#since he’s the one who saved her earlier when she tried to kill herself

[confusedspaceotter]

Okay but imagine this:

At the end we get a final scene with Ekko saying his final goodbye to Jinx who’s boarding the airship

(look they BOTH went though so much and I just want them to be happy

[swe3tte4rs]

" An unexpected meeting of a mother and son " - Batmom!Oc and Jason Todd/Red Hood

Summary : Dahlia (Oc) tries to forget about her second little baby and his death after the arrival of her third sweet son. But she didn't know that she would have a very nostalgic visit.

Author note: Hello!! Before you read this and find any spelling mistakes, tell me in a comment 🙏, my main language is not English 😓. Also, this is my first "Oneshot" (I think it's a Oneshot, but I don't know), so I didn't know whether to put Batmom as Y/N or as some OC, so I decided on the OC 💪. (This Batfamily is a mix of comics, Webtoon, series, movies and headcanons… so… you know, not everything will follow the canon 😇)

TW: angst????

"Oh... God... my sweet boy... my little angel... Please don't him..." The woman murmured between sobs as she leaned against her husband's strong body.

"I'm sorry, Dahlia..." Bruce apologized in a murmur as he wrapped his arms around his wife. He felt the same as his wife, although much more frustration and disappointment in himself for not being able to arrive in time to save his son.

On the other hand, her eldest son, Dick, also had tears in his eyes and felt desperate because he couldn't do anything to make his mother stop crying. He approached her mother and hugged her. strongly.

Dahlia had just received the devastating news that her sweet second baby had been brutally murdered. She felt a void in her heart, one where she was filled with the love of Jason, her sweet angel. Dahlia couldn't even feel anger or the feeling of wanting to kill whoever was guilty of the murder, she was too busy drowning in her own misery and pain, deep ones that won't heal for a long time.

Some time has passed since the devastating death in the Wayne family. But, another little one had joined the family as the new and third Robin.

Tim was a child genius, with amazing detective skills. He was also a very loving and cute son to his new mother.

Dahlia with the new arrival of Tim Drake as her third child, she did what she could to forget about Jason and fill that void in her heart with Tim's love.

Dahlia loved Tim as she loved her two other children. She made sure Tim felt loved and protected by a mother, doing everything any mother would do with her little baby, like spending a whole day with him going shopping.

She was happy with the new member of the family, she loved him. But even with Tim by her side, Dahlia couldn't forget her sweet little angel, Jason.

The woman went to the cemetery every day to leave flowers and clean her son's grave. "I'm sorry my sweet angel…" Dahlia said softly as she placed the flowers on the dirt covering Jason's coffin.

Tears began to run down her cheeks as she remembered those beautiful moments she had with Jason. Remembering when Jason used to tell her every detail of the missions she had as Robin and fought crime. Although it hurt her more not to be able to hug him and remind him that she loved him with all her soul. "My baby… I'm sorry…"

Dahlia sighed and wiped away her tears, stood up and walked away from the grave, thinking that a rest would be good for her and that she shouldn't come to the cemetery every day…

Another short time passed, Dahlia was in the kitchen preparing something to eat for herself, since she had already made sure that her husband and children had something to eat before going out on patrol. She was calm in the kitchen, with nothing on her mind, just taking care of what she had in her hands.

Until she heard heavy and slow footsteps approaching the kitchen, where she was. Dahlia thought it was Bruce, maybe he had arrived earlier than normal. When the footsteps finally finished echoing and they were already in the kitchen, Dahlia turned to look with a smile thinking it was Bruce.

"You came back early hon-…" Dahlia spoke but she interrupted herself upon seeing a stranger with a red helmet.

She tightened her grip on the knife she was holding. "Who are you…?" Dahlia asked with a hint of fear and distrust. "If you come closer I swear that-" Dahlia was interrupted when she saw how the stranger took off his helmet and revealed his face.

Dahlia couldn't believe it…she was seeing her dead son in person. Her expression changed to one of surprise mixed with sadness. She began to feel that her eyes were going to start crying at any moment, but for some reason she couldn't let go of the tears, first she wanted to know if she really was her son or just a hallucination in her head. "Jason…?" Dahlia said quietly as she dropped the knife and covered her mouth with her hand.

Jason placed his helmet on the ground and clenched his fists in anger… or perhaps, frustration. He looked at Dahlia and stared at her. "I thought you loved me, like you loved Grayson. Like your son." He spoke, trying not to let his anger and desperation show. "But I only see that you got a replacement." Jason added as he clenched his fists tighter.

Dahlia opened her mouth but not a single word came out, she was shocked, was it really her son who was in front of her? Or was it just one of her other hallucinations? Dahlia didn't know whether to really believe what she was seeing, what if this was all a dream? Her Jason should be dead. However, she was seeing him in front of her, with some scars on his arms and face.

Regardless of whether it was a dream or not, she was going to hug her son.

Dahlia rushed towards Jason and quickly wrapped her arms around him, giving him a hug with a tight grip as tears began to well up from her eyes and slide down her cheeks. "Oh Jason… Please forgive me my sweet angel… I'm sorry for not having been a good mother to you and not being able to go and protect you… I'm so sorry honey…" Dahlia said between tears and sobs, holding his son tightly with no intention of letting go.

Jason wanted to push her, but she just wouldn't let him; Dahlia was his mother, his support, and the most beloved woman in his life. He was just resentful, frustrated to see his mother with a new son. Frustrated to see how his mother was loving another child. Jason felt as if his mother had completely forgotten about him after his death.

But after hearing Dahlia call him by his old nickname, he saw those moments pass by when he was happy playing and talking with his mother. He couldn't deny it, he loved how her mother's laughter could be heard along with her smiles.

Jason pursed his lips and simply hugged his mother back, tighter. And his vision began to cloud with tears that he wanted to hide but he let them out, unburdening himself in Dahlia's arms. "Ma…"

[HOPE YOU LIKE THIS!!!!]

[incomingalbatross]

"Everyone already perceives Elsa as a scary monster, just let the audience share the general Arundelle perspective instead of giving us the inside scoop on Elsa actually just being Misunderstood."

You'd also have to change Anna's opinion since she always viewed Elsa as simply misunderstood too. Or at least have her come to believe she was wrong somehow.

Okay so this is the part of the Make Frozen Better concept in my head that I completely neglected to articulate and, in fact, may have contradicted in places. :P Hang on...

I think what I'm imagining, here, is that Elsa looks like a monster/Evil Queen to everyone, including the audience, except Anna. And we the audience quite genuinely don't have the information to decide if Anna's right and her journey is saving her sister, or if she's wrong and her journey is about saving her kingdom.

Very, very rough outline:

Elsa is Anna's older sister who she barely knows - remote, reserved, always closing herself off from others but from Anna especially. Anna loves her. Or she wants, rather desperately, to love her. But she barely knows her.

At the opening of the plot, they interact a little and it's unexpectedly friendly. Anna feels a surge of hope that Maybe Her Sister Loves Her Too.

But then everything goes dramatically bad. Hans signs up to rescue Anna from her lonely life via marriage, they tell Elsa, and Elsa freaks and reveals her powers in a dramatic surge that brings down the storm. Then she vanishes.

It honestly looks pretty villainous and the people who are going "Queen Elsa...is a witch? Queen Elsa wants the kingdom to suffer?" actually sound like they have a reasonable case. (Edit the confrontation scene as needed to make Elsa's motives and responses look more villainous.)

But Anna is the only one saying NO, that's her SISTER, she's not treating her like a monster, she's gonna go and talk to her! She's not writing her off!!

She sets off. Other people point out - first at court and then on her journey, where she meets a married couple - that she's not being really rational about this. She's staking the kingdom, her kingdom and her people, on her faith in a sister she admits she barely knows. She clings to her love of her sister.

(The married couple also questions her engagement, which here can maybe play into "Anna's a hopeless romantic" instead of writerly self-sabotage? Also a good segue into a speech about Love in general.)

She meets with Elsa. They have, like, half a productive conversation maybe? But Elsa is afraid to try and be a Queen or a sister when she's already failed and, to the audience, this comes across as selfishness. She ends up cursing Anna.

Anna's faith in her breaks. She looks like a confirmed villain now, even if she wasn't before. The only hope is to go back to Hans - and Hans doesn't let her down. Not exactly. The kiss doesn't work but he says her sources must have been wrong, and the only way to end Elsa's curses is going to be to kill her.

Anna, shaken and disillusioned and beginning to doubt any type of love is as true as she thought it was, doesn't stop him.

They're lined up to kill Elsa, who is overpowered really surprisingly easily.

At the last minute, Anna remembers or is helped by the couple from earlier and the things they discussed about love. Love is an act of faith, but it's also a choice and a willingness to extend something to another person whether they deserve it or not. She realizes again, for good, that she loves her sister even if she is a villain, and she's not willing to kill her even for the "greater good."

She gets in front of the ax. Else tells her to get out of the way. They argue, and Elsa reveals that she just wants the curses gone and if dying is what it takes, she wants to die. She let herself be captured so they could put an end to her. Anna yells at her. They both cry.

Some climactic moment where they're both trying to shield each other, either from the execution (Hans's true priorities are revealed as he tried to go through with it anyway) or in some more abstract way.

Burst of light.

The light clears, they're clinging to each other, Anna's curse is gone, and winter has made way for spring.

(My OWN take would also have Elsa's hair going from white to blonde, with the reveal that her powers were a curse and needed an act of fearless love to break them. Or at least to unleash the uncursed, unfrozen, controllable version of her native powers. I realize this would be hard to fit in with Frozen's whole empowerment thing, but if we're centering this story on Anna learning how to love people properly and Elsa participating in her journey, I'm not sure magic as self-acceptance really fits in here anyway. So I'm parking that bit here, under probation.)

Anyway this is now a story about Disney Princess Anna looking like she has to learn lessons about Responsibility and Discernment and Judging People Rightly, but then reveals that while it is about those things (see: Hans), it's also about validating her pure heart and steadfast love for her sister, and showing how she learns to add wisdom to that childlike faith instead of rejecting one for the other. That's the goal anyway.

[badkitty3000]

can u do a five fanfic where he saves vivi from smth/someone. like “kill for ur love” sorta trope. idk if you’ve alr done im only on #3 of halo but pls its a need

No Escape

Five is forced into assassin mode when Vivian is put in danger by another Commission agent. He must not be very smart, though, because no one in their right mind would dare lay a hand on Five's girl.

Thank you so much for this request! I love writing anything with these two and this was a great subject that I hadn't done before. I hope I did ok! 😊

Words: 8,045

Warnings: blood, violence, Five being a badass but also a softy, smut at the end but can be skipped and it won't affect the story at all

As an aside: this story is meant to take place at some point during my AU series Halo on AO3, when Five and Vivian are not yet married and he is working for the Commission. If you like this pairing, you can check out more (lots more!) here. Also, here is a link to my Master List posts on Tumblr.

And a big shout out to my homie @kaybreezy3000 who was a major help with this one, and did the super sexy cover art!

Five tried to swallow down his rising panic as he sped through the city’s dark and empty streets. The heavy rain battered down onto the roof of the car and the tires sent up a spectacular spray of water every time he screeched around a corner. He didn’t care if he was driving one hundred miles an hour over the city streets or running red lights. His foot stepped harder down on the accelerator. If a cop tried to stop him, they’d have to shoot out his tires first. Even then, he wouldn’t stop. With his heart hammering away in his chest and his hands gripping the steering wheel, he glanced over at the handgun lying on the passenger seat where he had thrown it. A flash of lightning illuminated his face for a brief moment, and he saw his eyes reflected back at him in the rearview mirror. They looked like his normal emerald-colored eyes but with one major difference. These eyes belonged to a man who was desperate and seething with rage.

He had known something was off as soon as he had come home that night. Viv always left the light on in the living room for him, no matter how late he was going to be. And most times she didn’t even know when he was coming back, but she left it on all night long, just in case. So, when he had teleported into their apartment earlier and it was dark, Five was immediately suspicious.

He had called her name, but there was no answer and he didn’t hear her in any of the rooms. The place wasn’t that big, so it’s not like she wouldn’t have heard him. But he checked the bedroom and the bathroom. Both were dark, with no signs of her anywhere. When he walked into the kitchen, though, and snapped on the light, he knew something was very wrong.

There, in the middle of the tile floor, was a large pool of amber-colored liquid, surrounded by hundreds of glass shards. One of the kitchen chairs had been turned over and was lying on its side.

Five called her name again, as if she would appear out of some secret panel in the wall, carrying a broom and laughing at herself for being so clumsy. But, of course, that didn’t happen and the only sound was the echo of his own voice bouncing off the kitchen walls.

He crouched down next to the spill and the broken glass. The floor was sticky and the whole room smelled like whiskey. Most of the glass was clear with no markings, but one large chunk of it still had a label attached. When Five reached out with a trembling hand to pick it up, he held it closer to read the print. He recognized it immediately. This was not the normal liquor they kept in the house, and it would have been impossible for Vivian to have even acquired it on her own. Not unless the local corner store had come across a rare shipment of whiskey that hadn’t been distilled since 1865.

Five stared at the piece of broken glass in his hand, trying to wrap his head around what he was gradually piecing together. When he looked up at the kitchen table, he saw Viv’s phone lying there, which did nothing to quell the growing sense of dread in his stomach. He stood and picked it up, the movement making it come to life and flashing a photo of the two of them that she kept as her home screen. That’s when he noticed the smear of blood across the screen.

His eyes darted from the phone to the overturned chair, to the broken bottle and spilled ancient whiskey and his heart sank.

“Vivie,” he said in a horrified whisper.

She was gone and he knew who had her. Why, he had no idea, but wherever she was, she would be scared and maybe hurt; or worse. Five forced the gruesome horror scenes from his mind. It wasn’t going to do him any good to crack up now. He needed to focus on finding her and he needed to do it fast. There was no telling what this fucking psycho was capable of. And if Five found out she had been hurt in any way whatsoever, one thing was for damn sure. God help the man who was responsible.

When Vivian heard the knock on the door, she figured it was the older lady from two doors down. Ever since Five had moved in, the woman had been making herself much more present around their apartment; always stopping by with plates of cookies or a scarf she just happened to have knitted. She never seemed particularly interested in talking to Viv, but if Five was around, she had endless amounts of time to stay and chit-chat. Not that he even pretended to be remotely interested, but she ate up every terse smile and head nod, apparently taking them as signs she should come over more often. Viv had no doubt the woman, who was technically closer to Five’s age than her own, wished Viv would suddenly disappear in some sort of tragic accident so she could swoop in and make her move.

Viv rolled her eyes and smiled as she headed for the door. “Sorry, Betty,” she started as she opened the door. “Five’s not home right n—oh!” Viv stopped when she saw it wasn’t Five’s old lady girlfriend, but rather a man she did not recognize. “I’m sorry, I thought you were someone else. Can I help you?”

The man was taller than Viv, but his build was a little on the scrawny side, with thinning brown hair that was combed to the side and a pockmarked face. His gray suit pants looked too baggy for his frame and were cinched at the waist with a belt, as if they had fit him at one time when he had more weight on him. The white dress shirt he had on was wrinkled and a shabby-looking trench coat hung loosely around his wiry frame.

