#this was almost entirely different in the beginning

[lazysoulwriter]

little clues in polish. - pedro pascal.

requested! thank you. ♡ content: pure fluff, soft launch fun, social media/fan speculation, teasing, affection, subtle intimacy.

---

It starts with a star.

Just one. A tiny, silver thing sitting on Pedro’s pinky nail, barely the size of a freckle. You almost miss it entirely until he slides into the booth beside you at the little diner your friends frequent post-premiere.

Your hand is on the table already, freshly manicured — a galaxy theme this time. Deep navy blue with scattered constellations, starbursts on every nail, some shimmer catching the light. He sees it, nudges your elbow, and grins when you finally catch the match.

“You noticed,” he says, like it’s nothing. Like his heart’s not beating wildly because he picked that little star with you in mind.

You smile. “It’s cute.”

He shrugs. “Felt right.”

And that’s how it begins.

No Instagram stories. No red carpet hand-holding. Just a trail of quiet matching details — fingerprints of affection only the two of you know to look for.

You start getting playful with it.

He shows up to a press junket with a thin line of gold wrapping the tip of his thumb — the same gold that outlines the marble design on your nails in a photo you'd posted earlier that day. Fans notice.

“Okay but why is Pedro’s nail giving the same vibes as [Y/N]’s???” “Matching... again?? Coincidence or coded??” “Is this… a nail soft launch?????”

Threads start popping up. Nail art theories. Timelines. People making little charts with circles and arrows, zooming in on blurry pap pics where you’re both walking five steps apart — but your nail colors are suspiciously complementary.

Pedro finds them one night while you're curled up on his couch, legs over his lap, popcorn between you. He scrolls through the fan theories, chuckling, eyes gleaming.

“They’re obsessed,” he says. “They think I’m trying to launch you like a Marvel movie.”

You snort. “Soft-launch you like a Sephora collab.”

He grins. “You are my favorite limited edition.”

He kisses you after that — slow, sweet. Like he doesn’t mind the build-up. Like he’s savoring the soft part before it gets loud.

The first time it gets close to loud is when you go to an awards afterparty. You’ve kept it lowkey, arriving separately. But you're both seated together inside, and your nails — well. There’s no denying it now.

You’re wearing pink. Pale, glossy, with tiny white hearts on every nail.

Pedro’s hand wraps around his drink, and there it is again — the same heart, tucked neatly onto his ring finger. A different base color, sure. Matte instead of glossy. But unmistakably a match.

The internet explodes.

You scroll through the tweets later with a giggle, curled into his chest. He watches you with that sleepy smile — like he’s been waiting for this moment. Like he’d match your nails a hundred more times if it meant he got to hold you like this.

“You know,” he says, pressing a kiss to your temple, “if they’re gonna analyze our hands so much, might as well give them something to really talk about.”

You raise an eyebrow. “Oh yeah?”

He shrugs. “Thinking next set — matching and we post them. Together.”

You blink. “A full launch?”

He kisses your shoulder. “Let’s give ‘em a reason to finally stop guessing.”

---

✦ please do not copy, repost, or translate this work. © lazysoulwriter // i write with a lot of love and care, so please respect that.

[emacrow]

Considering Danny doesn't know the concept of time moving forward without him and the length of him going through to make sure he didn't hurt anyone.

He must've taken the his entire house along and everything blueprints, experiments, and the very portal that killed him transferring it onto his island..

But even the house had become warped in a way due to being exposed to his ice core.

Instead of a mad scientist home, it was now looked more like a menacing almost never melted ice tower sunken in ice with an igloo on top as the beginning door was.

where the rooms are neverending mazed that if you go from the living room and take one step in the hallway, you end up in room you don't remember stepping onto.

The frosted covered pictures of the walls have glowing eyes that watch where you move, even if you left a trail for yourself to remember where you went and come back to the very same room. It will be an entirely different room from where you started.

That was Dani's work in the making as she didn't want Danny to lose his mind after hearing what had happened in Amity Park, but she was a free spirit and couldn't stay in Icy Isle like danny, only to got a green sticky note from clockwork.

The fenton house became her little funhouse domains since she was Danny's neverborn spirit. She could mold the very foundation into her own adventures explore rooms help danny from becoming an ice hermit.

Exploring the new became her thing, taking souvenirs or two from city spirits, newly so-called heroes, villains, cults, etc.

She barely noticed that nearly 40 years went by only for one very night, she snatch a really cool sword from some stabby twink.

One thing led to another, and suddenly, she got a full flock of bat and bird cosplayers chasing her then came the flying duo and wonder woman who she stole that really nice belt and arm bracelet.

She thought she lost them, arriving back on Frosty isle, not even noticing a blinking tiny tracker on her shirt as she went into Danny's igloo to stash away the newly stolen goods.

The moving Isle of Frost

DP x DC Prompt

Danny is living on a frozen island he made with his own Ice Core. He still lost his friends and family from the Nasty Burger explosion. So he's isolated himself to stop him from becoming Dan, and he's suppressing his presence to stop any Ghosts from finding him to do his duties as Ghost King. And he's learned that when he's in his Ghost form, his human half doesn't age, need hunger, need the bathroom, or suffer any injuries (Clockwork's doing before Danny lost his family and friends).

Danny has the twisted idea that if he stays on his frozen island until after the date of Dan finally destroying Amity, he'll not become Dan when that day passes. And that's quite a few years in the future. He just doesn't know that his island is moving on its own.

The Batfam has noticed a large floating island made entirely out of ice off the coast of Gotham. At first, they thought that Mr. Freeze was out and causing trouble, but Mr. Freeze was still in Arkham and hadn't been out for awhile, it seems that he's listened to Bruce's words about helping Nora if he stays in Arkham to serve time.

When they began to explore the ice island, they had seen things on there that made it look like someone is living on it, though the ice shapes that look like humans don't look good (Danny made Ice sculptures of his friends and family).

In an igloo, they found a boy with light blue skin, slightly pointed ears, and snow white hair that flows like it's underwater, even as he sleeps in the igloo.

[hawkins-indiana-circa-1983]

Okay, so I don’t know if I’ve touched on this before but I was thinking about it today so I thought I’d share.

I don’t think Will was ever taken by a Demogorgon. I think it was Henry from the beginning. Like I genuinely think it was Henry that followed him home that night.

One of the main reasons being the difference between Will and Barb’s capture. Barb was dragged into the Upside Down and was eaten immediately. Because that’s what Demogorgons do. They may be controlled by Henry and connected to a hivemind, but they’re animals. They’re not trying to take you or hurt you, they are trying to eat you. And I highly doubt that teeny tiny baby Will would have been fast enough to escape a Demogorgon that was close enough to pull him into the Upside Down.

Not to mention that Demogorgons can’t really see. They’re attracted by blood. That’s why the one in s1 came after Barb, that’s how Jonathan and Nancy lured it to the Byers house. Even though he crashed his bike, Will was not bleeding.

Have we ever really seen a Demogorgon or even a Demodog stalk someone over a long distance if they weren’t actively bleeding?

It just doesn’t add up. Everyone else who dealt with Demo-creatures was injured or killed almost immediately and yet Will survived for a week.

Personally, I think the plot of s2 was his plan the entire time but Will got away. Will was never meant to be a victim but a vessel.

Edit: I’m rewatching s1 e1 and honestly, I’m more convinced than ever. Yes, the creature that follows Will sounds like a Demogorgon. But what kind of Demogorgon can unlock a door chain from the outside??

Literally there is a shot of Will watching the door chain MOVE ON ITS OWN

Demogorgons can’t do that. But Henry can.

Edit 2: okay so the door chain thing seems really significant because there’s a very similar shot showing El opening the Byers’ door chain from the outside at the end of s2. Didn’t El and Henry have the same abilities? That parallel had to be on purpose.

Edit 3: OH MY GOD oh my god I never realized it but what the Mind Flayer did to Billy during the possessing process is the same thing that was happening to Will when Joyce and Hopper found him.

There is a quick flash of a sequence to show us what happened to Billy in the factory where there was something like a tentacle latched onto his face. It’s a bit bigger than the one Hop had to wrench off of Will, given how small Will was when he was taken, but it’s definitely the same thing.

