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robinofgothamcity · 4 years ago

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♡ prompt: “i thought you were dead? for years, i thought you were dead! and i hate that i still love you and never moved on!”

♡ pairing: tim drake (red robin) x fem! reader

♡ lyric inspiration: “you’re riding high in April, shot down in May but I know I’m going to change that tune when I’m back on top in June. I said that’s life and as funny as that may seem, some people get their kicks stomping on a dream.”

♡ note: not checked for grammar or spelling mistakes / please check the pinned tweet please! since i’m very low on inspiration.

Tim Drake stared at you, mouth wide open, not knowing what to say or do. he felt like he saw a ghost. you were standing across the room, talking amongst others as they instantly crowded around you. everyone had thought the same thing Tim did and only a selective few knew about your whereabouts.

you were giving Dick a hug, whispering in his ear about how much you missed him as Damian stood there dumbfounded. Jason was not in the room or else you knew that he would be giving you an earful about the entire situation. Jason always did think of you as a sister when you first started dating Tim.

“what the fuck happened to you?” Damian screamed, finally coming into the realization of the situation, “you were dead! we saw you die! all of us did!” he continued. you bent down, giving him a hug as he didn’t bother to try and deny it.

“it’s a long story. i was under secrecy for a long time and couldn’t tell or say anything without me getting caught,” you told him. you looked to Dick who still couldn’t believe what was going on, “it must’ve been a monumental mission if you were technically dead for three years and I couldn’t know about it,” he replied.

you nodded, whispering to him that you’d tell them the details later, “is...he around?” you asked, referencing Tim. Dick moved a bit to the left, revealing the man you were still madly in love with. you felt yourself gulp, scared on his reaction, “oh god, I never realized how bad this is,” Dick whispered to himself, sensing the tension immediately.

you swinging around the Batcave, Batman clearly annoyed with your antics as you finally plopped down next to him, “aww c’mon Bruce! live a little! this Batcave is so depressing and need I say, dark?” you said, hearing the door jingle open.

“great, the boys are here,” he murmured, realizing that introductions had to happen between you and his sons. Bruce had taken you in a few months ago, under the guise that you needed a better mentor, “you haven’t met them, right?” he asked.

you shook your head no, “course I haven’t! it’s my first week in Gotham!” you exclaimed happily. you did hero work out of the west coast and happened to finally land in Gotham for the first time ever, “although I did run into Damian earlier in the week so I think he’ll recognize me!”

Tim and Dick were the ones who walked in, conversing about some Gotham football game. you smiled at the two boys as they stopped dead in their tracks, “uh....Bruce, who is this?” Dick asked, pointing at you. you stood up, shaking their hands, “I’m ( your name )! Bruce’s new apprentice!” you explained.

the two sighed, Dick’s first thought being if Alfred knew about you. Tim on the other hand didn’t exactly respond as quick. you were oddly excitable, not exactly the personality that ran rampant across the ‘family’, “apprentice or daughter?” Dick asked, a bit playfully.

“she’s an apprentice. no need to adopt someone who’s already an adult,” he replied as he stood up himself, “she came from the west coast so she doesn’t exactly know her way around here. it’d be helpful if one of you showed her around. I don’t trust Jason or Damian enough,” he said, walking to another one of the computers.

“Stephanie isn’t around?” Damian asked, walking inside of the cave, “she’s already acquainted with her and she isn’t available to do it right now so it’s up to Dick or you Tim,” Bruce repeated. Dick looked to his brother with his eyebrow lifted up, “well?” he asked Tim.

the two of them went to look at you who was already not paying attention to what was going on. you were nose deep into a computer with music blaring inside of your headphones, “I swear that girl has ADHD or something,” Damian murmured to his brothers, “but I think Drake should do it! you just love getting to know people, don’t you?” Damian pressured.

Bruce nodded in agreement, “it’s settled, you’re showing her around!” Tim stared at Damian, ready to attack the gremlin with his bare hands, “appreciate it Tim!” you yelled from your seat, surprising the three who thought you couldn’t hear what they were saying.

it was already a few months into your internship with the Batfamily. you had gotten closer with Jason, Stephanie, and because of your relationship with Dick, you befriended Starfire as well. even though your work was constantly surrounding you around Tim, you weren’t around him much unless it had to do with work.

“where you heading off too?” Jason asked, seeing you all dressed up, “Star, Barbara, and Steph wanted to go out for the night since we aren’t on duty so we’re going to get drinks up the street,” you told him. he nodded, looking to Tim and seeing the way he was checking you out, “why do you go with them, Tim?” he asked.

Tim looked at Jason with a bewildered expression, “why would I be the only guy in the group?” he asked sarcastically. you on the other hand jumped up in joy, “you should!” you exclaimed, “come on! it would be amazing! you know you want too!” you poked Tim’s side in anticipation.

he sighed, slipping a bit on the couch, “fine,” he muttered, making you excited all over again. you gave him a few minutes to get himself together, “you know he likes you, right?” Jason told you. you laughed out of genuine shock, “who? Tim? yeah right!” you let out another laugh, not believing he was lying to your face, “fine, don’t believe me but it’s pretty obvious.”

you couldn’t say much else as Tim walked out, hair restyled and threw on a different jacket, “ready?” he asked, hands deep in his pockets. you nodded, throwing Jason a scrap piece of paper before heading out the door as Dick walked inside, “meeting the girls?” he asked.

“yeah and I’m taking your brother as a hostage,” Dick was surprised, “did you finally?” he started to ask before Tim screamed at him to shut up, “how about we leave,” Tim told you, discreetly hitting Dick on the back of his leg as retaliation.

the two of you walked out as you told Tim that the place you usually went out with the girls was in walking distance, “I think they’re going to be surprised you even decided to leave your apartment,” you joked as he rolled his eyes playfully, “I don’t think they’ll mind. at least Stephanie can stop saying that I never go out,” he said.

you laughed softly, “yeah you might be going out with a bunch of girls but it sure beats being stuck inside playing video games or doing work,” you replied, “yeah, guess your right,” you two walked inside of the restaurant, already seeing Steph, Starfire, and Barbara sitting at the usual table.

the three girls had their mouth hanging as they saw you walking in with Tim, “he actually came out?” Barbara screamed, not believing Tim was actually out, “yeah, figured it was better than staying in for the night!” you said excitedly.

“I couldn’t even get him to come out with me at times and I dated him,” Steph murmured under her breath to Star. she laughed as you pulled chairs for you and Tim, “I’m getting first round of shots!” you told the group excitedly. Star and Barbara had followed you to the bar, leaving Steph and Tim in a small awkward silence

“you like her don’t you?” she asked. Tim nodded, figuring it was better to just tell the truth than to lie, “that’s cute! she’s a great girl. I’m happy you finally found someone else but I will say one thing, I think you better get a move on with your feels with her because I know a few others who have an interest in her and one might be on your team,” she said, not so subtly hinting at Connor.

Tim was taken back by what Stephanie was telling her but remained silent, “and I think she’d say yes on Connor so you better be quick,” she laughed, seeing Tim’s slightly jealous eyes. you returned to the table, giving everyone their glass as you raised yours in the air, “to Tim! for actually leaving his house for once!” you screamed as they all raised their glass and took the shot down.

throughout the night, Tim saw the way you were singing and dancing with Steph and Star, your terrible drunk singing voice getting louder as they played ‘poker face’ by lady gaga towards the end of the night.

you stared at Riddler, seeing that he was ready to attack Tim with full intentions to kill him. you debated for a moment, saving a few civilians from getting mildly hurt or seeing your boyfriend get killed? you chose the latter and ran to Tim who was not paying attention in the slightest at what Riddler was doing.

“Red!” you screamed, your feet moving as fast as they could and pushing him out of the way. you felt the slice of the knife into your stomach as you had successfully pushed Tim to safety, “fuck,” you whispered, seeing the blood already pooling underneath you.

although you getting hurt was already pre-planned, you had no intentions of getting hurt this badly, “fuck, fuck, fuck,” you continued, trying to grab your cape to stop the bleeding, Tim stared down at you, seeing the blood gushing at a rate too dangerous for his liking, “hold on, please hold on!” he screamed, moving you out of harms way.

Bruce had saw you giving him the signal, weakly but you still gave it to him. it was your only chance for your pre-planned mission to actually succeed and the start of that plan was to make you die in front of everyone. Bruce had swung down from the stairs, seeing the way your eyes closed.

“she needs to go to the hospital,” he told Tim, making him rush you to the hospital himself. he knew this was the only time he would be able to say his goodbyes to you and he need to make it count, “go now!” he yelled.

Tim dragged your almost lifeless body to the nearest hospital, screaming at the staff that you needed help immediately. the nurses grabbed your body, hauling it to the OR as Tim sat there, blood all over his uniform as he watched you get wheeled into the hallway.

it felt like hours by the time they gave an update to all of them. Bruce, Tim, Dick, Jason, Steph, Barbara, and Damian, were sitting in the waiting area, munching on food nervously as the nurse came out of the hallway, eyes bleary with tears.

“she didn’t make it out of surgery. she passed.”

all of them (for the exception of Bruce), immediately bursted into tears. Tim more than anyone had fell to the ground, having no control of his body as he screamed that it couldn’t be true and that you weren’t actually gone. a part of Bruce’s heart broke seeing his son having a mental breakdown but he knew for their safety and yours, he couldn’t say a word.

the following days were left to plan your funeral as the nurses who relied your wishes stated that you wanted a closed casket for no one, not even Tim, to see your dead body. Tim hadn’t spoken a word to anyone as he only spoke up when it came for him to plan your arrangements.

they buried your casket with your uniform laying on top of it as they all saw your casket get lower and lower to the ground. Tim was by this point sobbing as he couldn’t have cared who saw and who didn’t.

Dick grabbed Damian, moving themselves to another part of the room as you walked slowly to Tim. he had yet to say anything but as soon as you locked eyes with him, you both let out sobs to each other. Tim grabbed you by the arms, bringing you into a hug as he sobbed into your shoulders.

“what the fuck is going on?” he yelled, not knowing what to say, “I’m alive Timmy. I didn’t die that night,” you practically sobbed back to him. he released you, now anger and sadness crossing over him, “what the fuck do you mean you didn’t die?” he screamed, scaring Dick and Damian in the process.

you sat on the ground, trying to compose yourself, “I went on an undercover mission for league. I had to die in order to protect not only myself but all of you and the entire league. which explains why I look different,” you murmured the last part.

“I thought you were dead. for years, I thought you were dead! and I hate that I still love you and never moved on!” he exclaimed, seeing the way you stared at him heartbrokenly, “you think I wanted this to happen? it was for the betterment of the league if I took on this mission. I never wanted to leave you or Steph, hell I didn’t want to leave any of you but I had too! it broke my heart knowing what I had to do!” you yelled back.

Tim bent down, taking you into his arms, “what the hell are we going to do?” he whispered in your ear, not knowing how to respond to any of this rationally. you shrugged as the two of you tried to calm yourselves down from the hysterics you both were throwing, “I just need you here with me,” you whispered back.

Tim nodded, not releasing you from the hug you were giving him. “I won’t. I won’t let you go! not anymore!” he replied. you laughed through your tears as you heard someone else walk into the room.

“what the fuck.....” you heard Steph and Jason’s voice scream through the Batcave, “what the FUCK is going on?” they screamed in panic.

hehehe a cliffhanger

#DC comics #DC imagines #dc x reader #dc imagine #dc #Tim Drake #tim drake imagine #tim drake x reader #Tim Drake x Y/n #Red Robin #red robin x reader #comics #red robin imagine #red robin x y/n

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absolutepokemontrash · 4 years ago

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This took forever…  (Click for Quality!)  SO! I finally got a proper fully colored drawing of my Obey Me MC! Character info + her relationship with the bros under the cut so I don’t clog up the tags!

Character info first!

Himiko is the third oldest in a family of seven sisters and is arguably the most responsible of the bunch. You could say she’s the Lucifer of her family, but if you’d like to continue living I’d recommend against saying that.  

She puts on the facade of a proper and polite lady but deep down she’s hiding a metric tonne of snark and sass, and even deeper she’s hiding a caring older sister type who would take a bullet for you.

You may be asking yourself, why is she wearing a devil horn headband? The answer? Spite. She was wearing it pre Devildom too so it has nothing to do with the boys!  

Her family is *incredibly* wealthy, so while she did learn a lot of things, it’s kind of turned Himiko into a bit of a dumbass when it comes to normal everyday household things. Ask her how to understand the political history of Japan and she’ll give you a five hour lecture on the topic, but ask her to cook dinner and you’ll need to call the fire department.  

Her birthday is December 25 and she’s 20 years old at the start of the game.

Himiko has… problems with emotional intimacy. She’s never really had the opportunity to really bond with anyone outside her sisters, so the idea that she could ever care deeply for someone that ISN’T family is absolutely terrifying to her. (Welp, bad news for her because she’s about to be forcibly adopted into a family of crazies)  

When she first got dropped into the Devildom… Hoo boy… her entire life she had been put on a pedestal and no one other than her sisters had dared to say ANYTHING critical of her in her presence and now she’s figuratively AND literally at the bottom of the food chain… let’s just say reality hit her hard in the face.

Relationships!

Himiko thought Lucifer was the one sane person in the entire House of Lamentation. That opinion did NOT last long. After the first attempted murder and the shit he said at the retreat, Himiko and Lucifer’s opinions of each other were in the gutter. Then the London trip happened! Their opinions of each other rose! Then the first timeline’s Belphie incident happened and oh wow would you look at that, back into the gutter. Damn. FINALLY, after all the time travel shit, they both think of each other as a pain in the neck, but if anything happened to the other there’d be blood spilled. It’s tough when Himiko’s biggest flaw is her own pride and she’s actively needling the Avatar of Pride.

Mammon was Himiko’s worst nightmare made reality. This person, widely regarded as a scumbag moron was supposed to protect her??? Uh uh. No. Mammon thought that Himiko was the human embodiment of annoying. At least till the Goldie hostage situation, Himiko mainly went along with it because she wanted revenge for all the eating-related threats and name-calling. Now, Himi’s way to prideful to ever admit this buuuuuut, she was incredibly lonely during her first week. She needed a friend and she needed one FAST. Before the two needed to binge TSL, Himiko took Mammon shopping under the guise of needing him to carry her shopping bags, and ended up buying him a sick new jacket and sunglasses. You can buy affection right? Apparently. Or was it the compliments she gave him while she was making him try on the jacket? We’ll never know for sure. Listen, just because the two of them want to spend a lot of time together DOES NOT MEAN THAT THEY HAVE A CRUSH ON EACH OTHER ALRIGHT?! HAND HOLDING SHOULDN’T MAKE HIMIKO THIS NERVOUS UGH-

W E E B P O W E R U N I T E! Well, not at first. Himiko’s a closet weeb! She probably teased the crap out of Levi about how much he obsessed over his “totally stupid” anime. It was all fun and games until Levi walked in on Himiko watching Sailor Moon. “YOU LIKE ANIME?!” “N-NO!” “YOU’RE AN OTAKU TOO!” “W-WAIT! NO I’M NOT!” “WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE ANIME????” “…Madoka Magica.” Now the two are anime and gaming buddies! At first Levi was miffed about Himiko’s rampant hypocrisy buuuuut they both moved past it for the greater anime good.

Satan and Himiko’s joined energy is too much for Lucifer to handle. The two are constantly pestering him to let them get a cat, and they somehow found the time to collaborate on a 50 slide PowerPoint presentation on why Lucifer would suck 55% more if he didn’t let them get a cat. At first, Himiko was low-key intimidated by Satan, and he generally seemed pretty disinterested in most of the shenanigans she got up to until they made a pact. Now they’re pretty good buddies and think quite highly of each other.

Himiko: The circumstances of one’s birth is irrelevant, it’s what you do with your life that matters.

Satan: Thanks Himiko. That’s nice of you to say.

Levi (whispering to Himiko): Are you quoting Mewtwo???

Himiko (whispering): Shut up! It’s making him feel better isn’t it??

If this were a musical, Asmo definitely would sing a rendition of Popular with Himiko. Before the pact was made, Himiko *really* wanted to be Asmo’s friend but would never admit it, his sass was impeccable! Asmo thought Himiko was cute yeah, but nothing special. After the pact, total besties. It takes a true friend or a certified insane person to tell the Avatar of Lust that the shade of blue he’s going to go clubbing in isn’t doing him any favours and he should change into different shoes. The Himi/Asmo duo is to be feared by all who come across them.

For the love of all things good in the world DO NOT LET BEEL AND HIMIKO NEAR YOUR FRIDGE! At the start, Himiko found Beel’s near constant eating annoying as HELL. Like, he’s the avatar of gluttony but all that *gross* junk food must be wreaking havoc on- Holy shit junk food is amazing. After the hiding Luke incident where Himiko’s big sister instincts ™ kicked in and she got between Beel and Lucifer, Himiko had to come to terms with the fact that she may *actually* care about some of the people she had met. After all the other shenanigans, Beel is basically her thousands of years older little brother.

Belphie… hoo boy… strike one: He took advantage of Himiko’s rarely seen sweet side. Strike 2: he fuckin killed her dude! Belphie is yet to hit strike 3. I like to think there’d be a mini lesson between 16 and 17 where the two hash out their issues. After that, their relationship is probably the closest to an actual sibling relationship. They annoy and tease the everloving shit out of each other but if anyone messes with one of them the unfortunate soul will have to deal with the other AND Beel.

I might do the undatables if anyone actually cares and I’m not just talking to a brick wall lol. Thanks for making it this far and reading all my OC brainrot!

#Obey Me #Obey Me!#Obey Me! MC #Obey Me MC #Obey Me Lucifer #Obey Me! Lucifer #Obey me mammon #Obey Me! Mammon #Obey Me Leviathan #Obey Me! Leviathan #Obey Me Satan #Obey Me! Satan #obey me! asmodeus #obey me asmodeus #obey me beelzebub #obey me! beelzebub #obey me! belphegor #obey me belphegor

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deniigi · 4 years ago

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i have been sick in bed with a stomach bug and re-reading a bunch of your series and these questions have plagued me so pls, for the sake of your fellow samuel chung lover, if sammy was in the Selkie verse, would he be a fae? if so, what kind? ALSO, what would his interactions with jack be like (either in the selkie verse or in the lying by omission verse)? pls and thanks <3

hi!

I’ll answer asks in a bit, but for this one I have a fic that explore a What If Jack Lived/Mike existed scenario with Sam in the Inimitable verse? I know it’s now what you asked for, but it is like 4k already written so that might be smth--an LBO Sam would be tricky because Sam would be itty bitty and Matt wouldn’t have the same kind of relationship with him.

As for selkie-verse Sam? I would have to do more research on Chinese spirts/fae/folklore, but for now, he’s not fae, just human 💖He’s like 12 and can make himself invisible though, which would be very confusing for Sue if she ever bumped into him

(Sue: baby boggart??? come here I love you I will look after you.)

(Sam: please stay exactly 5037 feet away from me! Thank you and I’m calling my mom!)

Here is the What If Jack and Mike thing from the Inimitable Verse.

Jack Murdock was the size of a house. He made Matt look dainty. He made Kirsten look like a kids’ mannequin. And he made Foggy laugh until he wept.

Sam could not understand a goddamn thing he said. Nor could he understand the guy he’d brought with him, who appeared to have had some serious plastic surgery to look exactly like Matt.

Sam could take an unintelligible giant. What he couldn’t take was an unintelligible Matt, and before him, somehow, in this ring of ginger, he’d been presented with two unintellible Matts.

His head was spinning.

Kirsten patted at him sympathetically.

“I’m from New York,” Sam told her mournfully.

“I know, hon.”

“How is this even possible? You’re from New York. How are they—what are they saying?”

Kirsten shook her head.

“Only Foggy knows,” she said. “It’s okay, he’ll translate when he gets back up.”

Mr. Murdock, the tallest of the gingers, might have been a good three to four inches taller than his boys, and he might have had the biggest hands that Sam had ever had the opportunity to touch in his life, but he was really nothing but a big, shaggy sheep dog.

The reasons Sam couldn’t understand a single fucking word he said came threefold.

1) Mr. Murdock had grown up in mid-century Hell’s Kitchen. That was just how accents from those parts used to sound. They’d lightened with time.

2) He had an extra layer of what Matt called a ‘brogue.’ He was first-generation American. Both his folks had immigrated from Ireland. He talked halfway between the way they talked and the way that the kids in his neighborhood growing up had.

And 3) The man had a lisp?

It wasn’t super noticeable. Sam sure as shit couldn’t hear it among the other layers of stuff going on, but Foggy said it was there.

Apparently, it came out more when he was anxious.

Apparently, he was anxious a lot.

Foggy told Sam to just give it an hour and he’d understand.

“So your name is Sam?” Mr. Murdock asked him while Sam tried to keep his mouth from falling open.

Matt was holding his facial-copy-cat against the wall by his lapels. The copy-cat had started making kissy noises at him. He egged Matt on to punch him right in the face.

No one was stopping them.

Kirsten cleared her throat and brought Sam back down to earth.

“Yeah,” he said. “Sam. Mr., uh—”

“Call me Jack.”

Never.

“Matty hasn’t said much about you, sorry to say.” Mr. Murdock explained. The more he spoke directly to Sam, the more Sam found, to his relief, that he could understand him. “He don’t like sharin’ things his brother can get ahold of and take from ‘im.”

Sam looked from him to the ‘brother.’

“There’s two of them?” he asked.

Mr. Murdock hummed.

“God help us, every one,” he huffed.

You can say that again.

“How long has there been two?” Sam asked hesitantly.

“Mm? Oh, uh. Christ with the math,” Mr. Murdock said, “Michael—Michael—boy, you knock that off; that’s how you lose teeth—how old are you now?”

Nevermind. Sam didn’t need to know.

“I’m ageless, Pops, remember?” ‘Michael’ said, grinning at Matt’s sneer in his face, “Everlasting, never dying. Immortal. Timeless. I’m—” Dude got the wind knocked out his sails from Matt aiming for his solar plexus instead of his face.

“Maitiú,” Mr. Murdock said sharply. “He’s your brother.”

“He earned it,” Matt snapped back at his dad. “You said ‘no teeth,’ I ain’t even touched his goddamn teeth.”

“No, you coward, you wouldn’t, would you?” Michael threw back at Matt with no sense in his head. “You scared of gettin’ stuck on all that metal, huh?”

“I ain’t got my tetanus booster,” Matt deadpanned.

“Oh, get the yellow fever one next time, it’s a hoot—”

“I’m mailing you back to Thailand in a crate.”

“Oh mail me, why don’t you?”

“I’m gonna.”

“Boys,” Mr. Murdock said, exasperated. “Knock it off. You love each other. We get it.”

Kirsten shook with giggles.

“I’d drown you in the open ocean and then kill myself,” Matt said through gritted teeth. His nose was maybe an inch from his brother’s.

Michael just beamed.

“Aw, babe. You’d do that for me?” he gushed.

“HHhhh—”

“Maitiú.”

Sam had never heard someone said ‘Matthew’ this way. It was delightful. It made Matt’s shoulders go stiff as a board and then squirm in barely contained fury.

“Thank you,” Mr. Murdock said. “Drop ‘im.”

