#which haven't survived but they must have known about the world around them

[elbiotipo]

One thing that seems increasingly important to me is that cultures interacted a lot with each other in the past, probably way more than we give them credit for. Yes, in general, for a peasant life was in their village with occassional trips to town. But then there are also Roman merchants who travelled to India, medieval European communities in Persia and China (and their own Christian churches), Jewish cultures in India and Ethiopia, and the ethnobotanical and cultural evidence in favor of Mesoamerican-South American contact piles up so high it's hard to dismiss it. People weren't isolated, they knew what was going on in the rest of the world, even as rumors.

[clotpolesonly]

so i started thinking about how Anharion and the collar and how the knowledge of Anharion's collaring/magical subjugation has seemingly been lost to history and how some people theorize that that must mean the collar either doesn't do anything or does something different because, if the Light had known that their champion was stolen from them and forced into evil, they would have shouted that from the rooftops of further proof of Sarcean's evilness

which is a valid point. however!! i also have an argument for why the Light would have suppressed that information of their volition and for their own purposes

Anharion being magically victimized could've turned him into a martyr for the Stewards and someone to rally around and a way to further vilify Sarcean, yes………………but Anharion being a traitor makes him a warning, not of the threat Sarcean poses but of the consequences of straying from the accepted and prescribed code of behavior

from the perspective of interpreting the Stewards as a high control group (ie, a cult) it benefits them more to position Anharion as a detractor than as a victim

a warning to the members of the in-group of what happens if you fail them. if you step out of line. if you break form. both in the sense of the slippery slope toward wickedness and in the sense of expulsion from the community. Anharion is denied even his name! James is cast out entirely!

behave, or you'll suffer the same fate. it's the same concept as excommunication from the mormon church, as being shunned by the entire community and denied even the barest acknowledgement of the people who used to be your entire world. it's an extreme social punishment and it's really really really effective for keeping people in line

there's a dynamic that's discussed in the context of abuse tactics within the nuclear family called the Golden Child/Black Sheep:

one kid is singled out to get the brunt of the negative attention while the other is lifted up and seemingly can do no wrong, with the kids leveraged against each other in order to maintain the status quo. the golden child is deputized into enforcing the parent's abuse against the black sheep in order to keep hold of their own position in the hierarchy, knowing on at least a subconscious level that if they don't condemn the black sheep, they risk taking their place.

the tactics and dynamics found in cults are essentially the same tactics and dynamics found in abusive relationships, just translated onto a larger scale

if the collar and the potential for magical compulsion is overlooked or intentionally buried, that leaves Anharion/James functioning as the black sheep and The Rest Of The Stewards as the golden children in the macro scale dynamic that is the Steward cult

the Stewards define themselves as good in relation and opposition to the "bad example" set by Anharion

he HAS to be responsible for his own actions because it gives the Stewards a sense of control over their own actions -- they can avoid Anharion's fate by being better than him and making better choices than he did, like a kid who believes they aren't punished by their abusive parent because they, unlike their sibling, have just been behaving The Correct Way and thus haven't earned punishment

their place in the hierarchy isn't arbitrary, it's something they can feel in control of

(and, yes, this all applies much more directly and obviously to James and Cyprian in modern times, both on the macro scale of the Steward cult and the micro scale of their "family" and respective relationships with Jannick)

so it's entirely possible that people DID question things back in the day, when Anharion first defected. he was the Light's greatest champion. there was a time in which Anharion was openly set against Sarcean, and we don't know the circumstances yet of his fall from grace, but it would make sense for his comrades to have been suspicious under the circumstances

but those rumors didn't survive, and that MAKES SENSE if the Stewards are the ones controlling the narrative, because Anharion being a traitor serves their narrative and has a purpose, proven effective by the real life counterparts, within their organization

[cosmica-galaxy]

That last ask about the disadvantages of a human dropping into Nevada and the ramifications on their health got me thinking.

It’s been partially confirmed that grunts can eat inorganic matter in order to survive (i.e. shoe-eating bandits). They ALL aren’t starving to death sonthey must be doimg something right.

So in all these player/reader stories I’m just wondering “How the hell are they even alive”, because humans need all sorts of vitamins and nutrition just to get up in the morning. Nevada is quite barren, so unless they’re dining on grunts 24/7 I don’t see how they would be able to live off of grunt food if 99.9% of it is non-organic.

That’s without even mentioning medication. A lot of people take prescribed drugs every day for various medical reasons, including some long-term medications for treating life-altering illnesses. It’s never a good idea to cold turkey, and the withdrawal can be dangerous if the lack of it doesn’t kill you first. If a player had to, say, take a specific drug every morning so their brain didn’t jump out of their skull, well that’s really gonna suck for them won’t it? Nevada isn’t exactly well equipped for chronic illness when the average life expectancy is fifteen days or less. Not saying none of these things can be resolved with enough dedication, just that it would certainly make life a hell of a lot harder for any humans getting pulled into Nevada.

Now it’s one in the morning and I am very tired, hopefully this makes sense when I submit it otherwise I’m gonna sound delirious. Good day’m.

These are also very reasonable and realistic concerns when talking about a human wondering around the wilds of Nevada. I would like to say that humans are verrrry...domesticated. We don't really survive well away from our natural settlements or environments. I mean, imagine if you had to go scavenging for food instead of going to your local grocery store or your fridge! Also, I bet a lot of people haven't been in gun fights or have been shot at. The shock of the situation would send lots of humans through a loop. Humans are used to normalcy and safety. We don't go on missions to get food, we merely go out and get what we need or go eat. Grunts are at a stage in time where their whole world has collapsed and survival of the fittest is no joke. It's not just medications either. Some humans have physical needs for asthma, diabetes, and numerous other things. PLUS, the whole "grunts being able to eat inorganic items to survive" would make humans ALSO on that list. I have stated before that humans would most likely be considered prey in Nevada and that's not a joke. For example, when Burger Gil's was in operation, they mention that Burger Gil's got the meat from a supply plant that grows meat. But that was BEFORE the fall. After the fall, cannibalism has become scarily commonplace. So much so, that there's several factions dedicated to eating other Nevadeans. (Bandits AND Vampires feed on the populace) That means that grunts would have no trouble deciding to eat a human, as it would be a typical choice. The only few things I know Nevada has is meat, bread, and sodas of some kind. (Along with whatever Chef Pava is selling.) I don't even know how Nevada has bread, since there are no known wheat farms. There are no animals, not even horses to ride on. That means there's no fruit and no veggies. No vitamins and no minerals ESSENTIAL to prevent a human's health from declining. If the poor human doesn't starve to death first, they may even die of thirst later on. The only time they would be able to get a drink is from a miraculous intact soda machine or the rain that periodically falls from the sky. Both which may expose them to expired goods or dirty water. If you're a Player, you may just be able to survive. Especially if we're talking about Salty's AU. But if you're a REGULAR human, you are going to be in a WORLD of hurt. Just surviving the illnesses you can get, the limited options you would have, the general discomfort of an apocalyptic world that's filled with murderous faceless creatures that would LOVE to eat you sounds like an absolute nightmare.

[carniferous]

honestly dil i’d pay actual money to ask about every single one of ur wips BUT since i guess i must choose one.. im vvv curious about hey girlypop.. please and thank you <3

laurieeee you flatter me so much ily <33

okay so hey girlypop is actually one of my oldest wips that i still haven't let go of bc i love the concept... will i ever finish? unlikely at this point but who knows. she still gets included <3

so around the time i started writing this i was reading harrow the ninth by tamsyn muir and also dwelling by aideomai both of which deal heavily with altered memories, dreams, and the concept of fandom AUs. from this i got inspired to create smth in this vein with jegulus

the story starts out seemingly as a gryffindor regulus au. regulus is in his first year and he asks the hat to put him in gryffindor. but quickly we start to notice something... off. at first it's just characters pointing out that regulus doesn't act very much like gryffindor which regulus rationalizes by claiming he asked the hat to be put in gryffindor when he wasn't best suited to it. but then as james and regulus start to develop feelings for each other + get together it Escalates and things seem more and more wrong. james makes comments that allude to things that happened in the canon timeline but Not in this timeline and then seems confused as to why he said that. for a snippet, here's the scene where regulus gets picked as gryffindor seeker:

“Frank said he’s picking by tomorrow, so let us know when he gives you the news,” said Sirius. “We’ll do a prank in celebration—a proper Marauders prank!”

“Oh, I should’ve known this was an excuse for a bloody prank,” said Regulus, rolling his eyes.

“Oi, you love the pranks! And it’s not like you ever get caught.”

“That’s because I'm smarter than you.”

“Alright, enough,” James said before Sirius could offer his next retort. “You can fight all you want on the pitch.”

Sirius sighed, “Mate, I can’t exactly fight with my own teammate, can I?” 

A curiously blank look crossed James’s face, gone so quickly that Regulus thought he might have imagined it. “Right,” he said. “Can’t jeopardize our chances at winning the Cup.”

"Can I go now?” Regulus asked sullenly. 

“Who’s stopping you?” Sirius replied. Regulus flipped him off.

He spared a glance over his shoulder as he stalked off towards the showers. He caught James’s eyes and saw, for a second, a flash of confusion before it vanished as he gave a little wave. Regulus waved back, heart stuttering in his chest and thinking of Sirius’s assurances that soon he would get to be in the air with them, together, playing for their House. 

and after they get together it just becomes more and more clear that james's memories of the canon timeline are conflating with his memories of this timeline. at one point later on james and reg are canoodling in james's bed and sirius knocks on the door and james is like Horrified to which regulus is like ? okay i don't want him to see us like this but it's not That serious.... (but like. it was that serious. in a different time). as james starts having more doubts about the world around him he starts questioning certain little things that don't make sense in the world + regulus's memories start to come back but he actively avoids thinking about it bc he Likes this world! he wants to stay here! with james!

anyway i never really settled on an ending but like it was going to be something about regulus surviving the cave, sending a message to sirius, but before they arrive he tries to open the locket and destroy it which pulls him into this dream world. and james tries to wake him up but ends up getting pulled into the dream world too. and then sirius and remus wake them both up and regulus is like "everything was so perfect in that world we can never have that here i can never have you in this world" and james is like "you've always had me" or smth cheesy like that you know me...

[onewordshy]

Free Online Halloween Goodies

I made one of these lists every year and posted it on reddit but they deleted all my posts as spam a while back so I'm backing them up here!

Read - Abby Howard's short horror comics: An icon in the online horror scene (to me at least), Abby is known for crafting spooky stories with great art and her comics are a must read! The demo to Scarlett Hollow, her blockbuster visual novel, is also worth a play.

Play - QT: the so-called "anti-jump scare game" wherein you search through a spooky abandoned house trying to find your friends. It's super cute and perfect if you don't want something scary.

Listen - A Bnny Nghtmr II by BNNY RBBT: A Halloween themed visual album tied into a YouTube alternate reality game about a mysterious '90s pop star who vanished. The album uses unusual sounds and the autotune heavy style might seem grating at first but it's kind of mesmerizing and a good listen for the season.

Read - Ruby Quest and Nan Quest: Two legendary horror "quest interactives." The writing style is a little unusual and the artwork is kinda crunchy but trust me, they're gripping stories of people trying to survive terrifying ordeals, combined with escape room puzzles and psychological horror. I personally prefer Nan Quest (its "haunted hotel" setting really works and it's much more polished).

Watch - Lo by Travis Betz on YouTube: which is not only my favorite horror movie but quite possibly my favorite movie in general? It's about a man who summons a demon to find his missing girlfriend, it's very low-budget but it's incredibly creative and a great meditation on love and loss.

Read - Emily Carroll's comics: You might have seen these floating around before but they're good, His Face All Red is the perfect Halloween ghost story.

Play - The Night Is Darkening: a short, free horror game about a ship that gets stranded on a floating island. It's just a simple exploration game but gothic energy is strong with this one, despite the short length it had tremendous world building that made me so intrigued. More unsettling than scary.

Browse - MORTASHEEN: an online database of fictional monsters from the creator's fantasy setting. If you're into creature design and unconventional monsters and somehow haven't heard of this, get on it now.

Read - ALL HAIL THE MONUMENTAL HORROR-IMAGE: An article posted to The Outline that I think fans of horror would be very interested in, it’s in slideshow format so you essentially just scroll through screen caps of iconic moments from horror movies interspersed with text from the author opining on what exactly it is that makes them so effective.

