#still cannot phantom what i was thinking with that monster ending

[mitsutsuki]

Editing progress? Editing progress!

[golbrocklovely]

the monster // sam golbach (pt. 3)

A/N: sorry for posting this a bit late, was super tired after work. i know in the past these fics (the monster and the phantom) have been blurbs but this time around i couldn't help myself and made them into an entire fic. hope you enjoy the longer content haha let me know what you think and happy hauntings :)

part 1 | part 2

trigger warning: angst, kidnapping, torture, reader gets tied up, sam dies??, you die??, someone else dies, happy ending

word count: 1588

~~~~~~~~~~

The monster and you had grown close over the months that had passed since the incident with the deceased girl.

While the villagers believed he had done it, it turned out the father of the child had drowned her, and out of guilt, came out and told everyone. He was charged and sentenced to death. And since then, no one spoke of the monster. It was believed to have been a mass hysteria around the town, most feeling embarrassed to even speak of such things anymore.

You were fine with this, since now it had made it easier to see him.

You named him Samuel, since you didn’t like calling him monster. He wasn’t one. He was caring, sweet, gentle. The complete opposite of a monster.

A fondness for him grew in your chest day by day. You weren't sure how to express it, but you knew deep within your soul that you loved him, and would go to the ends of the Earth to protect him, to be with him.

But there was a part of himself that he still hid. When you asked who created him, he would grow angry, frightened. He had a limited vocabulary, one that you were trying to help him on, but all he would mumble was “…Father… bad.”

You didn’t push him to speak on it, but you wanted to know. Curiosity was getting the better of you. You prayed for a sign.

One evening, God must have been listening.

The full moon lit your way as you traveled through the forest to Samuel’s cabin. You lost track of how many nights you had done this, so much so you could walk this path blindfolded. But as you grew closer to the cabin you had been to so many times, you noticed no light inside. As you entered the cabin, you studied the interior in shock. It was trashed, things thrown about and smashed like it had been ransacked.

You went back outside, calling for him. Off in the distance, suddenly, a light called to you. As you followed it, you could see the ground had dragged marks, like a body had been pulled through the mud and leaves. You continued for what felt like hours, until a clearing appeared. The clouds rolled in and rain began to pour down.

You had seen the top of this castle before. In the village it had felt so distant you figured it was miles and miles away. But now, as you stood in front of it, it seemed even more intimidating.

You rushed inside, finding the door to the castle unlatched. It was warm inside, which felt amazing on your cool skin. Thunder and lightning clashed overhead, shaking everything around you. You jumped at the loud boom.

Walking further in, the castle seemed old and decrepit. The lit candles on the walls lead a path deeper into the hallowed halls. Soon descending the stairs to a room deep within the castle, the flashes of lightning guided you.

You could hear the voice of a man, speaking incoherently. As you glanced around the room hidden behind an archway, you could see a man in a long white coat stumbling back and forth between papers on his desk, beakers, and then…

“Samuel…” You gasped quietly.

He was strapped down to a table, knocked out cold from the blow to the front of his head.

“What have you done to him?” You cried out, unable to hold back the emotions racing through you.

The madman turned to you, smiling crazily. “Oh, you must be the person he was screaming about. I thought you weren’t real, to be quite honest.”

“Why is he tied up? Let him go!” You yelled.

“I simply cannot do that. This creation of mine must be destroyed and it must happen tonight.” He argued, glancing back down at his papers.

You spun him back to you, glaring deep into his eyes. “He’s done nothing wrong! How dare you try to take his life!”

“I brought him into this world! I made a grave mistake by playing God!” He towered over you as his voice echoed off the walls, mixing with the thunder outside. It sounded closer, booming louder than before. “Man was never supposed to play God the way I have. I will pay for my sins eventually. This is the only way to fix what I’ve done. This monster… this abomination, must be destroyed.”

You flung your arms over Samuel, blocking the madman from him. “I won’t let you hurt him!”

The madman smirked, “Do you honestly think you can stop me?”

He lunged at you, shoving you to the ground. You fought against his hold, punching and slapping at him. He was strong, a lot more than expected, and you fought with everything in you. He lifted you up, forcing you onto a nearby chair. His grip tightened on you as he shoved your hand down on the armrest, strapping you in tightly. You kicked and clawed and screamed, chanting Samuel’s name as loudly as you could. Tears streamed down your face as the madman finished tying you down to the chair. You kept kicking at him, getting in a few blows before you could no longer move. Shaking against your binds, you screamed out Samuel's name one final time.

His eyes opened wide, anger filling them instantly. Samuel thrashed against the chains that held him down, grunting frustrated cries.

"Oh you're awake. How wonderful. Say goodbye to your love, monster." The madman ran to his machine, turning them on loudly as they crashed and banged to life. The thunder and lightening loomed overhead, shaking the castle walls.

Samuel's eyes softened as they stared at you, sadness searing into your soul. Tears blurred your vision as you nodded your head at him, letting him know you knew.

"My sins will be washed! Time to die!" The madman screeched, pulling a lever dramatically. A rod rose into the sky from above the castle, drawing the lightning towards it. He lowered his goggles, covering his eyes as the sky and room grew white. You shut your eyes tightly as you heard the screams of Samuel. You could hear him dying, his body being electrocuted.

It all grew quiet suddenly, the only sounds were the rain hitting the glass roof of the laboratory. You sobbed silently, not wanting to open your eyes in fear of seeing Samuel's lifeless body.

The madman cackled loudly, "A success! Finally, I am free!"

You watched as he skipped over to Samuel's body, glancing over it and taking in the corpse. Silent tears streamed down your face, your head hanging low.

"And now for you... my pretty captive." The madman grabbed your face, looking you over. "What to do with you?"

"You might as well kill me. Because the only one getting out alive is either me or you." You growled.

He hummed lowly, shrugging. "Fine then."

The madman grabbed the metal head strap from around Samuel's corpse, ripping it off and putting it on yours. You accepted this, unwilling to fight anymore now that your love was dead.

Thunder and lightning clashed overhead as the madman snapped the lever again. Electricity shot through your body, setting your being on fire. You screamed out in pain, shaking violently in your chair. It only took moments, which felt like an eternity, until you felt your life drain from you.

You died, your last vision being Samuel's body resting peacefully.

The madman cackled, shutting his machine off. He leaned over Samuel, whispering lowly, "Now, what to do with the body..."

Samuel's hand shot up, gripping the coat of the madman and breaking the chain all at once. His breath hitched as Samuel popped free of the chains as if they were made of nothing, now holding the madman's neck harshly.

"You... will... pay..."

He tightened his hold on the madman's neck as he thrashed around in Samuel's arms. He punched, kicked, and pleaded for his life. Samuel glared at him, his eyes soulless. The madman began to gurgle, suffocating as his face turned blue. Samuel grunted once, and then suddenly was met with silence and the madman's lifeless body went limp.

He dropped the body coldly, walking over it and reaching for the lever. Samuel, while lacking the ability to speak as well as he once could, was intelligent. He knew how he came into this world, and he knew how to bring someone back.

He switched the device on again, shocking your body back to life. You shook over and over again, the electricity coursing through your veins.

And as quickly as your life went, it came back in a rush.

Your eyes jolted open, a loud gasp leaving your mouth. Samuel slammed the lever off, the machine whirring to a stop.

He studied you, taking in your wide eye expression.

"Y/N...?" He asked.

You glanced up, taking in his tall features. He looked familiar, this man, and suddenly it hit you who he was.

"Samuel...?" You whispered.

He walked over to you quietly, breaking you out of your binds. He cupped your face gently, taking you in.

"I'm... alive. How... am I?" You marveled, your eyes snaking all over him.

"Not... sure." He mumbled.

"And you?" You murmured.

Samuel shook his head, also unsure. He pulled you from the chair, your legs limping slightly. He held your steady, then picked you up easily. He pressed you close to him, his voice low and gentle.

"We go... home."

[burins]

eisners 2024 roundup pt 1!

because I collect for graphic novels at the library I technically get to vote in the Eisners. which means that every May I read an ungodly number of comics because try as I'd like to keep up with stuff throughout the year it is impossible!

there was a lot of really good fun stuff I got to read, and also some stuff that made me absolutely furious. please enjoy the fruits of my labor and my very very long spreadsheet.

Best Continuing Series: birds of prey 1-6 (dc, kelly thompson and leonardo basto romero)

if you read my yuri zine piece you might remember that at the end of it I mentioned I hadn't read this yet because I knew that Babs was going to be Batgirl in it. Babs is Batgirl in it, but the series is still really really good. it is exactly what I want out of birds of prey – a really cohesive, fun team comic. also dinah really shines in this! I love the old school take on the art and the almost screen tone edges of the coloring, it gives it a really retro feel. also appreciate the lack, at least so far, of tons of cheesecake. I read the entirety of old birds of prey and I'm done with crotch shots thank youuuu (this is not counting issue 5 which takes a really jarring completely different artistic bent where everyone is drawn like it's 2003 and they're anime waifus. you cannot skip issue 5 for plot reasons but i did grit my teeth through it)

(continued below the cut for saving-your-dash reasons)

honorable mention: shazam 1-6 (dc, mark waid and dan mora)

I have never before cared about a Shazam comic but this was really fun.. it really leans into Billy being a kid with some real big powers and the rapport between him and his foster siblings is delightful. also I'm never going to say no to Dan Mora art

i won't get into my feelings about taylor's nightwing run AGAIN here but i resent that i had to read more of it for the second year in a row. and i especially resent that the fps nightwing issue got a nomination for best single issue.

Best Limited Series: the cull (image, Kelly Thompson and Mattia De Iulis)

another Kelly thompson! this was a cool and interesting story about a group of kids who, after a tragedy, go out to the beach to film one last short film together and discover an alien world. the plotting is sharp and quick and the character stuff hits well. hyperrealistic art isn't always my jam, but I think it does work in this instance. also quite frankly the rest of this category was pretty weak.

honorable mention: superman lost (dc, chris priest and carlo pagulayan)

I loved the start of Superman lost. I thought it was a really fantastic take on Lois and Clark and the inevitable very real difficulties that their relationship would face. I loved how it let Lois be angry and hurt without condemning her which we SO rarely see in a capes comic. and then it almost completely lost me towards the end. I thought the infidelity / pregnancy subplot was both unnecessary and frustrating (and tbh I don't love the only Black-coded character in the comic, even if she does have pink skin, being a secret villain who's trying to keep Clark trapped with her.) it felt like it fizzled and that's a bummer because boy do the first few issues put clark through the grinder.

Best New Series: Phantom Road (image, Jeff Lemire and Gabriel Hernández Walta)

this category was really hard to pick a favorite because it was full of cool shit. phantom road is a familiar narrative if you've listened to Alice isn't dead, from the Long haul truckers to the truck stops that slide into another world, to the body horror other world monsters. I think Alice isn't dead does it better, but I'm excited to see where phantom road goes. in general I really like Jeff lemire's stuff and I think this will be well done, and hernandez walta's art is tautly paneled and slides between uncanny normal into horror perfectly.

honorable mention: black cloak (image, Kelly Thompson and Meredith McClaren)

I love the worldbuilding in black cloak, but I think it's undercut by art that is too cute for the story. everything in McLaren's art is really rounded and feels kind of like a video game world where I'm collecting pets or something, rather than a fairly gritty fantasy murder mystery. still think this is worth a read though!

honorable mention #2: Local Man (image, Tim Seeley and Tony Fleecs)

I enjoyed this enough to read the second volume even though it didn't actually come out in the nomination period! the plot on this is great and although I think the trope of down on his luck superhero who has to go back in disgrace to his hometown and solve some mysteries is maybe a little overplayed (the overall plot feels a bit too watchmen lite for me) the way it's done here is interesting to read. also the diegetic comics are delightful, particularly the ones with Inga.