Matt didn’t want to, but he released his grip on his sibling. Michael slipped down and then caught himself and straightened himself out.

“Well, I’ll never,” he said. “We come all this way to visit you on your deathbed and—”

“I’m not dying,” Matt said.

“—you worry Dad sick for months on end. Don’t call. Don’t write. He thought the Californians had eaten you—"

“—I told him that it was a dislocation and I’m fine—”

“—and of course I told him, ‘no Dad, there ain’t any more cannibals in California than there are in New York’ but who listens to Mike, huh?”

Mr. Murdock had only been in the house for 15 minutes and he already looked exhausted.

“Where are the dogs?” he asked Foggy.

---

This was the weirdest time-out session Sam had ever experienced and he’d decided that he was living for it. Mr. Murdock went out onto the deck and locked himself out there with the dogs. Matt and his brother had never been more guilty.

Quickly the arguing turned towards scheming, which turned towards climbing out a window, which turned towards getting stuck on the roof and pleading with the Father to lend a hand.

Mr. Murdock observed Matt sobbing with laughter over Mike’s sudden anxiety of stepping from the roof to the deck’s arm railing with only hollowness.

“Mike’s not very super,” Sam pointed out to Kirsten.

“Nope,” she said brightly. “He is refreshingly normal,” she said. “Even the conman part.”

The what?

---

Matt climbed off the roof with ease and took the opportunity to finally give his old man a hug, which Mr. Murdock seemed to appreciate. He smoothed a giant mitt of a hand through Matt’s hair tenderly, like he was a baby.

It was kind of cute.

Mike scowled at them both and announced that he was pretty fine, by the way. He’d just stay there on the roof until the vultures got him.

“Matt’s the younger twin,” Foggy told Sam cheerfully. “He can do no wrong.”

Sam felt like he could suddenly see the forest for the trees.

“And Mike?” he asked.

Foggy snickered.

“He and Jack live together to keep each other in good cardiac shape,” he said. “They drive each other nuts.”

“But they still live together?” Sam clarified.

“Yeah,” Foggy said. “Mike’s what happens when you give a used-car salesman ever so slightly too much brain. He travels all over. Gets shot at and held hostage a lot. He’ll do just about anything for a couple bucks, no matter how hard Jack’s tried to get him to go straight over the years.”

“And Mr. Murdock? He doesn’t mind his son living with him?” Sam asked.

Kirsten and Foggy softened.

“Matt used to check on him more when we lived back home,” Foggy said. “Without him and Mike, Jack’s by himself. He’s got friends and work, yeah, but you know. If it weren’t for Mike, he’d come home to an empty apartment every night. Man’s got too much head trauma for that to be any kind of good. Mike looks after him—probably more than he lets anyone else. He’s too stubborn to let Matt try to help him.”

Aw, cute.

“Be prepared, Sammy,” Foggy said. “Jack’s already adopted you.”

Say what now?

---

Mr. Murdock didn’t outright say that Sam was puny and he was going to fix it, but Sam could see it in his disappointed gaze.

“Don’t like bread?” he asked as Sam chewed his way through an Uncrustable at the kitchen table. Sam froze with the sandwich in hand. He stared at it.

It was bread.

Surely, this was bread.

Right?

“Uh?” he tried.

“Don’t like the crusts?” Mr. Murdock asked him more gently.

Oh.

“I don’t mind them, these are premade though. You know, convenient,” Sam explained.

He got a stare impossible to read.

“Stay there,” Mr. Murdock decided.

It took too long for Sam’s brain to work out what had just happened, and by the time it had, it was too late. Matt stuck his head in the room and asked Sam why he’d told his dad that Matt was starving him.

Sam floundered and tried to explain the sandwiches. Matt absorbed this and rolled his whole head.

“Well, now he’s makin’ a week’s worth for you,” he sighed. “Wants you to eat the crust.”

Dude.

“It’s easier not to question it,” Matt sighed. “What kind of jelly do you want?”

---

Matt didn’t interrogate his father, but Mike did. Unrepentantly. He walked in as Sam was emphasizing that he didn’t want any kind of jelly and he’d make his own sandwiches and understood the entire situation faster than Sam could have possibly explained it.

“FATHER,” he roared. “Leave the boy alone, he’s not starvin’, he’s just short.”

Flattering. Thanks, asshole.

There was no response from the kitchen. Matt told Mike to ease off. Mr. Murdock was trying to be nice.

“There’s nice and then there’s rude,” Mike said.

“And you’re rude?” Matt offered.

There was a pause.

A warm hand found the space in between Sam’s shoulder blades.

“I’m sorry about both of ‘em, kid, they got rocks for brains, it ain’t their fault. Our grandfather was a caveman, you know how it is,” Mike said kindly.

Matt was not amused.

“It’s not a big deal,” he repeated. “I’ll eat ‘em if Sam doesn’t want ‘em.”

“And subject yourself to peanut butter hell for multiple days in a row, Maitiú?” Mike asked, scandalized.

Matt glared in the direction of the stairs.

“Some of us enjoy nut protein,” he said.

Sam blinked in shock as big hands slapped themselves over his ears.

“There are children present,” Mike hissed.

Sam found the guy’s middle fingers and yanked. Mike swore. Matt chuckled.

“He ain’t a baby,” he said fondly. “Sam’s a tough cookie.”

You’re damn right he was.

“Charming,” Mike grumbled as Matt abandoned them for the kitchen again. He scowled down at Sam. “What’s your gimmick then?” he asked.

Sam wondered if he could make his contacts come out by blinking slowly enough. It would be cool as fuck. It definitely wasn’t happening.

“I control typhoons,” he said.

Mike winced.

“Fuckin’ vigilantes,” he said.

---

Mr. Murdock gave Sam a second sandwich. He’d cut it into quarters.

“Matt says you don’t like jelly,” he said. “Bananas are better?”

Sam couldn’t help but like him.

“Yeah. I don’t eat much bread generally,” he said. “My family has always been more about rice.”

Mr. Murdock analyzed him.

“I can do rice,” he said.

Bless. It was okay, really.

“Do you like spicy things, Mr. Murdock?” Sam asked.

“Jack.”

Nice try.

“Spicy?” Sam repeated.

Mr. Murdock considered it.

“Not sure,” he said. “You mean like hot sauce? I ain’t fuck with that ghost pepper shit.”

Sam hummed.

“Before you leave, I’ll cook for you in return,” he said. “I won’t make it too spicy, cross my heart.”

Mr. Murdock considered this and then got a look in his eye that made Sam’s cheeks start to ache a little.

---

Matt told Sam to play nice. Matt told his father to play nice.

There was to be no hiding chilis in Mike’s pasta.

They were caught and scolded.

“Not to worry,” Mr. Murdock told Sam fondly, “There are other ways.”

---

Sam had never seen such outrage over a knot in a shoelace. Matt crossed his arms over his chest, seconds away from tapping his own foot.

“You said you were ready,” he reminded Mike for the fourth time.

“I know what I said,” Mike snapped at him. He’d dug through all the kitchen drawers to procure a metal skewer to apply to this situation.

“We’re going to be late,” Matt said. “I wait for my guide, she doesn’t wait for me.”

“Well she’s waitin’ today,” Mike said. “I swear to god—”

Mr. Murdock stroked the top of Tuesday’s head and asked Mike if he’d tried putting baby powder on it. Mike spat at him to mind his own business and went back to the knot. He managed it get it untangled and the shoe half on just in time to find the second one stuck in the third hole down.

He just about vibrated with fury.

Matt sighed loudly.

“Borrow mine already,” he said.

“Never.”

“Mike.”

“They’re blue. This outfit tolerates only warm colors, Matthew. ONLY warms.”

“We’re late.”

“Style waits for no man.”

“Well, clearly that ain’t the case, is it?”

Mike stood up sharply.

“I’m going to change,” he said. “And whatever elf tied these will rue the day. Mark my words.”

“Yeah, okay, I’ll tell the elf—oh, my bad, the clown, Mike. It’s you. Get your life together. We’re late.”

Hilarious.

---

“Why don’t you move out here?” Sam asked Mr. Murdock as he watched Sam sand away at his latest secret project in Matt’s absence.

“Sun’ll kill me,” Mr. Murdock deadpanned.

“I thought so too, but it’s not so bad,” Sam said. “I miss the snow sometimes.”

Mr. Murdock cocked his head and then knelt down to take the sanding block out of Sam’s hands. He gestured for Sam to give him the hunk of wood in his hands, too.

“Matty says you don’t got papers,” he said.

Sam was surprised. Matt usually kept that secret locked tight. But Mr. Murdock didn’t seem to have any adverse reaction to it.

“No,” Sam admitted. “My mom brought me here when I was really little. I didn’t know what it meant to overstay a visa.”

Mr. Murdock hummed.

“Makes flying tricky,” he said.

Yeah.

“Bus, not too bad, though?”

Mm. Bus was better, yes.

“Train?”

Depended on the train.

“Hm. Well, if you get homesick or need busfare, you just give a shout, ya hear? You’re always welcome to stay with us.”

Aww.

“Or if you really hate yourself, I’m sure Mike would love to come pick you up.”

Oh god.

“He can drive?” Sam asked.

Mr. Murdock paused and held his face in his dusty palm.

“The day he got his license was the worst day of my life,” he said.

Sam snickered.

“Did you guys drive all the way here?” he asked.

“No, thank god.”

“Can you drive?”

“Son.”

Sam looked up from the block of wood into Mr. Murdock’s hazel eyes.

“I take two steps out of New York and I’m gone, that’s me dead. No, I don’t drive. Why the hell would I drive? Where the hell am I goin’?”

Wow, mood.

“I tried to drive once,” Sam said. “Reversed into a fire hydrant. Matt laughed so hard he cried.”

Mr. Murdock handed back the woodblock. It was much smoother than it had been. Sam was chocking that up to the muscles and the practice.

---

Matt and Mike got home and Mike announced that he was disowning that ‘putrid being’ that was the Swamp Monster beside him. Matt told Mr. Murdock that Mike didn’t approve of the swimming part of triathlon.

Mr. Murdock picked leaves out of his hair with supreme patience.

---

“So Dad’s officially decided that you’re his grandson,” Mike informed Sam out of nowhere that Sunday. “He prayed for you at church today.”

Sam almost dropped his wrench. That was so endearing his teeth hurt.

“It’s ‘cause I do woodwork,” he said. “He can smell the handyman on me.”

Mike cocked his head to the side. His eyes were blue like Matt’s. Their mom must have had blue eyes—or maybe hazel like Mr. Murdock’s.

“No,” Mike said. “It’s ‘cause he’s also been a grocery bagger, a janitor, and a contractor.”

He what now?

“He wants to know why you aren’t in college.”

Oh. well—

“Matt tried to explain, but you know, it ain’t clickin’. He don’t get the politics part of things sometimes. Gets confused why people make such a big deal when there’s obvious solutions in front of ‘em. It’s not all his fault, he barely got a highschool diploma back when ‘critical thinking’ wasn’t even a testing category. Anyways, he wants you to go to college. Thinks you’re too smart to be pushin’ paper.”

Sam was going to cry.

“I think he sees a lot of Matt in you,” Mike said with a squint. “So just as a warning, he’s unbearable. Always—well, no. More like 95% of the year. He’s alright around New Years when he’s tired. You can tell him to fuck off at any time, though.”

No, no. It was okay. It was nice to have…more family. That’s what it was.

“I hope you know what this means, Samuel,” Mike said.

Mmm no?

Mike’s hand clasped his shoulder.

“You can call me ‘uncle,’” he said.

Ah.

No, thanks.

---

Foggy and Kirsten couldn’t look at Sam without bursting into merciless laughter, which Sam had realized was a result of Mike’s vocal distress at his rejected offer of uncle-dom. Sam didn’t know what to tell him.

Mr. Murdock was nice. Enormous, yes, but very well meaning and gentle. His and Sam’s priorities and experience in life aligned neatly and Sam was slightly charmed by the way that he expressed himself verbally only to Matt and Mike.

Sam also didn’t hate Mike. He just didn’t want him to have uncle privileges. He didn’t see what was difficult about this.

“Mike’s got a history of rejection,” Foggy said. “And by that, I mean that every woman on the eastern seaboard has rejected him and he tries anyways.”

---

Matt came downstairs and told Sam to ignore everything Mike said to him all day. He also said that they were going out that night, so don’t burn fingers on the soldering iron.

Sam saluted in acknowledgement.

Forty minutes later there was a rap at his door followed by Mike saying through it that he wanted to show Sam something.

Sam did not open the door.

He heard Matt’s name being cursed on the other side.

---

Twenty minutes later there was another knock, this time with Mike saying that Mr. Murdock wanted to bond with Sam.

Sam nudged open his curtains and squinted hard into the backyard where he could see the vague shape of Matt chatting to his dad on the deck stairs, both apparently having a beer and shooting the shit.

This was a scam.

Sam would not be scammed.

He went back to the suit.

There was more cursing outside the door.

---

About half an hour later, there was a knock, followed by Mr. Murdock’s voice this time, asking Sam if his shoes were supposed to be on the front porch.

They were not.

This was playing dirty.

Sam ventured out to go right this wrong and ended up outside on the front porch with the conman himself. Mike closed the door after him triumphantly and proceeded to get them both locked out.

“Are you supposed to be a good conman or?” Sam asked.

Mike gaped at him.

“The best conman,” he said. “Don’t worry, kid, I’ve broken into a thousand houses and won two horses. I’ve got this.”

That was not comforting. Sam was not comforted.

“First, we gotta test all the windows, and, failing that, we get a rock or a gun,” Mike told him with a knowing finger.

Sam blinked at it and then up at Mike. The man’s shoulders twitched.

“Uh?” Mike said.

Ah. The eyes. No contacts today.

“Do you like them? They’re Prada,” Sam said to absolute silence.

“A brick,” Mike announced abruptly. “A brick works too. Like a rock but bigger.”

Okay, so they weren’t talking about it, gotcha. Look, a whole family’s worth of repression styles. Sam was glad that they had a full set of methods.

---

Sam broke into his own bedroom through the window. Mike clapped for him outside. Sam opted to leave him there.

---

He was sort of sad to see the Murdocks go, especially after seeing the effect that the most senior of them had on Matt.

Sam hadn’t seen him this chilled out. He visibly relaxed under his dad’s hand on the back of his neck. He tolerated the fussing and constant hair fixing and the fingers brushing at his cheeks and elbows. Mr. Murdock guided him with the same practiced ease that Foggy and Kirsten did, but his guiding was accompanied by a quiet, ongoing commentary about the street around them, which Sam hadn’t actually heard Foggy do in the same kind of way.

It was like Mr. Murdock was telling Matt a story everywhere they went.

He told him when there were flags hanging up a story above, waving in the wind. He told him about the hanging wire baskets of flowers that Sam forgot about. He huffed a bit while he talked about lines of traffic in the street and a vast lack of color in the group due to the absence of so many yellow cabs.

Mr. Murdock of course, had been Matt’s first ever guide. It only made sense that he had a specialized style of it, just for Matt.

And for Matt’s sake, Sam didn’t want him to go, but alas, New Yorkers, man. The city called them back to the coast like a siren.

“You take it easy, y’hear, kiddo?” Mr. Murdock told him at the airport.

Sam smiled and said that he’d try.

“Take care of yourself. I mean that. Out at night too.”

Copy that, big guy.

“Give us a hug.”

Oh??? A hug??? Sam loved hugs. Hugs were great. He was—er. Leaving this one with double the ribs from the cracks apparently.

Mr. Murdock released him to go break Matt in half and then Foggy and then Kirsten. Mike told him that he couldn’t avoid flying again by hugging people. He also warned Kirsten that he’d see her soon and that then, she was sure to fall for his charms.

Kirsten said that she would be waiting with bated breath, and then that was it. Three Murdocks again whittled down to one.

“God, I should have married your dad,” Foggy moaned.

Matt laughed at him.

“He’s plenty busy avoiding the gaze of every person over sixty in his building. Let him live,” he said. “Sam? Not too traumatized, I hope?”

Mm. Not so bad.

“Are you sure Mike’s your brother?” he asked.

“Unfortunately.”

Too bad.

“It’s fine, if we ever need a guy to distract the police, we’ve got him on retainer.”

That was true.

“They’ll come back?” Sam asked.

Matt paused before feeling for his shoulder.

“Yeah,” he said. “Or we’ll go to them. I think you’d enjoy watching them in their natural environment.”

-----------

Hope that’s something for you anon!! I also hope you feel better!

#samuel chung #jack murdock #matt murdock #mike murdock #inimitable verse #fic #ficlet

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kelieah · 5 years ago

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my neighborhood (peter parker x vigilante!reader) [1]

request: @annamckayla : HELLO! Omg i love ur writing so much ahhhh! I was hoping I could request for a peter x reader, where they are both heroes (or reader is bad idm up to you) and they are fighting ppl / each other but they are super flirty! AHH OK ILY BYEEE ;)))))))))

warnings: sarcasm, insulting, flirting, fighting. reader is a vigilante, goes to midtown high and is semi close friends with peter. kinda like a hate love relationship. alsooo reader’s powers is speed and eletricity so basically the flash idkdkdk sorry

edited: i’m working on a new series based off of this request! masterlist for it is here

a/n: my first request! so happy hehe ilyt!! also im so sorry if this doesnt make sense, im not great with super powers lol

pov: first, y/n

masterlist

I have to admit. He’s cute, but he’s so irritating. Is it the fact that he’s so undeniably cute? Yes. No, yes but Peter is such a know it all, or at least I think so.

For some reason, it didn’t stop me from hanging out with him and his friends for the past couple of months. After picking up some school lunch, I grab a seat in front of Peter and Ned.

“Hey Y/n,” Ned smiles. “Hi Ned! Hi Peter,” I greet back, looking over at Peter. He didn’t seem to notice, his eyes too focused on Liz.

“Why do you even hang out with them Y/n, they’re losers,” I hear MJ pipe up. Ned, Peter and I all turn our heads to her.

“True-” I stifle a laugh.

“Then why are you sitting here with us?” Peter retorts.

“Because she’s cool, and doesn’t drool over seniors like, someone,” I cough, smirking at him. He rolls his eyes and glares at me.

“She’s not wrong,” Ned murmurs.

“Dude!” Peter huffs, making me giggle. He smiles slightly and slumps on the palm of his hand, looking away.

“Pete, could you come over after school? I need help with chem, and I know you need help with English,” I poke him with a fork causing him to swat me away.

“Yeah whatever, I think that’s just an excuse to get me to come over,” he teases.

“Shut up!” I groan. Ned and MJ share a suspicious glance. “What?” I ask cluelessly.

“Nothing,” they both say quietly.

After a long dreadful day of school, Peter and I met up at the front of the school, by the gates.

“Hey Penis Parker,” I smirk, holding onto my backpack straps.

He lets out a long sigh, “Not you too, Y/n. C’mon,” he huffs.

“I’m just messing with you Pete,” I bump into him, beginning to walk ahead.

He follows, catching up easily, “Right. Anyways, have you heard about the new vigilante in town?”

I tense at the subject, “Uhm yeah, that speedy girl?”

“Yup. What do you think about her?”

“Uh, I don’t know. All I know is that she’s probably better than Spider-Man.”

He looks at me offended, “Who’s to say? Spider-Man is like, super-human, he has a bunch of powers-”

“Don’t get your panties all in a twist, I’m just saying,” I laugh, “Sheesh didn’t think you were such a big fan of Spider-Man.”

“U-uh why wouldn’t I be, he’s s-super cool.” “Said every teenager ever, I like this new girl. She’s kind of refreshing y’know?”

“Meh,” Peter shrugs, and I scoff shoving him aside.

We eventually head to my apartment and study together. I messed around while Peter tried to help me with homework, but he ended up getting distracted anyways.

I let out a long groan, “Shut up! You’ve been talking about chemistry for the past 30 minutes and I didn’t understand one thing that came out of your mouth.”

Peter’s mouth drops. He throws one of my pillows at me, “You asked me to come over!”

“I know, because I’m lonely.”

“Sure.”

“You’re right, I just needed you to do my homework.”

“I hate you.”

“I love you too,” I flash him a cheeky smile, causing him to roll his eyes. I glance over at the clock, “Hey uh, I think you should head out soon. My dad’s coming back from work soon and you know how he is with boys.”

“Yeah yeah, don’t miss me too much,” he gets up, gathering his things.

“Reverse card!” “See you,” he chuckles and walks off.

“Bye Penis Parker!” I yell, making sure he left. As soon as he closed the front door, I rush into my closet to get out my suit.

After putting it on and tidying up room, I head out my window and jump out to the fire escape.

I decide to scan the city, running and jumping from building to building. It seemed quiet so I sat down on the ledge of some random building.

I hear a quiet thud next to me. I glance over at the figure, who I made out to be Spider-Man. “Ah, well if it isn’t the infamous Spider-Man.”

“Thought I’d check out who the new girl in town is,” he chuckles. His voice seemed higher than I expected it to be, it almost sounds familiar. Weird. Could it be? No way, that’s impossible.

“You care about me? I’m touched,” I place a hand on my heart. I hear him stifle a laugh and shake his head.

He went quiet for a second and stood up from his crouching position, “There’s something going on by 5th street in some warehouse,” he says.

“Guess we should head over-”

“We? I don’t know about that new girl, this is my neighborhood,” he jumps off the ledge, swinging from building to building.

The fuck, who does this guy think he is!?

I rush downstairs and speed off to 5th street, managing to get there before he did. “Yes, we,” I cross my arms looking up at Spider-Man who arrived shortly after me.

He scoffs, “So you’re fast. Hopefully you can catch up, sweetheart,” he swings up to the roof of a warehouse.

I quickly follow, managing to find a way inside and on to the rooftop. I run over to where Spider-Man is crouched down behind a large air vent. I poke my head out to see a poor lady tied to a chair, with a bunch of men surronding her.

“Some kind of intense hostage situation,” he whispers.

“You’re an intense hostage situation,” I murmur.

“What? Shut up!” he whispers. “Oh my god, I think that’s the mayor.”

He jumps up from the vent, placing his hands on his hips. “Hey uh, guys I don’t think you should be treating a lady- especially our mayor like that,” he says, changing the pitch of his voice. I scrunch up my nose at his awkwardness.

“What the fuck, who called him-!” I hear a rough voice yell out, followed by a series of gunshots and screaming.

Spider-Man yelps and manages to fling some guns aside, causing two men to gang up on him, “Hey, new girl a little help!” he yells out. There another two men next to the mayor, with large guns in their hands.

“On it!” I call back, rushing over to the two men circling them. “Hi there,” I grin, place my hands on their guns surging a large amount of eletricity to them, knocking them out.

I help the mayor out, making sure she wasn’t injured or anything. “Karen, call the police and give them our location,” I hear Spider-Man mumble quickly, grunting as he knocks out the two men he was dealing with.

The mayor who was still in complete shock began to ramble, “T-thank you Spider-Man. T-thank you?” she looks over at me.

“Uhm, Velocity?” I rub my arm as Spider-Man watches in amusement.

“Thank you both really-” she sniffs. Suddenly, the roof top door slams open and a bunch of big bulky men come out with these weird looking weapons.

“Heads up, Spidey!” I yell, as one of the men shoot their weird looking gun that emitted some type of green energy.

