#yeah her guns shoot holy arrows. she has two

[zephyraster]

i spent way too much time on this design i swear. had a blast drawing it though!

[fuckallthegood0nesweretaken]

New World CH. Ten

Title: Into the Prison

Words: 2752

Warnings: Strong language, canon-typical violence, Thomas being a sexist asshole

A/N: If you’d like to request something, send me an ask. I’d love to write for you! 

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Previous Chapter - Next Chapter

New World Masterlist

Daryl Dixon Masterlist

The Walking Dead Masterlist

Masterlist

~~~~~~~

Dean

Flashlight in hand, Dean walked quietly through the dark halls of the prison. It echoed easily and he made sure to keep his feet light. Rats squeaked in the distance and torn-apart bodies littered the floor. Maggie scrunched up her nose at the smell and jumped slightly when Glenn spray painted an arrow on the wall. Everyone was on edge and it didn’t help when Maggie turned right into Glenn, shrieking somewhat quietly. Dean whipped around, ready to fight, but relaxed when he didn’t see any walkers.

 “Sorry,” Maggie whispered.

 Quickly, they all moved forward. Turning another corner, Glenn made another arrow and Dean walked beside Rick. Looking at each other, Dean nodded and turned a corner at a ‘T’ intersection, knife at the ready. Nothing was there and he went to the left. Walking quietly, there was a thud somewhere in front of the group and when Rick went forward, there were walkers.

 “Shit,” Dean said.

 “Go back! Move!” Rick said.

 “Walkers!”

 Everyone rushed back, trying to get away. Hershel tripped over a body and fell against the wall. T-Dog helped him upright and they continued running. Dean was in the front of the group with Daryl.

 “S’go! This way,” Daryl said.

 Running as fast as he could, Dean heard Maggie scream. He looked back and she was okay, so he went back to looking forward. Daryl opened a door and ushered everyone inside. After doing a quick sweep of the tiny room, Daryl crouched down.

 “Where’s Glenn and Maggie?” Rick whispered harshly.

 “We have to go back,” Hershel said.

 “But which way?”

 Everyone was silent and Rick opened the doors once the walkers were gone. Dean rushed back the way they came, looking for any sign of Glenn and Maggie.

 “Maggie? Glenn?” Hershel whispered into a deserted hallway. Getting no answer, he moved on, following Rick. Dean stayed up front with Daryl and only turned around when he heard Hershel screaming.

 “No!” Rick yelled, shooting the walker biting Hershel. Glenn and Maggie came tearing around the corner. Glenn and Rick helped Hershel up and Dean took out some walkers approaching the group.

 “We’re blocked!” Dean yelled. “Get back!”

 They ran and came across a set of double doors with handcuffs chaining it together.

 “Open the door!” Rick yelled. T-Dog snapped it in half with his crowbar and Dean ran inside, checking for any walkers. He didn’t see any and helped keep the doors shut with Daryl and T-Dog until he closed it off with his crowbar.

 “Hold him down,” Rick said, taking his belt off to wrap it around Hershel’s knee. “Only one way to keep you alive.”

 Rick grabbed an axe and started hacking away at Hershel’s leg. His scream made Dean flinch slightly but when they stopped, his heart dropped. Looking at him, Dean saw that he just passed out. Maggie was holding his head and she was crying, not looking at Rick. Soon, Rick had cut off his leg.

 “He’s bleeding out.” Dean went to grab a piece of cloth laying on the floor, but Daryl held his hand up, motioning for everyone to stay down.

 “Duck,” he said quietly. Rick dropped while Dean and Daryl stood up, pointing their weapons at five men.

 “Holy shit,” one of them said.

 “Who the hell are ya?” Daryl said, inching closer.

 “Who the hell are you?” One of them said back.

 “He’s bleeding out, we gotta go back,” Rick said. “Come around here and put pressure on the knee!”

 “Why don’t ya come on outta there?”

 “Nice and slow,” Dean added.

 “What happened to him?” The one in the wife-beater asked.

 “He got bit.”

 “Bit?” They pulled out their weapons and Dean took out and cocked his pistol, T-Dog drawing his gun too.

 “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Easy now,” Daryl said. Dean had his eyes narrowed as the one in the wife-beater trained his gun on Daryl. “Nobody needs ta get hurt.”

 “You have medical supplies?” Glenn asked, pushing past the men.

 “Where do you think you’re going?” One of them said. At that moment, the walkers started banging on the door and snarling.

 “Rick, we gotta go,” Dean said.

 “I know.”

 “Who the hell are you people anyway?”  

 “Don’t look like no rescue team.”

 “If a rescue team is what you’re waiting for, don’t,” Rick said. “Come on, we gotta go!”

 Glenn rolled out a cart and they heaved Hershel onto it. Dean never looked away from the men, but he slowly walked backwards.

 “T, the door!”

 “Are you crazy? Don’t open that!”

 “We got this,” Dean said. Only one walker came through the door and T-Dog took care of it.

 “Dean! Daryl! Come on!”

 Dean started walking backwards, Daryl following. Once they were out the door, Daryl slammed it shut and everyone started running back to the cell block. Dean took the rear with T-Dog while Daryl took the front. He could hear the men following and frowned.

  “They’re following us,” Dean said.

 “Follow the flashlight,” one of them said.

 “Go, go, go!” Daryl said. Rick started pushing the cart again, Daryl taking point while Dean was at the back of the group. It didn’t take Dean as long as he thought it would to get to the cell block and when they did, Rick called to Carl.

 “Carl, open the door! It’s Hershel! Carl!”

 When you heard Rick yelling, you stood up fast and ran to the door.

 “Oh my god what happened?” You said, stepping aside so Rick could wheel Hershel inside. “Where’s Daryl? Is he okay?”

 “He got bit. And Daryl’s fine.”

 That was all you got out of Rick so you took your gun out and walked into the common area where you found Daryl. Eyes were locked on the door Daryl was staring at and you readied your gun. You could hear feet shuffling and whispering before you saw them. The one with the gun came in first, and you shifted your stance.

 “That’s far enough,” Daryl said. They didn’t stop walking until all of them were in the room.

 “Cell block C,” gunman said. “Cell four, that’s mine. Let me in.”

 “Today’s your lucky day fellas. You’ve been pardoned by the state of Georgia. You’re free ta go.”

 “What you got goin’ on in there?”

 “Nothing that concerns you,” you said. He looked at you and licked his lips.

 “Well aren’t you a pretty little thing? Why don’t you put the gun down and let me show you a good time?”

 You scrunched your face in disgust. “No thanks. I’m perfectly fine over here.”

 “Then don’t be telling me what’s my concern.” He pulled out his gun and advanced on you. You tried your hardest to not flinch but you closed your eyes for a second. Daryl didn’t like that and he went to stand in front of you.

 “Oh, I see. You two fucking?” He looked at you. “Why don’t you leave arrow-man and let me show you how a real man fucks.”

 He laughed and one of his friends spoke up.

 “Chill, man. Dude’s leg is all messed up. Besides, we’re free now. Why are we still in here?”

 “Your friend’s gotta point,” Daryl said sharply.

 “Yeah, I gotta check on my old lady.”

 “A group of civilians breaking into a prison they got no business in got me thinking there ain’t no place for us to go.”

 “Why don’t you go find out?” You said.

 “Maybe we’ll just be going now,” one of them said.

 “Hey, we ain’t leaving,” gunman said.

 “You ain’t coming in either,” T-Dog said, showing up from around the corner. His gun was raised and so was the prisoners.

 “My house, my rules. I go where I damn well please!”

 “Calm down,” you said. He pointed the gun at you.

 “Don’t tell me to calm down, bitch,” he spat.

 “Don’t talk ta her like that,” Daryl said. “There ain’t nothing for ya here. Why don’t ya go back ta your sandbox?”

 “Hey, everyone relax. There’s no need for this,” Rick said, Dean right behind him.

 “How many of you in there?”

 “Too many for you to handle.” Rick’s eyes moved between you and the gunman, his gun still trained on you.

 “You guys rob a bank or something? Why don’t you take him to a hospital?”

 You furrowed your eyebrows and looked at your brother.

 “How long you been locked in that cafeteria?” Dean asked.

 “Going on like ten months.”

 “A riot broke out,” the big man said. “Never seen anything like it.”

 “One guard looked out for us, locked us in the cafeteria. Threw me this piece and told us to sit tight, he’d be right back.”

 “Yeah, that was two-hundred and ninety-two days ago,” Big man said.

 “Ninety-four, according to my calculations.”

 “Shut up!” Gunman said.

 “We were thinking that the National Guard or the army should be showing up any day now.”

 “There is no army,” you said.

 “What you mean?”

 “There’s no government, no hospitals, no police. It’s all gone,” Rick said.

 “For real?”

 “Serious.”

 “My kids and my old lady,” one of them said. “You got a cell phone or something that we can call our families?”

 “Ya just don’t get it, do ya?” Daryl said

 “There are no more phones. Or internet. Everything’s gone.” You looked at Daryl and lowered your gun.

 “As far as we can see, at least half the population has been wiped out. Probably more.”

 The men looked like they were trying to process the information and gunman lowered his weapon slightly.

 “Ain’t no way,” he said.

 “See for yourself,” Rick said, pointing to the door. The men walked outside, you following close behind. Your weapon was still drawn and you were still tense. Daryl was right behind you and he put his hand on the small of your back.

 “Ya good?” He asked lowly.

 “I’m fine. Just worried about Hershel.”

 “Ya can go back inside if ya want.”

 “And leave some of my boys without any defense? No,” you said with a shake of your head. “Carol and Sam have things under control.”

 “You never said, how did y’all get in here?”

 “Cut a hole in the fence over by that guard tower,” Dean said.

 “That easy, huh?”

 “Where there’s a will, there’s a way,” you said.

 “Easy for you to say. You probably haven’t wanted for anything in your life,” he muttered. You rolled your eyes and looked away.

 “So is it a sort of disease?” The big man said.

 “Yeah, and we’re all infected.”

 “What you mean, infected? Like, AIDS or something?”  

 “If I was ta kill ya, shoot an arrow in your chest, you’d come back as one of these things. It’s gonna happen ta all of us.” Daryl said. You bit your lip and sighed, looking at him.

 “Ain’t no way these Robin Hood pussies are responsible for killing all these freaks,” gunman said. “Especially if they have women helping out.”

 You bit your tongue at that remark and tried looking as unbothered as possible.

 “Where’d you come from?” He asked Rick.

 “Atlanta.”

 “Where you headed?”

 “Nowhere, for now.”

 “I guess you can take that area down there near the water,” gunman said. “Should be comfortable.”

 “We’re using that field for crops.”

 “We’ll help you move your gear out.”

 “That won’t be necessary. We took out these walkers. This prison is ours.”

 “Slow down, cowboy.”

 “You snatched the locks off our doors,” the shortest one said.

 “We can give you new locks if that’s what you want,” you said with a shrug.

 “This is our prison. We were here first.”

 “Locked in a broom closet? We took it, set you free. It’s ours,” Rick scoffed.

 “We’re moving back into our cell block.”

 “You’ll have to get your own,” Dean said, crossing his arms.

 “It is mine. I’ve still got personal artifacts in there. That’s about as mine as it gets.” He pulled out the gun again, and you pointed yours at his head.

 “Whoa, whoa! Maybe let’s try to work this out so everybody wins,” the blond one said.

 “I don’t see that happening.”

 “Neither do I,” Rick said.

 “I ain’t going back in that cafeteria for one more minute.”

 “There are other cell blocks,” Blondie said.

 “Ya could leave,” Daryl spat. “Try your luck out on the road.”

 After a moment, gunman spoke. “If these pussies can do all this, the least we can do is take out another cell block.”

 “With what?” Bigman said.

 “Atlanta here’ll spot us real weapons. Won’t you, boss?”

 “How stocked is that cafeteria? Must have plenty of food. Five guys lasting almost a year?”

 “Doesn’t look like anyone’s been starving,” you observed.

 “There’s only a little left.”

 “We’ll take half,” Rick said. “In exchange, we’ll help you clear out a cell block.”

 “Didn’t you hear him? There’s only a little left,” Shorty said.

 “Bet you got more food than you got choices. You pay, we’ll play. We’ll clear out a block for you then you keep to it.”

 “Alright,” Gunman said.

 “But let’s be clear. We see you out here anywhere near our people, if I so much as even catch as whiff of your scent, I will kill you.” Ricks voice got quieter the more he spoke and you knew he wasn’t lying.

 “Deal.”

 ---

 “Pantry’s back here,” Gunman said. It hadn’t taken long to get to the cafeteria and thankfully you didn’t run into any walkers.

 “You never tried to break out of here?” T-Dog asked.

 “Yeah, we tried to take the doors off. But even with the smallest noise, those freaks’ll be lined up outside the door. Trying to get in.”

 “And the windows?” You asked.

 “They got bars that He-Man couldn’t get through.”

 “You done jerking each other off?” Gunman said. “Sick of waiting back here.”

 Walking to the back room, your jaw dropped when you saw the amount of food. You looked at Dean and he was as shocked as you were.

 “This what ya call a little bit of food?” Daryl asked, walking farther into the room.

 “Goes fast,” he looked at Rick. “You can have a bag of corn, some tuna fish—“

 “We said half. That was the deal.”

 “Let’s get a cart. Load up as much as we can,” you said. You holstered your gun and walked toward the kitchen, grabbing a cart and loading it up, Dean helping you. T-Dog and Daryl grabbed some boxes and carried them back to the cell block, you pushing the cart. No walkers popped up and you all made it back with no incident.

 “Food’s here!” T-Dog said. Carl opened the door and you walked through.

 “What you got?” Carl asked.

 “Canned beef, canned corn, canned cans,” T-Dog said.

 “There’s a lot more where this came from, and I’m pretty sure that there’s everything I need to make chili.” You looked at Carl and he was basically salivating at the mouth.

 “You make chili?”

 “I do. My dad and brothers always loved it,” you said with a laugh. “I don’t know if there’s anything to make it spicy, but I’ll look, if you’d like.”

 “Thank you. That sounds amazing,” Carl said, wrapping his arms around your waist. You hugged him back then went to follow T-Dog to put the food away.

 “Time to go back.”

 ---

 Once the food you were promised was safely stored, you got ready to go clear out a cell block. Before you left, your brothers pulled you aside.

 “I know you can take care of yourself, but these men are dangerous,” Sam said quietly, the prisoner’s right in the other room. “We’d both feel a lot better if you stayed here with Adeline.”

 “But I can help with them,” you said, frustration lacing your voice.

 “We know you can, sweetheart. But we also need hands here just in case something goes wrong with these assholes,” Dean said.

 “Fine. But I hope you both know that you won’t be able to bench me forever.” You were really peeved that they were doing this, but you knew that there wouldn’t be any point in arguing.

 “Thank you,” Dean said, letting out a breath. He kissed your forehead and Sam pulled you into a hug.

 “The two of you best come back without any injuries. We’ve had too many of those lately.”

 “Yes ma’am,” both of them said at the same time. You laughed softly and kissed their cheeks before they left the cell block, Carl shutting the door and locking it behind them.

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #457

“blue are the words i say and what i think  /  blue are the feelings that live inside of me”

Do you buy your lingerie at Victoria’s Secret? No. That shit is so overpriced and not for my size group. Would you ever use an online dating service? I never would again. Are you good at multitasking? ABSOLUTELY NOT. Have you ever eaten Frosted Mini Wheats? Ugh, those are so gross. What does your bikini look like? You think THIS bitch wears a bikini??????????????????????? Does age really matter in a relationship? To an extent, yes. How much does the last person you kissed mean to you? I honestly don't even know if I'd be here without her. Almost like magic, Sara popped back into my life right after I returned home from the hospital following my suicide attempt. She helped make recovery possible as a solid source of support. Do you use lotion? Not NEARLY enough. My skin is so dry; I need to. Do you believe in teenage love? I experienced it deeply and thoroughly, so yes. Have you ever sat on the roof of your house? No. Do you like Sublime? I like that one popular one of theirs. "Santaria" or whatever it's called? What’s your favorite movie genre? Paranormal horror, especially the "found footage" type. It's creepy to imagine it being actually real. Is there a celebrity that you’d be willing to have a one night stand with? If he was single? I know in my gut I would lmaooooo Do you want to live in your current town the rest of your life? OH MY GOD PLEASE NO If you found out today your best friend was gay what would you do? She's demisexual, so. She can like anybody. If you could get a pet for free today-what kind/what name? A tegu, because it wouldn't need an enclosure that I don't have. I'd let it free roam. God, I can only imagine Roman's reaction. How many people have you slept with? If you mean what I think you do by "slept," one. Do you ever wish you had a family business to become a part of? Not really. What’s the most gruesome way you could come up with to kill someone? Hunny, have you seen my dark RP????? The world best be glad I'm a pacifist lmfao Do you think anyone deserves to die that way? I don't believe in torture, so no. If you had to fight for survival, what would your weapon of choice be? A gun, I guess? I'd want something with range and that's quick. I wanted to say a bow and arrow, but preparing another arrow after shooting once could really cost you your life. Where did you buy your favorite pair of jeans? I don't wear jeans anymore. Do you have a large dog? We don't have a dog, period. If not, are you afraid of them? No, I love big 'ole puppos!!!!! I just don't wanna own a dog myself. Are you good at playing darts? Holy fuck no, I have NO hand-eye coordination. I once stabbed the guy at a balloon popping booth thing with a dart in the arm, if that tells you anything, ooooooooooof. Do you like breaded chicken sandwiches? YESSSSSSSSS omg Do your parents know that/if you smoke? They know that I don’t. Have you ever been under a blacklight? Omg so in elementary school, we did this thing once where we all washed our hands as best we could and then put them under some sort of light (maybe a blacklight, idk???) to see JUST how resilient germs are. You gotta scrub the fuck out ya hands, people. How many pounds do you want to lose? I'd rather not share a number, but a lot. What’s your favorite natural phenomenon? The Northern Lights. Do you snore? Very surprisingly for someone with sleep apnea like mine, I actually don't. How many people do you know with the same first name as you? Off the very top of my head, one, but it's spelled differently. I KNOW I know of a shitload more Brittanys, though. Is it possible you could be pregnant? Well, I haven't been intimate with a man in years and just finished my period, so like- Could you go a day without texting? I go most days without texting. Do you have a step-parent? My dad is remarried, so yes. If so, do you get along with them? She's EXTREMELY Christian, so her beliefs wildly disagree with mine, but I keep my mouth shut a lot just to keep the peace. She IS a very sweet woman, nevertheless, and am glad she and my dad are so happy together. Does your current/last job require that you wear a uniform? My last job (which lasted not even two hours lol) did. When will your driver’s license expire? My permit has been expired for like... two years. Do you live in an apartment? No. If the last person you kissed proposed to you what would you say? That's too wild a concept to even imagine. I'd probably ask if she was okay lmao. Would you ever get back with one of your exes? Weeeelp, I want to get back together with Girt. Pretty badly. Write a foreign word, and what it means: "Schadenfreude" is a German term that essentially means secondhand embarrassment, but it doesn't have a perfect translation. Is there an ex you think about everyday? Inevitably. That's PTSD, my friends. Who is the last person that you said I love you to, besides family members? Sara. What's the worst thing you have ever said to anyone? Something along the lines of "no one could ever love you like I do." It boils my blood just typing that; I considered even deleting this question. That quote right there is fucking manipulation, even IF I thoroughly believed it. Who was the last person to comment one of your pictures? I don't feel like looking. Do you tend to go for older or younger when looking for someone to date? It's weird, I'm into slightly older-than-me guys, but probably girls who are barely a bit younger than me. Have you ever been used? I don't think so. Have you ever not been able to get someone out of your head? Like I've said in plenty of surveys: Jason is probably a permanent fixture. But also as of the past two days, Girt's been living up there. I went from "hmmm I just don't know how I feel" to "FUCK I want to talk to him about how stupidly into him I am right this fucking INSTANT" pretty goddamn fast. It kinda scares me just because of how extreme my feelings are. Again. That's only ever gotten me hurt. Buuuut let's not get into that. Have you ever got caught cheating on a test? No, because I've never tried to. Will your next kiss be a mistake? I hope it won't be. But it's not like I know the future. Have you ever worn an oxygen mask? Actually yes, when I was young and thought I was having an asthma attack or something. Mom had one for her own asthma. Then I obviously wore one for surgery. What song do you want to be played at your funeral? "Paradise" by Coldplay is absolutely #1. How many swear words are in the song you’re listening to? I'm not listening to music; I'm back to watching Gab play Sekiro. What color was the last swimsuit you wore? Black. Have you ever kissed anyone of the same sex, and if so, who? Yeah, just Sara. Who did you last tell to ‘shut up’? Ha, I think my WoW friend Lyndsey, but only playfully, of course. We pick fun at each other all the time. Would you ever get a tattoo of a boyfriend/girlfriend's name? NOOOOOOOOO. Are you one of those girls who already have baby names picked out? I know what I'd name my kids IF I actually wanted any, yeah, but I don't. Do you think guys with long hair are attractive? Yessss, I love long hair on guys. Are any of your siblings taller than you? I think Ashley is a liiiiil bit taller? I know my brother is, for sure. Have you ever scared someone so badly that they cried? Yikes, no. When was the last time you wore high heels? Boy oh boy, no idea. Is there someone that you want to hurt right now? Jeez, no thanks. What was the most interesting or colorful birthday cake you’ve had? I don't remember, but I'm sure something from childhood. What was the last thing someone bought you? Was it expensive? Mom bought me food from McD's, which obviously isn't expensive. Do you have any interesting moles anywhere you don’t want people to know of? No. Have you ever gotten high or drunk in a really formal place? Strong "no" there. Do you ever write poetry and post it on any certain websites? On the very rare occasion I write poetry and actually like it, I'll sometimes post it on dA. What do you miss most about your childhood? Actually, genuinely having fun and not dealing with fucking anhedonia. Would you like to know the precise date of your future death? Hell no. Do you photograph well? I'd like to hope so. Are there any animals you flat out refuse to touch? Maggots and similar bug larvae. What super power would you refuse, if it was offered to you, and why? Mind reading. It just sounds... awful and overwhelming. What’s your favorite discontinued product that you wish would come back? Oh, I KNOW I have answers to this, just none are coming to me immediately and I don't feel like sitting here for five minutes thinking about it. If adults had show and tell, what would you bring into work? My snek! :') If you had a reset button for the last 10 years, would you press it? Tempting, but... I don't think I would. I cannot go through how deep my depression was again. Who is someone you would never swear in front of? My nieces and nephew. Yes, I don't believe in profanity being a "thing" and is just a stupid human fabrication, but nevertheless I acknowledge societal standards and expectations, and they're way too young to get when you shouldn't say something like that and why. Have you ever won a contest or competition? A few. Who is your favorite TV character? I don't think I really have one? Do you coo over other people’s babies? Not really, no. Sometimes I'll think they're super cute and be like "awww," but I don't like... squeal and spaz like some people do. What is something that makes you very squeamish? VOMIT. Has there been a celebrity death that really affected you? Steve Irwin got me deeper than anyone else. Chester Bennington hit real hard, too. If you’re out of high school, have you stayed in touch with your high school friends? If you’re still in school, do you think you will? Most of my closest ones, yes, at least via Facebook. What’s a movie that you want to see? Old movie, but Jacob's Ladder. It was a massive influence on Silent Hill, so naturally, I'll probably love it. It's a classic, anyway. Do you use the same username everywhere online or do you have a lot? I use "Ozzkat" in most places, but I do have some other ones for different sites. Who was the last person you know who became pregnant? My friend Ana recently revealed she's expecting her second child, a boy. What fad were you actually into? I have zero clue. Have you ever tailgated? Would you want to? Fuck no. That's how so many wrecks happen. My sister legit got in a wreck with an 18-wheeler mostly because she was tailgating (which she does BADLY); she was trying to pass, and he moved over at the same time because he couldn't see her coming around. It's a borderline miracle she got out with only some cuts, bruises, and a seatbelt burn. Have patience, people. Get off cars' asses. Why did you fall for the last person romantically? Look, don't get me started on this. There are a shitload of reasons and I have been way too emotional over this the past few days laksdfja;lwke What’s the last thing you had to eat? A bagel w/ cream cheese for breakfast. Do you ever pick up your house phone? We don't have a landline phone. Truth be told, are you more into looks or personalities the most? Personalities, for sure. I cannot be into you if your personality isn't attractive.

[365days365movies]

January 30, 2021: Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior

So, now that I’ve gotten through the first of these movies, it’s probably time to talk about the director of all four films, George Miller.

Miller’s an Australian director and medical doctor. Yeah, dude went to medical school, and in his last year there, started getting into filmmaking! Nice. He immediately came off as a budding director, and made his official directorial debut with his first film...Mad Max. Yeah. Very interesting guy. Today’s entry is his second film, and he’s since made films including Twilight Zone: The Movie, The Witches of Eastwick, Lorenzo’s Oil, Babe (yes, the pig one), Babe: Pig in the City (yes, the OTHER pig one), Happy Feet (not the pig one) and its sequel, Happy Feet Two. So, a pretty good filmography!

But throughout it all, Miller’s flagship passion was the Mad Max franchise, continuing with this movie, and eventually ending with Fury Road. And from what I’ve heard about these remaining two films, I’m in for a ride. Pun half-heartedly intended. SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Recap

An elderly narrator brings us in, telling the tale of the Road Warrior, Mad Max Rockatansky (Mel Gibson). He speaks of the downfall of modern society, punctuated by increased savagery, and the takeover of gangs on the world’s highways. People are ruined and forgotten, and they lose themselves. And these people include Max, who’s wandered out into the wilderness since losing his family. Yeah, Jess from the last movie? Dead. Guess she wasn’t doing so great after all.

Max and his dog are on the roads of Australia, where things have definitely changed. Ho longer around any vestige of civilization, the Road Warrior’s driving the Interceptor, being chased by punks on motorcycles, led by Wez (Vernon Wells), a cray, screaming dude with a bike and a mohawk..

After the chase, Max happens upon a recently-wrecked truck leaking gasoline, a much treasured resource in this post-apocalyptic landscape. Wez leaves, having been defeated, and Max gathers the fuel and goes his way. He drives through the desert until finding a mini-helicopter (a gyrocopter, it’s called), abandoned on the ground. 

After taking care of a carpet python (Morelia spilota; don’t know the subspecies), he finds himself ambushed by the Gyro Captain (Bruce Spence), who holds him up for his fuel. However, using his dog, Max gets the upper hand. Frightened, Gyro tells him of a huge supply of fuel somewhere in the desert. He agrees to show him in exchange for his life. Max agrees, and does this.

Yeah, he tied a string to the trigger of a gun, and tied the other end to Dog’s bone. Fuck yes.

Gyro’s true to his word, and he takes him to an oil refinery in the middle of the desert. It’s being used and guarded by a gang of some kind. Max sets up camp, tying Gyro to a dead tree and spying on the gang. That night, many gang members leave the refinery, and return the next day. I should mention, at this point, that we start to see some of the crazy vehicles I love so much in Fury Road. Which, yeah, HERE for that!

Anyway, the bikers, including good old Wez, go after a guy in a tricked-out buggy, incapacitating him and...taking...his wife. Yeah, these movies are really leaning on that to vilify their bad guys, huh? First it was Toecutter’s gang and the young couple, and now it’s these random people. Not the best gimmick in the world, but...OK?

Well, Max goes down to take their gasoline, and finds that the man has lived. Max brings him back to a small settlement, where they take him in. Meanwhile, a child with a boomerang, called Feral Kid (Emil Minty), watches. Cool.

Max is taken into the settlement, where oil is being refined as well. The settlers definitely don’t accept Max, and are ready to take his car and oust him into the wilderness without fuel. And then, the bikers return. And there are a LOT of them.

These are the Marauders, and they’ve taken some of the settlers captive. They’d gone out, only to be taken captive by Wez and the others. But Wez isn’t their leader. No...no, that would be the Warrior of the Wasteland! The Ayatollah of rock-and-roll-ah! THIS...is Lord Humungus (Kjell Nilsson)!

...Am I in love with this movie? Holy shit, I might be I mean, LOOK at that dude! With his voice and his scraggly-ass hair and Jason mask, he notes that the settlers sent out sentries to find a truck, with which to carry their gasoline and take it out of the desert. And as this is taking place, Feral Kid pops up, throws his steel boomerang, and kills Wez’ right hand man. WHAT

YES. MORE PLEASE. Feral Kid’s boomerang is thrown at him, misses, comes back and severs the fingers of the hand of Humungus’ mouth of Sauron dude, Toadie (Max Phipps). Humungus tries to calm the throngs, Wez included, and ends up putting Wez in a Sleeper. He tells the settlers to “just walk away, and [he] will spare [their] lives. Just walk away.”

...Yeah, I love Humungus. And his inevitable death saddens me more than I can properly say. Anyway, the settlers start debating whether or not they should walk away, and Max uses a little music-maker that he found to befriend the Feral Kid. The leader of the settlers, Pappagallo (Mike Preston) tries to convince them to flee with their fuel to a safe place. They continue to argue, until Max interjects with an offer.

Max can get them the vehicle to carry the tanker of gas that they have, but demands as much gas as he can carry, and the return of his vehicle. They agree to his terms, and Max heads off into the night to get the truck from earlier, with gas canisters and Dog in tow. With a little help from Feral Kid, he escapes the notice of the Marauders waiting nearby.

He catches up to Gyro, who’s managed to break free of the tree (well, mostly), and is quickly caught by Max in order to carry the gas canisters for the truck. They get back to Gyro’s gyro, where someone has died after being bitten by his...nonvenomous snake. Yeah, these films haven’t shown very high knowledge of zoology, huh?

They take to the air in the gyrocopter, and easily fly to the truck from the beginning of the film. They get it started, and Max leaves Gyro behind, although he protests to this, and follows behind in the copter. And then.he drives past Wez, who’s still enraged after losing his partner to boomerang hit.

By the way, I didn’t mention this about the gang, but they’re literally all wearing what looks to me like leather bondage gear? Like...I’m pretty certain that’s exactly what that is; it’s pretty obvious. ESPECIALLY Humungus and Wez’s partner, lemme tell you. Just a note, as this change in visual tone and style is going to carry throughout the rest of the series.

The Marauders run Max down, and Gyro saves the day with his snake, throwing it at one of the cars chasing him. Max JUST makes it into the Settlement, but a couple of the Marauders make it in as well, Wez amongst them. He kills a Settler using his favorite weapon, HIS OWN HEAD (fuck, this movie rules), and makes his was through the compound.

Max climbs the top of the wall, and uses a flamethrower on some of the men. Feral Kid throws a boomerang at Wez, who runs off with the rest of the Marauders. Gyro also arrives, landing in the settlement. Pappagallo, in the process, is shot in the leg with an arrow. Unfortunately, the damage sustained to the truck will take 12 hours to fix.

The Settlers thank Max for his help, but that doesn’t mean he’s staying there. That night, however, Humungus retaliates, and strings up their captured settlers for all to see, torturing them throughout the night. Nobody will make it out alive, by his promise. 

For the time being, Max and Gyro are still in the settlement, waiting for their chance to leave. Gyro tries to sneak away with a young woman, but she opts to stay out of loyalty to the Settlers. Also, her hair looks like a Who from Whoville. It had to be said...it had to be said. Pappagallo berated Max for just leaving, rather than helping the rest of them and driving the tanker. Max shoves aside Feral Kid, and he takes off.

However, this is NOT the best move on Max’s part, as he drives RIGHT THROUGH the Marauder camp, and Wez isn’t far behind him. Using a NOS system (EAT IT FAST AND FURIOUS FRANCHISE), they easily overtake Max and run him off the road, DESTROYING the V-8 Pursuit Special, and injuring Max something fierce. Somehow, though, he manages to escape. But one of them KILLS DOG WHAT THE FUCK MAN

Max crawls away and escapes, but is found by...Gyro! Gyro picks him up with the copter, and takes him back to the settlement. He wakes up in a medical tent, still quite hurt. Pappagallo details the plan: use the tanker as a distraction to allow the others to escape. Max, although still injured, volunteers to drive the tanker after all. He doesn’t say exactly why, but he is now stuck there without a method of egress, and he’s the best chance they have. I’m going to choose to believe that he does it for Dog. JOHN WICK STYLE BABY

The time has come. On both sides, they head for conflict. Gyro’s air support, dropping bombs on them. But he’s quickly shot down. Meanwhile, the settlers get out in vehicles of their own, taking advantage of the distraction of the tanker. And once they’re all out…

Now, all eyes are on Max and the Marauders! With the assistance of Warrior Woman (Virginia Hey), Feral Kid, and a few more settlers, Max tries to outdrive Wez and his group. And a LOT of shit happens here, so do yourself a favor and watch this video!

Rebecca and the other two settlers die, leaving only Max and Feral Kid behind. A LOT of Marauders die in the process, and then Lord Humungus catches up. As they shoot out the tires, Gyro (still flyin’, baby!) and some of the Settlers show up as backup. And...yup, another video. Yes, really.

After ALL OF THAT, Humungus ONCE AGAIN goes the way of Toecutter, and is killed by a head-on collision with a truck. Said truck careens off the road, and Mac and Feral Kid get out. It’s then that we see that the truck NEVER had fuel in it! No, instead it was a decoy! It allowed the vehicles, which actually contained the fuel, to escape to the safe North, away from the gangs.

The Narrator comes back, revealing that he’s the Feral Kid, and that their new leader was Gyro! And the Road Warrior. That was the last they ever saw of him. He lives now...only in his memories.

And THAT...was The Road Warrior, AKA Mad Max 2. WHOOOOOOOO!!! Second verse, same as the first; epilogue at the end of the weekend! LET’S GO PART 3

January 31, 2021: Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985)

[itsclydebitches]

RWBY Recaps: “Gravity”

Good lord, folks. Buckle your seat-belts because we’ve got a lot to get through this episode. I think this is my longest recap to date, so settle in.

Episode Eleven’s “Gravity” starts out simple enough, focusing on the two fights we’d set up during “Out in the Open.” First up, Ironwood vs. Watts. Overall this fight does a really excellent job of showcasing their different fighting styles. Right from the start Watts is pointing his gun forward to take a clear shot at Ironwood, whereas Ironwood points his backwards to use as a surge of momentum.

He’s going to do this frequently throughout the battle, constantly using his gun to maneuver in the air, slow falls, regain his balance, and change directions, a much more complicated series of choices than the one-off shots we see Ruby use with her sniper rifle. This is partly because Ironwood seems to have a much larger supply of bullets---some sort of energy/dust ammo---than Watts does. His steampunk-esque gun holds only nineteen bullets, requiring him to keep track throughout the fight. Which is always a fun trope but sorry, Watts, you can’t compare to the king.

Thus, with limited weaponry available to him, Watts is forced to get creative with the arena itself. We see him manipulating gravity, shooting up columns of water and fire, and making use of his own pathways between platforms, all in an effort to throw Ironwood off and catch up unawares. However, Ironwood is, frankly, the much better fighter. He was right last week to assume he could handle Watts even though he sent three off to tackle Tyrian. He’s able to recover much more quickly and learns from any mistakes, as evidenced by his ability to hit Watts dead on while in the air the second time he takes out the gravity. When they come together in hand-to-hand Ironwood easily dominates, no doubt thanks not just to his military training and huntsmen lifestyle, but also in large part to his prosthetics which I would assume grant him more speed and power. Throughout the course of the fight we see Watts consistently take more damage to his aura and he’s unable to sense when Ironwood is sneaking up on him. After that little maneuver, Watts (presumably) grows reckless and lets off his last three or four shots in a random barrage. All of them miss.

This emphasis on emotion continues when they land back onto the main stage with Watts shouting, “You never appreciated my genius, James! You just stood atop it and called yourself a giant.” Oh, did Ironwood actually do something horrendous in the past? Is there something juicy that would explain---though not excuse---Watts’ turn towards villainy? Nah. He quickly follows that up with, “You chose that fat imbecile over me!” referring to Pietro. So... nice one, Watts. Crazy arrogance, willful ignorance of Pietro’s own, clear genius (anyone who can create Penny is no slouch), as well as a bit of fat-shamming on top of it all. No sympathy from me.

This moment emphasizes how unhinged Watts is becoming though as the fight turns against him. Even when he manages to setup a head shot Ironwood reveals, “You’re smart, but you’re not the only one who can count,” referencing that Watt’s emotions got the better of him, leading to him wasting his last bullet before it could be of real use.

...except not. I’ve got to admit, I was very pleased when all of this---or at least this particular moment---was merely a plan to get Ironwood to let his guard down. Watts is way too smart a character to be done in by the “You got too emotional and that made you sloppy” trope. So kudos there (even if it remains to be seen whether that Pietro comment was really his motivation, or just another part of the plan). Instead, he uses Ironwood’s confidence in his victory to trap him with the rings that control the arena, essentially pinning Ironwood’s non-prosthetic arm through the energy shields he’s been using. We can immediately see that the parts that have touched Ironwood already have horribly burned the skin.

And that ends up being Watt’s downfall. Not stupidity on his own part, but his lack of understanding of Ironwood himself. He assumes that this truly is a trap for him, rather than another sacrifice. After all, what fool would ruin their one remaining arm to stop him? Watts himself wouldn’t. Don’t pull, he cautions Ironwood, not “unless you’re hoping to add more metal to that body of yours.” Watts goes so far as to turn his back on Ironwood who then makes the sacrifice we all knew he would. One burned, useless arm later and he’s free.