IM RIGHT AND I KNOW IT

[abbotsanatomy]

heyyyyyyyyyyyyy are requests open by any chance 🥹 if yes i would love love love a chef!reader x jack and it’s a regular occurrence for her to visit and drop off food BUT but one day she comes in and she’s like i may have sliced something……. THANK YOU you’re my fave blog rn this jack hyperfixation needs to leave my body or else i’ll go crazy💋

⨳ TODAY'S SPECIAL

pairing: jack abbot x chef!reader warnings: depiction of injury and surgical procedure, intentional medical inaccuracies (for the plot :p). not beta'd! author's note: such a fun idea! so honored to be feeding the jack abbot craze

On today's dinner menu was supposed to be roasted rack of lamb, smothered in a rosemary-infused butter, with garlicky oven-baked potatoes. Key word: supposed.

Your carefully curated ritual of making dinner for Jack and bringing it to his work was interrupted by you accidentally slicing your thumb half off. It's what you get for not sharpening your knives when they needed to be sharpened, last week.

Now, you're on the way to the ER for an entirely different reason. You've got your good hand on the steering wheel, the other resting on your leg, with a towel that smells faintly of garlic wrapped around your injury. It only hurts a little, for now. You're sure that'll change when the adrenaline of it all wears off. Or at least that's what you've heard.

You're hoping you can get there and be administered some kind of pain-killer before that pain sets in. Morbidly, the rest of your thumb's in a plastic baggie, that's in another plastic baggie filled with ice, because that's what google told you to do. And in the absence of your doctor boyfriend, you listen to google.

Obviously, you use the back emergency entrance, like Jack's instructed you to do, if you ever happened to find yourself in need of actual medical assistance. You'd fought him on the principle, claiming the whole thing stinks of favoritism and some kind of medical malpractice. Now, with the pain slowly tingling up your entire arm, you can't find it in yourself to care.

The glass doors of the ER open automatically, as you walk in with a chunk of your left thumb in your right hand. You're escorted by one of the EMTs who was standing outside when you drove by. You'd seen her around a handful of times.

“Yeah, so I was making dinner for myself and my boyfriend. You know him,” you pause, as she takes the plastic bag from your hand and nods.

“It just sliced in half. It's partially my fault. I forgot to sharpen my cooking knives,” you go on, as she finds you a place to sit and calls a nurse to grab Jack.

She smiled empathetically at you, “Don't worry. We'll get you taken care of. Dr.Abbot should be here any minute. Just keep your hand elevated for me.”

Although you're about 99 percent sure the nurse walking in behind Jack already told him exactly what's going on, he still looks incredibly shocked to see you sitting there.

“Heeey,” you say, trying to wave the injured hand instinctively.

You quickly realize how bad of an idea that was, though, “Oh, ow. Ow.”

He gives you a once-over, and then quickly instructs the nurse to grab something. Presumably, hopefully, some pain meds. You realize you assumed correct, when she comes back with a few pills and a cup of water.

“Thank you,” you whisper, and swallow the pills in one go with the water.

Jack's just standing there, watching you. When you put the paper cup down onto the side table, he tucks a strand of hair behind your ear. It's almost like he's putting off looking at your wound, even though he probably knows it's inevitable.

“I had such a great dinner planned. You have no idea,” you boast.

It makes Jack crack a smile, as he walks over to wash his hands. He takes a seat in front of you, and then looks at the rag on your finger expectantly.

“Come on. Let's take a look,” he begins, pulling the towel off, “I heard you kept the rest of it in ice. Good thinking.”

You nod, smiling to yourself at the praise, “Mhm, I know right? Didn't even panic or anything.”

“Oh, I believe you,” he affirms, still inspecting the injury.

In that moment, John Shen pops his head into the room.

“Woah, hey. What's Gordon here in for?” he asks Jack.

The nickname makes you roll your eyes. You really don't even like Gordon Ramsay.

“Sliced my thumb. Unfortunately,” you sigh.

You can't help but ask the one question on your mind right now, “Think you can reattach it?”

“That's what I'm trying to find out, sweetheart.”

You all wait with bated breath. Chopping things up could become infinitely more difficult with half a thumb.

“Yup. Found a vein for anastomoses. We can proceed with replantation,” Jack announces.

“Perfect,” Shen adds, and then leaves the room.

You let out a long sigh, “Oh thank god! I've never been more nervous in my life, I think.”

Jack leans in to kiss the side of your face, “Yeah, I could tell. You have absolutely no confidence in me.”

“No! That's not it. Not at all. You try almost losing your thumb!” you defend.

He grins at you with a tilt of his head. Then he looks down at his prosthetic, and back up at you. His expressions reads, ‘Really?’

You grimace, “Yeah, alright. You win this one.”

Jack makes quick work out of gathering everything he needs and disinfecting your wound. He starts the reattachment process, after giving you a numbing shot that makes you feel nothing from your shoulder downward.

You don't really understand what's going on, but Jack tries to explain as he's going. Frankly, you're too busy intently watching his hands work and admiring how incredibly sexy the surgical loupes he's wearing make him look. It should be criminal for him to look that good, while reattaching your thumb.

“This, right here, might be the hottest you've ever been,” you blurt out.

It makes him pause for a moment. Not in shock, just contemplation.

“Wow. Really?” he questions, the soft curve of his brows furrowed in disbelief.

You can't help but giggle at his tone. Maybe it's the antibiotics making you a little loopy, but how he's looking at you is also incredibly funny.

“I mean, yeah,” you reason, “Sure, sex with you is great, but this might be better.”

Jack just smiles and gets back to work. Mostly because he knows it isn't true; nothing tops the sex you have together. That shit's spiritual. But also, because he doesn't fully get it. He's never understood the appeal that apparently comes with being in scrubs.

Although he's deciding to back down, you need a clean-cut victory. You want him to actually understand.

“Hey, it's totally like when you spend an hour staring at my ass while I make dinner. It's mostly just that, but it's also you appreciating my cooking and how well I do my job,” you explain. “It's attractive!”

“Yeah. Sure, I can see it,” he concedes. It's a win you'll take.

There's a long pause. Just the sounds of the surgical tools in his hands filling the space between you. He's busy taking care of your finger, obviously, but you can also tell he's pondering what you just said.

“You like taking care of people,” is all Jack comes up with. You're more than able to fill in the rest, though.

“It's what I love about you.”

He doesn't need to say it. The words are buried in his tone, in the reverence in his eyes, in the gentleness of his touch on your arm, even though he knows you can't even feel it right now.

So, you nod, and come up with one of your own, “And you are immune to panic. If I hadn't known any better, I'd say you haven't experienced a day of dread in your life.”

That earns you another smile. It takes him five minutes to come up with another thing to say.

The procedure takes much longer than you'd previously expected. Neither you nor Jack were too bothered by that. Anyone passing by with snacks or words of encouragement definitely found how you and Jack went back and forth, subtly trying to one-up each other with your compliments, incredibly cheesy.

The hours you spent in the ER recliner, with Jack hunched over your hand, meticulously gluing you back together, were a love letter to your long-lasting relationship. One you'll cherish for as long as you still have the tip of your left thumb attached to your hand.

[heartsforjh]

okay sooo this is actually a post for Willys birthday, but i feel very sick again so it’s late. so sorry ☹️ nevertheless, hope you love it! 🫶 happy birthday to Willy!

main masterlist | willy masterlist

Willy doesn’t enjoy his birthdays. That’s perfectly clear to you. You’ve been together for almost 2 years now. He’s always expressed that he hates his own birthdays, but you didn’t understand fully until last year when he turned twenty-eight, and he seemed miserable. 

Today, Willy is in a terrible mood. It hurts your heart to see. He doesn’t even want to acknowledge that it’s a special occasion in any way. You’re determined that this birthday is going to be different. That’s why… you planned a surprise party for him! Surely, this’ll give him the excitement he deserves to experience. So, you begin your plan. 

Step One: Get him out of the house somehow. 

“Willy, I don’t feel good,” you whine, trying to make this convincing. 

“Well, get over here,” he frowns, motioning for you to come over. You sit next to him on the couch, and he feels your head. “Yeah, you’re kind of warm. You take any medicine?” 

