#there were some more reasonable responses I just chose the more unhinged ones cause I found them funny hfgdfkg | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

yandere-sins · 3 years

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Stares

Horrortober Day 5: Disturbance “Nothing can interrupt us now.”

I will admit I wrote this one way too late into the night. I should go to sleep yikes :’D Enjoy!

Warnings: Yandere, Body Horror, Kidnapping, Molestation, Harrassment, Sexual Innuendos/Actions Characters: Sukuna x Reader

It was rare to see the King of Curses calm and even a little approachable.

Not that you liked seeing him at all, but you preferred it this way than any other. Ever so often, he peeked out of Itadori Yuji’s face, taunting you, belittling his host. However, you were just glad to get through with your work that day, teaching the boy the necessary theory he had to learn. You’d be gone before you had to deal with the host or the curse inside of him, just like every day. Routine, that’s what Nanami called it. Routine would benefit all of you, but you still hadn’t come around to like what you were forced to do.

Morally, it was wrong to call the boy a curse. He ate something cursed, and now he was beyond screwed, but still… Whenever you saw him, pure survival instinct ran through your veins. You wanted to defeat him, end this miserable life, but you weren’t allowed. Sorcerers weren’t supposed to teach curses, just kill. But you were torn between your orders and duty, looking at what was sitting in front of you.

Asking other sorcerers for their opinion on the matter, and you were faced with the same responses. The same struggle and conflict you were facing, except, maybe, Gojo, who seemed to be unbothered by what he dragged into your holy halls. However, the most unnerving thing that came up in conversation was how often Sukuna showed himself in your class… but not in the others. Given, they did see the casual third or fourth eye, or one mouth too many. Still, even if the others were unnerved, they chose to ignore, while you were the only one to actually have spoken to the king—though it was no honor.

“Brat, the teacher’s staring.” Instantly, Yuji’s attention shifted to the extra mouth on his cheek and then to you, expecting you to say something. You quickly caught your composure, not having realized you’ve been staring - probably in disgust - at him, almost feeling bad. Clearing your throat, you picked up your book again, shaking your head in denial before continuing to monotonously read the text inside of it out loud. Sorcerer history hadn’t been your favorite subject either, but you were stuck with it, unfortunately. Yuji was diligent enough, but even while you read, you couldn’t get your mind off the threat in front of you.

Especially not when long, clawed fingers gripped your book by the spine, lowering it with surprising force.

“No, you’ve been staring. There’s no denying it, Sorcerer, spit it out,” Sukuna grinned at you cheekily, having temporarily taken over your real student.

“I was trying not to vomit looking at you,” you snarled back, slapping his hand away that he retracted in fake hurt. “Bad liar,” he called you before the marks suddenly faded, Yuji going back to being himself.

“Ah, sorry about that,” he muttered apologetically like so many times before. And you sighed, assuring him it wasn’t his fault.

»»————————

It wasn’t his fault either when Sukuna cornered you in one of the hallways around the school. Being cornered by strong two arms did not give you the butterflies that all these novels always tried to sell. Granted, you flinched pretty hard, but once you were face to face with him, your anger far outweighed your fear. He was scary, no question asked. Sukuna could destroy you with a flick of his finger. But somehow, naively so, you didn’t believe he would. Something about ‘he could have, but he hasn’t’ made you bold apparently. Stupidly so.

“You’re not supposed to be here,” you hissed, and he rolled his eyes. Yuji’s body looked stupidly wasted on him, the boy being such a ray of sunshine in contrast to his evil counterpart. Sukuna didn’t become him. His attitude didn’t.

“You’ve been staring at me,” he repeated. Why was the topic so important to him?

“So what? What is it to you?” you returned snidely. Lips curling into a grin, you felt like you had actually humored him. Not the direction you wanted to go with the King. “Well, I wanted a good look at you…” he mumbled, his eyes driving from the shirt on your collarbones to the shoes you were wearing slowly, noticeably, and… lusty.

“...too,” he finished his sentence before licking his lips.

“Disgusting,” you whispered dryly, staring at him perturbed, and Sukuna chuckled at your obvious rejection.

“Well, I have what I wanted.”

Before you could repeat, he disappeared, leaving behind a slumping student of yours, and you cursed the King of Curses quietly, dropping everything to had in your arms to support Yuji. “Asshole,” you mumbled, and for a brief moment, you thought you heard him chuckle again, but you couldn’t be sure.

»»————————

It was him. He was planning something all along, and you knew it.

But no one could see it since this plan almost exclusively involved you.

“Shrivel and die,” you told him through gritted teeth, pushing at his chest as hard as you could. Sukuna was undeterred, pressing you against the old chalkboard and nibbling on your earlobe. Why did no one believe you when you swore up and down that he wasn’t just a quiet bystander? That he indeed was trying to do something—or someone?

“I do love a filthy mouth,” he sighed, making you want to throw up just from the implications alone. Even with your elbow between you, there was no movement. The other sorcerers had told you about Yuji’s strength, but you didn’t think you couldn’t handle it. Apparently, however, you couldn’t, and it was infuriating. While Sukuna was doing as he pleased, you decided on a different approach, opening your mouth to scream.

Finally, it caused some reaction in him, his head recoiling at the jarring sound, but before long, your lips were captured with his, a fight breaking out between your mouths. He was trying to silence you efficiently with his tongue in your throat, the mere thought of kissing a student repulsing you, and you were biting at his lips which didn’t seem to bother Sukuna at all.

“Someone will come,” you reminded him fiercely as he broke away to give you some air.

“Silly,” he only commented before kissing you again. You were hammering at his chest, trying to make your disapproval evident, but it was to no avail. Sukuna wouldn’t budge. Only when he, mercifully, allowed another breath, you screamed again, using your palms to defend from his face closing in to shut you up. The weight of his body was pressing you into the wall painfully, but realizing your powers simply wouldn’t show no matter how hard you tried was even worse. Did he have some kind of ability that stole your energy from you? Was it fear that blocked you from using it? Were you afraid?

You were.

It was indeed silly, even if it was painful to agree with Sukuna. You never feared for your life, taking every day and mission as it came. But you were scared now because of the monster in front of you. You had been right: you should have killed him when you could. Stupid! Absolutely stupid to keep around!

Even you understood that it wasn’t death you feared. You feared Sukuna’s presence and the effects it had on you. How defenseless you were suddenly and how, even though he always disappeared in the end after annoying you, he just didn’t seem to let go of you now.

“Scream some more,” he taunted, and you weren’t going to object. Immediately, you put up the fight again, feeling your lungs clench when you robbed them of all the air to get some help. But nothing happened. “I like it when they struggle,” Sukuna laughed, crazy, madly, victoriously. As if he won a war you didn’t know about.

“Come, open your eyes! Look where you are!” he encouraged you, grinning from ear to ear. Confused, you looked around, seeing the same old classroom that you always had when teaching Yuji. The sight slowly began to shift, fog collecting at your feet and the walls moving unnaturally under your gaze. You’ve been scared before, but it was nothing compared to what you felt as everything shifted.

You hadn’t realized it.

Not for one moment did you know he activated his domain, something no one had been able to explore until now. It was different from what you expected, much more vast and deadly. But you also saw the remainders of the classroom, and you wondered how much of it was taking up the actual reality. Horrified, you looked around, now knowing your screams wouldn’t echo for no one but you two here. You always thought you were a decent sorcerer but maybe… maybe you were nothing at all. At least not in the eyes of Sukuna.

“Finally,” Sukuna sighed, satisfied and seemingly exhausted by effort you didn’t know he was making. “Nothing can interrupt us now. I just needed you to lower your guard.”

“You…” Your mumble was met with deafening silence. Not even Sukuna’s breathing made a sound in this space, and you immediately felt claustrophobic in the pitch black that encased the realm. His realm.

“I was nice. I waited. Those… manga said it was proper in these times, though, I don’t care for them. But you kept staring at me as if you were trying to kill me. Do you know how hard it was to wait? A king shouldn’t have to wait-no. I shouldn’t have to wait for you when you are coming on to me.”

Blinking a few times, you looked back at him. Perhaps, for the first time, you were truly meeting his gaze, always finding a reason to not look at him directly before. But not anymore. Now you were indeed looking at him, not remembering those times he said you stared when this was the first and only time you really saw him. “It’s been too long that I had company. How nice of you to offer yourself up to me~”

“I never did-” you tried to argue, but you were swept into another kiss, flailing in his arms as you feared falling. Endlessly. You could no longer discern where the realm started and ended. “You’re mine now,” he growled, unhinged.

“I will devour you, Looker. It’s punishment for not welcoming me sooner. There’s a lot to make up for.”

You’ve never seen Sukuna calm before. Because if what you had witnessed was what you called calm, it had been because he was waiting for the right moment. The right moment to pounce, and to your misery, it was now. Stares could kill, people said. It was true, you found out, as you killed yourself with it by making the King of Curses recognize you. Though, you wished you were dead.

You merely killed your freedom with your actions, as there was no way Sukuna would let you have that ever again after you piqued his interest unwillingly.

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aitarose · 4 years

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PROLOGUE | READ CH.1 [UNEDITED] HERE

PAIRING: Zuko x Waterbender!Reader [fem]

PLOT: Princess Y/N finds herself falling for the young Fire Nation prince with the shy smile. As their feelings grow, the childhood lovers face unimaginable challenges together.

TIMEFRAME: Winter 90 AG

WARNINGS: angst, separation

WORD COUNT: 3.4k

A/N: i’m rewriting the chapters i currently have posted as my writing has improved since i first created this series. the prologue is now a mix of the original work and the leaving the north extra.

SERIES MASTERLIST

Crystal clear streams of water circled in repetition around the young Northern princess. Droplets of water failed to rain down onto the stark icy ground as her control was near to perfection.

Y/N’s arms swayed at her sides, her mind fully concentrated on the actions that she was igniting in her vicinity. Soft hums escaped her lips, finding joy in the calming nature that waterbending brought her.

The waning moonlight sparkled around her, giving her a ghostly look and causing her to look like a lost phantom in the wind. The smile on her face was haunting, the look being of pure and utter bliss.

Her footsteps tread lightly, barely making a path on the snow covered hill. Y/N looked to her left amidst her dance, spotting her shadow against the white powder and grinned at the sight.

All that she could see was her silhouette, which was oozing undeniable joy and freedom. Y/N was at one with her most true self—the cause of that true self being the element of water.

Waterbending was the definition of Y/N’s comfort zone. Having the skill mastered at such a young age was unheard of, but it was also the thing that she loved most in the world.

The members of the Northern tribe commonly said that Y/N’s ambition would be the end of her. That her drive for success and perfection would be her great downfall—but in the six-year-old’s mind, it was the one thing that put her at ease.

That and her favorite person in the entire world. Her favorite person who was just drenched in the formerly suspended water. The person who was glaring at her with the most bothered expression Y/N had ever seen.

“It’s freezing!” Yue cried out, wringing out her hair whilst Y/N laughed, falling to the ground in a fit of giggles. Both girls were drenched in water, their formal attire beginning to stick to their bodies in the cold air.

The baffled expression on Yue’s face gave Y/N more joy than the waterbending itself. It wasn’t uncommon for Y/N to give her half-sister a hard time, but at the end of the day Yue loved her, no matter how far her antics were taken.

“Oh, so you think this is funny?” Yue raised her eyebrows, placing her hands on her hips in overall amusement. She opened her mouth wide to give Y/N her next dig. “I’m not the one who looks like a sea sponge!”

Y/N scoffed as she pulled at her frozen clothing, blowing the straying strings of hair away from her clouded eyes. A disgusted look dawned her face in retaliation to Yue’s attempt at an insult.

Yue was naturally kind, nearly incapable of showing bitterness and resentment. Even when her words were in good fun, Y/N hated to see her better half act in any negative way. It simply wasn’t her.

Y/N, herself, on the other hand was the polar opposite of Yue. She was hard on the surface, holding her head high, rather than cowering in fear. She knew that the world wasn’t all good or all bad as she was a realist.

The princesses rivaled each other in every way, but also found true balance in the fact. Yue’s reserved nature versus Y/N’s boldness made them the perfect pair.

