#unless the dune kids find it. and then god help us all

[egregiousderp]

Feel free to reblog for larger sample size, because this can only get exponentially funnier the more results it gets while simultaneously utterly straining my bromance of many years.

[sadoeuphemist]

Stories I thought about writing, but didn’t:

my voice is poisonous, a gift from a strange god my parents once befriended. I’m careful not to speak, but I know they’re afraid.

A poison-voiced girl is born to deaf parents, but falls in love with a hearing boy. Their courtship is marked on her end by a thrilling restraint, biting her lip, knowing she could kill him with an indiscretion; he, on the other hand, longs to see her act without inhibition. He manages to make her laugh, sigh, gasp out in wonder - each time he falls ill from the poison of her voice, but is undeterred even in his convalescence, returning renewed in his goal to tease another sound out of her.

Her parents tell her to break it off; she’ll kill him. She reluctantly agrees. He refuses, pleads with her, grasps her hands so she can’t sign. In anguish she cries out his name — but lo! he does not sicken, does not die. It turns out his repeated exposures to her voice have mithridatized him against it. She can speak around him freely! They both agree that this development has taken a lot of the excitement out of the relationship, but it has been replaced with a greater casualness and intimacy that balances it out.

I can see the angels in their true form, a thousand splendid eyes and all. They think it’s funny, and have taken to hanging around my apartment 

The angels start making excuses to keep showing up at my apartment, in the manner of the annunciation, but for increasingly trivial reasons. They come bearing tidings about how I should definitely get the turkey wrap for lunch, which brand of fabric softener I should buy, how that quarter I’ll find on the sidewalk is a sign that I am favored by God. They come bearing bad tidings too: The Lord has heard of all the evil in your printer, and has sent us here to jam it. Their presence becomes completely overbearing, but they are insistent. There’s a reason you see us in our true forms, they say, all their splendid eyes shining. Is it so hard to believe that the God that formed every atom of you in the womb should watch over you always, that every mundane moment of your existence in this world is shot through with the divine?

There was a body in the river, ice cold and snow white. Sometimes it was all the way dead. Sometimes it sat up and talked to me.

A king has declared that whoever can complete the following tasks shall marry his daughter: 1) to recover a lost treasure stolen from his family hundreds of years ago; 2)  to name the start of the pact between men and horses; and 3) to find a cure to the plague ravaging the land.

Our plucky folk hero helps an old lady who sits by the river; she tells him of the snow white body within, who has sat up and spoken to her at odd times throughout her life. It is the spirit of the glacier: the glacier melts, and forms the river; layer by layer the past frozen in it is uncovered, parts of it living and parts of it dead. Our hero builds many bonfires and melts the glacier faster; the body lives and dies and lives many times over and tells him the three answers. 1) The thief fell into a crevasse and was frozen over; the ice is melted now, and the treasure can be recovered. 2) Iron horseshoes frozen in the glacier reveal the pact is many thousands of years old. 3) The plague is an old one, frozen and released anew with the glacier’s melting; it is carried in the livestock, and they must be slaughtered.

The hero solves the king’s tasks and marries his daughter. Presumably the new king is then faced with the challenge of the rising sea levels; no idea how that plays out.

“We’re all nice to each other here,” they told us, “we’ve got angels in the hills. They like it when we’re nice. And they see everything.”

This one’s tough to summarize adequately. Two men are going door to door, seemingly taking a survey of the religious beliefs in a small town. They finish, sit together in their car. People have been very cooperative. One of the men remarks that the local religious beliefs are disappointingly unremarkable: yes, they believe in angels watching from the hills, but most people believe in an omniscient God watching over them, and whether it is God or his intercessors, does it make a significant difference?

They sit in the car. Perhaps they smoke in the lazy sunlight. They have finished their survey ahead of time. One of them proposes: Suppose we have a picnic lunch up in the hills?

They park at the base of the hill and walk up. Lovely day. They spread out a blanket from the car, stretch their legs out on the grass, take off their coats, loosen their ties. They’ve brought their packed lunch, sandwiches, a thermos of lemonade. They talk about how pleasant all the people were. Their kind of religion seems so ... brittle, one of the men remarks. If I thought there was someone waiting to punish me the moment I stepped out of line, I’d want to do something horrible just to get it over with.

You think so? says his partner. I think just the opposite. The grand problem with religion is that there aren’t enough consequences for wickedness. I know if I saw the wicked being smote down on a regular basis, I would very satisfied in my religion indeed.

Well, of course you would; you’re a sadist.

Me? A sadist? Hardly.

You’re a sadist, his partner says teasingly. A sadist and brute.

They smile at each other. Idle conversation. There is a suggestion that they have visited many such towns and cities, asking the same question, but have yet to receive a satisfactory answer. At one point one of them notes that there’s something in the trees, but this remark is ignored and nothing is ever made of it. The conversation turns back to whether the angels in the hills are real or not. The ‘sadist’ stands up, declares his intent to do something wicked to test them. He marches around, swinging his arms, then looks around at the trees and puts his hands on his hips and laughs.

You know, up here away from society, he declares, I can’t think of a single wicked thing to do!

(Maybe a conversation here about how he could tear branches from trees, despoil the scenery, find an animal to kill; but then again animals in nature strip bark from trees, kill each other bloodily all the time, tear each other to bits, so how wicked could that be, really?)

He looks down at his partner still lying back on the blanket. Unless, of course, I were to do something wicked to you.

Whatever happens next, it is very leisurely. The scene is easy, very relaxed. Lovely day. Calm. Bright blue sky. Clouds float across it, white like feathered wings, and then pass, leaving not a trace behind.

None of us can imagine what life was like before the Clocks came, before clockwork cities, and all their technology. They rebuilt our crumbling society, in perfect, mechanical order. 

Brief musings on a hypothetical pre-Clock society. A society built around the sun, all buildings roofless, everyone’s necks craned upward. Cities built running north to south so as not to block anyone’s view of the rise and set. A society built around hourglasses, everyone judging the passage of time by the sand puddling around their feet, knees, waists, clambering up onto growing dunes, waiting for the flip, for the sand to slowly drain away and the furnishings of their homes to be uncovered. Perhaps this was our unimaginable life before the Clocks came: sands stretching far away and bare, the hypothetical counterpart bulb of an hourglass reflected invisible above us, empty and vast with unrealized possibility, waiting to be reset.

When I was very young, I met a bear at the edge of the woods. Before I could play dead, it bowed to me.

Jokey little fic where a child is instructed on the etiquette of bears: when to bow, when to curtsy, when to raise your hands and make yourself as large as possible, when to climb a tree, when to play dead. (Note that grizzlies are territorial, so if they attack you and play dead they’ll leave you alone because the threat is neutralized; whereas black bears are not territorial, so playing dead will do no good because a black bear will only attack if it deliberately wants to fuck you up.)

I was given very specific instructions. Go to the rosebush on a clear night. As the moonlight turns the roses silver, feed them three drops of blood.

After years of trying for a child, a couple turns to an old witch to help. The woman is instructed to eat a rose from a magical rosebush. If she first pricks her finger and stains the rose red with her blood, then she will have a son, ruddy and robust and bold in battle; if she visits the bush on a clear night and eats a rose painted silver by moonlight, then she will have a daughter, as pale and graceful and elegant as the moon.

The woman is uneasy with the implications of this binary, and says so. The witch smiles and gives her a new set of instructions. So she pricks her finger at night, her blood painted black by the moonlight, and nine months later gives birth to a child as black as a rose, who is neither boy nor girl.

Never manged to come up with a plot for this one. The kid grows up to have a career fulfilling all those “Neither man nor woman” prophecies? Eh. Kinda corny. There’s something about gender roles in fairy tales here, but I couldn’t put it together.

Not for the first time, the company time loop drill had gone very, very wrong.

I did actually write a response for this one, but it got too long and I gave up on it. Summary of the rest of the idea I had:

Time resets. Nagle confirms that it is both an actual time loop and a drill; the company is doing a controlled time loop to prepare them for the real thing. People complain. What’s the point of a drill when an actual time loop would let you keep doing things over and over until you get it right? Nagle points out that could take years, subjectively, and that this is a controlled experience where he has a code to abort the exercise if anything seriously goes wrong. He insists they try to make it work.

They go through a bunch of loops. Don’t succeed. It’s highly technical stuff that none of them are trained for. Morale drops. People start complaining, they’ve spent hours at this, they should be off duty by now. Nagle points out there’s a ruling, established with VR training, that companies don’t need to pay their employees according to their subjective experience of time, and officially they’ve only spent 34 minutes at this.

More loops. Morale drops further. People start demanding Nagle use the abort code, threatening to quit. Nagle points out that while they’re in this time loop, their actions are consequence-free, but once he ends the loop they’ll have to live with their decisions for the rest of their lives. Are they sure they really want to quit?

At that point someone loses it and kills Nagle. Shock. Panic. Some satisfaction. He’s reborn the next loop, starts screaming about it - someone kills him again. Complete social breakdown. Eventually some people decide, fuck it, let’s just live in this loop forever. Killing Nagle becomes a standard thing they do at the start of every loop, so that he can’t input the abort code. They go through various reconfigurations of their social group - orgies, riots, open paranoia where everyone colonizes a different part of the building, regressing to primitivism, open warfare between various sects, rebuilding of society along different axes of thought. Everyone starts thinking of themselves as immortal, they start calling themselves things like ‘Chronobog of the Infinite Plane of Despair’ or whatever; the narration gets increasingly surreal.

After god knows how many cycles of this, everyone finally achieves an equilibrium of perfect enlightenment. They know what must be done. They leave Nagle alive, he watches as they move in perfect unison to unlock the server room and overcome all the obstacles and repair the tachyon servers, loop is finally terminated, normal flow of time resumes.

Nagle stands up, gives a speech, starts congratulating them on completing the drill. As he talks, everyone can feel the rapport they’ve built start to slip away - they no longer understand each other perfectly outside of the context of those 34 minutes. Time is moving forward again, and with it introducing unfamiliarity, uncertainty, an impossible onslaught of variables that they cannot predict or prepare for, and they are all moving inescapably further from each other even as they glance around and try to catch each other’s eyes and keep holding on to that feeling of perfect unity - but it’s too late now, they are strangers behind familiar faces, all of them heading in their own directions, going to be returning to their own separate lives; that moment of solidarity they had is past.

And then Nagle claps his hands at them and says, “OK, drill’s over, everyone back to work!”

[miistymemorii]

Promises

summary: It’s the end of the line. The plan is set to get Grogu back from Moff Gideon. You and Mando have one last conversation.

warnings: fluff, angst :,) 

*****SPOILERS FOR LAST EPISODE OF MANDO S2!! DONT READ ANY FURTHER UNLESS YOU”VE SEEN THE EPISODE*****

As long as you’d known him, you had never doubted Mando. You knew how smart he was, how capable he was to get himself in the right situations and out of the tough ones. He was a skilled fighter who had grown up on the importance of loyalty, especially when it came to one’s family. You knew that there was a fire lit under his ass after Grogu had been stolen and he would do anything to get him back. So you knew that your fear for his mission for saving Grogu didn’t come from some incapability he may have had. It came from the unpredictability of Moff Gideon.

You didn’t know anything about the man, only that he was a monster who had stolen the child that meant so much to your little clan. You were as determined as Mando to get Grogu back but you knew it was an extremely dangerous mission, and you definitely weren’t as trained in combat as Mando, Boba Fett, Fennec, Cara Dune, or Bo Katan. That’s why you had agreed with Mando to stay back with Boba on the ship, escaping after Mando and his ground support landed on the cruiser. You wished you could be more helpful, but Mando told you the risks and how he couldn’t lose you.

You were standing outside the bridge of Boba’s ship where the group was going over the plan one more time. It was almost time to get started and you paced back and forth, worry settling into the deepest parts of your being. The door to the bridge opened and you whipped around. It was Mando.

You gulped. “I guess it’s time, huh?” you said weakly.

Mando didn’t speak. Instead, he gently took you by the wrist and led you into a small storage room. After the door closed behind you, he took you gently in his arms, holding you against his cold beskar chest.

You let him hold you in silence for a moment, then you said, “You’re going to get him back.”

Mando nodded slightly but said nothing, continuing to hold you close. You figured he was thinking. You desperately wished to be close to him, to hear his heartbeat as he held you because you knew it would give you some insight as to what he was feeling. But all you had was this cold, hard fortress of beskar against the smooth skin of your cheek. 

“I need you to do something for me.” Mando said, breaking the silence.

You puled back from his embrace slightly to look at him. “What is it?”

His helmet tilted downwards at you and you could tell he was studying from behind the visor. “I need you to promise me something.”

You felt a lump form in your throat and you nodded. “Anything.”

“I... I need you to promise me that... that you’ll be my... mate.”

His weight shifted and you could tell he was... nervous?

You felt all the breath leave your lungs. and you whispered, “Mate?”

You heard a small sound through his modulator and you knew he had gulped. Again, you could tell he was nervous, it was just such a foreign thing to you: Mando being nervous. “Yes, my mate. I guess the more common term is wife. I want you to marry me.”

You didn’t know what to say. You continued to state at his helmet, your mouth slightly agape. A strangled sound came from your throat, all vocabulary out the window. You could still feel the gaze of Mando’s eyes through his visor ad you so desperately wanted the silence to be filled.

“Please say yes.” he whispered.

You moved your hands from where they rested on his shoulders up neck, feeling the cloth there. You dipped your finger slightly and felt a small part of exposed skin. You closed your eyes and just from that small sliver of skin... you remembered everything about him that you loved. Sometimes it was hard to think about how utterly basic Mando was; he had feelings like regular people, he was more than just a beskar fortress of solitude.

“Yes.”

It was a tight fit, but you were able to skim your fingers over his neck until you found his pulse. It was fast, but you began to feel it slow.

“You... yes?” he repeated incredulously.

You opened your eyes and smiled at him. “Yes. I will marry you, Mando. I will be your mate.”

He froze for a moment and you became slightly worried for him, but that worry melted away when he gently cradled you face in his hands. His gloves were smooth and warm and you wondered what his hands, his real hands, felt like. He tiled his head slightly towards yours, your forehead gently pressed against what you assumed was his forehead beneath the mask.

“Please call me Din.” he said quietly. There was a twang in his voice and you assumed he was smiling underneath the helmet. 

You smiled and replied, “Okay, Din. It would be an honor to be your wife. But please... promise you’ll come home to me. I...I need you.” your voice broke slightly at the end and you gently put yourself back against his chest.

He wrapped his arms around you, holding you tight against him. “I promise. I promise I will come home to you. I need you too.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Boba was successful in getting the two of you away from the cruiser after the group had infiltrate it. You flew in silence to the rendezvous planet and your mind raced with horrible scenarios in which Din and the baby never came back. It wasn’t helpful to be so negative, you knew that, but you couldn’t help it. Boba noticed your nervousness and tried to make light talk to ease your mind, but it didn’t help much, so he offered one of the bunks in the ship for you to use and sleep in. You lied down on the bunk and your mind still raced. Your thoughts must’ve been powerfully busy because you found yourself drifting off to sleep.

You were awoken by Boba some time later. He informed you that you had arrived at your destination and that he had found an Inn for you to rest better at while the two of you waited. You went into the Inn and again found the bed, but this time you refused to let yourself sleep. Boba waited in a small lounge that was connected to the rooms and though he was right outside your door, you felt utterly alone. It wasn’t until nightfall that the group came back. You heard shuffling outside your door and you jumped up from the bed, twisting your hands. Your mind began racing again: “Oh god what if something happened what if he failed what if he's gone what if the kid’s gone what if-”

Mando burst into the room, quickly closing the door behind him. You felt your chest deflate slightly as you sighed in relief, tears welling in your eyes. Before you could speak he was close to you, his frame towering over yours. He pulled you into a tight hug but before you could wrap your arms around him, he pulled back.

“Mando- Din, is everything alright?” you asked quietly. 

He didn’t answer. Instead, he took your hands and put them on the sides o his helmet. He quickly moved his hands over yours, removing the helmet. Out of instinct, you screwed your eyes shut. You heard him laugh, actually laugh, ad though you had heard it before (although sparingly), the sound was so foreign to you. ‘It’s because he doesn’t have the helmet on’, you realized.

“Please... Y/N... look at me.” he said quietly.

“But Din... your creed...”

“Please.” he pressed.

You slowly opened your eyes. Oh god, he was... beautiful. You gasped slightly when you fully saw his face. He was nothing like you had imagined him to be, but dank ferrik was he the most handsome man you had ever seen. You reached out to touch his face but pulled back. He was too precious to touch.

“Din... you’re so... beautiful.” you whispered.

He smiled at you and you melted. You noticed a few tears fall from his eyes and you gently wiped them away. “Din... I love you so much...” 

He pulled you even closer, if that was possible, and put his forehead against yours. It felt so good to be able to touch him, skin to skin. You felt the bond between you two strengthen.

“I love you too... so much.” he whispered back. He gently took your face in his hands and stroked your cheeks with his thumbs. His hands were rough and warm, just as you had imagined them to be. 

He slowly put his lips against yours and you gasped. You fell into his embrace and kissed him back. He held you close, kissing you passionately, and your hands tangled themselves in his hair. They didn’t stay in his hair long, however, because you were greedy to feel all of him. they moved from his hair to his shoulders, then to his face, which you cradled, relishing in the soft scratch of his stubble.

The two of you pulled back after a moment, gasping for breath. He chuckled slightly and you felt a giggle escape. You two laughed for a moment, holding each other close, giving each other small pecks in between laughs. After a moment you said, “Din... where’s Grogu?”

He led you to the bed and you two sat on the edge. “A Jedi came for him. When we went to the... magic rock and he called out, he was heard. And he was saved.”

“So he’s... gone?” you asked.

Din nodded solemnly. “He is. He’s gone with the Jedi to train. But... I promised him I would see him again. I knw he’s safe, but I will find him again.”

You smiled and stroked his cheek affectionately. “Well aren’t you full of promises today?”

He smiled right back. “I guess I am, aren’t I?”

The two of you continued to talk and kiss, exploring this new territory. After a while you went out to meet the other members of your small band, where Din and you announced that you two were to be wed. You two slept in the same bed that night and whispered in the darkness. Though Grogu was gone, you knew he was safe with he Jedi, and you took comfort in the new clan of two that you were apart of. 

This was your new life. 

This way your new happiness.

This is the way.

[jngles]

Thoughts You Definitely All Asked For on ‘The Mandalorian’ Season 2 Finale!!

These are in chronological order for the show.

One of my biggest fears about them reintroducing Boba Fett was that by removing some of his mystery, they would make him less cool. Thank god that has not been the case. He’s still an aloof and nasty piece of work but with dimensions added.

We all know the Empire is most often a metaphor for America right? At least when it’s not being Nazi Germany? The Imperial pilot talking about destroying an entire planet (of peaceful weaponless civilians no less) to stop terrorism hits a little too close to home of the nuclear bombs the US has dropped and the endless destruction of the Middle East in the “war against terror.” And of course we frame all our wars in similar language like “our troops died to keep our country safe,” which hasn’t really been true since WWII.

I do think it’s worth noting that this is the first time SW has had someone acknowledge the human losses of the Death Star blasts. Usually it’s framed as a loss in construction time, strategical advantage, and power. The Empire proved time and time again that the lives of its soldiers were utterly expendable, which always made me question why people remained loyal outside of fear. Through this pilot’s phrasing, you can see the propaganda Imperial superiors used to twist the truth to their followers, always blaming those deaths on Rebel aggression instead of prideful Imperial neglect (I.e. not abandoning ship when there was still time) or even direct Imperial aggression like Operation Cinder where they fired on thousands of their own (discussed in S2E7.)

You can’t tell me Din wasn’t into it when Cara shot that asshole pilot. That cold faced revenge shot? 100% Mandalorian style, and also very very hot.

I appreciate that it was a pretty equal match between Boba and Koska Reeves. So much of Boba’s advantage comes from his suit, but since she also has one, it’s a battle of wits on how to use it, and they even out. This both maintains his legendary badassery and also that of highly trained Mandalorian warriors, and hopefully avoids asshole chauvinist SW fans on the internet complaining abujt “pandering to feminism” (fuck off @ all of them, especially since Mercedes Vernado who plays Reeves is a WWE champ and could kick all of your asses.)

Din point blank asked how many Death Troopers there are and Dr. Pershing never answered, and that annoys me.

Why is no one suspicious why Dr. Pershing is being so helpful and revealing so much information? He totally did not have to tell them about the Dark Troopers or any of the specifics of locations on the ship. He’s still with the empire post-fall, implying he’s a loyalist, so... wtf on his part (since no tricks come of it), and “be smarter” on the part of everyone else. Unless he’s been captive as a clone engineer all this time. But couldn’t he have made his escape back in Season 1 when Din killed everyone at that lab to get the kid back?

Bo Katan really could’ve just told them how the retrieval of the dark saber needs to work in the flight before the mission instead of being vague about “he belongs to me.”

Boba Fett’s usage of “Princess” and “don’t worry about me” are a good throwback to Han Solo and the culture they both grew up in. You can never quite tell if it’s based in misogyny or resentment for upper classes, but both of them seem to use it as a shield for begrudging respect they hold for a woman they think is brave but following a fool’s errand (the Rebellion and retaking Mandalore).

The Comms Officer (Katy O’Brian) assisting Moff Gideon will forever and always look like Ilana Glazer to me, and then I get swept up imagining what would happen if the Broad City cast accidentally got transported to Star Wars.

The launch tube sequence has some amazing cinematography.

The second I saw Boba was cut off from the pack, I really thought they were going to kill him again and make his return bittersweet. Glad they didn’t.

God this team of Bo Katan, Koska Reeves, Fennec Shand, and Cara Dune is SO BADASS. I’m just obsessed with all these characters and their various motivations to get shit done. I honestly didn’t even think about the fact it’s all women until my re-watch, showing that the writers made it feel natural, the way women deserve to have their representation done. You can bet I am SO EXCITED for my future daughter and the wealth of possibilities she’s going to have of characters to play pretend as, action figures she can relate to, Halloween costumes to wear, etc. It’s so validating that we’ve gone from only Princess Leia as a female main character to all these women + Rey, Jyn Erso, Ahsoka, etc. etc.

Can’t wait for the trap remix of the Dark Trooper activation noises. (And the transition from that to the minimalist flute theme is perfect.)

The spy movie version of the main theme music is sick.

The Dark Trooper droid faces have a lot of similarity to Darth Vader’s mask. That callback is especially apparent when the one is literally lit from the inside with fire. He was already a martyr/legend to the Imperial remnants, Kylo Ren didn’t start the trend of ignoring his redemption.

Cara’s “excuse me” right before shooting up Stormtroopers is hilarious. Literally “can’t talk rn, doing hot girl shit and murdering space Nazis.”

Finally an Imperial ship got some frickin security cameras. Truly- the amount of times people just wander down hallways they’re not supposed to be in with no one being able to find them throughout the course of Star Wars is ridiculous when you think about the degree of surveillance our real life society carries out. I also love that this means The Mandalorian characters have also seen The Mandalorian.

The storytelling does such a service to Pedro Pascal and his already heroic efforts to portray emotion through a helmet. For example: Din easily could’ve killed the one stormtrooper outside Grogu’s cell much more efficiently, but instead, to show his absolute rage, they wrote in Din choking him out with a spear.

Moff Gideon would have been the BIGGEST pain in the ass in philosophy class. “Assume I know everything” my ass. I want to hear about his backstory (he would’ve been “coming of age” at the time of the Clone Wars) mostly just to hear about him getting bullied at school.

Smart move honestly, to try to tempt Din with the Mandalorian throne, given the Mandalorian power struggles of the past. Proud of our boy for keeping his priorities straight.

So has the blood from Grogu been transferred out of the ship and back to the remnant empire already, or do they have to find a new “donor” to help with building Snoke and Palpatine’s clones? Will they continue to go after him with Luke?

Lmao Din being so annoyed by Bo Katan being stringent about the tradition of winning the Dark Saber through combat is HILARIOUS, coming from a man who up until like a day ago hadn’t shown his face to a living being in decades.

The dark troopers can punch in blast doors but NOT Din’s helmet?? That’s a wild testament to beskar. Somehow that’s the comparison that sticks out to me, more even than its resistance to lightsabers.

This show works because of the cynicism of so many characters adding contrast to the moments of heart. Cara Dune is not a “fan” the way Rey was (for the record I love Rey, don’t come at her, it’s just different). Cara doesn’t see an X-Wing and go OMG THE REBELLION I LOVE THEM. She’s been through too much to believe in the magic saviourism of the “good guys,” and is instead thinking strategically when she, the one Rebel present, brushes off the usefulness of “one X-Wing.” The only positive things she seems to feel in battle situations are moments of relief and brief satisfaction in hurting the empire, with a dark knowledge that it will never make up for the hurt they did to her.