Watch/Listen - Evil Dead: The Musical: A campy parody of the already campy horror franchise, the original Canadian cast of this show was professionally recorded for posterity and has made its way onto YouTube. The video is pretty potato quality but you know what, we’re lucky to have this at all.

Play - The Open House: A very unique horror game that takes the form of, of all things, a virtual guided house tour through a fairly mundane piece of real estate that slowly reveals itself as a house of horrors. While there are a few obligatory jump scares, the game relies mostly on the unsettling atmosphere and brilliant pacing to lure you in and keep you hooked until the terrifying end. A short game (twenty minutes if you’re quick) can be played in browser or downloaded, but here’s a play through as well.

Watch/Listen - Ghost Quartet: A one of a kind musical/theatrical experience. the show weaves a complex interlocking narrative that I can’t even begin to unpack but is ultimately about four friends who get together on a dark night to tell ghost stories. It’s an old school style of spooky, telling out tales of love, betrayal, revenge, and of course ghosts, all spelled out through abstract metaphor and fantastic music.

Read - Jared Pechacek’s Annual Harvest Festivals: A thread of microfiction tweets each describing mysterious local harvest festival traditions from a town called Springfield in every state in America. The brief descriptions are evocative and offer a fun twist on some classic Americana, sounding both familiar and surreal.

Listen - Old Radio Plays: There’s a certain kind of vintage charm to these old radio programs that’s very comforting, and while I don’t pretend to be an expert in these types of things I’ve linked to a handy tumblr post where another excited recommender has compiled some that they felt were noteworthy.

Watch - Daisy Brown: Daisy Brown is a web series that exploded onto the scene back in 2017 with the video “How I Feed Alan,” which shows a cheerful young woman feeding sugar pills to some kind of monster. The strange juxtaposition of the grotesque imagery with Daisy’s completely casual tone was instantly intriguing, and over the course of the next two years she’d upload regular vlogs that gradually unraveled the mystery behind this strange family.

Play/Read - The Shadows That Run Alongside Our Car: A fully illustrated visual novel that tells the story of two strangers driving a car through the zombie apocalypse towards an uncertain fate. It’s very well written, has great atmosphere, and the theme of searching for hope and human connection in the face of inevitable demise is more timely than ever.

Listen - LVCRFT: Basically they’re a collective of (pretty high profile) artists in LA who got together and decided to create Halloween music, and it slaps! They have several excellent albums full of spooky tunes that you should be bumping to while they’re still seasonal!

Read - Crow Cillers: The basic gist of the plot is that a group of kids get tangled up in the machinations of a cult who are trying to control an otherworldly dimension(?) called Ynce Iche, but that's just the starting point for where this comic goes because it's the kind of story that tears itself apart and sews itself back up. A diverse cast of characters and well written dialogue bring a lot of life to this experimental webcomic.

Watch - Local58TV: The brainchild of Kris Staub, a perennial fave of the online horror scene. The videos are short films designed to look like news broadcasts from a world similar to our own, but also different in a few key ways. Found footage VHS horror has been a growing field in the past two years and imo this is the best it's been done yet.

Play - Symposium of Grief: The story of a ghost trying to find his lost heart, this one is a bit more emotional than the others listed here. It takes place in a spooky town full of ghosts and monsters but it's more about trying to find connection and a purpose in life than anything else; the writing is funny and the art is gorgeous and I have no clue why it's free because it seems super high effort.

Play/Read - the uncle who works for nintendo: Is this a cult classic? A text based adventure game about being a kid and going over to your friend's house for a sleepover that goes very, very wrong. I don't want to say too much and spoil it but suffice to say this is more hair raising than you'd expect. Can be played in browser so you don't have to download anything!

Listen - Ellise: Ellise makes short, catchy pop songs that have horror themes, with her last EP being centered around fairy tales in particular. It's a bit "edge lord" at times but hey, that's part of the fun!

Read - Fuan No Tane: A cult favorite manga, Fuan No Tane is a collection of unsettling ghost stories inspired by the unusual urban legends of Japan. It's slice of life in a way, there's no plot and every entry is pretty short (some just a few pages long), but the imagery and mundane-cum-horrifying tone really stick with you.

Watch - Ultraman Max Episode 22: "Butterfly Dream": Kind of a wildcard pick but if you're into the more surreal side of horror then this one is for you. While the typical episode of Ultraman would see the hero fighting some sort of rubber suit monster, "Butterfly Dream" instead is a bizarre, experimental story about a man attempting to write an episode of Ultraman, a woman trying to craft the perfect monster, and the hero caught in the middle.

Play - Don't Get Spooked!: A twine horror game from Halloween aficionado bogleech.com, this is a silly little comedy game where you click links to navigate a haunted house and try to collect all of the endings. Very dumb but a lot of fun.

Watch - The Black Tower: A classic short horror film about a man who notices a new building on the horizon… and then can’t stop noticing it. The story is told entirely through voiceover and mainly static footage, which gives the film a dreamy and unsettling atmosphere, and the “monster” feels very unique even today. I think if you like the more artsy and understated side of the horror world you’ll appreciate this.

Play - There’s A Bear Outside: Spend the night in a cabin and encounter a totally normal bear. An unusual spin on the “campfire story” formula, this interactive text game loosely tracks the stories of different people who encounter a surreal thing (really, a completely normal bear) which causes their lives to spill open. Kinda spooky, kinda silly, kinda a surprisingly emotionally cutting exploration of the human experience.

Read - Third Shift Society: A supernatural action comic about a down-on-her-luck girl who discovers psychic powers that conveniently land her a job as a “Paranormal Detective” and adventure ensues. Kind of a stock standard Webtoon but it was nominated for an Eisner Award and also one dude has a pumpkin for a head, so, that’s fun!

Watch - Headless: A Sleepy Hollow Series: A web series that offers comedic take on the classic Legend of Sleepy Hollow, following meek school teacher Ichabod Crane as he tries to unravel the mystery of the Headless Horseman that haunts his new hometown. Chock full of crazy characters and wacky circumstances, the show has an interesting sense of humor but manages to land a lot of good jokes while still crafting a surprisingly compelling story.

Read - Katalepsis: An ongoing urban fantasy web serial with major horror elements that follows the adventures of a young woman who discovers that the gruesome hallucinations that have plagued her since her childhood are real, a revelation which almost literally throws her into a world of strange people with stranger powers. Has a relatable protagonist, a unique story, creative world building, strong character development, and also like every character in this book is a queer woman.

Watch - Zombie Prom: Boy meets girl, boy and girl break up, boy drives into a nuclear power plant and comes back as a zombie… that old story. And it’s a musical! This short film (a bit over a half hour) is a super campy parody of ‘50s teen romances with a lot of fun songs, perhaps a little low-budget but that’s just part of its charm. Notably features RuPaul as a villainous high school principal.

Read - Angel Chain: An ongoing web comic about two dysfunctional sisters who encounter an “angel” who they can control using charms attached to their flip phones, but not all is as it appears. Sort of like a bastardized parody of anime/creature collectors/‘00s culture, this comic isn’t very far along yet but it stands out for eye catching art style and delightfully emo sensibilities. Be sure to explore the homepage for secret links too~

Play - Night Work: This interactive comic casts you as a janitor on a space ship who does his best to survive when things go horribly wrong. A simple story elevated by the beautiful black/white/red color palate and some smart gameplay choices. Plays in-browser so there’s no download required and it’s really quick, though you’ll probably want to do it a few times to get the different endings.

Play - The Anthology Of The Killer: A series of short games about a young woman named BB who goes on misadventures and meets all sorts of kooky characters... who want to kill her. Swim through a haunted waterpark, stumble through the dark backrooms of a cursed theatre, survive the art in a judgemental museum, become the herald of a new form of music, and more! The visual style is immediately striking, very punk and surreal, but what makes the games stand out is their great sense of humor and unexpected intelligence- you'll find yourself thinking and laughing at the most unexpected moments.

Explore - Welcome Home: A fansite for a (fake) children's show called Welcome Home that was mysteriously "lost..." perhaps for a good reason. The characters and the fake show seem very cute, but as you click around the site you might stumble across several links that hint at something darker lurking beneath the cheerful exterior. Tying together the internet's fascination with lost media with the rise of "mascot horror," it's no wonder that this went viral earlier this year, which is great because it means there are a lot of "explained" videos/articles out there for people (like me) who don't have the patience to actually do ARG bullshit.

Watch - The Search For The Next Elvira: A deep cut from Elvira lore is that back in 2007 she concocted a reality competition show where she put thirteen youngsters through a series of challenges to determine who could best fill her bra shoes and it is peak '00s reality television- there is no budget, it's super cheesy, nothing makes sense, and yet you just can't stop watching. At only four 40 minute episodes, it's a fun little thing to have in the background.

Play - Elevator Hitch: A unique visual novel with escape room elements about a young man starting a new job at a corporate office finds himself sharing an elevator with an annoying executive... and that's just the start of the horror! Explore nine different floors, each with their own twisted puzzles, and try to find a way to freedom... if it even exists. Witty writing, a charming anime inspired aesthetic, and plenty of surprises in store.

Explore - A Book Of Creatures: A cute little blog devoted to recording different "creatures" found in mythology and folklore from all around the world. If you're a monster lover like me this site is a treasure trove because the creator goes pretty deep with the references and pulls up some fairly obscure creatures- and provides beautiful illustrations for each.

Watch - Gregory Horror Show - An animated series of short episodes that tell the story of a human who arrives at a mysterious boarding house full of terrifying creatures that make his every waking minute a nightmare. It's a more cartoonish take on horror but the memorable cast of characters and the surprisingly compelling story have made it an enduring cult classic.

Read - Dustin K Couch's Creepypastas: This creator has gone viral several times for his unique format of short form comedic horror stories that come in the form of fake social media screenshots about surreal phenomenon that takes hold via the web. Short, amusing, slightly unsettling, and punchy. Also on tumblr if you don't want to go to xitter.

[yesterdanereviews]

Mortal Engines (2018)

Film review #628

Director: Christian Rivers

SYNOPSIS: A thousand years in the future after a great war, giant mobile towns and cities roam around the continent, attempting to absorb one another for resources. In the mobile city of London, a small mobile town is harvested, among the population is Hester Shaw, a young woman who attempts to assassinate Thaddeus Valentine, a high ranking member of the city, but is stopped by Tom Natsworthy, a young historian. When Thaddeus learns that she told Tom about how he killed her Mother before she fell down a chute, Thaddeus pushes Tom down too, hoping to eliminate any evidence. With Hester and Tom cast out of the city as it rolls away, they must find a way to work together and get back to London before Thaddeus can complete his secretive project...

THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Mortal Engines is a 2018 sci-fi film based on the novel of the same name by Philip Reeve. Set a thousand years in the future after a "sixty second war" obliterated the old world, humanity now lives on large mobile cities and towns that move across the continent capturing other towns and cities for scarce resources. London is one such city, and after capturing a small mining town, takes the residents aboard including Hester Shaw, a young woman who attempts to assassinate Thaddeus Valentine, a high ranking member of the city. She is stopped by Tom Natsworthy, a young historian, who chases her down, and reveals to him the secret that Thaddeus killed her Mother before she falls down a chute. When Tom tells Thaddeus this, he is also pushed down the chute, seemingly to erase the evidence. Cast out of London as it rolls away, Tom and Nester must learn to work together to learn the truth and stop whatever Thaddeus is planning. The film starts off, as most of these post-apocalyptic films do, telling how civilisation was wiped out in a war, and introducing the novel concept of mobile cities that move around like giant tanks swallowing others for resources. We get a fairly standard action sequence to kick things off which illustrates the concept well, but perhaps lacking that necessary hook to grip viewers.

The two main flaws of the film quickly make themselves known, in the first twenty minutes we are introduced to character upon character, thrown at us relentlessly. The cast is just far too large, and we don't really get a strong main character to settle us into the world, and are rather just thrown around a lot. The second issue which stems from this, is that everyone we meet already has a history with everyone else, which just complicates everything tenfold. This feeds into a plot which is tied together with a mass of conveniences, where characters coincidentally meet who just happen to know each other in some way. There's nothing organic about the development when all of this is just shunted into the film and we as the viewer are made to play catch up as the film explains the nature of their relationships, rather than letting it happen in the present on screen. The two main characters have that very typical relationship of hating each other and eventually getting closer, and you can easily predict every beat in their relationship and when it's going to happen, draining any chemistry between them. Thaddeus isn't really much of an interesting villain either, as his plan just seems to be to blow up a wall so he can go and pillage some non-moving cities in east Asia, but we don't ever see any of them, or what they're like, so we don't really get a sense of the consequences of his actions other than blowing up a big wall. Hugo Weaving still turns in a good performance as you would expect, but he just doesn't really have anything special to do, like most of the characters.