I grab the Mayor and speed down to the front of the building, where a bunch of police cars pulled up.

Shocked from the momentum, she falls to her knees. “I’m so sorry, but I had to get you out of there. Stay safe!” I rush back to the rooftop.

I notice Spider-Man struggling to get this one guy off of him, “Pretty boy, to your right!” I yell. I run over to one of the weapons and toss it to him.

He quickly webs it and slings it against the guy, knocking him out, “Pretty boy?” he scoffs.

“Yeah, that’s what you sound like!” I grunt, punching a guy who was coming to my left with a surge of electricity.

“So you’d be an annoying girl?” he smirks, also fighting off someone who rushed towards him.

“I’d be honored,” I scoff. “Holy shit!” I let out a yelp as I felt myself being lifted in the air by one of the weapons.

I hear a quick thwip and suddenly I was back on my feet, with Spider-Man’s arm around my waist, “My hero-” I gasp dramatically.

“Cute,” he rolls his eyes. He pushes me towards another guy who was trying to get their weird gun to work.

I frown instantly, and circle around him grabbing the gun before he could do anything. I fling it against him, and press my hand harshly on the gun, causing eletricity to rush all over him.

He knocks out, and I turn around, seeing Spider-Man fling against the air vent. I inhale sharply and rush towards the guy, knocking him off his feet causing him to let go of the weapon.

I kick it away, the guy gets back up and attempts to punch at me. I easily dodge his attacks and punch him with eletricity.

“Oh my god, I did it- I mean we did it! We-” I look over at Spidey who was slump on the ground. “Shit,” I speed over to his side, propping his head up onto my lap. “Pretty boy, you still there?”

I notice his mask was slightly cut open, blood seeping out from the side of his head. I knew that he had the mask on for a reason, but he could be dying. It’s not like I would out him to anyone. I understand why he would keep his identity a secret, it’s what I do as well.

I inhale deeply, pulling off his mask. I let out a gasp, “Peter!?”

part two

taglist

@rcmxnoff @annamckayla @elsie512 @bubblesbts

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five-wow · 5 years ago

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i’m watching 10.21!!! [insert excited but apprehensive noises]!!!

by the time you’re reading this i’ll be done watching, so as always, thoughts under the cut:

i opened up the episode, steve’s voice said “previously on ha-” and i paused it because i actually need some food before i do anything right now.

food (and coffee that is 90% milk) acquired! the previously on is just the last few seconds of the previous episode, and oof, it reminded me how hilariously evil this micheal claypool sounded with that intense british accent they gave him (surprise twist: the h50 finale is actually the new bond movie), but now he just showed up on steve’s doorstep and he looks like a really kind somewhat older man, gosh.

steve: “please uh, come on in and make yourself at home.” danny, wherever he is right now: “NINE YEARS. I HAD TO WAIT NINE YEARS AND THIS GUY JUST SHOWS UP AND-”

mr. claypool comes in, sits down, hands a still standing steve a letter and then gathers his coat and briefcase and is immediately back out the door, fdjkfd. also, omfg, i don’t like that doris is still causing drama from the grave, but i have to say, it’s impeccably in character, at least.

steve looks a little disbelieving and unhappy about the contents of the letter, which is not great. it couldn’t have been just a nice “hello my son, sorry you’ve had to live without me for these past four months, i wanted to tell you one last time that i love you and hope you’re doing well”, could it? (for that matter, does mary get a letter??? it always feels like mary either got out in time by not going into anything like law enforcement and therefore not getting pulled into her family legacy of dangerous shit all the time, or like she’s just been outright rejected by their parents who keep building all of their mysteries around steve.)

okay so now we’re watching a woman and her son being held hostage by two criminals who probably killed a cop and want her to stitch one of them up, and obviously they’re bad guys, but one of them just said “think bus boy’s got a thing for you” about the dude who just rang the doorbell and hand delivered a toy the kid had forgotten at a diner and yes!!! i agree!!! and it looked super cute so maybe you could just put your guns away and let them fumble around each other for a little before one of them finally asks the other out on a date and then they end up as a really cute little family.

oh SHIT crush guy just burst into the apartment and really, really seems to know his way around a gun and how to hold his own in a fight against armed criminals. oh! ohhhh, this is the new character they were going to introduce that would potentially have become a cast member if the show had continued without steve, isn’t it? ahhh. that makes sense.

while the woman calls the police, crush guy (who heroically saved her and her son and got shot in the process) just. leaves. that’s not suspicious at all!

the intro!!! feelings!!!

we’re at the cemetary where john mcgarrett rests so i expected to be shown steve, but instead we get?? danny rolling up in the camaro to look at steve crouched by the grave? oh my gosh. ten times better.

danny is SO WORRIED. and he is RIGHT because steve is acting very unlike steve.

fdjkfdjk OF COURSE doris’s message is a bunch of symbols. doris!!! you do not write goodbye messages to your son in wingdings!!! be a good mother for maybe once, perhaps, my gosh!!!

!!!!! steve telling danny he just doesn’t think he really cares anymore and wants to be done with doris’s whole thing is !!!!! very good!!!! i am using too many exclamation points and very aware of it but !!!!!!

i just. look. i just. steve has SAD FEELINGS and he TALKS ABOUT THEM with DANNY and this is pretty much a dream come true. YES. not the sad feelings, i’d rather have happy feelings, but after everything these characters have gone through they need to acknowledge that there are sad feelings before happy feelings can be had.

also, omfg, i had a brief heart attack because steve says joe’s name but he says it with an abandoned “and” kind of tacked onto it, a little mumbly, so it sounds like “losing joe’n- and mom” and for a long moment i was like, losing joan?? what?? because that would not be okay, holy shit, no.

on a lighter note, steve: “i’ll drive.” what a suprise!!! truly a shocking turn of events. :p

yes, steve, antagonize the scary-looking dude who is grieving over his dead brother while standing over the dead brother’s body in the morgue. i’m sure that’s a brilliant plan.

wait what, we suddenly see adam and junior who are talking on the phone because junior called adam to give him an update, and then adam goes, right, but the bad guys don’t know the address yet, and we do! and it turns out he is. standing in the apartment both parties are looking for right at that second. uh. communication, adam, dear lord.

there is some team organizing in hq around the case and then they all disperse and danny looks ready to follow steve into his office but then he gets distracted by tani asking to talk to him for a minute, and then they go out onto a BALCONY that i don’t remember ever having seen before? omg. secret headquarters balcony.

tani asks about steve!! she is worried too!! i’m forgetting about the balcony betrayal and having intense feelings again.

fdjkfd danny tells tani that steve has been running non-stop and is getting burned out and tani asks “alright, well, what are we gonna do about it?” and with absolutely zero hesitation danny goes “i’m gonna force the issue.” i don’t even think that’s a bad plan per se! but the quick and determined way he says it has me laughing anyway, like danny’s been daydreaming while the team was talking about their case and thinking, hm, what can i do to help steve? i know! i’m going to push him in a corner and keep him there and make him FEEL his FEELINGS. danny’s solution here is to throw a grenade at steve, but like, one full of love and caring and hopefully pancakes.

danny is telling tani that he’s seriously concerned about steve’s functioning on the job at the moment and meanwhile steve is out with junior interviewing a guy with an axe. fdjkfd.

okay so steve and junior catch the bus boy crush heroic rescuer guy (whose name is cole) and he won’t talk, and then junior arrives back at hq and tani comes out of her office to talk about steve again, ahhh. she is so worried! and junior is extremely uncomfortable because he feels like he has to defend steve and he ends up saying that steve will deal with things in his own way and oh junior, no, sometimes being hurt and pushing it away is not the best thing. even MORE reasons why steve needs to work through this in a healthy way: he’s setting a very destructive example for junior.

meanwhile steve is chilling on the floor of their rendition room “interviewing” cole all on his own, which seems to boil down to psychoanalyzing cole in a way that sounds suspiciously like steve’s pulling apart pieces of his own mind but attributing all of the problems to cole because that’s way safer than admitting that maybe most of these are his own issues, too, that he’s giving voice to for probably the first time ever.

steve to himself cole: “you’ve been here in this hole since [name of place where tragedy happened]. you‘ve put yourself there.” SUBTLE.

fdjkfd i paused at the perfect moment because immediately after that sentence cole goes “you know, something tells me i could say damn near the same thing about you” and uh, yes. thank you for making my point in-universe, cole, gosh.

steve: [gives a hard stare for a second and then switches back to cole’s current situation without addressing cole’s comment at all]

ahhhh there is a shot that starts with lou, tani and quinn around the tech table analyzing a video that shows our Bad Guys of the moment holding the poor diner lady and her kid hostage (again!) and then moves smoothly through steve’s glass door into his office where he and danny are having a heated discussion about the case and twirls around them. that was very cool!

so the bad guys want cole or they won’t release their hostages, cole wants to do it, danny wants him to do it and convinces steve after multiple little scenes of them disagreeing about it, and then military police comes in and takes cole away, preventing them from actually carrying out their plan. oops!

and THEN cole escapes out of a vehicle with three men guarding him, hah. i’m definitely seeing the heavy handed parallels with steve they’re throwing at us, omg.

danny about cole to steve: “i think this guy might be crazier than you.” i kind of love that every time a new intended team member shows up (tani, junior, i'm pretty sure quinn too?), danny has to compare them to steve in some way. it’s a rule. every time anyone says something vaguely snarky steve physically can’t stop himself from saying “ah, did you know you sound just like danny williams?” and every time someone does something ill-advised yet heroic, danny is obligated by the universe and the wiring of his own heart to go “ugh, you remind me of steve.”

cole gets a pass because he did good stuff and is a war hero, steve and cole make friends, and then cole says he noticed the cypher on steve’s desk and we’re back to the thing i thought this episode would focus on way more heavily.

steve HAS been doing research to try to crack it! danny was right about steve not being able to let this go.

cole knows a guy who’s good at cracking codes! i guess that’s a neat way to connect him to steve’s finale plot and move it along at the same time, haha.

steve is still at the office when his phone rings and it’s danny and then steve walks onto his beach where danny is waiting for him in their two chairs with two beers, and i love that, especially because we don’t hear danny’s side of the phone conversation but it was a very short scene so what did he say, exactly? “come home, i’m lonely, i have beer”?

steve: “what’s the face, you got a face on, your face” fdjkfd. eloquent!

SCREAMING. “you think lincoln is my new bff? yo, no one can replace you, you’re my danno!” i am. oh my gosh. this is steve reassuring HIMSELF, not danny, but it is also incredibly sweet and YOU’RE MY DANNO. now THAT’S the kind of content i want. yes. good. holy shit.

danny says to stop doing “that”, by which he means deflecting, and steve just goes “okay” and looks uncomfortable but starts talking anyway and i LOVE THEM. this is a good, healthy friendship.

steve: “i kinda feel like i’ve been protecting everybody except for myself, does that make sense?” YES. YES, STEVE, IT DOES, and i am VERY GLAD you’re saying those words with your own mouth.

i am making very high pitched noises at the moment. a) steve says he can’t take a break “here” because there are too many memories and that SCARES ME because he SHOULD NOT LEAVE THE ISLAND but also really really validates a fic idea i’ve had for ages in a way that i love, b) steve says “i will say this is how i thought it would end for us, couple old guys, sitting on a beach, watching sunsets” and YES oh my gosh, and c) then DANNY GOES, “i mean that sounds great to me, we can still do that” and HELLO YES it is SO GOOD to hear them VOICE these things that they’ve obviously both wanted for literal years and which we’ve been shown through steve’s clinginess when danny wanted to retire and danny’s bringing steve in on the restaurant thing and danny’s literal dream of him and steve sitting on that very beach as old men with steve telling him he loves him. just, my gosh, this is all those things but put into words that they are saying and it is very validating and sweet and necessary and scares me very much about where this is going, but for the moment i adore it.

the episode has two and a half minutes left and i’m kind of feeling like this is enough. let’s just end it here. happy end, guys, let’s all go home! except steve and danny, who are already there, obviously, and should do the opposite of move, ever.

OH. OHHH. steve tells danny he doesn’t know anymore and danny looks sad and then steve continues about how he’s been trying to distract himself with stuff like “a bunch of dating, which was nice, but didn’t help” and the RESTAURANT gets a mention though i’ll admit it’s one that’s very confusing because steve says “when it closed”, which... it didn’t, as far as we had been told until now? isn’t kamekona still running it? i always assumed he’d have turned it into a very successful bussiness venture.

danny looks UNHAPPY ABOUT THINGS STEVE IS SAYING and i relate, while i’m at the same time weirdly very very proud of him for saying these things? i don’t want him to feel this unsure about everything (particularly whether he can stay in hawaii, because it seems that’s what he’s talking about and that’s Bad), but it is a needed breath of fresh air to have stuff that happened and that he’s been bottling up for ages actually impact him emotionally.

okay, fjdksfdjslfs, danny suggests steve should GO TO JERSEY and says that steve has NEVER BEEN and i get that this is mostly kind of a joke but actually YES, STEVE. GO THE FUCK TO JERSEY. that would be perfect! danny can subtly follow you under the guise of an extended visit to family and you can spend time there together exploring danny’s home state instead of steve’s and you can come back home to hawaii when you’re ready and it would be beautiful and a very nice, symbolic way to end the show. we start with danny moving to hawaii to find a home there, and we end with with steve moving to jersey to realize where his home is.

this argument though, it’s giving me life. steve when danny starts suggesting other places, angrily, for no good reason: “now i HAVE to go.” danny, both giving and getting up: “i’m gonna get another beer.” steve, calm again: “okay, i’m gonna go to jersey.” danny: [walks away while steve yells after him about all the recommendations he’ll need for when he’s in jersey]

danny is inside to get the beer, hears a noise, finds a burglar at steve’s desk, fights him, destroy half the living room and is found by steve who also heard noise from the house and suddenly keeps saying “yo” to danny a lot this episode.

of course the burglar was there for the cypher that doris sent steve, because she can never just pop up in steve’s life in a way that isn’t somehow dangerous to him and everyone around him. it was good, though!!! a very nice cliffhanger.

final thoughts: VERY GOOD, VERY INTENSE EPISODE. i liked cole more than i expected for a character that gets introduced as potential main cast in the last two episodes of a show that’s by now already been cancelled (that could have been problematic, but i think the writers handled it well by brick-to-the-face using him to explore steve’s issues) and i love danny being so worried about steve and tani following his lead and wanting to talk to everyone close to steve about how worried she is, too, and everything steve says has ME worried about how they’re going to end this, but so far, it’s also amazing A+ perfect fanfic fuel, holy effing shit. EMOTIONS. FEELINGS. STEVE HAS THEM. it’s literally that easy to please me, fdjkfd.

and i will say that while i’m worried about him and he’s clearly hurting and there are ways the show could take this that i won’t like (steve leaving the island at the end of the show while danny stays, mainly, which would be kind of horrible in all kinds of ways), i do somewhat love seeing steve deal with the fact that he’s older than he was ten years ago, he’s never really worked through all of the incredibly horrible shit life kept heaping on him, and he’s just getting really damn tired of everything. old, tired steve is a good thing; it’s the start of a new chapter, one where he hopefully doesn’t keep clinging to that endless denial of hurt and his tendency to put the job above everything including his own mental and physical health. i just hope, hope, hope that this last chapter that we actually get to watch play out on screen will be one that ends in a place that feels right, because this could either end perfectly or so, so badly. 🤞

#h50 #10.21 #h50 spoilers #i am now VERY SCARED but also VERY HYPED for that last episode next week #*

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trying-write-fanfics · 5 years ago

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OverhaulXreader part 23

Time went on. Gramps got a granddaughter. He stayed away though due to the strained relationship. He still had Kai. Y/n would come over here and there, and even cooked for gramps sometimes.

The add-on bakery was stressful to say the least. Y/n was working double time for the restaurant and starting the bakery. Menu, ingredients, advertising, permits, inspections, and management were all struggling. Those were the problems Y/n was trying to control. Then there was villain activity which was also stressing her out. They were just people using their quirks and destroying buildings and stealing. Organized crime was a lot less annoying, they didn’t involve civilians like Y/n. Sometimes she had to take a different route home or wait for subways to get repaired. Witness reports also took up her time.

Though her least favorite was the hostage situation. Mainly because all she wanted to do was cash a check out to have a fun weekend with friends on a holiday. Some villain who has never robbed a back shot the ceiling and told everyone to get down.

“I need a hostage-you” the villain pointed at her.

He grabbed her by the wrist and held the gun to her throat. She had mixed feelings, one being scared, the other being done with life. There was no easy day and she was a little done with life.

“C'mon this way.” The man said.

How did these situations happen? Sometimes she wishes she was a zombie detective or at least had a cool quirk to defend herself. Her mind was nowhere near where her actual body was.

“Maybe after this you and I could go on a date, I got money.” The man said.

“Yeah, we’re gonna tell our grandkids that grandpa went to jail for shooting grandma at the bank?” She sassily said.

“You didn’t have to be such a-“

A police officer took them out like an American football player. Her shoulder popped when the three hit the floor.

Luckily Y/n was going to a hot spring resort with some girl friends. They were from the choir group, but the ones they were around her age. She however bought her own separate room. They gossiped, laughed, and truly relaxed in the communal spring. It was all nice and she felt the stress melting away. In a robe she went to her hotel bed and just laid on it. She let her legs hang off the side. The phone rang and it was her non labeled love.

“Saw you were on the news.” Kai said on the other side without a hello.

“I can’t even cash a check without someone rubbing their damn quirks or guns in my face.” She groaned .

“Come over tonight. I got you a bottle of wine.”

“Sorry handsome, I’m at a resort this weekend.”

“You’re what?”

“Girls from my choir group thought it would be fun to sit in a hot spring together.”

“Did you get naked with those old ladies?”

“No younger girls joined my group awhile back.”

“You know you’re sitting in your own filth in those baths.”

“Good thing I couldn’t come over this weekend.” She told him.

“You could shower in my shower.” He offered.

“Is that your attempt at foreplay?”

“I can try can’t I?”

“I do miss you.” She told him, making sure the air was clear.

“What day are you coming back?”

“Why, you miss me?”

“I haven’t seen you since your period incident.” He told her.

“Work has been hard. Sometimes I wish I was just a housewife without any kids. Like maybe I have hobbies like I garden and I smile and wave at people and it’s enough contribution to society.” She rambled.

“You know-“

“I don’t mean it Kai. I’d be so bored. I’d have to have like a small army of kids to be the same amount of work as this bakery.”

“So when can I see you again?”

“I’ll let you know after the trip. I've been working overtime last month.” She whined.

“I’ll be waiting for you. Are you fine with the whole hostage situation that happened?”

It was weird hearing Kai being emotionally worried.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me. Sweet dreams.”

“Sweet dreams angel.”

Y/n had a nice time and the weekend ended. Some of her choir friends joined her to clean the new

Bakery. They bought the building, and now they had to clean it.

“So, you seeing anyone Y/n? My brother was kinda interested at the last concert.”

“Uh-yeah I am.”

“Ooh a boyfriend?”

“No...he’s uh.”

“So you’re not seeing anyone or you’re talking about….” her friend trailed off.

“Is he a lame ass no labels type of guy? Y/n you’re so hard working you deserve someone who wants to give it their all!” Her other friend said.

“It’s not like that, we just haven’t talked about that.” She tried to explain.

“Wait are you like that? I never took you for someone so casual, Y/n.”

“It’s not like that.”

The subject died down, but Y/n couldn’t stop thinking about what her and Kai were. He called her his angel, but never his girlfriend. After the hard work, the girls started drinking, and not thinking, Y/n took the subway to the main compound. She was looking for Kai. She knocked the door over a million times and Pops answered.

“Y/n, what are you doing here, it’s the middle of the night?”

“Oh my god, I’m looking for Kai and looking back at it I should have just texted or called or, something instead of showing up, but I really wanna talk to him, is he here? I saw a dead rat on the subway.” She drunkly rambled.

“Kai should be home soon, why not wait with me.”

“Okay.” She started crying because that’s just how drunk she was.

The two sat at couches as they tried to play shogi. Instead Pops let her pretend to know what she was doing as she talked.

“I just don’t know Pops, what are Kai and I? He’s so cute and he’s so nice to me, but he doesn’t even want me talking to his crew. God every time I talk about him I make him sound like a hip hop rapper.” She sobbed.

“Well when he gets here you can ask him, but I promise you, Kai likes you very much.” Pops promised.

“Yeah? When he gets old is he gonna own a koi pond and just feed the fish all day?” Y/n asked.

“I’m not sure.”

“I’m in a choir group to make friends and there’s a bunch of old ladies, maybe you might want to meet them if you’re not seeing anyone. I know you lost your wife to cancer.” She was still sobbing but Pops wasn’t judging. “And I told them that if they don’t find anyone at the retirement home I’ll take them clubbing and I’m not ready for clubbing with anyone.”

“Kai won’t make you go clubbing.”

“He’s such a prince, you raised him right.”

The front door unlocked and the awkward situation for Pops to be over. It was not the man of the hour, but instead Chrono.

“Oh my god, it’s you, the guy who bought a gun from my mom.” She was still sobbing.

“You don’t remember my name?” Chrono asked.

“No, I’m drunk and conflicted about so many things.”

“Chrono why not keep Y/n company, I’m old and tired”.

“Goodnight pops.” Y/n said like a person.

“This situation keeps happening. You drunk, me sober.”

“Oh my god, where is Kai?”

“He is taking care of some final things, I thought I would leave some paper work here.”

“Does he talk about me?”

“No because he told us not to talk about you, remember that?”

“I don’t even remember your name, and want me to remember things. Does he even like me?”

“Yes. That is an easy one.”

“You think he thinks I’m cute.”

“I would bet money on that.”

“I saw a dead rat on the subway and I thought that was an omen for my death and Kai showing up to my funeral saying he’s my friend and my mom is gonna be like damn wish he would have said more because she knows on the down low him and I are you know…”

“Wait you think Kai is gonna speak at your funeral.”

“He’s gotta be a leader. He’d be like Y/n was sufficient at cooking and she made people smile, her only downfall was having periods.”

“I’m sure he knows that periods are inevitable.”

“You were friends with him after I left, you there when school gave him the puberty talk? We’re they honest?” Y/n asked.

“Let’s call him to make sure he knows the truth about periods.”

“No, I’m too drunk to make phone calls.”

“But not too drunk to go to someone’s house?”

“I just feel like if I explained my system, you wouldn’t understand.”

“I would travel with you.”

“Girls trip!” She sang. “But on the real real, I don’t know if you could handle my thunder I love hotel rooms and pools.”

“Is that a-“

“Oh my god, that wasn’t sexual.”

Kai came through the door, he was stressed that the meeting took longer than intended and he didn’t understand why they had as many questions as they did, unless they were undercover cops. He found Y/n and Chrono sitting in the front room. She looked a little disheveled.

#bnha #bnha fanfiction #overhaulxreader #overhaul #chisaki kaixreader #chisaki kai #xreader

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ghostmartyr · 6 years ago

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SnK 115 Thoughts

-munches popcorn-

Dude. Can you imagine how screwed they’d all be if plot magic wasn’t a thing?

Can you imagine how screwed they all still are even though plot magic is a thing?