“Oh…sorry,” the man said slowly and Viv could see he was most likely drunk. “I’m looking for Five Hargreeves? Does he live here?”

Considering she had no idea who this man was and the fact that he was asking about Five had her immediately on edge. It’s not as if Five had friends stopping over. Or had friends, period, for that matter.

Viv crossed her arms over her chest. “And who, may I ask, wants to know?”

The man laughed and ran a hand through his sparse hair, holding out a hand for her to shake. “Right, sorry. I’m Sam. I work with Five.”

Viv hesitated but accepted his handshake. “I’m sorry, you said you work with Five?”

She knew better than to just give up any information about Five’s work, and she was highly skeptical of this man’s claim. For one, Five worked for the Commission and it’s not as if that was the accounting office down the street. They were a highly secretive time-traveling operative filled with dangerous assassins. For another, Five never talked about anyone he worked with. Unless they were pissing him off in a particular way that day. So, to have this man she’d never heard of before showing up at their door and knowing Five lived there was a major red flag.

Sam ran a shaky hand through his hair again, looking embarrassed. “Yeah. I’m sure you don’t have many of us stopping by unannounced, do you?”

“And by ‘us’ you mean…”

The man gave a sheepish smile and then pointed at the ground near his feet. Viv looked down and saw the familiar black briefcase she knew Five and all of the other agents at the Commission used for getting around. It would have been nearly impossible for anyone else to have one, so this guy must have been who he said he was. It put her a little more at ease, but not totally.

Viv nodded. “So, what can I help you with? I’m afraid Five isn’t home right now.”

The man’s face fell a little. “Oh, really? That’s too bad. I don’t have much time, but I wanted to bring him by this bottle of whiskey I know he likes.” He held up a very old looking bottle of some kind of brown alcohol. The label looked old-fashioned, yet brand new. It was also only half-full, presumably the remains of what Sam had already drunk. Viv wasn’t familiar with the name on the label, either, and she was fairly certain she knew all of Five’s preferred drink choices.

“We shared a couple of glasses of it a while back, so I picked up some more on my last mission and figured I’d bring it by,” Sam explained. Seeing Viv’s dubious face, he continued. “It hasn’t been made since the 1860s, and technically we aren’t supposed to take things back across timelines, but I figured one little bottle of whiskey wouldn’t make the whole world collapse, right?”

He laughed at his own joke and Viv could see he actually had a nice and genuine smile, even if he was a bit tipsy. His story seemed legit, although it was still weird that Five had never mentioned him to her at all. Although now that she thought about it, he didn’t really tell her much at all about the Commission; for both of their sakes. For all she knew, maybe he had a boatload of friends down there. Maybe he was the life of the party.

She gave him a smile, softening up a little. “No, the world seems to still be in one piece. And don’t worry, I won’t tell. Five once brought me back a bottle of perfume from 1923 Paris, so I think we’re safe.”

He chuckled and then they both stood there awkwardly until he cleared his throat. “Well, just tell him I stopped by, I guess.”

Seeing his disappointed face made Viv feel sorry for him, especially when she saw that it had started to rain. He looked so sad and pathetic standing there in his baggy clothes, drunk on Old West whiskey, and seemingly lonely. She wasn’t sure why, but something about him tugged at her heartstrings and she didn’t want to leave him alone in the rain.

“Why don’t you come in? Five should be home soon, you can wait for him if you’d like.”

“Oh, I don’t want to be too much trouble.”

“No, no, really, I insist. Come on in. I’m Vivian, by the way; Five’s girlfriend.”

Sam followed her inside and she shut the door behind them. She then led him into the kitchen, where she offered him a seat at the table. He sat down heavily, almost missing the chair entirely in his altered state, leaving the black briefcase next to him on the floor.

“This is a really nice place you have here,” he marveled as he glanced around their simple kitchen.

Viv looked surprised. “Really? Well, thank you, but it’s not much. There weren’t too many apartments in the area that I could afford at the time I moved in.”

“So, you lived here first and Five moved in with you?”

“Yeah,” she said with a laugh. “We met, fell in love, and he moved in here. I was never intending on having a roommate, but you never know what life will bring, right?”

Sam looked at her with an odd expression; one that Viv wasn’t sure how to interpret.

“And life brought you Number Five, the assassin, huh?” he asked.

That was a weird question and Viv hesitated for a moment. “Uh…yeah, I guess it did.”

“You know, Five never mentioned you when we shared that whiskey,” Sam said; his eyes seeming to harden just a little. “He also said he lived in a shit hole place, all alone. But this is definitely not a shit hole and he clearly isn’t alone.”

Viv swallowed nervously. “Well, that was probably before we met. He was kind of a loner before that.”

Sam gave a low chuckle and he looked around the kitchen again, seeming to take in his surroundings in detail and soaking it all up. Then he was back to eyeing Viv up. He still had the same friendly smile on his face, but she could see something about it had changed.

“Aren’t we all,” he mumbled. “He’s a lucky guy, though. Ending up with someone as pretty as you.”

Vivian shifted in her seat and cleared her throat. “Um, oh. Thank you.”

It was quickly becoming clear that inviting this man in had not been a good idea. Viv cursed herself for having such a bleeding heart sometimes. She should have followed her initial instinct about him. She just hoped Five would be home soon.

Trying to change the subject, Viv pointed to the bottle on the table. “So, you said you and Five spent some time together at the Commission? Five’s not exactly everyone’s cup of tea, so how did that come about?”

Sam leaned back in his chair and crossed one leg of the other. “Well, you’re right about that. Five is not exactly Mr. Friendly, at least around there. But he must have been in a good mood one day and decided to sit and chat with me. Although, maybe the whiskey was more of the motivator. Anyway, once we got to talking, we realized we had a lot in common.”

“Like what?”

“Well, we both ended up working for the Commission out of necessity rather than desire, but I won’t bore you with those details about myself. He was kind of a loner like you said, and so am I. And I could tell he had a lot of hostility towards most of the world. He knew the unfairness of life and how some people have it good and some don’t. That’s just the way it goes. Unfortunately, he and I got dealt one of life’s shitty hands and had been living with it our whole lives.” Sam stopped and looked at Vivian, again with that weird look in his eyes. “At least, until he met you, apparently. Now he seems to have the good life; coming home to this nice place with you waiting for him, while I’m stuck in my piece of shit house eating microwave dinners for one every night. That is, when I’m not putting a bullet in some poor bastard’s head.”

He chuckled at that and Vivian attempted a smile. This man was appearing to become more unhinged by the minute and she wasn’t sure how to keep up this conversation anymore.

“I know doing what you do, and for whom, can be extremely hard and I’m sorry. But I’m sure things will change for you. Everyone deserves to be happy, and to have love.”

Sam stared at her with unfocused eyes as he processed her words. Viv could see the wheels turning in his head and she suddenly felt very much in danger. Why had she let this guy in their home? The hairs on the backs of her arms stood up.

“Yeah, you’re right about that,” Sam said slowly, his eyes never leaving hers. “Maybe I’d be happy, too, if I had someone like you to come home to every day. Someone young and pretty to take care of me.”

The tone of his voice and look in his eyes were dangerous, and Viv instinctively began to stand up and back away. “You know, you’re making me a little uncomfortable. I think you should leave.”

Despite his unsteadiness from the booze, Sam was quick. The kitchen chair he had been sitting in fell over with a loud bang as he sprang up, grabbing her arm in the process.

“I’m sorry,” he said, eyes wide. “Please. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Viv tried to pull her arm away. “Let go of me!”

“Please, just sit back down. I’m not going to hurt you.”

“You are hurting me! Let go of my arm!” she cried as she desperately tried to free herself from his grasp.

He took hold of her with his other hand so that he was firmly gripping her by both her upper arms with surprising strength. Shaking her, he yelled in her face. “I am not hurting you! Just stop! Stop and listen!”

“No! Let me go!” she yelled back, struggling against him and trying to kick at his shins or anywhere else she could reach.

“Stop doing that, or else…” he hissed.

“Or else what? If you think Five’s not going to lose his fucking mind when he finds out you grabbed me like this, then you’re even crazier than I thought.”

“I AM NOT CRAZY! DON’T CALL ME CRAZY!” he screamed; his face contorted with fury.

Viv flinched and she started struggling harder. That’s when she saw Sam’s eyes move off of her and down to the ground near where he had been sitting. A white-hot panic started to rise up inside of her when she realized what he was looking at. The briefcase.

She couldn’t let him get to it. Not when he also had ahold of her. There was no telling where or when she would end up. With all of her strength, her adrenaline pumping, Viv fought as hard as she could against him. Kicking and pulling, she managed to yank him off balance, causing him to knock into the kitchen table, upsetting the bottle of whiskey and sending it tumbling to the ground. They continued to fight against one another, their shoes crunching in the broken glass.

When Viv lost her balance, she managed to free one of her hands, catching herself on the way down. Her hand landed on a piece of glass, the sharp edge slicing into her palm. With a last-ditch effort, she tried to reach out and grab her phone off of the table. At the same time, Sam reached for the briefcase. Viv watched in horror as she saw his hand latch onto the handle at the same time that she felt her fingers slipping across the screen of her phone. Then she felt the familiar feeling of being sucked into nothingness, her stomach lurching, as they both disappeared in a flash of light.

It was a miracle that Five even remembered what street Sam lived on. He had only mentioned it once, during a drunken conversation one night as they both slugged down the gasoline passing as whiskey in the Commission break room. Five had remembered because it was about a block away from where he used to live; before he met Vivian. It was in a shit part of town, but that would actually play to his advantage now. It was less likely anyone would pay attention to gunshots or other signs of violence when you’re already in a crime-filled neighborhood. Not that Five didn’t know how to cover his tracks. He was a professional, after all.

The fact that he wasn’t sure which run-down house was Sam’s posed a problem, along with the fact that he could have taken Viv anywhere and to any time. If that were the case, he was going to have to go to more extreme measures to get her back, including breaking Commission protocol. Which he was more than willing to do.

But as he drove slowly up the street with his headlights off, Five was granted a small amount of luck. A light was on inside one of the houses and Five could see clearly into the front window. On a table in the living room was the briefcase. He didn’t see Sam or Viv inside, but it was most definitely a Commission issued case.

“I’ve got you now, you piece of shit,” Five mumbled out loud as he parked the car a few houses down.

The rain was coming down hard and Five was soaked through in a matter of seconds as he hurried down the uneven sidewalk, his shoes splashing through the puddles. He didn’t want to risk being seen by blinking out in the open, so he waited until he was standing on the front porch of Sam’s house. The rain leaked down through the cracks in the rotting awning above him. After another quick peek inside the window, and seeing no one in the front room, Five teleported inside.

He took a second to take in his surroundings. Resisting the urge to call out for Viv, he remained silent and started making his way toward what he assumed would be the kitchen, his Glock held firmly in his left hand. There was no one there, but on top of a wooden cutting board on the worn and peeling countertop, was a meat cleaver. It caught Five’s eye, and since he is never one to turn down the convenience of a sharp weapon up for grabs, he left the kitchen with his gun in one hand and the cleaver in the other.

Five passed by a small, empty bathroom, and then came to a bedroom at the end of the hall. The door was closed and when he tried the handle, it was locked. The door was old and flimsy looking, so he didn’t hesitate to give one strong kick, cracking the wooden frame and splintering the door so that it swung open. As soon as he saw her, he felt immediate relief and horror wash over him.

“Vivian!” he cried, forgetting all of his training and not surveilling the rest of the room first. If he had been watching someone else doing the exact same thing, he would have told them they were brain-dead and lacked critical thinking skills. It was such a rookie move. But his emotions had taken over and he only saw her.

Viv was tied up to a wooden chair, arms behind her, with a blindfold over her eyes and a piece of duct tape over her mouth. She was frantically mumbling something when she heard Five’s voice, but it was unintelligible from behind the tape.

“Shit,” Five whispered as he hurried over, kneeling down in front of her, and placing the gun and knife on the ground. He immediately started to undo the blindfold. “Oh my god, Vivie, I’m so sorry. It’s ok, I’m here. I’m going to get you out of here,” he was saying as he yanked it away from her eyes.

Viv blinked into the sudden brightness, but then her eyes widened in fear as she looked at Five. Five assumed it was from shock and he continued to talk to her and assure her it would be ok as he carefully stripped the tape away from her mouth.

“I’ve got you, angel, don’t worry,” he said, right as he freed her mouth and she took a deep breath in.

“Five! Behind you!”

Five turned around, just in time to see Sam emerging from the bedroom closet with a wild look in his eyes. In his hand he had some sort of small device and he was coming their way. Five tried to grab one of his weapons off the floor next to him, but it was too late. Sam was quicker, and before he knew what was happening, Five fell to the floor in a heap; convulsing violently as electrical currents traveled throughout his entire body.

The stun gun Sam used was a standard-issued weapon from his employer and was given to every field agent, along with a Glock. The electrical charge from these particular guns were much stronger than what any modern-day policeman or SWAT member carried. Word around the halls was that it once took down a full-size grizzly bear with one zap. Sam wasn’t letting up on the trigger as he leaned over Five’s body, pressing the device into the back of his neck and watching with satisfaction as he was electrocuted over and over again.

Because Five was soaked through from the rain, the electrical shock was amplified as it continued in an endless loop through his body while he writhed and groaned on the floor. Five let out a grating cry, his body flickering with a pulsing blue light as he tried to use his own electrical power to counter the attack, but he wasn’t strong enough. Viv watched in horror as the light faded away and he became silent, even as his body continued to contort and seize right in front of her.

“Five! No! No! Stop, you’re killing him!” she screamed, her voice breaking and her eyes filling with tears. She tried in vain to break from her restraints. “Stop! Please! Five!”

Sam finally stopped, tossing the weapon to the side so that it skittered under a beat-up dresser. He was breathing hard as he looked at Viv and then at Five’s limp, unmoving body at his feet. Viv started sobbing loudly and she hung her head as the tears flowed down her face and onto her lap.

“I’m sorry,” Sam whispered. Then he spoke louder, but his voice was trembling. “I had to do it. He was going to take you away. I’m going to let you go, I told you that, but I need you to listen to me first and you’re not listening. All I want is for you to sit here and talk to me, and maybe stay with me for a night. But you weren’t listening, and so I had to tie you up, but I didn’t want to. He was going to take you away from me, and I can’t let that happen. Not until you stay here for a while.”

Viv lifted her head slowly, strings of tangled hair sticking to the tears on her cheeks, her eyes narrowed in a hateful glare. “FUCK YOU, YOU FUCKING PSYCHO! YOU ARE A CRAZY, PATHETIC LOSER AND I FUCKING HATE YOU! DO YOU HEAR ME? I HATE YOU!” she screamed at the top of her lungs, her voice cracking before she started sobbing again.

Five was still lying unmoving on the floor, but his eyes were open, and to Vivian’s relief, she saw he was breathing, although it was shallow. Sam looked down at him with a glower. Then he nudged him in the side with the toe of his shoe and Five let out a weak moan.

“This is your fault, Five. If you had just stayed put and let me handle this, it wouldn’t have gone this far. But now you ruined it.” Sam squatted down next to Five, leaning in closer so that he could hear. “I wasn’t going to hurt her, you know. But now…well, now you’ve gone and fucked it all up.”