“I have, but it’s not kicked in yet. It’s bothering me because I still haven’t even finished my errands for today,” you say, really topping it off with a disheartened sigh at the end. 

Willy moves his hand to stroke your cheek. “What are they? I’ll do them for you. Just stay here and get some rest.” 

You smile. You knew he’d take the bait. He’s too sweet not to. 

“It’s only two things, don’t worry,” you start. 

He stops you right there. “I wasn’t worrying. I’ll do whatever you need me to a million times if it’ll help you feel better.” 

You’re caught off guard by the random pledge to take care of you, but of course, it’s welcomed. 

You smile. “That’s very sweet. Thank you, babe. It’s just getting eggs, milk, and bread from the grocery store, and cashing that check from earlier.” 

“That’s easy,” he says, immediately getting up and grabbing his keys. He presses a kiss to the top of your head, and strokes your hair. “You gonna be alright while I’m out?” 

You nod. “Yeah, don’t worry about me. I’m probably just gonna take a nap.” 

“Good. Call me if you need anything. I’ll be right back,” and with that, he’s out the door. 

Step Two: Call for backup. 

You grab your phone and send a quick text to the group chat you’ve made with Willy’s teammates and friends. 

“okay guys you’re good to come over now” 

Admittedly, in any other context, that seems weird. However, you absolutely will not be able to decorate this house on your own. 

Step Three: Prepare. 

You start the process of making the house more festive, and only stop when you let each person in. By the time everyone is at your place, there’s a system going. Everyone is helping with different jobs, and it’s all going by quickly. 

Once everything is done, you thank everyone for helping. Joseph Woll, a teammate of Willy’s, comes to you with a question. “Are we gonna hide and yell ‘surprise’ at him?!” 

“That’s corny,” his other teammate, Aston, chimes in. 

You shoot him a glare. “Hey! I think that’s a great idea, actually. We’ll all hide before he gets here!” 

Joseph smirks over at Auston after he was proved wrong. The next hour and a half consists of you watching William’s location like a hawk. His car finally begins to turn onto the long street to your house and you yell for everybody to hide. 

You run to turn off the lights in the kitchen and living room, before hiding behind the kitchen island where all the little treats you’ve set out are. You can see Mitch and Auston across the way, under the dining room table—somehow both fitting under there. They laugh and whisper to each other the entire time that everyone else’s hearts are beating, waiting for Willy to come in. 

The moment the door starts to click it goes silent. 

Step 4: Party. 

William opens the door and flicks the light switch, calling out. “Babe?” 

“Surprise!” the room erupts with loud voices. 

He flinches, stumbling back with a terrified look on his face until he realizes he’s not being ambushed. His expression changes to a smile. Then, he begins to laugh. If he decided he didn’t really want a party, you’d be satisfied just because of that reaction right there. 

“What are you guys doing?!” he asks, still surprised, and still laughing. 

You smile almost just as big, and wrap him up in a hug. “Surprising you! Thought that would’ve been pretty obvious by now, honey.” 

“Oh, yeah. Very funny,” he jokes back. 

After a bit, everyone starts to get settled. People are chatting, people are chilling, people are eating, and you walk up to Willy when he finishes up talking to one of his buddies. 

“Hi. Do you like the party?” you ask. It’s a simple question, yet his answer means the world to you. You hope you didn’t overstep, or make him uncomfortable in some way. 

Willy takes a deep breath in and exhales, your smile immediately dropping. “I love it. Usually, I don’t like people to make a big deal of it, but this is… I love this. 

It’s your turn to exhale now, letting out a relieved breath you didn’t know you were holding in. “Don’t scare me like that! I’m glad you love it, though. That makes me very happy.” 

“Yeah, you did good. This is actually fun for me,” he says with a big smile, surprised himself. 

You just nod. You could watch him smile and laugh for hours and never get tired of it. “Opinion on birthdays turned around, or do I have to throw some crazy, extravagant parties still?” 

“Definitely changed my opinion,” he chuckles. “My birthdays don’t seem so useless anymore.” 

A grown immediately grows on your face. “Useless? Why would they be useless?” 

“Just not really anything special, I guess,” he shrugs. 

Him saying that breaks your heart. “It’s the day you were born! That’s something that should be celebrated. You get to reflect on how far you’ve come, and… you should be proud of yourself.” 

“Yeah?” he asks, a hint of cockiness in his tone. He seems nonchalant about the whole thing when in reality, he’s touched. He’s never had anyone do something this thoughtful for him before. More times than not, they see he’s not a fan of his own birthday and don’t think twice about it. No ones tried to change that.  You press a kiss to his lips, mirroring his smile. “Yeah.”

tags: @nic0-hischier

join the taglist here! :)

[leaderwon]

CHAPTER 19 — YOU STILL LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT.

wc — 850+

prev — masterlist — next

luna's diary : kiss scene soon? maybe. Who do you think it's gonna be with?

Jake showed up at your door with no warning. No message. No call. Just him, standing in the hallway like he didn’t quite know what he was doing there, but couldn’t stop himself from coming anyway.

You opened the door slowly, unsure if your heart was pounding from surprise or something else entirely. “Jake?”

“I... can we talk?” he asked, voice lower than usual. Tense. Hesitant. “I didn’t know where else to go.”

Something about his expression stopped you from shutting the door. You stepped aside. And he walked in.

But once he did, neither of you moved. Neither of you spoke. It was quiet — heavy, awkward, thick with everything you hadn’t said since the letters. The air was humming with it. The tension between you was a living thing, stretched taut and trembling.

You stood near the door, arms folded. Jake stood in the middle of your room, unsure whether to sit or keep pacing the carpet. He looked like he wanted to say everything at once but couldn’t figure out where to begin.

So you broke the silence first. “Why are you here?”

He looked up. “Because I can’t keep pretending.”

You frowned. “Pretending what?”

“That we’re fine. That I’m fine. That I didn’t screw everything up.”

You didn’t say anything.

Jake sighed, pushing his hair back, clearly unraveling. “I keep thinking about what I should’ve done. What I should’ve said. I’ve had every version of that conversation in my head a hundred times, but none of them ever actually happened.”

“Whose fault is that?” you said quietly.

Jake’s jaw tightened. “Mine. I know.”

You crossed your arms tighter over your chest, guarding yourself. “You watched everything blow up and didn’t say a word. You saw me standing there, humiliated — and you did nothing.”

“I regret that,” he said, almost too fast. “Every day.”

“That’s not enough.”

“I know.” He took a small step forward. “But it’s all I have right now. That, and this... this mess of feelings I don’t know what to do with.”

Your breath caught.

Jake’s eyes were fixed on you now, no longer flinching. “I didn’t speak up because I thought maybe it was better if I stayed away. That maybe I didn’t have the right to stand beside you anymore.”

“You didn’t,” you snapped, even though your voice cracked around the edges.

Jake winced. But he didn’t back away. “I thought keeping my distance was the noble thing to do,” he continued. “But it just felt like losing you twice.”

You swallowed hard, blinking back the weight in your throat.

“You still looked at me like I meant something,” he said softly. “Even when you were mad. Even when I didn’t deserve it.”

You exhaled sharply. “You think that makes it easier?”

“No,” Jake whispered. “It makes it worse.”

He took another step forward — slow, careful. Like he was giving you time to run, to stop him, to push him away.

You didn’t.

“I can’t stop thinking about you,” he admitted. “I’ve tried. God, I’ve tried. But I’ll be walking through campus and something will remind me of you. A song, a phrase, a color. You’re everywhere, and I don’t know how to stop missing you.”

Your voice was barely audible. “You think missing me makes up for the silence?”

“No,” Jake said. “Nothing makes up for that.”

Another beat passed. “But I want to try.”

You looked at him for a long time — eyes scanning every inch of his face, wondering if he meant it, if this was just guilt dressed up in sentiment. But it didn’t feel like guilt. It felt like ache.

“I don’t know if I can trust you again,” you said.

“I don’t know if I can fix it,” he replied. “But I’m not here to make promises I can’t keep. I’m here because the only thing worse than what I did is staying away from you like a coward.”

The silence between you now was different. Heavier. Intimate in a way that made your chest hurt.

Jake was close enough to reach out now, but he didn’t. Not yet.