I would like everyone to keep this moment in mind. Namely the utter devastation of it. I’d go so far as to say it’s as bad at Yang losing her arm in Volume 3. Despite seeing it bandaged later, Watts at least thinks it will be a complete loss if Ironwood sacrifices it. He’ll need to “add more metal,” AKA replace his arm, so though he obviously still has it in the following scenes, we don’t know if it will ever be functional again. Just as important, Ironwood had to choose to do that to himself. That wasn’t a horrific, but ultimately clean cut done in a moment of surprise. That was a conscious decision, a slow pull through all that pain, and then having to finish your fight immediately afterward. It’s a very different kind of psychological trauma, no better or worse than having someone take your arm from you by force. Throughout this volume I’ve seen a lot of fans being critical not only of Ironwood’s main decisions, but just his overall attitude as well. Too strict, too stern, doesn’t smile enough, yells sometimes, etc. basically associating someone who isn’t all sunshine and smiles with someone who is “bad.” Ignoring for the moment that we can say the same thing about many of our group---notably Yang---I have little doubt that I’ll see similar posts after this episode. Writings in the vein of, “Ironwood is unhinged! I can’t believe he yelled and hit his desk like that!” So everyone just keep this moment in mind and ask yourself how calm you’d be if you’d sacrificed your arm like that all of half an hour ago. And then found Salem’s calling card on your desk. And then came to the realization that the allies you trusted have been lying to you from the start. And then Salem herself appears to mock you. And then your city is about to be overrun. Basic summary of the rest of the episode: holy shit. So yeah. If Yang is allowed to be angry and upset after losing her arm, or just angry in general like she is in the later half of “Gravity,” I think we owe it to Ironwood to let him be angry too. I have a lot of feelings about the utter insanity he’s been forced through with little to no support and if he wants to take all that out by hitting his desk once, by god I’d say that’s a good coping strategy given the circumstances. Both the writing and the fans tend to erase trauma once you’ve passed age 25. The girls have every right to be upset, to break, to not trust people because they’ve been through a few months of hardship, but Ozpin isn’t allowed the same after a couple thousand years of that. We’re going to see the same hypocrisy later in this episode---the group can be upset about lies but Ironwood is not---and I’m hoping (against hope) that the fandom doesn’t make that worse by sweeping this injury under the rug. It’s horrific and absolutely has a bearing on his inability to keep his cool with the group immediately afterwards. We’ve long passed Ironwood owing them endless reassurances and calm responses. 

Anyway, Ironwood still manages to finish the fight because his remaining arm is his robotic one, giving him the strength to easily drag and raise Watts into the air one-handed. He dangles him over the edge of the arena, announcing that he will “sacrifice whatever it takes to stop [Salem].” A clear bit of foreshadowing for his decision at the end of the episode. Watts responds that he hopes he does.

We then move to the Tyrian fight which, on the whole, I don’t think was done quite as well. Granted, there are a lot of enjoyable and badass moments. I like that Clover’s first act is to announce that Tyrian is under arrest, maintaining the law that Atlas (and Ironwood) works to uphold. It doesn’t matter that Tyrian is a crazy serial killer in league with an immortal sorceress hell-bent on destroying the world. Even crazy serial killers have rights and are given the option of surrendering, even when everyone present knows there’s exactly zero chance of that happening. It’s the principal of the thing and the ability to say, “We gave him a chance.” In a world overrun with inequality, this is a small but important attempt to level the field. If you do something wrong you face legal action and those rights are announced to you. Same for Tyrian. Same for Team RWBY. But we’ll get to that.

For now, we see Qrow attack first and like back in Volume Four he and Tyrian are pretty evenly matched. The tide doesn’t turn until Robyn and Clover come into play. Throughout this exchange we see a lot of cool combos among the three of them. Tyrian will block an incoming arrow with his tail only for Clover to snag it with his hook. Robyn can get another arrow to perfectly bounce off the walls and then Qrow’s scythe, hitting Tyrian dead on. Clover can dive between Tyrian’s legs, giving Qrow the opening he needs to attack. It is, as said, pretty badass... almost a little too badass. Personally, I would have appreciated them messing up once or twice. They’re all professionals, yes, but Qrow and Clover have only had one fight together. Robyn, meanwhile, wasn’t even allied with them until an hour ago. This is a situation where skills shouldn’t really trump, “We’re three very distinct people who don’t know each other’s fighting styles well, trying to attack one guy in very close quarters.” There should have been some screw-ups. Especially when we take semblances into account. What, are we supposed to assume here that Clover’s semblance just conveniently overrides Qrow’s? That no mistakes---let alone anything bad---will happen in this fight despite the fact that it’s an extreme parallel to Volume Four? That whole battle emphasized, “Don’t come closer!” because when people fight near Qrow bad shit happens. Now, he fights with two other people in a narrow alleyway and there’s not a single repercussion. Based on their travels looking for the geist, I don’t buy that Qrow’s semblance is just conveniently inactive while near Clover. Even if I did... that’s not a very good writing decision. To me, it’s just more evidence that Rooster Teeth doesn’t understand its own rules/doesn’t know what to do with an ability like Qrow’s. It causes problems only when they explicitly want it to. Then, miraculously, it’s no longer in effect.

Still, we’ll acknowledge that RWBY had a lot else it wanted to accomplish in this episode, so the need to power through this fight is somewhat justified. I personally would have had the entirety of this episode be the two battles---I was shocked when both ended just eight minutes in---but I’m obviously not the one writing the show. Thus, instead of an episode devoted to both the action and the emotion of confronting our two main villains this volume, Tyrian loses his cool after getting punched in the gut, manages to catch Robyn’s arrow in his teeth... 

But it’s a bomb. 

Down he goes. Fight’s done.

Which leads us into the second half of the episode. I want to preface this with a short acknowledgment before we go any further.

Did these last ten minutes give me what I’ve been looking for since the beginning of Volume Six? No. It’s easy to assume it did because all the pieces are there. Ironwood is finally angry about the secret keeping. The Ace Ops are criticizing the group left and right. Surely this is the “The group is capable of making mistakes and they should be called out for it!” that I wanted, right? Not really. For the simple reason that there is a massive difference between:

A story that acknowledges mistakes as mistakes. The characters either grow from this lesson or dig in their heels and are painted as being in the wrong for that decision.

and

A story that takes what the audience (me) perceives as mistakes and frames them as justified choices. The characters do not grow because they’re 100% sure they’re in the right and those who would criticize them are painted as in the wrong. 

“Gravity” is so far into that second option I don’t think the series can come back from it. Does the group face criticism? Yes, but every single time the writing insists that it’s undeserved criticism. It paints the group as the underdogs facing unfair odds, rather than equals---with all the responsibility that comes with that---facing criticism that they need to own up to. Absolutely nothing in this second half implies that the group is going to learn from their mistakes because they, and the writing, still insists that they weren’t mistakes. Which is precisely what we’ve gotten before. Cordovin might criticism them, but Cordovin is in the wrong. Winter might criticism them, but Winter is in the wrong. Every time a character goes, “Hey, you shouldn’t have done this” the group responds with, “Yes we should have!” and the story backs them up. Yes, you should have attacked Argus. Yes, you should have stolen an airship. Yes, you should have lied to Ironwood and spilled the secret to Robyn. Yes, yes, yes. That’s the takeaway every single time. The group is never in the wrong. Others just think they are and those others are painted as cruel, militaristic, unhinged characters.

It’s not at all what I was looking for. Just more of the same.

So that’s the preface. In terms of what we actually get, Ironwood returns to his office with his arm bandaged and in a sling, carrying Watts’ bag, only to drop it when he sees the queen piece on his desk. He calls Winter asking, “Was anyone caught entering the school grounds while I was away?” and when she says no Ironwood has her race off to the Winter Maiden, unknowingly leading Cinder there in the process. “Now show me where you’ve been hiding her.”

We then cut to the group where the trouble begins. They’re not just curious about why Ironwood is recalling them with Mantle still in need of evacuation, they’re actively questioning it. This is the attitude I simply don’t understand. The group acts as if Ironwood is deliberately screwing everyone over when they know better. This is no longer the beginning of the volume where they thought he was some horrific dictator hell bent on destroying his own Kingdom. This is just an hour or so after, “We should tell Ironwood!” and the happy-go-lucky ‘We trust him now’ moment. Even less time after Ruby stared up at him in awe with, “He’s doing it.” They had reason to trust him before they even made it to Atlas. They were given even more reasons in the form of Ironwood sharing his secrets, early licenses, and being allowed to work on the tower. They then still waited until Ironwood was doing everything they wanted before giving him some of that trust back... but the moment he stops doing precisely what they want---we want to keep evacuating Mantle---he’s deemed suspicious again. 

I mean seriously, is the group that dense? Are they incapable of thinking to themselves, “Wow, something must have happened if Ironwood is recalling us before evacuations are complete,” which is precisely the case. The scene tries to frame it as “Group Good” and “Ace Ops Blinding Obeying Orders Bad” but that aspect doesn’t even come into play. There’s nothing blind about it. It simply takes two seconds of critical thinking skills to realize that something really awful must have happened back at the Academy that trumps what you’re doing in Mantle. This is what I mean by the writing being biased. Before we even reach the fight in Ironwood’s office it’s trying to paint him as potentially cruel, potentially suspicious, potentially abandoning his people, look how worried our heroes are about this secret decision he’s made... when all that requires ignoring some really basic deduction in order to reach those assumptions. Remember that intelligence is a plot device in RWBY. If they want Ironwood forced to spill his secrets, he’ll randomly start talking about them in front of his enemies. If they want Ironwood painted as the villain, the group will randomly be incapable of realizing that maybe, just maybe, something went wrong on the home front and you’re needed there.

Things just get so much worse from then on. The group splits with JNR going off to find Oscar and, admittedly, I was shocked we got that at all. I mean yeah, it’s setup for the final reveal at the end of the episode, but the fact that anyone remembered Oscar was missing---let alone happily went off to find him---was still a surprise. So only Team RWBY heads back to Ironwood’s office where they find him (rightfully) panicking over the queen on his desk. Weiss tries to baby him, acting like he’s freaking out over nothing, when all these characters should recall precisely what Ironwood himself points out: the last time we saw this symbol it was a message that Beacon had fallen. He’s not paranoid here. He’s entirely justified in his panic. Ironwood likewise points out that they may have been duped into bringing thousands of people into Atlas as easy targets and Vine agrees, setting up that the Ace Ops are on Team Ironwood throughout the course of this conversation. Not out of blind loyalty, but because he’s right. That is a concern. That may be the plan. We do need to try and do something about that. Team RWBY, however, isn’t convinced.

That is, until Ruby realizes that the chess piece is made of black glass. Which means Cinder left it. Normally I’d congratulate her on that deduction---it is the one smart move we see Ruby pull this whole episode---but I just hate what follows. Namely that Ruby and Ruby alone controls her team’s opinions on a situation. Again. We saw it back in the snow, then again when Blake announced in the elevator that they’d do whatever she wanted. Team RWBY is the one who blindly follows their leader, not the Ace Ops, the only exception being Blake and Yang going rogue in regards to Robyn, but we see that hive-mind mindset here again. Ironwood brings up a good point? Nothing. Ace Ops support that point with more logic? Nothing. Ruby supports it? Oh, suddenly Weiss and Blake are taking this seriously. Suddenly Yang is fired up and ready to do whatever is necessary. Ruby controls the room. It’s only when she’s on board that her teammates decide this is worth getting riled up about.

Which, as I’ve said before, is a horrible way to write a diverse group. Especially when the writing is trying to paint the Ace Ops as mindless soldiers. For all their claims that they just have to follow orders, they’re the only ones parsing through this situation and coming to their own conclusions. It’s just that their conclusions do end up aligning with Ironwood’s which is the “bad” take in this scene. Team RWBY, however, waits until their leader makes a decision and then simply rides her cloak tails. The day that Blake, Yang, or Weiss legitimately disagree with Ruby---not a token “Are you sure we should keep secrets from Ironwood? We’re not actually challenging this. Just checking in”---is the day the writing will disagree with her. AKA, no time soon.

Blake tries to give some bland reassurance about them all being with Ironwood to which he responds, “Are you with me? How did Robyn know about the global communications tower?” Thank you! Thank you for giving us Ironwood’s characterization back and acknowledging that he has no reason to buy their generic ‘Got your back’ statements when everything they’ve done this volume has proven otherwise. They don’t support Ironwood, only themselves and their own teams. The minute he does something they don’t like he’s chucked under the bus. Too bad the writing doesn’t acknowledge any of this and instead continually paints the group as being justified in their decisions. It’s that hypocrisy again. When the group yells at Ozpin for keeping secrets we’re supposed to be on their side. When the Ace Ops yell at the group for keeping secrets we’re... still supposed to be on their side.

Weiss tries to diffuse the situation with “None of this matters right now!” which is real rich when they were just complaining about Ironwood not telling them why they were called back. They get to worry over that, but Ironwood isn’t allowed to worry about them outright betraying him? “Loyalty always matters!” he shouts back and he’s right. Why should Ironwood trust them to have his back in this crucial moment when they’ve never had it before? I’m already seeing more of this hypocrisy among the fandom. When Ozpin kept secrets and told lies the group was given a whole volume to be pissed about that and fans still, to this very day, insist that it hasn’t been enough time for them to get over it, to regain even a portion of that trust. But now that Ironwood has been lied to and betrayed in the same manner? People are annoyed that he’s not just shrugging it off. How dare you not get over in thirty seconds what our heroes got weeks to work through. His inability to just suck it up, as it were, is used to make him seem irrational here. I don’t see anyone, characters or fans alike, acknowledging that his anger is as righteous as the group’s was out in the snow. That there is the disconnect.

Of course, something has to break the tension. Drawn by all the fury and fear, a grimm pops out of Watts’ bag. A fail-safe for if he was defeated and captured. Salem immediately takes control of the grimm and kills it, using its form to appear before them. She reveals that it doesn’t matter that her men were captured. They were just there to “set the stage,” which they’ve done. Still doesn’t explain the random Penny side plot to my mind (seriously, why did the story bother to resurrect her when she has done nothing plot-wise or emotionally?), but whatever. Much more importantly, the stage is set for Salem herself. She’s approaching with the grimm army we saw her amassing which is... iffy.

First off, why? Why after a thousand years has she suddenly changed her MO from keeping to the sidelines to a full-on attack? Again, what’s the catalyst for that massive change? We don’t know. Meanwhile, from a writing perspective, I’m hesitant about having our Big Bad thrown into the mix before the finale. We know there are plenty of volumes left in this series, which automatically undermines any battle they might have with Salem. Will they win?? Of course not! Because RWBY isn’t over yet. Granted, this could all just be a ruse of some sort. Maybe Salem just wants them to think she’s approaching with an army, which would be much more up her alley in terms of long-distance manipulation. But if not... seriously, what’s the point of that?

Here’s hoping it’s a bluff.

Speaking of manipulation, we get a fantastically creepy moment where Salem tells Ironwood to “simply accept the futility of your situation” while smiling like a kind mother. That’s the Salem who is truly dangerous. Ironwood reaffirms that he won’t give up the relics and Ruby pips up with, “We don’t have to kill you to stop you.”

Hey wait. I’m gonna give you all another graphic.

This is Ozpin’s stance! This is his plan! His version of hope! We spent all of Volume Six having the cast beat on him for, “Omg Salem is immortal?!” and with the exception of Nora’s comment, no discussion of this in Volume Seven... but now suddenly Ruby is making this announcement? The group came to this revelation sometime off screen which we a) don’t get to see and b) once again created no scenario in the form of, “Wow! Ozpin was right all along! Maybe we should go talk to him...”

I’m just... wow. The number of times the writing takes what the group and the adults do, the exact same perspectives and decisions, and twists it so that the group comes out looking like heroes and the adults look like misguided, unhinged fools who need to be put in their place... I’m really over it at this point. And by extension the group themselves. Their characterizations have been so badly mangled at this point I legitimately don’t like them as people. I don’t care if they say they want to protect Mantle, or if they say they’ll support Ironwood, or if they say they’re unsure about their choices. All their actions claim otherwise.

Rather than grappling with the huge revelation that the group is apparently no longer obsessed with Salem’s immortality (or rather that Ruby isn’t. The rest of the group doesn’t actually matter. As established, they sync up with her beliefs the second she announces them), we return to Summer Rose. Salem goes, “Your mother said those words to me” and Ruby... loses it? What? I would have been 100% on board with this if we’d gotten it last Volume because then we saw Ruby losing her cool periodically. The smashed alcohol bottles. Chucking her scroll. Screaming at Qrow. That was all building to something. But then we had a year and roughly twelve episodes of normality. Ruby jumps into her fight with Cordovin and has been fine ever since. Hell, she’s been bubbly and confident, goofing off with Penny in one episode, then giving strong orders to her team in another. The one time we see her falter was in her conversation with Qrow and he reassured her completely that she was both doing the right thing and in no way comparable to Ozpin. Now, suddenly, one line from Salem and Ruby collapses? Full on incapacitated? I could buy the crying while still standing strong, I could buy a collapse if we’d kept her characterization going from Volume Six, but this kind of reaction in this context just felt so extreme. Doesn’t help that I really wasn’t sold on the voice acting here. Those cries sound less like devastated sobs and more like weird hiccups. Not to rag on Lindsay. On the whole I think she does a really excellent job as Ruby, it’s just this particular moment didn’t read right to me. I didn’t feel Ruby’s supposed grief here.

So that was... a lot for one line from Salem in a volume of otherwise confident and cool-headed Ruby. We also don’t see it amounting to anything, as per usual with RWBY’s writing. Ruby isn’t out of commission for the rest of the conversation or anything. She pops right back up after a second in Yang’s lap, just as confident and go-getting as before. There was no lead up to this and there are no consequences for the breakdown. Rooster Teeth honestly seems to think they can just chuck random things into the story---Ruby needs to show emotion at some point!---and then just leave it at that, entirely disconnected from everything else around it. Would we have known that Ruby just had her first breakdown of the series a minute later while once again betraying Ironwood? Nope.

Finally, this scene shows us again that the Argus battle was a bunch of nonsense. Ruby’s eyes nearly activate when she’s grieving for her mother, imagining---or perhaps seeing via Salem?---a sad Summer, not a smiling one. Just like her eyes activated while seeing Pyrrha die. Just like they activated when Blake was nearly killed by the Apathy. They activate now while thinking about her mother’s death. The montage of happy moments in lieu of the sad ones not working last volume was entirely out of place.

Salem finally leaves. Now everyone is panicking about this army. Elm points out that they’ll know if anything approaches. Vine checks and realizes that Watts took out their perimeter. Either that or Salem has already destroyed everyone and everything out there. It’s impossible to know. During all this Blake asks if the Amity tower is actually finished and we get more nonsense about how Ironwood is evil for telling a lie, but the group is always justified in telling theirs. The writing really tried to compare Ironwood telling Mantle---who I guarantee 100% does not care about whether a communications tower is finished while they’re getting attacked by grimm---a lie to lure out one of their biggest threats to Blake and Yang going behind Ironwood’s back to tell a potentially non-trustworthy outlaw about said tower, risking that the information would fall into the wrong hands and doom the project before it could be completed either way. Those are not in any way comparable situations, yet the writing really has Weiss going, “General Ironwood?” in a ‘How could you betray us like that?’ tone while Yang continues to look pissed.

And as if they didn’t know! How is this a personal betrayal? They were all helping to build that tower. Surely they’d know it it was that close to being done. Again, critical thinking skills, people. Anyone with two brain cells and their insider information should have looked at Ironwood’s announcement and gone, “Oh, that must be a bluff. Just a few days ago we were arguing about whether to continue taking resources from Mantle. No way is Amity ready. He’s going after Watts. Who is indeed the much bigger threat. Considering that he has control over the entirety of our technology and there’s literally no downside to telling Mantle about a finished tower when they’re getting devoured by grimm.” This is another, “But lying is wrong!” in the face of “But lying kept us alive...?” 

Does everyone get what I’m saying here? How RWBY takes these situations and tries to paint them in an absolutely ridiculous light, expecting the audience to blindly accept this perspective despite everything else they’ve seen for themselves? Like, two episodes ago? I swear I’ve never encountered writing that treats its audience this badly. Scene after scene relies heavily on the viewer having no ability to think for themselves. Just accept that Ironwood is a horrible person for lying about the tower even though there are no repercussions for that and we JUST watched him defeating Watts as a result. Like, five minutes ago. That just happened. In this episode. 

Ironwood then drops the bomb that Winter has gone off to claim the Maiden power. Interesting development. I wonder what that means exactly. Is she just going to lock herself away until the Maiden dies naturally? Do they have her on some sort of life support and is there an agreement to pull the plug if necessary? Are they going to use a machine similar to the one Pyrrha was in and try to force the change early? Or is this just a misleading comment and Winter is merely off to protect the Maiden, no intention of taking the power now? Who knows. We’ll have to wait until next episode to find out.

Ironwood likewise announces that the staff and the lamp need to be locked away now that they’re compromised, even though they’ve been compromised since they first saw Tyrian in Mantle. Insert another [this scenario is so stupid and contrived] explanation here. It’s made worse by Ruby’s childish “You said we could keep it.” Excuse me? What, did you think the lamp was your personal property now forever and always? Is Ruby really sitting there arguing that something Ironwood told her weeks ago trumps the obvious logic of putting the relic where it’s somewhere safe? That’s the characterization we’re going for, a leader who cares more about, ‘But you said we could have it!’ over the fate of the world? What even is this? The fact that Ironwood has to explain to them that the situation has changed just reinforces the group’s overall attitude. That is, one of arrogance and importance. They literally need to be told why putting the relic in a nearly impenetrable vault is better than letting them have it just because they want it. Plus, you know, they lied about the lamp from the start. So there’s that too.

Finally, Ironwood reveals that Amity was originally a plan of Ozpin’s but he didn’t push it far enough. Instead, he intends to use the staff to lift all of Atlas instead, hopefully taking two relics and a Maiden far out of Salem’s reach. Ruby wants to use the tower for its designed purpose instead, which is only a valid option in her mind because the writing was stupid last week. If there had actually been any logic there---if people had been allowed to react naturally and in a variety of ways to the Salem announcement, rather than a super convenient “Yeah! Let’s all work together!” across an entire, panicking city---she wouldn’t be quite so eager to tell the whole world. But we all know at this point that logic bends to the protagonists’ whims, so Ruby wants that same perfect ending across all of Remnant. She stands her ground, as does her team. Obviously.

Meanwhile, the Ace Ops aren’t just following Ironwood’s orders like the writing wants us to think via Harriet’s earlier comment. Rather, they’re each thinking through the situation for themselves and making very good points. If Salem has taken out our perimeter than we know our tech and people don’t stand a chance against this army. We just finished up the fight in Mantle and none of us are in a position to start another. Notably, Harriet brings this up, the one whose aura took a massive hit while nearly getting crushed underfoot. Vine points out that sometimes you have to lose a battle to win the war, but Team RWBY, to be blunt, simply doesn’t care.

I’ll be blunt myself here too: I don’t have an easy solution to this particular scenario. I don’t know what the “right” or the “wrong” choice is. Weighing starting a fight with VERY high stakes you’ll lose against abandoning the people of Mantle is just a straight up horrific decision. Like so much of what Ozpin faced, there is no clear-cut, good answer here. Do you stand by the people and risk the world, or work to save the world and doom the people? I don’t know and I do commend Rooster Teeth for writing a difficult choice... just not in giving each side the weight it deserves. Because as said, we’re meant to root for Team RWBY, always. Theirs is presented as the “right” choice every time, despite the fact that, as established, this is far from a black and white decision.

What frustrates me the most is when faced with all of these logical and very important considerations (we might not have backup, we’re in no position to fight, if Salem gets the relics and another Maiden the world is screwed) the group won’t even acknowledge these things. They’re so set in their own perspective they won’t even give these HUGE concerns the time of day. Rather, Yang shoots back, “You can’t just back down from a fight!”

That’s it. That’s the group’s problem in a single line.

This is what got Pyrrha killed.

It’s something the group should remember. She also insisted on fighting when she should have retreated and, since this was back during the days when characters actually faced consequences for their actions, it cost Pyrrha her life. Granted, going after Cinder was a truly useless endeavor. Pyrrha achieved nothing with her sacrifice. Here, Team RWBY hopes to save the people of Mantle, adding a clear justification for their insistence on fighting... but this is nevertheless indicative of that larger “punch it until it stops moving” mindset. It’s not that they decide to fight instead of retreating that’s the problem, it’s that to their mind fighting is the only option. Ever. This is what led to them attacking Cordovin and destroying Argus’ mech, drawing a massive grimm in the process. When faced with the option of backing down, Team RWBY doesn’t consider that an option at all. Which is heroic when up against an actual enemy, far less so when you’re facing an ally and the choice to fight has serious repercussions attached to it. Hell, the group doesn’t even consider compromises. They could have easily acknowledged that collecting the relics, the Maiden, and getting the staff to work on Atlas will take time. You do that while we focus on evacuating the rest of Mantle to the city. But no, even the concept of a compromise simply isn’t possible. You just always fight. Straight up. Anyone who suggests anything less isn’t a true huntsmen. “We’re loyal to the people!” Ruby shouts, as if “the people” doesn’t also include the rest of the world that Ironwood is trying to save and that they’re endangering by keeping the relics and Maiden within Salem’s reach. 

That is one messed up perspective to tout in a story infused with the complex and the morally gray.

The real kicker though? Ruby’s ‘My way or the highway’ attitude obliterates a solution that fell straight into her lap. Jaune calls and says straight out that they have another situation. If Ruby had listened to her teammate for just three seconds they all would have learned about Oscar, thereby undermining Ironwood’s plan. He can’t keep the lamp safe if he doesn’t know where it is. You look for it while, again, we evacuate Mantle. Then we take everything out of Salem’s reach. Win-win. Instead, Ruby blasts her way through the situation. Literally, dodging Ironwood and hiding behind his desk shouting a highly bias version of his plan in the hopes of getting everyone on her side. And it works. 

Because those like Clover don’t get to hear any of that context. Like how the perimeter is gone, there’s an army potentially coming, no one is in a position to fight, we’ve already lost a relic... they just here a Ruby’s version of events that paints Ironwood as the callous man Robyn thought he was---oh my god he’s abandoning Mantle for no good reason!---and people will react accordingly. Ruby likewise doesn’t care that shouting such information over all channels does things like, say, clue Tyrian into their plan. She just wants to do things her way, right now. Pausing to think (because thinking isn’t fighting) simply doesn’t happen.

I used to adore Ruby as a hero. Someone who was intrinsically good, hopeful, and wickedly clever in her ability to come out on top. Now she’s stubborn, arrogant, at times cruel, and charges in headfirst like her sister, refusing to consider any perspective other than her own. And her team endlessly supports that. The writing endlessly supports that. This isn’t our hero working through her flaws, but rather a flawed character that the writing refuses to acknowledge is flawed. When Ruby flies behind Ironwood’s desk the music rises triumphantly, just like it did when she attacked Cordovin’s mech. When Ironwood announces that they’re under arrest, Ruby spits back, “We won’t just let you take us” and we’re supposed to cheer.

Which brings us back to the question of whether the group really faced consequences here. Let me give you all a random, non-RWBY example of two scenes. Scenario One:

Parent: You punched her?

Teen: She insulted me!

Parent: I understand that, but that doesn’t mean you were justified in attacking her.

Teen: Oh, I was.

Parent: Maybe you were, maybe you weren’t, but you can’t solve all your problems that way.

Teen: I... I know that, okay. Back off. I just get so angry...

Parent: I know. We’re going to work on that. You’re grounded this weekend. We can discuss this more then.

Teen: [sighs] Fine.

vs. Scenario Two:

Parent: You punched her?

Teen: She insulted me!

Parent: I understand that, but that doesn’t mean you were justified in attacking her.

Teen: Oh, I was.

Parent: Maybe you were, maybe you weren’t, but you can’t solve all your problems that way.

Teen: Screw you! It worked didn’t it? I think a good punch goes a long way.

Parent: That’s not... okay look. You’re grounded this weekend so---

Teen: Like hell I am. [Proceeds to run off]

Teen: [Later to friend] ---and then she tried to ground me? Can you believe that?

Friend: Holy shit what an asshole.

If we put aside my own iffy dialogue for the moment, Scenario One acknowledges the complexity of the situation while likewise pointing out that the teen didn’t handle herself well. RWBY has achieved that here: the ethics of this scenario are acknowledged as complicated, but the group did things they shouldn’t have, as evidence by Ironwood’s anger and the Ace Ops’ criticism. However, Scenario One goes on to let the teen acknowledge that mistake, thereby validating it in the first place. A consequence is set, grounding, and they accept that, thereby further validating that their behavior needs work. They accept the consequence because both they and the writing acknowledge that the consequence is deserved. It takes what was previously two subjective stances---they say I’m wrong, I say I’m right---and encourages the audience to find the middle ground. Neither was totally wrong or right. The teen might be justified in some respects, but still made mistakes in others. She needs to improve. 

RWBY, however, steers firmly into Scenario Two wherein the teen (Team RWBY) insists points blank that they never made mistakes in the first place, thereby encouraging the audience to question whether Ironwood and the Ace Ops (the parent) is right to be calling them out at all. We see no humility or guilt, only confidence. Ruby shouting “No!” at Cordovin when she’s told to surrender. Yang keeping silent after admitting that she and Blake told Robyn, not bothering to apologize or admit that this might have been a breech of trust. They challenge the validity of the claim that mistakes were made and by virtue of being protagonists encourage the audience to challenge it too. Finally, we see them reject the consequence because they will not admit that it’s deserved. The teen will not accept a grounding. Ruby: “We won’t just let you take us.” We’re then told by others that this rejection was warranted. The friend reinforces the view that the teen was right to run because that punishment is undeserved. The message is, “You never did anything wrong in the first place.” The plot of RWBY likewise reinforces the view that resisting Cordovin’s arrest was right by having her randomly let the group go. The consequence is replaced with a reward and, presumably, we’ll have a similar situation wherein the group either defeats the Ace Ops or is released by them. The consequences never take hold because the writing doesn’t think there should be consequences in the first place. Team RWBY isn’t going to be arrested here. They’re certainly not acknowledging that on some level they deserve to be. We didn’t see that humility while they were cuffed on the airship---that most basic acknowledgement of, “Did we make some mistakes? Could we have done something better? Is Ironwood right to be this mad?”---and there’s none of it now here, either. The tone is pure, “How dare you try and arrest us? We’re the good guys here!” 

This remains as pro-protagonist as it has been the last two volumes. There are no consequences, only another hurdle for the group to overcome, painted as heroes for doing so. It’s Team RWBY vs. The Ace Ops and there’s no confusion about who we’re supposed to be rooting for. The Ace Ops because the group should rightly be stopped from hindering Ironwood’s attempts to keep the relics and a Maiden out of Salem’s hands, for their own lies and secret keeping that endangered them all this volume? Nope. It’s Team RWBY as the presumed heroes, facing off against soldiers who (supposedly) prioritize orders over what’s “right.” 

And yeah, Oscar is gone. There are a number of dismantled robots and blaster fire in the room where Neo presumably took him. So unless they do a flashback we don’t get to see if/how Ozpin reacted to this initial attack. I hope they do provide a flashback because otherwise that’s another crucial scene of Oscar’s that happened off screen...

Can’t wait to see what else we’ll end up with next week! Until then, 💜

[aph-honk-kong]

Draw A Circle That’s The Earth, I’m In Hetalia - Review (Chapter 2)

Eight months ago, @hetafic-hell published a review of chapter one of “Draw A Circle That’s The Earth, I’m In Hetalia!”. I decided to write a review of the second chapter, since they’ve been on hiatus for so long. But before I begin, I must offer a warning: this chapter is five thousand five hundred words long, and is not divided into any paragraphs. It’s also awful. Proceed at your own risk.

3 months later.

It is not possible to show the passing of time through the story instead of putting it down explicitly?

I'm at a different meeting hall my nation had all its citizen's return to Serenia only recently and now every one of my people except my army have been turned into pictonians 

What army? I thought the only reason Serenia was bombed in chapter one was because it didn’t have one. 

Australia brought me in a helicopter and now me America, England, Italy, Germany, China, Japan, Russia, France, not that anyone noticed except me Canada 

And there’s the “nobody notices Canada” trope.

and thanks to my knowledge of the 'paint it white' Hetalia movie Scotland and Australia are now in meeting about the pictonians I gave Canada a note saying 'go to Cuba, combine forces temporarily and take care of the injured 'he ran out of the room without anyone noticing.

You’d think that someone being told to leave an important meeting to leave the country, meet with someone who hasn’t been mentioned up until now and form an alliance to save their nation’s people would at least announce their departure.

"Dudes, this is an emergency! As the paper thingys in front of you with those crazy drawings that are supposed to be word says, the race of humanity has been taken over by nopras thingsmabobs by that crazy beam of light that comes out of the light bulby thingy that comes out of their head."

...what?

Alfred said while everyone was doing their own thing Francis blowing a kiss to the maid, Yao yawning, Arthur, Kiku, Ivan and Ludwig listening, Allistor smoking, jack playing with his koala, bub and Feli drawing faces on the pictonians pictures. "Nice one, Feli" I giggled "thank you, Kaitlyn! How are-a the puppies and-a cubbies?" he asked "they're fine they grew 60 cm!" 

What an intriguing conversation. Why is this happening again?

then I turn my attention to the meeting and open the folder "Tony my righteous alien friend dude told me they are pictonians from the planet Picto. Like for real dudes. Picto is in like way far out in space." He continued "your brains in way far outer space" Arthur exclaimed "hello! Listen up! We can't let these nopras dudes make earth all freaky and boringly white! This is whack! We gotta stop these dudes! Also what's a nopras?" Alfred asked after a good little speech "it's a Japanese monster without eyes, nose or a mouth; its proper name is inotraple." I spoke up everyone looks at me then Arthur says "wait a tick does that mean this is all your fault japan?"

Why would any of the nations believe Serenia? Even if she explained that she figured it out from the “Paint It White” movie, she’d have to tell them how she came across the movie, either proving that she’s not from this universe or making the nations think she’s gone insane.

"Hey I only said what I learnt from japans old stories and he hasn't said a single word so it's not his fault." I defended while standing up "why the hell do I have to be turned into nopra, because of stupid japan and his scary story" Yao snapped I sighed and sat down and looked at the pictonians pictures I giggled and whispered something to Feli then we both giggled 

So she went from defending to sighing to giggling in a span of what, a minute? If Kaitlyn is so protective of Japan, why doesn’t she defend him when China speaks up? Why does she just sit down and start having another inane exchange with Italy?

"what is so funny, kaitren-chan?" 

Please no, not the Wapanese.

Kiku asked I smiled and said "is it just me or do these guys look like telitubies? Come on I can't be the only one thinking this" "Hahaha! Good one Kaitlyn!" 

This chapter is supposed to take place three months after the former one, and the last chapter ended in the middle of WWII. There is no way any of the nations would know about Teletubbies, which is a show that launched in 1997.

Alfred laughed then said "anyway, focus countries! Japan may have screwed things up but we still have time to fix it! Your ideas will all suck, so listen to me! We will combine all of our military strengths! I'll be in command so you'll have to wear the colour of my flag! All heroes wear red white and blue! And Kaitlyn?" I look up at him "yeah?" "I'll make sure you're safe by you and me sticking together! I'll be your hero!" he said as he winked at me I blushed furiously

The awful dialogue aside, I thought Kaitlyn was shipping herself with Holy Rome last chapter, to the point where she kept him from dying. Does she have a new fictional husband now?

"wait who in god's name put you in charge and why the bloody hell should Kaitlyn go with you?" Arthur yelled "duh, because I'm the hero everybody knows that and Kaitlyn needs a hero" Alfred replied "ohnohnohnohn! But I think Kaitlyn should come with me and not you" Francis said in all his creepiness 

France literally hasn’t done anything creepy, he just suggested Kaitlyn stick with him! Oh wait, I forgot the writer just wants to shoehorn in every trope imaginable into this fic for no reason at all.

"you keep your filthy perverted hands of Kaitlyn, cheesy monkey!" 

He wasn’t being perverted at all! #ProtectFrance2020

Arthur yelled "shut up, black sheep of Europe" "I told you not to call me that" then Arthur and Francis started fighting, Feli tried to hand out his white flags, Yao was arguing with Alfred about which country made the most popular movies, Ivan was releasing a purple aura, Ludwig was trying to stay calm and me I stood up and sat with my pups and cubs petting them as they slept

You’re telling me these baby animals are casually sleeping through a group of adults having multiple loud arguments?

'what am I going to do? Everything's just so crazy. Everyone is a lot more extreme than I thought, they act the same and yet they act different. 

How on earth does one “act the same yet act different”?

When I was in my world, everything seemed so easy. [Sigh] I guess not' "kaitren-chan." 

Spare me.

A voice brought me back noticing Kiku was in front of me "what's wrong, Kiku-san?" "I wanted to thank you for defending me earrier, arrigato" 

There’s no reason why Japan would thank Kaitlyn in Japanese when the rest of his sentence is in English, and that’s not even how you spell it.

he bowed I smiled then boom! I jump and my pups and cubs start barking and roaring 

I can guarantee you that baby tigers cannot roar.

I calm them down by speaking Serenian. I wait for Germany to stop yelling before heading to the doors "Kaitlyn? Vhere are you going?" Ludwig asked "I'm going to protect my country. I suggest you all do the same." Then I walked out of the room. 2 hours later. 

Where are they? Assuming they’re not in Serenia, it would take Kaitlyn quite a while to get home, especially since they’re in a time of war. She definitely wouldn’t be able to reach Serenia in two hours.

I'm standing with my army of 1,000 women and men armed with guns and arrows, 

How are they going to shoot the arrows without bows? 

I'm wearing a long flowing white skirt with a long slit that reaches 10cm from the waist, my black cloak, 

A flowing skirt and a cloak are not at all practical for war, especially not a skirt with a slit. She’s going to get strangled with her cloak or trip over herself, mark my words.