I haven't read the book, so I' can't comment too much on the themes there, but the film does have a theme of "Municipal Darwinism," with the strong cities absorbing the weak and their resources in order to survive. An interesting idea, but only really mentioned once in the opening and never really explored. There's also a sense of nationalism/colonialism in having the populations of these cities cheer on as they watch "their" city destroy another, which again is hinted at in the opening and a bit at the end, but never really dug into or forms any part of the plot. I feel this is something that would have been interesting sub-text in the novel, but maybe was flattened out to make the film more Hollywood and devoid of any metaphor or controversy. These might also have had more weight if we saw more than one mobile city throughout the entire film. What happened to all the other big cities? Wouldn't it have been interesting to see London take on Paris, or any other major capital? As it is, there's not even a mention of them.

Produced by Peter Jackson, as the trailers are at pains to point out, he lends his skills well to the big battle scenes, and the visuals are good for them. Jackson hired Philip Reeve for his directorial debut to work on this film, and the inexperience certainly shows in all the points mentioned above. There's plenty that could have been done with this film, I am sure, but as it is, it is a meandering two hours around half-baked plot points connected by huge coincidences and a bloated cast. It fails to make up for the weak plot as well with a lack of excitement, action, humour, or anything else really. Clearly everyone else felt the same, as it was a box office bomb against a huge budget. Mortal Engines stalls before it ever gets anywhere good. The historian characters remark that somehow history is not as they know it, and that it seems to have been changed somehow. I assume this is because the plane has travelled back, but it just seems like an excuse not to be historically accurate (such as the German planes used not being in use until 1942).

The characters are all fairly bland and a typical cast who react to the situation differently. Acting is weak, and we don't really get any insight into the lives of these characters other than the tropes they are meant to be.

[inuhiime]

╭┈┈┈┈ ₊˚ෆ 𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒 ! ╰ ♡⸝⸝ 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐄 𝐄𝐌𝐁𝐋𝐄𝐌 𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐒

' don't let them push you around. '

' for such a pretty face, you sure can spew some filth. '

' i will not betray you. '

' i want to see you again. '

' you're going to pay fully for making me the fool. '

' great. now you owe me four favors. '

' stay back! don't get so close. '

' tell me, are you afraid to die? '

' you're inhuman. your soul is black and devoid of warmth. '

' we do not question our orders. we are the jaw that bites. '

' you're a monster in human form. '

' you waste your last breath on insults, and feeble ones at that. '

' excuse me, if at all possible, uh, would you mind not stalking me like that? '

' you don't look particularly sorry. you look rather pleased with yourself. '

' why should i bother to care about you if you can't be bothered to care about me? '

' you have until the count of five to show yourself before i start throwing sharp objects. '

' so you're saying i'm ugly, is that it? '

' sorry, but i'm too pretty to die. '

' listen, the difference between you and me is that i'm a professional. '

' you survived. you're strong. why would you feel insecure about who you are? '

' you go right for the neck. don't you? '

' you still don't trust me? '

' you wouldn't want to disappoint me, would you? '

' oh, sorry. i guess i have to respect your manly pride now. '

' i really don't have time for this, but i guess i can lend a hand. '

' promise me... you'll escape from this place. '

' thank you. you were very brave. '

' sorry, it looks like i'm going to have to leave you now. '

' you know i am the beginning. what shall you do? '

' when next we meet, one of us will breathe their last. '

' even though our swords may cross as they do now, there's no denying that our chosen paths never will. '

' the dead must have their tribute. '

' just give us one more chance. all we ask for is one more chance. '

' i should have known that one day, you'd be haunting me as well. '

' i don't pick fights i can't win. '

' i haven't forgotten. i'll never forget. '

' i will fight. i will not run away and hide in sorrow. '

' a dog like you will never see me crawl. '

' i will not dress up my sins as kindnesses. '

' do you call that justice? '

' i have claimed your life. you have no say. '

' i will not lose to somebody like you. '

' if you must hate, hate the evil which lurks in us all, not the individual. '

' your perfect world is as dull as dirt. '

' who are you? no, never mind. keep your name. why should i care what a corpse is called? '

' when humanity stands strong and people reach out for each other, there's no need for gods. '

' emotions come in many forms, and as you say, there's no point in hanging on. '

' i don't understand. why do you look like you're going to cry? '

' make peace with whatever the gods worship. your end is near. '

' you're the last person i wanted to see. '

[brownie-starlight]

I'll kick this off with a magical sparklecat Clan I made called BLOODCLAN (no relation to canon BloodClan) (it's just a really edgy name, okay?)

The premise of the world follows the alchemical elements: Earth, Air, Fire and Water, along with Light, the magic of royalty and purity. Every cat is born under the influence of one of these elements, which are arranged in a star.

Air is opposite Earth, Water is opposite Fire, and Light is opposite of the cross between Earth and Air, what are known as the "Dark" elements: blood, spirit, osseo, necro, corpus, and the quinary cross, death.

(There are crosses for all adjacent Primary elements in a similar structure to the Water x Earth tree, but as they are mostly irrelevant to the story I was telling, I haven't worked them out yet.)

BloodClan was created to shelter cats born under a Dark element who are hunted by SunClan. They live in a small pocket dimension created by a split magic cat (a cross between two non-adjacent magics; rare, powerful, and often volatile elements). There's no food in this pocket world, so the must send out hunting and gathering parties, clashing often as they're forced to raid the other Clans' territories to sustain their own Clan.

They get their name because their Clan is mostly made of Blood element cats, which are the most common of the Dark elements. The Water and Earth territories are neighbors, practically intertwined in some areas, so there's uh, quite a bit of crossover, meaning plenty of Blood element kits are born around the borders. The tertiary and quaternary elements are rare in the wild, as they require a Blood element cat to survive long enough to have kits with a primary element cat, but they are fairly common inside BloodClan itself, as there's a chance for any Blood x Blood element pairing to produce a tertiary element kit and so forth.

BloodClan also hosts "dark" creatures: vampire cats, were-cats, and cats with devil blood are allowed to stay, so long as they don't cause trouble and follow the Code. Any cat that is hunted by SunClan is welcomed in BloodClan.

It's a very fun little project that has a lot of factions and political intrigue, as well as plenty of magic sparklecats and a splash of action adventure when I want to write a fight scene. It's not horribly unique, but it's a great little sandbox to have little edgy OCs running about hehe

One of my favorite parts of the warrior fandom is how it enables creativity with how easy it is to make fanclans and OC AU. So reblog this and share the most creative (or simply your favorite!) fanclan that you've made!

[dandelion-sugar]

𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐖𝐢𝐟𝐞 『Adam x Reader』

Summary: Reader was Adam's first wife before he married Eve.

Warning: Angst, a little fluff, death, deities are really cruel

15,8k

Author's note: Requests for Genshin have not been forgotten! I'm working on it BUT I just finished season one of Record of Ragnarok and needed to write about Adam. I think he deserves more writing about him...he's the best husband and father Earth could have!

"A demoness? A succubus? No! A human whose legends turn her into a fearsome ruler of the underworld! She rules an entire army with an iron fist! Made of the clay of creation, she is made in the image of the gods! N°00000000002 : Lilith!" shouted Heimdall to announce your entrance.

You have been chosen to save humanity. The creation of Adam and Eve. You don't know why Brunhilde trusts you to save the humans. What could she possibly have been thinking in choosing you? Were you the best choice for this? Protecting the beings conceived by your ex-husband and his new wife. Unlike your ex-lover, you refuse to walk around naked. Your body is far too precious to be revealed to the world. You stand in the middle of the arena waiting patiently for Heimdall to finish presenting your opponent.

Your eyes rest on your army led by your only son. The only being you have ever given birth to. The third human born. A slight smile appeared on your lips. Your son resembled his father, and you found that particularly funny. You couldn't help but think that Adam's genes were particularly strong. But the way your son stood proudly at the head of your army...he took that from you. Even if you were to perish in this fight, you know that your army and your son will come through.

Your right hand will be around the shaft of your spear. You hear the mocking laughter of the gods, announcing your crushing defeat. You hear the hesitant whispers of humans about your place among the fighters of humanity. You are known in human legends to be a danger to pregnant women and newborns. To be honest with yourself, you hate this legends. You are a mother, how can humans think that you would harm a woman and her child? Your eyes drop slightly to the floor and your lips pucker into an unpleasant pout. After a few seconds, your face frees itself of all displays of emotion and your hand rises to challenge Heimdall.

"Yes, Lilith?" asks the god who has the role of announcer.

"I will not fight under that name," you announce.

"Huh?" he blurts out in surprise.

"I will not fight under the name of the monster the humans wanted to make me," you reply immediately.

"So...what do you want to be called?"

Lying in a meadow, you enjoy the sun and the soft breeze on your bare skin. Rabbits and foxes quickly surround you to enjoy the comfort with you. Everything is perfect in the Garden of Eden. A shadow covers your face, forcing you to open your eyes to discover the obstacle between you and the sun. It is a pleasant surprise when you discover your husband's welcoming smile, his blonde locks framing his face. Adam sits down beside you, placing his fruit basket between his legs. He pulls out a bunch of grapes and takes one between his long fingers. He then brings the fruit to your lips to let you savour the sweet, pleasant taste of the fruit. A sigh of contentment crosses your lips. Your husband's smile widens as he notices your relaxed state.

"You have grape juice running down your chin, Lilith," Adam informs you.

Your eyelids droop slightly as your eyes express your displeasure. Adam only lets a laugh emit from his throat as he leans forward to lick the grape juice off. Your hand gently but firmly pushes him away. You want him to understand that his gestures of affection will not be tolerated again until he realises his mistake. And you know perfectly well that he has understood what he has done.

"Stop teasing me," you say, a frown appearing on your face.

"I like to see your eyebrows furrow. You look like that kitten that was trying to scare us." replies Adam, running his hand over your hip stroking it in lazy circles, as if to soothe you.

"But unlike that kitten, I can bite," you reply sharply.

"I know you can..." he hums in the hollow of your ear. "Y/N."

This memory was a moment of pure happiness that you experienced in the Garden of Eden before you were forced into exile. This name you chose with Adam was the beginning of your independence from the gods. You had never accepted the principle of being subject to a man and Adam always supported you in this choice. But the gods did not like this and in response you abandoned the name they gave you at your creation. Perhaps this is why Eve was created from Adam's rib? To prevent her from becoming like you.

"Y/N. Call me that," you proudly announce.

The gods of your creation frown but do not protest. They hope that you will perish against one of their own and that your soul will disintegrate in space and time.

Adam had slipped out of the room where he was locked up. When he learned of your presence here, he did not expect you to fight for the humans. The children he had with another woman. He snuck into the bleachers to get a better look at your figure. A sense of nostalgia stirs in his heart as he sees that you haven't changed in all this time. You stand with dignity, your weapon in hand. You are strong and independent, you have become the woman you always dreamed of. A woman you could not have become if you were in his company because...everyone wants his wife to be submissive to him.

Adam does not regret his married life with Eve, he enjoys it too. But he has enjoyed the life he has lived with you. He believes in your victory. He wants you to win. He does not want to witness your complete disappearance from the universe without any chance of reincarnation. Your first separation has already split his heart in two, Adam does not want to experience this intense pain a second time.

You swing your divine spear with one hand, deflecting your opponent's first blow. The strength in this attack was not worthy of a god, was he testing your abilities? Your eyes meet. The victorious and arrogant smile on the god's face already irritates you. He underestimated you because you are a human AND a woman. His leg comes to sweep over yours but you manage to dodge by gaining height. You position your spear, blade towards the ground to pierce his skull. The god quickly dodges in a backward leap, leaving you to land on the ground, puncturing the concrete floor which cracks under the impact.

