#someone. all of that sorta stuff will decide how bad your karma is.

[snekdood]

Bitches on here be like "haha! I read this callout about you and i told everyone around me to ostracize you and ignore you and the reason you're alone is divinely orchestrated karma, of course, surely not me and my hand in manipulating people to hate you, surely this is some sort of divine intervention and not a smear campaign that i try to justify my actions with "its gods will" with"

[ari-zonia]

Decided to revamp my Sinner Slugcats so they're not all just multicolored scugs.

I did look into some of the symbols and stuff of the game, so the writing is more or less "Outlaw, Number", since I wasn't sure how to make a "Sinner" symbol in the RW language, so I just used Outlaw since it has the lowest Karma symbol anyway.

Intricacies under the readmore

Yi Sang: Inspired by daszombes' Deadlands video, he is a "Flying Slugcat", like a sugar glider or flying squirrel. He has no true flight, but it works

Faust: Some sort of Echo or associated. Has her own citizen ID drone of an unknown Iterator, and it also acts as a little scanner (inspired by @astragatwo's take on scug Faust). She still maintains Gourmand's crafting ability, but it might be more taxing with her smaller frame.

Don Quixote: A special breed of Slugcat meant to go fast, her legs are quite powerful, letting her make longer pounces or generally run faster than most other scugs. Obviously, her lack of weight makes her weak to poleplants/worm grass, but y'know.

Ryoshu: Similar to Spearmaster, but by way of King Vulture, she only has one spear directly connected to her that she can recall (it does not act like SM's feeding needles). Also, a subtle detail is that her ears are absolutely massive compared to most scugs, giving her enhanced hearing.

Meursault: (Perhaps a Purposed Being?) He has face armor not unlike a lizard, in fact he's about the same size as a blue lizard. His bite is quite powerful, and he's certainly the best to have in front going through pipes, as his face will deflect spears (should the scavs be aggro or something). He might also have better climbing ability, able to get on walls and such, but he's very heavy so idk

Hong Lu: Bioluminescent, like a fun mix of lantern mice and cyan lizards, he can "turn it off" as it were. His tail also can be used as a small flashbang, but obviously only once (per cycle). Of course, this helps with coalescipedes, but makes him a damn beacon otherwise.

Heathcliff: Still Artificer based, where explosions and such just don't really bother him and he's able to maul enemies (though obviously his bite is weaker than Meur's). He also has a pearl hanging around his neck of unknown use, but clearly given to him by someone special.

Ishmael: Rivulet, but even closer to salamander where she actually has fins, her ability to swim is obviously a cut above everyone else's. She's probably had a bad run in or two with Leviathans. Her cloak is probably a gift from whatever version of Queequeg this world has

Rodion: Also inspired by astragatwo, she's mega fluffy making her very warm. Though, this does make it annoying for her to swim if the area is cold because she'll freeze faster. I still like the idea she can carry more scugs on her, but idk. (She does look more like a fox, but such is the price of floof)

Sinclair: Saint-lite, and still pup-sized (he's an adult, just tiny like Don) so long as he's not at lowest Karma, he has limited ability to incapacitate enemies (not quite enough to ascend) and fly a bit with said ability. I basically wanted to reference his Mark of Cain somehow.

Outis: Ironically, just your average Slugcat. She probably has stuff going on with reputation or maybe she allows Echos to appear on first visit, or convinces Pebbles to not murder everyone immediately

Gregor: Definitely a creature that has been fucked with too much. Originally just a Slugcat that had been spliced with a centiwing (sorta like how the Miros Vultures are hybrids), he seemed to have got infected by the Rot, most likely when whatever Iterator structure he was hanging out around pulled a Pebbles

[damn-stark]

All That’s Left Ch.4

Star Wars Au

A/N-I hope you guys like how this chapter turned out! Cause I know I did :) leave your thoughts!

Warning- violence, swearing, angst, some fluff, Slow burn, long chapter.

Pairing- Poe Dameron x reader

(Let me know if you want to be tagged)

————

“Hello, sister.”

“Armitage” you deadpan, avoiding the shocked stares coming from your crew.

“Should’ve known you would be among the scum.” He smirks. “Well fun is over I’m afraid, it’s time I take you home.”

You step forward and speak bluntly, “no.”

“No?” Armitage looks at the crowd and frowns, “You have no one here, you’re alone. Come home with me sister. Where you belong. Snoke is anxious to meet you.”

“No.”

His jaw tightens, but continues to remain his collected, poised self. “The resistance doesn’t promise your survival. You do know you’ll die once you provide what you possess.” He steps up making Ben move closer to you protectively. “But not with us. After we take what we need you’ll be free to go and live your life. Free from the order...I’ll even go with you. Isn’t that what you want?”

A moment of hesitation hits you at his words, he knew exactly what to say to pull the strings of your heart, to convince you. But even if what he said sounded promising, you couldn’t believe him. As much as it hurt. You needed and were going to do the right thing. “I’m sorry Armitage, but I don’t trust you...I’m not going with you.”

Armitage sighs loudly and takes a step towards you, “Amara is dead. Who do you have here? No one, you’re alone. But not if you come back with me. You’re my sister. My responsibility.”

You swallow thickly and lower your gaze, your decision not changing. “I’m doing the right thing for the galaxy and me. I’m not going back.”

Armitage exhales deeply, a scowl replacing the expressionless demeanor on his features as he decided that he was done asking. “Take her and the traitor.”

The Stormtroopers don’t hesitate to listen to their master and march directly towards you and Finn. A mission that came to a quick end as Ben completely stepped in front of you with his lightsaber activated.

“Always protected, sister.” Armitage sighed, “mother, Amara and now this fool. That’s why you’ve always been weak, why you’re a coward.”

Tears pool in your eyes as you’re left speechless. He’s always been like this, you should've known that nothing he said before was sincere.

“Just leave her alone.” Poe defended you, instantly making you look over at him in shock. “You heard her, she doesn’t want to go with you. Leave while you still can.”

Armitage smirked mischievously, his eyes falling on Poe’s, “and the list keeps growing.”

The tears that stung your eyes finally rolled down your cheek. You knew that what he was going to say was going to be anything but nice, especially after you rejected his offer, but the words still hurt. Like the first time he said them to you. It left you speechless and unable to defend yourself—like always—maybe what he said was right.

Before you even had the chance to respond or act on the problem some of the stormtroopers continue to move towards you. Until they were all suddenly flung back. A small gasp escaping your lips at the action, Poe and the rest of your crew seeming to share your same response at the sudden action. All except for Ben.

Armitage looked back at the troopers and then at Ben, his eyes expressing surprise and fear. It made you smile, something that didn’t last as the troopers got back up and got ready to shoot their attacker—the thought to help out Ben take out the stormtroopers crossed your mind, but the guilt and knowing they were human under those uniforms made you quickly brush away your thought.

Leaving you to watch as Ben single handily took out the troopers without moving from his spot, watching as Armitage was lifted from the ground and his hands reached to grab the invisible hold around his throat. A look of horror expressed on your features.

“Ben.” You quickly called out. “Stop.”

Everything stayed the same, expect now Armitage tried to gasp for the little air he could get in his lungs. His eyes desperately glancing at you to make Ben stop.

“Ben, stop!” You bellowed while trying to pull back the hand Ben had extended out to do said violent action. “Leave him alone!”

“I don’t want to see you or any of your stormtroopers after us again. You understand?” Ben told Armitage in an unrecognizable voice.

“Ben!”

Said man glanced at you for a brief moment and then let Armitage drop to the ground. The ginger looking unkept as he gasped for air, not responding but simply ignoring Ben altogether.

“What’s your problem?” You hissed at Ben. Receiving nothing but a glare as a response, his attention quickly stolen by the Falcon flying in.

Before you disappeared into the old ship, you gave Armitage one last glance and frowned, his words not letting you feel bad for what had happened. “That’s why you got bit and why Amara died. Because you’re weak!”

You swallowed thickly and looked away, an ominous black ship parked in the distance catching your eye before the ramp closed.

——

It was closer now. The time you had left was coming to an end. And knowing that didn’t help the pit you felt in your stomach, didn’t help the nerves that were eating you alive. The scary part wasn’t that you were going to give the galaxy a new hope, it was the not getting to live a life what messed with your head. There had to be more out there than just violence and flesh-eating monsters right?

But then again maybe this was Karma for what you were born into. A feared Order that wants nothing but destruction. Dying this way was just Karma paying back.

“I did it for you, Poe. Because I knew that if you found out you wouldn’t report it.”

Okay. First, yes, you tried not to eavesdrop onto Poe’s and Zorii’s argument, but avoiding their argument was hard, especially when they argued so close. And especially when the argument had to do with you...sorta. So, yes there was no choice but to discreetly listen in while Finn and you pretended to be busy with something else.

“Because it isn’t your news to tell, Zorii. Why don’t you understand that? You had to tell me first! Not just go run your mouth for some credits.”

Zorii glared at Poe, her demeanor not faltering for a single minute. A trait you admired about her. She wasn’t easy to put down or scare. She was head-strong and confident. Immediate comebacks that were thrown at her.

If only you could be like her.

“Why don’t you understand I did it for us? So I had enough money to get a different ship and leave together. Don’t you want that?

Poe put his hands on his hips and sighed, his shoulders dropping as he tried to be more understanding and calm. “I’ve told you already that I can’t leave this fight. I know you prefer to go rogue, but I can’t and won’t. I’m sorry.”

Zorii took a moment to respond, the now cold tone in her voice making what she was meaning and how she felt obvious. “So, then I guess this is it.”

Before either Finn or you could hear what Poe had to respond, multiple red lights went off in the Falcon, said ship shaking violently before it quickly began to fall into the planet. Forcing you to grab onto the table in front of you for stability, repeatedly hoping that a simple crash wasn’t going to take you out. Not when you were close to your destination.

Right as you were going to try and complain to Ben, the ship came to a sudden stop. The two pilots guilty of making said destruction rushed out of the cockpit and rushed outside. And of course the rest of the crew and you followed after them, your lips immediately parting at the sight of the Falcon on fire.

“It’s on fire.” Poe panicked, “all of it is on fire.”

“Really, Dameron? I wouldn’t have guessed it if you hadn’t so obviously pointed it out.” Ben retorted sarcastically.

Poe cocked his head to the side and glared at the tall dark haired man. “You know, complain all you want about Y/N lightspeed skipping the Falcon, at least she didn’t set it on fire like you and Rey.”

Your eyes widen at Poe’s comeback, instantly getting the feeling to laugh, but having to hold it back as you noticed Ben’s death glare.

Ignoring him however you dared to make a comment. “That’s right. Because I’m the best pilot.”

Poe glanced at you with a sly grin, “that’s still up for debate.”

You turn and shrug, “eh, no, you’ve said it yourself. At least I didn’t burn the ship.”

“That—”

“We don’t have time, let’s extinguish this fire and fix the ship. We’re almost at base.” Ben interrupted. “We can’t lose focus now.”

——

“We’re right here. Texas.” Ben pointed on the map, “my mother’s base is up here, in this state called Oregon. We can make it. It isn’t far.”

Rey shook her head and backed away from the table, her arms crossed on her chest and a perplexed look on her face. “We won’t. Unless you want us to die from an explosion the moment we start this ship. Plus we’re very low on fuel and we don’t have the parts. We have to go on foot.”

Great. The problems just keep piling on.

“No.” Poe added, “we’ll never make it on foot. It will take us months. We have to get something to travel on.”

“Whatever we use also needs fuel. We don’t have that remember?” Ben remarked.

“Then we collect it. People always leave stuff unchecked.” You speak up, making all eyes fall on you.

“She’s right.” Finn adds, “there's another camp not far from here that’s allied with the resistance. Admiral Haldo is in charge. We just collect enough to make it there and get what we need to make it to the base camp.”

“Sounds like a plan. But how do we get our mode of transportation?” Poe asks. “I can go search for something.”

Ben parts his lips to say something but Rey beats him to it. “It’s dark out. It’s too dangerous now but you can at first light.”

Poe nods, his eyes finding you next to Ben, “y/n, do you want to come? I need someone to watch my back.”

Wait, what?

Your eyes part away from the map to land on Poe, feeling surprised that he would ask you first, instead of...I don’t know, Finn, or Zorii. He was your friend, yes, but he barely knew you. Why would he ask you first?

Regardless and desperately wanting out you accept before Ben also had anything to say against it.“Yeah, sure.” You grin, immediately feeling Ben glare daggers at you. And as you heard him open his mouth you cut him off. “I’m going to start a fire.”

——

“Excuse me, but who gave you permission to go risk your life with Dameron?” Ben argued as he stormed after you.

You scoff but don’t stop or turn, “myself. You’re not my father or anyone to be giving me orders. I can take care of myself.”

“Really? Because lately you’ve proven otherwise.”

“Look—”

“Shut up.” Ben rudely interrupts, prompting you to spin back and glare at him.

“Excuse me?!”

“Shut up, I hear something.”

In a swift motion you turn towards the direction of the noise and pull out your Vibroblade, breaking it apart and turning it into twin blades. The rustling got louder the closer it got.

You try and search for red eyes in between the darkness but nothing shines, the noise only gets closer. Ben tries to pull you back, but you rip your arm away from his grasp, inching closer and closer until out of the darkness the creature you had heard jumps out. Revealing nothing but a cute animal.

“Aww, Ben were you scared of a cute little animal?” You tease as you turn to face him with a cocky grin. “Don’t worry I don’t think that cute little deer can eat you. If it tries I’ll keep you safe, don’t worry.”

Ben just shoots you glare before he huffs away.

——

“Ok, craziest thing you’ve done before, doesn't matter if it was before or after the outbreak.” Poe explains as he shoves a piece of cooked meat into his mouth and points his finger directly at you. “You, y/n, go.”

“Really? pick the new member, cheap move.” You sigh but continue, hugging yourself tighter as a cold breeze hit you, “uhmm, well I guess it would have to be lightspeed skipping the Falcon.”

Rey looks up at you, her narrowed gaze basked by the fire. “That was not crazy, that was a stupid move. You could’ve killed us all.”

“Did you die?” You shot back.

Rey’s lips part, your comeback catching her by surprise and causing her to fumble for a brief moment. “Don’t do it again.”

Will there even be a next time?

“Well I for one thought it was a pretty awesome move.” Zorii defends you, making you smile shyly.

“Thank you.” You then glance at Ben and direct your comment at him, “at least someone here appreciates what I did.”

“Hey, what about me? I was the first one to compliment you on that.” Poe interjected.

You blink to meet his gaze across the fire, a half smile on your lips and a heat creeping on your cheeks at his comment. (Or was that the heat from the fire?) “Yeah, I guess you did.” You joke before tearing your gaze away when you felt Zorii look between Poe and you.

“Well, I have some crazy story I haven’t told yet.” Poe begins enthusiastically, making everyone around him groan in annoyance.

Finn leans in and whispers in your ear about the subject at hand, “he’s full of shit. Half of the stuff he tells isn’t even true. He’s just trying to impress everyone.”

You slide your eyes to the side to meet Finn’s gaze, the both of you beginning to snicker as the pilot begins his story—regardless of Finn’s warning, you got hooked and listen to every word Poe said about his dreadnought story, the whole vibe that was happening right now, reminding you when your sister would tell her stories to passing people that would join your group from time to time. Their would be new stories each night, never the same and almost all of them made up.