His voice grew louder and more desperate. “We were the same, you and I! So, how did you get so god damn special? I thought we were friends; I thought we had a connection. But then I find out you’re living this perfect little life, with your fancy apartment and your pretty girl. But what about me, huh? Where’s my perfect life? My happy ending?”

Sam stood up and looked at Vivian, although he was directing his words at Five. “I was going to kill you and keep her, but now I have a better idea. Since I know you’re currently paralyzed but can still see and hear everything that’s going on, I think maybe I’ll kill her instead. Then you can watch and listen as your perfect little life is ripped away from you until you’re just like me again. All alone and mad at the world.”

“You stupid piece of shit,” Viv growled out. “He never did anything to you.”

“YES, HE DID!” Sam yelled right in her face. “He took my life! I deserve this life, not him. He’s killed way more people than I have; I’ve seen his records. I know his reputation. He might as well be Satan himself! So why don’t you tell me why he gets you and I get nothing?”

Viv looked him dead in the eye. “Because Five is good and decent, and he knows how to love others. He feels remorse for all of those lives he took. You, on the other hand, are nothing but a giant pile of dog shit in a cheap suit. And no one will ever love you.”

Sam smiled. “At first, I wasn’t going to enjoy this, but now I might.” He bent down to pick up Five’s Glock which was lying next to his immobile body. “I think I’ll shoot you in the head with his own gun. That feels poetic to me, don’t you think?”

He raised his arm and pointed the gun right at Viv’s head. She squeezed her eyes shut, whimpering as a few tears leaked out. “Five, I love you,” she said quietly, knowing they would be her last words, and hoping he could hear her. Just as she was trying to steady herself against the pain and sudden death that would be upon her any second, she heard a high-pitched scream and she opened her eyes.

Sam was standing right where he had been, his face frozen in horror as Five’s gun dropped from his hand and clattered to the floor. He slowly sank to his knees before falling face first onto the ground, collapsing onto his stomach with a loud and painful groan. As he fell over, Viv could see a meat cleaver was embedded in the middle of his back, between his shoulder blades; the shining metal handle sticking straight up in the air as blood seeped from around the blade. Viv looked up to see Five falling to his knees next to Sam. He was shaking and breathing hard, but alive and apparently able to move again.

“Oh my god, Five! Are you ok?”

Five nodded slowly and lifted his head weakly to look at Viv. “Yeah. Are you?”

She nodded her head and started to quietly cry again. Then another pitiful groan came from the injured body on the floor. Sam was stirring and trying to get his arms under him in a futile attempt to get up. Five seemed to gain more strength as he slowly hauled himself up to standing again. He placed a foot on Sam’s lower back, grabbing the handle of the cleaver and yanking it out of the mutilated flesh beneath him. Sam screamed again while fresh blood began pouring out of the wound. Thick drops of scarlet red dripped from the cleaver and onto the old and dented hardwood floor beneath them.

Five was still unsteady on his feet, but he leaned down and pulled Sam’s face up off the ground by a fistful of hair.

“You made a fatal error, my friend,” Five warned. “You have no idea what I am capable of. But you’re about to find out because you have fucked with the wrong man.”

Sam breathed out a shaky laugh. “You think you’re better than me. But we’re the same.”

Five clenched his teeth and held the blood-stained meat cleaver under Sam’s throat. “Listen, you pathetic waste of space; you are wrong! We are not the same, and we never have been,” he hissed.

Sam let out a more maniacal laugh. “We are though. You just can’t admit it.”

Five got ready to draw the sharp blade across Sam’s neck. He wanted to split his throat open from ear to ear and watch him bleed out slowly and in agony. One corner of the cold steel pressed into his skin and a rivulet of blood trickled out.

“Five, don’t,” Viv said suddenly.

Five didn’t look up as he paused. “He needs to die, Vivie.”

“Not like that. Please, I just want to go home. Let’s go home, ok?”

Five looked up at her sorrowful face and knew she was right. He needed to get her back home. But he still wasn’t about to let this fucker go, even if the odds of him surviving the horrific wound in his back were slim. He let go of Sam’s hair, letting his face fall with a loud thunk onto the floor. Then he picked up his pistol and pressed it into the back of Sam’s skull. He glanced at Viv as a warning to let her know to look away.

“Lights out, you stupid fuck,” Five growled before pulling the trigger.

BANG! Sam’s skull exploded, sending blood and brain matter everywhere. Vivian flinched and looked away, but Five watched with satisfaction as the grisly contents oozed out of the gaping hole in the dead man’s head. Then he dropped his gun and hurried over to Viv, who was still bound to the chair.

As soon as her hands were free, she threw her arms around Five’s shoulders and he pulled her tightly into him. She burst into tears again, sobbing into his shoulder as they both knelt on the ground. He kissed her temple and smoothed her hair.

“Vivie…look at me,” he said as he held her face in his trembling hands. “Are you hurt at all? I saw blood on your phone.”

She shook her head while more tears ran down her cheeks. “No, I’m fine. I’m so sorry, Five, I’m so sorry. It’s all my fault, I was stupid and I let him in, he said you were friends, I wasn’t thinking. Five, I’m so sorry.” She started crying loudly again, touching the side of his face with her hand. “I thought I lost you. I thought you were dead. And it was all my fault.”

Five closed his eyes and pressed his forehead to hers, his own tears threatening to spill over. “Darling, you have nothing to be sorry for, ok? You did nothing wrong. I just…god, I don’t know what I would have done if something happened to you. Are you sure you’re ok?”

“Five, you’re the one that almost died!”

Five gave her a smile and kissed her softly. “You can’t get rid of me that easily. You should know that by now.”

She let out a small laugh, sniffing back her tears. “I love you so much.”

“I love you too, angel.” He glanced very quickly to the dead body on the floor and then back to Viv. “Come on, we need to get out of here.”

She nodded and they stood up, Five still shaky and unsteady on his feet. Viv held on to him for support. “What’s going to happen now? Aren’t the cops going to come after us?”

Five shook his head. “No, we’re safe. He works for the Commission, so he’s their problem to deal with. Agents die all the time in the field. He’s just one more spare cog in the wheel that won’t be missed.”

On the way out of the house, Five remembered the briefcase. He grabbed it off the table and turned to Vivian. “I don’t think either of us should be driving. I have to bring this back anyway, so do you mind?”

She shook her head. “Not at all. The sooner we can get home the better. We can get the car later.”

With a nod, Five programmed the case, took Viv’s hand in his, and in less than two seconds they were back in their apartment. As soon as they arrived, though, Five collapsed to the ground on his hands and knees. He was still so weak from being electrocuted almost to death and now that the adrenaline was starting to wear off, it was starting to catch up with him.

“Five! Oh my god…”

Viv put her arms around his waist as he leaned against her and she helped him up. Tears started to form in her eyes again as they traveled over Five’s exhausted face.

“I am so sorry, Five…this is all my fault…and now you’re hurt…”

“Vivie, I’ll be fine. And it’s not your fault.”

She could see he was starting to sway on his feet again and she nodded before realizing he was covered in a splatter of quickly drying blood. “Come on, you need to get cleaned up first and then you can lie down, ok?”

Viv led Five to the bathroom where she had him sit on the top of the toilet seat while she helped him undress down to his underwear. She didn’t trust that he was strong enough to take a full shower, so she wiped up his face, neck, and chest with a wet washcloth; the dried blood that was painting his skin gradually fading away. Five closed his eyes from both exhaustion and the feel of her touch as she gently washed his latest sin from his body.

After he was cleaned off, Viv washed her own hands and bandaged the cut on her palm, and they both collapsed onto their bed, too tired to turn back the covers. Viv crawled next to Five as he lay on his side, and he wrapped her in his arms with her face buried in his chest. They both let out a long sigh and then she looked up at him. With her hand on his cheek, she kissed him, her warm lips pressed to his as he kissed her just as deeply in return and stroked her hair.

“Are you going to be ok?” he asked her quietly.

“Yeah, I’ll be ok. I’m pretty tough, you know,” she said with a smile.

Five laughed and squeezed her tighter. “I know you are.” He was silent for a minute before speaking again. “I’m sorry, Vivie. I’m sorry that I can’t ever seem to escape the hell that follows me everywhere. All I want to do is keep you safe, but I seem to be failing in that department.”

“I never feel safer than when I’m with you.”

Five didn’t respond to that and was quiet again. “I’d do it again, you know.”

“What?”

“Kill anyone that tried to hurt you. Without a second thought. And I’m sorry because I know that’s not what you want to hear, but if protecting you means I have to be the bad guy, then so be it.”

Viv looked into his eyes and smiled sadly. “Five, you’re never the bad guy. You’re my own personal superhero and you will always be the good guy. Because you are good inside. I need you to remember that.”

Five chuckled. “I don’t know about that, but if I am, it’s only because of you, angel.”

Bonus: Smut (as a little treat)

It took a few days before Five was completely healed from his electrical ass-beating. He couldn’t even blink a few feet without the power leaving his body and feeling like he was going to faint. And even though he loved that Vivian took care of him, he was getting pretty fucking annoyed with getting scolded every time he tried to do something she didn’t think he could handle. He reminded her several times that he had made it through four and a half decades of self-preservation in a barren hellscape, so unloading a bag of groceries was probably not going to be the end of him. But she just gave him a pointed look that told him she didn’t give a shit what he said and then he shut up again. After the third day, though, she finally decided he was well enough to return to his normal activities.

Viv was at the kitchen sink when Five came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing her neck. “I have a surprise for you,” he told her with a grin.

She sighed heavily, continuing to rinse off the plate she was holding. “If it’s what I’m currently feeling being jabbed up against my butt right now, I hate to disappoint you, but I’ve seen it before. Several times.”

Five gave her ass a pinch so that she squealed and then scooped her up in his arms, the dish clattering into the sink. “That’s only part of it,” he answered before he teleported them into the bedroom and onto the bed with a bounce. “I can blink again,” he said with a cocky smirk.

Viv scowled at him, fighting against her smile, and she smacked him on the arm. “Five Hargreeves, you are the worst! What have I told you about non-consensual blinks?”

Five laughed and shrugged. “It was worth it.”

Before she had a chance to respond, he was dragging her on top of him and pulling her in for a kiss, his hand tangling in her hair. She immediately gave in and made a little moaning noise into his mouth.

“Besides,” he said as he pulled away with a smile. “I know you secretly love it.”

Viv shook her head. “I don’t. But I do love a lot of other things you can do.”

Five nuzzled his face into her neck and placed a line of soft kisses along the underside of her jaw. “How about I do a few of those things right now?”

“I wouldn’t say no to that,” she said quietly while she started tugging up his shirt.

He chuckled as her hand slid over his hard abdomen and chest. “Trying to undress me already, my love?”

“You know I hate it when you have clothes on. I’d much rather have you walking around naked all day, just for my viewing pleasure and for easy access.”

Five laughed again and then flipped her over so that Viv was on her back, and he sat up on his knees, pulling his black t-shirt over his head before leaning down again. The muscles in his arms and back flexed as he held himself over her. He pressed the hard crotch of his pants into her thigh and he flashed her his sexy, crooked smile.

“If anyone needs to be walking around naked all day, it’s you. So let’s start there.”

Viv smiled and let him take his time with her, softly running his lips over her stomach and chest before lifting her shirt over her head. When he moved to tug her pants off, she stretched out long, closing her eyes and sighing. She felt his hand drifting over her legs and hip, and around to her ass where he gave it a small squeeze. Then he repositioned himself between her legs and she felt the warmth of his breath on her inner thigh as he placed his hands on either side of her hips.

“You’re so beautiful, baby,” he murmured.

Viv let out a quiet moan when she felt his mouth and tongue drawing hot lines over her skin, punctuated with tiny nips of his teeth. When he hooked his fingers into the waistband of her panties, pulling them down a little bit before covering the entire damp area between her legs with his mouth, she jerked her hips up with a whine.

Five leisurely sucked and licked at the thin fabric that separated him from that hot piece of heaven just underneath. He was teasing himself just as much as her, because the wetter she got, the more he could taste. And the more he could taste, the more his feral instincts kicked in and he wanted to devour her.

When he finally threw the lace underpants somewhere to the side, he was already on his knees between her legs, holding her tightly by her thighs, as he watched her rocking her hips up in anticipation. She looked up at him under hooded eyes, the corner of her bottom lip caught in her teeth, before sucking in a loud breath.

“God, you drive me fucking crazy,” he growled before immediately getting back to the matter at hand.

Five always knew the best ways to make Vivian a trembling mess, and one of those ways was to eat her out like she was the first meal he’d had in years. She liked when he was slow and gentle; flicking his tongue over all of her most sensitive places and taking his time. But when he lost all restraint and consumed her entire pussy, groaning and shoving his tongue inside of her while sloppily sucking at her clit, that’s when she lost her damn mind.

It always came with a slight risk of bodily harm for Five, since she would be thrusting her hips up into him so wildly, and pushing his face harder into her that it was a wonder he didn’t end up with a neck injury or suffocating to death. But he figured if that’s how he went out, he’d be ok with that.

“Five! Oh…my…fucking…god…YES!!!”

She pushed herself harder into his face with each word until she was screaming unintelligible words and Five could feel her thighs trembling and her body shaking as her back arched off the bed. He continued greedily lapping her up until she relaxed again and fell back against the pillow.  When he sat back on his knees, he was breathing hard and fast. He pushed his hair off his forehead as he licked at his lips; her warm, liquid sex coating his mouth and dripping down his chin.

While Viv lay there, catching her breath, she watched as Five wiped his face with the back of his hand, the corner of his mouth twitching up in a tiny smirk. He didn’t say anything, but his eyes told her all she needed to know. Now it was his turn and she was about to get railed. Hard.

He unbuckled his belt and opened the fly of his pants, taking out his hard cock before shoving her legs further apart with his knees. When he leaned over the top of her, covering her body with his own, he kissed her long and deeply; making sure she got a good taste of herself on his tongue. Her already soaked cunt accepted his dick with ease as he sunk himself inside of her.

With one hand holding himself up and the other gripping and pulling her leg up higher around his waist, Five started rhythmically thrusting into her, and moving his face to her neck.

“Vivie,” he breathed against her skin and she closed her eyes and dug her fingers into his back. “I can’t live without you, angel.”

 “I’m yours forever, Five.”

Five continued to fuck her hard but slowly, the buckle of his belt that was still dangling from his opened pants clinking with each push of his hips. He was groaning and biting into the crook of her neck as he kept his face buried there and Vivian clutched his body to hers. In between heavy pants, he told her all of the things he needed her to know. Every little thought and emotion that made its way to the forefront of his brain. If he didn’t tell her, the moment may pass and she’d never know.

“You are my whole world, there is nothing I wouldn’t do for you. I am nothing without you. I love you so much, Vivian, so much.” He started moaning louder as his pace got faster and he held himself over her again to look down at her face. She smiled up at him, even as she let her head fall back again with a cry from how good he was feeling as he pounded into her.

“Five…”, she whimpered. “I love you, too...you feel so good like this.”