Your exchange of blows lasts for a while. Or should we say: the god throws blows at you that you deflect with your spear. But suddenly, his paterne changes. The force that the god uses becomes more powerful. His leg comes to meet your stomach. You prevent the blow from reaching your skin by placing your spear between your stomach and his leg. Unfortunately, the attack sends you flying a few metres away. You manage to land with difficulty and before you can regain a stable footing, the god launches himself at you. You are forced to fall to the side in a roll to narrowly dodge the punch. Your cheek begins to bleed.

"Mother!" your distraught son shouts.

"Commander! Get up!" your soldiers shout to encourage you.

You let out a breath, your muscles relax, making your movements more fluid and lively. Your eyes fall on the figure of your opponent. The aura around you changes completely, causing the small smile on the god's face to disappear. Your hands grip the spear and your feet anchor themselves to the ground to give you a good foothold.

"Answer my question before we resume this fight. Why are you fighting for the humans?" the god asks.

"Do I need a reason to fight? The gods have forced me to be submissive and men have clothed me in a veil of monstrous lies. It's like choosing between the plague and cholera," you explain. "But I had to choose and I chose my ex-husband's children.

The humans observing the exchange begin to stir, either out of guilt or because they were moved by your story. Humans get teary-eyed easily, you think. But you can't help but find this side of them very touching. Perhaps it was a good thing that Eve was the Mother of humanity?

"Humans have the will to survive and a strength that allows them to constantly evolve. This is a strength that the gods can never possess," you say with contempt.

Your hatred for the gods is much stronger than your hatred for humans. On your words, the fight resumes. You manage to follow your opponent's movements. Like Adam, you were forged from clay in the image of the gods. You are Adam's equal, you have the same ability as him to copy the techniques you see. Your movements remind the gods of Athena. You had copied the movements of this goddess a long time ago.

Your body and that of your opponent are covered in blood. You are bleeding from the wounds inflicted on you, but you were able to avenge yourself by seriously injuring your opponent as well.

Adam clenches his lips into a thin line, his fingernails digging into the palms of his hands but he still believes in your victory. You must win. You can't give him up a second time...you can't.

"They've created a second wife for you," you scream indignantly.

"You're the only one for me," Adam admits in an attempt to calm your nerves. He can't bear to see you cry.

"It's only a matter of time before the gods kick me out of the Garden of Eden! I don't understand their desire to have me submit to male authority! Do goddesses submit to male deities?" you growl in frustration. The anger was so strong that you can't hold back the tears.

"If they chase you away then I'll go with you," Adam announces, interlacing your fingers together.

A soft warmth spreads through your chest as a gasp of surprise passes through your lips. A slight blush marks your cheeks as you look away from your husband. You can't help but enjoy the tender feeling. Adam wraps his muscular arms around you in a soothing embrace. His scent calms your restless nerves.

"Spend the night with me tonight," you whisper.

"We always sleep together," he says, tilting his head to the side, not understanding the meaning of your words.

"Adam..." you gasp shyly. It almost sounded like a soft moan.

His blue eyes widen slightly as the implied request is processed by his brain. A teasing smile spreads across his face as he leans in to your blushing ear to whisper provocative words.

That was the last evening you spent in his company before the gods kidnapped you and threw you away from the Garden of Eden. You never tried to return to that place, you knew it wasn't possible. So you did your best to survive. You were able to thrive and enjoy your newfound independence.

That night Adam gave you a gift, your son: Eurynome. A child identical to his father, who grew up with you as his only role model. He has become an independent young man capable of leading an army. But he remains a child... a child afraid to be alone without the reassuring presence of his mother.

It is impossible to understand the pain of losing a parent when you have not experienced it. No one could understand a tenth of the pain of Eurynome's scream as the god's fist plunges into your chest.

Your eyes crinkle under the sudden fatigue your body feels. Your right hand struggles to hold the spear. The humans weep in despair as the gods celebrate the downfall of Lilith, the woman who did not obey divine orders.

Nausea takes hold of Adam's body. All that blood, your blood spilling on the floor. Will you die? Disappear forever...you don't even know that he witnessed your fight. You will never know that he missed you terribly. You will never know that he wanted to feel your warmth in his arms again and whisper those three words to you.

Your eyes linger on your son's tear-streaked face. A peaceful smile appears on your lips. A fire of determination shines in your eyes. Your hand tightens around the spear and you slice the god's jugular before collapsing to your knees. If you must die...then you will prevent the gods from achieving a victory as well.

Your eyes slowly close and your hearing becomes increasingly blurred. The voices are now just an indistinguishable din.

Adam could only watch as your body and the god's dematerialize into a smoke of green glitter. His legs move towards the battlefield as if trying to retrieve the flakes that represent your soul dissolving into space. But your son's crying snaps him out of his trance. His eyes fall on a miniature version of himself.

Cain and Abel have some characteristics of their father but Eurynome is a carbon copy of Adam and you would have to be blind not to notice. Adam walks over to your son and takes him in his arms, sharing his pain. Adam fully understands the tug of war that Eurynome feels.

That night Adam gave you a gift, your son. Today, this gift will show the world that you existed. That you are not like your legends.

You are an independent woman, a mother and Adam's wife.

"Adam," you call to your husband, who is perched on a tree branch.

"Yes?" he hums, keeping his eyes closed.

"Don't you think I'm strange?" you finally question him. "Do you think I owe you obedience too?

Silence passes between the two of you. A pain assails your heart at this lack of response and you instantly regret having asked him the question. The disappointment was much stronger than you had thought. You look up abruptly when you hear a thud only a few feet away. Adam had just jumped from his branch. His back was to you. He turns towards you, his face devoid of emotion. He encircles your cheeks with his warm palms. His piercing blue eyes almost seem to probe your soul and you struggle to hold his gaze. But your desire to know the answer prevents you from looking away.

"We are husband and wife, I accept you as you are. Don't change for the world, for anyone," Adam says with conviction.

"So...you love me like this?" you ask aloud, wanting to sound confident.

Adam looks at you slightly surprised at this sudden question. He hums softly before leaning in to kiss your forehead. The smile he flashes makes your heart race.

"I love you," he says.

"I love you too..." you admit after a few moments.

[animereaderinsertwriter]

Cupbearer (Eren/Reader)

Part II

Part I (complete)

Part III (complete)

Part IV (in progress)

Warnings: MINORS DO NOT INTERACT (im watching you, if you see this, begone!), vampire!eren, hunter!reader, fem!reader, smut, some amount of predator/prey dynamics but only kinda?? there is also a significant age difference but only cos eren is immortal and all that jazz. we're all adults here. there will eventually be smut.... and do i really need to say that there's gonna be blood in a vampire fic?

Description: A story of falling in love in 4 parts.

Eren is a bad man (well, a bad Creature) who has done bad things. When he meets the great-great-great granddaughter of one of his former friends in his favorite blood bar, however, he thinks it might not matter so much what happened in the past, so long as he can make the future something worth living to see.

Ao3 link here

Making deals with a vampire was one thing, (Y/N) supposed, but fulfilling such a deal was quite another.

When Zeke— who held the contradictory position of the regional Commander of the Hunters as well as the alpha of a local werewolf pack— had approached her with the idea of infiltrating Eren Jaeger's inner circle, she had jumped at the chance; her great-to-however-many-degrees grandfather really had been Jean Kirschtein, and she had read his old journal, and her curiosity about the Old Ways was always bubbling just beneath her skin. Zeke, she thought, must have known of her curiosity, because his offer had been everything she was searching for.

You'll have your answers, he told her, And we'll have ours. One way or another, the problem of Eren Jaeger will be solved through your efforts. There is no possible way to lose.

If only she had known how wrong Zeke had been.

At first, things with Eren were simple— well, as simple as things could be with such a delicate arrangement. It had been beyond easy to bait him into approaching her at the Creature bar on 76th Street, and aside from the first time, allowing time for Eren to feed was almost nothing. Even the process of feeding itself wasn't much of an ordeal— there was hardly any pain since he drew from her wrist after a warm soak, and the whole thing took less than five minutes— but around the second time, when the visions began, things began to be… different.

Little snippets of Eren's past began to come as the two of them interacted more and increased the amount of regular feedings. Sometimes it was as little as a feeling, a memory of a face that (Y/N) had never seen before; other times, it was like (Y/N) was truly there centuries ago, in a land that would one day become her home. Now, almost every time she let Eren drink from her, she was thrust back into a world where humanity was (literally) with it's back against the wall, fighting demons and mindless monsters just to survive; and, sometimes, the visions were so intense that she would come back from them terrified, shaking, and incapable of cogent thought. It was during those times that Eren held her, silent, resigned, and yet somehow caring until she was herself again.

It was strange; in the visions, Eren was often passionate to a fault. He was wild, like an animal, but kind, too. During times like these, when he cradled her in his arms as she was trembling with the force of a particularly poignant memory, (Y/N) wondered if the centuries had truly changed him, or if he hid that passion beneath the jaded indifference she had come to expect.

"You think too much," he told her as she buried her face into the crook of his neck. "Your heart is racing."

Of course it was— the terror of watching hundreds of people be consumed by the very wrath of hell itself would do that to a person— but (Y/N) had no rebuttal. She did think too much, and the end result was muddled reports sent back to Zeke and a clouded heart.

"You loved her."

It was a statement, not a question. Mikasa— the brave, beautiful woman that Jean Kirschtein had once loved— may not have always known it, but Eren truly had felt very deeply for her.

"More than life," Eren replied.

(Y/N) thought back to the memory— the sheer panic Eren had felt at the thought of losing his comrades, the desperation with which he strove to save them— and she amended her statement.

"You loved them all."

Eren hummed.

"More than the wide, wide world."

And (Y/N) thought that, perhaps, he truly meant it.

"What did you see this time?" he asked, his voice soft.

(Y/N) pulled back so that she and Eren were face to face, her legs straddling him. His eyes were glowing-green, and she shivered beneath their scrutiny.

"I saw a field full of demons," she told him, unable to meet his gaze. "You and Mikasa were defenseless, yourself having been pushed to your limit, and Mikasa's blades having been broken. There was nowhere to run, and you— you screamed, and—"

A large, warm hand caressed her cheek, and it occurred to (Y/N) that it was her own blood within Eren that gave him such warmth with which to comfort. She placed her smaller hand atop his, and the world seemed to freeze for a moment to allow this brief, intimate interlude.

"Do you understand now?" he asked as he did almost every time she had a vision. "Do you see why I did what I did?"

As always, (Y/N) shook her head, moving his hand from her face.

"No, I don't."

The response was never met with anger or frustration; Eren was only ever resigned to it. Before, (Y/N) might have felt scorn for such a man who cared so little, but now that she had seen who Eren had been, what he'd been through… perhaps he was simply tired of caring so much.

"You're beautiful when you're thinking."

The words caught (Y/N) off guard. She had known that Eren had thought she was attractive— his emotional feedback told her that much— but she had never thought that he would voice such a thought. The compliment heated her cheeks, and (Y/N) had to fight the urge to bury her face in her hands.

"I've always thought," said Eren, speaking slowly, choosing his words carefully, "That one can never truly appreciate the beauty of a blush until one could see it with the eyes of a vampire, or smell it as it rises on the cheek."

Eren placed a hand on her face, tilting it until their eyes were level.

"And as a vampire who has seen many beautiful blushes on many beautiful women, yours is the most bewitching of all."

(Y/N) swallowed thickly.

"Why are you saying this?"

Eren cocked his head to the side, studying her. It was a long moment before he spoke, but when he did, he gave an answer that (Y/N) was not expecting.

"Because it's true, and because I would very much like to kiss you."

(Y/N)'s heart leapt into her throat, but she didn't dare move one way or the other. She just stared at Eren, slack-jawed, as he stared patiently back.

"Why?" she asked when she had collected herself.

Eren shrugged. "Does that matter?"

(Y/N) supposed very much that it did matter, but she didn't feel the need to say so. She studied Eren closely— the latent hunger in his eyes, the set of his jaw, the stain of her blood on his lips— and she thought of how gentle he had been with her, how patient. She had no doubt that he would prove to be equally so in other matters, and she wanted him— but something stopped her.

It would be wrong of me to allow this, she thought, letting her eyes wander to Eren's lips. I'm his enemy, a spy for the Hunters. Allowing him and myself the potential of intimacy is too deep a betrayal, even for me.

Even so, she didn't stop him as he shifted her closer; even so, when his lips brushed hers, she kissed him back, tasting her own blood on his tongue.