“I should go,” he said, even though he didn’t move.

You stepped back instinctively, unsure what you wanted. “Then go.”

Jake hesitated. “Do you want me to?”

You didn’t answer. And somehow, that said everything.

He stared at you for a moment longer, then nodded slowly. “Okay.”

He walked to the door, but paused right before opening it. You could see the war in his body — the way his shoulders tensed, like leaving was the last thing he wanted.

“I meant what I said,” he murmured, hand resting on the doorknob. “You still look at me like that.”

You blinked. “Like what?”

“Like you care. Even when you don’t want to.”

And with that, he left.

But the echo of him — his voice, his scent, the ghost of his presence — stayed behind. Lodged in the quiet, woven into the walls. And maybe, just maybe, so did something else. Something unfinished. Something undeniable. Something that was starting to crawl its way to the surface again.

© @leaderwon 2025. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

[imperator-kahlo]

I'm still ruminating on that scene between Gail and Tommy in 2x03. About what Gail says about Ellie.

I think it's important to the season, potentially quite troubling in its implications, and the first major change from the game that just kinda stumps me. What are they going for here?

(Is this post just a lengthy justification/reconciliation of my initial very positive response to Gail? Nope, absolutely not, I don't know what you're talking about.)

First off: I'm assuming competence on the part of the writers/showrunners. YMMV, but I believe the changes they're making are purposeful and considered. I think most of the changes last season were highly successful and that most of the changes this season are going to turn out to have been successful, too. So I'm coming at this with the assumption that both this scene and the character of Gail are there for a reason and thematically tied to the story.

Beyond the show and games, I'm drawing on the official podcast for season 1 but I haven't listened to season 2 and don't intend to until the season's over. Wild speculation ahoy!

The scene

Tommy: You see things that others don't. I'm nervous she's gonna do somethin' stupid. Gail: What, you didn't believe her speech? Tommy: Did you? Gail: Course not. She's a liar. Tommy: Well, there's a difference between lyin' and being a liar. Gail: Oh, I know. And that one? Liar. There was maybe one person she told the truth to, and he's… But we can agree to disagree about that. What matters is you're afraid. So, let's talk about it. Okay. Free of charge. Tommy: I just don't want her to go down the same paths that Joel did. Comin' up with justifications and such. All he was really doin' was lashin' out. Gail: So, you think she might have learned that behavior from him? Turns out nurture can only do this much. The rest is nature. If she's on a path, it's not one that Joel put her on. No. No. I think they were walking side by side from the very start. Tommy, I get it. You inherited her, and you wanna keep her out of trouble. Take it from a psychotherapist of 40 years. Some people just… Some people just can't be saved.

Does Gail matter?

I think she matters a lot. Gail appears in three episodes this season, according to IMDB. She gets a good amount of screen time in "Final Days" and "The Path". We linger on her reaction to important moments: the New Year's Eve fight, Ellie's speech in the town meeting. These pauses with Gail suggest that what Tommy says is true: she sees what others don't.

This is a considerable investment of precious screen time in a new character. They hired an absolute powerhouse of an actress to play her, and put her in scenes with three very important characters: Tommy, Ellie, Joel. Her presence in Jackson looms large.

And Gail was married to Eugene, a character we recognise from the game, a character who has been referenced several times in the first three episodes, and a person whose death is no longer natural. Instead, Eugene's death is linked to Joel (and, I suspect, to Ellie—more on that later). This killing is supposed to be on our minds. There's something more to learn about it.

Does this scene matter?

Look, it's the absolute lowest form of media analysis, but... this scene contains, almost verbatim, the episode's title. This episode, 'The Path', is a decisive one for Ellie. She's found, not to belabor the point, her path. And this entire conversation turns on Tommy's fear that Ellie will "go down the same paths that Joel did." I think this scene is pivotal for Ellie and for the themes of the show (which I don't think will be identical to those of the game). I don't think we can just throw up our hands, say "Gail's just a bitter drunk," and write it off as irrelevant to Ellie's arc.

Additionally: Mazin and Druckmann have been interested in exploring a darkness in Ellie since the beginning. In 1x01, 'When You're Lost in the Darkness', we get this unsettling reaction to Joel beating a man to death with his bare hands:

In the official podcast, Mazin says of this moment:

Ellie sees [Joel beat a man] to death, [punch] him over and over and over and Ellie is activated. And this is going to echo forward. This is something that Neil and I talked about a lot. Which was understanding where Ellie goes. And understanding what the connection is between Joel and Ellie. That there's a thread between them that is more than just I used to have a kid and you're also a kid. There's something else. That there's the connection already between Joel and Ellie that is different from his connection with his own daughter. And perhaps potentially stronger and certainly potentially more dangerous.

When they talk about where Ellie goes, they're talking about this season. Where Ellie goes is Seattle. And this scene is telling us something about what's at the end of that road.

Why does this absolutely fucking suck?

The million dollar question about this scene, imo, is whether Gail is a credible interlocutor. Are we supposed to immediately reject what she says about Ellie? I'm convinced we aren't, but I'm less certain where we should be on the spectrum between Gail-tells-the-absolute-truth and Gail-is-insightful-but-ultimately-mistaken.

At the end of 2x01, I was convinced that Gail is a somewhat dysfunctional person whose professional ethics were left back in some QZ in the early 2000s, but that she's also a gifted and insightful therapist. I thought what she did with Joel was more calculated than she let on, that it took both compassion and GUTS (that flinch when he suddenly stood, woof), and that she came within a whisker of getting him to open up.

Let's assume for now I wasn't just wildly incorrect!

I was stoked to see Gail again in 2x03. Her interaction with Ellie at the hospital was pretty neutral—I was mostly just amused by the fact that Gail clearly knew Ellie was full of shit and Ellie clearly knew that she knew.

Then we got to the chat with Tommy and I got whiplash. I want to talk about three things: Gail's identification of Ellie as not lying but a liar, as an equal partner to Joel in the events of season 1, and as, like, biologically predetermined to violence (Gail, what the fuck) and thus beyond saving.

Ellie, the liar

Ellie lied to Gail in the hospital. She lied again in her speech during the town meeting. These are the sorts of lies people tell all the time: I'm not comfortable opening up to you, the therapist I didn't consent to see, so I'm going to fob you off with a little story about how everything's fine. I want a particular outcome in this political debate, so I'm going to craft an argument that's persuasive. These aren't lies intend to hurt. They're intended to protect Ellie from emotional pain. I haven't sat down to catalogue every lie Ellie tells in season 1, but I'm pretty sure they were almost all intended to protect her physical and emotional safety.

And Gail has to know this. To jump from what she's seen this season to Ellie is a liar is wild to me.

But there is one lie that Ellie is always telling. Her immunity. That's a secret she's keeping for her safety, but the danger of telling the truth is sort of abstract. Sure, it endangers her out there, but in Jackson? This is a safe community, where Ellie is building relationships and working towards everyone's security. She's close to key people in leadership positions, so they probably wouldn't immediately try to dissect her. And it's easy to think of scenarios in which her patrol partner gets hurt or killed because they were unaware that Ellie could survive a bite. (This isn't an argument that Ellie should disclose her immunity, just that there are material risks to others to not disclosing.)

So I think this is what we're supposed to take from Gail, here. She sees things others don't, we're told, and she sees this kind of foundational dishonesty in Ellie. I think we're supposed to think of Ellie's secret immunity as a corruption: something destroying Ellie's closest relationships and isolating her from everyone around her.

After all, we know that even after five years, Ellie is on the outskirts in Jackson. I'm not sure all of that marginalisation is down to homophobia (there's an uncomfortable parallel here between an immunity she hasn't "come out" about and her lesbianism, not great).

"I think they were walking side by side from the very start."

Fine, this is a nice line. It echoes the final shot of the credits. But this poetic turn of phrase is buttressed by what precedes it: Gail dismissing the role of nurture in shaping the personality in favour of biological determinism. It is an argument that Ellie's violence is in her blood: it's not that she was born into a post-apocalyptic hellscape, that she was raised in a military orphanage to be a soldier, that she went on a dangerous and life-changing cross-country road trip, or that she took that trip with a man who was good at violence. It's in her blood.