next category: kids 9-12. hey did ya'll know there are some really good middle-grade comics coming out right now! there are some really good middle-grade comics coming out right now. this isn't actually my collection area but too bad.

Buzzing (Samuel Sattin and Rye Hickman)

i'm usually not one for Issue Comics, even ones for kids, but this was such a lovely and sweet story about a kid with OCD who finds friends in his D&D group. the art is lovely and i wish baby me had had access to this!

Mexikid (Pedro Martín)

Mexikid is just a delight from start to finish. funny, poignant, great stuff about family and culture and the experience of going on a very long road trip with your horrible siblings who you love very much. Martín switches between laugh out loud humor and deep emotion with incredible facility. This was my picks for the category, but it was tight!

Saving Sunshine (Saadia Faruqi and Shazleen Khan)

really sweet story about a pair of twins who have to pretend to get along in order to get their phones back and end up remembering that they do, in fact, love each other.

on to the teens!

Best Teen (13-17) Danger and Other Unknown Risks (Ryan North and Erica Henderson)

I like this comic so much that I made my partner read it, and they also loved it. delightful romp of an adventure through a post-apocalyptic world in which magic has replaced all electricity. the Chosen One (and her dog) have to bring certain artifacts back to her uncle in order for him to save the world. or do they? the plot turns on this one are extremely good and the cast of characters is a delight

honorable mention: Frontera (Julio Anta and Jacoby Salcedo)

I think it is extremely good for kids, and for everyone, to read stories about the horrors of the us-mexico border. however the ghost subplot on this one really really lost me.. it felt like it took a lot away from the seriousness of the story instead of heightening it or relieving tension.

Best Humor: How to Love: A Guide to Feelings & Relationships for Everyone (Alex Norris)

I went in fully expecting not to like this at all- I assumed it would be really didactic. but it is actually both extremely funny and very sweet. it is essentially a relationship manual from the "oh no" comics person, with all of the silliness and care that that entails.

honorable mention: The Yakuza’s Bias (Teki Yatsuda, trans. Max Greenway)

what if you were a hard boiled high ranking Yakuza, and your boss's daughter got you into kpop? and you became really inspired by your bias and the way that he tirelessly works towards his dreams? delight of a manga (obvious comparison would be the way of the househusband and this is just as fun.)

Best Anthology: Deep Cuts (Kyle Higgins, Joe Clark, Danilo Beyruth, and others)

this SLAPPED. collection of loosely related comics about jazz and the joys of improvisation and the various indignities of the music industry. the art is great from comic to comic, the colors are so tasty, and this made me really emotional about collective artistic endeavor. it's good to have a jam session, and this is the comics equivalent of one.

honorable mention: The Out Side: Trans & Nonbinary Comics (ed. The Kao, Min Christensen, and David Daneman)

i'm generally pretty hit or miss on anthologies (the nature is such that there's gonna be someone in there i really dislike) but this one was actually quite lovely and the art was great. a good variety of stories and takes and a lot of nonbinary artists :)

DIShonorable mention: Comics for Ukraine (ed. Scott Dunbier)

i could have lived my whole life without seeing an Astro City take on the invasion of Ukraine. i wish this had been good! there was one single story in here that didn't make me want to go, head in my hands, hey maybe american comics writers are not like, best positioned to write about what it's like to have your country invaded! i just think. superhero comics are not always the best medium with which to tackle every issue. and that is okay! (the story, "talking to a hill," was also one of the few non-tie-in stories in the anthology and one of the few that actually like. told a ukrainian story rather than a weak allegory.)

Best Nonfiction: Last on His Feet: Jack Johnson and the Battle of the Century (Adrian Matejka and Youssef Daoudi)

woof this is a killer. incredible art incredible writing incredibly nuanced take on a pretty difficult figure, famous Black boxer Jack Johnson, that does not pull any punches in its treatment of either the virulent racism he faced or his treatment of his wife. honestly probably my favorite book of the whole collection.

okay my arm is crapping out so I'll round up the rest (adaptation, international, album, academic, strips, and a few good things I read for best writer and artist) later!

[chibi-celesti]

Was ki ra chs Chronicle=Key en grandee sos inferiare yor

(I will sing you a sweet lullaby forever, my dearest)

Twst Boys x GN! Reader, feat. NRC Staff.

Warnings: Angst, reference to Epic Mickey 1, more AT references

Synopsis: Confronting and halting the Blot Phantom was easy. Saying Good-bye is the hardest.

(You part ways with your friends to halt the Blot from tearing apart Twisted Wonderland)

A/N: I swear I'm not a fan of angst! This was a brain child idea at 3 in the morning, and that's it! It's based solely on this scene from Ar Tonelico 1 where one of the heroines, Misha(or Misya) fulfills her role as a seal to the main antagonist Mir. The title is named after the song of the same name.

~EXEC_CHRONICLE=KEY./~

It was exhausting, the hell you all went through. The past overblots seemed like child's play compared to this monster-no demon-of a Phantom. This beast was hellbent on ending the world; to make it repent for the sorrows of mankind's greed.

You feared that you and everyone else weren't gonna last long. The demon almost killed Crowley, but somehow he persevered and survived throughout the fight. For being the first person to hold back the beast long enough for them to arrive was no easy feat.

Through hard work, tag teaming with the unlikely-est pair of allies, and no casualties to boot, everyone managed to best the beast and send it back down into the depths of White Rose Castle.

“That…was easy…” You heard one of your friends pant.

“You could say…that again.”

A thump sound of someone collapsing caught your group's attention. Crowley had lost his strength to stand and looked scaryingly pale. Everyone had shouted his name, seeing if he was in stable condition. A few students and staff ran to assist him.

“I am fine, Everyone. But we still need to do something about that dreaded Phantom. If we do not stop it now, our world will never know peace again.”

You swallowed back the lump in your throat. You had an idea as to how to stop it. But you worry what the others might think.

The headmage knows the truth. So did the rest of the staff. They all knew if things got worse, you would be the sacrificial lamb on the altar for this.

The ground begins to rumble again, not giving you enough time to confess.

Suppressing the tears that threatened to come down your face, you called to the Headmage to get his attention. He looks to you, knowing it is time. Crowley nods to you, and weakly gestures for you to head towards the broken castle’s altar.

The rumbling continued on as you made your way to the altar. The flow of magic embracing you as you faced all of the friends, acquaintances, and of course your beloved, one last time.

“Everyone, thank you. For everything.”

Most looked a bit confused, while others felt something was amiss. Your beloved, however, felt his heart beginning to crack into pieces. He knew exactly what you were about to do.

“Please don't hate me for this. I was born to fulfill this role. And while it was for a short time, I truly loved every moment of freedom I had with you all.”

“Don't forget me… okay?” You felt the tears fall against your better judgement. Feeling the magic in the air wrap around you, you began to perform your lullaby for the Blot.

~Wee ki ra chs Chronicle Key, en grandee sos dius yor.

Wee ki ra araus tes soare an giue mea iem~

The song reverberated out the desolate ruins of the Underworld, in and through the vast Coral Sea and spread everywhere in Twisted Wonderland. Your voice echoing as a piece of Salvation to many, and a tragic farewell to the friends you loved.

“Hey, guys. The shaking stopped.”

“Looks like the Blot won't be bothering us ever again…right?”

The Headmage confirmed their words.

“...” Your beloved stood there, taking in what everyone noticed your actions have done, while also blocking them out. He calls out to you, hoping you would answer.

A hand placed on his shoulders told him what he wanted to deny. “Forgive us, but they cannot stop singing. Lest we want that foul beast to return.” Trein told him, wishing he could do more to reassure his students.

“So, they can't come back with us?!”

You faintly hear shouts of disbelief, but they were drops of water compared to the sound of your lullaby.

“Pup is doing this for all our sakes.”

Your beloved walked ahead, hoping to speak with you again. To see if you could hear him. He tells you he cannot stay, but that he will try to visit you. Not everyday, but he will. He promises to tell you about the world you're protecting. The lives and futures saved by what you, he and everyone fought to protect.

With that said, leaning onto Vargas for support, Crowley ordered everyone to leave White Rose Castle.

It was time to go home. Without you.

~Why does power dwell in those who do not wish for strife?

And why does power torture the sweet, innocent ones?~

-Misha

[the-person-on-the-bridge]

DPXDC Prompt №5

Well

Imagine that Danny and Klarion are a couple, and what a mess it could be. And what would be the reaction of the League? God, this idea just occupied my brain.

JL has a problem that neither they, nor JLD, nor YJ can handle. They decide to use their heavy artillery - Phantom. When Danny arrives he is met by a bunch of panicked superheroes who think the world is about to end. They tell him about the problem, for example, huge monsters that cannot be damaged. Danny realizes that he has already heard something similar. After a while, he remembers.

"Hey, do these monsters have some kind of seal or symbol on their side? For example, K with a dot?"

The league doesn't understand what this is about at all, but they say, yes, there is.

"Oh, I've faced them before, but I can't handle it alone. But I know who can help." Danny sits down on a chair, takes out his phone and starts typing. It takes a long time to type.

Half an hour later, everyone was on edge, and the Phantom didn't stop typing. 

Superman couldn't stand it first: "Phantom, we appreciate your help, but please specify who we are waiting for." The boyscout is polite as always. The Batman clan looks at each other uneasily.

"My boyfriend. By the way, he's on his way," the Phantom answers nonchalantly, without looking up from the phone and continuing to type.

The League participants are close to a breakdown: not only is the threat hanging over the States, which they are not able to cope with, but the Phantom has added from above. Phantom, is an incredibly strong player by himself, their heavy artillery, the king of the fucking Endless Realms, dates someone SO powerful that this someone can help him stop a potential threat to the country.

Then something in the air changes. Magic users and the League look at Danny, who finally puts the phone in his pocket. He frowns irritably and crosses his arms over his chest.

"Finally," he muttered discontentedly and gets up.

A black-and-red portal appears in the room, from which an irritated Klarion exits. Exactly the one who was least expected to see. YJ are already ready to take up arms, but the Phantom is ahead of them.

"Did you see how much time has passed? You're late." Danny comes closer, still unhappy.

"I couldn't teleport out of YOUR fucking castle. You open portals yourself every day, why ban them in the castle at all?" Klarion goes to meet Danny. "I got lost in the corridors six times. SIX. I am 16 billion years old, I have existed since the beginning of the universe, and I could not get out of the castle!" the distance between them was rapidly shrinking until they were standing close.

In any other situation, many would have laughed at this, but not in this one. Everyone in the room felt the situation escalate. They saw the Phantom in anger, they saw the Klarion in anger, but they never saw them together, let alone together and in anger.

"So you think it's my fault?!" The windows began to be covered with frost, and circles began to appear on the coffee in the Green Arrow mug. The jar with the handles began to bounce, everyone in the room began to feel the force of their anger.

"This is your castle, your ban. Whose fault do you think it is that I'm late?" Klarion's voice dropped. The Phantom looked dumbfounded. "What… How do you even..." Phantom's incipient tirade was interrupted by Klarion's kiss. He pressed his lips to the Phantom's lips, closing his eyes. He ran one hand through the ghost's hair, and the other pulled the Phantom closer, holding on to his waist.

The Phantom relaxed into the kiss, wrapping his arms around the chaos lord's shoulders. Teekl stepped onto Phantom's shoulders, settling comfortably on them.

"Ahem-ahem" someone coughed tactfully

The Phantom moved a little away from Klarion, turning sideways to the League.

"Phantom, we understand your situation, however, you must remember the original purpose of our meeting." Batman is as straightforward as ever.

"Oh, right, sorry, guys," muttered the Phantom, turning in arms, but looking into the eyes of Klarion. "Do you remember the creatures we imprisoned in the time of Egypt?"

"Mmm, before or after Cleopatra?"

"After"

"Ugh, those slimy things?"

"Yes, and these slimy things are now taking over the east coast. Why did you put your stamp on them at all?” Phantom asked, leaning back into the embrace.