However, when they disagreed, though that rarely ever happened, Y/N was always the last to apologize. She’d never admit that she felt inferior to Yue. Their inborn rivalry was unspoken but also undeniable.

As Yue would always have the thing that Y/N wanted most in the world. The one thing that was stolen from her due to her birthright. She’d always be the black sheep of the North without the unconditional love of their people.

The unconditional love that they only showed Yue. Yue who was her half-sister—meaning that half of Y/N wasn’t native to the North, but native to the nation that they feared the most—the Fire Nation.

While Y/N and Yue continued to bicker, chasing each other around in circles and lapping the snowmen that they’d created together, their serene playtime was interrupted by a pair of large arms wrapping around Yue’s waist.

The white-haired girl squealed in surprise, her arms flailed chaotically as Arnook chuckled, watching his two daughters with love in his eyes. As Yue settled in his embrace, he rubbed Y/N’s shoulder gently.

“Spirits, you two feel like icicles.” Arnook’s gaze become concerned. He held Yue in his outstretched arms, inspecting her for any bruises or scratches. “Your mother was worried sick, Yue. You can’t run off without telling us first.”

Yue pouted, pointing at Y/N in exasperation. “Y/N wanted to come out and show me some of her new waterbending moves! I’m sorry, father. We were only having fun.”

Y/N let her head drop as Arnook gave her a disappointed look. He’d told her many times that he didn’t want Yue involved in the progress of her bending as her mastery would also be the reason behind her departure.

The royal chieftain nodded his head, gesturing for Y/N to follow as he carried Yue in his arms back towards the palace. The waterbender trudged behind her father, envying her sister’s state of content.

The walk back to the capital was silent, the only sounds being Yue’s faint snores drifting off in the wind. Y/N’s eyes were on the ground, occasionally lifting to watch her father show his love for her sister.

Her footsteps were light, barely leaving marks of fresh powder on the palace floor as she and Arnook gently closed Yue’s bedroom door. They’d each given her a kiss on the forehead before leaving her to sleep.

Arnook sighed, running a hand down the back of his braided hair. He looked down at his little girl, the one that he’d never meant to have but promised to always protect.

His mind was scrambled, thoughts flying everywhere with no place to settle—whilst Y/N’s soul was unhinged. It was as if it was drifting away, not able to settle in a single place since it never belonged.

“What’s going to happen to me, father?” Y/N whispered, her body shaking in anticipation for what was to come of her fate in the morning. “Why do I have to go away?”

Fear consumed Arnook’s emotions. Fear for the safety of his tribe, the fate of his daughter, the future of his people. He didn’t know what would become of his eldest child—but whatever did happen to Y/N, he knew that it was entirely his fault.

She was only a child. A child that was to be forced to become a slave to the Fire Nation, another pawn in their game to win the war. Arnook had been given six years to raise her under the peace treaty.

The peace treaty that ensured that his eldest waterbending child would be the punching bag of the Fire Nation’s royal family. The treaty that prevented her from having a loving and nurturing childhood.

When he’d first made the deal with Fire Lord Azulon, Arnook hadn’t thought twice about the fate of his future child. He’d agreed for Lady Homura to be sent to the North to mother the infant, not wanting it to be of full Northern blood.

His thought was that if the child was half of Fire Nation genes, he wouldn’t feel so close to it. That he wouldn’t grow to love it as his own, since it wouldn’t truly be a part of his people.

However, what he didn’t take into account was the sight of her beautiful blue eyes and the goodness that radiated from them. At first glance, Arnook knew that he’d do anything to take back his promise—that he’d do anything for his firstborn daughter.

And when she became ill with the sickness that Yue would later contract at birth, he and Homura immediately took her to the spirits—thanking them graciously when the ocean lent its power to extend her lifeline.

Their time as a family was something he’d never forget, but have to learn to live without as their time was up. They didn’t have a sparring moment, not a day left to bask in the glory of being together.

The six years had gone by in a flash, the Fire Nation navy was arriving at dawn, and Y/N and her mother were to be whisked away at once—but at least Y/N was lucky enough to have one final laugh with her sister, making snowmen and dancing under the moonlight.

With her question having remained unanswered, Y/N turned away from her father and sadly left the hall, opening the door to her own bedroom in a hurry to avoid any more of the depressing mood.

She nestled herself beneath her covers, wrapping the blankets around her shivering body. Her mind was restless, insomnia overwhelming her exhaustion and keeping her awake until morning.

Morning which had come far too quickly. Y/N had done her best to ignore the callings and worrying that came from her mother. All she wanted was to run away, to be alone and at peace with her bending wherever she chose to rest.

But Homura had other plans. She needed this transaction to go smoothly, her wish was to make her daughter’s life relieved of the immense stress. She wanted Y/N to be a child without the heinous responsibilities that had been thrust upon her.

So, as they said their final goodbyes, Homura watched Y/N’s expressions. She watched how her daughter put on a brave face, how she shook her father’s hand rather than giving him a hug.

It was a saddening sight to see. A mere child, a six-year old girl, giving up her entire world to please a man who put his honor over his own family. A man who was letting his flesh and blood enter the lion’s den.

However, in Y/N’s mind this was perfectly normal. She was content with the interaction, considering the love Arnook had once shown her had diminished over the years.

This was their final moment as father and daughter. A moment of silence and respect for the act they were following through with. There was no love in their exchange, but apologies for the future of their bond.

Their bond that would inevitably be broken by the influence and hardships that the Fire Nation would teach Y/N. After all, a child has the most influential brain of any living being.

The minute Y/N and Homura stepped foot on the navy ship, they’d become members of the rivaling nation. Members of the nation that threatened lives and good fortunes.

But a second before boarding the militant boat, Y/N paused to wave a goodbye to her sister who’d been calling out to her in agony. Yue’s cries could be heard over the crowd’s roar, despair ringing in the breeze.

Y/N’s gaze met Yue’s tear-filled eyes. She pursed her lips into a sad smile, giving her an acknowledging nod, and turned away—disappearing in the vast sea of Fire Nation soldiers.

The heat was indescribable, differing greatly from the cold and sullen air that Y/N was used to. The sun was clear in this part of the world, no clouds or mountains blocking its natural light.

Beams of gold reflected off the towers of the palace and the top of the soldier’s helmets. Everything appeared to be shiny, sparkling, and new in direct relation to the power the nation held.

Not to mention that the only visible color was red. Red tapestries of frightening men, crimson artifacts lining the shelfs, torches filled with waning fire hung from the walls—it was all so intimidating.

Homura was shaking with fear beside her daughter, clinging onto her arm tightly. She hadn’t been to her home country since the talk of her daughter’s conception, choosing to reside in the North rather than face the shame of her deed.

Y/N squeeze her mother’s hand, sensing the nerves that were radiating off of her body like the plague. She looked straight ahead, showing Homura that confidence was the only way to handle the situation.

Despite being the age of six, Y/N had more courage than the average man. She was truly an enigma of her people, of both the Fire Nation and the Northern Water Tribe.

“It’s going to be alright, mother.” The young girl’s face went stoic, all emotion disappearing from her features. Homura would’ve been concerned had it not been for the little finger taps on her palm.

The guards that had been leading them into the palace opened the doors to the grand throne room, leading to the Fire Lord. The mother and daughter pair walked side by side, stepping in synchrony.

They stopped their strut at the large throne, bowing deeply in respect to their new leader, knowing that his policies were to be far different from those of Arnook’s.

Azulon was seated far above the rest of the room’s inhabitants, that being of a woman and a stern man, a girl around Y/N’s age, and a bearded general who was sitting respectively in the corner.

“Fire Lord Azulon,” Homura’s eyes rose from the floor to Azulon. Her lip quivered in anticipation for whatever it was that he would throw at her. “We are honored to be in your presence.”

The older man laughed maniacally, his placid expression turning into a sneer. Y/N noticed the coldness behind his amber irises and the apathetic look in his steely glare.

“Homura.” He looked down his nose, disgusted at the sight of her pleading face. “How humbling it must’ve been for you, a Lady of my nation, to become nothing but a mistress for a water tribe savage.”

Y/N’s head shot up in anger as she noticed her mother flinching in retaliation to his comments. She opened her mouth to speak, thankfully being interrupted by sparse giggles coming from the other child in the room.

The waterbender’s eyes narrowed at the girl, noticing how she presented herself. She was obviously important, the vanity that she expressed was evident of itself. Y/N could only assume that she must be the infamous Princess Azula.

While Y/N found frustration in Azula’s amusement, her father, Ozai, was entertained. He seemed to be used to his daughter’s sociopathic tendencies. He waved his hand aimlessly at her, causing her to quickly quiet down.

“Calm now, Azula.” Ozai gestured to the woman sitting next to him, causing her to stand obediently and approach Y/N with ease. “We have some more terms to discuss, without any children present.”

Homura let go of Y/N’s hand, her daughter hanging on as long as she possibly could to show her support and love. She frowned, leaving the throne room, wishing that she could stay and comfort her frightened mother.

However, there was an unspoken comfort in Ursa’s presence. Something that Y/N had failed to feel in all of her brief time in the Fire Nation thus far. It was obvious that Ursa was unlike any of her companions.

They swiftly made their way past the various guards and tapestries in the interior of the palace, entering a sunlit garden filled with a vast array of fire lilies and turtle ducks.

“Come sit, my dear.” Ursa took a seat on the ledge of the fountain, patting the spot next to her. The long sleeves of her robes dipped into the water as she welcomed Y/N with ease.

The waterbender happily obliged, already feeling comfortable with the woman that she could now call a friend—her first friend that she’d made in the Fire Nation.

As she sat, Y/N took Ursa’s hands in hers, noticing the sopping fabric dripping onto her lap. The girl slowly began to separate the water from her soaked clothing, the beads of dew landing in the streaming fountain.

Ursa watched in awe, admiring the natural skill and passion Y/N displayed in her bending. She’d never seen waterbending in person, but she could only assume that it was a beautiful art by the way Y/N was delicately performing it.

“Thank you,” Ursa whispered, the warmth in her heart growing solemn as she realized what would become of Y/N’s skill and purpose. “You have a kind soul, Princess Y/N.”

“But as long as you remain in this palace, the future will not treat you kindly.” Her brows furrowed, sympathizing with the struggles Y/N would come to face. “My husband expects you to be an opponent that matches Azula’s skill.”

The light behind Ursa’s eyes went dull as she recalled all of the horrible and dishonorable things her husband had done throughout their marriage. “I only wish that I could protect you from the pain that he’ll cause.”

Y/N shook her head in retaliation, a hardened look dawning her face. She’d grown up hearing stories about Azulon and his dangerous son. She knew what they were capable of, yet she wasn’t afraid. She couldn’t afford to be afraid.

Her stoney gaze locked with Ursa’s one of sadness. They held their stare for a moment, a mutual understanding spoken between them. A grim smile eventually rose on the woman’s lips, before taking notice of Y/N’s eyes.

On the left laid a beautiful dark blue iris, similar to the depths of the dark ocean and the strength that it represented—and on the right, was a dim white in comparison to the stunning blue.

The waterbender’s mismatched sight was a direct result from her illness as an infant. A direct result from the borrowed power of the ocean spirit, La, that was still inhabiting her body.

It was infatuating, the allure of Y/N’s eyes was of nothing that she had ever seen before. A spark of hope rose in Ursa from her new knowledge, a belief was born that perhaps this girl could help this world become good again.

Perhaps Y/N could help her own children become good, truly good despite the influence of their father. Azula was already nearing evil, but Zuko—Ursa knew that her son was better than that.

“Mother?” A faint voice rang through the courtyard, startling Ursa and Y/N and causing them to jump apart. The princess’ gaze searched her surroundings for the owner of the voice, landing on a small boy.

He looked to be her age, perhaps a year or so older than her. She knew he had to be Prince Zuko, there was no other explanation to the way he was carrying around a woven basket full of bread like he owned the place.

“I asked the servants if they had any leftovers for the turtle ducks, and they gave me this whole stack!” Zuko exclaimed, the excitement was noticeable in his voice as he watched where he stepped.

He opened his mouth in preparation to express his happiness to his mother, before his eyes met Y/N’s. Zuko froze in place, analyzing the girl and her appearance.