But as entertaining as Poe’s story was you couldn’t help but glance at Ben, who seemed to be lost in his own head, his eyes glossy and focused on the gold dices he held in between the pads of his fingers. Even if he was rude to some extent, the way he was now, quiet and somewhat relaxed reminded you of your brother Armitage. Him just like Ben had their anger problems that could become excessive sometimes, but in the quiet times they appeared harmless, somewhat nice and approachable. Maybe that’s why Ben was so easy to talk to and get angry at. He reminded you of your brother…..

Ew.

The moment you were going to attempt to talk to Ben solo, you felt someone sit beside you and a place a jacket on your shoulders, the warmth evading the cold you felt before. When you turned your head you noticed that it was, Poe. Said man offering you a warm smile and a witty comment.

“Couldn’t stand your chattering teeth.”

You roll your eyes and smile, “sorry, did it get in the way of your intense storytelling?”

“The person I was trying to impress wasn’t paying attention anymore, so I stopped.”

You snort, “who, Ben? Well sorry to break it to you, but I don’t think he was ever paying attention.”

Poe chuckles and plays along, “wells that’s a shame, told my best story for nothing then.”

“Better luck next time.” You grin.

Right when Poe was going to say something, a tall shadow covered Poe and you, both of you looking up to see no one other then Ben, his glare fixated on Poe. “Y/N, you and me are up for first the lookout shift. Let’s go and leave Dameron alone. He has to wake up early tomorrow, you don’t want him sleeping on the job.”

“Yeah...okay.” You push yourself off the log and offer Poe an apologetic smile, “goodnight, Poe.”

“Good night y/n. Remember first light tomorrow don’t forget.”

You quirk your eyebrow and smirk, “I won’t. Best you not forget though.”

Poe scoffs, “I won’t.”

——

The soft orange hues of the sun rising in the horizon brightens your smile and illuminates the eagerness that plays on your features when you finally spot a car a couple feet away. Hope filling your whole being, not only because you were going to find what you needed so early on into the trip, but it meant that the fear you felt of running into danger with so little backup wouldn’t turn into a real terrifying scenario.

Even the little orange and white droid seemed to be hopeful on your find as he quickly rolled over to said object. An action you didn’t hesitate to follow, making Poe rush to catch up to the both of you in case anything surprised you that neither the droid or you caught in your eager spirit.

But just as everything else, as soon as you reached the red car you came to a disappointing turnout since the battery was missing from within the car. “Stars.” You groan.

Poe sighs behind you, his little droid seeming to copy his sound of disappointment—“Let’s continue down the road, we’ll come across something eventually.”

You nod and continue down the paved road in a surprisingly comforting silence, unaware of the stolen glances Poe would give you. That exact moment going on for a moment longer until you got reminded of something that made you glance at Poe, who was quick to look away as he saw you look his way.

“Oh yeah, I forgot last night,” you begin as you shrug your backpack strap off your shoulder to take his jacket out, “your jacket. Thank you for letting me use it.”

Poe glances at your outstretched hand and what you had to offer, a smile pulling at the corner of his lips as he pushed your hand back towards you. “Keep it. It suits you.”

You meet his gaze and smile, “are you sure?”

“Damn sure.”

Deciding to put the jacket on you add one more thing that had been pestering you all night. “I do want to say, uhm I hope your girlfriend doesn’t get mad that we came here together. I don’t want to cause any problems.”

Poe strokes his beard and responds quite quickly, “no, no it’s fine,” he didn’t know why he had the urge to further explain himself, but he did. “I think Zorii and I have been out of it for a while. Not that I don’t love her because I do, in a more platonic way now, I mean she’s always going to be special. It’s just we both haven’t been like we once were for a long time.” He pauses and sighs, his gaze distant as he chose to continue.

“The only reason why we were together now was not because we had feelings for one another, but because we felt obligated to be together because of our past and the thought that there wasn't going to be anyone else or anything else in the new strange galaxy that is now our reality.” His eyes met yours, the orange hue that basked his face letting you see how brown his eyes were under the sun. It’s something you didn’t want to focus on, but couldn’t help but do as he let out held in words. “We both felt familiar, I guess. We both needed each other in the beginning, but I think now after a while we were both scared to admit that we had moved on...that we both have always wanted different things.”

Turning your gaze towards the path ahead, you hum softly before responding verbally. “I understand...but just know there's nothing wrong with sticking with what’s familiar. It reminds you to keep grounded. Helps you feel calm in chaos.” At least that’s what you felt...before Amara died. She was the only person you had, the only person that helped you in a galaxy full of chaos.

But she was gone now.

“I guess you’re right. But can I give you some advice?”

Once again you meet each other’s gaze, your paces slowing down at the shared moment.

“Go ahead.”

“Don’t be afraid to try what’s new. Adapt with what is now, there's so much to do. I know that it’s all terrifying, but if you don’t try, you won’t live.”

A frown shows on your lips while you blinked to look away for a brief moment as you responded softly, “even with how things are now?”

“Even with how things are now.” Poe confirmed with a assuring smile, “nobody is guaranteed tomorrow, enjoy life, have fun...just like when you lightspeed skipped the Falcon.”

Again you looked over at him, this time holding each other’s gaze for a moment, a shy smile growing on your lips, “thank you.” You look down and hide the fact how hot your cheeks were burning, how your heart seemed to skip a beat at the lingering stare.

The action not going unnoticed however; Poe had seen how flustered you had gotten and couldn’t help his smile from softening, an admiration growing on how different you were from the other girls he'd met throughout his life.

“You welcome.” He muttered.

——

“Fuck, yeah!” Poe exclaimed as he practically jumped off the drivers seat, “it works!”

When you check the car, your smile drops at the only thing missing, “it needs fuel genius. A lot of it, we won’t make it around the corner before it dies on us.”

Poe scoffs and shakes his head, turning away from you to talk to himself, “thank you poe, for finding a working car. Oh no problem, y/n, just in the day's work.”

BB8 and you share a glance at Poe’s ramblings, deciding it's best to let him...be him.

“There's a couple cars alongside the street, I’ll go check if they have what we need.” You point, not waiting for a response to walk down the driveway. The curly headed man following you nonetheless.

“I’ll check the garages while you take out the fuel from cars, okay?” He instructs as he hands you an empty canister. “BB8, watch her back.”

The both of you begin to do your own thing, the objective you had, actually harder than you initially thought. Making Ben come to mind. Mostly his ability to use the force and how it would be much easier if he were here since he could just get the fuel out with his mind or….however he used it.

Then again, if Ben were here, he would most likely let you wait in the car or something that was out of harm's way—At least Poe let you be on your own and do what Ben never would.

So, actually it was good Ben wasn’t here.

“Seems full,” You muse as you shake the canister and hear the liquid swish around inside, a proud smile plastered on your lips. A feeling and gesture that all too quickly vanished at the sound of Poe calling out to you in a panicked cry for help.

“Y/N! Y/N! Help!”

You snapped your head in the direction of his call, jumping to your feet and forgetting the full canister on the ground to run to him faster than you have ever run in your life—when you finally located where you had heard him shout from, you saw a corpse on top of him, teeth snapping inches from Poe’s face. The only reason why he luckily didn’t get bitten at that instant was the hand he had against the corpse's head. And you didn’t know what it was, maybe the positioning Poe was in or the sight and sound of the bloodied corpse, but it was at that moment you were struck by the memory when you were bitten.

Causing violent flashes of the past to hit you, something that caused you to freeze in place, making you let out heavy breaths and causing your lips to part in disbelief. And as much as you tried you couldn’t snap yourself away from the trauma, not until Poe called out to you again.

You whipped out your vibroblade and swung down on the corpse's head, immediately having to react by pulling it out of its head, and breaking apart your singular blade to turn it into twin blades as you heard another corpse running up behind you. Having to use your right hand to swiftly and skillfully turn your blade around so you could manage to swing back and hit the corpse in the chest with a backhand trick. Not hesitating to throw your arm upward and cut the corpse's head in half.

When you saw that the ghost was clear you reconnected your blades together and put them away, turning back around to see Poe still on the ground, his eyes wide and lips parted in amazement. His eyes were the only thing to react as you extended your hand out to him.

He didn’t hesitate when he took your hand, but with his speechless reaction he hardly paid attention to how fast he got up, his chest hitting yours and his face leaving only inches of free space between your, the feeling making you go rigid.

He stood quiet for a moment, his eyes frantically searching yours, as if what he wanted to say was contained inside them.

“Uhh, I—”

“Your brother was wrong.” Poe interrupted.

“What?”

Poe licked his lips and kept close, his hand still holding onto yours as he continued. Each and every word sincere, causing your eyes to water, “you’re not what he said you were. None of it was true. If he saw you now, he would’ve been left impressed, like I was.”

You swallow back thickly, a warm smile growing on your lips before you softly spoke up to seek for assurance on what he said, “you really think so?”

Poe grinned as he held your gaze, “hell yeah.” His eyes slowly drifted down to your lips before he met your gaze again, his face leaning closer, making your heart hammer in your chest.

Right as you were going to close your eyes and be swept by the moment that was going to happen, the same black ship from before appeared in the sky. Not making you pull away completely, but causing you to stop what Poe planned to do.

“Poe.”

“Hmm?”

“Th-there's a ship in the sky. It was in Ajan Kloss when we were leaving too.”

Poe sighed deeply and turned to follow your line of sight, his gaze narrowing on the mysterious ship you only now identified.

“Who the hell is that?”

You gasped and slowly walked out of the garage, “The Knights of Ren.”

.

.

.

.

A/N- does Poe think of reader as a cute little cinnamon roll? Yes, yes he does.

A/N-Anyway yes earth exists in this universe, I know, I know out all of the planets I could’ve used from the SW universe, but it’s just earth will provide a lot of angst in this series!! One more thing I would like to add that for those who haven’t read the Kylo Ren comics or know much about the knights of Ren, they did exist before Kylo Ren was created, just a little FYI.

Tagged- @thescarletknight2014​​​​​ , @lanatheawesome​​​​​ , @yodaboo​​​​​ , @geo-winchester​​​​​ , @ginger-swag-rapunzel​​​​​ , @mamanoota5​​​​​ , @peachdameron​​​ , @roserrys​​​ , @too-lit-for-fanfic​​ , @jimpyknees​​ , @softly-sad​​

Permanent taglist- @ms-dont-care​ , @commondazy​

[popculturebuffet]

Reviewcaps: X-Men Evolution: Strategy X

I take my first look at X-Men Evolution the second and less famous, but no less loved, cartoon about everyones faviorite mutant outcasts. In our first episode Scott blows up a gas station, Nightcrawler finds what it feels like to have a home, Toad tries to join the x-men and both of the latter two end up nearly dying because Chuck forgot to teleport proof the one room in the house with deadly lasers. All this and football under the cut. 

A few days ago I realized something weird: I hadn’t reviewed any superhero cartoons on here. What makes that weird to me, is that I realized when writing this that Superhero cartoons are what MADE me a superhero fan in the first place. I grew up as a little kid watching the spider-man and x-men animated series, and watched most marvel shows that came about as I grew, and became a lifelong fan of Green Lantern and the Flash thanks to Justice League , the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles thanks to the 2003 cartoon (another franchise I absolutley adore I haven’t covered on here for some reason) and the Teen Titans thanks to well.. Teen Titans, not to mention all the great original superhero shows at the time like the legendary Danny Phantom (even if butch heartman can take a short walk into a cave full of bears lately), My Life as a Teenage Robot, El Tigre.. the list of good shit goes on. So being on an X-Men kick again lately, I decided to revisit what turned out to be one of the first of this wave, and a show I’d had the opporoutnity to binge for a while , first on hulu and then on D+, and wanted to revisit to see how it holds up, while, if not as fast as I watch them, reviewing them here to combine my two intrests. And it probably wont’ be the last marvel animated series I binge or cover here, nor the last superhero show I cover so if you have any, Marvel, DC, from other companies or completely original, shoot me an ask or reply to this and i’ll see if I can get to it. For now we’re starting the evolution.  Evolution was the first X-Men cartoon, and somehow one of 5 overall not counting the hulk vs wolverine movie, pryde of the x-men pilot and various crossover apperances in other cartoons, to follow the 90′s one, which as you probably know was a huge hit that defined the x-men for a generation of young fans, was a huge sucess and launched the mostly great sorta shared cartoon universe with classics like Spider-Man the Animated Series (Which not concidentally is what made me a lifelong fan of the webslinger), The Incredible Hulk, and the second season of Iron Man and Fantastic Four.. and yes only the second as the first seasons were both by entirely diffrent creative teams and gave us things like this. 

Yes that is Johnny Storm doing an objetivley terrible hip hop song, no it dind’t cause that building to sink into the earth, and yes it is so bad it’s delcioius. Sadly the rest of hte series is more flat and boring than “bwahahahaha” but my point is made. The point is Evolution had a steep hill to climb, and with the previous cartoon compressing most of the decades long Chris Claremont era and some of what came after into 5 seasons of good if cheesy stuff, the creators clearly, if only because Ic an’t find a making of, decided to go in a diffrent route, making their own unique take on the characters and world of the x-men instead.  For starters rather than being vetrans with years of experince, either from being an x-man or just from general life experince like the comics were since the 70′s aside from the ocasinal exception like Kitty Pryde and Jubilee, they’d be teens, grappling with hormones alongside blue fur, head lasers and not being able to touch anyone. This wasn’t something x-men had shied away from, New Mutants and Generation X existed, but it was the first time in decades the X-Men themselves were kids. Sure Storm and Wolverine weren’t aged down, but there were just as many missions that were just these teenagers hoping to surivive the experince and keep mutants a secret till the world was ready.. and then dealing with the fallout when an unready and hateful world found out anyway. And I honeslty like the direction: The previous series had done the mostly straight adaptation bit, there wasn’t anywhere to go and aging scott and jean back to teens, and having nightcrawler and rouge get to be ones for the first time though, was an intresting idea, as was having Kitty Pryde be a teen alongside them instead of their plucky teenage member  Another intresting direction was, while Xavier’s still existed and was where the cast lived and learned to use their powers, the X-Men also went to regular high school. While it’d take till season 3 for them to actually have to deal with being out mutants in the setting, it was still an intresting tactic: The X-school in the comics, while no less studious is still an isoalted boarding school and when the New Mutants met some friends in town, most had only heard whispers about the old Xavier Mansion and were delighted to visit for a slumber party.. granted this being an x-men schindig our heroes ended up having to deal with an alien who eventually became one of their closest friends that night but still, for the x-men having the robot, or technoorganic in this case, NOT try to murder them on purpose and be a loveable 80′s sidekick instead is an easy night. While i’ts not done perfectly here from what I can remember, the main human characters we see are nightcrawlers love intrest amanda (who is thankfully NOT his adopted sister this time around thank christ), local stock blond football bully and flash thompson impersonator Duncan, and Scott’s nondiscript friend paul, who I can’t think of without thinking two things; one , what do you WANT paul: 

I mean a man so vauge just can’t be trusted. The second is that paul looks a lot like Doug Ramsey and i’m suprised they didn’t just.. make him Doug and have him go through a similar arc from the comics:A crush on kitty and the rest of the team finding out he’s a mutant and eventually bringing him into their world. For those unaware Doug Ramsey is a mutant with the ablility to translate any languge, including computer code from the get go and body laungage when he came back, an easy fix to him being the non-combatant of the group no one thought of, who died tragically in story sacrifcing himself to save his girlfriend’s life and out of story because the artist tricked the writer into killing him off. Thankfully he did come back about two decades later, took a level in badass thanks to a combination of the body language thing above meaning he could anticipate moves and dodge and computers having advanced to the point that part of his powers was now 80 times more useful, and has recently become a key part of the dawn of x relaunch. He’s also a faviorite of mine as you can probably tell and given how much the early 2000′s loved their computers, it’s weird to me they didn’t think of this and it’s even weirder he didn’t show up with the lions share of the other new mutants next season, along with Karma and Warlock which somehow has become a recurring theme thanks to the movie saving them for sequels that ended up not happening because fox stupidly put the movie in Limbo where it remains until maybe next month.  But yeah even if muted a bit the idea of the x-men going to a public school alongside their training is a decent one.. sure a hero going through high school is again a cliche, but it’s a thing the x-men hadn’t done in this way before or sense, and was intresting to see in action. Most high school scnees in x-comics are usually some poor mutant having their powers manifest and either hurting someone by accident, being treated like crap for it by their class or hunted down for accidently hurting someone before the x-men show up to kick their asses and welcome this youngster. Or getting rejected by family and friends then coming to the x-men.. there’s a lot of angst directions to go in. My point is we’d never seen the x-men try to blend in and have a more standard school experince, and combining that with them hiding their powers instead of being out in the open at first made for a unique dynamic for the x-men that makes well tread ground nice nad fresh even 20 years later. 