"I was thinking of leaving them for a rainy day," Klarion replied, stroking Teekl, still sitting on someone else's shoulders. "They had potential. Before they went mad with anger and started consuming each other."

"Ugh, okay," the Phantom grumbled, twisting out of the embrace completely. "Let's go show class"

Having created the portal, the Phantom invited Klarion to go first, gallantly bending over and bending his arm behind his back. "After you"

Klarion grunted, took the Teekl and disappeared into his own portal. Phantom rolled his eyes. "Eccentric"

JL remained in stunned silence, watching the interaction of the two creatures and asking a lot of questions. How long have these two known each other? What is the real age of the Phantom, if it existed before Cleopatra? If the Phantom knows that Klarion is the lord of chaos, does that mean that the Phantom may be involved in Klarion's affairs?

Just a minute after the two creatures leave, JL watches as the two subdue one monster after another. In just ten minutes two of which they kissed Phantom and Klarion defeat all the creatures. Klarion reads a spell, the Phantom opens a huge purple portal, where Klarion sends the bodies of monsters with a spell. When the creatures' bodies have disappeared, the Phantom creates another portal in which they disappear.

JL has literally a few seconds before they feel the familiar chill.

"I'm sorry it took so long. Last time we did it faster," the Phantom's voice rang out at the end of the hall.

Turning around, the heroes saw Klarion supporting Phantom by the elbow. The ghost looked paler than usual, but overall not bad. On the Phantom's cloak was a black slime left over from monsters, which he looked at with undisguised disgust.

"Phe, I thought I didn't get dirty" 

"I told you not to kick them, but when you listened to me," Klarion rolled his eyes”

"Hey, ghosts don't attack Amity anymore, it's nice to remember the past sometimes" 

"You're a member of the Justice League. Isn't that enough?"

"It's not the same. Okay, guys," The Phantom looked at the League again, "I'm damn tired and I'll answer your questions another time. You've already ruined our movie night. Waiting is the least price you will pay for it. See you soon!"

They were swallowed up by the Klarion’s portal, leaving the League confused and shocked. The first, oddly enough, Constantine came to himself. 

"I need a drink"

Klarion and Danny: * kissing while monsters are raging in the background*

Literally the entire Justice League: 

[twistedroseytoesy]

Jamils darkside

A potion accident leads the Mc to see the inside of Jamil's head. Shortly after the events of book 4. There's still remnants of the blott.

At this point mc really needed to ask crewel to not do so many dream based potions or things that could show a more vulnerable side of their classmates. It was the second week back learning after the winter break. Todays class was a special first and second year work day. To create a “dream walker” potion. Then to do class discussion in a dream world to ensure they had all the time they needed to go over the different effected etc.

As always with the poor prefects luck, things didn’t go to well due to their troublesome cat companion. Grim grew bored and let his minion take care of their potion with the scarabia vice dorm leader. But grim hated being still and surrounded by strong smells. But one scent did catch his attention. So as Jamil was carefully adding a few drops of mind root concentrate, grim leaped and reached into jamils coat pocket. He pulled out a small bag of spicy homemade chips with a victorious “ah-ha!”. Unfortunetly his victory was short lived as Jamil was lurched forward by grims weight suddenly on his front. He spilled a large amount of the consent rate and glared down at grim. He looked over to the mc and back down to the potion. Nothing started to happen luckily. Jamil just growled and kicked grim as he scurried away from both of the students.

They continued as if nothing had happened. The potion ended a much deeper blue than the other potions around them but other than that it seemed fine. They both should have known better than to assume a bit of an extra ingredient in a potion wouldn’t do anything. The class all summoned some soft chairs or pillows or blankets and drank their potion together at crewels command. The class quickly fell into a deep sleep and arrived in a shared dream space for discussion. All except for 2 students.

They both found themselves in what seemed to be a dark void. Mc groaned as a spotlight was casted on Jamil. “Oh no not again… sorry Jamil. Looks like we’ve got a musical number here.” They said remembering the incident with riddle a while ago. “what do you mean musical number??” Jamil looked downright flabbergasted at the idea of singing at a time like this. “We should try to wake ourselves up. We failed to connect with the other group.” He said. Trying to focus on feeling his body to try and wake up. “we will wake up after it’s over.” Mc said now sitting on the “ground” Jamil started to walk over to them with a deep frown at how nonchalant they were being. Suddenly he felt his limbs freeze and his mind cloud a bit as he started to sway to some dark drums and a deep growling voice that started to play.

“Do you want to meet all my monsters? Think you're tough, I know they'll drive you bonkers Meet them once and they'll forever haunt ya" He started to sing different images of shadows and jealousy moving in and out of the darkness around the two. Mc watched on, realizing this was going to be going deep into jamils darker, hidden thoughts.

"There's no heroes or villains in this place" He motioned toward his overblotted self as he sat on a throne and how he was cast down. "Just shadows that dance in my headspace Leaving nothing but phantoms in their wake (their wake)" He disappears as the blot phantom takes his place. Mc looks around worriedly.

"There's parts of me I cannot hide (cannot hide)" Jamil in his overblot form appears next to them and grabs their chin as he makes them turn toward him. "I've tried and tried a million times (ooh)" he smirks down at them as they try to break away from his grasp. They look to his eyes for a moment and they find themselves dancing like a puppet and singing as he laughs in front of them.

La-da-da-di-da La-da-da-di-da La-da-da-di-da-da

"Cross my heart and hope to die Welcome to my darkside" He sang as he released his hold on them, Mc reached out to jamil trying to get him back to normal but without magic, there wasn't much they could do. He elegantly danced around them as he sang, like a snake wrapping around his prey. His voice echoes around the two.

"to my da-da-darkside Ooh, to my da-da-darkside Ooh, to my da-da-darkside Ooh, to my da-da-darkside"

"Take a step into the havoc" They find themselves in the scarabia dorm, with the dorm students yelling at Kalim and Jamil. "Look around, this ain't even the half of it!" the kitchens burnt and there's garbage and confetti everywhere. "Walking the line between panic and losing my mind" He pulls on his hair and grips the side of his face. "Embracing the madness" His eye ignites as his hair curls back into the snakes. "My devils they whisper in my ear" The phantom looms close to jamils head as its viscus ink drips onto Jamils shoulder. "Deafening me with all my fears" The phantom creates puppets of his parents berating him on his shoulders. "I'm living in a nightmare!" He screamed.

"There's parts of me I cannot hide" Jamil is normal again but looking down at a broken dish on the floor his hands trembling. "I've tried and tried a million times (million times)" Images of good grades are burned, and a few other things are swept under a rug.

La-da-da-di-da La-da-da-di-da La-da-da-di-da-da

Jamil is now further away from Mc, looking over the edge of a balcony. as a faint voice continues the music.

"Cross my heart and hope to die Welcome to my darkside" He starts to tip over the edge as the words come from his mouth. Mc reaches out and the world fractures around them like a broken mirror.

Ooh, to my da-da-darkside Ooh, to my da-da-darkside Ooh, to my da-da-darkside Ooh, to my da-da-darkside

Images of A knife being thrown, Jamil crying in a corner, many dark figures glaring down at them, and many more flashed around them as the voice along with jamils voice continued to sing.

Darkside

Cross my heart and hope to die Welcome to my darkside

Despite falling through horrible fears and doubts Mc didn't stop trying to reach Jamil. Knowing that getting to him was going to be the only way to help him out of this mess. They even noticed the dark presence of blott around them as they continued through the different mirror fragments.

Ooh, to my da-da-darkside Ooh, to my da-da-darkside (to my darkside) Ooh, to my da-da-darkside (to my darkside) Ooh, to my da-da-darkside

They Finaly were able to wrap their arms around Jamil as they both plummeted over the edge into the darkness of a sea of blott. (welcome to my darkside)

[thebrideofreanimator]

okay so it’s been two years since my reanimator special interest started so i’m gonna try to put into words what these movies mean to me. this is the most cringe i’m probably ever getting on this account so. point and laugh while you can

so reanimator didnt become a special interest the first time i watched it. i think it was my 3rd or 4th viewing when it just. clicked in my brain. idk. it was the last day of school for me in 2021 and i decided to watch them that night 2 celebrate because i had been wanting to give them a rewatch 4 a while and that was the start of my brainrot. not sure what about that watch caused my brain to latch onto them so much (my theory atm is it was the first time I watched them not during like an all nighter/at 4-5 am) but it has been my favorite thing in the world ever since. i’ve never had a movie mean more to me (the closest a movie has come to it is repo the genetic opera. which i was actually still fixated on when i gave reanimator a rewatch and reanimator is what ended that fixation lol) anyways. reanimator was and still is my best friend 4ever. i watched it every single day that summer. i still watch it at absolute minimum 1-2 times a month to this day but usually more. herbert west is my fav character ever. reanimator has gotten me through so much shit i don’t care that it sounds cringe it has gotten me through trials and tribulations. herbert and dan are my best friends. herbert west is very important to me because he is asexual and autistic just like myself but he is also an evil bitch and silly which is very important. my love 4 reanimator made me wanna watch frankenstein. which i did along with dracula in a movie theater double feature which led to me falling down the uni monsters rabbit hole. which led to me watching the 1925 phantom of the opera. which led to silent film fixation hell and getting into conrad veidt. that’s right party people, reanimator indirectly led to my conrad veidt special interest. reanimator is my biggest comfort film. it never fails 2 cheer me up when i’m sad or upset. i go back and fourth between if i like the first one or bride better because they’re both just so good. i think these movies were made with me in mind and 4 the autistic horror girlies specifically. they’re so silly bonkers camp (i love you way too red fake blood and funny green glow stick syringe) but they’re also just really good movies. i literally cannot even begin to put into words how much i fucking love reanimator it is my favorite thing ever. herbert west is my best friend. every time i see anything reanimator related it makes me joyful beyond words. these movies genuinely changed my life and i never have been more fixated on a movie and I don’t think I ever will. live laugh reanimator

[aeoki]

Phantom Airship - Epilogue 1

Location: Phantom Airship Characters: Sora, Natsume, Tsumugi, Hiiro, Aira, Mayoi & Tatsumi

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ< The “Phantom Airship”. After clearing the “Last Island”. >

Hiiro: Hehe. We’ve finally collected all of the “treasures”!

All that’s left is to take this “treasure” back and the “Phantom Airship” is completed.

Tatsumi: Thinking back, it felt like quite a long time or perhaps a short time… It was filled with many new surprises.

Aira: Yeah. It was so much fun ♪

Well, I showed a lot of embarrassing sides to myself, though. Maybe I should ask the editing team to cut them out of the actual episode.

Mayoi: I also spoke of an audition that hasn’t been made public, so I hope they’ll understand and leave that bit out.

I fully embarrassed myself on “Monster Island”, to the point I don’t think I can watch it afterwards, but so I’m sure they won’t keep those parts in…

In any case, the condition to clear the game is to show the fruits of our journey to the fairies who guided us along the way, right?

We ran into a few obstacles, but I’m feeling a bit sad to see that we’ll be leaving this place.

But we can’t always stay in the game world. Many troubles surely came our way but we must return to reality.

Tatsumi: Yes. Shame and regret are two emotions we cannot avoid as long as we’re alive. Let us convert that sin into kindness and give love to others – I’m sure that’s a good way to live our lives.

Aira: Ehehe. You sound like a clergyman in this world too, Tattsun-senpai.

Alrighty, then I guess I’ll think of my experiences here in a positive light as well. “Facilitators”, can you come out?

Natsume: “Well doNE, travellers from another worLD.”

“Did you collect all seven ‘treasures’ as per our requeST?”

Sora: “Please show them to us!”

Hiiro: Indeed. They’re all here. Will this do?

Sora: “Yes, thank you so much! We can restore our magical powers with them now~♪”

Tsumugi: “That’s right. Thanks to you all, we can undo the seal on our magical powers.”