The rest of the world doesn’t even need to be here for this. If they wait long enough, everyone on Paradis will kill everyone on Paradis, and then in the near future titans will stop showing up.

Good End.

Wait, no. Uh.

Bad End.

Oh, but this chapter gives me a headache. Zeke gives me a headache. Eren gives me a headache. Like, giving me a headache is not way up there in difficulty, but these people and their convoluted euthanasia plans.

Usually chronological musings are my friend, but I think this time I’m going to just head in whatever direction I can make head or tails of.

The good new is that Yelena wants to help me with that. Thanks Yelena. Color-coding all the characters is a great shortcut for understanding who’s on whose side, and I can’t see any of our plucky protagonists ever taking advantage of that.

White for the Yeagerists, Red for the scared traitors, Black for enemies. Cute. White flags for surrender, red for blood on their hands, and black for--oh, I guess that’s a pirate reference. Does Paradis have pirate references?

Yer marked with the black spot, matey. Not a one of us foolhardy enough to accept a heading from a man so cursed.

In any case, I do appreciate that we’re having people point out that a bunch of parties are doing the pointing Spider-Man meme. Yes, we are imitating Marley. They created a clerical helpfulness, why wouldn’t we imitate that?

Yes, we are imitating the evil Eldian Empire. They had power, why wouldn’t we be fans of that?

The happy days of the Volunteers buddying up to the Scouts seem far away with Yelena unmasked and at the helm. I fully expect that some, like Onyankopon, aren’t perfectly at ease following through on this, but. Well.

These are the people who have survived Marley’s destruction of their homes. They follow Zeke to see Marley collapse. They kill, spy, and betray in pursuit of that cause. They’ve always been dangerous. Paradis has been cautious with them, but Yelena’s right about the dual nature of that caution. They’re cool being friends with Paradis, and maybe if that had gone both ways no one would have to be held hostage, but these have always been the methods they’re willing to put into play.

A very angry little boy from Shiganshina once wanted revenge so badly that it put veteran soldiers on edge.

These people were soldiers before they became spies. They are the adult version of that vengeance. Paradis is new to the world. Their only enemies have been titans and each other. Titans are now mostly gone. They only have other humans to deal with, and they’re flopping hard.

The Volunteers have lived in the outside world. They have actual, viable strategies to deal with these fledgling chicks.

All it takes is some wine, and they’ve gathered all Paradis’ military force to Shiganshina. By asking politely and pointing a few guns along the way, but still. Paradis is completely overthrown by a few drinks and Zeke having power that they invited to the island themselves.

Yelena herself continues to be entirely too much fun. That isn’t really the right word for it, but she’s a pleasure. She knows the full plan, and deeply admires the Titans to the point of fanaticism. Zeke is her God, and the number of things standing between that assertion being true is...

Eren?

Basically?

Part of what makes this chapter so... oy is that these people have taken so many complicated problems and simplified them with their destructive stupidity, only for those simplifications to create further complicated issues while the actual solutions for them are so minimal and limited that the direction of the plot is really quite simple.

We were dealing with Paradis needing help reentering the world.

Now we’re dealing with keeping Eren and Zeke as far away as possible so they don’t sterilize all the Eldians.

If people we care about live through all this, maybe then we will go back to caring about Paradis’ international relations, but as of right now, there could not be less of a point.

So the name of the game is keep away, only since absolutely nothing except bad weather is impacting that, the secondary name of the game is oh no oh hell oh fuck Eren how much do you actually agree with your brother do we have to kill you aw fuck.

Starring Pieck.

What I keep coming back to is how complicated this nonsense is.

It stands to reason that what Eren wants is not in line with what Zeke wants. More on that in a bit, but for the purposes of right now, if Eren and Zeke are in total agreement, the Eldians are going to be sterilized and the rest of the manga will be spent trying to feed Eren to someone while Zeke is nommed by Historia, and then the new Founding Duo resets everything and oh gee hey is that the entire world outside our door?

And you know, maybe the outside world would be a little less bloodthirsty if Eren hadn’t murdered a bunch of people during an international spectacle, but apparently following Zeke’s plan is important.

Even though they don’t need Zeke for the Founding Duo, because they have Historia.

Wait no, she’s pregnant because Zeke said she had to be, even though any child she has could potentially undo all his work, so she can’t eat Zeke, so Zeke has to be part of the Founding Duo.

Like... Whatever Eren is planning on doing.

He needs the Founding Titan powers. Right? That’s settled.

So, naturally, the thing to do is to massacre a bunch of innocent people (while massacring some very non-innocent people), making every other country pissed enough at Paradis to start a joint military operation to wipe them out, and that will all be absolutely fine because between him and Zeke, after the rest of the world bombs Paradis to kingdom come, yay, no more Eldians.

Also no living in peace for their final days, no exploring the outside world, no anything really, just a lot of war.

“Hi I’m Eren, I just found out if I touch a royal titan I will have enough power to rewrite DNA, along with who knows the fuck what else, I think cooperating with Zeke in a plan all of my superior officers have vetoed and telling them nothing about what I’m really doing is the way to go.”

As far as I can tell (and we’re on the train of Eren having something else going on here, as will be covered... later), the only reason Eren causes so much destruction at the festival is because it’s in Zeke’s plan, and a happy Zeke is easier to smuggle onto an airship without anyone noticing.

Only people did notice.

There’s a person who stabs a guy this chapter who most assuredly noticed. She is there stabbing someone because she noticed.

Noticing happened.

I’m just going to throw this out here:

If you need the Founding Titan’s power that badly, turn Historia into a mindless titan.

Seriously. Tie her down, have larger chains at the ready, and just go for it.

This is not hard. Looking at the plot, who gives a fuck that the Queen isn’t around? She’s clearly not doing anything, jab her in the neck and go for it. Mindless titans are functionally immortal. You wouldn’t need to worry about her having kids or waiting for those kids to be old enough, or trading off to the next heir when their time comes. Or heck, consent.

One person. One sacrifice.

Boom, you have magic powers now that you can do... honestly at this point I’m more waiting for what they can’t do.

The amount you do not need Zeke for a plan requiring the Founding Titan’s powers is ridiculous.

So why is it so important to go along with his plan?

It make for a meta point in this meta, but unless Eren has something of his own going on here, there is very little drama to this situation. Eren and Zeke meet, their version of the Snap happens, we all go home sad. Paradis has lost so badly already they might as well be waving those white Yeagerist armbands over their heads.

Something has to change for the plot to move forward and for everyone to not die. The rest of the world is coming for them whether or not Zeke and Eren’s Snap goes off.

But it is completely beyond me why any plan would require hitching up to Zeke’s orbit for so long. Zeke’s plan is really only good for Zeke’s plan. Sterilization means no more Eldians eventually. The living Eldians still have to deal with everyone newly pissed at them because of the Yeager Bros’ stunt.

Looking at Zeke and Eren’s conversation...

Geez, just look at Zeke’s face when Eren calls him “brother.”

Zeke is a broken boy from a broken home, and Eren is his brother. Someone who’s been through the same things and can understand the world the same way. His little brother is finally talking to him, talking about all the horrible things their horrible father did, and instead of agreeing with Grisha, his little brother looks at him and says that their plan will create a beautiful new world.

You could not script a faster way to Zeke’s heart.

Eren talks about Grisha’s obsession and rejects it.

He talks about being a mistake.

He talks about ending it.

Together.

We haven’t seen any thought bubbles from Eren. This conversation with Zeke is the closest we get to... anything, really, except for his very long talk with Reiner.

But we’ve seen his perspective of Grisha’s murders before. We’ve seen what it does to him, and how desperately he wants to be erased from the world. We see him begging for death, because his life just makes it all so very hard for the Eldian people.

We see him doing everything he possibly can to cut that thinking out of himself.

Eren’s leaving something out in his recreation of events.

Two things, sort of, but the same thing.

“If those children stayed alive... I’d have been gobbled right up to give the Founding Titan back to the royal family.”

“Never having to be born in this world... Is the greatest salvation of all.”

Eren’s alive because one of the royal family’s children survives, and decides not to eat him. There’s no telling if one of the other Reiss children would have made the same decision, but it would have been a decision. Historia has that decision dangling over her head for chapters until she finally decides, while Eren’s begging for his death, that all of it is fucked up and she’s out.

Someone makes a choice.

Eren lives.

Way back in Trost, which is a sentence I will probably never be done typing, we have our first introduction to what it means to our main character to be born.

“When we’re born… all of us… are free. People who reject that, no matter how strong they are… don’t matter.” --14

The thing Eren leaves out when he talks to Zeke is freedom.

There was a royal child left.

That child saves his life.

From the moment they’re all born, they have the power to choose. They can make their own decisions. Their own mistakes. They can fight their own battles.

“He’s already great. Because he was born… into this world.” --71

Eren, and Eren’s mother long before him, believed that being human is pretty rad. Being born, and being free, is extraordinary, and Eren starts off on his own journey to become the freest person he can possibly be.

It starts from birth.

Eren and Zeke’s stated plan flies in the face of everything Eren has fought for. He’s had moments where he believes the world would be better off without him, but never that it would be better off without other people. Eren parrots back Zeke’s exact ideology regardless, and calls him his brother.

The conversation is too doctored to be anything but intentional, much like his discussion with Armin and Mikasa. He is going after the exact heart of the situation, and making his case mirror Zeke’s so well that Zeke doesn’t flinch at sharing everything with his little brother he’s never known. Eren crosses the ocean to talk to him, and they do, and it’s great, and they’re going to save the world!

We’ve learned what Zeke thinks of his plan.

I would argue we have yet to hear a single honest thought from Eren about it. Everything he states belongs to Zeke.

Which makes the lengths he’s going to accomplish Zeke’s wishes sort of dodgy.

Like literally everything Eren does seems kind of dodgy.

Including what the Yeagerists are doing in gathering up all their military personnel in Shiganshina.

YEAH I SURE AM GLAD NOTHING SUSPECT OR ALARMING IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN OH BOY HOWDY.

The one thing Eren had left on his checklist was looking out for spies, and speak of the devil, Pieck! He asks and she shows up! Impressively, it’s surprising enough for Eren to bother looking surprised, but. it’s.

It’s still exactly what he wanted. Congrats, you found an infiltrator. You win.

Though Pieck... What the heck do you think that gun’s going to do?

Oh well, go Pieck. Go Team Proactivity. Win some for all the kiddos. Except you’re probably on Marley’s side (I would so love for you not to be), so I want you to win precisely nothing, but. Well, you can hug Gabi maybe.

So did anything else happen this chapter? No?

I’m going to go with no.

Little Ymir Fritz patching Zeke up amongst the stars is a total no.

So is Levi pulling half a Marco.

Memeception, there.

Yeah... Levi was in trouble before he and Hange took a dip, so I can only imagine the number of other body parts he’ll be losing now. Gosh.

This had better not turn Evangelion.

I will only be slightly less miffed if it pulls the Madoka it looks like it’s wanting to.

The Code Geass in the middle of it all is unavoidable at this point, just embrace it.

#Shingeki no Kyojin #SnK 115 #shingeki no spoilers #SnK spoilers #spoilers #tl;dr #chapter post

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theotherwesley · 7 years ago

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Wesley Watches And Rates All The Faust Operas

You thought I was kidding, but here we are:

*I am not an expert, and my advice should never be followed. I am but a humble nerd with a passion, dragging you along on my youtube-tour. You probably shouldn’t quote me, but using this as a starting point and guide to this particular musical and literary phenomenon is encouraged! The information below was gleaned largely from wikipedia, vague memories of my BA degree, and my own assessment of the source materials.

My ratings are based on my subjective enjoyment, and a few preferential criterion such as: 1) Was Mephistopheles fuckable, 2) Did I get to see an orgy of witches, 3)Does Marguerite pass the Sexy Lampshade Test, and 4) Was Faust Dragged to Hell.

Preliminary Notes: originally, the legend of Doctor Faust came from the sixteenth century and was inspired by one man (or possibly two who were later conflated), Johann SpidersGeorg Faust, who was your average practitioner of Renaissance Magic. He was not an especially savory individual; he had racked up quite a criminal record and been boastful enough of his “christlike” abilities to heal the sick and perform miracles that he’d seriously annoyed the church. He was denied entry into a city due to accusations of Necromancy and Sodomy. Being an alchemist, Faust got up to some particularly adventurous chemistry experiments, the last of which failed so spectacularly that his lab exploded and the doctor was reduced to his component parts. His remains after death were so gruesome that his colleagues came to the obvious conclusion: He’d been personally dragged to Hell by Satan himself. AND THUS WAS A LEGEND BORN.

The story of Faust was told and disseminated in sixteenth century chapbooks (early printing-press zines, if you will) as a dramatic morality tale. It is from the chapbooks we originally get the character of Mephistopheles, the pact exchanging 24 years of service for the soul, the famulus named Wagner, the wild adventures through various courts, and the conjuration of Helen of Troy. Aside from in the chapbooks, there is one version of Chrisopher Marlowe’s play Doctor Faustus, where the titular character is torn asunder by demons as he is dragged to hell-- but unfortunately for me, a known B-movie horror enthusiast-- this ending appears in no subsequent retellings of the Faust legend. Cowards.

Goethe’s play Faust is obviously the most famous adaptation of the legend, and through it the legend turns from a cautionary tale to a story of hubris, love, faith, and philosophy. If you’re not already familiar with Faust, you might take a moment to read it or at least check out the act summaries. You’ll understand everything that references it a lot better if you do, even if you just read Part I (the second part gets a bit tedious unless you have a fetish for Herodotus and metaphysics-- but there’s a cute homunculus in a bottle! and talking sphinxes and griffons! and kinky rose petals! Angel butts!!!).

Armed with this knowledge, let the opera tour begin:

Faust (1816, Louis Spohr)

--The Libretto with English translation

--Playlist of the whole opera

It’s very pretty! The style and over-all sound reminds me of a Mozart opera, which, I guess, is not too surprising considering they were more or less contemporaries who trained and worked in similar circles. (Louis Spohr! He did collaborations with Beethoven! He invented the violin chinrest! Who knew! Not me! Anyway--) This Faust is not based on either Marlowe or Goethe’s Faust, but rather some miscellaneous adventures from the early Faust legends and chapbook pamphlets. In this version Faust ensnares a devil named Mephistopheles to his service, vowing to use his powers for the good of mankind. Great plan! That always goes well!

There’s a love potion, a flying cape, a duel with an outraged rival-- all the usual necessities for a Faust story, only now there’s not one but TWO young women screwed over by Faust’s philandering! (His first love, Röschen, and erstwhile damsel-in-distress, Kunilingus. ....*checks notes*, sorry, no, “Kunigunde”). Mephistopheles is cattily insightful, the wronged women team up to avenge themselves against their seducer, and yes, yes indeed, Faust Is Dragged To Hell!

The poetry of the libretto is quite pleasing, it’s got some great dialogue and epic fantasy sequences. Mephistopheles puts on show of infernal pyrotechnics with 17th century stage effects, all of them tremendous fire hazards. Someone gets dragged to Hell by a chorus of dancing goblins before Act 1 even finishes-- O my cup runneth over! We get the witches’ sabbath atop Mt Blocksberg, there’s a guest appearance by Sycorax, everyone gets real horny up there with a love potion, it’s great.

Mephistopheles seems to be on the ladies’ side in the story (as much as he’s on any human’s side), in that he cautions them not to trust Faust, and urges them on when they FREAKING TEAM UP AND GO TO SEEK VENGEANCE. Oh my god it’s so great. Kunigunde attacks Faust and Faust freaks out and tells Mephistopheles to save him and Meph is all “what’s that? I don’t know, suddenly I can’t read”. Meph is also the one doing all the actual rescuing of distressed maidens, at Faust’s behest. He views Faust’s attempts to break the laws of Love and Nature with contempt, knowing that Faust’s soul is on the fast track to Hell. There’s no actual pact here; Meph is the one being held hostage. He makes sure that Faust doesn’t enjoy any of the spoils of his sorcery, so Faust’s ennui and dissatisfaction remain the same as before he began his quest to “Use Hell’s Powers For Good”.

And just quick review of the scoreboard: Faust used his powers to do 1 (one) useful thing with his power before he ruined a bunch of people’s lives in quick succession, murdering Kunigunde’s betrothed and driving Rose to suicide. He still cries about it and the “rich seeds of Good he sowed” but Meph is having none of it and HE. DRAGS. THAT. BOY. TO. HELL!!!!!!! EXEUNT.

Rating: 4/5 Stars. Better than expected! I want a revival of this version! With stabbing! And special effects! Mephistopheles is truly doing the Lord’s work here, no offense to his demonship. Lost some points with me for being so very, very heavy on the pining and lovesick maidens, but won me back when the lovesick maidens picked up daggers.

Faust and Marguerite (1855, Lutz) and Faust up to Date (1888, Lutz)

Straight up can’t find this one! But this early silent film short is apparently based on it? IDK folks, if you have a recording of this you’d like to share with me, I’d be delighted to hear it.

As for the burlesque, I suspect it hasn’t actually been performed since 1888. But the music is pretty cute! The Pas de Quatre, aka “Skirt Dance” seems to be the only track that’s stuck around. Here it is played on an old disc music box.

Rating: ???

La damnation de Faust (1846, Berlioz)

--Libretto in French and English

--La Damnation de Faust with Jonas Kaufmann --I like this one because Faust is super duper cute and this Mephistopheles reminds me of an OC makes yellow work.

--This is the first of what I’m called The Big Three Faust Plays; all modeled after Goethe’s Faust specifically, written within roughly ten years of each other, and which feature the most well-known arias that I’m aware of.

This opera positively reeks of Romanticism; it’s got Byron out the ears, it’s wading through Wordsworth, it’s doing the Grand Tour, it’s gazing mournfully from the top of Mont Blanc, contemplating Nature and the Human Spirit. It’s Berlioz, buckle up.

The beginning is obviously Faust wallowing in ennui. He considers suicide, but is interrupted by a timely reminder of Christianity. Suddenly the devil appears in order to take advantage of a soul precariously teetering on the edge between redemption and damnation. In this version, the devil does not announce himself as the devil, but rather as the ~Spirit of Life~, here to show Faust the joys of the world. (There’s no pact at first, Meph is just “get in bitch we’re going debauching” and Faust’s like “aight” and they’re off.) The devil takes Faust on a fun tour of life’s noteworthy attractions such as “Drunk Student Karaoke”, “Dancing Gnomes”, and “A Nice Forest Nap”.

During his magical nap Faust sees a vision of Marguerite (later we learn she has simultaneously dreamed of Faust) and falls in love. He awakes with the usual boner for this Maiden of Radiant and Humble Virtue who Nature Hath Sheltered In Perfect Simplicity, because that’s always a big turn-on. Meph steers the course of their interactions very carefully, using magic and fairies and wisps to enchant the couple’s surroundings to ensure they are surrounded by romantic atmosphere the whole time. Once they’ve gotten into some heavy necking, he bursts in and tells them that the whole town is coming with pitchforks and also someone’s told the girl’s mother and they’re in big trouble. Faust flees.

Everyone does some quality Pining, Faust sings a sad song about Nature, and then Meph shows up again saying “hey I hope this doesn’t put a damper on our vacation, but Marguerite is in prison for murder and she’s going to be executed BUT QUICK, ACT NOW AND WE CAN SAVE HER for just one quick easy payment of your immortal soul” and Faust is just like “WHAT WHERE WHO WHAT UH FINE YES SURE OKAY SHIT, WOW, LET’S GO” and Meph is >:))) and they jump on their horses and ride off to go save her except OOPS, NO THEY DON’T because actually they are RIDING INTO THE WAITING JAWS OF HELL!!!! NYAK NYAK NYAK NYEEEEEHHHHH!!! Faust burns for eternity, Marguerite goes to heaven, curtain.

Rating: 3.5/5 Look, I’m not saying I’m biased, but Mephistopheles doesn’t even show up until half an hour into the opera, okay? I find this one hard to sit through even though the music is really delightful; and I do mean it is gorgeous music. Between the two famous mocking serenades, “Devant la maison” shoots “Vous quid faites l’endormie” right out of the water; all the chorus pieces are fantastic; the Hungarian March is a great instrumental piece; Faust actually has some decent arias for once (rarer in each subsequent opera), and there is Brander’s wonderfully irreverent Rat Song... I think the reason this doesn’t hold my attention as much as other versions is that the plot is very meandering and the characters don’t have concrete motivations; they’re sad teenagers in love, I guess? And the devil tricks them? This whimsical aspect is 1000% part and parcel of the Romantic Aesthetic I realize, but personally I came for a recognizable story and got mostly pastoral vignettes. We spend half the opera listening to Frolicking Peasants and Men At Arms. Mephistopheles just hops out of the woodwork to play a dirty trick on a random guy getting his Byronic Mope on. There’s no pact, no soul-signing until the very end, and it’s just a plain ol’ tricky trap, not a device to punish hubris or moral crimes. I’m even reluctant to give this its rightful Dragged To Hell points because out of all the Faust scenarios, this is the one where he seems to deserve it the least! He doesn’t actually do anything bad! It’s not satisfying if he’s dragged to Hell for no reason! Pfui. However, points gained back for the made-up Satanic babble sung by infernal chorus at the end.

Faust (1859, Gounod)

--Libretto in French and English

--1995 Adaptation with Samuel Ramey as Mephistopheles You already know I’m a slut for Samuel Ramey playing the devil in any capacity so I’ll spare you my gushing play-by-play of his performance. The quality of this video is.... not great. I apologize. I still love it, but you’re going to want to find a clearer recording of the music if you want to get the most out of this opera.

--2011 Adaptation with Paul Gay as Mephistopheles (Warning: this version is quite lurid and includes some staging choices that I find pretty uncomfortable-- I can’t decide if the director is consciously trying to highlight predatory sexism as a bad thing or if it’s just kind of included to make things seem ~spicy~. Anyway, it’s otherwise a high quality production with an interesting set design, just be warned that there’s some on-stage grossness. Also, a hilariously bad decapitated head prop! --to accompany a truly baffling ending. To its credit, the death of Valentin was genuinely pretty moving and made me feel... er, well, anything about the character. Tassis Christoyannis’s made that aria memorable, which is more than I can say of other productions.

Second of the Big Three!

Gounod introduces a more complete cast of characters borrowed from Goethe’s Faust to flesh out the the story and setting; we meet Wagner the student, a regiment of soldiers including Marguerite’s brother, Valentin, and their young friend Siebel (a pants role-- which immediately endears me to this character because I’m a ~big ol’ queer~). Later we meet Marguerite’s nosy old neighbor, Martha, who is REAL thirsty for Mephistopheles and who I relate to very much.

This opera follows Goethe’s Faust- Part I much more closely than its predecessor, and where it does not follow the original, it diverges in favor of making the story more engaging and streamlined. There is WAY LESS pining into the aether, and more sword fights. The larger cast of named characters makes for more interactions, which in turn makes for more memorable moments on stage, better dialogue, a comprehensible timeline of events, and more concrete motivations for everyone.