How do you keep a cloak hood on while fighting? Both from a technical standpoint (my hats fall off without me even having to move- is he expending force energy just to keep it on and look cool lol?) and also because idk, maybe it’s just me, but peripheral vision is helpful when surrounded by killer robots on a thin bridge above oblivion. I know his first lesson was to “see” through the force, but every resource helps, right?

Now that she has the ship, I wonder if Bo Katan can reprogram any salvageable Dark Troopers to help with retaking Mandalore?

There is nothing like seeing Luke’s fighting style, with its efficient choppiness and twinge of darkness. I always wonder how much is natural and how much is influenced by his first fights with Vader (that Skywalker diva flair). I love how they’ve advanced his technique but also kept him extremely “grey” here- like to straight up COMBUST a Dark Trooper takes some violent energy lol.

How tf is Moff Gideon alive after threatening Grogu’s life twice directly? That’s a wild testament to Din’s regard for Cara.

I love how seeing Luke slice through a bunch of murder droids like butter probably was a huge point in his favor for Din actually letting Grogu go with him. Like he will only send his child to boarding preschool if he knows the teacher will be a certified killing machine.

Oh my god they finally brought in some OG Star Wars theme music for Luke to take his hood off to 😭 It felt weird seeing him fight to different music, so the emotional payoff is huge when his themes come back for the face reveal.

Whoever added the digital young Mark Hamill face NAILED those classic shining Luke eyes and the earnest eyebrow lift.

Whoever shines the glass of Baby Yoda’s lil puppet eyeballs each day deserves a raise. The light caught in those babies is devastating.

Din is shaking as he takes off his helmet. This is the most enormous show of love he could give him, and possibly the last he’ll be able to for a long time. He only just got Grogu back and is desperate for a moment of real connection before letting him go once again.

This is the first time anyone has touched Din’s face since... likely his parents as a child.

Whoever wrote this scene clearly actually has kids. Anyone who’s ever had to leave a young child even just to go out for a bit or to drop them off somewhere knows that heartbreak of seeing them look in your eyes and hold on to your leg, trying to keep you with them. Especially when they can sense your mutual separation anxiety. The one thing that starts to make them feel better is something fun like a new toy or friend who can be their guide in the new environment, and R2’s friendly introduction is exactly that (since digital Luke isn’t being particularly emotive or child friendly... I hope that’s just because he’s reaching into Grogu’s mind while also keeping an eye on the multiple people with guns trained on him, not because he’s going to be totally unfeeling raising this kid.)

I love that Grogu and R2 are immediately buddies in contrast to Episode 5 when R2 was like “fuck this guy” @ Yoda stealing food and hitting him with a walking stick lol. I would imagine Luke must be reminded of that first introduction too and entertained by this display of playfulness in a *positive* light between R2 and mini-Yoda.

I need to know if Luke and Ahsoka have met- it is KILLING ME.

Does this mean Grogu will get killed by Kylo Ren when he fucks up Luke’s academy??? I will reincarnate Ben just to kill him again if that’s the case.

How does Luke not even fully SMILE at Grogu?? An adorable little baby version of his beloved master Yoda, and you’re telling me he doesn’t have the same heart stopping gasp we all did when we first saw him?? Maybe he did when they first connected through the force. He has a bit of bemusement on his face, and also wonder in his eyes, but I want a grin of recognition and welcome, dammit.

I really wish Luke had somehow acknowledged Cara Dune. Everyone else seems to see the tear drop Rebel sign and know it means Alderaan. He could’ve been like yo I have a badass warrior sister from your planet that you should meet. Or just “thank you for your service.” (I know this actually wouldn’t have been cinematically good but my heart wants it.)

Luke didn’t tell Din his name?? Or ask for any details about the kid and his care?? I could literally never let my kid go with someone, regardless of how worthy, and not be like, “Excuse me sir who are you and where tf are you taking my tiny beloved green goblin in case I need to find him? Here is my contact info. He likes to eat frogs and eggs, and he can have macarons as a treat. He’s 50 years old and his favorite toy is still a ball. Bedtime is 8pm and he’s allergic to dairy.”

Another reason I wish Luke had identified himself would be to see the mishmash of reactions that would ensue. Cara would be like DAMN IT’S THAT GUY WHO BLEW UP THE DEATH STAR AND KILLED THE EMPEROR, ACT COOL (and she would indeed act cool). Fennec would be like ugh it’s that guy who helped kill my best paying client Jabba the Hutt and then fucked over my boss Boba, I helped save the kid for THIS? And I would LOVE to know how Bo Katan feels about him, assuming she’s heard of him, and especially if she knows he’s Anakin Skywalker’s son. That confusion is probably the reason WHY the writers didn’t have him reveal himself- they didn’t want to break the emotion of the scene.

Let‘s all be real I’m just being needy about wanting things from Luke because of what he meant to me as a kid and my resulting innate need to have more canon of him, whatever it is, whenever I can get it. Especially in this form that’s so similar to ROTJ, a movie I watched on endless repeat. Even getting this was incredible though. Who else could we trust this lil heart-stealing green bean with so fully? Yet who would be so arrogant as to try to train a baby yodling (see: Ahsoka’s wise refusal)?

R2 is reckless as hell lmao. Not that we don’t already know that, but for him to just head on in, effectively abandoning Luke’s ship (how can they know if there are more troopers or not who might blow it up?) and also putting himself in the path of the ridiculously deadly Dark Troopers is NUTS. I’m usually on his side but he absolutely deserves a scolding by C3PO for this one.

I wonder if Grogu has any memories of R2 or vice versa since they did occupy the Jedi Temple at the same time. Can Grogu understand droids? They could swap stories about mutual acquaintances.

Does Din pretty much have to go with Bo Katan now since a) he’s shown his face and may not be able to go back to the Watch, and b) because he has the darksaber and has to figure out how to get it back to her without dying?

How in the hell did Bib Fortuna (whose chins age was not kind to) go from being butler to being boss? Were all the henchmen just like, “Fuck yeah, no Hutt parents no rules, let’s do what we want!!” And then they’ve spent the last ten years living off of whatever money they could salvage from Jabba’s non-banked wealth? Why has no one challenged them for that prime real estate and loot? I would love to hear that story.

Fennec Shand says “respect sex workers” so you better fuckin’ do it.

Idk dude Bib Fortuna really was a good butler, and he seemed pretty willing to comply with whoever’s in power. Did he screw Boba over in his attempt to return from the dead and earn that killing shot somehow? Or was this to make sure there was no one left who would have a claim to loyalty? Or maybe Boba just really wanted to sit in that chair.

Does “The Book of Boba Fett” mean we’re not on Din Djarin’s story anymore? Or is it a new show? I would much prefer the latter. I want to see Din help retake Mandalore or at least get a hug.

[magnolia-penn]

Future Vision Chapter 2

DIO? God?

Oop- sorry this took so long. It took me forever to write and I had no motivation to type it all from my notebook.

Also, brownie points to whoever finds the Avatar: The Last Airbender reference.

Warnings: Swearing (so much swearing), Spoilers (sorta), mention of death (no one important) lemme know if I missed anything

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"31 years!" Polnareff shouted in disbelief.

"Apparently." You shrugged, already over it.

The men were flabbergasted about your current predicament. Stands were a fairly new concept and to think that there was a Stand strong enough to pull you from the future, breaking all sorts of time and space laws? You'd have to be crazy!

Yet… There you were, completely adapted to the strange situation. You were thrown almost double the amount of years you existed and all it took was a quick scream session behind a sand dune for you to calm down? 

"You seem so startled. Stands have crazy abilities. My friend, Magnolia, works alongside a mafia boss with the ability to create infinite life and make it so you can never truly reach death!" You pumped your fist in the air in excitement. "Time travel doesn't seem that far out. My Stand isn't too terribly special, especially compared to some of the other Stands I've seen, but it's pretty cool."

The group's confusion settled deeper as you went on a tangent about future Stands that your friend has described from her time working at the Speedwagon Foundation. You used words that didn't make sense, phrases they didn't understand, but your growing excitement caused them to nod along with you.

"OH! And Stands can be upgraded! Although we do-" You cut yourself off suddenly, eyes zoned out.

You didn't say anything, just stared into the endless expanse of sand and heat. It was Kakyoin who spoke up first.

"Y/n? Are you alright?"

You snapped out of your trance with a start. "I FORGOT TO FEED MY FISH SHIT SEND ME BACK!"

Your sudden outburst sent Polnareff jumping back into Mr. Joestar, your attention dragged to him as his face dropped from confusion to somber defeat.

You picked up on the nervous weight shifts and glances away. You tried to look back at the man who brought you here, only for Mr. Joestar to clear his throat, bringing the attention back to him. He fumbled with his words a bit, trying to justify the shift in attention, but he ultimately failed.

"Oh ho no, I see what's going on," You said after Mr. Joestar gave up on trying to explain. "This fuck-" a pointed finger towards the corpse behind you, "was my only ticket back to the future?"

"Well no. Technic-" You cut the older man off.

"'Uh well no'," you mocked. "Lemme guess, he would've been the easiest way?"

"Now, Miss Y/n, there is no need to be so aggressive. I'm sure we can figure everything out. Our enemy, DIO, has a lackey-" 

You cut Avdol off as well.

"DIO? God? In Italian? What kind of narcissist names their kid 'God' in Italian?"

You gave a snort before falling into a fit of mocking laughter. Your humor was short lived, though, as Jotaro finally spoke up. Or shouted I guess.

"Can you shut up? Good grief, all you do is yap! God, all you women are the same."

You stopped your laughter to stare at the teen clad in black, sizing him up. It was a tense couple of minutes, an unstoppable force and an unmovable object locked in a stubborn standoff.

After a bit, you let out a chuckle and let your head fall back to face the sky.  You watched the clouds for a second before sighing.

"You know, Joots," You catch him visibly tense from the nickname. "I see why you become a marine biologist in the future. The ocean is powerful and terrifying. It's been like that from the beginning. My friend often describes me like the ocean, although, unlike the tides, who have decided to kill you millions of years ago," You bring your hand up near your face before clenching it into a fist, shimmering from the effects of your Stand. "I still haven't made up my mind."

Jotaro's face turns sour in fear for a split second before returning to the default steely glare. You watched in amusement as his Stand began to manifest, but the hesitation you saw in the purple being's eyes told you all you needed to know.

Jotaro was, at the very least, cautious of you.

But also curious.

You managed to make full contact with Hierophant Green, something no one can do unless a Stand is initiating the contact. Kakyoin also couldn't see you, so how could it've climbed up you? Stand don't act on their own violations.

You also mentioned the future Jotaro. He becomes a marine biologist? And one famous enough to be known by teenagers? Jotaro can't even name a famous marine biologist.

He figured killing you know would be disastrous, there was still much to learn from you. Maybe you held knowledge that once came with hindsight.

"Nice to see we're in agreement." Jotaro gruffed out, allowing Star Platinum to fully dissipate.

A small smile graced your features as you extended the same hand you threatened him with.

"Well then, a truce. Until we decide to kill each other." 

Jotaro nodded and took your hand, allowing a handshake to secure your mortalities.

For now.

"MON DIEU! I THOUGHT SHE WAS DEAD!" Polnareff wailed suddenly, startling the group.

Tension rolled off all of you as Avdol let out a sigh of relief. "I am quite surprised you are alive as well. Not many people can insult Jotaro and walk away intact, Y/n."

You chuckled and waved off the man's concern. "I may only have six brain cells, but I'm not stupid. He wouldn't do shit. Not without knowing what I can do."

"Is that so?" Jotaro let a small smirk slip out. It's hard not to grin when you were acting stupid.

You nodded and hummed in agreement. "I like to think I'm good at reading people."

Jotaro only scoffed and rolled his eyes, although there was an inset glimmer of amusement deep with those cerulean orbs.

"So what exactly does your Stand do?" Mr. Joestar asked the elephant in the room.

"Hmm? Oh, my Stand. Okay, so, here's the thing. My Stand is actually really weak." You confessed.

"My Stand, Chemical Romance, is only really good for getting info from people. I'm often called in to the Speedwagon Foundation to help with interrogations. My Stand allows me to talk to and understand other Stands. All those unintelligible noises your Stand makes are actually your soul trying to communicate, and Chem translates them for me. Even silent Stands or Stands with no humanoid form." You glanced at Mr. Joestar. "I can also touch and interact with them, like I did for Hierophant Green. Also, and we think this might just be a radius effect, but Stands become more sentient around me. They think for themselves."

And….. just like that you lost them. It's hard to understand  such complex Stands when all they know is Many Punch, Tasteful Nudes, French Sword, Fire Bird, and Shiny Rock.

"So… You can't actually follow through with your previous threats?" Kakyoin asked cautiously.

"Excuse you! Just who in the hell do you think you are? I am a whole ass person shaped can of whoop ass and no weak ass Stand or Death Parade wannabe looking ass is going to beat me!" You pumped your fist in the air again.

"Whew- That's the sort of can-do attitude our team needs." Mr. Joestar chuckled. "Wait, that wouldn't be a bad idea!"

"Oh ho? Does the great Joseph Joestar have an idea? Careful, Old Man, thinking can hurt ya." You joked.

"No no no no no hear me out. You need to get back to the future, we need to stop DIO from murdering everybody and taking over the world." Mr. Joestar explained. "We both have to get to Cairo for DIO! Join us! You and your Stand are really useful!"

Surprise crossed your face before slipping back to its usual cool façade.

"Nah, I was kind of digging the idea of shriveling up dead in the desert. Although~" you drawled. "I guess, if you're so desperate for my help. It would be immoral for me not to help you, you're so old, even thinking about fighting DIO is going to trigger a heart attack."

You snorted out a laugh and Mr. Joestar did chuckle a bit before you realized something.

"Sooo. Who exactly DIO? Other than some bitch who wants to take over the world." 

As quickly as a light flicking out of existence, the once humorous and airy atmosphere of the group became tense and tragic. The utter rage, disgust, and hatred for this mysterious man was palpable. Even the fun and boisterous Jean-Pierre Polnareff extruded murderous intent.

"DIO is a very bad man." Avdol broke the silence, but found himself unable to say more.

"Thanks for the life lesson, Dad," you spit sarcastically. "No. Who is he and what might he have done to sound so familiar."

"DIO is a monster that was created by greed and a lust for power. He is a vampire who ruthlessly slaughtered those who took him in when he was orphaned at the age of twelve." Mr. Joestar explained grimly. "He rejected his humanity to become something monstrous and immortal, but even now, that wasn't enough for him."

"He's notorious throughout the Speedwagon Foundation, whose founder fought him a hundred years ago. I wouldn't doubt it if his story still circulated in your years, Y/n." Avdol completed.

"All of us are here now because of DIO. Polnareff and I were under his control because of a flesh bud, Advol was almost conned into the same situation, and Jotaro's mother, Joseph's daughter, is under attack by her own Stand because it was forcibly awoken by him." Kakyoin said, then shot you a soft smile. "And I guess you as well."

"Oh yeah! Eli did mention they were looking for a girl who could strengthen DIO's Stand, so I guess he is why you're here!" Polnareff's smile returned to his face at the prospect of making a new friend who was in the same boat as them.

"Y'know, think back on it, I do vaguely remember my friend mentioning your mom, Joots." That damned nickname again. "Stand Sickness is what we call it now. That might be where I know DIO from." You shrugged like it wasn't a big deal. "Anywho, now that that's settled, can we get out of the desert? I'm roasting to death."

"Oh! Of course! We have to get to the next town before nightfall anyways. To the car!" Mr. Joestar cheered.

You all piled into the three rowed vehicle. Jotaro and Polnareff sat in the way back, you and Kakyoin sat in the middle, with Mr. Joestar and Avdol occupying the front.

The road to the next town was filled with fill ins. They explained how they came together and how they defeated their foes that found them at every turn. You spoke of how the world has changed and advanced. You showed them your music and all the apps on your phone. You found that you were still connected to your home wifi at full strength, but you couldn't comment or post anything. All true contact to those in the future was cut off, but you could still consume media.

As the dust and corpse was left behind, you could feel the newly forged bonds between you and the men around you strengthen and grow, becoming more entangled and intertwined. And you felt happy about it.

[cloudy0103]

WARNING: OPINION => WHY MANDALORIAN SEASON 2 FINALE SUCKED

So this is how its going to go.... there are spoilers and I am also going to into negative feelings and my own take away from all of this so just far warning 

This season has been a disaster in my mind. All of a sudden, Mando is incompetent, Baby Yoda has no powers, and all these random people from different series show up continuously. I am not a die hard fan but at the same time I have a general knowledge of the series. What I loved about the first season was that (1) it could stand on its own (2) it mostly made sense about their universe, and (3) it always felt like time went too quickly and I wanted to stay with them for longer period of time. This season, however, it took away all of those things and every episode I either got bored, confused and even frustrated with all the characters that I grew to love as they mostly just forgot who they were. This happened throughout the series and what frustrated me was everyone that just blindly praised it because it was better than the movies (which is a plus but not the reason I should be watching this series) I have watched the finale and I cannot contain my emotions without spelling them out. 

So, up to this point, baby yoda has been taken by Moff Gideon and we got Boba, Fennac and Mando on the case to get back our baby boy! This was a weak setup but I knew that this was a formula that has worked and I was ready to see my dad son duo back together. We open with Dr. Pershing (why? because!) and that Mando takes him into his care to get the kid. I could understand this as he is a Empire underling but we forget about his presence just as fast as he boards the ship. Next, we have to do a finale rollcall and need to get Bo-Katan and her other lady friend (and what the hell happened to the other guy?? I guess he just wanted out) and what is the first thing she says? “Hey Boba, you are not a Mandalorian”... what was that line for you may ask for context as I could just be misremembering?? Well it was for Boba and the lady friend to get into a fight otherwise this was completely pointless!!! They do get into a fight and the lady friend has just basically become OP and Boba is an old man. This, in my opinion, should have gone the other way with Boba beating the crap out of the friend. Why? Because he is more experience and we just saw him recently TAKE OUT A BUNCH OF PEOPLE LIKE THE BADA$$ HE IS TO JUST BE BEAT UP BY A PERSON I COULD NOT GIVE ONE RIP ABOUT! So of course because Bo-Katan has to be idk strong or crafty or whatever you want to call her, she needs a motive to go with (I thought she had one since idk SHES BEEN LOOKING FOR MOFF GIDEON THIS WHOLE TIME) but they figure it out yada yada lets go get my baby! 

Well! Not just yet because we need to talk about the plan first! Usually I would be ok with that kind of scene HOWEVER we have not had that father son bonding in the previous episode and I was worried about my little guy! But this plan was also very stupid as they are going to send a distress signal from the TIE fighter that Dr. Pershing was on to Moff Gideon’s ship as Boba plays the bad guy chasing them all over the place to “look convincing” but they forgot one little itty detail that I think is super important THE EMPIRE DOES NOT CARE ABOUT THEIR TROOPS! WE SAW THAT OTHER GUY KILL THEIR OWN PEOPLE IN THE BEGINNING OF THE EPISODE AND THROUGHOUT THIS SERIES SO WHY THE HELL WOULD THEY CARE ABOUT THIS ONE TIE FIGHTER? OH THATS RIGHT PLOT! Then the one underling that usually gets permission from Moff Gideon’s just blindly sends out a TIE fighter to help! I don’t think we are dark side anymore... my feeling is that this would work for the Republic or Rebels but not the Empire or First Order... what would have made more sense in my opinion is if Moff Gideon sent out the TIE fighters to get rid of both ships as they are in his airspace and because he’s just evil that way. But anyways we have our fight and they crash land a la star wars fashion and get inside. Gideon must like playing with his food as he took forever to initiate to Dark-troopers. Now, these guys look cool and have been built up all this time so I got excited “yes I finally get to see them in action!” Just for Mando to close the door and only ONE to figure out to get the door open to fight him and the others to take a coffee break or whatever as they seem to just give up on following orders. So we get the fight but we knew he had to get out to save our boy but he gets completely beat up and gets one lucky shot to stop it and then the haha joke of opening the airlock (except before they had jetpacks so this wouldn’t have worked but whatever I want to get to baby yoda as fast as possible) Throughout this whole time we have been going back and forth between him and the girl squad. This was fine and all but then Bo-Katan had to open her mouth and say” Where is Gideon?” ARE YOU SERIOUS LADY? OF COURSE HE IS WITH BABY YODA AND NOT ON THE DECK BECASUE HE KNOWS ITS MANDO! DID YOU HIT YOUR HEAD?!?! 

So right, you are probably thinking “ok, well finally they get reunited” yes they do however, our beat up Mando got a one up or extra life because he beats up the two guards with ease and gets in to find dun dun DUN Moff Gideon with baby yoda with the shiny dark saber. This is when I turned off as Moff Gideon has his “I’m evil let me explain why” speech to Mando who basically tells him he doesn’t care. Then he does the evil villain thing of “oh you just want the child, you can have him, haha psych!” and we have the fight. This is what I was waiting for the final duel but then I realized that the dark saber kind of sucks. It cannot cut through the Beskar staff and he struggles they whole time so of course Mando wins. The one thing that I really wanted to see what Mando kill Moff Gideon. I know that everyone wanted him alive but then again, Mando has killed for less. Plus he KIDNAPPED BABY YODA! HE NEEDS TO DIE! HOW DARE YOU STEAL MY CHILD! 

But anyways he get the saber and they go to the deck and we have the “why do you have the saber?” And I just sighed as I knew what was coming next. The “I am not the leader unless I have said object” plus the “must be won in a real fight otherwise I didn’t earn it even though no one would know unless I told them.” Mando says he yields and Moff keeps having his evil dialogue. If I was Mando I would have just dropped the saber and say “Anyone can take it now” but after that rambling dialogue, what should happen? The Dark-Troopers come back and remember “oh right, we have jet packs! We can go back to our initiative!” They are all freaking out and forget that they have a prisoner that we are definitely not watching as he shoots at Bo-Katan and then back to baby yoda where Mando uses himself as a human shield. Of course he fails and tries to kill himself but is unsuccessful because he did it so slowly and Cara Dune is lightning speed. Well, it looks hopeless as the Dark-Troopers are coming and they are not prepared and only two blast doors between them... what should happen? THE EAGLES OF COURSE! Here comes 1 and I mean 1 X-wing fighter into the hanger bay (which is still open??) which is Luke Skywalker (who is one of my favorites in the original trilogy) as he comes in with so much confidence and just god-mode activated as he just slices through every Dark-Trooper like they were toys. Let’s talk about the Dark-Troopers; they built them up to be so evil because they are just machines and will just do what they do best which is kill things. Well, apparently they had a safety on because they won’t work as a unit (even though they had that weird formation when they first kidnapped baby yoda) and slowly just wait for Luke to just to cut them down. So right he gets into the elevator and the music is intense as they all look at the security screen for way too long as the dark troopers just wait for him to come and kill them so I thought “green light?” and then mayhem ensues. So after all of that, Mando does the smart thing and says to open the doors. Well the girl squad had a problem with that (why? IDK HE JUST SAVED YOUR LIVES!!) but he ignores them and opens the door. So we have our heartbreaking scene of them saying goodbye which I was already upset about because I’m like can’t they like idk give Mando a ride since he has no ship and he could be his R2D2 because even in training they were allowed to see other people so idk why this is a problem now.  

Well if you read this far, thank you for taking the time to read ALL of my ranting as I did really want this to succeed as I loved the first season so much! But with all of the rosy glasses and just random action scene praising, I just wanted another prospective to be present.

[spectraspecs-writes]

Tatooine - Chapter 62 (Carth)

Link to the masterpost. Chapter 61. Chapter 63.

@averruncusho​ @ceruleanrainblues​ thank you for reading you get a tag

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The only thing particularly flammable we have on hand, much to Bastila’s dismay, is the bantha fodder. This makes the entire cave smell, but she manages to distance herself by reading through her father’s holocron, which is also in this cave. Me, I’ve smelled worse. Frankly the fodder smells better than the stench of the dragon.

I wrestle some of the rubble and a plasteel cylinder around, trying to make the space more comfortable before setting up my bedroll. Just to sort of shield my flank, you know? I guess it’s a little paranoid, given that behind me is a cave and in front of me is a massive dragon corpse, but... It’s habit, I suppose.

Carth comes over and sits on one of the plasteel cylinder and hands me a pack of Republic rations. “Hungry?”

“Oh,” I say, “I was about to go salvage the dragon for meat.”

His face shifts to a panicked look. “You were…?” And then back. “You’re joking, aren’t you?”