Her words acted like some sort of switch inside his brain, and after a few more seconds, Five was unleashing his hot cum inside of her while he pressed his forehead into her shoulder and groaned low in his throat. As his body relaxed, he stayed where he was, lying on top of her and breathing hard against her neck. She stroked his back and hair and ran her fingers lightly down his arms. He felt her lips press against his ear and she sighed happily.

“No one can ever take me away from you, Five,” Viv whispered.

Five kissed the side of her neck and then her lips. He didn’t say anything in return. Mostly because he knew she was right. Because if anyone ever tried to take her away again, he had no problem slaughtering everyone in his path to get to her.

[rahleeyah]

On my own for the afternoon and left to my own devices so that means I'm watching beasts obsession, like a normal person, and one thing I like about it - like is maybe not the word, one thing I think is really compelling as a character beat - is that Olivia has gone to therapy and sat the Sergeant's exam and moved in with Cassidy and broken up with Cassidy, she's taken control of her life and done all the things she's supposed to do and convinced - or tried to convince - herself and everyone around her that she's Ok, that she's Better, and the second she sees Lewis's face she's picking fights and ducking her protective detail and trying to trade her life for a child bc despite all the therapy and all the work she's put into Being A Normal Person, she is, still, Olivia. Angry and scared and reckless. She pushes Nick and Fin away when they're at her place and trying to take care of her. She doggedly refuses everyone's attempts to help her, bc their help would require her to lie, and she's decided she's not doing that anymore, even if it'll save her. No one believes her, not really, and maybe they never will - maybe they'll never believe he didn't rape her the first time, maybe they'll never believe that Liv didn't kill him, no matter what she says and I think she knows that - but she's stubborn and she won't back down. We have seen so much of rainbows and candles and therapy fixes everything Olivia recently, but this Olivia of post mortem blues is the same Olivia in children of wolves - she's in there somewhere, still, angry and impulsive and imperfect, and honest. That's the thing that gets me, I think, is that hand on heart wet eyes Liv feels like a Liv who's playing a role. Blood on her teeth going rogue in the rain Liv feels more real. They're both her - the her that wants to be clean and the her that worries she never will be - but I'd like to see more of a balance of those two sides of her than we're getting these days.

And as a side note, since I'm now on post mortem blues, I do think absolutely this is the moment Ed Tucker changed his tune about her. It started earlier - I think he was always amused and intrigued by her - but I think this is the moment she crawled under his skin.

[dandelion-wings]

Me earlier this week: Okay, I'm feeling strained and overstressed on the writing front, I'm not going to write until I'm back from holiday vacation. I will let my brain lie fallow.

My brain, immediately when I woke up this morning: Remember that little four-scene bit of the Crimson Peak siblingswap AU that you came up with over a year ago and never wrote? Write it. Write it now. Write it write it write it-

(Content warning for off-screen but definitely and correctly implied child abuse.)

---

Uncle Varka- *Grand Master* Varka's face is paler than Jean has ever it before.

"I had no idea," he says in a strained, terrible voice. "I never realized- Jean, I'm so sorry. I should have realized that Fredrica was in such a state. None of this was your fault."

It's well-meant, but Jean knows it's a lie. She had- She took the actions she did under her own cognizance. She can't pretend otherwise.

"Yes it was. I chose my actions, and I bear full responsibility for them. I understand that there have to be consequences. I'm ready to accept whatever they are."

It would be hanging, if she was an adult, but she's not sure they'll be able to hang her when she's not even yet a knight. On the other hand, Mother had told her a while back that she was a woman now, so maybe... maybe it's different for Gunnhildrs.

It would only be right if they did hang her. She was the one who-

Who killed Mother.

"You earned a Vision in the process," Grand Master Varka says, a little wildly, his gaze darting about her as if he's trying to and can't quite meet her eyes. "That means you did the right thing, doesn't it, Eroch? Or at least the only thing you could do. Since I didn't realize, and you had no help...."

"The medical report *does* say that her sister could well have died," Inspector Eroch agrees.

Which is more a reassurance than a single thing Grand Master Varka has said. It doesn't change what Jean did, but she finds herself blinking back tears at the relief of it. At least she hadn't done it for no reason at all. Even if there must have been better ways to handle it, if she hadn't failed to find them.

"Since the gods consider you justified," Grand Master Varka says, which Jean knows can't be true, but finds herself wishing might be, "there's no reason to put you on trial for it. Right, Eroch?"

The Inspector hums noncommittally. "I think the Church will agree to that. Though I think it would also be best, under the circumstances, to remove her from the Gunnhildr line of inheritance. That would unacceptably darken the Gunnhildr name. Barbara may not have met Fredrica's standards, but now that we know the whole story of what was going on in that household... it's entirely possible she may grow to become a very accomplished knight."

A wave of relief washes over Jean, and for the first time since she'd drawn her sword this morning, some of the pressure on her chest eases. *That's* a consequence she certainly deserves. It's true that she has proven herself unworthy of being a Gunnhildr.

***

Master Crepus drops down onto one knee to talk to Barbara, moving slow and careful, as if he's afraid she'll run away.

Which she kind of wants to do. She doesn't want to talk to anyone right now except for Jean. And no one will let her. Not even to apologize for running away from Jean, after... after Jean had saved her, and healed her, and done everything she could to keep her safe. There had been as much of Barbara's blood on her as Mother's when she tried to pick Barbara up.

"The Grand Master and the Seneschal have agreed that I'll be your guardian," he tells her. "I don't think it's a good idea for you to live in the Gunnhildr estate right now, so you'll come and live with me and Diluc. Do you want to come with us to get your things, so we can make sure we get everything you want?"

"Is Jean coming?" she whispers. She knows what the sisters have told her. Maybe Master Crepus will give her a different answer.

His sad, sorry expression tells her otherwise. "I'm afraid not. The Ordo thinks it's best if the two of you aren't in contact for... a while."

"Until I'm an adult." Barbara feels tears well up and swallows against a sob. "It can't be earlier? Even once? I want to tell her I'm sorry."

"You don't have anything to be sorry for."

"But I do." More tears stream down her face, and Barbara keeps her voice quiet with effort. She can't be loud. *Especially* when she's crying. "If I had been better, and braver, this wouldn't have happened."

"That's not true." He says it firmly, almost sternly. "The only fault here was your mother's."

"*That's* not true! If I'd been good enough- if I didn't get Father killed-"

"Is that what Fredrica was feeding you? Barbara, *you did not kill your father*. How she could tell you- no. No, Barbara. Nothing was your fault. None of it."

He sounds angry, now, and Barbara shrinks back. As soon as he sees that, he shrinks himself too, ducking lower and making his expression go blank the way Jean always did when she got Mother to turn from Barbara onto her. She still isn't going to argue. He's wrong, Mother said so-

Except if Mother is right, then Jean was wrong to defend Barbara. Maybe... maybe Master Crepus is right. Or at least, if Master Crepus insists he's right to everyone else, if Barbara agrees with him, they won't punish Jean for what happened.

(Maybe they won't figure out that it's really Barbara's fault, and they won't punish Barbara.)

"I want to come with you to the house," she whispers.

She'll get all of Jean's things, too, along with hers. Everything Jean wanted. Then, when she can finally see Jean again, she can give them to her. If she does, if she demonstrates that she's sorry enough, maybe Jean will accept her apology.

***

Diluc finds Barbara hiding in the back upstairs linen closet, folded at the very back with the sheets pulled over her, not making a single sound.

"Father is taking that boy to the Church," he promises her, kneeling in the open door. "He won't scare you again."

He hadn't *done* anything, just come up too-quiet behind Barbara and startled her. But Barbara had shrieked, and then done what she always does when she thinks she's making too much noise and run away to hide. It doesn't matter that the boy had apologized. Father had decided right away that he couldn't take care of him, too, and while Diluc would have liked a boy his own age around, he can't say that Father is wrong.

Barbara is Jean's little sister. He promised Jean, the last time he saw her, the last time he was *allowed* to see her before Inspector Eroch told Father that it didn't look good for Diluc to seem to be carrying messages, that he would take care of Barbara for her. He can't break that vow.

His reassurance only makes Barbara burst into tears. Silent tears, which is as eerie as always, each sob choked into the faintest whisper of a sound.

"I'm sorry," she whispers. "It wasn't his fault."

"It wasn't yours either," Diluc lies. "Don't feel bad. He'll be fine at the Church. It's probably better, since he was already sick from the rain. They can take good care of him there."

She nods, jerkily, and scrubs at her face. "I'm sorry anyway. I'm not *trying* to be scared all the time. If I was a better Gunnhildr... or if Jean were here...."

Diluc's stomach drops, and he swallows hard against his tightening throat. He tries not to show it, but something must show on his face, because Barbara's crumples all over again.

"I'm sorry, I-"

"I miss her too," Diluc admits, hoarse-voiced. He shuffles a little further into the closet. "If I could sneak her in here, or you to her, I *would*. But if I try, Father will be in trouble, and then...."

And then they'll take Barbara away, and Diluc won't even be able to keep the one promise he made to Jean. The only way he can keep that oath is to let the adults keep them apart, and keep hurting both of them.

"I know," Barbara whispers, scrunching her face into her folded knees.

"But I'll take care of you, since she can't," Diluc promises, just like he had Jean. "I swear. Until you can see each other again."

All of a sudden Barbara launches herself into him, at him, muffling her sobs into his shoulder instead of her throat. Diluc wraps his arms around her and holds her close. It's the only thing he can do for her right now. Even if he knows it's not enough.

***

Across the graveyard behind the Church, Kaeya can see a blond girl sitting alone, perched on the wall looking down at the lunch she's barely touched.

There's something familiar about her close up, the blond hair and blue eyes and the shape of her face. All he knows is that she's the only child here who hasn't teased him and tormented him about everything strange about him--everything that had gotten him kicked out of the Ragnvindr household and made him fail his mission. At this point, that's enough. Trotting over, Kaeya hops up onto the wall beside her and opens up his own lunch.

She glances sideways, then down again. "You shouldn't sit close to me."

"Why?"

"No one will like you if you do."

Kaeya shrugs. "No one does like me."

After another glance, longer and more thoughtful, she shakes her head and looks back down. "You still have a better chance if you don't. I... everyone knows I killed my mother."

He looks her up and down with respect, noting the Vision at her waist. None of the other children are ever going to accept him; that much is obvious. But if everyone knows he's *her* friend... at least they'll fear tormenting him.

Besides, there are worse things she could have done. Much worse ones.

"I too killed my mother," he assures her.

Her head comes up, and she gapes at him in more shock than seems fair. "What? *Why*?"

"She became a monster," Kaeya says, quiet so his voice doesn't shake as the words recall those terrible, desperate moments. "Why did you kill your mother?"

She stares at him, something bleak and terrible in her expression, as if she feels just as Kaeya does remembering his mother reaching for him with slashing claws, and burying his tiny dagger into her throat. Then she says, just as quiet, "She... also became a monster. She tried to kill my sister."

All of a sudden, Kaeya realizes why she looks so familiar. "Barbara? Lady Gunnhildr?"

"Yes," she whispers, her voice choked.

"I saw her, before I was here at the Church," he says, holding that out like an offering. He carefully doesn't say that he'd frightened her. "She was well." He thinks. He hadn't seen much of her before he gave her that shock and ruined everything.

"Oh thank Barbatos," the girl breathes, in a rush. There are tears glittering in her eyes, but she draws herself up, composed, and holds a hand out to Kaeya. "I'm Jean Gun- I'm Jean."

"I am Kaeya," he tells her, taking it.

Already his head is spinning with plans. He has to find out what she likes, what she wants, what he can do for her. If he can win her affection... this girl has already killed to protect someone in her life. Maybe he can turn himself into someone she would keep safe, too.

[deathmetalunicorn1]

That was amazing! Can I request a Part 6? Drum Island, where they need to find a Doctor for Nami and Reader who become severely sick

When Reader regains conscious, she keeps running away from Dr. Kureha in fear (Dr. Kureha took a little of Reader’s blood when she was unconscious to check what she’s infected with, and discovers her blood has a unique mutation that can reverse not only her cells, but others’ cells that have severe diseases/illnesses to curable stages) then puts two and two together on why a little girl could have so many scares and feels disgust, and darkly asks Luffy, Nami and Sanji if they’re the ones who gave Reader her scars, because if they are she’s going to kill them

Dr. Kureha tells Luffy and Nami that this is her theory, but based on Reader’s her scars, her reaction when she learned she’s a doctor and her power (And what she found out from her blood) that someone’s been taking Reader’s body apart to use as they see fit (Luffy, Nami and Sanji have never felt more horrified then murderous over the pain Reader had to endure)

When Reader meets Chopper, she quickly bonds with him and trusts him to treat her (She’ll slowly trust Dr. Kureha) as Luffy and friends battle the evil Wapol, she also doesn’t see Chopper as a Monster, rather thinks he’s cute and his blue nose is his ‘pretty’, and if he thinks he’s a monster, then they’ll be monster’s together, since they both have ‘horns’ (Though Chopper corrects her saying he has antlers)

Dr. Kureha tells Reader that if she can use her power correctly, there’s no telling how many people Reader could save (Calling Reader’s power the ‘Great Miracle’ all Doctors wished for and her existence is a miracle itself, which makes Reader cry because she’s always saw her power and existence a ‘Curse’) but tells her that it’s her power and only she should be allowed to use it as they leave to Alabasta

-Vivi was beside herself, trying to take care of both you and Nami, after she suddenly collapsed after guiding the ship through a sudden but short storm that would have knocked them off course.

-Nami was having the same symptoms at you and while scared at first that this sickness was contagious, Vivi found a similar bug bite on Nami as well.

-Vivi heard shouting up above and while not wanting to leave the two of you alone, you were both asleep and she went to investigate, finding a massive hulking person, Wapol, threatening Sanji and Luffy.

-After a very brief fight, Wapol was sent flying out into the ocean, which, for a Devil Fruit user, was normally a death sentence.

-Drum Island was covered in snow, everyone was bundled in thick jackets and for good measure, you were wrapped up in a blanket as well, being held in Vivi’s arms while Luffy carried Nami.

-Dalton tried to attack the crew with the former Drum Island militia, but after hearing what was going on, a woman and a child that desperately needed a doctor, he called off the attack and took everyone to Bighorn, a nearby village.

-Everyone was furious to learn that Wapol, the man Luffy punched earlier, had taken all doctors for himself, and if anyone on Drum Island needed medical attention, Wapol expected them to come and plead for help.

-A pirate named Blackbeard attacked, and Wapol, rather being the king he should have been, fled with his court and the doctors, abandoning Drum Island because he was scared.

-You whimpered softly and Luffy was quick to take you in his arms, holding you carefully, but you remained asleep as Dalton told them that there was one more doctor, Kureha, but many regarded her as a witch, and would only come down from her castle, Wapol’s former home, when she felt like it.

-Vivi, Zoro, and Usopp remained at Bighorn, mainly for the ship, while Luffy and Sanji, carrying you and Nami, made way to Drum Castle.

-Sanji sensed the Lapahns before Luffy did, as he had stepped on one, and leapt back, cradling you close, a glare in his eyes.

