans, "are Papyrus's brother but I have no knowledge of the other skeleton."

"My name is Dream! I am your friend's... what are we?" Dream stopped mid-conversation to ask Sans a question, one that incited confusion and amusement around them. Not only in the ones unaware but in Sans too, as he began to laugh.

"You're my best friend Dream, and basically my boss." Sans said, a sparkle lit his eyes that they hadn't quite seen before, it made his usual smiles seem terribly forced compared to this.

"Yeah I thought so but sometimes you get really mad at me." Dream huffed, putting a hand on his hip.

Sans looked at Dream with a hint of mischief in his eyes, "Maybe if you wouldn't be crazy I wouldn't be mad."

Dream gasped, "I am so level-headed, just occasionally a little violent."

"Occasionally?"

"Oh you don't even get to talk, you tried to fight some random guy at the bar three weeks ago!"

"Dream he grabbed your waist and tried to get you to swallow a drugged drink. If you'd have let me I would have dusted him."

"I wasn't going to let him, I can handle myself you know? Besides, even if he had managed to drug me he wouldn't have killed me."

"No, because he would have done something much worse, Dream."

While the duo argue, the group watch the scene unfold. All of what Sans had just said felt uncharacteristic of him, especially any talk of murder.

"You don't know that."

Sans wasn't even wearing his battle body, he was wearing a simple black sleeveless turtleneck, he had on a blue coat over it and had on dark blue cargo pants.

"I know if anyone tries to drug you it's because they want to do something to you."

Sans and Dream stood very close to each other, almost brushing arms or hands at any given moment, it was strange as Sans usually stood at a distance from others.

"Maybe but that doesn't change the fact that you genuinely wanted to kill that guy."

Dream had an elegance to him they'd never seen before, his voice was a perfect tenor and slid off of his tongue almost musically. His steps seemed to be in time and the way he moved was delicate.

"I wouldn't say that... I just wanted to... cancel his subscription a little early."

Yet he seemed... as if he had power just radiating off of him.

"Swap! That's literally just murder."

They seemed to complement each other well despite what seemed to be constant bickering.

"Literally okay then, I wanted to murder him but you didn't want me too so it didn't happen." Sans had a look of frustration lining his face but it seemed playful enough.

Again, The Queen cleared her throat, again the two looked sheepishly at her. "Well, it's amazing to meet you both, I believe all of us are quite confused and I'm sure you are as well with the barrier open."

The pair stiffened, seemingly only now realizing the barrier had been broken.

"Goodness, we lost track time!" Dream exclaimed, his hands coming to his mouth in shock and Sans can't help but snicker slightly to the confusion of everyone.

"Y- You didn't feel the barrier break? It was shocking!" Undyne stutters out, fiddling with her hands.

"Oops." Sans shrugged, his behavior was becoming increasingly worrying.

"Maybe we should sit down for a cup of tea?" Asgore suggested, a light smile blooming on his concerned face.

Dream nervously started to pick at his glove, glancing at Sans as if questioning what to do. "The barrier's broken, aren't you guys excited to see the outside world? Surely you must go..." Dream said, grabbing Sans's arm in an attempt to push him ahead of Dream to his friends and family.

"Oh you must come with us!" The Queen exclaimed, "You are a friend of a friend, you are welcome to join us, in fact I insist!"

"O- Oh! I uhm." Dream was almost startled by the offer, he looked as if he were to decline until Sans simply grabbed his arm and smiled.

"Thank you, we will join you." Swap said, pulling Dream's arm to the group.

They then ask Chara if they have anything else to do before they leave as they normally would, Chara said they did and left the barrier area.

As the human left the attention was quickly pointed to Sans and his friend, who were standing in the spot Sans normally would be next to Alphys and Papyrus. They stood very close together, their hands brushed up against the others.

"So... Sans, where have you been recently?" Alphys interrupted the deafening silence.

"I was... busy? I don't know, I've been dealing with a lot of stuff recently that couldn't be put off." Sans shrugged, he seemed distracted.

Dream sighed, "I'm sorry, it's probably my fault." He put a hand on his cheek as he spoke, he looked so... ethereal.

"Nah, if I didn't want to I wouldn't." Sans said with an almost emptiness compared to his usual way of speaking, he put a hand on Dream's shoulder.

Dream smiled up at him, Sans couldn't help but smile back, he exhaled in a fond kind of way.

"So... Sans, you've never talked about your friend here." Papyrus said, his tone was casual but Sans knew it was full of distrust.

"Relax, Dream is practically harmless, unless you piss him off too badly that is." Sans snickered at that last bit, his hand had drifted away from Dream's shoulder and back to where it was almost brushing Dream's hand.

"Oh please." Dream rolled his eyes but they still were filled with a childlike joy. "You said it yourself, I can barely harm a fly."

"Says the one who threw a full bottle of wine at my head one time." Sans deadpanned and Dream almost jumped at the accusation swatting at Sans's shoulder.

"Oh shush, I missed, and you called me a cum slut so it was deserved." At Dream's response Sans let out a flurry of giggles and snickers, the pair had forgotten they had five pairs of eyes on them at the moment.

"I'm honestly surprised either of us remember that I think I had like ten shots of like hard liquor." Sans said, rubbing his head, possibly attempting to remember that night better.

"I remember literally like nothing after that point I was super blackout drunk it was crazy."

Just as someone was about to interject, the human came back and made their presence clear. "I'm back! Let's go to the surface!" As Chara had little to no idea what the conversation that Sans and Dream had been having was, they were just excited to get to the surface... again.

Everyone just tried to pretend that nothing was wrong, they were going to see the surface! They got to finally, finally see the place that their human Chara had come from, meet the people whose ancestors maimed and banished monsters to the underground.

Finally see the stars.

...

Walking out was nothing like any of them could have ever imagined, with the exception of a few. The sun was setting just below the horizon, they stood in awe at what had been withheld from them all their lives.

...All but Sans and Dream.

Sans looked almost depressed looking out on the horizon, it was terribly noticeable. Dream stood next to him, he grabbed Sans's hand and gave it a squeeze.

Watching them, it felt... romantic.

After watching the sun go down Sans's supposed 'best friend' quickly made an excuse to leave, he then rushed off mumbling a few curses under his breath for letting himself stay for so long. They half expected the pair to kiss goodbye but they didn't even hug, simply fist bumping and giggling about it afterward.

They tried to interrogate Sans afterward but it was like a switch turned in his mind, he went back to normal and would only answer questions about Dream in very cryptic ways.

...

"Sans?" Undyne considered speaking, she was unsure if Sans would even answer the question. "Who was that Dream guy?"

It had been years at this point and never heard of Dream again, as if he'd simply come not to exist.

"Huh?" Sans asked, looking up from his phone confused.

"That quote and quote 'friend' of yours that rushed off right as we got to the surface?" Alphys interjected and Sans flushed slightly which was strange.

"He... uh... Oh goodness, how do I even tell you this?" Sans cringed, the room had almost fallen silent apart from the clacking in the kitchen from Asgore washing the dishes.

"Is he alright?" Papyrus asked, a concerned look for his brother falling onto his face.

"Yes! Yes... just uhhh..." Sans rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.

Everyone nodded their heads at him expectantly, and Sans let out a sigh.

"Okay I'm just gonna say it!" Sans took a deep breath, "He's my finance."

And then in a blink Sans flushed and then was gone.

Papyrus and Alphys share a glance and say in union, "Shortcut." and let out a sigh.

Both of them have been subjected to such treatment from Sans quite often.

Notes:

AND THEN THEY ALL REALIZED SWAP WAS GETTING AMARREID AND FREAKED THE END

[front-facing-pokemon]

I just found this blog so I'm jumping aboard the plushie bandwagon.

First we got Absol. (i feel like maybe i should've taken a closer-up picture but it's the face sooo)

Then a Wooloo

And, saving best for last, this Leafeon plush I own... of which I swear on my life is official merch.

I also have some more eeveelutions (plus an eevee and a few more) but: 1. I didn't want to send too many. 2. Eeveelutions are more popular so I wanted to give some other people the chance to submit their own. 3. I don't know where my Pikachu and Snivy plushies are cuz I own too many stuffed animals.

Only reason I submitted Leafeon was so I could show off this ~masterpiece~ of a plushie I own. And it's face isn't the only thing wrong with it too lol. Also I just noticed I accidentally had one of the ears hanging back but I'm too lazy to go take another photo but i hope this amuses you nonetheless.

ALRIGHT THERE'S BEEN A LOT OF YOU AS I'VE BEEN OUT WITH MY FAMILY FOR CHRISTMAS HUH

let's start with these guys. beautiful. wonderful. i do not believe that that leafeon is official merch. this statement is baffling to me. welcome to the front-facing pokémon family. i love the eyes on that absol and wooloo is one of my faves. i was rather obsessed with it when it first came out and have a whole wooloo tag on my main blog because of it. though i guess i cleared that whole thing out recently so i don't anymore

let's get the nose ratings out of the way:

↑ this is a lie. 10/10 chespin

it's very wide and also 10/10 you're being too harsh. merry day to you too

circular face indeed. did i already post this one? if i did you can have it again

clodsire be upon ye. clodsire fans this is your treat until gen 9

this is a trend now. i think tumblr just crunched this image to hell for some reason so here's what the text says:

"Felt like joining the others for front facing pokeplushies [images] I have more pokemon but its early morning and these are the plushies that are easy to access"

i have not but i imagine "a moment" has long passed by now. my apologies but apparently today was an important day or something? idk

YEAH it's super unbelievably fucked up. i think i kinda remember the circumstance being a bit dire so everyone else was more worried about either 1. protagonist getting stomped on brutally or 2. saving the world from kyurem / the bittercold. i was totally under the impression that he was dead in that moment but i guess the characters may have known that he would just come back? i seem to vaguely remember partner being surprised that he came back and being like "but we watched you die :OOO" but maybe i'm misremembering that. i do create a lot of pmd lore on my own time so i have a hard time telling the difference between canon and fanon sometimes

two a day makes the world go round! this blog started when i started college, paused for 80% of my college career and now has started back up and i just graduated college a week ago. i would say "how time flies" but it has been a very, very long year

i've said it before and i'll say it again: gen 6 is my favorite gen, so you'll be seeing lots of favor for this gen from me in the tags i'm sure. maybe gen 6 is my excuse to start doing other things here. like that stream i keep talking about

if they put meloetta as a little obscure puzzle thang in sv, i'm sure they'll do something for genesect. i hope. at least for keldeo probably. genesect i'm not sure is very popular, unfortunately, outside of the tumblr crowd. if the general public's opinion on genesect is favorable, then maybe

okay and then i tried to scroll down further in my screenshots for more asks and saw the wobbly will smith in a hospital bed Gimme a Hug, Man that i copied from the "i get a little bit genghis kanghis" post so that's it. to everyone who christmases: merry it. it is today. although it's basically over by now so! merry boxing day for tomorrow if i don't say anything tomorrow. but i probably will. now i'm gonna go queue up today's 'mons because i haven't done it yet today. see you all in a few weeks when those post

[firstcurse]

Henry's childhood / Flash backs analysis.

Ok  so,  below  is  an  analysis  I  wrote  on  Henry's  childhood  scenes  after  I  was  tagged  in  a  post  from  someone  in  the  fandom  who  was  looking  at  Nancy's  flashback  scene  and  trying  to  puzzle  together  why  Henry  kept  being  shown  in  different  clothes  -  in  a  nutshell  anyway,  I'm  not  adding  the  weirdo  shit  about  Virginia  that  I'm  not  even  gonna repeat  because  its  repulsive  and  this  fandom  needs  help and needs to leave Henry / Vecna the fuck alone with their freak shit and put some respect on his name already, but  anyway my takes are big brained and correct so here we go :

In  regard  to  the  post  you  tagged  me  in:  I am  actually  am  gonna  probably  be  boring  and  predictable  here  and  say  I  don’t  think  it  means  Henry’s  hiding  anything  at  least  not  about  his  mother  and  while  you know I came out here with the whole "Virginia’s  cheating" thing and believe that  is  canon  and  MIGHT  be  addressed  somehow  next  season,  yeah  I  don’t  think  those  scenes  relate  to  anything  about  Virginia –  they’re  all  about  HENRY  himself.  I  think  we  were  meant  see  that  basically  Henry  started  getting…  Really  weird during his time in the Creel house.  Like  concerningly  weird,  like  there  is  way  more  going  on  here  than  we  know  weird.  ( If  that  makes  sense. )  I  think  the  scenes  in  question  are  suppose  to  show  us  that  for  whatever  reason  Henry  was  collecting  up  spiders  and  scurrying  his  little  ass  up  to  the  attic  where  he  kept  a  weird  little  shine  to  them  and  this  has  significance.   Loving  spiders  is  one  thing,  but  this  entire  set  up  and  the  things  Henry  says  about  them  is  suppose  to  clue  us  into  other  things  going  on  that  we  cant  be  told  or  explicitly  shown  at  this  time.

For  me  its  suppose  to  highlight  his  unusual  behaviors  and  how  he  didn’t  go  into  that  house  acting  that  weird.  Not  in  the  normal  realms  of  just  an  autistic  kid  who  really  likes  spiders  but  the  ‘abnormal’-weird  STARTED  in  that  house.  

Also  side  note,  I  think  Henry’s  weird  and  secretive  about  this  not  just  for  the  fact  this  is  just  weird  in  general  but  he  probably  doesn’t  want  his  parents  to  know  that  he’s  chilling  out  with  about  5  jars  of  black  widow  spiders  and  thats  something  hes  doing -  going  around  collecting  these  spiders  and  keeping  them.  Those  are  dangerous,  I’d  probably  stop  my  kid  from  jarring  them  up  and  playing  with  them  too  and  I  don't  think  adult  Henry  could  fully  explain  everything  to  Eleven  in  the  scene  with  them.  ( Maybe  he  didn’t  even  know  how  to  explain  it  himself, which is kind of what I think. )

This  also  kinda  goes  back  to  the  scene  in  Victors  memory for me and why Victor's flashbacks are directly paralleled with Nancy's Vecna vision here.  We  get  the  intentional  impression  that  Henry  was  pretty  much  instantly  “affected”  by  the  house.  Victor  notes  Henry  “knew  something  was  wrong.”  Thats  how  he  described  Henry’s  behaviors  shortly  after  they  moved  in  which  tells  me  that  Henry  either  TOLD  THEM  something  was  wrong  or  he  behaved  differently  shortly  after  getting  to  the  house  and  this  seems  to  line  up  because  we  are  shown  this.

We’re  shown  when  the  Creels  first  arrived  at  the  house  everyone  seems  pretty  happy,  this  looks  and  feels  totally  normal,  a  family  excited  to  arrive  at  their  awesome  new  home.  When  they’re  shown  walking  in the front door for the first time  everyone  is  looking  pretty  pleased  and  in  awe  but  suddenly  Henry  starts  looking  troubled.   The  scene  with little  Henry  and  the  weird  thing  with  the  lights  in  Victor’s  memory  seems  to  take  place  not  long  after  this  ( maybe  a  day  or  two ? )  because  in  the  background  we  can  see  Henry  is  sitting  surrounded  by  a  bunch  of  boxes.  This  is  presumably  the  belongings  of  the  family  because  they  were  still  in  the  process  of  unpacking.  Now  this  is  probably  all headcanon  but  I’m  mentioning  it  anyway  because  it  seems  like  Victor  also  got  pretty  suss  of  the  house  pretty  quick  because  he  took  the  time  to  explain  HENRY  perceived  something  was  wrong  and  he  noticed  that.

We  do  also  know  from  canon  it  was  VICTOR  that  took  it  upon  himself  to  get  a  literal  priest  to  exercise  the  house. I  feel  like  thats  a  big  thing  to  do,  keeping  in  mind  that  this  is  the  50s,  people  would  be  AFRAID  of  looking  "insane"  and  moreover  the  Creel's  ONLY  lived  in  the  house  for   ONE  MONTH  max.  ( So it  seems  like  Victor  was  the  only  one  that  wanted  to  heed  whatever  Henry  told  them  or  just  took  the  time  to  actually  acknowledge  his  sons  discomfort  and  think  that  was  important,  while  I  feel  like  Virginia  probably  shut  it  down  as  nothing  and  interpreted  it  all  as  just  Henry  trying  to  ruin  things  for  them  particularly  before  the  “visions”  start  and  those  don’t  start  until  way  closer  to  the  murders.  And  even  then,  it  seems  like  Virginia  didn't  want  to  blame  anyone  except  Henry  and  Henry  does  explain  she  literally  hated  him. — Personally  I  think  this  all  kinda  mirrors  season  2  in  a  way  when  Will  was  infected  by  the  MF  and  he  very  quickly  started  acting  odd  but  he  had  a  mother  who  actually  cared,  took  notice,  and  tried  to  help  in  a  better  way  than  deciding  to  throw  her  kid  in  the  looney  bin and blame him for everything  bc  fuck  him. )

We  also  saw  Victor  noting  the  attic  stair  door  open  and  feeling  compelled  to  go  up  there  but  during  this  time  there  is  no  trace  of  Henry  up  there,  its  just  a  bunch  of  old  stuff  that  I  PERSONALLY  don’t  think  even  belonged  to  Victor  and  his  family.  I  think  a  majority  of  the  shit  up  there  was  left  there  from  whoever  lived  there  before  because  we  know  they  didn’t  live  there  long  enough  for  everything  to  be  looking  that  dusty  and  old,  and  there's  just  some  weird  things  up  there  like  a  pram  and  a  piano.  ( Again, they  only  lived  in  the  house  for  a  month and canon does tell us this. )  

So  we  can  probably  assume  due  to  Henry’s  lack  of  appearance  up  here  at  this  time  Victor’s  inspection  of  the  attic  was  fairly  close  to  the  time  the  Creels  moved  in,  maybe  after  the  first  weird  light  scene  with  Henry.  But,  anyway,  for  some  reason  Victor  got  the  weird  idea  to  go  up  to  that  particular  spot  and  look  around. He was compelled to do this which is very odd.  He  also –  for  some  reason  – mentions  that  the  “demon”  he  could  “feel”  had  cursed  not  JUST  their  house  but  the  entire  town.  Its  odd  that  he  chose  to  mention  the  entire  town.  Where  did  he  get  this  info ?  Why  would  this  be  said  if  it  wasn’t  meant  to  clue  us  into  something  more  than  we  could  currently  be  shown  in  these  scenes  or  maybe  in  this  season  itself ?  Its  100%  foreshadowing  something  because  we  already  know  theres  a  special  connection  with  Hawkins  and  the  UD.  