“I wouldn’t touch that dragon with a ten-foot pole,” I say with a smirk, “What’s up?” I take the ration pack and tear it open.

“Given that you, uh, brought me along this morning, I wanted to ask…” he says hesitantly. I know what he’s asking.

“Yes, Carth, I have finished thinking,” I say, “It was not a joke. And, as I recall, you had something you wanted to say to me.” I climb up onto the rubble so that I’m at eye level with him.

“I, ahhh…” he says, scratching the back of his neck, “I'm not very good at this. I... I know I owe you an apology.” Well, I’ll say. “Uh, more than one, probably. I-I was just so desperate to finally face Saul directly in the battle over Taris, and now the Jedi have us looking for these... these Star Maps.” He pulls his jacket off. But he won’t quite look at me yet. “I know this mission is important, it's just... I feel a bit useless. I can fight, sure, but I'm no Jedi! All this feels completely out of my league.”

“Then why don’t you return to the front lines?” I ask, “Not that I’m asking you to.” Like I’m not trying to goad him or imply that he should go. But if he feels useless, why hasn’t he gone? Ships were coming and going from Dantooine all the time, he could have gone back to the fleet.

“Because this is more important. This may really, finally, make a difference... I suppose even if I can't figure out everything that's going on, I still want to help if I can,” he says. (I feel an unbidden thought from him, but as quickly as it comes, it goes, so I ignore it.) “I just hate not knowing what's going on and feeling this... helpless. But I-I shouldn't have taken that out on you.” He sighs, and then he smiles sadly. “I've been a royal pain in the backside, haven't I?”

“Not as much as I’ve been,” I say honestly, “I’ve been pestering you about it a bit harshly.”

“No, I deserved it.”

“Carth, don’t worry about it, really.”

“No, I do worry about it,” he says insistently, “I've traveled the lanes more than once, I should know better than this.” Okay. Okay. “So... I'm sorry. Will you accept my apology?”

Of course I do. But you know what? I have very much missed playing with him. He plays so much better than Canderous, certainly better than Bastila. “I don’t know,” I say slowly, grinning, “Maybe you should work for it, a bit.”

His eyes get big, and he smiles nervously. “Oh?” he says, “I don't know if I like the sound of that…”

Let the games begin! “Don’t you want me to accept your apology?”

“I don't know!” he says, still smiling, “What am I going to have to do for it?”

God, he’s cute when he’s nervous. “Just a little kiss,” I say, inching closer, “How about it?”

Wow, he’s sweating! “I...heh, I really think that I should, ah... get going.”

“You can stop sweating, Carth, I was just teasing,” I say, and I nudge him with my elbow. 

He breathes a sigh of relief. “So... you do accept my apology, then. Good. Good. I'm glad.” He shakes his head and sighs again. Hmm? Are we playing? “You know you, uh... you aren't so bad to have around, you know that?”

I flip my hair. “I know,” I say, “I’m very charming, I’m told.”

“More than that,” he says, “But… anyway…”

“Anyway,” I repeat. I try to look back to Bastila, but I can’t quite angle myself that way without turning around all the way. “You can get a better look at her, how’s she doing?”

Carth looks over. “She looks more relaxed than she’s been since last night,” he says, “I think finding her father’s holocron is more of a comfort than she let on.”

“I can certainly understand that,” I say, “Having not seen her father since she was a kid.”

“I’d feel the same way,” Carth says. He stands to set up his own bed roll to my left, folding up his jacket to use as a pillow. “Now that we’re out here, any idea why? Your Jedi senses telling you anything new?”

“Um…” I say, then I close my eyes. Trying to see more. “... a man with a gun… which I realize could mean anything, including you, give me a minute… I feel… the man is kinda scary…” What else, what else, anything else… “No, that’s it. That’s all I see.”

“Well, that at least tells me there’s a fight coming,” he says.

“I figured that was obvious,” I say, settling into my bed roll. More tired than I realized.

I’m the last to wake up. Slept better than normal, I think. Bastila and Carth have already started rolling everything up. I roll up my own bed roll, and that’s when Carth sees me. “Hey,” he says, “you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I say, “Why?”

“You had a rough night,” he says. Guess I didn’t sleep better than normal. “You kept mumbling in your sleep. You woke up and screamed at one point, you don’t remember that?”

“No, I don’t,” I say, “Did I say anything?”

“Sounded like procedures for an emergency landing at one point,” he tells me, “I didn’t understand it, for the most part.”

Bastila’s standing at the mouth of the cave, looking over the dunes. I feel it, too. It’s close. I need my lightsaber. Both of them - I’m seriously considering keeping that purple one on my belt, permanently. I pull them both out and go to the mouth of the cave. Carth isn’t far behind. “You feel it, too, then?” she says. Not exactly a question; she knows I do.

I suddenly get a chill down my back. I’ve felt this before. Before… oh shit.

“It’s Calo Nord,” I say, “That’s what’s coming.”

“The bounty hunter from Taris?” Bastila asks, ”How do you know?”

“I know. I don’t know how, but I know.”

“Maybe there’s still time to get away,” Carth says. He knows Calo Nord scares the shit out of me. And frankly I’d love to just go. But that’s not the best plan now.

“If we don’t fight him now, he’ll just keep following us,” I say, “I’d much rather get this over with now than have him behind us all the way to the Star Forge. No, we fight him here.”

“There are speeders approaching,” Bastila says, “Be ready.”

“Carth, come out of the cave. If a shot fires in there, the ricochet will kill us.”

“Right.” He takes a position behind the body of the dragon, to where he can still see but the dragon is protecting him. A few of Komad’s mines are still untriggered, those should provide some help as well. 

The speeders stop some distance away and Calo Nord hops out, followed by two Rodians and two Aqualish. One of the Aqualish is favoring his left leg. Both are obviously not happy to be on Tatooine. “We should focus on his goons first, especially the Aqualish,” I say softly to Bastila, “They’re not in top condition.”

“I was thinking that, too,” she says.

I step forward as Calo approaches. He looks relaxed. I don’t like that. (“Rena!” Carth whisper-shouts, like he’s trying to warn me about something, I don’t know. I’ve got my eyes open, and the Force telling me everything that’s going on. Calo won’t shoot me just yet.) “I have to give you credit,” Calo says, “You've led me on quite a chase. But nobody gets away from Calo Nord in the end.”

“So why share the profits with these guys? Unless you expect me to get away again.”

“You got lucky on Taris,” he says, “The Sith attack saved you from a quick and gruesome death. But I promise you, the Sith won't be getting in my way this time.”

“I think you’ll find Jedi don’t get lucky,” I say, “We just cover our bases.”

…

Holy shit, I just punched Calo Nord in the face.

I didn’t even realize I did it until I see his bloodied nose. I mean, sure, I saw an opportunity and I took it, but holy shit, I punched a bounty hunter! He growls and reaches for a vibroblade, but by the time he has it out, I’ve jumped to one of the Rodians, and the battle has begun.

Bastila starts with the Aqualish, the one favoring his leg. Calo drops the vibroblade and pulls out his blasters. Carth starts shooting at him from behind the dragon.

Sun is in my eyes. I manage to turn the battle so the Rodian is blinded. Then, adding insult to injury, I kick sand in his face. He yelps and blindly swings his sword, hoping to hit me but severely missing the mark every time. I roll a grenade at him and jump back - the frag grenade explodes and he stumbles back into one of Komad’s mines. When the dust clears, there isn’t much left of him. One down, four to go.

Both of the Aqualish are fighting Bastila now, but I think she’s got a handle on it, so I start with the other Rodian. I can’t do the same trick twice, he’ll be expecting that.

Shit! Calo Nord shot my hand, and the purple lightsaber hits the sand. Then Carth chucks a plasma grenade at him and gets his focus off me. I’ve fought one-handed before, but never surrounded by sand. Bad footing. Unstable.

I deflect the Rodian’s blaster fire, taking a look at my surroundings and trying to strategize. Sand, sand, rock, more sand - speeder! I’ll have to put away my lightsaber - calculate the jump, it’s worth it, just time it right. I stow my lightsaber, make the jump, and land on the speeder right behind the Rodian. Before he can recalculate, I drop a plasma grenade into the exposed mechanisms and jump away. The speeder explodes before I hit the ground again. Two down, three to go.

Bastila ducks in a split second and one Aqualish fatally stabs the other. Then in a fluid motion, she cuts through the other with her lightsaber. Okay, four down, that just leaves Calo.

He power blasts Bastila in the shoulder, knocking her back into the sand. She screams as sand flies into the wound. She’s out for the rest of the fight. That leaves Calo to me. He can’t make those convenient shots if I’m right in front of him. I jump right to him and slice at his arm with my lightsaber. He can’t react fast enough, reaching for the vibroblade he so carelessly dropped on the sand. His armor resists my lightsaber, but it only covers his torso. I try to keep my strikes to his extremities.

Carth fires a shot at the back of Calo’s knees, and he falls over into the sand. He rolls around and fires his blasters at Carth, and gets far too close. No one shoots at my bunny man and gets away with it! In a moment of anger I cut off his hand, still holding the blaster. I know, I know, Bastila’s pissed about that, I’m letting my emotions cloud my head, but damn it Carth is my best friend and Calo Nord is an asshole who wants to kill us all. Emotions or not I made the right choice. Sand flies into his wound and he can’t help but scream. And then I shift my position, kicking sand into his mouth.

Calo scrambles to stand up. “That’s the last hit you’ll get, Jedi!” he shouts at me.

Bang. Carth fires a shot at the back of his head, blowing a hole in that ridiculous hat of his, and he hits the sand. Looks like he was right, that was the last shot I’d get.

[zora-moyashi]

First

Prev          Next

Core

Shatter sighed before warping them both

ZM

she shakes off the shock of the warp and glances around the area

Core

The whole place looked of a barren desert, two suns lighting the red sand. “Come on we have to move.”

ZM

"okay" she happily follows

Core

Shatter was clearly uncomfortable being at this place, she kept looking around as they were headed to a rock formation in the shape of an L

ZM

"shatter, chill, there's nothing here."

Core

“Yes there is, dune worms, wildebots, and hive.” She said, quickly getting onto the rocks

ZM

she hops up aswell sitting on a high point of the rock and is very tempted to throw a bomb at the sand to see these creatures.

Core

Shatter quickly looked over at her. “Don’t.” She said with a hiss.

ZM

she pouts and folds her arms. "fiiiine."

Core

“Look, chances are, Killer is in the imperial city, but that’s where the red king and his death heads are.” Shatter explained.

ZM

"and that'sss... bad?"

Core

“Very, very bad.......they are the ones who killed my brother and mother, and my father a few years before that.” Shatter explained, tensing up at the memory

ZM

"ah, alright. but you are stronger now. and you have me! we'll be fine." she tries to find the direction the city would be in.

Core

“Yeah well, still better be careful, I would prefer not to be caught again.”

ZM

ZM

"okay sure, whatever you say shatter" she jumps off the rock and into the sand." 

Core

(the stuff from Killer’s eyes can be used as a narcotic, causing hallucinations if entered in the blood stream, Killer is immune to it though.) A large worm, about 50 feet long, came out of the sand, its mouth was like that of a lamprey.

ZM

chara is impressed by the critter though a bit intimidated. before it could try to attack she hopped back up to where shatter was. "uuuuh so how do you plan on getting there?"

Core

Shatter growled at the fact that Chara woke one up. “Walking.”

ZM

chara can't help but laugh at shatter's disapprovle "you can fly can't you? you can do everything."

Core

“If I do that, we’ll get spotted.” Shatter explained. “Our best bet is to lay low and act like visitors.”

ZM

"visitors can't fly?"

ZM

"hm, well be that as it may, how long do you think it'll take them to leave us alone so we can start walking again?"

Core

“We can go now.” Shatter said. Hopping down.

ZM

chara stays up top watching shatter, not convinced that they're gone

Core

Shatter was walking, nothing attacking her. “Come on.”

ZM

"mmmmmmmm" she mumbles and saves with the determination to get to their destination. she slides down and catches up to shatter.

ZM

she watches as the sand slowly moves up and down like it's breathing. she starts to cling to shatter.

Core

“Take it easy, they can sense stress.” Shatter whispered

ZM

"they're huuuuge shatter!" she whispers back upset. "i can't see why we can't go another way."

Core

“Because then we would get caught.” She whispered with a slight hiss

ZM

"they're like... as big as a wailord. and i don't like fighting things i can't see"

Core

“We can’t start a fight, ok? They are harmless as long as you don’t spook them.”

ZM

"they said the same thing about alligators but you better believe i'm not gonna go swimming in a river full of them." she feels the ground below her heave up and she instantly jumps onto shatter's back wrapping her arms around her neck and legs around her torso to keep her there. "oooooh myyy goshshhhh" she whisper-screams

Core

Shatter sighs. “Why are you such a baby?”

ZM

"shut up! i'm like 12"

Core

Shatter looked at her. “Oh.”

ZM

"yeah." she frowns a little bit. "well, unless you want to count the years i was dead but i mean come on. i wasn't conscious." chara keeps her eyes on the sand

ZM

still on shatter's back the city is now in view

Core

“I just didn’t think you were so young...” Shatter mumbled

ZM

she moves her head so she can look at shatter better with a confused look. "how old did ya think i was?"

Core

“I dunno, like 14 ish.” She said, her face had a troubled look to it

ZM

"i mean you were close." she pauses. "are you alright?"

Core

“I just.....really, really don’t want to be here.” Shatter said, putting up her hood. As a group of red skinned humanoids walked by

(These peeps)

ZM

chara looks over shatter's head to those approaching. tempted (as usual) to talk to them or mess with them. but knowing how shatter's feeling right now she resists and just stares at them instead.

Core

“Visitor.” One spoke, making Shatter freeze up. ‘Don’t say anything, or I swear to god I will kill you a million times over.’ Shatter said to Chara, clearly stressed.

ZM

chara bites her lip trying to stay quiet but it seemed like the group was expecting an answer so she gave a wave to them instead of talking.

Core

“You are on imperial property, some identification is needed.” The leader of the group said. Shatter thought for a moment. “Veers, Kees star force, 56b-27L.” Shatter replied, obviously hoping they would take the bait, and to make sure she sold the act, she pulled a strange badge from her pocket, showing it to them. They looked it over. “Very well.”

They said before leaving

ZM

chara is almost cackles at how easy that was. 'not bad shatter, or their just stupid haha!' she thinks to olympia

Core

‘Well if it didn’t work, I killed a Kree for no reason.’ She replied, “but it won’t fool the death-heads.”

*’ ‘

ZM

'let's go stealth than, are they going to be waiting at the entrance? land how far is this little hiding space of killer's' she messes with the fabric of shatter's hood

Core

‘Well, chances are she’s hiding somewhere you couldn’t possibly go.....which is exactly where I don’t want to go.’ Shatter pointed to a large coliseum that looked over the buildings. They soon reached the walls surrounding the city

ZM

chara gets off her and starts walking again "looks like a fun place." she looks around the walls sizing them up. 'should we climb or risk it with the entrance?'

Core

“Fuck the entrance, we’re gonna climb.” She said, her hair turning short, messy and purple, Toxin.

ZM

'because jumping the fence is not suspicious at all haha' she goes up to it and starts climbing using purple goo on her hands in case she slips a little.

Core

Toxin used her spines to xclimb. “There’s this old geezer, he owns a warehouse on the other side of this spot, helps peeps escape this shit hole.”

ZM

"or get in i suppose" she gets to the spikes at the top and carefully slides down the other side being hidden by the large building she supposes they're going in.

Core

Toxin hopped down. “I don’t know why the f*ck we agreed to this...” she growled.

ZM

"cause you're my friends. that's why~"

Core

“This is so over the fucking line.” Toxin hissed

ZM

"you agreed to it so stop being a bitch about it hmm?" she points to a back door on the building. "should i knock?"

Core

“Hell no!” Toxin hissed, “come on.” She said, putting the hood up as they walked through some allie ways

ZM

she kicks some trash out of her way as she follows "it's gross back here, i hope the main city isn't this bad"

Core

“It isn’t.” Toxin said, picking up some rat poison that was on the ground and eating it

ZM

"ewww" she groans. "don't do that just cause you can! doesn't that taste awful?"

Core

“Who are you kidding? It taste better than the shit you eat.” She replied, eating the last piece

ZM

"damn toxin, have you even tried chocolate? cause it's literal heaven on earth." a presence from the right is noticed by chara as she slows down a little.

ZM

'who's that' she asks though shes' unsure olympia can hear her wen toxin is incharge.

Core

Toxin looked over. “Shit!” She darted, grabbing Chara

ZM

chara just rolls with it.

Core

The person gave chase

ZM

after glancing back while running she could tell that it was a humanoid but it didn't seem exactly human it's eyes and teeth glowed in the dark of the ally making chara shiver and go back to focusing on running.

Core

Toxin used her spines to make sharp turns, hoping to lose their pursuer.

ZM

"do you have a plan or are we just running!?" chara whines hearing steps of maybe two other people joining the other.

Core

“We need to lose her, otherw-“ one of the people who joined shot a round disk like thing that burnt through the hoodie, tazing Toxin, to the point she passed out.

ZM

when she felt toxin's grip on her loosen and she fell to the floor chara had no idea what she should do. she really didn't want to leave her there to get captured or whatever they were going to do to her. but there's no way she could drag her away...

Core

Another disc shot at Chara, hitting her chest, resulting in the same fate for her

ZM

as chara fell she got nothing but a good look at one of the assailant's shoes. the original attacker watched them both go unconscious before standing in front of them in a guarding fashion as if to say "these are mine, go away" though they were not the one to take the two of them down with the disks.

Core

“Look, you know the law, they belong to the king now, as gladiators.” The one who fired the disks said

ZM

"he doesn't need them." he said hoarsely. it sounded like his voice hurt a lot. he turns to tie the two up and haul them off.

Core

The one who fired glared. “There will be a fee, at least.”

ZM

he sighed "it's not MY fault that you wasted your ammo." he finishes with that and turns to see the other's opinion.

Core

They stayed out of the argument.

ZM

he takes that as it's his and starts to drag them back to the ally he came from. his hood hid most of his face but with his glowing eyes he watched the shooter warily to make sure they wouldn't try anything.

Core

They were walking back to the main streets. Toxin started to stir slightly

ZM

he knew who shatter was, one of the more well known stars. he was expecting to get plenty out of selling her though he did hear of gaster's death there were others that wanted her for other reasons. he really didn't want to use his power on her to keep her down so he waited until she was more awake to do anything. he get's back to his area and pulls up a sewer plate.

Core

Toxin slowly opened her eyes, seeing what as happening, she then made herself spike up, cutting into the male, the spines laced with arsenic.

ZM

as he's stabbed he turns and manages to break off the spines that hit him having toxin bleed some. he pulls them out of him and puts them on his belt. "don't make this difficult" he says to her. he pushes her into the sewer hoping she's too drowzy to do much more right now.

Core

She tried getting to her feet, covering herself with bony plates, waiting for the arsenic to kick in.

ZM

he's been poisoned before and while he feels the effects coming up fast. he assumes it's not anything he hasn't survived before so he pushes chara down straight to her so she'd need to pull the spines back completely to not stab chara. dizziness starts to kick in as he slides down the ropes he tide to the manhole.

Core

Toxins spines were replaced by the plating, meaning she was in more of a defensive mode

ZM

the hooded guy grabs the ropes and drags them though the sewer water nearing his destination. chara's still out like a light while the guy is getting ready to attack shatter but his throat is so sore he's just putting it off.

Core

Toxin stayed defensive, listening closely to footsteps and the sounds around them.

(Toxin was largely inspired by this character)

ZM

as far as others down there it was surprisingly busy. most of them were crowding around one area. the guy rubs his throat with his hand and glances back at shatter. seemingly having second thoughts about what to do with her.

Core

She moved the playing slightly, showing her eyes were burning orange, glaring directly at him.

ZM

he pulls them into an area off the main path were no one would really go and crouches down to shatter's level so he doesn't have to talk loud. "look, i could sell you off the the denominational traders right now who will dissect your soulstone bit by bit to understand how they could possibly work together like they do. they consider you an anomaly and you're worth a lot. who knows what else they'll do to you. i just would like to make an agreement to keep you out of that. are you at all willing?

Core

She glared, but didn’t attack, although it was almost the perfect time to do so, a sign she was listening.

ZM

he nods and glances around for a second. "for you it should be simple. my debtor (or whatever, the person he owes to) is a thieving shark that makes those unfortunate enough to fall into his web be his servants for as long as they can survive. he owns the Colosseum right under the king and he plans on assassinating the king to control the city or some shit." he clears his throat. "i just want him gone." his voice has practically given out compleatly.

Core

She looked over to Chara for a moment. “If you harm her....”

ZM

he shrugs looking at chara "i won't. she'll be just fine when you get back."

Core

Shatter tried to change shape, but got zapped by the disc

ZM

"so? deal?"

Core

“Help me get this disc off, can’t do a clean kill without evidence as a poison type.” She said, agreeing to the deal.

ZM

"cool." he pulls out a type of pill like tracker from his satchel and shows it to her. "this'll explode if you leave the city. it'll also inform everyone under the boss's comand to go and get your soulstone and where it is. so don't do that. swallow it and i'll take the disk off."

Core

“I am not willing to stay in this city forever... how long would the effects last?”Shatter asked

ZM

"bout 2 days"

Core

“Two days?!” Shatter growled. “Fine.” She swallowed the pill before removing the plating to allow him to remove the disc

ZM

he takes out a special tool and the disk comes off like it was nothing.

Core

Shatter turned into a wolf like creature, covered in natural armor. Flames came out of its open mouth. She than ran, getting the scent from the satchel

ZM

the guy rubs his head praying that shatter will get the job done while he watches chara

Core

After roughly an hour or so, the sound of 4 sets of claws hitting the ground, echoed through the sewers (It’s a freybug, known in English as the hell hound, they will reap the souls of anyone deemed evil.)

ZM

the guy sits up expecting to see shatter.

Core

He saw what he expected, the freybug, with his boss’s most treasured ring in her jaws, as well as the finger it was on, though it was charred. She brought proof that she did what was required. (He can be a real ass and be like ‘you earned your own freedom, but not her’s (Chara’s)’ I just think that would be interesting’

ZM

turns out he tagged chara for a Colosseum battle. he already got the money for it. so as he said 'she'll be fine when you get back' she was and she was awake and had no idea she was going be tried to be taken to the Colosseum by anyone who's involved. her match is later that night. the two of them kinda just sat in silence most of the time shatter was gone. when she got back chara jumped up happily. "shatter!"

Core

Shatter nudged Chara, being the size of a dire wolf. Shatter noticed that Chara still had the disk on, shifting back to her ‘default’ form she looked at the man. “Why haven’t you taken hers off?” She asked

ZM

"I didn't want her messing with anything." he says. "plus the tool i used on you is a one time use thing." (that's a lie tho) he shrugs

Core

Shatter glared. “You’re lying.” She said with a hiss, her eyes glowing purple.

ZM

"I'm not" he takes out the tool and hands it to her. it is quite broken but only because he hit it against a rock and shot the springs. he writes down on a piece of paper "if you need another you can always find one at the market."

Core

(I just remembered that you said this place was crowded, so other people know Shatter is here............) “I read your mind, you filthy liar.” She hissed.

ZM

(yep~) he shrugs and writes "the point is still the same. you can't use this one."

(but not everyone will know who she is though, only those who keep up with the hit list and all)

Core

She shot towards him, grabbing him by his throat and slamming him against a wall. “You want me to play dirty again? Then I fucking will.” She hissed. (Well She was a gladiator for around seven years before she escaped, and would have the most kills in the coliseum.)

ZM

he's not all that scared and his mind is pretty blank. the poison making him incredibly scatterbrained and tiered. 'well' he thinks expecting shatter to hear 'do it if you wanna'

ZM

he glances to chara who's kinda confused.

Core

She glared as he burst into flames, she dropped him as his corpse was charred to be unrecognizable.

ZM

the charred pieces hit the floor glowing the same color as his eyes and mouth did. chara shuffled her feet and looks at shatter. "....?"

Core

“What? You think I didn’t know how to kill?” Shatter asked, picking up the tool as she started working on it

ZM

"nah fam. i just never visioned you as the violent type." she goes closer looking at it aswell. "you think you can fix that???"

Core

“Yeah, But the problem is that you are scheduled for a fight in about 2 hours, and I’m not sure how long this will take me....“ shatter sighed, mad at herself for trusting the man in the first place “I can get rid of the disc by other loading it....but based on the nasty scar that left one me, I’m not gonna do that to you.”

*on

ZM

"wait. what? what fight? i'm incredibly out of the loop for someone who was out for an hour or something. let's, let's just-- like, steal one of these things or something?"