This idea makes me really fucking mad! This show exists in a social context, which we all bring to watching it, and the real-world implications of the logics at play here are awful. First, the suggestion that she and Joel both had the same amount of agency in season 1. She was a child, Gail! Real she might be fourteen, but she was soooo mature for her age vibes. Gross.

And second, if violence is an inherent genetic legacy, we're about two steps away from eugenics and race science. Ellie is white, so the racial implications of Gail's position are a bit obscured for a white audience (we're the default, after all! /s). But imagine for a moment how this line would have felt if said about, say, a Black character.

Okay. It's problematic. Putting that aside, why would Gail say it and why would Mazin write it? I'll come back to Gail at the end. As for Mazin, I think a similar thing is happening here as with the Ellie-is-a-liar thing. From 1x09, "Look for the Light":

Marlene: Our doctor… he thinks that the cordyceps in Ellie has grown with her since birth. [...] It produces a kind of chemical messenger. It makes normal cordyceps think that she’s cordyceps. It’s why she’s immune.

There is cordyceps inside Ellie. It's in her blood. I think, once again, Gail is seeing what others can't, but she doesn't have the necessary information to understand what she's seeing. She sees a darkness in Ellie, but doesn't realise that darkness comes from the fungus. It's not inherent to Ellie.

From 1x08, "When We are in Need":

David: ... You see a lot. So do I. And you know what I see when I look at you? Me. You remind me of me. You’re a natural leader, you’re smart… loyal. Violent. Ellie: You don’t know anything about me. David: But I do. If I let you out of that cage right now, put that knife of yours in your hand, you’d stick me in a second. You have a violent heart. And I should know. I’ve always had a violent heart. And I struggled with it for a long time. But then the world ended and I was shown the truth. Ellie: Right… by God. David: No. By Cordyceps. What does Cordyceps do? Is it evil? No. It’s fruitful. It multiplies. It feeds and protects its children, and it secures its future with violence, if it must. It loves.

I think Mazin and Druckmann are driving at something here. In the game, Ellie's immunity is sort of irrelevant to her arc. It kickstarts the plot, yes, and it provides a reason for Joel to take away all her agency and then lie to her about it. It allows her to survive when Riley didn't, thus piling on a bunch of survivor's guilt. But all the same plot and character beats could have been reached other ways.

In the show, I think her immunity—and especially the fact that the immunity comes from being infected—is important. The cordyceps inside her is going to be fundamental to who Ellie is and who she becomes.

Some people just can't be saved

Pretty much everything I just said about the nature vs nurture stuff.

I did see someone on here—I'm sorry, I can't remember who—suggest that Gail is saying that some people have to save themselves, and can't be helped because they won't accept that help. That's true, and it squares nicely with Ellie's arc in the game. I'm not sure it squares with everything else Gail says in this scene, in which she displays no compassion for Ellie and basically writes her off as an inherently bad person. I think maybe this is another case of Gail accidentally saying the truth while meaning something else.

So why, Gail? Why?

A thing that struck me: In Gail's therapy session with Joel, we see how angry she is at him, how much she hates him for killing Eugene. But even so, she had compassion for him. She promised to help him. When she spoke to Tommy, I didn't see an ounce of compassion for Ellie. It was a really hostile, angry, judgemental way to speak about a young, traumatised woman that she's only therapised for like five minutes. Maybe Gail just has a gift for projecting compassion she doesn't feel when she's actually in session with a client, or maybe there's something we're missing.

Gail's back in episode 6, and she's bringing Eugene with her (Joe Pantoliano!). I think that episode's going to recontextualise this scene between Tommy and Gail. Maybe Ellie was involved in whatever happened to Eugene? Perhaps something she did or failed to do led to Eugene's infection, or at least that's Gail's perception, and Joel did what Ellie's actions caused him to have to do?

Or, you know, maybe Gail just fucking sucks.

Finally, a conclusion?!

I've speculated above about what Mazin and Druckmann are potentially driving at with Ellie's arc. I think there's also some interesting parallels happening here: between Gail, Abby, and Ellie; Joel and Eugene; David and Gail. Between Gail's confrontation with Joel and Ellie's eventual confrontation with Abby. In the immortal words of Billy Ray Cyrus, much to think about.

I'm interested in the choice to make Gail a therapist. Psychology is a field with an incredibly troubled history and it continues to do plenty of harm. Young women (like Ellie) with neurodivergence and/or complex mental health issues have historically been misdiagnosed at high rates with borderline personality disorder, which is very stigmatised and, like all personality disorders, often used as an excuse to write a person off as beyond help and inherently abusive and dishonest (sound familiar?).

But I think a lot of casual viewers would just read Gail as a mental health expert and thus a reliable commentator on other people. Last season, the only person to provide this sort of read on Ellie was David, a blatant villain. This season, we hear it from somebody pretty likeable, presumably insightful, trusted by both Joel and Tommy. It's an interesting choice, regardless of whether Ellie's arc ultimately confirms or denies what Gail says.

Much to think about.

[thequeensjester]

S1 • EP8 ➤ Building Up Galadriel's Confrontation

Part one for @mai-komagata

Once Galadriel hears Celebrimbor mention the Unseen World, she starts to question Halbrand as soon as he starts working with Brimby.

Wayne Yip gives us this second chain shot. It's a leading line, showing us that Brimby and Sauron are on the same side—almost bound together.

They're also framed by the gold floor patttern as if they are in their bubble. The light mostly falls on Celebrimbor while Sauron is in the shadows.

(enjoy my stop motion gif)

Then the editor cuts to Galadriel's watching them. The camera arcs around Galadriel, from a low-angle and finishes on a cowboy shot. The arc motion makes Galadriel look like is she distancing away from the pair and driving us to focus on her suspicion.

This analysis is the most different from my others because I'm looking at how camera movement and editing drive the narrative. It's a lot to take in, even for me so I will try to make my thoughts as clear to follow as possible.

She's framed, if not closed in, by the arch and window, adding extra emphasis on her suspicions. Ever since her meeting with Gil-galad, she becomes still—a drastic change from running fast and running blind as Elendil puts it.

Her own movement is smaller and measured—keeping her suspicions to herself but at this point, Galadriel doesn't trust Halbrand. Ending the camera movement on a cowboy shot puts Galadriel is a position of defiance because...

The editor cuts back to a dirty shot of Brimby and Sauron, who are deep in their work but Galadriel's arm is still visible in the frame, looming in the background.

The editor cuts to Galadriel's close-up with the camera slowly pushing closer to her face to show her deep in thought. Then before they cut away, we hear dialogue from her next scene, overlapping this close-up.

This is a J-cut. Using this cut here makes it seem like she's vocalizing her thoughts.

Here is the follow-up shot and there's a bit of a perspective trick here. It looks like Galadriel is hidden behind wall but the camera arcs to the right, just like in the forge.

This arc motion reveals that Galadriel was speaking in private but not exactly hidden. The goal of the first frame shows that her intentions are hidden. The movement also reveals the elves marching through and setting up the courtyard scene.

Galadriel ends up hiding because she didn't want Brimby or Elrond to know but she was also trying to avoid Sauron until she had the truth. When she hears him, Galadriel hesitates before walking into the courtyard.

The courtyard scene is the point of no return. The blocking (relationship of movement between camera and actors) and editing rhythm that drives tension. Once Galadriel walks into the courtyard and stops, she stands still. In contrast, Sauron becomes more animated. Essentially, the two have flipped roles—she's watching him run loose in Eregion and trying to figure him out.

For most of this entire scene, Morfydd Clark makes tiny movements. Charlie Vickers is more dynamic and hitting different marks on set. The camera is also moving in tandem with Charlie.

Camera movement should be deliberate. Some camera movement might simply be a handheld result, which does happen but generally, there are several reasons for motion—guiding the audience to points of interest, showing a character's POV, driving narrative, etc. Where and when the camera stops are also interesting.

With editing, it's more than just sequencing shots. Editing drive emotions. The timing of a cut helps sell the emotion. These are key points to how I parse this scene.

The courtyard scene begins with an overhead shot to give the audience a glimpse of the scale and beauty of Eregion. The camera pushes downward on them to take us into their dialogue. Charlie walks and stops in front of a column. This is the first mark (left) and the editor cuts to the medium shot (right).