It  wouldn’t  be  hard  to  imagine  that  Henry,  a  “sensitive  boy”  who  was  able  to  develop  such  incredible  psychic  powers,  specifically  from  his  time  in  that  house,  was  also  drawn to  the  attic  and  whatever  was  up  there – whatever  feeling,  whatever  essence – whatever  it  was  that  was  a  little  beyond  Victor's  normal  perception,  wasn’t  beyond  Henry’s.  What  we’re  shown  is  Henry  starts  spending  a  LOT  OF  time  alone  up  in  that  weird,  cold,  dusty,  dark  attic.  Which  he  preserves.  He  does  nothing  to  make  it  more  comfortable  for  himself.  The  only  thing  he  adds  to  it  is  the  weird  spider  shrine  and  we’re  basically  shown  him  building  it.  Thats  what  those  scenes  are  actually  about.  There  is  a  light  in  the  attic,  we  know  that  from  Victors  flash  back.  But  Henry  wont  even  utilize  that  to  spend  time  up  there  drawing.  He  uses  the  dim  light  of  candles  instead.  Theres  a  reason  for  this  and  you  probably  know  where  I’m  going  with  this already because its me  but  we  already  know  of  something  that  can  manifest  itself  as  “a  feeling”  and  that  likes  the  dark,  likes  the  cold  and  likes  “to  hide”.

What  Vecna  shows  Nancy  was  the  “progression  of  how  Henry’s  behavior’s  began  to  change.”   From  “normal”  boy,  to  boy  who  notices  something  weird,  to  boy  who  is  “consumed”  by  whatever  this  weirdness  is.  ( Presumably  because  his  parents, or his mother in particular rather,  didn’t  listen  to  him  or  dismissed  his  feelings  or  behaviors  as  just  him  being  weird  when  this  particular  weirdness  only  started  in  that  house. )  Nancy’s  “visions”  of  young  Henry  start  with  Henry  curiously  walking  around  the  house,  like  he’s  looking  for  something,  like  something  is  luring  him  even,  and  indeed,  Nancy  starts  to  notice  the  lights  flickering  again  when  Henry  is  walking  around  curiously  ( Again,  this  is  framed  like  Henry  isn’t  the  one  flickering  the  lights,  he  isn't  tapped  into  his  powers  yet,  but  he  might  be  'looking’  for  whatever  is  causing  the  lights  to  flicker.  It  calls  back  to  season  one  where  Holly  is  following  the  weird  acting  lights in the Byers house and is led to the Demogorgon. )  

Then  Nancy  turns  and  sees  into  the  bathroom  and  is  shown  a  vision  of little  Henry  finding  the  spiders  in  the  vent.  Over  top  of  this  we  have  Adult  Henry  saying  he  “Found  a  new  sense  of  purpose”  ( Like  this  is  very  weird-  like  what  does  he  mean ?  Worshipping  spiders ?  Why  does  he  think  its  his  purpose  to  be  worshipping  spiders  suddenly ?  Also  note  Henry’s  clothes  have  changed  again  so  this  is  a  different  day  from  the  day  Henry  was  'looking’  for  something  and  the  lights  were  flickering  around  the  house. Which means the lights did this weird flicking thing a lot. )   This  then  cuts  again  to  little  Henry  running  past  behind  Nancy  which  startles  her.  We’re  being  shown  another  day  here  again,  another  vision.  Henry’s  wearing  a  different  outfit  and  he  has  a  jar  in  his  hand,  he  seems  to  be  heading  up  to  the  attic.  This  is  also  where  he  starts  relating  spiders  to  GODS  and  also  note  we’re  then  shown  adult  Henry  as  he’s  explaining  this  and  I  don't  know  how  else  to  explain  his  expression  other  than  with  the  “ I've  seen  some  shit ”  meme  like:

You  ok  Henry ?  Nope.  Hes  not.  Hes  not  ok.  A lot of this fandom's breakdown of Henry's monologue scene is BIZZARE  and  doesn't  reflect  whats  actually  going  on  at  all. They  talk  about  Henry  being  emotionless  and  calculated  when  the  reality  is  he's  shown  as  the  complete  opposite  of  emotionless  and  calculated.  Hes  shown  as  haunted  and  distressed.  He's  very  emotional.  He  even  seems  to  look  like  his  eyes  are  clouding  with  tears  when  he  talks  about  his  parents  and  how  they  weren't  the  good  people  they  pretended  to  be.  

Henry's  clearly  recounting  something  terrible  he  experienced  that  he  doesn't  completely  know  HOW  to  explain and worse he's pretty much been systematically gaslighted into believing somehow this was all HIS fault. Straight  into  the  following  scene  little  Henry’s  now  shown  with  a  fully  built  spider  shrine,  complete  with  candles.  He’s  drawing  the  spiders.  This  is  a  different  day  again.  Then  we  go  back  to  adult  Henry  and  the  weird  king  just  keeps  giving.  He  says  “The  human  world”  specifically  and  ok…  Maybe  we  can  think  he’s  talking  about  the  human  world  vs  the  animal  world  but  he  isn’t  just  talking  about  spiders  as  animals.  He’s  actually  not  talking  about  spiders  as  animals  at  all.  Hes  talking  about  them  literally  as  gods.  Then  he  switches  from  being  kind  of  haunted  and  freaked  out  to  some  sort  of  look  of  realization,  and  then  he  switches  again  to  something  thats  kind  of  cold  and  dark  and  it  frightens  Eleven.  This  is  when  he  starts  talking  about  humans  as  pests,  “disrupting”  the  harmony  of  the  god-like  apex  predator’s  and  their  feeding-  But  imo-  its  not  actual  spiders  he’s  talking  about  here,  not  the  way  we  know  them.  

Henry  is  a  smart  guy,  he  likes  spiders,  and  I  bet  he  knows  a  lot  about  them,  and  he  knows  spiders  are  animals,  not  gods,  and  they’re  not  the  only  "predatory  animal”  on  earth  yet  he  only  speaks  about  spiders  specifically  in  this  way  because  he’s  began  to  view  them  as  an  avatar  of  something  divine.  There is a reason the spiders are shown whenever Victor talks about the "evil force" hiding in the house. The spiders are displayed as analogs to this. The  scene  swaps  again,  we’re  at  a  different  day  in  Henrys  childhood  now.  ( We’re  literally  going  through  a  slightly  condensed  version  of  the  month  in  the  house  from  Henrys  pov. )  His  clothes  have  changed  again.  He’s  standing  in  front  of  the  grandfather  clock.  Back  to  adult  Henry  he  starts  to  express  his  own  anger  with  the  “human  world”  from  his  own  expereinces  with  his  ostracization  from  it.  But  he’s  angry,  he’s  now  ranting,  his  voice  even  becomes  distorted,  and  naturally  Eleven  starts  to  get  more  scared.  But  he  calms  down  as  he  starts  to  approach  her.  He  continues  to  explain,  even  though  its  obvious  he's  becoming  more  and  more  emotionally  distraught.  His  hand  is  raised,  kind  of  gesturing  to  his  head  and  its  trembling,  his  voice  starts  to  tremble  too  and  this  is  while  he's  explaining  that  he  couldn’t  pretend  to  fit  in  with  everyone.

Now we’re  then  back  to  the  scene  with  little  Henry  focusing  on  the  clock  briefly,  then  we’re  back  to  adult  Henry  who  has  started  to  clam  down.  He  starts  to  become  placid  again.  Note -  at  no  point  do  I  think  Henry  was  trying  to  scare  Eleven  at  all,  in  fact  it  seems  that  being  in  her  presence  is  what  clams  him  not  because  he’s  manipulating  her  but  because  her  being  there,  telling  this  to  her -  someone  who  he  thinks  is  just  like  him -  is  comforting  to  him.  Like  he's  finally  able  to  express  something  in  some  way  that  he  might  not  have  been  able  to  do  before –  or  maybe  he  might  have  never  been  able  to  talk  about  this  in  the  presence  of  someone  he  thinks  would  understand  and  believe  him. My personal take is both.

He’s  looking  at  Eleven  with  some  sort  of  affection  here  and  then  we  cut  back  to  Little  Henry  who  shows  us  he’s  harnessed  his  telekinesis,  he’s  moving  the  hands  on  the  clock  with  his  mind.  This  is  first  time  Henry  is  able  to  manifest  his  powers imo and I think thats the significance of this particular scene.  ( Which  probably  confirms  Henry  was  never  the  one  making  the  lights  blink  when  they  first  moved  in  and  the  lights  were  blinking  in  the  EXACT  way  we  have  seen  them  do  in  the  show  when  something  from  the  UD  is  trying  to  make  contact )  And  adult  Henry  is  now  more  optimistically  explaining  he  didn’t  have  to  be  trapped  in  the  cruel  oppressive  system  he  couldn’t  fit  within.  He  could  change  it  because  somehow  he  developed  these  powers.  This  makes  him  feel  like  he  can  be  the  master  of  his  own  destiny-  this  is  when  he  says  he  wanted  to  be  “A  predator,  but  for  good.”

And  then  we’re  back  to  Nancy  and  the  rabbit.  Its  another  day  again.  Henry’s  gradually  learning  how  to  use  these  powers.  The  rabbit  is  trapped  in  a  snare,  its  doing  the  rabbit  death  squeal  as  it  struggles  against  the  snare;  the  kinda  bad  cgi  rabbit  is  dying,  going  into  shock  ( and  I  know  this  because  rabbits  have  been  in  my  family  since  I  was  a  baby.  This  rabbit  was  in  shock  and  was  gonna  die  whether  Henry  touched  it  or  not so the fandom take on Henry and the rabbit annoys me so bad. )  Henry  decides  to  use  it  to  practise  his  powers  which  adult  Henry  is  explaining  to  Eleven  that  “as  he  practised”  he  realized  he  could  do  more  than  he  even  imagined  he  could  do.  As  the  days  continue,  Henry  quickly  learns  he  can  literally  read  people’s  minds.  So  Henry  explains  that  he  explored  his  parents  minds  and  this  is  where  he  grows  contempt  for  them  because  he  begins  to  become  horribly  aware  of  exactly  how  much  of  a  lie  their  “happy  family” –  that  he  was  always  the  black  sheep  within –  was  and  how  unfair  and  hypocritical  toward  him  they  have  really  been.  Which  adult  Henry  is  very  upset  again  about  thinking  back  on  it.  

Nancy  runs  back  inside  to  the  living  room  and  sees  Victor  and  the  baby  burning  to  drive  home  Henry’s  point  about  the  “terrible  things”  his  parents  have  done,  with  this  being  the  representation  of  Victor’s  ultimate  “bad  thing”  in  Henry’s  perception.  We’re  also  shown  little  Henry  sitting  in  front  of  his  spider  shrine  in  the  attic  and  using  his  powers  to  show  his  father  this  particular  vision  that  Nancy  is  witnessing –  again  this  is  a  different  day  to  the  day  Henry  killed  the  rabbit,  and  both  Henry  and  Victor  are  wearing  different  clothes  to  the  directly  following  scene  which  is  another  day  again,  where  Henry  explains  that  his  mother  hated  him.  

This  moves  directly  to  Nancy  walking  into  the  dining  room  of  the  house  and  being  shown  Virginia,  sitting  at  the  dinner  table  with  Henry  and  Alice  and  over  top  of  this  Henry  explains  Virginia’s  plan  to  get  rid  of  him,  to  lock  him  away  by  giving  him  to  Dr  Brenner  to  be  “fixed”.  This  is  the  terrible  thing  we’re  “shown”  that  Virginia  has  done,  this  was  the  straw  that  broke  the  camels  back  for  Henry,  to  Henry  this  is  Virginia's  worst  action. ( Which  is  valid  like  imagine  the  betrayal  of  finding  out  that  your  mother  hated  you  to start but add that to the fact she also and  wants  to  condemn  you  to  a  psychiatric  facility and the known horrors of them even in that time period. )  

And  this  is  when  Henry  explains  he  had  no  choice  but  to  “break  free”  leading  directly  to  the  death  of  Alice  and  Virginia.  Then  we  get  the  scene  with  Brenner  having  strapped  little  Henry  to  the  chair  and  tattooing  him,  much  to  Henry’s  pain  and  discomfort,  and  with  Henry  telling  Eleven  he  was  glad  she  was  born  and  all  the  rest  of  that.  

But  all  those  scenes  are  connected  and  important  to  each  other.  Its  a  progression  of  time  during  Henry’s  childhood  and  the  build  up  of  events  in  the  Creel  house  surrounding  Henry’s  strange  thoughts / behaviors  and  developing  powers  in  particular  during  the  month,  which  are  important  and  imo,  its  meant  to  clue  us  into  the  fact  something  WEIRD  did  in  fact  actually  happen  at  the  Creel  house  and  that  there  was  something  else  going  on  with  Henry,  something  even  more  than  he  is  able  to  tell  us  – but  it  seems  he’d  like  to  tell  us  he  just  couldn’t  because  he  either  didn’t  know  to  explain  it  any  better  than  what  he  did  when  he  was  speaking  to  Eleven,  or  maybe  he  just  didn’t  know  how  to  explain  it  better  to  ELEVEN  in  particular,  given  how  young  she  was.

But  even  Vecna  wants  to  tell  us  something.  He  wants  to  show  us  something,  even,  and  he  chose  Nancy  for  this  which  was  the  entire  point  of  Nancy’s  encounter  with  him.  “Now  that  you  have  seen  where  I  have  been,  I  would  very  much  like  to  show  you  were  I'm  going”.  This  is  all  connected  and  theres  a  lot  more  we  have  left  to  see.  ( The  lab,  maybe  some  more  stuff  about  Alice,  the  upside  down,  etc )  We’re  gonna  find  out  exactly  what  was  going  on  with  Henry  and  how / why  Vecna  is  what  he  is  and  I  can  almost  promise  its  going  to  be  a  whole  lot  more  than  some  supremely  uncreative,  basic  shit  like  “hes  just  evil  and  always  has  been” because they completely misread and falsely represent all these scenes and this character in a way I have literally not experienced in any other fandom.

[angeloroki]

you are the ua traitor — tamaki; shoto; bakugo

you were the ua traitor. and that broke his heart.

— character ; amajiki tamaki x gn!reader, shoto todoroki x gn!reader, katsuki bakugo x gn!reader

— request ; So I have this idea 👉🏻👈🏻 tamaki ( idk if you write for him ) shouto and bakugou ( feel free to add or remove anyone ) reaction to reader who sent by the league of villains to spay on UA. like the students were on a mission and the villains attacks and reader take their side ? Again plz if your uncomfortable with it just ignore it and ily 🤎🤎Also sorry for any mistake English isn’t my first Language

— genre ; angst

— warnings ; none

— a/n ; ty for your request hun, im totally okay with it!! so i hope you'll like it :)

(ily too <33)

amajiki tamaki

broken

his heart was in pieces when he understood your real presence in UA

you were called in by the professional heroes with nejire and mirio to rescue civilians from an attack on the downtown shopping center

he was warned that it was an attack of the league of villains

the young brunette was not afraid of the villains, but he was afraid for you, his s/o, afraid you would get hurt or worse

but he was happy to be with you on this mission,

you were there to reassure him and to have his back and vice versa, you were just a great duo

but never, never would he have imagined the scene before him

indeed, he was going to fight toga when he saw you deflecting his blow to protect the young blonde

« y/n ? » he said confused

but was he really ?

but everything came together like a puzzle, the rumor of an informant within the school, how each attack coincided with their exit from the school, information leaks

but still everything was fuzzy in his head

and maybe he didn't want to admit the truth

that the person he was in love with was just a villain

tears came to his eyes, and his gaze found the ground. motionless, paralyzed, he was losing his means

he saw you strike a violent blow to a hero who was going to arrest you

another hero came and shook tamaki with both hands

« hey son let them, the building will collapse ! », he shouted in his ears

but tamaki came to free himself from his hold to approach you

you stared at him, poor baby, he was in a bad state

« did you lie about that too ? did you lie to me when you said you loved me ? »

tears came to his eyes, he wanted to hear your truth from your own mouth first

he refused to admit that you had just helped the league of villains to knock out all the heroes

you sighed softly, you had never planned on tamaki in your mission

and even less fall in love with him

« you can still become a hero. and be with me. i beg you. » his voice was now a whisper.

a hero tried to capture you and failed miserably

the cause ?

tamaki

he was holding him back with his tentacles from approaching you.

« i'm sorry. i'm sorry that my love feelings for you are true. » you said.

his gaze was fixed on the ground, but he guessed that you had fled with the other bandits.

he let you go. and you were gone.

shoto todoroki

shoto and you were on patrol in an area when you were called in to help some heroes who were in trouble against the league of villains

your boyfriend who was very attentive to you noticed right away that something was bothering you

although he asked you if you were ready to go, you assured him that everything was fine

he knew you too well and knew something was wrong as you said

and his thoughts were confirmed all too quickly

you had arrived at the battle scene when he heard someone call your name

it was the one villain called twice, he has dealt with before in many attacks

« y/n you're finally here, oh my god, there is so much noises ! no it's silent what do you mean. y/n, shigaraki you don't have to do anything more in the UA ! »

shoto was a man of great composure, yet it was only these few words that managed to destabilise him with incredible force.

he was going to ask you what it meant

and before he noticed you were no longer by his side, he saw you alongside some villains

but instead of seeing them fighting or at least stopping them, shoto quickly understood that you were simply helping them to dodge the heroes' attacks

he said your name in a weak voice at first, filled with concern

he started to walk towards you, at a slow pace then he accelerated his pace

his thoughts whirled at a crazy speed, everything fitted together perfectly.

you were the traitor the teachers had been talking about for the last few weeks.

and you had chosen the worst time to reveal it.

once he was on your level, your first instinct was to protect yourself in case of an attack.

but the last thing he wanted to do was capture you or attack you , he just wanted to understand.

he needed to understand.

todoroki just wanted to understand how you could have betrayed him, or everyone else in the school.

« tell me i'm misinterpreting what's happening, please. »

his usually stoic expression was replaced by one filled with sorrow

and that's what broke your heart the most, plus the fact that your first love was a hero and not a villain like you.

his hands that were connected to yours clenched a little more as if he was afraid that you would disappear at any moment

yet he wasn't wrong to be afraid

and he understood that quickly

« don't give up on me, please. i-i love you y/n, even if we're not in the... same camp. »

never has shoto shown himself so weak in front of someone.

and even less so unreasonable

he, who was so hard on the rules. he was willing to make an exception for you.

and yet, you couldn't let that happen

you had to bite your lip until it bled to keep from crying in front of him.

you would have liked to say that he was only a pawn in your plan, in your mission.

but did you also have to lie to yourself ?