-Unable to fight properly, Luffy and Sanji were banged up, but after causing an avalanche, the Lapahns conceded, after Luffy pulled the parent of one out of the snow when a child was trying to dig it out.

-Sanji was still conscious, but injured across his back, having taken some claws to protect you before delivering a harsh kick.

-Kureha walked out, seeing the visitors, and found the two men, bloody and bruised, holding a woman and a child, but in need of medical attention before they quickly passed out.

-The men and Nami were up first, meeting Chopper, a blue nosed reindeer who ate a Devil Fruit and was a doctor himself!

-Nami looked around for you, growing concerned as Luffy was chasing Chopper around, demanding that he join the crew, loving the idea of a talking reindeer in his crew, “Where’s Y/N?! Is she okay?!”

-The doctor gave her a small nod towards another room, “Still asleep. That fever of hers did a number on her. I’m hoping you lot can help me understand something.”

-After getting everyone together in Nami’s room, Kureha told them how, while she was working on you, tending to your fever as well as running some blood tests, your horn seemed to flare with energy, and that energy surrounded you, healing your body, but due to you being so weak from being sick, you were still unconscious.

-Chopper nodded, “I’ve never seen anything like it before, is it a Devil Fruit ability?”

-A few hesitant glances were shared before Luffy gave a small nod, and Nami spoke, “Y/N’s ability isn’t a Devil Fruit ability, it’s something else, something she was born with, that’s what she’s told us. We don’t know too many details about it ourselves, other than she was abused terribly for it before running away and being capture by Alvida, before Luffy saved her. Her ability allows her to rewind time.”

-Chopper’s jaw dropped and eyes bulged, “Rewind time?!” Nami nodded and hesitated, only for a moment, “We don’t know all the details ourselves, but she was able to bring my mother, who died when I was a child, back from the dead from just a lock of hair.”

-Their jaws dropped before Kureha inhaled deeply, grabbing the newspaper, “That’s probably why the government is after her then. YN’s ability… in the wrong hands it could- I-I don’t want to even think about it.”

-Luffy punched his fist into his other hand, “And that’s why we’re protecting her. Nobody is allowed to hurt her ever again!”

-Kureha seemed pleased with his answer before she spoke, “Then I won’t kill you lot.” Kureha was fully prepared to kill them herself if they were the ones who had hurt you, “When I removed her bandages, the number of wounds and scar tissue she had on her little body, whoever had her was strategically hurting her, tearing her apart, I’m guessing to study this ability of hers.”

-They knew you were scarred, but to hear this from a doctor’s standpoint, that you were being tortured for your ability, the rage they felt was unlike anything they had ever felt before.

-Kureha was able to discover this easily, about what not only your ability, but your blood could do as well, and she shuddered to think if the government ever got their hands on you, knowing you would probably be even worse off compared to whenever you were with the bastards who did this to you.

-It was an hour later when you finally stirred, your vision blurry and your eyes went wide, finding yourself in a hospital and you instantly panicked, sitting up, “Big-big brother?!”

-Kureha entered, offering you a friendly smile, “You’re up! Glad to- don’t!” you leapt out of bed and quickly scrambled underneath, ripping your IV out as you huddled your legs tightly to your body, hyperventilating.

-She quickly exited the room and only moments later you heard strange footsteps before you came face to face with a…reindeer?

-Chopper entered, hearing you were having a panic attack, scared of doctors, and sent him in instead, and he got down on all four to peek at you.

-He was nervous, but not as much as he had been with your crewmates, you were a child.

-Your eyes were wide as you blinked, a bit confused about what you were looking at before he talked, “Your name is Y/N, right? My name is Tony Tony Chopper! But you can call me Chopper.”

-You mouthed his name, unable to form words and he nodded, offering you a hoof, “You shouldn’t be out of bed yet, you’re still pretty weak.”

-You hesitated but took his hand and let him pull you out, finding he was shorter than you, but gave you a friendly smile and helped you back onto the bed.

-He ran out, panicking that you were bleeding, going to get supplies and came back to find the wound gone, as you had healed it.

-He was gentle, tending to your wounds, “Does it hurt where it was?” you were still scared, not talking, shaking your head as he checked it out, “Does it hurt when you use your ability?”

-Your free hand lifted to your horn, touching it, “Some-sometimes, when I fix a big- a big…” your voice trailed off and he nodded, explaining that Luffy told him if you use your ability too much, you get fevers, which you confirmed.

-You smiled, thinking about your brother, wanting to see him, “Big brother tells me not to use it, so I don’t get sick. He tells me I only use it when I want to.” He smiled softly, patting your head gently, “He’s right, you only use it when you want to.” It was so unlike things when you were with Overhaul and Alvida, who forced you to use it on their whims.

-You asked to see your brother, or Nami or anyone, wanting to see your family, only to find out they were out fighting Wapol, who wanted his castle back. You tilted your head to the side, “What’s a Wapol?” you didn’t know him, so Chopper explained he was a cruel king who left many years ago and is now coming back.

-Chopper checked your temperature and made sure your body was okay, being so gentle with you, and he couldn’t help but grin as you poked his blue nose, “It’s so pretty.” Your words were so sweet and gentle before he looked down, “Thank you Y/N, but I don’t really like it. It makes me different- makes me a monster.”

-You knew that word well, your arms coming towards your chest, looking down as you nodded, “We- can we… can we be monsters together then, since we both have horns?” his face fell, eyes full of concern as he realized that you had been terribly abused, thinking that you were a monster.

-He remembered the words of your family well, that you could rewind time, and if you were being tortured, forced to use your ability, they probably forced you to rewind time on things and others called out a monster for it.

-He smiled gently, offering you his hoof to hold, “Technically I don’t have horns, I have antlers. But we can- together.” His answer made you smile, it made you feel like you belonged!

-Kureha entered and you instantly flinched, holding onto Chopper, scared, but she sat down on the empty bed across from you, “I won’t touch you, Y/N, that’s why I sent Dr. Chopper here instead.” Your eyes went wide, looking at him, “You’re a doctor?”

-He beamed, looking smug and proud, but you were so confused, he was a doctor, but he didn’t hurt you, he was so nice. You looked back at Kureha who saw your realization, giving you a grin and a small nod.

-Kureha, true to her word, kept her distance, ignoring the rumbling in the castle, hearing Luffy and the others fighting, and spoke with you, “Y/N, your ability is- it’s amazing! You could be the Great Miracle that all doctors have been wishing for, to help everyone they can!”

-The tears instantly swelled and spilled over, all your life, you’ve known this ability as a curse, and many had told you so, both your ability and existence, because without you, some people might still be alive!

-To hear that your gift was a miracle, and that you would help others, listening to Kureha that you could save the world if you learned how to control your ability.

-The thought seemed scary at first, but there was a swell of something inside of you, you felt so happy, like you were going to burst!

-You sobbed in relief, leaping into Luffy’s arms when he came to get you after defeating Wapol, clutching him tightly and Nami whacked him only once, scolding him for making you cry, as you were upset that he was injured again.

-You nearly were in tears again, holding Chopper’s hand as he was saying goodbye to Kureha, who was trying not to cry herself, not liking tearful goodbyes.

-Chopper was sobbing loudly as your whole crew was gawking with wide, wonderous eyes, as Kureha seemed to use magic to make it snow cherry blossom, the pink glow from the cannons illuminating the white snow in a pink hue. It was so beautiful! You had never seen anything like it!

-You were happy to be back on the ocean and Usopp couldn’t help but grin, seeing you opening up a bit more, showing Chopper all around the ship.

-The others learned quickly not to tease Chopper about eating him, you overheard them joking about it and Sanji and Zoro spent almost an hour trying to calm you down, each of them having several steaming lumps on their head while Nami and Usopp yelled at them while Luffy was hiding with Chopper.

Elsewhere

-A man sat in a bar, looking over a couple of bounty posters, a grin on his lips, “You’ve grown Luffy… but I’m kicking your ass because you never told me you got a little sister! That means I’ve got a little sister now!!”

[blackbutlerfandomnerddomain]

Random thoughts on the newest Black Butler Manga:

My mood currently btw

But anyways:

Snake said/thought something that I for some reason didn't think about-

He's right

Doll wouldn't do all this for harming children unless ordered to. She still doesn't want to.

In both the anime of Book of Circus and the manga format of the Circus Arc, we see this

It seems like Doll has a record of being too close to someone to the point they may have to leave earlier to plan, naive maybe.

And in this scene from the anime

Go to timestamp 3:22 for it

We see that Doll may have helped in the kidnapping but never did the murdering or the actually nabbing bits of the act, everyone else does while she is mostly look out. And even when she does harm someone, she hesitates and shows clear guilt of what she's doing

Adding that and Peter's later slap in the face you get that Doll is the main one who seems to be the "weakest link" and would have all the chances to run

Plus Doll is great with kids, we get that. So Snake's statement of "you would never do this" even while she tried to stab a child is true

Literally two frames ago:

She didn't seem too happy about someone shooting at a kid, so why is her random af (thoroughly creepy) outburst towards Mable happened then?

Well... Cause Doll would obviously be forced to

I've been saying since she appeared back into our lives Doll has always been giving me a off feeling but to properly get this line I realized it's a little bit on the nose on my end at least, Doll most likely has something in it for her to do this, not just life

What is it?

The manor relies on Undertaker for the bodies they may have-

None of the other circus member's bodies were in any frames and anything, minus the obvious rubble of the manor, traces of them were quickly gotten rid of. Now I assume maybe Sebastian burnt any evidence that can burn aka clothes and some hair partials, but as they would put the bodies down the chut and Undertaker can take them.

My guess, Undertaker took them and promised a newly-alived Doll that he can fix them up and make them alive again if she helps out. This can explain how she was able to know how they all died but not Joker and why she honestly seems so desperate, UT would show her his "reports" of the bodies and edge her towards the role of help. Like what he did with the P4...

Now, if Finny doesn't kill her or she doesn't kill herself cause THIS IS THE MOST HEARTBREAKING THING YOU CAN DO TO HER YANA, WHY?!, I think she can easily help them escape, even if (sadly) she might die in the end. Save Snake and the kids and we'll see from there. Like Ada from the last part of this whole emotional roller coaster ride

[dead-by-mending]

Legion members and what they think of each survivor

The title says it all. Once again, feedback would be appreciated

Dwight : Frank, Julie and Joey straight up think he's pathetic (they're just annoyed that he keeps hiding in lockers), while Susie just thinks he's trying, but not enough

Meg : While the others don't care about her, Frank and Susie actually like her. Frank because since she's a sprinter, she actually gives him a bit of a challenge and he likes that, and Susie... because she's cute and has a nice mask ?

Claudette : They're just so annoyed with how many times she was hiding right under their noses all the time, but Joey still kinda feels bad for her, especially after he learned about her social awkwardness, as he was like that sometime (he also thinks she's cute but won't admit it)

Jake : They hate Saboteur with a burning passion, so they have to hate the one who brought it, right ? Well actually no, Frank and Julie think he's kinda cool, living alone in the forest. That's the kind of life they would have prefered to Ormond

Nea : She's pretty much a bitch to every killer, trying to piss them off as much as she can thinking she can run them for hours (and it usually doesn't work). Too bad for her, the Legion is EXACTLY about that, so they love her attitude. Julie secretly wishes she could be friends with her

Laurie : Obviously they're always excited about the idea that they can stab the most iconic final girl herself, especially Frank and Julie. They used to hate DS, but since its nerf, not so much...

Ace : While they can get probably as cocky as him, they just can't stand that guy. Susie finds the grin he has in the lobby extra creepy

Bill : They don't understand how this old man can keep up. Then he looked cooler when they learned he did Vietnam and was shooting up zombies before diying and getting taken by the Entity

Feng Min : Susie is the only one to tolerate her, the others think she's just ultra annoying, like Nea but worse. She shouldn't have called them cringe, because now they keep calling her like that (even tho they don't know what it means)

David : They don't really care about him, and even less about him being gay (or anyone's sexuality or ethnicity, they just stab everyone the same). But once he tried to punch Frank in the face, and now he makes it personal every single trial where he faces him

Quentin : They don't know why, but they like this gremlin, especially Frank. They think he's funny when he just falls asleep at some random moment (because yes, it happens sometimes)

Tapp : If you're familiar with what the Legion was doing before killing, then you can guess they're not fond of law enforcement, including cops like Tapp. They prefer causing mayhem everywhere

Kate : Frank's soulmate (I will die on this hill). When they're in a trial together, he doesn't want to hurt her, but she doesn't the Entity to get displeased at him because of that... Meanwhile, the others don't care about her (not even Julie, she moved on so she couldn't care less)

Adam : What I said earlier about Legion and law enforcement also goes for education. So you can guess that they don't really like Adam either. However they have a bit of respect for him for sacrificing himself to save a girl in the train crash that got him here

Jeff : Their old pal from high school. None of them recognized him at first, because he had grown up, but once they did, they were kinda happy to see him. They try to let him live as much as possible (especially Susie)

Jane : Joey and Susie see her differently : he sees a thicc latina that's exactly his type, she sees what Jane is trying to be, a body positivity icon, as Susie is a bit chubby herself and got bullied for that... Meanwhile, Frank and Julie couldn't care less

Ash : Frank was in shambles when he saw Ash for the first time in a trial, as he's a big Evil Dead fan. He was kinda disappointed to see him without his chainsaw or boomstick though, he was hoping he could steal those

Steve : Their opinion on him evolved just like he did in the show : they saw him as an annoying douche at first, then started to like him for getting cooler

Nancy : At first they thought she would be boring. They quickly realized how wrong they were, especially Julie. Now they're either afraid or excited that she could bring guns in trials

Jonathan : Who ? No seriously they almost never see him, which is a shame because his music taste would surely fit some of the Legion members

Yui : They all think she's kinda cool. I mean, I don't know if you've seen a champion biker girl not being cool, but honestly, I never saw that happen

Zarina : Curiosity killed the cat, like they say. They wouldn't like her to search into their lives, especially Frank and Julie who made some "special recordings" of themselves...

Cheryl : They thought she was kinda cool at first, but now they're afraid of her, ever since they learned about how she killed a literal god, after giving birth to it (man Silent Hill's lore is confusing)

Cybil : Just like with Tapp, they like to show her their opinion on law enforcement... And let's just say it doesn't always end well...

Lisa : Frank always had a nurse fetish, so before starting to date Kate, he was really enjoying a trial against Lisa... Now he just asks Kate to wear a nurse outfit when they're alone...

James : At first they just found him weird because of his attitude. Then they thought he was creepy because they learned about Mary and how it created Pyramid Head. And now they hate him because he's basically the reason Midwich exists and they'll never forgive him for that (me neither)

Maria : She just kinda exist ? Just like Jonathan, they very rarely see her

Felix : Frank and Joey were just a bit jealous of his good looks. Frank still does, but now Joey feels bad about him because he got taken while his girlfriend was pregnant, meaning he has a child but may never see them ever...