In this exact cut, Halbrand says "Someone like me, here." This can be read in two ways—as little ol' Halbrand but primarily as Sauron.

Sauron starts walking again and the camera also starts to move in the same steady arc motion; closer to Galadriel when he continues, "Working with the Elven-smiths of Eregion" before he stops again.

He thanks Galadriel and stands still but the camera continues to arc left until we get this shot—Galadriel and Sauron are facing each other, on opposite sides. The camera briefly stops here when Galadriel replies, "For bringing you here?"

Wayne Yip blocks them each against the background columns that form lines. Sauron stands behind a column whereas Galadriel is slightly in front of a column. There's also a column dividing them.

This visual language is something that J.A. Bayona uses in ep2 on the raft. It contrasts the earlier line with the Brimby shot.

To me, Galadriel tries to put distance from Sauron but she's already too late because she's revealed too much about herself.

I also think this dialogue is where Galadriel unintentionally starts to tip off Sauron. We know she brought him to Eregion to have him healed but her dialogue in this scene is tonally wrong. She doesn't ask about their work or when he intends to go to Pelagir to join his people (lol).

Sauron replies, "For saving my life" and tips his head, which drives the camera moves left again. This motion makes him cross the line of his column but now Galadriel shifts behind hers.

The editor abruptly cuts to Galadriel, making it feel as if she's stopping him in his tracks. The tone for the rest of this scene changes with this cut. Galadriel calmly but distantly replies, "As you saved mine. Our scales are balanced."

I think this is the moment Sauron suspects her. To be honest, I'm not sure what she could have said to keep her ruse up. She had shown Sauron her cards; how she acts and reacts. Now, Galadriel is suddenly more reserved? He wasn't there to see her revelations in ep7 but he doesn't need to when he's seen her other vulnerable moments.

He goes into damage control immediately, just as he later does to Mirdania when Durin shows up to warn Brimby about the Seven.

The camera angle changes to close-ups, starting with Galadriel when Sauron says "you believed in me." This takes deeper into their emotions because he sounds sincere enough. She understands how powerful it feels to be validated...

But compare the softer lighting on Galadriel to the harsher lighting on him—the Rembrandt lighting, identified by the triangle under Sauron's eye, creates intrigue about his true thoughts.

Then he places his hand on her and leans closer. The camera is static but remember how the actors are blocked standing apart with the columns as lines? If we could see the set on a wide shot, Charlie would cross all three column lines.

Putting his hand on Galadriel is like sinking his claws into her. When he says he won't forget what she has done, the editor quickly cuts again to the next shot—leaving no time to digest his "sincerity."

He promises that no one else will forget what she has done. His dirty single is short-sided—the empty space reveals his veiled threat, knowing how Galadriel fell out with the other elves. Short-siding lets him take up so much of his frame, like he's boxing her in. He's also drenched in shadows.

It feels uncomfortable to watch—reinforced by another fast cut to Galadriel's reaction. The timing of both cuts are saying "or else." The musical cue also changes from soft to sinister here. Galadriel then has to fake a small smile because she knows it's not flattery.

When Sauron pulls back, the editor cut to a wide-shot where Galadriel watches him walk away. The camera also pulls back with Sauron like a growing distance but it sustains focus on her before finally cutting to Galadriel's close-up—making us feel her doubt.

We get finally get bigger movement here. She turns her head—still uncertain. The camera points down on her in the same angle when Sauron speaks to her, as if she's lost her advantage here.

The most important movement here is her eyes. In her previous close-ups, Morfydd nervous flickers her eyes quite a bit. I think Galadriel wanted to be wrong but the signs were there. Finrod once told her that the most important truths are often simple.

Here, her eyes wander until she holds them still. The editor lets this detail play out to reinforce her uncertainty to us before cutting to end the scene.

— credit: cap-that.com

[n0t-evenhere]

Welp, my dear people. We are on the second to last chapter of the series. “The Star at night.” The finale is going to be soon. Probably this week. I will admit, I did t have an idea of what to draw this time for the story. It’s also a lot shorter this time. I hope you enjoy the read all the same.

⚠️ warning ⚠️ death, gore, bones, knives, unusual death.

“The star at night”

Part 4 “you before me”

Ray pov

How sad, the anguish in the poor face of (you). Ray knew she was going to run, the woman named Carol saw it in her mind. There were many things that he saw in Carol's mind in a few different times he read her mind. He knew Carol would try to sacrifice you to him. Even before she actually went through with it. Carol had been out for herself since he showed up, she planned to leave you and everyone else behind. He almost felt bad for you. Almost.

He dragged you by your arm down the hall, even as you resisted. “Please! Please just let us go! We’ll leave a-and we won’t come back I swear!” You pleaded in his arms. Pleaded for your life and who else remained. Ray sighed, no…you get mercy. None of you deserve it. Not after what you unknowingly started. Was it petty? Sure, but Ray had every right in his mind. Trying to steal Steel sheriffs mask. The man who had tormented him day in and day out for too many years of his liking.

Suddenly he yanked you off your feet, not even your feet roughed the ground. “Let you go?” He inquired. “Promising you won’t come back.” Ray feigned consideration before her look you dead in the face. “No.” Venom dripping in his words. A hate rooted so deep, he wasn’t even sure it dealt entirely with any of the people here. “That’s not good enough. I see you dead.”

(You)

Your heart sank at his words, this was doomed from the start. In that moment, looking into binary Star’s eyes, you saw a deep seated hare. An anger that felt consuming, but it felt different. Wasn’t directly at you or anyone here specifically. It’s a hate that marinated over time, or had been sitting deep down until it erupted without warning. Maybe there was hope? Maybe you could reason with him. You want to reason with him, you didn’t get that chance though before the locker room door opened.

When the door opened, you felt your body suddenly fly through the air before colliding with another body knocking the wind out of you. “AH!” Carol cried out, both you on the floor laughing and heaving in pain. There wasn’t a chance to try and get up before being grabbed by the ankle and dragged back. “No! No!” You try and fruitlessly grab and hold onto anything. Anything that could give you leverage. Nothing. Just nothing to hold on to. “Let’s begin our little chat hm? I think we need a little heart to heart. As I said before.” A pressure on your back kept you in place on the floor. No doubt his foot resting on your mid back. Even with little pressure, your failure and effort to get away was useless; he held fast as if your own strength meant nothing.

Binary Star let out a little chuckle. “No, you aren’t going anywhere. As for our Carol here, I have to make sure she doesn’t go anywhere either.” He hummed, thinking. “How should I ever do that? “Ah, I have it. I know exactly what to do.” Just as Carol got to her feet, she suddenly began to rise into the air for a moment before being slammed against the wall, in the next moment crashed to the floor with a gasp. A nearby locker began to groan as it tipped forward before slamming onto Carol’s knees with a nasty crunch. Carol's screams of agony made you cry out for her. You so desperately wished to save her. Even if she meant to lean you behind. Even if she really didn’t care for you at all…it’s hard giving up a love that you have for so long.

The absolute pain etched into her features made your heart ache deeply. “So, let’s start with a bit of truth, seems fair right?” Binary Star pressed his foot a bit more into your back, emphasizing his words, making you whimper a little. “So, Carol. Let’s start with you, yes? I did a little digging if you will. From the moment (you) mentioned the locker room exit, what was the plan, I mean, your plan?” Binary Star asked, an air of arrogance to his question. Carol shook her head, “I don’t- I don’t know what you are talking about.” Binary Star nodded. “So close.” He smiled. “Wrong.”

The locker rose off of her, Carol's knee caps on full bloody display. Torn flesh, exposed bone. Enough to make anyone gag. That’s not what you were worried about right now though. “Stop! Please Stop! Stop! Don’t-“ you screams on protests went unheard as the locker inched up before slamming down on Carol's hips with another sickening crack, Carol shrieked in agony. Binary star crouched down to you. Grabbing a fist full of hair pulling you head back as far as he could manage, just so he could look at you. “I’m doing this for you. You know. My actions aren’t motivated only by anger. I’m exposing more than one crime here. I want to expose as many things as possible, as they come of course.” Binary Star regarded you before standing up again.