So that’s our basic setup going in: The X-men wake up, go to school, then save the world or train to save the world while harnesing wonderful and dangerous powers and protecting the helpless agaist less charitable mutants. The basic x-setup with a 2000′s era superhero high school show flavor. Good stuff. But we’ll see what it does with this premise, how good it holds up and what’s still delightfuly cheesy about it as I take a nice look at the first episode Strategy X

We open at night and

Yup Scott and Jean are at the football team where the aforementioned Duncan, guy voted most likely to peak in high school in last year’s yearbook poll, is playing some foot ball and trying to flit with Jean Grey whose the first X-Man we meet and is somehow receptive to this despite his radaiating douche and is lucky this Jean’ , unlike say the time transfered one from the comics who thought the best approach to helping Bobby Drake come out of the closet so he could help his older self do the same and be his best self, was to just blunty say he’s gay and refuse to let him explore thtt for himself or get someone more quliafied to help her. And yes that did indeed happen and yes the original x-men were brought into the present for a while and yes it was weird Moving on. Still i’m pretty sure duncan’s thoughts would read like  “Man she looks good.. I want to bang her so hard she uh.. wakes up sideways.. yeah that’s it. Your a legend duncan, a total legend. “.  As you can probably tell I don’t have fond memories of this character or this sorta but not really love triangle, and question why they couldn’t of just had spyke be the other man in the triangle if they wanted to do this. Granted Spyke himself is kinda annoying, but it still makes more sense to have him fill in for angel or wolverine in a jean-scott love triangle than this walking burnt end. The warren, scott one worked, as much as a 60′s love triangle could because warren was conventionally handsome and had angel wings while scott has to keep glasses on just to not murder anyone he looks at, so there’s a bit of contrast there, while with WOlverine it’s straight laced dependeble scott versus unhinged manly man Logan. You know before recently where they just decided to all bone in a pile and wolverine even goes on vacation with them. And that’s not a joke I made up, that’s actual canon. Both make logical sense while Jean would be intrested in both in the former case, as Scott was still a kind and dependable leader, and tempted in the latter case if never acting on it before recently and with her husband’s full consent and either watching from the closet or taking one up the ass for jean to watch. Duncan in contrast is just wholly unlikeable and it makes me question why use him as the third in this love triangle, ESPECIALLY since the show would later introduce another scott and jean based love triangle with Rogue wanting scott that’s way more intresting, and even people wanting those two to hook up don’t want Jean with Duncan! Instead of creating a vitable alternative to make a later love triangle more intresting or create some shipping wars or anything of value any hint jean may be intrested just wastes screentime and tests my patience and is thankfully breif here.  As for why Jean’s here sh’es taking pictures for the school paper since the Daily Bugle wasn’t intrested in photos that weren’t of spider-man and they already had a teen photographer for that. Porker or something. Anyways this episode ofa low rent friday night lights knockoff is interuptted when one of duncan’s buddies on the team spots local trouble maker and ,judging by context, bully punching bag Todd Tolansky, aka Toad which is a cruel nickname turned slightly lesss cruel code name here, pick pocketing the people in the stands, and sensing a flimsy context to punch a nerd, Duncan goes to tell the coah he’ll be busy for a moment totally not carving someone’s face in again. Coach says as long as he leaves him breathing, and through a straw still counts and since their so far ahead as long as he’s back for the celebratory rampage anything goes.  Also spotting Toad’s stan pines approved sticky fingers is Scott Summers, leader of x-men and all around cool guy. Scott here is a bit more emotive than he was int he comics at a time, a trait he’d have later on in the late 2000′s and even currently and a version I prefer to the “has something shoved so far up his ass you can see it when he opens his mouth” boring straightman of the 90′s cartoon. He’s a bit more impulsive, a bit more emotivie but still a good and well thought out leader and the tactical genius, at least as far as I can remember, that he’s known for being. IT’s a good portayal so far, it reminds me of 2k12 leonardo: he’s still growing into being a leader in some way but clearly has the talent and drive for it and a deep sense of heroism> That deep sense is shown here as Scott leaves to go confront toad.. and then confronts Duncan and buds when he finds them about to squish Toad. Unlike Duncan, whose “heroism” consits of a filmy excuse to beat a third hole into todd’s head, Scott wanted to stop Toad because it’s the right thing to do, and wants to stop Duncan because his actions are just as wrong: Sure Toad is stealing stuff, but it’s clear from the way he and his buddies grin widlly at seieng toad pick pocket that they just want an excuse to pummel the kid and not get in trouble for it. It’s confirmed when Scott makes a resonable offer: Since Toad still has the money and most of the lifted wallets, he can return what he stole, which Toad not wanting to die today agrees to, but Duncan refuses. Scott however gets the three thrown to the ground and while Toad escapes, with the two other idiots in persuit, an enraged duncan attacks. But since Scott Summers, even teen scott summers has batman level judo, it’s an even fight despite Duncan being bigger and more muscular.. until Jean runs in shouts scott no.. despite you know Duncan starting this and Scott merley defending himself, distracts Scott long enough for him to get shoved to the ground.. and loose his googles, sending an optic blast out before he can clamp his eyes shut, knocking duncan over and igniting a nearbye propane tank. Toasty! Also yikes.  Cue the opening theme and credits. While the opening Creidts are very 2000′s, they aren’t half bad but the main draw is the theme song which.. honestly I feel is great and very close to the 90′s x-men theme in quality, only not being AS good because that one’s one of the best theme songs period. but this one’s no slouch as it’s fun, energetic and will get stuck in your head. Good stuff.  After the theme we cut back to the credits where Scott is closing his eyes despeartly holding his powers in. It was a good opening and a great way to show off the premise of the show and just how dangerous mutant powers can be even accidnetally, with this followup showing it’s not inetentional. it was even shown before as while scott’s eyes flash, he notably never uses his powers in the fight and they only came about accidnetally. We also get some JeanScott ship tease as she finds his glasses ,and with Duncan having a concusion and not remembering anything, a bit that hasn’t aged well, things seem well.. except the cop seems to notice something supscious.. before help arrives in a rolls royce. Charles Xavier, voiced by the icomprable David Kaye who I feel is one of the best daviers and does a great job here and quickly makes the guy see nothing supscious, a classic use of his powers and an understdanable one: while yea going into someone’s mind isn’t a great tihng to do.. scott being possibly outed as a mutant this way would only land the poor boy in a jail cell, as it did for Bobby Drake in the comics when his own powers activated and hurt someone. We also meet storm who unlike the others isn’ aged downa nd is one of two senior staffers for the school, a touch I like as she was a great mentor figure to kitty pryde and the comics and the roll suits her, while evolution also tones down the ham 80 degrees so she’s even more like the comics; reserved but utterly confident and badass and a good #2 to xavier. Xavier also likely wiped Duncan’s memory of scott’s power triggering I figure.. I mean he could’ve got concussed but I wouldn’t be suprised if chuck manipualted that too. Jean comforts Duncan for.. again some reason. Like he was just in a fight with her best friend and she’s a telepath.. I get she’s being respectful but time and place. Scott is naturally Jelly, but Toad.. genuinely thanks Scott for the help while Scott brushes it off. It was the right thing to do and Toad is still a creep, but it’s still a nice gesture. Also toad eats a fly to show that yep he too is  a mutant.  Xavier and Storm go to the train station and pick up a mysterious teen clad all in robes. Ohohoo hominus.  Meanwhile somewhere in the westchester area, Wolverine comes in! Snkity sknikty snoik. He’s voiced by, and dresses exactly like, Scott McNeil, a vetran and awesome voice actor who I honestly think does a better job than his prdecessor. Not that 90′s wolverine is bad, it’s just McNeil has more of a range even while keeping the gutteral growl of hte former and can tur it off at times while his previous acto rwas pretty much on snarl mode constantly. He wasn’t bad, all the 90′s voice actors were at 100 most of the time and undersndably given the hamm nature of that cartoon, but its’ still a ncie change of pace and one we’d see again with steve blum in the next cartoon. More on that obviously when i inevitably cover Wolverine and the X-Men He picks up a paper about the explosion, and sensing he must go his people need him, cuts the top off the water he ordered, because you can’t get beer on a childrens cartoon, and thanks the clerk who wonders what the fuck just happened. And it’s a weird ass scene especially because in this series the x-men are trying to keep a lid on mutants and Logan’s just .. causally cutting off a water bottle because fuck it. It fits the character a LITTLE but it’s still just weird and out of place. Speaking of weird and out of place sabertooth is stalking logan on a mountaintop because.. 

Thank you wrestlecrap. He dosen’t show up again and is apparently introduced several episodes from now, and sports a design similar to the 2000 movie which isn’t a terrible look apart from the long lead singer from Creed haircut. The next morning at Xavier’s scott’s annoyed at jean taking her time in the bathroom because “women amirite?”.. yeah... 

On that gag. Before the two dart off for school Xavier calls them in to meet the new kid: Kurt Wagner, aka Nightcrawler, whose blue and fuzzy as ever, though without the fully yellow eyes he usually sports, though I figure it’s less because they wanted to make him more humanoid, though his Kelso from that 70′s show hair certainly helps with that too, and more because that way his human disguise he’ll get in a bit can just be an easily just recolor and redres his civlilan design. Though why he couldn’t just have the yellow eyes in elf form and give him regular ones in transducer form, epsecially since they had to make a whole new outfit and ears for his non elf form anyway is beyond me, but whatever. At least he’s a full part of the team here and oh so adorkable.  As you can probably wager by the fact there’s only 3 x-men and one asshole here, Evolution takes it’s time introducing everybody, the first few episodes using the debut queue style of storytelling and introducing the main cast about one or two per episode.. which I like a lot as it gives each of the x-men room to breathe and get a proper introduction, while usually doing the same for the latest addition to the brotherhood. IT’s a godo way to ease us into a decently sized main cast and let each get their own origin story of sorts. Good stuff. 

Jean and Scott are shocked by the poor boys three fingers, but Charles helps asuage kurt.. by pointing out scott’s fuckup then berating him. Both don’t come off great: Scot whines about having two cannonballs under his eyes, which while fair is something he knew going into a situation where they might get knocked off and didn’t prepare for, while Charles lambasts him for “not having more control”.. and his tone implies it’s more about his POWERS. If it was about self control fine, that’d be godo character stuff but if it’s of his powers..  Scott didn’t use his powers at all during the breif scuffle and was only let loose by pure shock, and something you easily covered for minus the explosion part. It could just be both having a point but I dunno. But with that Xavier does show kurt that even human passing mutants like Scott have huge struggles and he no longer is alone. Jean is curious what his power is and Kurt demonstrates his teleporting, impressing both and bonding the three a bit. Xavier sends them off to school, and they’ll talk more about kurt tonight.  At school Toad is getting dressed down by principle darkholme, aka mistque whose apparently also his boss.. yes while the founding x-men are two upstanding well trained, if one a bit hot headed youths, Mystque got.. a guy who pick pockets because as we later see the house she got for them looks like the ghosts of the frat who used to live there did a number on the place. Yeah easy to see why your guys later become the comic relief villians Raven. Anyways she plans to have Toad use his newfound leverage with scott to try and sneak in with the x-men before shapeshifting into a knockoff brood to scare him because she’s a dick. Also how the hell would she explain that if someone walked in and DIDN’T comically walk right back out and just explose her posing as a monster for the student body to see. Not a bad show of her powers but a really goofy and nonsenical one. Also yeah unlike the comics raven can change her shape further than just humanoid.

Back at the school Kurt is excited to see his spacious and luxrious room, his parents, whoever they were, having sent him here, and is even more excited when Xavier gives him a gift; an image inducer. This is something that actually comes from the comic: it’s a device disgused as a watch that holographically makes Kurt look like your standard human. Kurt in the comics of course used it to look like errol flynn.  Naturally Chris Claremont eventually realized the implications of a person of a minority who looks diffrent masquerading as someone else to blend in and Kurt later decided to go without it, as he shoudln’t have to hide himself. Evolution does use it better though: For starters when Kurt says he’s finally normal, Ororo assures him he always was, this is just to help a bit and the idea of him needing to blend in makes sense since the x-kids are going to public high school and mutantkind is more hidden to avoid prosecution. It’s sitll a BIT shaky, but it’s at least trying to avoid a lot of the pitfalls of the concept and modernizie it a bit and I can give them credit for that. 

Back at School scott’s preparing to lunch, telling paul to save him a seat. Good old Paul, when Toad comes up to him thanking him again and revealing his own mutant powers and stealing Scott’s glasses because that’s how you charm someone. Toad offers to hang but Scott wisely refuses and moves on though he does use the cafeteria pay phone to call Charles, who already found out about todd via Cerebro and despite Scott’s understandable reservations about letting a literally slimy pick pocket who talks like goddamn j-roc , know what i’m sayin, into the team, Charles in a very charles xavier move says they can’t turn their back on ANY mutant, even the assholes. Now read that in a patrick stewart voice. Your welcome. Scott wonders if he should ask Todd over to play fooseball and ask about joining his teen militia but Chalres said no need, he’ll take care of the audition himself. He then explains Cerebro to a curious kurt, global telepathic mutant tracker basically, and prepares for the audition. 

That night Toad goes to the mansion.. with a costume already. And rather than evaluate all the costumes up front i’m going to do so as they show up in series. As such.. toad’s is REALLY good, a nice armor look with a small part peaking up resembling a collar of some sort , a nice update of his silver age costume’s collar. It really feels frog like and really is neat. Storm, who is watering her garden a detail I like, heads out and rains on his parade. Her costume is fine, a standard storm outfit, nothing really outstanding but still not bad. Storm then sends lighting at him to see what happens when a Toad is struck by lighting.. probably the same as everything else before he runs inside and runs into kurt. 