“Now, the world is in our grasp, Sora-kun, Natsume-kun ♪”

Tatsumi: Hmm…? What do you mean? Can you tell us in detail?

Tsumugi: “Ahaha. It’s exactly as the words mean.”

“We’re grateful to you all, really. We were turned into tiny fairies, but thanks to your help, we can retrieve our magical abilities with the power of the ‘treasure’.”

Sora: “HaHa~♪ You didn’t expect us to be the final boss, right?”

“We’re actually evil ‘magicians’ who are trying to take over this virtual world!”

Aira: E-Evil “magicians”...!? Wait, so you’re actually the bad guys!?

Natsume: “What’s good or bad all depends on how you see thinGS. We’re from the darkness so we’re different from you who hail from the ligHT.”

“If you still want to stop uS, then use your full strength to do sO.”

Ɨ’łł ȺnnɨħɨłȺŧɇ ɏøᵾ Ⱥłł – nøŧ ɇvɇn Ⱥ sɨnǥłɇ søᵾł wɨłł ƀɇ łɇfŧ sŧȺnđɨnǥ ♪

Hiiro: ……! What can we do to stop them?

Aira: Look, Hiro-kun! The “treasures” are shining!

Hiiro: You’re right. The microphone we got from the “Last Island” is emitting a bright light…

Tatsumi: The stone slate we got from “Giant Island” is also shining with them. I wonder if it’s telling us to defeat the “magicians” with the song Leo-san made.

Mayoi: Hmm. It sounds rather preposterous and unbelievable…

The final boss suddenly appearing is a classic RPG event, so my sentimentality has gone straight out the window…!

Tatsumi: Hehe. But we’ve overcome so many challenges. Surely it must mean we’ve also obtained enough power to save the world – enough to bring this story to an end.

Let us sing the song we obtained from Leo-san’s trial and let our voices ring.

Now, join me, everyone.

“♪~♪~♪”

Hiiro: Hehe. Enough power to save the world, huh. I think it’s too much power for us, but maybe we’ve grown big enough to change this small virtual world.

Just like how I was captivated by “Trickstar” during their “SS” performance, perhaps even I have the ability to change someone’s feelings when they see our performance.

If that’s the case, then I’ll use the new footwork I learnt at “Miniature Island” to dance gracefully.

“♪ ♪ ♪”

Aira: Me too – I won’t give in to my anxiety! I’ve come all this way so I’ll definitely complete the “Phantom Airship”...!

If the four of us in “ALKALOID” are together, then I’m sure we can save the world! I’ll sing with those feelings in mind ♪

Mayo-san, there’s no time to be dallying here. We’ve gotta show them how much we’ve grown too!

Aira: We’ve gotta prove it to them as a member of the up-and-coming newbie unit “ALKALOID” who made it all the way to the “SS” main battle ♪

Let’s save the world! With the power of love!

I loveee ☆

“♪~♪~♪”

Mayoi: Up-and-coming unit… you’re right, Aira-san ♪

I also shouldn’t remain so humble.

Hearing your wonderful and adoring voices has made me realise that we still have a long way to go, even though we’ve levelled up after experiencing “SS”.

Take a step forward and you can change the world – that’s how it made us feel.

Mayoi: Everyone, please watch us.

As long as we have the determination to face our difficulties, we “ALKALOID” can sing and dance the most brilliantly out of anyone in the whole world…♪

“♪~♪~♪”

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ← Previous Chapter ᠂ ⚘ ˚⊹˚ ⚘ ᠂  Next Chapter →

[princess-of-the-worlds]

😭😍

😭 angst or sad WIP snippet

the only angst or sad WIP snippet i currently have to offer is star wars, so i hope that's okay ahaha

“—gundarks!” Luke cries in a near-hysterical sob. “Ben had the opportunity to ramble on about gundarks, but he never bothered to warn me that my father was—”

Another sob bubbles up in his chest, bursting from his lungs, and something ugly twists inside him. He throws his hands up, briefly losing control of the Force, and Ben’s journals launch against the opposite wall of the cabin, falling into a heap on the grimy floor. 

“Did you think me a fool, Ben,” Luke calls to the ceiling, “telling me that Vader killed my father?” He wants Ben to appear so that he can shout at the Jedi Master, because that would feel better than the choked desolation he feels, like someone has reached deep inside his chest and cut him open, flaying his heart out. The love, the hero worship, the awe and yearning he carried for his father for all of his twenty-two short years — it’s all burned away, out of reach. All that’s left is this emptiness, this grief and horror so potent he could drown in it.

i don't know why the indents ended up so weird, but enjoy some luke angst!

😍 published lines or a section of a fic that you loved writing?

ahhhh, that's so hard, but for now, i'll go with this:

What remains pulses — neurons mourning the loss of the copious space they one had to grow and spiral in.  They can feel those spaces, those missing body parts. The memories of them linger, like ghosts, like phantoms haunting the space left behind. The brain remembers what the body forgets. When one part of the body dissipates away, its responding part of the brain still lingers, and its plants may have died but the soil is still fertile, so the vines of the connections of the brain overgrow there — thus, Jack’s fingers are felt on his elbow and his legs in his chest.

That forgotten part of his brain has grown a new jungle, all the tactile senses and perceptions tangled, a reminder of what once was there and now is gone — like seeing a mall, a former bastion of civilization and capitalism, reclaimed by nature. 

What remains of Jack echoes in his lingering neurons. Is that what a ghost is? The last thought of a dying or dead neuron caught in a never-ending loop of memory, trauma, thought, consciousness? And is a haunting just people caught up in the devastating gravity of a ghost?

from the @ultraviolet-eucatastrophe inspired body horror fic when does a monster become one

this just tickles my brain and i cannot explain why

send me an emoji ask about my wip and published fics

[budgetaus]

(Warning: long-read, links, photos, videos)

“You weren’t this cold at the start.”

Cold: a Sans Snowgrave route.

A UNIQUE FUN VALUE

Sans got a call.

After countless resets Sans was tired,

(Everything was the same blur)

He could care less what happened to everyone else

(Even his own brother)

And just wanted to end all of it.

And the caller offered a deal.

Saying he could fix it all, help him end it, stop it, maybe even give him something he never had before….

Control

Sans, after a long pause, agreed. Of course asking for the catch. 

There was “no” catch.

(If losing your own free will wasn’t a catch.)

The caller told him how to fix it.

That they’d even help him.

Sans started the “plan”, convincing himself this was what he had to do.

(It was finally something new…something that wasn’t predictable.)

They wouldn’t remember.

It was to stop the endless cycle.

He would make it better in the end.

Make it up to them.

(When he got control over it all.)

He would start his own game and be the one to control it…

To call the shots…

For the better.

He would never be just another “character”, “npc”, “it” anymore…no one would.

Something changed in him.

The plan changed him.

(You became the very thing you swore to destroy.)

He was finally enjoying himself…because he was the one in control and it felt good.

He felt powerful. 

Determined to stop it all and make this his world.

He didn’t care anymore.

He just had to reach the end

No matter what.

They would thank him later.

His soul grew cold, hard, unfeeling.

He didn’t recognize those who he cherished (friends, family, no one.) and “he” wasn’t the same.

 He heard it.

The entity.

The entity the caller told him would make this easier.

Not to be afraid of it.

This was to help.

It would help.

(ART: new and old)

(Abilities/Battle info)

Cold has all the abilities of Sans.

Cold has an assimilation ability which allows him to copy a few unique abilities from a monster he has killed, aswell as bullet patterns (Ex: The waviness of Toriels attacks or the spear ringlets of Undynes attacks)

Cold has a passive where he radiates coldness that he can control, and can freeze things through touch due to this (Turn them into ice sculptures) which does not affect magic items but affects things with a soul, (Things without a soul such as Ink can still be frozen but physical contact just doesn't cause them to immediately start freezing over.)

Ice infection, which, just makes it so his ice SPREADS. If touched a body part shall freeze and will start to spread the freezing until you're a statue. The speed varies but will usually be faster the longer you have touched something icey.

Frostbite which is a mimic of KR. For however long you've touched an attack a bit of your HP will freeze and become a blue color. This blue HP will be unusable and cannot be healed. It can only be thawed. To thaw just..go somewhere hot or get hit by an attack that produces heat lol

Cold progressively gets stronger each "reset" happens, as in, his progress is put back at 0.

Cold himself does not have the ability to au/world hop but his demons do e.g Promise. Think sort of like how Nightmare is able to send Killer/Cross places.

(Notes/Facts)

Sans nickname is "Cold".

This is an alternate timeline, but could be considered a universe.

The inspiration is Deltarune SnowGrave route, Spamton, Jevil, Noelle, and DustTale. As "ColdGrave" is more alike to DustTale if any AU.

Cold attracts all sorts of things, demons, spirits, creatures. After all, Misery loves company.

The caller and the entity is really up to interpretation.

Cold can take KR damage due to his LV and not being a good "Judge" of character anymore.

Cold doesn't actually use his own magic much, often opting to just smack something a bunch with a weapon i.e like Player who as Frisk..just hits things a bunch 'til they dust.

Shivvers: Colds Phantom Papyrus, which isn't actually Papyrus but just a demon taking the form of Papyrus to haunt Cold- make him feel even worse and to guilt-trip him into continuing what he's doing. Shivvers feeds off his misery.

The Heart Locket: Just a representation of Chara, another 'demon' like entity. (Chara themself says they are a demon.) Colds DETERMINATION and everything he's done, along with being a new change of pace had woken Chara up sooner than Frisk.

Promise: Another demon who keeps Cold on track. (AKA continuing his mission) Also Colds best friend.

Papyrus and Sans: Just echoes of what once was. Faint yet familiar memories.

Cold is "just dust but sadder" (quote from Promise), similar to Kris and Frisk. Similar also to Noelle, especially after the soon to be reboot. (The reboot is going to change the way I RP Cold)

The reason Cold and Promise know eachother is that Cold attracted Promise (Creepy pasta by d4niztic) due to Cold LV n such and after Cold was tormented by Promise (Promise is a violent creature) they struck up a deal so Cold can live but now Cold kinda works for Promise and Promise little gang of creepypasta's (UnderTale creepypasta's)

(This happened because of RP me and my friend @entitysoulless did and they ended up becoming friends lol)

If you were to encounter Cold in a fight the song that would most likely play would be something like "But nobody came" (Undertale esque) or Lullaby of the Unheard.

Cold is still a WIP and subject to change! I hate him💖💖

(Lyrics from Shy Sings: Core)

"Faintly within, “Start again”, repress it all."

"With a glare so sharp, paralyzing:

Cuts deeper than any knife."

"Watch their happiness decay."

(Theme Songs)

TS: Shy Sings: Core

TS: You’re An Awful Person

TS: Lullaby of the Unheard: Judas’ Lullaby + Cry of the Unheard

TS: In the Dark

[vilonnie]

[ID: A t-chart meme where the words "people who like royal trio" are labeling a wall of text and a screenshot from Persona 5 Royal of "Kasumi Yoshizawa" hiding behind Ren Amamiya for protection. On the other side, the words "people who like royal trio also" are labeling the sprites of Ren, Sumire Yoshizawa, and Goro Akechi, along with the text "haha transbian theatre kid gay duels to the death." End ID]

having a bad day? have you tried thinking about royal trio every day for a month straight until the brainrot makes your eyes fall out of your head

um. also here's the word vomit on the left under the cut... fair warning it is. excruciatingly long And completely deranged since the joke was that I have problems about them lol

these children were forced to sublimate their identities into idyllic roles in a game of gods while simultaneously being made to perceive themselves as monsters. joker is constantly being positioned as the perfect gentleman thief, The Savior, often of individual women but also of The World as a collective, to the point of symbolically *executing* parts of himself for the sake of his utility and the salvation of other people. there are multiple scenes of him stepping in front of a girl to bodily protect her from an attacker and the inciting incident of the entire narrative is him suffering for that role and losing his home, his family, and arguably in a sense his own face (glasses). actually glasses in general are highly symbolic in terms of persona 5 as a whole when you look at joker, sumire, maruki, and even crow, which can also tie into themes of "masks," "personas," and "cognition," but that's another topic. anyway even though joker is constantly martyring himself for others he is still the most demonized character in the entire game, having Satan as one of his other selves and existing in the people's cognition only as "the most dangerous inmate locked in the quarantine cell" (paraphrased). as the trickster and the leader of the phantom thieves he must always be strong and unfaltering - he is never allowed to cry, or to show weakness.