A SUMMARY: Faust’s pact in this version has nothing to do with the philosophical wager seen in Goethe, but is simply an exchange of his soul for returned youth. He is old, he’s spent his life studying, he wants to be young and full of passion again. He seals the deal after the devil offers him a vision of Marguerite, whose sight is so inspiring and lovely that Faust is overcome with desire for her alone. They go to find her, encountering on the way a regiment of students and soldiers, one of whom is Marguerite’s brother, Valentin, who is going off to war leaving his sister in the care of young Siebel. Getting Marguerite to stop and talk to Faust proves difficult since she is so pure and virtuous that A) Mephistopheles has no power over her, and B) she’s wary of the compliments of strangers. Faust gets Mephistopheles to bring her a case of jewels to warm her up to him, then Mephistopheles concocts a ruse to distract her nosy neighbor Martha and give them an excuse to meet Marguerite (shenanigans ensue). The ploy works, Marguerite is seduced, and in love with Faust. Cut to some time in the future, when Oh No Everything Has Gone Horribly Wrong; Faust has gone away and left Marguerite pregnant and unmarried, she is shunned by society with the exception of Siebel, meanwhile her brother has come home from the war to find her in a disgrace. Faust and Mephistopheles eventually return, but encounter an enraged Valentin who duels Faust to avenge his sister’s honor. Faust, of course, uses Mephistopheles’s magic to cheat, and Valentin is fatally stabbed. With his dying breaths, he curses his sister and blames her for his death, since he died defending her honor-- the people who witness this are rightfully aghast that he’d use his last moments to denounce his own sister-- and rightly so, because that’s a real dick move. Faust flees, and Marguerite is left on her own with no support and a newborn child to care for. She seeks refuge and forgiveness in the church, but finds she cannot pray, haunted by voices and cursed by Mephistopheles himself, as he whispers in her ear, promising damnation. She faints, and is presumably driven mad. Cut to Faust, who is being treated to a front-row seat of Walpurgisnacht. During the revels he sees another vision of Marguerite, this time of her in chains and awaiting execution for the murder of her child. Mephistopheles grudgingly takes Faust to see her in prison, where he tries to rescue her. In her fevered state she will not leave, wanting Faust to instead stay with her in the cell. During the delay, she sees Mephistopheles and finally puts two and two together, knowing a devil when she sees one, and understanding that Faust is not only responsible for her suffering but also in league with infernal powers. She pushes him aside, rejects him, and throws herself instead on the mercy of God, choosing death and redemption over being rescued by the man whose affections ruined her. Mephistopheles ruefully pronounces her condemned, but a voice from Heaven pronounces her Saved. Faust watches in awe as Marguerite’s soul ascends to Heaven, and he is left alone and presumably damned.

Why is this framing of the story significant? Because it’s about her. Faust is only an instrument; his soul is not especially remarkable, he might have been damned without any devil to encourage him.

But Marguerite’s soul was untouchable to Mephistopheles; he puts a vision of her before Faust for a reason. We don’t waste any time bemoaning Faust’s moral downfall; Faust is not the one seeking redemption at the end of the opera. Faust is a means to an end, and that end is leading an otherwise spotless soul into perdition.

This opera has Mephistopheles at his most sinister, his most manipulative; he is the one driving Marguerite deeper into misfortune, who isolates her, mocks her, whispers condemnation into her ear her until she doubts everything. Desperate, without support and seeing no way forward, no future for herself or her child, Marguerite kills her baby, or is led to do so by Mephistopheles. Without a doubt, this has been the devil’s plan all along, and with Marguerite now branded a murderess, he thinks he’s won. But Faust, despite taking no responsibility for his actions, nevertheless feels pity and remorse at her misfortune, and goes to rescue her--and this gives Marguerite the chance to finally see what he is.

She rejects him; she does not choose love, she does not choose to live or be rescued by the forces that ruined her in the first place. She stays, renews her faith, and thwarts Mephistopheles’s best efforts to damn her. This is not about a man's hubris; it is about Marguerite escaping the devil and saving herself on her own terms. That’s why I find this version to be poignant.

Some musical highlights: “Le veau d’or” (the golden calf)-- if not my favorite of Mephistopheles’s ballads then in the top three, particularly because it lends itself to some flamboyant acting; Marguerite’s “Ballade un roi de Thulé” (the king of Thule) is absolutely haunting; and "Seigneur, daignez permettre", aka The Church Scene is fucking incredible-- the juxtaposition of Marguerite’s pleas and the choir’s Dies Irae, the echoing church organs in the background, Damnation seeming to gain a voice of its own to summon her... it’s some real Eyes-of-Notre-Dame Hellfire shit.

Rating: 5/5! A perfect score! Gounod wins the first place ribbon. Though he beats Boito’s “Mefistofele” (up next) on several key points, I want you to know that my personal bias will probably always be in favor of “Mefistofele” on account of being a ho for the titular character. --But Gounod’s is the better opera, fair and square. “Faust” has the most comprehensive storyline, the most memorable arias, and the best (I think) balance of both humor and poignance. I will give this version the benefit of a Dragged to Hell point even though we don’t actually get to see the final deed. The Walpurgisnacht scene does exist as a ballet, so I’ll still give it the points even though it gets cut out of most productions for length (sometimes the ballet is performed as a stand-alone event). Additionally, he scores most favorably on the Marguerite > Sexy Lampshade scale-- this is a story about her more than it’s about Faust or Mephistopheles, and I’m here for that.

Thank you Mr. Gounod, you may retrieve your Incredibly Prestigious Award from my blog after the ceremony.

Mefistofele (1868, Boito)

--Libretto in Italian and English

--HERE IT IS, MY FAVORITE ONE, MY FAVORITE MEPHISTOPHELES, SAMUEL RAMEY, MOSTLY SHIRTLESS, FLIPPING OFF GOD AND LIGHTING A CIGARETTE ON STAGE IN HIS MATCHING CHERRY-RED TAILCOAT AND VIOLIN CASE 1989 (WHICH IS THE YEAR OF MY BIRTH, NO COINCIDENCE, I THINK)

--Oh, fun fact! The opera scene in Batman Begins is the chorus from the witches sabbath. If you thought it sounded familiar, this might be why.

Anyway. This is the third of the Big Three most-referenced Faust operas!

Unlike its predecessors, Mefistofele covers both part I and part II of Goethe’s Faust, starting with the seduction of Marguerite and moving on to serenading Helen of Troy and finally with Faust’s redemption. The first part of the opera is very similar to Gonoud’s Faust, but first there is a Prologue, which is taken pretty much directly from Goethe. And oh my god, is the Prologue hilarious. We encounter Mephistopheles, the titular character, on his way to work-- or more just loitering around in the aether as one does when one is bored and immortal and humanity is going on sinning with or without you, when he stops to greet the Lord God in passing, all satirical charm and sarcasm. God, very graciously, does not ask him whether he has anything better to do, but instead inquires if he knows Faust.

“Oh yeah, that guy. Neck beard, likes science, big fan of yours. Sure I’ve heard of him,” says Meph. “Hey, you seem like a betting man--”

“Um,” says God.

Meph continues; “I bet I can tempt him into sinning and thus damn his immortal soul to Hell!”

God agrees-- because God already knows the future and thinks this will be a fun way to build character.

A choir of angels descends and Mephistopheles gets grossed out, sprays them with insect repellent, and leaves. (I am paraphrasing).

The next few scenes are pretty familiar; Faust laments his ennui, a chorus of peasants and students celebrate a festival, Faust is on the cusp of a revelation that Jesus is neat, but is interrupted by the devil. The devil introduces himself, offers Faust his services on earth if Faust agrees to serve him in Hell after death.

Faust, who seconds ago was ready to devote himself to a life of holiness, sayeth “yolo” and they shake on it, with the condition that Mephistopheles can reveal to him one moment of such surpassing joy and beauty that Faust will wish for it to last forever-- thereupon Faust consents to being dragged immediately to Hell. Because pssh, that’s later and who cares about later?? They hop on Mephistopheles’s magic cape, and fly off to have adventures. CUT TO: Faust seducing Marguerite and Mephistopheles distracting her nosy neighbor Martha. THEY KISS, FAUST LEAVES, HE GOES TO A PARTY ON MT. BROCKEN. HE SEES A VISION: MARGUERITE IN PRISON! QUICK, TO THE RESCUE! BUT NO, SHE REJECTS HIM, HER SOUL IS SAVED, SHE DIES-- Wait, what? I hear you ask-- She just got here, she wasn’t even introduced, now we’re skipping to the end? The answer is: yes. Yes, you’re just supposed to know what’s going on already.

To be fair, Faust operas are the Spiderman remakes of the nineteenth century; there’s a new one coming out every ten years or so, Goethe is required reading, everyone is writing Faust fanfiction-- no one is wondering who the girl is or how they met or is wondering if they’ll kiss or not. Everyone knows the plot already, it’s fine.

BUT THIS ISN’T THE END! No indeed! Now we are on a tour of PART II of Goethe’s Faust! You know, the part you skipped! Don’t worry, Boito isn’t making the entire metaphysical play into an opera, just the juicy bits with Helen of Troy. Marguerite is instantly and completely forgotten-- this is now a Helen/Faust one-shot, which Mephistopheles is forced to watch with annoyance.

CUT TO: Faust’s old laboratory from Act 1, where he is on the brink of death, lost in a reverie of all the good times he’s had. Mephistopheles is hovering over him, tapping his wristwatch and reminding Faust of his past loves and glories, incredulous that Faust hasn’t yet found his One True Moment™.

Faust just sighs and says “gee, I guess the REAL happiness was the good I could have done along the way but absolutely didn’t!” and God busts in through the ceiling with a HALLELUJAH and Mephistopheles is like “oh don’t you dare, don’t you fucking-- THINK OF ALL THE GOOD TIMES WE HAD, ALL THE SEXY LADIES I GOT YOU TO MEET! AFTER ALL I’VE DONE FOR YOU AS YOUR WINGMAN--” and Faust faceplants into the bible and goes straight to Heaven. Meph is left spitting in defiance as he sinks into the earth. THE END.

Why this framing is significant: The way Boito has arranged and cropped the scenes makes this story very much center around Mephistopheles. While Berlioz’s Faust was about the suffering of a young man for love, and Gounod’s was about the victory of Marguerite over Hell, Boito’s opera is about the humorous tragedy of Mephistopheles, whose endeavor was rigged to fail from the onset.

Faust doesn't end up in Hell in Goethe's version, and I accept this because Mephistopheles lost his bet on a technicality: the Moment™ Faust wished to prolong was not provided by Mephistopheles, it was caused by his sincere desire to do a last bit of good in the world, coming to the conclusion (after being made blind by the goddess of Care) that benefiting mankind is what brings one happiness, not knowledge or fleeting pleasures. It wasn’t that he suddenly found Christ or gave himself over to God, as the opera implies, but because he finally realized the worth of striving to do good, and fond a source of platonic love within himself, which makes his soul redeemable despite his pact with the devil. So Goethe gives us a humanist, philosophical explanation for Faust's redemption..... BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY-- he has Mephistopheles lose Faust's immortal soul because he's Too Fucking Horny For An Angel Boy’s Ass. (I know when I’m being pandered to.)

Unfortunately, Boito misses the whole philosophical trajectory of Goethe’s Faust and reduces it to a simple morality-play where a sinner is saved on his deathbed merely by acknowledging the hereafter. He doesn’t suffer blindness, he doesn’t actually DO anything good in his last hour, he just repents and decides Heaven is real after all at the last possible second before kicking the bucket. It would be disappointing, IF that were the point of the story. But that’s not where the drama is!

Like Gounod’s Faust, the focus was never really on the doctor at all; his redemption is not what we paid to see. It’s Mephistopheles’s reaction to losing Faust’s soul that makes the ending interesting, not the fact that Faust gets a free pass to Heaven.

Highlights of this version: It’s fucking hilarious, and Mephistopheles is the star of the entire show. His arias are in turns sinister and sardonic, playful and powerful. The dialogue is taken directly from Goethe’s Faust in most cases (translated into Italian obviously), and hey, the dialogue in Goethe is really funny and good and witty! Hard to go wrong!

“Ave Signor” (Hail, Lord!) is such a terrific opener; there will always be something delightful about the idea of the devil conversationally sassing God and daring to make a bet with the Almighty in the spirit of work-place rivalry. “Son Lo Spirito Che Nega Sempre Tutto” (I Am the Spirit That Denieth All Things) is full of dark bravado and rebellion, whistling defiance at the Lord. It’s a great Villain Song and as someone with sympathy for the devil it is completely my jam. “Ecco Il Mondo” (Behold the World) is both teasing and menacing and the staging lends itself to some glorious melodrama. “Ah! Su! Riddiamo, riddiamo” (Turning, turning) gets a prize for being the best infernal chorus and witches’ sabbath scene out of all of them-- it’s frenzied and spooky and satanic and whirling, everything you could want from an orgy of infernal creatures. Ten out of five stars, would exalt Satan to again.

Rating: 4.5 / 5 stars. Second place prize, and Honorable Mention for being the judge’s favorite. It’s not perfect. The story leaves much to be desired-- let’s face it, Part II of “Faust” isn’t especially... dynamic on its own, and especially when condensed to fit into opera format, the events don’t add up into a satisfying narrative. Boito glosses over some frankly essential elements in the original and just has Faust skip right from his life-ruining adultery to being carried to Heaven on the backs of angels-- just for thinking of all the good he *could* have done if he hadn’t been, you know, a real stinker this whole time. So I’m not giving Boito a pass for omitting Faust’s Hell Dragging. Furthermore, this play is woefully short on Marguerita; she basically just shows up to be seduced and then a second later is Ruined and Saved. Booo.

But hey-- is this play called “Faust”? Is this play called “Faust and Marguerita”? No. This play is called motherfuckin’ “Mefistofele”, because it’s about Mephistopheles. It’s about our suave, under-appreciated servant of Hell working hard for his cut, trying and squeeze just ONE life-altering moment out of this absolute dehydrated turd of a man, and the play is rife with his frustration. He is the one who whistles in defiance of God, and he loses because it is *inevitable* that he loses. God was never going to let him win that bet; Meph was a tool in his ultimate design to shepherd Faust closer to redemption. Mephistopheles is dragged off stage whistling in defiance as a lifetime’s worth of effort is flushed down the drain in a single moment of seemingly undeserved redemption. Not for a *solitary second* did we want this opera to be about Faust. No. This is the devil’s opera, and that’s why it’s so fucking great.

Doktor Faust (1916–25, Busoni)

--Adaptation with Thomas Hampson 2006

--Libretto in German and English

...And now, a German libretto written by an Italian, in contrast with Boito’s Italian libretto translated from German.

God, this is such a modern ass Modern Opera. It does that thing I hate that modern operas do where the composer is like “What? You wanted a ~melody~? What is this, musical theater??” Like obviously they’ve transcended the need for anything so plebeian as a tune I can fucking hum. It’s very Intellectual, very High Art. The plot is full of tortured genius manpain, naval gazing, and I can’t remember a single aria from it. ...Okay, that’s a bit harsh; in the final two scenes Faust gets some lovely melancholy solos that actually stuck out to me. But this is a three hour long opera. So. Maybe skip ahead.

Plot-wise, this is the most existential of the bunch. No Marguerite in this one, just a Duchess with no name. Faust still ruins his lover’s life but in his final act he rejects both God and the Devil and uses his Supreme Human Will to transfer his life-force into his dead child’s body, resurrecting him as a young man with a blossoming frond of some kind. (Symbolism!!!)

--This marks the full 180 turnaround from “Faust is forcibly dragged to hell by Satan himself and his body explodes all over the stage” to “NOT ONLY IS FAUST REDEEMED OF HIS SINS BUT HE TRANSCENDS BOTH HEAVEN AND HELL WITH THE INDOMITABLE FORCE OF HIS HUMAN WILL, GOD IS DEAD, FAUST IS THE ÜBERMENSCH”, and to that I say *ptttttttbbbbbbbb*.

Rating: 1/5 stars. Plot is ponderously philosophical, overweighted with symbolism, and the music, while interesting, is largely forgettable with a few exceptions. Also it is Three Goddamn Hours Long. Points lost for nameless female character who fails the Lampshade Test. Loses further points for a dry and flavorless Mephisopheles, boooo.

The Rake's Progress (1951, Stravinsky)

--1992 production with Jerry Hadley and OH LOOK WHO IT IS IT’S SAMUEL RAMEY AGAIN HUH WELL DON’T MIND IF I DO this production is really, really well acted and funny and the dance portions are especially cool.

--Libretto in English and Italian

Another modern opera, this time by a composer I actually like!

Now, this isn’t technically a Faust opera; its based on a series of delightfully comedic prints by William Hogarth, detailing the decline and fall of a young man who inherits a huge sum of money, spurns his true love, and wastes his inheritance on foolish ventures and hookers, eventually ending up insane in Bedlam (I’m not saying tertiary syphilis, but definitely tertiary syphilis-- Let us take a moment to appreciate both condoms and penicillin.)

In the original paintings there is no deal-making devil, but but luckily he’s been added in by librettist W.H. Auden (who was intermittently friends and lovers with Christopher Isherwood!!!!-- I just wanted to add that because it makes my gay little heart very happy). The names are all vaudevillian puns, such as “Tom Rakewell”, “Anne Trulov”, and “Sellem, the Auctioneer”. Mephistopheles has been exchanged for the slick, modern Nick Shadow.

Highlights of this version: Baba the Turk, the bearded lady that Nick convinces Tom to marry as a demonstration of his free will (???). Listen: I know she’s meant to be comic relief and is an unflattering stereotype, but dang if she didn’t win my heart completely. I like that her marriage with Tom apparently falls apart, not necessarily because she’s a bearded lady, but because she’s just very chatty and overbearing and is much better traveled than Tom, and has had numerous wealthy and important suitors who she won’t shut up about. She’s knows her own worth and conducts herself accordingly, and is very vocal when she knows she’s being treated badly. She’s got Anne’s back when they meet at the auction of all Tom’s property (which she was included in as an object because she was under a spell of silence and immobility-- rude), telling her to watch out for Nick Shadow and generally being very forgiving and understanding about the whole affair; she was hurt that Tom lied about his affections, but she doesn’t blame Anne for it, which is wholesome. Then she announces that she’s going back to her career on the stage because she is BABA and she has had enough of these scrubs. Anyway. I love her. She’s described very beautifully if you happen to like beards, which I do (and so did the author).

“No Word From Tom” reminds me why I love Stravinsky so much (and Dawn Upshaw sings it like a nightingale). “Lanterloo My Lady” is spritely and fun and texturally interesting; besides, “sweet dreams my master, dreams may lie, but dream-- for when you wake you die” is chill-inducing. “How Dark and Dreadful is This Place” plus the whole card game in the cemetery is sad and grim and comical all at the same time; Tom is such a pathetic and naive mess you can’t help but feel sorry for him, even while Nick’s smugness is delicious. Tom’s mad songs are all quite touching and beautiful.

Rating: 4/5 stars. The libretto is really excellent, jazzy, full of great wordplay and aphorisms. Nick is a delightful Mephistopheles; thoroughly modern, witty, sly, arch, fourth-wall breaking. Faust is not dragged to hell, but he is condemned to insanity. Loses points for a female lead whose entire purpose in life is to babysit this asshole through his poor life decisions. Also, while certainly more memorable and melodic than Busoni’s Faust, it still has that sort of shouty modern opera sound that I find a little challenging to listen to; but that said, the music fits the plot, and the plot is fun and absorbing, so while there may be fewer individual arias I’m likely to put on my jogging playlist, it’s engaging to watch as a production from start to finish.

--Okay! That’s it! I know, I know, this isn’t actually a review of every Faust opera to date, but I have to get back to my life, and you already know my feelings on modern and contemporary opera. Thank you for bearing with me for this entire novel-length post that literally no one asked for!! You’re a the real hero here! I love you almost as much as I love Samuel Ramey in tights. *stage kiss* Yours in Service Here but in Mine Below, ~Wesley

#Faust Tag #Wesley's Opera Hour #Faust #Mephistopheles #lifeblogging #long post #Phew! This took a million years to write but it's done and I'm happy!

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lpdwillwrite4coffee · 5 years ago

Text

CHILDREN OF LILITH CHAPTER FOUR

Nikki stared at her elongated shadow on the concrete as she and Kaelin walked back to her apartment. Her friend was pleasantly tipsy, and with the use of some kind of Voodoo magic, still able to walk in her dangerously high heels.

Kaelin knocked elbows with her. “See? I told you tonight would be fun.”

“Yeah,” Nikki said, and she knew she didn’t sound convincing.

Kaelin looked at her and sighed. “Really? You couldn’t even fake it for me?”

“No, really, tonight was great,” Nikki tried.

“Uh huh…” Kaelin rolled her eyes. “You know why I drag you out on nights like this, right?”

“To make sure I still know how to do the Cupid Shuffle?”

Kaelin hurried ahead and spun, walking backwards in front of Nikki, holding her gaze. “Because you’re twenty-five, Nikki. You should be out doing wild, possibly illegal, things and living your life.”

“You know, one day you’re gonna do that—“ she said, gesturing to Kaelin still stepping backwards “—And there’s going to be a giant sink hole behind you that goes straight to the center of the earth and I’m not going to tell you.”

Kaelin scoffed. “Of course you will. You wouldn’t let your best friend fall to her death would you?”

“Depends if you’re still holding my favorite sweater hostage or not.”

Kaelin smacked her head dramatically. “I knew there was something I forgot to bring back tonight. Oh well, guess I still get to wear it to work on Monday.”

“Not if I break into your apartment and steal it back.” Nikki said.

“And that would be totally justified seeing as I’ve had it for months.”

“Uh, Kae? You might wanna watch the curb,” she said, pulling at her friend’s arm.

Kaelin tripped a little and laughed. “Oops! Okay turning back around now.” She grew quiet as they rounded the corner. With Nikki’s apartment building in sight, she said, “Nikki, I’m not trying to tell you how to live your life. I just want you to be happy, and… well lately it seems like you haven’t been.”

Nikki took a deep breath. “You’re right,” she said with a nod. “I haven’t really been living so much as… existing.” She shrugged. “I don’t know… I’ve been thinking about school a lot.”

“Are you thinking about going back?”

“Maybe. I don’t have that many credits left to graduate. I could try going part time.”

Kaelin smiled, warmth reaching her eyes. “That’s good,” she said, giving her an encouraging squeeze on the arm.

Nikki ducked her head. “I just want to feel like I’m doing something with my life,” she said. “I just want to have a purpose, you know? Feel like what I do matters.”

“Hey, you matter,” Kaelin said, slowing her stride. “Degree or no degree, you’re still the most important person in the world to me.”

“What about that cute bartender at that last club? ‘Cause you two would make some adorable children.”

Kaelin laughed. “Nikki!”

“I’m serious, he was hot!” Nikki grinned when Kaelin swatted her in the shoulder and the two started walking again.

Trashcans in the alley next to Nikki’s apartment crashed together, followed by alarmed animal noises, and the two women jumped.

“What the hell was that?” Kaelin asked, moving closer to Nikki.

“Stray cats probably, or rats,” Nikki said, digging out her keys from her purse. “I’ve been hearing a lot of noises from back there lately. I think some of the local vermin have found a nice food supply courtesy of the Indian restaurant around the corner.”

“Eww.” Kaelin screwed up her face. “That’s so gross.”

“It’s Manhattan. Almost everything you’ve touched has been chewed, crawled, or defecated on by a rat.”