a gold staff with a gold crescent at the top the staff was an inch above my head my height is 1, 80, 

A few things to address here. First, isn’t Kaitlyn fifteen? How can a fifteen-year-old be that tall? Second, there’s no way that staff would do any damage, especially in a twentieth-century war when so much technology was developed. Gold is expensive as hell, too, so how could she make an entire staff from it?

I had a black camisole on and had gold two gold bracelets on my left ankle, one each on my wrists, a necklace with a silver water lily pendent and a gold necklace that fit on my head so that the crescent moon pendent was positioned on the centre of my forehead and I wore no shoes just bare feet. 

No way someone can run or fight properly while wearing heavy gold bracelets, a silver pendant, a gold headdress and no shoes. You’re fighting in a war, for goodness’ sake, your feet are going to be severely hurt if you don’t wear anything on them.

"When the enemy comes show no fear and if the enemy shoots dodge then strike!" I commanded my cubs and pups were beside me growling. 

You took your defenceless baby pets, the only Serenian native animals left, to a battlefield?

The earth started to shake a little "get ready!" I yelled the pictonians ships were in sight "FIRE!" I yelled my army fire their guns and arrows but they just turn all wiggly and white "crap!" I curse then the pictonians shoot the flower blossom beam me, my pups and cubs run and dodge the beam

Without being trampled to death by the rest of the fleeing soldiers, and fast enough to dodge the beam despite being, again, babies? Fat chance.

my army wasn't so lucky they got hit with the beam, then they started to stalk towards us "Kilala! Sesa! Nomura! Herona! Zecremea nomraxia qoxirizakri merase"(Translation: come we must run, my children!)" 

Please, no more nonsensical Serenian.

We start running and an explosion happened bits of the arrows and metal from the guns flew at my cubs and pups I block them and got cut every were it hurt so much, then I hear something "Kaitlyn! Dude come on!" I look and see Alfred on a helicopter when I reach the helicopter 

Shouldn’t he be back in America, defending his own people?

I look back and call out to my pups and cubs "come on almost there!" then disaster. Another flower beam was shot and it hit them, my pups and cubs, my babies 

THIS IS WHY YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE BROUGHT THEM ALONG!

"no! No!" I try and run to them but, Alfred pulled me into the helicopter and restrained me the helicopter took off when I stopped struggling Alfred let me go. I cried, I let everything go. I dropped to my knees and cried Alfred sat on his knees and embraced me I cried into his jacket "Katie, everything's going to be okay. We'll get them back I don't know how but we will, I promise." 

Oh wow, this is so touching.

He said 'that doesn't really sound like him this must really be bad' I stopped crying and hugged Alfred "al, thanks for saving me I assume they got you?" ' assume I know they got him' "yeah, my missiles did nothing then they turned the statue of liberty all white and wiggly" "they did that as well to the valley of blue roses" (for all those who don't know in Serenia their national land mark is a valley of blue roses since blue roses are unnatural and were originally white it is said that on the night of a blue moon the glow of the full moon turned them blue.) 

Couldn’t the story behind the rose valley be included in the story instead of being dumped to us between brackets? 

"We're heading to a temporary headquarters, okay?" I nodded I started humming 'safe and sound by Taylor swift' then Alfred asked "hey Katie what song is that?" 'Crap! I forgot Taylor swift hasn't even been born yet and... Wait a minute the songs I know are from the year 2013 and it's what like 1980, I'll keep it to myself.' "It's called safe and sound a little thing I made up to keep me sane when Switzerland attacked" 

Finally, a rational decision. Also, if this chapter took place three months after the last, wouldn’t it be, like 1945 at most? How did the author forget something they wrote themself?

"Kaitlyn, when the war hit were you afraid that your country would be destroyed and you would ya know die?" "No, I feared for my countries people and animal life besides no one would really miss me." "That's not true! Iggy would miss you, Italy would miss you, jack and Allistor would miss you and I would defiantly miss you we all care about you Kaitlyn no matter what!" "Alfred." I smiled and hugged Alfred even tighter "Kaitlyn, I'm glad you're my best friend ""I'm glade too"

You’re what now?

then I fell asleep. 20 minutes later. We had almost reached the temporary hide out Alfred had to carry me on his back because I couldn't walk anymore I was partially covered in cuts and bruises and my head hurt badly. 

Didn’t you just say you were cut “every were?”

"Al, remind me to kick the pictonians ass later please." "No prob" when we were close enough we could see everyone was there. Feli lifted his head and saw Alfred and smiled but, then he saw me he squealed and ran to Alfred and I. "Kaitlyn! What-a happened!?" he asked frantically "Feli, calm down I'm fine." I reassure him then I was lifted off of Alfred's back and carried to the temporary 

The temporary what?

I look up to see Germany "thanks." I said he smiled and place me on crate then china tended to my wounds. 

Is the medical centre just a crate? If not, what on earth is the author trying to describe here?

"Thanks china I owe you one" I said "no problem Kaitlyn!" he replied I noticed Feli walking around looking for something. "Hey Feli what are you looking for?" he turned to me and smiled "I-a think the puppies and cubbies are playing hide and-a seek with me so I'm-a trying to find them." I looked down and said "they're not playing hide and seek Feli." "Oh, then where are-a they?" I started to tear up I look at him as I raise my head and say "ask the pictonians" he paled

“Kaitlyn, you fucking idiot, why did you bring them along with you to fight?”

"becoming a pictonian appears to be our fate" I say "I refuse to become as ugly as the rest of you" France says "look on the bright side at least you won't smell like drunk cheese" England commented "chill out, we're not gonna let this get us down. Dudes, we're gonna stand together whether we like it or not. I don't!" Alfred said then Russia said "I agree, I don't like it!" then china said "that's right we should work together even if we hate it. I hate it!" "I hate it more" Arthur added "Qui j'detetes" France sighed "no rikey, but we should listen to each other's ideas" japan stated 

The next person to use “no rikey” unironically will be executed at dawn.

"right, all zhose in favour for us to vork togezher raise your hand now" Germany said everyone but me and Feli raised their then Italy looked around and raised his hand and said "pasta~" I raise my hand and Alfred said sounding confident "check this out a douse of originality we get a super hero with a deflector shield to beat the crap out of those guys" 

Haha comedy, am I right?

then Italy said "I think japan should do it I-a mean he's-a got eave**** and let's not forget about gun**" but those are just anime" japan said 

Both Evangelion or Gundam were developed in the late twentieth century, decades after this story takes place. Plus, Italy isn’t so stupid as to believe that the mechas from those show exist in real life, is he?

"if you are looking for anime I can totally do that" china interrupted then a blurred picture appeared "you know I think I heard about that somewhere but better" Arthur says "yeah" everyone agrees "it original chines idea!" china fumed "excuse me" Germany said to grab our attention "maybe ve should oh I don't know zhink of ideas zhat are realistic" he said looking ready to blow 

Thank you, Germany. 

"I was thinking the exact same thing my idea is perfectly realistic" Arthur said looking confident "alright what do you have in mind, Arthur" I ask then he shows us a dark magic circle 

How the hell did he make that so quickly?

"yeah we need something realistic" everyone said "you wankers don't ignore me!" Arthur yelled "my turn, how about we find their leader and hold them for ransom" I suggest "still need a realistic idea" they said then we hear a sound "Fucking" over and over we look at a screen to see a little grey alien "ah, what a charming alien" France said sarcastically "he's no alien! Tony is my best friend!" Alfred said sounding offended "that doesn't mean he's not a bloody alien!" Arthur said but, was ignored by Alfred "Tony what's the scoop bra?" "fu-"he tried to say but I interrupted saying "hey Tony? Think you could I don't know not pull any crap on us. Remember how you owe me from 30 years ago. I need you to show us the pictonians website and put on the translator software, please?" 

What does Tony owe Kaitlyn and why was this never mentioned?? Also, the internet didn’t exist in WWII, what is going on -

he nodded and put up a website and then the translator thing made all the alien language translate in to English. Then a video played explaining the pictonians intentions. "It appears our planet is doomed." " ?" "What did he say now?" japan asked and Alfred replied "the more evolved the species the more their faces look nopra like" "oh, I have collection of evolving I'd like to show them" Russia said as he released a purple aura 

The fuck does this mean?

"Vhere are zhey veak? Zhey must have a veakness' Germany said "they do" Tony replied then everyone but me flipped out "why haven't you been speaking English this whole time!?" France asked while freaking out "because I don't do dubs" Tony replied as he searched for something on his iPhone "okay their weaknesses are…" 

WHY DOES HE HAVE AN IPHONE IN WWI!?

he continued. Then I had a dizzy spell. I felt pulse "sunflower, you're alright, da?" Russia asked

Haha he used “da” haha so very Russia of him.

"I-I'm fine, Russia" I replied holding my head "call me Ivan" he said then Alfred yelled "TONY!" that set me off I collapsed to the floor a bright white light covered my vision, as I fell I heard someone call out "Kaitlyn!". Then, I heard the giddy British voice again "well poppet, looks like you've been telling people you get visions, huh? Well, we don't want you to be a liar now do we? So every time a something big is going to happen, you will suffer a dizzy spell and have a vision. Well I better be off ta-ta poppet" then it all went black. 

Oh, it’s the magic fellow from the first chapter. Will it ever be explained who they are or why they’re doing this to Kaitlyn? My money’s on “no”.

Suddenly, I saw everyone being turned into pictonians Alfred, Arthur, Francis, Ivan, Yao, jack, Allistor, Ludwig and Kiku then I turn and see Feli get turned into a pictonian 'no' 

Why is Italy’s transformation the last straw?

I ran at the pictonians tears blurring my vision. I felt myself lift off the ground then gone I lost the vision. "Kaitlyn! Kaitlyn wake up!" I heard I slowly open my eyes to see Alfred above me with worry in his eyes and me I was on the floor with everyone surrounding me "I'm fine I just had a vision" I said as I hopped up everyone look at me and didn't looked convinced "trust me guys I'm fine this happens only at certain times." I said then a green light flashed we ran to the light and stopped when we saw a huge pictonian ship. As it was landing a powerful wind blew everywhere it almost knocked down everyone but, it blew me backwards until someone caught me I look and see Allistor holding me by my waist "wouldn't want ye ta blow away now would we?" he said smiling "thank you, Allistor" I said holding onto him. 

And there goes another character into Kaitlyn’s harem.

When the wind stopped we all saw the ship in font "I think this is the mother ship" japan said "Hahaha those stupid aliens are so predictable" Alfred mocked "Allistor you can let go now." I said as I barely held my blush he blushed furiously and let me go "look!" Germany said as we see the pictonians marching onto the mother ship not noticing us "I think that's where they keep the humans that haven't been turned into pictonians probably human enslavement" I said "unacceptable ve must act now!" Germany yell as he marched towards the ship then japan stopped him "Germany I'm sorry I touched you but we must act reasonabry." "Must kill!" he replies 

Why is Germany suddenly talking like a caveman? Goodness, if I had a dollar for every question I asked while reading this mess of a fic I’d be the richest person alive.

"hey, dudes!" Alfred said to get everyone's attention "I have an idea how about we infiltrate the ship and find their weakness!" he suggested "yes, I like the way you are thinking" china said enthusiastically "you can leave the spying to me" Arthur said confidently "and leave the animal rescuein ta me" jack said "nothing ventured nothing gained is what they arways say" japan said "exactly 'ow are zhey?" France asked "I know a way we can get inside!" we all looked and see Feli in a pictonian costume "tada!" "VHAT ZA HELL!? VHAT IS ZAT!?" Germany asked/yelled

You could just use “yelled”.

"it's my-a pictonian costume I made-a it with all the white flag material I have! Woohoo! I made-a one for everybody!" he laughed pointing to a box with pictonian costumes. Everyone just stared at it for a while. Then I walked to the box and grabbed one my size I put it on over my clothes.

One your size? You’re telling me Italy managed to make a number of fake-outfits with multiple sizes while the rest of the nations were running out to see the ship?

When I was done everyone was wearing theirs then they all ran to the ship yelling their battle cries "ATTACK!" "Hahaha! Hail the conquering hero" "double O ninja!" "I'm ready" "what a relief I still look fabulous!" "Hold on tight panda!" "I reap into battre!" "Aussie!" "Whiskey power!" only me and Feli didn't move "we'll wait for you guys here!" he cheered as he waved his white flag "Italy! Serenia! You both are coming vith us!" Germany yelled as he stood in front of Feli!" "But, running onto-a the aliens ship seams reckless-a to me. Besides I don't want to get my costume dirty. What do you think bella?" then he looked at me "Feli, I'm scared." I said as I looked up at him with tears in my eyes 'it's true I am scared, I'm scared that I screwed everything up and what if everyone gets turned into a pictonian' then I felt a hand on mine I look to see Feli with his eyes open looking at me "let's-a go Kaitlyn. We'll-a do this together!" he beamed I smiled and ran with Feli who yelled his battle cry "PASTA~!" in turn I yelled mine "the angel has arrived!" 

Why would Kaitlyn be described as an angel? She’s done nothing remotely angelic in the story so far.

20 minutes later. We're all on the ship we hide behind a corner "ok, here's the plan Russia back me up, japan you back me up too and Iggy..." Alfred said when we were all in a circle with Germany holding eleven sticks "pick one each vhatever colour you get is zhe group you're in." he said "don't ignore me!" Alfred whined every one picked a stick France went with Arthur, Alfred went with Ivan and china, Germany went with japan and Feli. Me I went with Allistor and jack. We're walking down a hall way. 

Nice tense change there.

'I'm not scared' "ya know we need 'a find the captured humans, righ'?" "No, I thought we're er ta play golf, we're not stupid lad we know what we're ta do." The continued arguing then I heard a noise and saw round the corner pictonians "shh!" I pulled them into a room but part of my pictonian costume ripped at my lower half reviling my lower half and the warrior skirt. "Great just great" I said sarcastically "Kaitlyn? Love is that you?" I turn around and see Arthur and France standing in front of a blue ball "what happened?" Arthur asked "these two dumbbells attracted unwanted attention so I acted fast and pulled us into the nearest room" I said a little peeved. 

“Dumbbells” is a weak-ass insult.

Arthur scolded them while me and France looked at the globe I touched my country like Arthur was supposed to do with his country. Then a little page popped at the side of it but it was in the alien's language "damn, hey Arthur little help?" I ask he stops and chucks me his phone 

Again with the cell phones! Isn’t it supposed to be the mid-twentieth century?

I look through it and put up the alien translator app then the screen scanned the page and processed the data then it binged and it all translated into English I read it aloud once the guys stopped fighting "Serenia, a peaceful country with both beautiful fauna and flora and also a former pirate now a polite lady. Serenia is a former pacifist but, during world war two and seeing some of her people and most of the fauna life massacred she became a fighter. She often gets stuck in the middle of love, because all the male countries are in love with her and she can't decide" 

Woah. I couldn’t have come up with a more Mary Sue-ish description if I tried.

I blushed furiously and silently handed Arthur back his phone "love? Are you alright?" he said with a red face "p-p-please j-just go c-check your country" 

I can tick “badly-written stuttering” off my bad fanfic bingo now.

I stuttered not being able to keep my cool. Arthur looked at his country and started fighting with France I ran up to them and tried to break them up "guys! You have to stop" then France accidently back handed me I hit the floor but no one helps me up. Allistor and jack tried separating Arthur and Francis then the door opened and the pictonians appeared "what do we do now?" Francis asked 

I don’t know, maybe run instead of twiddling your thumbs?

"don't worry I'm sure there is a trap door here somewhere" Arthur said then a rope appeared next to him "see what did I tell you" he pulled the rope and the four of them fell through the trap door leaving me on the floor the pictonians looked at me 'I'm screwed' they didn't move "huh?" I looked down and saw that I look like someone turning into a pictonian. ' alright, let's play pictonian' so I found my other half of my costume and slowly pulled it on and pretended it hurt then to seal the deal I was next to the trap door and screamed at the top of my lungs "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" then I slowly stood up slouching like them then they left. 

I understood like ten words out of this section. 

I shed the pictonian costume and fluffed out my black cloak and skirt I checked to see if my necklace on my head was still there and if my foldable gold staff was in the side of my skirt, luckily they were but unluckily, the staff put a little cut in my side making blood drops appear. 

And this, kids, is why you don’t fight with fucking staffs. Also, how on earth is a tall, heavy staff made out of gold able to fold in on itself?

I ran out of the room and followed the pictonians without them noticing me. Then I see everyone in a corner. Found the alarm system, pulled and jumped in the vent the pictonians turned their attention to the alarm I slowly crawled in the air vent but, then I made a wrong move and fell. I waited for the impact but it never came I opened my eyes to see that china caught me "china, thank you!" I said as I hugged him "it is alright and please call me Yao" he smiled as he blushed lightly then set me on the ground 

Dammit, there goes another one.

"Kaitlyn, you're alright" Feli cried as he hugged me. Then a green light grew bright we all looked to see the pictonians about to turn us into one of them. "We. Are. Screwed." I stated "wait, ret me try something" Kiku said "go ahead, Kiku-san" I said. "Pictonians we have come to show you our hospitarity." He said "WHAT!?" everyone but me yelled I ran next to Kiku and backed him up saying "Kiku is right we should show them what earth has to offer. If we show them how fun and fantastic earth is maybe they won't invade earth, change everything back to normal and leave."

Nice idea, but they’ve kind of already invaded earth. You’re too late, honey.

Then Yao said "leave it to me!" then a china town appeared and all the pictonians were sitting at tables with food in front of them "please eat as much as you want" Yao offered "don't-a mind if I-a do!" Feli said with a plate of food in his hand "zhat is not for you!" Germany yelled "but why does-a Kaitlyn get-a to eat?" he complained "because it's just a mango and I haven't eaten since yesterday" I said the pictonians started to eat 

What does China serving mangoes have to do with why she gets to eat?

"so you like it am I right?" Yao asked confidently "we don't know" they answered Yao "I'm so glad you like it. Wait you don't know?" he asked "we don't know" they replied then France tried to get them to eat his countries cuisine but got the same reply "I would like to be going now don't be letting me down" Ivan said to the Baltics "yes sir" they replied then done a ballet to swan lake in female ballerina outfits' 

Poor Baltics. What did they do to deserve being put in this fic?

that's just cruel' then they spun off stage "we don't know" the pictonians said I thought of what hospitality I could provide 'belly dancing and flowers' I played belly dancing music and hopped on the stage and danced. Every time I could I threw a bunch of flowers to the pictonians. 

Where did she get - I’m not going to question things any more.

I heard my friends shouting out "go, sheila!" "Shake it, Kaitlyn" "go, bella!" when I finished I posed with my hands above my head and one leg at the front the pictonians gave me an unexpected answer "it was good" I jumped off the stage and Alfred picked me up and spun me in the air "dude that was awesome where did you learn to do that?" he asked as he set me on the ground "I went to India a little while back and learned belly dancing" I replied then Germany tried to give a pictonian some beer but struggled a bit "dude, let me help you out" Alfred said then a casino popped out of nowhere. All the pictonians were at slot machines and one hit the jackpot, another got kissed by two girls in bunny costumes. "Men" I said as I walked away from Alfred. 

Haha guise get it? She’s totally a strong independent woman who laughs when men are being stupid even though she has ten of them chasing after her!

I noticed Feli with the pictonians having fun then everything went wrong. The pictonians had eaten one of Arthur's scones and turned blue in the face. "Come on, what-a happened? Let's-a eat another scone" Feli said happily and the pictonians replied "no way" "guys I think this is our cue to leave" jack said and with that we ran. "Well, what now genius?" I ask then Alfred stops at a door and presses a button then the door opens to show us a long drop out of the ship into the ocean "Geronimo!" Alfred yells as he jumps then everyone but me and Feli are left "Feli come on it's better than being turned into a pictonian" I say then we jump. During the fall Feli had his eyes closed, me mine were open and it's a good thing too, because up ahead was a huge pointy rock. We were falling fast so I pushed Feli out of the way and he missed the rock by an inch. I, on the other hand got the full blow of the rock it my stomach leaving a huge gash then my back. 

Wouldn’t she also break some bones and presumably die on impact? Falling from a high place onto a sharp rock would definitely leave more than two gashes.

I fell in the ocean hard and hit my head on a rock I slowly lost consciousness as I rose to the surface. 20 minutes later. I woke up on a sandy surface and I immediately started coughing up water and feeling the sting of salt water in my wounds. "Hello? Is someone there?" I heard a familiar British voice call "Arthur?" I call out but no reply I stand up and limp to where the sound came from. I keep walking until I hear crying I stumble to the noise and soon am hiding behind a tree looking at a camp fire with everyone around it. "b-but, where-a I-I-is Kaitlyn? Feli cried "we need to find her now I-I just couldn't bear to think what I would do without her" Alfred admitted everyone nodded their heads in agreement "it's so nice to see how much you guys care for me" I said as I came out from behind the tree with my cloak covering my body. They all lifted their heads and Feli tackled me to the ground "bella, I-"but before he could finish his sentence I howled out in pain "aaahhhh!" 

You should’ve collapsed a long time ago.

Feli got up and looked at his hands and his eyes opened and widened showing terror "b-bella, w-w-why are-a you bleeding?" he shakily asked I stood up to see everyone staring at me with pale faces "I had a little accident." I said they still didn't look convinced. I felt a pulsing pain in my stomach as I fell to my knees 

Yeah, there it is.

"Kaitlyn!" they all ran to me I undid the lock on me cloak "Kaitlyn what's wrong!?" Alfred asked as he looked like he was about to cry. I removed my cloak and reviling my injuries everyone gasped in horror. "Well are you going t-"I lost consciousness in the middle of my sentence. In my dream world.

It’s magic teleportation man, isn’t it.

"Hello?" I call no answer "hello, poppet." I turn around to see a man with strawberry blond hair and bushie eye brows he had neon blue eyes, he wore a pink vest over a white dress shirt and army green slacks and a purple bow tie. Then it hit me I know who he is "O-Oliver Kirkland!?" 

YOU’VE GOT TO BE FUCKING -

I ask he clapped his hands while jumping up and down "oh, you figured it out poppet well done! But please call me Ollie" he giggled 'only because I read fan fiction' 

How does Kaitlyn reading fanfiction relate to her being allowed to call Oliver “Ollie”? So many sentences in this fic are just strung together with no relation whatsoever.

"you sent me here didn't you?" I asked he stopped bouncing and smiled "yes, we brought you here because you have such a vast knowledge on us and wanted Hetalia to be real so badly that we decide to bring you here and make you a country. Isn't wonderful? We picked you out of all the girls and boys in the world" he said "yes I am grateful but, what do you mean by 'we'?" 

Oh, so her teleportation into the Hetalia world is explained. Still makes no sense why she was picked, though.

I asked he smiled but made it even more cheerful looking "I mean-""the cupcake freak means us, doll" I looked behind me to see 2P America Allen Johnson or as he prefers to called Al, he had red/brown hair, red eyes, a bomber jacket with a fifty on the back, black gloves, sunglasses and, like the fan fiction says, a baseball bat with nails at the top. 

OH MY GOODNESS, NOT THE ANOTHER COLOURS.

And another thing: why is Allen’s appearance described as being “like the fanfiction says”? Since the Another Colour Main Six aren’t canon (only their Nyotalia forms are), everyone has a different interpretation of what they look like. What fanfiction is Kaitlyn referring to?

I need to stop asking questions when it’s clear I won’t get answers.

I started blushing because when I found out about the 2P's I developed a crush on them. "Well hello, doll face" he said as he walked up to me "Al" was all I could say he smiled and put a finger under my chin and moved his face closer about 2 inches from mine "heh, she's pretty cute. No 2P Serenia but hey she's just as cute" 

ANOTHER ONE IN THE HAREM.

he said I backed away a little "you mean I have a 2P?" I asked then Oliver came from behind and hugged me I yelped and winced Oliver looked down and said "oh dear you got injured. We'll bring you to Yung" then another figure appeared with a medical kit. He looked like Yao except he had black hair and red eyes 

Doesn’t regular China also have black hair? Also, what the fuck kind of name is “Yung?” That syllable doesn’t exist in Chinese.

"hello, Mrs. Water lily" he said as he tended to my wounds as I sat on the floor "it's nice to meet you, and you don't have to be so formal with me please call me anything you like" I beamed he had a light blush across his cheeks "fine, I will call you… nightingale because you have the beautiful voice of one" he said I turned bright red. 

You’ve met her for at most five minutes.

When he finished I had a bandage around my whole torso and stomach and head. 

A bandage around her torso, stomach and head? She must look like a mummy from the waist up.

"Thanks, I owe you one." I said "oh, don't worry about it, poppet. We wouldn't want you to be hurt now would we?" Oliver said "now, see that door?" he said as a blue door appeared "uh huh" I said "go straight through it and you'll wake up to the 1P's and have theses bandages on still" he said. 

So the Another Colour characters were only brought up to keep Kaitlyn from dying and providing exposition. Well, I shouldn’t have expected anything more.

I walk to the but I stop when I put my hand on the handle I turn to the 2P's "but will I see any of you guys again" I ask. Al smiles and says "of course. Why wouldn't we want to see your cute face again, doll face" Al replied I nodded and walked through the door. When I wake up. I open my eyes and see Feli asleep and everyone else talking about things 'no sign of Sealand' I sit up and groan "ow, my head" everyone looks at me their eyes widen as I stand up. "Will you stop looking at me like that? I'm fine" I said smiling "cheerio everyone!" we turn our heads to see Sealand on his 'country' 'I haven't met Sealand yet' "I brought my whole country here to help you all!" he shouted "you don't have a whole country to begin with go home you little pipsqueak!" Arthur yelled.

“Sealand and England arguing over whether or not he’s a country” trope, check.

5 minutes later. Everyone just finished eating food from Yoa's resort that was conveniently on the island. 

Who is Yoa?

"I am so full at moment" Yao said rubbing his belly. "Who knew you had a resort on this island" Arthur said I sat on the shore of the ocean, letting the water touch my feet. 'My babies, I raised them from pups and cubs and now their pictonians.'

What an out-of-place line to wrap up this chapter. The conversation has just started, nobody has responded to it and nobody knows what will happen. It feels very abrupt.

...

Well, that was it. I am in immense pain and I feel like I’ve lost a few brain cells. This was maybe the most illogical, unenjoyable thing I’ve read in quite a while, but am I going to also review the other chapters? Yes. For now, I’m going to rethink my life choices and try to forget what I read here.

[survivorwildwest]

Episode 5 - We’ll Get Through It

Colby looks defeated as Tsitsistas returns to camp. Michaela places a hand on his shoulder as she enters the shelter for the night. Colby nods in appreciation.

At high noon the next day, the tribes meet Jeff in town for the next reward challenge. “The thing about the Wild West,” Jeff starts, milking the theme for all its worth, “people were always coming and going, between towns, kind of like on Survivor. Everybody, drop your buffs.” 

Everyone throws their buff in the air and grabs a velvet bag from the barrel in front of them. They unwrap the velvet bags to reveal their new buffs. The buffs are designed to look like bandanas and don the Survivor: Wild West logo, which features a cowboy on horseback, horseshoes and a crude rendering of a desert landscape.

Jerri opens her velvet bag and says, “Teal.” Wendy opens hers, “Orange.” Russell opens his and looks at Jerri and Wendy, “Orange.” Jerri and Russell stare at each other as they separate, but Jerri stares a bit longer.

“Uh, Jeff. My buff is white,” Bi says.

“Yeah, mine too,” says Wardog.

“If your buff is white, you will be ditched.”

“What’s that mean?” Wardog shouts.

“You will be locked behind bars in the town square until the next immunity challenge, at which point, each of you will join your new tribes.”

The new tribes are, on Tsitsistas: Colby, Russell, Ben, Lauren, Wendy, Kass and Brandon. The new Suhtai is: Elizabeth, Michaela, Jerri, Ken, Todd, Carl and Hannah.

“Today’s challenge is for both reward and individual immunity. The last remaining member of each tribe will win individual immunity, and the last remaining person overall will win reward for their tribe: the opportunity to go to tribal council first and sit in on the other tribe’s while eating a feast of burgers, fries and whiskey and... this,” Jeff says, holding a darkened wine bottle, “to be opened later.”

Jeff stands before fourteen stationary oxen. One line of seven facing another. “For today’s challenge, you will sit on the back of this oxen. If you lose your balance, the oxen’s torso will rock back and forth until you fall off. Last person on their oxen for each tribe wins immunity.”

They each take their places and the challenge begins. Hannah falls almost immediately. After a few minutes, Carl falls, then Wendy. Russell drops soon after. Then, everyone else sustains a good posture. Kass begins to tip, distracting Brandon. Kass can’t recover. Brandon tries to not laugh, but the suppression backfires and throws off his balance. He falls into the desert sand below. Elizabeth swats a fly away and her ox begins to twist. She doesn’t recover. Colby slips and, in trying to reaffix himself, falls off. Lauren and Ben remain for Tsitsistas. Michaela loses her focus in the heat and falls off. Jerri looks over to make sure she’s okay, causing her ox to rock, throwing her off. Todd and Ken remain for Suhtai. Todd looks over at Ben and says, “Hey Ben. Do you want to do a winner’s alliance?”

Hannah and Michaela laugh from the bench as Ben yells, “No,” falling in his fervor.

Todd turns his attention and says, “Congratulations, Lauren.”

“Yeah,” Ken says, not trying to not break his focus, “Congratulations.”

“Thanks Ken,” Lauren says. Ken slips when he hears her and his ox begins to rock. “Thanks, Todd.”

“No problem,” Todd says, remaining stationary.

Ken clenches his thighs on the ox’s swinging body, but it’s too wet from his sweat. He can’t regain balance and slips off.

“Oh, man,” he says when he hits the ground.

“Lauren,” Todd says.

“Uh-huuuuh?”

“How important is going first to you guys?”

“Uh-huuuh...”

“It’s that important to you,” Todd asks, his ox beginning to rock.

“Yuuuup.”

“What do you want for it?”

“The bottle.”

“What,” he asks, his ox near shaking.

“I’ll let you guys go first if you give us the bottle.”

“What’s in the bottle?”

“Your win.”

“Okay, fine. Do it!”

Lauren bends forward, wrapping her arms around the ox’s neck as she slowly swings her leg over his torso. Jeff hands her and Todd individual immunity, then says, “Suhtai, you will attend tribal council first tonight, then watch Tsitsistas’ tribal council as you indulge in burgers and fries and whiskey.”

Todd rubs his belly.

“But, this,” he grabs the darkened wine bottle, “thanks to a trade made between Todd and Lauren, is going to Tsitsistas. You can open this back at camp as a tribe.”

Somewhere in the Mojave Desert, a coyote plays in the sand.

In jail, Wardog and Bi are locked behind bars in two separate cells in one room. They’re alone in the room but for one desk near the front door. After a few hours, Wardog is putting his white buff over his nose like a bandit.

“I’m like a real outlaw,” he says, pointing finger guns at Bi from across the jail, “pew, pew.”

“So, Wardog’s doing whatever he’s doing and I notice something on his buff,” Bi says in a talking head, “Our tribe buffs had cowboys and rope and a gun, but this one has a bow & arrow pointed at a star.” She holds the new buff up to show off the clue. “So, I started looking around for a star and I notice this toolbox on a shelf on the wall between us with a star painted on the side. I didn’t even see it until I was looking for it.” 

She heads to the corner of her cell, looks at the shelf overhead, and determines she can’t reach the toolbox. So, she uses the bed made of thin wooden planks as a step up to the center bar of the cell.

“Hey, what are you doing,” Wardog asks as he jots over to his side of the tool box.

Bi reaches through the bars and opens the toolbox. Inside, she finds two screwdrivers and two rolls of twine. She grabs one of the screwdrivers and looks over her cell. She notices the planks of wood making the bed she’s standing on have been screwed.

“And then it dawns on me,” Bi says in a talking head.

“Have you seen any keys?”

“Uh, what, no, keys,” Wardog asks, “We’re trapped in these cells until the next immunity challenge. That’s the whole point.”

“I don’t think it is,” Bi says, looking up from unscrewing the planks.

“Just, look for the keys for me, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, alright.”

Wardog surveys the room as Bi finishes disassembling her bed.

“Bi!”

“What?”

“Next to the door.”

Bi looks up from tying twine around the planks to see Wardog pointing at the front door of the Sheriff's office where they were trapped.

“Awesome. Thank you.”

She finishes building her pole arm and reaches it 20 feet across the office but it drops on the front desk, knocking a newspaper from the desk and onto the ground. She realigns the pole, this time resting it on the center bar of her jail cell. She crouches slightly to get the upward trajectory needed to reach the keys. She slips her pole through the keyring and lifts it so the keys slide into her hands. There are three keys on the keyring. Two are large, rusty, black keys, clearly meant for their cells, but the third is smaller and cleaner. Bi reaches around her bars and tries one of the keys in her own lock. It doesn’t work, so she tries the other. The metallic lock disengages as Bi twists it. She opens the door and frees Wardog. She holds up the third key. “We need to find whatever this unlocks.”

“It looks like a key for a safe.”

“I was thinking the same thing. Where would a Sheriff keep a safe?”

“Under the front desk,” Wardog says, removing the chair from the front desk.

“Wardog, oh my god!” Bi tries the key and it works perfectly. Inside, she finds a box, locked with a combination lock.

“What the fuck,” they both groan.

Wardog notices the newspaper on the ground. He looks at the front page to see an article about the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. He reads it over, then asks, “How many numbers?”

“Four”

“Okay, okay, okay, try One-Eight-Eight-One”

She tries it, but it doesn’t work.

“Okay, try One-Zero-Two-Six.”

She enters the combination and it unlocks. “How did you know that?”

“It’s the date of the shoot-out at the O.K. Corral.”

She looks inside and then says, “Wardog, can I trust you?”

“Yeah, of course.”

She pulls out a sheriff’s badge and a paper telling her this is the Idol Nullifier.

“Oh, holy shit.”

“No one knows about this.”

“No one knows about this.”

“Wardog.”

“Bi.”

“You. Cannot. Tell. Anyone. About. This.”

“Bi, I won’t say a word.”

“I saw what you did to Wentworth. I’m not gonna let the same happen to me.”

“You’ve got nothing to worry about, Bi. Here. Here. Let me prove it to you.”

He runs back to his bag and pulls out his extra parchment. He tells her, “This is an extra vote. No one else knows about it.”

“Oh, that’s perfect, Wardog. Don’t use that until the merge. I’ll tell you when its needed.”

“Okay, sounds good,” Wardog says, trying to quiet an excited squee.

“Can I ask you something?”

“What’s up?”

“Your real name isn’t Wardog, is it?”

“That’s just what everyone calls me. My real name is Dan. Dan ‘The Wardog’ DaSilva,” he says with a joking bravado.

“Alright, Dan,” Bi laughs.

Somewhere in the Mojave Desert, a carpenter bee buzzes into its home.

Back at the Tsitsistas camp, everyone crowds around Lauren as she attempts to uncork the wine bottle, but the cork won’t come out, so she smashes the bottle on a rock. Inside is a small envelope, sealed shut with red wax. The front of the envelope reads, “Open at tribal council after the votes are read.”

“What do you think it is,” Brandon asks.

“I think we get to pick between Bi and Wardog,” she explains.

“You want Wardog, I assume,” Ben asks.

“No way,” Wendy says, “Our tribe was terrible on Edge of Extinction.”

“We had one of the worst tribes in Survivor history,” Lauren tells them, “Both of us and Wardog were on it together. Then when we swapped and lost Wendy, we were even worse. Taking Bi is the right move if we can.”

At Suhtai, everyone congratulates Todd, then Michaela and Ken introduce themselves to their new tribe.

“Hi, I’m Michaela. I’m from Texas. I played in Millennials vs Gen X and then again in Game Changers.”

“Hi, I’m Ken, I also played in Millennials vs Gen X, but Michaela and I were on different tribes. I was on the Gen X tribe.”

Somewhere in the Mojave Desert, the wind blows across the desolate earth.

In the hills of the Tsitsistas camp, Wendy and Russell check in with each other. In a talking head, Russell is ecstatic, “This could not have worked out better. I’ve got my little dumb girl with me and no Jerri to align with her behind my back.”

“Ahhh!!!” Wendy screams in her own talking head, “I can’t get rid of him!”

“So, what are you thinking,” he asks Wendy.

“I think it’s going to be one of us.”

“I think so too. Do you have an idol?”

“No,” Wendy lies, “do you?”

“I don’t. Jerri just said she thought you might have one,” he says, staring at her for several seconds, gauging her reaction.

In a talking head, Russell admits, “Jerri never told me anything about any idol, but hey, maybe she’ll tell me if she has one!”

“I don’t! We should look for one.”

Elsewhere, Brandon and Ben scurry to shade. “What’s going on, man? Have you talked to Russell yet,” Ben asks.

“Not yet, but I will. I think we should stick with him for a while but I have no problem cutting him when we have to.”

“Good. That’s what I was thinking too. Do you think he’ll be into it?”

“Oh yeah, Hantzs don’t turn their back on each other.” Brandon lifts his knuckles and Ben taps them with his own.

Somewhere in the Mojave Desert, a blue scrub jay rests on a tree branch.

On the other side of the desert, Hannah and Michaela catch up at the Suhtai camp. “So, have you been working with Ken,” she asks with more energy than she can contain.

“We haven’t voted together.”

“What?!”

“I’ve been working with Colby and Ken just does whatever Lauren tells him to do.”

“Okay, okay, lemme think.”

“I’ll vote for him. I don’t give a shit. I voted for him last time.”