It was well known that the arrival of Lady Homura and her daughter was earlier that morning. Zuko had skipped out on the first meeting, having dreamt up a million other things to do than meet another snobby princess.

But as he saw her for the first time, Zuko felt somewhat of a connection. It was unexplainable in words, the feelings so intricate and immense. There was just something about her that Zuko couldn’t put his finger on.

Y/N herself was having a similar realization at the sight of the prince. Rather than noticing his entire appearance, she settled on the color of his eyes and how different they were to that of his father’s.

The amber in them reflected off of the water in the fountain, shimmering in the sunlight that bounced off of the cherry blossom trees. She could tell that he was the black sheep of the royal family as his eyes held something that no others did—they were kind.

“You must be Princess Y/N.” Zuko calmly said, setting down his basket in front of her and offering her one of the loafs. “I’m Zuko. Would you like to feed the turtle ducks with me?”

Y/N smiled, her first genuine smile in the entirety of her time in the Fire Nation, and nodded, taking it in her palm. She moved aside so he had a seat on the ledge, feeling complete in his presence.

“I’d love to.”

NEXT: CHAPTER ONE [UNEDITED]

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wonda-cat · 3 years

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You mentioned rewriting that one analysis post on Tommy’s revival stream and I’d really look forward to it! I never got to read the full og post and that’s the only place I saw these takes. Especially the one about the afterlife being too depressing. It’s not even just about Tommy, the implication that even if every character is safe and happy by the end, this is their inevitable fate is messed up. It’s not “a neat subversion” it’s just depressing and doesn’t add anything.

Hey, anon!

I sorta decided to not rewrite it? I feel a bit differently about the essay in the end, although I still believe in most of my points. I’m also just not nearly as passionate about it as I was when I wrote it (I finished it in a single sitting, which was... interesting.) However, yes, the afterlife stuff still bothers me just the same, as well as the odd changes to Wilbur’s characterization... post mortem.

But—just for you, anon—here’s the entire meta-analysis essay anyway, with some minor edits to the stuff I don’t agree with anymore!

My Many Narrative Issues with Tommyinnit’s Revival Stream

I want to preface this by saying that I dearly love the Dream SMP and understand it isn’t exactly comparable to other mediums like TV and film. With this being the case, most criticism against it is generally in bad faith or strange in foundation. Complaining about streamers for bad acting is the best example that comes to mind.

These aren’t professional actors. Most have never acted in this sort of setting, or even at all. Quite a few have admitted to never roleplaying before. Which is why it’s warranted to praise Tommy, Dream, Wilbur, Ranboo, and others when they deliver stellar performances. The same applies to criticism of music choice, dialogue delivery, focus, tone, etc.

However, one such category I cannot overlook is in regards to its writing. The writing of a story is its entire foundation. It encompasses many things—conflict choice, character development, themes, and morals. The author creates the blueprints for the architect, who then expresses the story with light, sound, color, pacing, and music. It is in its execution that we see if this connection is made or broken.

The reason I find poor writing mostly inexcusable is because it is one of the most available skills to practice and perfect. I don’t mean to say that it’s easy, I mean to say it is something anyone can attempt to cultivate. Whether they do it well or not depends on their methods and experience. If anyone can self-publish a novel and be criticized online for its quality—and even compared to the works of Mark Twain—then I find critiquing the writing of the Dream SMP to be perfectly reasonable.

However, since the Dream SMP script is a set of loose bullet points, tearing apart dialogue and scene continuity—which is nearly all improv—is rather useless. It doesn’t exactly have a clear focus as the plot plays out. The characters talk in circles until they hit the story beat required, and then they move onto the next. Thus, when criticizing it, one should generally critique grand events and narrative-specific shifts, more so than small-scale character interactions.

Which brings me to my main point: The broad narrative choices taken in Tommyinnit’s most recent livestream, ‘Am I dead?’ may lead to disastrous writing pitfalls in the future.

I’ll be outlining each of my issues below, in hopes of creating a better understanding as to why I feel this way.

This might become quite lengthy, so please bear with me for a bit.

Tommy’s relationship to Wilbur has flipped. This change is jarring and seems out of character.

Tommy and Wilbur’s friendship is rather complicated. While Wilbur does care for Tommy immensely, especially during the L’Manburg Revolution and the Election Arc, his mental spiral during exile put a massive strain on their relationship as a whole. Wilbur brushed off Tommy’s feelings and wants, while clinging to him and pushing everyone else away. He was simultaneously distant and suffocating.

Tommy, on the other hand, has an unclear view of his mentor. Since the beginning, and even long after Wilbur’s death, Tommy held him in especially high regard. He saw him as a brother-figure and a wise leader. He followed what he said and did everything he could to impress him. Yet, Wilbur still hurt him while the two were together in exile.

When speaking of him, Tommy tends to flip infrequently between remembering Wilbur the way he was before his mental decline and thinking of him as a monster. Both of these images conflict with each other, but they weren’t nearly as extreme as what Tommy described Wilbur as when he was revived from death. The fear Tommy displays to Wilbur is beyond intense—it feels as if the audience may have missed a month’s worth of character development.

This can make sense, especially since it was stated that he’d spent what felt like two months in the void. However, this shift is still deeply at odds with Tommy’s previous impressions of Wilbur, which is both disheartening and confusing. The fact that Tommy would agree to stay with Dream—his abuser and murderer—over his past mentor is simply head-reeling. It paints a very different picture of Wilbur’s character, somewhat conforming to the fandom’s ableist impression of him—the idea that Wilbur is insane and irredeemable, and always will be.

It also ignores Dream being the driving factor in Wilbur’s downfall, as well as the double-bind deal with Dream which required him to push the button, no matter the outcome. Others have pointed out that Tommy may be lying to get Dream to bring Wilbur back, and there’s compelling evidence for that. For one, Tommy and Wilbur’s conversation seemed uncomfortable, but it was certainly nothing like Tommy implied. (Unless this fear comes from something Wilbur said off-screen.)

Tommy also begged Dream to not bring him back multiple times over, which he should know would make Dream even more tempted to, simply because he likes seeing Tommy in pain. Tommy is also a known unreliable narrator. He may be making Wilbur out to be worse than he is by accident (even still, I’d argue this is a bit of a stretch.)

However, there are some issues with this theory. Tommy offered himself as payment to Dream if he chose to let Wilbur rest. This is a deal Tommy knows Dream is extremely unlikely to refuse. Tommy is what Dream has coveted all this time. If Tommy genuinely wanted Wilbur back, he would not offer this. This sort of compromise is Tommy’s greatest nightmare—something he would only do in response to his friends being threatened or his home being destroyed.

To add, Tommy is not great at lying. Unless he was taught by Wilbur for those two months* in the afterlife, there’s no chance Tommy would be this good at it. Thirdly, Tommy is terrible under pressure. He uses humor to cope. When he can’t, he cries and shouts and spills his heart out. While cornered, Tommy will tell the truth about anything, especially if Dream casually debates killing him again, just for fun.

For now, it’s too early to tell how the relationship shift will play out. In the grand scheme of things, this issue is rather minor.

Season three’s writing is needlessly bleak. The portrayal of the afterlife is a nightmare. There is no rest, not even in death.

I adore the Dream SMP storyline in its entirety. I believe the first season is fantastic, and while the second season has some narrative clarity issues, I enjoyed it just as much. Although, I would argue season one had a more concrete understanding of its Hope-Conflict balance.

To briefly explain, the Hope in stories are its ‘highs’ and good moments. These appear when a character the audience is rooting for is narratively rewarded. They happen during character building in the text—it’s the downtime and peace that allows for connection and relatability. It’s a moment for the viewer to breathe easy.

The other half is Conflict, an obstacle in the story that gets in the way of the main characters’ goals, beliefs, and motives. These are the ‘lows.’ They give the narrative focus and weight. They make the highs feel even higher. They establish consequences and force the characters in the story to change in order to adapt and overcome them.

I bring up the Hope-Conflict balance because a traditional hero’s journey would have an appropriate amount of both. Their highs and lows are generally equalized, as the name suggests. However, this balance has been awkwardly skewed in the latter half of season two and in the current plot of season three. To clarify, it is perfectly reasonable, and even common, for some stories to tip the scale more to one side.

But a common mistake for amateur writers is to create their stories as either hopelessly dark to cause the audience continuous distress for the sake of distress, or to keep everything entirely conflict-free for most of the plot. What do these both have in common? They each make the story boring and predictable.

Season three has taken this concept and thrown a monstrously heavy weight onto the Conflict side and flipped the scale so hard it has crashed through the ceiling. The viewers are hardly given time to find any joy in Tommy’s character, as he’s thrown into yet another abusive situation, just barely after his first narrative reward. The world is painted as relentlessly violent and traumatic.

Every person Tommy meets is morally grey, unhinged, or out to hurt him. Everything most of the characters love is taken from them by those in positions of power. Ranboo cannot even grieve properly because it scars his face. Puffy, Sam, Ranboo, and Tubbo all blame themselves for what happened to Tommy.

The audience watches lore stream after lore stream with the same depressing tone (with the exception of Tubbo’s, but I assume that’s unintentional.) Tommy is revived after being brutally beaten to death by his abuser, surrounded by all of his greatest fears. The afterlife is revealed to be akin to inescapable torture. It’s a colorless void that wraps the individual like fabric.

Time moves thirty times slower within. There’s nothing—nothing but the voices of others who’ve passed on before him. Dying in a world already devoid of happiness takes the characters to a place worse than hell. When a narrative delivers unfair suffering to the entire cast without a moment of joy to speak of, the story will feel simultaneously overwhelming and pointless.

Why watch characters suffer when there’s no light at the end of the tunnel? What happiness could they strive for when we know they’ll never get to keep it? How can I be satisfied with a good ending, if I know that an afterlife too terrible to name is what awaits them, truly, at the end of their story? Death isn’t even a white void that offers rest—it is eternal torment.

Obviously, it isn’t a good message to send by making the afterlife seem like a quiet, perfect place or an escape from pain. But making it an unspeakable anguish which awaits, assumedly, every character who will die in the future? I deeply hope Tommy was only being an extremely unreliable narrator.

More likely, I hope the place Tommy was taken to was a Limbo of sorts, not an end-all-be-all destination for everyone.

The degree of Tommy’s narrative punishment continues to escalate, to an almost absurd degree.

Tommy is one of the most tragic characters to exist in the storyline. He was sent into war at a young age and experienced two traumatic events during it. He was exiled by the newly elected leader and witnessed his mentor Wilbur spiral and break down with paranoia. Tubbo is executed publicly in front of him. When expressing rightful anger at the person who murdered him, he’s beaten nearly to death and never receives an apology.

Schlatt dies right in front of Tommy, after his initial refusal to hurt the ex-president. His brother-figure and mentor is killed in assisted suicide on the same day his nation is blown up. His best friend exiles him from his home for the second time. He routinely self-sacrifices to protect his country and those who live there. His most treasured possessions were taken from him and he was called selfish for trying to retrieve them (although his methods were self-destructive and volatile.)

He was pushed to the brink of suicide after being relentlessly abused and isolated in his exile. He was horrified when he thought he was responsible for drowning Fundy. After making an objectively good decision to stand by his old friends and change for the better, his country was obliterated by the man he once idolized, his father-figure, and his abuser.

He was left scattered and without purpose for many days. Then he fights against Dream and loses, while also reliving his trauma. He watches Tubbo almost die at the hands of someone he once thought was his friend. He doesn’t tell a single person about what happened to him in exile. The day he tries to sever his connection to Dream and heal, he’s trapped with him for a week, surrounded by everything that terrifies him.

He threatens to kill himself, speaking about his own life as if it were an object—something to hold over Dream’s head. He blames himself for everything bad that’s ever happened to L’Manburg and his friends—internalizing a mentality as a scapegoat for everyone around him. He is forced into the role of ‘hero’ despite the title being unfair and distressing to him.

As if that weren’t enough, he’s then beaten to death by his abuser and spends what feels like two months in an afterlife that is worse than hell. When he returns, his senses are excessively heightened. Dream can cause him excruciating pain, just by pinching him. He can send Tommy into an instant panic attack, just by raising his voice.