« stop loving me then, because it's not possible. » you reply in a cold voice.

you pushed him away violently, and with your partners you managed to push the little heroes aside to escape.

you did it for him, for his sake, you convince yourself.

even if it would break your own heart.

katsuki bakugo

you and bakugo were in the middle of a hostage rescue

admittedly, this was not bakugo's strong point, attack was more his domain

yet your superiors had specifically assigned you this mission

and what surprised you was that he didn't grumble while trying to change your mind

you didn't know it but he was happy to keep an eye on you, you were dealing with the league of villains and he was relieved to be able to be by your side to protect you in case things got out of hand

although he knew you were capable of protecting yourself

but now he wasn't sure if you ever even needed him

indeed, you were the two heroes still standing against the villains,

the other pro-heroes were either injured or unconscious

he wanted to keep you out of the way to avoid hurting you when he wanted to attack

« get out of my way moron, it's time to attack ! »

and yet you pushed him away with a calculated gesture and tackled him to the ground

you had handled him gently and carefully not to hurt him

and it was the fact that you attacked him instead of your opponents that caught him off guard

he didn't even try to struggle, letting you do this technique that you had learned from aizawa, in a few seconds only

and yet even though he suspected what was going on, he dared to say

« i knew you were stupid, but not that stupid ! we're not in training, the bad guys are the assholes over there idiot ! »

he was quick to get out of the way, but you made it easy to keep him in your grip

« don't be silly katsuki, you know we were never on the same side. », you say in a voice filled with pain.

you understood well what he was doing, the young blond is a smart and a clever man although he didn't let anything show in class

he simply refused to accept the truth, hiding his face

without saying anything, he pushed you away and went to attack the villains who were starting to flee

this time, and it was the last, you tackled him to the ground so that he

you didn't know about this surprise attack by the villain league, the last thing you wanted was for this mission to go wrong and katsuki to get hurt.

his expression was a mixture of anger and pain

« DON'T THINK I'M GOING TO LET YOU ESCAPE JUST BECAUSE WE'RE IN THE SAME CLASS Y/N! » his voice broke in mid-sentence.

you felt your throat tighten, it was the first time he had used your name.

Why did it have to happen in this particular situation?

it had been a while since he had stopped struggling, only his bruised eyes were still trying to struggle

you didn't answer, a heavy silence was between you despite the mess around you

« answer me, damn it... » , his voice had calmed down, but you could still feel the anger simmering.

« you couldn't understand katsuki. » you fled his gaze, your hands still holding him.

he let out a dry laugh.

« yeah, you're just like all the rest. »

bakugo was still stronger than you, in just a second he was up and pushing you away.

he turned his back on you.

« go away. but i will find you. »

[winter-turtle]

House Of Wolves - Chapter 3 - Winterturtle - Multifandom [Archive of Our Own]

Chapter 3: Hope Is Fatal

(posting now because I'm a dumbass and I forgot to post it here after I put it on AO3)

Bound to a chair, he couldn’t move around too much. He was in pain.

“You need to learn how to be still.”

No, stop.

“The pain won’t be as bad once you stop squirming.”

He tried, but he couldn’t stifle the scream completely.

“Do you think someone else will give you a breather?”

It hurts.

“It’s for your own good.”

Peter’s eyes flew open with sharp intake of breath. He wouldn’t scream. He couldn’t. He’d learned long ago not to do it as it would show his enemies that he was weak.

And Peter wasn’t weak.

His hammering heart started to slow down to a more reasonable pace as his eyes adjusted to the dark, scanning his surroundings. The memory (nightmare?) began to fade into the back of his mind upon taking in the familiar shapes of his room.

When did he stopped thinking about it as a cell?

He was safe. Nobody could touch him here.

But… he didn’t fall asleep here. He didn’t remember walking back here either, so that only meant that someone had to carry him.

Again, he suspected who.

When one spends most of the time in confinement, it was only natural that they had a lot of time to think about things. That’s exactly how Peter was doing. He thought. He wondered. He went over every single interaction he’s had with the heroes in hopes of figuring out the reason why they were… trying.

More precisely why Stark was trying. Yes, the man might be persistent and his stubbornness seemed to turn everything into a disaster as the trip to the gym had proven, but Peter just couldn’t sense any hostile intent.

None of this made any sense. Why would people like the Avengers show any care to him?

“Hurting their own children is not something normal parents do.”

Peter shook his head. Those stupid words refused his mind since they left Stark’s mouth. “Normal parents…” he said softly under his breath, as if testing how the words felt. Normal. How normal parents behaved? How would his life turn out to be if he had normal life?

Then again, he never was normal, was he?

Deciding that the constant swirling of his thoughts won’t let him fall back asleep, Peter slipped from underneath the covers and walked towards the door. Moving around always helped. He stood there for a moment before placing his hand on the handle. What were the chances of it opening?

“Here goes nothing.”

He pushed and to his surprise, the door opened. “Huh.” Okay, so he wasn’t locked, but there was no doubt that the AI was watching his every move. Well, don’t look gifted horse in the mouth, he thought as he walked.

Turn the corner, first window, second window, third window…

Peter stopped before the fourth window. He didn’t get past this point the last time. “Okay,” he whispered to himself, raising his hand, “okay.” Ever so slowly and with bated breath, his hand inched towards the invisible barrier. His heartbeat picked up as he expected the stabbing pain any second.

But no pain came. No stabbing of needles, no sudden lightheadedness and no sudden loss of consciousness. Peter only released the breath when his hand was fully outstretched in front of him.

Peter put his other hand in front of him and took a step forward. Then another one. Then another one and then, when he realized that nothing was about to happed, lowered his hands so he wouldn’t look like a total weirdo that was pretending to walk like a zombie.

Stark kept his word.

Another speck of doubt fell on what once used to be carefully balanced scales, tilting it even more.

More or less, Peter found his way to the gym by following his nose. The room was dark, only illuminated by the moonlight streaming in through the windows under the tall ceiling. The light fell on various machines which in turn threw long shadows all around the room. When Peter was little, he’d been terrified of shadows like these.  He’d felt like they would turn into a monster that would drag him away.

And then he’d spent five days in almost complete dark all on his own.

“See? That wasn’t so bad,” his mother smiled sweetly after he was let out, tired and with dried tear tracks on his cheeks. “The only monsters in the world are those people who call themselves heroes.”

Okay, no. He was getting side-tracked. A nice workout session was bound to clear his head.

Soon, Peter fell into a familiar routine. Warm-up, push-ups, sit-ups, some gymnastics… it did wonders to his mind. For the first time in four weeks, he felt himself truly relax.

Still, a tiny part of him remained on edge. Maybe it was the childish part of him that somehow remained in him despite the countless attempts to beat it out of him, but he could swear he saw the shadows shift every once in a while. Yet every time he looked, there was nothing amiss – just the same equipment sitting on the same spot.

Peter dropped down from the rings with almost inaudible thump. His eyes closed.

“A bit late for a workout.”

Peter whipped around, pinpointing the source of voice. Black Widow sat on a nearby bench, almost shrouded by the shadows, her gaze trained on the dumbbell in her hand.

So he wasn’t paranoid; it was most likely her who caused the occasional shift of the shadows. But that left one question.

Why didn’t his spidey-sense alert him to her presence?

“I must say, that was quite impressive set of moves.”

“What are you doing here?” Peter asked instead.

She switched arms. “I live here. Can’t I come for a late-night workout session too?”

Peter opted to remain silent. The woman continued through her set before standing up and putting the dumbbell to its original spot. “Care to give me a hand?” she asked as she lied down on a bench and grabbed ahold of a barbell.

Not a single of her footsteps could be heard, even with his super hearing. Peter found it impressive.

He didn’t know why, but he followed. He got ahold of the metal bar, securing it in case Romanov’s arms would buckle.

“You know,” she began, her voice slightly strained, “I always come here too when sleep seems impossible. Those night when something is keeping you up…”

Silence.

“So, what kept you up? You looked pretty tired at the movies.”

Peter huffed. “What kept you up?”

She shrugged. For a while, Peter thought that was the end of the conversation, but the universe loved to prove him wrong.

“It’s confusing, isn’t it? When two worlds clash and suddenly you are left to question everything.”

Peter didn’t like the direction the conversation was headed. “What do you know?”

“A lot.”

Okay, even if Peter was vaguely aware of Romanov’s background, the answer wasn’t helpful at all. “Why?”

“Why what?”

“Despite the warning, despite me saying what I did… you know I could just let go of this barbell and let it crush your throat. Nobody would be able to do anything to stop me.”

“Then by all means do. Feel free. You have a perfect opportunity,” she said, perfectly unfazed.

Peter stared at her as if she was a particularly difficult piece of puzzle.

She wasn’t afraid of him.

Why wasn’t she afraid of him?

The weight gave a sudden jerk down. Peter instinctively gripped it, preventing it from dipping further. His slightly widened brown eyes locked with Romanov’s green, trying to read them, although unsuccessfully. But whatever the woman was looking for in his, she must have found it.

With a final grunt, Romanov put the weight back and stood up. She gave Peter a onceover before nodding to herself and then headed to the door, dabbing her sweat away with the towel.

“Why did you come here?” he asked in lowly before she crossed the threshold.

She shrugged. “Just a late-night workout. Same as you. And with that out of the way, I believe the sleep will come easier. You should head to bed too. Growing boys need their rest so they can get big and strong.”

Peter stared at the spot until he was sure he was alone. His mind was whirling.

Was this some kind of test? It certainly felt like it. But if it was, it brought on a question of whether he passed or not. He didn’t know which option he preferred.

A glint coming from underneath one of the bicycles caught his eye. Peter, pretending to tie his shoelace, picked up the object. A smile slowly spreading across his face at the sight of the forgotten black bobby pin. The hair stuck to it was long, too long, so that ruled out Black Widow as the owner. Peter doubted she would be careless enough to leave this lying here.

Finally something he could use.

He resumed the “tying” of the shoelaces when in reality, he slipped the pin into his shoe. He stood up and left.

Getting the bracelets open took him longer than he would like to admit, but prying small panels off with nothing but a bobby pin wasn’t the easiest task. But here he was, sitting on a bathroom floor, staring at the exposed mechanism. If he was correct, these parts were responsible for dampening his powers.

Peter positioned his wrists so they would be in line with the ends of the bobby pin. He had to do it correctly if he wanted to succeed. He didn’t even want to think about what would happen if he messed up.

It could shock him unconscious, release a lethal dose of the sedatives… the list went on.

Taking a steadying breath, he curled his hands into fists, and narrowed his eyes in concentration.

“Three, two… one.”

He brough his wrists together in one swift motion, stabbing the exposed areas at the same time. The bracelets let out a single spark of light each and thin trail of smoke.

“Well, that probably short-circuited something else too,” Peter muttered as he closed the exposed areas. You could spot the faint scratches on the sleek silver surface only if you looked for them. After he removed the pin from the soap and tucked it where, hopefully, nobody would find it, he returned to the living area. Had had mapped the field the camera could see, which allowed him to pick the blind spot big enough to test the results.

He placed his palms on the wall. “Here goes nothing,” he said and jumped.

He didn’t fall.

He didn’t fall!

Grin threatened to split his face in two. “Yes! Yes!” he quietly cheered. Wasting no more time, Peter climbed the rest of the way up and nestled himself into the corner. The familiar feeling was soothing him instantly. Well, it looked like he was about to get first full night of good sleep since he ended up at this place.

That was his last thought before he fell asleep, the corners of his lips quirked upwards.

“Friday, is the kid awake yet?” Tony asked from where he was pouring himself a cup of coffee. When Natasha came to him earlier and told him her night encounter, it actually put him in a good mood.

“I am unable to get my eyes on Peter.”

Tony’s smile froze. “Is he in a bathroom?” The kid didn’t get sick again, did he?

“Negative, Boss. He left the bathroom in early morning hours and then I lost sight of him.”

“Bracelets?”

“I am unable to detect the location from those.”

Tony’s heart skipped a beat at that. “Comb through the footage.” With heavy heart, he abandoned the coffee and headed to the kid’s room.

Kid, for both of our sake, but mostly for yours, I hope you didn’t run.

Peter woke up to a sound that sounded suspiciously like a wheeze. He let out disgruntles sigh and turned his head to look over his shoulder. To his surprise, he found Stark below him, his arms awkwardly in front of him.

“Why do you look like you’re about to have a heart attack?” he mumbled sleepily.

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because you’re stuck to a ceiling?!”

The brief flash of confusion turned into understanding once he realized where he was. “Oh. Right.”

“Oh? Right?! That’s all you’re going to say about it?! You could’ve fallen!”

“Don’t worry, Mr. Stark.” Mr. Stark, huh? Now when did that happen? “I won’t fall.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Yes, I know,” Peter said, rolling his eyes. “My powers, remember?”

Wait-

Oh shit, his powers! Mr. Stark knew caught him. “I, uh…”

Smart, Parker. Really smart.

“Right,” Mr. Stark said slowly, “how about you come down?”

Shit, shit, shit- Peter did his best not to outwardly show his panic. He messed up big time. And when there was a mess-up, a punishment usually followed. What a pity. He went so long without one.

Peter could’ve jumped, but he wanted to savor those precious seconds before the pain came, so he started climbing down. Well, the least he could do was to face it like a champ. Like always.

No place for weaknesses.

“Hey, is everything all—"

New voice.

Peter froze still stuck to the wall. Mr. Stark whipped around. It seemed like the time in the room stopped as Wilson and Barnes’ eyes slid from Mr. Stark’s form to him.

Maybe if I don’t move, they won’t see me, Peter thought.

“I’m pretty sure he’s not supposed to do that,” Wilson said warily and to be fair, Peter couldn’t blame him. He did attack the man before.

Peter soundlessly lowered himself to the ground, the slight shift of the two newcomers’ bodies making Peter’s own tense in response. He will defend himself should he be attacked.

Mr. Stark stepped in front of him, shielding Peter from the view. “Everything’s fine,” he said. “Leave us. We’ll join you shortly.”

Wilson leaned to the side to catch a glimpse of Peter. The boy didn’t need to be a telepath to know what was going through the man’s head. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah. Go.”

The man looked like he wanted to protest, but Barnes’ hand on his shoulder stopped him. The former Hydra assassin nodded towards the door. Wilson, though reluctantly, relented. “Okay.”

Once the two were out of the sight, Mr. Stark turned to face Peter and took a step towards him. Here it comes. Peter lifted his head, his jaw clenched as he waited for the blow to land. Will it be a slap or punch? Will it be just his face that gets struck or his torso too? Will he get kicked once he’s on his knees?

Two arms sneaked around his body, one around his arms and one burying itself in his hair, made Peter turn into a statue. But no pain came. The touch was… gentle, actually. The hand in his hair began to cradle through his curls. It felt like someone pulled the plug and all of Peter’s tension went down the drain.

“I’m not mad,” Mr. Stark murmured into his hair, startling Peter and making him free himself from the hold before he could sink into it fully.

“What was that?”

Mr. Stark quirked one eyebrow. “Me saying I’m not mad or the hug?” When Peter didn’t reply, the curiosity turned into a small frown. “Did you ever get hugged?”

“Uh, yeah, yeah, plenty. All-all the time,” Peter rushed out, but the lie sounded fake to his own ears.

“Right, as I was saying, I’m not mad, but I have to ask – how did you disable it?”

Peter decided to take the risk and merely shrugged. He fully expected Mr. Stark to press further for the answers, but the man only nodded and said, “Okay. Now come on, breakfast is on the table.”

Peter could only blink after the man. Mr. Stark didn’t strike him. Mr. Stark didn’t strike him! Peter messed up, did something he shouldn’t have done… yet there was no beating. Not even after he refused to say how he disabled the bracelets. All those things would get him pretty beaten up back home, what the hell?

Safe, his mind whispered.

Peter mulled over the word. Safe. Yes, he was safe, wasn’t he? Mr. Stark stepped in front of him, shielding him with his own body. Mr. Stark hugged him.

Nobody could touch him if he was near Mr. Stark. Mr. Stark meant safety. Safety felt nice.

Peter decided he liked Mr. Stark.

The day was spent by the kid glued to the TV, watching one sci-fi movie after another. The rest of Star Wars saga, Alien, Back to the Future, Jurassic Park – it didn’t matter. It was like he tuned out the rest of the world, only acknowledging when someone joined him on the couch with brief glance. Tony couldn’t help the tiny smile at the sight of childish wonder in Peter’s eyes. With all of the training his parents had put him through, there was no doubt that the boy had any time to just… be a kid.

Tony decided not to do anything about the bracelets. That was another point he wanted to bring up – trust. And besides, if the kid wanted to run, he would have done that the moment he disabled the power dampener.

He made a note to clean and basically child-and-villain-proof his workshop. He wanted to see on what level the kid was despite never attending school. He had to have some knowledge if he was able to disable them.

The whole confrontation refused to leave his mind. Peter looked like a deer caught in a headlight once he realized he was sticking to the ceiling. Like he was expecting him to lash out.

The addition of Mr. and Miss in front of their names came as a pleasant shock. Well, except Steve. Steve was still called Call-Me-Steve. And to Steve’s annoyance, the rest of the team took on the nickname as well. Still, it helped to ease the atmosphere between Peter and the group.

The efforts seemed to start paying off, because the kid basically imprinted on Tony like a duckling, checking from time to time if Tony was nearby.

When Tony found Peter sleeping in the same corner the next day, he had a comfy hammock installed there. Though he thought the kid would appreciate it, it was also mostly for peace of Tony’s own mind.

And as it turned out, he was right. Peter’s whole face lit up once he spotted the little nest.

Tony’s heart flooded with warmth.

Tony craned his neck up. “You sure like that book, huh?”

Peter, sitting on a ceiling, glanced over the top before returning his gaze to the pages. “It’s alright.”

Over the days of interacting with their little charge, Tony believed he became fluent in the teen. He never expressed outward joy and Tony for some reason suspected that it was because of the kid’s fear of having the object of his joy taken away. That, or he didn’t know how to properly express what he was feeling, which Tony found relatable.

Another round of laughter came from the group huddled near the TV. The team had taken up watching the aforementioned PSAs, making their local fossil cover his face in embarrassment. Clint was bent over, holding his sides. “Aw, man, these are hilarious.”

“Play the one about reproduction. You can see Call-Me-Steve’s soul leave his body in that one,” Peter said without looking away from the page. Eventually, he looked, but not at the group. He looked at Bucky, who was only half-attempting to hide his staring. “Why are you staring at me so much?”

“I’m sorry,” he said softly.

Peter’s eyebrows knitted together. “Uh, okay? For what exactly?”

“For trying to kill you.”

“Do you have any idea how little that narrows it down? Many people tried to kill me. As you can see, they didn’t succeed.”

Bucky shifted, bowing his head slightly. “I tried… as a Winter Soldier, I was given the order to kill you shortly after you got your powers. I’m sorry.”

Aside from the rowdy group going crazy over the videos, everything was quiet in their little corner.

“Eh, it’s no big deal,” the kid said, making both men turn to him. “I don’t remember it at all, you obviously failed as I’m right here, so… no hard feelings on my side.”

“But I��”

“If you want to hear ‘I forgive you’ from me, then fine. I forgive you. You can cross my name off some list if you have one, but I literally couldn’t care less.”

Tony watched as Barnes’ shoulders fell in acceptance and mentally added him on a list of people that Peter started to slowly warm up to. First it was Natasha, then Rhodey and then Clint being, well, Clint, got jealous and practically started to buy the kid with chocolate. He puffed like a peacock when Peter told him ‘you’re not so bad’.

But Tony knew he was still number one and nobody could take it away from him.

His idle scrolling through SI documents that Pepper labeled as “important” got interrupted by an alert lighting up on his watch. Peter’s vitals were all over the place for the past five minutes.