Kurt then shows up, and while I’d forgottten this, he was already in costume from earlier having gotten his at the same time as the inducer. His costume.. is about the same as the comics except hte gloves and boots are yellow, i’m somehwat eh on it but I get doing so to have him fit with the black and yellow color scheme of most of the other x-men in some way. Though i’d love to see a black and yellow redesign of his classic oufit someday that’d look spiffy. But yeah it’s pretty good and one of the standouts of the evolution costumes. The two trade barbs thanks to toad being kind of a dick about nightcrawler and end up having a petty squabble and tussle for a bit around the mansion. Xavier still considers Toad x-men material while Storm considers not missing with lightning this time. In all seriousnes this is more good character stuff for Charles, as it shows that no matter how troublesome, he’ll welcome any mutant child in with open arms. Though I question why neither questions the fact that a mutant they just met somehow brought his own top of the line uniform, but I chalk it up to that probably not having been written into the episode and either being an error or execs wnating to show off his battle suit to have a proper superhero tussle to close out the episode.  However said tussle, which is really more a hilarious fight between an asshole and a dork, is interupted when Kurt accidnetly ports them into the danger room, an x-men staple.. no really “new mutant accidently enters or finds the danger room” is old hat at this point, most iconically with Kitty in the comics shortly after she joined. 

Naturally not wanting to have to clean up another set of teen corpses, he just got the Vulcan smell out of there, Xavier dispatches Cyclops and Jean to go deal with it.. since Jean dosen’t have a code name here since marvel forgets to try and get her a non phonenix one better than marvel girl and it annoys me. Anyways fashion show time again, and yes i’m aware these aren’t from strategy x, but I didn’t want to just use hte model sheet shots from the wiki so I combed for decent action shots. Scotty’s costume is decent, a bit bulky with the very 90′s shoulder pads and boots, but otherwise looks pretty good, a nice combination of his 90′s uniform and his second x-factor uniform. Even with the bulk it looks really good. On the oppsite end.. we have Jean, who easily has the worst outfit of the main x-men by a mile, with a weird lime green stripe for some reason. Maybe they were going for phonenix colors I dunno, but it just looks half assed in comparison to the rest of the gangs outfit. The gold rings and fingerless gloves are a nice touch, but this one’s still just bland in comparison. Like they couldn’t figure out how to update jeans 90′s outfit so they put her in a jassercise outfit instead. 

Scott and Jean arrive with Jean saving nightcrawler, Kurt asking if sh’es an angel, she asking if he’s a demon and me asking if I can get a trashcan to vomit in. It didn’t work for George Lucas a year before this why did you think it’d work here? Anyways Kurt realizes their not in xavier’s snuff dungeon, as far as he knows and it’s simply a trianing room and tries to disarm it, but it instead nearly blasts toad who nopes outta htere, scott too injured to follow. And while when watching the episode yesterday It hought it was a bit abrubt.. it really fits. Toad is a bit of a coward from memory, bosatful and cocky.. till reality reminds him he’s freaking toad as seen with the bullies earlier and mystique after that. So of course he’d run the minute things looked dicey and it looked like xavier reguarlly put his students through the hunger games to thint he herd. Xavier bemoans that Toad simply isn’t ready.. sure he’s a mutant and xavier likely senses mistque’s involement.. but he genuilly WANTED to help todd and give him a real home and support.. its just Toad/Todd dosen’t WANT it or to put in any real work to be better, and you have to WANT help to get it.  Kurt blames himself and ports out feeling he dosen’t deserve to be there and Scott goes after him while out front Toad runs into a returning Logan, whose ready to add another dead teen to the pile out back when Xavier insists he let him go... he’s not an actual threat, and as we find out later Xavier removed the schools location from his mind and probably gave it to toad in the first place, so while Logan says he’ll be back.. he has no way of coming back and there’s no sense roughing up a teenager, when that’d just draw more attention to them and give Toad an angle to work. That being said Charlie still gladly welcomes Logan back though both smell trouble on the horizon.. and also toad. He tends to leave a scent that one. 

We then get what I feel is the best scene in the episode: Cyclops finds Kurt in the room with the blackbird, which this show remembers is an actual type of plane and that the x-mens is simply a souped up version of , though I can’t tell you what version he’s saying it’s superior to because I don’t know planes THAT well. But Scott comforts Kurt, saying it’s OKAY to fuck up: the entire point of this place is so they can afford to make the mistakes they can’t make out there and learn and grow as people. Everyone screws up, as Scott himself did rushing in without a plan at the start, but the point is you learn from it and do better next time and Kurt decides to stay. Welcome to the X-Men Kurt, hope you surivive the experince. Also Scott decides to show him where they hide the sodas.. which either Chuck is a dick about their pop or that’s code for booze.. or possibly both. I could see Logan really liking root beer alongisde his nightly 6 pack. 

We close out with Mystque berating toad for running the hell away and for you know, getting mindwiped.. the latter is far from his fault, but the first part.. yeah Toad kinda sucks at this and Raven screams for him to get out, with her turning back into her natural form for the first time.. and then being confronted with HER boss with Magneto, from.. somewhere.. he appearas as a spooky projection but I don’t know if he’s using a device to amplfy himself or he just hides in the closet of her office all day for when he needs to consult her on their evil schemes. Probably the latter. Anyways Erik wisely consults her to be a bit easier..while toad is a bit of a dipweasel.. they can’t afford their ranks being thinned.. and really he’s not wrong. The x-men currently have them 6 to 3. Even if he’s the weakest of the three of them, they can’t afford to spare him. He then ominously says htis is only... THE BEGINING.

FINAL THOUGHTS:  Strategy X is a decent start for the series but not without it’s problems, with one or two questionsable moments like the whole angel and devil exhcange or the entire “Storm stalks toad as he goes to the mansion” scene as a way of testing him, which makes both her and charles come off bad and makes me wonder how the hell that was an actual test of anything. But it’s held up by good character: While Jeans kind of a bit of wallpaper here, the rest of the x-men and our three villians are all given great character moments that show them off to the audience well and really show the writers get the characters while taking their own spins on the younger ones: Nightcrawler, who could be a bit of a dork in the comics, see here his seduction tequnique. 

I mean damn if that shit isn’t still Sexy but still. They just ramped it up a bit since this version is younger and more naive, while Scott is likewise a bit more rambunctious and likely to question Xavier, while still being a good hearted guy who knows how to lead. It’s good stuff. While the quality isn’t PERFECT, it’s a good start and I look forward to watching more and EVENTUALLY reviewing more on here. If you liked this be sure to let me know and like I said above if there’s any other marvel show or any dc ones you want me to cover, and any specific episodes at that, lemme know. Comics too. And until we meet again, courage.  PS.. what the hell is up with the title of this episode? No really it has nothing to do with anything. Is it Mystuues’ inflitration plan? 

[chxrdsxfsteel]

Narumitsu Week Day 1 - Beginnings

AAAA this is probably the first time I've formally managed to attempt participating in this stuff, mostly because I'm still a tiny bit inexperienced with writing

My theming of Day 1's prompt will be around Phoenix's letters to Edgeworth, spanning from December 2001 (immediately following DL-6 incident) to roughly August 2016 (including covering the day of The First Turnabout).

I'm gonna warn that there'll be spoilers for Gyakuten Kenji 2/Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth: Prosecutor's Path, Ace Attorney (the original), and Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations, as well as the Ace Attorney anime episodes Turnabout Promise and Sound the Turnabout Melody. Also, mentions of death, some minor violence and the usual crap discussed in the Ace Attorney series applies here, so read at your own risk.

December 29th, 2001

Dear Miles, I dunno what happened yesterday.. The power went out and Mom and I had to eat dinner with candles since the power stayed off all night. Mom said it was a 'quake, a really bad one. I went to school today and didn't see you, so I hope you're okay.. Uh, I'm gonna try to get this to your uncle Ray, so he can get this to you, like we usually do if your dad isn't around to take my letters to you after I send them in the mail. Come back to school, please!! -- Phoenix

---

December 31st, 2001

Dear Miles, ...I heard your dad's gone away.. When I got my first letter to Uncle Ray, he was crying and stuff. He kept saying your dad won't be coming back from the courthouse.. I had to redo this letter a few times after that, cuz I kept crying all over it. It.. I... 

(The letter is smudged a little bit all over the words after that, making the contents a little harder to read on the already semi-terrible handwriting.)

Man, I cried all over this one too, but not as bad, so I guess I'll send it. I'm real glad you and Larry aren't here to laugh at me, but I'm also really missing you bad, Miles. I don't have a dad, either, so I really wish you'd come back and stay with me and Mom. Mom says she misses you too. Where did you go...? It really hurts not having you here.. I can't stop crying... I can't stop.. Please come back!! -- Phoenix

(There's a tiny scribbled P.S. on the edge of this letter. 'P.S.- Happy New Year's in advance, I guess')

---

January 2002

Dear Miles, I.. think the teacher said you moved. I'm writing this at recess, so.. it's not gonna be as good. It's gonna be longer, too.. sorta. I don't know where you moved, but.. It hurts that you did. It's all over the news that your dad got.. I think it said 'shot'. Is that why he's not coming back? Uh, never mind, don't answer that. Lots of stuff happened since you went away. Uncle Ray stopped coming to see me after I gave him my other letter, so I'm gonna try giving this one to the principal or Mr. Grossberg's to have them try to get it to you. I feel really.. empty. Especially since you didn't write back yet. (I hope I spelled that right.. I had to ask a teacher to help me spell that.) It kinda hurts coming to school every day since you're not there. I miss you telling Larry he's saying dumb stuff (cuz he does).. I miss you teaching me about law stuff. I miss you getting all the teacher's questions right and helping me read better. I really miss you. ..I wonder, if this is how it feels for you to miss your dad. Does Uncle Ray and Larry and Mom miss you this bad, too? -- Phoenix

(Again, the letter is riddled with the occasional tear stain, and the last couple of lines seem unusually shaky, as if the writer were starting to lose their resolve mid-sentence..)

---

May 2002

Dear Miles, It was raining today when graduation happened. All of us got really wet, but you know what? I made it, Miles! I'm not gonna be in elementary school anymore! I'm a middle schooler now! ..But now I'm gonna get a cold and I'm gonna be stuck in bed for a week. Stupid rain!! Oh well, at least I got almost all A's. I'm working really hard to get to college like you were saying! You said you wanted to go to college someday to be a lawyer, right? I'm gonna do that, too! I wanna find you so we can defend people together someday like your dad did! He'd want that, right? Oh yeah, Larry and I are also learning how to draw and stuff. I wanna draw really good too, like those people who draw court trials for a living. If I really end up not being able to be a lawyer, I can at least draw you in court doing stuff, right? Anyways, I'm REALLY hoping this dumb letter gets to you this time!! The last one got sent a little bit before you showed up to get your dog back in December, but I guess it's okay that you didn't answer it. It was really good to see you again, but I'm also really scared you'll get sad and lonely by yourself out there. I hope you can visit without running away this time, okay..? -- Sincerely, Phoenix Wright

(There's another P.S. at the bottom of the letter. 'P.S- You used to put 'sincerely' on your old letters before you said your name, so I'm gonna try it, too!')

---

Spring 2004

Dear Miles, Did you like my radio request..? It was the only way I could think of to get my message out there. I really hope you're still in California to even hear that, Miles. So, I'd seen that Larry had bought a radio, since he said that was how adults liked entertainment nowadays.. (I hope I spelled that right, Miles. You kept referring to our old favorite show as 'children's entertainment' every time you talked about it at school!) I heard that the station was giving out requests one day, so I called them and asked! ..It's goofy, I know. I remember you went all pink when we were kids when I said nice stuff about you when you were there to hear it.. It made me feel warm when I thought about you! I still do feel warm, but I also feel like crying, because you're not here.

You're out there somewhere, out there with someone I don't know, out there with your dog, and that's still enough to make me feel happy. It makes me hope that you'll get these letters someday, Signal Red. ...Man, now Larry's laughing at me! I'm sitting here at lunch on the roof with him, writing this, and he said I looked all dreamy when I was writing this and my request to the station. Now I'M going pink! Okay, I'm gonna quit writing now before Larry sees it and laughs at me again.. I did mean what I said on my request, though. I want to see you again, Miles. Here's hoping one day, I can. Somehow, something tells me that my voice might help me the same way you helped me three years ago.. -- Sincerely, Phoenix Wright

---

August 2013

Dear Miles, I haven't written one of these in a while, heh.. I see you still haven't gotten my letters. Damn my life. I really had hoped you'd get the last one.. When did I write that, middle school..? I bought a radio with Larry's help after that, but you never did post a request after I did, so I kept it and moved on. I've decided I'm going to become a courtroom artist, so I've enrolled in Ivy University. Actually, haha, I didn't even MENTION that part first! I got into college finally! I had to redo my SAT a couple of times to get in, but I did it anyway! I'm mainly in their art program, but I'm doing some law studying on the side. Speaking of law... I heard you became a prosecutor not that long ago. The really nasty kind, like that gross von Karma guy. ..I saw a news story, right? It talked about you. There's some really nasty rumors going around, both in the papers and even around here at school. Nobody believes me when I say I had you for a friend, Miles. You used to be really thoughtful, and also kinda blunt. But I have a soft spot for you. A.. Admittedly..

(There's a break in the page. The handwriting got slightly shaky.)

...I guess you'd term it as 'unnecessary feelings', huh? Since middle school, I couldn't quit thinking about you wherever I went. Stuff keeps reminding me of you on a daily basis. Little Pomeranians walking around reminds me instantly of your tiny dog.. Every time I hear the Signal Samurai song when they do the occasional rerun reminds me of the time Larry bought us those keychains as kids, and that one time I had the radio people play the theme song. Since I've gotten here to Ivy University, I finally started contemplating my love life. I... never bothered with it, since I had you and Larry when we were in elementary.. You never bothered with girls, so I didn't feel so bad about being too nervous to ask any out. But the truth is... Maybe you were, and still are, enough to trump any girl. Okay, sure, I still occasionally wish I could kiss one or say 'I love you' to a girl, but.. most often, I end up imagining you in that girl's place. I see us together on the courtroom floor, working together to find the truth.. I see us finding the truth and smiling, even if one of us loses. Maybe a really long hug or a kiss at the very end of the trial, when nobody's looking at us. You going all pink and telling me that's unnecessary, but me insisting, like the goof people always call me now.

(Another break in the page. The handwriting gets slightly shaky again.)

...but I can't have you by my side now. Not now. You're stuck, Miles, and I can see that even though I can't see you physically here with me. It's almost like I can karmically feel your pain. If that makes any sense. (It probably doesn't.) I want to save you from becoming that von Karma dude. I'll get there eventually, right..?

(Another break in the page. The letter actually ends up on a second piece of paper this time, carefully handwritten in blue pen like the rest.)

..There's another reason why I can't do any of that sappy stuff I wrote earlier, at least not with you. I got a girlfriend, a really pretty one that smells sweet like cake.. Her name is Dahlia Hawthorne, and she's a writing student here at Ivy! We met up at the courthouse while I was doing some reading in the library, and I bumped into her when she'd been doing some stuff for a paper. She gave me this lovely glass necklace, with a tiny blue container and some gold decoration stuff. I ended up falling for her on the spot, ahaha. I did say earlier that I like girls, too, Miles, so I guess this makes sense! We started going out after she gave me the necklace, and she's absolutely wonderful! She makes me food all the time, and she made me this cute pink sweater I wish you'd see. (Knowing you, you'd probably end up laughing at how silly it looks, but if that's what Dollie's into, then I'll go with it!) I still really miss you, Miles, though. I wish you could meet Dahlia. She's like an angel, like the butterflies she's always got around her. She's as sweet as her coffee and cookies she makes. I'd draw her, but it'd be really weird if I gave you a picture of her, she said. Uh, I guess I'll write again later, this kinda got long.. -- Sincerely, Phoenix Wright

---

April 10th, 2014

(The letter has standard stationary belonging to the detention center, with some kind of emblem on the top, unlike the past letters which were on plain copy paper. The pen ink is replaced with pencil this time. Even the handwriting looks somber.)