this also affects his relationship with sumire, who through the persona of kasumi is forced into a position where she must constantly be saved by others. kasumi is the perfect girl in every way - sweet, perpetually cheerful, thin, beautiful, feminine, an unimpeachable prodigy athlete who is expected to always get first place, who must do so effortlessly - but by the same token she can never be confident and fufilled on her own, and must always be rescued by the savior-martyr joker. what sumire cannot escape is that kasumi is The Damsel. her ultimate persona ella is literally a bride. and sumire, the flawed and human girl behind the mask who had her agency taken away from her the moment she was granted kasumi's name, hates and loves kasumi in equal measure for that perceived inhuman perfection. it is functionally because kasumi in sumire's eyes represents the fantasy of perfection which she can never really achieve that the idea of kasumi loving her is incomprehensible. kasumi cannot love her, cannot have admired or envied her gymnastics, cannot cook for her, and absolutely cannot have died for her, because a flawless princess cannot be human. kasumi has to have been this cool, untounchable, isolated eidolon, because to believe otherwise would destroy sumire - but in the end, it destroys her anyway when she herself is made to become the glittering ideal. and yet, becoming kasumi creates a dichotomy in sumire's head - if kasumi is everything that is good and worthwhile, than sumire is everything that is repulsive and unlovable. her hatred for kasumi was at its core a manifestation of her hatred for herself, and her belief that her only options were to either accept a future where she is unwanted or to die. after all, in sumire's mind, there is nobody in the real world who could value the survival of her true self. personally I do believe that joker and sumire love each other (platonically or romantically) but they're being shoved into these fabricated roles as savior and damsel by forces outside of control.

the same can be said for akechi. despite all the menace and mania of the black mask and the horrors he was directly complicit in, at the end of the day, akechi is an 18 yo who was being exploited by adults that should have been protecting him. and as the detective prince, he was overworked and paraded around to present him as this immaculate prettyboy savant, the sinless embodiment of justice who every citizen could expect to vanquish the evil criminals, even whle akechi himself was unable to see the prince as anything more than an artifice. by having to perpetuate the image of justice as a pure facade, akechi became further disillusioned and his lost faith in the world was accentuated. akechi was born miserable, llived a miserable life, and died miserable, all the while full of rage and believing that he would never belong anywhere. but even crueler is that there was hope for him. the thing about akechi's death that makes it work where other attempts at "redemption by death" do not is that any karmic undertones of the scene are simply a bonus. rather than leveraging his death against the morality of his actions, the implication is that akechi has to die primarily because he would be unable to live a happy life in the world as it exists now. given the oppression of the young in a corrupt society, inevitably some victims will be unable to survive. but akechi's death motivates the phantom thieves to keep going, to fight for real societal change, and to hold on to the hope that one day they will create a world where people like crow can live and escape the cycles of violence they're trapped in. still, thus doesn't make akechi's death any less painful. in his final moments, he came to realize how much joker cared about him as a friend, finally understood that he would never see him as a monster, and very nearly found that place to belong he had been deprived of. the phantom thieves reached out their hands for him to take - but it wasn't enough. joker loves him too, wanted him too, and it will never, ever be enough again, because akechi is dead. what ultimately connects the royal trio is that each of them is unable to live happily as their true selves when those in power force idealization and demonization upon them, and only by breaking free of those chains can they hope to experience true rebellion.

[niveussol]

Chapter like, 50 in a Persona 5 fanfic that doesn't exist yet (but it's a scene I really liked, so I yearned to Post It)

A Past Forgotten; Fates Ungotten

Chapter (Like) 50:

Airi gathers the Phantom Thieves and tells them everything-- and brings Akechi down to see the rest of the team. Makoto is immediately suspicious, as is Joker, Ryuji, and Morgana. Airi bows deeply in front of the group, and asks them: “I know what I did wasn’t right. We never intended to damage him, or change his heart, or any of it-- but we learned too much, and now he’s going to do something terrible sooner than we can act--- unless we act now.” Futaba is the first, surprisingly, to agree. She says that “we can’t wait for some guy to learn nuclear launch codes and deploy them before we do anything. Or.. something.” Yusuke takes her side right away, saying, “it is better to act with Surety and good intent, than to falter and allow injustice and devastation to occur. Furthermore, I trust Airi with my life. She’s already saved it.”

Airi becomes emotional-- hearing it means a lot to her-- but she hides it. Instead, she asks to speak with Akira-- alone. They go upstairs. She makes sure to whisper so any potential ‘Futaba bugs’ don’t overhear. Morgana sneaks up and listens at the threshold, out of sight, of course, so he hears the full conversation go as follows:

“I’m going to attempt to change his heart, no matter what. I know the Phantom Thieves have to agree on their target. I understand that will make me an enemy of the Phantom Thieves. I know it’s wrong of me to decide that my path is right, and follow my ideals blindly, even if the team decides against my judgment-- but i cannot look away from what this man is capable of. He could end the world. I think he might. I won’t run from him. And… I know that it will be hard defeating him on my own. Akechi is powerful, but he’s still recovering from his time comatose, even today. He’s still relearning his strength. He may never be as strong, again. He’s a different man now. The two of us will probably fail, on our own.”

“However….. I cannot tell the rest of the team my plans. I don’t want them to feel pressured to enter the metaverse blindly just to keep me alive, to keep me safe. It would not be right of me to hold my life over their heads. And I’m not holding my life over your head either. It’s not your job to convince your team what’s right-- they already know. But you have a right to know what I’m planning. You’ve kept me alive, and safe, thus far. I owe you… I owe you so much. You, at least, deserve to know the truth.”

Akira doesn’t say much back-- he never really does. But he does say: “So… this is the path you’re choosing?”

Airi just nods and says… “yeah. This is my purpose. I’m the only one that can do what I do. I have to do this, even if it spells my end. Even if I’m. Even if I’m…. scared. Of dying in vain, and failing. I’ll still do it.”

“Well.” he says. “Looks like I know my path, too.”

One by one, the phantom thieves come to agree, all except for Makoto. “What if this is a trap, and we never knew Airi, really? What if her plan was this all along, to bait us into doing exactly the wrong thing?”

Akechi speaks up after that. “You’ve spent all this time with her, and yet you still don’t know her? I don’t know if you know who I am, but I am a murderer, a criminal, a liar, a traitor, even. I’m supposed to be a cold, heartless killer, according to this world. I thought I was. Despite everything though, I was shown that even a monster like me has a heart-- and she’s the one who made me see it.” he says it, and Airi can’t see him through her closed-tight eyes, but she knows he’s pointing to her. “SHE made me realize that I’m capable of doing good, by my own merit-- that I don’t have to have a reason. That I will never make up for my sins, but that I can still atone and right some wrongs in this world. She’s good as good gets-- Don’t distrust her because I made her swear to keep my operations a secret.”

“You can say whatever you want,” Makoto says. “But the truth is, none of us know who Airi truly is. And she has no problem doing things behind our backs-- like she did with pulling Akane into the metaverse. Like she did with her foray into Officer Mashime’s Hallowed Grounds-- like she did, every time she consorted with the wanted criminal known as Goro Akechi.”

“Makoto-- p-please… it’s okay,” Airi says, nearly squeaking the words out. “I understand. You’re right. I’ve done little to justify the trust I’ve gotten from the Phantom Thieves. I’ve kept secrets, even since our first meeting, where I pretended not to understand Morgana. You’re probably right to distrust me. If I were you, I don’t know if I could trust me, either. So… just. Say what must be said.”

Makoto takes a breath. “I reject the notion that we should change Aoi Konuta’s heart.”

“But, Mako-chan…” Haru states. “W-we have to be unanimous… if you don’t agree, then… we’ll lose our opportunity. We might allow something horrible to happen.”

“We’ve saved the world from gods three times,” Makoto states. “If something happens, we can fix it, like we always have. But I’m not walking into a trap with my friends without knowing half of what we can expect. I’m not going to let my friends get killed in a vague attempt to do ‘what’s right’. There’s a reason we have a code-- and it’s to keep us from faltering, from making a big mistake. We follow it, lest we lose our way. And I’m not losing my way or my friends, because I trusted someone that I should not have.”

Airi feels her heart nearly stop-- she realizes that she’s about to Waver, and stops it-- it’s painful to reverse that process, she finds. But, through her heart pain, through the pain of being spoken to like… like a villain. Airi just bows and says: “Thank you for being the voice of reason, Makoto. The Phantom Thieves are lucky to have you-- and, that’s not. That’s not sarcastic. I mean it from the bottom of my heart.”

And, just like that, she takes off her apron, and walks to the door. She thinks there’s not much she can say, but figured it’d be rude to just leave without saying: “I’ll catch you guys later.”

She knows she can’t just enter the Hallowed Grounds today-- she still has to construct a calling card. She has to find a way to get it to him. She’ll figure it out. As long as it keeps her from thinking too much about the inevitability of her fate: she’ll do it.

She sidles out the door quickly.

Akira speaks up-- it’s not something he does often, but he does it: “Akechi. I’ve never heard you say something so sincere before. About anyone. You respect her more than anything, don’t you?”

Akechi scoffs. “She’s the strongest Phantom Thief of all of you. I’ve seen you all win every battle, despite less-than-stellar odds-- I’ve even seen you--” he points at Akira “--reign victorious, all on your own-- you all don’t lose.

“But the moment that she awakened for the first time, she was already dying. She’d been stabbed through the heart. She was alone. Anyone, ANYONE else would have died. But her? She was furious at the world. I saw a fury that could rend the world in two, if she saw fit-- she’d been betrayed by the forces that be-- she’d nearly been killed, killed by a demon. She could have awakened, killed him, and continued down a bitter path, filled with anger and strife-- she should have.

“But she didn’t. She didn’t because she was strong enough to fight for JUSTICE. TRUE JUSTICE. She was strong enough to be kind, even after suffering like she did. She was strong enough to win on her own. Alone. Without help, or aid. I could have helped her. I could have saved her before she was stabbed, had I bothered to-- but I didn’t, and she never held it against me, even though she should have. She’s strong enough to see reason, even when she’s hurting, even when her allies-- her friends--” he spits the word with venom, clearly pointing it to Makoto-- “are hurting, or even outright don’t believe in her. When her friends betray her unbreaking trust in them.

“She’s strong enough to face Konuta alone and kill him-- but she won’t take the easy way. She believes in living for what’s right more than she believes in her right to live. She’s better than all of you. Of course I respect her.”

The room is a little quiet-- Makoto’s face goes red, clearly emotional, conflicted, but trying to hold her ground.

Yusuke stands up.

“She had ample opportunity to sit down and live a quiet life in peace. She could have done it all this time-- but she sees the beauty in the world-- she knows she must preserve it at any cost.

“For some time, I had forgotten how it felt to defend the precious and delicate harmony of this world. I’d forgotten how to hold a brush-- what making a decision felt like. I grew cold. She assured me that I’d known all along-- that I could find that power again, even when my inaction had caused her to come to harm. I couldn’t see it, until I was confronted with two worlds: a world where I did not act, and lost everything; or a world in which I risked it all to stand for that which I believe in. To protect that which was most dear to me. I succeeded, and it’s only because she believed that I could. I came away with a perspective I never understood before-- and I will never forget it again.