Elodie : Julie likes her independent spirit and taste for adventure. But she and the other Legion members hate Power Struggle so much. No, they don't hate her because she's French, Canadians and Frenchs are bros

Yun-jin : A girl that's stylish and independent ? That's exactly the kind of girl Julie would like to be friends with. Too bad they don't have the same music taste and that one has to kill the other, otherwise they'd get along so well

Jill : Frank and Joey knew her from the og RE1, so they almost didn't recognize her (since it's her RE3 remake version). Also, they hate Blast mine so freaking much

Leon : No one knew him because the og RE2 came out after they were taken by the Entity. They soon learned that he could either be a nice dude to hang out with or literally the worst person to mess up with. Also they think Flashbang is funny (except when it actually works)

Claire : Same as Leon, but they can't take her really seriously

Chris : They just hate him because he always tries to punch them (and every other killer). He's just stupid

Mikaela : They found boons annoying at first, but now they mostly don't care. They find it dope to have a literal witch in the realm anyway. And let's just say her leather pants fashion didn't get unnoticed...

Jonah : It's not a good idea to have a CIA operative who loves math with a bunch of math haters... But not so much if said CIA operative committed war crimes...

Yoichi : They only knew his kid version from the original Ringu movie, so it felt weird for them to see him as an adult. And they don't like him so much since he's a teacher

Haddie : She's just kinda weird according to them, with her visions and all... But that's still kinda cool

Ada : Frank and Joey honestly were really interested in her...until they learned about Leon's feeling for her, they stopped having those thoughts. Professionals have standards

Rebecca : Frank thinks she's maybe just as sweet as Kate. But obviously not as beautiful

Carlos : An actual mercenary ? That's just really cool

Sheva : Apart from Joey, who seems to have a type, they don't really care about her. Sure, she's a military, that's cool, but that's it

Vittorio : They were kinda surprised to see a dude from the Middle Age here, and they got an existential crisis wondering if they were going to live that long or more in the Entity's realm...

Thalyta and Renato : Twin survivors ? Sure, why not ? Apparently Thalyta goes into Joey's type, and Renato seems really relatable to Susie for some reason...

Gabriel : They wish they could find him cool because of the fact that he's a clone but one thing stands in the way : MADE FOR THIS

Nicolas Cage : I could literally sum up their reaction with "What in the actual fu-". Seriously everyone was extremly surprised to see Nic fucking Cage arriving to the Entity's realm. And with his perks being overall so funny

Ripley : Frank loved the Alien movies, so seeing Ripley here was just so dope

(Sorry if it took so long, school was taking a lot of my time. That's also why some of the recent parts are short, I wanted to finish this quickly)

[bulbabutt]

just wanna get some thoughts out about april o'neil (mainly to hype up why i enjoy her in 87) so this is an analysis of writing her in each generation of shows.

1987 april o'neil is a character who i think has more agency than most of her counterparts, and i think it lies in the choice to make her a reporter.

i can understand where the negative sentiment about changing her career from scientist comes from, but hear me out. if we understand that the turtles as characters just kind of fall into plots, whether they have a history with it or not, it lets us understand that april is here because she's a key in the story.

so originally her story is that shes the assistant of baxter stockman, and he sets a trap to kill her, leaving her to be killed by mousers and saved by the turtles, but after that her life outside of anything turtle related is kind of... non existent. dont get me wrong, being an adult woman who takes in a bunch of teenage turtles makes her anything but boring, but in that concept (and other adaptations since then) we dont get a feel for what she could be doing if she wasnt around the turtles.

in 87 april her job as a reporter is central to the premise. she is the human they hang out with, and she has a day job, so her life becomes the turtles lives. the other humans in her life become the other humans in the turtles lives.

we have her boss Burn Thompson, who’s your typical J Jonah Jameson ‘get me a story on those mutant menace turtles’, giving her that classic Peter Parker role. he often tries to get her to do more feminine stories, which she always has to fight back against.

we also get her rival reporter and occasional camera man Vernon Fenwick, always trying to prove he’s better than her at their job, always trying to steal whatever story she’s on, always failing and proving that he is not as capable or brave as she is.

and we get the secretary and her best friend Irma, who contrasts to her character very well by being the more dorky and lovesick comedic counterpart to her assertive independent serious character. you fully believe these two women are friends in that workplace way, its very real.

certain aspects of these news room dynamics are great, like how despite all the turtle coms looking like radios, we give april one that looks like a compact mirror. why? because if she hears news of something the turtles should check out, when she calls them she gets to just look like shes checking her makeup. she gets to use the workplace sexism to her advantage.

another aspect is, why do the turtles have to save april? is it cuz people always kidnap her? no, its because she gets herself into trouble. shes always looking for a big story, shes not afraid of the bad guys. she goes looking for danger because shes a very capable person, and her becoming the big sister to the turtles, or maybe cool single aunt, feels very natural.

i love her, i love that she's kind of a loser with only work friends, that she doesnt date much cuz shes kind of a weirdo, i love that if she's not with the turtles we can imagine what she's up to. she feels very real, and she's not a character who could be replaced by an object, her life is central to that show. and i love that they dont need to make her a fighter or anything to do that, and its surprising coming from the oldest show.

so to go into the next two cartoons and this is not to dig on 03 or 12 as characters, but in both cases the writers dont really give us much perspective on what her life is or was outside of the guys.

in 03s case, shes that same comic april i mentioned earlier. but we know a lot more about casey in this show than we do her. we know she has the antique shop, and thats where she is, but who does she talk to? does she have friends? she has casey, but she knows him because the turtles know him.

in back story, we can assume her parents died, and we know her uncle went missing, and that the episode they found him we see she has a sister who's never come up before. but neither of those characters show up again after that. not even at her wedding. we see everyone in the turtles lives, we see everyone in casey's life (even his shitty cousin) but aprils family isnt there. so who is she she if she isnt around the guys? i guess she sells antiques. but does she have a life outside of that building? we also know she's a scientist, shes as smart as donnie, but where does she use that skill with computers outside of helping the turtles?

like shes still that same loser adult woman hanging out with turtles, this time shes taken up ninja training from splinter, and we know in the future shes going to found a tech company, but that feels more like flowery language about her, as opposed to getting to see her be someone interesting on her own.

and then in 12s case she's the only april i know who fails the sexy lamp test upon debut. shes kidnapped and the only reason the turtles go rescue her is because donnie thinks shes pretty. sure, we could say its because shes a person in need, but we all know that upon introduction she is love interest first, character second (as are.... most all of the women in that show). from that point, we know she has her dad, and unlike in the previous versions (including comics and movies) its april who has to stay with the turtles for a while, not the other way around. which on its own would be fine, but shes always sort of there. whats she up to? does she have her own interests? like in 03 when shes staying with the turtles for a bit after her shop blows up, we see she's butting heads with them a bit. same as when they stayed with her. but here she kind of just takes on whatever the turtles do, whatever they watch or are interested in. they also make her special. shes here because shes different. thats not bad on its own, but it means that she very much could be anyone, shes here not by her own choices leading her here, but because the plot is thrust upon her, not the turtles, as it has been in all other iterations.

this kind of comes to a head with the introduction of casey and irma into that show. on the surface you'd think, well there we go, she has human friends, those are hers and not the turtles friends, but they never properly introduce her or us to irma. they show irma calling her in one episode (and shes labeled 'weird-girl', so whats the story there?) and then when we meet her properly its so she can be a third body in the introduction of casey jones. the running gag of this is basically whenever april isnt around the turtles now, she's with casey and sometimes casey and irma, but we never understand why. and then youd think, well thats cool if april is who becomes friends with casey, and then casey is in the turtles lives because of her, but he actually just ends up following raphael home. they do make a point of making it so he's accepted because she's there, but he's never implied to be her friend more than the turtles'.

she invites irma along to a date with casey, neither irma or casey understanding why. is it because she doesnt want to date casey? maybe. but the writers never make her intentions clear to the audience, we're left speculating. irma comes up a few times more, always in more or less the same context, and often asking who are the mysterious friends you have besides me. i truly wish we could have seen any moments of why these two are friends, how these two are friends, what they do when april isnt with the turtles, before they pull the rug out from under us and show that irma? yeah she was actually a krang all along. and she was only here to get to the turtles. and it never seems to bother april much, besides the one outburst when it happens. to me it feels like she should at least... grieve this friend? that would be traumatizing. your only friend in your own world was never real.

i like that the farm house gets to belong to april again, as opposed to being casey's family farm, so that gives her something. but then we understand why when we're introduced to her mom. we think. a real kicker here is uh. we dont even know her moms name? she's just..... mrs o'neil. because she didnt really matter, she wasnt real. like her dad got a name (because reference), why cant her mom even have a name? a thing that bothers me here is, ok we know her dad kept getting kidnapped, or mutated, or became so traumatized that he never left the house, but we never even get that kind of basic family aspect to the first teenage april. the turtles, for better or worse, are her family in this show. thats her real support system. and its frustrating because two of the characters here just oggle her. whether its an episode where april could have a crush on donnie or casey back or not, the fact she's got no support or someone to talk to about it from someone outside of those characters brothers really sucks for her agency in this story. we never get to grasp how she feels about any of it. which is why i think those romances give people the ick, theyre things that could work if the show ever cared to tell us how april feels.

and then by the end she gets to be a kunoichi with telekinesis, a thing she got into because of the turtles, and a thing she just got to be because genetically shes special. i wish this april got to be a character who had things of her own that she could choose to be. like, she still lives above that same antique store from 03, maybe she could have had a family history there like 03, but even something simple as that is just an in name only reference. theres no part of her that feels like she chose to be it, or that there's anything about her life that isn't directly related to the turtles.

now we get to rise. and honstly, rise april is a breath of fresh air. she is a teen like the previous april, but shes also just as willing to get herself into danger by her own choices as 87. shes a fighter like 03 and 12, and unlike every other version, shes just here. we dont need to know how she got here, she's part of this family and you believe it.

we have our big sister april who's not only a loser who hangs out with turtles, but she's a complete weird magnet. she's overly excitable, very willing to get into fights, who has a strong sense of justice and getting into trouble to fix it. this series is more episodic like 87, so to just get the jist, episode one. april needs rescuing because why? she threw herself into a mystic portal to save a random creature. thats what sets the turtles off on their mystic adventure in the first place. because she put herself in harms way. and when they go to rescue her, shes actually fine. she finds them a place to get new weapons, she's the first one to run in and try to attack the villain. none of the guys ever coddle her or say "oh there goes april we have to rescue her", this time we have an april who is a fully capable fighter from the get go.

we see her school life, she doesnt have any friends besides a random guy who has a crush on her, and shes desperate to fit in. then we get sunita. we see exactly why these two are friends. it starts with april thinking shes found a normal kid at school, trying to prove to the guys she can be a normal teenager who doesnt need their weirdness, but as it turns out sunita is a yokai. shes from that same mystic world, but she didnt come into april's life because of the turtles, she came into her life because they like each other. they're just two weird girls who hang out, they like laser tag and rock shows, and we fully believe they are friends.

another aspect to her is her jobs, she's like jonesy from 6teen. she gets new jobs basically weekly, sometimes hijinks ensue, leading the turtles to an event unfolding around her, and keeps getting into trouble and getting fired, but this leaves her with a plethora of skills (and keys to random buildings or machinery good for you for not giving those back, respect).

then we also get to see an entire episode where the turtles dont appear, because its about her. we see her passion for helping the world, we see her disbelief in herself, and her ability to pick herself up. theres a moment where you think splinter is going to need to give her a pep talk, but she ignores him. she's got herself. she doesn't need to rely on the guys or splinter for her confidence, shes capable on her own.

then i think my favorite aspect here is about the finale, where we get this touching moment between her and karai where she doubts her place in the family, lamenting that she's not one of them. and its not one of the guys who tells her she is, it's karai. its another woman in this story. its the woman who's history this story has been leading up to, affirming april's part in her story. in their families story. and she gifts april her spirit. which leads her to go finding ,and in a way rescuing them, from their despair.

this april is a fully realized character, with a real place in the story. you never doubt it, but even if she wasn't you know exactly who she'd be without them. she's her own fully rounded character, and i love her so much. theres a reason people say she's definitively the best april, i wish we got to see more of her, i know we were supposed to get more, just like with everything from rise. but im glad she got to shine here.

so this is kind of why in terms of writing april, i think its interesting that the most agency we get for her, in my perspective, comes from the newest and oldest show.

basically to summarize and reiterate, all april's are good april's, some writers just care more to show us who she is than others.

also I’m ONLY talking about April’s writing here, not the rest of the show

[ranbowkng]

Can You Really Love A Wench? (When All Else Fail)

Summary: John knew she was evil. He knew she tried to kill him without a second thought seconds earlier. And yet, he couldn't help but feel sorry for her, a connection to the heartache. And perhaps, a new sense of longing. (Rarepair so rare I'm probably the only one who believes it's possible. TW mentions of SA)

It's over, the fight against what was left of that woman. The demon she had inflicted herself with was gone. Only her body remained. This was a fight John could successfully say he has won.

And yet, he couldn't help but feel... something for the headless body of the woman below him. No friends, no family, no obituary, the poor girl had likely died before the demon had taken over her body. She didn't even get to keep her dignity by dying with a shirt on. The poor creature.

His instincts told him to run, to get out while he was still in one piece. He'd already saved Lisa, and defeated the demon inside this woman. Not to mention this was the very woman who had betrayed Lisa's trust and nearly got her killed, what more could this world possibly offer her? And yet, he still saw something... something in the woman. It wasn't much, but it was something.

At the very least, he couldn't let her body be found shirtless. Knowing the creeps and monsters that lurked around Lisa's apartment, Lord only knows what would happen to her body as he left it.

"Sorry, I don't have anything else," John said, removing his clerical collar to take off his shirt, wrapping it around the woman's body. He gingerly buttoned the shirt closed, allowing her to at least die with her modesty, "I hope it's alright...it looks good on you."

He got no response. Of course he didn't. How was a corpse to respond? A corpse that was a part of a cult. A corpse who nearly killed his friend. A corpse who nearly killed him. This corpse was a harbinger of evil, the more he stuck around, the more it tried to suck the soul out of him. A corpse of violent intent.

John sighed, lifting the body and leaning it against the wall. A corpse who didn't know any better. He took her hands and folded them, leading her in prayer, "Father forgive her, for she did not have a choice. She was being used and hurt without realizing it. Grant her a life in heaven and forgive her trespasses. I'm sorry I couldn't save her."

He squeezed her hand, prepared to let this be her last goodbye. At least he was, until the headless corpse loudly gasped to life. John fell backwards, pushing himself back as the corpse desperately reached out in front of her, panting in desperation.

"Gary! Gary my love, is that you?" He didn't know how she was speaking, but her voice loomed, still distorted and scratchy, "It's so dark... it's dark and it's quiet! Please my love, tell me you're there!" Her corpse was reaching in every direction, trying desperately to find someone. John knew it was stupid to not have gotten up to run away then and there, but he didn't. He watched her for a few seconds before standing, taking her hand, "Gary?"

"No, I'm sorry, it's just me," John said, gentle with his touch, prepared to exorcise her again if need be.

"Oh, I recognize your voice priest," she said, her grip on him loosening as she realized Gary had not come back for her, "Come to gloat at my defeat?"

"No! Not at all!" John said, "I just...I didn't want to leave your body exposed."

"And why not?" Tiffany's far away voice huffed.

"I- well...I didn't want someone to see your exposed chest and try to...you know...take advantage of you," John said.