"This is a bad idea," she whispered against his lips, shifting in his lap.

"How young you are," he said in return. "There is no such thing as a bad idea, only poor timing and execution. Take it from someone who has centuries of experience; rarely ever is the regret for having done something greater than the regret of not having done it."

So saying, he kissed her again, and (Y/N) threaded her hands in his hair as he reached beneath her shirt. His hands— warm, now, with the heat of her own blood— reached beneath the cup of her bra to cradle her breasts, and she exhaled a hiss as his fingertips found her nipples. She arched into him, pressing her flesh into his hands and parting their lips; he chuckled, dark and low, and she shivered at the sound.

"How many other Creatures have you tricked like this?" he asked, pressing kisses against her neck. "Tell me, pretty girl— just how many have fallen prey to your charms so that you can run back to your little doggy master with their deepest, darkest secrets?"

(Y/N) froze, stuck somewhere between fear, dread, and ecstasy. Eren knew— somehow, he knew— and yet he continued to touch her, kiss her, caress her as though nothing were amiss. Her whole body went still with shock, but Eren never stopped even for a moment.

"Come now, you can't think I didn't know." His lips were just below her ear now, and he closed his teeth around the lobe, teasing her with the sensation. "I can smell him on the papers in your bag; I can hear the clicking of the letters as you type your memos after I've pieced you back together for an evening. Most of all, I can hear the way your heart pumps a little faster when I feed you the information you want. I can taste your guilt in the very blood I take from you. You can hide nothing from me."

"Eren," she said as fear— rancid and terrible— began crawling up the back of her throat, "Eren, please, I haven't told him about the important things, I'm trying to make a case for you—"

He pulled away then, and when his piercing green eyes locked with her own, she stilled like a sparrow caught in the gaze of a cobra.

"I don't care," he replied simply. "You are what you are, and at your core, you cannot change that. It is the same with me. I'm not afraid of my half-mutt half-brother no matter what you tell him, and as long as you want what I have to offer, there's no reason not to take it for your own."

(Y/N)'s mind was reeling.

"Half-brother?"

Eren chuckled at her confusion.

"Oh yes, pretty one. Zeke Jaeger is my older brother, and I suspect he sent you to me just to you with the both of us." With a carnivorous grin, he added, "But little does he know that I play for keeps, and you're not the good little Huntress he must assume you are— that is to say, he must have no clue at all how hungry you are for vampire cock, hm?"

(Y/N) would be lying if she hadn't pictured Eren in… less than appropriate situations, but for fuck's sake, she wasnt blind. The man— vampire, Creature, whatever— was fucking gorgeous, and he damn well knew it, but that didn't mean she was gagging for it.

Did it?

"We can't do this," she said, pushing at Eren's chest, though he didn't budge an inch. "We shouldn't do this."

Eren cracked a grin, toothy with fangs that glistened.

"Says who?" he asked, his large, strong hands coming around to grab her by the ass. "You were perfectly fine with letting me kiss and touch when you thought I was in the dark— is it no longer any fun now that you don't feel like you're taking advantage of me?"

(Y/N) couldn't take it.

"Eren, be serious—"

"I am serious."

When she looked in his eyes and reached out with her own heart, (Y/N) knew that he was telling the truth. He wanted her regardless of anything, regardless of everything.

He simply wanted her.

Could that be so bad?

***

Eren didn't think that this would happen even in his wildest dreams, but when he saw (Y/N) splayed out on his gold silk sheets, he knew it wasn't the madness that Armin accused him of lying to himself about. No mind, well and whole or not, could ever conjure up such a vision. The woman who lay before him— naked and gorgeous— was beyond imagining. She was something from another world entirely.

"What are you doing?" she asked, puzzled as Eren stood over her, watching the rise and fall of her breasts. "Come hold me."

And how lovely was that? His natural enemy, his perfect prey, asking him to come hold her, as though his skin on hers was blessed assurance that he was there and wanting.

Maybe Eren was mad— or, perhaps he was dreaming. If he was, he hoped he never came back to himself. A world without this was not a world he ever wanted to return to.

"Yes," she hissed as he crawled atop her, his mouth suckling at her breast. No other creature that walked the earth could ever taste as sweet as her— having tasted many, many before, Eren would know— but even were that to be disproved, Eren wasn't sure he would much care. This woman would be his undoing.

"Touch me," she demanded, canting her hips up to him. "I want to feel you."

How could Eren ever deny her? He brought a hand down to her sex, caressing her there before parting her folds to quest for her clit. Having found it, he drew small, teasing circles, and she whined.

"Am I still a monster to you?" he asked into the hollow of her throat, placing biting kisses there as his hand kept busy with its work. "Still something to hate and abhor?"

"You're still a monster," she replied, so startlingly honest even now, "But I never once hated you. Oh Eren, please, I want you inside me, I—"

Her wish was his command; Eren plunged two fingers into her depths, and (Y/N) gasped at the intrusion. She was so wet already, and so tempting as she squeezed down on those fingers, rocking her hips as he withdrew them just to the tip and repeated the motion. The way she felt around his digits shouldn't have turned him on as much as it did, but as Eren slid in a third finger, he had to keep himself from letting out a groan.

"You're so beautiful," he told her as she writhed beneath him. "You truly, truly are."

Distantly, Eren wondered what Jean would think if he were alive to know who was finger-fucking his great-granddaughter, but when Eren remembered the nasty right hooks the taller man used to give him when he was being a shit, he figured that he would rather not know. Still, as he watched (Y/N) come undone on the tip of his fingers, he couldn't help but think that perhaps it was something of Jean's spirit— the part that even Eren had to admit was better, kinder, more human than most— that drew him to her.

"I want you," he said, withdrawing his hands and licking his fingers clean of her juices. "Do you feel ready enough?"

And then, as though to prove his point, (Y/N) sat straight up with the cutest little Jean-like scowl he had ever seen and pushed at his chest with no small amount of force. He went with the motion, and he found himself being mounted by her as she said,

"I'm not made of glass— if you can't wrap your head around that, I'll have to show you just what I'm capable of."

She did— and how! Powerful thighs— the thighs of a Hunter— levered her up and down on his cock, squeezing him until he thought he might die from it. He thought she was never going to stop impaling herself again and again, and by the time she did eventually tire, Eren was sort of hoping she never would. He was in ecstasy with her, and like the selfish bastard he was, he wanted it to last forever.

"Such fire," he said, reaching up to press kisses into the skin just between her breasts. "You've made your point, now let me take over."

Let me take care of you.

"Yes, yes, yes," she chanted as he thrust up into her, the head of his cock buried so deeply within her that he marveled at how she didn't seem to be feeling any discomfort. "Oh fuck, right there, please don't stop—"

Eren didn't stop; he couldn't. He was beyond restraint.

"May I?" He asked, tapping the wrist that was trapped in his right hand. "I won't take much, but I want to show you something."

Delirious, drunk with lust, (Y/N) nodded, and Eren pierced her skin with a single fang, letting a drop of blood fall onto his tongue. In that moment, as they connected physically, her blood connected them spiritually, and Eren groaned as he physically felt how close she was through the link he had created.

It wouldn't be long now.

"Oh, fuck!" she cried, and Eren buried himself as deeply as he could within her as he came. "Oh, oh, oh—"

And then (Y/N) was following him, shaking and gasping as her orgasm overtook her. It seemed that the world had stopped existing for a moment, and Eren found it hard to breathe even though he had no particular need to do so at all.

In the afterglow, they clung to each other like the survivors of a shipwreck; when the world began to exist again, it felt new, and as Eren closed his eyes to sleep, he knew that this changed everything.

I must keep her, he thought as sleep overtook him. I don't know if I could feel like this ever again for anyone else.

[rimouskis]

okay for me i found the gideon the ninth audiobook narration kind of off putting, the voice actress just wasn't my vibe, but once i physically read it and like developed my own like narrative voices for all the characters i really got into it. it's also one that's meant to be read and reread with a lot of foreshadowing and clues and worldbuilding that can be confusing on a first read but on rereads are super engaging and really click. the second book messes around with different pov structures and flashbacks that seemingly contradict the first book until various plot things are revealed

(also there was a post that said something along the lines of "all the narrators in the locked tomb series are people who are constantly three steps removed from having any clue what's going on" and while i really loved that aspect i know lots of people find it frustrating)

I liked the voice actress! I was amused by her accent, haha, but I'm easy in that way. I typically love books with lost of foreshadowing and delicate plot things going on, but I felt, like.. so disconnected from the actual plot in a bad way.

[spoilers below!]

like I think it started off in a very promising way... gideon wants to escape, the escape fails, she gets whisked off-world... but as soon as they got onto first house I always felt like I was waiting for some higher stakes to connect gideon to the goings-on.

in a way I think harrow might have been a better POV character for this first book? she, imo, had more of a personal stake in winning. I personally didn't really get why gideon would need to care much about "winning" and ascending to lyctorhood. harrow... sure, I get that: she wants to obtain power since she's destroyed her house and family by being curious and not following rules, but when it came to gideon I just kept thinking, "why do you care? why wouldn't you want to run away? what is keeping you here (emotionally)?"

I also think the "lesbians in space!" bit was oversold, which was a slight bummer for me 😅 I LOVE ROMANCE I would have probably been happier if gideon and harrow had done a little "oh shit feelings reveal" moment halfway through the novel. I get that it isn't a romance buuuuut with all the chatter about it I almost wish it was! I do respect the fact that almost all the main characters were women and there were a lot of conflicts between them that were, like, "okay cool this is a Lesbian Narrative" but alas I am a romance girlie at heart.

back to the plot: I think gideon lacked motivation and stakes. I think she needed a more personal connection that was more clearly revealed to the audience. I LOOOOVE Big Reveals in books, but I like when they're deftly done. personally I felt the end fight (that took up like a solid hour of narration, I'm not going to lie ahaha) was basically an excuse to tie gideon up and have characters monologue at each other to explain why they care at all about the plot.

when we finally get the reveal that gideon and harrow have a shared past of being the only surviving children of the ninth and that gideon was feared for surviving the nerve gas, I was like: cool. when we got the reveal that gideon felt guilty for killing harrow's parents, I was like: ahaha wait. because we should have found that out much, much sooner as readers.

if muir had spent more time doing character work with gideon and delving into her headspace during the trials, I might have been more engaged during them AND we wouldn't have needed an infodump at the end. it MAYBE could have worked if harrow hadn't known about gideon's involvement at all (so there would be more stakes: I Must Keep My Secret From Harrow), but harrow knew everything [except for the precise "I'm personally culpable for their deaths" emotion gideon had, but even that was like... immediately introduced and immediately resolved, so we didn't even get any tension between them about it!].

I'll compare it to one of my favorite books ever, the queen of attolia. if you haven't read it, stop reading this post NOW and go read it, because I'm about to spoil the big twist that had me yelling in my car when I got to its section in its audiobook:

when it was revealed that Eugenides was in love with Irene, and had been in love with her when she cut his hand off, and had STAYED in love with her, and had pursued her once again and taken her because he STILL LOVED HER AFTER WHAT SHE DID TO HIM, AND THAT WAS WHY HER ACTIONS WEIGHED HEAVILY ON HER, AND THAT WAS WHY HE CONTINUED FORTH IN THE WAR, I was GOBSMACKED and I was like OH EVERYTHING MAKES SENSE, but the only reason I felt satisfied about it was because leading up to that, Gen and Irene both had other motivating factors to be involved in the plot. the reveal of Gen's feelings radically deepened that investment, but there WAS investment there in the first place.

and back to gideon the ninth: I felt SO removed from the plot, and gideon felt uninvested in the plot, and we had this HUGE swath of characters when all I really wanted to focus on was gideon and harrow and what the fuck was going on between them!

I think confused and removed narrators can be done well, but gideon the ninth didn't quite hit for me. I think a big part of it is how HYPED this book has been on the corners of booklr and booktok I've seen. Like, I had high expectations, and that's always dangerous!