“So, he knows he’s a target?”

“I think he probably already knows. I figure, if it’s not him, it’s me. And if it’s not me, it’s you.” 

“Alright,” Hannah says, shrugging her shoulders with disdain.

“Who instead?”

“I think we could get people to vote for Carl. I promise you, we can cement a working relationship with Ken here, and if he and Lauren are close, that’s more numbers for us in the merge.”

Michaela considers it.

“Carl brings nothing to the table for us,” Hannah explains, “He and Elizabeth are close, but that’s it. They’re not gonna stick with us every tribal. And what if we get Bi? She’s definitely going to align with them.”

“Damn, Hannah,” Michaela says after some contemplation, “okay.”

Somewhere in the Mojave Desert, a ground squirrel stands on his hind legs and chirps to his brethren.

Elsewhere, Carl, Elizabeth and Todd discuss the vote. “Honestly, between the two of them,” Todd says, “I’m most worried about Michaela. I don’t think Ken is anything to worry about.”

“What about Hannah,” Carl asks, “Weren’t they close?”

“They were on a tribe together. I don’t know if they’re close.”

“I don’t think she’s gonna leave a sure-thing alliance of three though,” Elizabeth explains.

“If we get Bi, we’ll be in the same situation as them unless we take one of them out,” Carl says.

“Guys, we’re already three,” Todd reminds them. 

“For sure,” Carl tells him. 

“We have to go to tribal before we can even worry about that,” Elizabeth says. 

“We need to talk to Jerri,” Todd says.

Somewhere in the Mojave Desert, a long-tailed brush lizard camouflages itself against the bark of an old tree. 

Back at Tsitsistas, Russell has isolated Brandon in the shelter. “Would you look at that,” Russell says, “the two Hantzs finally playing Survivor together.”

“It’s about to get fun.”

“It sure is, nephew. It sure is.”

“You find an idol yet?”

“Not yet. But I will, don’t you worry. Have you?”

“I haven’t. But, Ben found one.”

“Oh, really,” he says with a curious grin, “Does he still have it?”

“No, he played it.”

“Okay, that’s good to know. Thank you, nephew.”

“No problem, uncle. So, are you close with Wendy?”

Russell chortles, “Wendy is my lamb.”

“So, she’s with you?”

“Indeed she is. That little girl will do whatever I tell her to do. Long as it ain’t her, she’s happy.”

“So, who are we voting for?”

“Colby. This is my tribe now.”

“Alright, Colby. Me, you, Ben and Wendy.”

“Four of seven. Perfect.”

“Perfect. Who do you think they’ll target?”

“Probably Ben. He’s the only winner over here. I don’t know why y’all didn’t do it earlier.”

“Ben’s my closest ally.” 

“Not anymore.” 

Around the Tsitsistas campfire, Kass, Colby and Lauren discuss what to do about the vote. “I think Russell sees us targeting him, so maybe we go after Brandon,” Colby suggests.

“Works for me,” Lauren says.

“Can we get Wendy to our side? Isn’t she close with Russell,” Kass asks.

“I’ll talk to her,” Lauren says.

“Talk to who about what?” Ben asks as he takes a seat at the fire.

The other three around the fire look at each other. Then, Colby makes an executive decision and says, “Look Ben. There’s no point dancing around it.  I know you’re close with Brandon but it’s only right to tell you. We’re going after Brandon tonight. We were gonna try to get Wendy’s vote but, I guess you’re in on the plan now.”

“Oh, uh, yeah, okay. Thanks for telling me. You’re sure it’s not me?”

“It’s definitely not you,” Lauren says.

“Okay, I’m trusting you.”

“Yeah, good. I’m telling you the truth.”

“Kass?”

“It’s Brandon, bud,” she tells him.

Somewhere in the Mojave Desert, a roadrunner sprints down the dusty Route 66.

Collecting any firewood they can find in the desert, Todd tries to convince Jerri to vote with him and the Davids, “Look,” he says, “the Millennials are a really tight-knit group. Vote with us tonight, and me and you can run this game at the merge.”

“Okay, so who do you suggest?”

“Michaela. She’s the biggest threat, she’s got the most connections of anyone. The sooner we get her out the better. She’s too smart.”

“Then it’s me, you, Carl, Elizabeth and presumably Bi?”

“Presumably.”

“That puts us at four and five in their alliance.”

“Or, it puts us at one and two in our alliance, Bi at three. She already knows she’s number three between those three. We could talk her into coming to our side.”

“Alright, Todd. I imagine the other side will be coming to me trying to make the same argument. What do I tell them?”

“Tell them Ken because you’re doing a woman’s alliance thing or something.”

“Or something.” 

Somewhere in the Mojave Desert, a tarantula crawls up on a rock. 

In an area of rock they deemed their cubby, Ben and Brandon talk in hushed voices. With genuine concern, Brandon looks into Ben’s eyes and says, “Russell says he trusts Wendy, but I don’t.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Russell says they’re targeting you.”

“Who?

“Colby, Kass, Lauren.”

“Wendy?”

“Russell says no, but she might flip. I wanted to give you this,” Brandon says, pulling out his idol.

“Oh, no, Brandon. I can’t.”

“Just take it tonight. If you feel like we can trust Wendy, just don’t play it, but if we can’t, play it and we send Colby home. Colby’s going home either way.”

“Oh wow, Brandon. That’s- wow. Thank you,” Ben says before putting his second idol of the season in his pocket.

Lauren finds Wendy in the shelter. She sits down in one of the chairs Ken made. She takes Wendy’s hand in her own and says, “Hey, how you holding up?”

“Well, your shelter is a lot nicer. So, I’m good,” Wendy says, “How are you?”

“I’m good. I wanted to talk to you about… where you’re at re: the vote.”

“Oh, yeah. What were you thinking?”

“Well, I know you and Russell are close but I think Brandon might put a wedge between that.”

“So, Brandon?”

“What do you think?”

“I don’t really care, honestly. I’ll vote for Brandon. Russell will be mad but so what, he’s always mad.”

Somewhere in the Mojave Desert, a spider leaps from one rock to another, carrying a string of silk behind it. 

Around the Suhtai campfire Michaela sits next to Jerri. “You don’t strike me as the type of person who appreciates dilly-dallying, so I’m going to get straight to the point. Colby and I formed a working relationship on Tsitsistas. I know y’all are close. I’m close with Hannah from my original season. She’s close with Ken. He’s close with Lauren. We all stick together, we’re set in the merge. What do the Davids promise you, next tribal?”

“Alright, Michaela. Where am I putting my vote tonight?”

“Carl.”

“Okay.”

“Carl or Michaela,” Jerri contemplates in a talking head, “huh. I’m set either way! Ha!”

Jeff first greets Suhtai around the campfire at Tribal Council. He points to Todd, wearing individual immunity, a few seats away, “Feel good?”

“Anything could happen tonight, Jeff, so I am very pleased to be wearing this.”

“What do you think this vote will be about tonight, Elizabeth?” Jeff asks.

“This is really about choosing sides.”

“What are the sides, Jerri?”

“Well, we’ve got the Millennials, as we’re calling them, that’s Michaela, Hannah and Ken, and then the Davids; Carl, Elizabeth, and Todd I guess.”

“I’m a flight attendant, so it works,” Todd says.

“And then there’s me,” Jerri says.

“So, when Elizabeth says ‘choosing sides’ what she means is, ‘which side is Jerri choosing?’”

“Would seem that way, Jeff,” Jerri says with a knowing smile.

“Alright, it is time to vote. Michaela, you’re up first.”

Everyone votes. Jeff tallies the votes, asks for any idols, and when no one stands to play an idol, he reads the votes. “Michaela, Carl, Michaela, Michaela, Carl, Carl, fifth person voted out of Survivor: Wild West, Carl.”

Carl grabs his torch and gives everyone a gracious nod as his torch is snuffed.

“Suhtai, you will now enjoy your reward as you sit in on the Tsitsistas tribal council,” Jeff says.

Suhtai sits among the fireflies as they eat their burgers and sip their whiskey. It’s not good whiskey, but everyone’s happy it’s there. Tsitsistas takes their place around the campfire. Ken catches Lauren’s eye as he sits and he smiles to see her still there. Jerri looks at Ken next to her and rolls her eyes big enough for Colby to see. He laughs as the ice in her whiskey hits her lips.

“Tsitsistas, welcome to tribal council. As you can see, Carl was voted out at Suhtai’s tribal council. Are you surprised, Russell?”

“No, not really. Carl was a charming guy. You gotta get charming guys out before they charm their way to the end.”

“Is that how you do it Russell, you just charm your way to the end,” Jeff asks.

“Hey, don’t give away all my secrets, Jeff,” Russell jokes.

“Is there concern with Russell and Brandon being on your tribe together, Kass?”

“There’s always concern when either one of them is even in the game. The fact that they’re together can be seen as scary, but they can’t actually do anything without us, so while there is concern, I am not concerned.”

“Colby, Concerned?”

“I wouldn’t say that. We’ll get through this. We gotta lose somebody, but we’ll get through it.”

“Worried that somebody could be you, Ben,” Jeff asks.

“Oh, sure. You’re always worried it could be you, especially as a winner. I assume there’s always a target on my back. They’ll wanna weaken me however they can, if it’s flush an idol, or vote out one of my allies, or turn on me to further their own game. I know that. I’m ready. I just hope they’re ready for me.” 

“Alright, with that it is time to vote. Colby, you’re up first.”

Colby casts his vote for Brandon. Russell votes for Colby. The rest of the tribe makes their way into the cave to cast their votes. Jeff leaves, tallies the votes and returns to read the votes. Suhtai leans forward in their seats as Jeff reads the votes from Tsitsistas: “Colby, Brandon, Colby, Brandon, Coolby, Brandon, sixth person voted out on Survivor: Wild West: Brandon.”

Burgers fall from the mouths of Suhtai as Tsitistas gets up to bid Brandon adieu. Ben goes to hug him goodbye, but Brandon walks past with his torch for Jeff to snuff. The votes for Colby were Russell, Wendy and Brandon. The votes for Brandon were Colby, Lauren, Kass and Ben.

“Now, Lauren, you won something in the challenge. What does it say?”

Lauren opens the sealed envelope in front of everyone, “As the holder of this letter, you can take whichever prisoner you want before the other tribe.”

“So, think it over,” Jeff says, “I will get your choice at the next immunity challenge. Other than that, I got nothing for ya.”

[lovemesomerafael]

Others Like Me                               Chapter 16:  Responsibility

               Chapters 1 - 15        Read It On AO3

For @nephilimbecomedeviant​ because who am I to deny the swamp monster?

Barnes isn’t happy.  He can see that Marya’s upset and preoccupied, and there’s no doubt in his mind what – or who – that’s about.  He purposely hasn’t asked Jarvis if she’s visited Bucky.  He’s sure she has, and even though it’s his job, he’d just rather not know at the moment.  I know you wouldn’t let her get away with that, Stevie, but that’s what you get for dyin’ on me.  Responsibility blows.    

He finishes breakfast early and pours another cup of coffee to take with him down to the firing range.  He’s in the mood to blast some shit.  He’d brought Bucky down to the range the week before, and he can’t remember the last time he’s had such stiff competition.  Clint can beat him, but only using arrows.  Clint rarely uses guns.  Barnes and Bucky have been down here three more times, and Barnes has really enjoyed having someone else to shoot against who – he has to admit, if only to himself – is as good as he is.

But he doesn’t invite Bucky today.  He isn’t ready to see him.  Barnes knows he’s all twisted up about Marya, and Bucky, and the rift that’s opening up among the Avengers over who Bucky is, and right now he really just needs to clear his mind.  Target practice is the best meditation he knows.  

So he’s not particularly glad to see Tony show up. Tony’s a fair shot, but it’s not what he does, he just thinks it’s fun.  So he’s no competition.  He also rarely comes down here, which means he’s here for A Reason.  Shit.  Barnes cannot get a break.  

Tony sets up and gets a few shots in before, inevitably, he starts talking.  “You seen Bucky today?”

“Nah.  Why?”

“Just wondered.  Thought I’d invite him up to my lab today, maybe.”

“Huh.”

There’s a long period punctuated by the sounds of firing before Barnes is empty and pushes the button to bring his paper target back to his firing booth to be replaced.  It needs to be, because the holes in the forehead and center mass are the size of quarters, too big now to be a challenging target.  Barnes isn’t satisfied with just hitting the right area, hasn’t been for years.  He needs to hit the same bullethole every time.  

Tony’s obviously been waiting for that, because he steps around the lane divider between their booths.  “We gotta figure this out, Barnes.”

“Most of us already have,” Barnes sighs.  “You and Natasha are the holdouts.  What are you planning to do to him in your lab, play lousy music until he cracks?”

Tony’s voice is low-pitched and more serious than Barnes has heard him in a long time.  “He could destroy everything we’ve worked for.”

“He hasn’t so far.”

“Yeah, the Mandarin hasn’t taken over the planet so far, either, but that doesn’t mean I’m gonna give him the keys to the tower. Fuckin’ take this seriously, would you?”

When Barnes looks up, Tony actually takes a step backward from the darkly fierce look in his eyes.  He holds up his hands in surrender.  

“Think about it,” Barnes says, low and growly.  “How long do you realistically think you could keep me locked up in here?  A day? A week?  Your security is the best there is, Stark, and I could bust outta here in an hour.  He’s been here three weeks.  You been watchin’ him as close as me, you know he knows what’s holdin’ him in here.  And he ain’t done a damn thing.”

“Maybe he’s not as good as you.”

“Maybe he is, and he’s not goin’ anywhere, because he’s got nowhere to go.”

“Barnes.  There’s no way to know for sure.  Ever. Are you really willing to risk all we’ve built – all Rogers built - for this guy?”

It takes everything Barnes has not to swing on Tony for trying to use Steve’s memory to pressure him.  Tony can obviously see that, because he takes two steps backward this time.

“What are you suggesting?  You gonna kill him?  That why you’re inviting him to your lab?”

“I’m not gonna do that unless I have to.  I’m just saying, we’ve worked our asses off to put the Avengers Initiative together, to keep ourselves invisible.  Now is not the time to let down our guard.”

“My guard ain’t down,” Barnes says quietly, in a way that has Tony considering backing up another step.  “Nobody knows who we are.  Nobody knows we even exist.  How’s this guy come in here knowing everything about us – names, histories, abilities, events even – if he isn’t telling the truth?”

“I don’t know.  And that’s the bottom line, Barnes.  We don’t know.  And things are not getting better in the world, in case you haven’t noticed.  We’re stretched to the limit, especially now. I’m sorry to keep reminding you about Rogers; I feel for you, I really do.  But without him, I really don’t know how we’re gonna be able to keep taking on the Ten Rings.”

“Maybe we get a new team member.”

“Yeah, ‘cause people like us are so readily available.”  Tony’s voice gets harsher and more pressured.  He’s losing patience with this whole situation, and it’s making him very anxious, which he Does. Not. Need.  “Maybe I’ll check the classifieds:  Superhero needs a gig, flexible hours a plus. Has own cape.”    

Barnes slams a new magazine into his Beretta and turns back to pin up a new paper target.  Just as he’s about to push the button to run it back to the farthest distance, Tony startles him.

“Oh, holy fuck in a life raft.”

Tony’s tone causes Barnes to turn back to look at him.

“You mean him!  You want us to make Bucky part of the team!”  Tony’s not sure whether he’s more shocked or more disgusted.

“I didn’t say that,” Barnes shrugs.  “But we could do worse.”

“I am not fucking hearing this.”

“Just think about it.  Do whatever you gotta do, but think about it and don’t do anything permanent without talkin’ to the rest of us.”

“Unbefuckinglievable,” Tony mutters to himself as Barnes’s target reaches its destination.

*****

“I spent some time with this switch,” Tony says, not fooling Bucky for a second with his offhand tone.  Tony’s sitting on a high stool in front of a long, cluttered workbench covered with a spectacular assortment of electronic odds and ends, turning the switch around in his fingers.  Bucky stands nearby, nervously fiddling with what looks like dismantled small engines and robot parts.

“And?”

“And it’s been used.  The same way Marya’s was.  It has the same pattern of arcing.  Yours had some energy dampeners hers didn’t, that’s why your landing was a little softer than hers -”

“Wait…  My landing was softer than hers?“

“Hell, yeah.  Not only did she get crunched – her leg bones cracked like eggshells - she also got burned.  Not to mention that she crash landed within sight of Stonehenge and a whole busload of tourists saw it.  Just lucky no one got video, and all the blood kind of camouflaged that hair of hers. Anyway, I gotta hand it to myself, I really am brilliant.  This negative feedback loop with…”  Tony goes on for quite some time, praising himself and whatever he’s found in the switch. Bucky listens, but not very hard.

“I don’t know what any of that means,” he says, when Tony stops to breathe and looks up at him.  “I told you, I just followed the directions to make it.  I understood maybe a tenth of our Stark’s notes, just enough to think it could work.”

“So you don’t agree with what I just said?”

“Stark, I don’t know what you just said.”

“Huh.  Good. Because it was all bullshit.  Now tell me about the trip.  You flip the switch, and what happens?  Be detailed, this is for science.”

Bucky rolls his eyes.  “Ever been in a blender?  Kinda like that.”

“What did you see?”

“Nothing.”

“What does that mean?  It was all black?  You couldn’t understand what you were seeing?  What?”

“None of the above.  I don’t think it was all black, I think I wasn’t seeing at all, if that makes any sense.”

“Huh.  Hear anything?”

“Nope. I flipped the switch and then I was spinning so fast I was sure it was gonna rip me apart, and it damn near did.  Hurt like a mother.  And then I fell a long way and hit the ground in a different Singapore than the one in my universe.  That’s all I know.”

“How long did it take?  How long were you spinning?”

Bucky has to think about that.  “I feel like…  huh.  I feel like it was almost instant, except that I also feel like the spinning went on for…  I mean, it seems like I flipped the switch and then I was falling, with no time in between.  But I also remember thinking ‘how long can this spinning go on before my limbs rip off?’”

“Interesting.”

“Oh, and I forgot about the fire at the end.  I saw it, right when I could see again.  Felt it, too. So, basically, first I was spinning, and then I was falling.  First through fire, and then through way too fucking much air.”

Tony stares at Bucky for a long time, except he’s not really seeing him.  Bucky’s been trained to read people, but he has no idea what Tony’s thinking, only that he’s thinking fast, although Bucky’s not sure how he knows that.  

“OK.  If I have any other questions, I’ll let you know.”

“Did I pass?”

“Huh?”

Bucky tilts his head.  “C’mon.”

“All right, so I tried some technobullshit on you to see if you’d bite.  But I really don’t have any idea how it feels to travel to another universe, so there’s no right or wrong answer there.”

“And that’s more bullshit.”

Tony raises an eyebrow.

“Don’t tell me you didn’t ask Marya all those same questions.  What’d she say?”

“I’m sure you asked her that.  You could just be parroting her answers.”

“Actually, I didn’t ask her.  Which I’m sure you know, or can find out from Jarvis quick enough.”

Tony waves a hand.  “Whatevs.  Get outta here.  I got work to do.”

“Uh-uh.  Now I have some questions for you.”

“Which I will not answer.  So how about we don’t bother.”  Tony’s already turned away from Bucky and toward his workbench.  He picks up something from the bench in front of him and starts to do something to it.

“Why are you keeping the Avengers secret?”

“It’s the Avengers Initiative, and if it was secret, you wouldn’t know about it.”

Bucky makes a face.  “Huh.  Avengers Initiative, huh?  Where I’m from, that was an old name.  Never stuck. They just called themselves the Avengers.  And they’re not secret.  Not at all. They get more press than you do.  Which, what’s with that, by the way?  I researched you, and you’re all over the press constantly. Except that guy and the one I see around here?  Two different guys.  It’s like you’re playing a part for the world.”

Tony turns around and Bucky endures another long period of scrutiny.  Once again, he can tell Tony’s thoughts are racing, but can’t get a handle on what they might be.  Whatever they are, Bucky’s surprised when they result in some answers.

“You’re just a guy, right, Bucky?  Normal dude, normal parents, nothing unusual until someone made you something unusual, right?  Shot you full of serum and gave you an uber-arm?”

Bucky shrugs.  “I guess.  I could fight before, shoot pretty good.”

“Me?  I was a weird-lookin’, skinny nerd with way too much wired energy.  Bruce?  Same. Sam, Nat, Clint?  Ordinary humans who were made extraordinary.  Do you really think the world needs a bunch of us running around?  That Mandarin freak is bad enough.  And we’re having enough trouble with run-of-the-mill terrorists.  You think we need the bad guys getting big ideas about making themselves into superhumans, too?  That’s why the Avengers Initiative is secret.”

Bucky doesn’t respond, but he’s listening intently.

“Worse yet, you want governments getting that idea?  Look at Rogers and Barnes.  The U.S. government decided it wanted supersoldiers.  Look what those two accomplished - what Barnes is still accomplishing - and there were only the two of them.  It’s actually a damn good thing Erskine was killed when that facility in Brooklyn blew up creating them.  God only knows what would’ve happened with a whole army of those guys.  Well, you guys.”

“So you’re saying you keep the Avengers Initiative secret so no one will know that superhumans are possible?  To keep the idea, and the means, out of the hands of the bad guys?”

“Among a litany of other reasons, yeah.  You disapprove?”

Bucky thinks about that.  “Be hard to argue, given the number of superhumans in my own universe.  Because you’re right.  They do cause trouble.  But then, we don’t have the kind of terrorism problem you have.”

“Yeah, because your Stark found Jesus and became a pacifist or some shit, right?”

“Something like that.  He’s not a pacifist, exactly.  Just doesn’t make weapons anymore after he was abducted.  By the Ten Rings, as a matter of fact.”

“Yeah, you said.  You’re not gonna suggest that to me, are you?”

“Would you listen?”

“No.”

“Then I’m not gonna suggest it.”

Tony smirks.  After that, an awkward silence falls.

“So, um…  I’ll go.  Thanks for answering my questions.  Let me know what else you need.  I really…” Bucky frowns as he searches for what he wants to say.  “In my universe, Project Rebirth, that was just Steve.  Me, I got my ass captured and experimented on.  I was a very bad person for a very long time.”

“The way Marya tells it, you did very bad things for a very long time, but you weren’t really a person at all.”

“Yeah, well, Marya, she’s…  She deals with all of that better than I do.  The point is, I had a chance to use all the shit they did to me, what they made me, on the right side for once.  And it felt good.”

“Uh-huh,” Tony responds warily, holding very still and suddenly watching Bucky like he’s an oncoming truck that may or may not be going to stop.  

“Look, I wouldn’t trust me, either.  Honestly, if I were you, I’d be voting to put me down. But I’m here, and I am what I am, so I’m hoping you’ll figure out a way to trust me, like you did Marya.  Because I wanna keep fighting for the good guys. I wanna help your team.”

“Shit, you don’t ask for much, do you?”

Bucky just looks at him, conviction and naked craving in his face.  For a long time, Tony doesn’t respond.  When he does, Bucky’s stunned by the change in his demeanor.  He’s never seen the Tony Stark from his universe look so… weighed down.  Tony is always overconfident, always on top of every situation, even when he’s not. But in this moment, the Tony Stark he’s looking at seems almost lost.

“Do you know why I trusted Marya?  It wasn’t because she sought me out.  It wasn’t because she had the switch.  It wasn’t me, at all.  It was Rogers.  He basically just announced that she was legit and we were bringing her on board. Just like that.  I mean, we tested her like we did you, and I studied that switch like my life depended on it because, I mean, let’s face it.  All of ours did.  But in the end, it was Cap’s decision.  And I could live with that.”

Tony sits, an elbow resting on the workbench, his mind a million miles away as he worries his chin with his fingers.  Bucky waits, fascinated.  He’s desperate for Tony to trust him, but he now understands that Tony’s never been simply cautious about Bucky.  Tony’s panic-stricken.

“I didn’t ask for this gig, you know,” Tony goes on.  His eyes have narrowed with concern, and they’re not focused on anything.  He sounds pensive, melancholy.  “I didn’t want it.  I thought I did, at first, when the idea for the Avengers Initiative first came up. But then Rogers came along and bulldozed right over me with that all-American earnestness and all his jumping out of planes without a ‘chute shit.  Man, I fuckin’ hated him!  For all those years, we fought like horny badgers.  I must’ve told him he was wrong and full of shit a million times.  I resented the living shit out of him taking over my team.  And now he’s gone, and you know what?  The shit hits the fan and everyone looks to me, and I still find myself looking behind me.  And there’s no one.  And it scares me more than any monsters or aliens or whatever the fuck else you got in your universe.  Because as much as I hated Steve Rogers sometimes, I’ll hate myself more if I fuck up the thing he gave his life for.”

Tony turns his eyes on Bucky.  “So don’t push me, Barnes.  Push me and I’ll waste you just so I don’t have to take the chance.”

Bucky nods in acknowledgment.  Maybe he doesn’t know this Tony Stark, but he knows Tony Stark.  Which means he’s entirely aware that Stark had no intention of saying any of that, certainly not to Bucky.  What Bucky’s just heard is the human equivalent of the relief valve on one of those huge, old boilers that used to explode with sickening regularity back when every apartment building used steam heat.  Bucky says nothing, because there’s nothing he can say.  Besides which, he knows Tony well enough to know he’ll lash out if Bucky tries to offer any kind of support or understanding.  He’ll also deny having said any of it if Bucky ever tries to bring it up again.  

Hands in pockets, Bucky makes his way past shelves, workbenches, and robots toward the door.

“One more thing.”

Bucky turns around.  

“I promised Marya that if you turned out to be a fake, she’d get to be the one to kill you.  Don’t for one minute think I won’t give that order if I have to.  Trusting you is hard.  Not trusting you?  That’s easy.”      

Bucky nods again.

*****

Late that evening, Marya’s in the common room when Bucky wanders in.  He’s not there for any particular purpose other than that he’s bored in his apartment and is just looking to see who’s around.  She’s sitting in a deep chair, legs stretched out on an ottoman, a computer tablet in her lap.  She looks up as he comes into the room.

“Hello, Bucky.”

“Whatcha doin’?”

She glances quickly down at her tablet.  “I’m learning about Spain,” she says, a little wistfully.

“Huh.  Do you want me to show you where the compound is?  Or… where it would be?”

Marya thinks about that.  After a moment, she says, “I don’t know.”

Bucky tilts his head and knits his eyebrows as he sits down on the ottoman by her feet.  

“I thought about asking you to help me find the place on Google Earth, but I don’t know if that would make me feel lonely, when I look and it is just an empty piece of land.”

“I get that it would make you miss them.  But why lonely?  You’re not alone, you know.”

“Not exactly, but...  They have each other.  And here, I’m the only one-“

Bucky waits for her to continue, but she doesn’t.  

“The only one what?”

“I was going to say that I’m the only one who is like me.  Who was Hydra’s property, and did all of the evil things they trained me to do.”  She looks up at him with a quirk of her mouth. “But I can’t really say that to you, can I?”

“Not exactly, no.  Is it bothering you tonight?”

She hesitates, then looks up.  “Sometimes I remember things.  Today I saw a woman who reminded me of… something.”

Bucky puts his hand on her foot, trying to be supportive without crowding her.  He tries to be gentle as he asks softly, “Wanna tell me?”

“Do you really want to hear what I did to that woman?  Because they wanted proof that she was dead.  So I…  I brought them proof.”  

Bucky just nods sympathetically and squeezes Marya’s foot.  They stay like that for a minute without talking.

“I’m sorry, Bucky,” she finally says quietly. “For last night.”

“You don’t owe me an apology.  I owe you one.”  

“I’m the one who-“

“Look, let’s just not worry about it, OK?  It’s not like there’s etiquette for this kind of thing.”

“I know, but I’m embarrassed.”

“Hey.”

She looks up into his eyes.  

“This whole thing is so jacked up…  I pushed too hard and you said no.  We’re OK.”

“Thank you.”

Bucky stands.  “I’m gonna go back to my rooms.  Let you go back to Spain.”  He grins and taps the screen of her tablet.

“Good night,” She says, looking at him a bit oddly.

“’Night.”

 Bucky’s opening his door when he senses her behind him. He hadn’t realized she’d followed him from the common room.  If he’s as silent as she is – and he realizes he almost certainly is - he now understands why people so often startle to find him near them.  

“Hey.  You ok?”

She frowns, searching for words.  “I think there are women who pretend to feel what they do not, right?  I don’t know what they’re called.”

“Nothing nice,” he says, letting the door swing open. “But I know what you mean.”

“I am not those women, Serg-  Bucky.  I don’t want to do that to you.  But I come to see you, even when I’m not supposed to.  And then I tell you that I don’t believe you.  That I don’t think you could be my Sergeant.  I am very unfair to you.”

He sighs.  “Come in for a minute.  Let’s talk about this.”

He doesn’t say anything else until they’re seated on his couch, in the same spots as the night before.  Their legs are touching, but barely.  

“Tell me why you come to see me.  Do you know?”

“Yes,” she says softly, looking down.  “It’s…  Captain Barnes is not my Sergeant.  I know that he is not.  But you…  You say that you are, and maybe, somehow, you could be.  Even Mr. Stark can’t say that you are not.  And that possibility, that tiny chance, is the closest I’ve been to my Sergeant in all these years.”

“That’s what I thought.  And the thing is, Marya, I get that.  I understand that’s how you feel.  So, yeah, you’re right.  I probably would tell you to take a hike if you were just some girl giving me mixed signals.  But you got a right to be confused.  Besides, it’s you.  It’s hard sometimes, I won’t lie, but I still want to spend time with you, because at least we’re together.”

Suddenly, Bucky is rewarded for all his patience.  All the time he’s been in Marya’s universe, he’s been aching to experience some things with her again, and what she does next is number two – maybe three, but definitely top five – on the list.  She looks at him, brow furrowed, head just a bit tilted and a slight pout to her lips.  “Why should another girl…  I don’t understand.  Why would you tell her to go hiking?”

Bucky bursts into laughter.  There is no way to stop it, nor can he keep himself from throwing his arms around her.  She hugs him back, and laughs a little, too, but it’s the nervous laughter of someone who doesn’t get the joke.  

This.  This, to Bucky, is the essence of who Marya is.  She’s an assassin, plain and simple.  She has every bit as much training and experience, just as much blood on her hands, as he has. She’s also entirely wanton and shameless in bed.  At the very same time, she is this adorably naïve, this sweet, this tender. She’s a woman who has done things monstrous enough that she feels alone even among people with the kind of histories the Avengers have, and yet she’s embarrassed because of their almost-kiss.  

“Oh, Marya, I’ve missed you!”  He whispers fiercely, crushing her to him, forgetting to be concerned about the fact that she probably can’t breathe with her face smashed against him like that.  “I love you so much…”

Marya stops laughing and goes rigid.  She doesn’t move, or speak, and he doesn’t even think she breathes.  Shit. He’s done it again.

Bucky lets her go immediately and moves away, so they’re no longer touching.  “What is it? Was that not… I’m sorry-“

“No, it’s not the hug.  It’s…”  She looks almost frightened, but not quite.  Her whole body is tense, and there’s a wildness in her eyes that he can see she’s fighting. “Captain Barnes. He doesn’t smell right.”

It takes Bucky a second to put that together with whatever’s happening at the moment.  When he does, he lifts his chin a little and tilts his head, giving just the slightest nod of invitation.

Marya hesitates for a long time, her emotions showing clearly on her face, like they always have. She’s hopeful.  And she’s afraid of that hope.  But she’s also Marya, which means she leans in anyway, close enough that her hair tickles the side of his face as he hears her inhale softly.

Bucky is surprised by the near-sob that escapes her.  She falls against him, pressing her face into his neck and grasping for him with her hand, clutching at his shirt as she fills her lungs with the smell of him.  He’s a little relieved, actually.  It’s been years.  A lot has happened.  But, apparently, he still smells like she remembers, because she’s got her whole face pressed into his neck now, inhaling him so hungrily that he’s just waiting for her to take an actual bite.  Which he’d be fine with, really, because between the way she feels against him and her desperate whimpering, he’s suddenly ready to do some biting, himself.

It’s a long time before she sits back up and he can see her face.  He lifts his hand and uses the backs of his fingers to wipe the tears on her cheeks.

“I told you,” he murmurs, leaving his curled fingers under her chin and smiling softly into her eyes.  The pain that crosses her face hurts him, too.

“It doesn’t mean you’re him,” she whispers, but she’s not moving away.  In fact, she’s reaching up to touch his face, teasing the tips of her fingers through his beard.  

“Doesn’t mean I’m not,” he murmurs with the slightest teasing grin.

He waits.  She’s leaning against him, with his metal arm around her, hand spread across her lower back, and her left hand bracing herself on his thigh, using her right hand to touch his face while she’s breathing him in.  She dips her head again, scooting her body closer to him while she presses her face back into his neck just under his jaw.  

Only this time, after rubbing her face against his neck for a while, she starts kissing him there, tiny pecks so light he can barely be sure he feels them, while her hand moves up his chest and into his hair.  She gets bolder as she kisses up to his jaw, sliding her lips along his jawline, taking her time, until he feels a gentle tug at his hair to turn his face toward hers. He follows, and their lips meet.  

Bucky feels almost paralyzed, even as every skyrocket he ever saw on Independence Day goes off inside him.  He’s letting her kiss him, for now, softly and timidly, except that it’s not long before her breath’s coming harder and she’s using that hand in his hair to press his lips harder against hers.  

He starts to kiss her back, his lips working with hers to see how many ways they can fit together, and that little moan she makes goes straight to his cock, which is why it’s not his fault he tightens his arm around her back and slides the other hand to her waist.  Their kisses are deeper now, lips parted and it’s all Bucky can do not to lick into her mouth, but he needs to go slow, needs to be sure…  He feels her pressing against him, lifting up just a bit for a little more leverage so he’ll get the idea and lie back, pulling her on top of him.  

But he doesn’t.  

Instead, he takes his arms from around her and puts a hand on each of her upper arms, pressing gently to separate them.  When he can see her face, she’s flushed and almost panting, her pupils so dilated her eyes look almost black.  She’s trying to move back in, encouraging him to continue kissing her.

“Marya, wait.”

She has to take a couple breaths before she can say, “No.  Kiss me.”

“I need you to tell me that you know it’s me.”

“I don’t care right now.  I want you.”

“Listen to me,” he says, and waits with his hands on her arms until she stops trying to kiss him and opens her eyes fully.

“I need you to be sure.”

“I’m sure.  I want you.”

He chuckles a bit at that.  “I mean, I need you to be sure who you’re kissing.”

Her eyes narrow in a flash of hormone-fueled frustration.  “I am kissing you.”

“Marya.  You know what I mean.”

“But I…  Don’t you want me?”

Really?  Bucky takes Marya’s hand from his hair and places it on his crotch, just long enough to ensure she can feel just how much he wants her, then lifts it to his lips. “Yes, sweetheart, I want you.  But this is too important.  I know how you feel about your Sergeant.  And until you know it’s me, or I’m him, or…  I’m me, then I think we gotta wait.”

He collapses against the back of the couch, half-crazy with desire and feeling like there’s some heretofore unsuspected dry, cruel, puritanical part of himself calling the shots right now.  Lifting his hands up, he mutters to the ceiling, “I so better get a few years off my time in hell for this!”

“Bucky, I…”  She shakes her head a little, trying to clear it, and yeah.  He feels the same way.  

“You’re not sure yet,” he says, smoothing a hand over that hair that he loves so much.

“I don’t know,” she whispers.  “I think I know that you are him, and my body tells me that you are him, but…”

She pushes off the couch to begin pacing in front of it.  As she speaks, with each sentence she talks more loudly and quickly, and the frustration she’s venting isn’t just sexual.  It’s the whole situation.  “None of this makes any sense!  It’s all so complicated and it gets all twisted around and I can’t be objective about any of it!  They were right to make me stay out of it.  They were right to keep me away from you.  Because you look like him, and you sound like him.  Now I know you smell like him and you even fucking kiss like him, and I want you to be him so much I could tear this place apart with my bare hands and defy all of them to keep you with me.  But I can’t know, and if I’m wrong, and you hurt people because I give in to what I want to be true…”

“OK,” Bucky says, standing, too, and moving slowly toward her.  “OK. I know.  And you’re right.”

When he’s standing in front of her, he says quietly, “So let’s just be patient a little longer.”

Her eyes narrow, and suddenly she finds an acceptable target for her annoyance.  “Let me tell you something.  If you are my Sergeant, I am going to be very, very angry with Captain Rogers.”

Bucky huffs a humorless laugh.  “You’ll be welcome in that club,” he mutters.  “Still. He did what he had to do.  He needed to go home.  And where we came from, we couldn’t have been together.”

“Bullshit! Then it wasn’t an option!  And ‘home’ was Bucky!  It was always Bucky!  That’s what he said!” Marya hisses, suddenly gloriously angry on his behalf.  “Don’t defend his actions.  Don’t you dare!  No matter who you are, don’t try to tell me that there is any universe where it is acceptable for Steve Rogers to leave Bucky Barnes like that.  So he was homesick?  Exhausted?  Who isn’t?  The Captain Rogers I knew loved his Bucky, and he was well aware of how much his Bucky loved him.  He swore to me that he would never leave him.  He said he couldn’t.  So if your Captain Rogers was my Captain Rogers, then he is…”

She shakes her fists and shuffles her feet, too pissed off now to think of words bad enough.  When she does, they’re really vile.  They’re also in Norwegian, which has always been her go-to when she needs to curse especially vehemently.  Bucky feels another surge of love for her and can’t help the small smile that turns his lips up at the corners.  