He turned his attention to Carol. “Ah, Carol, I haven’t forgotten you. Promise. Let’s try again, yes? I’ll give you a second chance because I am just that nice. When you learned about the locker room. What was your plan?” Carol looked at you, tear filled eyes and guilt. “There it is. That’s what I’m looking for. Knowing and admitting.” Binary Star said quietly above you. “I- I was going to leave.” Carol confessed, Binary Star gasped audibly. “Leave?” He grabbed you by the hair, taking his foot off of you. Lifting you up. His fingers come up to squeeze your cheeks. “But, how could you do that to someone you love?” He asked with fake shock.

He looked at you, he seemed almost…kindly curious. “How could you be so stupid? Loving someone who doesn’t love you? Not for the right reasons. I’ve seen a lot in my life, more than I’d like to admit. I know when people are just using you. These people,” he shook his head. “There’s no real love for you. Only for what you have.” Carol cried out, “that’s not true! I-I love you (you). I love you like your own daughter!” Binary Star’s face dropped into an annoyed look. His attention turned to Carol. “I’ve been in your mind Carol. The minute you learned about that locker room. All you could think about is escaping and going to the beach. Retirement. Lying isnt a good look for you Carol, so shut the fuck up.”

You lip curled,”Don't talk to her that way.” You hissed at him, the anger prevalent in your tone. He laughed, a laugh from down deep. “Are you any place to be making demands sweetie? I don’t think so, why would you care anyway? Hm? She was just leaving you to die.” Your eyes look to Carol, who is still in pain on the floor. “Because I love her. Even if it’s true. I love her. She’s human, she’s scared.” He looked at you, pity. “You naive little thing. No wonder you were so easily exploited.”

A locker closer to Carol's head began to tremble. “No, no, no! Don’t do this! I’ll do anything please!” You knew where this was going. He didn’t even look at you. “No amount of begging will make her live. The best thing you can do? I accept it. No one’s going home. Not tonight.” The locker leaned forward before it slammed down, a wet crunching sound echoing in the room, blood and brain splattering from under the locker on impact. You could help but gag and throw up at the sight.

Suddenly there was a new sound in the sudden quiet, Binary Star’s grip loosened on you, looking to the right, you see it, a knife stabbed into his triceps brachii. “That’s for my wife you sonofabitch.” Joe…it was Joe! He was alive! Joe took the moment to grab your arm pulling you away from Binary star, he pulled you along out of the locker room. You could help but look back. Binary star didn’t scream pain, in fact it’s as if he felt nothing at all. Didn’t even seem bothered. Removed the knife letting it clatter to the floor. That’s all you saw before he was out of view.

“Joe! Joe, you are alive.” You cried tears of relief. “I thought I lost you. I’m-I’m, we lost everyone. I’m so sorry, I tried to-“ Joe stopped you from continuing, strain on his own voice. “I know. Just- let’s just focus on getting out of here.” The front door was down the hall up ahead. Joe who was ahead of you suddenly fell to the floor with a cry of pain, your hand slipping from his. Causing you to screech to halt. Turning back, the knife he used to stab the hero was now lodged into his calf. “Joe!” You rush to his side, taking him under his arms to drag him. “No, we're almost there! Come on!”

The knife pulled from his leg stabbing him in the back causing him to cry out. You look up, Binary Star making his way to you. No, no, no, no. Not Joe. If you could save just one. Only one. “Stop!” You scream at the hero, anger and helplessness. The knife lifted again, you took a hold of it to try and stop it, but it plunged down again, into Joe’s side. Tears prickling in the corner of your eyes. Joe, even face down, took your hand. The knife is still pinging in and out of his body. “Go, you can’t stay.” feverently you shake your head. “No,” you choke out. Joe gave your hand a squeeze. “I’m not leaving you. I’m not leaving you. I’m not leaving you. I’m not leaving you. I’m not leaving you.” You chant, it’s as if you lost it. You repeat the phrase over and over as if it gives you comfort.

Joe’s POV

(You)…the young one he helped so long ago. Help give a new life to. One where you would be comfortable. Wouldn’t work like a dog. Sure, at first it was all business. As time went on though, he could help but fall in love with you like his daughter. When his own daughter, Carmilla, left, You filled that hole in his chest. Carol was set on Carmilla, and wouldn’t settle for anything else. Not that Joe settled, he just…he loved you like his own. He ignored the pain that radiated through his body.

Joe slid his hand up to your cheek with a wheeze, “It’s the end of the line, (you). You gotta go. Let me go. Run. Don’t look back.” With one look, one glance into your eyes Joe knew. He knew you wouldn’t run. Didn’t want to leave his side. Couldn’t bear the thought of leaving him behind. You had seen so much tonight. He knew that much. He took a deep wheezing breath. “Just close your eyes kiddo.” He said softly. Joe didn’t want you to see him die. He also knew you were next, maybe Binary star would give him the mercy of giving you a painless death. Quick. The world started to go to black. You had your eyes closed as he began to fade. “I…love…you…s-so…much.” Tears pricked his eyes. “Don’t you…for-get it…”

You POV

His words were choppy, dying. His hand slowly slipped from your grip. You didn't have to open your eyes to know he was gone. Everyone was gone. There was only a beat of silence before you let out a wail of emotional agony. All morning you didn’t get the time to do. It all just exploded, here and now in this moment. You grab Joe and pull him close. Cradling his body to you. He was heavy, still warm. .

[arboretics]

more aragorn (and legolas!) thoughts

sorry y'all i like to think...... about how aragorn and legolas are like opposite parallels... antiparallels in fact. aragorn is a man raised amongst the elves, disconnected from his identity, who journeys to rejoin his people and through that unite his own self and actualize his destiny. over time he becomes more man than elf, and maybe comes more to terms with the elements of his humanness that would have been impossible to grapple with as a child in rivendell surrounded by those who will not understand.

on the other hand, legolas is raised completely within his home environment, almost secluded in it, in mirkwood and satisfied completely by it (as far as we can read from the canon). but maybe he wonders about the outside world, experiences and feels in a different way, and so over the course of the quest/war, he explores his own uniqueness amongst his kind. he dedicates himself entirely not only to the problems of mortal cultures but to specific mortals themselves, becoming almost human-like over time, ingratiating himself amongst them, and while doing so is ominously informed that this flirtation with difference and mortality will bring about his own demise in a way. this being, of course, a sudden rupture with the landscape and culture he has always known and belonged to--because for one who loves mortals and middle-earth, to be sentenced to pass on from it in a final way, never to be reunited with those you cared about in their own afterlife, is a death sentence.

so aragorn goes from man amongst elves to man amongst men and legolas goes from elf amongst elves to elf amongst men, both through the same journey. which of course represents also the end of the age of elves and the beginning of the age of men, but also the different effects that great tribulations have on people. in my last aragorn post, i talked about how aragorn's story is sort of tragic in the sense that he brings about the end of the world of his childhood. of course legolas experiences that too, and i wonder if when he went to the undying lands, even with gimli, even surrounded by his people and back in that place where he is natural and not disconnected, he yearned for that place of disconnection, elf amongst men, in the way that aragorn maybe yearns to be a man amongst elves.

[sillysillyshadowmilkcookie]

(( tw: grevious injury, obsessive/possessive behavior, gore(?)

Something was off.

Something he hadn't sensed before - the entire situation was wrong. Toppings that looked so delicately placed? The brooch he had gifted missing? There was a certain hum from the very Life Powder of Black Sapphire Cookie that was off.

He doesn't rip the topping out - not just yet - instead digging the pliers further in. The hands keeping Black Sapphire in place dig into his dough as Shadow Milk stares at the toppings. He was a master at everything, a master at magic at the least. Nothing could hide from him - not the way the toppings mixed with Black Sapphire in an almost grossly intimate way; magic that was undoubtly his that he really doubts if this was a disguise or not.

Shadow Milk wouldn't be surprised if someone had such intimate enchantments applied to them just to trick them; but he of all people would be able to see past the trick. Even when Black Sapphire and Candy Apple disguise themselves with such perfection - he can tell who they are. The soft hum of their very souls, almost completely hidden but accessible to their master. There was no trick here - that was the hum of Black Sapphire Cookie he felt.

And himself.