I liked the humor, and I found gideon fun, and I want more of gideon and harrow, but the book as a whole didn't quite give me what I was looking for. that's okay! not everything is for everyone, but I'm glad I read it and was able to get an idea of what everyone was buzzing about

[selfspinninglies]

alright tw 4 a lot religious stuff , death , n cult shit [also its long]

haven't figured out how this part works in detail but every hundredsomething years different gods take turns watching over humanity . They're generally kind and thought of very highly among people . Not much changes through each rotation, as they aren't supposed 2 meddle with people that much . This time however , this deity is obsessed with the fragility of humanity . How easily they die and how resilient they can be . So they fuck with things a lot , having a disastrous affect on the population . New diseases and organisms come in2 being faster than any1 can track them , all of them being incredibly dangerous . Since nobody knows anything abt them or even know about them , survival becomes increasingly difficult as time goes on .

The protagonist , aether , lives in a small town in a forest known 4 being particularly pious . The switch happened when they were younger , so they watched the world rapidly transform in2 something terrifying n unfamiliar . Every1 in the area is panicking because they believe that they did something wrong and this is why things are happening like this . They pray excessively , thinking that god has left them n they need 2 fix this , though unbeknownst 2 them god is right next 2 them , their pleas only fueling the metaphorical fire .

Eventually they start doing more drastic things like rituals n sacrifices [<- not humans just animals] . Obviously none of it works , but when your entire life is built around putting your faith in2 something that you have never questioned , you aren't going 2 b letting go of that ESPECIALLY in a situation where your contact with the outside world is severed due 2 circumstance . Desperation n paranoia grows , as does the death toll . Drastic measures are bound 2 take place . They decide that they need 2 escalate things . The sacrifice of a human soul is in order . Our protagonist is unfortunate enough 2 b chosen 4 this .

Aether obviously doesn't want 2 do this n tries 2 protest against it , but their faith comes in2 question which is an incredibly dangerous thing because if they were even slightly out of line in their answer they would b done 4 . They keep trying but 2 no avail . Eventually it's decided that the ritual will happen tomorrow as no time can b wasted . Aether is resigned 2 their fate . They just hope that this isn't in vain n it actually works . Nobody protests against this .

When the ritual happens , miraculously, they barely survive even though it was supposed 2 kill them . When they wake up , however , they are not in town or even the surrounding forests or anywhere they have ever been .

When consciousness returns they cannot see anything , the space is entirely dark. They can feel their own blood spattered over their skin , now dry and sticky. They wonder aloud if this is the afterlife . They try 2 stand but due to their horrid condition they're unable . They can vaguely make out the shape of something nearby . Terror grips their mind . A voice answers their question. God itself has answered them , how lucky they must be .

The answer is no , that they are hanging on 2 their life by a fragile thread of desperation. They ask who it is , why they're here , n where this place is . Only one question is answered , and it is with only one word , "god".

I honestly haven't decided what exactly I want 2 happen next so that's it 4 now

any1 wanna hear abt the very detailed and strange plot I have in my head . no . ok

[artsyxloner]

Not Just a Monster

Warning: blood, Voices

8: Caught

I sat on the toilet covering my nose with toilet paper as it bled heavily more than the last time. It just started right after Lecturing Suk-Hyun.

Maybe I shouldn't have been so harsh even though I said most of those things in my head. Which they were true so I have nothing to be sorry for.

And nothing could justify his behavior it was plain out rube and Selfish. After a few minutes, I waited for it to stop bleeding. Thank God, I didn't see the monster again I couldn't deal with the Hallucinations at the moment.

I had more important things to deal with like not getting caught. I soon I was about to come out of the restroom until I heard someone come in. Peaking through the crack of the metal door I saw Ji-Soo going over to the sink and washed her face.

She had touched her Makeshift bat that had Bob wire was wrapped around it. Like she was remembering something. " it's Disgusting to see you act nice." Eun-yoo came in leaning on the door.

" do you think a Freaking chocolate bar is going to suddenly cheer her up?" Ji-Su scoffed lightly as water dripped down her face. " I think you're giving yourself too much credit."

" so you are the crazy bitch around?" Ji-Su changed the subject. " watch your back crazy bitch!" She swung up the bat making Eun-yoo jump back.

She walked out the door, I sat back down thinking what just happened so they did not like each other? If they didn't it was known of my business anyway.

Waiting a few more minutes for Eun-yoo to leave I checked seeing it was clear I came out of the stall.

Turing on the Sink Fossett cleaning my face and neck. Making sure I didn't miss a spot. I got ready to Go out when I saw Eun-yoo in front of the door.

She smiled and walked up to me, " so you're the next one?" She circled me I followed her movement not able to say anything. Would she tell?

Mustering up the Courage I nodded, " yes, I've been infected for a while even before I came here." I told Truthfully, Crossing my arms. " hum, must be nice not having to be locked up like Hyun-Su and Suk-Hyun."

I knew where she was going with this.

" But I don't blame you." She went to the mirror to check her reflection. I didn't expect her to say that at all.

From the way she talked to Ji-Soo, " my brother is just going to use you if he finds out." I looked at her Weirdly he doesn't or didn't seem to be like that?

" how do you mean?" I asked Deciphering what she means by use? " you know making you guys do Dangerous stuff for other people." She shrugged.

I shook my head, " that's the only reason Hyun-Su got to stay." She Confirmed, I thought he cared about him?  No, it can't be true then again I don't know these people well.

" are you going to Tell?" I asked as she made her way out of the restroom. She stopped her back facing me. " No, where's the fun in that? I get to see you slowly change into a monster plus it kinda cool."

She then walked away placing the headphones on her head again. I didn't know if I could trust her, everything she told me was it true they were just going to use us? Hyun-Su more in Particular since they know about him.

I should have known it there were people that in this world. But sometimes you had to get used to it to Survive. One thing was for sure I hope she kept her mouth shut.

Leaving the restroom I felt tired, from the lack of sleep I perceived and stress. I went over to the day-care- center to go take a quick nap. Laying on the small couch. Closing my eyes I soon fell asleep letting out a yawn.

....

" you know you want to!" My reflection spoke to me. Grinning evilly. I backed away not believing what I was seeing.

" what are you?" I breathed out scared. I covered my nose trying not to get blood everywhere. " I'm you but much worse." It giggled.

" This was you're own doing Soo-Nico, 'tsk tsk' I'm not the enemy here." That is when I started to feel funny like I was losing my grasp on my mind it began to fade.

Then hearing inhuman sounds I began to dash towards people for no reason.

....

I woke up to me hitting the ground, landing on my elbow. I cursed sitting upright rubbing my sore arm. Feeling something wet I wiped my cheek it was a tear.

I couldn't get that moment, day, out of my head. The day I attacked them, My family. Sniffling I crossed my feet taking out a photo of them from the field Journal I had taped in.

Me, my mother, father, and my brother, feeling more tears run down my cheeks I couldn't stop them. I missed their smile and laughs, the way Jin-woo would tease me about being a bookworm.

Bringing my knees up to my chest I clenched the photo Close to me. Hugging it as if they were here." it's not my fault." I wept quietly, trying to convince myself to not have such a burden on my shoulders.

I say this because I can't handle the guilt if I say it out loud so if I don't it's not real. Wiping my now wet cheeks my eyes probably looked red and puffy.

I reopened my filed Journal putting my family photo back in, deciding to take my mind off things I began to Sketch the new monsters I had seen starting with the one I first saw here the one that kept saying I can't see.

Drawling out its body, I soon put Details-down into it and some side pics of like when its fingers sprouted out like roots. I also wrote down its weaknesses and Strengths.

Then it was on to the huge monster I saw, I called it protein monster. It had a very creepy face when it smiled as its mouth was bloodstained. I quickly finished it up, but then one person came to mine.

Hyun-Su my pencil was close to the paper wanting to draw him. I felt my heart beating fast, if I did drawl him would it be wrong? Or just plain out weird without him knowing?

It wasn't because he was well a monster just like me or that's what they like to call us even though we are still human but I just wanted to draw him as himself.

Deciding to do it anyway I began with his eyes, they were big and round like they held innocence probably not but that's what I see. Next, I went to his nose, mouth, face shape, ears then lastly hair.

It was messy and fluffy but it seems like it wasn't always like that like he just had let it go. Shrugging it off I close my book and put it back in my bag.

Taking it with me because I didn't trust anyone yet I come out of the day-car-room and a man passed by me. He was smoking a Cigarette. One thing I noticed he had a burn scar on his face.

I haven't seen him yet before? Maybe I have but didn't acknowledge him. He was walking behind a guy with a deadly glare in his eyes. Deciding not to get into it I left I did trust the guy with the beat-up face he gave me the creeps.

[ana-jasso-maximoff]

DANGEROUS SECRETS.

"THE STORM IS GETTING WORSE."

Lightning slashes across an angry black sky, soon followed by the crash of thunder. Waves pound against the ship's hull as I grip the wooden rail with white knuckles. Fierce gusts of wind tug my hair free from its braid, and damp brown strands whip at my face. I don't dare let go to brush them away.

Instead, I keep my eyes on the sea. Looking for her.

In some ways, I've spent my entire life looking for her. And tonight, my journey may finally come to an end. Unfinished. Unfound.

Ahtohallan. Please! I need you!

Perhaps she never existed at all. Perhaps she was simply a myth. A silly song to lull children to sleep. To make them feel safe and secure in a world that's anything but. Perhaps I was a fool to think we could simply go and seek her out. Learn the mother's secrets.

I do know something about a mother's secrets.

Another wave sweeps in, bashing against the ship's hull, sending a spray of icy seawater splashing at my face. I stumble backward, momentarily blinded by the salt stinging my eyes. A strong pair of hands clamps down on my hips; a solid chest at my back keeps me upright.

I turn, already knowing whom I'll find standing tall behind me. The man who has been with me almost my entire life. The man who has made me laugh—and cry—more than anyone else in the world. My husband. The father of my daughters. My enemy. My friend.

My love.

Agnarr, king of Arendelle.

"Come, Iduna," he says, pulling me around to face him. He reaches out, clasping my hands in his. They are as warm and strong as mine are cold and trembling.

I look up, taking in the sharp line of his jaw. The fierceness in his leaf-green eyes. If he's frightened, he's not showing it. "We need to go below deck," he says, shouting to be heard over the furious wind. "Captain's orders. It's not safe up here. One rogue wave could knock you overboard."

I feel a sob rise to my throat. I want to lash out, protest the orders. I'm fine. I can take care of myself. I'm not some silly girl frightened by the elements.

But what I really want to say is, I can't leave. I haven't found her yet.

If I go below, I may never find her.

And if I don't . . .

Elsa. My sweet Elsa . . . My dear Anna . . .

Agnarr gives me a pointed look. I sigh, untangling my hands from his, and begin stumbling toward the stairs that lead to our cabin below, on legs unaccustomed to rough seas. I'm almost there when the ship suddenly pitches hard to the left and I lose my footing, grabbing on to the railing to save myself. I can feel a few of the crew watching me with concern, but I push forward, keeping my head held high. I am a queen, after all. There are certain expectations.

Once below, I push open our cabin door and move inside, letting it bang shut behind me. The captain has given us his cabin for the journey, which I insisted wasn't necessary, but I was overruled. It's the only cabin suited for a fine lady, he protested. Because that's how he sees me.

That's how they all see me now. A fine lady. A perfectly poised Arendellian queen.

But now, at last, Agnarr knows the truth.

I ease myself down on the bed, reaching to grab my knitting needles and my half-finished project. An inappropriate task under the circumstances, but perhaps the only thing that might steady my hands—my pounding heart. I can hear Agnarr push open the door, his strong, solid presence filling the room. But I don't look up. Instead, I start to knit as the ship rocks beneath my

feet. It's dark down below, too dark to really see the delicate yarn, but my hands are sure and true, the repetitive motions as natural and familiar to me as taking in air. Yelana would be proud.

Yelana. Is she still out there, in the Enchanted Forest, still locked in the mist?

Only Ahtohallan knows.

Suddenly, I want to throw my needles across the room. Or collapse on the bed in tears. But I do neither, keeping my attention on the unfinished shawl. Forcing myself to let each stitch lull me into something resembling comfort.

Agnarr pulls out a wooden stool from the captain's desk, sitting down across from me. He picks up a corner of the unfinished shawl, running his large fingers across the tiny stitches. I dare to sneak a peek at him, realizing his eyes have become soft and faraway.

"This is the same pattern," he says slowly. And I know what he means without asking. Because of course it is. I hadn't even realized it when I started, but of course it is.

The same pattern as the shawl my mother knitted me when I was a baby.

The shawl that saved his life.