Dear Miles, ...I got arrested. I guess I'd better explain, huh? Dollie had a boyfriend before me, apparently.. He was some snooty guy from the Pharmacology part of Ivy named Doug. He kept warning me about Dollie being dangerous or something, so I pushed him over and ran away. It'd been raining yesterday.. and... and..

(Tear stains almost ruins the writing in this section of the letter.)

...and Doug was gone, when I came back. I felt really bad for pushing him, honest! Now.. I might be responsible for him dying. How's that for bad luck, huh? I feel really heavy, like when I was a kid and your dad had gotten shot dead.. I can't really stop crying, and the guards are probably gonna yell at me to shut up if I start really going at it. Plus, I'm sick today, because I got a cold a little while ago thanks to all that rain.. God, Miles, I really wish you hadn't become a fucking prosecutor! I wish you were here to help me again! WHY DID GREGORY HAVE TO--

(More tear stains ruin a whole line of text following the name and messily written handwriting, making it unreadable. The writer must have been inconsolable trying to write this.)

....I had to get someone else to try defending me ib--

(The next word was crossed out after the tear-ruined handwriting. So was a few other expletives following that. Eventually, after a lot of crossed-out words in pencil, the letter continues a little more properly.)

...Crap, I ruined the letter, didn't I, Miles? I just feel so lost right now. I don't even have Larry or Dollie to make me feel better, and you're still off out there prosecuting. As I was saying before I messed up my words, I got another lawyer to hear me out. My trial starts tomorrow, so... I might be doomed. I'll never be able to become a lawyer and save you, it seems! I'll just be stuck in this gloomy prison for the rest of my life.. I really doubt I can get out of this one okay, Miles. I'm not good at doing stuff last-minute. You are, and you're not here.. Please, just this once.. Just this once, Miles... Come back.. Answer my damn letter! Please! Just once! I can't take being alone like this! I can't take it!! -- Signal Red

(The letter's not even signed properly.)

---

April 12th, 2014

(The letter goes back to its usual format, with one addition. There's an attached drawing this time. The drawing appears to be of Edgeworth himself, holding a few sunflowers and gladiolus flowers in his hands. The drawing is also in color, with Edgeworth being drawn in some distinctive shade of maroon.)

Dear Miles, ...Everything about Dahlia was a lie! She lied to EVERYONE. Including me. She was gonna kill me for real, Miles! Maybe I should've listened to imaginary-you and trusted my gut in court yesterday. Speaking of, I almost got poisoned! I'm having to write this from the hospital today, since they wanna make sure I'm not going to be poisoned for sure. But I've changed my mind about being a courtroom artist. That's no way to save you, Miles! I've made up my mind- I'm pursuing law full-time. My defense attorney, Mia, said she'd help me out if I were ever to go that way, and now I am. Dahlia's not holding me back, and now I won't let anything short of the law itself hold me back from saving you. Sure, it's probably really stupid to quit while I'm ahead, but.. I can't really say I should hold myself back anymore. I'm scared, but I want to push on now. I want you to smile with me again, Miles. That sappy stuff I said before.. I truly mean it. I love you, somehow. I don't know exactly how else to put it. You never read these, so I might as well be entirely honest, right? I promise, Miles, that I'll save you at any cost. Even if I have to defend you in court, I'll save you! That drawing’s some proof to it! -- Sincerely, Phoenix

(The P.S. this time says, ‘P.S- If I learnt anything from my shit experiences with Dahlia, it’s the meanings of the flowers I drew you with. Gladiolus flowers mean remembrance.. and sunflowers usually get symbolized for loyalty and joy. I also hear it’s a flower associated with lawyers...’)

---

July 2016

Dear Miles, Phew! I'm glad to say I finally managed to get my attorney's badge! The Bar Association just approved it today, and I'm not gonna lie, I ended up crying when my results came in! I'm now going to work for my past defense lawyer, Mia Fey! She was really happy when she'd heard I wanted to work as a member of her law team, and I'm gonna move into the office pretty soon now that I'm not gonna live in my old college apartment anymore. ..Yeah, I'm still gonna keep writing these letters to you, even though you haven't answered any of them all these years. So what if you never answered them? ..I'll keep sending them anyway. I'll be more of a pest than Larry was to us as kids until the day I die or the day you come back! ..Well, I digress. (Please tell me someday if I used this right.) Uh, anyways, things have been relatively okay since my last letter. I got my law degree, and that was really exhausting. My sleep schedule's now ruined forever thanks to going through the cogs of law full-time in college, but I kinda know what I'm doing about law now. I'm still doing art, but I more or less do it strictly as a hobby now, to be honest. I'm still in contact with Larry, too, but he's usually pretty bad at his jobs and stuff. He's a bit of a deadbeat, just like you remember him from elementary school. I don't have any pets, save for Charley, the office plant that's in Mia's office. I also got a brand-new suit the other day, a really bright blue one! Man, it was pretty cheap, and it fits kinda weird, but the shade's really comforting to me for some reason. It reminds me of Signal Blue, from Signal Samurai. I still have my old keychain to this day. It's on my phone now, actually, and I think of you a lot whenever I see it there. Mia told me a bit about her sister, Maya. She says she really likes bad jokes and that Steel Samurai show that plays sometimes on TV. I told her how you used to like Signal Samurai as a kid, and Mia said you'd probably be the kinda person who likes Steel Samurai. (I don't doubt it, surprisingly. After all, it's kinda Larry's fault you and I ever got into Signal Samurai..)

(There's a second sheet of paper attached.)

Oh, there's one more thing! Larry finally got a girlfriend. She's somewhere else right now, I think, maybe some kinda business trip? Her name was something like Cindy, I think.. but anyways, she and Larry have been having an awful lot of trouble lately, so I'm sincerely doubting they'll make it. ..As for me, well.. my mushy stuff still stands. Now, I mostly daydream about you when I'm not brushing up on law stuff or checking emails for Mia or cleaning the toilet.. I keep imagining you as a defense attorney like Mr. Gregory was, standing confident and having your cold-hard logic crush any lies that might come your way.. Well, and what I said in my last letter, heh. Me.. uh, kissing you and all that. That still stands! A lot! ..I just don't know if I can say this outside of writing, ugh. I feel so nervous just writing this down, and Mia's starting to stare eye-sized holes in my soul from where I'm sitting... Does she suspect something? Okay, yeah, maybe she does. All I usually do once asked why I became an attorney is gush about that tiny class trial years ago, when you defended me despite everyone else (save for Larry) not believing me when I said I didn't steal your lunch money.. I've kinda-sorta come to terms with the fact that you're apparently the one person I can count on for me to love, since you haven't killed me and haven't done anything else to break my heart besides not reading my goddamn letters ever. Seriously, Miles.. You've never sent any letters back to me.. That's okay, though. Maybe if you never open these, you'll never reject me like Dahlia Hawthorne did.. -- Sincerely, Phoenix Wright

---

August 3rd, 2016

Dear Miles, Okay... Here's my first ever trial! Larry got.. arrested. Probably the worst thing that's happened to him yet, I'm afraid. He's been accused of killing Cindy, apparently?? The second I heard about it, I asked the Chief to give me the case on the double! The problem? My stupid fricking not-diagnosed anxiety, that's what's the issue here! Well, that, and this IS my first trial.. Thankfully the Chief's gonna help back me up, but to be entirely honest, I'm kind of shaking right now.. I'm writing this as I'm preparing for the trial, so I don't know the outcome. Uh, wish me luck from out there, Miles! Maybe if I manage to bail Larry out of this, AND you answer my letters for once, how about the three of us go out somewhere and celebrate with the Chief? I think you'd really like Mia, Miles. She's really smart and really strong and independent, and I think you'd probably admire that a whole lot.. (And to be honest, you really should just answer my goddamn letters for once.. I miss you still, and I'm one step closer to saving you..!) -- Sincerely, Phoenix

---

April 4th, 2019 -- High Prosecutor's Office, Room 1202

Papers with varying writings scattered across the maroon-clad prosecutor’s desk, His heart fluttered slightly, feeling strong embarrassment at Wright accusing him of never touching the letters in the final page of the last letter he'd gotten before the pair reunited back during the trial of Mia Fey's murder. To be fair to the defense attorney, it hadn't exactly been his fault for not recieving them.. But to be fair to himself, he'd never bothered to open a single one, not even after Wright had freed him from the burden of ever having to hold back his pain that von Karma had caused him. As a result of realizing that, he felt his face flush furiously, almost the color of his own suit.

"...Calm yourself, Miles," the silver-haired man grumbled to himself, willing away the heat from his cheeks to the best of his ability.... and then it hit him like a pile of bricks, right then, That Sort Of Realization. He remembered wordings from a couple of the past letters, and..

Oh. Now he felt as if he'd gotten slapped in the face with a white-hot iron to the face. That was how flustered he felt, attempting to re-assemble his mess of brain cells after realizing W-- Phoenix had imagined the same things he did. No wonder Franziska said Phoenix was a distraction. He kind of was. But the good sort. How is it that he managed to miss that for so impossibly long...?!

That was incredibly embarrassing, to say the least! The grey-haired prosecutor gave a deep sigh, pinching the bottom of his nose and staying like that for at least the next ten minutes before huffing, stuffing the letters back in the bag, and locating the nearest pen and paper. Then, in a flurry of determination and his much-neater-cursive-print-hybrid handwriting, Edgeworth began to write something on the paper, his grey eyes focused very carefully on the words he wrote.

Dear Phoenix, I wish to tell you something, now that you and I have a little less chaos in our lives at the moment to prevent me from answering you...

~Fin~

[silenthillmutual]

peach-punch-satan replied to your post

“my mom thought my taste in music was “weird” because i listened to,...”

weirdest songs i’ve heard would be, at the top of the list: “Skeletor/Beastman!” by Gnarkill, “Tick Tits” by GWAR (they have alot of odd songs), “Zombie Prostitute” by Voltaire, “Cathouse Tragedy” also by Voltaire, and “Ramalama Bang Bang” by Roisin Murphy. There’s like maybe more I could list if I really thought about it (especially one that is maybe worse than “Skeletor/Beastman!”) Honestly out of the list i’d say if you really wanna listen to any of them stick with voltaire and the last song

you see, my mutuals are always out here providing me with the REAL takes. 

when i was a freshman in undergrad i decided, for halloween, to look up some lists of what people thought the scariest songs out there were and they gave me:

“I Love the Dead” by Alice Cooper

“Careful With That Axe, Eugene” by Pink Floyd

“Vermilion Pt 2″ by Slipknot

“Come to Daddy” by Aphex Twin

“DOA” by Bloodrock

[should not have been looking at these lists when it is after midnight where i am, but curiosity killed the cat. here’s one of the lists i looked at during college]

[update: just saw someone say “red right hand” by nick cave and the bad seeds.... really??]

of all these songs, only the last one really freaked me out, because i have a thing about sirens; if i was going to be totally honest about some of my weird triggers, that song in specific is on there. I also saw people list “Karma Police” by Radiohead and had a friend suggest “Blue” by the Birthday Massacre. for weirdest music suggested to me by a relative I have “Psycho” as performed by Elvis Costello and “What’s He Building In There?” by Tom Waits (although how much it really qualifies as a song is, i think, totally determined from person to person). a lot of these seem fairly tame considering that I once fell asleep to the instrumental tracks from the first Silent Hill game - i still fail to see how “Vermilion Pt 2″ comes across as anything but peaceful to people. 

generally, people cited the video as being disturbing, but to me it honestly just looks a little silly. under Videos That Greatly Distressed me it doesn’t even make the top 10. “Closer” by Nine Inch Nails (just the video, the uncensored version) is something i can’t watch, and some of Dir en Grey’s shit is a big fucking no for me, at least as far as visuals are concerned. “Revolution 9″ by the Beatles did kinda wig me out because the White Album in general just sorta felt like it came outta nowhere for me.

also “Dalai Lama” by Rammstein freaked me out because i was unmedicated and had to listen to it every day for a month in German class. it helps a lot that we read the poem on which it was based and had to translate the lyrics for class. that does some kinda shit to you at eleven in the morning when you have insomnia and chronic depression. 

put that under a cut so this doesn’t get too long --

if that’s not a poem you’re familiar with, the original is Der Erlkoenig. the original is about a man riding into town with his sick son through the forest at night to get to a doctor to heal him. on the way there the son says he hears the voices of the elves calling him to join them. by the time the father reaches the doctor, his son has died. It’s a very sad poem that kinda falls under “things we pass down to keep our kids from doing dangerous things” by saying that Der Erlkoenig lives in the forest and will steal children who venture in there after dark.” Holly Black’s book The Darkest Part of the Forest seems to take a lot of this kind of stuff too.

the Rammstein version is called Dalai Lama because apparently the Dalai Lama has a fear of flying, because humans weren’t meant to fly and it’s seen as an affront to god, although i’m not sure how much of that is his words specifically because it’s been a long time since we did that unit (literally ten years ago for me). so the updated version is on a plane that starts to experience turbulence, and in his attempt to calm both him and his son down the father holds him tightly and accidentally suffocates him. the lyrics that bother me the most are 

“komm hier, bleibe hier. wir sind gut zu dir; komm hier, bleibe hier, wir sind bruder dir” “come here, live here, we will be good to you; come here, live her, we are your brothers”

for the voices of the elves singing to the child.

[rocketpowerreg]

beneath the milky twilight → rackie

TAGGING→ @acupp-jp​ @rocketpowerreg​ TIME→ February 20th, 2019, late night/early morning LOCATION→ A park in Brooklyn NOTES→ Nursing their heartbreaks, Jackie and Reggie decide to bar hop until the morning and wind up on a playground alone, sharing more than just a bottle of Jack Daniels between them

REGGIE CLIFFTON

It had been a long while since Reggie had felt any kind of heartbreak, which was likely why this one felt the deepest despite being a short lived relationship. Reggie had closed herself off to the idea of relationships and being with someone, only for Harper Clarington to of thrown that all for a loop. Now that she had opened herself to it again, she was having to re-learn the ups and downs that came along with it. Luckily, she had a friend in Jackie Puckerman to help ease the pain and provide a much needed distraction for her. Which, given Jackie was in a similar boat, Reggie was hopefully providing the same amount of comfort for her right back. The pair had gone out on the town, Reggie going to Jackie's earlier in the day to make some edibles for them. Which were then taken before going to the bars. Reggie couldn't go out and dance much with Jackie, but she could drink with her, joke with her, and have fun all the same. It was hardly anytime at all before they at that level of carelessness they both wanted. Maybe even needed.

It was getting to be later into the night with some bars starting to close, though rather than call it quits, they went to a liquor store to buy one more bottle to share. Finding the nearest park, Reggie and Jackie posted up on an empty playground, sitting side by side on the highest platform and looking at the view of the park and city surrounding them. Despite how alive New York City was, at the moment, it seemed rather still. It made the thoughts Reggie was trying to get away from creep in, and so she was quick to open the bottle of whiskey they for and take a drink, "Jesus Christ, why didn't we get a chaser?" Reggie asked, feeling the burn of the alcohol go down her throat and make her wince, though then her shoulders relaxed a little more.

Handing the bottle to Jackie, dark eyes landing on her with a shrug, "I mean, I can't complain too much right? at least it gets the job done because I am... already fucking drunk." She laughed, smirking over at Jackie before the expression faltered. Did she like running away from her problems? No, not really, but given how heavy her heart felt at the moment, Reggie thought maybe it was deserved. Or perhaps she was just hoping that it was, "Thanks for offering to take me out tonight, Jacks... I needed it. Bad, apparently."