“He did apologize.”

When she vents her rage at that, the dent Marya makes in the wall has actual marks of the individual knuckles in her fist.  It also breaks at least two of her fingers.  There’s a lot of blood.

They’re both a little shocked at what she’s done but, in a way he couldn’t possibly explain, Bucky feels her uncontrolled rage like a narcotic.  Suddenly, his pain over what Steve did is bearable, if only just, and he feels a glow he hasn’t felt since before Steve told him he wouldn’t be coming back, all because Marya is this angry at what Steve did to him.  She loves him, still.  And she still pours her love over him like an inexhaustible tide, warm and sure and inevitable.

Bucky no longer has any doubt that he was right to come here.  Already, Marya is soothing the wounds he’s suffered at Steve’s hands just the way she healed those Hydra inflicted.  She doesn’t have to try, or even believe that he is who he says he is.  All she has to do is be Marya.  

She lets him lead her to the sink in the little kitchen area and put her hand under running water.  He goes to the freezer and pulls out a cold pack he’d noticed there, returning to her side to dry her hand carefully with a clean towel.  Once that’s done, he rests her hand on one of his, and holds the cold pack to her rapidly-swelling fingers with the other while he leads her to sit back down next to him on the couch.

There are tears in her eyes when she looks up at him.  That doesn’t surprise him; she’s furious and she’s just broken some of her fingers.  But there’s also a trust in her eyes he hasn’t seen since their last night together in their own universe.  

“Let me stay with you tonight,” she whispers.

“Not until-“

“No, I know.  I’m not asking to have sex.  Let me sleep here, with you.  You know it’s different for me; sleeping together is… warmth, and caring, and safety.  I haven’t given you any of that since you’ve been here.”

“That’s not true.  But I would love for you to sleep with me.”  They smile at one another while she wipes her tears.  “On one condition.”

“I know what you are going to say.”

“It’s not negotiable.  If you try anything, I’ll make you sleep in your own bed.  Will you behave?”

“Yes,” Marya answers, her mouth halfway between a pout and a smirk.  “But I will not want to.”

It’s hard for Bucky to just enjoy her presence and her warmth, keeping his desire for Marya clamped down tight.  Especially when they’re lying in each other’s arms, with her head tucked under his chin and her breath soft against his neck where she can surround herself with his scent.  He almost tells her she has to leave if she can’t stop it with those small, happy, sighs that keep bringing tears to his eyes, but he can’t make himself do it.  He knows that, if she left his bed now, he’d last about three minutes before he’d be knocking on her door, begging her to let him into her bed.

They actually fall asleep, even if it takes a long time for both of them.  But it’s only a few hours before they’re awakened by the shriek of the Assemble Alarm.

[stahlop]

Once Upon a Time 2x03 “Lady of the Lake”

Reviews 1x01 1x02 1x03 1x04 1x05 1x06 1x07 1x08 1x09 1x10 1x11 1x12 1x13 1x14 1x15 1x16 1x17 1x18 1x19 1x20 1x21 1x22 2x01 2x02

So we officially have three different storylines going now. Past EF, current EF, and Storybrooke. Thank goodness the characters can only be in two at once. We are introduced to Lancelot, who unfortunately is Cora in disguise. And we get to see the utter heartbreak of Mary Margaret seeing the life she never got to have with her daughter. But we also get to see Emma completely out of her element and try killing an Ogre with a gun (ha). This episode has so much to unpack so this is a really long review.

Summary: In the past, Snow and Charming have a wedding ceremony for Ruth before she dies. In the EF the Princess Squad goes to Snow’s castle to see if they can use the wardrobe as a portal to get back to Storybrooke. In Storybrooke, Henry really wants to help David work out how to get Emma and Mary Margaret back home and also helps Jefferson reunite with his daughter.

Opening: Lancelot in armor.

New Characters:

Lancelot: I’m only going to talk mainly about past Lancelot, since current Lancelot was really Cora masquerading as him. We first hear about Lancelot as the new general that George has hired. He’s nicknamed Leviathan because he ‘attacks like a monster striking from the depths of the sea;  you never see him coming and you never survive.’ Okay, a leviathan is usually a sea creature, but how that applies to Lancelot is beyond me. Is he attacking from water? This is Lancelot’s path to redemption, both from being ousted from the Round Table over a woman, and  accidentally letting George ‘curse’ Snow with infertility. He switches sides to let Snow know that George has sent men to kill Charming’s mother. Unfortunately, they arrive too late as she’s already been struck by a poisonous arrow. Charming remembers the healing properties of Lake Nostos so they journey there. The lake is dried up, but Lancelot, who was raised by the water, says you just need to know where to look to find water. He manages to find the one shell in the entire lake and it just happens to have some water in it. Just enough for a sip. Lancelot puts it in Charming’s flask. After Ruth drinks the water and it doesn’t work, she hands the flask back to Lancelot and gives him a look. You have to look closely to see it, but this is when you know that she’s signaling for Lancelot to get that water to Snow somehow. Snow and Charming decide to hold an impromptu wedding before Ruth dies and Lancelot performs the ceremony. He not only pours the water from the flask into a cup for them drink from, but even manages to slip in a little bit about the Holy Grail and it giving eternal life. He hopes the love between them will always be strong, true, and eternal. They bury Ruth at the cottage and Snow discovers she will have a child. She figures out Lancelot knew that Ruth didn’t drink it and had him put it in the wedding cup for her to drink. Lancelot plays it off as if he has no idea what Snow is talking about. His redemption has been fulfilled. 

We are introduced to Lancelot as the leader of the Safe Haven in the present EF, but we find out that Cora killed him years ago and has been pretending to be him. So, presumably, no one in the Safe Haven ever met the real Lancelot.

Character Observations:

Snow/Mary Margaret: We have a great juxtaposition in this episode of Snow’s desire to be a mother and seeing it snatched away, with Mary Margaret figuring out how to be a mother to a grown daughter since being her mother as a child was snatched away. It seems as though we might finally get to see some of battle Snow again, as she and Charming are planning on taking back the castle from King George (can you technically take a castle back from someone that is the ruler? Isn’t what they’re doing is staging a coup?), but instead we get resigned Snow for most of the episode. Red warns them about the new general and Snow wonders just how close George’s army is, which is when an arrow shoots their tent right onto their battle plans. Charming makes the decision to have him and Snow split up, which means she gets captured by Lancelot pretty much right away. She is brought to George and she immediately tells him she won’t give up Charming to him. But George is calm and just asks Lancelot to give her some water. George goes on and on about his losses. Losing James, losing his wife, and knowing his wife had been cursed to never bear children. And now Snow will suffer the same fate with Charming. Snow realizes the water’s been poisoned, or ‘cursed’ as George puts it. Now she’ll never be able to have a family with Charming. The guards throw Snow back into the forest where Lancelot comes looking for her. Snow takes this opportunity to knock him off his horse and almost bashes his face in, until Lancelot tells her that George has sent guards to the cottage to kill Charming’s mother. By the time they get there, Ruth has already been hit by a poisoned arrow. On the way to Lake Nostos Snow is taking care of Ruth. She’s thanking Snow for giving Charming something to believe in and says that Charming has always dreamed of having a family, which upsets Snow. And, of course, Ruth has some pendant that’s supposed to tell you the gender of your first born even before you’ve conceived and wants to see what Snow and Charming will have. Snow tries to dissuade her and Ruth realizes why when she finally gives in and the pendant doesn’t swing. Snow is close to tears now. She relates to Ruth what King George did to her. Ruth says that if the waters from Lake Nostos can heal her, it should break the curse on her as well. But unfortunately, as we learn, Lake Nostos has dried up. Charming manages to find a tiny sip of water in a shell. Ruth wants Snow to drink it but Snow doesn’t want her to die. Ruth tells her that parents always put their children first and that she’ll understand someday, but Snow won’t let her. She was raised without a mother, she wouldn’t know how to be one anyway. And that’s so heartbreaking and total BS. That’s even more reason why Snow should want a chance to be a mother. Ruth ends up ‘drinking’ the water to appease Charming. Ruth tells Snow to have faith, they’ll find another way. Ruth is still dying though, and she wishes she could live to see Charming and Snow marry. Snow decides they’ll have an impromptu wedding with Lancelot as officiant. Ruth dies and they bury her by the cottage. Snow is so sorry that Charming lost his last bit of family, but he says he has her, which brings the guilt back up. She tries to tell him about the curse when he brings out that darn pendant again, but then it starts to swing, and Snow is ecstatic that they will have a child someday. So yeah, all that BS you were giving Ruth before Snow was just to hide your own hurt. Of course you wanted a child someday, you just never thought you could have it. Now you’re so close to being with your true love and having a kingdom again after being on the run for so long. Lancelot asks what the pendant predicted the child will be and Snow tells him it will be a girl.

Mary Margaret: She is more Snow than meek Mary Margaret now. She is taking charge of things and she’s getting to play mom to Emma, even if Emma doesn’t appreciate it yet. Mary Margaret is still out at the start of the episode, but the minute she wakes up she is on the defensive when she sees Cora. She tells Emma that Regina is bad but Cora is much worse. I love how she immediately goes all mama bear and puts herself between Cora and Emma to protect he from Cora. Because that’s what parents do. Emma wants to hear her out and lets slip about Henry and who he is to Regina. Mary Margaret tells her to stop talking to her, but before anyone can say anything else, a rope is dropped in and they’re told their leader wants to speak to them. Mary Margaret is mad that Emma isn’t listening to her and Emma thinks Mary Margaret doesn’t trust her. Mary Margaret reminds her that this is her land and she knows its dangers. Emma takes this to mean that Mary Margaret thinks she’s helpless in the EF and that’s why she came after her in the portal. Mary Margaret is a little sad that Emma thinks that. No, she just wanted to be with her. Snow is ecstatic to find Lancelot running the Safe Haven. They eat and Mary Margaret questions him about how they are there as the land was supposed to be torn apart. Lancelot doesn’t know, just that an area of land was untouched by the curse. Snow wants to know if Lancelot can help them find a portal so they can get back to SB. Lancelot doesn’t want them to leave citing that it’s unsafe and the Ogres have returned. Emma confuses Ogres with Giants and Mary Margaret is a tad bit condescending when correcting Emma, but then tells Lancelot she may know where a portal is. Mary Margaret doesn’t want to say where though because Cora is near. Lancelot says the curse stripped her of her powers and because of her reputation, she’s been locked up. Lancelot will only let them go find the portal if they take Mulan with them. Emma gets defensive about it but Mary Margaret takes the deal. Mary Margaret takes a bow and arrows when they’re grabbing weapons for the journey. Mulan is telling them to follow her lead and tread carefully when Emma reveals that she killed a dragon last week. Mary Margaret look slightly stunned at this. Part of her mama bear instincts telling her she should have been there to help her. Mulan makes some over the top statement about the Ogres and you can just see Mary Margaret rolling her eyes in the background, it’s hilarious. Mary Margaret lets Emma know she won’t let anything happen to them. Emma wants to know what the plan is and Mary Margaret reveals they’re going to see if the wardrobe still works. She tries to sound cheerful as she tells Emma they’re going home, but you can also hear the pain in her voice and that she’s slightly scared to see what’s become of her castle. They get to a clearing and decide to camp for the night. Emma questions them starting a fire if Ogres are around but Mary Margaret tells her that Ogres are blind. She tells Emma, in her best teacher trying to avoid conflict voice, that Emma should guard the campsite. Mary Margaret is gathering firewood when Aurora comes up behind her and holds a knife to her throat. She takes back control of the situation pretty easily because Aurora knows nothing about battle. Mary Margaret tells her she is not responsible for Phillip’s death, she’s trying to get back to her own love, and to channel her anger somewhere else. Mulan pulls Mary Margaret off of Aurora and says she’ll deal with her and then Emma comes in, sees the struggle and shoots her gun, alerting an Ogre. Emma doesn’t deal with the Ogre very well, but Mary Margaret shots it in the eye with an arrow (the only way to kill it apparently), and she is stone cold when doing it. Fierce warrior mama for the win! Emma is impressed since Mary Margaret hasn’t shot an arrow in 28 years. Mary Margaret is happy that she’s impressed, but at the same time, reminds Emma to listen to her. They get to the castle and into the nursery where the wardrobe is. Mary Margaret is close to tears (me too) as she sees everything she missed out on with Emma. All the hopes and dreams Regina destroyed with the curse. She says they never got to be a family (and she’s clutching a teddy bear the whole time). Emma says their family is in Storybrooke. Mary Margaret wants to bring the wardrobe back to the Safe Haven, and luckily, Lancelot shows up right then. He claims he heard about the Ogre attack and came to check on them. He’s very impressed by the portal and Mary Margaret is getting suspicious. He says he just wants to help them get home to her husband and Henry. Mary Margaret immediately draws her sword, freaking out Emma. Mary Margaret says Lancelot isn’t who he says he is. She only told one person her son’s name. Emma correctly guesses this is Cora. She transforms into her real self and tells them she killed Lancelot a long time ago. Cora uses her magic to trap Mary Margaret against the wall and thrown Emma down. Mary Margaret is frightened, she probably thinks this is it, and she just got her family back. While Cora monologues about wanting to see her daughter and grandson, Emma manages to start a fire in the wardrobe. Cora draws it out and goes to throw the fireball at Emma, but Mulan lobs it back into the wardrobe with her sword. Cora poufs away and Mary Margaret is free, but the wardrobe is burning. Mulan is berating herself for not knowing Lancelot was Cora in disguise (how would she know, she’s apparently never met the real Lancelot) and wants to know what they’ll tell their people. Mary Margaret says the truth, that he was killed by a villain and he died an honorable death. She’s so mad that she even has to tell Mulan to say that. Mulan wants Mary Margaret to lead the kingdom in Lancelot’s death. Mary Margaret is honored, almost speechless, but she needs to get back home. Mulan says she and Aurora will help them. Emma apologizes for torching the wardrobe, but Mary Margaret says she did what she had to for Henry. She understands that sacrifice. Emma starts talking about how she grew up with nothing and Mary Margaret goes on the defensive, until Emma says she now understands that she gave up everything for her. Mary Margaret smiles, because she’s been trying to get Emma to understand this, and seeing how much they wanted her has finally opened Emma’s eyes to that. Emma cries that she’s not used to someone putting her first, and you can see how hurt Mary Margaret is about this statement. She hugs Emma and tells her resolutely (but also with tears in her eyes) that she needs to get used to it. Mama Bear will always be there for Emma. They go to leave and Mary Margaret turns back to get her bow and arrows and sees the nursery how it was before the curse, complete with the sounds of a happy baby. And that’s when she finally breaks down having been so strong for Emma throughout this whole journey. And I’m about to cry just writing this. 

Emma: She has lived her life always feeling out of place, so I can imagine, having finally fit into somewhere (Storybrooke), and then your whole world turning upside down (curse breaking) and then finding yourself in an entirely new world would put you on the defensive like Emma is throughout most of this episode. Emma is talking with Cora, who does admit to being Regina’s mother, but says the apple fell very far from the tree. Mary Margaret wakes up and tells Emma that Cora is much worse than Regina ever was. Emma wants to hear her out and talks about Henry and his connection to Regina, and Mary Margaret is getting angrier at Emma for not listening. Luckily, a rope comes down to break the tension. Mary Margaret is sternly telling Emma to listen to her and Emma is being stubborn as a donkey by saying that Mary Margaret doesn’t trust her. She thinks Mary Margaret thinks she’s helpless and that’s why she came in to the portal after her. Mary Margaret is a little offended, but lets her know she wanted to be with her. Emma gives a cute little half smile because someone wants to be with her. Emma and Mary Margaret are eating with Lancelot and Emma doesn’t say much in this scene, but her facial expressions are hilarious as she tastes things. She thinks whatever she’s drinking is okay. When the subject of Ogres is brought up, Emma confuses them with Giants. To be fair, who knew she’d need to know the difference? Mary Margaret brings up that she may know where a portal is and Emma is genuinely shocked at this. Lancelot negotiates them bring Mulan along with them. Emma thinks they can take care of themselves, but Mary Margaret brings her royal negotiating skills to the table and agrees. It’s weapon time, and Emma does pick up a knife that she puts in her boot, she also wants her gun back. Mulan asks if it’s magical; Emma says it depends on who’s pulling the trigger. Mulan tells them to follow her lead, but Emma thinks she knows everything because she killed a dragon last week. Yes, you shot your gun at it, which did nothing, and threw your sword at it as a last resort. Hmmm, I wonder what will happen if our women come across an Ogre. Mulan tries to intimidate Emma, but Mary Margaret tells her not to worry, she won’t let anything happen to her. They just need to stick to the plan. Emma gets exasperated because Mary Margaret hasn’t told her anything yet. Mary Margaret tells her they’re going after the wardrobe and Emma sounds so cute when she says ‘the wardrobe that sent little baby me to Maine.’ Mary Margaret informs her that it’s at the castle and is Emma ready to see where she’s from. Emma just looks like she is taking so much more than she can handle. Emma continues showing how out of her element she is when she questions starting a fire with Ogres around. Mary Margaret informs her they’re blind and hunt by sound. Mulan seems to think she’s pretty inept. Mary Margaret basically tells her to guard the campsite. I truly do feel bad for Emma at this point. She’s been on her own and figuring things out on her own for so long, and now she’s been thrust into a completely bizarro world where her friend is now her mom and she’s surrounded by Disney and Arthurian characters, and who wouldn’t feel out of their element with all that. Aurora comes after Mary Margaret and they, plus Mulan get into a bit of a whisper fight, that is until Emma comes barging in and shoots off her gun to break up the argument. She’s trying to protect Mary Margaret, but all she’s done is bring an Ogre and Mary Margaret is pretty pissed off that Emma didn’t listen again (welcome to motherhood). Mary Margaret and Emma go off in one direction and Mulan and Aurora go off in the other. Emma immediately trips over a tree root, once again showing her ineptitude, and then the Ogre comes out from the trees. Emma tries to shoot it (again? Guns don’t work against fairy tale creatures!), but the Ogre just knocks it out of her hand. Emma isn’t sure what to do at this point and just lets the creature roar in her face. But then Mary Margaret calls out for it and shoots it in the eye with an arrow (how they’re killed). Emma is in shock. She wants to know how Mary Margaret knew she could kill the Ogre considering she hasn’t shot an arrow for 28 years. Mary Margaret says she didn’t. Then she nicely tells Emma to listen to her from now on, guns won’t work here. Emma is finally getting that she really doesn’t know how this place works. Emma is impressed that Mary Margaret can take care of herself, something she didn’t do very well in Storybrooke. Emma’s finally beginning to understand that. Aurora is complaining about everything, but mainly about being cold so Emma gives her her jacket to wear. Aurora wonders why since she just tried to kill her friend. Emma says Mary Margaret is her mom, which, wow! That’s a big step for Emma; to actually acknowledge her as her mom!  She also admits to screwing up a lot lately. Emma is finally making some progress! And she let’s Aurora know that Mary Margaret can take care of herself. They come to the castle and see it pretty much in ruins. And now the nursery scene. Emma announces that she recognizes it from Henry’s book, while Mary Margaret is remembering it from before the curse. Mary Margaret talks about all the things she didn’t get to do with Emma, and it’s making Emma uncomfortable, too emotional for her. When Mary Margaret says they never got to be a family, Emma reminds her that they do have a family waiting for them in Storybrooke. It’s almost like she’s dismissing Mary Margaret’s feelings, but she’s just not used to this kind of emotion. She wants to figure out how to get the wardrobe to work. Mary Margaret wants to get it back to the Safe Haven and hopefully they can find someone with enough magic to help activate it again. Emma’s skeptical because how are they going to get it there? Lancelot arrives at that moment, citing the Ogre attack as to why he came. He and Mary Margaret talk about the wardrobe and how to reactivate it and then he mentions getting them home to their family and Henry. Emma smiles sadly at this, until Mary Margaret pulls her sword on Lancelot freaking Emma out. Mary Margaret helps Emma realize it’s Cora and not Lancelot. Emma manages to get knocked down by Cora not once, but twice trying to save Mary Margaret. She finally realizes what she can use her gun for. She opens up the bullet casing and creates a spark and sets the wardrobe on fire! Good job, Emma! Cora uses magic to take the fire out and tries to throw it at Emma, but Mulan whacks the fireball back into the wardrobe with her sword. Cora poufs away. Emma seems to be confused about where Cora went. She apologizes for burning up the wardrobe but she couldn’t let Cora get to Henry. She had to put Henry first. Mary Margaret understands completely, and so does Emma. She’s finally realizing what it means to be a parent, and what that meant for Mary Margaret and David to do what they did. They didn’t want to give her up. They had plans for her, but they had to put her needs first and Mary Margaret is still putting her needs first and Emma doesn’t know how to deal with that because no one has ever put her needs first. They hug for the first time acknowledging they’re mother and daughter (because Emma still couldn’t wrap her head around it the first time after the curse broke). She’s smiling and yay for mother/daughter bonding, even if it was by torching their only way home. And then Emma gives a little giggle, like she’s so happy her mom was there to help her in a tough situation, and she walks off to go find Mulan and Aurora.

Charming/David: All Charming wanted was to introduce his fiance to his mother and take over George’s castle as his own. Unfortunately, George decides to make good on his threat about killing Charming’s mother if he didn’t marry Abigail (again, didn’t Abigail call off the wedding because they revived Frederick, or is the fact that Charming intervened at all that’s the problem), so by the time Charming gets home, they’re practically already surrounded by George’s guards. And Charming does tell Ruth to get in the cottage and proceeds to take on about five guards all on his own and killing all of them in an over exaggerated fight. In typical overprotective mother fashion, Ruth comes out before the battle is finished and has found herself with a poisoned arrow in her chest. Snow and Lancelot arrive and David is heartbroken about his mother. Charming and Snow brainstorm ideas on how to save Ruth, but Lancelot tells them it has to be something more than fairy dust (how does he know what kind of poison she’s been hit with and how strong the antidote needs to be). Charming remembers Lake Nostos so they decide to make the trip. Considering that most of this episode is Charming trying to save his mother from dying, I really don’t get that emotional charge from him. It’s nice to see him and Snow get married so Ruth can see her son happy before she dies, but there’s still not a lot from the actor in these scenes for me. Even at Ruth’s grave, which should be sad, Snow gives her condolences to Charming about losing the last of his family, and he just says he has Snow and they can start a new family. It’s like he completely forgets about his mother. I know, Ruth just wanted Charming to be happy, but takes some time to grieve Charming.  The best reaction is when Snow tells him they are going to have a child after he uses his mother’s pendant, and he wonders if there’s something she needs to tell him. 

David is doing his best to try and wrangle Henry in from his next Operation (Scorpion or Viper). He lets Henry know that Jefferson can’t help them and they need to find another way to get the hat working. He’s going to need to find magic and he can’t let Henry anywhere near that. He starts to mention about magic always coming with a price, but Henry says it before he can, mentioning that he read the book. I really expected David to say he lived it, but he just says that  he can’t let Henry anywhere near magic. He’s trying to be a good grandparent and sends Henry off to the bus, but doesn’t actually check to make sure he gets on the thing. If I knew my grandson had a penchant for being in places he wasn’t supposed to be, I’d definitely make sure he got on the bus and have the school call me when he gets to class. David ends up saving Henry from the Agrabah Vipers that Regina has in her vault. Regina went to him to find Henry after he stood her up. Henry just wants Emma and Mary Margaret back. He wants to be in the EF learning to horseback ride and sword fight. David understands. He goes to take Henry back to school and says he needs to make sure no one else finds their way into the vault. At the end, we see that while David says he wants Henry to help out, and he has bought two wooden swords to teach him how to sword fight. He’s the grandson of a prince after all.

Cora: We don’t physically see much of Cora, but we see enough. At the beginning she is in the pit with Emma and a knocked out Mary Margaret. She’s playing the victim to Emma, pretending she’s in the pit only because Regina is her daughter. She’s even softened her look, hair half down, holding a shawl like she’s cold. She knows that Emma is from wherever the curse took them. She asks how they got back to the EF. The second Mary Margaret wakes up, though, she warns Emma away from her. Cora continues to plead her case as the poor, abused mother of Regina. Emma doesn’t see anything wrong with hearing her out and mentions Henry. Cora, of course recognizing the name of her husband, is very interested in learning who Henry is. We don’t see Cora again until everyone ends up at the ruins of Snow and Charming’s castle. Mary Margaret and Emma figure out that Lancelot is really Cora and the disguise comes off and so does the ‘poor me’ attitude she’d been sporting previously. Mary Margaret demands to know where the real Lancelot is. Cora says she killed him a long time ago. She’s very callous about it, as if it’s no big deal, just something she had to do to get what she wanted. She’s posed as him ever since because the remaining people wouldn’t listen to her. Cora uses her magic to pin Mary Margaret to the wall and throw Emma aside. She’s been looking for a way to get over for a long time and Mary Margaret lead her right to the wardrobe. She wraps Emma’s legs in the carpet when she tries to get in her way again, causing her to fall over. Mary Margaret wants to know why Cora is doing this, and Cora says she wants to see Regina.  It’s been too long. And she’d love to meet her grandson Henry, which Mary Margaret and Emma balk at. So Emma sets the wardrobe on fire which Cora is not happy about. She directs the flame at Emma, but Mulan comes in at the last second to block it with her sword and knocks it back into the wardrobe. Cora looks at everyone in the room as says she’s not done and poufs out. After everyone leaves the nursery, Cora poufs back and grabs some of the ash from the wardrobe and puts it into a beaker which then starts to glow with magic. Uh oh!

Jefferson/Henry/Regina: Jefferson is basically afraid that his daughter won’t want to be with him now that she remembers because he left her in the EF. We see him looking at the drawing she made because she’s looking for him. Henry comes to see him because he wants to get to Emma and Mary Margaret and Jefferson says that Regina must have something in her vault that can help him. Henry hadn’t realized that the vault was here in Storybrooke. He sees the picture Jefferson was looking at and starts begging him to see his daughter. He thinks Grace will hate him. Look, I get that he’s insecure about this, even though he kidnapped Emma and made deals that backfired with Regina to try and get Grace back, but she made a poster looking for him, so she obviously is looking for him and wants to see him. Henry tells him anything is better than nothing. She’ll spend her whole life wondering why he left her. Not knowing is the worst. Jefferson ponders this. Then Henry calls Regina and asks her out to lunch in the middle of the school day! She’s so excited that Henry’s making an effort so she agrees. Henry has been hiding somewhere in her office (seriously, what is that, a bathroom?) and he sneaks out and steals her keys. Now, if Henry had been smart, he would have gone to lunch with Regina and then gone to the vault and no one would have been any wiser, but I guess it’s good she stood her up, because otherwise he’d be dead in the vault due to the Agrabah Vipers he discovers! Luckily, David saves him from the same death as his Great-Grandfather. Regina was smart enough to know that Henry was scheming and deduced that he’d stolen her keys to get into the vault and let David know. That’s some real growth on her part. Jefferson finally gets over his fear and goes to see Grace when she gets off the bus. She’s so happy he found her. Henry watches from Emma’s bug (does he just hang out in there because he misses Emma, aww.).

I know I didn’t mention George/Spencer, but we got a lot of him with both Lancelot and Snow. And he just glared at David and Henry in Storybrooke, so we can assume that he’s going to do something to retaliate against David.  Aurora wants justice for Phillip, but Mulan tells her there’s a fine line between vengeance and justice and to be careful. Both are on Mary Margaret’s side by the end. Ruth was covered through most of Lancelot, Snow, and Charming’s stories. 

Questions:

I’m really confused about the whole King George thing. Didn’t Snow, Red, the dwarfs, and the fairies take control of George’s castle in 1x21 An Apple Red as Blood when they went to rescue Charming? Didn’t George run off after Regina made the deal with him for Charming? How did he get his castle back?

Was the arrow shot into Snow and Charming’s tent a warning shot? If they could make that shot I’m pretty sure they could have hit any of the people in the tent as well.

Did Cora really expect Mary Margaret to welcome her after everything Regina did?

I know that Regina told Snow about what Cora did to Daniel, but what else does Snow know about her that makes her think she’s worse than Regina?

How was Cora masquerading as Lancelot when a meeting was requested of Snow and Emma? Cora was in the pit with them talking to them. How could she have also been Lancelot? Is she able to astral project in one of these situations?

Does Ruth not know how skilled with a sword Charming is? He knew how to wield a sword before slaying the dragon, so someone had to have taught him. That isn’t something he could just pick up in a day.

How old is Aurora supposed to be? Was she the one cursed to prick her finger on a spindle at 16 or was that her mother? If it was her, than she’s only around 17-years-old, which would account for the way she acts this episode. If she’s older, than I have to assume she’s been really spoiled throughout her life.

So is the infertility potion a curse or is it poison? If it’s a curse shouldn’t true love’s kiss make it go away? Or does George mean it metaphorically?

Lancelot says that only those in their bubble were spared from the curse, but Aurora’s castle seemed to be outside of the bubble since Phillip and Mulan couldn’t look for her until recently. So why wasn’t she part of the curse in Storybrooke?

I get that Ruth was concerned for Charming, but there is a battle going on. Why are you out of the cottage?

Why didn’t Regina wonder why Henry wasn’t in school when he called her for lunch? Or can he, a fourth grader, leave campus for lunch?

How does Aurora manage to sneak up on Mary Margaret? Snow is a trained hunter and tracker. She should have heard her coming a mile away.

Exactly how long were Mary Margaret and Mulan collecting food and water for? When they left the sun was out and not setting. By the time Aurora joins them, it’s practically pitch black.

How does Emma know that Aurora tried to attack Mary Margaret? Did she not stay at the campsite and follow them? They were all pretty quiet through the whole thing.

Henry figures out where the vault is from the book.

Do the Agrabah Vipers not require food or water? Not counting the 28 years, they’ve been in that box for at least 9 months.

Where did Regina get the vipers? They’d been caught when she used them on King Leopold, that’s how they knew to blame Genie.

Why take Henry back to school at this point? It’s after lunch, he probably only has an hour or two left.

Ruth is close to death and they move locations and build an arch for their impromptu wedding instead of just having at Lake Nostos?

Would Snow and Charming’s impromptu wedding be considered legally binding?

How does Cora know that Snow and Lancelot were once friends? The only other person that is alive to tell the tale is Charming. Did she grab Lancelot’s memories from him somehow before she killed him. Has she been posing as him for the past 28 years they were frozen?

Does Mulan actually trust Mary Margaret now? She only trusted her because of Lancelot but he was actually Cora in disguise. Is Mulan only trusting her now because Cora tried to kill her?

Observations:

A Chimera has the head of a lion, a body of a goat, and a serpent (complete with head) as a tail. Although some versions have the head of a goat next to the lion’s head as well.

George makes good on his promise that he’d kill Charming’s mother if he didn’t go through with his marriage to Abigail from 1x07 The Shepherd.

Regina has been asked to leave office and she’s agreed.

The terrain around Lake Nostos is completely different than in 1x13 What Happened to Frederick. The ground was rocky and had lots of stones. This terrain is dusty and sandy. I get the lake dried up, but the terrain around it should have stayed the same.

In many Authurian legends Lancelot was raised by the Lady of the Lake.

Mary Margaret and Emma don’t question how Lancelot knew about the Ogre attack, although, Mary Margaret does start seeming a little suspicious of him right away.

Lancelot mentions the Holy Grail which was one of the main quests Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table went on.

Now we know how Snow knew Emma was going to be a girl before she was born, Ruth’s pendant told her.

At first I thought Charming was confused about Snow saying they were going to have a child because they hadn’t slept together yet, but after further viewings, I think they have had sex and that’s why he asks if there’s something she needs to tell him.

This is not the best episode. It’s not a bad episode. It’s middle of the road for me, but the mother/daughter bonding that’s happening between Mary Margaret and Emma is wonderful character development. Emma is finally seeing the sacrifice her parents made for her and she’s accepting Mary Margaret as her mother. We’ll see how she reacts to David the next time they’re together. Mary Margaret has dealt with her grief and is eager to step into the mother role for Emma. If you think about it, Mary Margaret, as Snow, last saw Emma immediately after she was born. Yes, she got to know her as Mary Margaret, but as Snow, she had just given up Emma to Charming to put into the wardrobe. So to see them moving past the hurt and finally bonding is great for both of them.

Please leave comments and reblog! Let me know if you’d like to be tagged in future reviews.

@searchingwardrobes​​​​ @thisonesatellite​​​​ @justbecauseyoubelievesomething​​​​ @laschatzi​​​​ @profdanglaisstuff​​​​ @mariakov81​

[thisdiscontentedwinter]

Bad Blood - Chapter 29

You can find it on AO3 or read the Tumblr Chapter Index here. 

____________

Stiles hears the explosion—the fire escape—and then it’s silent. He stands with his gaze fixed on the window. He’s in Laura’s room. There’s a white comforter on the bed that looks ghostly in the gloom, and a few knickknacks on her dresser. There’s a stack of books on her bedside table, all of them well-read and dog-eared.

The Hales are readers.

For some reason it had never occurred to Stiles, in all those years, that werewolves had human traits like that. That they liked books, or cooking, or going to the beach, or a million different things that make them no different than anybody else.

It never occurred to him because Kate and Gerard only told him they were monsters. They didn’t tell him they were people too.

Sudden movement: a blacker shape against the darkness outside.

Stiles shoots before the guy even makes it through the window.

The glass shatters and the guy lurches back—and back and back and back. Turns out that Stiles didn’t need to make a kill shot in the dark with no night vision. He just had to hit the guy hard enough to send him over the railing.

Well, it did the trick, he guesses.

From the room next door, Derek’s room, he hears a roar, and then shots. There’s chaos from downstairs now as well, but Stiles can only think of Derek. Can only think of getting to Derek’s side and helping him.

His speed is his mistake. He rushes into the room, firearm held ready to shoot, and Derek and the hunter aren’t in the positions he assumed. Stupid stupid stupid. Derek is standing by the window, and the hunter is closest to the door. Stiles pivots, but he’s off balance, and the shot he squeezes off puts a hole in Derek’s wall and not the hunter. The hunter raises his arm to shoot back.

And then Derek is pulling Stiles back into his arms and spinning on his feet, like some intricate dance move from an old black-and-white film. Derek jerks as the bullet hits him, and Stiles feels all his breath sucked out of him in that instant.

Derek sags into Stiles’s arms, his eyes flashing beta gold.

No. No no no.

From downstairs he hears more shots fired, and the sudden yelp of a wolf.

“Sorry, Der,” Stiles whispers, and lets Derek go.

Derek stumbles to the floor with a pained grunt even as Stiles is raising his arm and firing at the hunter.

And again.

And again.

And again.

The hunter jerks and twists like a puppet before he finally drops to the ground. Stiles moves over to him and kicks his firearm out of reach. He leans down and reaches for his body armor. Tears it open with a loud Velcro rasp. Exposes his chest, and then shoots again.

The hunter lies still.

Stiles replaces his clip.

“Stiles!” Laura skids into the room. “Shit, Derek!”

Derek makes a pained sound, and sucks in a breath. “I’m okay.”

But he’s not, Stiles knows. The poison is in his blood now.

“Wolfsbane bullets,” Stiles says. “We need to remove the bullet and then burn the poison out.”

And then from downstairs Stiles hears the most terrifying sound of all—Allison’s scream.

***

Stiles’s brain works fast.

“Be my hostage,” he tells Laura, and points his firearm at her.

“What’s your plan?” she asks, her worried gaze drawn again to Derek.

“I’m winging it,” Stiles says. “Just go along with it, okay?”

Laura nods.

Stiles tangles his hand in her ponytail, and tugs her head back. He jabs the barrel of his firearm against the back of her neck. “We good?”

“Yeah,” she says, and a part of him can’t believe she’s trusting him. He has an alpha werewolf at the end of his gun, and all because she trusts him. How crazy is that?

They descend the steps carefully, just as the lights flicker on.

There’s blood all over the concrete floor.

There are two dead hunters on the floor.

Peter Hale is lying near the breakfast bar. He looks like he’s been shot at least twice. The blood is still spreading out from underneath him, and his fingers are twitching against the concrete.

Gerard is here, and so is another hunter.

John Stilinski is standing with his hands up.

Allison is here too. She doesn’t have her bow. She’s shaking.

“Stiles,” Gerard says. His voice is like sandpaper over the exposed ends of Stiles’s frayed nerves.

But his mind is moving fast.

He walks over to the room with the steel door, and urges Laura inside. She resists, her suspicion catching her at last, but Stiles pushes her, and manages to pull the door shut. Then he turns to face Gerard.

“I can make it up to you, sir,” Stiles says, because there’s not point pretending there was no betrayal. “Please.”

Gerard’s stare is as cold as ice.

Laura bangs on the inside of the steel door.

“I’m sorry,” Stiles says, and babbles like he’s a kid again. “Please, I’m sorry, sir. I’m sorry. I’ll be good.”

Gerard’s eyes gleam and his expression sharpens. “Prove it.”

“Wh-what?”

“Prove it,” Gerard says, and waits to see what Stiles will do.

Stiles’s brain is working very quickly. Derek is upstairs with a bullet in his spine. Peter is here, with at least two in him. They’re as good as dead if nobody helps them.

Stiles steps toward his father. He reaches out his hand—it’s shaking—and touches that shiny badge on his rumpled uniform shirt. Then he squeezes his shoulder, his thumb sliding under the collar of his father’s shirt.

He holds his father’s gaze for a moment, and says: “Traitor.”

Then he takes a few steps back, and raises his firearm.

“Do it, Stiles,” Gerard says. “Do it. Show me that you’re a man.”

Stiles aims for his father’s chest, and fires.

His father staggers back and hits the floor.

Stiles’s heart freezes, and Peter Hale howls like his world is ending.