Peter hadn’t moved from his spot on the ceiling, but it didn’t escape Tony how hunched over the book the kid was, wide eyes furiously going over the page and lips slightly parted. “Pete?” Nothing. “Kid?” Still no response. “Must be hell of a book,” he muttered under his breath.

A broom in the corner caught his attention. Shrugging, he grabbed it and then poked Peter’s side. The effect was instant. The kid yelped and if it wasn’t for his stickiness and quick reflexes, he would’ve fallen. “What the hell, Mr. Stark?” he cried out as he slightly swinged from side to side.

“Breathe!” Tony said, exasperated. “Or you’ll faceplant on the floor when you pass out.”

“You almost made me fall!”

Tony poked the kid’s ribs with the broom handle. “Well, what was I supposed to do? You didn’t react to anything else!”

“Well, maybe I acknowledged you with a hum but your old man ears didn’t catch that.”

Tony let out dramatic gasp. “You sassy little shit,” he said, flipped the broom over and began to playfully whack the boy with it. Peter giggled – actually giggled – and moved out of the broom’s reach. Tony gave chase, eliciting more giggles from the kid. “I’ll let you know that I’m not that old!”

“Whatever makes you feel better, old man,” the kid replied cheekily.

Tony huffed and shook his head. “Kids these days have no respect,” he grumbled. “Just breathe next time.” He went back to the documents, aware that Peter was following him to stay close.

And just when Tony thought that everything went well, of course it had to go to shit.

Tony heard the kid draw in shuddering breath, noticing that he made it through the book. But that wasn’t all that caught his attention. No, he tried and failed to decipher the emotions that rapidly flashed across Peter’s features. In one flash, Tony could’ve sworn that the kid was about to cry.

Just as fast as it appeared, it disappeared, Peter closed the book shut, jumped down, threw the book on the table and stormed from the room. Tony grabbed the book in hopes to find what had upset the kid since he enjoyed it so much. He flipped to the last page and he immediately understood.

“What was that about?” Rhodey asked.

“I’m going to get that girl from that bookstore fired,” he muttered angrily, passing the book to Sam’s waiting hands. Hope was apparently one of the themes; that was the reason Tony got it in the first place. “No wonder he’s upset with an ending like that!”

Sam passed the book to Natasha. “Well, it is a trilogy. If you wanted cliché happy ending, you should've gotten some standalone. Or different author.”

“Tony,” Steve said, “don’t—”

“What, Steve?” he snapped. “Don’t bother trying? Is that what you’re trying to say?”

“No.”

Tony stopped.

“I wanted to say that whatever went wrong this time, you’ll be able to fix it. You always do.” Tony stared, dumbfounded. Steve continued. “I had my doubts before, but after seeing you two earlier… I was wrong. Whatever you need, we’ll help.”

“Huh. Never would have thought that we would see eye to eye, but… thanks, Cap. I appreciate it,” Tony said, and he meant it. But now onto more pressing matter. “Okay, I’m gonna go talk to him, make sure the kid’s okay.”

“Wait!” Clint called out, making Tony stop. “A bit of advice from seasoned dad to a new dad – if you push a teenager to talk when he doesn’t want to, you’ll do more harm than good. You have to let him blow some steam off first. And until then,” he opened a vent hatch and pulled out a chocolate tablet from now not-so-secret stash, “here.”

Tony accepted the sweet treat. Clint must really want to help if he was willing to pass up on an opportunity to bribe the kid into liking him. “Thanks, Clint.”

He was almost out of the room when he turned around so fast it almost gave everyone a whiplash.

“Hold on… what do you mean a new dad?”

In the darkness of his room and in the comfort of his hammock, Peter made up his mind. He was running away. He didn’t know where exactly he would go since his parents most likely changed the locations, but he could go to some of their old hiding spots. Those places still had running water and provided safe cover from the weather. Food will be a trouble, but he could figure that part out once it came to that.

He glanced at the chocolate in his lap that Mr. Stark brought him earlier and then threw it into the hammock because he couldn’t reach that high up and Peter refused to come down. He set it aside and jumped down.

He’ll miss the taste.

He’ll miss the comfort of the hammock.

He’ll miss Mr. Sta-

Peter firmly cut himself off. No. He had to stop this before he got in far too deep. Because if he dared to hope that things could be better, it would simply get taken away from him anyway. Hope was fatal.  Better to spare himself the pain.

Assuming that all doors were locked for the nigh, Peter found a stairwell and bean to climb up in a search for the roof. Then he could scale down the wall and leave all of this behind.

He found the door at last. With a sense of finality pooling in his stomach, he gripped the handle and pulled the door open.

Peter looked up and stopped.

It was a good thing that Tony wasn’t asleep when Friday alerted him that the kid was on the roof. He put on one of his old zip-up hoodies and headed to his destination, not knowing what to expect. Aside from the time in the gym, Peter never wandered the Compound at night.

He opened the door and whatever he was expecting, it definitely wasn’t a pair of feet hanging in front of his face. Ducking underneath them, it didn’t take long to find the rest of the teen. Peter was sprawled on his back above the door. “A bit late to be outside.”

“There are so many,” the kid whispered, pure awe in his voice.

Tony looked up at the inky sky littered with millions of tiny bright dots. “There sure are. Not a cloud in sight. Perfect time for stargazing,” he said as he leaned on the wall next to Peter’s legs. “You’ve… never seen the stars?”

“I never really left the city. You can’t see this there with all that light pollution. Plus, when we were doing night missions outside of the city, it was always on cloudy night for maximum cover.”

Yeah, that would make sense. Though Tony couldn’t help but feel queasy at the memories of being up there. It was enough to make his skin prickle.

“You’ve been to space, right? During the battle of New York.”

Dang, the kid had to bring it up. But he was talking with Tony willingly, so he wouldn’t let the chance go to waste. “Yeah. I was.”

“How was it?”

Terrifying. Traumatizing. Nightmare and panic attack inducing. “It was… big. Vast and dark.”

“I would like to see it one day.”

Tony huffed. “Let’s hope it will be under better circumstances.”

“Thank you for closing that portal. I don’t know what I would’ve done otherwise.”

“Wait, you were there?”

“Of course. Like every person in New York.” The kid paused, seemingly contemplating to elaborate. “I was outside when the invasion happened. I wasn’t fast enough to hide in the safehouse and those things cornered me. I fought but more and more kept coming… and then they all fell. The portal closed.”

Tony found himself sitting next to Peter. He pushed the memories away in order to focus on his young charge. “Wait, that was you?”

Peter glanced at him. “Huh?”

“There was a part of the city where we weren’t fighting, but we found a bunch of Chitauri that were incapacitated before the mothership was destroyed. That was you, wasn’t it?” But none of them were killed. That planted some serious doubt about Peter’s claims that he killed someone. Sure, he was way younger then, but child soldiers killed since very young age. Plus… “There were several civilians claiming that some enhanced human had saved them.”

The kid averted his gaze. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I just protected myself.”

Lies. Tony never thought he would be grateful for those. “Well then,” he said with small smile, “whoever saved those people is a hero.”

“I didn’t save anyone.”

“I didn’t say that.”

More silence. About half a minute passed before Peter sat up, still looking up at the sky. “Do you really think that I can change? Despite everything I’ve done?”

The vulnerability in those words made Tony’s heart ache. “You just have to have a little bit of hope.”

“Hope is fatal.”

“Is it though?”

Peter shrugged, then shivered.

“Are you cold?” Tony asked.

Peter wrapped his hands around himself and shook his head in amusement. “The spider part of me doesn’t exactly like the cold.”

Oh. Right. Spiders can’t thermoregulate. Tony immediately shrugged off his hoodie. “Here,” he said as he wrapped it around Peter’s shoulders.

With wide eyes, Peter pulled the hoodie tighter around himself. “I- I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this… or understand.”

“But you’ll learn.”

A brief hesitation. “But I’ll learn,” Peter repeated. “Thank you.”

Tony’s heart leaped with joy. A grin threatened to betray how he truly felt, but thankfully, he got saved by the kid’s stomach rumbling loudly. He laughed. “Hungry?”

“A little bit,” Peter muttered, his cheeks dusting pink. Another loud rumble could be heard. “Traitor,” he muttered, looking down pointedly.

Tony ruffled Peter’s hair. “Let’s get some food into you then. Nothing is better than the good old midnight raid of the fridge.”

They tinkered in comfortable silence in Mr. Stark’s workshop. If Peter counted correctly, tomorrow should be five-week anniversary of his capture. When he compared his current-self with his past-self, it was almost unbelievable how much has his attitude towards the heroes changed.

Where there used to be struggles and attacks and rude words, now there were group meals and playful banter. Peter still struggled with that one, but as Mr. Stark had said, he’ll learn.

And oh how Peter was willing to learn, especially in Mr. Stark’s workshop. So much technology in one place. It was a dream come true! Yes, he had restrictions because of his villain status, but he still made the most of what he was allowed.

Peter dared to say that he was… happy.

A sound of muffled explosion made his head snap up and not a second later an alarm started to blare. “What’s going on?”

Mr. Stark brought up a footage Peter couldn’t see. “We’re under attack. Don’t worry, just… stay here, okay?” he said, and with that, he was gone.

The tightness on Mr. Stark’s face, along with the churning of his stomach, gave Peter a pretty good tip on who was attacking. More explosions could be heard over the alarm. They were louder. Closer. Like they were on…

The roof.

Peter was torn. Why now? His own words echoed in his head.

“They’re just waiting for the right moment to strike.”

Dammit.

Mr. Stark told him to stay put. And he wanted to obey, he really did, but… the sound of the battle went on for too long.

Peter knew what he had to do.

With his features set with determination, he headed out of the lab, but not before slipping a metallic disc into his shoe. He willed his hand to stop shaking as he pushed the pulled the door to the roof open. Unsurprisingly, he was met with the sight of a battlefield. There were dents in the roof. Charred spots from where the explosion went off. Even some bloodstains.

“Peter?” he heard Mr. Stark say. “What are you doing here? I told you to stay put!”

Peter didn’t get the chance to reply. “Spider!” He knew that voice. That was his mother’s voice. “What are you waiting for? Come on!” Peter spotted her on something that resembled a helicopter. His father was piloting, but still shot small rockets at the heroes on the roof.

“Peter, don’t,” Mr. Stark pleaded, shooting from his wrist gauntlet.

Peter squeezed his eyes shut and gulped. Then he began to sprint across the roof towards his parents. Someone tackled him.

“Pete, kid, listen,” Mr. Stark said, “you don’t have to go with them. Remember what we were talking about? You can be better! Don’t throw everything away. Please,” he choked the last word out.

But he knew what he had to do. So, flipping the man easily off of his body, he took off running once again. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, not sure if it could be heard through the lump in his throat. Peter came to the edge of the roof and jumped. His hand clasped around his mother’s extended one.

“Now!” his mother yelled at the same time as their hands connected.

An electric blast went through the tower, rendering all electronic on the roof useless. Peter heard the clang of Rhodey’s metal suit as it hit the ground. Peter risked the glance over his shoulder at the people he left behind.

“Nice one, Richard!”

“You were great too, hun!”

As always, no praise for Peter. A sudden stabbing pain came from around his wrists. Peter set his lips into thin like. “I forgot about these,” he muttered.

Well, he guessed he deserved it.

Darkness swallowed him.

[thethrillof]

Parent Eddie PT 4 I have so many headcanons Definitely not Julie, sorry lady but you missed out on a chance with all of this Personally I've been using some ideas of a EllenXEdward child, but it's always fun to expand on that with Edward X Yin/Bruce/Ethan/Penguin ships I'm totally open for that Ellen X Edward It's been on their minds as Edward already gave up on the whole "Riddler" schtick, mainly because what happened with him and Julie was one of the main driving factors that still hurts. It's one of those "it just sort of happened" scenarios as the two talk and talk, weighing out a lot of the things required for a child, not to mention things that aren't even brought up. Ellen is more work focused. Plus..."how many times have you been kidnapped, gassed, and hurt, Yinsy? Technically speaking." "Touché." Do they dare? How would the child turn out? Oh god what if it's triplets?! They hold off on a lot of family rearing until one day, they just go for it. Just one. And if things don't work out...well then they tried and that's the end of it. Course, Eddie's gotta keep a close eye on Yinsy since she wants to be out in the action. Even making a whole checklist before she goes out to do minor things about not getting herself into anything dumb. She's so headstrong and stubborn, something he admires and loathes at the same time. In the end, however, is when things really start to pick up. Their child being a good blend of Yin and Edward's features, definitely taking a lot more after Yin in personality, but also having Eddie's smirk -Smart, stubborn, charismatic, maybe a little too sarcastic Yin worrying about whether she would come home or not to her child, but also having them understand that mommy's work is very important Lot of stakes for the commissioner's kid really But it's all worth it to see Eddie be such a nervous parent because he really is trying and to see the smile on her child's face when mommy walks through the door Also the idea that their kid doesn't even like riddles or puzzles, but they love spending time with their dad. It's not because they don't get them...the issue is more of how predictable Eddie can be with these games. They want something more challenging. And that's where the problems begin/ Something is off but they can't put their fingers on it. (From personal headcanons) Julie had called Edward a "psychopath" and those words certainly haunted him as he looks at his child with Yin for anything. -Playing onto the idea of "what if my kid might be smarter than me? No, they're just a kid. They have a different thought process. It's fine." -Eddie and Yin believing their child can do no wrong. They've practically gotten all the good traits from their parents! Or they just don't want to admit it even if it's in front of their eyes. -Their child is smart, good grades, practically the perfect student much to their pride. Personality wise, avoids the other children...okay well it's tough to make new friends or some prefer their own company. That's okay. -...maybe their kid is a bully to other bullies, but they're standing up for the other underdogs...the whole point is not being caught by the teachers...At least they're making friends...right? But then again...children only show what their parents want to see. -Maybe Bruce or Ethan can see it, but can't really describe it or won't bring it up as Eddie and Yin adore their child just as much as the child adores their parents. -Could just be nothing. Children are an enigma all on their own that not even Riddler can solve. Same conversation for Trans Eddie x Yin or any other s/o, but still a lot to debate either for adoption or a surrogate or even if Eddie would even agree to carrying. And he's is just so...thin. Definitely would be picky about who the donor would be and Eddie is ready to critic anything. But, the idea of a moody pregnant Eddie is pretty funny. "I loathe you." "Awww. I love you too."

aww ;w; lots of worry, lots of thinking it through. ellen and edward can both be reckless, but certainly they’d be extra careful for this.

man edward would absolutely look the other way for his kid being a bully. just loving his kid too much to think that they can actually do something that wrong--surely the other kids must deserve it. edward himself is vengeful and he wouldn’t see that as a flaw if he thought the other parties involved caused a problem first.

dunno about ellen, tho. she learned her lesson about not paying attention to “personal” trouble in multiple different ways with rojas and ethan. plus i think the batman would be keeping an eye on things--not expecting the kid to be trouble, and he’d mostly trust yin’s judgement, but riddler did have a temper and bruce is particularly protective of children. no abuse on his watch, though he’d worry less about that when time went on. so he’d probs notice if the kid was developing a bit of a mean streak and bring it up. (possibly directly to the kid at some point, tbh, but that wouldn’t go far since “YOU’RE rude and beat people up!” even sharp kids are not necessarily good at nuance. plus eddie would hold a grudge, no matter how much they’re not enemies or how they’re ostensibly allies now.)

ethan would be a good person to talk to about bullying, i think. being “like papa” (ex-rogue) and having a good, reliable head on his shoulders means he’d be a pretty good influence in general. 

man this kid would end up with a wild family.

god yeah the extreme thinness was most of what i was thinkin about. he wouldn’t want to carry but even if he did it would. fuck him up. bad. please adopt, for the sake of ur body, eddie! and also for the sake of gotham b/c he would absolutely reroute everything he wanted (food he’s craving! comfy stuff! EVERYTHING) to him because auuuugh and he can so he will.

[disastrousjest]

8.25.20 -- 2 months ago I found the best Caesar for my Joseph. Really the only Caesar for my Joseph.

I am honored to be your Jojo. 💚 I look forward to continuing to write with you. @shabcn Happy Anniversary

Joseph stepped out of the shop, arms already full of a few things he planned to put together that night. The perfect night. That's what he was hoping for, his heart was racing already just thinking about it. He just hoped that it would be good enough for him. Although he stopped on his way back to begin setting up. Taking only half a step down the street before something caught his eye. A flash of yellow caught his eye. It was enough that he came to a halt, despite his arms already being full he couldn't help but think that this was something he needed to get. It was the colors that reminded him of Caesar. The way the yellow popped out, it was breath taking. Of course he knew what they were, although he hadn't thought much about them before. Not until he was out gathering things that reminded him of the man that meant the most to him. How many times had he seen this little shop before and thought nothing of it? A better question, how long had they had these wonderful flowers sitting outside their shop and he didn't realize it until now? Well, that didn't matter. He had noticed them now and they were perfect. If there was anything in the world that could represent Caesar in such a divine way it was this. The color and contrast of the flowers reminded him of Caesar. Not just because of his blond hair and wild curls, but because Caesar was like a burst of color himself against an otherwise muted world.

Maybe that was bias and he was just thinking with his lovesick brain. Either way, he knew he had to have them. So, with that he collected up as many sunflowers as he could carry and headed to the clerk to pay for them all. The woman at the stand was nice enough to wrap them for him, she seemed pretty excited with all the things he seemed to have. He knew what she was assuming and he didn't bother to correct her. It was too much a task to try and explain to someone who was excited about something, that what they were thinking was a little wrong. These things that he had gathered up, they weren't for a beautiful woman. No no, they were for the one that he loved more than anything. The man that he had loved for quite some time now and had only recently been able to express that to. He was still recovering pieces of their past together and Joseph wasn't planning to rush that in the slightest. He knew better than to do that, after all some of those fragments could be very damaging considering how intense the situation had been at the time. But, he knew had he felt about him and there was nothing that was going to stop him from going forward with what he had planned. He wasn't going to lose his chance to be with him again, not this time. Not while he was still here.

Once he was through getting everything he needed, and maybe getting a bit lost on the way--he still hadn't picked up much on Italian, but it was slowly getting better. In pieces, though. He set out to make sure everything was absolutely perfect for the night. The setting he had chosen was a small, scenic area. Although he was certain that Caesar would know where to find him. He'd left him a message to meet him here and then had gone out of his way ti gather everything he needed for the night. As much as he would have liked to take him home with him or even out to a classic date, he found this to be a little more appealing. Around sunset there woukent be too many people around to bother them or stare. Not that he really cared if they did or not. Joseph was just happy to be able to be spending time with him. And at least now he could do it without feeling bad. Although it would seem crummy of him to be seen with someone else so soon after breaking it off with Suzie. But, had he ever really been devoted to her? The answer to that seemed to ring clear to him now and he had it in his mind to finally tell him. The mere thought of that though had him a little nervous. Romance wasnt his strong suit, he was clumsy at best. He just hoped that everything went smoothly for him or this could be embarrassing.