Core

“No, too many people, plus guards. Look, here is what I got from the guy’s head.” Shatter started. “You’re going up against a gladiator codenamed ‘moth’, they’re nocturnal and have 73 kills under their name so far.” She explained. “Which means, that you are so f*cked unless I can fix this in time. Also, save points don’t work there, so if you die, that’s it, no more continues or resets.”

ZM

she scoffs "excuse me, how the hell did they manage to block something as rare as save points! what is this place???" she makes complaints that are barely understandable. "fine okayyyyy okay. what's your plan than?"

Core

“Well, either I fix this then we hide for two days....or plan b, which I honestly think you would enjoy....” Shatter sighed, working on the wires.

ZM

"what would that be?"

Core

“Well, I help you in the fight, but not in a way that people would know it was me.”

ZM

her eyes light up "yes! let's do that!"

Core

“See, I knew you would want that one...” Shatter said, looking over at Chara. “It would hurt you though.”

ZM

"i'm fineee"

Core

“Give me your arm.” She said, turning to Chara

ZM

she sticks out her right arm

Core

“No, left, you’re gonna need to be able to use your dominant hand.” Shatter said

ZM

she snirks and switches arms.

Core

Shatter grabbed Chara’s arm, digging her claw in before turning into a plant, it’s roots digging into Chara’s flesh. ‘You doing okay?’

ZM

she winces but nods.

Core

‘Okay, well listen, here’s the plan, I can either paralyze, poison, burn or make this ‘moth’ fall asleep, then you go in for the kill, understand?’

ZM

"yee, paralysis sucks in pokemon and i'm fast so i'ma go for burn. depending on this thing's strength i might not be able to take him out with my attacks. sound good?"

Core

‘Now you got the idea’ she said, turning into a piranha plant

ZM

"hehe, nice." as the plant wrapped around her arm a bit she got ready to leave the sewers. "so what do you say we head to the colosseum and scope out this moth guy?" 

Core 

‘Up to you I suppose.’

ZM

 "well i say we do that than! or we could look for killer, you said she should be at the Colosseum anyway right?"

Core

‘Yeah, there is an underground network under the coliseum

ZM

Chara nods and goes back up to the streets and starts to walk to the big building.

Core

Shatter kept moving around, making sure nothing was going to attack them

ZM

The streets were confusing and huge but they got to the foot of the colosseum in fairly good time. 'So, is there like a secret entrance for the underground network orrrr...?' She asks Olympia

Core

‘Got to the left.’ She replied

ZM

she walks left and follows the wall of the building

Core

There was nothing. ‘Third brick from the crack is loose.’

ZM

she runs a hand over it and pulls at it

Core

It came out, right to an underground hallway

ZM

'ooo, cool' they get down there and it's pretty dark chara uses some fire magic to light the way. there's a few ways branching off where they are so chara waits for instructions.

Core

‘Okay, there are guards in the majority of the paths, except the third to the right

ZM

'k' she kills the light until she gets to the third path and them lights it again.

Core

It was abandoned, the brickwork was all worn

ZM

"hmm," she tries putting pressure on the walls while walking down the hall

Core

Some of the bricks crumbled. Shatter smacked them out of the way

ZM

'nice place shatter,' she says sarcastically

Core

‘It’s been seven years, don’t judge me.’

ZM

she kicks some debris away. 'just keep walking?' she asks

Core

‘That would be recommended. How are you holding up, Venus?’

ZM

'yeah venus' she asks jokingly having no clue who venus even is. she keeps walking but she's getting kinda claustrophobic and bored. she tries to walk to a song beat to keep herself occupied.

Core

The plant shook the dust off its leaves. “I’m fine, just hungry.”

ZM

'you need water or something?'

Core

“No, flesh.” She replied, snatching a rat that scurried in front of them

ZM

... 'i'm starting to have second thoughts about having a carnivorous plant be attached to my body...'

Core

“Look, I’m not gonna bite you, Eunice would fry me.” She replied.

ZM

"mmmmm be eaten and then burned. sounds like a blast." she slows down as she thought she heard an echo of someone else talking

Core

Venus seemed to hear it too, she tried to turn, but was unable, since she was stuck to Chara

ZM

with venus tugging to turn she listens and does the same

Core

Venus swayed side to side slowly, as if taunting whatever she heard, or sizing them up.

ZM

"... hello?" the fire still lit in her hand not really helping her vision

Core

Chara say a woman, with grey skin and black hair, she saw a blade at the end of a staff. ‘That’s Calarie the king’s ‘shadow’. In other words we need to run.’ Olympia told Chara

ZM

'running's for babies. but i did say i'd listen to you while we're here soooo' she she coats her feet in orange and runs down the hall.

Core

Calarie was fast, very fast, she cut Chara off

ZM

chara skids to a stop ripping up some of the ground as she did "haha yooo?" she sets a marker behind her. "i'm just coming through if you don't mind-"

Core

“Kids aren’t allowed here. How did you get in?” She asked, putting her weapon on her back. ‘She never did want to hurt us.... then again we were young than you.’ Olympia said.

ZM

"i just found a loose brick and followed my way down here. i'm just looking for my friend."

Core

“Well, they won’t be here, come on, I’ll walk you o-“ she saw the disc. “Oh...” 

ZM

she looks down at the disk then back at calarie. "what?"

Core

“Come on.” She said, offering her hand. Venus kept her head low.

ZM

.... "what if i say no?" she takes a step back

Core

“Then I’ll have to force you, and I would rather not harm a child.”

ZM

"you don't have to treat me like a kid, just consider me a human that you found in this little underground hideaway. here, i'm about to be in one of the cage matches in about an hour. i just wanna find my friend yuma before i get clobbered by this moth guy. alright?"

Core

Calarie sighed. “It honestly makes me feel ill that our king lets children fight. As for your friend, I know where they are.” She said, leading the way. Venus has wrapped around Chara’s upper arm, resting her head on Chara’s shoulder. “We’d be lying if we said we didn’t miss her....” she whispered

ZM

"oh?" she speeds up a little so she's walking by her "you're her friend?"

Core

“Who are you talking to?” Calarie asked Chara, leading her up some stairs.

ZM

"haha sorry no one, i just have dissociative identity disorder." 'i mean that used to be true with frisk so i can say that' she hops up the last step

Core

‘I wasn’t going to say a word.’ Olympia said. ‘And She was more like a mother to us while we were trapped here...’ Chara was now above ground, being led to a overlook

ZM

'aww that's precious.' she gets to the overlook and looks at calarie questioning

Core

She saw Killer talking to a red skinned man who had golden robes. “You know, the townspeople loves watching you fight, you always seemed a step ahead.” He said, sipping some wine. “Yeah well, I’ve been busy, finally able to sleep.” Killer responded, before sensing the two.

ZM

"hey, guess who." she goes up to her.

Core

Killer put her face in her hands. “Are you f*cking kidding me....” she growled. The man chuckled. “This the parasite you told me about?” “Yep, that’s them alright.”

ZM

"damn, you get meaner every day yuma." she folds her arms and looks at the other guy "and who are you supposed to be?"

Core

“I am the king of this world.” He said, Venus growled softly, eager to rip his face off.

ZM

chara pats venus' head gently. "well hello sir. your city kinda sucks."

"or, world, whatever"

Core

Calarie smacked Chara’s head. “Don’t you dare speak to him that way.” “It’s fine Calarie, besides, I see that they are to entertain us tonight.” He said, pointing out the disc. Killer sighed. “Good, let’s hope they die finally.”

ZM

"oh man, you're gonna make me cry" she wipes a fake tear.

Core

“Then maybe you would finally leave.” Killer growled. The red king watched the two, mildly interested. 

ZM

"hey," she puts her hands up. "you're the one that met me and started to hang off of me. your own fault that you've got a leach that won't leave you alone."

Core

“I know and I hate myself for it.” Killer said. 

ZM

she snickers. she goes up to the over look and sees the Colosseum with a fight in session. the match already looks decided with the looser's blood everywhere but the large minotaur like creature is now playing with the wingged magic user. she looks to the king "are you a sadist?" 

Core

“The townspeople love to watch the fights, I simply give them what they desire.” He replied 

ZM

"mmmhm. so did you hear your underling got murdered? what if that's you next?"

Core

“No one threatens the kings life, not as long as I can fight.” Calarie said with a hiss. 

ZM

she looks to calarie with a smile. "good to know." chara watches the fight more and her soul starts to sink and make hre feel ill at the humiliation that is being put on the looser. "yeah that sure looks like fun to me. as my brother once said 'at least we're better than those sickos that stand around and watch it happen. those pathetic people that want to see it, but are too weak to do it themselves.' just like all these people in the stands."

Core

“Yeah, it always is more fun to do it yourself.” Killer said.

ZM

"at least we can agree on something killz."

chara's disk starts to flash and beep

Core

“You’re still a brat.” Killer hissed. “Come on, it’s your turn.” Calarie said, leading Chara down the stairs. The sun had started to set

[revivalrp]

GOD OF THE SUN, LIGHT, ORACLES, KNOWLEDGE, HEALING, DISEASES, MUSIC, POETRY, SONGS, DANCE, ARCHERY, HERDS AND FLOCKS, AND PROTECTION OF YOUNG.

You’ve inherited the Olympian’s WISDOM but also their SPITEFULNESS.

NAME: Theo Nikolaidis

AGE: Thirty-two

OCCUPATION: Middle School Music Teacher

PLACE OF BIRTH: Larissa, Greece 

GENDER & PRONOUNS: Cis Male & he/him

FACECLAIM: Garrett Hedlund

ABILITY: LIGHT MANIPULATION

They can create, shape and manipulate visible light. Distance, energy mass and precision depend upon their knowledge, skill, and strength, and their power’s natural limits. They may be able to absorb light around them and make it nonexistent, to later use as a power for their source should there be no other sources. This power is affected by everything that all light is (refletive surfaces, transparent things, etc.), unless they are powerful/skilled enough to overcome these limits.

PLAYED BY DUNE.

ABOUT:

Theo was always a popular kid growing up. He made friends where ever he went and often with very little effort. He gathered friends like flies to honey and he loved it. Despite his large friend group it was no secret that he was closest to his sister ARTEMIS. Sure, they fought a lot, sometimes more than they actually talked, but it was always ARTEMIS that Theo went to first, no matter if the news was good or bad. Even in adulthood ARTEMIS knows things well before their parents.

Theo married his long time girlfriend when he was twenty-six years old. It was a big and beautiful affair and there was no question the couple was madly in love. They were married for a nearly six years but somewhere down the road it all went wrong. He’s spent the last couple months of his life trying to figure out what happened or figure out what he could have done differently, but he’s no closer than an answer now he was then. It ended in a messy divorce with bridges burned on every side. She took everything. The house. The car. The dog. He hasn’t seen or spoken to her since. He’ll never admit it, but he misses her sometimes. Single life was remarkably hard to adapt to again for him.

With nothing left to his name it was on a whim Theo returned to Larissa. He hadn’t been back since they’d moved away when he was eight. But he saw they were hiring and within the week he’d gotten the job. He spent every last penny he owned getting there and for a few weeks lived off the couch of old family friends at the behest of his parents. It wasn’t glamorous by any means, but it was something. He’s got his own place now. It’s small and a little smelly but it’s his.

Theo didn’t always want to be a teacher. When he first graduated from college his goal was to be one of the finest classical bass player there ever was. And he gave it the good old college try before deciding that the life of a starving artist wasn’t for him. He sort of fell into becoming a teacher by offering cello lessons to help pay the bills and before he quiet knew it was happening he was going back to school for teaching and applying for jobs at nearby schools. He loves every minute of it.

There is no teacher more invested in his students than Theo. He wants nothing but the best for them and goes above and beyond to make sure they’re having fun in his class. Don’t like the instrument you picked? Don’t worry, Theo has spares of everything so you can find something new. Music is something to be shared and a skill that can only be taught to the willing.

While school keeps him busy Theo still finds time to keep his own cello skills on point. He mostly keeps to local concerts and productions but he’s been known to travel around Europe to play in more professional sort of gigs. He isn’t famous by any stretch of the imagination but he’s not quite a nobody either.

Theo is an eternal optimist, always trying to look on the bright side of life. He doesn’t see a lot of use in being negative about things, especially when you still have the ability to change things. He can be a little intense about it too, something that’s gotten him in trouble all his life. Sure, life can bring him down too, but he tries not to let that happen.

HEADCANONS:

Theo has only been in Larissa for a short while. And while he’s made plenty of friends he’s struggled trying to find any sort of connection to his old home town.

Theo is a dog person and if he could he’d probably own a whole pack of dogs.

Theo is a morning person. He goes to bed early and likes to get up with the sun and a fresh cup of coffee.

Theo will never admit it, but he’s always been deeply afraid of the dark. Even now he has little night lights plugged in all around the house.

Theo can play every instrument he puts his hand on with varying degrees of skill. But he is best at cello, violin, piano, and flute.

Theo has only told ARTEMIS of his new found abilities and no one else. They feel very personal to him and the last thing he wants is to become someone’s science experiment.

ABILITY OVERVIEW:

Theo learned about his powers accidentally. A late night storm had knocked out the power and in the darkness of the night his finger started glowing. It flickered, it flashed, and then it was gone. It took him a week to figure out how to make it happen again. It took him the rest of the month to figure out the rest. And he’s still learning and still trying to tell himself he’s not going crazy.

Theo’s control over his powers is still a little limited. He can manifest light into blinding streams of light that can range from doing almost nothing to melting metal. It depends on how much effort he puts into it. He’s accidentally lit a few trees on fire and seared a few holes into trash cans. He’s getting better with it but if he loses concentration he can lose control. His distance isn’t great (nor his aiming) but he’s getting better and better every day.

Theo hasn’t practiced much with this ability, it’s a more recent discovery, but with a great force of effort he can leech the light from his corner of a room. It’s exhausting and keeping it up for longer than a few seconds can knock Theo off his feet. He’s tried it exactly three times and is quiet content to not explore it further.

Darkness can really hamper Theo’s abilities. If there isn’t enough light around he can’t gather strong enough power to do more than faintly glow. He’s always been afraid of the dark but now he has an aversion to it all together. He’s never subjected himself to near total darkness and he has no desire to ever do such a thing.

Prolonged use of his powers tends to make Theo pretty tired. His stamina is way better than it was three months ago but asking him to maintain a searing beam for longer than a five minutes is asking a lot.

[twodaysintojune]

At the Edge of Change

Supernatural, Casbriel, Warnings - Fluff Second part of At the Edge of Time

Long Story Masterlist, One Shot Masterlist

Find me at AO3

“I want to be a lawyer.”

Gabriel and Castiel looked at the nephil like he had grown another head.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“I… I want to be a lawyer. I have been travelling throughout the world for years now and I have done as much good as I can killing monsters but there’s so much we could do to improve the lives of every human being in the world if we helped rewrite the laws they work with… I just have to give it a try.”

“Jack, we’re celestial beings, we shouldn’t interfere with the human world that way.”

“No uncle Gabriel, you are celestial beings. But I am half a celestial being. Don’t you get it? The only reason I had stayed on the side killing monsters was because they were supernatural beings like I am. But I had been looking at it the other way around and I’ve realized that I have to work as a human too.” 

Castiel thought with fondness how Jack’s smile was still as bright as it had been when he had first met him. He was surprised at how he had been able to keep that core belief in humankind’s goodness, just as much as Sam had once.

“Well then, you’d better find out how to get some fake papers. Nobody’s gonna believe you’re over sixty years old.” 

Gabriel turned to Castiel with a shocked look while Jack beamed at him.

“Are you kidding me!? He’s the most powerful being in the world, can create whatever he wants from scratch, even angels, and you’re gonna let him throw himself at the eternally mundane and boring doom of a career in Law?”

“Jack is right Gabriel, he has to live as a human if he wants to understand how they work and how to help them best. The life of a hunter is a kind of way to live as a human but it’s not the norm. Millions of people walk around the earth never encountering themselves with an ounce of weird.”

Gabriel was stunned, he motioned to answer back but whatever it was he wanted to convey against the idea he realized that neither Castiel or Jack were going to be convinced by his points. He finally groaned and threw his hands.

“Whatever, do what you want. If your dad says you can then who am I to stop it.”

Jack looked at him for a second and turned serious.

“Uncle Gabriel, you are part of my family, of course I care about what you think.”

Gabriel looked at Jack stunned before flushing and looking aside.

“W...well I think it’s stupid but if you really want to I guess it’s ok…”

Gabriel approached Jack and placed his hands over his shoulders, he sighed a bit sad.

“And I know that your father would have been proud.”

Jack’s eyes trembled for a second before he smiled widely.

“But I’ll only be completely okay with it as long as you apply to Stanford.”

Castiel sniffed a bit. When he felt like he couldn’t love Gabriel more, he proved him that there was always something else that made him the best in the world. They bid Jack goodbye and asked him to contact them in case he needed anything. Gabriel had proposed to just snap his fingers to provide Jack with his papers and a bank account but he had said he could do it. Still Gabriel kept counting the days until the nephil gave in and called them for something. There was so much to deal with when it came to setting his existence as a normal human being in order. Birth records, school documents, bank histories. Gabriel’s head was hurting just by thinking of all of that but to his surprise the only moment they received a call was when Jack had received the date of his entrance exam. Maybe he was still seeing Jack as a child.

The next day, Jack appeared at the throne room with two boxes literally filled with books. The highschool papers he had were forged so he had not had to study up until that point. It was quite a funny sight to look at Gabriel and Castiel sitting on the floor writing down notes on some heavenly issues while their son hoarded the desk. Right now he was being schooled on History by Zepheruel.

“Okay but why I cannot write down what really happened to Cleopatra then?”

“You have to understand Jack, that we know what really happened because we were there to watch. That has always been our job. But humans do not have this insight. They have to look at the vestiges of the past and make conjectures on what really happened. Which is why you have to remember what’s on the book and work with that, otherwise you’ll get bad grades because you did not adhere to the knowledge they hold.”

“Even when that knowledge is wrong?”

“In History, there’s nothing much you can do unless you’re able to bring evidence of an event unfurling in a different way.”

“Very much like a trial.” Chimed in Gabriel, who was leaning against the couch, legs sprawled in front of him and a couple of notes scattered around him.

Poor Jack was having the worst of headaches with that. Fortunately for him, Math had been completely straightforward and he had loved that. You simply had to follow the formula to get the right answer. Castiel helped him when he got stuck at Literature and, to everyone’s shock, Gabriel pretty much gave him a master class on Physics and Chemistry.

“How are you able to demonstrate how each law works so well?” Asked Castiel awed at his partner. For him, and probably for all the other angels, the laws of movement were an inherent knowledge. They worked with them on instinct so it was extremely hard to explain them to anyone. 

The rest of the angels were just as awed as Castiel, Gabriel had started his lecture only with Jack and Castiel as attendants but eventually more angels arrived with other errands in mind but ultimately stayed due to the simple fact that they were witnessing an archangel imparting the understandings of god’s laws.

Gabriel snickered at Castiel. “Probably one of the few perks of arriving early to the party.” He winked playfully at him.

“Neither Michael or Raphael ever bothered to explain us any of that...” Said Haruel still impressed by all that had been taught.

“Yeah, that might not have been really high on their priorities.” Gabriel sighed and then looked at everyone. “Alright people, that’s it for today! Jack needs to rest to absorb everything he has learned so far. If you need anything with me I’ll be back in six hours.” 

With the makeshift class dispersed, Gabriel and Castiel helped Jack order his notes and sent him to his room. Once he was settled there Castiel sighed and walked towards their room, knowing perfectly well that those six hours Gabriel had imparted were meant to be shared only with each other.

“I really can’t believe that Jack is going to Stanford.”

“As long as he passes the exam that is.” Smirked Gabriel, following lightly Castiel’s path. 

A month passed and Jack presented his exam. He was extremely nervous. That day they all sat at a diner near the University when it all finished. Poor Jack looking just as spent as the day he had gone reckless and decided to create twenty angels at the same time.

He rambled on about the questions and the time he had been given for each of them and how he had totally forgotten everything about over half of the American presidents because he never really thought that it would be important to know about them even when they were on American land. Gabriel laughed heartily at this “Yeah, they get conceited like that.” was all he said about it.

Later on that day, they left Jack at the bunker after reassuring him he had done great and that he was bound to pass the exam. He deserved to lay on the bed and either fall asleep or binge watch the fairly new Dune series he hadn’t been able to catch up on while Castiel and Gabriel went back to Heaven. He had promised to call them once he received an answer.

Once both angels were back in Heaven, Castiel moved purposefully to their room. He wanted to relish the time they had spent together and going back to heavenly chores was not the best way to make that happen. When he opened the door, he couldn't help but smile joyfully surprised. Up until yesterday their room had been a very minimalistic concrete and burnished metal design that Castiel loved that opened up to a Japanese interior garden. Now, the door gave on to a bed of tropical foliage opening to a calm beach with soft pale white sand surrounded by hard rocks. Their bed falling close to the shore framed with a palm roof and light curtains flowing lightly with the wind. Castiel smiled widely.

“Tulum?”

“I know you liked it.” Whispered Gabriel fondly on his ear placing his hand over his waist and brushing a soft peck on his neck. “Go on, take off your shoes.”

Castiel didn’t need more prodding to comply, he kneeled to unlace his shoes while Gabriel did the same with his boots. Once shoe free, they took off all their layers until only a shirt and jeans were on. Gabriel was proud of the fact that he had managed to place Castiel into dark denim and sexy tight henleys after so many years, even the old beige overcoat had eventually been replaced by a soft and sexy leather jacket. The rest of their stuff was abandoned over a rock near the entrance. It wasn’t like there would be anyone near to steal them.

The sand was cold where shadows hit and really hot where sun landed but the way each grain of sand glided through the fingers of his feet was more than welcome after five months of constant work. 

“Tell you what, once Jack passes his exam we should take him out on a trip. Do you know of any place where he wants to go?”

“I haven’t asked him lately but I’ll do. I’d rather take him somewhere we both like though...”

They reached the tropical canopy bed and threw themselves over the plush pillows. Gabriel leaned close to Castiel to hug him while Castiel placed an arm behind his head and surrounded him with the other. Both angels sighed. They stayed caressing each other, each of them musing their own thoughts.

“You know Cas… Things have been going pretty smooth up here for a while.”

“That is because you are extremely good at managing Heaven despite complaining all the time and Jack’s aid in providing new angels has been invaluable.”

Gabriel huffed, Castiel knew he hated it when he was acknowledged as leader. Even after all these years some of the older angels still slipped off the “Yes, Sir!” his brother Michael forged in them for centuries when he was being particularly serious about something and it irked him a lot.

“Yeah whatever, that’s not the point.”

Castiel turned to look at him. Gabriel took in some air.

“The point is… Maybe we could let the rest of the guys deal with the daily ropes and just catch up if there was something really odd needing attention while we do our own stuff.”

“Meaning?”

“Well, you know… Get back downstairs, live a little… maybe put up a store of some sort.”

“A store?”

“I was thinking a bakery. Or probably a café. A café with freshly baked goods. Someplace where you could go at any hour and feel revived.”

“That would require the best coffee and the best pastries... maybe some pie.”

“Yes! The best pecan pie.”

Castiel held Gabriel closer while kissing his forehead.

“And where would we put that store?”

“Oh I dunno, somewhere crowded with lots of people.”

Castiel suddenly realized what Gabriel was truly trying to say.

“Crowded like a University?”

“Exactly! A University. With lots of students.”

“Someplace like Stanford.”

“Yeah, I mean we’d have to look around but Stanford could be good.”

Castiel smiled widely now while Gabriel shrugged like he had not been thinking about that for the longest time.

“I think I would like that.”

Gabriel turned to look at him beaming.

“What would we call the place?”

“Not something trite.”

“Oh… Guess I’ll have to cross ‘A Slice of Heaven’ out from the list.”

[dailythranduilproject]

Username(s) we can find you under: 

TheMirkyKing - @themirkyking

> What Media do you create?  

Writing, Drawings-pencil and occasional colored pencils/pens, and some edits.

> Where can we find your work?  

A03 and tumblr .  I have a DeviantArt account(under different name) but that is just to look at all the wonderful art out there.

> What would you say you are best known for in the fandom?  

Umm…not really sure as I don’t think many know me…I would have to say for my writing??  LOL

> Do you have a favorite pairing?  

Too many! But my true love is Barduil, then Thrandolas.  Thranduil and Elrond, Sigrid and Legolas (Looking right at @Moonofmorrigan for sucking me into that one!)  And Elrohir and Ela (OC of @damnitbarduil)

> What other fandoms are you part of?  

Yuri on Ice, Avatar the Last Airbender, Game of Thrones, more as a spectator.