Tiffany let go, had she still had her head, she probably would have looked away as she grabbed the hems of John's shirt, pulling it tighter over herself, "You say that as if it hasn't been happening the entire time. Like I haven't had to just deal with it ever since I moved into this godforsaken place."

"I...well...I don't know...but you don't deserve that," John said, letting her take back her space.

The two sat in silence. A priest who saved what should be dead, and the dead who had no desire to be saved. John stepped backwards while she curled her knees in, tapping against the skin of her leg.

"You still there?" She asked.

"I'll be here until you tell me to go away," John said, looking down at her sorrowfully.

"Okay...okay..." He voice was devoid of emotion, yet it wasn't cold. More so, melancholic, "At least you can pretend to be useful for something."

Normally John would have at least made a comment on this, but it would probably be counter productive considering the poor girl's position. He watched her as she bounced her leg, then began tapping at random around her. First her leg, then the wall, then the ground, seeming fixated on anything that made noise. John watched and began tapping his foot slightly. Not to drown out her own tapping, but just loud enough that she could tell he was still there.

"You know, it's almost funny," she said, "The first time Gary caught it happening to me, he shut it down, saying not to ruin such a beautiful face. I was certain it was because he loved me, but I think it was just because he thought I was a child. When it came to the Martin girl, sure he'd hold her around the waist and touch her shoulders occasionally, but never ever would he lay a hand on her where he shouldn't, and nor would he allow anyone else."

"That's... that's horrible," John said.

"That's life," Tiffany shrugged, but without an expression she was impossible to read, "When I saw the way she got treated, I think I was jealous. I hoped I could put myself in her position. To be the one treated with fragility and delicacy." She rubbed at the opening in her neck, "Stupid, isn't it?"

"No! No! I don't think it's stupid at all!" Having a habit of hugging people in need of comfort, John approached, but realizing just how horrifying it might be for a newly blind girl telling her story, perhaps that's about the worst thing he could have done, "Ah, sorry, do you mind if I hug you?"

She was still for a moment before tapping at her knee again, "I want my head back."

John blinked, "I'm sorry?"

"I want my head back," she repeated, "It's somewhere in here, likely with the mask still on it. Find it for me, will you?"

"Ah! Right!" John began searching the room for her head while her body sat there, still tapping, making as much noise as possible.

Eventually, he found her head. The ears, filled with her own blood and clearly trying desperately to listen for something, were twitching. He could see where she messed up, halfway across the top of her mask was the outline of the carving of her face, then as she got closer to her mouth the panic must have set it, causing her to drag lower, cutting her head clean off in the process.

"I found it," John said, picking it up by the hair.

"Agh! Careful!" Tiffany yelled, reaching at the empty space above her neck to try and stop him, even though she knew he wasn't there, "I can still feel it you know!"

"Sorry!" John changed his grip, cradling her head in his arms, "Now what?"

Tiffany felt around her skirts, feeling for a pocket. When she finally found it, she pulled out a sewing kit and pushed it towards John, "Put it back on."

John was skeptical. There was no way she could just be okay with this. Yet he did as she commanded, not wanting to leave her with nothing after taking the only thing she had left. He got on his knees in front of her outstretched legs, "Do you mind if I-"

"There's nothing you could do to me that some creep hasn't done against my better judgement," she said.

"Well, I'm not a creep, and I'm not going to do anything to hurt you," John said, "So I'd like your permission before I start doing things you might not want."

Tiffany was silent for a moment, crossing the arms of her body before speaking again, "You may do whatever if necessary to put my head back on. But once it's on I expect you to back off. Got it?"

"Understood," John said, placing her head back at the neck, "I have to warn you, this will probably hurt."

"I don't care," she said, "Get it over with."

John was horrified as he watched the needle go through and bleed the skin, staining the thread crimson as he put her back together, but what was twice as horrifying was the fact that Tiffany hadn't flinched once the entire time. She sat perfectly still, waiting for him to finish. As soon as he tied the string a hundred times over, making sure the stitches would hold, he backed off, standing again.

"Any better?" He asked.

"I still can't see," she said, ripping off the mask. John's stomach lurched at the sight. Her eyes, forehead, and half of her nose and mouth had been replaced with the same voice Amy had, only hers seemed far more empty.

"Dear God, you let him do this to you?" John said.

"I did this to myself," she said, "It was the only way I would get him to love me."

"Tiffany please, he's just a guy," John said, "There are plenty of other men out there."

"Not like him!" She grumbled, "No other man would stop the act while it's happening! They just use you and toss you aside when they're bored! What man would possibly help me in a state such as that?"

"...I would have," John spoke softly.

"Then where were you!?" She yelled before leaning back against the wall.

"...I'm sorry...you didn't deserve it..." He said, his voice dripping with sympathy.

"Well...too late...it did," she said, turning to look away, rubbing her right ear lobe, "And to think...to think I actually loved him...I let him tell me what to do...I..." She didn't have the eyes to cry, but she could still tremble, and she could still hiccup and groan in pain, "I let him use me and now...now I'm useless...just a washed up toy no one wants to play with... unlovable..."

She buried her head in her knees, trembling violently. John moved slowly, making sure his footsteps were heavy enough to hear where he was moving. He sat against the wall next to her, knocking at the brick next to her ear before slowly placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"I don't think you're unloveable," John said, "You just, you know, fell for the wrong guy."

"He was the only guy that gave me the time of day," Tiffany said, "Everyone else just wanted my body."

"Well...I'm not everybody else," John said.

Tiffany's shaking slowed, "What are you saying?"

"You're more than just your body Tiffany, and far more than just your heartache," John said, "You know, I used to ask Lisa about you all the time. She always told me all the wonderful things you've done for her. You're more than just an accessory to some guy."

Tiffany was silent before sitting up, turning towards the sound of his voice, "May I touch your face?"

"Excuse me?" John blinked again.

"I can still smell and hear you all the same, but I can't see you, may I feel your face?" She asked.

"Well...I...sure," he stammered, taking her hands and guiding them towards his neck, "But, tell me, what is it that I smell like?"

"Candle wax and cologne mostly," she said, moving her hands to gently caress his face. She felt his cheekbones and lips, under his eyes, behind his ears, anywhere she felt she'd want to feel, "Your face feels different from the way it looked the last time you visited Lisa."

"More tired?" He chuckled, allowing her to feel everything.

"Stronger," she said, "The strength you've gained shows in your skin. I wish I could see it." She slowly lowered her hands before fidgeting with John's shirt, "Still married to that girl I assume?"

"Molly? No," he said, "She left me behind."

"I see," she said. No she didn't, but John knew she'd probably stab him if he said that out loud, "Well...then I suppose it wouldn't be wrong to say that your face also feels more handsome than the last time we met."

John blushed, but he knew she wouldn't see that, "Oh! Uhm...thank you!"

The remaining half of Tiffany's mouth smirked, "Don't mention it." She rubbed his cheeks once again before moving to hold his shoulders, which is when she realized he really had taken off his shirt just to keep her covered, "Unlike me, I wore out my beauty the first time I let them use me."

"What? No not at all!" John argued, moving her hands back onto his cheeks so he could rub the back of her knuckles softly, "Even with only half your face you are still twice as beautiful as most girls."

"Don't flatter me, it's only going to be false," Tiffany huffed.

"Well I am telling the truth," John said, moving his hand to rest below her chin, "You truly are a thing of beauty."

Tiffany tilted her head into the touch, a hint of a blush on what remained of her nose and cheeks, "If you say so."

"I do," John said, gently rubbing her lower lip, or what remained of it, "May I?"

Tiffany shrugged, "Fuck it, give it a shot, you won't like it."

"That's for me to decide," John said. He gently pressed his lips to hers, moving slow and gently. Despite not having as much skin to work with, the kiss sent sparks flying from his heart, and he yearned for more, but he still backed away slowly. He wanted to go at her pace, "You have very soft lips."

"Shut up preacher," she said, the blush on her skin and the way she touched her lips and smiled giving her away.

"Hmm, tell you what," John said, helping her to her feet, allowing her to cling to him like he'd fly away with the wind as soon as she let go, "I'll take you back to my house and get you something to actually wear. From there we can have a proper discussion."

"Yes," Tiffany nodded, "Yes, I think I'd like that."

"Alright, good," John said, "I swear on my life, no one is ever going to hurt you again."

"Don't get all sentimental now priest," she said, loosening her grip tightly, "You might actually make me fall in love."

John smiled, "Then I suppose it's too late for me considering I've already fallen."

Tiffany shook her head, "Not too late." She clung onto his arm tighter, "I'll catch you."

[mtdthoughts]

The Damsel in Distress (Migi & Dali Analysis)

Since the title of the story is literally "Migi & Dali", almost all of my attention has been aimed towards the twins. As a result, I've somewhat neglected the side characters, who are themselves quite interesting as well.

Here, I wanted to talk about Karen Ichijo, and you can think of this as a "redo" of the character analysis I've already done for her.

As always there will be spoilers!

When I first finished the story, I thought:

"Okay, Karen was actually smarter than we thought, happened to possess a lot of useful skills, and for some reason falls in love with Maruta."

Essentially she was a damsel in distress the whole time, but because she was a side character I didn't put further thought into this, and I thought her traits were just to play up the usual surrealness of the story.

However, after rereading the manga several times, everything about her makes much more sense logically. My earlier description was pretty much on the money (in my opinion), though now I can claim it with much more certainty than before.

It's quite clear that she has known about Eiji's brainwashing for quite some time, and according to her, she felt that something off was about her "family" for a long time.

But why is it her that feels this way?

Well, things start to make sense when one considers the fact that Eiji was always Reiko's favorite. If you've read my post about The Carpenters, you may recall that some have said that the root cause of Karen Carpenter's death was the lack of love from her mother, who favored her musically talented older brother. Perhaps something similar is true for Karen Ichijo, and the following frames and lines seem to suggest this:

She may have always felt insecure and inferior compared to Eiji, wondering why it was always him who received Reiko's affection, and perhaps wondered if something was wrong with herself. That's why when she found that she wasn't Reiko's daughter, she was relieved, because this at least confirmed to her that it wasn't her fault that things were this way.

I thought it was a bit strange that she didn't seem to harbor any extremely negative feelings toward Reiko, as was seen with Eiji when he killed her. She told the Be Birds to "bring ruin to this house" rather than something like "bring down that woman", and she seemed to have been rattled by Reiko's parting words to her as she left.

This could imply that although Karen desperately wanted to escape the Ichijo family, perhaps a small part of her craved for Reiko's affection which seemed to have been only for Eiji. After all, Reiko was the only maternal figure she had at this point.

Nonetheless, she couldn't bear the pressure of being forced to play her role in Reiko's perfect image of a family. However, before the twins came into town, she didn't have any allies, whether it was within or outside of her house. I think it's possible that she may have tried to recruit Eiji's help at one point, though he only ended up getting captured by Reiko and essentially have his memories erased.

Seeing how she was trapped and unable to resist Reiko, she continued playing her role and waited for someone to save her, while at the same time training herself for when that day came. That's why she's so good at acting, tying knots, signaling in Morse code, and why she seemed all too familiar with Reiko's "play dead" act. It also explains why she fell head over heels in love with Maruta, the first one to come to her rescue and the one who loudly proclaimed that he would bring ruin to the Ichijo house. Perhaps it also explains why she seemed strangely happy at the prospect of robbers coming to her house.

In fact, these ideas were hinted at towards the beginning of the story! In Chapter 12, when the twins first visit the Ichijo house for a "psychiatric evaluation", Karen can be seen playing with her dolls instead of practicing her piano as Reiko said she would.

Not only that, but she's playing with the dolls of people that were exiled from Origon Village by Reiko, all while whispering things related to escape.

I think it's pretty clear that she has been looking to escape from Reiko's influence throughout the entire story and well before Micchan meddled in the Ichijos' affairs (for a lack of a better word). It wasn't until the twins and Maruta came along when her silent cry for help was finally answered as she found new hope and freedom.

[pixiesbrain]

blurb…loki feels no remorse after almost killing you hurt/angst

she almost died. the explosion leading to a fire not far from the central place of the city almost cost her her life and it did effectively kill other people, that, she was sure of. the city was in ruins since the avengers came to save the day. as she took a walk through what was left of the city she saw loki standing in front of a pile of scrap metal. you didn’t even question why he was there in the first place, she was just so relieved to see him.

loki had taken a liking to her a few months ago. she met him through tony and clint, even though she wasn’t part of the team and considered a civilian. as he would comment on how stupid humans were, she loved to make fun of his "all knowing and all mighty" facade. that led to a lot of banter and most importantly a lot of fun. in the span of 6 months, he became one of her favorite people in this universe.

no one knew why loki stayed on earth. he got offered to go back home multiple times since he was basically considered harmless now. so it was unexplicable how a literal god would voluntarily talk to some girl that happened to know a couple of avengers. she isn’t even friends with the right ones. it was pathetic, he thought.

she jogged to him as soon as she saw him, still feeling the adrenaline in her legs from earlier. the closer she came to him the more he seemed deep in thought. as if the world was on his shoulders. when she reached him, she just stood right next to him, staring at that same pile, in silence.

"you’re not dead." he comments flatly still not looking at her.

"never." she answers as she attempts to replicate his tone.

"it didn’t work.." loki says, as he seems to drown in his thoughts.

"what should’ve worked?" she answers and slightly turns her head towards him while keeping her eye on the pile.

"the fire, it didn’t work. i set it and it seemed like nothing but little fireworks." this time, loki sounded almost humorous with his tone. the only time that he wanted to laugh, it wasn’t funny.

when the realization dawned on her, she was hit almost immediately by a wave of emotions that she tried to control through her breathing. why did he do it? and why to innocent people who asked for nothing? she knew he wasn’t a hero or anything but she still believed he had somewhat of a moral compass. and he knew that she was in the area? is it why he did it? or was it just because? as she felt herself getting more intense, the best way to describe the way she was feeling inside, her breathing increased.

"so why’d you do it?" her breathing was becoming irregular. she fully turned her head to look at him for the first time since she jogged up to him. she was trying to calm herself down from the impending flow of tears that was threatening to happen.

loki looked away for a second and took a deep breath. he didn’t know how to answer her without proving to her that he is every single thing people say he is and that there’s nothing that she can do about it.

“maybe i wanted to watch the world burn.” he states simply with narrowed eyes and his body fully facing her now.

he doesn’t care, she thought. everything he succeeded to make her believe about him, how he wasn’t what everyone thought he was, how genuine and caring he could be at times. she was in disbelief. taking a deep breath she has a realization that terrifies her but that she still wants the answer to.

“with me along with it? she further questions, tears starting to flow delicately down her face. the air was icy and the way her face hurt started to feel exactly like how her heart was breaking, it seemed.

“yes, darling. you along with it.” loki sighs while looking down at her face with flattened lips. he seemed to gauge her reaction after he said that.

how could a nickname disgust her so much when it fell out of his mouth? he really earned his title of god of mischief, she thought.

he continued, "i don’t know exactly what you were expecting me to say or do but i’m not here to fulfill your little fantasies about some love story. i am a god." he insisted on that last sentence. he knew deep down that what they shared wasn’t like teenagers falling in love. she started to feel like home and it terrified him. and with that, he left her side, without looking at her once.

credits to @celestialwrites for the prompt idea!