When he would finally arrive, Joseph got to his feet. He'd been so lost in his thoughts that he hadn't realized he had arrived already. Scrambling up, he nearly stumbled over his own feet which could have made for a scene in itself. Well he was already off to an embarrassing start. Did his brain just leave whenever he was around him? Sometimes it felt that way, which could be a little frustrating for the younger male considering he was usually so confident in himself. Now here he was acting like a bumbling fool and falling all over himself. Maybe it was just because whenever he saw him he couldn't help but feel light headed, his heart racing and his stomach fluttering. Sometimes this even caused him to blush a little without his noticing. It was like this ever since he realized how much he loved Caesar. He was having a hard time keeping it all to himself, too. Trying not to come on too strong since he knew that the other didnt remember too much about their time together before. He had already loved him before but having him back in his life again it was as though he was able to fall for him all over again. And this time the bond developed differently between them. There hadn't been a rivalry but instead a friendship. It didnt matter to him though the connection only had him falling harder for him over and over. Although now that he was standing there looking at him, he found that he was suddenly tongue tied. Here came the bit of clumsiness that gripped at him whenever he was trying his hardest to be Romantic.

What he had done was set up an evening picnic. Meant to be enjoyed by sunset in a lovely scenic secluded area where they could just enjoy each other. It was just off the coast, but away from the bustle of the city itself. The cooling salty breeze rolled in from the sea though, adding a small chill to the air as the sun had started to sink. Everything was figured out, he had brought a few things they could snack on, but nothing that was too demanding. Just a few different sweets he had been recommended by someone while he was looking for something suitable for the night. And to drink he had gotten his hands on a bottle of wine. A sweet red wine to be exact. One bottle wouldn't hurt them too much, right? Only Joseoh didn't really drink at all which meant he was a light weight. Honestly he had only picked it up because it made him think of Caesar. Caesar who despite some of his habits and the way he used to find his showing off distasteful and annoying, held a certain elegance to him. He wasnt sure if that was because he had an ego sometimes or not. But holding the wine in his hands now and thinking back to it, only made him smile to himself. All those little things he used to find annoying about the other he now admired. This could have been because he had lost him ince already. Maybe he was only just noe really discovering just how much and how hard he had fallen in love with him. There were still things that got on his nerves of course, but that ess typical for anyone. Even so, there was no question who his heart beat for. The last thing he had picked up as an impulse had been a bouquet of beautiful sunflowers. Their bright sunkissed petals popping with color even as the sun started to sink on the horizon. These also reminded him of Caesar and for various reasons. The most being the warmth he felt whenever he had noticed them.

(I hope this isn't too much. I'm a little nervous.)

"What's all this?"

Joseph opened his mouth to respond but the words wouldn't come out. Instead, his face just got hot as he stared back at him. (This is bad. I have no idea what to say! Why didnt I think of this before? He's going to think I'm a total idoit!) Wordlessly, he watched as the other moved passed him inspecting everything he had put together. The smile that appeared on Caesar's festures was enough to have him ready to fall to his knees. Weak from it. He seemed to be admiring everything and the growing silence was only making Joseph more aware of how hard his heart was pounding in his chest. He had to say something to him. Had he not organized all of this so that he could tell him what he had been dying to tell him? Now all of a sudden he was stuck, unable to make the words form. He loved Caesar. And his heart burned to let those words slip from his lips. But now that he was faced with the reality of actually confessing he wasnt sure how to begin. Maybe he should have practiced this a little more. Why didnt he think of that? Probably because he has been so busy trying to make sure everything else was perfect that he hadn't thought about it at all. He knew what he wanted to say, but now he needed to figure out how to say it. In his panic, Caesar had finished looking over everything picking up the sunflowers before turning to him. Those beautiful emerald eyes set on his.

He swallowed. (Say something, dammit!) "I...I had something I wanted to tell you so... I thought this would be a good place." The response he got was a puzzled look and an arch of a brow, urging him to continue. He might as well just rip this band aid off. Saying it putting it out there was going to be the only way he as going to be able to do it. If he thought too much about it, then he would only freeze up again. It would only be a matter of time, too before Caesar said something about his clumsy attempts and awkwardness over the whole situation. And it was the whole reason he had brought him here to this place.

His face was only getting hotter. "What's the occasion for all this, Jojo?"

"Caesar, I..." He could feel the blush expanding across his cheeks, deepening in hue. "...I-I'm in love with you. I know that it might sound strange to you, given you haven't known me too terribly long. But, I dont care if it seems weird. I love you! And I have been in love with you... basically from the moment we met." At least, since he met him here. That was the easiest way to put it without disturbing too much.

His clumsy confession was met with silence, one that made him feel as though he might have said too much. That is, until the distance was closed between them. Arms were wrapped around Joseph's framex bringing him close. The brush and fragrance of sunflowers filling the air before his lips were suddenly locked into a passionate embrace. It stunned him at first but he didnt object it. Once his shock had passed, he wrapped his arms around him and pulled his body closer to his. Joseph returned the kiss that was given to him with everything he had. All the emotion he had felt for him pouring into that connection. He wanted Caesar to feel the words he had just spoken to him. His heart only knew him and could only belong to him completely. It had never been with anyone else. And only now was he being given the chance to hold him in this embrace and express the emotions he had been harboring for years. He wanted to be his and only his. Not just in his hidden desires. But in everyday he possibly could. Joseph was determined not to lose his chance at that again.

[bastionkeeper]

Idk if you’d be interested but I absolutely die for 10 meeting Crowley somewhere in history and having a fun lil mix up with the trouble they’re both in

Anonymous said: Can I get some fuckin uhhhh Donna content? If you want!

I’m so sorry this took a million years and came out totally different, shorter, and probably less good than expected asdflkja it’s been a long bit of getting back to school, working in preparation for the festival that’s gonna kill me this weekend, and the big sad writer’s block, I decided to just post it now while I have SOMETHING at least

"I promise this is going to make up for that whole mess with the novasquid."

"It better, my hair still smells like calamari and I've showered four times now."

The sound of fond bickering often filled the TARDIS, though the incident with the novasquid had, indeed, increased the usual amount of bickering quite a bit. 

"Look, 3308, Mars, the nightlife is incredible," The Doctor assured Donna. "I once spent a night there, don't remember a thing, might have gotten married or… divorced, anyway…"

"I can't believe it, we're going clubbing," Donna laughed.

"Well, yeah, but on Mars," the Doctor emphasized, hoping for the usual human wonder at travel in time and space.

"You gonna go dressed like that? All suit and teacher glasses?" 

"You're one to talk, showing up to a 3308 club dressed like it's 2007," the Doctor said, grinning and raising a critical eyebrow.

He threw a lever and flipped a switch, and the TARDIS stopped groaning and shaking as they landed.

"Alright, Mars," Donna said, dramatically tossing her hair. "Lock up your husbands."

"Right…" the Doctor raised an eyebrow and headed for the door, grabbing his coat on the way.

The door opened and Donna and the Doctor stepped out…

...onto a London street.

"Mars, right?" Donna huffed. "You need to fix that GPS. Are we at least in the future?"

"Uh…" the Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and took readings only he could read from a device with neither screen nor speaker. "Depends… we're either somewhere in the nineties or 2019…"

"How can it be either the nineties or 2019?" Donna asked. 

"This is really strange…"

"No stranger than usual, you promising a vacation and us ending up in the wrong part of the universe."

"No, I mean…" the Doctor looked at the sonic with a frown. "These readings for Earth are all… well… it's saying it's only about six thousand years old."

"So it's busted then," Donna said. 

"Maybe…" the Doctor pocketed the sonic and looked around. "Well, so long as we're here."

"Oh no," Donna sighed. "No, don't get distracted. Let's get back in the TARDIS and go to Mars."

"Look! An old bookshop!" The Doctor beamed, pointing out the building. "Love an old bookshop, let's take a peek."

"Oh no," Donna groaned, as the Doctor grabbed her hand and dragged her towards the shop labeled: A.Z. FELL.

"Your orchid is getting lazy."

Aziraphale looked up from his book to where Crowley was examining a flower, one he'd brought to the bookshop as a gift a month ago.

"Maybe it's just enjoying a quiet moment away from all the yelling," Aziraphale said coyly, returning to his book. 

The bell at the door rang as a pair of customers entered, and neither demon nor angel took notice. 

"Sure, let it go soft," Crowley scoffed. 

"As if you don't like soft," Aziraphale shot back, not looking up from his book.

Crowley made a big show of snarling like he was offended as he wrapped his arms around Aziraphale's waist and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

"Don't you have things to do today? Besides harass the orchid?" Aziraphale asked.

"Yeah, but I'll be back for it," Crowley said with a wink. "You enjoy chasing people off all day."

Aziraphale waved him off, and for a split second two non-humans with remarkably similar faces passed by each other without noticing.

Then Crowley left the shop.

"Are you done yet?" Donna sighed, leaning heavily on a bookshelf. The Doctor was nose deep in a book, and had been for about an hour. Not the same book, no, he kept poking around in books and peeking around the bookshop much to the owner's dismay. Donna suspected if it weren't for the other customers that he'd have personally chased them off long ago.

"Something's very strange about all this," the Doctor said, not looking up. 

"Yeah, strange how you promised me adventure and now we're standing around looking at antique books," Donna said. "I think you do this on purpose."

"I wish I could claim that," the Doctor chuckled. "Nope, all accident."

"Well so long as you're reading, I'm going to go find something to do," Donna said. "You know, while you gather dust."

The Doctor waved her off and she stuck her tongue out at him, before heading for the door. 

The Doctor was reading Hamlet or rather he was sort of reading it, because it was just a little different from what he remembered. 

For starters it was completely dull, not at all the play remembered by the ages. Second of all the publishing date was definitely not the correct one, and yet he was certain this was an original copy. An original copy somehow lovingly maintained without a temperature controlled room or protective case, just placed on a bookshelf surrounded by several other well loved books.

"Oh, you don't want that one."

The Doctor looked up at the voice, the owner had left his post and come over to him. Aziraphale hadn't seen the customer's face yet, only seen his back as he pursued for far too long with too much interest. Another collector, probably, hard to shake.

"Oh?" The Doctor asked, turning to face Aziraphale. "Why not?"

For a moment surprise spread over Aziraphale's face, and then confusion.

"Wait… but…" he squinted. "Crowley, are you playing some kind of trick?"

"Uh, no, no tricks here," the Doctor said with an equally confused look and a friendly shrug. "Sorry, what did you call me?"

"Oh stop it," Aziraphale huffed. "You've barely even shapeshifted, are you trying to be funny?"

"Well now that's just rude," the Doctor said. "I'm very different now, got all long and grew my hair out, and the ears are totally different."

"Ears?" Aziraphale asked, bewildered.

"Do you know me?" The Doctor asked curiously.

"I should say so I…" Aziraphale paused. "... or maybe I don't. You don't feel… demonic. Are you not Crowley?"

"I'm the Doctor," he replied. "And I'm not a demon, sorry."

"That's bizarre." Aziraphale gaped. "You look just like him…"

"You did say demon, right?" The Doctor asked, and Aziraphale blanched.

"Did I?" He asked casually.

"Oh, don't get secretive now," the Doctor chuckled. "Would it help if I said I was an alien? I show you mine you show me… well, you get it." He pulled a face at his own choice of words.

"That's impossible," Aziraphale laughed. "She hasn't started work on the other worlds yet."

"She?"

"Nothing you need to worry about," Aziraphale said finally.

"Why didn't you want me to buy this book?" The Doctor asked. "And why's it all wrong? It's Hamlet but it's garbage, Hamlet's not garbage."

"That's the pre-edited copy," Aziraphale said smugly. 

"What edits are those?"

"The important ones." Aziraphale looked impatient now. "Who are you, really?"

"I told you, I'm the Doctor, I'm a time lord, I'm not from around here."

"Time lord? Sounds a bit pompous…"

"So does claiming intimate knowledge of the writing of Hamlet, but I think maybe we've both got the right," the Doctor said, eyes burning with interest. "Were you there? When it was written?"

"Were you?" Aziraphale countered.

"I was."

"Well I certainly don't remember you."

The Doctor looked triumphant at having gotten a confession that might help him puzzle out the situation, and Aziraphale sighed.

"Alright, which office sent you?"

"What offices?" The Doctor asked.

"Heaven! Hell! What "department" are you?" Aziraphale pushed. 

"Neither, and what exactly are you?"

"I am an angel," Aziraphale said defensively. "And I am very confused."

"Confused isn't so bad, confused means you get to figure something out," the Doctor said. "Tell you what, you tell me about Heaven, Hell, and Hamlet and maybe we can figure this out."

Aziraphale sighed and gestured to the back room, miracling on some tea. "Might as well. This way."

Donna was just starting to get bored when she saw him, crossing the street just a bit away. She chased after him, shouting when he didn't stop for her.

"Hey! Spaceman! You gone deaf and blind?" She huffed, grabbing Crowley by the arm and surprising him considerably. "You finally done with that bookshop then?"

"I… what?" Crowley asked.

"What have you done to your hair?" Donna asked. "And your…" she gestured broadly to all of him. "... all that."

"Well, nothing recently, bout time for a change," Crowley said. "Do I know you?"

"Haha, very funny." Donna rolled her eyes. "Can we go now?"

"Seriously, who are you?" Crowley asked.

"Oh God, I know what this is," Donna sighed in exasperation. "Martha told me about this, you got a pocket watch on you then?"

"Why would I have a pocket watch? What year do you think it is?" Crowley scoffed. 

"C'mon, it's not funny," Donna said. "Just hurry up and-"

Crowley snapped, trying to put the woman in a trance so he could get some answers out of her.

But Donna Noble was not so easily tranced.

"Are you snapping at me?" She shouted, putting her hands on her hips.

"Nngk!" Crowley choked, startled into backing up, arms pinwheeling comically.

"Something happened to you at that bookstore, is that it?" She said. "Right, we're going back, I'll not have you walking around looking like Mr. Goth Fashion and snapping at me."

"I'm… sorry?" Crowley spluttered, finding himself being dragged along. Oh well, she was headed towards Aziraphale's anyway, at least he'd have backup.

Crowley and Donna entered the bookshop just as Aziraphale and the Doctor had decided to go looking for them. There was a minute of Donna, Aziraphale, and the Doctor gaping in confusion at the demonic and alien doppelganger situation, before Crowley broke the silence.

"YOU!" he accused. "Of course it's you!"

"So you know me?" The Doctor asked.

"And you don't know me yet? Great," Crowley huffed. "You made a real mess of the thirties, you know that?"

"Not yet I haven't," the Doctor said, sounding offended.

"So you know him, Crowley?" Aziraphale asked.

"Yeah, he's the idiot with my face who always got me blamed for everything," Crowley said. "Trying to get back to his own universe, is this day one then?"

"What. The hell. Is going on?" Donna asked.

"Funny you should mention hell," the Doctor chuckled. "You know I met Satan once."

"Twice," Crowley corrected him. "Look forward to it. That one actually did me a favor, I was employee of the month."

"No one's answered me," Donna pointed out.

"You and your alien boyfriend are about to time travel through our world till you find a way back to yours, that's what's going on," Crowley said.

"Not my boyfriend," Donna said just as the Doctor said "I'm not her boyfriend."

"And Mr. Fell and his friend here are an angel and a demon," the Doctor added.

"We're not friends," Aziraphale said, just as Crowley corrected him to "partner."

"No way," Donna said.

"I assure you, miss," Aziraphale said. "Very much 'way.'"

"Satan, you're so embarrassing," Crowley chuckled.

"You know, normally I've seen a face before I steal it," the Doctor said.

"Likewise," Crowley said. "But I've got a few thousand years on you so I can say for sure She didn't copy paste me."

“Copy paste?” the Doctor asked, offended.

“Regardless, it seems we’ve sorted things out,” Aziraphale said. “Though I must admit , knowing you really are a time traveling alien from another dimension opens up so many questions…” his eyes glittered with that familiar look he got when discovering a new and fascinating book. “I have questions,” he said, taking the Doctor by the arm and leading him to the back room where he’d ply him for stories with refreshments and stories of his own.

“I’ll just be a minute, Donna,” the Doctor called over his shoulder.

“Yeah, that’s what he said last time,” Donna sighed.

“We’ll be lucky to see them sometime this century,” Crowley sighed along with her. “I’m going to have to dust him off again.”

“Whatchu say we leave them and go get some drinks?” Donna suggested.

“Told you, he’s my partner… thing,” Crowley said awkwardly, as Donna rolled her eyes.

“Don’t flatter yourself, hellboy, you’re all bones and sunglasses,” she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “C’mon, I want to know which of my friends are going to hell.”

[caranfindel]

Recap/review 14.11: “Damaged Goods”

THEN: Oh, good, we're going to have a Nick episode. I was hoping for that. (NOT.) Michael is trapped in Dean's internal walk-in. Billie has bad news related to that.

NOW: Nick interrogates a demon about another demon named Abraxis. The name sounds a little familiar and I waste a few seconds wondering where I've heard it before, but then I realize it's the demon who killed Nick's family and this has been Nick's entire focus and that's how little I care about Nick and his quest, that I couldn't even bother to remember who he was after. Anyway, he learns that the hunter who last dealt with Abraxis is in Hibbing. Oooh, who else do we know in Hibbing?

Title card!

Dean is packing. Books about angels. Tools. Work gloves. I was a little afraid we were going to ignore last week's horrifying revelation, and Dean would just sit on that information for a while. But he's wearing his Red Shirt of Bad Decisions, so we know the shit is going down tonight! \o/

He leaves the storeroom and kind of looks down the hallway, which is really insignificant the first time you watch this episode, but on rewatch you realize what he's thinking right here, and that he doesn't ever expect to see this hallway again... but I'm getting ahead of myself. He goes into the library, where Sam is quietly studying in the darkness (is that a new shirt? I like it). He ignores it when Sam asks how he's feeling. Dean tells Sam he appreciates that he's trying to help him, and Sam's all, yeah, what else would I do? He asks if Dean wants to join him, and they have this conversation.

Actually, I thought I'd go for a drive, you know, just me and Baby, long stretch of road. And figured I'd make it a two-fer, go see Mom at Donna's cabin.

Yeah, yeah, that sounds great. Be good to see them. Just let me find a stopping point and get packed up.

Actually, I was, uh, I was kind of hoping for some one-on-one time with Mom, if that's cool.

Yeah. Sure, yeah. Whatever you need.

And I thought this conversation was going to break my heart, because Sam clearly does NOT think this trip sounds great, but he's going to go anyway because it's what Dean wants/needs to do, and then Dean rejects that, and Sam's little face is going to do me in. And on rewatch, it kind of seems like Dean is stalling here, like he can't bring himself to leave (but again, I'm getting ahead of myself) AND THEN THIS HAPPENS.

Dean comes around behind Sam and HUGS HIM and says "take care, Sammy" and I'm just WHAAAAT. NO THIS IS NOT RIGHT. THIS IS SUCH A BAD, BAD SIGN, SAM WINCHESTER, AND YOU KNOW IT.

And also, there goes the rest of my heart.