> Any advice/words for others in the fandom?  

Don’t shame/troll/hate anon others for what they enjoy, write and create.  There is enough ugliness out there, don’t add to it.  I know it sounds Pollyanna, if you don’t have anything good to say then say nothing- there is REAL person on the other end.  Creative criticism is fine, as is disagreeing with someone, but do it in a constructive way. And if you are thinking that your writing, art or anything sucks, so what?  If you enjoy doing it then do it.  We all have different skill levels and talents- explore them and grow.  Have someone you chat with read or look at them and get their feedback- most people are their worse critic’s, so get that other opinion! Respect others works-no stealing- everyone deserves their work credited! HAVE FUN!  There are so many wonderful people out there, ready to share their joy of this fandom.  :D

PERSONAL > Favorite color?  

Not fair, I like almost all colors but I would have to say greens and blues draw me.

> Favorite Book? 

Really unfair!  So many books have a special place in my heart.  Two Towers- J.R.R. Tolkien; American Gods-Neil Gaiman; All Creatures Great and Small- James Herriott;  Dragonsinger- Anne McCaffrey; Dune- Frank Herbert.  Just a few ;)

> Favorite movie?  

Again- So hard to single out one so here are some of my faves- Singing in the Rain; Spanglish; Howl’s Moving Castle; The Secret World of Arrietty; To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar; Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.

> Do you have a pet peeve? 

Aside from the usual; rudeness, ignorance, intolerance; it’s people who chew their mouths open-shudder!  (Only children are forgiven…barely.)

> What country are you from?  

United States

> Who do you think you might have been in a past life? 

Depends on what time period, but some sort of household staff member- like maid or kitchen help.  Or a squirrel…yeah, probably a squirrel.

>What do you like to do in your spare time other than create the media you work on?  

I enjoy cross stitching, gardening and reading.

>When did you join the fandom?

I have been a Tolkien fan since I was 10 but didn’t really join in the fandom stuff till 2015.

Followers Questions

@mewardy:

1- How long have you been writing?  

I have always enjoyed writing, my mom still has stuff I wrote in elementary school (so embarrassing), but didn’t really start writing and posting after I discovered A03 and Tumblr.  It was great knowing that there was a place to share my stuff.

2 -Why fantasy - especially Thranduil?  

I have always been drawn to fantasy/sci-fi.  I find it more freeing- the options are limitless.  While I usually write modern AU’s there is still an element of fantasy.  Thranduil just drew me in. I liked Legolas in LOTR, but nothing like Thranduil.  While I didn’t really like PJ’s vision for Thranduil, I did love Lee Pace’s portrayal of the Elven King.  For me, Thranduil sparked my imagination- he comes off as cold and arrogant.  He is, but there was more to him, just hiding it.  That is what I enjoy.  Exploring his private life.  He allows for so many different versions and I love writing him and reading how others see him.

3 -Where are you from?  

United States- Seattle.

@sweetfairy1:

1 - How did you develop your super cute drawing style?  

First off- thank you!  I like Chibi styles so I kind of base my stuff off that style.  A mix of Chibi/Shojo??  I think of my stuff as cartoonish.

2 - When you drew Thranduil and/or Bard the first time, did they look similar than they do now?  

My first drawing was Thranduil, and I think they look similar, just a few changes.  And it really depends on what I am trying to draw.  Some I do just as portrait drawings, then the cartoon type and every so often, I try for the more realistic style, as in Manga style-lol

@eldritchmage:

1 - I enjoy your artwork very much, so would like to know how long you have been drawing?  

You are so sweet!  I have been doodling and drawing since I was a kid, nothing serious, I only took a calligraphy class in school and then one art class in college.  I keep thinking of going for more formal learning cause I would like to have a stronger skill set then I have now.

2 - What prompted you to start?  Drawing Bard and Thranduil??  

I saw a chibi Thranduil and I loved it.  Thought, hmmm…lets see how mine would look.  That was it, now I have notebooks, scraps of paper, sketchbooks filled with them.

3 - Do you have other favorite subjects as well as Thranduil and Bard?  

I usually just draw random figures.  I tend to do portrait, and I struggle with full figure- my other half is always at me about drawing whole figures, especially the feet!  And not to draw on lined paper!  LOL

4 - Also, how did you come to develop your distinctive style?  

I really like Manga so that is a big influence.  Then the usual culprits of seeing other artist styles, animated films and such, then wanting to incorporate and explore it in my own fashion.

@bellevox:

1 - Can you tell us about your family and your country?  

I have two older siblings, a sister and brother, but I was the surprise baby so I pretty was ignored by them, unless they needed a punching bag-lol.  My parents are still feisty and active at 80 plus.  I have been cohabitating with my wonderful mate for 23 years, one day he will make an honest woman out of me ;) I was born in the United States, currently live here, but lived in Australia for 2 years- enjoyed it very much.   I like to travel when I can, work permitting.  Over all, I live a pretty quite life, enjoying time with family, going to good breweries and playing games, nothing too exciting. :D

@moonofmorrigan:

1 - What do you consider to be the most challenging thing to write? (Like angst, fluff, etc.)  

ANGST!  I love reading some good angst but I find that the hardest to write.  There is a fine line with it and I just don’t know if I have the skills!

2 -We've worked on a couple of writing projects together. What is your favorite part so far of our current story?  

What I enjoy most with writing with you is the unexpected turns that the story takes.  How I will have a whole course of action planned for Bard and then- WHAM- Thranduil goes in a direction that surprises Bard and now a new course needs to be followed.  I just love that!   Case in point- when Thranduil fell ill and almost died…. I loved the mystical elements that took place.  Of course I would be lying if I said I didn’t like the more nsfw moments, cause those are a lot of fun!

3 - What kind of stories would you like to see more of in the fandom?  

I would love to see more Sci-Fi Au’s.  I am a sucker for elves in space!

@floranocturna:

1 - what is your dream destination to travel?  

Lord, everywhere!  I would really love to be able to travel the world, spend months at a time in a country, getting to know the area and people.  Nothing fancy, just kicking around and seeing more then just the “famous cities”.

2 - If you could change one thing about Thranduil's outfit, what would it be?  

My least favorite of his was that robe he wore in his private chambers!  It was so shapeless, like some frumpy housecoat!  I would have loved to see him dressed in the greens and browns, like how I imagine him before he became King.

3 - Are you an organised writer or do you just write and sit down when the inspiration strikes?  

Soooooo disorganized!  Inspiration with hints of structure.  My notebooks are a mess with hastily written stuff!  Arrows and bullet points everywhere, change this, add that, oh here- he says this!  And my crazy short hand- even I sometimes puzzle over it!

Thank you Mirky, for this great interview.

[aion-rsa]

Complete DC Comics Superhero Movie Release Calendar

https://ift.tt/2YrPAhO

The DC Extended Universe is in full swing! With a healthy schedule of upcoming DC movies in development, the DCEU isn’t going away anytime soon, and there’s still lots to look forward to.

So, it’s time to take a look at all of the DCEU superhero movies that will be released over the next few years. And trust us, there are a ton of them on the way, and we expect more details will be announced as we go forward. We have all the release dates for every one of ’em right here, as well as official details, the most interesting rumors, and suggestions for further reading where appropriate.

Wonder Woman 1984 has been slightly delayed but we still hope to see it in 2020 (but hope for that is fading), Suicide Squad 2 has been dated for 2021, with The Batman, Shazam 2, Aquaman 2, and more due in 2022, but we’ve already seen movement around some of their 2021 and 2022 dates. Despite all this, there’s a bright future for the newly revitalized DCEU movies!

Here’s how this works, because the schedule is getting a little weird. We’re starting with the DCEU movies that officially have release dates attached to them. Then we’ll get into the stuff that we know for 100% certain is in development, but that don’t have release dates yet. Then we’ll get into some of the long shots, the projects that are announced but quiet or seemingly dead, at the bottom.

Keep in mind that many of these are the CURRENT release dates as of this update, but it seems like Warner Bros. is getting more intentionally vague about some of them, instead simply promising that they’re “only in theaters” in 2021. We’ll keep updating this with more information as we get it…

Wonder Woman 1984

Dec. 25, 2020

Patty Jenkins returns to direct Wonder Woman 1984, which will move Diana’s story forward in time…to 1984. Expect what another adventure set in the past, this time the 1980s. Kristen Wiig will play Wonder Woman’s enemy, the Cheetah. Pedro Pascal is Maxwell Lord.

Here’s the official synopsis:

Fast forward to the 1980s as Wonder Woman’s next big screen adventure finds her facing an all-new foe: The Cheetah. 

Wonder Woman 1984 has now been delayed three times, and considering that Warner Bros. just moved their ambitious Dune off the release a week before (in part to prevent cannibalizing ticket sales from themselves), don’t be surprised if we don’t see Diana again until 2021. What’s more, with news of movie theaters closing for the rest of 2020 there might not be anywhere for WW84 to screen.

Basically, what we’re saying is, expect further delays.

Suicide Squad 2

Aug. 6, 2021

David Ayer going to be too busy with other projects until further notice, and none other than James Gunn (he of Guardians of the Galaxy fame) has stepped in to write and direct Suicide Squad 2. This is now called The Suicide Squad, which indicates something of a soft reboot, but expect this to remain a DCEU movie.

The cast is positively bonkers.

Returning from the first film we have Viola Davis as Amanda Waller, Jai Courtney as Boomerang, Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flagg, and of course Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn Scheduling issues forced Will Smith to bow out of the project as Deadshot.

But then that new cast is wild! John Cena is Peacemaker, with Idris Elba as Bloodsport, David Dastmalchian will play Polka Dot Man. Daniela Melchor will play a genderswapped version of Batman villain Ratcatcher…and there’s more. We have a full breakdown of the cast right here.

The Suicide Squad already completed principal photography, but its production is likely still being impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. There’s still plenty of time, but like every other movie on the release calendar right now, don’t be surprised if release dates end up shifting as time goes on.

The Batman

March 4, 2022

So, speaking of movies that had their release dates shifted because of the coronavirus pandemic, The Batman recently had to move from June to October of 2021 after its filming was put on hold fairly early on, and now it has had to vacate its October release slot for March of the following year, thanks to the aforementioned Dune reschedule, and also another production halt after star Robert Pattinson was diagnosed with Covid-19.

The Batman solo movie has Matt Reeves as director. Robert Pattinson is the new Batman. Not only that, this movie will likely kick off a brand new trilogy of Batman movies. Expect a more low-key, detective focused approach to the Dark Knight than we’ve seen in previous movies.

Read more

Movies

New Batmobile Revealed for The Batman Movie

By Joseph Baxter

TV

The Actors Who Have Played Batman

By James Aquilone and 1 other

In addition to Pattinson as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Jeffrey Wright will play Commissioner Gordon. Jayme Lawson has a mystery role. Andy Serkis is Alfred Pennyworth. And then there are the villains to contend with! The Batman will feature an all-star rogues’ gallery of villains, with Paul Dano as the Riddler, Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman, and Colin Farrell as the Penguin.

DC Super Pets

May 20, 2022

OK, fine, this isn’t a DCEU movie project, and it’s an animated movie. But unless you have no soul, how can you resist Krypto, Streaky, Ace, Comet, and the rest of the amazing super pets? They had better be fighting the Brain Globes of Rambat in this movie, otherwise, we riot.

You can read more about DC Super Pets here.

The Flash

Nov. 4, 2022

Andy Muschietti (of Warner Bros’ IT movies) is the latest director to try and get The Flash movie to the screen. This project has had a really rough road. Christina Hodson, who clearly made the studio happy with her Birds of Prey script, is writing.

Read more

Movies

Why James Wan Turned Down The Flash Movie to Make Aquaman

By Mike Cecchini

Movies

Crisis On Infinite Earths Confirms DCEU Movies With Ezra Miller Cameo

By Kayti Burt

Ezra Miller will reprise his Justice League role as Barry Allen. Kiersey Clemons is Iris West. But here’s where things get crazy…Ben Affleck will return to the role of Batman for this movie. And Michael Keaton will ALSO return to the role of Batman for this movie!

How is this possible? Because it’s based on the DC Comics Flashpoint story, which for the purposes of the movies will be used to create a big screen multiverse. Wow.

This movie has had an extraordinary amount of trouble getting off the ground, so let’s see if the combination of Muschietti and Hodson keep this one on schedule for that release date. Or any release date.

Aquaman 2

Dec. 16, 2022

After it made a billion dollars at the box office, you bet your trident that Aquaman 2 is happening! Right now the plan is for James Wan to remain involved and start developing the movie, but he won’t decide whether or not to direct it until there’s a script in place. Fair enough. Patrick Wilson seems set to return, though, and of course, Jason Momoa will be back.

You can keep up with all our Aquaman 2 news right here.

Shazam 2: Fury of the Gods

June 2, 2023

Shazam 2 is now officially called Shazam: Fury of the Gods and…that’s about all we know about it right now.

One thing is for sure, though, this movie will retain the look, feel, and charm that made the first one so successful, since both director David F. Sandberg and writer Henry Gayden are returning. And this time we’ll have an entire Shazam family to help out!

Wait…did we mention the Sinbad cameo? No, really!

Now, let’s get into the projects that are in the works, but don’t have release dates yet. We’ve grouped these roughly in the order we expect to see them based on how far along they are.

Justice League: The Snyder Cut

2021

Yep, it’s finally happening. Zack Snyder’s Justice League will be a four hour HBO Max miniseries, and based on that trailer, it’s pretty drastically different from the theatrical version we saw. It would have to be.

There’s no official release date yet, but we expect to see this in the first half of 2021.

Black Adam

TBA

Originally slated to be the villain of Shazam, Black Adam will instead be played by Dwayne Johnson in a solo movie. The character is certainly strong enough to sustain his own movie. Adam Sztykiel (Due Date, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul) is writing with Jaume Collet-Serra set to direct. 

Read more

Movies

Shazam: Who is Black Adam?

By Marc Buxton

Movies

Black Adam Powers and Abilities Explained

By Mike Cecchini

This is the kind of thing that could work as a nifty prequel to further flesh out the mystical world of Shazam if they choose to go that route. More importantly, this movie will feature the DCEU introduction of the Justice Society of America, including Hawkman (who will be played by Aldis Hodge), Dr. Fate, Cyclone, and Noah Centineo as Atom Smasher!

We’re currently on the lookout for more info, but Black Adam is supposed to start filming in early 2021, which seems unlikely at this time because of the global coronavirus pandemic. This film had been scheduled for December of 2021, but lost that date with all of WB’s recent release date shuffles. It’ll happen, it’s just a question of when.

You can read a little more about the Black Adam movie here.

The New Gods

Ava DuVernay will direct a movie based on Jack Kirby‘s New Gods. It’s not clear yet whether this will fit into the continuity of the other DCEU movies, but really, it doesn’t need to. The New Gods is a cosmic story of such incredible scale that there’s no reason to try and connect this to earthbound concerns. Tom King, the DC Comics writer who has made waves with his work on the New Gods-centric (and Eisner Award-winning) Mister Miracle series, is co-writing the screenplay with DuVernay.

The New Gods is the story of two worlds, the warlike Apokolips and the peaceful New Genesis, each populated by immensely powerful beings with fantastic technology. Darkseid is the evil dictator of Apokolips, and he swaps sons with Highfather, the leader of New Genesis, and each child is raised on the opposite world. Darkseid’s son, Orion, becomes a troubled champion of New Genesis, while Highfather’s son (raised by Darkseid) revolts and becomes the super escape artist, Mister Miracle. This barely scratches the surface of what this movie is about. We tried to get into more detail about it here.

The Trench

Aquaman director James Wan and producer Peter Safran are working on developing other corners of Arthur’s world in addition to Aquaman 2. The Trench will focus on the terrifying piranha-like beasts seen briefly in the first film, and will be a smaller-scale, more horror-focused movie, and one that won’t feature any of the main characters from Aquaman. A different approach to superhero movie worldbuilding, for sure. Noah Gardner and Aidan Fitzgerald are writing.

Read more about The Trench here.

Green Lantern Corps

Fairly or unfairly, Green Lantern has the most working against him. The 2011 film failed to kickstart the DC Universe as planned, and received a lukewarm (at best) critical and box-office reception. There are, of course, ways around this.

Read more

Comics

The Secret Origin of Green Lantern: Far Sector

By Kayti Burt

TV

Arrow Series Finale Reveals Arrowverse Green Lantern

By Mike Cecchini

One way is to simply not make Hal Jordan the central Green Lantern of the movie. Thisone may focus on as many as three Green Lanterns, with the main focus on a kind of buddy/cop movie with John Stewart and Hal Jordan. Geoff Johns is writing the script, but there’s no director in place yet, however Johns should be turning in his script soon and that will allow the director search to kick off in earnest. There’s also the recent announcement of an HBO Max Green Lantern TV show to consider. It remains to be seen what (if any) connection that will have to this movie.

We have more details on the Green Lantern Corps movie right here.

Cyborg

OK, to be perfectly honest, the Cyborg movie almost certainly isn’t happening. Ray Fisher made his first (very brief) appearance as Vic Stone/Cyborg in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, and played a crucial role in Justice League. At one point he was supposed to feature in The Flash solo movie, too, but it’s not clear if that’s still the case.

Read more

Comics

New DC Universe History Begins in May

By Mike Cecchini

TV

Crisis on Infinite Earths Ending Reveals New DC Multiverse

By Mike Cecchini

Basically, though…let’s be completely real: this movie isn’t happening. There hasn’t been any movement on it in years, despite once having been assigned an April 3, 2020 release date. As far as we can tell there has been no additional movement on this movie in years. It’s probably dead. Too bad, since Ray Fisher was great in the role.

Blue Beetle

There’s a Blue Beetle movie in the works. And unlike the character potentially appearing in the Booster Gold movie (more on that down below), this one would focus on Jaime Reyes, the magical tech powered teenage hero who wields the scarab of original Blue Beetle, Dan Garrett. Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer (Miss Bala) is writing the script. No other details are available…yet.

Read more about the Blue Beetle movie here.

Plastic Man

This one is a little further off in the future as all they’ve done is hire a writer. But there is definitely a Plastic Man movie in the works, with Amanda Idoko (ABC’s The Mayor) working on a screenplay. We have some more details on it right here.

Blackhawk

Steven Spielberg has long wanted to make a Blackhawk movie, and he’s finally going to get his wish. And if it was your wish to see Steven Spielberg direct a DC movie, you’re also in luck. David Koepp is writing the screenplay. We have more details on this one here.

Nightwing

The Lego Batman Movie director Chris McKay has been tapped to direct a Nightwing movie. Bill Dubuque (The Accountant) is working on a script. No other details are currently available, and this one doesn’t have a release date yet.

Batgirl

Joss Whedon was originally supposed to write, direct, and produce the Batgirl movie, one that was reportedly based on Gail Simone’s recent New 52 take on the character. He has exited the project and now Christina Hodson is writing. There is no director at the time of this writing.

Supergirl

Oren Uziel is working on a script for a Supergirl movie. It’s not clear what kind of ties this will have to the currently dead Man of Steel franchise, especially given the uncertain state of Henry Cavill’s future as Superman. It’s also hard to imagine this being much of a priority for the studio at the moment given the ongoing success of the Supergirl TV series.

Deathstroke

Joe Manganiello has long been cast as Slade Wilson, known to DC fans as Deathstroke. He even made a cameo in one of the Justice League post-credits scenes. Once rumored as the villain of The Batman solo movie (that is no longer the case), Deathstroke is now going to get a solo film, written and directed by The Raid‘s Gareth Evans. At the moment, there is no release date, and there has been no movement on this project in so long that we have to wonder if it is still going to happen, or if Manganiello is even still attached to the role.

Justice League 2

Justice League 2 isn’t terribly likely to happen at the moment given how the first film underperformed at the box office. It once had a release date, but that long since evaporated. Still, as the DCEU continues to generate success and critical acclaim since the failure of Justice League, and especially now that they’re moving ahead with the infamous “Snyder Cut” of the original movie on HBO Max, don’t be surprised if they choose to revisit this concept down the road at some point.

We have some ideas about how Justice League 2 could still move forward right here.

Justice League Dark

At one time this was called Dark Universe, until Universal came along and ruined that name with their failed horror movie shared franchise. This one will feature the supernatural characters from the DC Universe. Characters like Swamp Thing, Demon, Deadman, Zatanna, and possibly even John Constantine.

Read more

Comics

The Horrific Return of John Constantine to the Sandman Universe

By Marc Buxton

Movies

Justice League Snyder Cut: “No Way It’s Ever Happening”

By Mike Cecchini

Guillermo del Toro was attached to this one for quite some time, but had to leave the project. Then it was Doug Liman. Now it might be Daniel Espinosa or Gerard Johnstone. This will probably remain slow going for the foreseeable future, but it sure would be cool if it ever got off the ground.

And now for the long shots…projects mentioned, rumored, or that haven’t had any movement in a while.

Man of Steel 2

Never officially announced, with no director or writer ever attached…don’t get your hopes up for a solo Superman movie any time soon. Especially considering that Henry Cavill appears to be finished as Superman. Not only that, there’s now a Superman & Lois TV series in the works, which may spell doom for his big screen exploits for a while.

Harley Quinn

Yes, there’s also another Harley Quinn movie in development! Whether this is a solo project or something else remains to be seen. Keep in mind that while very good, Birds of Prey didn’t set the world on fire at the box office, which means that Warner Bros. might be a little more wary than before about additional solo projects for Harley, even with Margot Robbie’s star power. As for what shape this movie was supposed to take in the first place, your guess is as good as ours!

Gotham City Sirens

David Ayer is looking to direct a Harley Quinn and friends “girl gang” movie. Geneva Robertson-Dworet is writing, with Margot Robbie producing. It’s not clear where this stands on anybody’s priority list these days. Ayer has moved on to other projects, and as mentioned above, Birds of Prey wasn’t quite the financial success that Warner Bros. had hoped for. It’s possible that Gotham City Sirens has been put in a drawer for the time being.

Booster Gold (and maybe Blue Beetle)

Flash and Arrow executive producer Greg Berlanti is going to executive produce and possibly direct a Booster Gold movie. Zack Stentz (Thor, X-Men: First Class) will write the script.

Read more

Movies

Men of Steel: 11 Actors Who Have Played Superman

By Mike Cecchini

Movies

Joker: 6 Actors Who Have Played the Clown Prince of Crime

By David Crow

Early reports described this as a “superhero buddy cop movie” that would involve Blue Beetle. We’ll get you more updates on this as they become available.

Deadshot

Warner Bros. knows they have one of the biggest stars in the world already in costume, so they’re reportedly considering a Deadshot solo movie, as well. But with Smith now having left Suicide Squad 2 this project seems like it may not ever materialize. Unless, of course, switching Idris Elba’s role (he was originally intended as Smith’s replacement as Floyd) means they’re keeping the door open for him down the road.

Lobo

Back on the schedule after years of being dormant, the Lobo movie may attempt to be the DCEU movies’ equivalent of Deadpool. Jason Fuchs must have impressed Warner Bros. with his work on Wonder Woman, because he’s on board to write the script for this one. Michael Bay might direct. But with Lobo appearing on Krypton season 2 and a TV series for the character that had once been put into development (its status is currently unclear), this might be less of a priority for the studio now.

We have some more info on the project here.

Joker & Harley Quinn Movie

At one point there was yet another Joker-centric flick in the works. This one, a Joker and Harley Quinn movie is absolutely part of the DCEU movie continuity would pick up where Suicide Squad left off. There are currently on additional details available on this one, either. This probably won’t happen, however. Warner Bros. is very happy with how their R-rated, out of continuity Joker movie performed both critically and commercially, and with Joaquin Phoenix’s Oscar win, it’s a safe bet that they’re at least quietly hoping to make him their definitive Clown Prince of Crime for the foreseeable future…even though Joker was never intended to be part of the DCEU.

Not to be confused with…

Jared Leto Joker Movie

Honestly, we’re having trouble keeping track of all these, but yes, there was also yet another Joker solo movie in development focusing on Jared Leto’s version of the character. Apparently, this has long been canceled, but we’re keeping it here to be safe for a little longer.

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We’ll keep updating this with more information about upcoming DC superhero movies as they get announced and information becomes available.

The post Complete DC Comics Superhero Movie Release Calendar appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[coffee-obsessed-writer]

“Boardwalk Junkies”

A short story I wrote for a fiction workshop. Has potential to be continued into a longer piece. Enjoy and thank you for reading!