JACKIE PUCKERMAN

The last week or so had been a bit of a blur for Jackie, purposefully so. Kitty dropped her. Kitty wasn’t happy. Kitty didn’t want her. The whole thing gutted Jackie.  She’d never thought love was a thing she go for, it wasn’t for people like her. She’d fallen hard for Kitty a long time ago and it scared the shit out of her so she instead dated Marley. Dating someone, because you’re afraid to date the person you want to be with is a shitty thing to do, but Jackie honestly thought she could make it work, but of course she fucked it up and hurt a person that she loves. Something she’ll never truly forgive herself for, but maybe this is Karma? Working for months to prove she was worthy of Kitty’s attention and honest affection just to be dismissed without a fight?... Kitty didn’t fight for her. Fuck! It all just hurt so damn bad.

Spending an entire week drunk or hungover may seem like a terrible way to deal with your problems, but who said Jackie wanted to deal with this shit? Whenever she really stopped to think about what it all meant, that maybe all the people she loved the most would leave, maybe they couldn’t love her, maybe this was how it was going to always be… That was too much to bare, so fuck it, she wouldn’t bare it. Jackie was going to party. When she’s drunk she almost forgets Kitty and Puck and the Sperm donor and the contentious yet slightly phony relationship she has with her mother. All she has to do is push a little harder and she’ll forget it all.

Luckily for Jackie she did have friends to help her forget. Reggie had been having a difficult time in general lately and on top of all the physical stuff the other woman was dealing with, turns out something had gone wrong in her relationship as well. Jackie honestly hated seeing her friends in pain but didn’t know how much of a support she could be in her current state, so she offered the only thing she thought she could, a night of fun and forgetting. They’d started out the night with some of Jackie’s favorite pot filled treats, proceeded to drink a few dude-bros under the table at a couple bars and ended the night with a last hurrah bottle at a park. Jackie laughed so much that night. Real genuine laughs that made her stomach hurt and in those moments she was so grateful to Reggie.

“Don’t be a baby, throw it back like a boss.” Her words came out with a slight slur because she was very very drunk, but she was halfway decent at hiding just how much. Jackie accepted the bottle from Reggie and took a long drink coughing a bit as she pulled it from her lips. “You are good company, Reginald, so I wanted to hang with you.” She ran the back of her hand across her lips. “I want to help with your sads. I hope I helped with your sads.” She grinned and shrugged before taking another quick sip and giving the bottle back.

REGGIE CLIFFTON

Reggie couldn't help but shake her head and laugh at Jackie's urging for Reggie to boss up. It was classic JP, as she had been one of the friends Reggie had who could push her to be a little more social. To put herself out there a little bit in the fun department. Sometimes Reggie needed that, and it seemed that she especially needed it at the moment, "Now I never claimed to be some sorta an expert, but I'd say you're fucking drunk, too, Jacks my dude." She teased in a loose tone. Sitting on top of a playground while shitfaced wasn't exactly how Reggie figured they would end up, yet somehow, it was fitting. It was soothing. The two of them were both running, yet the stillness of the night was providing a certain comfort, and bitterness somewhere deep in there.

Taking the bottle back from Reggie, she took another drink before handing it back at Jackie. And as the burning sensation happened again, Reggie sighed, laying herself back onto the cool surface of the playground. Her eyes wer looking up at the ceiling of the structure, only to close them with a hand resting lazily on her stomach, "I think that you... and the many, many, many Jack Daniels we met tonight did help with my sads... at least as much as you guys can, right." Reggie mused, trying not to let her usual world view put a damper on the night. Swallowing down the thoughts swirling in her head, Reggie's head fell to the side to look over at Jackie with a soft, inebriated smile, "How about you, Jacky P? This night helping out with your sads, too, or do we gotta find another store open in an hour?" She joked, knowing full well she hit her limit. But she'd remain good company for Jackie.

JACKIE PUCKERMAN

Turning her head a bit too quickly at the accurate accusation caused Jackie to have to steady herself. Placing a flat palm down next to her, she fought the giggle trying to escape. “I resemble that remark Reginald!” She waved one hand around, one finger pointing to the sky. “I am not... not drunk. I’m a little wasted that is all.” The giggle that followed was too strong to be contained. No one would remember the details of this night, especially not the fact that Jackie Puckerman giggled when drunk. Right? and with that thought she shivered. It was so cold out. Her teeth chattered faintly, but she barely noticed. What she did notice was a slightly snow covered monkey bars set that she had decided to climb before they went home.

Jackie tapped her finger to a melody that only played in her mind for a bit before realizing Reggie was handing her the bottle. She looked at it, admiration on her face before grabbing it and hugging it to her chest. The words “Old Friend” escaped in a hushed tone. She sways slightly as the melody gets a bit louder in her mind. Music helped drown out the painful memories too. Suddenly the unnamed song was replaced by Reggie’s voice and a whimsical smile danced across Jackie’s lips. “You’re a little cutie cute friend!” It took another moment for comprehension to come. And Jackie nodded, smile growing wider. “I’m glad. I wanted to make sure you we’re smiling sometime too. The real kind not the ‘see everyone I’m fine, so stop asking, Damnit!’ smile”. She nodded in a matter-of-fact way, mentally patting herself on the back for helping as she took another sip. Jackie thought about Reggie’s question. Her own sadness was the other reason they were there. She huffed and laid back beside the other woman. “Right now…” Jackie looked over at Reggie and a small smile appeared. “... Sads are mostly at bay… Score for Jackie!” She pumped one fist in the air. “I’m glad you’re here. Here where we are right now. Even though I don’t know where we are right now.” Her brow scrunched for a moment. “Reggie, people are hard… that’s what she said…” she laughed at her own ridiculousness. “No but really, I think I’m done with people.”

REGGIE CLIFFTON

Watching Jackie fumble and stumble through her thoughts while in her drunken state only provided entertainment for Reggie. The both of them were a little far gone beyond the realm of needing to make sense for there to be an understanding between them. They were both at a low point in their lives. Despite the fact one had been broken up with and the other did the breaking up in their respective relationships, it seemed almost too fitting for them to be finding a comfort in each other. Along with the bottle in hand, of course. When Jackie laid back, Reggie's head turned to have eyes meet with Jackie's own. Yes, her head was spinning, her eyes were a little glazed over, and her mind still felt heavy even if the thoughts that actually weighted it down weren't being considered. She was focused on Jackie, smiling back at her only for it to falter at the mention of people. Of being done with them. Reggie's first reaction was to do a chuckle that was paired with a snort of sorts. It sounded so easy to say, even Reggie believed it for a minute, only to remember calling it quits on anything wasn't easy. But she had been forced to do it many times before. What was one more heart break in her life, right?

"You know what? I could absolutely, positively start rattling off some bullshit about how you shouldn't give up on people, and that it's bad to. That you should keep faith because people change and it gets better and all that..." Reggie started, not intending to go off on a tirade but that was the level of drunk she was at. Propping herself up on her elbow, Reggie let her head move freely to fall to the side, attention on Jackie as she continued to slur out, "but you know, honestly? I'm right fucking there with you. It's better off that way." Reggie declared, lifting her head to haphazardly look out into the distance. Her vision was a little too unfocused for that, but she still was staring off, "It's shitty, you know... like knowing it's basically in your genes suck for all of eternity and that's just the hand you've got," Reggie spilled out, clearing finding her stride in terms of what emotional damage she felt like revealing, "It's like... no matter what you do, you're gonna wind up doing the same shit you don't wanna be doing. Or hoped shit wouldn't end up blown up in your face. But like... deep down, you totally knew it was gonna end up the same way. So... are you really just stupid for even trying to fight it?" Reggie rolled her eyes, only to then have them search for the bottle to take another drink. They were barely breaking it in, and yet by now, the burn was becoming much more a dull sensation Reggie wasn't having an issue with.

JACKIE PUCKERMAN

Jackie listened as Reggie spoke, nodding along, taking in what she could. “Don’t rattle off nonsense right now, ‘cause I don’t think I could tell the difference.” Genuine concern covered her face before quickly dissipating. Jackie honestly felt every word the other woman said. Each one hit her in such a way, that in her drunken state she was a bit confused as to which one of them was actually saying the words. Reggie somehow knew exactly how she felt. “Get out of my head sorcerous.” Jackie whispered, unsure if her night’s partner in crime heard. “You could have said ‘don’t give up on people ‘cause everything is gonna work out in the end’ and I would just call bullshit. And I’d kick you… just because.” A small grin slid across her lips and slowly fell from her face as the words began to settle in again.

“I AM stupid. I’m a fucking idiot. I did know, Reg, I knew how this shit was going to turn out but I convinced myself, tricked myself into thinking this 22 yrs of shit relationships would stop. I mean, when you’re abandoned as a fetus it’s def the universe giving you serious warning of how life is going to be, right?” Jackie closed her eyes squeezing them tightly, trying to push away everything that hurt. “I fight the loser piece of shit in my genes on a regular, but maybe I should just be who I am because trying to be something else ain’t fooling nobody.” She thought about how much effort she put into being “better” and how she always fell short. Was it even worth it?

Jackie turned and laid on her side, facing Reggie. “Is it supposed to be this difficult? Are some of us supposed to fail? Can you stop hogging that?” She reached for the bottle and put it to her lips, underestimating the difficulty of drinking while laying on her side. “Shit, don’t you spill that alcohol, as my King Bey would say.” Jackie chuckled before setting the bottle down, only partially disappointed half her gulp ended up on her cheek. Her gaze found Reggie’s face again and she pouted. “I’m sorry Reginald. I’m supposed to be cheering you up? Want me to do some naked acrobatics or something? I will.” She wasn’t supposed to be doing this, drinking and dope hot company was supposed to distract her from everything.

REGGIE CLIFFTON

"Oh c'mon Jacks, since when are you ever not cheering me up? You don't gotta even do naked acrobatics to make it happen. Not that I'd complain if you decided to try otherwise. I'm pretty sure I saw some monkeybars down there..." Reggie pointed out with her eyes on Jackie's, and knowing smirk on her lips. The two of them were friends, though things mainly started as a friends with benefits situation. It had been a long time since that had been their relationship, but among other things, it was likely one of the reasons they felt comfortable enough to be open. Which only continued on as Reggie, with all her might, tried to prop on her elbows so she could point her chin down to the ground at another structure nearby, "Yes. Cliffton scores. There they are, monkeybars waiting for climbing." She boasted, lazily attempting to lift a fist up as her eyes closed and she did a faux freezeframe. Her arm dropped back down, Reggie's body needing it for balance as she composed herself. Thought. mulled some memories over before slurring them out, "I haven't been on the bars in forever you know? Like... since I was a kid... I'm talking at least like seven or-or eight or maybe.... actually, I never really played on playgrounds now that I think about it." Reggie started to laugh at herself in a breathy chuckle, head falling to the side and loking at Jackie with a drunken smirk and eyes clearly thinking of another time.

"I was always that kid running around on the fields. Because back then I actually had two, that's right folks, two good legs. Oh man, I had no idea how good I had it then... we never do when we're kids." Reggie mused, her tone getting a little more distant near the end though her hand reached over wiped a drop of still wet whiskey from near Jackie's lips. It was a soft touch, with Reggie's eyes glancing at the familiar lips of Jackie's and knowing the many reasons why it was tempting to kiss them. Especially given the day she had of officially ending her five month relationship with Harper for reasons more complicated than Reggie cared to think about. Licking her lips, Reggie looked back up at Jackie's eyes and let her hand drop onto floor in the space between them, her own lips still in a small smile, "I know we keep getting all... this with the talking and shit but... I'm glad we did it. I'm glad we're friends, Jacks. I don't even care that we're both losers and have loser genes and make stupid mistakes... because we're fuck ups together. And that's pretty dope, right?" She rambled, her hand at some point having risen to Jackie's shoulder to ensure she had her friend's attention as she smiled, "I don't know... I think it's pretty dope at least."

JACKIE PUCKERMAN

“I mean I will, but if I do we gotta go inside, my nips can’t handle this cold temperature.” Jackie looked down at her itty bitties and laughed. “I am excellent at naked cartwheels.” Another laugh fell from her lips before her eyes fell onto Reggie’s face. Her voice was soft when she spoke again. “But I’m glad I always cheer you up, Reginald. I want to see you smiling and what not. You deserve some smiles.” Her mouth literally dropped open at the mention of Monkey Bars. “Yoooo, I was just thinking, well when we first got here I was thinking I needed to climb those damn things. You ARE some mind reading sorcerous! I knew it!” This was fun. There was ease with Reggie that was nice, a calm. There was no pressure to be anything but herself, no pressure to pretend to be okay but there were moments, like this, talking about climbing monkey bars when she in fact felt almost okay. “You’re such a freaking dork, did you know that?” Jackie shook her head and laughed at the ridiculous pose the other did. “ A cute one but a dork nonetheless.” She smirked and thought about the last time she was on a playground. “Don’t judge me, but I go to the park all the time. It was the one place in my neighborhood that got taken care of growing up. Like the the city couldn’t give a shit but the people in the neighborhood kept it up for us. Kept the grass cut and the rust away. So now even as a grown ass woman, because know that I am a grown ass woman,...” Jackie smirked and winked at Reggie before continuing. I go to the park sometime and swing  and slide and climb monkey bars and remember moments of happy.”

Jackie looked down at the gentle hand on her cheek and took in a sharp breath. Touch, it was something she craved, connection, affection. She licked her lips and sighed softly before shaking off the desire to lean in. “Reggie with the two legs! Don’t worry though, because you’ll get it back. You’ll be running around here like a badass little kid in no time. I want to help. How can I help?” Jackie furrowed her brow, thinking of looking up physical therapy videos on youtube, because she was going to fix Reggie’s leg, and yeah, she was still pretty drunk. She quickly abandoned that train of thought as the other woman’s words rang out in her ears. “I’m glad too, Reg. I’m glad I got you, and I hope you know you got me, babe. Like Sunny and Cher. We’re fuck ups together...” The last words came out in a hushed tone. Jackie placed a hand on Reggie’s cheek resting it there as her thumb gently caressed the soft skin. It was familiar. Something she’d done long before. Her body just remembered. “Your cheek is cold.” She smiled softly before leaning in and pressing a kiss on Regina’s lips, a kiss so soft that their lips barely touch, until she leaned in a bit more fully connecting them. The tip of her tongue ran along the other woman’s bottom lip before she nipped, and soothed the spot once again with the swipe of her tongue. Jackie pulled away and held out her hand. “Come on, Let me push you on the swing instead of the Monkey Bars. I promise to be gentle.” She winked and chuckled.

REGGIE CLIFFTON

"Like Sunny and Cher... 'cept I think we're just two Sunny's and no Chers. I don't have that chick's kind of energy. Or hair, for that matter." Reggie rambled, a giggle escaping her lips a bit with closed eyes. Her stomach was starting to hurt, and she had to wonder if it was pain from all the laughter or from needing food. They had eaten, but with all the hours of the night having been nothing short of a blur, it was hard to remember when that was. Reggie's body was relaxed back against the cool metal surface of the playground, her eyes opening slowly to upon feeling a weight on her cheek. As they opened, she felt Jackie's kind touch and there was a look in her eyes that was mirrored in Reggies own. The witty remark of ‘then why don’t you warm it up’ was there on the tip of Reggie's tongue, but she couldn't quite say it. It was too similar to a thing she'd say to Harper, and luckily, Jackie took the initiative of connecting their lips. That kept Reggie's lips busy in a better way than talking could have done. The simplicity of it was exactly what the moment called for between two friends feeling lost. There was a want for intimacy that had been lost due to their respective break ups. While their months long relationships had come to ends in different ways, that didn't change the need from existing for them both. Reggie sighed into it, the hand on Jackie's shoulder gripping slightly and pulling herself closer to the source of comfort she needed at the moment. The source in the form of her friend, with whom this wasn't their first kiss, and likely not they're last.