Cut to Mary at the aforementioned cabin, talking to Sam on the phone. She says the cabin's been quiet since Bobby took off for a few days. The old "I need a little space after killing the ghoul version of my dead son" thing. Happens to the best of us. Sam tells her he's worried because Dean's acting so weird, and mentions the hug. Mary says "that's sweet," proving that she doesn't know her sons at all. Really, Mary, you've witnessed ONE hug between them. ONE. Sam points out that they don't hug unless it's "literally the end of the world," which isn't quite true. It would be more accurate to say "unless one of us is dying or just came back from the dead," which is slightly more frequent than the end of the world Either way, Mary assures him that everything will be fine. But as Sam's talking to her, he's walking through the storerooms in the bunker and he sees some books are missing.

(Sidebar: Why are these books kept in the storeroom and not the library? And why are regular tools apparently kept with supernatural paraphernalia? Couldn't that cause problems? What if a MoL novice was sent to Storeroom 2 for a reciprocating saw and he couldn't figure out why a saw would reciprocate or what that would look like and he came back with something he dug out of a curse box instead? I'm seeing all kinds of potential OSHA violations here.)

Now we see Dean enjoying a messy burger. Oh, he's with Donna! I love Dean and Donna, y'all. She tries to ask him about himself, but he keeps deflecting. Which doesn't fool her at all, and she finally says "just wondering if you've run out of ways to ask me how I'm doing, so as to avoid me repaying the favor." She knows about Michael, because of Sam. "What, has he got a freaking newsletter," Dean grumps. But I'm glad to see Sam's been talking to his support system, because in the past, he's not done that as often as he should.

Dean ends the conversation with the typical "I'm fine" nonsense and gives Donna one of those big hugs where he looks absolutely stricken while she can't see him and then plasters on a smile when they pull apart, and you KNOW how I love when he does that. He pulls away and says "I'll see ya." But it's pretty obvious Dean is on his farewell tour and never intends to see Donna again. It's also pretty obvious that Donna can tell something is up.

Dean pulls up to the cabin, which is seriously in need of some work on the roof, and immediately hears gunshots. It turns out to be Mary murdering some pumpkins for target practice. (SHE'S STILL GOT THAT LOCK OF TOO-LONG HAIR.) He tells her he wants to stick around for a couple of days, which surprises her. She suggests they call Sam to join them, but he says he wants to be "a little greedy with my Mom time." No, Dean, that's not suspicious at all. Jesus. (Or, as someone pointed out, Sorry Sam, but Mom was MY gift.)

Mary pushes it, and Dean comes right out and says "I don't want Sam here," and again, Dean, that's not suspicious at all. How is someone who lies professionally such a BAD liar? He explains his mood away by claiming to be hangry, even though he just finished the best burger in all of Minnesota, and tells Mary he wants the one thing she can cook, something called Winchester Surprise. She heads out to the grocery store, and doesn't suggest that the son who drove all this way to see her would want to ride along. Or maybe she does, and he refuses, and they just didn't show us that part. Anyway, the important thing is, Dean's alone and he has work to do.

He gets his bag out of the Impala and strides purposely into a large shed decorated with pictures of topless guys with 70s porn 'staches. The first one reminds me a LOT of Doug 2.0, so I laugh when Dean says "Well, Donna certainly has a type." Yes she does. He finds an 8-track player, of all things, but is interrupted by a sudden burst of Michael banging on his door. The tape he chooses is the Guess Who, and the song is "No Time Left For You," which I've never liked (lots of experience with 70s music here, kiddos) but it seems appropriate. And then he gets to work, and if you thought Sam soldering last week was hot, you're in for a treat. Let's forget our annoyance with the soundtrack and concentrate on how much we appreciate Metalworking!Dean, complete with welding helmet and safety goggles, under the watchful eyes of several shirtless moustachioed cowboys.

Mmmm, yes, we do appreciate it.

(Sidebar: Where did all this metal come from?)

Meanwhile, at the grocery store, we get a fake-out where we think someone threatening is accosting Mary, but it's only a friendly employee. And we also see that Mary puts her grocery bags in the bed of her truck? So not only does she not know how to cook, but she doesn't even know where to PUT FOOD? I.e., IN THE CAB?

He says buying food is new for her, because she usually buys whiskey, pumpkins, and crossword puzzles. Damn, Mary, it really seems like things aren't going well out there at the Love Shack if you're spending all day drinking, shooting pumpkins, and doing crossword puzzles. I'm gonna go ahead and call it - Mobby is doomed. She tells him she has family in town, which I expect to turn into the inevitable oh no, this guy is a demon and now he knows Dean is there.

But I'm exactly wrong. Nick pulls up in the creepiest windowless van possible and asks the guy if he knows where Mary Winchester is. Because why wouldn't he? Why wouldn't Random Grocery Store Guy know where everyone in Hibbing Minnesota, population 16,361, resident or guest, lives? Random Grocery Store Guy pretends he doesn't know who she is. Good for him.

(BTW, the fastest route from Lebanon to Hibbing is about 12.5 hours. But it's all interstate and I suspect either Winchester would take the route that uses more state highways and is 13.5 hours.)

(Sidebar: Yes, when I open Mapquest, Lebanon is always in my Recents. Is that not normal?)

Apparently Nick decides he'll just cruise the greater Hibbing area and try to find her, because we seem him after nightfall driving his creepy van. A police car drives by, and then turns around and pulls him over. He makes sure his stolen angel blade is in place and hides a paperclip somewhere on his person before the officer gets to him. Oooh, it's Donna!

She cuffs him and tells him the van's been reported stolen, but she also reveals she knows he's looking for Mary, and don't like the way she lays all her cards on the table like that. Let him think you're just arresting him for a stolen car, Donna. Don't let him know you're onto his Grand Scheme. He says his name is "Nunya" and then "Eat Me" (oooh, is he related to the Eat Me Sam met a few seasons ago?), but she's got some kind of mobile fingerprint scanner. Does this thing exist? She discovers who he is, but while her back is turned, he uses his paperclip to get out of the cuffs. They fight, and she seems to have the upper hand, but he gets her taser and that's the end of that.

Love Shack. When Mary pulls up, Dean is outside by the door to the Shed of Mysterious Building. He lies about what he's doing out there and carries the groceries inside, to where the table is set and he wants to help her cook (THIS IS NOT OKAY) and she FINALLY realizes something is up. (Also, Dean, we know you're not a terrible cook. Don't lie just to make your mom feel better.) She quietly talks to Sam from upstairs (though not quietly enough, Dean totally would have heard her in the real world) and agrees that something is going on. Sam tells her about the missing items and says he thinks he should come up, but she says to give her more time. WHY, MARY. WHY DO YOU THINK YOU ARE THE PERSON TO ADDRESS THIS AND NOT SAM. WHY DO YOU INSIST ON KEEPING HIM 13.5 HOURS AWAY. WHY. It doesn't matter, because when Sam hangs up, we see he's already on his way. YES. THAT'S MY BOY.

Dinner. Dean tells a funny/tragic story about their childhood and Mary gets a case of The Sads, realizing how much she's missed and "how much the two of you just..." Just everything, Mary. They just EVERYTHING. Together. Without John, without you. AND STILL YOU THINK SAM SHOULD SIT IN THE BUNKER AND LET YOU HANDLE THIS. DAMMIT, MARY.

Anyway. Dean says her being alive has meant "everything to me, and everything to Sam." He claims to appreciate this wonderful time they're having, but he falters when he says "there's no clouds on the horizon." Because it's a LIE. She tells him he can talk to her about whatever he's going through, and he says "Everybody keeps asking me how I am. And how I am, is I don't want to talk about it. Please."

Oh lord, his face.

Later, as he snores gently on the couch, we see Mary tiptoe downstairs and outside, to check out what's happening in the Shed of Mysterious Building. (Sidebar: Dean sleeps with one arm flung behind his back, which I think we first saw in No Escape, and I always thought it was an odd and fake-looking way to sleep until I realized I actually do that sometimes myself.) She looks through the books and things and figures out what he's doing and it must be bad because she says "no, no, no." Meanwhile, Donna is waking up inside her own cruiser. I wonder why Nick left her alive?

Dean wakes up to the sound of a ringing phone. It's not his, it's Mary's. Donna is calling to warn him about Nick. But it's too late, because when Dean goes outside, Mary isn't there. But Sam is. "Hey, whoa, easy!" he says, facing down Dean's gun, and that tickles me for some reason.

Creepy van. Nick whines to Mary. He found email from Mary in Donna's phone, giving the address of the Love Shack. He thinks Mary knows where Abraxis is. She does - the demon is trapped inside an Enochian puzzle box in a storage locker, locately conveniently in or near Hibbing. I don't care about any of this.

At the Love Shack, Sam blames himself for Nick running around like a free madman, because of course he does. Donna's APB gets a result - the creepy van has been spotted outside Grand Rapids. Donna says that's 30-40 minutes away, but Grand Rapids is actually 11.5 hours away from Hibbing. Maybe there's a little town called Grand Rapids near Hibbing. A town so small that Mapquest doesn't even know about it.

(I KNOW. NO ONE CARES. MOVING ON.)

Nick gets the Enochian puzzle box (yeah, this scene goes on FOREVER and I'm skipping a lot here, is anyone complaining? nope didn't think so) and wants to release the demon so they can talk. Mary points out that the demon needs a host to talk, and it can't be Nick and it can't be her, and she flashes an anti-possession tattoo as explanation. So drills the box open and Nick forces the storage locker employee to be the host. Abraxis says he'll tell Nick why they killed his family if he kills Mary slow and bloody.

While this is happening, we see Sam and Dean on that 30 minute/11.5 hour drive to Grand Rapids. Sam looks despondent, and they have this conversation:

Say it. I can see you want to. Might as well go ahead and say it.

All right. Nick is not a project. He's not a freaking puppy. He was Lucifer's vessel for years.

I know that, Dean, I thought -

You thought he'd what, just walk it off? Come on, man, you're not that dumb.

It's not about being dumb, Dean, it's called compassion. Look, what happened to Nick could have happened to me. It almost happened to me. You change one little thing in our past and that WAS me! Lucifer wearing ME to the prom. Besides, since when do we give up on people? Since when do we just cut people loose?

Well, maybe you need to learn, okay? Because when people are past the point of saving, maybe you need to learn to walk away.

Ouch. I hurt for both of them. Poor Sam, seeing himself in Nick and wanting to save that guy the way he wishes someone had wanted to save him. Having faith in Nick's potential the way he wanted someone, anyone, to have faith in his own. And Dean obviously isn't talking about Nick, at least not there at the end, because we've heard it from Dean before, talking about himself. I can't be saved; walk away.

The guys arrive at the storage locker just in time to stop Nick from killing Mary slow and bloody. Nick scratches out the devil's trap that's holding the demon, and Abraxis immediately tosses them around and tells Nick he was chosen completely at random. Damn, Nick is as whiny as Lucifer was. (I wonder who influenced who? Discuss.)

Dean tries to quietly exorcise the demon, but Abraxis flings him against a shelf and we get a flash of skin. But before he can start killing anyone, Nick stabs him with the stolen angel blade. Then Nick acts like he's going to stab the others if they don't let him escape, so Donna shoots him in the leg. Dammit, Donna, this was the perfect opportunity to kill him. He already killed one person, and he was threatening to kill the rest of you. It would have been a clean shoot. Instead, Mary punches the wounded whiny baby and Sam does a wee little version of his glorious post-exertion huff.

Outside, Sam gives Nick a sad, confused look.

Why?

I needed the truth, Sam. I needed revenge for my family. You would have done the same thing.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't help you, I'm sorry I didn't know how.

It's not about you, Sam. It was never about you. You couldn't fix me because I didn't want to be fixed. I was never broken.

Yeah, Nick, you are. I don't feel sorry for you, Nick. I feel sorry for the people you hurt, the people you murdered. The people whose faces will haunt you every night for the rest of your life. You can burn.

FUUUUUCK. That's cold as hell and it's not like Sam Winchester at all and I love it to pieces. He's finally given up on this asshole. But it's finally time to move away from the B plot, and Mary tells Dean she saw what he was building in the shed. She knows what he's building, she knows what he's planning, and the three of them ARE going to talk about it. And if he doesn't tell Sam, she will. So, you finally think Sam's input is important, Mary? Good to know.

When the sun rises, we're back at the Shed of Mysterious Building. Dean is showing Sam what he's done. He calls it something like a "maloch box," which I'm sure is spelled wrong. It looks like a giant coffin (yeah, about that...) Nothing can escape it, not even an archangel. Sam knows what they are but says they're impossible to build, and Dean's all, "not so much." And then they have this conversation and I'm sorry (no I'm not), but I had to transcribe the whole thing.

That's your plan? You want to be buried alive?

Buried's not safe enough. Plan is, pay a little hush money, charter a boat to take me out to the Pacific. Splash.

You and Michael, trapped, together, for eternity.

Yeah.

You do realize how insane this is, right?

It's the only sane play I've got. Michael gets out, that's it for this world. And he will get out.

How do you know that for sure?

Because I do. Because I can feel him, in my head. That door is giving. I can feel it giving.

There has to be another way.

There's not, okay? There's... Sam, you've tried. Cas has tried. Jack. And I love you for trying, but none of it's going to work.

But we don't know that!

Yeah, we do.

What?

Billie. She paid me a little visit. She said that there's only one way that this ends right. And this is it. This, right here. This box. So she gave up the special recipe and all I had to do was the work. It's fate.

Since when do we believe in fate?

Now, Sam. Since now.

So, you came out here, to see Donna, to see Mom, on some what, some sick secret farewell tour? You were gonna leave, and you weren't even gonna tell me. Me. Do you realize how messed up that is? How unfair that is?

I didn't have a choice! Sam, you're the last person I could tell, the last person I could be around, cause you're the only one that could have talked me out of it! And I won't be talked out of it. I won't. I'm doing this. Now you can either let me do it alone, or you could help me. But I'm doing this.

...

All right.

Oh, guys.

Well, I've got to admit, Dean's prophesied horrifying death was a letdown. First, because it wasn't even new - it was basically the same fate Death offered him when he had the MoC. Worse, sure. Being locked in a box with an angry archangel rather than floating in space and having some kind of dream life, never a good option. (ASK SAM. HE KNOWS.) But mostly because it didn't live up to his reaction when he first read Billie's book. I was sure (and I wasn't alone) that his tearful reaction meant it was going to involve something horrible for someone he loves (SAM). But this? The Dean we know would have reacted the way he did when Rowena told him he had to "be the bomb" in order to destroy Amara. Yeah, this sucks, but I always knew it was gonna end ugly, so, whaddya gonna do?

(Sidebar: This brings up an interesting question. I know an angel's vessel is immortal, but would Dean still be immortal even though Michael was trapped inside his head? Would the fact that Michael wasn't in the driver's seat stop him from keeping his vessel alive? Or would the angel's grace do that all on its own?)

But oh, guys. This scene. THIS SCENE. These two. Dean saying I love you for trying. Dean at the beginning, chin up, so defiant, so defensive because this is exactly what he was afraid of - telling Sam, and having to stick to his plan. (He's probably remembering the last time Sam talked him out of this very thing, kneeling on the floor in front of him, agreeing to support the plan for Dean to lock himself up with the Mark of Cain forever, looking up at him with the puppy dog eyes and nodding to accept that Dean has to cut his head off in order to prevent him from undoing that act; or maybe he's not actually remembering that but now I am, goddammit guys, I need a minute.) And Sam realizing that last little hug was Dean's last planned goodbye, and being so angry and so hurt, and the way he looks so young there at the end, when he stops and finally says "all right." I know we've seen this before but IT STILL GETS ME. EVERY DAMN TIME.

(Sidebar: Did Dean leave Sam a note? Is it in the bunker somewhere? Because Sam's last conversation with his father was the old man saying I don't know why we always fight, now go away and his last conversation with his brother would have been I want to go visit Mom without you. Discuss. Fanfic it. Come wail with me about it.)

(Also... Dean's farewell tour didn't include Cas? Jack? Jody?)

Well. Happy 40th birthday, Dean Winchester.

Worst. Birthday. Ever.

So, this episode? Too much Nick. Not enough Sam. Things that did not live up to expectations. But also, things that were wonderfully unexpected. I've seen worse, my friends. What did you think? And please help me stay unspoiled, thanks!

[superemeralds]

I don't really understand why everyone is waiting for a sonic adventure sequel. The adventure series has ended years ago and it's perfectly normal for SEGA to prioritize new original games like Sonic Forces. I'd rather wait for a new fresh, creative game than a sequel they would have a huge chance of messing up (like they pretty much did with Sonic 06, but i still like the game tho). But what if they made a one (officially)? What would be a good new sonic adventure game for you? (i'm curious xp)

for the last time they didnt mess up with 06 !!!!!!!!!!! they didnt do anything wrong!!!!!!!1 it was just lots of events that couldnt be stopped inconveniencing the production and in the end they just didnt have the time and resources to flesh the game out; if they did have time and help they could’ve totally made this game revolutionary :(

content:

what i hoped/theorized forces would be

why forces looks like an adventure game, but isnt an adventure game

what i want in a new sonic adventure game (doesnt need adventure in the title)

lemme just sum up why i think forces is lacking and what i thought it would be when the first trailer dropped

I thoguht we’d get a 3 story game again. where each character shows us a different perspective of the same story.

I thoguht sonic story was about sonic fighting the eggman empire and infinite, perhaps being trapped in infinites illusions and breaking out after noticing that things are VERY wrong when infinites clones of his friends start acting weird

the avatar is on their way to protect their city and about to give up until they see sonic and they decide to be a hero themselves to help others and therefore go on their own journey to confront infinite (back then i theorized that infinite was their childhood friend)

and classic story (as much as i hate it) would be about classic dimension warping and perhaps overhearing eggmans plan abt the ruby (bc like. he came with the ruby from mania but like. okay.) and through him being a lil spy we get to know more about the origin of infinite until he eventually joins with the main cast becuase a final story where all 3 fight eggman together was inevitable.

however story perspective is not necessary considering unleashed’s placement

ofc multiple gameplay styles and/or multiple playable characters are THE mandatory thing for an adventure game BUT forces gameplay didn’t have a very varying feel to it. the controls were a little tweaked for classic and avatar had the wispons, but essentially it was the same as sonic but with Gimmicks/Tweaks.

also the spirit of the game’s story didn’t have this strong adventure vibe. It preached the power of friendship, yet it was so….. hollow and empty. due to the avatar being a passive character their friendship with sonic was just so….. fake.