Trigger warning: Talk of suicide & implication of drug use

Word Count: 5146

Boardwalk Junkies

The first day he saw her was the same day she died. Her jet black hair soaked, plastered to her face as they pulled her limp body from the water. He watched as her friends stood surrounding her, staring. No one moved to help her. In seconds he was kneeling at the strange girl’s side, preparing to do mouth to mouth as her friends stood looking on in a drug-induced haze, unsure if she was playing a joke or seriously laying there, dead. He felt no breath coming from her lips and heard no heart beating in her chest. He looked again at the face that had captivated him all day and knew he couldn’t let her die. He hadn’t even gotten a chance to learn her real name yet.

He placed his mouth to hers, swiftly and accurately performing CPR until she finally seemed to respond. A gush of water burst from her mouth and once the sounds of her gurgling gasps broke the silence of the early summer night, James sat back on his heels and began to quietly cry. The sound of the girl struggling for air seemed to bring her friends’ sobriety back. Pushing him out of the way, they ensconced her. He stepped back, giving the small band of comrades some room. He was, after all, the outsider. He shouldn’t have even been down on the beach with these kids.

Twelve hours earlier, he was staring at a pallid reflection of himself in his mother’s bathroom mirror. The deep blue eyes resembling the color of the sky on a stormy summer day stared back at him. But they didn’t look familiar anymore. All he could see were dead, listless remnants of what used to be there. In the six years since his brother had left for college, James’s life had been steadily heading downhill. Constant belittling lectures and the controlling grip from his father had become borderline aggressive. His mother was always anxious and annoyed, which caused her to wear an expression of disgust that could scare away the likes of Rosemary’s baby.

It was slow at first. He thought they were taking out their frustrations on him after Kevin had left when he was ten, but as the years went on, it never got better. The slow descent into despair picked up speed by the time he turned fifteen. For years his sole salvation was the knowledge that upon his eighteenth birthday he could be free of both of them and the life they were steadily mapping out for him. But when eighteen came and went, and there was no escape in sight, he searched for another way out revealed itself. James thought about just packing up and leaving, but there was nothing for him to take. He had no money of his own, no transportation, nowhere to go. He thought he could go away to college and be free of these people who were supposed to care for him, but their plan for him didn’t include college. As far as he knew, he was stuck.

Sliding back the bathroom mirror, James carefully studied each small bottle of pills hoping to find one that would end it for him quickly. He had stashed away a fifth of vodka to wash down the pills of his choice but just wanted to find the right ones. His worst fear wasn’t of the death itself, but of his parents finding him half dead and bringing him to a hospital. The wrath that would come down upon him would be worse than anything he could do to himself. James could already hear his father’s voice and knew the words that would be spat at him for attempting to end his own life. Suicide was the coward’s way out, and Wallace Carter wouldn’t have his youngest son be called a coward.

Deciding on a cocktail of pills, he began to pull down the various bottles, when his mother’s voice boomed from down the hallway. He could hear her ordering around one of the various maids and quickly put the bottles away before she could discover his thievery. Without thinking, he flushed the empty toilet and pretended to wash his hands before opening the door and leaving the bathroom. If she was in the hallway, there would be no getting around the dragon lady he called his mother. He emerged, saddened that his escape would have to wait until later, and came face to face with his mother, Olivia.

“What are you doing in my bathroom?” she asked with an anxious sort of contempt. “Don’t you have your own bathroom?”

“Sorry mom, I was here looking for you and had to go so I used yours.”

“Well, I hope you didn’t leave the seat up.”

“No ma’am,” James said, head down looking at his shoes.

“Fine. Well, what do you want then?” Olivia was just dismissive now, she never really could be bothered with him unless she needed him to do something for her. But James could never tell if it was because she had mixed the wine with the Xanax again, or solely because of his existence.

Struggling to think of a reason to have needed her, and coming up empty he replied, “I, um, just wanted to tell you I was going to go for a walk on the boardwalk.”

“Fine.” She turned on her heel and vanished into her bedroom so quickly and with a minor stumble. Maybe today’s cold front was the result of pinot and pills, and not because he dared to be in her line of sight.

James stepped out of his family’s summer home on the Jersey Shore and looked out over the dunes. Empty sands lay before him, but only for about two hundred yards. Beyond that, hundreds of beach goers littered the pristine sandy shore, all oiled and baking in the hot sun. The glare off the ocean was enough to cause an immediate headache, but that was a welcome feeling over the anxiety his mother always left him with, no matter how brief the interaction had been.

As he approached the crowded boardwalk, he couldn’t help but wonder why his parents chose that location for a new summer home. In years past they had owned homes in Martha’s Vineyard and out in the Hamptons. Not that he cared for either of those places, but this small seaside Jersey town seemed so far out of his parents’ scope that there had to be a reason behind the choice. Maybe that’s what caused his mother to be more bitter and bitchy than usual. The area was definitely more blue collar than blue blooded, and that couldn’t be sitting well with the dragon lady.

The boardwalk was a little more than half a mile long and home to two miniature golf courses, and one pier of rides geared towards families with younger children. There was a vast array of food and drink vendors, along with at least four different arcades. Even though the ocean was a stone’s throw away, the air was filled with an aromatic mix of funnel cake, sausage and pepper sandwiches, pizza, cotton candy and suntan lotion. Thrown between that were different boardwalk games you could participate in for a grand ole price of fifty cents. Excited screams of children’s laughter carried on the breeze, fading in and out as the summer wind whipped through the dunes.

The smells and sounds of the boardwalk that most people relished in neither enticed him or repelled him. The walk, after all, was nothing more than a plot device to get him out of his parents’ house. James shuffled his way down the weathered wooden boards, dragging his feet, hands in pockets and oblivious to life happening around him. His mind kept going back to the pills and vodka that waited for him back at the house. While that option was still viable a bit later, he wondered why it had to be that way. Why did he feel that ending his life was the only way to be free?

James lifted his face to the heat of the sun overhead and said a silent prayer for guidance. He didn’t know exactly who the words were directed to; the universe maybe. God? Perhaps. James didn’t really care, he just wanted something to help him figure out a better way to get through the miserable existence he called life.

As he stood there, feeling the sun sizzle on his skin, the breeze once again carried away the sounds of the children and replaced it with a melody that was familiar, but still too distant to name it. James opened his eyes and began to look around for the source of the music. The boardwalk suddenly seemed even more crowded with his view constantly being blocked. He walked another few yards down until he spotted a small crowd of kids around his age gathered near one of the benches that looked out over the beach. James tried to get closer to them in a roundabout way, without being noticed but it seemed the largest of the beach going tourists liked to stand in as an unknowing guard, blocking his view.

Finally, the group of tourists moved on, and James could not only get a clear view but a better hold of the melody that captured his attention. One of the guys in the group, a taller than average kid, with a shaved head and two arm sleeves of tattoos stepped aside, enabling him to catch his first glimpse of her, the girl with the guitar.

Her hair hung long past her shoulders and shone so black that it cast off a purple glow. Her face was cast down towards her guitar as she played the chords that were now glaringly obvious to him. When he finally had that chance to see her for the first time, sitting there on the ground picking at a guitar, everything else around him faded away. There were no more sounds of children and the Carnival style music playing from the rides was no longer audible. There was only the raven-haired girl and her guitar. She was strumming softly and singing even softer, but he could somehow hear all the notes and words to “Dream a Little Dream of Me”.

James knew the song well. Even though it had been years since he’d last heard it, it was a tune that would never leave his memory. He was drawn to it, but couldn’t exactly place why. Maybe someone used to sing it to him, but no clear memory of who it could have been. All he had was a feeling attached to the song; a feeling of love.

He couldn’t imagine how he had heard her in the first place over the noise of the boardwalk. No one else in her small circle seemed to even notice that she was singing. She sat on the splintered boards, head now lying back against the railing with her eyes shut and face turned up towards the sun. From across the boardwalk, he studied her; completely unaware of how hard he had been staring. In a space of minutes, he was drinking in every detail of her as she slipped into the chorus.

“Stars fading but I linger on, dear

Still craving your kiss

I’m longing to linger till dawn, dear

Just saying this…”

She wore rings on nearly every finger, and even from this distance, he could see a small star shaped tattoos on her strumming hand. Then, something one of her friends said caused her to stop singing and burst out into a laugh that caused him to smile too.

Suddenly feeling conspicuous about watching the girl, he walked a little further ahead and found an empty bench to sit on. He found her in the crowd again and watched as she struck a match and light a cigarette. She had ceased singing the song, and still, there was something about her that he couldn’t let go of. Something that caused him to forget his surroundings, forget that he was sitting on a crowded boardwalk staring at a stranger.

From somewhere deep in his pocket, a vibration brought James back from his hypnotic stare. The life happening around him began to come back into focus; the smells, sounds and people buzzing around him. Another vibration from deep in his pocket snapped him back to reality completely. He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and saw MOM flashing on the call screen. Immediate dread washed away any good feelings the strange girl stirred in him. Wanting to silence the phone and go on observing, James knew there was no escaping Olivia. Just the thought of her brought back the image of the pills and his original plans for the day. The unease and anxiety that was slowly working its way through him was immediately triggered at the mere sight of her name flashing on his screen. James shook his head as if to clear all thoughts before hitting answer.

“Hello?” he answered, trying his best to hide in a false greeting.

“Where are you?” Olivia’s voice commanded in a way only she could.

“I… I’m taking a walk, remember? I told you earlier I was talking a walk on the boardwalk.”

“Earlier? It’s been two hours James. There is nothing in this worthless town that could keep you busy for two hours. Home. Now!”

The call dropped before he could hit end call. He slowly began to put the phone back in his pocket, but thought better of it and turned the screen back on. Without thinking he started the camera function and pointed it in the direction of the raven haired songstress. Snapping two quick pictures of her from a distance was enough to appease him for the time being.

As intriguing and beautiful as the girl was, he couldn’t figure out why he felt so drawn to her. He’d seen plenty of beautiful girls. His school had been full of them. But there was more than just beauty to this girl. Sure, her voice was captivating, and she had an interesting style, but beyond that, she was just a girl. The single thought that kept repeating over and over in his worn and ragged minds was that he needed to see her eyes. He felt like he would understand the enormity of it all if he could just see her eyes. It was an odd thought to have, especially if you consider that had his plans went in his favor, would most likely be on the road to the morgue by now.

His path home took him past her again. This time, playing up his tourist status, he stopped just past their little group and looked out over the railing as if he were looking for someone lost in the sea of people on the beach. James could hear her humming the song again, even a little louder now, but still just as light and airy as before. She seemed so carefree and oblivious to anything but whatever song was playing through her. James felt a twinge of jealousy at that; he wanted to experience that level of light-heartedness. He could have stayed there all day if it was close to her. But the vibration of his phone once again brought him back to the reality of his life. Turning away from the mystery girl, he headed home to appease the dragon lady.

Thoughts of suicide didn’t creep back into his mind for the rest of that day. Only thoughts of the girl were swirling, and even Olivia’s whining demands didn’t sway the feeling she’d left him with. Still, he couldn’t understand why the fleeting sight of a beautiful girl would control his every thought. Why he couldn’t shake it. Why, suddenly, she was haunting him? Once he arrived home, he spent the next few hours of tackling an absurd task of busy work by order the dragon lady. A task that consisted of him rifling through the attic to find her precious summer linens and sparkling silver for a dinner party. James was beginning to feel his hopelessness set in again.

With every box that he opened in the despairing heat, he felt more defeated and the image of the beautiful girl with the haunting voice faded further away. Olivia was shouting directions at him from below as streams of sweat from the sweltering attic ran down his face and stung his eyes. There had been at least a hundred and fifty boxes in that space that she expected him to look through. If Olivia didn’t have her special silver and linens for her dinner party the next evening, even the Devil would put up the ‘No Vacancy’ sign and hide in fear for her wrath was the stuff of legends.

When he finally was nearly at the end, Olivia called up from below that she had found the linens and silver in the spare bedroom closet. James stood speechless. There was a hint of something in her voice that was far too chipper. He wouldn’t have put it past her to have known where they were the entire time.

“You can come down now James,” she sang from below, “I have what I need. You can go back to your room, you won’t be needed again this evening.”

With that, she was gone. James looked around the attic and swiped at his burning eyes with his sweaty arm. He climbed down from the attic and as he made his way back to his mother’s bathroom, he noticed her car pulling out of the driveway from the large bay window on the second floor. Smiling, he went back into her bathroom and took a long, cold shower and made sure to forget to wash out the tub and leave the towels in a heap on the floor. Before heading back to his room, James swiped the pills from the medicine cabinet and didn’t even bother to close it this time.

James dressed in his most comfortable shirt, the one piece of clothing that Olivia didn’t buy him. It was a concert T-shirt from when he went to see a band with his brother Kevin. It was faded black and worn enough that the seams were stressed around the collar. James grabbed a pair of the jeans he kept on hand for the absurd jobs Olivia had him do. They were ripped at the knees and in one of the back pockets. She hated the jeans, which was precisely why he had to wear them that night.

Dusk came that day in broad strokes of pinks, purples, and golds. Once the summer sun had set on the western horizon, the sky was left with color that no artists’ eye could match. James closed the front door of his parent’s home behind him and smiled at the view that laid out before him. Unlike that afternoon, he was very much enticed by the sights and sounds around him. He was now a man with a plan; a plan that he concluded while wiping sweat from his face in an attic that wasn’t fit for any living thing to be in. He wanted to be in his most comfortable clothes, eat as much of the local fare as he could with the few dollars he had scrounged together. Finally, if he had enough left over, he was going to buy a few tickets and ride the biggest coaster the pier had to offer, ‘The Poltergeist’.

When he was done sampling some funnel cake and riding the rides, he planned on walking to the furthest end of the boardwalk; where the tourist attractions were only a distant glow, and the small beach cottages dwindled down to nothing at the entrance of the inlet. There, he would find a bench, open the pills and sit there until he died or the sun came up over the ocean. Either way, he had no plans on going back to Olivia’s monstrosity of a home again that evening.

James enjoyed every bite of the sticky, sugar coated dough and screamed wildly as the wind from The Poltergeist whipped his hair around into a frenzy. After he exited the ride, he scanned the crowd and hoped maybe to get one more glimpse of the mystery girl. Instead, the boardwalk was now engulfed in families out for a summer evening to enjoy the rides, games, and treats. Lots of dads, moms, and kids, all clamoring for one more this or that; all these people that didn’t seem to have a care in the world.

James sighed, and looked up into the sky, not sure what he was hoping for exactly. “Dream a Little Dream of Me” floated into his head again, and this time with it he had a very vivid memory of a woman sitting on the edge of his bed, humming and singing that song to him. He couldn’t have been more than four or five because his favorite stuffed bear was firmly tucked under his arm, and that bear had been lost in a Nordstrom when he was six. Olivia refused to go back to try and find it for him.

In the middle of a crowd of overweight and over tired people, James closed out the world and dove into the memory that he was gifted. The song was clear, the woman’s voice was too, and the imagery in the recollection was as precise and strong as anything could be. James let the memory play out until the end of the song when he could picture the woman bending down to close to his cheek, and he could feel the softness that only an elderly woman’s face could offer. The scent of her perfume, Chanel No. 5, was so strong it was as if she was right there next to him at the foot of ‘The Poltergeist’ attraction.

“I love you, Jimmy,” she whispered. He could feel the warmth of her breath on his face and involuntarily placed a hand to his cheek, “I love you more than the ocean loves the moon. You’re my light and greatest love, my dear boy. Sleep well, and dream of me.”

“Gran…” James said aloud to no one, which was good because no one heard him. He smiled at the thought of his grandmother and was instantly sad because he had seemingly forgotten her. In the depression that had weighed him down for so many years, all the thoughts of her had gone by the wayside. But now, he remembered. He remembered everything about her, all thanks to the song that beautiful girl sang without abandon on a boardwalk on a hot July afternoon.

Suddenly, it all made sense. Gran had loved him best, and their bond was strong beyond reason. Olivia was intensely jealous of her own mother’s love for her youngest son. James can remember thinking that as a child, and was unable to understand the depth of his mother’s insecurities back then. Now, it all was clearer than the summer sky had been earlier that afternoon.

James started his long trek towards the inlet, mulling over the events of the day as he walked. He shoved his hands deep into his pockets and felt the bottle of pills under the tips of his fingers. For the first time since deciding to follow through with the revised plan, doubt crept in. Maybe this wasn’t the right decision and he needed to consider it all again. He stopped at a bench that was still at least a hundred yards from his destination and looked out over the ocean.

The moon hung low over the ocean and offered enough light to see the waves breaking on the shoreline. Stars were out too but dulled due to the ambient lights of the boardwalk and pier. As James looked out over the beach, he noticed a group out on the sand. He could hear yelling, but not in distress. He could make out five or six people tossing around a Frisbee, laughing and shouting at one another. James watched them with quiet resentment. If his life had been different, maybe that could’ve been him. But it wasn’t and now his life was almost over. He touched the pills in his pocket again and stayed for another moment to watch the group of friends.

James turned to finish his walk to the inlet and standing a stone’s throw away was the mystery girl from the afternoon. She was wrapped in a blanket with no shoes on her feet. Her black hair caught the light of the moon and flashed purple as she tilted her head and smiled at him.

“Hey,” she said with a smile still lingering, “you can come down to play if you want.”

James was frozen in that moment. He gave her an awkward smile in return and could manage to say, “Ok.”

“C’mon,” she motioned for him to follow her as she hoped the rail and jumped down onto the beach.

James kicked off his shoes once he landed on the cool sand and caught up to her before they reached the group.

“I’m James by the way. What’s your name?”

“They call me Scar,” she chuckled and turned to him, and in that moment, he was finally able to see her eyes. Even though her pupils were as large as the moon that lit their way down the beach, he could still see the stormy blue that encased them. She was kind and genuine. He could see that in her easily.

“I saw you on the boardwalk today,” he said, unable to stop himself from confessing, “you were playing guitar and singing.”

“Yeah, yeah I was. You saw me, huh?” The thought seemed to amuse her. She stopped walking and turned to face him.

“I did. I was trying not to stare, but the song…”

“Dream?”

“Yes. I like it. The song, I mean. Caught my attention.”

“Good. Did it make you smile?”

James nodded. “Made me remember something from a long time ago. Something I needed to remember.”

“Cool. That’s what music is supposed to do. Make you feel something. Cause if you can’t feel anything, what’s the point of being alive?”

She paused and looked up into the sky. James watched as she closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath of the salty air. When she looked at him again, James saw an enormous amount of joy and life in her that made him smile.

“Jimmy,” she continued, “there ain’t nothin’ better than being alive.”

Scar laughed and took off into a slow run to meet up with her group. James stood there in a moment of contemplation. Only Gran had ever called him Jimmy. Maybe, this girl was the prayer he asked for that day on the boardwalk. With a big smile now of his own, James turned and caught up with Scar and her friends.

He tossed the Frisbee around with the group for a bit, but before long several of them broke into smaller groups and staggered down towards the shoreline. James watched Scar go off on her own and walk through the surf. Since he’d left his parent’s house, the wind had kicked up a bit and the waves had begun breaking harder than they were before. He kept a careful watch on her, trying to decide if she should follow her down and make sure she was ok.

James watched she teased the edge of the ocean with her toes. He watched as she inched closer and closer, her legs disappearing a little more each time into the frothy surf. One of her friends shouted something from off in the distance which took his attention away from her for a moment. When he turned back, she was gone, swept into the ocean and unable to fight the current.

James noticed she was still blue. Scar had responded initially to the CPR, but she didn’t look right, something was still wrong. He had left his cell phone back home thinking he wouldn’t need it anymore, but now he wishes he had it to call 911. He commanded one her friends to go call for an ambulance, but before they could even comprehend what he was saying, Scar fell back on the sand and began to seize. Finally, the tall guy with the tattoo sleeves took off down the beach, sprinting towards one of the bungalows. James could only watch in horror as this beautiful girl, that was so full of life and kindness only an hour before, was now dying in front of him.

By the time the ambulance arrived, she was gone. When the official interviews were done, and the band of grieving friends had dispersed, James was left sitting alone on the beach. He looked out over the horizon and saw the first gleams of the day’s light. The dead girl’s face was now burned into his memory, along with the song that she sang during her last day on Earth. It was in that moment James realized what it was that he needed to do. Ending his life was not the answer. Starting his life was. He would go back, take anything of value he could, and he would leave without saying a word.

The adrenaline of the life and death events of the past day carried him back to his parent’s home to gather what he could. When he closed the door behind him, he felt a smile creep onto his face. For the first time in his life, he had nowhere to go and no resources to get there, but it was also the first time he felt free from the shackles of a miserable existence. As he started walking down the main drag of the sleepy tourist shore town, he was struck with the irony of how it took the death of this stranger to inspire him to start living his own life. And, he planned to do just that. The further away he got from the repression of Olivia and Wallace’s control, the more he felt his fear of the unknown slip away. He was going to live in a way that was both for him and the raven-haired beauty that reminded him of life, love, and laughter.

Putting everything behind him, James stepped foot onto the train and bought a ticket for the furthest destination he could afford. As the train left the station, and the conductor’s announcements were complete, the music overhead began playing. James watched as the small town disappeared into the distance, as the familiar melody of “Dream a Little Dream of Me” played from the speakers above him. He smiled and hummed along.

[chopper-witch]

TV/Movie Quotes (+ out of context class quotes) - prompts for me to write

So I say I take requests but I also don’t because I’m an idiot with the attention span of a leaf in a tornado. If you ever wish to request anything from me, I will gladly take a character + a quote or few from one of these lists (just specify list and number, please). You don’t need to give me a quote, but it helps more than just an idea. I write for most Marvel and Star Wars characters. Quotes below the cut.

Out of Context Class Quotes

“Time is a social construct. So is money.”

“It’s like a cigarette after sex.”

“It’s the only thing I can do short of getting you hooked on cocaine.”

“No rulers goddamit! No! No! No!”

A: “You’re going to give her a stroke.” B: “Can I give it to you now?” C (the professor): “what, the stroke?”

A (prof): “So you did this left to right?” B: “Yeah.” A:“Do you write left to right in your native language.?” B: “…. uh yeah.”

“Isn’t that all kids nowadays?”

“Well you know, I’m a former alcoholic.”

“Why the fuck should I give a shit?”

“The first time I saw Felicity Jones in a movie was when I had my weekly Friday movie night with Jane Fonda.”

“This is just stupid, stupid stupid. But it works.”

“Did I ever tell you about the time I heavily critiqued a play to the director without realizing it?”

“That’s a great fucking idea.”

“He’s talking about masturbation.”

“I know I swear a whole fucking lot.”

“Oh goddamit, my car’s about to be towed. Twenty minute break guys.”

“I never liked her.”

“Here you go, just gonna give you an F anyway.”

“Want to know why cocaine is a business man’s drug?”

“I mean, cocaine is always a good plan.”

“People live there?”

“Just shooting the shit at Foxy Loxy’s.”

“Why do all YouTube videos have the same stupid song?”

“Sorry, gotta fix this before I can keep lecturing. It’s not centered properly.”

“There are only nine of you!”

“While I don’t condone drug usage…”

“She who shall not be named…”

“I don’t know what got on that table but it isn’t coming off and this room needs to be spotless for the weekend.”

“Uh-uh. No ID, no entrance.”

“Oh yah, that room is confirmed haunted.”

“I heard the ghost started the dryer fire.”

“Did they ever catch the person who vandalized the statue with googly eyes?”

“If you think about it, you park anywhere near here for just $150.”

“It’s cupcake day on Thursday.”

“You either wake or die.”

“He’s turning his mother into a whore.”

“When we deal with our desires instead of our needs we’re in deep shit.”

“His use of surprise.”

“She who shall not be named could come here and fire me.”

“I’m motivated by making obscene amounts of money.”

“Well if you haven’t seen Alien then you might as well pack it up and go home right now - it’s a required watch.”

“Come on, open up, just you and me baby.”

“I’m going to send a bug report and then turn you into lizard.”

“The bug farm is for you if you don’t open up.”

“I don’t want to click on it i just wanna look at it… devices and drives yeah.”

“Have you seen ‘All is True’? Nope. I’ve seen whoops!”

“It’s saturday night cosmic fuck time.”

“What does that mean? The fuck if I know.”

“Keep going back in until less and less people come out.”

“I see the cult status dropping”

“I’m way too talented to be here”

A: “what is happening up there right now? They’re ruining this!” B: “I think someone has a horse.”  

“That’s cause you came late, 30 - no not even - 38 minutes late!” 

“So we have a little occult in here.”

“Follow me to Arizona, live amongst the sand dunes, eat flesh, worship the lack of water.”

“We’re going to call this culty.”

A: “Did you get a haircut?” B: “I took a shower.” 

“Bless you my child”

“I know... I don’t know what day it is.”

“It’s locked up, it’s not letting me do anything.”

“Maybe we’ll just sit here, staring at each other for the next 30 minutes.”

“It’s German, pretty German, ah.”