The punishment Tommy’s character receives is a thousand times worse than everyone he has ever met, or ever will meet. And it shows no signs of stopping, as Dream now has control over Tommy’s very mortality. Tommy now fears the slightest damage and feels as if he’s losing his best friend all over again. He is also forced into a position where he has to kill Dream out of necessity, to protect everyone he cares about.

Characters need fitting punishments in relation to their actions. Not always, but in order to be satisfying? Yes, they do. It is preferred that a main character deal with unfair situations and difficult conflicts, but this is borderline torture p*rn. Putting Tommy in these distressing and abusive situations on repeat and punishing him for doing objectively moral or healthy things is exhausting to watch.

To quickly add, I find the general insinuation of Tommy going to hell distasteful, especially considering the contents of his storyline. I know this may be hard to believe, but Tommy is one of the most moral characters in the plot, besides Puffy and Ghostbur. He’s also the only character, followed by Ranboo, to recognize that they can be wrong and make mistakes. He changed himself in order to heal and be a better person. He was in the process of paying people back for the things he’d stolen.

He’s learned to be hard-working and less violent through the guidance of Sam. He has apologized to everyone he’s ever hurt (with the exception of Jack Manifold, because that man is allergic to communication.) He puts himself in harm's way to protect others. He doesn’t set out to purposely hurt anyone. He goes out of his way to make connections with people and maintain them, even if others don’t reciprocate.

He’s hopelessly optimistic, despite his outwardly bitter façade. He loved so much and put meaning into the smallest things. The thought that a person like him—a suicide and abuse survivor—would go to hell after being beaten to death by the man who took everything from him; it makes me sick to my stomach.

The only thing more morbid than Tommy’s afterlife being different than everyone else’s, is the concept that everyone will end up in this same eternal torture, no matter what they do. Take your pick: Tommy is sentenced to anguish until the end of time for no reason, or everyone will receive the same disturbing ending, regardless of their actions.

The narrative weight of Ranboo’s character is potentially out the window.

For the past few months, I’ve watched all of Ranboo’s lore streams faithfully, curious to see what role he would play in the future. His ‘hallucinations’ of Dream seemed to be sowing the seeds for a plot that has Ranboo taking the fall for every single insidious thing Dream has done. It would also be a tragic parallel to Tommy’s trial.

Ranboo being convinced he was the one who blew up the community house, when Dream himself admitted to doing it, was one of the bigger indicators for me. This is just one of many other unexplained occurrences. Dream seemed to be making an effort to trigger and control Ranboo, especially after Sapnap’s prison visit. It appeared, from the way he went about this, that Dream had some grand use for Ranboo as part of his plan to be freed from Pandora’s Vault.

However, after Tommy’s stream, the way Dream explains himself makes it seem like there was no plan besides seeing if the book worked on people. And if he didn’t after all, then what was Ranboo for? Was Ranboo unimportant? Was Ranboo just some weirdo who happened to phase out when seeing smiley faces and imagined conversations that may or may not have happened?

I bring this up more as a worry, and much less so as an active problem in the narrative. They haven’t actually thrown Ranboo to the way-side or written themselves into a corner yet. In future streams, this could very easily be explained away or developed as more information is revealed.

Only time will tell.

The potential for Wilbur’s future development and importance to the plot is unfeasible.

I feel as if I am the only person on earth who doesn’t want Wilbur Soot or Schlatt revived. There are many reasons for this, but one of them is not a dislike for these characters. I especially adore Wilbur, as he’s one of my all-time favorites. I don’t want either of them resurrected because their stories have already been told. They each had a fitting conclusion that ended their involvement perfectly.

Bringing Wilbur back would especially cheapen the impact of the War of the 16th. It’s the end of a man who was brought to the absolute edge and out of desperation, shame, and self-hatred, he destroyed himself alongside his creation. Bringing him back would leave the climax of the previous story hollow. My biggest issue, however, is that a lack of story importance would likely follow his return.

The only real impact I’d like to see is through a healing arc with Tommy, an apology to Fundy, or a confrontation with Phil/Niki. But that’s really all the potential I can realistically see. While I don’t doubt Wilbur as an agent of chaos, able to create plot out of thin air; what is he going to do now? His country is gone, his friends and family are scattered about, and his mission from the 16th is already accomplished.

What is a well-educated, charismatic politician supposed to do in a world already broken and without nations? Read poetry to himself and cry evilly? However, this is working off the assumption that Wilbur would be returning as his old self.

If Wilbur is resurrected as a ‘villain’ of sorts, then what? He’s not good at fighting in the slightest. He would have no materials. There are no real allies he can make, other than the arctic group. On top of that, there are already more than enough villains to last a lifetime.

We don’t need any more, I promise. Quackity seems to already be shaping up as another antagonist, alongside Sam’s slip into darker and darker shades of moral ambiguity. We also have Philza and Techno, which are already overkill. But then we have Dream who, despite being in a prison, has the ability of selective revival. This is mercilessly overpowered, especially if he makes many allies. The dude could just bring his dead friends back so they can keep fighting forever.

Then there’s Jack Manifold and the Crimson followers; Antfrost, Bad, and Punz. That’s not even including characters who are refusing to get involved. How are Tommy, Tubbo, and Puffy expected to do literally anything to fight back?

Dream’s experiment on Tommy implies he had no backup plan to begin with. This makes his character seem both short-sighted and foolish.

When Tommy woke up after being brought back to life, Dream sounded surprised that the revival worked at all. This instantly shatters the perception that Dream was highly intelligent and thought ahead. With just a few lines of dialogue, it’s implied that Dream killed Tommy, unsure of if the resurrection would even be possible on humans.

Which, to risk something that important, seems unbelievably stupid. Dream needs Tommy, from his perspective. Tommy is his ‘toy,’ the one who makes everything fun. If he lost him and couldn’t get him back, what then? Oh well, everything Dream was doing was all for nothing, I guess.

Why not attempt this experiment on literally anyone else first? Like Sapnap or Bad or, hell, even Ranboo. I suppose it could be that, as soon as Dream got the book, he experimented with it after the 16th. This appears to be insinuated with Friend and Hendry’s revival, although this is uncertain. But even then, he was still unsure of the book’s effect on a human being.

Also, this means, hypothetically, Dream’s entire plan of escape hinged on the experiment working, to begin with, and also on bringing back Wilbur if it somehow did. I find this even more ridiculous. Why Wilbur? That man couldn’t find his way out of a paper bag, let alone get through the traps in Pandora’s Vault. Even if he is intelligent after years* in the afterlife, that’s also a strange assumption.

How do people learn things in the void? Where do they even get this knowledge? I’d honestly argue Techno is a far more competent choice than Wilbur. And even if Dream did bring him back and tell him he owed him his life, what’s to stop Wilbur from just killing him permanently? Or killing himself, continuously?

No way would Wilbur want to be controlled by anyone, ever. The dude would sooner fuck off into the mountains and become a nomad than help a neon green bodysuit cosplay as Light Yagami.

Dream’s discussion about Sam implies that he wasn't playing any part in Dream’s plan, making Sam appear entirely incompetent and neglectful of Tommy.

Dream talked about Sam in a way that seems detached and unaffiliated. He also mentioned him being broken up about Tommy’s fate and not being aware he’s still alive. Dream not being partnered with, or not using Sam in his plan leaves many plot holes. I’ll go through each one. The initial incident was an explosion, coming from the roof of Pandora’s Vault. This did not affect the Redstone mechanism for the doors or dispensers.

Meaning, Sam could’ve had Tommy leave the way that was expected for visitors after he investigated and found no issues. This likely couldn’t have been done in less than a day, but it would be better than an entire week. If Tommy was required to stay for longer, due to protocol, he could’ve gotten Tommy out and then placed him in one of the minor cells for the remainder of the time.

Also, no one else lost a canon life for leaving via the splash potion of harming and returning outside the maximum-security cell; why would Tommy? To add, Sam being uninvolved means that the explosion could have only been caused by Ranboo or Foolish. That, or it was placed long before and timed for the moment Tommy entered the main cell. (I’m going to ignore how ludicrous it is that someone would know the exact time Tommy would’ve entered the room with Dream.)

If Ranboo was the person behind the detonation, this implies he was necessary for Dream to kill Tommy to test the book. But that makes it even stranger. If this was Dream’s goal all along, why not kill Tommy the instant he was trapped with him? It makes no sense for him to wait so long.

Sam is also directly at fault for not letting Tommy out, even after the week was up. There was no reason not to. He already knew there were no issues with the prison at that point. Although, to be fair to Sam, his character may have been paranoid and checking everything more than necessary, just in case. But this still isn’t a good excuse for him ignoring protocol in this one instance, and yet, not in any of the others.

All of these plot holes or inconsistencies would be removed if it was revealed that Dream was blackmailing Sam in some way, or Sam had been working with him since the get-go. That Sam was the person who set off the explosion in the first place to trap Tommy inside. It would also explain Sam’s refusal to let Tommy out and by keeping him in there for longer than necessary.

This can also coexist with Sam’s attachment and care for Tommy. He probably wasn’t told about Dream’s plan to test the book and genuinely believed Dream wouldn’t hurt him. On top of that, Dream is known to be a pathological liar, so his statements about Ranboo and Sam could be entire fabrications.

Who knows?

The Book of Revival invalidates death entirely. The narrative now lacks both tension and consequence.

Another way the Dream SMP differs from other storytelling media is in the way it goes about its character deaths. In a TV show, for example, there will be characters who die just because, or when it’s important to the plot. However, it seems as if the Dream SMP is hesitant to commit to killing its characters. And there are many reasons for that.

The most important one being, killing someone’s character excludes them from the story and some of their livelihoods depend on them regularly streaming on the server. There is also the issue of the cast becoming extremely sparse if characters keep dying. Typically, in stories, when you kill a character, you should introduce another.

This keeps the cast from dwindling as the storyline goes on. This means the writers would have to find new streamers to join, who will develop their own characters and relationships with the plot’s continued momentum. This can be stressful and daunting to those who may be newly added in the future.

Keeping this in mind, the Book of Revival is annoying from a writer’s perspective. When death is no longer an issue for a story hinged on its characters’ mortality, then what do you have as a consequence anymore? We’ve explored every kind under the sun; from abuse, to betrayal, to loss, to destruction.

In stories, traditionally, death is a finality. It’s a conclusion. Whether it’s good or not depends on the character’s actions, its build-up, and the event’s execution. Without this lingering sense of danger, tension evaporates from the story.

Why should I care if Tommy loses in a fight to someone, if he’ll just come back a day later? Why should I care about what happened to Wilbur, if he just returns as if nothing happened? The answer is simple: I won’t. I will no longer care if Tubbo or Ranboo or Sam die in the story, because the idea of revival even being a possible outcome leaves me unenthused and uncaring.

The Dream SMP likes to flirt with death. It teases the demise of its main characters many, many times. More so Tommy’s than anyone else’s. Wilbur’s failed resurrection, which had unforeseen and unfortunate outcomes, is now strange in comparison to Tommy’s, which happened without a hitch.

To be fair, we actually don’t see how many attempts it took. But here’s the problem; Dream could do it without the book being physically present. He’s trapped in a prison with nothing on him, meaning he doesn’t need any materials either. It’s also implied he could do this as many times as he feels, for anyone he wants. This would be exceedingly overpowered, if not for one thing—Dream himself is mortal (at least, I fucking hope he’s mortal.)

If someone kills him one last time, that knowledge is gone forever. And I’m glad they’ve established at least some way for Tommy to win. Because at this point, I was losing faith.

There is also the bare minimum establishment that Dream can refuse to bring back those he doesn’t care for. He can also use it as a shield, holding this power over other people. If Dream is gone, death is permanent. But isn’t that how death is supposed to be, anyway?

What a bleak premise—the afterlife is pure eternal torture while life is cheapened by a lack of consequences.

Conclusion

All this to say, I am cautiously optimistic for the future. I hope dearly that every single one of these can be disproven or developed in the coming livestreams. Obviously, there’s not enough information to really determine what the end result will be, or how everything will fall into place.

Every time I have theorized about the story, it has done something completely different and pleasantly surprised me. I want this trend to continue.