Kaelin pulled up short. “The fact that you just said that with a totally calm voice is upsetting.”

“What can I say? I have nerves of steel.” Nikki winked. Looking back at Kaelin while she unlocked her door, she said, “I’ll call you tomorrow okay?”

“Yeah, we’ll grab lunch and then go buy you a bunch of rat traps.” The trash cans clanged again and she added, “In bulk.”

“Goodnight Kaelin,” Nikki called, stepping into her building.

“Goodnight,” Kaelin drawled, continuing down the street to hail a cab.

Nikki waited until her friend was inside and driving off before closing the door.

* * *

To every Hunter, gifted or not, patrolling alone was like hoping to get struck by lightning. It was dangerous and not a sign of mental stability. But for Griffin the thrill was addictive. And the only life he was risking was his own, so he didn’t really see the problem.

However, the longer he was out, the more he was starting to think all the Vampires in the city decided to stay in that night and play Scrabble. He’d canvassed the entire Lower East Side without a single incident, and he contemplated stepping over the territory line into the East Village, hoping to provoke a few Vamps out of hiding.

Six months ago he would’ve been alarmed by how comfortable he was with that idea. But that was then.

The dogs gave an interested huff from inside their cage, alerting him to an unseen presence.

Guess tonight won’t be a loss after all, Griffin thought, slipping around the corner, into the shadows of an alley.

Pulling one of his semi-automatics from his holster, he maneuvered through the darkness in silence. His gaze swept along the sides of the buildings, checking fire escape landings, window ledges and behind dumpsters. The dogs stirred, aiming him to the far end of the alley, back towards the sidewalk. If Vampires were walking the street, he’d need to draw them towards a more secluded area away from civilian eyes.

Griffin ducked into a dense block of shadows, pressing his back against cold brick. The click of high heels drew closer, accompanied by two female voices, chatting softly.

The dogs rushed the cage door, clawing ferociously. He winced as pain lanced up his skull. Closing his eyes, Griffin drew in a full breath and straightened his spine. The dogs stayed locked in his head.

Fuzzy beginnings of two shadows crept along the ground, and the voices were louder. His finger itched as it hovered over his Glock’s trigger.

The footsteps halted and a woman laughed. “Nikki!”

That was all he heard before the dogs went berserk. They bit and tore at his mind, battling to free themselves. Trapped in a white haze of agony, Griffin fought to keep himself quiet. His knees went soft, and he thought he’d collapse onto the rough gravel. But his legs held, and so did the cage.

He glared angrily into the dark. Alright Cujo one and two, you trying to give me brain damage?

In pain and half blind, Griffin backed away a step and knocked against a pair of metal trashcans. Two startled cats hissed at him, offended, and ran off.

Shit.

“What the hell was that?”

A woman glanced into the alley, and Griffin thanked God a hundred times over that she couldn’t see him.

“Stray cats probably, or rats…”

Griffin’s breath froze in his chest. He recognized that voice... She sounded like the barista from that morning.

She crossed in front of him and the dogs leapt against their cage once more, making Griffin’s head feel close to splitting. She was digging in her purse for something, and looked down the alley… Making eye contact with Griffin.

She couldn’t see him- he knew it from her neutral expression as she continued searching her bag- but somehow her gaze met his dead on, and it made his heart trip.

Pulling a set of keys out, she continued talking with her friend as she moved out of sight. Only then was Griffin able to breathe.

…For about three goddamned seconds.

The dogs growled, this time spinning in their cage towards the ledge above him. Something was scaling the building at an inhuman speed, scraping against the brick. Griffin tipped his head just in time to see a pair of boots disappear onto the roof.

He rolled his eyes. Of course a Vampire would make an appearance with a civilian who could possibly ID Griffin a couple yards away. Of course.

“Goodnight,” he heard Nikki’s friend say, and her footsteps faded.

A nearby fire escape rattled, and he watched another Vampire push open a window and crawl inside. The main door clattered shut and Griffin stared across the street as more Vampires were birthed from the shadows. A male and female crossed the asphalt and blurred up the front of the building, gone in the time it took him to inhale.

Nothing about this made sense. Vampire packs went after easy kills away from witnesses. They didn’t pull a Mission Impossible in Hunter territory just for fun. And they were going inside Nikki’s building…

The dogs howled, furiously gnawing at every lock Griffin had secured them behind. Sucking in air through gritted teeth, he went around the back to the service entrance and waited until his gift settled enough for him to focus. Adjusting his grip on his gun, he tested the door handle. Unlocked.

The narrow corridor was empty, as was the stairwell, and Griffin cursed to himself. She must have already made it up a few floors. One of the polished brass mailboxes hadn’t been closed all the way, and he hurried to read the name. Anderson, Nikki. Apt. 5D.

Top floor, corner apartment. No wonder the pack had focused on the roof… it was the fastest route to her.

Griffin bolted up the stairs, praying he caught up to Nikki before the others. Rounding the corner on the fifth floor, he caught a glimpse of her dark auburn hair just as the skin at the back of his neck began to itch. He was being followed.

Her keys were already in the deadbolt when he called out to her.

“Excuse me!”

Nikki turned, bewildered.

He offered a tight smile, pulling to a stop a few feet in front of her. “You’re really not gonna want to go in there.”

Angry hissing sounded behind him and the dogs snarled back.

Griffin spun, aiming his weapon. The hallway was crowded with Vampires, fangs extended and irises blanched, warping their human faces into demonic masks. Several peeled their lips back, teeth shining in the harsh florescent light as they growled like jungle cats.

Griffin smirked. “So which one of you had the bright idea of coming onto my turf to feed?” He stared at the dark haired brute in the middle. “I’m guessing it was you, huh princess?”

“Get out of our way, Hunter,” one of the females snapped.

“I’m sorry, did you skip your Boundary Lines 101 class? ’Cause you should know you’re in my neighborhood now.”

She tossed her hair over her shoulder, inching forward. “We can change that.”

Griffin aimed his gun at her chest. “Now don’t get too cocky, Vampirella. You might bite off more than you can chew.”

She hissed but took a step back. Griffin’s smirk broadened.

“Okay, here’s the deal,” he said, looking to the one he assumed was their leader. “You came into my territory with the intent to feed. I should put a bullet in all of you, but I don’t wanna wake the neighbors. So I’m giving you thirty seconds to get the hell out of here before I finish you.”

The male eyed him. “You can’t prove we came here with ill-intentions.”

“Oh yeah, ‘cause I’m really worried about having inculpatory evidence when I take the stand.” Griffin cocked one eyebrow. “So what’s it gonna be? You leave now, or tomorrow morning they’ll be sucking you out of the carpet with a Dirt Devil.”

“You’re outnumbered.” The male grinned, flashing his fangs. “Eight against one. Those aren’t good odds.”

Griffin laughed. “Those aren’t even the worst odds I’ve had this week.”

Nikki took a half step towards Griffin. “Excuse me, what the hell is going on?”

Keeping his stare forward, Griffin said, “I’ll explain in a minute. Just… stay there.”

“You better listen to him cupcake,” another male sneered. “We wouldn’t want you to get hurt.”

Griffin moved closer, putting himself between her and the others. “Hey sugar plum,” he mocked. “How about you shut up and pay attention to the guy with the gun?”

“You won’t kill us without cause,” the lead male said. “Hunters don’t break code like that.”

A cold chuckle rippled out of Griffin. “I think you’re a little confused. See, you’re using present tense,” he said. “You should be using past.”

For the briefest of moments, the pack looked collectively stunned.

Griffin tightened his grip on his gun. “Now, I’m not going to tell you again. Leave, or I’ll make you leave.”

“I’d like to see you try,” the petite female said. She leaned forward, preparing to jump, but she wasn’t looking at Griffin. She was staring at Nikki.

Griffin pulled the trigger, bullet hitting the female in the shoulder a few inches from her heart. It was a warning shot, but not just for her. It was for the whole pack.

The female shrieked, pressing her palm to the gushing wound.

“I’d think twice before doing that again,” Griffin told her. “’Cause next time I won’t miss.”

“What the fuck are you people doing?” Nikki shouted from behind him. “Are you insane?”

Griffin had to ignore her. “Leave. Now.”

“You just made a huge mistake,” the lead male snarled through his fangs.

“And you’re making an even bigger one by sticking around.”

“Okay, I don’t know what the hell kind of fun you think you’re having, but you people need to go back to wherever you came from, and quit screwing around in my building.” Nikki yelled louder, waving her arm out.

No one moved.

Frowning, the leader started whispering to the other male beside him, with the injured female interjecting angrily. The only way to tell they were speaking was the slight movements of their lips, their voices inaudible. At the end of their discussion, the first male leveled his stare on Griffin and smiled.

“Enjoy the rest of your night, Hunter. I’m sure we’ll be seeing you again very soon.”

Griffin curled his lip. “Can’t wait.”

On the male’s orders, the pack blurred down the hall, disappearing around the corner.

Griffin blew out the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding, lowering his weapon. When he was certain the pack was gone, he holstered his Glock and turned towards Nikki.

And was met with a can of pepper spray aimed at his eyes.

“Whoa!” He ducked away from the nozzle.

“Who are you?” Nikki yelled.

Griffin raised his hands in front of him. “You mind pointing that elsewhere? That stuff stings like a bitch.”

“Who are you?”

“Okay, take it easy—”

“Don’t tell me to take it easy! Who the hell are you?” She motioned to where the pack had been moments earlier. “Who were they? What did they want?”

Griffin arched his brows. “Which question do you want me to answer first?”

Nikki scowled at him. “What’s your name?”

“Griffin O’Connor,” he said.

Nikki stared in confusion, but quickly a light of recognition appeared. And then she just looked pissed.

“You’re that guy. You came into Rush this morning…”

Her glare could’ve melted plastic.

“Are you stalking me?”

“What? No.” Griffin shook his head, offended. “Look, this… this was purely coincidence.”

“You come to my work, and then you show up in my apartment? That’s one hell of a coincidence.”

“Yeah, believe me, I’m just as baffled as you are.”

“And who exactly were those people?” She asked, jerking her head towards the end of the corridor.

Griffin frowned. He wasn’t sure how well she would take the news that Vampires were real and that they wanted to eat her. And he really didn’t want to tell her with pepper spray aimed for his corneas.

“Who were they?” She repeated.

“I’d really like it if you’d put that down,” he said, pointing to the can. “Like I said, it stings.”

“I’ll put it down once you tell me who the hell those people were,” she said.

“Alright…” Griffin took a deep breath. “They weren’t people.”

Nikki stared, blank-faced for a moment, before rolling her eyes. “Okay, that’s it,” she said. “Get out.” She pointed down the hallway.

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me. Get out of my building.”

Griffin blinked. “You’re… throwing me out?”

“Damn straight.”

“I tell you they weren’t people and you’re throwing me out.” He coughed out a disbelieving laugh.

“That’s exactly what I’m doing,” she told him. “I’ve had it up to here with crazy people butting into my life today. Now get out!”

“You- you saw everything that happened, right? You saw what they looked like, what they could do,” he said. “Hell, you even saw me shoot one of them. And you think I’m crazy?”

“Look, I’m sure you’re a nice person when you’re on your meds, but right now you’re just pissing me off. So if I were you, I’d leave.”

“What the hell did you think all of this was?” He threw his hand out. “Some kind of abstract performance piece?”

“I’ve heard the community theater does a lot of weird stuff,” she said, half shrugging. “So how about you go find your little acting buddies, okay? I’m sure they’re worried about you.”

Griffin laughed. Loudly. It bubbled out of him in manic waves.

“What’s so funny?”

He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Nothing,” he said, still chuckling.

“Good. You can get going now.”

“The thing is…” He cleared his throat. “I can’t.”

“What?”

“I can’t leave,” he said, sobering. “This wasn’t a stunt. It was real.”

Nikki sighed. “Oh for Christ’s sake… Just leave me alone,” she yelled. “Go home, or back to the institution or wherever the hell you came from, and forget you know me!”

Griffin didn’t yield. “I can’t do that.”

“Fine. Then I’ll remove you myself.”

His head jerked up in surprise. “You’re gonna what?”

“You heard me. I’m removing you from the premises.” Adjusting her aim with the pepper spray, she nodded her head to the side. “Start walking.”

Griffin held his hands up in surrender and turned. “Well this is a first.”

“Why do I doubt that,” she muttered, following him.

“Look, I know what you must be thinking,” he said. “But I’m not the bad guy here.”

“Oh really? The man with the gun isn’t the bad guy?”

He stopped and swiveled around to face her. “If I was, I would’ve tried to kill you already. And that wimpy can of pepper spray wouldn’t have stopped me.”

Nikki held his gaze and felt completely exposed again, just like she had that morning.

Steeling herself, she shook her head. “So you’re not a murderer. Good for you. You still need to leave.”

Griffin frowned in thought and nodded. He continued walking, staying silent until they reached the entry way of her building.

“You can call me crazy, that’s fine. I’ve been called worse, actually,” he said, glancing over his shoulder. “But how are you gonna explain away what you saw?”

Nikki paused. “People do weird things to themselves all the time. Dental work and freaky looking contacts… That’s all that was.”

Griffin turned slowly, facing her again. “Uh huh,” he murmured. “And the rest?”

She swallowed the expanding swell of panic rising in her throat.

Blurred… those people had blurred away from them. Not run or sprint… blur, at inhuman speeds. The outlines of their bodies had faded, turning them into hazy forms of color. And the noises… people couldn’t growl like that.

Fake, she told herself. It was all fake…

Griffin’s eyes skipped over her features, evaluating her. His voice was gentle as he said, “You’re lying to yourself… Aren’t you?”

Nikki bit the inside of her lip. Fangs… she thought. They had fangs. And he shot one of them and it didn’t even knock her off her feet…

The tentative hold she had on her conviction slipped. She lowered the pepper spray to her side.

“What were they?”

“You’re not gonna like my answer,” Griffin said.

“I don’t care.” Nikki shook her head. “Just tell me.”

He waited, searching her face again. Satisfied with what he saw, he inhaled deeply and opened his mouth.

“Vampires.”

The word hung in the air between them. Nikki wanted to laugh, to call him insane again and walk away.

“Vampires,” she repeated, voice sounding weary in her own ears.

“I know,” he said. “I’d think it was a joke too… If I didn’t live it.”

He said it with chagrin, dipping his head, and Nikki took the chance to evaluate him this time. He didn’t exhibit the obvious signs of lying. He was calm, gaze unwavering, and he wasn’t flushed or sweating. So either he was a sociopath or…

He was telling her the truth.

Trust him! The voice of the woman on the subway platform echoed in Nikki’s head. Trust him! It’s the only way to survive!

“You don’t happen to hang out with homeless people do you?” She blurted out.

Griffin arched an eyebrow at her. “Um… No.”

Now he was eying her like she was the crazy one.

Nikki sighed, waving a hand dismissively. “Never mind,” she muttered. She refocused, staring up at him. “What did you mean by ‘if I didn’t live it’?”

“You mean the gun didn’t give it away?” He asked, glancing down to where his holster was peeking out from his trench coat. “It’s my job. I hunt Vampires.”

Nikki felt the color drain from her face. “Of course you do.”

The front room of her building was too small. Its yellowing wallpaper and grimy tile floors were creeping towards her, threatening to crush her. She closed her eyes, tried to breathe, but she smelled only must and decaying drywall and she couldn’t stand it.

“I need some air,” she gasped, pushing past him out onto the sidewalk.

Griffin followed, hovering a safe distance away like he thought she might puke.

“I know this is a lot to handle,” he said. “I wish you hadn’t seen what you did tonight, really I…” He swallowed. “I’m sorry.”

Nikki placed her hands on her hips, staring at the ground as she inhaled.

“Okay…okay…” she muttered.

When her head was clear, and she was positive she wasn’t going to pass out, she glanced up at him.

“So what do I… what can we do? I mean…” She looked to the sky as if it would give her an answer. “They’re gone right?”

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” Griffin said. “They probably doubled back and snuck in.”

From the way the dogs were growling, probably was more like an actually.

Nikki’s eyes widened as she glanced up at the building. “Really?”

“Yup.”

“Great, that’s just… great.” She glared at the top row of windows. “They’d better not be going through my underwear drawer.”

Griffin laughed in spite of himself.

Nikki folded her arms over her chest. “Okay. So, do I wait out here while you go… Take care of that?” She gestured to the door behind him.

“Uh…” Griffin looked over his shoulder. The thought of leaving her unprotected made his insides twist. “No. No I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Alright. So what now?”

Griffin gaped, unsure. “Huh?”

“You just said you saved my life… from Vampires,” she said, exhaling roughly. “You’re the White Rabbit in this situation, so tell me, am I following you?”

It was a long moment before he could answer. “It’s a dark tunnel to go down.”

Nikki’s gaze didn’t waver. “I can handle dark.”

Griffin didn’t doubt that.

“Okay,” he said, taking a step forward. “Right now, the safest place for you to be is with me and my friends.”

“You mean the people you were with this morning?”

Griffin nodded. “They’re Hunters too. We can protect you while we figure this out.”

“Figure out what exactly?”

“Honestly? I’m not sure,” he admitted. “But I’ve been doing this for a long time, and that-” he jerked his thumb over his shoulder “-was a first. Whatever reason they had for following you, I can guarantee it isn’t good.”

Air rushed out from between Nikki’s lips as if she’d been knocked in the gut. She dragged her hand through her hair, brushing it back from her forehead.

“Well at least you’re not trying to sugar coat anything.” She forced a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “I respect that.”

Griffin took another hesitant step towards her. “I actually don’t live too far from here. I’m about six blocks that way.” He motioned down the street. “We can go there and talk.”

“What about…?” She wiggled her finger at the top corner of the building.

“They know better than to try anything at my place. Vampires can be stupid, but generally speaking they’re not quite that idiotic.”

“Oh. Good to know.” Nikki cautioned another glance at her tainted home before sighing. “Okay. After you, Van Helsing.”

Griffin smiled. “You sure like your literary references, huh?”

“Hey, I read,” Nikki said, smirking as she fell in line next to him.

They didn’t speak for two blocks, but Griffin caught her looking over like she wanted to ask a question. After the fourth time, he broke the silence for her.

“What?” he asked, a crooked grin playing at his lips.

“Nothing,” she said, tearing her eyes away. She waited a moment, biting her lip, and then gave in. “It’s just… why didn’t you leave?” When he didn’t say anything, she continued. “I mean, that took a lot of effort to convince me. I can’t imagine you go around doing that sort of thing every day, especially if it jeopardizes your, um, secret identity?”

“I’m not Batman,” Griffin interjected.

“Okay,” she relented. “Well, what I’m saying is, you could’ve saved yourself a lot of trouble by going ‘oh well, her funeral’ and walking away.”

Griffin shook his head. “I never could’ve done that.”

“Why not? You risked getting blinded by my wimpy pepper spray.” She mocked his word choice. “And you marked yourself as a loon in the process. You didn’t have to do all that just for—”

“I couldn’t have left in good conscience knowing you were still in danger.”

Nikki stared at him as they walked. “You would’ve let me yell at you all night, if you’d had to,” she said. “Wouldn’t you?”

“Probably. At least until you called the cops on me.”

“Believe me, I thought about it.”

They grew quiet again and Nikki found herself scanning doorways and roof tops, looking for anyone who might be following them.

“You can relax.” Griffin interrupted her thoughts. “They took off a long time ago.”

She frowned. “How do you know?”

Deciding it was best to wait before explaining his extra Spidey-senses, Griffin tipped his head, saying, “It’s something you learn with the job.”

“And, how do you even have this job?” Nikki asked, lifting an eyebrow. “I don’t remember Vampire Hunter being an option at the college career center, but then again, maybe I just wasn’t looking hard enough.

He chuckled. “It’s kind of a complicated process.”

“Perhaps you can work it into the conversation somehow.”

“Sure,” he said with a nod. “And I think I’ve got a Vampire Hunting for Dummies book lying around somewhere. I’ll dig it out for you.” He cocked his head and grinned.

“So you slay the undead and you’re a comedian. You’re quite the multi-tasker.”

Griffin beamed. “I try.”

Nikki was a few steps ahead when she realized he had slowed in front of a tall brick building with no windows.

“Wait, this is where you live?” she asked, craning her neck as she stared. “No offense, but this kind of looks like a warehouse.”

“That’s ‘cause it was.”

“Oh.” It was all she could think of.

Pulling his keys from his pocket, Griffin headed up the three cement stairs to the door, and stopped. “I’m gonna apologize in advance,” he said, turning the lock and opening the door.

“For what?” Nikki frowned, following him inside.

A woman pacing in front of the kitchen table with a phone pressed to her ear stopped midsentence when she saw them. Relief was quickly followed by annoyance.

“Never mind Tasha, he just walked in.” She hung up and shoved her cell into her back pocket. “Where the hell have you been?” She asked, looking to Griffin.

He scowled, shutting the door behind them. “I went out for a walk.”

Lisa’s gaze bounced between Griffin and Nikki before she gestured to the other woman. “And what, this one followed you home?”

Griffin opened his mouth to counter but Nikki beat him to it.

“I’m gonna choose not to be offended by the dog reference and instead take it as a compliment on my shiny, well-groomed coat,” she said, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.

Lisa flushed. “Sorry. It’s, uh, been one of those days.” She offered Nikki her hand. “Hi, I’m Lisa.”

Taking it, Nikki nodded. “Hazelnut latte, no whip,” she said. Glancing over Lisa’s shoulder, she smiled at the guy sitting at the table. “Hey there triple red eye.”

“Hey!” Boz waved enthusiastically.

Lisa eyed her for a moment. “You’re the barista from this morning.”

“Sure am.”

Boz stood and came over to shake hands. After he introduced himself he stepped to the side and Nikki caught the approving, well done sir, nod and wink he gave to Griffin.

“Oh my God,” Griffin muttered, chin falling to his chest. “No, guys, she’s not-”

Nikki shook her head. “We didn’t-”

“We’re not-”

“I know about Vampires,” Nikki exclaimed. The resounding silence made her cringe, and she lifted her gaze to the ceiling. “That could have come out better,” she muttered.

“Um,” Boz started, rocking back and forth on his heels. “Sorry, how do you…?”

Nikki looked to Griffin. “You wanna take this one?”

Lisa’s glare was back and laser-point focused on Griffin. “You went patrolling?” It was more of an accusation than a question.

The light in Boz’s eyes dimmed. “By yourself?”

Griffin slid his arms from his coat and hung it by the door. “Yeah,” he said. “But before we get into it, we need to talk.” He glanced at Nikki and said, “I think we have a problem.”

Lisa pressed her lips into a thin line. “Only one?”

Griffin ignored her. “A pack followed Nikki into her apartment tonight. And she lives in our territory.”

Boz sighed. “Ah, crap.”

Forcing a more compassionate expression, Lisa gestured to the kitchen. “Why don’t you come in and have a seat,” she said to Nikki.

She cleared off the magazines spread over the table, making a place for her. Nikki pulled out one of the straight backed chairs and sat down, glancing around the large front room in wonder.

If Griffin hadn’t already confirmed it, Nikki would have assumed the place had once been a warehouse. Exposed pipes and brick were visible above the wood cabinets in the kitchen, and the nearest corridor was comprised of the same brick and drywall. A staircase curved up the right side of the room, leading to a half open-air hallway, its wooden banister polished from hands continually running over its surface. Despite its size and simplicity, the house was warm and inviting.