That was his magic. Recent magic. Not of the Fount, but of Shadow Milk. Almost identical to his own, but there was a hint of a difference that made him halt. This was not his Black Sapphire Cookie. They wandered in here, spoke like they knew him - he let him use Black Sapphire's room, he let him get so close-

He cracks the topping before releasing the pilers and ripping them out. He leaves the topping inside, but damaged - he can't stand the thought of other hims running around all willy-nilly. As far as Shadow Milk was concerned, both Black Sapphire Cookie and Candy Apple Cookie were his minions. Whether they were his or not.

Shadow Milk slams the pilers into the floor next to Black Sapphire's head. He leans in close on the other side, haunting with his whispers.

"What did you do to Black Sapphire Cookie?" He begins, before explaining, "Or do you not even know where you are right now? Can't you sense the shift in the air? How everything is a bit wrong?"

"Of course Shadow Milk Cookie wouldn't have taught you that. Not like I would have," He says his own name like a slur, spitting it out.

"Master Shadow Milk?" Black Sapphire almost stumbled in, his wings fluttering as his eyes darted around everywhere with a tense gaze before settling on the Beast.

"Is that you...?"

"Black Sapphire Cookie!" Shadow Milk Cookie seemed genuinely pleased - before his smile turned into a grimace and his tone turned sour, "Where have you been?! I've been trying to find you for ages!"

"I don't care what you do in your free time, but you're still my minion! You still work for me! As if I don't pay you enough, hphm!"

"And you look awful. What did you do, roll around in a Cakehound den? Go change and take a bath, you stink!"

"Go on- shoo, shoo!" He makes a shooing motion with his hands.

[blade-that-was-broken]

Wrath and Ruin

Reunions Part 1

With the fear for his family and the loan sharks previously on his tail, Floyd runs back to the Troll Kingdoms, entering from the far side of Pop territory and he eventually makes it to Pop Village. They aren’t quite as loud as in canon, and have a tendency to hide more but the forest is protective of them and Floyd. When he makes it to Pop Village, Floyd is reunited with Clay. 

Floyd is relieved to see a brother. Since it is the middle of the day when he finds Clay, he thinks Branch might be in school so they talk. They have a reunion and Clay talks about what happened and the escape, careful about the news about Branch. Floyd tells him of his old bandmates and the letter he received about the destruction of the pop trolls and the war. He doesn’t tell him everything about his history. 

Clay actually doesn’t know about the war itself. Eventually, he is forced to confess about Rosiepuff and Branch. Floyd is floored to the point that he goes gray and gets into a depressive state for weeks. Clay takes care of him and as months go by, Floyd gets better but the blame nearly crushes him. Don’t know whose idea it is but the brothers decide they need to tell Spruce. Floyd had traveled a bit with him. With the route they take, it leads them near the troll tree where they find Bergentown entirely abandoned and in ruins. The tree is decimated. 

They are stunned and freaked out. It is here they meet a Funk Troll and he speaks of the tale of the Rock attack and how everyone believes nearly all pop trolls are dead. He inquires about other pop trolls but Clay keeps a little quiet on it. He’s paranoid. 

“Are there any other survivors?” Floyd asked with a frown. 

“A couple. One, at least,” the funk troll frowned. “But not really, sorry, no.” 

As they talk, Floyd falls into a hole that is kind of hidden which ends up being a tunnel. It goes the opposite way of the escape tunnels so they think perhaps there are more survivors. All three of them decide to follow it. The tunnel is long and the Brozone bros don’t know what made it. The funk troll tells them it was probably an armadillo bus but the boys don’t know that is. So during the travels, Floyd and Clay learn a bit more about the war - the initial start and how Rock eventually got the upper hand. They come to a collapsed end and things start to rumble. They think it is a dangerous armadillo bus and panics. The funk troll gets them out and to the surface with a gadget he has. “It’s not what it’s made for but it works, I guess.” 

Since getting out of the hole, they are out of Pop territory and for a while, don’t know where they are. They eventually find a town and go inside but then are almost arrested by Rock Trolls that control the town on suspicion of being pop trolls, however they are beforehand found by Spruce, who manages to hide them away in the home he has made for himself. 

Spruce looks a bit different, having painted and possibly tattooed himself a bit to appear more similar to those who has adopted the subgenre of. Spruce - Bruce - has been living under the guise of a subgenre for well over a year because pop trolls are hunted. He’s still learning about how things are working in this new world and regime. He knows a bit about what happened to the tree. The reunion is sweet and joyful once they get to safety and there are plenty of hugs. 

He gets to explain what happened to him - about Vacay Island and then how Brandy saved him when Rock trolls thought he was a pop troll. And here, he has been living for quite some time, trying to keep under the radar. He talks a bit about how a war seemed to be kind of starting up but they live kind of out of the way, so it takes time for information and communication to get to them. Spruce says he also knows about what is said to have happened to the Pop trolls and the tree. 

Floyd tells him that he saw what was left of the tree. Although considering the news about how Pop trolls seem to be hunted, Clay and Floyd don’t say anything about the other pop trolls in the hidden village (they’d probably tell Bruce later, in confidence). However, they do tell of their grandmother’s fate… as well as Branch. 

And that night, they mourn together. 

In the morning, over breakfast with Floyd and Clay’s funk troll friend as well as Brandy, the brothers start speaking of their oldest brother and what to do about trying to find him. No one knows where any other pop trolls are. He could be hiding like Bruce or maybe he was hiding alone in the mountains - after all, he wanted to go to the Neverglades. But the moment they mention John Dory’s name, they are given crazed looks. 

The funk troll is shocked into silence. Brandy spins around and shushes them immediately. The brothers are confused as she tells them to quiet down. “You don’t speak that name!” 

“Why not?”

Brandy explains that one can be arrested for even mentioning that, specific, name, on suspicion of collaboration. They ask why, of course. Before she can try to explain her side, the Funk troll says he’s a criminal, probably the most wanted troll in the Kingdom. You think Rock Trolls are terrible? John Dory is far worse. “He’s a criminal,” the funk troll stated, flatly. “You think Rock trolls do terrible things? John Dory is worse. He finds you? You’re never seen again.” 

He continues to insinuate John is a murderer but Brandy refutes it and tells them John is bringing back the war - rebellion. The brothers are still confused but Brandy tells them a story of one of the most well known soldiers from the start of the war - a near feral pop troll. Some of it is fake, of course, and some rumor. She tells them he has become a dagger in Thrash’s ribs, destroying convoys, guerrilla tactics and rescuing prisoners. 

Although the funk troll tries to reiterate that anyone who comes across him is never seen again and probably dead, Brandy insists they are taken to a safe haven. A place of peace where people can live in peace and sing their own songs without worry of becoming zombies. 

“Do you know how we can find him?” 

“You can’t find him.” 

“Why not?” 

“You can’t find him. No one can/No one can find him - he finds you.” 

And the brothers are just… so confused, understandably so, although relieved that John is alive. And then, the door is bust down - the Rock Trolls discovered the ruse.

Next Up: Journey

[benevolenterrancy]

("Always. Continuously. With increasing apprehension, and decreasing hope. I will love you if I never see you again, and I will love you if I see you every Tuesday. I will love you as a corpse loves the beak of the vulture. I will love you no matter what happens to you, and no matter how I discover what happens to you, and no matter what happens to me as I discover this." -- paraphrased from The Beatrice Letters, Lemony Snicket)

[skunkes]

[ghost-bard]

feeling unwell about solavellan

[likablemuffin]

Beginnings

(From: One left (A rottmnt separated au))

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He saw them. Five baby turtles. Or are they classified as humans now? Turtles? Humans? It didn't matter. All that mattered was they were vulnerable. They could be attacked. Killed even. He rushed over to them and picked two up. They seemed to be a painted turtle and a red-eared slider. How pretty. 

Then it started to hurt. What hurt? Everything. His hands became paws. He started to grow whiskers. It was painful. He couldn't do anything to stop it either. So he ran. He was still holding those two baby turtles. 

But he felt horrible. He left three behind. What would happen to them? He didn't want to think about it. He knew it wouldn't be anything good. But he couldn't have done anything. He had saved two. Wasn't that enough? 

It wasn't. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next (this is the one of the only stories I've written that is a continuous storyline btw)