Surprise me again—I’ll be here to see where it goes.

#answered asks #long post #tommyinnit #dream smp meta #dream smp #dsmp #dsmp analysis #this is slightly outdated still but whatever #hope this was helpful anon #tw abuse #tw suicide

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the-odd-job · 3 years

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Close Your Eyes to This Disaster Chapter 6: And You Say…

Rating: Explicit Warnings: Chose Not to Use, Rape/Non-Con Category: Other Fandom: Transformers G1 Relationships: Megatron/Sunstreaker, Megatron/Sideswipe, Sideswipe & Sunstreaker Characters: Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, Megatron Additional Tags: Dubcon, Sticky, Abusive Relationships, Mind Games, Manipulation, Gaslighting, Canon-Typical Violence Words: 3163

( Previous )

The Prime—or Prowl, rather, he was the one to set up the schedules—kept his word: they were never put to any patrol longer than frustratingly short. On top of that, they no longer had patrols together, always paired with someone else rather than each other. That one had given them a fit that slagging Ironhide had needed to talk them out of. Since when was Ironhide the voice of reason?

That was discrediting the weapons specialist a little, admittedly. Age had granted him at least some sense, to the effect that he was perfectly reasonable with his arguments. Unfortunately he was also fairly hot-headed, as were the twins. There had been quite a bit of yelling from everyone involved. They had even gained an audience before the time that the twins accepted the fact that in this instance they were safer apart than together.

It still didn’t sit well with them, but they put up with it, in large part because the patrols were short enough that they were never away from each other’s vicinity for long. Despite the other mitigating factors on top of that, such as never being paired with anyone they didn’t get along with—mostly applying to Sunstreaker, that one—it was still enough to have the both of them turn irritable. Even Sideswipe, so known for his high spirits, was just as highly affected by what became the state of their spark. Was he not supposed to be, somehow? No, that was an impossibility.

And of course, there was the fact it wasn’t wise for them to leave the proximity of the Autobot base. It ceased to be an actual order, likely because Prowl realized they would’ve been that much more eager to go against it if it was one, but it was a piece of healthy advice that they actually did follow, for once. They weren’t free of their own concerns in regards to the situation, after all. With all of the memories… They knew more about Megatron now than they had ever thought possible, and a very large part of what they knew wasn’t flattering.

The physical disparity between them was bad enough, but pile on top of that Megatron’s personality and his pattern of always getting what he wanted… Could anyone blame them for harboring some worry, no matter how rare that was for them? They didn’t want to give in to Megatron, but slag, in practice that might be hellishly difficult.

Avoidance wasn’t going to work forever, they knew that much, but it was all they had for now.

End result was that they were a stressed mess on the inside, and it bled to the outside more than just a little. Everyone got in the habit of keeping as much distance from Sunstreaker as possible after the fourth time he got his aft locked in the brig for attacking someone without any real provocation—first Cliffjumper, then Tracks, the usual suspects they were, but after that it was Ironhide, then Hound of all mecha.

He didn’t get off any lighter than usual despite the command making it clear they understood why he was acting out so badly. They were assigned more combat practice as a response, though, just to give them more chances to burn off some of their unnerved energy. Ironhide took to being the one to mostly spar with Sunstreaker, after he, again, failed to go easy enough for it to really count as sparring anymore. The old mech could handle it even when Sunstreaker lost his cool and hit too hard—and Sideswipe wasn’t that much more careful.

Eventually it was the repeated rants they got from Ratchet when he was performing post-“spar” repairs that convinced them to hold back just a bit more.

And then there were the battles. First one, then two, and those were further help when they could just fragging let loose and beat someone to scrap. Prowl had to tell them to tone it down several times, and even so they got looks from their comrades after the Decepticons retreated. Look at the twins, turning even more unhinged than what they usually were! But at least the real fighting calmed them down for a week or two afterwards.

Neither time did it last, though, and then they were back to being holy terrors. Sideswipe held back on the violence, but his temper ran short and his words harsh. He still only managed to make Bluestreak cry one time. Of course he apologized after, was forgiven, and in further practice watched his vocalizer more at least around the gunner.

Sideswipe still became considerably less pleasant company than what he usually was, and aside of the command, no one knew for certain what was causing the change. There was confusion, theories, guesses, and most of them did revolve around Megatron after his more public interest in the beginning.

But they didn’t have the answers for the twins’ changed duties or their worsened behavior when the command respected their privacy and didn’t go tattling—and the twins themselves certainly weren’t about to share that much of their past life.

It was still annoying as all pit to be so affected by the warlord. They didn’t know if he was still trying to reach them. Did they imagine the lingering looks during the battles? Could be, after how hyperaware they became of him. Maybe it was nothing. And when they were away from the Ark… Was Megatron looking for opportunities to approach them, but simply didn’t get them, hence his absence?

Or had he stopped?

They couldn’t believe that. Megatron had made his desire clear, and he wasn’t the type to just stop when facing some resistance on the way to his goal.

And they were right in not believing.

It was a joyride. They were sticking relatively close to the Ark, and definitely close to a city, while still searching for some privacy to drive as fast as their spark was calling for. Just… Take what they could in their severely altered and limited life. Enjoy as much as they were able to and maybe have even a few moments of internal peace afterwards before all the tension came back and set them on edge.

Yet, it was clearly too far from other living beings, because after two curves they took–

He was standing in the shadow cast by the rise of rock on the side of the road—no signature this time either, or they would have noticed him before it was too late.

By the time Megatron stepped onto the road to block their way… It was already far too late. Too late to even slow the fuck down, in fact. They had just the time to curse, then initiate their transformations–

Only to barrel right into Megatron, the both of them. In a show of his size and strength, though, the tyrant had merely taken a steady stance and took the weight, velocity, and impact of both of them with no notable effort.

Sunstreaker stayed upright, staggering away as soon as he had enough wits about him to do so, but Sideswipe wound up sprawled on his back on the ground, groaning weakly from the ache of suddenly decelerated parts. Something had hit this, another had hit that… It was a good thing they were built sturdy; Megatron wasn’t much better than a solid steel wall. Even without any severe damage it still ended with some dented plating.

Their steel wall crouched in front of his scuffed brother—who quickly propped himself up on his arms—and Sunstreaker immediately checked his comms. They were–

…They weren’t blocked.

There was also no sight of Soundwave or anyone else.

Was it just Megatron? Alone? Could they have called the Ark right now and let them know they’d run into the unmaker again?

Instead of doing anything useful, though… Sunstreaker stood out of the way, dumbfounded as he watched Megatron reach for Sideswipe—Sideswipe was staring at the warlord with wide, wide optics, frozen in place–

And Megatron cupped the side of his helm.

They could have– They should–

They needed to call the Ark.

They didn’t.

“You have made it rather difficult to get a hold of you,” Megatron commented, glancing up at Sunstreaker briefly before his attention fell back to Sideswipe. A thumb brushed across his brother’s lips, and when surprise parted them, the thumb dipped in.

What the fuck rang between them, shock too deep for Sideswipe to even remember to do a damn thing as Megatron’s digit gently explored the inside of his mouth: stroking along his glossa, scraping against his denta–

“Didn’t want to see you,” Sunstreaker said after too much of a delay, hating the utter lack of aggression in his voice. Instead he was just breathless; almost a whisper.

But this wasn’t really going as they would have expected. He wasn’t sure what they were actually expecting, but this? This wasn’t it.

“Oh?” Megatron questioned. He didn’t sound offended.

The thumb retreated from Sideswipe’s mouth, but only for the tyrant’s claws to trace the curves of his helmet thoughtfully—with a frown. It was as if he was comparing the present to the past, noting all of the differences in their frame designs… And disliking what he saw.

Sideswipe shivered as the touch just continued. “What do you want?” the red twin asked in a murmur, staring up into the red optics bearing down on him with weight that pinned him in place.

“You,” came the answer, spoken softly.

They’d heard that before.

Sideswipe caught his lower lip between his denta and tried to forget, not think. Not think about that.

Not think of the past. Where was their resolve?

“Can’t have it,” the red twin managed with just the smallest hint of a growl in his voice.

“And why not?”

“You’re the enemy.”

“But I wasn’t always.”

“You were.” The bad they could remember.

Resolve.

Megatron changed the topic smoothly. “Why did you disappear?”

Silence. Sideswipe glared; Sunstreaker frowned, as much as Megatron wasn’t looking at him.

When they gave nothing in the way of an answer, the tyrant made a guess. “Was it because of your owner?”

Ugh… “Yes.”

“Not by choice?”

Was this the right spot to admit to anything? They hazarded an answer anyway. “…No?”

“There you have it,” Megatron rumbled, and they got the feeling they had already shared too much—given Megatron ammunition to use against them, if he wouldn’t have been able to guess correctly anyway. “You didn’t leave by choice. If you had gotten to choose, I wonder… Would you have left at all?”

Sideswipe bared his denta, only for the corner of Megatron’s mouth to pull into a smile. It was a genuinely amused little thing, as if he found their resistance charming. Not worth taking seriously, because what could they truly have done against him, even together?

The red twin went back to mere glowering, and they didn’t answer.

Megatron gave them a moment before he phrased the question differently. “Did you have any reason to leave?”

“Oh, you slagger,” Sunstreaker growled. Megatron didn’t avert his gaze from Sideswipe, but he didn’t need to. The golden twin continued, “Are you willingly forgetting all the shit you put me through, again? I had every reason to leave and my only fragging regret is that I didn’t so earlier.”

“You lie,” their old lover stated simply.

And that was all. He said nothing else. When it was confirmed that he would just let the silence reign and pet Sideswipe’s face with his thumb, Sideswipe was the one to speak their confused, “What?”

“Had you reason to leave, you would have simply left. Am I wrong?” He didn’t give them a chance to answer before he continued, “But you had no reason, and you didn’t leave before someone forced you.”

“It’s not that simple!” Sunstreaker tried to argue, gesturing angrily at nothing in particular–

But Megatron didn’t let him finish his argument. “Is it not? Didn’t you make it clear you would find a way to go, were you given a reason?”

Sideswipe opened his mouth to speak; Megatron cut him off before he could make a peep, “But I never gave you a reason. You stayed until someone else said you couldn’t anymore. Can you blame me for thinking you would have remained by my side otherwise?”

Sunstreaker ground his denta together but held onto his argument. “You kept me from leaving even if I had wanted to,” he accused as quickly as he could, before Megatron said anything more.

“If you had wanted to? Which is it? Did you want to, or did you not?” the tyrant asked, still holding Sideswipe captive as effectively as if his brother was paralyzed. His thumb brushed across his cheek, his nasal ridge, to his lips… It was hard to not focus on that too much. “Answer honestly. What do you have to lose by speaking the truth?”

Everything. Sunstreaker balled his servos into fists, turning his gaze to the side before the urge to beat the fragging bastard’s helm in got the better of him. Where would that have gotten him? Fragged into the ground again, if he knew anything about their lover.

But he wanted honesty? Slagging… What was the honest answer, anyway?

They could remember. Even that very last evening, they could remember. “No,” Sideswipe said, wanting so badly to turn his helm away from Megatron’s all-seeing scrutiny and too gentle touch, yet having not the freedom of motion to do so– “I didn’t want to leave.”

Their fields blushed with the old emotion—the thrill only Megatron could cause, heady and suffocating–

He’d never gotten enough of it. Everything had only added to the… Danger. The threat of what Megatron could have done to him, and yet… What he never did. No matter how he pushed, there were things Megatron never did, things he never said.

But what he did to so many others. Sunstreaker had been special. The exception. He had owned a piece of Megatron no one else did, that others scarcely even saw.

What was the tradeoff?

All the things they’d had… The things Megatron had done for them, never asking anything in return but their loyalty.

Megatron’s mouth pulled into a smile as true as any of his were, but this time Sideswipe was the one to speak before giving him a chance, “But that doesn’t mean I want to come back.”

“It does not?” Megatron questioned. “Do you hold loyalty to a faction you were forced into?”