As the pair pulled back, Reggie glanced at Jackie's hand and a child-like grin broke out, "The fun just never stops with you, does it, Jackie P?" Reggie playfully stated, her hand enthusiastically though sloppily grabbing Jackie's as she also tried to get herself to her feet, "And you know as well as I that Reggie C don't do anything gentle." Reggie pointed out between chuckles and grunts as she rose to her feet. Truthfully, Reggie was more successful than expected in the task, apparently the physical therapy she had stuck enough to be transferred to her drunk state. Thus now Reggie was dragging her friend along by the hand, laughing for no reason other than the world wasn't so heavy. She hadn't broken Harper's heart. She hadn't broken Lola's heart. She hadn't broken her own heart. No. She was just there in the moment with someone who cared, and that she cared for, about to swing on the monkeybars as if the world hadn't beaten them down. That felt like enough for the night.

[jeronicaismyotp]

Welcome to the Dark side - chapter 2

 The next day as Veronica was getting dressed for the day, she couldn't stop thinking of the boy with the haunting blue eyes from last night. 'Gosh, what is wrong with you Veronica! You can not be thinking of another boy after Archie just ripped your heart apart.' She couldn't believe that already she was dreaming of another boy. It was just one encounter, it wasn't like she is going to see him at school or anything. Did he even go to school? Not that she wanted to see him again, after the way he was to her when he found out she is a Lodge, like it meant nothing but at the same time the worst thing to be.

A knock broke Veronica out of her thoughts, "Mija! Are you up yet? It's 7:45, you're going to be late!" Hermoine shouted from the other side of the door.

"I am almost done Mom, I'll be out in a sec!" she replied while hooking her pearl necklace around her neck. She decided not to waste another second thinking of the Serpent leader. He didn't care who she is and she for sure in hell doesn't care about him.

As Veronica went to sit down at the breakfast table she seen that her Father wasn't there. He would always make time for family and he never missed family breakfast with them. "Where is Daddy?" she asked her Mother who was sipping on a mimosa. "He had to meet his business partners early, apparently there is a set back on his new project for Riverdale. So it's just you and me, Ronnie."

Veronica knew that the new project was buying out the South side but who could stop her Father from taking it over? Only one person came to her mind in that moment, Jughead Jones. It seems like he isn't just going to let Hiram take over. A man in charge also loves to be challenged, she learnt that from years of watching her Father deal with all the other men that went up against him. They all lost that battle and for a split second she felt bad for Jughead, his home was going to be taken away and destroyed.

****

First period went by quicker than Veronica would have liked. She did not in anyway want to show up for the second hour, Archie AND Betty are in that class. Veronica knew that even the sight of them would make her upset and she didn't want a repeat of last nights tears. So she did what any Lodge would do, she walked into that English class with no care, she was tired of feeling this heart break for two people who she thought were her friends. She took the seat near the window next to Josie McCoy and the Pussycats, she was placing her notebooks and a copy of the book the class was currently reading on her desk when she heard the last voice she wanted to hear, well two voices.

"Archie, stop it! We're in class now," Betty giggled while Archie was kissing her cheek and tickling her side. "Oh c'mon Betty, you know you like it," Archie winked at her. They both were entering the class with no shame to what they did to Veronica. How dare they?! Who did they think they were? This isn't what life was suppose to be like here in Riverdale, she changed and she was better than her old self.

Betty noticed Veronica as she took the seat beside her," Archie. Stop!" he looked at her with a confused face but then that is when he noticed Veronica. A simple "Oh" escaped his mouth. Archie went to the back of the class with the other footballs players. Veronica wasn't even in love with him, not even close but the fact that they lied to her over and over again is why she is upset. She had even asked Betty if it was alright to date Archie because she knew that Betty had a crush on the red head.

"Hey V, can we talk after class?" Betty asked. How dare she even try to speak to her! Especially after walking in all over Archie like that. The audacity this bubblegum girl had. "No, Betty we can't talk after class. We can't talk ever. Why don't you stick to talking to my ex-boyfriend instead of wanting to talk to me! You think talking is going to help me forgive you? Yeah nice try but no Betty. So just leave me alone." Veronica snapped back. She did not want to hear the excuses that they were going to say to try to make this situation right. It isn't, not one bit so whatever fake apologizes they have, they can save it. Thank god the teacher finally walked into the class right when Betty was about to open her mouth.

"Sorry students, I had an early meeting that went on a little late."

Later on that day while Veronica was getting her lunch, it just hit her that she had no one to sit with. 'Ugh this is why you should have made more friends Veronica!' Well it didn't matter, she was not going to let this situation take over her life. She is determined to get through this even if she was hurting and going through this alone. Some small town boy was not going to stop Veronica...from well being Veronica. She grabbed her tray and walked over to an empty table in the back of the cafeteria. Right when she opened the clear container that held her salad Cheryl Blossom walked up to her. Veronica really had no time for the extra drama, the HBIC brings.

"Well if it isn't the other woman? Oh, wait that would be Betty. You are just the girl that Archibald used and then dumped. Must suck to be nothing than a side piece." Cheryl sat down next to her. She really had to come over and say unnecessary insults. "Cheryl, I don't know what's up your ass today but just leave me out of it. I don't got time to dwell in the past. If Archie wants Betty, good for them. She can have my sloppy seconds if that's what she likes, I don't care what they do.  Now leave Cheryl." Veronica rolled her eyes, why did Cheryl even care?!  "Wow, the Ice Queen losing to Betty Cooper? Who would have thought?" Cheryl said, clearly trying to get a rise out of Veronica. Unfortunately right when the words left her mouth, Betty and Archie walked by.

"Cheryl why are you trying to start stuff?" Archie asked, fustrated.

"Archie.." Betty whispered, "Don't get involved."

Veronica could not believe Betty right now. "Don't get involved?! Really Betty? He is the whole reason why Cheryl is over here! Why didn't you tell him that when you started going behind my back! I always knew something was fishy about you two. I just didn't want to think the two people I trusted the most would do such a horrible thing! How fucked up is that? Did you guys just think you would keep hiding it forever? Don't tell me that you are that stupid!" Veronica was done. She had enough of this pretending to be someone she isn't.

"V, we didn't mean for it to happen. It just sorta did. I'm sorry Ronnie. I really am and I hope that one day we can go back to be friends." Betty stepped forward.

"Be friends again? Yeah no Betty our friendship went out the window when you started screwing my boyfriend! Why in the hell would I want to be your friend? After all the drama and lies that come with being your friend. I don't want or need a back-stabbing best friend. You are the worst Betty Cooper. Karma's a bitch and I can't wait to see you get what's coming for you."

"Ronnie! Don't talk to her like that."Archie shouted as he seen the tears well up in Betty's eyes.

"Archie you have no say on what I can and can't do. You don't think I am pissed at you too?! You could have been just honest with me in the beginning and none of this would have happened! But no Archie had to be the little man whore he is and sneak around. Does Betty even know you were with Valerie in the summer?! Or was it Cheryl? Anyone else you hooked up with that she doesn't know about! I am done with shit!" Veronica grabbed her bag and tray, "Are you happy Cheryl? You got what you wanted!"

+++++

Jughead didn't expect to run into the raven-haired princess again so fast. He knew there was a chance in seeing her here because he is at Riverdale High doing a drop off for some kid. Although he was suppose to head straight back to his school he opted not to when he spotted the girl he met last night. He noticed that she was sitting down alone at the bench that was near the tree, he would have thought she would be popular considering she is a Lodge. He walked over to here trying to sneak up but she turned around right when he was a few feet away.

Upon seeing Jughead in the parking lot of Riverdale High, Veronica thought her day couldn't get any more worse. She came out to the side of the school to get away from the drama and the last thing she wants is a run in with the Serpent member. What was he even doing here? Clearly nothing good considering he is a gang member. He was walking towards her now and she had no idea what to say, as much as she hates to admit he is a little scary but handsome as hell.

"What are you doing here Jones? Couldn't stay away from me?" she asked as Jughead sat next her on the bench.

"You wish Princess, I had to do some business." Jughead thought it wasn't a complete lie. His presence was to drop off some stuff to some football player but he didn't have a reason to stay longer after that.

"Yeah okay, if that what's let's you sleep at night." Veronica replied. Jughead could not believe she was talking to him this way. "Well not everything's about daddy's little girl. Some people have to actually work for money, something you never have to do." Jughead snapped back.

"You don't know what I do Jughead. At least I don't stoop to criminals ways to earn my money."

"Oh sweetie, you may not but that doesn't mean your Daddy doesn't."

Veronica was taken a back from what he just said there is no way her father is a criminal. He is a business man and does deals with other business men, at least that what she thought he did. Jughead noticed that hearing this shocked Veronica. "Maybe you aren't daddy's girl after all." He winked at her. "As much as fun I had I best get going Princess. See ya." Jughead tighten the strap on his leather gloves and walked away.

She could not believe the boy in front of her, trying to convince her that her father is a bad guy. There is no way he would being doing illegal stuff and her not knowing. Veronica wasn't too invested in the family business but she knew enough that she didn't doubt her father's choices. She couldn't let some Serpent tell her who her father his, she grew up with him, she knows him more than Jughead.

The final bell went off and Veronica started walking towards the cafeteria doors but turned around to Jughead speeding away on his bike. She didn't know why but the boy was intriguing to her and she doesn't want to feel anything for him but just after two encounters something in her wants to know more, needs to know more.

By she got home from school Veronica was done with people and the whispers about her. She did not lose Archie to Betty, no they lost her! and dam anyone who thinks else. Veronica Lodge was one not to lose something, especially a boy. If she was at her old school no one would dare to say such things about her. She had control there, she had respect there, most importantly she had power at that school in New York. She didn't have to do homework, team projects, or deal with two face best friends. Maybe that's the problem, that she had turned into this "nice kind hard working" Veronica, someone she isn't. Veronica knew that Riverdale was a chance for a new start but what if she didn't want one. What if being herself, aka "the old Veronica" is what she was suppose to be. No one treat her like the way they have been treating her, that's for sure. What was so wrong with being yourself? Shouldn't you always stick to your true self, trust in your gut, don't change for no one or whatever other cliche you can think of.

She might be in a different town and surrounded by different people but Veronica is going to be Veronica Lodge. No more pretending to be nice, no more playing nice either.

++++++

Jughead and Sweet Pea were playing a game a pool when Toni came in with her girlfriend, talking about some school drama. Jughead didn't really like Cheryl because her family use to sell Jingle Jangle for the Ghoulies but the Serpents but a stop to that. After Clifford Blossom was exposed by his son Jason, the police came to the South trying to search for the gang who was dealing out the drug and the Ghoulies aren't the most cleverest. They bought into the set-up the police made to capture them. Cheryl and Jason didn't even live at home with their mother in Thornhill, they stayed at the garden home the Blossoms also own. It's still pretty big just for two teenagers. Toni met Cheryl one time when she was dropping off weed to a guy named Reggie at a Prep Rally, at first they butt heads but then Toni ran into Cheryl again at the movies. Apparently they made out during the whole movie so they made a date to go see the actual movie the next weekend and ever since then they have been stuck to each others side. Where you seen one the other one was right behind.

"Yeah so I walked over to Veronica and asked if she liked being the other woman and the side piece but dumb Archibald and Miss Goody two shoes Betty had to walk in at the same time so not much happened. It was getting good until Betty said some stuff about Archie to stay out of it. Then that's when Veronica went off on them both for going behind her back and she walked outside afterwards." Cheryl sat down on Toni's lap while telling the pink haired serpent what went down at Riverdale High during lunch. Jughead started listening more when she mentioned Veronica and he guessed that is why she was outside when he got there. He was so  distracted he missed his shot, which meant Sweet Pea beat him.

"YES! Finally I beat your ass Jones! Take that!" Sweet Pea cheered and high five Fangs, his best friend.

"Wow Cher, you really do know how to start shit at your school," Jughead said as he passed by the two girls then took a seat across from them.

"Oh I didn't know you were ease dropping Jug-head." Cheryl said, flipping her hair to the side.

"Jones why do you care what Cheryl does? It's not like we or anyone you like go to Riverdale High." Toni said before taking a sip of her pink lemonade.

"I don't care but it just seems a little fucked up to talk trash to someone who got used like that. Doesn't seem right that's all, I could give a less of a shit about any northsider."

"Jughead dear you don't mean that. I know you care about me whether you admit it or not. But anyways, Veronica is the new girl and deserves to be messed with. Especially after trying to take my vixens away from me with that stupid dance off last week!" Cheryl complained, thank god her minions are useful in some ways. If it wasn't for them she wouldn't be the captain still.

Jughead started to think of Veronica, in a cheer uniform dancing. Those hips swinging back and forth, those good looking legs moving all over the place and that ass-. Jughead stopped himself from thinking any further, he wondered if she would ever dance for him, just the two of them. He did not think it was possible to lose a dance battle with a body like hers, no way. She is way too hot to lose to anybody.

"No one can beat you Babe," Toni kissed the girl in her arms.

"Yeah I doubt that Topaz." Jughead said then noticed the glare both girls sent him. He put his hands up and just walked away.

++++++

Jughead hadn't really thought of plan to find ways to run into Veronica and it wasn't that easy. It's not like they are going to run into each other in the halls or at grocery stores, he's pretty she has never been in a store that doesn't involve clothes or jewelry. The only place that would make sense is Pop's but he doesn't want to seem like a stalker now. Maybe if he had stayed at Riverdale High they would have met and got along. He doesn't even know why he cares about seeing her again but he does. She just is so god dam stunning and fierce, he likes that she doesn't back down from him, she is truly one of a kind. He doesn't know what do do but he better think of something fast.

The next day at school Jughead thinks the universe might be warming up to him because he just got the greatest news ever. South side High and Riverdale High are merging together, while it does suck that his own school is closing he can't stop thinking of the girl who is going to make this merge good. Now this is his chance to get to know her without seeming stalker-ish, he prays to the gods that they share classes. The other serpents are coming with him to Riverdale, Toni is already on the phone with Cheryl and Sweet Pea & Fangs are excited to have new faces to punch. As they get on their bikes to go to their new school Jughead can't stop the smirk that appears on his face because he can't wait to see the look on Veronica's face when they show up.

All the Serpents walk in together, they don't expect to find a table that has their schedule and a sign that says "WELCOME NEW STUDENTS!" but what catches him off guard is the girl that is handing out the papers, Veronica Lodge. Why is she doing this? She doesn't even like the Serpents or the South side, Jughead thought.

"Aw babe, you didn't have to do all of this for me." Jughead said as he approached the table with his friends.

Veronica scoffs. "Yeah right. I did not do this for you Jughead. I had to, as the leader of the 'Welcoming Committee' it had to be done and I didn't want our first impression of the South side High students o be anything other than perfect so keep dreaming Jones."

He rolled his eyes of course she wanted to please people. He thinks anything that Veronica would have done would be perfect.