“I must, therefore, ask that you reconsider your stance, Makoto. Reconsider throwing aside your inhibitions, and seek to protect that which is dear to you.”

Makoto avoids his powerful gaze.

Futaba speaks up.

“Airi… when Inari got really, really hurt in the Hallowed Grounds in Sapporo, I thought my heart was going to break in half. Inari threw himself in harm’s way, just so that I could be safe-- and then Airi stood between him and that mob boss, barely hanging on. She gave me the opportunity to pull him out of danger.

“When we got out of there, I felt all twisted up inside-- I felt so guilty that I’d allowed my.. my best friend to get hurt like that-- and still, she pulled me aside. And you know what she did? SHE apologized. SHE, the woman who had just saved us said sorry-- that if she had been stronger on the beach, had stood up to that creep, Inari would not have been confronted with such strong feelings of doubt.

“I cried that night-- I cried for hours and hours, I couldn’t stop crying. She held me and told me that everything would be okay-- that he would be awake, bright and early the next day. And she was right. He was awake before the sun came up, back to his old self again-- I wanted to cry again, but all I could do was smile. She helped me g-get rid of all my tears, so that I could show him, show everyone a brave smile. I trust her with everything I have in me.”

Makoto shuts her eyes-- she can’t take that gaze.

Surprising everyone, Shiho chimes in.

“When I met her, I was surprised she’d… she’d been assaulted by a man. Her demeanor was demure, and kind, and she didn’t look at men with fear. After what I went through at Shujin, it shocked me-- she took her pain in stride, everyday. It’s been years, and I still hurt. It’s hard to be brave in the face of that pain-- but seeing her thrive was inspiring to me. She reminded me of Ann. Her heart is strong.”

“Shiho…” Ann says.

“When the shooting happened in Sapporo, and we were caught in the middle of it, I saw her face-- I saw fear-- no, terror. But I saw it-- I saw her expression change. She buried that fear in calculations, looking at all of us. She calmed herself and told us to get under the table. Her hands were over her heart-- I almost thought she was having a heart attack, she looked so in pain. And then… time slowed down. We heard Morgana’s voice for the first time, as he leapt in to stop a cognition from attacking us. She’d saved us.

“If she hadn’t considered us, she could have slipped into the Hallowed Grounds by herself. She could have left us to die-- but she didn’t. And when she and Morgana were beaten by shadows, she told us to run. She was afraid. But she clearly cared about our safety and our lives above her own.

“Makoto-chan… I know we don’t know each other very well. And maybe we don’t know her very well, either. But, even with everything we don’t know about her, I do know this: She saved my life; Hifumi-chan’s life, and Akane-chan’s life that day. I know that I’m not obligated to trust her-- but I want to trust the woman who sacrificed her safety-- her life so that we might live.”

Akane speaks next. “Makoto… I don’t understand why you can’t trust her on this. You all hid Phantom Thief activity from the world-- my own dad hid it from me! My… big sisters kept the truth from me. To me, you were all doing things behind my back, but I didn’t mind it-- I know you all had good reasons for doing what you did. She’s a Phantom Thief-- she’s done so much good with you. So why… why can’t you trust her?”

“Akane-chan…” Makoto says. She opens her eyes, unfallen tears obscuring her view of everyone. “I didn’t want to tell everyone this, since these cases were unconfirmed.” She takes a deep breath, and exhales. “Sae’s been working on an investigation-- in fact, the catalyst for it was Airi, herself. Sae probably wanted to learn more about Airi’s interaction with Akechi, rather than anything else. She didn’t find many answers at first. But… a week later, another patient wound up at the same hospital Airi went to-- his skin, hair, and eyes had turned stark-white.”

Everybody looks surprised, and even Akechi’s dour look softens.

“He was comatose,” she continued. “But, Sae was able to speak with the patient’s wife. The wife couldn’t explain what had happened, just that, one morning, she woke up to find her husband had lost all his color, and couldn’t wake up.” Makoto pauses, trying to calm her heart. Speak a little slower. Take your time, she tells herself.

“Two months later, another man-- and a wealthy one, at that-- was sent to a hospital in Kabukicho with the same symptoms.”

“Where we changed the Hacker’s heart?!” Ryuji asks.

“Yes,” Makoto says. “Right after we changed his heart, in fact. His sister explained to Sae a story much like the first patient’s wife. But it doesn’t stop there-- two months after that, a man fell into the same pallor in Sumida-- the police officer who murdered Chiaki’s parents. Right after he’d been arrested.”

“M-Mako-chan…” Haru muttered. “You’re not suggesting that you think Airi-chan is responsible, are you?”

Futaba butts in, stammering, “Y-yeah, there’s no way that Airi did anything to those guys-- if anything, they’re just afflicted with the same thing!”

“But it’s strange how the events seemed to follow the changes of heart she took part in,” Akechi posited. “First in February, then April and June. Even so, it would be completely out of character for her to ruin anyone’s lives.”

“That’s how I saw it, too--” Makoto continued. “--when Sae explained all this to me. I thought to myself, ‘there’s no way that Airi was capable of doing this to people.’ But… in late-August, another person went pallid. In Sapporo. A previous mayor lost consciousness and fell into the same sort of coma the other patients experienced.”

Haru’s eyes go wide. “Y-you don’t mean--!”

“I do mean,” Makoto replied. “Headlines read, ‘Disgraced Ex-Mayor Mariko Hyodo Falls Into Mysterious Coma.’”

Haru’s eyes gloss over, and she looks at her phone, tapping away here and there on it. “No… no wonder Mari-san never answered my calls or texts after our vacation. She… she’s…”

Makoto places her hand on Haru’s shoulder, crouching down to hug her from the side. She knows how much Mariko Hyodo meant to Haru.

“I’m sorry Haru. I promise, if it turns out these events are connected to the metaverse-- like I think they are-- then we’ll figure out a way to restore them to their previous selves.”

“I’m sorry to cut in,” Yusuke cuts-in. “But is that all? Or is there something more to these cases you haven’t yet shared with us? So far, I remain unconvinced of Airi’s involvement.”

Makoto sighs, and releases her hold on Haru. “Two more patients cropped up. One in October, at Shujin Academy-- a student, in fact.” Everyone gasps, and Akane nearly shrieks. “And the most recent one was three days ago.”

“But, wait,” Ryuji says. “We haven’t changed any hearts this month.”

“Which begs the question-- who did?” Makoto asks, pointedly. Her gaze lands on Akechi, distrust mounting as her heart begins to beat faster. “Airi has been especially busy this month-- I hear she’s missed a lot of work, as well.”

Akechi doesn’t even blink at the attack-- he sighs, resisting the urge to ‘tut tut tut’ her logic, but settles on: “Correlation isn’t causation, Niijima-san. Simply because a Change of Heart preceded the other comatose incidents doesn’t mean they’re caused by them.”

Makoto decides she really, really does hate this man. “I know that. But it would be foolish to ignore the quantity of coincidences in all these cases. Furthermore, I know that you and Airi have been keeping in touch-- using pagers-- since at least August. Probably before that, too. If the two of you have kept in contact this long, then it’s highly possible you arranged times to carry out these plans.”

“And to what end?” Akechi asks. “What would Airi-san or I have against a husband, a brother, a child, and a disgraced mayor?” Haru trembles and chokes a sob at the insult. “The cop, I understand your suspicion, at least. He was a terrible person. And.. ah, my apologies. Who was the last comatose patient? You neglected to tell us, Niijima-san,” Akechi says, using his sickly-innocent detective prince demeanor.

She doesn’t answer right away.

In fact, tens of seconds go by, with all eyes on her.

Then, she realizes she can’t contain the emotions no matter what techniques she tries.

“It’s Sae. She’s turned bone-white and hasn’t woken up,” Makoto rasps.

Haru lets out another sob, then covers her face with a tissue, weeping softly into it. Futaba’s and Yusuke’s eyes go wide and they become extremely still. Akira looks at everyone else-- Ann, Shiho, Sophia, and Hifumi, looking at each other; Ryuji, Shinya, Atsuki and Zenkichi sit with their mouths agape, stares unwavering from Makoto. He notices the shock in Akechi’s face-- completely stunned silence.

It’s Akane that breaks it.

“WHY didn’t you tell me that Sae was in the hospital?!” Akane shouts. “My oldest sister was targeted and you didn’t bother to tell me that THAT is why she wasn’t home during Christmas?! NOW who’s keeping secrets from who?!”

“I wanted to tell you-- I wanted to tell you all. But Sae made me swear all of this information to secrecy while she was awake. I wanted to pick up the case where she left off. I wanted to have faith in Airi, believe that she would never do something like this to anyone-- but Sae shared all of this with me two months ago, when the Shujin student went comatose. She said, ‘If even one more person falls into a coma, I’m going to confront Airi about what she knows.’” Makoto huffs, trying to dispel the bitterness in her throat. “And then this happens.” Tears sneak past the corner of her eyes, and fall down her cheeks. She pulls Haru back into that side-hug embrace, trying to find any sort of comfort.

“Dude…” Ryuji says.

“Sae-san…” Akechi says. “Was she close to some sort of breakthrough, Niijima-san? Perhaps she made a powerful enemy.” Makoto opens her mouth to speak, but is cut off abruptly. “Someone besides Airi-san.”

“I… I don’t know,” Makoto rasps out. “The timing is alarming. It’s almost as if…”

“...as if it was planned,” Akira finishes. (as if it was a rush job/as if the culprit couldn’t wait for a better time)

Futaba shakes her head. “No, that can’t be right… no, no it’s not right at all!” she says. “The timing would be perfect, had we changed a heart already this month-- It’s December 27th. This is later than any change of heart we’ve done in a month.. this year, anyway. There could be multiple reasons why this time is different, but a definite possibility is that the culprit expected us to follow our pattern of changing hearts-- one change every two months, somewhere in the middle-- in fact, besides the target Airi told us about today, we haven’t planned any changes of hearts! A potential culprit would have had to choose someone without being able to find a perfect candidate in a perfect place to… albinize! Comatize? Comatize!”

“You’re right, Sakura-san,” Akechi says, a little surprised at her sound logic. “Whoever is responsible for these victims’ conditions-- if a person is indeed responsible-- chose the one person who cared about this case. There was no viable target. They chose a target of convenience, in lieu of a target that correlates with the others. It seems as though someone is rather intent on framing the Phantom Thieves, or at least Airi-san, in these attacks. Perhaps they wanted to sow distrust between her, and the other Phantom Thieves… but anyone doing something like that would have to know who the players are…”

Everyone looks at Akechi. “I appreciate the suspicion, but I meant it when I said I respect Airi more than anyone else in this shit reality. But… regardless, I actually have a suspect in mind. Or, at least, a connecting thread to all of this. But you’re not going to like it, Niijima-san.”

Makoto leers at Akechi through tear-swollen eyes. “You had better not conveniently pin it on your current target--”

“Ugh. Obviously that’s what he’s going to say,” Ann interrupts.

“For certain,” Sophia agrees.

“100%,” Futaba adds.

“No more interjections?” Akechi spits.

“Rule of three’s--” Futaba clarifies. “I’d say you’re good to go, Detective.”

He takes a breath in, then out. “I will explain, but it might take some time. To start: yes, it is our target, Aoi Konuta. But there’s a reason he’s our target. I asked her to take me into his Hallowed Ground, because my investigation halted when I hit upon his connection to the case.”

“Question,” Futaba asks. “What exactly were you investigating? I was joking about the whole ‘detective’ thing.”

“My survival, to be frank with you. When we confronted Doctor Maruki, I had already believed myself to be dead-- Doctor Maruki had even all-but-confirmed it. I’ve been searching for answers since I woke up-- and thanks to Airi-san, I finally found them. Most of the mystery has been cleared up for me.”

“So what happened, then? How did you survive our encounter in Shido’s Palace?” Akira asks softly.