Stiles doesn’t wait for instructions. He strides to the steel door, wrenches it open, catches a glimpse of Laura’s wild red eyes, and shoots her too.

Over the roar of blood rushing in his skull, he can hear Gerard laughing.

***

In the car, Allison won’t look at him. She’s sitting in the middle seat, with Stiles on one side and the surviving hunter on the other. Gerard is driving. Stiles has no idea where Gerard is planning to take them. Out of Beacon Hills, probably. He’s finally got what he wanted—the Hales have been taken care of, and Allison is in his grasp. Stiles isn’t sure if Gerard intends to keep him alive. If he is, then Stiles guesses that right now Gerard is coming up with some sadistic way to punish him for his failures. Because if Stiles knows anything about Gerard, it doesn’t matter what Stiles did right tonight—only what he did wrong in the days leading up to tonight.

Gerard took Stiles’s gun off him before he let him leave the loft.

“Grandpa,” Allison says in a small voice. “What’s going on?”

“I’ll explain it all soon, Allison,” Gerard says in that fake-friendly tone that makes Stiles’s skin crawl.

Allison unclips her seatbelt so she can lean forward. “Please, Grandpa. Where are you taking us?”

She slides a hand down her leg, fingers dipping into the top of her boot.

Stiles’s heartbeat races, and he glances across to the unfamiliar hunter. The guy is staring out the window.

Allison shifts forward again, pulling her hand back, and there’s a glint of light as they pass under a streetlight. She has an arrow in her hand, and she leans into the gap between the front seats and jabs it toward Gerard’s throat—

Stiles flings himself sideways behind her, grabbing for the unfamiliar hunter’s utility belt. He’s not sure he can reach his gun from this angle, but maybe he can stop the guy from reaching it too.

—just as Gerard turns his head. There’s a sickening squelching sound, and Gerard screams in pain.

The Escalade veers off the road.

“Ally!” Stiles yells.

Allison braces herself a second before the Escalade collides with a light pole.

The impact is shocking, jarring. Metal screeches and crumples, the windshield pops in a shower of glass, and the Escalade lurches back a few feet. The light pole snaps, crashing to the ground.

The strange hunter’s head bounces off the window. Stiles grabs his gun, shoves it under his chin, and fires.

Hot blood splatters the interior of the Escalade.

“Oh my god,” Allison says, her voice shaking, and then she scrambles over Stiles, opens the door, and tumbles out. She hits the asphalt hard, and climbs to her feet. She’s splattered with the dead hunter’s blood. “Oh my god! I got him in the eye! The fucking eye!”

Stiles leans between the seats to get a look at Gerard. “Holy fuck.”

Allison’s arrow is protruding from his eye socket. There’s…blood and goo dripping down his face. It’s disgusting, but it takes Stiles longer than he would like to look away. He can’t believe Ally did that. Jesus. She’s an Argent all right, and Stiles would follow her all the way into hell if she asked him.

He stares at Gerard a moment longer, and then scrambles out of the car to join Allison at the side of the road.

“Ally,” he says.

She backs away from him, wide-eyed. “Don’t come near me, Stiles!”

“Ally, no, listen,” he says.

“Stiles! You killed them! Laura and your dad!” She tugs at her hair like a maenad. In the flickering light of the downed light pole she’s wide-eyed and tear-streaked. “Oh god.”

“Ally, listen!”

A screech of tires heralds the arrival of a battered blue Jeep. It pulls up beside the Escalade, headlights blinding Stiles. He lifts a hand to shade his eyes as the driver’s door swings open and his father steps out.

“Sheriff!” Allison exclaims. She turns to Stiles. “But you shot him!”

“Technically,” Stiles says, at the same time as his dad says, “Only a little.”

And then his dad steps forward and pulls Stiles into a hug. And Stiles doesn’t know if they’re there yet, but also, fuck it. He’s shaking, and his knees are weak, and he wants to throw up. Hell, he’d take a hug off anyone at this point.

His fingers find his dad’s badge again—that old familiar shape of it. And then he lifts a hand to his Dad’s shoulder, and feels the ballistic vest under his shirt again. He lets his breath shudder out of him.

“Been wearing it since I heard the Argents were back in town,” his dad says gruffly. “Glad you figured it out, kiddo.”

“Yeah,” Stiles says. “Me too.”

And it feels a lot like the truth.

Because if he hadn’t been wearing it, he’d be dead, and so would—

Stiles’s heart clenches.

“Is Derek…”

“He’s fine,” his dad says. “As soon as you left, I saw to them. They’re all shaky and weak as hell right now, but they’re healing. You did good, Stiles.” He ruffles Stiles hair. “You did good, son.”

Stiles closes his eyes and remembers, for the first time in years, how to breathe.

[maladaptive-ninja-returns]

It’s The Avengers (02x02)

Loki x Reader Avengers The Office AU (Slowwwwww Burn)

Season 2 Episode 2 (SEASON Premiere): You, Me & V

Warnings: a tiny bit of violence, anger, tears, lost beans.

Word Count: Don’t ask. Just know that I have never appreciated that one time I was searching for some good smut so much. My mom’s mad that I keep writing all the time but she has seen me smile the goofiest smile only when I am writing so she doesn’t mind it as much. I love you mommy! <3

Season 1 E01, E02, E03, E04, E05, E06, E07, E08, E09

Season 2 E01

MASTERLIST

Everything happened fast.

One moment you were standing in the empty parking lot, another moment four men were trying to push you inside a van. The next, you were being pushed down into the vehicle, the horror barely registering inside your head when a figure landed on top of the van, denting nearly half of the metal inwards, making Javier come to a halt as his feet skid and he fell on his back, never once pointing the camera away from the scene that was unfolding in front of him.

The men gripping your limbs paused at the sudden shift above them, giving you enough window to kick one in the groin, inviting double the force on your wrists and ankles by the others to hold you down on the van’s floor.

“You bitch,” cursed the man still bent forwards, writhing in pain you just gave him.

“Let her go you dumbfuck!” came a somewhat tired feminine voice from above the van.

“Who the *censored* are you, you *censored*?” the man holding your hands spat out.

“Tonight I'm least of your worries you sick pieces of shit,” the figure spat back.

“Get out of here before you become lean meat just like her, ya hear me?” the man with the cigar stepped under the streetlight.

The guy who’d crept from behind you to pull you inside the van got out to take a look at who was perched up on their vehicle; the figure turned her neck towards him tiredly making his eyes go wide in horror.

“Oh, I’m not the one you should be watching out for,” said the figure again.

“Holy shit,” the man at the back shouted as he backed away from the van, “Billy, that’s Jessica Goddamn Jones! Run!”

But before that terrified man could turn, huge mass of black came out of the dark and took his wailing body away, making the rest of the predators pause.

“What the *censored* was that?!”

“Warned you,” Jessica huffs before shouting, “hey! Take this one in the blue flannel next. He doesn’t seem to *censored* realise what consent means!”

And so the black mass did.

The man with the cigar, Billy, ordered the guy on the wheel to drive already, making the latter turn the key in one second and give out a blood curdling scream in another

The grasp on you got loose as everyone registered an arrow struck right through the driver’s hand through the window with a note scribbled with the words: “Hawkeye was here.”

Jessica: *scrunching her face* show off

“Clint,” your voice broke. “CLINT!” you shouted as you got up from the floor.

The men around you were already out of the car, taking out guns from their back as they looked in every direction to find a reason to shoot something.

“You okay, kid?” Jessica came down from behind and leaned over the car door.

“Yeah,” you mentioned in your breathless state, “and just so you know, I’m a full blown adult? Have been for a while now, unfortunately.”

“Yeah, I know it sucks. Whatever, dude. Just stay here while these superdorks take care of them, okay?”

You nodded, smiling at the woman in front of you. Jessica took off her Jacket to cover your shivering figure that had left her jacket inside the tavern. You were about to thank her when Jessica’s body felt itself recoil and you let out a gasp at the sight of one of the men hitting her with a baseball bat from the back, calling for her wrath within seconds as she picked the man up and slammed him into the ground; clearly not satisfied yet.

“Get the girl, Gary, goddamit!” Billy shouted as the guy who’d been holding your legs came back for you only to be swept away by a figure screaming “Geronimo!”

“Peter?” who heard yourself as you and the last bad guy apart from Billy tried to get a look at the apparently swinging figure that fell down in the parking over the cars - along with the guy he dragged with him- as he ran out of buildings to shoot his webs at.

“I'm okay,” a groan came from somewhere in the midst of the cars as the camera zoomed in on the thumb's up.

Billy long pressed a number on his phone before speaking, “Get every weapon you got,” and cutting the line.

He went to the back of the van and the camera shifted it’s position to get a better view of the shotgun he was taking out.

“You, little s-*censored*. I will kill every last of these bastards before I let them take my property.” he announced as he loaded the gun, making all the blood in your body go cold as you watched his every move cautiously, the fear in your eyes quite evident from where the camera could see it, “and when my boys and their big guns are done with every last one of your *censored* friends, you will be paying me for that damage. In kind.” and stepped over to come back to you.

He stopped as another strange figure stood by the van's door in front of you, the crisp white shirt’s sleeves being rolled up, taking even you by surprise for a second, a heavy breath leaving you as the street light reflected in your wet eyes.

The camera zoomed out to reveal Loki giving one final tug at his rolled up sleeves to flatten any creases while your eyes just blinked in his presence and your lips parted to let in a fresh breath of air.

“Touch her,” he stated in the most calm, composed manner as he picked up the baseball bat from the front seat of the van- the driver already lying unconscious over the wheel- and rested it on his shoulder, “and you won’t be walking again even in the afterlife.”

The camera focused on your face frozen at the view of the side profile of the God standing in front of you, a light smile of relief hovering over your shaking lips.

You wanted to move towards him but the threat lingering in front of you both stopped you from making any sudden moves.

“Are you hurt?” Came Loki's smooth low-toned voice; a cool healing balm post the storm you had just witnessed yourself getting caught in. You carefully withdrew your hands beneath the jacket hanging over your shoulder, not wanting to answer the question with a lie.

Billy stood frozen for a second at the audacity of a man in a suit with nothing but a baseball bat in his hand, threatening someone who had a loaded shotgun.

“Loki,” your whisper of a voice wavered as you watched him, his hair veiling his face from your line of sight, “he has a gun.”

Billy spat on the ground, cocking his gun and aiming it at the God.

“I'll touch her however I want and there is nothing you can do about it,” he growled.

Loki's stance didn't falter for one moment as he heard the click of the weapon, his long fingers flipping the bat in one smooth movement before swinging it forward towards Billy's head, who pressed the trigger but not before the bat made an impact with his skull, sending his head back, his arms up, the bullet fired into the air.

The camera recorded your dropped jaw and wide eyes as you tried to come in terms with everything that took place within two seconds.

You: *your figure wrapped up in Jessica’s jacket* *your hand raised as if telling someone to hold steady while your brows constricted in a serious thought* That…*eyes coming back to face the camera* that was an action sequence that I would have watched at least twenty times...before watching it ten times more.

*a small smile coming at the corner of your lips before you press it away* too bad it was a one time reality when my life was on the line.

*lips turn down into a sad frown as you shrug*

“Did you just kill that guy?” You shrieked.

You could not see it but from your horrified and somewhat surprised expression, you know Loki was rolling his eyes.

“Loki, did you just kill him?!”

He finally turned towards you, his hands coming up to rest over his hips.

“Yeah, no problem, Y/N,” his flat note and dead expression for you, making you  pause whatever horrid thought was going in your mind, “No need to thank me for saving you from a potential rapist-”

Venom sprang out of nowhere and jumped over the van before gulping up Billy's body and revealing Eddie's face.

“Oh he was definitely a rapist,” the reporter announced, “and your boyfriend didn't kill him. But this guy did,” he stated, pointing at the glossy black surrounding him.

“He's not my boyfriend,” you corrected the man being wrapped up in the muck, turning back into Venom.

“Hiiiiii,” his hoarse voice boomed as he waved his black claws at you, making your hand subconsciously grab Loki's arm as you slowly tried to plant yourself behind him, waving the other hand back questioningly at the symbiote.

“Get away from her you filthy piece of alien shit,” a voice came out of nowhere as a figure dressed in black jumped at Venom, displacing him merely by an inch.

Loki helped you out of the van, keeping you steady with one hand on your back while you balance your weight on his shoulder using your arms, noticing his ripped exposed muscles for one lingering gaze while trying to figure out who this new character was in another.

You: Hmm? Oh. Yeah, I think so too. Loki seems to have good muscle strength. Weird, right? Because I have never seen him *clears throat* *flushed in your cheeks* workout.

*camera zooms in*

*whispers to self* why did say that?

“Now who's this idiot?” You asked Loki, who just shrugged with a ‘beats me’ expression, his arm still supporting you.

The figure in all black was picked up by the symbiote in one hand as he tried to kick him in his abdomen while Venom looked at him with sheer curiosity.

“Eddieeee! Do we eat him?!”

“Yeah! Eat me up you thirsty terrestrial thot! I don't have a will to live anyways! “

And suddenly your expression changed from genuine confusion into tiredness.

“Oh shoot,” you groaned, “that's my idiot.”

“V!” You shouted in Venom's direction, “stop inciting the symbiote and get back here! Sorry, Eddie, that's my cousin.”

And at you word, Venom safely threw ‘V’ in your direction.

“Seriously, dude,” you looked down at your tanned sibling, letting out a frustrated breath, “throwing hands at Venom? The Venom?”

V lay there on the ground, his black trench coat covered in dust all over, letting out a defeated sigh. “I'd rather be throwing hands at Venom than give my finals next week.”

Peter, who had swung by in his normal clothes and the spider-man mask, came back devoid of the mask- that was safely tucked in one of his pockets somewhere- giving your cousin a hand to get up.

“Peter, V. V, Peter Parker,” you introduced the boys to each other, watching them shake hands and nod at each other with some silent understanding that passed through them.

V: sup. I'm V. I'm Y/N's cous. More like her real brother than her ‘real’ brothers. No one hurts her without going through me first. *camera zooms in* No, seriously. Just hurt me man. Kill me already. I've been tired and done for the last eighteen years.

Peter: *who's walking by with a sub in his hand* Mood. *fistbumps V and goes about his way.*

“You alright, kid?” Clint's voice came from the shadows as he strutted towards you, his bow swinging with a controlled grip right next to his legs.

You nodded in affirmation, passing a smile towards him. Javier came out of his hiding place, the camera focusing on the judgemental gaze Clint was giving Loki's hands on your waist and yours around his shoulder.

“Are you hurt somewhere? Not able to walk?” He abruptly but sweetly threw the words in your direction, suddenly making you and Loki conscious of the close proximity between the two of you, making both of you retrieve your hands in your personal space- Loki's going in his pant pockets while yours brought the borrowed jacket closer over you.

“No, I'm good,” you nod in assurance before taking in a huge gulp of air and wetting your lips. “Listen, it’s not that I'm not grateful for-” you look around and take in the site of Peter, Loki and Clint- “all of you being here but...what are you guys doing here?”

Clint, without so much as a blink, looked at you with his ultimate death stare, forcing the camera to zoom in on to his features that seemed they were about to explode from the mundanity surrounding him. “We thought of registering into the local biker gang.”

You: *stretching the corner of your lips* you see I know he was being sarcastic but I wouldn't put it past him to be a part of a badass biker gang. *nods* But they'd probably kick him out after he either finishes their one month's coffee stock in a day or oversleeps and forgets their usual meetup.

“We should leave b-”

“Zip it for now, witch of the west,” Clint cut his words and eyes towards Loki, who clearly was offended at the icy response while the camera zoomed at Peter eating his sub behind them, his eyes moving between the assassin and the God with pure anticipation between huge bites.

Barton turned back towards you about to speak something when the roar of multiple engines caught everyone's attention.

Bikes and jeeps rolled in and around them, covering all the exits of the parking lot. Men with the most malicious grins on their faces stepped out or stood up over their vehicles as they took out their personal weaponry and pointed it at you, your cousin and your friends.

“Oh God,” you whispered, making Loki turn to face your worried features, the camera catching the fear in your eyes while the God's wrinkled brows gazed at you in some keen observation of his own.

“Where's boss?” One man with a rough voice asked, his gun aimed at Clint, who had moved in front of you with careful discrete steps while Peter had taken his place by your side and V was forced to stand behind you, pouting because you wouldn't let him step out and stand in the line of fire.

“He's dead.”

At Clint's blunt declaration piercing the air, the camera turned as a few guns were cocked. “Tell us who killed him and we'll let you walk away from here,” the same man spoke with weight in his voice.

And like a signal waiting to go off, his warning brought a visible streak of light in the sky closer by every second till the camera could finally make out a what seemed like a pair of lit up eyes carrying a star in their chest, brooding as it flew directly in your direction.

Before anyone could make sense of it, the streak landed on the ground with a thunderous crack and freed at least fifty six mini rockets from his suit in the direction of the people with guns, letting his suspended weapons with white fire in their tails mock them.

“Do not give me a reason to be pissed more than I already am,” Tony Stark declared in the air as the suit gracefully trickled away from his face, bringing the temperature around him down by degrees as every person in his vicinity felt chills run down their neck.

Before anyone from the bad guys club could reply, surprise-bombs and guns started  dropping from their side, flailing their hands as if they'd touched hot stove. Curses and growls and even whines left the unwanted crowd while everyone else looked at the scene unfolding in front of them with surprise. Someone had squealed ‘ANTS’ and screamed while running away, stripping to the bare minimum.

“You got it from here officers?” A familiar voice made the camera turn towards the top of the van, bringing Scott's figure into view. The same bikers who had outed Javier came out of the shadows with more cops that cuffed the entire mob before giving Scott a casual salute and walking away with their bounty.

V tsked. Peter turned towards him and the camera caught the two of them leaning on the van. “Wanted more action?” Peter questioned in a low tone.

“At least one broken hand or leg. I could've really used it, you know. Tip- don't take morning classes if you are not a morning person. Like...ever.” V responded, gathering a nod of appreciation from the spiderling.

Watching the last of those rough miscreants trickle down into the police vehicles, Tony finally turned towards the direction where everyone stood. His eyes straightaway pulled Loki out of the gathering with a gaze speaking nothing but murder.

The camera turned, watching the Iron Man walk towards the God, the vibration of his footsteps being felt in Peter and Scott's expression, their faces looking at each other in mild horror.

Tony's steps faltered to come to a halt when you stepped between him and Loki.

Javier's tiny gasp could be heard behind the camera as it panned to adjust all figures along with the all the eyes on you- especially Clint's distasteful ones.

“Mr Stark…” your voice faltered as you raised your hand a bit from your sides, not much but enough to make Tony's eyes change a shade- going from burning swords to pure white shock.

Before either of you could say another word- or the camera could record the moisture building up inside your eyes, the space near you split open with sparks, revealing Pepper, Stephen, May and Happy on the other side.

“Come on,” Pepper ordered, “this is no place to discuss family issues.”

Without even a squeak from anyone the split space one by one allowed all of you to step inside the warmth of the Avengers facility. The camera turned back towards the now desolate parking lot where Eddie and Jessica stood, looking tired and bored after sliding your suitcase along with V's into the glittery portal.

“Y/N knows Tony Stark?” Eddie murmured, getting only an eye roll from Jessica as she walked back towards the tavern, already throwing an open invitation to the journalist to have a drink with her.

Avenger's Facility- Dead of The Night

“I was not in any danger. I was working with Ms Jones. A student had gone missing day before yesterday and Jones was kind enough to help me out.”

The dead quiet lingered a bit more, making the camera catch your pained features and fingers forced into the red skin of your palms.

Scott picked up your ‘Title of Your Sextape’ mug filled with piping hot tea and brought it to you. You thanked him before shaking your head, showing disinterest in having anything while Tony stood there, his silence killing everyone on the inside. Even Clint could be seen feeling the discomfort as he sat on the sofa, covering his mouth with his fist.

Pepper stepped forward, opening her phone, playing the video you had recorded as a low-key farewell, making your eyes go wide for a second before they turned towards Javier with nothing but pain and distrust.

“This was not supposed to reach you before you came back-”

“We're sorry-” Tony interrupted you, almost making you flinch- “for not telling you sooner.”

Silence.

“I never really thought it was my truth to tell,” he finally looked at you. “Yes, I was selfish in keeping it from you while trying to find out if you were really my...my…”

He struggled to complete his sentence, his hands scratching away the dirt on the marble over the fireplace.

Eyes went wide around the room. So did the mouths. Turned out Tony didn't have to say much.

Peter and Scott: *incoherent but excited mumbling about y/n and not being able to figure this out sooner*

Clint: *cross-armed* I'm happy...and sad. *turns to see Loki walking by the window of the recording room*

*camera pans at the death stares Clint throws towards the window*

And smad.

V: Hot damn! My sis is the daughter of a freaking billionaire?! Are you kidding me?

*looking up*

What did I do wrong? And why her? *looks back at the camera* I mean I'm happy and everything but I know her. The most she's spent her money on is buying me nachos once. That woman doesn't even care about the buck.

“We received a letter a few months ago from the hospital where you'd been put up for adoption,” Pepper finally took over, her hands already caressing Tony's back. “The documents stated your name and the whereabouts of your current family. They were instructed to be shared with your blood relative in case something happened to your birth mother. We weren't able to find out about her or what happened to her- mainly because all the hospital received was an anonymous letter with the request and verified signatures and numbers- but we did find you.”

Your quivered gasp through the free flowing tears reverberated through the stillness of the lounge.

“So…” your voice was barely audible, “I'm your...daughter?”

“I thought you saw-”

“No,” you shook your head vigorously in response, eyes filled up to the brim, “I didn't have it in me to find out. I was... scared.”

“Scared? Are you sure?” Strange questioned your statement, making everyone turn towards him in confusion. “Last I heard you were somewhat…relieved on knowing that you were adopted.”

“I think you should stop, Doc,” Scott announced, allowing the camera to catch the uneasiness he felt the moment your arms crossed across your chest on Strange's words.

“No,” Stephen continued, “my good magician. Hear me out. You felt like it and I quote ‘makes sense’. How I know that is not of importance. You were sure as hell not going back to your so-called parents to look for answers. So, why did you leave everyone here; everyone who I'm sure according to them did their level best to make you feel at home.”

He stood there, his green eyes facing you. His hands casually in his pant pockets, waiting for you to drop the ball. But you didn't.

“She left because she was scared of what would happen if Tony Stark was confronted with this knowledge,” an unfamiliar voice came from one of the sofas. Everyone turned to register V member laying there, trying to run his fingers through his hair, using his front camera from his phone as a mirror.

“She left because she was scared of losing one of best fams she'd ever had the honour of staying with. Because she didn't want to be thrown away, she decided it was better to call it quits from her side.”

Every single eye that had been on V now turned towards you, making you grit your teeth and curse your cousin under your breath.

You: *deep inhale* *tired eyes* If he weren’t my brother...*camera zooms in* I wouldn’t have aimed that ashtray for his head.

*shrugs*

Good thing I have a messed up hand-eye coordination.

“One more word and it’ll be your head next,” you spat at V, who got up from the floor- where he had so messily flattened himself to save his head from your attack- and threw sofa cushions in your direction before aiming a half filled bottle of water at you.

You ducked and missed the bottle by just an inch, the camera catching the tiny gasp leaving your mouth before it zoomed in on Peter and Scott looking at you and your sibling, wide eyed.

Scott: Remember that meme you showed me yesterday?

Peter: The one with the gasping Pikachu?

Scott: *nods* Yes. Y/N’s face reminded me of that meme.

Peter: *looking into some unknown void* *hits realisation* *eyes go wide* *gasps* Oh my-

Scott broke your run-and-pounce midway, lifting you up by your torso.

“Alright. Easy. Easy. Smash each other’s heads later,” Scott announced for the both of you before he was sure you were calm enough to loosen his grasp on you, “I think Pepper and Stark have something to say.”

“You thought we would chuck you out of here?” Pepper looked at you with sincerest form of confusion mixed with an unspoken apology, melting your features further.

“Why would you think that? Did I do something?” Stark inquired, his face too carrying a hint of hurt over them.

“What? No, Mr Stark that’s not-”

“Did someone here say something inappropriate?”

“Oh, no! Not at all!”

“Was it because of Loki?”

“No, Mr Stark please just-”

“The why the heck-”

“Because of me,” your raised voice finally confessed, your back bent down by some invisible weight that you carried on your shoulders while your hands pointed at you- appearing as if they’d pierce your chest and grab your pulsating heart for everyone to see. The camera caught your tears flowing freely down your heated cheeks.

“I am not normal, Mr Stark. I am far from a functioning human. I am broken in ways you don’t know. I am broken in ways even I don’t know. I have failed time and again in relationships. With my father, my mother, my brothers. And let’s just leave out the people I have dated or thought of dating. Half of my life has withered away trying to fight the anxiety and darkness deep rooted within me. I am far from being a daughter that quite possibly carries your genes.”

Silence.

Clint: Please *closes his eyes in a prayer* let me tell her. Please!

Scott’s voice: No.

*camera zooms out to Scott’s figure sitting beside Clint, shaking his head*

Scott: We are not telling her where she gets all of this from. God, Clint be a little empathetic you lazy ass bird. Go look at the security footage from your nest.

Clint: *stares at the camera, done for the day*

The silence engulfing the room was followed by the camera going about recording everyone’s expressions; Peter’s empathetic brows, May’s head tilt as she placed her hands on her chest, Scott’s restrained urge clearly dripping from his face as he fought himself to not pull you into his arms, Strange’s relieved sigh as he turned towards Tony for what was to happen next, Pepper’s appearance taking in everything before closing her eyes for a moment and taking in one lungful of breath and releasing it with a smile. Lastly, Tony’s face, his twitching lip as he looked at you and then at his wife before turning back in your direction.

All through this, one figure stood apart from the entire crowd gathered in the lounge.

Loki sat behind the kitchen counter, sipping the still hot tea from your mug, listening to everything, observing each change in expression, every counter reaction to your words, all the movements made around in the room. And even as he did so, he didn’t break his languid stature for the camera, deceiving the audience for the better part.

“You, young lady, are anything but broken,” Stark announced, taking you by surprise. “Happy, where is it?” He brought his hand forward as everyone else observed an envelope you were way too familiar with, thanks to the encounter with that Jim guy yesterday morning. The mere thought of what he had done to you made you shiver where you stood now.

“I haven’t opened it yet,” Stark spoke to you and only you; his voice soft and audible to your ears. “I don’t want to. Pepper and I have known you for quite some time even before you knew me or any of us. Based on that and purely that...and of course our repo together-” Tony ripped the envelope and its contents with his hands before throwing them into the fireplace- “I am officially adopting you as my daughter.”

Scott & Peter: *screaming and jumping in the recording room while the camera stationed outside can hear their muffled excitement*

“That is, if you’re okay with it,” Tony added as he raised his brows in question before clearing his throat and blinking a little too fast.

“But Mr Stark, you are...you and-”

“You should be okay with it. Shouldn’t she, V?”

V came forward and wrapped his arm around your shoulder. “Screw her, what criteria do I need to fulfill to be adopted by you?”

“First, get a haircut, man. I can barely see your eyes under all that darkness your goth persona keeps carrying in your hair over your face. Seriously.”

“I don’t think you should be adopting someone like me-”

“Oh so, you are cool with the idea of adoption,” Scott cut you in, stepping forward to stand next to you, “perfect. I’d like to adopt you then. I’m not a genius billionaire philanthropist but I’m a dad and my daughter feels I’m pretty good at it.”

“Back off, Mono Pharaoh,” Tony warned, “you already have a daughter,” to which Scott just stepped back and raised his hands in defeat.

“Do it,” Clint spoke from the sofa, half of his body already sliding off the seat, “adopt him as your dad. I want him to suffer with all the worries of a father of a young daughter for every second of those nasty missions he sent me on. Do it, Y/N.”

“Guys, I think you’re forgetting how huge a deal this is. Despite everything I’ll have to talk to my family first,” you tried to break the humming going around you when your eyes settled on Pepper’s hand taking Tony’s arm and looking at him with a veiled question in her eyes. Tony did the same.

The camera zoomed in on the change in shade on your face when the constriction in between your brows loosened.

“You already asked them.” The statement was more for you than them.

The camera focused on Loki captured a pause in between him taking the edge of the cup to his lips as his eyes turned towards you. The mug slowly went back on the counter as you took in your first- and a quite evident- deep breath to stabilise your features.

Loki’s thumb gnawed at the edge of the cup, his gaze stuck on you while his expressions reflected an implicit calculation.

Before anyone could say any words of comfort to you, you nodded at some thought floating in the air. “You know what, it’s fine by me.”

“Adopt me. Just tell me where to sign and I’ll do it.”

And just like that the entire room took a breath of relief.

“Don’t tell me later on that I didn’t warn you,” you stated before hugging Pepper.

Tony looked it you with lighter eyes, his smile stuck there in one corner of his lips. “I almost lost a kid once before-” the camera panned to a happy Peter hugging May saying ‘I’m so happy for Mr Stark!’- “I wouldn't have forgiven myself if I’d lost one today.”

And the tears you thought had died down, came up again, spilling over the edge.

“And speaking of hurting people and forgiving-” Tony sniffed before turning in all the directions, finally letting his glare rest on Loki- “I believe someone needs to learn ethics one-oh-one on earth.”

Before he could walk over to the God, you took Tony by his arm and stopped him.

“It’s alright, Mr Stark. Loki regrets what he did. He already apologised.”

The unprecedented surprise on everyone’s face, even Loki’s- everyone except May and Peter- was captured quite effortlessly.

Tony stood there looking between you and Loki before finally deciding to give up. “Fine. If you say so. But if he does anything else you promise me-”

“I promise you will be the first one to hear about…”

Before you could finish the sentence, a sneeze left you.

Then another.

And another.

And another!

“Oh shoot!” you tried to speak with your nasal passages blocked, “I think I caught a-”

“Room. Now! You are grounded till Pepper and I come back from our honeymoon.”

Confusion.

Surprise.

Offense.

Frustration.

Every expression that passed over your face was captured with a perfect zoom over your weak features now looking at the camera.

Tony: First day as my kid and I’ve already grounded her. I'm already turning out to be a- *stops and turns his head, making the camera follow his direction and look at Pepper standing by the door shaking her head with a stern warning*

*comes back to the camera* I put some Skittles and hot chocolate mix in her bedroom. And a few cold medicines. You and Javier make sure she doesn’t go out in the cold, got it? Good. *shouts towards the door* hey Pepper! I forgot to keep teabags and a kettle in her room!

*gets up to follow Pepper out of the room before turning back*

Don’t let her out of your sight.

Everyone trickled away bit by bit from the lounge, towards their flight, their home, or their rooms, tired from the long and eventually happy day.

“Oh shoot!” you tried to sniff through your blocked nose as you faced Loki at the kitchen counter, “I think I forgot your jacket.”

The camera turned towards Loki, who in turn looked at the camera while it effortlessly captured the suit jacket he was already wearing now.

“I wonder where I left it,” you muttered as you took a sip of fresh hot tea Stephen had prepared for you before your hands grabbed your throbbing head.

The other camera sat by the sofa, recording a surprised Scott ducking down a bit where he sat with his phone in his hand, directing the camera person to shush so he could hear into your and Loki’s conversation.

“How did you know?”

You looked up at Loki, trying to make sense of his question, which dawned upon you a little late.

“Oh. May told me. She’s called me up when I’d decided to go on a weekend trip with V to clear my head and make sense of what was going on. She even told me something about some gift?”

Loki raised his head a little as if trying to look down at you for a second there.

“Don’t think of this as some sapling of warmth between us. My actions were a bit...malicious in ways but that does not mean I have grown to like you in any sort of way.”

Scott rolled his eyes where he sat before mouthing ‘are you kidding me’ while you chuckled.

You put your mug down a little too fast, forcing it to make some noise as it collided with the marble surface.

“Mm hmm-” you licked away the remnants of the tea from your lips- the camera catching the flicker in Loki’s eyes as they shifted between them and your gaze- and turning to look at the God- “and what makes you think I’ve forgiven you?”

The sudden shift in the current around the two of you forced a silent gasp out of Scott.

A flash of confusion passed over the trickster’s face.

“You are not the only one who can hide from the audience what hurts, Mr Odinson.”

Passing a gentle smile towards him, you got up from the counter and went towards the dorms.

“Scott, thank Cassie from my side, would you?” you shouted weakly in his direction on your way before whistling for Zuko.

Loki sat there, motionless for some time, watching your figure disappear at the dorm entrance; a sigh escaping him as he stared into a nameless void ahead of him while Scott saw an opening and tiptoed his way out of the lounge.

Moments passed before Loki finally got up, putting his hands inside his jacket pockets, freezing midway and looking down at his hand.

A neatly folded tissue came out of the pocket. Unfolding it, he scrunched his nose before turning towards the camera along with turning the tissue towards the lens as well. A small chibi character with long black hair sat on a straight black line drawn by a pen, his head tilted to one side, looking towards a tiny dog sitting next to it, its head tilted in the same manner, mirroring the chibi- both of them having one question mark each over their heads.

“Who are these sorry creatures?” Loki scoffed before half-throwing the napkin on the counter and walking away.

The Lounge, one hour later

A camera turned on and recorded the noise of it being awkwardly but quickly carried out of a dark room, into the corridor before stopping at the turn towards the lounge, ducking down behind a plant next to the wall.

A lone figure walked about the space before picking up the tissue Loki had left over the counter. The pale fingers carefully evened out the crumpled piece and brought them closer to the fireplace to watch it in better light, revealing the identity of the figure to the camera that was still trying to adjust and hide itself well.

Sparks pierced through the air and Tony stepped inside the lounge with a blue tee and black track pants on him.

“Couldn’t help yourself, could you?” Stephen commented, still gazing at the tissue in his hand.

“Murdock wants the results just in case,” Tony responded lining up the two mugs kept over the counter.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

Tony’s tongue went over his teeth in one hard thought as Stephen brought out the manila envelope out of thin air to present it to the newly self-proclaimed father.

Tony took the envelope, his fingers running over the edges of the opening.

“Someday, maybe,” he finally declared, “but not today.”

A smirk of content found its way on Stephen’s lips which Tony mirrored before both of them shook hands.

“Now send me back before Pepper finds out. Oh, and give my love to May,” he commented, making Stephen narrow his eyes towards him as familiar sparks ripped the space in two places and both of them disappeared like they were never there.

The camera waited for a few seconds before getting up from behind the plant and turning towards the dorms, to walk back only to flinch and shake violently at the presence of a figure standing in front of it.

Bucky stood there, his hair a mess, his eyes filled with pure innocent confusion.

“What did I miss?”

TAGLIST

Permanent

@magiclolipopqueen @choke-me-sweet-pea @smexylemony @hazzastyles2471 @lokis-lady-death @lokixme @l0kisbitch @tarithenurse @hiddlestonstansworld @itheoneofmanyfandomsi @nalokoniloki @fuckidontknow @qualitynerdwasteland @cryinglots @unipanda1006 @literalangels @meganlikesfandoms @kcd15

Loki

@avenging-blackwidow @yzssie

ITA (The Office)

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(The tags are open. Come over in my asks and tell me how this made you feel! xx)

[assassins-and-hidden-blades]

Survival: Part Two

Synopsis: on a mission to place yourselves on the map, you and Ellie seem to find yourselves in a rather sticky situation.

Pairing: ??? x Reader

Warnings: Violence, swearing

A/N: This probably sucks. I’m really sorry. I’m hopeful, though! Hope you enjoy it (the comments give me life, guys. I read them multiple times a day oml thank you so much for supporting me xxx)!

Tagging: @lunariasilver (if anyone else wants to be tagged for this shoot me an ask)

Prologue HERE

Part One HERE

THEN:

He stared at you, emotionless, yet it still pierced your heart with caution and slight discomfort. Your breath hitched in your throats and you brought the telescope away from your face.

“What?” Ellie asked, hearing your slight gasp. “Who was it?!”

Focusing again within the trees, you looked again.

The man had disappeared.

NOW:

But your mind lingered on his face. You hadn’t seen him before. Why had he helped you? Whoever this was, he didn’t give you a good feeling.

“Y/N!”

You snapped out of it. “What?”

“Who did you see?!”

“Oh, um, I don’t really know. I’ve never seen him before.” Your heart strained uncomfortably.

Maybe it was just the look in his eyes.

“Let’s keep going, anyway. He obviously wasn’t waiting for a ‘thank you’, so we can get on with going where we need to go.”

“Which is?”

You looked at Ellie. She was right. You had no idea where you were going.

But there was no way you were gonna tell her that.

“Let’s figure out what we’re doing.” Pulling out a map and the picture your mother provided, you kneeled on the grass.

There must be something that could tell us where to go.

You stared hard at the picture, waiting for something to magically appear. I suppose it was beginner’s luck, because coincidentally, something did.

The man in the picture seemed to be in a decorated crater of a city– or perhaps just a very big town. You thought that that was all the information you’d get, but just before you’d given up searching, your eyes landed upon a blurred sign. It was clear enough to read.

'WELC ME TO DI MO D C TY’

Looking to your map, your eyes glanced over the important cities pre marked. You thanked your parents for making you mark them in the first place.

“Diamond City,” you breathed excitedly. “We need to go to Diamond City!”

“Where are we now?” Ellie asked, looking at the building remains on the horizon. You pulled out the telescope to try and get a clear look.