[shipcestuous-two]

(submission)

I want to submit this anonymously. I also apologize for any mistakes since English is my second language. (Btw, while I can say this: You are great! I love your blog!)

Y’all… I found a new adoptive mother x son canon…It’s an ongoing Korean Webtoon named «A Not So Fairy Tale» («선녀외전» in Korean, also «Extroversion of an Immortal» and «The Fairy Outreaching»), based on the famous Korean fairy tale «The Fairy and the Woodcutter». Beware! The main romance is with another dude (tbf, he is adorable). Also the son is (most likely) the second male lead (though, cmiiw, the author refused to say who is the male lead, so we can hope…).

Also TW: their backstory is dark AF. They are both non human, and their actions are questionable at best. Her mental state is awful, she has PTSD, hates men due to trauma, and overall cannot understand her emotions well. He is manipulative, sly (he is a fox after all) and quite possessive of her and has a fear of abandonment. He is also a masochist.The FL Cheon Moran is a fairy (goddess) who is trapped in the human realm because a man stole her robe and tried to make her his wife; she killed him with axe, but was unable to return to her home without her robe. She basically had two options: either wait for reincarnation of that man (and he would tell her where her robe was hidden) or ask some divine beings to bring her back, but they were forbidden to do that. Later, Moran befriended a heavily pregnant nine-tailed fox, who later died, while giving birth to the twins, Miho (sister) and Shiho (brother). Moran decided to raise and train them, so they would ascend as gods and would bring her back to human realm (they are forbidden to kill/hurt humans). 

She also tried multiple times to kill Shiho, because she is afraid (hates) of all men, but she saved him all the time, because she is his «mother». Later, Shiho fell in love with Moran. When he understood that she tried to kill him, he was ecstatic — it meant that she did not see him as her son. She offered to register him as her son, and he refused. He confessed his love and said that she can do anything to him, because he loved her. They became lovers?… (it’s a bit unclear when).  Some time later, Miho (Shiho’s twin sister) was brutally murdered by evil spirits. Moran killed all of her murderers, thus stripping Shiho from revenge. After he buried his twin sister, he went back to Moran, even though he truly believed that she did not love him nor his sister. Shiho still thought that Moran was the only person for him, that only she can understand him and be with him for all of his eternal life. 

Later, Moran had a meltdown, begging to be back to the divine realm, it was too much for her, all the people she couldn’t save. She mused whether she should kill Shiho to save herself from the future heartbreak, but realised that she couldn’t, she didn’t want to kill him. They spent almost one thousand years together, waiting for Shiho to conclude his ascension. He is extremely afraid that Moran will find the reincarnation of the Woodcutter earlier than he becomes a god and that she will leave him alone. Btw, both Moran and Shiho believe that Jeha (other ML) is the Woodcutter. And, like, the quotes? THE QUOTES? Hello?…

«My pitiful goddess» (Shiho thinking about Moran, after her meltdown)

«I will make you into a god no matter what. Only death awaits a divine beast who has taken the life of a human. I won’t let that happen to you. From the moment you were born, you belonged to me. I put you through strict training from when you were a pup in order to make you into a god. And in exchange for starving you for a thousand years, I gave you my divine powers. I am a sculptor… and you are my masterpiece.» (Moran to Shiho)

«I was her adopted son… then her student… her baby, her masterpiece… And I’d like to become her companion as well, but I do not think she will readily allow that…» (Shiho introducing himself to Jeha, other ML)

And this dialog from chapter 18:

Moran: «Sorry for bringing the baby along. He has severe separation anxiety, so I couldn’t leave him anywhere»

Moran’s subordinate: «I’m sorry, Moran… But he’s not exactly a baby, is he?»

Moran: «Oh, sorry. He is a baby in comparison to me. He’s my protege and adopted son.»

Moran’s subordinate, thinking: «That’s not the vibe I’m getting from them…»

Shiho: «You know what? Humans would normally see the two of us as lovers.» 

(Their backstory is in chapters 37-48, for those who are interested)

Imgur Gallery of them: https://imgur.com/a/oz0YtmN

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Dang, that gallery. Wow.  🔥 🔥 🔥

This is a fantastic rec, Anon. Thanks so much!

[ferrocyan]

okay so. tart and estinien. at first their relationship was very normal, in hvw she agreed w estinien's pov on the dragonsong war but decided to put alphinaud at first priority, so they still got along well even w different goals. then in stb when tart's mental state spiraled after zenos' death, it was estinien (and aymeric) that snapped her out of it by rescuing her from elidizenos. so all in all they were friends even if they didn't interact much, and tart was very grateful to estinien for saving her.

now. keep in mind that i watched edw before the end of shb. so i saw that early edw there are things that make the wol as a role less exclusive, right. id heard of the tempering cure, then vrtra gave his scales to protect people from tempering entirely. so the way the wol's role has been defined as the only one who can withstand tempering, that's gone now. okay. so then i got to finish shb, then 5.4 onwards, when estinien started to join the scions. despite them only sharing a couple scenes i think estinien and krile have chemistry, alphinaud clearly adores estinien too, and g'raha idolizes him. right then an evil thought formed in my mind.

i wonder how tart would react to this? tart who defines herself by being the wol and is desperate to belong. who is seeing someone join her group and being welcomed by everyone. someone who is nearly her equal at her most valuable skill. and tart's advantages over him are slowly being eroded, while her detriments are only increasing. oh, tart fucking hates estinien.

it starts as petty jealousy over her favorite people liking estinien so much. then she becomes passive-aggressive at him. estinien thinks it's kinda funny, the hostility just bounces off him. but by the time they reach thavnair, tart snaps at him for the hairtie incident and estinien's like :/ wow ok and avoids interacting w tart more than necessary. he stays away until fandaniel's funny prank.

we all know in from the cold. best part of edw. the aftermath is lacking, though--right now tart has had all her wol privileges stripped from her, while her being targeted specifically by zenos is becoming a huge liability. just look at the mess fandaniel created... tart panics and runs away from camp broken glass.

the scions are alarmed bc what do you mean the wol is missing AGAIN, estinien volunteers to look for tart while everyone else prepares to storm the tower of babil. he finds her easily w the dragoon jumps, and

by the way, you know what stuck out to me when i played this section of edw? before setting out on the previous mission lucia told the wol that hot soup will be waiting for them when they get back. then we got the scene where jullus eats soup and cries about it, then like a glimpse of the wol before they got kidnapped by fandaniel. we never got to eat the soup guys. we never got the soup!!!

so tart never got the soup. she's starving and cold and in pain and has just had the worst dysphoria experience of all time earlier that day and now here stands the motherfucker, the guy poised to take her place as savior of the star effortlessly, confronting her when she's alone and weak. ohhhh it's so obvious what he's doing here. estinien is going to kill her. well not if he dies first

for years since learning the discipline of the warrior tart never let the inner beast take control until right then. she goes berserk and attacks estinien. who is just like, standing there, and suddenly the wol goes stark raving mad and tries to kill him. fortunately for tart he isn't insane, and it's easy to kick the ass of a tank who is at 25% hp and not using any mits or self-heals. so tart gets beaten handily

estinien lets her lay still in the snow for a bit, then sighs. "aibou, sound off if you aren't dead"

and the sound he hears is wailing sobs. bc its over. if the scions didn't intend to get rid of tart before, they surely do now that she's attacked one of their own. estinien picks her up to bring back to camp and tart struggles and begs to be left alone, until he shuts her up by grabbing her tail. tart gets quiet and lets him carry her like a sack of flour after that.

estinien deflects the scions' questions and dumps tart in a room to eat and get checked out by a chirurgeon. he stays to watch that she doesn't run off again. before he leaves, though, tart calls out to him, "i'm sorry."

"i tried to kill you, you tried to kill me. we're even."

"i'm sorry. i've been such a jerk."

"yeah, i really thought we were friends."

"i'm so sorry."

"hmph. get some sleep while you can. we're leaving soon."

and so things end in a.. clean slate. ish. tart treats him better from then on and estinien decides he does like friendship after all. their relationship recovers enough that by the end of edw estinien is the one tart asks to please carry her like a princess off the ragnarok bc she doesn't feel like walking* and he does carry her nicely this time www

and then in 6.1 they're back to teasing each other again! with friendly hostility this time! tart makes fun of estinien for getting ripped off again, then when finding out it's on purpose she's like "what you think that's cool or something? you think that makes you sooo cool? cause it doesn't and you're lame as hell estinien" (says this while doing the /wow emote bc she does find him so cool for this) and then estinien rolls his eyes bc "i told you to bring one guy and you brought four"

"that's 'cause i'm more popular than you! AHAHAHAHA"

"that's not even funny that's just true"

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"

they're best friends. they're my favorite. i love when i can make tart blow up at someone and make up w them bc without fail that becomes her strongest relationship. tart and estinien are truly aibous now i'm so proud of them

[foxykatie425]

Alright, time for me to give my thoughts on the results of this poll I put up last week. Long, drawn out, over-explained post ahead!

86.9% of voters think that Merrin would win if she and Cal had faced off in a 1v1 on Dathomir in JFO.

I am gonna go ahead and… disagree. HEAR ME OUT!

Y’all know I love my girl Merrin. She is wonderful and amazing and very very powerful.

But Cal is a JEDI!

I think because we see so much of them in Star Wars, we tend to forget just how powerful Jedi are. We’ve seen Jedi that are more powerful than Cal, but he’s still slicing through stormtroopers like butter!

Neither Merrin nor Cal is any kind of pushover, and it would for sure be very very close.

One thing to remember about Merrin is that while she is a very powerful Nightsister and implied to be above average for her age, she’s still very young, and was very young when her sisters died. Anything she’s learned since then she’s had to teach herself. (One could say the same about Cal, I suppose, but he at least now has Cere to help guide him.) When Malicos says to Merrin, “This power is beyond your control,” he says it with the intention of making her angry, which he does succeed at, but he also may not have been entirely wrong. Note that when Cal leaves Dathomir after making an alliance with Merrin, the undead Nightsisters are still attacking him on the way out.

(Side note: she doesn’t get to raise the dead in this hypothetical boss fight, that is no longer a 1v1! Plus, she already tried that and it didn’t work!)

Merrin, at least when we first meet her in JFO, has always struck me as someone who’s trying to present herself as something she’s not. She’s got something to prove: that she is capable of avenging her lost sisters. But she’s haunted by the fact that there was nothing she could do to save them, because she was, and is, so young. Malicos uses her insecurity about her lack of experience to gaslight her for his own selfish desires, and in her desperation to prove him wrong, her magick is unfocused and uncontrolled. And at the end of the day, despite her desire for revenge, she’s not a cold-blooded killer.

My point is that in terms of power and skill, Call and Merrin are probably pretty evenly matched.

Another thing to consider is timing. Admittedly now we’re getting into my own vision and maybe things would play out different if you put this fight earlier in the story, but if we’re to assume this boss fight with Merrin takes place in the same time frame as the Malicos boss fight, either in addition to or in place of it, we’ve got Cal at his strongest emotional point in the game. He has just made peace with everything that happened to him. Merrin, on the other hand, has just had everything she thought she believed in come crashing down around her. And if we’re at the point where she’s still attacking Cal, she’s not thinking straight. There is no legitimate reason left for her to be angry at Cal specifically, she’s just angry. She hasn’t cooled down from “You both shall learn!” And to be fair, from her perspective, if Malicos used her and lied to her, why should Cal be any different?

In this scenario, Merrin has got to be at a point of hopelessness. She may no longer be certain that the Jedi killed her people, but she feels like her anger and desire for revenge is all she has left, and she will get her revenge or die trying. And (possible trigger warning) now that she’s uncertain that her anger at the Jedi is justified, there probably is a part of her that almost hopes she dies trying. Because even if she did kill Cal, then what? Then she really has nothing left!

Why go after Cal instead of Malicos? Well for starters, that fight she definitely wouldn’t win, because the only way she and Cal were ever going to be able to defeat him was together. And I think rather than being afraid that Malicos would kill her, she’s more afraid that he wouldn’t kill her and that he would force her to continue serving his selfish desires. (Side note, there’s a possible headcanon in the subtext there that I really, really don’t wanna entertain… my poor girl has been through enough!)

I think in the end, a lack of focus and lack of confidence in her own motivation would be Merrin’s downfall. In a way, it’s somewhat reminiscent of Obi Wan vs Anakin. Anakin was more powerful than Obi Wan, but Obi Wan was more focused and more precise. Anakin’s lack of focus caused him to make a bad judgement call (ignoring the high ground) and Obi Wan quickly took advantage of it.

So let’s write some fanfiction real quick!

The way I see a fight between Cal and Merrin playing out at this point in JFO, they would be somewhat evenly matched, and at a moment when Merrin has the upper hand she would hesitate, because she’s unsure if she really does want this, unsure if she really should want this, and as stated before, she’s not a heartless murderer. Perhaps, even, seeing Cal at her mercy might remind her of herself as a child at the mercy of the monster who killed her family. (A Reva moment, if you will.)

Now one could argue whether or not Cal could’ve held her off at this moment had she not had this crisis of conscience, but regardless, she would hesitate just long enough for Cal to take the upper hand and checkmate her. But he wouldn’t kill her. He doesn’t want to kill her. He knows how misguided her anger is, and even if he can’t get through to her, he doesn’t believe she deserves to die. The victory condition for Cal is simply to get the Astrium and escape with his life. Perhaps he might have killed her to reach that goal if he had to, but it would’ve been a hollow victory.

In this moment, pinned beneath Cal’s saber, Merrin reverts back to the little girl she was on the day of the massacre. She is scared, and not ready to die, but she no longer has the strength or will to fight back.

Everything freezes for a moment, and then Cal slowly lowers his lightsaber. She opens her eyes and looks into his as he turns the blade off and steps back. He walks past her into the tomb, leaving her alone, in shock as she thinks about everything that just happened.

So I think there are a few reasons this didn’t actually happen in the game. First of all, a Merrin boss fight followed almost immediately by a Malicos boss fight would’ve been too much. But more importantly, for it to have an emotional impact would’ve required more character development for Merrin earlier in the game that there just wasn’t time for because at the end of the day, JFO is Cal’s story, not Merrin’s. Cool as Merrin was in the first game, what really made her character interesting is the dynamic she forms with Cal, and to try to develop that dynamic earlier would’ve required more cutscenes at a point when the player is not yet invested enough in Cal as a character to really care that much, and all those cutscenes would do is interrupt the gameplay that people came for. I think if the story of JFO were being told in a different medium that didn’t rely so much on action, such a book or *cough cough* a stage production perhaps, this subplot would fit in a little better.

Okay fine, maybe this is all just my vision for what I’d want a Fallen Order musical to look like! I’m telling you, IT COULD WORK!! 😂

So to recap, I think Cal would win in a 1v1 with Merrin (at least in the first game), I think Merrin in the first game is more bark than bite, and I think underneath the hard exterior she’s a sweet broken baby bird and I wanna give her a hug! 🥺🫶

Besides, if we did actually have this boss fight, video game rules dictate that Cal would have to win eventually! 😉