Akechi turns so he can see Akira more directly. “In Konuta’s Hallowed Grounds, we stumbled across a memory of his. On the day that I should have died, Konuta heard a scream come from the Diet building’s boiler room.” He paused, unsure if the Phantom Thieves deserved to know-- but seeing Akira’s soft expression, all doubt melted away. “He opened the door to find me, bleeding profusely on the floor-- and beside me, a young woman clutching her heart. It appeared to be a heart attack. He arranged for us to be carried off, and taken somewhere he knew we would be off the grid. He told his secretary in that moment, that ‘he could learn everything he could about us, medically-- and perhaps he’d be able to mimic the power of metaverse traversal.’ He was in-the-know, after all,” Akechi clarified. “He was a strong supporter and ally to Shido, so he knew about me, specifically. But it was odd he mentioned the woman could travel between, as well.”

Akira’s eyes go wide, a reaction normally out-of-character for him. “You’re saying the woman in the memory was Airi,” he blurted. “He sent you two to that shady hospital. She was studied. The doctor learned something and forwarded that information to Konuta. And now Konuta’s abusing that power to frame her, now that she’s loose-- and Sae got too close to learning the truth of it all, so he had her eliminated from the game.”

Akechi smiles. “Finally, someone with common sense. That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

“Hold on,” Makoto says. It’s not a request. Everyone turns and listens. “There’s one more piece of information I have for you, regarding the comatose patients. The final nail in the coffin. It’s what made me consider her to be… using us. Lying to us.

“...The first patient woke up four days ago,” she said. “Sis-- Sae-- was still awake. She questioned him right away, but the patient had no memory to speak of. The ONLY thing he could tell Sae was that the very last thing he remembered was seeing a woman dressed in white, with white hair and pale white skin. He told Sae that the woman pulled his heart out of his chest.”

“He remembers a woman pulling his heart out of his chest?” Zenkichi asks. “You kids don’t think that sounds awfully Jail-like-- like how Desires were taken-- do you?”

“It certainly sounds dire,” Yusuke replies.

“A woman who is entirely white? It does match her description.” Hifumi adds.

“--but I don’t think that means it’s her,” Futaba continues.

“Because this guy’s just setting her up…” Ryuji added. “...right?”

“I hope you mean Konuta and not the patient who just woke up from a nine-month coma,” Makoto warned.

Ryuji sputtered. “Bwuhh-- of COURSE I meant Konuta! He saw what Airi looked like in that boiler room several years ago, so he knows just how to fake her appearance and confuse the victims!” he says, proudly.

“Unfortunately, when Konuta saw Airi-san in the boiler room, she wasn’t painted white-- her skin took on a somewhat healthier, tanner-hue; her eyes were dark; and her hair was black as night. The only consistency in her appearance from then and now lies in her facial structure, her shape, and her ridiculously-long hair. I hate to say it, but he might have no idea what she looks like, today. The witness protection seems to have done her some good-- we didn’t find any sign he’d detected her current existence, while we were at his Hallowed Grounds.”

“He doesn’t know about her?” Ann asked. “But… if he knows about the metaverse, then he’s totally been keeping tabs on the changes of heart.. right? So how can he not suspect she’s a part of this?”

Akechi responds, “If I were to guess, it’s because he had never been made aware of the meta-nav. Without knowing about it, he’d have to assume the entry to the metaverse required a different sort of method. Perhaps he believed the Phantom Thieves were operating under their previous capabilities all this time. Maybe he wrote off the existence of the comatose girl once she was no-longer of any use to him. It’d make sense, considering he cut off Doctor Hashiba’s funding entirely right before he snapped.”

“Wait, I just realized something,” Sumire suddenly muttered. “We’re disproving the existence of a ‘culprit’ besides Airi-chan. That simply won’t do,” she finishes, plopping her cheek onto her fist, letting it support her head.

Akechi places his elbows on the table and props his chin on his hands. He expounds, “Konuta may or may not know about Airi, but that memory we saw of someone receiving heart surgery might suggest that he has someone working in the metaverse, now. That procedure to augment a heart with the power to Waver between was finalized by an associate of Konuta’s. It’s likely that he has at least one agent doing sinister work in the metaverse.”

“That’s a convenient fact Akechi, but I’d say the specificity of the recently-recovered coma patient is much better proof than your correlation,” says Makoto.

“Really?” Akechi asked. “A man with no other memory than the one that conveniently points the finger at Airi-san is hardly proof-- it’s unsubstantiated hearsay, and little else. The description is hardly specific, I’ll add-- it mentions white hair, clothes, and skin-- but if he’s talking about our Dove, he missed the most prominent detail.”

Makoto’s eyebrows shoot up. She responds: “Her mask.”

“Furthermore,” Akechi continues, smiling now, “there’s now an array of people turning pallid-- apparently, they’re waking up, as well. Who’s to say a previous patient isn’t infecting healthy people for their own benefit? Since we’re accusing Airi-san, anyway.”

Makoto closes her fists-- she doesn’t know if Airi can be trusted, but now there’s a reason for the Phantom Thieves to enter this politician’s Hallowed Grounds. Makoto breathes in and out. She speaks: “...You’re right. Sae would never have accepted such weak proof. She might have gone along with his story to learn more, but she doesn’t accept a statement as truth just because it fits the facts as she knows them-- she scrutinizes every detail. It appears the only way I’m going to learn more about this, and continue Sae’s investigation, is by gleaning whatever info we can from Konuta.”

Haru gasps, as does Futaba, Yusuke, Shiho, and Akane.

“Does this mean…?” Haru asks.

“Yes,” Makoto replies. “If everyone else is in: then I’m in, too.”

[aliengirl-97]

A Series Of Diary Entries - Part 3

It’s my birthday.

Nineteen years ago, my physical body twisted and turned through the pains of my mother to draw breath in this imperfect plane of existence. All I can think about is how ruined this world has made me. 

Ruined. 

Dirty. 

Disgusting. 

Pathetic. 

Get blackout drunk on a Monday night. It’ll go away.

Eat until I’m so full it hurts, that my stomach and body are going to burst, that the pain completely eclipses the normal satisfaction that accompanies a meal. Drink a liter of diet coke, stick my fingers down my throat and get rid of it. 

You deserve this. You are worthless.

At least I can control it. I choose what’s inside of my body, I choose what’s not. If I can choose this, I can choose anything. Isn’t that right? That’s how this all works, right?

But no, it’s not. 

Run.

Run five, ten, fifteen miles. 

Run away. 

Run run run run. 

RUN!

For years I didn’t know what I was running from. Didn’t understand, but now that I know, know the demon inside of me, maybe every mile, every gasping, sucking, wheezing breath can kill it. 

My stress fractured shins can’t take much past fifteen miles so I call a cab home. 

Throw up on the lawn. 

As I clench my chest, I can feel that it’s still here. 

It didn’t die and I don’t understand why. If I just make it hurt, make it hurt so bad that I feel like it’s all about to end and I can see the stars burst behind my closed eyelids, why is it still here? 

Why doesn’t it just die?! 

DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE!!

I need it to go away, I want to be normal, I want this monster to be gone. 

I want control, I need it, I need it. 

My cousin tried to kill himself by climbing a pylon. He lives with 3 prosthetic limbs now, but he can still feel the phantom pain of them being electrocuted away

Sometimes I wonder if everything I feel now is the phantom pains of where my heart used to be. If I’m not really fighting a monster inside of myself but I’m really just dealing with the aftershocks of my amputated heart. 

He has prosthetic legs that he uses to walk. It’s not the same, but it helps him get by. 

I don’t think they make prosthetic hearts.

They make machines that pump blood but there is no guarantee of happiness. 

No one can help me with what I’ve lost. 

The world is spinning  as I look up into the dark, star-flecked winter sky and can’t help but wonder why. Why did this happen to me? What did I do wrong? 

All I can do is sob and grieve; grieve what I’ve lost, grieve for my heart, my mind, and my body. The snow numbs my legs but I don’t care, I don’t care about anything at all. I want this to be over.

On this  birthday all I want is to be done. 

There is nothing left to kill, there is nothing left to fight. 

You cannot fight the things you have lost. 

[dontmixpaintinyourcoffee]

I basically agree with every single one of your points here. The movie is an entire mess. Weirdly enough though, I still like it? I think it's because I just find the whole thing so damn funny. The second I saw shirtless Kenneth Branagh running around the laboratory pulling chains and screaming I just couldn't stop laughing.

But I wanted to touch on your point about De Niro's Creature because it hits something that I find so fascinating about the concept of his character. I don't remember the exact line, but in essence the Creature tells Victor that he knows how to play the flute, and then asks what part of him knows how. The hands, the heart, or the head?

(Keep in mind, I literally can't find this clip anywhere on YouTube, I might be misremembering something, but the point is still there)

And there is something so deeply compelling about that idea, it lives in my head as one of the most iconic moments in any Frankenstein adaptation. At the time I was watching as many Frankenstein adaptations as I could get my hands on, and I was watching them in chronological order of release. It's very very common, especially in the early decades, for these movies to completely eradicate any sense of depth in The Creature. One of the common ways they do that is to say that his actions have something to do with the brain. Criminal brain, damaged brain (as in like. They literally dropped a brain onto the floor. Like, "whoopsies, my bad"), born from an evil brain, evil dudes brain, brain gone wrong, personality transplant via brain, and that's just the ones I remember. It's very... flat. And the ones with any sort of nuance were typically single corpses that retained their life's memories, which is neat, but also misses the point.

So I cannot explain the sheer relief and investment I felt when Robert De Niro started talking about identity and souls and creation and flutes. I was DYING for something interesting at that point. This was one of the portrayals that signaled an end to the "monster" era of The Creature in film (a more personable Creature had become more common in the late 70s to the 90s, but after that there's almost no film adaptations that feature a flatly antagonistic version of him). He had started out as a spooky phantom in 1910, and slowly over almost a century, he turned from beast, to villain, to sympathetic villain, to anti-hero, to full on protagonist. Of course that's not a linear process, there are smatterings of sympathy in the early years (the big one being Universal interestingly enough) but there's definitely a trend you can follow. Right up until, eventually, he's as nuanced and layered as his original novel counterpart. And that whole thing is just fascinating to me!!

TLDR; Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994) is pretty whack but it is a very refreshing look at the characters after watching decades worth of "evil doctor make mad guy and then everything explodes". Also the first half or so is just really funny because it is straight up melodrama. The second half drags though. All of OPs critiques are 100% correct but if you want some Frankenstein themed cheese I'd recommend the first half lol

what do you think of the 1994 Frankenstein movie?

I'll be honest, I hate on that one more for its wasted potential than anything else. I feel like it tried to adapt the book but then it kept adding stupid shit and missing the mark.

Let's start with it's biggest crime. Kenneth Branagh, our director.

Oh Kenny Branagh my beloathed. We meet again. I've had it out for you ever since I had to stomach your ridiculous Shakespeare movies in high school drama class. I've watched as you brought your overwrought hammy sensibilities to Agatha Christie's Poirot and now here you are, injecting all of your overblown histrionics into Frankenstein.

I didn't think it was possible to be too dramatic for Frankenstein. But by god you've done it. There is so much scenery chewing, screeching, writhing and sweating in this that I actually started to feel fatigued and clocked out mentally about half way through the film.

Kenneth cast himself as the lead and I hate this version of Victor so much.

Wtf is this? Why does he have abs? Why is he in his mid 30's? Where is my sickly waif who gets feverish at the drop of a hat? Why have you done this?

Also I know they're canonically engaged but I really dislike for Victor and Elizabeth to be horny for each other especially in this movie because they keep bringing up their relationship as siblings and it's just eugh, please don't talk about her like that and then remind us that she's your sister you fucking weirdo. Their relationship in the book comes off as super uncomfortable to me and I swear Victor is way more into Robert and Henry than he is Elizabeth. Naturally this movie decided it should have next to no homoeroticism.

"How do brothers and sisters say good bye?" - start aggressively making out. No I'm not joking this movie goes out of its way to remind you that they are siblings.