“Can’t see a thing. Guess we’re gonna have to get closer anyway.” Packing your map and compass away, you tried to hand back the telescope to Ellie.

“You keep it.” She stopped you. “You’re the one leading the way.”

With a grin, you attached your telescope to a loop in your belt and set off walking towards your new discovery.

But you should’ve been running in the other direction.

Walking was beginning to tire on you. It wasn't a short trek to the crumbling remains of a town; if anything it took the better part of a half hour. But that's not to assume you didn't take any detours. Alas, it gave you enough time to think about who mowed down that Deathclaw. There were times in which you decided to change directions since the sounds ahead were quite unnerving. Needless to say, after all the weaving all over the place, you found yourselves at the entrance to the town. "If you find anything, let me know," you told Ellie, trekking ahead with your .44 withdrawn. The town was definitely not in the best shape. Houses had collapsed in on themselves, debris piled on fallen trees. Ellie disappeared into a half standing house. You weren't very concerned; she could handle herself. Looking over various piles of rubble, you saw vaguely useful things, but with a limited amount of space in your rucksack, you couldn't afford to take much junk. Looking through an old desk, you jumped at the sound of Ellie's exclamation of, "Holy shit!" You whipped around. "You okay?!" Ellie ran out the house, holding two devices. "Look!" She gave you one. "Fucking walkie talkies!" "You need to stop with the language, young lady." With a joking smirk, you took one out of her hand and examined it. "Mom never stopped me," she tried, grinning slyly. "Then it's quite unfortunate that I'm not Mom, isn't it?" Playfully nudging her with your elbow, you stuffed the device into the side pocket of your rucksack. "Let's keep looking." Having a walkie talkie meant that you and Ellie could split up further than five feet. You wondered whether she was going to bring it up, but you definitely weren't going to complain if she didn't. Maybe it was your parental instincts to keep her close. You watched her step in between fallen sheets of metal. "Be careful!" You called warningly. She turned around to reply, but fell backwards into a pile of branches behind her. "I will!" She gave you a thumbs up. Laughing, you turned and walked up the deserted street. There was a house on the corner of the road that seemed to be holding up quite well. Stepping inside, you saw how little the fallout blast affected the inside. Only the crockery seemed to be completely destroyed, with shards sprawled everywhere. You saw branded paper on the countertop, with some of them on the floor beside it. With a steady hand, you tentatively leafed through the half legible brochures. It wasn't until you reached the bottom of the pile when you saw writing which you could actually read. EL OM T SA CTU RY H L S . Humming inquisitively, you pulled out your map. "Sanctuary, eh?" Honestly, it wasn't too hard for you to fill in the gaps. Your eyes scanned the main settlements pre-labelled on the paper. In the far North West corner, the settlement shone like a beacon. "Aha!" Circling it, you began to fold the map away. "Y/N/N?"  Ellie peered through the doorway. "I found a path." She lead the way down the road before turning right, through a gap in a chicken wire fence. "Where do you think it leads?" You took out your gun. "Let's find out." You heard a quiet snick, and out of the corner of your eye you saw a glint in Ellie's hand. You realised a moment after that it was a pocket knife. But it was a pocket knife you recognised. It used to be yours, after all. You were introduced to guns and shooting when you were sixteen, but Ellie was still fourteen. That meant she wasn't technically allowed to have a gun (parents' orders), but they weren't going to find out, right? The knife was of a strong steel-- almost impossible to break. You also made sure that Ellie kept it sharp-- maintenance was important (as taught by your parents-- your mother especially). You secretly collected a stash of spare steel in case it wore too thin. You'd rather repair the blade, as the handle of the knife was passed down through generations of your family. It didn't fail them then, so why should it fail you now? You lead Ellie towards the bridge in front of you. Scanning the surroundings, you were about to give the all clear when a snapping twig caught your attention. Whirling around, you tried to spot the source. "Get behind me, Ellie," you breathed. She quickly did as you said. "Stay here." Inching towards the general direction, you saw a small gap between a few shrubs. You quietened your footsteps as best you could before tentatively creeping through. Inside was a clearing. The grass was tall and wild, coming halfway up your shins. Thick trees encircled the clearing, forming a loose ring. Walking forwards, you began to scope out the shrubbery. There was a snap and you stumbled. Before you could react, something wrapped tightly around your ankles, pulling you up instantly, forcing a loud cry from your lips. You would have hit your head if it weren't for something encasing your body. That was the good news. The bad news? You found yourself caught in a net, several metres off the ground. A clash of pans began to ring as you swayed through the air. Alarmed and slightly scared, you braced yourself, praying for you to stop moving. "Y/N?!" Ellie came running into view, looking frantically around. Both your and her eyes spotted your strewn gun cast aside on the ground, and she immediately began to panic. "Y/N!" "Hey!" You smiled reassuringly at her once she looked up. "I'm right here!" "You okay?" she asked. "Yeah, I'm okay." You spotted another loop of rope beside your head. "Hey, this thing has two loops. One for the legs, and another for…" "... More legs?" You snickered at Ellie's confusion, but she was absolutely right. This was an animal trap. "You're right, you know," you thought aloud. “That’s one way to put it, but yeah." Wrapping your fingers against the bindings around your ankles, you gave the rope a tug. It didn't budge an inch. You felt around for the knot and tried to untie it. No success. "You need a bit of help?" You looked to Ellie, who was gesturing at her switchblade. You mentally face palmed. That's a really good idea. Reaching through the holes, you watched as Ellie jumped and threw her weapon as hard as she could. It flew slightly higher than your head. You caught it on its descent. "You're smart, El'." Flicking it open, you began sawing at the rope. "Why, thank you!" And there she stood, grinning to herself. You broke the ropes around your ankles, and was about to start on the net around you when there it was again. Another snapped twig. Your halted your slow movements, and the sudden change in movement caused a ringing. You looked over to it and reached out to sever the cord to drop it. Before you could reach (not that you could), an arrow zipped through the air with a loud ft, landing perfectly and snapping the cord. Your hand retreated violently, eyes snapping to the direction it came from. Strands from your French braid fell in front of your eyes. "Ellie, the gun!" You pressed the blade to the net, violently fraying the rope.

"Don't move."

You froze, a deep voice sending chills down your spine. You were so close snapping free.

An arrow protruded out of the bushes.

Then a bow.

Then a face.

With brown skin and warm eyes, a man stared you down, weapon aimed at you. Ellie made a break for the gun.

"I said, don't move!"

She was staring down the point of an arrow before you could even blink.

That worried you. "Hey!"

The stranger looked up at you. "What the fuck, man?! She's a kid, for God's sake, and you're making her stare down a fucking arrow?!"

The arrow was pointed at you in half a second.

“I don’t take orders from you.”

You shot him down with a glare. “Can I please get down from here? We’re good guys; we’re clean!”

He studied you closely. His eyes went between you and Ellie, judging his options. As soon as he lowered his arms, you continued hacking at the rope above you until it broke. Anticipating a fall, you clung to the side and slowly lowered yourself down (you strong, girl).

“Who are you?” His guard was still up.

“The name’s Y/N.” You smoothly extended a hand. He scrutinised your actions before reluctantly clasping his hand with yours.

“You’re not cool, Y/N.”

“Shut up, Ellie.”

The man tried to hide a smile, amused at the bickering. “I’m Connor.”

“We cool?”

“You’re not.”

You relaxed, laughing. “Evidently not.”

Connor slipped his bow over his shoulder. “Where do you come from?”

“Not far from here, but we can’t go back. It’s just us. What about you?”

“I have a camp with some friends not too far away. Do you have anywhere to stay?”

“Nope.” You shrugged, hiding your slight concern for the future.

“Do you know where you’re going?”

“Diamond City, I guess. I have some friends there.”

“We’re heading that way too. I know that the rule of thumb in this world is not to trust anyone, but I think we can help each other.”

You considered his offer. “Will you kill us in our sleep?” It was only half a joke.

“I only kill those who deserve it.”

That’s half the bloody population.

“I trust you, Connor. I shouldn’t, but I do.”

“Follow me.”

[beautifuljetblackheart]

Don’t Fuck With Me - Peter Parker

A/N: It has a shitty ending because I honestly didn’t know how to end it and I thought it was getting too long. Summary: you get into a small fight with spider-man  Warnings: just swearing Words: 1963

It was another night in the neighborhood. Lately this new superhero has been taking all your criminals away from you and it’s been pissing you off lately, sure here and there you won’t mind getting to go home early to finish school work and not having to worry about crimes going on. The friendly neighborhood Spider-Man has been swinging around and saving the night from danger.

You were currently on top of a building looking over the beautiful city lighting up with street lights  your suit kept you from the fresh breeze. There was an explosion near your area. You walked back and ran towards the ledge jumping off and onto your hover board your father constructed for you. When you arrived at the local ATM box there were guys dressed up with mask taking the money. Before you could approach the ATMs you saw the spider-ling your father had mention multiple times.

A light started to shine and you somehow managed to dodge before it hit you, you looked around and saw your favorite sandwich shop get destroyed, before you could move you saw someone go in there and quickly get out with Delmar and Murph. You looked inside the bank then back to the spider-ling, you left once you saw cops approaching.

-----

You have been facetiming your friend Jenny for a while, and you talked about what had happened a few hours ago, “like who is that person? have you seen… It before?” You looked at your friend from your computer, Jenny who was scrolling through her phone, looked up at you.

“They always send them to me like I don’t want them,” you looked at her confused, “I’m not into them”

“Wait, what are you talking about?” you questioned

“What are you talking about?”

“The red and blue spandex person who has been swinging around town”

“Oh, I thought you were talking about a dick, but okay”

“No, I wanted to know if you knew the person”

“If you don’t know this person, what makes you think I do?” You shrugged at her, “it’s probably one of your dad’s people,” Jenny looked at you.

“Probably, I’ll ask-” you heard someone walking outside, “someone is here. I’ll talk to you later,” she said bye before you ended the call. “Jarvis,” nothing, “Jarvis,” still nothing. You walked over to your big picture frame, you picked up a remote and clicked on a button. The big picture frame moved to the side and you grabbed your bow and arrows along with the mask.

You slowly walked out of the room and to the living room. You saw the spandex person walking around the living room. You pointed the arrow on the left leg, the person went down with one leg, the person quickly turned around and shot you a web but you quickly dodged it, you grabbed another arrow and shot the arm. You were about to shoot another one but the spandex started to talk, “wait, wait, wait,” it was a dude, he took off the arrows and groaned.

“Who are you,” you pointed the arrows at him

“I am-,” he pulls the arm arrow out, “ah hit, that hurts. uh-I’m spider-man,” he pulls out the arrow from his leg, he lied down and groaned.

“I know who you are,” you only knew him because of the spandex, “what is your business here,” he quickly shot a web and your items got yanked from your grasp. He shot another web to your chest sending you back, the tube of arrows hit your back and you went down. He shot another web hitting your hand down, the sticky substance was hard to get rid of as you tried getting your arm up. You saw the spinner-ling getting up and let out a groan, “don’t fuck with me,” he said before he limped outside and jumped off the balcony.

You grabbed an arrow from the back and used the sharpness to cut the web out, you were mad that he got the last word, you were mad that you didn’t move fast, you were mad that you didn’t know who he was, you were mad that you got defeated. The elevator door opened, you saw your dad walking in with a newspaper covering his face. You picked up your bow and arrows, “what the hell happened here?” you glared at him, “is this, web fluid? Did you get into a fight with the spider-ling? Why is there blood on the floor? Did you shoot your arrows at him?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” you walked away and into your room. You threw your stuff to the side of your room. You called Jenny to tell her what had happened, “I’m fucken mad as hell”

“What happened?”

“I got my ass handed, it was spider-man. We got into a small fight and I shot him twice and he shot his web at me sending me flying to the wall. I had my tube of arrows in the back and it hurts, probably gaining a bruise after that shit,” Jenny started to laugh

“Did you guys talk?”

“Yeah, his last words were ‘Don’t fuck with me’ I’m going to hunt his ass down”

“Alright calm down before you turn into Dr.Banner,” she laughs, “Oh I’ve been dying to say that, anyways, I heard some explosion, was that you?”

“No it was spider-man, I saw him fighting with people that had the avengers mask. Here’s the thing, they had this gun that literally destroyed that sandwich shop we usually go to”

“Are you kidding me?”

“No, good thing Mr.Delmar is good with Murph, I honestly don’t know what will happen to him, maybe on the way to school we can see how big of a mess it caused”

“You know I’m always down”

----------

“Holy shit,” Jenny looked at the corner shop along with the bank. There was a lot of people taking pictures and seeing what had happened

“I need to find out who has this sort of equipment, or they can-”

“Look, he’s there he’s there, do I look nice?” you looked at your friend and then looking around the crowd

“Who?” she started to walk and you followed her

“Hey Ned,” Jenny smiled already seeing her cheeks turning pink

“Hey-hi Jenny”

“Hi,” Jenny said again, “Uh- are you busy Saturday?”

“Not at all, no, what’s up?”

“I was wondering if you wanted to hang out or something”

“Yeah, yeah, that yeah okay,”

“Sweet, here type your number and I’ll send you a message,” Jenny handed her phone to Ned, you glanced at Peter here and there, you saw his arm and saw a small blood stain on his arm, “cool, see you later,” Ned smiled and nodded. You walked with Jenny as she kept smiling, “I can’t believe I just did that”

“Awkward but cool. Did you see Peter, he had blood on his arm,” Jenny nodded her head no. You looked back at Peter and saw him limping.

----------

You were at the top of a different building, then you heard someone walking, you quickly pulled your arrow and pointed towards where you heard the noise, “Woah, wait, don’t shoot, don’t shoot” the spider-ling had his hands out.

“What do you want,” you still had the arrow pointing at him.

“I want to talk, I just healed with the arrows you shot me with. Which I have no idea why, and I wanted to know-”

“Holy shit, you talk too much, Who are you and what do you want,” he walk over to the ledge

“Who are you?”

“Don’t fuck with me, my patience is running low with you,” the arrow was still drawn back on the verge of letting go.

“I-I-I’ve never seen you in the tower. You didn’t have any shoes on and it was quite cold outside the other night that anyone would’ve worn a sweater or something,” you brought your bow and arrow down, you heard him sigh of relief.

“Who do you work for?” you questioned him

“Mr. Tony Stark, he gave me the new suit that you ripped with your arrows,” you got a message and you looked at your phone

“I have to go”

“But I don’t know who you are,” you jumped off the building. He panicked before he saw you using what seemed to be a hover board. Peter was about to reach home when his phone vibrated, he looked at his phone and it was Tony Stark.

‘Meet me at the tower - T’

-----

You sat in the living room your father was talking and talking talking about who knows what, you got up, “where do you think you’re going,” your father, Tony, questioned you.

“Oh my lord, I am going to the bathroom,” you walked away and into the bathroom, you splashed water on your face waking you up. Who does he think he is questioning where you are going. Your father of course. You walked out and into the kitchen hearing your father keep talking with the others. You grabbed water and started to drink, the elevator door beeped. You walked closer to the couch and behind, Steve. The elevator door opened, you saw Peter Parker walking inside, you spat your water on the back of Steve’s back head. You started to cough trying to catch air.

“Seriously?” Steve wiped the water off his neck, he got up and walked over to the kitchen

“Hi,” Peter awkwardly waved

“Good everyone is here, Peter this is Y/N my daughter,” Steve came back with a rag and sat back down

“Your-she’s your daughter”

“I did just say that, Y/N this is-”

“I know who he is. Jen is basically dating his friend,” you take another big sip of your water.

“Are you two dating?” you spat your water out again at Steve.

“Okay, that's enough,” Steve grabs your cup and walks away with it

“Dad, if we were dating, I would’ve acted excited and cheery and I would even tell Nat about it,” you looked at your father serious.

“Y/N, thanks to you, I have to fix his suit,” you gave your father a smile before glaring at Peter. You sat down and started to think, Peter was bleeding where you shot him, he was limping. He was the asshole who told you ‘don’t fuck with me’

----------

You were deep cleaning your arrows since you were bored out of your mind. There was a knock on the door, “come in,” you spoke, you looked at your arrow to check if they were sharp enough.

“Hey Y/N,” you turn around and saw Peter standing by the door

“Hey, listen, I’m sorry I shot you”

“I’m sorry I shot you with my web. I didn’t know what to do. Does anyone else know that you-”

“Jenny knows. I’m guessing Ned knows that you’re spider-man”

“The night you shot me was the night he found out”

“Might as well tell them, since Jenny is mooning over Ned”

“Uh-yeah. Uh- how often do you clean your arrows”

“I make sure they are clean when I use them and if I don’t use them I clean them at the end of the night”

“Do you make your arrows?”

“Yeah, I use my dad’s old equipment sharpen them well and magic from then. Do you make your own web fluid?”

“Mmh- I made a new set during physics class,” you looked at him and gave you a smile, he’s pretty cute. You put your final arrow away, you walked to your bed and sat down, “uh- hey, maybe we can be partners in crime, Ned is basically the guy in the chair, maybe we can work together and-”

“You talk a lot”

“Yeah, I know”

[dingoes8myrp]

Mom and I React to Game of Thrones 8x04

Recap

Jamie and Cersei

Me: "He's gonna have to pick sides again."

Bronn

Mom: "He's not gonna kill either one of them."

Jon tells Daenerys who he is

Me: "She's gonna flip her shit."

All the deaths recapped

Me: "It's like a Talking Dead In Memorium."

Mom: "How are they gonna get rid of all the bodies? My God. They're gonna have to have the dragons just fly over and burn them up."

-

Winterfell

Jorah

Mom: "She's gonna burn him and send him out into the water."

Me: "Send him out into the water?"

Mom: "Isn't that a warrior's funeral?"

Me: "No, that was Catelyn's family that did that."

Mom: "Oh."

Theon

Me: "Aww, Sansa. 'Cause he went through everything with her with Ramsay."

Mom: "And he got her out of there."

Sansa pins the wolf on Theon

Me: "Awwww he's a Stark." *teary*

Everyone gathered in front of the pyres

Mom: "Sam made it! I don't know how. Oh, and the wolf made it!"

Me: "He's so beat up."

Mom: "Everybody's beat up."

Funeral pyre

Me and mom are teary

Me: "I'm sad they didn't do any scenes with Lyanna and Arya."

Feast

Jon, Daenerys, and Sansa eat in silence

Me: "Oh, God. He's between the two of them and nobody's talking."

Daenerys calls out Gendry for being Robert's son

Me: "Oh, God."

Mom runs to answer her phone

Daenerys makes Gendry Lord of Storms End

Me: "Awkward. He's like 'Uh... What the fuck?'"

Sansa gives Daenerys the stink eye

Mom: "Oh, she cannot stand her and Tyrion sees it."

Me: "Because she doesn't want to let Sansa keep the North."

Jamie drinks with Brienne

Mom: "Brienne doesn't drink."

Me: "She doesn't drink before a battle. Now it's after the battle. Everybody needs a drink."

Mom: "I need snacks."

Me: "Seriously?"

Tormund nerds about Jon, Daenerys gives a stink eye

Mom: "Uh oh."

Me: "She's looking at Jon and Jamie like she wants to murder them. Varys sees it."

Mom: "Mad queen."

Tyrion guesses Brienne's a virgin

Me: "Oof. That's embarrassing."

Brienne gets up form the table, Jamie follows her

Mom: "Ooh! Ooh! He's gonna go take care of this virgin thing right now."

Tormund whines to The Hound

Me: "Oh, God. The Hound's like 'get away from me.'"

Mom: "Oh, Sansa's gonna go talk to him."

Me: "Well, he helped her when she was with Joffrey."

The Hound: "None of that would've happened if you'd left King's Landing with me."

Me: "Aww. He wouldn't have let that happen."

Mom: "He would've protected her."

Shit gets rowdy

Mom: "Oh, God."

Me: "There's Gendry still looking for Arya."

Mom: "'Where's my honey?'"

Gendry: *almost gets shot with an arrow*

Mom: "'Oh, there she is.'"

Gendry pours his heart out to Arya

Mom: "Awww, do it!"

Gendry proposes

Me: "She's not gonna. She doesn't want to be a lady."

Arya: "That's not me."

Brienne tends the fire

Mom: "Oh! Bow chicka wow wow! She's in her casual clothes."

Jamie knocks

Mom: "Ho-ly. Shit!"

Jamie takes his jacket off

Mom: "Oh, he's taking his clothes off!"

Jamie keeps finding reasons to remove more clothing

Me: *clap, clap, clap*

Mom: *gasp* "Holy crap!"

She's been shipping Brienne and Jamie so hard all along

Jamie kisses Brienne

Me: "Daaayeeemn."

Daenerys and Jon

Daenerys: "Are you drunk?"

Mom: "Kinda."

Jon: "No." *stumbles*

Mom: "Yeah, kinda, Jon."

Daenerys flips her shit at Jon

Me: "Yup. Queenie's gonna stamp her foot and pout until she gets her way."

Brienne and Jamie

Mom: "Has he slept with anyone besides his sister?"

Me: "I don't think so, but maybe."

Daenerys, Jon, and Sansa bicker at the war table

Me: "Nobody knows what the fuck's going on with Jon and Daenerys, but they're making the war talk awkward."

Arya: "We need a word."

Mom: "They already know."

Jon: "I've never been a Stark."

Me: "He's still a Stark. Lyanna was a Stark."

Tyrion asks Jamie if Brienne and Jamie are staying in Winterfell

Mom: "Well, he can't go back there. They'll kill him."

Bronn shows up with a crossbow

Me: "Oh shit!"

Bronn tells off Jamie and Tyrion

Me: "Oh... I don't like this."

Bronn: "What's double Riverrun?"

Tyrion: "High Garden."

Me: "Oh!"

Bronn nearly shoots Jamie

Me: "OH! Oh, God, I thought that hit. Holy fuck."

Bronn exits

Me: "Jamie wants to kill his ass."

The Hound rides through the snow

Mom: "There's The Hound."

Me: "Hungover, probably."

The Hound and Arya are both heading to King's Landing

Me: "Oh my God."

Daenerys pets the dragons

Mom: "Oh that's right, the dragons gotta heal up too."

Me: "His wing's all tattered."

Tyrion talks to Sansa about Daenerys

Mom: "She's gonna spill it. She's so spiteful."

Me: "She's not spiteful. She's just learned to spot psychos pretending they're not psychos, and she sees Daenerys's psycho showing."

Jon asks Tormund to take Ghost North

Me: "Aww. He's not gonna have his wolf. I don't like this. He's saying goodbye to everybody!"

Mom: "He doesn't wanna leave anybody. Oh, God. He's gonna die."

Me: "This is all bad."

-

The Ship

Varys: "How many others know?"

Mom: "Oh Christ!"

Dragon gets gunned the fuck down

Me: "AHHHHHH! AHHH!"

I was screaming

Mom: "Shit, they all have them!"

Yuron starts firing on the ships

Me: "Fuuuuuck"

Tyrion blacks out

Me: "OH!"

Varys, Tyrion, and Grey Worm wash up and can't find Missandei

Me: "Oh no, did she make it?!"

-

King's Landing

Yuron says he saw the dragon sink under the waves

Me: "That doesn't mean he's dead..."

Cersei tells Yuron she's pregnant

Mom: "It's not his child!"

Me: "He doesn't know that."

Cersei: "If she wants to take the castle she'll have to kill hundreds of innocent people first."

Me: "Um... She'll do it."

-

Dragonstone

Varys asks Daenerys not to slaughter the city and Daenerys gives zero fucks

Me: "Mm-hmm. You backed the wrong horse, dudes."

Varys basically says that

Mom: "He's gonna take her out."

Me: "Tyrion's gonna have to tell her."

-

Winterfell

Brienne tells Jamie about Yuron's ambush

Me: "He's gonna go."

Sure enough

Brienne walks out to find Jamie saddling his horse

Me: "She's like 'really?'"

Jamie goes back to Cersei for some reason?!

Me: "Who the fuck wrote that? That makes zero sense."

Mom: "Absolutely no sense. She's gonna have him killed."

-

King's Landing

Mom: "She's got Missandei, and all her crossbow things."

Me: "She has like a zillion of them."

Kyburn and Tyrion walk to one another

Me: "This is so tense."

Kyburn spouts to Tyrion

Me: "Goddddd."

Mom: "He's gonna go talk to his sister."

Me: "Jamie thinks he can flip it. He thinks he can talk to her and flip it. That's why he's going."

Cersei has her archers aim, then drops her hand

Me: "What a bitch."

Daenerys glares

Me: "One thing me and Dany agree on."

Tyrion begs Cersei to surrender

Cersei walks over to Missandei

Me: "She's gonna kill her."

Mom: "She's gonna push her off."

Missandei: "Dracarys."

Mom: "Isn't that for the dragons?"

Me: "She's telling Daenerys to burn the city."

The Mountain executes Missandei

Mom: "Nooo!"

Mom: "Oh my God! Ugh. She just did it. She just killed her whole city. What the fuck?"

Me: "Well the two mad queens are going to kill the city."

[moczothe1st]

Let’s Play Fire Emblem IV: Genealogy of the Holy War, Part 30: Man, oh Man, oh Manfroy

Part 29

Welcome back to Fire Emblem IV: Genealogy of the Holy War.  Last week, we fought off like six armies all at once, and it was miserable, but on the plus side Hilda died. I think every game would be better if Hilda died.  This week, we finish taking her castle and… *sigh* And we regret it, probably.  This week, we start off mid-turn, so after moving most of my southern front up north toward the action, I end my turn and let the remainder of Hilda’s dorks take their shot.

… Why couldn’t they have gone down that easy last week, huh?!

Now, on our turn, the enemy is down to four dark mages with staves, and one dark bishop with a siege tome in the castle. I have Fee cut down one of the former…

And have Larcei and Seliph talk about love, because honestly I’m actually in no big hurry to finish this castle.

Larcei: I’m coming with you on this one!

Seliph: Of course you’re welcome to… but why?

Larcei: It’s odd… I’m actually a little scared…

Seliph: Odd indeed! If there’s one thing you’ve never been known for, it’s fear.

Larcei: It’s… I just…

Seliph: Shhh. I understand. Now come! After all, what could ever inspire courage quite like having you at my side.

(… Damn, Seliph, smooth like silk. You win a little more of my respect, bro.)

Larcei: Seliph…

This conversation gives Seliph +1 to his Strength; it was apparently supposed to be +3, but he was actually only one point away from his (oddly low) cap. Apparently Seliph only has a natural 25 strength cap! That seems weird considering his descent from Sigurd the Humungous.

And… sigh. Guess I should kill the stupid boss.

All right. Nothing left but sleep staves, and they can’t really hurt us. I have Fee and Altena purge them.

And now we have the problem dealt with. A little jumping around before I set off the next story segment; I have Finn zapped home, where he repairs and sells his Brave Lance. I’m going to have Fee buy it after we take Freege.  Sorry, Finn, but you’re kind of just not holding up; you lasted longer than I expected you too, but despite being decent on offense you’re just kind of fragile.  Oifey will also be benched here, I think, he can stay to defend Freege castle after we take it.  Thankfully…

… The game is polite enough to tell us where the next part of the chapter will be coming from. So I do spend a turn or two moving the kids up to this gate and ready to rock. Seliph?

Seliph: But I can’t help but wonder… are the children at Belhalla still unharmed? I pray they are…

Lewyn: Funny you should say that!

(That’s not really the appropriate response to dying children.)

Lewyn: We’ve got a visitor who’s got a bit of news on that front, Seliph.

(“I’ve seen… terrible things. Thank the gods I have no sister, for I fear I would never be able to look her in the eyes again.”)

Felipe: On secret orders from His Majesty, the abducted children were moved here to Freege for safe-keeping.

(Orders so secret that we never actually got to see Arvis give them in that whole scene where he was desperately trying to save all the children at Chalphy and failing, being immediately caught, and then getting cowed into submission by a man infinitely less powerful than himself. STOP TRYING TO MAKE ME FEEL BAD FOR ARVIS, GAME.)

Felipe: Rest easy, sire. They’re all hiding in the city’s abbey, and they’re all in good health.

Seliph: And all under Hilda’s nose, at that! That you’ve kept every last child safe in Hilda’s own city… color me impressed!

Felipe: Actually, sire… Princess Ishtar deserves your thanks. Without her generous aid given in secret, we could never have done this. No Imperial soldiers dared come even close to the abbey, on pain of the princess’s wrath.

Seliph: Princess Ishtar?! But why… why would she-

Felipe: Few people in this land are as kind and caring as Princess Ishtar.  

FEW PEOPLE IN THIS LAND ARE AS KIND AND CARING AS PRINCESS ISHTAR.

YEAH SHE’S A FUCKIN’ TREASURE.

Felipe: All along, the princess has toiled behind the scenes to aid our cause.  It was Princess Ishtar herself who ensured that every last child escaped from the bowels of Belhalla.

(“Then… how comes she’s… you know… literally banging the Devil?” “Technically he’s a ghost dragon.”)

Seliph: I see… at any rate, thank the gods for their safety. I’m certain everyone will be glad to know the children are in good hands. You have my deepest thanks, Lord Felipe.

Lewyn: Well, Seliph, that’s one job done. Good to see we’re finally getting results out of this mess.

(Hey, screw you man, I’ve conquered three quarters of the country.)

Seliph: And yet, Julia still eluds us… where could she possibly be?

Lewyn: The only options left now are Belhalla and Velthomer. It’s got to be one of those two.

Seliph: And Belhalla is where Julius awaits…

Lewyn: Yeah. We’ll need to find Julia first if we want to go anywhere near Belhalla. Without Julia’s power on our side, we won’t have a hope in hell against Julius.

(Again, not technically true, but you really should listen to him on this one.)

Seliph: But no matter what’s happened, Julius is still her brother. Will she even want to fight him…

Lewyn: … You’ll have to convince her.

(I mean, you’ve met Julius. It won’t be super hard.)

Ishtar: This will require that I leave your side, even for a while. I beg your forgiveness.

Julius: Feh.

Julius: Why the rush to get out there so suddenly, Ishtar? All the soldiers they could ever throw at us could never so much as scratch me. Why even bother with those maggots?

Ishtar: Yes, I know… but for me, there is no greater pride than being one of Freege’s great mages.

(“Saving all those children? Doesn’t even compare.”)

Ishtar: My parents and brother lie dead, and I cannot stand to leave their murderers to run amok… please. All I ask is a chance for vengeance.

Julius: It sounds as if what you really want is to following your family to death on a rebel’s blade! Are you so desperate to escape me, Ishtar?

Ishtar: No… nothing like that, Lord Julius. I love you. Nothing will ever change that.

Julius: Hmhmhmhmhm… I know.  

Julius: Very well! Fight if you must. I won’t stop you.

Ishtar: Thank you… now, I beg your pardon. Meng! Bleg! Mabel! We sortie at once.

(Oh god, we are really scraping the bottom of the name barrel this time. ‘Meng’?  ‘Bleg’?)

Julius: Now, then. I think it’s time we put an end to this sorry show. Deadlords, move out!  And order Arion’s unit to attack!

(… wait, what?)

So. You may recall I told you to remember this moment.

It was important for two reasons.

First: This is the moment the war becomes winnable. You see, Manfroy is not… really all that into Loptyr. Oh, he worships him, but it’s not really about loyalty so much as sadism. Manfroy hates the world, and every single human being in it. His overall goal in life is nothing more or less than to make humanity suffer as much as possible. But he’s generally pragmatic about it. He knew the best way to hurt humanity was to revive Loptyr, who possesses incredible powers and views humans as little better than food to eat and pets to abuse. This moment, right here, is the moment that Manfroy, flush with overconfidence in the presence of his god on earth and having enjoyed a long decade and a half tormenting the entire continent, finally makes a mistake. He lets his sadism overpower his common sense for the first time. And in so doing, he gives us a real shot.

Second: Because he’s still Manfroy, he’s a total fuckwad about it.  

Remember Ayra? Waaaaaaaaay back in Verdane, remember how we recruited Ayra. How we had to get to a castle to turn her non-hostile to us, only she was between the army and the castle and she was trying to kill us the whole time?

Yeah, that’s happening again. Only it’s Julia, our lil’ atomic vampire gatling gun trying to kill us. Of course she’s just as strong as she was when she was on our side, why would you even ask.  Oh, and just for fun…

Here’s the map of what we need to achieve.  The blue X is where we are. The red X is where we need to get to save Julia.  The ravenous piranha is Ishtar’s army, waiting to pounce upon us and tear us limb from bloody limb.  And to her right, marked by the douche, is Julius. You don’t have to fight him, and you in fact definitely should not because getting anywhere near him will also draw the Deadlords out to fight you, but of course has a siege tome now and will cheerfully wreck the shit of anyone who gets anywhere near him, therefore heavily limiting the space we have to move.

And of course, Julia will be trying to kill us the whole time, and we can’t fight back and risk killing her.

And hahaha, yeah, Arion will be showing up soon.  

This is not going to be any fun, is what I’m getting at here.

First thing’s first, let’s take a look at our piranha.  

Ishtar has taken yet another level in badass; her magic has gone up two points, skill by three, luck by 2, defense by eight, and resistance by one. And this time, she’s got an actual army with her instead of fighting us alone; three Snipers, three Heroes, three Sages, three High Priests with Fortify (of course) staves, and of course…. *snerk*…. Bleg, Meng, and Mabel.

They’re three identical Falcon Knights, both in picture and stats, so I’ll only be showing one of them. Despite the intensely crappy names, they honestly three ridiculously dangerous units. They all have Earth Swords, meaning any hit they land is going to heal them, and they’ll be hitting often what with that maxed-out Speed and solid 23 skill. And to make things worse, they all have the Nihil ability to prevent us from just shooting them down with arrows or relying on Astra to solve our problems.  

So! This is going to suck. A lot. But thanks to Ced being awesome, there’s an option I can take to make this a lot more manageable.  Lana sells her Silence staff, and he buys it…

And with his 35 fucking magic he can overpower Ishtar’s 32 Resistance to Silence her up to three times, basically removing Mjolnir from the equation for this battle. And Mjolnir is like… half of this battle’s equation.

I literally cannot believe I’ve never tried this before.  From here, the army moves forward, Seliph leading the way; he’ll be attacked by quite a lot of people here, but he’s a living iron wall of destruction, and the more of these people I can lure away from the main melee, the better.  So. End turn!

(*sigh* Must you, now?)

Arion: Chalphy’s fall to our blades shall be the first step to winning back our fatherland. Now, move in! Show these liberators one final defiance from the drackoknights of Thracia!

A solid enough start! We hurt one Falcon Knight, and didn’t take much damage in return.  And now that Ishtar is in range…  

Oh, that is delicious.  Now, my first goal here is to kill at least one of these three annoyingly fast pega-bitches, but I also have to get Altena (and yes it has to be her, of course it has to be her) down to the castle to intercept Arion.  I hate everything forever.

One down!  Let’s keep this train rolling and clear out some more jerks.

Two out of three ain’t bad!

Okay, I think that’s about all the damage I’m going to get done this turn.  And not bad at all, frankly, so I’m happy.  I have Lene dance Altena, and warp her home with Lana.

Ignore the pentagram. It’s a good pentagram. Down at the bottom, Altena equips Gae Bolg and flies to just outside Arion’s range. The rest of his buddies don’t matter at all, but I don’t want her to fight him. There’s a reason for this, of course. It’s unsatisfying, but it makes her happy.

The things I do for my kids, I swear.

End turn.  

… Huh. They don’t attack her? Or maybe they can’t damage her. I honestly am not sure.

*sniff*

I remember the last time I played this map.

I died five times on this battle alone.

And now it’s going better than the fight against the fucking Beige Knights.

I don’t understand what’s going on.

Altena: How could you be so craven?! How dare you place your vanity and pride over what truly matters!

(You tell him, honey!)

Arion: What do you want from me, then?

(God, don’t ask her that. This LP is not rated Adults Only.)

Altena: Take a good, hard look at Prince Seliph! Ask yourself, this: why is he still fighting? For whom is he out here day after day, setting his own suffering to the side?

Arion: So Seliph fights for justice, and I somehow do not? Is that what you’re trying to say?

(…. YES!)

Altena: Very well, Arion… if you won’t see reason, so be it. Come on. Kill me. End this. My… my life is in your hands. I die with no regrets.

Arion: A-Altena… very well. You can rest easy now. I get it. I was wrong… my mercenary days are at an end, and my final task is with Seliph. Wait… no. With you. I now fight for you, Altena.

Altena: Arion…

Yeah, it would have been neat if you’d done this a few maps ago, jackass, but Arion is on our side now. Or, well, sorta. He doesn’t join the army, but his unit becomes neutral and are programmed to stay close to Altena and be hostile to any Belhalla units that get near them. I know we all sort of wanted to kill him, but he still has Gungnir and I really just didn’t want to risk a screwup when things are going so well.  I mean, I’m not even gonna use him. At this point, letting him get near the enemy would likely result in him rushing Julius and dying, which sorta defeats the point. Let’s just end this; time to wipe out the remains of Ishtar’s unit.

And now, a special treat. Since Ishtar can’t fight, we get to see a conversation that even I have never actually seen.

(…. ‘Nothing but kind’.)