“That’s past,” Sunstreaker growled. “Things have–“

“And not only that,” the warlord continued with no heed for his turn to speak, “but they knowingly took your memories. Why? Did they think it best you didn’t remember your past in fear of where your loyalty would be if you did? That it was better to have a soldier that was never given a choice, that knew of nothing else? Incapable of making an educated decision for himself?”

“Fuck you,” Sideswipe snarled, trying to yank his helm away, “You wouldn’t have given me a choice either.”

Megatron wouldn’t let him go anywhere, tightening his hold until Sideswipe was still again. “Oh, but I did,” he said, near growling now. “Hadn’t I already begun to gather my followers, formed the Decepticons? Didn’t I have more mecha join under my banner each and every day? Yet I never once told you you needed to do the same.”

That… Wasn’t untrue. They’d barely ever even discussed the rebellion despite how hard Megatronus—and later Megatron—had worked on it, had they? Megatron hadn’t brought work into their relationship.

He had to have read their uncertainty, because the growl turned into a purring rumble rising directly from the warlord’s engine—soothing, almost. “You see. But you can still choose. It’s not too late.”

“No,” Sunstreaker said immediately. “Let the past be past. Optimus, Prowl, Ratchet, ‘Hide—they never did anything to me and have nothing to do with the mistakes of others.”

“Haven’t they?” Megatron asked, lifting one of his optical ridges as if he didn’t believe him. “How do they treat you, really? With true understanding?”

They held to their silence, not that it would have necessarily mattered anyway. If Megatron wanted to speak, he spoke.

But their silence was an answer of sorts anyway, and the tyrant had more to say. ”What of the rank and file? Do they treat you as one of their own?”

“Yes,” Sideswipe spoke up at that, snarling. “I have friends, mecha that care about me–“

“If they truly cared about you, wouldn’t they learn to understand you, as I did?” He couldn’t have known if any of them did or didn’t, he was just making guesses–

Sideswipe bared his denta again. “It’s not that simple.”

“It isn’t? Do tell, what is so complex about it?”

“I work different than they do. They don’t understand something so disparate. They see two frames and think I’m two, they don’t see—and that’s normal–“

“You’re making excuses for them,” Megatron interrupted him. “I see you; what is preventing them from doing the same?”

Sideswipe’s jaw snapped shut and Sunstreaker frowned. What was preventing them? Their own biases and limited view of the world? Didn’t that apply to everyone?

Then why was Megatron different?

The warlord offered the one explanation he seemed to believe, “They don’t care about you enough to bother to understand something so special—so beautiful and unique,” he rumbled at them. Sideswipe blinked up at the gaze that had never once left him. ”Primus forbid they go through the trouble of doing so. How many have even tried? How many of them yet failed when it turned out to be too much effort?”

They’d spoken of these things, back in the Pits. They’d shared their frustrations with Megatronus, yet their acceptance of it all—they were alien on their own world and that was all most would see, it was something they just had to live with–

But also their pleasure over him being unlike most.

He wasn’t the only one. There had been others, even during the war–

But they were a rare breed and dead by now.

Megatron wasn’t, though. Megatron was living proof it could be done… Maybe not to perfection, but to an impressive point nonetheless, if one…

…Cared enough to do so.

“No,” Sideswipe said all the same, finding his growl for the next words, “you won’t have me.”

“Leave,” Sunstreaker continued with a snarl of his own, taking one step closer to Megatron and Sideswipe. Sideswipe tried to yank himself free again, but he only succeeded because Megatron let him.

Megatron let him pull away, get up, and step out of reach, rising from his own crouch at a leisurely pace. “Think on what I said,” he said, stepped two paces back and–

Transformed and took to the skies.

( Next )

#transformers #maccadam #maccadams #megatron #sunstreaker #sideswipe #fic #2021 #disaster

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wezzaner · 5 years

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Evie’s and Doug’s relationship develops the best, Pt. 3.2: The Movie

I feel like I keep postponing this. I find it hard to analyze a movie where the only consistency shown is a birthday cake. I love it, but like, I kinda strongly dislike it as well. Anyway…

For part 3.2 to make more sense to you, check out the previous parts here:

Pt.1: https://wezzaner.tumblr.com/post/186775140063/evies-and-dougs-relationship-develops-the-best

Pt.2: https://wezzaner.tumblr.com/post/186827407103/evies-and-dougs-relationship-develops-the-best

Pt.3.1: https://wezzaner.tumblr.com/post/186971661403/evies-and-dougs-relationship-develops-the-best

Now that this is out of the way, fair warning, this is going to be long...

As noticed in pt. 2, there was no character analysis for Evie and Doug. That is because in my timeline (that I will fight to the death to prove), it’s been only 3-4 months between D2 and D3, so I thought I can do it in one go. Let’s see how Evie and Doug changed, yeah?

Evie:

Wow. Talk about character development done absolutely right. I have been silently observing the fandom for four years and I have yet to come across anyone who even slightly dislikes Evie. A huge part of that is attributed to Sofia Carson, I have no doubt about that. This woman will go places.

As far as development, Evie was such a complex character from the start. Far more complex than any of the other VKs, not including Carlos whose abuse history remained strictly in the books and was only hinted at in the movies in two lines across the board. The Evie we got in D2 and D3 came a long way from D1 Evie.

Evie had a reputation of being a complete vain flirt, a selfish heart-breaker who wouldn’t hesitate to use her looks to get what she wanted. Somehow, she remains sort of shy, reserved and not always speaking her mind. That’s probably due to her, Jay and Carlos being accustomed to blindly follow Mal.

She was brought up entitled by her mother, to marry a prince for the social status and riches. She was bred to be a perfect trophy wife, the fairest of them all, with the concept of beauty trumps personality and smarts embedded deep into her brain.

But somehow, somehow, she ends up being a well-mannered, smart girl who is practically good at everything except being true to herself. She, along with Carlos, end up being the sensitive, level-headed ones, not the ones to lash out unless super necessary and probably regarded as the easiest VKs to be around. They’re also the two mature ones, no matter what Mal likes to think.

Throughout the first movie, Evie shows her good heart, her fashion and style and finally, her longing to be an Auradon girl. Her longing to get away from the isle, explore who she is and who she really wants to be.

For Evie, Doug wasn’t why she chose good. And I love that. Doug standing up to her marked the time she started being hesitant about the plan to steal the wand and his passivity during the events of family day reignited her determination. He wasn’t her purpose; he wasn’t her motive, but he was a catalyst.

Her supporter and helper. A believer.

Next time we saw Evie, she had evolved so much already in so little time. She was more comfortable with who she became, more in tune. She was shown to be outspoken, confident, calm and collected. She was very open and had chemistry with everyone she interacted with. Also, following Mal blindly became a thing of the past, Evie down right scolded her at some point.

On the isle, she stepped into the role of the leader effortlessly, I personally always thought that Jay would be the second in command. She was dominant, calm under pressure and fluidly returned to be a support to Mal once she was found. And she was content being s support. Her actions spoke louder than any words, portraying her as the fiercely loyal sister anyone would dream to have. Loyal to the point where she would give up her life in Auradon, complete with a boyfriend and a booming business.

Let’s not mistake her loyalty to Mal, someone she regards as family, to her being indifferent to Doug. Family comes first, Evie’s future family will be lucky to have her. Speaking of Doug, Evie knows the guy, their slow and steady relationship proves to be suitable for them. She oh-so-easily defused his frantic confrontation, caused by a problem that was arguably created by her family. By Mal having an identity crisis and fleeing, she unknowingly forced the rest to go after her. Then Carlos and Jay, people who Doug became friends with, lied straight to his face.

Her good heart was once again evident in her being inspired by Dizzy and proposing the idea of bringing more VKs from the isle.

It is worth noting that she also gave up practicing magic (her mother practiced black magic, she had powers) and donated her magic mirror to the museum.

Finally, in the third movie, Evie is basically the ultimate good. A selfless protector in every sense of the word. She kept asking Carlos if he was okay, brought the Smee kid back inside the limo during Hades’s “attack” and constantly had Celia protectively behind her.

The one time she wasn’t protective of someone, she was stepping up into the leader’s shoe when Uma and Mal kept going at each other during the confrontation with the suits of armor. And when she casually directed everyone on what to do when Mal was, briefly, an old hag.

She was the moderator, trying to constantly rally everyone together, breaking up fights and getting everyone to get along. She was successful too, with her ice breaker activity. You can see Hary starting to respond, she got through to the unhinged maniac. And later, Gil carried on her game with Jay, she got through to him as well.

And of course, Evie still had the VKs on the isle on the forefront of her mind. They were still priority, the incident with Hades never swayed her.

The most prominent trait of Evie that is glaringly obvious through D2 and D3 is her selflessness. A direct opposite to her in D1. A trait she obviously picked up from Doug, he inspired her.

Now Doug:

Doug has come a long way as well, though it’s very subtle. He started out as an insecure, somewhat shy kid. He is a son to a sidekick, and he was embracing that and had no problem with it. He was friends with practically everyone, closest to Ben though. However, being friends with royals and heroes had added tremendously to his insecurities, making him see himself as less.

But among all the AKs, Doug always came off as the most welcoming and least reluctant when dealing with the VKs. He was selfless, going out of his way to stand up for Evie with no ulterior motive, since he had already somewhat been rejected by her at that point.

In the second movie, Doug was even more comfortable around the VKs. He became friends with all of them now and trusted them. That was why he was hurt and sent into a frenzy when Jay and Carlos lied to him. He considered them friends. His insecurities came rushing back, seeing himself as not worthy of Evie and that was why he thought she might be seeing someone else. He also saw himself as unworthy of the friendship with Jay and Carlos, also Mal with association, when they lied straight to his face.

In D3, Doug’s insecurities were almost gone at that point. He became close to Jay, Carlos, Jane, Mal and even closer to Ben. He was protective of Jane when Auradonians freaked out during Hades’s incident. He was so laid back in almost all of the scenes.

When he woke up from the sleeping spell, he was conversing with Gil, a new VK he just met. The only possible background information Doug has on Gil was that Gil kidnapped Ben, the King Ben, and fought the core four on the isle. And there he was just standing casually engrossed in conversation with him. Also, towards the end, he was hanging out with Evie, Uma and Harry. And was later dancing with Uma and Harry as well, no Evie in sight.

That leads me to believe that Doug is one of the most accepting people in the Descendants franchise, along with Lonnie. And somewhat Ben, he was apprehensive when he saw Gil and Harry but for good reason. That is why I will be using this part of my analysis to not only go over all the Doug/Evie relationship moments, but will leave you with some of his platonic interactions as well.

Moving on, scenes breakdown:

The first Evie and Doug interaction happens off-screen. We only get a snippet of it behind the scenes, where we see Evie holding onto Doug and leading the band to the front of the welcoming committee. We never know what they are talking about, only one sentence of the conversation.

Again, what Evie says actually plays well into their relationship, its history and dynamic. Doug had her back since the moment they met. As I said, he is her supporter, he believes in her. I had hoped this would be included in the behind the scenes, deleted scenes or even the bloopers videos but we never got it.

Then they are standing with the crowd, waiting for Ben and Mal to show up. Doug, being Ben’s best best friend and future best man, plays a rearranged version of the song Ben sang to Mal to declare his love for her. Best friend goals, everybody.

Also, squad goals! Look at that support!

After the music died and as Ben proposes, Evie is clearly seen standing with her hands interlocking over Doug’s shoulder, leaning into him as they await Mal’s response.

They separate as the squad congratulate each other. And Doug and Carlos hug twice, solidifying themselves in my mind as very close friends and marking the first sign of Doug’s character progress. Also, vindication to my theory that the reason for D2’s confrontation was more than just Evie’s disappearance and that it was fueled by Carlos and Jay lying to him. He’s more than just Evie’s boyfriend or an acquaintance to them, he’s a very close friend now.

Evie’s and Doug’s attention goes back to the newly engaged couple as they stare, dare I say longingly, at what Mal and Ben have together and where they are now. And this conversation takes place.

Doug starts the conversation with a little joking jab at his and Evie’s own relationship. You can see how Evie picked up on his subtle comparison and how eager she is to blurt the words, the words almost flying out of her mouth, like she can’t hold them in anymore.