.... And then it goes there with it.

Victor actually proposes to her and then asks her to come to Ingolstadt with him or offers to stay in Geneva with her and it's at that point where I'm like: did you read this book? Victor dodged their semi-arranged engagement like the woman had cooties and didn't write to her for two years because he's an obsessive, neurotic wreck.

Oh yeah and Henry Clerval is in it.

Oh were you hoping for more of him? That's a shame because so was I.

I've mentioned that this movie is over dramatic. But that really can't be understated. It's like a mac truck crashing through an English garden. No subtlety at all. If a character has to feel something they're usually screaming at the top of their lungs. Victor screaming at the creature to live, the creature literally ripping Elizabeth's still beating heart from her chest and showing it to Victor. They decided the bride should be Elizabeth and that there should be weird tension between her and the creature. Then after she's brought back to life she sets herself on fire and starts running down the halls of the manor.

I should probably have found that more tragic than I did but I just found the whole thing silly.

Justine's death in particular should have been more heavy and somber. She gets dragged off by a mob and hung. The scene is violent and cruel but it lacks the tragedy of the book. We have none of Justine quietly giving up and Elizabeth vehemently refusing to believe she's guilty. It's one of the few character building moments Elizabeth gets and this movie takes what should be a touching, somber and heartbreaking scene and turns it into a spectacle.

Everyone's reaction to everything is to do the most extreme thing possible but they never actually earn it because moments were the film SHOULD have emotional weight are kind of glanced over. The book has a lot of themes of grief and isolation but the film doesn't really explore those aspects effectively. It never stops to have a quiet or thoughtful moment. Almost like it's afraid the audience will get bored if someone isn't shrieking at the top of their lungs and some action heavy drama is going down.

The pacing in this film is jarring. Kenneth Branagh has a love for lavish sets, beautiful scenery and his films, if nothing else, are opulent spectacles, there are moments in this film where the cinematography is actually quite beautiful but I always feel that it's wasted by clumsy execution.

There are also scenes that come so painfully close to working, like early on in the movie Elizabeth and Justine drag Victor away from his work to go on a picnic and he only goes because he's hoping for a storm. He puts down a lightning rod and has everyone get down so they can observe the strike. I thought that could have been really neat and a good way to set up Victor's obsession but the execution was so clunky and the moment the lightning strikes and the four of them feel the static isn't allowed to sit and breathe. It jolts to the very next scene with no transition.

There are things I like about Robert De Nero's creature.

I like his design, even if it's not book accurate. I don't inherently like the idea of him being a resurrected cadaver of a specific criminal but I do, at times, almost like what they do with it, like having him wonder who all of his various parts came from. De Niro is a strong actor and I feel like there were the makings of a good performance here and it was stifled under bad writing and directing. I actually like most of the scenes where the creature speaks to Victor and the line "What of my soul? Do I have one? Or was that a part you left out? Who were these people of which I am comprised? Good people? Bad people?" is spoken with such poignant suffering that you really see how lost the creature is and it drives home the tragedy of the creature's condition. The creature is begging Victor to see him as human and Victor cannot or will not.

But these rare moments of something good peeking out are few and far between and the movie devolves again into it's predilection for overblown bombast. Even the final scene where the creature finds Victor dead on Robert Walton's ship isn't allowed to have the gravitas it deserves because Victor's funeral ends with the ice breaking in yet another tedious action sequence and the creature floats out to sea on a chunk of the broken ice setting himself and Victor's corpse on fire.

This was a moment in the movie that should have been handled with dignity and regret and I got this:

There's really not much else to say about this film. I went into it hoping for a good Frankenstein adaptation and I tried to find salvageable scraps but there just wasn't enough good to make the movie worthwhile for me.

Anyway, sorry this turned into a whole review but I was bitterly disappointed in this film and ended up having a lot to say.

[notbecauseofvictories]

I know that there's too much we don't know yet about Severance to actually eviscerate the subject, but - you're bored in isolation, I love your words, so, if you're so inclined, indulge me: would you care to elaborate on the gigantic nature vs nurture question that is embodied by Helly R. / Hellen Eagan?

[spoilers ahead, obviously, for anyone who hasn't finished season 1 of Severance...]

One of the many posts on this site that has unwittingly stuck with me is about "professional education" and what it teaches. OP explicitly mentions lawyers, engineers, and economists, but I doubt that's a bounded set; it could include anyone trained to fill a white collar or knowledge economy role, however you want to define that, however formal the training was or wasn't. The point is that the "professionalism" hammered into its alumni takes the same shape, regardless of industry or intent.

Professional education, the OP writes, teaches you to be okay with things. 

It makes what might have otherwise been clear and immediate harm, obvious and certain violence, into hypotheticals. You end up installing software in your head and it watches you, measures you against The Market or The Law or The Math, some other bloodless god whose worship conveniently does not require changing anything in the more temporal sphere. (The plural of anecdote is not data, but still---I never cared about contract law until I showed up at law school. It had no bearing on my life until I was inculcated into believing it did.)

All this to say: I really don’t think Helly and Helena are that different. Obviously we’ve only had one episode to really know them, know them in tandem, but still---are they different people? After all, Mark and Mark S. aren’t so dissimilar. Mark S. might lack details about his Outie’s life, but they react with the same blend of hesitancy and hospitality when new people crash into their lives (e.g., Helly vs. Petey.) They bite back with similar jokes when Devon or Dylan tease; they protect their people (whichever side) and their mutual first instinct is to hide, whether it’s an illicit cell phone or a bad self-help book. Mark’s Innie and Outie are very similar people, just...missing some details about each others’ experiences.

I think you could say the same of Helly/Helena. Except the details Helly's missing are crucial---unlike Mark/Mark S. or Helena, Helly hasn’t been civilized or professionalized. She’s new, brand new, has received no professional education. Nothing has tempered her, no one has taught her---month after month, year after year, cheap, empty prize after prize---to be okay with things.

And so she’s not. She hangs herself. She runs. She snarls and sneers and fights and is not okay, is not okay about any of it, at all.

Maybe that’s nature vs. nurture, but I think of it more as the essence of horror looked at without flinching. In Leroux’s Phantom of the Opera, the Phantom genteelly dines at the managers’ supper-table as others murmur around him; Conrad’s Heart of Darkness has Kurtz whisper of horrors on his deathbed; Frankenstein’s monster promises that as long as it haunts Victor’s footsteps, his creator will never know joy. The tell-tale heart beats, the ghosts abide. And Helly---who is both ghost of Helena and more real than Helena---exists. Exists inexorably, and demands recognition of the particular horror of her existence.

I don’t care for Ian Duncan as a writer, but I can’t help but think of that line:

Except sometimes, the horror won’t be accommodated. Sometimes it’s the horror appears on its own terms, refusing to budge, screaming at the top of its lungs and dying, suffering immovably---such that it is not okay. Such that you cannot pretend it’s okay, make it okay, ignore it into being okay. 

Sometimes it’s better that way.

[lucifer-is-a-bag-of-dicks]

can't stop thinking of this op danny/guardian spirit/young justice crossover that I can't write because I don't have the DC universe background knowledge for it so I'm gonna just dump the concept here

be prepared for a lot of rambling

so the JL consider Amity Park a Safe Zone in case of dire emergencies

but nobody is told why, only the top members of the Justice League know anything about the place, Robin probably breaks into Batsy's computer and finds something about some hero there named Phantom but he can't find any other info about him or the town other than that he's trustworthy

and maybe the Young Justice crew get fucked up and the JL are indisposed or being distracted or something and the safe houses are compromised so Robin has to be like 'alright team I know this One Place that's supposed to be like a last resort safe space' so they all end up in Amity Park, and their pursuers are right on their tail until they hit the edge of town and then some fucking force of nature comes down on the bad guys following them out of nowhere and fucks them up

they would just be like 'holy shit who is this guy how come we never heard of him??'

and Robin is like 'oh hey so you're Phantom? Batman said this was a safe place to go when we're in trouble'

and he's expecting Danny to know some shit or have a plan or a safehouse to take them to

but Danny's just all 'uhhh this place gets attacked by inter-dimensional monsters every other day why would he send you here for safety? also Batman knows who I am???'

Robin is just confused as all hell because apparently Batman has this town listed as the Ultimate Safehouse and its hero is listed as Trusted but he's never even spoken to the guy?

real sus

but Danny takes them in and finds some abandoned house for them to stay in, and promises that whoever is chasing them will not set foot in this town, like they might have to deal with some ghosts popping up but human threats are no problem

and they're in this empty house that's, okay well it isn't dilapidated or anything but it has no power or water or even security, Phantom just tells them he's got their backs while they recover and don't worry about it

but Robin wants answers so he's quizzing Danny on who he is and why Batman trusts him

but Danny's got no idea, he's surprised the JL even know who he is because nobody has ever come to see him, nobody has ever given him any indication that they even know he's here, which he was kinda peeved about because he had to tackle every ghost attack by himself

but the Justice League not only knew he was here but apparently volunteered him to look after them?

he's a little bit pissy about that, Robin cannot entirely blame him, Robin thinks this whole thing is weird, like there has to be a reason, the JL don't just ignore kids fighting crime on their own, they would have invited him into their team, offered him help and training, not left him to figure it all out alone

although the kid was pretty powerful, he took out a whole crew of bad guys in one breath, literally

true to Danny's word, nobody finds them, the guys who had been hunting them down and chasing them everywhere can't seem to track them here, either that or Phantom just keeps getting in their way when they try, they feel so safe here, safer than they've ever felt before

Megan picks up that there's something unusual about the place, it's like the town itself is telling them that they're safe here, the air is full of love and warmth and comfort, somebody here wants them to feel at ease, somebody here wants them to feel safe

Robin still thinks it's sus

he starts to wonder if Batman was coerced by this psychic force to mark the town as a safe space, but he's pretty sure Batman's too savvy for that, besides, Megan was certain that there was no coercion or ill intent plaguing their minds, it's just a general atmosphere of safety

and she's pretty sure it's coming from Phantom

they witness a ghost fight or two and are amazed that the JL have been ignoring these pretty significant threats and just let some kid handle it alone, sure he has the same powerset as the enemies plus some, but he's still a kid and he's alone

none of them would ever have been allowed this much freedom or this little assistance

super super sus

after the JL finally get out of whatever issue they've been stuck with, they come pick up the kids and Danny is there like 'oh hey I think I need an explanation because what the fuck guys'

and Batman in all his blunt glory just tells him 'we were advised not to interfere unless absolutely necessary'

Danny obviously Does Not Like this answer and wants to know who this guy is that's ordering Batman around, then low and behold, Constantine shows up, immediately balling out Batman because 'why the fuck are you in Amity Park rn I made it VERY CLEAR that this place is a delicate fucking ecosystem if Superman gets god damn overshadowed we are all gonna have problems'

aaaaaand suddenly it all makes sense

Danny realises that any hero who's powerful enough to take on a ghost literally cannot risk that power in the hands of creatures that can just take over their bodies at any time, especially when this is a standard ability in all of Danny's enemies

but he's still shitty because like 'y'all could still have called me or something it would be nice to know I wasn't totally alone out here ya know'

and Constantine is all 'kiddo I literally had the god of time show up in my bedroom at 3am to tell me to make sure none of these fucks tried to adopt you as a side kick, one of them has a track record with this kinda thing it's a legit problem, I couldn't give these fuckers an inch, this town was off limits. so WHY ARE YOU ALL HERE RN'

aaaand Batman has to explain them a thing, basically Phantom is considered so fucking OP and has such an omniscient connection to the town itself that it makes for the perfect hiding place and defence for anyone in dire straights, and it really is only supposed to be a last resort, the side kicks had absolutely nowhere else to go with all of their safe houses compromised

aaaand that's how Danny learns that he is kind of more powerful than most of the god damn Justice League

hope you enjoyed this because I am never gonna be able to actually write it, have a nice day ✨