(Just sayin’.)

Ishtar: … I may be in the wrong. But I can’t turn back now. Forgive me, Tinni… please….

And thus passes Princess Ishtar of Freege. She died as she lived: getting nuked by her cousins. And without her leadership stars…

All right. Now, the rest of the army is going to stay right where they fucking are. Julia cannot be trusted to not kill herself, or more troublesome to not kill me.  The only people going forward are Seliph and Ares, who are going to go north across the forest, out of Julius’s range, and try to lure Julia into following them. Their resistance is tremendous, and they’re both on horses. Ideally she’ll try to kill them, fail, and be following them and unable to catch up until I can free her. This will take a few turns of nothing but movement because I will not be going anywhere near Julius.

Trust me.

She seeeeeeeeeees uuuuuuuuuuussssss…

Okay. There’s two things that could happen here. She’s either going to go east and cut us off, in which case we’ll be dodging vampire lasers the rest of the map, or she’s going to go north through the forest and we basically win the game.  Let’s see!

…. Bitch. Okay, straight west you guys! Hide on the healing church, you beautiful bastards. God, haven’t used one of those in awhile, with those fifty healers in the army lining up to zap everyone with staves.

Dammit, Loptyrians, I am trying to flee in terror from a small woman.

Okay. We can do this. Ares heals up, and all we have to do is clear out those priests and kill Manfroy. Go get ‘em, boys!

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Are you fucking kidding me.  

Of all the.

That.

I.

I.

You.

HOW.

What the!

NO.

………………

Well. You know all those times when I was questioning my good fortune? The moments where I was like ‘oh, man, I don’t trust how generous the game is being, bet it’s gonna screw me later!’ Well, that just happened.

*sigh*

End turn. If I survive this, I will be genuinely stunned.

Oh hey it’s as though the Hel tome is really easy to dodge and you should have dodged it all along. But here we go…

(How do you know that’s Manfroy? You’ve never met him…)

Manfroy: So I did. And so long as I live, my puppet she shall remain! Hehehehehe!  She’s every bit as helpless before my magic as her mother was…

Seliph: I should have known. If not for you, Mother… Gah! All of this misery… all these agonizing years… It was all your doing from the outset!

Manfroy: Heh… of course. Everything I’ve done has led to this moment: the revival of my lord Loptyr. And at last, it is so! Loptyr’s advent in the form of Prince Julius is complete, and darkness shall soon engulf the world. You cannot prevent it. Nobody can…

Seliph: Manfroy, you… Father’s grief… Mother’s despair… if not for you and your foul ambitions, none of this would have ever happened… Damn you, Manfroy! I cannot allow you to win! I will not! You’ll NEVER know mercy for your crimes!

Yeah, not the dramatic win I was hoping for after that great speech. But I guess I saw that coming.  Reset! I start off a little differently; Seliph and Ares park themselves on trees. With the 20% dodge bonus, they should have no chance of being hit by Hel, and very little of being hit by Julia. We need to clear out these Dark Mages before we go for Manfroy.

Better! This repeats for all of them; one actually dies because they’re forced to attack at close-range thanks to being blocked off by their own buddies, which is great.

Yeah, yeah.

He only does one damage. Seliph could have survived him with no problem in any other situation. I hate this game sometimes. On our turn, I have Ares and Seliph each clear out a mage…

Then immediately go hide in the woods again. I am playing this as cautious as humanly possible, honestly. Better to spend three turns killing mages than let the reset counter jump up above the number of updates.

The enemy misses again on their turn, because they literally can’t not miss. Two more deaths…

All right! That’s that for dark mages. On the next turn, Ares is going to park his butt on the healing church forever, and Seliph goes to fight Manfroy.

You stay out of this.

Now then. It’s time. It’s time to face Manfroy himself.  In direct combat. The enemy behind it all! The dark schemer who has given over our kingdom to the dark god.  And he…

Is a loser.  I mean, he’s not the worst enemy in the game. He’s okay. But he’s definitely no match for Arvis, or Ishtar, or… anyone with a holy weapon, really.  Which fits, really; his danger is his skill and intellect, not his power.  But considering he’s basically the final boss, it’s a little sad, still.

Seliph. Teach him some manners, bro.

And with two shots, he’s down to six HP.  End turn.

I miss the days when I was the one with the Julia Beams.

*sniff*

God. That is just cathartic to do. Now. With Manfroy off to Hell, where I’m assuming he will meet Hilda and strike up a whirlwind love affair, Seliph can take the castle.

Lewyn: That’s right, isn’t it Felipe?

Felipe: My liege concealed the key within his most treasured memento…. The circlet once worn by Empress Deirdre.

(HURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRK!)

Felipe: If we can find that circlet, sir, the Book of Naga is yours.

Lewyn: Deirdre’s circlet…

And that’s that! Ares runs toward the castle, with intent to lure Julia toward us. Of course she’s still hostile, why are you even asking? She has to talk to Seliph to get back to our side. Tee-hee, Fire Emblem hates you.

God, you are just like your mother. Seliph, go fix this please.

Seliph: It was Manfroy’s dark arts. He brainwashed you into his service.

Julia: Manfroy… that’s right, he caught me…

Seliph: Thank goodness you’re safe.  

Julia: Lord Seliph, I…

Seliph: It’s fine, Julia. I know. Lewyn told me everything. I’m sorry… I failed to protect you.

Julia: No… it’s fine. Don’t worry, Seliph. I finally know why I’ve survived for all these years. I know my fate… I’m fated to fight. I’ll never run away again!

Seliph: You’re right… This is the will of fate, tragic as it is. None can afford to cower or flee now. Until the bitter end, we must march on.

And with that, Julia rejoins the team. She’s just as strong as ever, barring one fact; she’s picked up Deirdre’s circlet, adding Renewal and Miracle to her list of abilities, which is a heck of an upgrade.

But not as good as the one she gets from reaching Velthomer.

Lewyn: It worked… it really worked! And there it is, the Book of Naga! It’s yours for the taking, Julia!

Julia: … Oh! How strange… it feels so warm. It’s almost as if I’ve known this book all my life…

And now, the game is over. See, here’s the thing… Julius is just as dangerous as before, if not slightly moreso. His stats are slightly lower than his first appearance where you are very clearly not meant to fight him, but he still has Loptyr’s game-breaking effect, and his ability list is now Wrath, Pursuit, Nihil, and Accost. So he can double most of our army, null critical hits and combat abilities, and gets a huge critical boost when his health drops below half. And of course, he’s on a castle and gets the defense bonus and health regeneration that gives. Basically, he’s borderline invincible. The only real option if you lose Julia is to have Seliph fight him, and poor Seliph can only do about 15 damage per turn (if he hits) some of which will then be healed.  While getting blasted in the face repeatedly, so you’ll need to get someone in to heal him between rounds, and they’ll very probably die to having Meteors dropped on their head unless you’re very lucky. And then there’s the Deadlords, who are just a pain.  

But if you do have Julia…

Yeah.

YEEEEEEEEEAH.  

Naga is the best weapon in the game. +20 each to Skill, Speed, Defense, and Resistance, instantly turns Julia into a hyper-fast, hyper-accurate, hyper-durable killing machine. And as a light magic tome, it has no disadvantage to any kind of weapon. And, of course, it negates Loptyr’s half-damage effect.  Your reward for the most annoying recruitment in the game is the weapon that ends the game. Big time.

So.  

It’s time to lay back and let Big J play us out, I think. I have her do the Arena, just for old times sake. Nothing even touches her.

Julia: Seven wins, gained two levels. +2 HP, +1 Speed.

About as good as can be expected at this point, honestly. And it…. Doesn’t really matter, you know? She heads to Belhalla, and Julius has no chance to hit her with Meteor, so he doesn’t even try.  The Twelve Deadlords rush up to meet her, of course…

They’re going to regret this. The Deadlords are named for the animals of the Chinese Zodiac, and each one has a different class and some very good weapons and abilities. They’re a dangerous group! Usually.  

One down, eleven to go. End turn.  

And then there were nine.

Sorry, seven.

Six of one, half-dozen of the other.

Fun fact, ‘Lepus’ means ‘Rabbit’. And ‘Dead’.

Well I’ll be! Someone landed a hit!  Too bad Julia did too. Four to go.  

I’m so bad at counting! It’s actually three. Congrats to Equus the Bishop on surviving a round with The Julinator.  But with that, none of the remaining Deadlords will actually take a shot at Julia anymore, so I’m just going to ignore them. It’s time for a family reunion.

(He isn’t wrong.)

Yes, that was a single round of combat. Julius procced his Accost skill and made the fight last an extra round. This… was not helpful to him.

Julius vanishes, the spirit of the dragon arising from the castle as the entire map shakes…

But it’s just bluster. Naga’s power has destroyed Loptyr’s vessel, and with its bloodline finally ended the dragon’s grip on this world is gone. Loptyr returns to whatever void it came from, and with the power that animated them gone, the few surviving Deadlords vanish.  

I’m going to cut out here, but no sense waiting a week, huh? So see you tomorrow for the epilogue, kids. I think we earned it.

Final Reset Total: 30.  Y... yay.

Epilogue

[darkling-er]

Hope’s Savior ( John Seed x OC ) | Part 3

Summary: Trinity-Hope Johnson finds herself in the middle of a holy war, leading the Resistance, while having a complicated relationship with one of the cult’s herald. And she thought her first case would be easy. Oh how wrong she was!

Pairings: John Seed/Fem!Deputy, John Seed/OC, Earl Whitehorse & OC ( uncle&niece ), Joseph Seed/Fem!Deputy ( kind of ), might add more later

Warnings: mild language, violence, eventually smut, use of drugs ( bliss and other, thanks to Sharky ), fluff ( does that even need a warning? ), manipulation, angst, mention of mental illness ( insomnia, depression ), mention of child abuse ( from John’s side ), torture, I think that’s it? I swear it’s not so bad!

Word Counter:  6113

Notes: The deputy is an animal lover so her first stop is Holland Valley. Totally not because she wants to piss off John first. Totaaaaally. I have no idea how walkie talkies work, so if I made up the “not holding down a button to speak” thing, just bear with me, okay? Also my OC, a gun for hire is in this chapter, because I love him and he’s a part of my Deputy’s life just as much as any other gun for hire. So I hope you guys will like him just as much as I do. ♥

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 |  Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | MASTERPOST for the others

Hope has to cover the sun with her hand, so she can more easily adjust to the sudden light. At least I slept for the rest of the night. By the look of it, it’s already past 8 am. She’s still sore and she’s sure her head will hurt for a couple of days, but after waking in Dutch’s bunker she doesn’t have to deal with that much amount of pain. The man patched up the bullet wounds on her shoulder, she noticed that while she changed into the fresh clothes.

She lowers her hand after a few seconds as she looks at pine trees surrounding her. Hope looks at the throdden, muddy path ahead of her and starts following it. Her radio crackles to life on her belt.

“Now listen up... if you’re gonna build a Resistance, there’s some things you need to know. There’s four ways you can go about this. First, you can liberate any hostages the cult has taken. These are good people who might just fight alongside you if you help ‘em. Second, you can destroy Eden’s Gate property that’s all over the place now. Hell, they built two shrines on this island alone.Third, you can tackle Resistance missions. There are a lot of folks out there waging their own war against this cult, and they could sure use your help. And last, if you’re really looking for a fight.. You can take on cult outposts that have popped up across the county. Liberating those places will give the Resistance solid footholds to push back against Eden’s Gate.”

Hope follows the muddy path and pushes down the talk button and she’s glad she doesn’t have to hold her fingers on it to keep talking, like with her previous radio.

“So basically. I have a shit ton of work.” She jokes light-heartedly. “And here I thought I could get a nice massage and a coctail while fighting the peggies.”

Dutch makes a sound that could easily be mistaken as a grunt, but it turns into a short laugh.

“Keep the humour, kid. Folks will love that... or hate it, depends.”

She smiles to herself as she stops for a second and looks at her compass, wondering which way to go. The man speaks again to her, helping out her with just that.

“I’ve got cameras set up all over this island. I’ll keep an eye out for anything useful. For now, you head south and take out any cult shit you see.. and help any folks in need, would ya? Dutch out.”

She takes another glance at her compass and she presses down the button on her radio, so Dutch can’t hear her. She follows the path to the south, not even after a minute she hears voices. She crouches down in the long grass, hiding from sight as she approaches. A man is on the ground, his hands are tied behind his back, he’s on his knees, crying. Hope looks at the people that surround him. There’s only two of them. She can take them out if she’s smart.

Hope was never a powerful girl. She’s short, only 5′2, and her muscles aren’t good for fighting. But she’s swift on her feet and she knows how to dodge an attack if needed. She can throw a few powerful punches too, but that’s not enough to knock someone out.

She looks at the pistol in her holster. That’s too loud and she would rather not shoot anyone to death. But these people showed how devoted they are to their Father and the Project. They would happily fight until they are dead. They wouldn’t spare her life, that’s for sure.

She sneaks up behind one of the peggies and snaps their neck with a quick move. As the woman falls to the ground, dead, Hope launches herself on the other one, who looks up at her at the last second. She grabs the back of his head and brings it down to meet her knee. Also breaking the man’s neck in the process. The more you do it, the more you’ll get used to it. Just don’t think about their names... or if they had any family... Fuck...

The man on the ground looks up at her and she flashes a wide smile at him as he speaks:

“Thanks for saving my sorry ass.”

Hope cuts the man lose with one of the knifes she finds on the corpses of the peggies.

“Protect and serve... That’s my motto.” She says with a smile as she remembers the mantra and tries not to think about the lives she already taken. She buries that down, deep into her mind and decides not to think about them until the whole cult has been put down.

“These looney fanatics are out of control. If you want to protect yourself, I think there’s a prepper stash near the boathouse. Should have some good gear squirreled away.”

Hope nods and looks at the man before starting to walk.

“That’s a good idea, thanks. You just keep safe, try not to run into any of the peggies.”

She takes out her map and searches where the boathouse might be. Hope looks southwest to her and stuffs back the map folded into her pocket.

After reaching the boat house and following a paper’s instructions, clues how to get to the stash After trying to open the door, she looks around and decides to dive into the water, that way she can enter the boathouse. Who cares about getting their clothes wet, right? It’s September, but the weather is warm and everything feels like they’re still in the middle of the summer. She turns on a generator, once she enter’s the boathouse and takes the keyes that are hanging on the wall, near the door.

“Of fucking course! Every person locks themselves out in this county?” She remembers back to the trailer that she and Burke entered and how the door was locked and she had to jump out of the window to get to the truck.

She opens the door and walks to the shed, where a bunker door is in the ground. There’s a water pipe near it and she turns it. When she opens the door she waits for the water to pour out of the bunker, through the pipe she just opened. Then she walkes down the still wet concrete stairs, watching her every step so she won’t slip. There’s a doorway, but it’s boarded with wood so she searches for something to break it through. She finds a pipe and she easily breaks into the place.

“Hell yeah!” She smiles, excited as she grabs a compound bow with arrows and some more ammo.

Earl took her on hunts since she was able to carry a bow. Of course she first practiced on dummies and target signs. She learned quickly though. Silence weapons were always her thing.

After taking the bow she searches through the island and manages to destroy two shrines. The weird green smoking things are explosive as hell and she finds that out after sending some bullets into them. The first one she blows up from far, but the second one she approaches first. She thinks about what the green smoke must be but as soon as she enters that smoke her vision blurs with white dots dancing before her eyes and she quickly retreats. She blinks fast trying to get a clear vision again and after that she blows the shrine up. She thinks for moment and picks up her radio from her belt. She pushes down the button and helds it up to her mouth.

“Hey, Dutch! What the hell is that green smoke coming out of the shrines? I stepped into it moments ago and I felt really weird. Is it some kind of drug or what?”

The radio crackles, meaning the man is about to answer her question.

“That one you have to be really careful about, kid! The Bliss, that’s the shit Faith Seed is using all around the County. It’s in the river, in the shrines and crates. Everywhere almost. It’s a drug of some kind that makes you see shit if you take too much of it. Crambles up your brain, turns you into an Angel, even.. That’s what Faith calls those poor bastards. Dead in the brain, ready to kill anyone in sight.”

She scoffs and makes a forced laugh.

“Wow, Tinkerbell made some updates. I guess you don’t need faith, trust and some pixie dust...You need drugs. Of course.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking ‘bout, kid.” Comes an answer from the older man. “But if it was an insult to Faith Seed, I’m good with it.”

Hope rolls her eyes with a smile and pushes down the button on her radio as she puts it away. She frees another man at the docks and then clears out an outpost, the Ranger Station. She doesn’t even think about all those peggies she kills now, but she’s sure it will be on her mind later that night when she’ll try to sleep.

“Shit kid. I’m impressed. There’s more fight in you than I thought. You got a real shot at setting up this Resistance... Next step is clearing up the radio signal: My CB’s on the fritz... I can’t get a hold of anyone off this island. The radio tower near the south shore must be busted. You think you can take care of that for me?”

Hope frowns with a light laugh:

“Ummm.. Don’t mean to be rude, but do I look like I know anything about fixing up radio towers?”

She looks in the diraction at the radio tower, that is peaking out of the pine trees not far from her.

“Nooo... But it’s not completely busted. You probably have to pull a lever and that’s it.”

“Probably?”

“Well... I don’t know. Just take a look at it, alright? We won’t be any help if we can’t even get a signal from the others.”

Hope sighs and looks up at the tower.

“Okay, fine... But if I get electrocuted or something you will have to search for my body and bury me. I ain’t want to be eaten up by squirrels or something.”

She takes her leave to the tower and as she get closer to the thing she considers if she has a fear of heights or not. Without a parachute she’ll surely fall to her death if she slips on the ladders. She starts climbing up and as she looks down she can see the fog surrounding the island.

She sighs and hopes this won’t be her only job: fixing radios all over the county. As soon as these thoughts take over her mind her radio crackles to life.

“I know what you’re thinkin’ and no. I ain’t gonna have you climbin’ towers all over the county for me, so don’t worry... also, try not to fall from up there.”

After climbing the last ladder she doesn’t look down. She sees and pulls the lever and thanks God she didn’t die from it. She pushes the button on her radio.

“It’s done, Dutch. Hopefully it’ll work.”

She doesn’t wait for an answer as she’s already on her way back down.

“Hey, Deputy! I’m getting a strong signal now... Oh, shit... Deputy, I’m pickin’ up something new outta Holland Valley. It’s a broadcast from John... Head back to me, you need to see this!”

Back in the bunker Hope looks at the tv screen. In the left corner of the screen the cultist symbol can be seen. Fucking assholes even have their own tv channel?

A man can be seen, his back turned to the screen, but Hope can already tell from the long jacket he’s wearing that it’s John Seed. He turns around with a smile and his name appears on the screen. So fuckin’ dramatic!

“We are all sinners. Every one of us.” His voice is gently and it doesn’t fit the profile of the man in her head. The guy dropped bombs from a plane and now he looks calm, gentle, even kind and hot as hell.

“You. Me. Even the Father knows deeply of sin.” He huffs lightly like a little laugh, clearly fake, Hope thinks. He motions with his hands before his chest, a gesture the deputy doesn’t know what to think of. The screen now changes to another camera angle, so John’s body is now fully seen as he starts to walk around. Hope can see a red carpet, with white paint the seven deadly sins written on it.

“It’s a posion that clouds our minds. What if I told you, you could be free from sin? What if I told you that everything you ever dreamed could come true? What if I told you that everything could be overcome if you embraced an idea: That freedom from sin can come from the power of just one word....”

When Hope sees in the background her co-worker, Hudson she grabs a hold of the first thing that is in her reach, which is Dutch’s forearm. She starts searching for Earl or the others in the crowd of peggies, but the camera zooms on the Seed’s face. He helds out his hands, up to the sky and there’s a huge sign ‘YES’. The crowd of peggies chanting that one word loudly, clapping and cheering. The man holds out his hands, in the manner of trying to make them all silent. But his smug smile shows how much he enjoys this. A peggie takes Hudson to John and Hope takes a look at the woman. Her makeup - which Hope was jealous of just the previous night back the station - is now a mess. She’s clearly have been crying. Her hands are tied together and there’s black duct tape over her mouth.

“Yes, I am a sinner.” John walks around Deputy Joey Hudson, holding onto her arms as the woman shuts her eyes, clearly uncomfortable and even afraid of being close to the youngest of the Seeds. “Yes, I wish to be unburdened. Yes, I must be... redeemed.”

When she takes his hand to Hudson’s throat Hope tightens her grip on Dutch’s arm. The stroke John gives the woman doesn’t seem hurtful, but God it’s still sick and Hope would gladly punch that smile off the man’s face. As the man lets go of Hudson, Hope releases Dutch’s arm as well.

“If you are watching this, know that you have been selected. You will be cleansed. You will confess your sins, and you will be offered atonement. Don’t worry, you don’t have to do anything. We’ll come for you. Welcome, to Eden’s Gate!”

After watching that awful commercial Hope decides that it’s best if her first destination will be Holland Valley. Not knowing where Earl, Pratt and Burke is, this is her best shot trying to save one of her partners. Also Duth pointed out a few places on her map. Other people need saving as well, he said. And it’s true. Her first step into Holland Valley and she’s already being shot at. She changed her bow to an AR-C assault rifle with a silencer and a scope at Dutch’s bunker. She also got a small backpack: for medkits, some food and water. Just the essentials.

Her first destination is Rae Rae’s Pumpkin Farm. A distress call has been made that the farm has been attacked by the cult. When she arrives at the farm there’s no one that’s left alive. Some peggies on the farm, singing to a song coming from a radio... Peggie music, she realizes as she listens to the lyrics. Could they be more dramatic? This is ridiculous at this point.

“Join us so, we all can sing along... Oh, John! Bold and brave...” A Peggie sings with the radio and Hope has to fight the urge to laugh out loud.

Is this guy serious? He makes a fucking commercial the day after the attempt to arrest his brother. He has signs all over the place and he even has his own song?!

Hope rolls her eyes as she looks through her binoculars, looking for more peggies. She shoots them down with her gun and approaches a cage, with Boomer in it. At least that’s what the distress call said the dog’s name was.

“Hey there, little guy!” She says with a smile on her face as she grabs the chain on the cage when she finds a paper stick on the cage.

‘Cult Orders. This dog’s a champion. Send it to our stronghold across the street and have it shipped North. We’ll let my brother decide how strong it really is. - John’

Hope tears the paper down and angrily makes a small ball of it. She read about the Judges in Dutch’s bunker and she won’t let Jacob have this dog, that’s for sure. She opens Boomer’s cage and she pets the dog that is now wagging it’s tail.

“Hey, buddy! Do you want to come with me? You’re a champion, huh? You want to kill the bad mens?”

The dog barks happily and licks her face and Hope giggles.

“Who’s the good boy? You’re the good boy!”

Then a couple of peggies come in by trucks. Hope readies her weapon and Boomer growls angrily at the cultist. With the help of the dog and her AR-C they take out the peggies fast. She’s been out for half a day and she’s already covered in dirt and blood. But she’s glad she doesn’t have any new injuries. Also she didn’t even have time to think about her headache, completely forgetting about it.

Remembering John’s note on Boomer’s cage she makes her way towards the outpost across the street. This is also the first time she looks at the hills of Holland Valley and she stops in her tracks:

“You’ve got be fuckin’ kidding me!” She looks at the Hollywood styled sign saying one word: ‘YES’. The sign is an eyesore, just like the Father statue in the Henbane River. She picks up her radio and reaches out to Dutch.

“Is this John Seed guy crazy? I mean he has to have some kind of kink with the word ‘yes’, right? I mean... jesus.” She doesn’t even know what to say about that sign.

“Ah, I see you spotted John’s sign.” Says Dutch on the other end of the radio.

“Well, yeah, kind of hard not to look at it too... I will make sure to never say yes in front of him. I ain’t want to be apart of his kink.”

“That’s for the best, although try to avoid talking to him at all. Because if he does speak to you, he’ll mark you and that’s not good for anyone. Keep safe, kid! Dutch out.”

She turns off the radio and shakes her head in disbelief as she makes her way to the outpost with Boomer. They clear the place after a long gunfight. Most of the guys she’s able to kill before alerting the others and when that happens Boomer is there to help her. Although she feels like she might need more weapons later on. Or another human being with a gun would be helpful too.

After she takes over the Gardenview Packing Facility entirely she makes an open call for anyone to hear. Well, an open call to the Resistance, mostly.

“It’s the Deputy speaking. The Gardenview is peggie free again, so come on guys and take good care of it.” She says delightfully and ends the call.

She sits down on top of a crate as she looks down at her watch. It’s already 3 pm and she didn’t even eat anything since her dinner back in Missoula. She opens her backpack and grabs a cold bacon and bread that Dutch was nice enough to share with her on her ‘trip’. She starts eating, swinging her legs from the crate and drops some bacon for Boomer to eat.

“You deserved it, buddy! Saved my life a couple of times today.” She talks to the dog who is happily eating his lunch.

When she finishes her meal it’s doesn’t take long for the Resistance members to drive in to the Facility. She decides it’s safe enough to travel further, but before she walks away with her dog a guy shouts after her:

“Hey, Deputy! Thanks for taking this place back! You could use some gears though, right?”

She nods, thinking about how her ammo is running low. She walks towards the guys truck who is now unpacking his stuff, probably for sale.

“Just pick whatever you want... Of course you have to pay for it, though...”

She rolls her eyes, but smiles with a ‘Yeah, I figured’. She takes some ammo for the AR-C and she looks at how much money she gathered while traveling for this short time. She’s not as broke as she thought, considering she cleared out a prepper stash back at Dutch’s island and she pocketed every dollar she found on the corpses of peggies.

A rifle immediately catches her eyes. An MBP .50 with a suppressor cylinder and a long range scope.

“How much for that beauty?” She asks, though she knows the answer for it.

The guy looks at the weapon then back to her.

“How much do you have?” He asks as he raises a brow. Hope empties out her pocket on the pickup truck. The guy looks at it, counting and then looks at Hope.

“You can have it... You freed this place, after all, and I’m not the one who started the Resistance. You deserve it, put it to good use and kill some peggies.”

She smiles and thanks the guy as she swinged the rifle over her shoulders. She feels a lot safer now, that’s for sure. She looks at her map and searches for Fall’s End. The place Dutch told her about: Pastor Jerome and Mary-May needs help there, as she recalls. It’s quite a long journey though and she really needs a car first. Her clothes aren’t working as a disguise, she realized that by now. Somehow they managed to take a photo of her: though she has no idea how they printed it out so fast and scattered it across Holland Valley. ‘Sinner’. They don’t even know my name, she realizes. Of course, her uniform missed her name tag and she never had the chance to introduce herself. Not even to Dutch.

Maybe it’s for the better, safer. Maybe it’s for the best to leave her name behind for a while, until she can cope with the whole situation of this ‘Holy War’. She doesn’t want to be Trinity-Hope Johnson, when she kills all of those people. Yes, they are peggies and yes they would kill her without a second thought. But she’s not a monster. And she’s sure as hell doesn’t want her name to be stained by all of those cultists’ blood. It makes sense in her head. Right?

Hope and Bommer follows the main road until the end of the lines of the apple trees. Then at the first possible road to the south they go off the main road. She thinks it’s a short cut to Fall’s End if they follow the roads to south. Though she doesn’t consider how quickly the sky begins to darken. By foot it really is a long trip. She feels exhausted and by Boomer’s panting she’s sure he feels the same way. She looks at the map and then her watch.

“We should find a place to sleep for the night, right?” She asks the dog, talking to herself at the same time. “I think there might be a cabin not far from here. Just a couple of minutes, maybe.”

Boomer loyally follows his Human, as they make their way towards the cabin, hoping there isn’t any trouble waiting for them there and hopefully a bed and some food as well. She almost misses the place, but a wooden sign stops her. ‘Roberts Cabin’.

“Thank God! Come on Boomer!” She readies her AR-C just in case as they approache the house surrounded by the forest. A couple of targets are outside of the cabin. It looks cozy from where she stands and more importantly it looks empty.

There’s a sign right next to the door ‘The Roberts Cabin’. There’s a single wooden chair before the terrace As well as two chair on the terrace. It looks just like a hunting cabin by the looks of it. Made for someone who likes to sleep in the forest while it’s hunting season. There are two wind chimes decorating the roof of the terrace. Oil lamps are the sources of light for the cabin. Wait a minute....

She wants to look around for cultist again when she can feel a point of an arrow on the back of her neck.

“Tell your dog to stand down, or I’ll shoot right through your head, darlin’.”

It’s a deep voice of a man, and she know by the tone of it that he means buisness.

“Buddy, stand down.” She calls out to Boomer who is already growling and ready to attack the unknown man. Well shit, this Resistance was very shortlived, I guess. I can go to retirement early. “What now? You’re gonna call your buddy John first or are you going to put me out of my misery yourself?”

After she finishes her sentence she can feel the arrow leaving her neck.

“Turn around, slowly.” His voice seems confused and Hope turns around extra slowly making sure she doesn’t get an arrow through her brain by accident.

She looks at the man in fron of her. He doesn’t wear a peggie shirt, but his growing beard and longish hear could mean he’s a part of the cult. Hope noticed how everyone in the cult seemed to be growing beard. The man looks at her face and steps back, lowering his compound bow.

“You’re that Deputy, ain’t you?” He asks but he doesn’t look apologetic that he almost killed her thinking she was a peggie.

“Yeah, and I gather you’re not with the cult either, right?” She asks, folding her arms in front of her chest.

“I’m not with anybody, darlin’.” He says and walks to the terrace of the cabin. “I’m not going to be a part of this craziness. So you can take your dog and get the hell out of my property.”

She scoffs, but she doesn’t move an inch. She’s not ready to go to Fall’s End by foot and she and Boomer needs a place to stay for the night. She then looks at the pickup next to the cabin.

“You have a car.” It’s more of an ask then a statement.

The man turns around and looks at the pickup.

“No, I have a unicorn. What do ya think?” He rolls his eyes, clearly annoyed that she’s still talking to him.

“I could use a ride... And a place to stay. Boomer and I were on the road for the whole day...”

The man opens his door and is ready to close it on them.

“Not my problem.” He tries to slam the door, but Hope sets her boot in the way. Her patience is gone and she doesn’t care how but she will get them inside the house.

“Listen to me asshole! I was woken up by a call at 2 in the morning just to be in a chopper crash. Had been chased in the forest, shot at by peggies with guns and trucks, even bombs with John Fucking Seed’s plane just to be almost drowned in the river. Woken up in a Bunker only a couple of hours later, had been told that all of my partners, including my only family is being held by the Seeds. I freed and island, I helped get the radio tower back, I freed Boomer and a couple of outposts. I am tired, hungry and I won’t have my dog sleep outside. So fuck you, we’re staying!”

She shouts the last words and shoves him out of the way, Boomer following her inside with a wagging tail.

She walks toward the table that has a plate of fried chips on it and with a long moan she starts eating. The unnamed man closes the door and looks at her annoyed, his arms folded before his chest. She looks at him while eating and she feels her anger go away.

“I’m sowwy buf when I’m hunwy I’m an awwhole” She talks with her mouth full and she sees the guy shake his head but she also sees a small smile appearing on his face.

She sits down at the table and looks at Boomer, who lays on the floor close to her leg, panting.

“I won’t kick you out, you and the pup can stay for the night, but you’ll leave tomorrow.” He says as he walks toward a cupboard and grabs a bowl and fills it with water, setting it down on the floor to Boomer. He starts making a mess as he licks from the water thirstily. The man scratches behind his ears and stand up to look at Hope.

“So.. What’s your name?” He asks.

She swallows before talking:

“Dep.”

“I don’t care much about titles, darlin’.” He shrugs and waits. She looks at him considering she didn’t even introduce herself to Dutch properly. And this man had no buisness helping her until she marched into the house.

“Trinity-Hope Johnson. But I prefer Hope over Trinity. That sounds like I’m some kind of hippie child.” She says finally.

“Hope... I’m Adam, Adam Roberts. Not that it’s important to know each others name. Considering we won’t be seeing each other.... well... I guess never.” He smiles but somehow his smile even looks like he’s annoyed by everything. Maybe he is. Maybe he has an allergy: ‘Allergic to everyone and everything. I’m a rebel because it’s cool and I’m stuck as this emo hipster kid.’

She stuffs some more chips into her mouth:

“I could still use a ride, though.”

“Absolutely not.”

“Why?” She looks at Adam and points at him with a fried chip. “You rather help the cult?”

“I told you. I won’t pick a side. I’m perfectly fine here and until someone attack me, I don’ care what the cult or the Resistance is doing.”

She shrugs and throws some chips to Boomer, who happily greets the treats.

“I guess you would rather have John’s man carve Sloth into you. Right?”

He scoffs.

“Let them try. I had a fight with John once. I won.”

She raises an eyebrow and smirks:

“So you had a fight with him. Guess that means you don’t like him. Yet you wouldn’t help out taking Fall’s End back just to piss him off.

Adam raises his hands to stop her from talking, and tilts his head as if he heard it wrong:

“Are you telling me? You want to take back Fall’s End? You” He laughs and Hope frowns, clearly offended.

“Yeah. And what?”

He laughs out hard and looks at the young girl amused:

“I don’t mean to be rude, darlin’. But you don’t seem like you could even approach Fall’s without being shot on sight. You might have had your luck until now. But you’re just a kid, nothing else.”

“Excuse me?!” She raises her voice looking angrily at the man.

“I’m just saying that you’re going to get yourself killed.” He shrugs with a smug smile on his face.

“Well... Won’t know until I try, am I right?” She scoffs and gets up from the table.

There are four beds in the cabin and she decides to choose one of the four and sleep in that. She doesn’t want to undress before the man but she also doesn’t want to sleep in the same clotches that she was in for a whole day. Sweaty, bloody and dirty clothes.

“Don’t you... have any shirts that I could borrow?”

She asks, less angrily then moments ago. He rolls his eyes, but he’s still smiling. He walks toward a wardrobe and gets an american flag top shirt out of it. It looks like a woman’s shirt.

“You know, it’s cute how you get angry. You look like a dwarf trying to be scary.”

Adam gives her the shirt and turns around, crouching down next to Boomer, scratching behind the dog’s ear. The pup’s tail start to wag, and it hits the floor with a low. Tomp...tomp...tomp...

Now it’s her turn to roll her eyes at him which he can’t even see. She quickly gets out of her bloody clothes and gets changed. Only standing in a top and underwear, but she quickly jumps into bed, covering herself with the thin blanket.

“Nice one. Go for my heights, that will probably make me angry.” She uses sarcasm against him, as she calls for Boomer and pats the bed.

The dog happily gets up from the floor, leaving the man crouching and jumps on the bed to lay down at Hope’s legs.

“If I were you I would sleep. Who knows if you survive tomorrow, right?” He says and his tone is a lot more serious than before.

Hope wants to say something back, about ‘Have some Faith’ or something like that but her eyelids quickly close and she’s off to a dreamless sleep.

In the morning when Hope stays in her american flag top and puts back on her camo pants and boots she gathers some supplies. Water for her and Boomer if they get thirsty on the road. She takes some apples and sandwiches with her as well. Her rifle lazily hanging from her shoulder, her pistol in the holster on her thigh. Radio ready to take any calls from anyone.

Boomer follows her excited to where they are going next as they open the door. A deal was a deal. A night at the cabin, then goodbye forever! But as she onto the porch of the cabin Adam calls out to her, with a voice like he’s already regretting his actions:

“Wait... I’m going to give you that ride.”

She looks back at him, with a wide smile on her face.

“Really?”

He sighs as he holds his bow in his hand, closing the cabin door behind him:

“Yeah. So get in the car, before I change my mind!”

She almost gallops to the passenger seat and opens the door to the backseat for Boomer. The dog gets in the truck, Hope closing the door behind him

They are on the road for a minute or so when Hope asks her question:

“Why did you change your mind?”

He sighs and rolls his eyes.

“Maybe I’m just being nice?”

She laughs and shakes her head:

“Nah!”

He scoffs and looks at her for a moment than back to the road:

“See? That wasn’t very nice.”

Clearly not getting a real answer from the guy Hope turns on the radio. If there’s something she really hates are the silence car drives. She either needs a conversation or music.

‘....You can sing all through the night. Preach till the morning light. Some cannot tell wrong from right. Jacob is gonna come and set those sinners free. Jacob is gonna set those sinners free....’

“Fuck no.” Adam cahnges the channel on the radio quickly.

“Wait... that was actually good. Like Cash.”

She changes the channel back to the cultist radio as Adam groans next to her. She starts to hum along the tune as the man next to her looks like she just killed his mother.

“Cash is king. This is garbage.”

She doesn’t responds but starts to sing along with the verse, it’s a really catchy song:

“See the non-believers by the path, non-believers by the path, non-believers by the path! Jacob is gonna come and set those sinners free.”

Adam shuts off the radio and she groans:

“Oh come on, this one is actually great! I heard the John one that was pretty bad.” She laughs, remembering the cheery song going while she freed Boomer.

The car starts to slow down and Adam lookes ahead, not caring about the topic anymore.

“We’re here. Get your guns ready.”

Hope looks ahead at Fall’s End and the smoke erupting from it. She looks at the man next to her.

“So....?”

He knows what she’s going to ask and interrupst her.

“Yeah, I’m coming with you. Let’s check out the place, see how many peggies we have to deal with.”

A/N: John is coming in the next chapter and from now than a back and forth game starts between the deputy and him via the radio. Ehehehehe

Tags: @onl-you