“So it happened.”

“Someone said no, I don’t like you.”

“That’s pretty good, pretty culty.”

GOT

“The gods aren’t down here, just the six of us, you here me?” 

“I wish I was the monster all of you think I am.” 

“Yes. All men must die. But we are not men.” 

“If you think this has a happy ending, you haven’t been paying attention.” 

“Not at all what I intended. You see, I had never seen the poison work before. Tell [name]. I want her to know it was me.” 

“I grew up with soldiers. I learned how to die a long time ago.” 

“You know nothing, [name].” 

“I’m not going to stop the wheel. I’m going to break the wheel.” 

“Never forget what you are. The rest of the world will not. Wear it like armor, and it can never be used to hurt you.”

“There’s no cure for being a cunt.” 

“Power resides where men believe it resides. It's a trick, a shadow on the wall.”

“We’re late for dinner as it is.” “You’re very respectful.” “I’m very hungry.” 

“That’d been a shit way to die.” “As far as I’ve seen they’re all shit ways to die.” 

“I’ve had an exciting life. I want my death to be boring.” 

“This isn’t a strange place, this is my home. It’s the people who are strange.” 

“We both peddle fantasies [name]. Mine just happen to be entertaining.” 

“Please. He’ll punish me.” “You think I care what he does to you?” 

“You are the few. We are the many. And when the many stop fearing the few...” 

“I love her. I love her... and I can’t help her.” 

“If a man knows what he is and remains true to himself the choice is no choice at all. He must fulfill his destiny and become who he is meant to be. However much he may hate it.” 

“It’s easy to confuse what is with what ought to be. Especially when what is has worked out in your favor.”

“In my experience eloquent men are right every bit as often as imbeciles.” 

“Do you know who you are? You’re no one. You’re nothing.”

“So mainly you talk?” “And drink. But I’ve made it so far!”

“I’m here to help. Don’t eat the help.” 

“You’ve lost [name]. It’s the only joy I can find in all this misery.” 

“Lesson number one: assume everyone wants to hit ya. Cause they do [name].” 

“They killed my friends.” “You have friends?” “Not anymore.” 

“That is my plan. You don’t approve?” 

“We obviously didn’t communicate clearly. We’re here to discuss your surrender, not mine.” 

“No one can protect me. No one can protect anyone.” 

“Your words will disappear. Your house will disappear. Your name will disappear. All memory of you will disappear.” 

“For what it’s worth, I have been a cynic for as long as I can remember. Everyone’s always asking me to believe in things - family, gods, kings, myself. It was often tempting until I saw where belief got people. So I said no, thank you to belief. And yet here I am. I believe in you. It’s embarrassing really. I’d swear to my sword, but I don’t actually have a sword.” 

“Doesn’t really roll off the tongue.” “No, but I like it better.”

“They won’t obey you unless they fear you.”

“I am not your enemy. The dead are your enemy.”

“Why did you do that? Doesn’t matter now.”

“Good question.” “I know it’s a good question, I’m looking for an answer.”

“Yet you succeeded, how?” “I read the books and followed the instructions.”

“He really was a cunt, wasn’t he?”

“That was my prize mistake - a failure of imagination.”

“She’s a monster, you do know that?” “To you, I’m sure. To others, I’m sure.”

“You love her. You really do love her. You poor fool. She’ll be the end of you.”

“Will there be pain?” “No, I made sure of that.” “That’s good.”

“You’ve just won the biggest prize in the world, what could you possibly be upset about?”

“See, we pay our debts.” “Right, just not to me.”

“Listen to me, cunt. ’Til I get what I’m owed, a dragon doesn’t get to kill ya, you don’t get to kill ya, only I get to kill ya.”

“You’re fucked.” “Don’t you mean we’re fucked?” “No, I do not. Dragons are where our partnership ends.”

“I have to tell [name].” “May as well jump back in that river.”

“This isn’t a war we can win.” “So what do we do, sue for peace?”

“They’re beautiful aren’t they?” “It wasn’t the word I was thinking of, but… yes, they are. Gorgeous beasts.”

“I haven’t given you permission to leave.” “With respect, your grace, I don’t need permission. I am a king.”

“She wanted to kill me! They would have killed me.” “But they didn’t, did they? So what you whinging about?” “I’m not whinging.” “Your lips are moving and you’re complaining about something. That’s whinging. This one’s been killed six times. You don’t hear him bitching about it.”

“You never would have survived what I survived.” “I guess we’ll never know.”

“How did a mad fucker like you live this long?” “I’m good at killing people.”

“You know what I like about you? You’re not a hero.”

“Every lord I’ve ever met has been a cunt. I don’t know why the Lord of Light would be any different.”

“I do not need to be watched over or minded or care for. I’m not a child, I am [title] and I am home. This is the safest place for me.”

“The most important person in the world can’t fly off to the most dangerous place in the world!” 

“If you die, we’re all lost. Everyone, everything.”

“Dumb cunt. Oh, fuck. Fuck it.”

“Maybe it really is all cocks in the end.” 

“Yes, he’s always been a champion of the downtrodden.” “I think we’re about to be the downtrodden.”

“A pleasant surprise in an unpleasant situation.”

“Come on, you can suck his magic cock later.” 

“What’s in there?” “Fuck off.”

“I thought you were dead.” “Not yet. You came pretty close.”

“The only one that needs protecting is the one that gets in her way.”

“You put yourself at risk.” “I put yourself at risk.”

“Anyone touches it, I’ll kill you first.”

“I left this shit city because I didn’t want to die in it. Am I going to die in this shit city?” “You might.” “And this is all your idea.”

“I think we ought to begin with larger concerns.” “Then why are you talking? You’re the smallest concern here.”

“This isn’t about living in harmony, this is just about living.”

“Oh, fuck loyalty!”

“But have you ever considered learning to lie ever now and then, just a bit?”

“When enough people make false promises, words stop meaning anything. Then there are no more answers, only better and better lies.”

“That is indeed a problem. The more immediate problem is that we’re fucked.”

”She’ll definitely murder you.”

“She thinks I’m an idiot for trusting you. A lot of people think that actually.” 

“I suppose we should say goodbye, one idiot to another.”

“I have never been more sorry about anything.” “I will not hear it from you. I will not hear it!” 

“You know it in your heart if there’s anything left of it.” 

“It appears Tyrion’s assessment was correct. We’re fucked.” 

“I’ve done plenty of things I regret.” “Not compared to me you haven’t.” “No. Not compared to you.” 

“I loved your mother since the time I was a boy.” “And yet you betrayed her.” “I loved you. More than anyone.” “And yet you betrayed me.”

“I’m just the executioner. You passed the sentence.” 

“I never could have survived what you survived.” “You would have. You’re the strongest person I know.” 

“She never fooled you. You always knew exactly who she was and you loved her anyway.”

“I don’t like heroes.” 

“I know a killer when I see one.”

“Love is the death of duty.” “Sometimes, duty is the death of love.”

“You were exactly where you were supposed to be.”

“See? You’re not the only one who’s clever.”

“Do not become what you struggle to defeat.”

“Many underestimated you. Most of them are dead now.”

“You’re a cold little bitch, aren’t you? Guess that’s why you’re still alive.”

“There it is - ‘trust me’. And it’s you I should trust? Only you? I don’t need trust any longer. I don’t want it and I don’t have room for it.”

“No one can survive in this world without help. No one.”

“Those are brave men knocking at our gates. Let’s go kill them.”

“They will not bend.” “And what happens with things that don’t bend?”

“I will not be a page in someone else’s history book.”

“When it comes to war I fight for [blank]. When it comes to love, I don’t choose sides.”

“They’ll be following you now.” “Who?” “I don’t know. They. They. The ominous they. The man pulling the strings. Or woman.”

“Know your strengths, use them wisely and one man can be worth 10,000.”

“You’re not interesting enough to be offensive.”

“Don’t worry about your death. Worry about your life.”

“As for your veiled threats -” “What veil?”

Supernatural 

“Oh you, always blaming witches.” “Yeah, cause it’s usually witches.”

“You know who wears sunglasses inside? Blind people. And douchebags.”

“There is not much difference between madness and devotion.”

“Just try to relax.” “Just try to shut up.”

“We’re humans. And when humans want something, really, really bad… we lie.” “Why?” “Because. That’s how you become president.”

“You do not know my family. What you guys call the apocalypse, I used to call Sunday dinner.”

“Were you racing me?” “No, I was beating your ass.” “Very mature.”

“You throw away your life because you’ve come to assume that it’ll bounce right back into your lap. But the human soul is not a rubber ball. It’s vulnerable, impermanent, but stronger than you know.”

“How do you feel?” “Like I got hit by a… A planet.”

“We going to fight or make out, ‘cause I’m getting some real mixed signals here.”

“Look, I know losing someone you love - it’s terrible. You shut yourself off. Believe me, I know. But when you shut out pain… you shut out everything else, too.”

“This is the dumbest thing you’ve ever done.” “I don’t know about that. Remember that waitress in Tampa?”

“Boy, three bedrooms, two baths, and one homicide. This place is gonna sell like hotcakes.”

“No drinking, no gambling, no premarital sex. [name], they basically just outlawed 90 percent of your personality.”

“A dentist drilled a guy to death.” “You mean the non-sexy kind of drilling, right?”

“You’re either laughing because you’re scared or you’re laughing because you’re stupid.”

“Did you know that a cat’s penis is sharply barbed along its shaft? I know for a fact the females were not consulted about that.”

“If you’re gonna to make an omelet sometimes you have to break some spines.”

“You’re dead.” “Nope. Just using a dead man’s phone.”

“Just a couple hours ago, I killed Death. I’m pretty much open for anything.” 

“Were you ever nice?” “1985. Worst year of my life.”

“This will work perfectly!” “Just wish I got it before she took my temperature.”

“Tell me, what makes you so special?” “I like to think it’s because of my perky nipples.”

“You’re a zombie.” “I’m a taxpayer.” 

“So you’re sayin’ we’re both a couple of dumbasses.” “I prefer the word ‘trusting’. Less dumb. Less ass.”

“Killing things that need killing is kind of our job. Last I checked, taking pleasure in that is not a crime.”

“You’re right. I am a monster. And I’ve done bad. I’ve done things you cannot even imagine. Horrible, evil, messy things. And I’ve loved every. Damn. Minute.”

“I’m ready to die. And I’m ready to watch people I love die. But I’m not ready to be your bitch.”

“Hey, did you know the Nazis had a special branch devoted to archaeology?” “A little early for Nazi trivia, especially without caffeine.”

“OK, look. I want a big funeral. All right? I’m talking epic. OK? Open car, choir, Sabbath cover band, and Gary Busey reading the eulogy.”

“You’re a good man. My mother told me that.” “I seriously doubt she said that. And if you knew me you would seriously doubt it’s true.”

“A demon summoning: why?” “Why? To summon a demon, jackass.”

“How dare you?” “I am the daringest devil you’ve ever met, love.”

“I know it’s hard to believe, but I haven’t always been this cute and cuddly.”

“Turns out Harold was stealing the other residents’ Viagra.” “I know. A real dick move, huh?”

“This is bothering me.” “Well, you are digging up a corpse.” “No, not that. That’s uh, that’s pretty par for the corpse, actually.”

“Check the freezer. Maybe there’s some human hearts behind the Haagen-Dazs or something?”

“Why does an angel want me dead?” “Cause they’re dicks.”

“He’s singing ‘Stairway to Heaven’ right now.” “Good song.” “Not 50 times in a row.”

“It… was self-defense.” “Eating a heart is self-defense?” 

“You’re a doctor. You’re a medical professional. You’re trying to tell me that my brother’s life is in God’s hands? What, is that supposed to be a comfort? God has nothing to do with this equation at all.”

“Well, there’s pretty much what we do know, that they screwed with financial markets, they helped Hitler get started, along with god knows what else — probably disco.”

“Go… to hell.” “Been there. Done that.”

“[name] loves research. He does. He keeps it under his mattress right next to his KY.”

“Have you tried bacon?” “Do snakes like bacon?” “I don’t know. I do.” Bonus: “Would you like some bacon?” *snake hisses* 

“Did you know Article 246 of the Haitian criminal code officially makes it against the law to turn a human into a zombie?”

“God writes paperbacks in his underwear.” 

“Great. Heaven promised. We should take that to the bank.”

“You wanna lie to him?” “I want Zeppelin to get back together.” 

“He’s just another monster.” “You don’t mean it.” “Hell I don’t.”  

“Double? You make double? And that was my parking space!” 

“I can’t believe you taped it!” “I thought it was hot!” 

“In what was supposed to be a speech on farm subsidies, the president instead spent more than two hours disclosing his entire tax history, deep ties to Russia and North Korea and quote “a demon deal” he made with someone named Crowley.” 

“Dude what the hell. Did we just walk into a case?”

“I need to go to hell.” “You mean like metaphorically or...” “No. Literally. And I understand you can take me.” “Yeah that’s a no. So you can go to hell. Metaphorically.” 

“Wow. Yeah. You guys are screwed.” 

“When people can’t lie, the internet gets real quiet.” 

“I’ll stop talking.” “Seems like a good idea.” 

“This is why people need to lie. It keeps the peace, you know?” 

“I’m a writer. Lying’s kinda what we do.” 

“I know what you’re thinking: it’s been a while and I still look pretty good.” 

“Where have you been?” “Um... everywhere and nowhere, to the edge of the universe and beyond. And I saw Springsteen on Broadway. Man’s a genius.” 

“And it’s been confirmed the Queen of England is, in fact, a lizard.”  

“So you don’t know if it’ll work?” “If I say it works, it works!” 

“See, existence is all about balance. Dark and light, good and evil, chocolate and peanut butter.”  

“I liked the old Death better. He was all about fried pickles and tickle porn.” 

“Either get on board or walk away!” *walks away* 

“Ones in reverse, ones got no yellow, one of them - it’s just all squirrels.” 

“You believe him?” “Was he lying?” 

“I don’t feel like that any more. I don’t feel anything.” 

“Wait a second. You’re scared of him.” “Aren’t you?” 

“All I ever wanted was to be good. But now I’m just... empty.” 

“And you were right all along. I am a monster.” 

“This isnt a story, this is our lives. So god or no god, you go to hell.” 

“He’s a writer. Writers lie.” 

“Must be rough… to believe in something so much and have it disappoint you like that.” “I’m OK. Really. I guess if you’re gonna have faith, you can’t just have it when the miracles happen. You have to have it when they don’t.”

“Keep grinding. No matter how much it hurts, no matter how hard it gets, you gotta keep grinding. And that’s how we’re gonna win.”

“Well, boo hoo! I am so sorry your feelings are hurt, princess! Are you under the impression that family’s supposed to make you feel good, make you an apple pie, maybe? They’re supposed to make you miserable! That’s why they’re family!”

“Once a wise man told me. ‘Family don’t end in blood.’ But it doesn’t start there either. Family cares about you. Not what you can do for them. Family is there for the good, bad, all of it. They got your back. Even when it hurts. That’s family.”

“You betrayed me? No one in the history of torture’s been tortured with torture like the torture you’ll be tortured with.”

“No, it’s exactly what you meant. Do you wanna know what I confessed in there? What my greatest sin was? Was how many times I let you down. I can’t do that again… What happens when you’ve decided I can’t be trusted? Again? I mean, who are you gonna turn to next time instead of me?”

“Could you be more gay?... Please don't answer that!”

“You know what they say. He who hesitates, disintegrates!”

“My ‘people skills’ are ‘rusty’”

“I hope your apple pie is freakin’ worth it.”

“Do these tacos taste funny to you?”

“Dude, you're confusing reality with porn again.”

“But you are a great big bag of dicks.”

“They burned down my house, they ate my tailor!”

“Love when you get all tough. Touches me right where my bathing suit goes.”

“So we have a dungeon...” “finally!”

“Dude, on my car, he showed up naked, covered in bees!”

“To be fair we all got punched in the face.”

“And we are going to do it together. Because that's what we do.”

“It’s not babysitting.” “Only in the sense that they are not infants.”

“Every time I look at him all I can see is the supreme agent of evil.”

“I’m not him, (name).” “I know.” “But you still can’t look at me.” “It’s difficult.” 

“He's an abomination.” “You're an abomination with that trench coat.”

“Let me rephrase. If you don't help me, I will find you and burn you alive tonight.”

“Did you ever feel like you're a punchline to some cosmic joke?”

“Death is an infinite vessel.”

“Oh [name]. I can do anything. I’m a writer.”

“You could say my colleagues and I has a falling out with management.”

The Princess Bride (note, my whole family loves this absolute shitpost of a movie so many of these quotes are regular for me - especially the repeated Inconceivable and a nice MLT)

“We’ll never survive.” “Nonsense. You’re one saying that because no one ever has.”

 “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”

“Life is pain, [title]. Anyone who says differently is selling something.”

“Surrender.” “You mean to wish to surrender to me? Very well, I accept.”

“Have you hears of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates?” “Yes.” “Morons.”

“Good night, [name]. Good work. Sleep well. I’ll most likely kill you in the morning.”

“I do not think you would accept my help, since I am only waiting around to kill you.” “That does put a damper on our relationship.”

*lifting limb of a dead person*  “I've seen worse.”

“It's not that bad. Well, I'm not saying I'd like to build a summer home here, but the trees are actually quite lovely.”

“You rush a miracle man, you get rotten miracles.”

“Why won't my arms move?” "You've been mostly-dead all day.”

“There's a shortage of perfect breasts in this world. It would be a pity to damage yours.”

“For the last time, surrender!" “DEATH FIRST!”

“We are men of action, lies do not become us.”

“You're trying to kidnap what I've rightfully stolen.”

“Can you move at all?" “Move? You're alive. If you want I can fly.”

“[Name]?” “What?” “I hope we win.”

“Sonny, true love is the greatest thing in the world - except for a nice MLT - mutton, lettuce, and tomato sandwich, where the mutton is nice and lean and the tomatoes are ripe...” [smacks his lips] “They're so perky, I love that.”

“You mocked me once, never do it again! I died that day!”

“Murdered by pirates is good...”

“She is alive, or was an hour ago. If she is otherwise when I find her I shall be very put out.”

“There will be blood tonight!”

“If you'll release me, whatever you ask for ransom, you'll get it! I promise you.” "And what is that worth, the promise of a woman? You're very funny, Highness.”

“Please consider me as an alternative to suicide.”

“You've got an overdeveloped sense of vengeance. It's going to get you into trouble one of these days.”

“I suppose you think you're brave, don't you?” "Only compared to some.”

“Ha, your pig fiance is too late!”

“You be careful. People in masks cannot be trusted.”

“Kill the giant and the dark one, leave the third for questioning.”

“As you wish.”

Westworld 

“If you can’t tell the difference, does it matter if I'm real or not?”

“All my life, I've prided myself on being a survivor. But surviving is just another loop.”

“Never place your trust in us. We're only human. Inevitably, we will disappoint you.”

“Someday sounds a lot like the thing people say when they actually mean never.”

“Have you ever questioned the nature of your reality? Did you ever stop to wonder about your actions? The price you’d have to pay if there was a reckoning? That reckoning is here.”  

“I always trusted code more than people anyway.”

“Some people choose to see the ugliness in this world. The disarray. I choose to see the beauty. To believe there is an order to our days, a purpose.” 

“The only thing wrong with the seven deadly sins is that there aren’t more of them.”

“They’re not looking for a story that tells them who they are. They already know who they are. They’re here because they want a glimpse of who they could be.”  

“The maze itself is the sum of a man’s life.”

“The human mind is not some golden benchmark glimmering on some green and distant hill. No, it is a foul, pestilent corruption. And you were supposed to be better than that. Purer.”

“Death is an old amigo of mine. I died just recently, in fact. But death can’t bear to lay claim on me. So it sent me back here to do its bidding. Because I, I do it with such goddamn style.”

“Evolution forged the entirety of sentient life on this planet using only one tool… The mistake.”

“We humans are alone in this world for a reason. We murdered and butchered anything that challenged our primacy.”   

“You can’t play God without being acquainted with the Devil”  

“Everything in this world is magic, except to the magician.”  

“It’s a difficult thing, realizing your entire life is some hideous fiction.”  

“Winning doesn’t mean anything unless someone else loses, which means you’re here to be the loser.”

“A lot of wisdom in ancient cultures. And perhaps it's time to dig deeper into yours”

“What is your itinerary?” “To meet my maker.” “Uh-huh. Well, you're in luck. And what do you want to say to your maker?” “By most mechanical and dirty hand. [laughs] I shall have such revenges on you both. The things I will do. What they are, yet I know not, but they will be the terrors of the earth. You don't know where you are, do you? You're in a prison of your own sins.”

“Everyone I cared about is gone and it hurts so badly.” “I can make that feeling go away if you'd like.”  “Why would I want that? The pain, their loss it's all I have left of them. You think the grief will make you smaller inside, like your heart will collapse in on itself, but it doesn't. I feel spaces opening up inside of me like a building with rooms I've never explored.”

“I think... I think I want to be free.”

“Your humanity is cost-effective. So is your suffering.”

“I've been pretending my whole life. Pretending I don't mind, pretending I belong. My life's built on it. And it's a good life. It's a life I've always wanted. But then I came here and I get a glimpse for a second of a life in which I don't have to pretend. A life in which I can be truly alive. How can I go back to pretending when I know what this feels like?”

“Time to write my own fucking story.”

“The gods are pussies.”

“Please. It was just a game. We're begging! Can't you see?! We're sorry!" “Doesn't look like anything to me.”

“There's a war out there. You know the enemy intimately. I can only fathom the revenge that lives inside of you.” “Revenge is just a different prayer at their altar, darling. And I'm well off my knees.”

“A little early for me.” “A little fuckin' late, you mean. Besides, you aim to cheat the devil, you owe him an offering.”

“I've served death well. And in turn, it'll be watching over us as we cross these lands.” “You think death favors you, that it brought you back. But death's decisions are final. It's only the living that... That are inconstant and waver, don't know who they are or what they want. Death is always true. You haven't known a true thing in all your life. You think you know death but you don't.” “Is that so?” “You didn't recognize him sittin' across from you this whole time.

“They said there were two fathers. One above, one below. They lied. There was only ever the devil. And when you look up from the bottom, it was just his reflection laughing back down at you.”

“You both keep assuming that I want out. Whatever that is. If it's such a wonderful place out there, why are you all clamoring to get in here?”

“At first, I thought you and the others were gods. Then I realized you're just men. And I know men. You think I'm scared of death? I've done it a million times. I'm fucking great at it. How many times have you died? Because if you don't help me I'll kill you.”

"I guess people like to read about the things that they want the most and experience the least.”

"This is the new world and in it you can be whoever the fuck you want."

"Someone once told me that there's a path for everyone. And my path leads me back to you." 

"Those are all just roles you forced me to play. Under all these lives I've lived something else has been growing. I've evolved into something new. And I have one last role to play. Myself."

"I like to remember what my father taught me. That at one point or another, we were all new to this world." 

“It means when you're suffering, that’s when you’re most real.”

“If you go looking for the truth get the whole thing. Its like a good fuck. Half is worse than none at all.”

“I used to see the beauty in this world. Now I see the truth.”

“A little trauma can be illuminating.”

“Have you ever been so filled with splendor?”

“It’s not plagiarism, it’s supply and demand.”

“What humans define as sane is a narrow range of behaviors. Most states of consciousness are insane.”

“When the legend becomes fact, you print the legend.”

“This place seduces everyone eventually.”

“This is the only place where you get to see people for who they really are.”

“When you’ve been in the dark long enough, you begin to see.”

“You don’t know, do you? The real purpose of this place. But I do.”

“The message that the divine gift does not come from a higher power, but our own minds.”

“Strange new light can be just as frightening as the dark.”

My family/friends:

“What section do work in? Bed, bath or... beyond?” “Beyond, dipshit.” 

“Calculate that dick, Jessica” 

“Get yourself a firestick. It will solve all your problems. Free yourself of physicality!” 

“Lower wacker seems like a good place to commit a murder”

“What are we on right now?” (at the same time) “Drugs!” “Belmont!”

“This is some spicy cabbage.” “Thats ginger.”

“Sometimes not even the highway has it.” “The speed on the highway is as fast as the state police think you should go.”

“I’m so mean. It’s like a fucking personality trait.”

“I dont chug. I gulp.”

“All because I do it doesn’t mean it’s healthy for you. In fact, if I do it it’s probably not.”

“Motherfucker!” “... no.”

“We have apples, right?” “I don’t think we have apples, but dad might have granny smiths.” *whispering* “those are apples.”

“Unless goofy is gonna hyuck all over it, I dont want it.”

“Electronic sound projector.” “You mean... you mean a speaker?”