Now Doug’s response… There are a lot of ways to interpret that. My personal favorite is that Doug understood what she was trying to say. Here’s how: I have already established time and time again that of all the couples in the franchise, Evie and Doug have more reasons to take things slow than anyone else. For a brief recap, they both come from the same story, meaning that their parents were direct enemies. His father and uncles killed her mother. Add to that Evie being a past flirt and a heart breaker, Doug’s personal insecurities and the fact that Evie didn’t know what love is until she made it to Auradon and boom, you’re there.

Knowing Doug’s selfless and caring nature, I’m willing to bet money he had already come to terms with his feelings for Evie a while ago, perhaps even during the first movie. But knowing her history, their history, he chose to be patient and considerate. He chose to hold his tongue and not say anything, so he wouldn’t be pressuring Evie into anything she wasn’t ready for.

To me, his hopeful look as he waits for Evie to finish her words and then his “me too” afterwards is him subtly telling her that he loves her as well. He read into what she tried to say and saw her history and insecurities coming back and chose again to not pressure her, but to try to subtly reassure her.

They share a look, a nod and they both look away.

It just wasn’t their time yet.

Their brief awkward moment gets cut short when Ben and Mal join the group. Mal runs to her sister and Ben flies towards his bachelor party group, stating the obvious because he is a cinnamon roll and gets swamped into a group hug by all his best friends.

As Mal steps up to her future parents in law, Doug and Jay can be seen hugging in the background. Also bonus Ben/Evie on the right, they lock hands briefly as they pass by each other. Because why not, their friendship in D2 was one of the moments in the franchise.

Further proving that Doug’s a big part of the group, he joins in as they mock Mal and her soon to be acquired status. He could be seen further left throughout the scene. Jane is there too; behind Carlos and she also joins in the shenanigans.

Originally, I was planning to end the proposal scene with this gif of Evie turning around to wave at her boyfriend before leaving.

But then I found this.

This is during the Hades incident when Fairy God Mother is trying to maintain order and failing miserably. Doug is obviously very protective of Jane, keeping her close during the chaos. He only leaves her when he hands her over to one of the guards, who is sure to keep her safe, then he turns around and tries to direct the herd of panicking people. That was very protective and sweet of him, and also not the only moment he shares with Jane.

After that, Doug is only mentioned once until they’re back at Evie’s starter castle. The one Doug helped her find and purchase.

Irrelevant but like, poor Jay!

Anyway, next time we see Doug, it’s way after the halfway mark of the movie. And he’s sound asleep. Which brings up the question, what was Doug doing in Evie’s place anyway? I highly doubt that Doug is all moved in, that goes against his and Evie’s… mental agreement to take things slow. My educated assumption would be that Doug went to Evie’s starter castle so they could all go together to Jane’s birthday party, found them all suiting up to go to the isle and was asked to stay with Dizzy and the Smee twins. That would fit with Evie’s protective nature, which pushes her into asking her trusted and responsible boyfriend to take care of the VKs she’d be leaving behind.

So, poor Doug is sound asleep and there are two ways to wake him up. Either ending Audrey’s reign of terror or… a true love’s kiss. Before breaking down the scene, let’s take a minute to appreciate how it all comes back full circle to the two of them. Queen Grimhilde spelled Snow White and she had to be woken up by a true love’s kiss and now, Audrey spelled Doug and Evie has to wake him up with a true love’s kiss. Also, in true Descendants tradition, the gender role reversal is not lost on me. Another flip of the fairy tales, if you will.

I have noticed a few people going on about how Audrey is cursing everyone to sleep and, meanwhile, Evie is wasting time singing to a sleeping body. Well… She had time to kill.

They had two hours to search Auradon Prep and head back to Evie’s place. Not sure how long it took for Evie and Mal to search the school while Uma was going through Audrey’s Diary, but I am assuming not too long? I mean, chronologically, Evie was serenading cursed-Doug before (or during) the guys actually encountering Ben. So yeah, she had time.

Now onto the actual scene:

For starters, Evie loses her wits. For a minute, she loses her mature, smart personality and is reduced to the teenager she actually is. She is completely clueless, momentarily forgetting the fact that a sleeping spell has been cast all over Auradon and attempts to shake him awake.

It takes Uma’s snark pointing out that he’s spelled to bring her back to reality, and Mal has to defend Evie, letting Uma know she’s emotionally involved, and that her sense of judgement is currently kind of compromised. Now, considering how many times Evie was in situations where she showed brilliant emotional intelligence, it goes to show how deep her feelings are for Doug. During family day, during the coronation, leading the crew into the isle pre-running into Mal, when Ben was king-napped, the confrontation at Uma’s ship, cotillion, old hag Mal, the bikes being taken and when the suites of armors ganged up on the VKs, Evie never lost her cool. But when it came to him, she just lost it.

Uma says that Evie should be able to wake him up and you could see Evie slowly registering what she means. Her worry about her boyfriend’s current situation is even more accentuated with the worry that she now has to test their love. She has to face the one thing she has been actively dodging for months. Her reaction has Uma spelling out what Evie has to do for her, true love’s kiss.

And that’s when Evie admits that she and Doug have yet to say their “I love you”s, sending Uma rolling her eyes. And Mal in the back smirks and raises an eyebrow slightly at Uma’s back as if to say “welcome to my world”, a hint that this is not the first time Mal has been involved in a conversation with Evie about her feelings for Doug and her postponing the inevitable. Which is something Mal did before for he own set of reasons and regretted, she didn’t want Evie to make the same mistake. She almost lost Ben then, she didn’t want that for Evie. That explains her later frustration throughout the music number.

Mal almost looks smug, like yeah, Evie will have to do it now!

Then the song… there’s no doubt that almost every lyric is perfect for the couple, their relationship dynamic and their personalities as well. It goes back and forth between Evie reassuring herself and her going on about how good Doug is for her. And Mal’s and Uma’s reactions to Evie unfolding is indeed one of the best things that has happened in this movie. Actually, in all three movies.

Don't freak out, it's okay 'Cause true love can save the day And I think we feel the same But I don't know

Evie starts off by trying to reassure herself that she will be able to wake him up with a true love’s kiss, knowing that deep down, below all the uncertainties she’s feeling because of their history, she knows she loves Doug and that he loves her back. Unfortunately, her nervousness gets the best of her and she reluctantly starts stalling. However, her stalling technique is actually helping because she basically lives through their entire relationship, trying to prove to herself that Doug really does love her as well. And her nervousness is 100% valid because Doug isn’t Evie’s family like Mal, Carlos and Jay are, he isn’t a member of her inner circle, he can choose to leave at any point. It’s not the same as when Evie told Mal that she loves her or her constantly dotting over Carlos’s wellbeing. This is different for Evie.

When we met, it was sweet He was oh-so into me Seems like things are meant to be But I don't know

Like I said, Evie is reliving her relationship, especially the parts that had her falling for him, slowly but surely, starting with their first meeting. Doug was awe-struck by her beauty that he was left speechless for a second before gathering his wits to nervously stutter through the classes the VKs were signed into before their arrival. Again, the role reversal is evident. Doug started out as the nervous one and Evie has always oozed confidence, she’s not the kind to lose her cool but now things are different and she’s the one freaking out. Again, she tries to reassure herself that they are meant to be.

Mal’s and Uma’s reactions to this verse are very appropriate. Mal approaches first, her eagerness to see Evie finally admit what they both knew all along evident all over her face. She’s excited for her best friend, who is finally admitting her feelings, and perhaps finally fully recovering from what the Evil Queen used to drill into her head. All the talk about having to marry a prince, about Snow White and the Dwarves being enemies, about having to be a royal and having a castle, about how she looks and how she could always be better. Mal sees Evie’s love declaration for Doug as her recovery journey ending.

Uma is whole different story, approaching a second late but faster. Uma is intrigued and her interest is peaking. That’s simply because this is the first time Uma sees anyone so in love and gushing over their significant other. During D2, Mal’s true love speech had more to do with her insecurities and fear regarding Ben and the pressures of being the King’s girlfriend… Auradon-washing (is that making any sense?) her, acknowledging that Ben knows her and loves her for who she is. But there’s Evie singing about how Doug is good for her and she barely questions her love for him during the song. Considering that dating on the isle is unheard of, let alone people being in love. She’s curious to hear the story behind Evie’s change to who she is, a person she envied for being selected for the Auradon program instead of her. Perhaps she is even thinking of the possibilities and opportunities Auradon will open to her and the other VKs once they’re freed. Hope of being safe enough to be in love like Evie is, of being self-made like Evie, of owning a home like Evie’s and being loved like Evie is.

I might even go as far as say, she prefers having Evie’s worries about being loved and in love to her own worries about surviving the day.

Does he love me? Or does he love me not? Do I love him? And is it strong enough?

It’s worth nothing that Evie questions Doug’s feelings for her countless times throughout the song. But she only questions her own twice, this being the first one. The other is also in the pre-chorus. And it’s not about her love for him as much as it is about the strength of that love.

One kiss, one kiss It all comes down to this One kiss, one kiss Ohh

Focusing once again on Mal and Uma, Mal is evidently more invested in the whole deal while Uma is starting to lose interest. That is still true to who they are, because Mal has experienced this situation before while Uma has not. Mal wants Evie to have her own proof that she’s loved and that she’s worthy, like she had with Ben in D2. And while Uma wants to feel what Evie is feeling, she’s not as emotionally forward as Evie is. She doesn’t like to be seen as sensitive, or compassionate, or vulnerable or in love.

One kiss, one kiss This moment could be it I, I, I wanna know So here I go

Again, Mal’s too eager and she can’t really hide it when Evie tries to gather courage to attempt to kiss Doug the first time. And Uma’s interest is renewed again, her face lighting up like a kid swimming in gifts on Christmas.

As Evie avoids facing her demons the first time, Mal is frustrated while Uma is downright disbelieving. Again, playing well into their characters. Mal being Evie’s ear to vent to is frustrated that Evie deflects the opportunity to finally make sure of her feelings for Doug and his for her. While Uma, a very confrontational person by nature, is confused over Evie stalling. She wants to get this over with, like she always does.

Keep it cool, keep it calm Think he's loved me all along But maybe I got it wrong So I don't know

Again, Evie is reassuring herself that Doug has loved her from the start. But again, true to her character’s conflict with the idea of love, she keeps doubting her own words.

Then in the next lines she goes on how supportive he has been to her since they met. Her doubts shine through in this verse when she makes it known that it’s all about how she doesn’t think she deserves him.

He's so good, got my back But maybe I'm just too bad Could we be a perfect match? Now, I don't know

Mal’s and Uma’s reactions to this part is one of my favorites. Mal is ecstatic that Evie found someone who loves her so much and has her back so blindly. Uma’s reaction is more controlled and more subtle, it is recognition. She sees it now, why Evie loves Doug, how Doug shows he’s in love with Evie, Evie’s own insecurities and why Mal supports the couple whole heartedly. She’s starting to get it. Maybe even support it.

Does he love me? Or does he love me not? Do I love him? And is it strong enough?

The second time Evie questions Doug’s love for her. And that’s it.

One kiss, one kiss It all comes down to this One kiss, one kiss Ohh One kiss, one kiss This moment could be it I, I, I wanna know So here I go

Yeah, here I go

Finally, Mal and Uma are about done. They frustratingly encourage Evie to go for it already, neither of them is exactly known for patience. They are so impatient that Evie is still taking her sweet sweet time and leave. I’ll also go as far as say that Mal and Uma bonded over Evie’s love trouble more than they have bonded in the entire movie so far.

I feel my heartbeat beating saying, "It's gonna work" But if I'm dream-dream-dreaming, this is gonna hurt Either I will or I won't What if I do and he don't? Is he my Romeo? Oh, there's only one, one way to really know

Up until the line about Doug being Evie’s Romeo, we were good. More than good, actually. Evie is hyping herself up, following her gut feeling while still acknowledging that this would hurt like hell if it doesn’t work out. Which is another sign she’s sure of her own feelings and questioning Doug’s, playing well into her character flaws and self-consciousness.

But that Romeo line…

Here’s the thing, I am legit torn when it comes to that line. The only reason they could have used Romeo as an example, would be the family feud. You know, Montague vs. Capulet and Evil Queen vs. Snow White and the dwarves. Other than this little call-back, this line makes zero sense, the parallels stop there.