"You are always in my dreams Ronnie," he winked and snatched the paper that had his name on it

Veronica blushed a little, he dreamt about her? 'Veronica don't get side-tracked he still is a Serpent' she thought.

"Just get to class Jones." she said before moving on to help the next student.

Jughead was happy with himself as he walked away, he made her blush. That is something he took pride in, she hopefully didn't completely hate him. After reading his schedule he seen that his first class is History, he walked in and took a seat in the back. None of the other Serpents are in this class and he noticed a group of guys in varsity jackets sitting in the front surrounded by a group of girls. He noticed a certain red head, his arm wrapped around one of the girls, she had blonde hair and was wearing a light blue sweater and a pair of jeans. "Ugh could she be any more plain" Jughead whispered.

"What? She doesn't do it for you?" he heard her voice and it made him smile. Jughead looked to his side to find Veronica sitting down to the seat next to him. She is truly memorizing and he still couldn't believe anyone would cheat on her! "No I like my girls with a little twist, not so plain Jane." he replied as he seen her blush again. 'Thank god he doesn't find Betty attracted, not that it means anything but it's nice to know that not all the boy she likes gets distracted by pastel sweaters and ponytails, she thought the herself. She smiled at him and opened her textbook. "Good to know," she said.  

When class was over Veronica was so fed up Archie and Betty, they spent the whole class giggling and whispering to each other, couldn't they just cool it foe one god dam minute. It wasn't easy trying to focus when she was upset that they got to be the happy ones. As she exited the class Jughead stopped her, "Hey, you okay Princess? I could something was off in class," he asked Veronica. She was annoyed at the nickname he used but was shocked at his concern for her, didn't they hate each other?

"I'm fine Jones, it's just not very easy getting through a class when your ex boyfriend and his new girlfriend who was my best friend be all lovey dovey." Veronica told him as they both walked out of the classroom. She didn't really want to talk about it but for some reason she trusted Jughead, the mysterious Serpent leader.

"Waot, what the douche bag was in that class? Who was he?" Jughead asked and turned around to see who was coming out of their History class.

"It was the guy with the red hair, his name is Archie and the girl with the baby blue sweater and her arm around him is Betty. Betty and Archie they were sitting the front."

"He left you, a smokin hot goddess for a pastel princess? I don't get it. Is he blind or stupid? He must be both if he left you or even thought of another girl." he replied. Veronica couldn't stop the smile spreading on her face. Jughead knew what to say to make her feel a little better. "Yeah Archie must be," she said. Veronica is shocked that she is actually feeling things for the boy in-front of her. They had just met and it didn't go really well but now here he is making her smile like an idiot before second period. Maybe this merge wouldn't be as bad as she thought.

"Well I got to get to Chemistry, bye Jughead." she said as she parted her way. "Wait! I got chem too with Mr. Flutesnoot right?"

"Yeah"

"Well let me walk you to class." Jughead offered. Veronica was clearly not expecting that but it would be pretty silly to decline his offer considering they were walking the same way. "Okay" she responded. Then the two walked side by side, talking to one another. Everyone else was confused as to why the Serpent Prince and the Northside Queen were walking together as it was totally normal. They were from opposite sides there was no way to could be getting along or could they? One certain jock with flaming hair was not pleased by this and he was planning to put a stop to this, no south side scum was going to walk around like he owned the place.

[todokori-kun]

TYSM <3

Oh, no, he’s not that bad. He just gets horny when fighting someone who’s actually strong enough to beat him up (even if said someone is a 12 year old boy) and makes such…interesting…sounds while doing so that you’d have a hard time explaining to your parents that no, you’re not watching anything explicit (at least not in that way), honestly doesn’t care whether you live or die if you aren’t entertaining, might murder you just for the lulz if he’s bored, is best friends with a cold blooded assassin with a lot of issues, would kill a child if the child was powerful enough to put up a fight, has a TYPE when it comes to his murderous creepy crushes (Machi: the cold, focused lady with incredible talent who hates him, Chrollo: the extremely powerful thief with unique abilities who doesn’t particularly care for him as far as I know, (possibly)Illumi: the talented assassin who tolerates him as long as he doesn’t lay a finger on Illumi’s beloved little brother Killua (and if Hisoka ever dares to joke about killing Killua then, well, too bad for him)…yeah, Hisoka really has a type)…

yep, he’s really not THAT bad, people are just too hard on him, don’t you think? Poor guy.

You’re welcome :) I still have the crying Saiko pic tho. I might send it to you someday (lol jk jk I messed up her lips on that pic and I am too ashamed to ever show it to anyone. I might still redraw it and send it though because what else could you expect from the Dwarf in the Flask?)

Ah, that’s true. No nose + No mouth + ‘Squad leader is disappointed' look = Urie’s default face…

Watercolors really are so pretty. I love how you can make them look delicate even when using super bold, bright colors. They’re also perfect for painting angsty stuff.

TYSM, Queen Luna is so nice *hugs*

I guess I’m careful on the internet partly because it really IS dangerous, and partly because I just feel uncomfortable doing anything I know my parents wouldn’t approve of without talking it through with them? Idk, see, I can lie to people I don’t like/don’t know very well and not feel guilty about it as long as I have a good reason to, but when I care about someone I’ll feel terrible about hiding something from them even if it’s honestly not a big deal ^^;;

Luckily though I asked my parents and they don’t have a problem with Steam as long as I’m sure the games I play on there are PG-13 :) so I’ll be trying CP when I have the time! Tysm for the help and the rec <3

OH really? Wow! And yeah, Ascension glitches sometimes for me too…but usually if I try again after a while it works again. The ending is pretty awesome, so I do recommend that you try again sometime ^^

(Ishida is trolling auto-correct as well)

I’m going to college soon and I hope Ishida’s tweet won’t be summing that up too LOL (jk, jk)

I WILL FIND A WAY TO ESCAPE. I WILL CREATE THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS AND DESTROY THIS WORLD AS REVENGE, JUST YOU WAIT

Oh sure, I don’t think I’d have trouble getting along with Riza! I meant Roy taking you to meet Riza and you taking Roy to meet me XD

Imagine Evans and Riza teaming up on the Roy/Luna couple though. 

Riza: “Are you going out on a date? Colonel, please button up your shirt.”

Roy: Riza u trying to ruin my swag  “but-”

Riza: “No buts, it looks much too sloppy.”

Evans: “Luna, I found your phone. Take it with you, ok? Call me if something happens and don’t stay out too late, you need your sleep-”

Luna: “You do realize I’m older than you?”

Evans: “…”

Luna: “…nothing, of course I’ll take my phone!”

Evans: ^^

Riza: *sigh* Kids these days.

Evans: Yeah…

Scar and Evans are both in denial so they’ll keep going round and round in circles until Queen Luna decides to be her awesome self and fix it all up.

(‘Great, because I’m not! Have fun’ seriously you are QUEEN)

I’m sure the queen is absolutely gorgeous <3

I’m sorta like that too- with most people physical contact is a huge NO I hate it, but with people I’m REALLY close with (my mom, my little sister) I love to cuddle. Idk, I’m weird lol

I ship it too. Ugh why do I ship everything except the canon ships

I’m gonna forget it later if I don’t write it now:  I’ve watched Zankyou no Terror and I’m pretty sure you’d like it! It’s about terrorists and has plenty of suffering and ridiculous english. Right down your alley XD

…wow. Just. I have no idea what to say other than ‘this is why I always wear headphones when watching anime’. I mean. Nope, I’ll be quiet.  The pic’s still really good, tho!

Yeah, poor guy, I wonder why people give him shit. It’s a mystery.

Aw, I wanted to see it… well, if you’re not comfortable sharing it, then it’s no problem ^^ If you ever do redraw it though…. I actually want to get my feels destroyed for once. 

I literally clicked on a random chapter. He has his nose and lips tho. Speaking of Urie, oh god the new chapter. I cry.

One time in elementary school, we did this thing with watercolours that I really loved, even though my art turned out like shit: You draw a tree trunk with brown colours normally, then take pink colours (or whichever you want), dip in a toothbrush or normal brush and try to like… spray the paper? Splatter the paint? I honestly don’t know how to describe it in english XD  But it looks pretty cool when done ^^

Well, as long as you don’t give out personal info and go to weird sites that could give viruses, it’s not that bad. You can never be carful enough, tho, so it’s nice that you’re cautious ^^ And it’s nice that you tell your parents. Mine don’t even know I have a tumblr XD I don’t think they care, though. Mostly because they trust me not to do stupid shit on the internet.

Oh, sweet! I’m pretty sure that CP is pg-13, There’s no cussing as far as I remember and no gore either ^^  Just a bucketful of angst. Tell me when you start playing! And which route you choose as your first one :D My recommendation is either Karma or Rod. Well, Fritz and Waltz are locked until you’ve done 2 routes, but Rumpel (the 3rd unlocked character) has quite a few spoilers in his route, so I’d recommend doing him 3rd.

It’s been at least a year since I’ve played Ascension. It still glitches RIP. It seems the game hates me XD

Ishida is the troll king. We need to make him a crown or something.

I’LL JUST FILL THE FLASK UP WITH EVEN MORE CONTENT YOU LIKE!!! I’LL BRIBE YOU WITH A NEVER ENDING SUPPLY OF FANWORKS AND ANGSTY BOOKS! 

I think I’d get along with Riza just fine XD We’d sigh over Roy and paperwork together :P What do you think you’d be like if you’d meet Mustang?

Riza always ruins his fun XD I think there was that theatre video in which she’s like ‘don’t forget to brush your teeth and floss, sleep at least 8 hours a day’ etc. She’s really his mom (and yet I ship them like titanic (minus the catastrophic sinking))

Yes mom, thanks for remembering my phone, I would’ve forgotten it myself XD I’ll call you if I need someone to pick me up :P

At first it’s cute how you two are shy about it, but then at one point I get fed up and just set you up so you can finally hold hands and be happy. I don’t even try to be subtle anymore. I’ve had enough of that XD

Nah, that’s not weird at all. It makes perfect sense ^^ A lot of people I know are like that! One of my friends doesn’t accept hugs/touching from anyone, including family and very close friends.

It’s a rule of the universe. If you ship it, it’s not gonna be canon. 

THE NEW CHAP. DAMN THE NEW CHAP. I’m mostly (only) emotional over Urie, though. I’ve stopped caring about the others a long time ago ^^;;;

Whoah, that’s pretty interesting! I’ve never played the game or seen any playthroughs, but still.  The Oggai are not to blame for what they’re doing. If I was abducted when I was that young, I’d probably be an obedient puppet as well.., 

One thing I can say about the designs: they’re suffering. Other than that, the sketches are a tiny bit messy, but they do seem to fit their personalities well ^^

And thank you <3 I change my icon quite often, so don’t be surprised if you find a new one often :P

[atopearth]

Cinderella Phenomenon Part 1: General opinion + Rod’s Route

(I love how awkward Rod looks lmaoo) I just started playing Cinderella Phenomenon. I was a bit bias towards it since I’m rather sceptical with some people’s recommendations on otome games haha. But surprisingly, I have to admit that I’m really interested from the two chapters I’ve played. I’m going along with what the recommended play order is, which would be Rod, Karma, Rumpel, Fritz and Waltz. So, Rod it is!

I’m really liking the heroine. It’s kinda funny though. When she realised people called her the ice princess, it made me think about how I was once called an ice queen. I don’t think…the intention and meaning behind it is the same though haha. I’m just not as emotive and rather expressionless with people I’m unfamiliar with so..yeah lol. Whereas, Lucette is the ice princess for how coldly and cruelly she treats others with no regard to their feelings besides her own. In this sense, you can really feel for her and understand her though, especially with how she was brought up with her mother practically brainwashing her into thinking that emotions are useless, people are evil, she is the best and that Lucette should only trust and rely on her without knowing anything else. You can say that Lucette’s terrible personality was all caused by her mother, but this is her after all and so she’ll have to take responsibility for who she is now, especially since her mother has passed away now.

I really like the concept of this game though with the witches and fairies and how there was a war between humans and witches because books portraying witches as evil spread and caused a witch hunt. Thus, for some of the witches to protect themselves, they decided to place fairytale curses on people. For more clarity, our heroine has the Cinderella curse and so I guess she’s beginning her life as a peasant now with no one being able to recognise her as the princess. Rod, her step brother has the mermaid curse where he has lost his voice. Waltz has the Neverland curse and is forever young, it seems. So basically, the game is about breaking your curse and your potential other’s one as well.

I’m really enjoying the kind of person Lucette is. I feel sorry for her step family that tries to befriend her but is treated terribly in reception but you can see where she’s coming from considering her whole world shattered when her mother died and of course, our feelings are paramount to others. In this sense, it is understandable for Rod to dislike her as well considering how she treats his family. But I really like how straightforward and practical she is. She’s logical, she’s proactive and she asks how to be a good person (to break the curse) because she wants to solve this problem. She’s a very efficient person lol and I like that. So, really, she’s one of those that unless it clicks to her what it means to be good, she wouldn’t even be able to pretend to be a good person if she wanted to, just because of the person she is. I really admire that.

Rod severely dislikes her though so I’m wondering how it will go haha. Guess I’ll get the bad ending first so I can enjoy the good ending later? Hahaha. I love this fairytale curse idea~~

I just finished the bad ending. It was so sad to see Rod disappear! When he slowly faded away omg. Why did this have to happen? That is so saddening! So saddening that he has to kill his first love in order to live. I’ve always thought the little mermaid was a sad story but to have to see Rod experience the consequences of that is terrible. He wanted to be a prince to fulfill the girl’s dream but instead she fell in love with someone else. It’s nice to see him revel in Lucette’s comfort but having everything come to an end like that was heartbreaking..

On another note, no wonder why people don’t view Lucette nicely, she’s the daughter of the witch that brought about the war and fairytale curses and forced the king to marry her otherwise she’d kill the person he loved (which is Rod’s mother and the current queen). It’s kinda saddening to see Rod so guilty of his wish of becoming a prince since it was his fault that his mother and sister are queen and princess and have lost the life they cherished outside the kingdom. It doesn’t help that learning all those etiquette and seeing Emelaigne so distraught and sad and having people badmouthing them as peasants who had gone from rags to riches. He must blame himself so much. It would be too saddening if this were to be his ending!

And that is how I got addicted and binged the whole route in one day lmao. Can’t let it end on a sad note!! I’m glad it ended the way I thought it would and should. I mean, it is true that your first love doesn’t have to be your last right? Makes the bad ending all the more worse since it was all a misunderstanding that Rod needed his first love to be the one to break the curse, sigh.

It was really cute that Lucette and Rod meet in the forest secretly and express their love truly for each other. Akin to the usual fairytale, it was rather cliche but still sweet and that’s good enough. But I’m thinking that I should really do the good ending and then the bad ending after from now on haha, it’s not as heartwarming as emotional with all the skipping of the stuff I’ve read so yeah. Guess I can experience the love that will sprout between Lucette and Karma fully. Apparently a lot of people unexpectedly loved this route and I feel like I’ll be one of them since they also compared this to Ikki from Amnesia Memories and Zen from Mystic Messenger where they didn’t like the playboy narcissistic type but eventually fell for their pure heartfelt love and sincerity. I’m the same so I’ll probably really like this route.

Back on track, Rod was pretty cute. It was a cute, innocent sorta love. And omg Sebby is so adorable! It was so funny when he spoke what Rod was thinking but was too embarrassed to say hahaha! So cuteeee!