“power of friendship” was just hollow words in this game.

personally i also think the ost was lacking, theme of infinite is the most iconic song to come from it , and the only memorable song next to it was fist bump. which is sad (mainly bc it wasnt even the final boss theme)

also remixes and reuses arent a taboo in adventure games (sa2 did it too) but i think it’s different if character themes and maybe… one or two level themes are reused. there should be plenty more original content.

some ppl say crush40 is mandatory, but I don’t think so. the crush40 version of his world IS NOT the main theme for 06, and unleashed also didnt have c40 (jun did do the guitars tho)

i already debunked chao garden so like. not necessary

on the topic of original content i also want to say that the levels in forces were lacking variety. the environment was different, yea, but the way you get throguh the levels didnt really change much despite more 2d sections in eggman base levels and like. more spikes in urban areas and more slides and 3d in the “jungle” level. it wasnt even really a jungle it was jsut ruins… and green hill… AGAIN….. was not really anything special or new either

what i mean is that even when the optical stuff of the levels is different there was zero change of atmosphere or feel. no change in stradegy to get through. it was all just……. the same.

sonic forces was…………..boring.

there i said it. it was boring.

the most exciting part was the customization and i bet kids loved it. ppl who dont know much about game design and just are in to pass time and have some fun probably loved this game. but like. the game doesnt entertain anymore after its beat for the first time. replaying is a real drag, the fun was literally just…. in the story and getting enough customize stuff to make ur dream avatar.

if anyone feels different, as said, thats valid, but from a design point this is terrible.

WHAT I WANT IN A NEW SONIC (adventure) GAME

i do have a game concept for a silver game lying around (with gameplay, controls, story, levels and some dialogue) that would be an adventure-esque game but i cant leak that yet its too unfinished still

let’s start at the bare minimum: no ooc sonic anymore. writers take notes and be serious for once. sonic knows when its time to joke, and in case yall dont know the answer is NOT 24/7

also maybe more than just sonic playable OR have other characters be relevant beyond a bunch of jokes and random voice lines. (preferably both)

the story should be engaging and have a deeper meaning and a strong vibe for justice and/or freedom; the characters have to undergo development and learn from their mistakes. also the story CAN be dark/more serious while still being suitable for children.

we need a minimum of ONE plot twist.

gameplay styles should be varied and not just sonic, and sonic but with a gun

there NEEDS to be some kind of open world/exploration element in the game. be it a hug world or ingrained in the levels themselves. (things can be open world and still linear just saying)

iconic music!!! vocal theme!!! character themes should be representing the characters personality again!!!!11

story perspectives arent mandatory, but definitely a plus!!!!

minor puzzles in the levels please…. make it challenging to get through !!!1

100 rings=+1life

i cant stress this enough ok

the game also needs something innovative and new. (which is most probably the new gameplay style due to new character or something but ykno) adventure games have always introduced something new and it was AWESOME and fun and refresing!

and my mind just cant focus anymore akjshfkjshfakj i might revisit this some time but for now this is all i can say

man i wish i was neurotypical

[hippityhoppityyourenowmyproperty]

Reset!Rant (part 4)

Blackout

Chapter: 1

Thad: "Even though Craydl was programmed to obey my dear grandfather over me, he still could hold a conversation and be useful. While you have some rudimentary communicative abilities, it's not the same. I could say the same of Bart."

This is a put down that comes out of the blue and it shows how normal it has become for Thad to resort to insulting Bart. This insult is especially tasteless when you remember that a lot of ND people have problems with verbal communication/talk too fast/talk too loud or too quiet/have trouble expressing their thought and can go nonverbal. So yeah, basically another slice at Bart for having ADHD, wouldn't you know it.

Thad's vision blacked out and he grabbed the washing machine for stability. If felt as if the bottom fell out of his world. He knew this feeling all too well now, but it had never been as bad as this. He staggered away from the laundry and into the kitchen to sit.

.................................... Helen's voice echoed from the kitchen. "Thad? I just got a call from the school. Bart passed out in class and I'm going to pick him up. I'll be home soon." When Helen returned home with Bart, Thaddeus was waiting in the kitchen with a smirk on his face. "You passed out?" Bart scowled and stomped off to dump his backpack and jacket off on his bedroom floor. Thaddeus snorted, still sneering.

Making fun of someone because they showed physical weakness, that's stereotypical school yard bullying right there. "Haha look at you you loser! You passed out. You're such a weakling!" Thad is so...pathetic in this. He is so desperate for power, so desperate to be superior to Bart. He waited all this time in the kitchen just so that he could throw Bart this line. He clinges to everythign that will make him appear better than Bart. He obssessively seeks out every little one of his flaws and mistakes in order to maintain his big ego. It's almost pittyful. Of course he snots at Bart, of course he is behaving as condescending as possible. Thad is the kind of person who kicks someone who's already on the ground. This is just...So ugly to read. Hey Thad, you nearly passed out earlier this day, I don't see you shaming yourself for being weak. What's the difference? What's making you so special that you don't deserve to be shamed for it?

Hey Helen, you're just going to ignore Thad very obviously and viciously bullying the closest person you have to a son? You're not gonna repriment him for it so that he won't continue to destroy Bart's self esteem and his mental health? No? Great, it would be very confusing if you suddenly started being a responsible parent.

Thaddeus leaned against the doorway with crossed arms. "You're pathetic." He sneered.

Funny that you mention it, have you looked in the mirror lately?

Chapter: 2

Mike gestured to Bart's injuries. "You could say that you got hit in the face with a basketball or something." Bart slung the bag over his shoulder and pushed the bathroom door open. Maybe he could just go home? No, Thad was there, and he didn't want to listen to his evil twin berate him about getting bloodied in a fight.

Through his frequent put downs, Thad now made Bart afraid to show weakness. He knows that Thad will make fun of his vulnerability and won't be of any help to him.

Thad: "No moron, I'm playing with a tesseract puzzle." His voice was dripping with condescending sarcasm. "What else would I be doing?"

Another put down out of the blue. And a very sordid one, I might add.

Chapter: 3

A commotion in the backyard grabbed her attention and she saw Bart and Thad duking it out again. "Oh, for the love of...Wally, I'll call you back. The boys are really at it this time. I swear, Thad needs to get out of the house and get a life, and Bart needs to stop antagonizing him."

Hmm, that's odd. I could've sworn that Thad was the one who constantly ripped on Bart, was a dick to him and provoked Bart with "You've got ADHD so you're dumb" insults, and Bart was the one who remained friendly despite having to endure insult after insult without retailiating. Are you referring to the times Bart called Thad a jerk and said "Like you're any better"? Are those the oh so bad words Bart calls Thad that justify you saying "He's antagonizing him"? Because, and maybe that's just me, but calling someone who is neurodivergent a r*tard, moron, idiot, shortbus, brainless, annoying, destructive, a nuisance, hyperactive, embarrassing, dense, pathetic, saying that they have "Rudimentary communicative abilities", that they "probably got distracted with by something shiny" and implying over and over again that they're stupid and useless, that you see it as a disgrace to be related to them, that you'd like to beat them up, (and actually beating them up) and that they're inferior to you because of aspects of their personality they can't control is a bit worse than saying "Jerk" to defend yourself in response to being called those insults. And somehow we should believe that Bart is the one who is antagonizing Thad? What the fuck is wrong with you people? Thad is so obviously abusing Bart in this, I don't know how anyone couldn't see this. Screw Helen, she has no sense of fairness and justice when it comes to Bart's treatment. Do I have to explain the word favoritism? How come she lets Thad get away with was worse stuff? Why doesn't she chew him out for all the stuff he put Bart through? He was very clearly shaming him for having ADHD im Helen's presence, and she didn't do shit.

I'm 100% sure Thad started this conflict with some "You're inferior to me" comment and was also the one who got physical first.

Helen: "You don't even know?! Get in here and go to your rooms!" The boys let go of each other and sulked past Helen. "I swear you two, if you were girls, I would be blaming hormones for these outbursts."

Yeah, let's just casually ignore the fact that testosterones are the hormones that increase aggressive behavior and that boys produce about 16× more testosterone than girls, and that men are known to be quicker to express their anger through violence than women. (Cite: Men vs. Women: Hormones; a transgender perspective, Why do women and men respond differently to anger? PsychCentral) I guess I can add "sexist" to the list of things that make Helen an unlikable person. Also, glad to know that she now cares about breaking up a fight between them. Play fighting for fun in the yard? Absolutely not! What were you thinking? Why do you act like that? You should know better! Shady sparring fight in the streets? Sure Thad go ahead! Nothing wrong with beating up your brother to release your anger!

Chapter: 4

Thad answered with a smirk, "That you're a hyperactive brat who would just get more destructive when introduced to sizable amounts of caffeine."

Bart glowered and crossed his arms. "Shut up! I am not!" Thad lifted his chin in victory. "See? Hit the matk. I'm right."

Both Helen and Konner sit next to Bart and they say nothing in response.

Kon chuckled as Bart settled down at the table. "Man, I kinda missed that."

"Missed what?" Bart asked.

"You driving people nuts. Inertia's not Rob or Wondy but he flips out pretty fast." Thad snarled at Kon, "They don't have to live with him!"

Bart has been nothing but nice to Thad. Bart is the one who has to live with Thad's constant belittling. Thad has deluded himself into believing that he is the victim here, but he's really not. Bart is. Bart has been trying to help Thad, even though he was a total douchebag who constantly humiliated him. Bart has to live with Thad.

Chapter: 5

Kon: "Seriously, don't you have any other modes than "up yours" or "sideways"? You're going to die a lonely virgin life if you keep this up. Yeah, I get that your childhood was stolen by an evil madman and all, but you're preaching to the choir here. Dude, get over it. We did." Thad's glare darkened and he clenched his fist. Lunging forward with a punch, he stopped just short striking Kon. Shaking with fury, Thad backed away and left the kitchen. Bart sighed and leaned against the kitchen counter. "He's gonna need to spar today and I'm all beat up already."

"You don't have to be his punching back."

"I'm not a punching back. I hit back."

I agree with Kon up until the "just get over it" part. It's nice to see someone finally calling Thad out on his demanding and shitty attitude, but telling an abuse victim to "just get over it" isn't good advice, either. What Kon should have told him was that Thad should work on his behavior and that him having been abused doesn't make it okay for him to abuse others.

The dialoge after that between Kon and Bart is another attempt on the author's part of justifying this situation. The "I hit back" isn't very encouraging when you consider that Thad is a way better fighter than Bart. The "He needs to spar today and I'm all beat up already" makes it very clear that Bart would rather not participate in a duel, but does it anyway because he feels pressured to keep Thad's emotions in check. Without Bart sacrificing his own well being, Thad would've gotten himself into a lot of trouble by beating up random people in blind rage. And Bart knows this. Despite what this sentence is trying to make you belive, their fights aren't balanced. Thad can easily overpower and outsmart him in a duel. At the end of the day, Bart is still his punching back.

Chapter: 5

Seeking Thad out, Bart found him in the library, talking with a couple of upperclassmen girls. Bart pulled him aside, much to Thad's annoyance. "I'm gonna need some help. Eddie's-" "Not my problem," Thad interrupted. "I don't care what's going on." "Look, getting beat up was just the start of it. He's-" "Not. My. Problem." Thad turned away from Bart. "If he got himself into it, he can get himself out of it. This is a waste of my time." "I just want you to back me up."

This kind of sums up what kind of person Thad is. He takes and take but doesn't repay the favors. He's cold and has no compassion. It doesn't matter to him what Bart did for him, and that he vouched for him. And going by Thad's logic, Max and Bart shouldn't have offered Thad to stay with them because; If he got himself into this situation, he can get himself out of it! Not our problem, we don't care what's going on!

Thad knows that Bart is going to do something really dangerous and could get seriously injured or even die, and he still doesn't give a fuck. He hasn't learned to care for Bart one bit.

Bart grinned at him. "You came."

"Max wanted us to take care of each other," Thad remined. "Letting you get pounded into a smear is a violation of those orders."

This is Thad admitting that the only thing that made him help is Max. I'm 100% certain that Thad would've gladly stood by and watched Bart die if it wasn't for Max. Thad still hates Bart's guts for whatever reason, and he actively shows him that every chance he gets.

Chapter: 7

"Obviously, I got my intelligence from both of our grandfathers. Pity that means there wasn't any left for you."

Hey Thad? How about you shut up and not smack talk Bart every chance you get? It would make you less of a person that deserves to get hit multiple times in the teeth with a brick. This is, very obviously, another put down directed at Bart's ADHD that is disguised as a joke.

Jerking his head up, Bart nodded. "You would do that?" "What kind of evil twin do you think I am?" Thad huffed in mock offense. "I only beat you up and ridicule your intelligence, not withhold precious words of wisdom that can be thrown in Wally's face whenever he gets his tights in a wad about you not being the perfect little sidekick. He treated Bart to a wicked grin. Legacies are more than a name and a costume."

Oh don't worry Thad, you're not the evil clone, you're just the abusive, selfish, cold hearted, self entitled, manipulative, egotistical brother. Yes, you 'only' did those things. They are still reprehensible and loathsome. They will still mess up a person and are unforgivable. Turning your actions into a joke doesn't make them funny or acceptable. The fact that he admits to his wrongdoings but doesn't see them as reprehensible speaks volume about his personality. He talks about his crude actions with such satisfaction and confidence as if he were proud of them. After everything I read about Thad in this, it's very likely that he is.

And the reason why he does Bart a favor here? Again, just doing it for himself. He tells Bart these things not becaus he likes Bart, but becaus he dislikes Wally for that whole legacy thing and wants him to suffer. Thad is self projecting about his issues with his legacy.

[trulyowenfree]

Why Norwood Fisher might think I'm the Devil!

  Well, after that random roadside run-in with Johnny Knoxville (see my last blog entry), you can bet I was ready and gunning! With game stickers in hand, and the tie-straps of my backpack (it's an old olive-green canvas military one) halfway undone, so I could get into it quick. Even though it's not what I expected when I went to LA, or certainly not what I went there for, serendipitously meeting one mega-celebrity had me vow silently to myself...that the next one wasn't gonna get away so easily. After such a huge 'defeat' I decided very firmly, that if I ran into any more celebrities on that tour, like Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, or even Crispin Glover...then I was gonna make darn sure that I at least got a book into their hand. And hopefully even tell them something about my TV and Movie ideas. Though of course...I also really didn't think any of that kinda stuff was gonna happen again. Not to goofy old me anyway. But, if you are a True Fighter like I am, then every defeat you get handed is only an excuse to fight harder, and so that's exactly what I did. I hit those sweet old LA streets the very next day! Right back out there, trying to make my own Luck! And I even put that lucky Devil Pin on my hat (the one I found on the train down from Seattle) to see me safely through the city. This time I caught the train out to Santa Monica, and planted stickers all around the college. Then I hit the library and handed out some more fliers until the cops started looking my way, and you can say whatever you want about the folks in Los Angeles, but most of them are at least half-friendly. I mean, nobody threw the fliers back at me or anything, but no one really seemed like they cared a whole bunch either, and I even found a few of them cast down onto the ground around the corner, like brightly colored leaves that had just fallen off the Give-a-Damn Tree. So of course I picked them up, because nobody likes a litter bug...and they also have a link to my website, right there on the front. Next I rented another scooter and cruised down the beach-path through Venice, and on to Marina Del Rey, where boy-oh-boy do they got boats! My skull and crossbones stickers didn't look out of place at all either. Not there among all the sailboats and mega-yachts. Like any minute now a group of Real Pirates might shamble down the sidewalk and invite me out to lunch or something. Or maybe even rum, but I only drink coffee now.

I stopped off at the library there too, and people seemed very responsive when I told them about my books and handed them a flier. People who live on boats tend to be a literate lot, since cruising often has a bunch of down time to it, and books don't eat up your batteries. So a well stocked library is a fine addition to any good vessel, and especially books about pirates and treasure, or even just a few short sea tales, or traveling to another country. After Marina Del Rey I headed back to Venice, and my dear readers...I have to tell you...that place is kind of a Heartbreak now. It used to be one of the most magical parts of the Los Angeles metro area, or am I wrong? More than many other places in the City of Angels...Venice will make you feel like any second you might become famous. Like any given moment you and Roller Skate Guitar Guy might end up on the big screen, or that some big producer might spot you loitering by old Muscle Beach and ask you to be in their film. And the Boardwalk... But now...in late 2018...the whole neighborhood smells like some kinda' thrown-away-dirty-hippie-super-polluted-gutter-punk-Hemp-Fest; with two-block long piles of garbage, and super depressing homeless encampments in almost every alley. Even all along the main sidewalk at the beach, like nobody cares at all anymore, or like The Desolation has just gotten so far out of hand now, that there just is no way to ever catch up again. Like there really never was a way to take care of everyone, and we are all on our own now. Welcome to Hell. And don't get me wrong either, I'm not against Marijuana legalization or even Weed itself, but when it's all you can smell all day, and there are kids and families around, but so many crowds of heavily unwashed people (who are obviously the ones smoking it, right out in the open)...well...it just doesn't have the attraction it used to for me. Which is totally fine actually. I've been meaning to quit anyway, and the outside thought that it might lead me (back) to a life on the streets someday...is a clear and easy deterrent. Nobody wants to be a smelly old street bum. No matter how high or drunk you get all day. But I was just being dramatic above. Ganja by itself will probably never force a person out into a life of blatherskite level homelessness, but it's still a good idea to be careful. I bought myself a new hat from one of the vendor booths along the main drag. A distressed-looking ball cap with the big brown bear from the California flag riding an even bigger bright green surfboard. Then I went to find myself something decent to eat, away from all the smells and commotion. Which wasn't as hard as I am making it sound really, because Venice, California is still one of the hippest, coolest, and most interestingly flavorful places on the planet, so I ducked into one of the many colorfully decorated breezeways off the main boardwalk and found a cute little one-of-a-kind coffee shop to get a sandwich from. Two fried eggs on good wheat toast, with broccoli sprouts and feta cheese...and yes oh yes I poured a whole bunch of hot-sauce on there too. Then, what was shaping up to be a super-fine day turned into an even brighter one, because when I stepped back out into the courtyard a long thin and lovely Mocha-skinned lady was sitting at one of the tables underneath a brightly colored canvas umbrella, and she smiled really wide and toothily at me when I looked her way, so I walked right over and sat down next to her. I guess I must have looked like Mr. Confidence about the whole thing too, because she even cleared all her papers and books over to one side of the table, just so I could put my plate, cup, and backpack down. But, if you've ever read anything else I write, then you know darn well I was actually coaching myself through each and every played-out moment, like: “Oh man, you're doing good, Free...don't screw it up. Just keep your cool and do not let her know how fine she really is. Holy crap! Look at those...cheekbones. Ah ha ha ha!!” (Look, I'm really only asking your opinion here, but do you guys think it means a person is clinically crazy...if they laugh out loud at their own jokes---but only inside their own head...a lot? OK...maybe even all the time. Well? Huh? Does it? Wha'd'ya think? And...what about if it echoes?)