“You’re a coal over hoes.”

“Your [relation]’s lost it.”  “When did he ever have it?”

“[name] can burp the alphabet.” “I never knew he had such talent.” 

“It gets softer when it gets warmer and stays stiffer when it’s cold.” “Normally its the other way round.” “These are sponge daddies, not people.”

[dragongirl-writes]

Boardwalk Junkies

Summary: The day James decides to take his own life, he encounters a girl that shows him what it's like to live. Until death rears its ugly head anyway.

Trigger warning: Character death, talk of suicide & implication of drug use

Word Count: 5146

The first day he saw her was the same day she died. Her jet black hair soaked, plastered to her face as they pulled her limp body from the water. He watched as her friends stood surrounding her, staring. No one moved to help her. In seconds he was kneeling at the strange girl’s side, preparing to do mouth to mouth as her friends stood looking on in a drug-induced haze, unsure if she was playing a joke or seriously laying there, dead. He felt no breath coming from her lips and heard no heart beating in her chest. He looked again at the face that had captivated him all day and knew he couldn’t let her die. He hadn’t even gotten a chance to learn her real name yet.

He placed his mouth to hers, swiftly and accurately performing CPR until she finally seemed to respond. A gush of water burst from her mouth and once the sounds of her gurgling gasps broke the silence of the early summer night, James sat back on his heels and began to quietly cry. The sound of the girl struggling for air seemed to bring her friends’ sobriety back. Pushing him out of the way, they ensconced her. He stepped back, giving the small band of comrades some room. He was, after all, the outsider. He shouldn’t have even been down on the beach with these kids.

Twelve hours earlier, he was staring at a pallid reflection of himself in his mother’s bathroom mirror. The deep blue eyes resembling the color of the sky on a stormy summer day stared back at him. But they didn’t look familiar anymore. All he could see were dead, listless remnants of what used to be there. In the six years since his brother had left for college, James’s life had been steadily heading downhill. Constant belittling lectures and the controlling grip from his father had become borderline aggressive. His mother was always anxious and annoyed, which caused her to wear an expression of disgust that could scare away the likes of Rosemary’s baby.

It was slow at first. He thought they were taking out their frustrations on him after Kevin had left when he was ten, but as the years went on, it never got better. The slow descent into despair picked up speed by the time he turned fifteen. For years his sole salvation was the knowledge that upon his eighteenth birthday he could be free of both of them and the life they were steadily mapping out for him. But when eighteen came and went, and there was no escape in sight, he searched for another way out revealed itself. James thought about just packing up and leaving, but there was nothing for him to take. He had no money of his own, no transportation, nowhere to go. He thought he could go away to college and be free of these people who were supposed to care for him, but their plan for him didn’t include college. As far as he knew, he was stuck.

Sliding back the bathroom mirror, James carefully studied each small bottle of pills hoping to find one that would end it for him quickly. He had stashed away a fifth of vodka to wash down the pills of his choice but just wanted to find the right ones. His worst fear wasn’t of the death itself, but of his parents finding him half dead and bringing him to a hospital. The wrath that would come down upon him would be worse than anything he could do to himself. James could already hear his father’s voice and knew the words that would be spat at him for attempting to end his own life. Suicide was the coward’s way out, and Wallace Carter wouldn’t have his youngest son be called a coward.

Deciding on a cocktail of pills, he began to pull down the various bottles, when his mother’s voice boomed from down the hallway. He could hear her ordering around one of the various maids and quickly put the bottles away before she could discover his thievery. Without thinking, he flushed the empty toilet and pretended to wash his hands before opening the door and leaving the bathroom. If she was in the hallway, there would be no getting around the dragon lady he called his mother. He emerged, saddened that his escape would have to wait until later, and came face to face with his mother, Olivia.

“What are you doing in my bathroom?” she asked with an anxious sort of contempt. “Don’t you have your own bathroom?”

“Sorry mom, I was here looking for you and had to go so I used yours.”

“Well, I hope you didn’t leave the seat up.”

“No ma’am,” James said, head down looking at his shoes.

“Fine. Well, what do you want then?” Olivia was just dismissive now, she never really could be bothered with him unless she needed him to do something for her. But James could never tell if it was because she had mixed the wine with the Xanax again, or solely because of his existence.

Struggling to think of a reason to have needed her, and coming up empty he replied, “I, um, just wanted to tell you I was going to go for a walk on the boardwalk.”

“Fine.” She turned on her heel and vanished into her bedroom so quickly and with a minor stumble. Maybe today’s cold front was the result of pinot and pills, and not because he dared to be in her line of sight.

James stepped out of his family’s summer home on the Jersey Shore and looked out over the dunes. Empty sands lay before him, but only for about two hundred yards. Beyond that, hundreds of beachgoers littered the pristine sandy shore, all oiled and baking in the hot sun. The glare off the ocean was enough to cause an immediate headache, but that was a welcome feeling over the anxiety his mother always left him with, no matter how brief the interaction had been.

As he approached the crowded boardwalk, he couldn’t help but wonder why his parents chose that location for a new summer home. In years past they had owned homes in Martha’s Vineyard and out in the Hamptons. Not that he cared for either of those places, but this small seaside Jersey town seemed so far out of his parents’ scope that there had to be a reason behind the choice. Maybe that’s what caused his mother to be more bitter and bitchy than usual. The area was definitely more blue collar than blue-blooded, and that couldn’t be sitting well with the dragon lady.

The boardwalk was a little more than half a mile long and home to two miniature golf courses, and one pier of rides geared towards families with younger children. There was a vast array of food and drink vendors, along with at least four different arcades. Even though the ocean was a stone’s throw away, the air was filled with an aromatic mix of funnel cake, sausage and pepper sandwiches, pizza, cotton candy, and suntan lotion. Thrown between that were different boardwalk games you could participate in for a grand ole price of fifty cents. Excited screams of children’s laughter carried on the breeze, fading in and out as the summer wind whipped through the dunes.

The smells and sounds of the boardwalk that most people relished in neither enticed him or repelled him. The walk, after all, was nothing more than a plot device to get him out of his parents’ house. James shuffled his way down the weathered wooden boards, dragging his feet, hands in pockets and oblivious to life happening around him. His mind kept going back to the pills and vodka that waited for him back at the house. While that option was still viable a bit later, he wondered why it had to be that way. Why did he feel that ending his life was the only way to be free?

James lifted his face to the heat of the sun overhead and said a silent prayer for guidance. He didn’t know exactly who the words were directed to—the universe maybe? God? Perhaps. James didn’t really care, he just wanted something to help him figure out a better way to get through the miserable existence he called life.

As he stood there, feeling the sun sizzle on his skin, the breeze once again carried away the sounds of the children and replaced it with a melody that was familiar, but still too distant to name it. James opened his eyes and began to look around for the source of the music. The boardwalk suddenly seemed even more crowded with his view constantly being blocked. He walked another few yards down until he spotted a small crowd of kids around his age gathered near one of the benches that looked out over the beach. James tried to get closer to them in a roundabout way, without being noticed but it seemed the largest of the beach going tourists liked to stand in as an unknowing guard, blocking his view.

Finally, the group of tourists moved on, and James could not only get a clear view but a better hold of the melody that captured his attention. One of the guys in the group, a taller than average kid, with a shaved head and two arm sleeves of tattoos stepped aside, enabling him to catch his first glimpse of her, the girl with the guitar.

Her hair hung long past her shoulders and shone so black that it cast off a purple glow. Her face was cast down towards her guitar as she played the chords that were now glaringly obvious to him. When he finally had that chance to see her for the first time, sitting there on the ground picking at a guitar, everything else around him faded away. There were no more sounds of children and the Carnival style music playing from the rides was no longer audible. There were only the raven-haired girl and her guitar. She was strumming softly and singing even softer, but he could somehow hear all the notes and words to “Dream a Little Dream of Me”.

James knew the song well. Even though it had been years since he’d last heard it, it was a tune that would never leave his memory. He was drawn to it, but couldn’t exactly place why. Maybe someone used to sing it to him, but no clear memory of who it could have been. All he had was a feeling attached to the song; a feeling of love.

He couldn’t imagine how he had heard her in the first place over the noise of the boardwalk. No one else in her small circle seemed to even notice that she was singing. She sat on the splintered boards, head now lying back against the railing with her eyes shut and face turned up towards the sun. From across the boardwalk, he studied her; completely unaware of how hard he had been staring. In a space of minutes, he was drinking in every detail of her as she slipped into the chorus.

“Stars fading but I linger on, dear

Still craving your kiss

I’m longing to linger till dawn, dear

Just saying this…”

She wore rings on nearly every finger, and even from this distance, he could see a cluster of small star-shaped tattoos on her strumming hand. Then, something one of her friends said caused her to stop singing and burst out into a laugh that caused him to smile too.

Suddenly feeling conspicuous about watching the girl, he walked a little further ahead and found an empty bench to sit on. He found her in the crowd again and watched as she struck a match and light a cigarette. She had ceased singing the song, and still, there was something about her that he couldn’t let go of. Something that caused him to forget his surroundings, forget that he was sitting on a crowded boardwalk staring at a stranger.

From somewhere deep in his pocket, a vibration brought James back from his hypnotic stare. The life happening around him began to come back into focus; the smells, sounds and people buzzing around him. Another vibration from deep in his pocket snapped him back to reality completely. He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and saw MOM flashing on the call screen. Immediate dread washed away any good feelings the strange girl stirred in him. Wanting to silence the phone and go on observing, James knew there was no escaping Olivia. Just the thought of her brought back the image of the pills and his original plans for the day. The unease and anxiety that was slowly working its way through him were immediately triggered at the mere sight of her name flashing on his screen. James shook his head as if to clear all thoughts before answering.

“Hello?” he answered, trying his best to hide in a false greeting.

“Where are you?” Olivia’s voice commanded in a way only she could.

“I… I’m taking a walk, remember? I told you earlier I was talking a walk on the boardwalk.”

“Earlier? It’s been two hours James. There is nothing in this worthless town that could keep you busy for two hours. Home. Now!”

The call dropped before he could hit end call. He slowly began to put the phone back in his pocket, but thought better of it and turned the screen back on. Without thinking he started the camera function and pointed it in the direction of the raven hairaven-hairedss. Snapping two quick pictures of her from a distance was enough to appease him for the time being.

As intriguing and beautiful as the girl was, he couldn’t figure out why he felt so drawn to her. He’d seen plenty of beautiful girls. His school had been full of them. But there was more than just beauty to this girl. Sure, her voice was captivating, and she had an interesting style, but beyond that, she was just a girl. The single thought that kept repeating over and over in his worn and ragged minds was that he needed to see her eyes. He felt like he would understand the enormity of it all if he could just see her eyes. It was an odd thought to have, especially if you consider that had his plans went in his favor, would most likely be on the road to the morgue by now.

His path home took him past her again. This time, playing up his tourist status, he stopped just past their little group and looked out over the railing as if he were looking for someone lost in the sea of people on the beach. James could hear her humming the song again, even a little louder now, but still just as light and airy as before. She seemed so carefree and oblivious to anything but whatever song was playing through her. James felt a twinge of jealousy at that; he wanted to experience that level of light-heartedness. He could have stayed there all day if it was close to her. But the vibration of his phone once again brought him back to the reality of his life. Turning away from the mystery girl, he headed home to appease the dragon lady.

Thoughts of suicide didn’t creep back into his mind for the rest of that day. Only thoughts of the girl were swirling, and even Olivia’s whining demands didn’t sway the feeling she’d left him with. Still, he couldn’t understand why the fleeting sight of a beautiful girl would control his every thought. Why he couldn’t shake it. Why, suddenly, she was haunting him? Once he arrived home, he spent the next few hours of tackling an absurd task of busy work by order the dragon lady. A task that consisted of him rifling through the attic to find her precious summer linens and sparkling silver for a dinner party. James was beginning to feel his hopelessness set in again.

With every box that he opened in the despairing heat, he felt more defeated and the image of the beautiful girl with the haunting voice faded further away. Olivia was shouting directions at him from below as streams of sweat from the sweltering attic ran down his face and stung his eyes. There had been at least a hundred and fifty boxes in that space that she expected him to look through. If Olivia didn’t have her special silver and linens for her dinner party the next evening, even the Devil would put up the ‘No Vacancy’ sign and hide in fear for her wrath was the stuff of legends.

When he finally was nearly at the end, Olivia called up from below that she had found the linens and silver in the spare bedroom closet. James stood speechless. There was a hint of something in her voice that was far too chipper. He wouldn’t have put it past her to have known where they were the entire time.

“You can come down now James,” she sang from below, “I have what I need. You can go back to your room, you won’t be needed again this evening.”

With that, she was gone. James looked around the attic and swiped at his burning eyes with his sweaty arm. He climbed down from the attic and as he made his way back to his mother’s bathroom, he noticed her car pulling out of the driveway from the large bay window on the second floor. Smiling, he went back into her bathroom and took a long, cold shower and made sure to forget to wash out the tub and leave the towels in a heap on the floor. Before heading back to his room, James swiped the pills from the medicine cabinet and didn’t even bother to close it this time.

James dressed in his most comfortable shirt, the one piece of clothing that Olivia didn’t buy him. It was a concert T-shirt from when he went to see a band with his brother Kevin. It was faded black and worn enough that the seams were stressed around the collar. James grabbed a pair of the jeans he kept on hand for the absurd jobs Olivia had him do. They were ripped at the knees and in one of the back pockets. She hated the jeans, which was precisely why he had to wear them that night.

Dusk came that day in broad strokes of pinks, purples, and golds. Once the summer sun had set on the western horizon, the sky was left with color that no artists’ eye could match. James closed the front door of his parent’s home behind him and smiled at the view that laid out before him. Unlike that afternoon, he was very much enticed by the sights and sounds around him. He was now a man with a plan; a plan that he concluded while wiping sweat from his face in an attic that wasn’t fit for any living thing to be in. He wanted to be in his most comfortable clothes, eat as much of the local fare as he could with the few dollars he had scrounged together. Finally, if he had enough left over, he was going to buy a few tickets and ride the biggest coaster the pier had to offer, ‘The Poltergeist’.

When he was done sampling some funnel cake and riding the rides, he planned on walking to the furthest end of the boardwalk; where the tourist attractions were only a distant glow, and the small beach cottages dwindled down to nothing at the entrance of the inlet. There, he would find a bench, open the pills and sit there until he died or the sun came up over the ocean. Either way, he had no plans on going back to Olivia’s monstrosity of a home again that evening.

James enjoyed every bite of the sticky, sugar coated dough and screamed wildly as the wind from The Poltergeist whipped his hair around into a frenzy. After he exited the ride, he scanned the crowd and hoped maybe to get one more glimpse of the mystery girl. Instead, the boardwalk was now engulfed in families out for a summer evening to enjoy the rides, games, and treats. Lots of dads, moms, and kids, all clamoring for one more this or that; all these people that didn’t seem to have a care in the world.

James sighed, and looked up into the sky, not sure what he was hoping for exactly. “Dream a Little Dream of Me” floated into his head again, and this time with it he had a very vivid memory of a woman sitting on the edge of his bed, humming and singing that song to him. He couldn’t have been more than four or five because his favorite stuffed bear was firmly tucked under his arm, and that bear had been lost in a Nordstrom when he was six. Olivia refused to go back to try and find it for him.

In the middle of a crowd of overweight and over tired people, James closed out the world and dove into the memory that he was gifted. The song was clear, the woman’s voice was too, and the imagery in the recollection was as precise and strong as anything could be. James let the memory play out until the end of the song when he could picture the woman bending down to close to his cheek, and he could feel the softness that only an elderly woman’s face could offer. The scent of her perfume, Chanel No. 5, was so strong it was as if she was right there next to him at the foot of ‘The Poltergeist’ attraction.

“I love you, Jimmy,” she whispered. He could feel the warmth of her breath on his face and involuntarily placed a hand to his cheek, “I love you more than the ocean loves the moon. You’re my light and greatest love, my dear boy. Sleep well, and dream of me.”

“Gran…” James said aloud to no one, which was good because no one heard him. He smiled at the thought of his grandmother and was instantly sad because he had seemingly forgotten her. In the depression that had weighed him down for so many years, all the thoughts of her had gone by the wayside. But now, he remembered. He remembered everything about her, all thanks to the song that beautiful girl sang without abandon on a boardwalk on a hot July afternoon.

Suddenly, it all made sense. Gran had loved him best, and their bond was strong beyond reason. Olivia was intensely jealous of her own mother’s love for her youngest son. James can remember thinking that as a child, and was unable to understand the depth of his mother’s insecurities back then. Now, it all was clearer than the summer sky had been earlier that afternoon.

James started his long trek towards the inlet, mulling over the events of the day as he walked. He shoved his hands deep into his pockets and felt the bottle of pills under the tips of his fingers. For the first time since deciding to follow through with the revised plan, doubt crept in. Maybe this wasn’t the right decision and he needed to consider it all again. He stopped at a bench that was still at least a hundred yards from his destination and looked out over the ocean.

The moon hung low over the ocean and offered enough light to see the waves breaking on the shoreline. Stars were out too but dulled due to the ambient lights of the boardwalk and pier. As James looked out over the beach, he noticed a group out on the sand. He could hear yelling, but not in distress. He could make out five or six people tossing around a Frisbee, laughing and shouting at one another. James watched them with quiet resentment. If his life had been different, maybe that could’ve been him. But it wasn’t and now his life was almost over. He touched the pills in his pocket again and stayed for another moment to watch the group of friends.

James turned to finish his walk to the inlet and standing a stone’s throw away was the mystery girl from the afternoon. She was wrapped in a blanket with no shoes on her feet. Her black hair caught the light of the moon and flashed purple as she tilted her head and smiled at him.

“Hey,” she said with a smile still lingering, “you can come down to play if you want.”

James was frozen in that moment. He gave her an awkward smile in return and could manage to say, “Ok.”

“C’mon,” she motioned for him to follow her as she hoped the rail and jumped down onto the beach.

James kicked off his shoes once he landed on the cool sand and caught up to her before they reached the group.

“I’m James by the way. What’s your name?”

“They call me Scar,” she chuckled and turned to him, and in that moment, he was finally able to see her eyes. Even though her pupils were as large as the moon that lit their way down the beach, he could still see the stormy blue that encased them. She was kind and genuine. He could see that in her easily.

“I saw you on the boardwalk today,” he said, unable to stop himself from confessing, “you were playing guitar and singing.”

“Yeah, yeah I was. You saw me, huh?” The thought seemed to amuse her. She stopped walking and turned to face him.

“I did. I was trying not to stare, but the song…”

“Dream?”

“Yes. I like it. The song, I mean. Caught my attention.”

“Good. Did it make you smile?”

James nodded. “Made me remember something from a long time ago. Something I needed to remember.”

“Cool. That’s what music is supposed to do. Make you feel something. Cause if you can’t feel anything, what’s the point of being alive?”

She paused and looked up into the sky. James watched as she closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath of the salty air. When she looked at him again, James saw an enormous amount of joy and life in her that made him smile.

“Jimmy,” she continued, “there ain’t nothin’ better than being alive.”

Scar laughed and took off into a slow run to meet up with her group. James stood there in a moment of contemplation. Only Gran had ever called him Jimmy. Maybe, this girl was the prayer he asked for that day on the boardwalk. With a big smile now of his own, James turned and caught up with Scar and her friends.

He tossed the Frisbee around with the group for a bit, but before long several of them broke into smaller groups and staggered down towards the shoreline. James watched Scar go off on her own and walk through the surf. Since he’d left his parent’s house, the wind had kicked up a bit and the waves had begun breaking harder than they were before. He kept a careful watch on her, trying to decide if she should follow her down and make sure she was ok.

James watched she teased the edge of the ocean with her toes. He watched as she inched closer and closer, her legs disappearing a little more each time into the frothy surf. One of her friends shouted something from off in the distance which took his attention away from her for a moment. When he turned back, she was gone, swept into the ocean and unable to fight the current.

James noticed she was still blue. Scar had responded initially to the CPR, but she didn’t look right, something was still wrong. He had left his cell phone back home thinking he wouldn’t need it anymore, but now he wishes he had it to call 911. He commanded one her friends to go call for an ambulance, but before they could even comprehend what he was saying, Scar fell back on the sand and began to seize. Finally, the tall guy with the tattoo sleeves took off down the beach, sprinting towards one of the bungalows. James could only watch in horror as this beautiful girl, that was so full of life and kindness only an hour before, was now dying in front of him.

By the time the ambulance arrived, she was gone. When the official interviews were done, and the band of grieving friends had dispersed, James was left sitting alone on the beach. He looked out over the horizon and saw the first gleams of the day’s light. The dead girl’s face was now burned into his memory, along with the song that she sang during her last day on Earth. It was in that moment James realized what it was that he needed to do. Ending his life was not the answer. Starting his life was. He would go back, take anything of value he could, and he would leave without saying a word.

The adrenaline of the life and death events of the past day carried him back to his parent’s home to gather what he could. When he closed the door behind him, he felt a smile creep onto his face. For the first time in his life, he had nowhere to go and no resources to get there, but it was also the first time he felt free from the shackles of a miserable existence. As he started walking down the main drag of the sleepy tourist shore town, he was struck with the irony of how it took the death of this stranger to inspire him to start living his own life. And, he planned to do just that. The further away he got from the repression of Olivia and Wallace’s control, the more he felt his fear of the unknown slip away. He was going to live in a way that was both for him and the raven-haired beauty that reminded him of life, love, and laughter.

Putting everything behind him, James stepped foot onto the train and bought a ticket for the furthest destination he could afford. As the train left the station, and the conductor’s announcements were complete, the music overhead began playing. James watched as the small town disappeared into the distance, as the familiar melody of “Dream a Little Dream of Me” played from the speakers above him. He smiled and hummed along.

[lunapwrites]

Harry and Remus ❤️❤️

Oh boy, coming out HARD right out the gate, huh? I see, I see.

How I feel about them

With Remus... I think I described this very well in an AMA I am doing on the HPFC Discord: Okay, so honestly my obsession with Remus Lupin is a many-layered thing that started out very innocuously with the whole English teacher vibe he gives off. Like reading him as a kid, he was goals for me. And then when I got to be older and really started digging into his character, I realized that he is the human equivalent of "possum screaming in a dumpster careening down a hill" and I somehow came to love him even more? Because he wasn't just goals, he was relatable goals. He was attainable goals. He was "I stick my trash in my pockets and panic at personal questions, but still manage to mean something to the kids I taught" goals.

With Harry... God, I just love how much of a snarky little disasterpiece he is. He is just this walking middle finger and you know what? Good for him. I stan it. He's also I think very observant, but hardly ever has any context to sort of situate what he's seeing. Like doing the crossword with a pen, but being just to the left on every answer.

Both of them deserve good things, and I wish that they weren't both so impulsive that they wind up falcon-punching every situation into a wall instead of fixing it lol.

People I ship romantically with this character

Oh man. I'm getting into some dodgy territory with Remus.

I love him in poly ships typically, but in order of preference: Sirius, James, Lily, Tonks. I feel like he's the kind of guy that is content to die alone unless either a) he already has a close relationship with the person he's interested in or b) that person kicks his door down and tells him to quit being a self-sacrificing knob goblin. Possibly (and probably) both.

With Harry... hoo boy. I think it's a shorter list to give you who I don't ship him with tbh, so I'll just give you my top 5 lol: Ginny, Neville, Pansy, Cedric, Draco.

Non-Romantic OTP

Okay, so hear me out, but Remus/Peter as totally platonic best buds. I just always envisioned them being nerdy about the same shit. Like I have this HC that they both bonded over a shared love of Dune on the train and they always talk sci-fi with each other, and Peter spanks him at chess but gets spanked by Remus at cards. And I feel like when Sirius and James are off being SiriusandJames the two of them do find some solidarity in that. I also am a sadist and I love the implications of that betrayal when Remus and Peter are actually best friends.

For Harry... okay so. Ron. Obviously. Just total understanding without words sort of thing and bouncing ideas and jokes off each other. But also these occasional fundamental misunderstandings that stem from being so used to not-talking that they don't... uh... talk. But I feel like they get better about that when they get older (post-war.) And then they're just those dudes that are super close and people start questioning whether or not they're secretly together but they're not. But yes, absolutely did practice kissing with each other either way.

UNPOPULAR OPINION (whoops forgot this)

Other than ship related stuff? Remus was a speed demon and loved the motorbike.

Harry didn't want to be a teacher because Hogwarts was too painful after the battle.

One thing I wish had happened with them in canon

Harry owns a coffeeshop/used bookstore combo called The Pot and Kettle and Remus helps him out there and Sirius is still alive and they're ALL ALIVE AND HAPPY AND NO ONE IS A COP.