“Would you like something to drink?” Lisa asked, tossing her magazines on top of the fridge.

Nikki tilted her head towards the gurgling auto-drip. “I could probably use a cup of coffee,” she said, and Lisa nodded.

Griffin stood at the coffee maker, pouring his own cup, and Lisa skirted around him to reach the cabinet. He didn’t acknowledge her. His frigidity was worse than his anger. It seeped into her bones like frostbite. Lisa forced herself to look up at his unyielding profile.

“You didn’t leave a note,” she whispered. “We got back and you were gone. We didn’t know where you went.”

His response was to sip from his mug, staring at the grocery list stuck to the cabinet door in front of him.

“We… I was worried,” she said.

“I already told you Lisa. You’re off the hook. You’re under no obligation to keep worrying about me.”

“Griffin, that’s not--”

The force of his gaze made the words die on her tongue. She stung wherever he looked, liked being snapped with a rubber band. But it wasn’t the resentment that made air lodge in her throat, it was the flash of something underneath it- something broken and devastatingly ragged.

“Not now, Lisa.” Griffin turned away from her and strode towards the table.

She stared after him, watching as he took his seat next to Nikki. Clamoring for emotional footing again, Lisa stepped over, handing Nikki her coffee.

Boz swung his chair around, straddling it. “So, you wanna take it from the top?”

“I was out when I saw a pack go into Nikki’s apartment,” Griffin said. “They didn’t look like they were just prowling for a meal. They were focused… on her.” He glanced at Nikki over the rim of his mug.

“Were they aligned?” Boz asked.

“I didn’t get a good look at their wrists to check for ink, but I’m fairly certain they were. They knew about territory lines. They just didn’t care.”

Lisa settled into her seat next to Boz. “How many?”

“Eight,” Griffin answered, eyes glued to the opposite wall.

Boz whistled low between his teeth. “That’s a big pack.”

Nikki frowned. “There were only six in the hallway,” she said, glancing over at Griffin.

He paused, lowering his mug. His gaze was soft as he said, “Eight, total.”

She didn’t have a chance to ask what he meant before Boz spoke.

“That’s a big pack just for one woman.” Boz blinked at Nikki. “No offense.”

“None taken.”

Griffin leaned forward on his elbows. “They must’ve had a reason for going after her,” he said. “Packs don’t stalk their victims into buildings where they can be seen. Snagging her while she was still on the street would’ve been easier.”

Boz hummed, propping his chin on the back of the chair. “You’re kinda dressed up…” he cautioned, motioning to Nikki’s outfit. “Did you go out tonight?”

“Yeah, I went out to a couple of bars with my friend,” Nikki said with a nod. “Is that important?”

Griffin tilted his head, catching her gaze. “They waited until you were absolutely alone before zeroing in. Which means they didn’t want any witnesses, even drunken ones, who might report you missing.”

“This is starting to sound less like a thrill seeking meal, and more like an attempted kidnapping,” Lisa said.

“And they didn’t give up anything useful?” Boz asked him. “A slip of the tongue, or tapping out their plan in Mores Code?” When Griffin shook his head, Boz shrugged. “What about any stereotypical clichés like, ‘give us the girl’ or ‘we’ll be back’?”

“There was a definite ‘we’ll be back’ vibe when they left, yeah,” Griffin said.

Boz’s mouth twitched. “Oh. Goodie.”

“Have you thought maybe this is some kind of retaliation?” Lisa’s tone was sharp, her stare focused on Griffin.

Nikki could practically hear his skeleton creak in protest as all of Griffin’s muscles tensed. Boz straightened, brown eyes wide as he looked between his two friends, but his face was neutral. As neutral as one could be in the pulsing hot silence.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Griffin asked, grip tightening on his mug handle.

“It was only a matter of time before an Alpha caught on and decided to do something about it.”

“So this is my fault now?” He snapped.

“I’m not saying you’re at fault,” Lisa said, leaning forward. “But actions have consequences.”

“So does inaction,” Griffin countered. “What was I supposed to do, just sit around and watch the body count go up?”

“Of course not. But Vampires take the Codes very seriously--”

“Yeah, because it’s an endless supply of loopholes.”

“And those loopholes keep them alive.” Lisa’s voice was raised, fingers jabbing into the tabletop. “We should have been better prepared for what could happen when we started threatening their lifeline.”

“We were careful.”

“Not careful enough. Did you really think we’d be able to start hunting in their territory without an Alpha getting pissed? We played with fire and now—“

“Lisa we get it,” Boz cut in. “Look, what happened can’t be changed, so hopping on the shoulda-coulda-woulda train isn’t gonna do us any favors.”

His words were the bell ringing an end to that round of a fight. One Nikki was sure had been ongoing for some time, given the instant temper flare ups.

Boz rolled his shoulders and spoke again. “Okay, so speculations aside, I guess now we focus on how to deal with the situation at hand.” He nodded to Nikki.

She cupped her hands around her mug, shifting in her seat. “Sure, yeah, let’s handle my… situation. But could we take a minute, or five, and in that time how about we backtrack a bit because I’ve still got a dozen or so flashing question marks floating above my head that I’d really like to get rid of.”

Griffin turned to face her. “Sorry,” he said with a decidedly calmer tone. “You’re right. We should have explained everything first before we jumped into… the rest.”

“Yeah. That would be helpful.”

Boz grinned and rubbed his hands together. “Awesome, I love Q and A sessions.”

Nikki looked around at the trio. “Okay, how about we start with this Alpha guy you keep talking about. Who is he?”

“Manhattan has an Alpha Vampire,” Griffin explained. “He’s effectively the boss of all Vampires in the city, if they’re aligned to him, which the majority of them are.”

“Think of him like Don Corleone, only with less marinara sauce,” Boz added casually.

“And aligned Vampires have to follow the Codes- the rules that were set up for Vampires and Hunters.”

“And one of those rules is not feeding in your neighborhood?” Nikki asked.

“Right.” Griffin nodded.

Boz angled himself towards Nikki. “New York is split into territories. There’s Hunter territory, Vampire territory, and No-Man’s land. Vampires are banned from feeding on our turf, and if they break code they’re killed. But within their own boundary lines and No-Man’s land, they have free reign.”

“Free reign? You mean it’s okay for them to feed at all?” Nikki’s lip curled.

Griffin shook his head. “No, it’s not okay.”

“But we’re outnumbered,” Lisa interjected. “The population ratio between Hunters and Vampires has always been in their favor, not ours. At best, that makes patrolling difficult. But it’s impossible for us to be everywhere at once.”

“The Codes were supposed be a safeguard,” Boz said, looping his arms around the chair back and lacing his fingers together. “An attempt at coexisting without much conflict.”

Nikki frowned. “But it didn’t work.”

“If anything it made being a Hunter more difficult,” he said. “Vampires would still cross over and feed in our territory, but unless we caught them in the act, our hands were tied. That’s how it was for Hunters for decades.”

Lisa leaned back in her seat. “And then things changed.”

Nikki took a long gulp of coffee, hoping the caffeine would improve the speed at which her synapses were firing. She was a fast learner but she was having to remold her entire world paradigm. And that kind of thing required a second cup of coffee.

“Guys, let’s fast forward through the history lesson for right now,” Griffin said. “We can have study hall later.”

Nikki cast a thankful glance at him. Dropping her gaze, she noticed the line of tattoos on the inside of his wrist again.

“You said aligned Vampires have tattoos,” she started. “Are they like yours?”

Griffin ran his thumb over the markings. “Sort of. They have theirs on the left wrist, and it’s a different design.”

“So why do you have those?”

Boz extended his arm, tugging up his shirt sleeve. “To show that you belong,” he said, exposing the tender skin that bore a similar line of symbols.

Lisa followed suit, flashing the inside of her wrist. Hers were the same two markings as Boz’s, but Griffin’s was longer by one character.

Nikki leaned closer to Griffin. “What do they mean?”

Griffin looked down at his wrist. “They’re a language, like hieroglyphics.”

He stretched his arm across the table for her to see and pointed to the first symbol- a plain black dot.

“This means I’m a Hunter.”

His index finger slid to the next; something that reminded Nikki of an archery bow with two dots on the outward curve.

“This means I’m part of a group. The dots count the number of people I’m with. ”

He paused, staring at the middle symbol- a semi-circle with two lines dashed through diagonally on one end and two dots on the reverse side at the other end. It’d been a long time since he’d explained its meaning to anyone, and he still dreaded it.

“And this…” He swallowed. “Is the mark of a Seer.”

Nikki frowned. “A what?”

“A-”

“A Seer,” Lisa interrupted. “He can read people’s subconscious. Emotions, memories, dreams… Anything that’s below the teleprompter surface of your mind, he can see it.”

Griffin’s shoulders tensed and he stared at a spot on the table so intently it was like he was trying to bore a hole through it with willpower alone.

“So, is that why you’re a… a Vampire Hunter?” Nikki asked.

Griffin nodded. “It’s a big part of it, yeah.”

Nikki glanced at Boz and Lisa. “Are you guys… Seers too?”

Boz laughed. “Lisa? A Seer? She can barely read billboards, let alone interpret a person’s subconscious.”

Lisa glared at him. “You’re not funny.”

“I’m hilarious and you know it,” he said, dismissing her with a wave.

“So it’s just you,” Nikki said, looking to Griffin again.

“But he’s not alone,” Boz added. “There are others.”

“Boz,” Griffin sighed.

He gestured obscurely. “I mean there are other people with abilities. Not necessarily like yours… Well, there’s Mother Mary, but she’s not a Hunter— anyway, you see what I’m getting at.”

Nikki squinted at him. “Is this like the X-men or something?”

“Oh man, I wish!” Boz grinned broadly. When he was met with blank stares his face fell. “I like the X-men.” He shrugged.

“So, there are other Hunters who are… special?” Nikki asked, unsure of her word choice.

Griffin nodded, glancing up. He lost his staring contest with the table.

“We don’t have to get into all of that tonight,” he said. “I’m sure you’re exhausted.”

Nikki considered it for a moment. Hitting pause on the ‘Vampires are real and there are Hunters who kill them’ talk probably wasn’t a bad idea. She could use a night, or a year, to digest everything that had been thrown at her. But…

“No, that’s okay,” she heard herself say. “Might as well just get it all out there now while I’m still lucid and not huddled in a corner somewhere, rocking back and forth, muttering to myself about monsters.”

Griffin smiled, but there was still a shadow in his eyes that made Nikki’s chest tighten.

“Alright,” he started. “Well, there are different kinds of abilities. There are Seers, Telepaths, Empaths…” He started counting off each one on his fingers. “Then there are Psychics and Mediums, and Veil Walkers-”

“Veil Walkers?” Nikki repeated. “What does that mean?”

“To be honest, I’m a little vague on the details,” Griffin said. “I know they’re able to communicate with people who have died, like Mediums, but they lose themselves in it. People I know who’ve seen a Veil Walker say it’s like they have delusional schizophrenia.”

“And they’re Hunters?”

“No. Most are nearly incapacitated by what they can do,” he said. “They can be good resources for information but they aren’t very effective Hunters.”

“Oh and don’t forget the Telekinetics we heard rumors about,” Boz interjected.

Nikki frowned. “What?”

“You’ve seen Carrie, right?” Boz said. “You know…” He wiggled his fingers strangely. “And stuff goes flying.”

Nikki took in a very long, steady breath. “Okay, so to summarize, Vampires exist. They like their rules, but only when those rules benefit them. You guys are part of a super secret society, complete with matching tattoos, that hunts Vampires. And some of the people in said society can do metaphysical Jedi mind tricks and that’s actually a good thing. How am I doing so far?”

“We should put you in charge of writing our Wikipedia page.” Boz smiled.

“Great, okay, but… How doesn’t anyone know about this stuff? Everyone just thinks Vampires are myths or masturbatory material—“

A shocked laugh exploded out of Boz and he ducked his head. “Sorry, continue,” he said, clearing his throat.

“How has no one noticed a ton of corpses showing up with bite marks on their necks?”

“Vampires don’t actually leave bite marks,” Griffin answered. “Their saliva contains enzymes and proteins that speed the healing process. Which means when they bite someone, the skin heals without the trace.”

“But I’m sure there would be suspicion when people got to the morgue mysteriously exsanguinated.”

“They don’t drain their victims either,” he said. “That would be like someone drinking a gallon of tomato juice. Unless a Vampire is injured, they only need about a pint of blood each time they feed to survive.”

“But you said they kill people…”

“They do.” He paused, holding her gaze. “For fun.”

Nikki’s throat went dry.

“They won’t kill their victims from feeding on them. They’ll take what they need, and then kill them because they can.” He leaned forward, pressing his forearms into the table. “A Vampire is strong enough to crush bone and rupture organs with their bare hands. You saw how fast they can move.” Nikki nodded, and Griffin continued.

“When you’re turned, you’re not the same person you were as a human. That darkness we all have in us is woken up and made stronger, and once it’s fed it’s nearly impossible to control. Eventually you’re not feeding the beast because you can’t stop yourself, you’re feeding it because you like it. Power like that is addictive, and when it gives so much in return… No one wants to deprive themselves of that.”

A chill ghosted over Nikki’s arms. Her lips pressed into a thin line as she let the weight of Griffin’s words settle under her ribs.

Trying to keep her voice even, she said, “I guess going home really isn’t an option for me, is it?”

“It’s too dangerous,” he said. “We don’t know why that pack targeted you. They may have moved on by now, but if they see that you’re alone they’ll come after you again.”

She sighed, looking down at her empty mug. “Great. That’s just… great.”

Griffin wanted to comfort her, to tell her she had nothing to worry about, but the words wouldn’t come. And even if they did, it would feel deceptive. He was in no place to guarantee her anything.

When Nikki glanced up, the intensity was identical to when she’d found his stare through the darkness in the alleyway. The sapphire blue was enough to stun him.

“You’re absolutely sure if I walk out that door, they’ll find me again?”

Griffin nodded, unable to look away from her. “There are thousands of Vampires in this city, and they’re hard to spot, even with ink on their wrists. They look human, and if they’re a month out of their transition they can go out in the sunlight. Day or night, no matter where you went, you wouldn’t be safe.”

“Which is exactly why you should consider staying with us,” Lisa said. “At least until we get things straightened out.”

A weight settled under Nikki’s sternum, pinning her where she sat. She watched Griffin for a beat longer before glancing away.

She inhaled, looking around the table. “Well, you don’t look like you’re going to murder me in my sleep.”

Lisa smiled at her. “We’ll take that as a compliment.”

#Children of Lilith #free fiction #free novels for pandemic times #my work #my writing #original content

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667-darkavenue · 8 years ago

Text

cake by the ocean - ficlet

Fandom: The Adventure Zone

Pairing: Lup/Lucretia

Summary: Pirate AU. Takes place during The Stolen Century. The Starblaster crashes into the sea and gets taken hostage by mermaids. To meet their demands and get the spaceship back from the depths of the ocean, the gang have to take down the mermaids’ enemies above the water. Lup decides some changes are in order.

Co-written with @moonlit-trash | on ao3.

Taako wakes up with his face in the beach. Sand flutters away from his mouth as he groans into it. “Ugh… Lup?”

She’s shaking sand out of her hair as she watches him sit up.

“Taako…” His twin reaches down to peel a piece of seaweed off her brother’s chest. “What the fuck?”

The last thing she remembers is the Starblaster crashing real bad, the ship flooding—At least they cast breathing spells on everyone in time. Taako’s looking around the long stretch of beach they washed up in, not another person in sight.

“Guess we got separated in the water,” he mumbles to himself.

He blinks up at Lup, pale white sand still clinging to the half of of his face that was crushed into the shore. She tells him, “You look like a half-moon cookie.”

The corner of his lip twitches upward. “Mm. At least that.”

He holds both hands up, wiggling his fingers in the air, and she catches them.

“Well, we gotta find ‘em. Even with water breathing, I don’t trust that half of them will make it,” she says as she tugs him up, their feet splashing the water where it spreads across the sand each time a wave sweeps ashore. “I mean, c’mon. You’ve seen Merle.”

“They’re hella drowned if they didn’t wash up somewhere around here.”

Lup gave him a Look™. “Nah. We're the ones who casted shit on them to make sure they hella wouldn't drown. And we're… us. No way they fucked up that badly. The Starblaster's probably Starbusted, though.” She kicks some sand into the ocean, sadly. “Pour one out for our pimp ass spaceship.”

“Moment of silence.” Taako plucks a brown string of kelp out of his hair and plops it into the water. After a pause, he adds, “But we should go find it anyway. Fixing it's the only way to get out of here, and—more importantly—all my clothes are on it.”

“You're right. How am I supposed to borrow them if they're at the bottom of the ocean?” She smiles at him, before getting real. “Okay, yeah, but I am super not into the idea of going back into the water after it almost goddamn drowned us. Do you remember that scroll we saw—Jaws, Taako?”

He’s already talking over her—“Because it wants to keep my closet, shit, I'd kill for it too.”

“All right. I'll let you do the honors, since your bag is transmutation.” She stares down into the water, waiting for Taako to cast the spell. The water is clear enough that she can see their reflections. “Can I just say that we are definitely pulling off this beached look?”

“Fucking nailing it. All this sand on my face? Exfoliating the hell out of it.”

Finding the Starblaster was…

Well, they found it.

They also found that there’s mermaids in this world. And they talk. And they’re kind of mean.

“I want to go on record now—Where's Lucretia when you need her? I want this written down in both her journals,” Lup ranted. “Swimming fucking sucks. I move to demote Cap'nport for crashing our ship and almost killing us all permanently.”

Weighed down by soaked clothes, they trudged back out to the same beach they started on.

“Yeah, I can't believe they wouldn't let you at least take the clothes out of the ship.”

She gave him a Look™ again. “I sort of meant the destroying ten ships to get our ship back deal.”

“Ohhh. Yeah. Unfortunate,” he said, very unconvincingly. “But they're the bad guys harpooning cute whales, so who cares, right?”

That was the deal they had to strike with the mermaids, who wouldn’t let them go near the Starblaster.

“Yeah, you're right.”

Then she’s quiet for a bit. After walking long enough down the uneven shoreline, a town and some docks starts coming into sight.

“You think the others will be cool with it?” Lup asks. “If we find them?”

Taako laughs to himself. “Considering most of them were down to end a civilization before you slapped us with that wisdom... I don't think it's gonna be a big deal. Not if you’re in.”

“Yeah, remind me never to let you guys do missions on your own, all right?”

“Lup!”

Lup’s head jerks up at the sound of her name, coming from somewhere within the bustle of the town market they stumbled across.

“Taako!” the same voice shouts.

And they see a familiar face bobbing through the crowd, rushing toward them.

“You’re alright!” Lucretia says. Then her brows knit together when she gets a good look at them. “And... you're... still wet?”

It had been an entire day since the crash. Lucretia looked cleaned up, prim and proper as always. As if she found this town and got situated right away. That’s probably what the rest of the crew were up to while Lup and Taako’s first move was diving right back into the ocean that spat them out.

“Yeah,” Lup answers flatly. “We found the ship.”

“Oh.” Lucretia’s eyes pop open and her mouth forms a perfect tiny ‘o’ the way it always does when she says Oh. “That, that's great. We've been negotiating getting a different ship here, to use it to, to dig the Starblaster out.”

Lup elbows her gently and smiles. “I'm glad you're okay, too, you know.”

“I am! I am glad. I was looking for you before I found this place.”

“Mhm. Did you manage to salvage your journals? I need you to write something down for me…”

Lucretia visibly deflates at the question. Lup is taken aback, as that is the complete opposite reaction she normally had to being asked to jot something down.

“No, I couldn't bring my journals with me,” Lucretia says, “The ocean would destroy them so I, just, thought it safer to leave them. It sucked.”

“Oh, dear,” Taako chimed in. “Do you need a hug? Hug her, Lup.”

He wasn’t a hugger.

She wonders if Lucretia is a hugger.

“Well, I wanted to look for you guys, too,” Lup says, opting to test the waters by placing a consoling hand on Lucretia’s shoulder, “But Taako wanted to find the ship. Which... We did. But some mermaids are holding it hostage until we kill some whalers. It's a long story.”

Lucretia’s eyes dart up to meet hers, startlingly intent. “Did you say mermaids?”

“Yeeeeeeah,” Lup’s face scrunches into a grimace at the thought of them. She hears Taako make a little “eugh” sound over her shoulder and assumes he’s making a similar face. “They were pretty though,” Lup adds.

“Wow.” Lucretia sighs the word more than she says it.

Then she’s reaching into her satchel and whipping out a new journal and quill that she has already bought somehow. She’s an expert at writing while standing with a book in the crook of her elbow. Lup cranes over the page to see what she’s scrawling: Mermaids are real and they are pretty.

“Oh—This is important,” Lup tells her. “Probably deserves its own page.”

Lucretia actually instantly flips to a new page and holds her quill over it excitedly.

Lup smiles. “Swimming fucking sucks.”

The quill doesn’t touch the page. Lucretia looks up and meets her eyes. “Pardon?”

Once more, with conviction, Lup says, “Swimming. Fucking. Sucks.”

She doesn’t break eye contact. Lucretia blinks at her.

“You know how hard it was to find our ship in the entirety of the bullshit ocean? Swimming sucks. Jot that the fuck down.” Lup’s fingertip creeps over the top of Lucretia’s journal to tap the blank page. “Also,” she adds, quickly and as if it's not important, “They said there's some asshole whaling ships killing their friends and we can have the Starblaster back if we take ten of them out.”

“Oh, wow. I. Okay.” Lucretia’s eyes dart down and she writes ‘swimming sucks’ in tiny letters on its own page, then flips back to write the other stuff. “We can't actually do that, though. That would get us in, uh, deep trouble. With the human people here.” (By the way, Lucretia is talking at the same time that she’s writing down what Lup just told her, and it is mindblowing. Lup can’t even prepare spells and listen to music with lyrics at the same time. Lucretia keeps talking without looking up, unaware of how gone with the wind Lup’s dome is right now.) “We would basically be... I think we'd be pirates.”

Taako leans in and whispers, "That's so fucking sexy."

Yep.

“It's either that or murder a bunch of mermaids who just wanna protect their friends,” Lup says. “Which isn't something I'm willing to do.”

Lucretia is quiet for a minute, reading over what she wrote, thinking it over. Eventually, she concedes, “Yeah, that's worse.” She tucks her fresh journal under her arm and asks, “Do you... You wanna see the new ship?”

“Hell yeah, I wanna see the ship,” Taako says. “What'd you cook up for us, Lucretia?”

With a jerk of her head in the direction of the docks, she spins around and starts leading them to it. Along the way she explains how they got it. “Well, we found an ad for someone who wanted to commission a crew, and I... kind of told him the opening act of Treasure Island. He bought it and gave us a ship in return for following a treasure map I drew twenty minutes beforehand, and supposedly bringing back the treasure.”

Lup high fives her first, because that’s definitely worthy of it, then shoots a look at Taako and mouths, Did you read Treasure Island?

No!, he mouths back, looking incredulous that she even asked.

She turns back to Lucretia. “Nice job. Were you able to find the others?”