Her name was Nadia and she said she lived over in Inglewood, but liked to come out to the beach to visit her mother in her condo. She reminded me of a dancer as we talked, with quick graceful movements of her long lovely hands, and an evil-sweet toothy smile that could melt the paint right off a gas pump from fifty yards away. Nadia smelled like some kind of bright purple flower too, so I leaned in close as we spoke, just to breathe in as much of her as I could. And she didn't seem to mind at all. “So what brings you out here to LA? You come down to try some of this Cali bud? Shit'll knock you right out if you ain't careful...” “No honey, I'm visiting from Colorado, and we have all the Weed you could ever ask for. It's like going to Baskin Robbins or something; 33 flavors in every store. I'm actually out here on a book tour, to promote my new Treasure Hunt Game. I write coffee-table adventure books, and if you solve the puzzles inside...you could be the first to find my Hidden Pirate treasure.” I took out a copy of the first book, and I even had a couple copies of Three Short See Tails with me too, so I laid them out on the table for her to look through, while I bragged about myself some more. But don't be trying to judge me for it either. You would have pulled all the stops out for this girl too. I mean it y'all...she was fine! And the sizzling hot idea of me scoring even one of her Cappuccino kisses made it seem like the whole rather uphill tour might just pay off after all. Yes! “So you're a real shipwreck treasure hunter? Wow! Man, my horoscope even said I was gonna meet somebody interesting today, but I didn't know it was gonna be someone like you. This must be our lucky day.” The way Nadia looked at me right then, with just a bit of flush to her cheeks, and dilated auburn eyes, let me know she really meant what she said, so I took her beautiful brown hand and moved myself even closer, suddenly feeling a whole lot warmer in the cool December air. “I actually have to get going right now, Babe. I'm out here today doing a bunch street-level promo work for my website, and I want to cover as much ground as possible before dark. Sunset comes kinda early this time of year, though not nearly quite as bad as up in the mountains, but I want to try and hit the gym before dinner too. Do you think maybe we could meet up later? If you're not busy...” “I actually am busy tonight.” As she picked up my phone and started typing her number into it. “I have my kids this evening, but we could go out tomorrow night if you are still around. I'd love to show you all the local sights.” She gave me another one of those smolderingly fantastic LA Woman looks, and let it linger even longer just to punctuate her last sentence, so my dumb old heart fell right into it. Pounding so loudly now at the thought of what 'sights' she might have been exactly referring to, that I was totally sure sweet Nadia might even hear it. So I gathered up all my things as calmly as I could and excused myself quickly, before I fumbled and failed, but then made sure to steal a kiss from her velvety fragrant cheek as I walked away. Just in case it was all a dream. Out on the sand again, I ran into a regular looking middle-aged guy running an expensive looking metal detector back and forth across the golden cinnamon sand. We met over by the graffiti walls, near Old Muscle Beach. I stopped him to talk, and he was very friendly, especially when I told him about what I was out there doing, and that I was a detectorist too.

“Yeah, I actually live up there in Ventura, but we come down here on the weekends and do really well sometimes. One weekend me and my partners found six-thousand dollars worth of jewelry. Not too bad for only the cost of a tank of gas! But I sure would like to get down there to Florida some day though. I bet I could really clean up.” I asked him (I think his name was Jonah) if it was OK for me to put a picture of him on my blog, and he said it was no problem at all, so here you go sir, and Good Luck: Next I stopped by the book-store in Venice, to try and consign my work, but the buyer wasn't in so I made my way over to the Santa Monica Pier, sticking my skull-and-crossbones Treasure Hunt stickers everywhere I went in between. On the backs of signs, on light-posts, dumpsters, newspaper stands, and especially onto any pieces of graffiti I really liked. Though of course one has to wonder at the possible efficacy of a sticker-marketing campaign...in a place so very sticker-polluted as Venice. Like everybody who has access to a printer and a pack of label-paper tried to leave their mark at one time or another, but at least I'm not the only one. Santa Monica was totally crowded that day too, since it was a Saturday. Just imagine a half-crushed case of sardines thrown down into a trash compactor, then getting squashed by some gigantic falling boulder. I mean it. We could barely move! And then a box of canned peas and carrots showed up on the very next train. So it was packed! I put up with it long enough to fight my way out to the end of the pier. And I was lucky enough to spot a long silver sea-lion playing around in the foam while waiting around for a fish. The ocean was green and cool-looking, with long strands of red-blue Kelp undulating around the barnacle crusted pilings, and the sounds of carnival rides and screaming children hung in the air like diurnal sonic fireflies. If there even is such a thing.

And it sure is funny how the dank and briny smell of the sea goes so perfectly well with the savory floating scent of hot dogs, popcorn and cotton candy. Sorta like mermaids and pirates holding hands. They're not even of the same World really at all, but still somehow just seem naturally made for one another. The sun was getting low in the sky by that time, so I walked into the shopping district on the bluff, to go get some weight-lifting in before dark. I'm not a beef-head or anything either, in case you were wondering, or a gym-nut, health-freak, or even all that into the whole thing really, but I started going to the gym last winter (in Colorado) to keep from falling asleep when the sun went down (at 4pm), and fell totally in love with what a half-hour-a-day on the weights does for my overall energy levels. Plus I have a few deep nagging joint-injuries, from being a construction worker most of my life, and whatever beneficial chemical it is that weight-lifting releases into my body...does absolute wonders for all that stuff too. So yes, I highly recommend it, and especially after you work at a physically demanding job all day. Because then you get the real benefit. Going to the gym, or running, biking, surfing, or even playing sports after you bust your hump outside all day...is like putting the icing...on a steak. Plus, higher-end public gyms generally have really nice showers and saunas in them too, so I walked out of there feeling like a Movie Star or something. Ready to take on the World...again!

The cool evening air felt amazing on my clean and freshly-worked body, while the wafting smells of food and cigars decorated the Santa Monica streets, and I was breathing it all in deeply. I stopped at a food vendor across the street in the park on the high bluff (forgot the name), then leaned on the cement balcony and watched the lights out on the pier as I devoured three more very heavenly tacos.  I walked toward the train feeling very satisfied, and was just about to call up Nadia to make the whole day complete, when I looked to my left and noticed a couple walking leisurely beside me, which seemed out of place in the Saturday evening bustle. The man turned towards me a bit so I could see his face better, and I couldn't believe it! It was Norwood Fisher; the bass player and founding member of Fishbone!! “Excuse me sir, is your name Norwood?” “Yeah, that's me.” He replied with a wry little smile. His date was a cute and tiny surfer chick, with shiny blue eyes and a bob-style haircut. She seemed especially amused that her date was getting recognized, so they stopped right there in the middle of the sidewalk, just to talk to me. I immediately pulled up my shirt-sleeve, to show him my Fishbone fore-arm-tattoo, and told him “My name is Truly Owen Free, and I've been a Fishbone Soldier (it's what they call their fans) for a really long time now. We've actually met before. A couple times, and in different towns around the country...but I'm sure you meet a lot of people....” “Well alright! That's very cool man! What you up to this evening?” “Oh I'm just out walking the city and promoting these books I've been trying to write.” As I reached for my trusty backpack. “Would you mind if I gave you one? I think you'll like it.” I handed him a sticker too, then pulled out a copy of How I Became a Real Pirate, and he took that graciously too, but I have to go ahead and tell on myself again, when I say that I was making another mistake right there. And it was because of that stupid Starstruck thing again. Norwood Fisher is one of the most down-to-Earth Rock Stars you could ever want to meet, but for some stupid reason I was getting nervous while I talked to him. I guess part of it is I feel weird for treating someone special, but I was also interrupting his date. It was all inside me though. I was the only one having a problem. If I had been paying better attention I would have realized he was ready to have a real conversation, and was genuinely interested in what I had to say, but of course I assumed otherwise, and I really can't tell you why. But I did manage to spit out, “Yeah, I'm on a multi-city promo tour for my two new books. I'm riding the trains around the country and trying to generate some sales. Grass roots style! Street level.” “Well that's the way we do it!”, as he turned the book over a couple times, to check out the cover. The copy I gave him was the older out-of-print version too (see my Amazon account); with the black cover and only the skull and crossbones on the front, and the somewhat-sinister sub-title that only comes with the full-length novel. And I don't know if it was the very piratical cover that spooked him, or if he was picking up on my nervous vibe, but when Norwood looked up again...he gave me a cock-eyed taken-aback guard-dog look, like he wasn't too sure about me now. Like he had noticed something new about me, which he hadn't seen before, so maybe now he better put his guard up. And of course that just made me even more nervous, so I said “Thank you Norwood. Hope you enjoy it, and there's links to my site inside. You guys have a good night.”, then walked away quickly, before I made it worse. I walked backwards through the crowd, away from the train (?!), so I could cross the street and not seem like I was following them. But then when I started walking up the opposite side, I looked over...and they were walking parallel to me across the busy street. Norwood just happened to look my way at the same time too, and we even met eyes...so now it looked even more awkward! Like I was stalking them, and trying not to look like it! Celebrities are so weird. Of course I called my friend Terrence back in Tarpon City, just as soon as I was on the train. He's the only other person I know who is as big of a Fishbone fan as I am, so I just had to let him in on the story. “Are you serious? And you met him in LA?! Oh man, you are out there living life, my brother Truly! I wish I could be out there with you. And you say you even gave him one of your books? That is amazing. I bet he's gonna like it.” “Yeah Terrence, I can barely believe it just happened, and I was there. I totally screwed it up though. He was being really cool, and I think he even wanted to keep talking, but then I made him nervous or something. And I totally gave him the wrong book too. I gave him a copy of the pirate one, but should have totally given him Three Short See Tails. It even has Fishbone glyphs in it, from my tattoo, but I got all nervous again. I'm such a Starstruck little kook!” “Ahhh, don't be so hard on yourself buddy. At least you're out there trying, and it sounds like luck is on your side, if you ask me. Maybe you'll run into him again, or even somebody else. So you should just keep right on doing what you're doing. But hey listen I gotta run. I'm at work right now, and somebody might have a heart attack if I don't pay attention to these monitors, so let me get back to you later. Good to hear from you, bro. Keep on truckin'!”

But you know I still beat myself up, all the back to my vacation rental, which was really just a bunk in a tiny bedroom...with four other people in it. Not even a hostel really. Just some guys house he was paying off by running an Air-BnB mill. Pretty good trick really, and you would probably meet all kinds of people. Hmmm... I got back to the room about eight, and was feeling so low I decided to call it an early one. I put my bag in a locker and was just about to hang my hat up when I noticed the shiny red Devil Pin winking at me in the lamplight. “Oh! That's probably what freaked him out! Norwood saw the black sinister book cover, and the devil pin...and thought I was The Devil himself or something. Especially with my weird old name, and especially here in LA. 'Cuz I'm sure The Devil has a house around here somewhere. Probably a few...” Fishbone has some pretty strong ties to the Gospel community, and are known to be mostly good and spiritual people too, so maybe Norwood thought I was some kinda evil weirdo trying to get at him. Or at least that's the best I could figure. And that really sucked. What another major fail! Just trying to do something good, but I ended up freaking out someone I wanted to get closer to. Dammit! I vowed right then and there...to go to the very next Fishbone show and explain myself. But if you are an adventurer too, then maybe you should check out my armchair treasure hunt. Bet you can't crack the code. Copyright 2020 Truly Owen Free. All rights reserved. Read the full article

[danganronpa-21]

Hope you don't mind me asking. I'm just curious. What exactly are your problems with Kiyo (besides him being a killer), Kokichi (besides him being basically a killer), and V3 as a whole?

Honestly, sometimes I forget that my opinions are on public display like that on my Amino/Instagram. Especially the Amino ones, cause those are sort of out of date.

Anyway, thanks for asking this question!

I do want to preface this by saying a little something though: My takes on V3 should not be taken as 100% valid! Why, you may ask? Well... confession time, I haven’t played all V3. At the time it came out, I was harshly disinterested. Rather than experiencing it for myself, I chose to read up on it and learn what happened for myself. I’ve never been someone who’s particularly bothered by spoilers (much to the chagrin of literally everyone I’ve ever known), so I didn’t think anything of it at the time. And when I looked in to it, I didn’t like what I read and thought that it was good that I didn’t bother playing it for myself. I felt this way for a long time, rejecting all V3 things, until eventually I was lovingly bullied in to picking up the game myself. So while there are aspects of V3 I have experienced beyond my readings, it’s not done in full for me at all yet, so there could be several gaps in my knowledge or just my feelings. Please don’t take everything I say as my one and only interpretation, because it’s true that many of the feelings I express in my answer could be subject to change. I recognize that these takes aren’t valid because I haven’t experienced the game in full. It’s the same as when someone criticizes Danganronpa 3 without having seen it themselves: sure, you know how it’s written so you have some thoughts on it... but it’s still best to experience it yourself to formulate your own opinions. That’s what I’m intending to do, but I haven’t gotten around to it fully yet... because it’s an experience I’m hoping to share, if I play my cards right.

Really though, if I am to explain the offences I have at the current level of V3 I am on, I would say that each of these three aspects of V3 are explained… probably more simplistically than one would expect. I see a lot of people who have these in-depth reasons as to why they feel so strongly about a certain aspect of Danganronpa, and while I can be that person sometimes… here, not so much. 

Besides being a killer, honestly Korekiyo just makes me uncomfortable. Like even beyond the incest thing, there’s something about him that absolutely puts me off. I tried watching his Free Time Events to see if I could stir up some love for him, but I found myself making any excuse to stop every five minutes. I can’t say that I like his design or his mannerisms, and his voice actor communicates Korekiyo’s creepiness well… but I couldn’t find it in me to get past to what some people would refer to as the softer, sweeter aspects of Kiyo. Even the anthropologist element couldn’t save Kiyo for me, and I honestly thought it might. I’ve taken a few anthropology classes myself and I think the topic in itself is interesting enough. However, hearing Kiyo talk about it just either felt boring or off-putting, and I can’t say that I one hundred percent know exactly why that I ended up feeling that way. I suppose it’s fair to say that anthropology is a rather broad topic, and that what Kiyo spoke of in his FTEs wasn’t exactly my point of interest. But if you jump away from the anthropological aspect of Korekiyo, I’m with the majority in saying that the incest thing just made me flat out uncomfortable. 

At this point you could absolutely argue that it’s unfair of me to slander Korekiyo for being incesty if another character I love is Kanon Nakajima, a girl who has extreme and obsessive romantic feelings for her first cousin. However, I would justify myself in saying that the primary reason why Kanon works for me and Korekiyo doesn’t all boils down to other aspects of character. Do I think it’s creepy the way Kanon talks about and acts around Leon? Yes, of course. But the thing about Kanon is that she manages to utilize her other traits to become likeable in spite of it. She has all kinds of other quirks and traits that exist outside of being Leon’s creepy cousin who’s in love with him. Her whole presence as a character isn’t for the sake of being chilling, whereas I find much of Korekiyo’s character is to be weird and unnerving. It’s easier to get behind Kanon because I feel like she’s not just madly in love with Leon, but rather has other parts to her existence that are meant to make her realistic outside of it. Korekiyo, while he does have additional character traits, seems to be crafted with the intention of being creepy. 

I also know that at this point some people would want to argue that I’ve judged Korekiyo all wrong because his sister manipulated him into loving her and he’s actually an abuse victim, and I won’t dispute them. Do I agree with them? I can’t say, because the interpretation itself is just that: interpretation. Just because another interpreted it that way doesn’t mean that I will interpret something the same way, and so on and so forth. But even the line between “is Korekiyo an abuse victim or not” is something that puzzles me, because otherwise, the wrong person could boil it down to the question of Korekiyo stooping down to the level of his abusive sister by manipulating and murdering Tenko and Angie (and just to be clear, this question is not something that I personally believe). And even if maybe that seems like a far-fetched interpretation that someone could draw, the suggestion that an abuse victim will turn out like their abuser makes me undeniably frustrated. It would send a message that I don’t feel is appropriate in the slightest, and play in to the fear that many real life abuse victims have. 

All in all, the way Korekiyo was constructed just doesn’t have what I would call the “Koto appeal”. They simply had a different Danganronpa player in mind when they were designing him, and that’s perfectly fine. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with liking Korekiyo, he’s just very far from my cup of tea.

Something like Kokichi, I would say.

Kokichi already gets a hard time from me because honestly… I don’t find I like characters who are just out to make the player’s life harder. It’s not even a “i’m bad at video games” thing, it’s just that I genuinely find myself frustrated with characters like Byakuya and Nagito sometimes because I’m just trying to do my job, how dare you be trying to screw me up, you little shit!

So he’s already got beef with me right there, especially being the one that’s so much more challenging to fight against than the others. The dude’s high jacking entire trials and you just have to sit there with an “I guess this happening” expression as you try to work out the problem. I already play Danganronpa on gentle because something about the game just makes my inner potato brain skyrocket to like 500%, so Kokichi is kind of a pain in the ass for me. Which I get he’s supposed to be, but I don’t like it. 

His character relationships don’t help me, either. While I am fully aware that it’s all an act, the insensitivity is still harmful to the people around him. Yes, he does have this put on for the sake of fulfilling this plan of his and preventing the others from mourning him when he eventually does die. Unfortunately that plan in itself is a problem for me too though, after seeing a fan reconstruction of his plot to avoid the deaths of Gonta and Miu. Which even if it was a necessary sacrifice, makes Kokichi feel slightly more cruel to me -- although I know some may think that it shouldn’t. The behaviour still just sits badly with me, not to mention that even if you consider the inklings of Kokichi being a good guy… I don’t feel as if I can say with confidence really anything about him. Which again falls back on to a personal writing problem with me, because I am entirely an audience who likes to know things. That’s part of the reason why I write fankid fic: because there are things that I like to know that Kodaka will not confirm nor deny for me. So I took matters in to my own hands in hopes of satisfying both myself and others with where things will go. But if I don’t feel like I know Kokichi and my only evidences of him are of him being a jerk, it doesn’t lead me to like him very much.

Which is also what throws me for a loop with Danganronpa V3 as a whole, actually! All of the end revelations got me pretty badly in the sake that I have a vague notion of things that they showed me pregame, but otherwise there’s a lot that the game leaves unanswered. I mean, on the flipside, there’s absolutely evidence that everything we got to see was true… But until I know, I have trouble enjoying V3 totally. 

Plus, it also just contains my least favourite cast. I still like some of them, but there are more that I either don’t like or don’t care about. As you mentioned before, I’m not excited about Korekiyo or Kokichi. And maybe I just don’t know anything about them yet, but I’m not terribly interested in Kirumi, Ryoma, Tenko, or Rantaro. I have a little bit of love for characters like Himiko, Gonta, and Tsumugi. And to be fair, I do like Kaede, Kaito, Kiibo, Miu, Maki, and Shuichi a decent amount. But still, compare that to games like Danganronpa 1 where the only character I actively dislike is Hifumi... then it just comes out as my least favourite. Even with Super Danganronpa 2, I have a sort of dislike-like for characters like Nagito and Kazuichi. I don’t completely dislike them in the same way I do some of the characters in V3. 

Really, though, I know all of this is stuff that I personally think about V3 is subject to change. After awhile of straight up disliking it and refusing to play it like the stubborn child that I am, I do fully intend to commit myself to the game and maybe change some of my opinions along the way. Sure, it’s fine for me to have some of this opinions and ideas based off of what I do know, but ultimately I know it’s something I have to experience for myself for my take on it to be actually valid.

Hopefully if I can work out the things I need to try and work out, you guys might even be able to watch me experience it for the first time... but that all depends on how well my computer can handle running the appropriate programs simultaneously. Fingers crossed, though!