"It's an old Northuldra pattern," I explain, surprised how easily the words leave my mouth now that the truth is known. "Belonging to my family." I pick up his hand and place it on each symbol in turn. "Earth, fire, water, wind." I pause on the wind symbol, thinking back to

Gale. "It was the Wind Spirit who helped me save your life that day in the forest."

He gives a low whistle. "A wind spirit! If only I'd known," he says, reaching up to brush his thumb gently across my cheek. Even after all these years, his touch still sparks a longing ache deep inside, and it's an imperative, not an option, to drop my needles to return the gesture. To run my fingers against the light stubble of his jaw. "It would have made my stories to the girls so much more interesting."

I smile at this. I can't help it. He has always found a way to help me find sunshine amidst the gloomiest of days. It's strange, though, to realize he knows everything now. After a lifetime overshadowed with secrets, it should feel freeing.

But in truth, it still scares me a little, and I find myself glancing at him when he doesn't know I'm looking. Trying to see, trying to know whether the truth has changed his feelings toward me. Does he resent me for keeping so much from him for so long? Or does he truly understand why I did it? If we survive this night, how will things change between us? Will the truth bring us closer together? Or tear us apart?

Only Ahtohallan knows. . . .

I reach out and take Agnarr's hands in mine, meeting his deep green eyes with my blue ones. I swallow down the lump in my throat that threatens to choke me, and force another smile.

"I will never forget that day," I start with a whisper, not sure he can even hear me over the tempest outside. "That horrible, wonderful day."

"Tell me," he whispers back, leaning in close. I can feel his breath on my lips. Our faces are inches away. "Tell me everything."

I swallow all the words that threaten to jump out of my throat in a hurried rush, throwing myself back on the bed, staring up at the wooden-beamed ceiling. After I breathe calmly, I say, "That might take all night."

He crawls onto the bed, lying down next to me. He reaches out and curls his hand into mine. "For you, I've got forever."

I swallow hard, tears welling in my eyes. I want to protest: we don't have forever. Or even all night. We may not have an hour, judging from the way the wooden beams of the ship are creaking and cracking. But at the same time, it doesn't matter. It's time. It's long past time. He deserves to know everything.

I swipe the tears away, rolling to my side and propping my head up with my elbow. "You have to tell your part, too," I say. "This story isn't only mine, you know."

His arm curls around my waist, his hand settling at the small of my back as he tugs me closer to him. He's so warm. How is it possible that he's still so warm? "I think I can manage that," he says with a small smile. "But you must start. It all began with you, after all."

"All right," I say, resting my head on his chest, his steady heartbeat against my ear. I close my eyes, trying to decide where to begin. So much has happened over the years. But there is that one day. One fateful day that changed the course of both our lives forever.

I open my eyes. "It all starts with the wind," I say. "My dear friend Gale."

As I speak, the words begin to course through me like the forbidding waters roiling outside. And like the waters, I will finally make myself heard.

Agnarr will listen.

He's always been the storyteller in our family. But not this time. Now it's my turn to tell the tale.

[deberiaestarescribiendo]

Summary: Javi hasn't called...again, Isa tries to distract herself making a new friend, but she doesn't know that her intentions are far from innocent and are tied to Javi crossing paths again with someone from his past.

Warning: cursing, mention of violence, threats, anxiety, kidnapping. Very hateful characters from the show 👀

A/N: I'M SO SORRY THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN POSTED ALMOST A MONTH AGO. I will try to finish this before this month ends. I think I could wrap this in one chapter more and an epilogue probably.

Just a small warning. This is a work of fiction and the intention is merely to develop a little bit more of a character I adore, Javi Peña. There's mention of the drug cartel, the violence they inflected in Latinoamérica (and as a Latina it hurts me very deeply, believe me) and the political involvement of different governments and agencies but this is not a political statement or trying to do other thing than entertain.

Chapter VII: Smart Choices

Isabel had never been a very popular girl, always the shy one in high school and she made a very small group of friends in college. But as everything in her life, there was a before and after since her life changed and she had Elvira.

She could not go to the club with her friends, their conversations about their new graduate’s struggles hurt her since she had to drop out, their heartbreaks and adventures had nothing to do with her life surrounded by diapers, feeding bottles and sleepless nights and so one day the phone stopped ringing, their friendship was limited to birthday parties and Christmas postcards while she became a mum and a wife. And thus making her world a very small universe with her child at the center and Javi and her turning around her.

So when that lady at the supermarket, Judy, called her she didn’t think anything weird out of it. Instead she was happy, excited to have another struggling mum that needed some comforting from somebody that understands her as much as she did.

“I’m sorry I took the liberty to ask for your phone number, I have a friend that goes to your mum’s salon and I ask her for it” she had said the first time she called.

Judy is a funny and very quick and intelligent woman. When they got their first coffee together, Isa barely asks any question, Judy fills the conversations so Isabel never has the chance to ask when she is meeting her kid or who gave her her phone number since she knows every client of her mother’s salon by heart and nobody mentioned her ever. But Judy keeps the conversation flowing, sharing her tragic story about leaving Colombia out of a very tough situation with a guy and creating a new life for her and her kid in the USA.

“It must have been so tough” Isa pounders

“Colombia back then was a bloodbath, you had to navigate the streets in survival mode, always looking behind your back and praying to come back home safe” Judy explains

“My husband worked in Colombia for a few years”

“Oh really? When?”

“80’s early 90’s"

“Well, he must have known. So sad! it is a very beautiful country...”Judy’s gaze is fixed far away as if she’s remembering something

“I guess it’s difficult to talk about it, my husband never shares much”

“Mm” she hums, she opens a golden lighter and gets the flame close to the cigarette on her red lips “What did he do there?”

“He worked at the Embassy” she’s not lying but she prefers not to specify, and now that’s past, the details are not really important

“Oh! and that’s what he’s doing in Mexico now?” she asks exhaling a white cloud of smoke making a perfect o with her lips

“Not exactly”

“He must be careful; I heard things are following the same path we suffered back in Colombia”

“Yes...he’s...smart, I’m sure he will be fine” Isa answers more to convince herself than her new friend

“I saw in the news the other day how a few civilians died during a clash between two fronting cartels and then the police. Very, very horrible images" she smacks her lips

"I haven't watched the news…" the knot in Isa's stomach grows tighter, Javi haven't called back even if he promised he would

"They kill anyone that is on their way, civilians, gringos too, DEA agents…" the Colombian woman casually brings the coffee cup to her lips when Isa frowns at her

"What did you say?" She asks

"They kill civilians?" Judy smiles uncomfortably the corner of her lips stretching up

"No, the last part"

"Gringos...DEA agents" she repeats

"Why did you say that?" The knot gets tighter restringing her throat and her question is just a whisper

"I… assume Javier must be…"

"I haven't told you what he does"

Judy gasps and bats her long black lashes a few times before changing her face to a complete cold expression, her glossy lips now a tight red line

"Look, Isabel, I think you are a very smart woman…" she starts

"I'm leaving"

Isabel pushes her chair back to go but the other woman's hand holds her to the table, her perfect manicure claws making her stay

"Sit, don't do anything stupid" Judy spats, the brief confrontation has alerted the waiters and they look at them intently until Judy gives them a very warm apologetic smile

"Who are you? What do you want?" Isabel tries to hold herself but her instincts is crying for her tu run, to get her baby back and look for Javier

But Javi could be anywhere

"You know your husband and I met, many years ago" she continues smoking "we worked closely in the hunt of Escobar" she smirks "I admit I was surprised to find him married and with a kid. He used to be involved with a very different type of woman"

"What do you want from Javi? If you hurt him I swear…" Isa mutters

"You must have been really special. A magical pussy" she laughs "or are you that dumb and naive that he lied to you and believed it" she crosses her arms over her chest, looking with a smug face from the white cloud of smoke "do you know what he did in Colombia? Do you know what he's capable of?"

"Where is he? If you touch him I swear to God I kill you" Isa tries to contain the tears, to seem strong but fails which makes Judy smile wider

"Oh! So you are an idiot little girl. Better keep up, cielo, if you want your husband alive"

México

A constant, something that keeps on proving itself to be right: shit does follow him. He tries the breathing techniques that the doctor showed him but the bag on his head stinks like rotten meat and the heat inside the van is unbearable. He finds a little solace feeling Steve's tigh pressed against his. Both of them rocking back and forth with each bump on the road

"Connie is going to kill me" his friend says

" If they don't kill us first"

"Callense cabrones" one shouts and Javi hears the muttering insult Steve pronounces before receiving one hit himself

He feels the vomit running up his throat, the smell, the heat and the fear have mixed themselves on his stomach and he can no longer calm himself down. He’s about to die, he knows it. About time, my friend, I elude death for so long in Colombia, so many close calls and now I’m about to die in some unknown part of Mexico because of a fucking middle age crisis I couldn’t handle.

He tries so hard to close his lips and swallow, breath, Peña, breath. The only cold thing in this van is the thin silver chain and medallion he wears around his neck.

This would be a marvellous moment to do some magic, old man Javi says to himself and that old saint around his neck. What did Isa call the old man engraved in it? Saint Jude. Okay, Jude, show yourself, please. This is actually a lost cause, it’s your field of expertise, c’mon

“Andando” the sicario pushes him out of the van before he can even process they have stopped the vehicle. The man grabs him by the arm harshly and guides him forward, the sun pierces the black bag over his head but he can’t only perceive the light and the sound of the gravel under his boots.

Suddenly the light changes to a white light and he feels the temperature lowering: a house with air conditioner and there’s a soft murmur of water but otherwise the house is silent. Javi memorizes those tiny details, it’s the only thing that could eventually help him if they’re held hostage and not killed right away.

The sicario pushes him and for a few milliseconds Javier thinks he’s about to fall hard to the ground but ends up on a chair. Then they pull both his arms to the back without any care and handcuffs him there.

Javi jumps from his seat when he hears the loud thump of the door closing, still in the dark and without any sign of company, he calls:

“Steve…”

Nothing

“Your friend is in the other room”

He could recognize that fucking voice anywhere, is engravated in his brain, in that part of his head that is capable of the worst, that tiny espace where he keeps every hateful and the worst people he has met, Bill Stechner being the number one on that list.

“I was so happy thinking you were dead and crawling back to hell” Javi sighs before he’s hit by the clarity in the room. He blinks fast until his eyes are adjusted to it again. It’s a nice room, wide and scattered by a few pieces of furniture covered by white sheets, the dust in the air makes evident it has been closed for a long time.

“So was I thinking you were rotting old in your father’s little ranch but here we are”

His beard is greyer and the already receding hairline is back a few inches, but he looks exactly the same, tha smug stupid face is looking at him from above. That smirk of “I’m always five steps ahead from you” the same he had when he made him leave the Embassy before catching Escobar and the same he had when he tried to take down Cali. But now he’s here in Mexico, what the fuck is he doing here?

“And, do tell, please, why the fuck do are path cross again?” Javier spats

“Oh! I didn’t want to cross paths with you. I must admit I found it funny when I saw who was managing the account for our textile export, but you, being the noisy stupid man that you are “ Stechner approaches him, his smirk freezes in a tight line “had to call your friends. And you see, you’re mending on my business again”

“So you switched from the CIA to the Narcos?”

“Javier, javier…” he sighs “You are always focusing in the wrong things and not in the bigger picture”

“The bigger picture being…” Javier rolls his eyes at him

“You wouldn’t understand, I tried a few times in Colombia and you ended up fucking it all up” he shakes his head

“So what do you want from me now?”

“Well now that you are here fucking everything up again I’d prefer if the repercussions go to the right direction”

“Which is it not yours, I guess, or whomever you’re working for”

“Yeah” he laughs and points at him “you’re smart when you want”

“And wouldn’t it be better to kill us right away?”

“Oh, you see, my associetes want to do it” Stechner nods “The really don’t give a fuck. But I told them that you could be of service”

“You’re really delusional if you think…”

Stechner interrupts him “And if you weren’t willing to cooperate we could always resort to the good old ways” the man walks to a nearby table, over the white sheet there’s a manila folder. Bill opens it slowly, that stupid smirk back at again on his face, relishing on the desperation and fear in Javi’s eyes.

Please, not Isa, please not my child

“Your wife made a new friend, it’s a small world after all, isn’t it?” Stechner shows him a picture, he recognises the cafe, Isa is seated talking to another woman he hasn’t seen in years.