“Uh, most of them. I washed up with Merle, we found Magnus and Davenport nearby. Still no Barry. Merle and Magnus are combing the beaches for him.”

“Fuck. I knew he couldn't swim,” Lup mutters darkly.

She doesn’t have much time to linger on that worry, since they approach a super badass-looking pirate ship that Taako flips over.

“Is that our ride? Is that it? Hell yes, fuckin dope.” He rushes up the gangway and poses on the ship. From up there, he calls out, “Tell me how cool I look!”

“You look like a nerd!” Lup shouts back while flashing him a grin and two enthusiastic thumbs up. She turns to Lucretia to ask, “What’s her name?”

“Who?”

“The ship. Obviously. It needs a name.”

“Oh,” her eyes and mouth do that little perfect round ‘o’ thing again, “Right. Hm. What's a good ship name?”

“LUPCRETIA,” Taako shouts from the deck.

Lup waves her hand and the letters Lupcretia appear on the side of the ship. On her face right now would be the world’s largest shit-eating grin. The current world record holder for most shits eaten in a minute. Lucretia is gaping, either horrified or delighted.

“You like it? I think you ought to Captain the fuck outta this thing.”

Lup thinks she sees a blush creeping over Lucretia’s face before she covers her face with her book. “Ohh my god, no.”

“Why not?” Lup prods, eyes glittering with mischief. “You're smart and good with both your hands, Captain.”

“I—Thank—?” Lucretia stammers, words muffled by the book over her face.

Lup is persistent. “Besides, there's no way the rest of us wouldn't steer this shit directly into an iceberg or something, like in that scroll, Titanic.”

Lucretia’s book comes down, and her face looks surprisingly composed. “No, I'm pretty sure Captain Davenport should handle it. We’re in the tropics, anyway.”

“Come on, he literally just crashed our other ship. You're gonna trust him with another one?” Lup’s eyes veer skyward in exasperation.

“You—You can't just make me captain, the spot's been taken.”

“MUTINY,” Taako yells down at them, leaning over the ship’s railing.

“Yeah, Taako and I already decided, and you think anyone's gonna argue with us? We're pretty insufferable as a team.”

As if on cue, Lup hears two familiar voices shout her name simultaneously behind her back. Her friends came back at just the right time.

“Merle! Magnus!” She greets them with relieved high fives. “We're going to be pirates now and Lucretia's gonna captain our ship, you down with that?”

“Hell yeah,” Merle says, without taking any time to think about it.

“Super down,” Magnus agrees before bounding up the gangway to reunite with Taako.

Lucretia’s careful composure melts into an expression of utter disbelief.

Lup slides a smug look over to her. “You've been overruled. We need to get you a cool hat. Merle, let her borrow your eye patch, she's gotta get the look right.”

Merle doesn’t hesitate to pull it off his head.

“No! Put, Put that back on, I don't want it. That's gross.” Lucretia scrambles to swat away his offering.

“God, fine,” he scoffs, deeply offended, before storming off into the ship.

Lucretia’s eyes flit from the ship, to Lup, to her own feet. After a moment of consideration, her good old composure comes back.

She gives in. “I'll take a cool hat.”

Lup’s grin is nothing short of beaming as she conjures the single dopest captain’s hat of all time. She hears Taako make an inarticulate noise of intense jealousy in the distance.

“I want to do the honors,” Lup insists.

Like a real chill coronation, she lifts the hat over Lucretia and places it on her head. She spends a few seconds carefully shifting the hat to the coolest possible position. Lucretia is looking at her the entire time, only giving a hesitant smile. Lup conjures up an eyepatch too, just for shits and gigs. She dangles it in front of Lucretia.

“Look, this patch is, it's cool, but, I kind of need both eyes. I use them a lot.”

Lup sighs theatrically. But she’s not actually all that disappointed. This is still a win. “As long as you recognize that it is, indeed, cool as hell—” She slips the patch over her own eye for aesthetic.

Lucretia’s eyes widen and her lips part in the shape of a neat little circle, but she doesn’t say anything. Lup is 100% sure that she is very visibly thinking Oh shit, that’s so hot. Lup is definitely like, I know, and tries to wink, but her winking eye is covered behind the eyepatch. It still kinda works out though. She’s pretty sure she’s just that fuckin’ cute.

Lucretia doesn't know how to handle this. She just sort of walks away, quietly screaming with her mouth closed. Lup follows behind her new captain, smiling to herself.

#the adventure zone #taz #lupcretia #lup #lucretia #taako #cake by the ocean

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maedarakat · 8 years ago

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RTTE Short Fic Series: “The Book of Birbs”

Notes: Since the dragon raids, hardly a bird besides a turkey or chicken was seen on Berk. Sometimes Trader Johann would bring by canaries in cages, or brightly colored parrots, tame doves – but those would have been rare days.

Even now there was peace and friendship between Dragon and Viking, the constant presence of dragons would have made it very difficult for birds to find food. Terrible Terrors would have given seagulls and spoonbills no chance to scavenge, and they’d have hunted quail and pheasant. Berk’s famous Raven’s Point was likely named in honor of Odin’s own raven messengers – Huginn and Munnin - not because ravens hung out there frequently.

But the dragon-riders, who have the ability to travel to islands and continents with varied wildlife, have probably come across a variety of awesome (and possibly terrifying) birbs. I figured it would be fun to do a mini series of short fics, all describing the rider’s experiences with seeing a winged creature they’ve only heard about in myths and seen in illustrated manuals. Or never even heard of at all. :)

---

1. Dragon-Fairy

Ruff hummed under her breath as she braided her hair, having just finished combing it out thoroughly. She’d missed her usual nightly routine, just flopping down on her sleeping roll out of sheer exhaustion.

Thank the Gods they were finished rescuing everyone out of that collapsing quarry. Viggo was repulsive – using the kids of the villagers as both slaves and hostages.

Very few things could anger her as much as the state those poor children had been in. After they were all rescued, she and Tuff had spent most of the night cutting iron manacles off chafed, bloody ankles. She knew she’d cried more than once. Her brother had fared no better, trying his best to keep it hidden.

The kids had been reunited with their weeping parents. In thanks, the villagers fed the riders and let them sleep in their Chief’s hall as guests of honor. Tuff was still curled on the floor next to her, snoring gently, hair all tangled around his face and pillow. He’d stolen her pillow early on, needing something to cuddle without his Chicken around.

She shook her head in exasperation, but resisted the urge to snatch it back and wake him. It was a nice quiet morning compared to last night, and Ruff wanted it all to herself.

A small bouquet of red and orange honeysuckle had been put in a cup of water in the window, a gift from an admiring young man. He’d been pretty cute too, with his dark hair and dimpled smile. Ruff sighed blissfully and tied up the end of her braid. She was almost about to stand up and dress for the cold when a small sparkling being fluttered into view.

Ruffnut froze, jaw dropping slightly as the tiny creature, its wings a blur, shimmering dragon-scale green and red in the sun. Whatever it was, it was tiny and graceful and beautiful. She wanted to catch it and look closer, but she also dreaded scaring it away.

Was it a new type of dragon? She’d never seen one so tiny – what on earth would it eat? Maybe it hunted down mosquitos and insects? Ruff gasped in delight as it came near her flowers, sticking its long snout into the center of the honeysuckle.

Oh, it was so adorable. She loved everything about it, especially the humming noise it made as it moved about.

“Hey there, little dragon-fairy!” Ruff whispered, as softly as she could. “You like sweet flowers, huh? You better stay away from the blue ones. They aren’t good for dragons. Awww, you’re so pretty, I just wish -“

“Nnnn, I know, I’m the pretty one. Thanks, but shut up,” Tuff mumbled, dragging the pillow in his arms over his head.

“I wasn’t talking to YOU, idiot!” Ruff snapped, whacking his shoulder.

At their raised voices and movement, the “dragon-fairy” zipped out of sight.

“Ugh, thanks a lot! Now it’s gone, probably forever!” she lamented, flopping on her back. She kicked her brother again for good measure, because he’d already started falling back asleep.

“Owww, what?!”

“You scared off my dragon-fairy, yak-butt!”

“I did what?” Tuff sat up. “Tell me everything, it sounds like I did something awesome.”

“Yeah, you awesomely ruined everything, as usual!” she fumed, crossing her arms. “I discovered a new species of dragon, and it was cute and pretty and it eats flowers – and YOU scared it away!”

“While getting violently beaten in my sleep? Impressive,” Tuff said blithely, and earned himself a glower. Before she could kick him again, he held up a hand.

“Easy sis,” her twin sighed. Ruff paused as she heard exhaustion overtake his penchant for squabbling. Last night had taken a toll on all of them. “I’ll help you find it if you want. Not like we’ve got a whole lot to do while H and A talk to the Chief.”

“Huh.” Ruffnut reached out and felt his forehead for a fever. It was all part of the silly banter they did, pretending everything was fine and normal and like they hadn’t just rescued a bunch of kids that were starved and beaten half to death.

“You’re not burning up, so I guess you’re up to traipsing around the place with me. Just don’t make a racket.”

“A racket? Sis, in an hour’s time you’ll be begging me to teach you how to sneak up on a dragon-fairy. Let’s not forget who the Changewing Champion of Dragon’s Edge is.”

“Ugh.” She got up and dumped all her blankets on top of him.

As much as she hated it, Tuff was right. Although it was two hours later, she gave up and clung to his waist, using her weight to drag him down as he attempted to break free. “Pleeeeeaaase!!! Come on, I hate begging!” she wailed.

“Then stop! I’m bored, I’m hungry, it’s probably lunch time, and these villagers seriously know how to cook. I am not missing out on that for your dumb “dragon-fairy”!”

“I would stop if you’d teach me how to stalk more efficiently! Come on, you even impressed Astrid, even though she didn’t say so. She was totally gushing to Heather about it.”

That gave Tuffnut pause. “Seriously? She did? And what did Heather say? Was Hiccup impressed too?”

She grinned slyly. “Gee, I don’t really remember. How about I tell you after you teach me?”

Tuff growled and changed direction, trudging back toward the forest fringe of the island.

“Yaaay!”

“Don’t ‘yaay’ at me, missy, I’m just going back to that bramble patch to see if I can scrape you off,” Tuff growled.

He didn’t though, and soon the two of them were crouched in a bush full of the same red flowers Ruff’s dragon-fairy had visited earlier. She matched her breathing with Tuff’s – slow and quiet. After an excruciatingly cramped fifteen minutes, their patience was rewarded.

The green and scarlet being was back, exploring flower after flower. Ruff heard her brother gasp slightly and smirked. She wanted to turn her head to see his expression, but not at the risk of scaring it away.

It shimmered in the sunlight as it visited flower after flower, and there was a strange sort of peace in listening to its thrumming wings.

Abruptly, the foliage behind them parted as someone stuck their head in. The dragon-fairy zipped off and Ruff turned to snap at the intruder. She nearly bit her tongue as she recognized the same young man who’d given her those flowers. “Hello! There you are – you are missing lunch, friends.”

Tuffnut moved out of his crouched spot without hesitation, stomach already growling. The villager offered his hand to Ruff, who took it gladly and let herself be helped to her feet.

“Hey, uh –“

“Halvar,” the young man said, flashing a smile. She glanced at Tuff to see if he’d take the hint and leave. Her brother ignored the look and stayed put, watching Halvar coolly.

“So, Halvar, what kind of dragons do you have on this island anyway?”

Thankfully, Halvar took no offense. “None, friend. That’s why your amazing dragons have caused such a stir. Why did you ask? Have you seen one that is not yours?”

“Yeah, it was tiny, and green and red, and it eats flowers. Weird, but totally awesome,” Tuffnut answered. "And as much as I hate to say my sister was right, totally worth the hunger pains."

Halvar laughed fondly. “That was no dragon, it was a hummingbird. But I can see why you’d think so. Its shining feathers are very much like the vibrant scales of your dragons.”

Ruff wrinkled her nose in confusion. “A humming – wait, that was a bird? I have never seen a bird like that, not even in pictures.” She was disappointed; bringing the other riders news of a bird wasn’t impressive at all.

“Do not be sad, lady. They only thrive where it is always warm, like this island. My people believe seeing a hummingbird is a sign of good luck, and more. For it to drink a flower’s nectar so close to you means that you are trustworthy and kind.”

She blushed and smiled, eyes sparkling as she looked up at Halvar.

“Huh. Does it mean we get first pick of the lamb chops?” Tuff asked, completely unimpressed. Ruff could honestly hit him.

Again, Halvar laughed. “Of course, but we’d better head there quick before your friends eat them all.”

Tuff’s eyes widened. He pointed at Ruff. “Make good choices,” he told her sternly, and then raced back to the village as fast as he could.

“Ugh, sorry about my brother.”

“Don’t be. Thanks to you, my little sister came home alive last night. I will not want to leave her side again, after you dragon-riders leave.”

Ruff put a hand on his arm. “You can call on us anytime you need, Halvar. We’ll completely wreck anyone who tries that again. And I’m just speaking for myself and my brother.”

“We thank you for that, truly. I hope no-one does, but I do hope I see you again.”

Ruffnut grinned as they walked toward the village, looping her arm through Halvar’s. She was never going to forget that it had been her he’d brought flowers to, walking right past Astrid and Heather. (The looks on their faces had been priceless.)

Dragon-fairy or no, she was definitely going to sketch a hummingbird in one of her notebooks tonight. After all, each adventure had driven the riders further and further west.

Maybe it was time to start keeping track of other winged beings for a change.

#ruffnut #tuffnut #rtte #httyd #fanfiction

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five-wow · 6 years ago

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9.20 thoughts! this got very long, just as an fyi.

not even a minute in and some guys sold a teenage girl a gun. oh boy.

on the plus side: i remember which episode this is now! it’s the one with the gun that somehow has a connection to lots of five-0 members’ lives!

the banter between those two cops was really fun (and not as stilted as it sometimes is when a random Cop Or Security Duo shows up!) and then one of them got shot and something like that kind of HAD to happen but i’m still sad

OKAY so the first connection is that junior is friends with one of the guys who sold the gun and the guy shows up at HQ and i was like, oh no, but then he tells junior what he did!!! that’s so good!!! i’m weirdly proud of this very minor side character who did a very bad thing

DANNY. THERE’S DANNY. i technically knew he had to be in this episode somewhere because i’ve seen photographical evidence of it here on tumblr, but THERE HE IS. YAY. i mean, i love almost all of the main cast, but i think part of the reason why it took me a month to watch the previous episode was because danny wasn’t in it. it still just doesn’t feel right. it’s like there’s something missing. and here that something is!

junior and his buddy leave and steve and danny are alone in the office and steve said something case-related directly to danny and i’m weirdly excited about that, too!! my bars are literally so low.

BABY STEVE. baby steve is watching inspector gadget, oh my gosh, aw.

i love how doris is supposed to be there and she picks up the phone and tells mini steve to turn down the tv, but we never see any part of her except a hand and some hair because they didn’t hire the actress for this episode. so subtle.

i am... so conflicted about this scene. on the one hand, mini steve is super cute. on the other, we’re probably supposed to like young john here and think he’s a Good Dad but i just... kind of low key hate everything he does. he looks annoyed when doris tells him the call is for him, like she’s bugging him somehow after being the one who picked up the phone in the first place, and the whole “i have to go to work. take care of your mom while i’m gone, okay?” that he says to steve is so bad, omfg. steve is what, five? i know the “man of the house” thing is very common in media but it’s! so! stupid! doris is a grown woman and steve is a tiny little boy - doris has to (and can!) take care of steve, not the other way around, god. /rant

oh! we do get a full body shot of doris but it’s blurry doris! and she’s SUPER PREGNANT which makes the fact that john let her get up to answer the phone in the first place kind of bad too, actually, oh boy.

doris: “john, if something was wrong you’d tell me, right?” john: “i’m not gonna lie to you, i don’t know. just lock the door behind me, i’ll try to call you as soon as i get this straightened out.” OMG WHAT. okay a) this is hilarious knowing as we do that doris was actually a highly trained cia agent/assassin and probably way more skilled than john and outranks him by far, fjdkfd, and b) i’ll give john a little credit for being somewhat honest and not just going with “no, everything’s totally fine, don’t worry”, but the answer he does give is almost worse because it’s so incredibly vague, holy shit. he says “i’m not gonna lie to you” and he doesn’t, but he also doesn’t tell doris who called or what they said or why he’s suddenly leaving for work in the middle of the night or why he thinks she needs to lock the door.

i’m only six minutes in at this point. i’m talking too much oh gosh

WAIT WAIT WAIT. john is offering himself up as a hostage, alone and unarmed and without backup, and THAT’s the “oh, i don’t know if there’s something wrong honey” situation he was leaving for? john. the fuck. now the “i’m not gonna lie” was definitely a lie after all.

the guy with the gun: “you’re such a good boy, john.” i respectfully disagree, my man.

the guy with the gun apparently killed his business partner and john arrested him (of course) and he and john have a talk about it where the guy is like “i shouldn’t have gone to prison!” and john is like “you got off lightly!” and it’s okay but. john is so smug about it and i hate that. he’s probably supposed to look bad ass and cool but i just. i just really dislike it. it’s this macho man thing and i’m not into it at all.

guy with gun, talking about his son: “you made sure he grew up without a father.” this, um, kind of made me laugh, because apparently that’s one of john’s specialties - for this guy’s kid by sending him (probably deservedly) to prison, sure, but later also his own kids by sending them away, fdjfkd. wow.

ooohhhh the gun guy said “steve, right?” and the frame kind of flipped to present day steve and that was very cool! i loved that.

2010 danny! and he’s talking to grace on the phone!!! already love it.

i also love that they gave him a baseball cap, presumably to hide the kind of obvious difference in hair that nine years brought.

danny kind of snubs the local food and it’s very 2010!him, but oh danny. it’s not the poor shop owner’s fault that your ex dragged you there against your will.

oh BOY. the shop gets robbed and the owner shot (which was expected, of course, when a main character wanders in there at night), and then danny asks the random woman shopping there to keep pressure on the owner’s wound until the ambulance gets there (which... he hasn’t called, and he also hasn’t told her to call for one, so that, uh, might take a long, long while) and then he takes the shop owner’s shotgun and RUNS AFTER THE SHOOTER. which is very heroic of him but also makes every single complaint he has in season 1 about steve’s daredevil approach to law enforcement VERY IRONIC.

oh, danny loses the guy and NOW he calls it in, fjdkfkd.

jerry is doing some smart tracking thing on the computer and it’s pretty regular h50 stuff but there’s an email adress on the screen that’s literally “gunlover[bunch of numbers]” and i’m screaming oh gosh

they already found the girl! but her dad is understandably not that jazzed about letting his daughter be investigated for murder. but good job on tracking her down so quickly!

2015 tani at a party!!! aww.

ohhh gosh koa is target shooting with the gun, which probably means he’s going to end up getting framed for something, oh no.

oh boy, tani has the same concerns so she confronts her boyfriend about it but she also knows her boyfriend’s in a gang and then the police comes knocking at his door about a murder, so that’s not going to end well.

ooh, 2015 tani was a police informant! and she’s talking to a pretty cool female detective and i appreciate that, even though you’d have to squint to count this scene as passing the bechdell test because almost every sentence references tani’s boyfriend, the boyfriend’s gang or tani’s brother.

steve and danny are interrogating a suspect together!! i might be completely wrong, but i feel like we haven’t seen that in a while.

suspect: “i don’t know if either of you guys are married, but even if it goes south, you can’t shut down some of those feelings, you know? like the ones that go right down into the core.” HMMM. INTERESTING. the camera is literally on danny’s face for a good portion of this, gosh.

they close their main case and i thought for a moment there was going to be some big twist because the episode isn’t near over yet, but instead they realize that this gun was used for a whole bunch of other crimes. it’s a “community gun”! i love that term, wow. how nice and cooperative of them all, sharing this one piece between them.

danny recognizes his case from the ones on the screen!!! and he tells the rest of them that he went to get a bite to eat on his first night in hawaii and that the store was robbed, and i’m kind of glad that at least the team seems to recognize that this is extraordinarily bad luck, ha.

also, steve barely reacts to danny’s story, so i’m taking that to mean that he definitely already knows it. which would make total sense! this seems like the kind of thing danny would rant about at some point during one of his “why i hate hawaii” tirades in season 1, but still, i like that. they know each other.

fjdkfjdk i LOVE how the whole team is standing there and piecing together the fact that they have connections to a ridiculous number of the crimes committed with this one gun, and jerry keeps commenting about how freaky it all is. this is so much fun, awww.

young john gets shot but of course he was wearing a vest, because he can’t die yet, because he needs to save that for a moment much later when he’s scarred his kids more and when he can die horribly on the phone with his son.

OKAY BUT “d. lukela”!!!! i’ve been watching the john bits very sceptically at this point but THIS I DID NOT SEE COMING and i ADORE IT.

john: “listen, duke, i’m not gonna lie to you man...” WHY do you keep saying that john, omfg. at least this time you’re telling the truth about not lying, i suppose. 50% not lying about not lying isn’t much, but it’s a start.

steve!! remembers!! that night!! and it’s because he was six and really scared because he knew something was wrong oh nooo

danny and tani talking in the car is super nice!!! and danny gets to drive the camaro for once which, wow, that’s pretty shocking

ahhhhh, the only thing this danny+car scene was missing was steve and then he CALLS. very good.

i just. listen. i just love danny. the way he keeps butting into the tense conversation between tani and this guy she used to know who she put in prison? it’s both hilarious and secretly very kind, because it’s making the moment so much more bearable for tani.

danny and tani find the guy from the convenience store robbery and he just turns around and puts his hands on his back to be cuffed when they ask him to! he doesn’t pull out a gun from somewhere or even try to run away! holy shit!

duke and steve are in california rounding off steve’s dad’s case and of course they get shot at before even knocking on the door and then the suspect runs for it, too. maybe it’s just steve. maybe their work would be a lot easier if steve’s presence didn’t magically make all the suspects shoot and run.

and the gun gets put away in a box in evidence storage, closing the case(s). aww. that’s a nice end.

okay, so, as much as i complain about john mcgarrett, i did really enjoy this episode very much! it was a really fun idea to have this gun travel around the island and use it to show little parts of characters’ backstories and i liked the execution of it too, plus the pacing was good and it had some funny moments and it had (very importantly) danny in it. and tani’s background!!! i think that was the one that surprised me most, because danny being a good cop with bad luck and steve having a not-so-great dad are a bit of a given at this point (though i still enjoyed seeing that, too!), but we knew precious little about tani’s life before five-0, and apparently there’s a huge story there. knowing what this episode showed us, i kind of want her to have a conversation with kamekona at some point - they both had a youth where they (almost) went the wrong direction, and they both got out of that in part for the sake of their brothers, and then they both ended up in the five-ohana somehow, which is probably not a place they ever saw themselves. i don’t know, i just love the idea of this unexpected friendship/understanding between two characters who don’t seem to have a lot in common at first glance.

also, more general comment: the funny thing is, until i watched this episode i hadn’t realized how much i missed this silly show and its silly characters over the past month. i totally did that not-watching-it thing to myself (not even intentionally, but still) and clearly it was more of a mistake than i realized because oh my god it felt good to see them all on my screen again, gosh. :D

#9.20 #h50 #this!! this is the kind of thing i want more of #*

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