“Judy is very nice when she wants” he takes out another picture, this time Isa is on the backyard playing with Elvi “You have a very beautiful family”

“If you touch them, motherfucker” Javi tries to get out of the chair, he doesn’t even care if the metal from the cuff cuts his wrists. He just want to do what he has wanted to do since he started working in Colombia and crossed paths with the CIA

“They won’t, it is entirely upon you that this is just a simple anecdote. I promised I’ll try to control them...if you do what you have to do” Stechner shrugs and throws the pictures to the floor where they rest in front of Javi’s feet

“What do you want?” he murmurs, his gaze is fixed on those images trying to see something, when were they taken? how does he know if they already hurt them?

Please, please he begs and his vision is starting to blurry

“Well, my associates will appreciate it if the DEA will center its efforts on our common enemy. You see it right? it’s the same story all over again; the enemy of my enemy is my friend…”

“I’m not DEA anymore”

“Are you? I mean you’re here with your dear Steve in an ongoing investigation that mainly relies on your testimony so…”

Stechner roams around Javier’s chair “It’s not like you haven’t done it before, Javi, think about it as if you are involving yourself with the lesser evil, there will be a time to capture my associates, but not now”

“Just go back home and when the time comes you can assure the DEA that those terrible horrible people that are getting that poison in our beautiful country are involved with our common enemy. What is the difference between one Cartel and the other? It just a matter of time they both get caught” he continues

“Why are you involved in this?”

“We’ve done this many times, Peña, let it go. It’s better this way or do you want to end up like Kiki? or better yet, your beautiful wife or your kid?” Bill points to the pictures of the Peña’s family “think about it”

And he thinks about it, the hate and the fear burning in his chest. So many years protecting himself in covers of solitude, brief encounters to relieve the stress and alcohol, protecting his heart from this fear and pain of getting his family killed for his job.

You did this to them, you looked for it. Now what?

Isa (Laredo)

She drives fast, fast as she has never driven before. She has always been a very responsible person and even more when she became a mother. Elvira is seated on the back, her little hands holding the seat hard and she has called her a few times, her voice shaky and scared.

“Mami, where are we going?”

“To Grandpa’s, honey”

“You’re too fast”

“I know, but we need to get there now”

The screeching sound of the tires stopping abruptly on the road has alerted Chucho who now waits with the porch lights on when they get out of the car.

“Mija, what’s wrong?” he screams

“I think Javi is in the danger”

[hunnyuwu]

Connected // Pt.1 || NCT 127

Summary: Humanity has reduced down to a dystopian wasteland. Women disappear daily, civilians now rely on physical modifications and nodes to feel alive, and the concept of civilization is a far cry from their current state. While the one who reigns supreme is the puppeteer of societal affairs, will a small group of men be able to regain the humanity they once held so dearly when they were young? Or were the doomed for an eternal state of dreary, impoverished slums?

Genre: dystopian, cyberpunk, futuristic, angst, romance

WC: 2k

~ ~ ~

Part I : 008

"How are you feeling, 008?"

A small woman regained her consciousness as she was shaken from her delusional state. She always hated these examinations.

"I'm fine." She stated, wanting to do nothing more than pull the dumb wires and circuits out of her sore limbs. She waited patiently as the examiner in all white, wrote down a few bullet points on a small clipboard.

"You are done for the day, 008. Except, for visiting the girls and the head master, of course. Who will you visit first?"

The examiner assisted the girl with long, wavy black locks out of the machine's system, pulling out about a hundred thick and thin wires that were attached to separate areas of her small frame. The girl became impatient as the process was taking too long.

"I'll visit the girls first, then visit the head master. Thank you for your assistance, 375." 008 started ripping cords out, even if they did sting like no tomorrow, but she was finally free of her mechanical restraints, so that was a win in her book.

"Before you go, 008. I have a question for you."

008 started walking out of the room, but halted when 375 piqued her attention.

"What is it?"

"How have you lasted... here so long? When the others haven't?"

008 thought for a second before a simple little smirk grazed her lips, an odd sight to say the least.

"I think that is a question I will have to answer another day. See you tomorrow, 375." 008 gave a little bow to her companion, leaving the examination facility hastily. She always hated that place. Her 'skin' crawled every time she heard the place even mentioned, never forgetting her first experience in that wretched room.

"How are you, trainees?"

008 entered a large room within a smaller, pristine white building a little further away from the main compound. Why did everything have to be so white? It almost made her sick at the bleakness of it all.

"Good!" The girls all replied, turning their attention to the respected woman on the grounds. They all looked up to her, not only was she a top tier, but she has also maintained her position for years, a feat that only belonged to her. It's not like they wanted to be there, but if they wanted to hang onto a sliver of their lives, they might as well do what they do with dignity.

"What has been the progress for today? Any new recruits among you?" 008 stated sharply, picking up a pile of clean cut white papers, quickly grazing through reports of treatments, part changes, the usual business.

"Today, we have started weapons training, starting with the pulverizers."

008 quickly cut off the lead trainer of the recruits, her eyebrow quirking into a confused frown, "You started with the pulverizers? And how is that working out?" She stated lowly, a threatening growl laced through her simple question.

The trainer visibly gulped, nervous by 008's unrelenting strictness, "It's been..." She trailed off, her body freezing under 008's glare. There was no point in even continuing her report as 008 already knew the answer.

"We start with every day objects, 489. If these ladies can't defend or attack with the bare minimum, then there is no chance of survival for them outside of the barriers. In our world, high tech gadgets are nice, but sometimes there's no time for that. Now, get back to work. I know I've taught you better than this, 489."

489 nervously bowed to 008. Her cold, militarism attitude left her shuddering every time they interacted. She nonetheless had nothing but respect for 008, if you didn't respect her, she would make you do so.

"Good, I'll be leaving. I would like to hear better news tomorrow. Have a productive training, Ladies." 008 ducked, a ton of 'thank you's' and 'yes ma'am's' rung from around the room. 008 went to her next destination within the heart of the main complex. She knocked on a large golden door, a soft 'come in' allowed her to enter the large, gadget laced office.

008 came face to face with the back of a sleek, high-tech office chair, only allowing her to see the top of the head master’s balding scalp.

"Hello, Head Master. I have gone through my examinations and the check in with the girls. Was there something else you would like me to complete today?" She stated softly, her hands instinctively tucked in front of her torso as a courteous way of addressing him. His chair slowly spun around so that she could see the man that she has known for far too long now. The man she wanted to bury into the soil of the earth herself. That day would have to wait.

"Hello to you too, Dear. Please have a seat. You have had a long day." He purred, gesturing to the mini couch in front of his extravagant desk. 008 tucked her bottom lip under her teeth, complying to his wishes. She gently and gracefully took a seat in front of him, sitting exactly like she was taught so long ago.

He simply examined her physique as she stared at the ground. One of the most basic rules of interacting with the Head Master was to never look at him unless asked to do so.

"So, tell me. How have I been dealing with the resistance?"

"Is that something you would like my opinion on, Sir?" 008 stated gently as her back stiffened. He always asked her questions like these that she was afraid he was going to kill her for one of these days. It was only a matter of time she stepped out of line.

"I have always trusted your opinion, Dasom. That is why you have served me for so many years now."

008 gulped, hearing her name being spoken by the Head Master. A name he only allowed himself to call her. Was it endearment? Did he want to feel special to her? Was she particularly special to him? Yes, yes, and yes. She didn't know what his obsession was with her, but whenever he reminded her of her sheer withstanding permanence within the force, it made her heart drop to the floor. When would he finally pull the plug out of her?

She hummed, pondering his serious question, carefully plucking and choosing the precise words she would present to him, "Well, as you have heard, the resistance becomes larger and stronger, slowly but surely. I believe that you have deployed more units recently, Sir?"

He nodded, concentrating on every word she said, "Well, I believe that the increased influx of violence and push back is causing the resistance to attract more attention and following. I think it would benefit with you if you would not deploy more units, but instead, spy on their movements, waiting for the perfect moment to exterminate those who are discovered. They all have one another's backs, Sir, so spying on them would be beneficial to you." She sighed silently after spewing her thoughts. She always regretted giving him her strategic thoughts, she was simply too intelligent. While it helped her live this long, it also came with a great price.

He gave her an endearing smile, folding his aged hands down onto the table.

"Why won't you let me designate you as the tactician, Dasom?"

Dasom forced a smile, gritting her perfectly shaped teeth. She received this offer so long ago, but politely declined ever time, even though he continued to persist with the offer thereafter. She was lucky enough that he gave her a choice to begin with; others never, ever get choices around here.

"That position is above me, Sir. I am very grateful to continue assisting the new recruits through their training."

"Do you intend on betraying me, Dasom?" He said wistfully, walking over to the fully-glass wall that gave a perfect view of the whole city. The neon lights permanently illuminating his enormous accommodation on the highest floor of his personal skyscraper.

Dasom sucked air through her nose, eyes shooting wide. She didn't dare look over at him, not even with his back facing her.

"Never, Sir. I intend on staying loyal to you until the end of time."

"I've never trusted anyone as long as I have with you, and here you are, still beside me. You will continue to follow me until my empire crashes and burns, won't you Dasom?" He cooed, every word dripping with honey, but in actuality, was a constant threat that he inflicted on everyone who worked beneath him.

Dasom felt fear course her body for once, a feeling that she rarely felt. The Head Master simply trusted her too much in such an untrusting, back-stabbing world.

Dasom must survive at any cost.

"Yes, Sir. I will follow you until the very end of time itself."

~~~

"The streets are too quiet today."

"You didn't have to state something so obvious. Stop wasting your breath, Mark."

"Damn, okay then."

The shorter of the two mimicked the older by scrunching up her face and quietly restating what the other said. The two bickered for a little while, scoping their district from the top of a skyscraper with cameras and binoculars.

"Why do you think Taeyong has been so uptight lately?" The younger, Mark, lazily asked while bringing his binoculars up to his eyes, scanning the other side of the block.

"I'm not sure, but I sure as hell wouldn't ask him whatever you do. You know how he is whenever he is upset about something."

"Which is always."

The older gave a strict glare at Mark, but he payed no mind to it. The two were like brothers, but they could barely acted like it anymore; everything was becoming so tense so fast nowadays.

"Ah, he texted us to come back. Ready to go, Johnny?"

"Yep, lemme quickly pack up my shit real fast."

The two headed back to their underground compound, disguised as a zap shop above them. (will be explained later)

"S'up boys."

Mark said while throwing up an awkward peace sign, gaining the attention of a few who were doing various tasks within their underground mole hole. None of them gave a response.

"Oooookay then." Mark puckered his lips into a pout, going to the kitchen to look through their little to nonexistent food supply. They were become flesh and bone fast, so they were going to have to make a supply run soon.

"The streets are clear tonight." Johnny reported to Taeyong, who was going through some documents on his small table in the corner. He didn't believe in private offices, so they had one large common area where most of them did their work.

"Intriguing..." Taeyong muttered to himself, setting down a file that he had been going over and over. He ran a hand through his silver hair, biting his lip as he ushered Johnny to leave him alone.

"Taeyong, I have a letter for you."

Jungwoo happily walked over to the tired male, making said man always wonder how the younger could be so happy during such miserable circumstances they lived in.

"Thank you, Jungwoo." He sent him off before opening the small envelope.

“Who sends physical mail in this day and age?” Tarting whispered as he smoothed out the creases of the paper.

I miss you. I miss you to the point that I wish I could simply forget what you did to me. The hell that you couldn't even bother to save me from. But it's fine; it is easy to live and forget, right?

Love you to the end of time,

BD

No, no it couldn’t be.

Taeyong threw the letter, hands quivering as he rolled his chair as far away from his desk as possible. The members in the common area were startled by Taeyong’s harsh reaction, jumping up in their spots respectively.

Taeyong shot up from his chair, body pin straight as he sneered down at the clean piece of paper limply sitting over his laptop keyboard. Emotions that he hadn’t felt in awhile flooded his system like a tidal wave and he didn’t know how to digest it at all.

He took one look at his members before bolting out of their grounds.

Doyoung was the first to react, cautiously walking over to the slip of paper that had their leader shaken up to the point that he literally left their site.

“What did Taeyong do?” Doyoung whispered to himself, feeling strangely upset by the letter of someone who he didn’t even know.

“And more importantly, who’s BD?”

~ ~ ~

Prologue || Part I || Part II