Let’s clear this up, if you ever hear Romeo and Juliet mentioned in a positive, happy light, know that whoever wrote the song, script or whatever it is, is not… fully aware… of the story. Romeo and Juliet were not a love story, it was never meant to be. Their love at first sight wasn’t even love, it was lust. They were both seeking escapism, Romeo was trying to get over a woman (Rosaline) who didn’t love him back, and Juliet, who is 14, was trying to avoid marrying this guy (Paris) who her parents where preparing her for, pretty much. To say that they fell in love at the first sight is not right, it was lusting after each other at best.

And that’s not even considering the tragic ending of the story. So, Romeo and Juliet were a tragedy start to end.

Again, I get why the line was used, but I would have done without it.

Moving on from the number, Evie finally kisses the guy and gets it over with. She is just so soft and tender with him, caressing his face then letting her hand sneak down to his chest. Can I be him for minute?

When Doug snores, Evie FREAKS. Just look at her face. For a second there, her only constant outside of her family is not a constant anymore. The one stable thing she had is not as stable as she originally though. When that turns out to be Doug being a little shit, her initial reaction is to smack him and be mad about it. But her pout slowly relaxes into a relieved, small smile and it is everything.

Cruel cruel prank from Doug, but again, he’s a joker. It’s one of the few things the movies actually told about his character, so that’s fine. If Evie can forgive him then so can I. I would have strangled him for a bit first, though.

And I assume Evie and Doug talk about the whole true love thing somewhere off screen, since they spend together the time it takes for Uma to eat cake twice (once with Dizzy and once with Mal when they sort of make up) and the guys to find Ben, de-beast him and bring him back. So yeah, probably they talk things through like the mature couple they have proved to be, maybe sharing a few kisses and so. Oh, and catching up, Evie absolutely fills him in on everything that has been going on the past few hours.

Then Audrey traps everybody inside, breaking their couple time and bringing them back to reality. When Uma helps Mal and they’re freed, Evie looks off screen towards Doug, gives him a big smile and a nod. Like, See? I did that! I got them working together! See my handy work and be proud!

Of course, whether Evie is the reason for them getting over their conflict or not is irrelevant. She tried. But the point is, she looks at him, showing him the result of what she has been working towards.

Again, one thing I have noticed was that, other than the fact that Doug is talking to Gil when Ben interrupts to send Doug, Jane and Gil to find Fairy God Mother, Uma and Evie wave Doug goodbye. You can clearly see Gil looking the other way a few beats before Uma and Evie raise their hands in sync. It wasn’t for Gil, oh no, it wasn’t for Gil.

So, Uma likes Doug, you can’t change my mind. And I don’t know about you, but Queen Uma’s opinions are clearly superior and to be trusted. I could end this here and be done with it and I’ll be satisfied.

But there’s more.

Engagement Party time!!

To kick things off, Doug is hanging out with Evie and Jay, you know, as he is part of the group. For some reason, even Jane and Carlos aren’t together and Chad looking around aimlessly and not being a part of anything is definitely me at a party. Chad in general is a mood on his own.

During Mal’s speech, when she makes it known that Hades is her father, everyone looks around in confusion. Except Evie, Carlos, Doug and Jay. Jay moves slightly but I think it’s more of the shock about Mal going public than the information itself. Everybody else looks confused, even Jane and Audrey.

Knowing that Jane, Chad and Doug were absent when Mal told about Hades the first time, when Audrey was comatose, and assuming that Audrey didn’t catch onto why Hades was there to help wake her up, it’s expected that all four of them would be clueless at this point.

But Doug isn’t. He knows. Evie definitely either let it slip sometime before and made him promise not to tell anyone or she told him sometime between their true love kiss and the party. Since Evie is a secret keeper herself, I’d assume that this piece of information was given to Doug as part of the run down after the kiss or after Audrey was rescued.

So yeah, Evie trusts him as blindly as he trusts her.

Anyway, Mal goes blah blah blah barrier down blah blah blah they sing the final number and Harry pulls the sleazy move of all sleazy moves. He literally hits on four different people in, like, one minute. He asks if Mal is taken, attempts to give Evie the eyes, tries to kiss Uma then lets himself be pulled away by Audrey.

Harry asks if Mal’s is taken and Doug’s dancing ceases and he steps forward. I don’t think Doug thought that Harry would move onto Evie next, he barely knows him, and he hasn’t seen Harry making a move on anyone before. Doug definitely steps forward to interfere and stop Harry’s advances on his best friend’s fiancé. However, Evie shots Harry down so Harry tries to make eyes at her but Doug shots him down instantly.

Harry legit looks at Doug sort of in deflated disappointment and is elbowed by Uma for two reasons, one being the fact that Uma has witnessed Evie waking Doug up with a true love’s kiss and two, Uma’s own feelings for Harry. Obviously. She acknowledges that she had shot him down before but now everything is different, it is safe now for her to let herself be in love.

So yeah, Evie laugh, grabs Doug and leaves after the grumpy and pouty Uma.

Also, the following gif means that Doug is to Evie what Harry is to Uma. I’ll just leave it at that.

And that concludes all the Evie/Doug story in the three movies. I guess it kind of proves my point that you have to read between the lines and look hard in every shot to gather what is going on with every character and pairing. To be honest, I get why some people might say that Evie deserves better than Doug because he’s not good looking enough or not interesting enough or whatever. Again, Doug was never meant to be viewed as good looking or classically handsome from the start. He is the son of a sidekick after all. And him not being interesting enough, it’s just the movie prioritizing the moving the story forward over developing already existing characters. Making him anything but what he was in the final cuts of the movies undoes all the character development Evie had, which is garbage.

I guess my point is, it is not about deserving. It’s never about deserving when it comes to love. It’s about loving your partner unconditionally, helping them rid of their flaws, treating them the best way you can, being their support system and believer. That is why Evie and Doug are one of the best-developed couples.

A few things I felt like going over:

1- The movies have severely underused all the characters, we can all agree on that, but none more than Doug. The AKs especially, after the first movie they were all but accessories, not even amounting to supporting characters. Lonnie was actually the only one who got no good story arc in the first movie, which is why she had her own in the second and that’s that.

2- “Doug has no contribution in D3″ Well... I am not entirely sure how to break this to you, but none of the AKs did. Chad did absolutely nothing as Audrey’s sidekick except be a comic relief.

Jane’s contribution was turning Beast-Ben into semiBeast-Ben. Which could have been achieved through ending Audrey’s reign of terror, or the guys holding down Ben while Mal true-love’s-kisses the spell out of him. So... Jane’s contribution, while is smart, is pointless. And when she is sent to find her mother, she does find her on the steps to the museum that holds her wand. And Jane doesn’t even think about carrying on the plan her mother obviously had in mind.

And this is Ben’s contribution. He took them to the Audrey’s lair, which she had already abandoned at this point. So Ben’s story in D3 is proposal, Beastie Boi, beard-and-fanged-up, Uber driver, Stone Boi, nervous pacing and finally, engagement party. With a side of being surprised all the time.

3- Doug receives so much hate with absolutely no good reason. I have already gone over the character, but let’s stop a second at his looks and wardrobe. And like, I didn’t want to go there, but I kind of have to, it wasn’t just about the hair. Some people are ripping him apart, completely ghosting over the fact that Zachary Gibson is a real human being, who has been struggling with his mental health and is finally getting better and feeling comfortable in his own skin. So, just relax. I am not trying to call out anyone or even shit on any ships, they can all coexist, it is what fanfiction if for. But ripping into the guy like that is unacceptable.

4- I have seen people going on about Doug’s wardrobe and how it is boring, but have you seen the movie? Because Doug’s outfit is on level compared to the AKs’ guys outfits to Jane’s birthday, and none of the AKs’ outfits come even close to what the VKs are rocking. Here’s what everyone are wearing to Jane’s birthday for reference:

Then here’s Doug’s:

He’s literally wearing the same exact outfit as Chad but with his own colors, both are average and boring compared to the girls’ dresses or the VKs’ outfits. Can’t we agree that Chad and Doug were cheated and move on?

Rant done, I promise.

I’d normally see you off with gifs of Evie and Doug, but I also thought I’d include gifs and images of Doug interacting with everyone. Because he’s one of the few characters that actually does interact with almost every important character on screen.

And with these, I rest my many cases:

As for his interactions with the rest of the core4 and the AKs:

And, my favorites, his interactions with the sea3:

This is the start of a beautiful friendship:

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beinfriends-a · 5 years

Text

word count: 3096 characters: Eoforwine, Lucas extra notes: continuation from this drabble.

It’s gone quiet again. He’s sort of expected that, but it still feels like kind of a shame, really. Even if that conversation with Claus didn’t go so well, it was nice to reconnect for that one singular moment, as miserable as it was. And even nicer was the actual pleasant conversation he managed with those Pigmasks, but it’s been quiet since. Maybe he should try and go back out towards Tazmily again... but that’s a long way to go to get screamed at by the one person he wants to befriend the most now.

Still, it’s tempting, but not tempting enough to prompt For to do it. Not yet, anyhow. What he’s really hoping for is for Claus to take him up on the offer of coming out here to visit him. Claus knows where he lives now, at least. That’s pretty much all he could do, really; give Claus the option come by if he ever wanted to try and reconnect for real. He sort of doubts it, though, the more the days go by. He knows he can’t expect an immediate turn around, but he can hope, can’t he?

It’s a few weeks after then when there’s finally a knock on his door. It takes him a long second to process it, but that’s what it is. He sort of freezes at first, but just that one action gets his heart pounding. He knew Claus would come around eventually, he just needed time... and so he won’t waste any more time waiting. He steps over to the door and opens it up.

“Hello, Mister...” Slight hesitation. “Errforwhine! Is it all right if we talk?”

Well. This is... unexpected.

But... close enough.

For spends another long moment staring back blankly at Lucas’ friendly face, trying to process who he was seeing, before he nods and steps aside from the blond to come in. Lucas smiles graciously and steps in before For shuts the door behind him. He takes a moment to look around the man’s little home... he knows it isn’t much, but it’s the best he could do under the constraints he had.

“You have a lovely home,” Lucas says brightly.

“Eh... not really, but it gets the job done.”

Lucas hums. “Well... it’s homely, I think. Maybe if you had decorations it might feel nicer ta you? I could bring somethin' for you-- oh! That reminds me.” He starts to rummage through a bag over his shoulder, then pulling out a small wheel of something wrapped in paper. “Um, I felt bad comin’ over unannounced... and I wanted ta apologize for how Claus behaved when he spoke with you... so I thought you might appreciate some sheep’s cheese since I figure you probably don’t get much o’ stuff like this out here? My family just made some, so--” He offers the cheese to For.

...Lucas must realize the awkwardness of this situation. He has to. Maybe that’s why he’s trying to make up for it with a gift-- but jeez, he didn’t have to... especially not to make up for something Claus did. It’s thoughtful, though, he can’t deny that, and so he accepts it with a “Thanks,” before setting it on the table.

For leans against the table with his hand, and gestures for Lucas to sit down with the other. “So... why are you here, exactly?”

“Well,” Lucas starts, sounding like he’s unsure of how to answer that inquiry as he takes his seat, “Claus told me about what happened with you ‘n’ him, and I just-- well, I wanted to talk to you about it, I guess.” For raises his eyebrows expectantly. “I’m real sorry about how he acted with you. Claus gets rilly... anxious ‘n’ freaked out about Pigmask stuff. I think you surprisin’ him rilly caught’m off-guard--”

“You don’t have to defend what he did or explain what he did for him. That ain’t your responsibility. Fact, if anyone should be apologizin’ between the two of us, it should be me for beatin’ on you and your friends way back when.”

There’s a moment where the blond appears to be thinking over what to say in response, mouth opening and closing uncertainly. “I hope you don’t feel bad about that, because I don’t hold that against you, Ee-- Err--”

“You can just call me For.”

“Mister For... I know a lot of people did things they regret as Pigmasks. And I know you must be a good person if you’re still here.” Is that really what he thinks...? Maybe that’s true-- or maybe it’s just the chance to be better that’s helped For thrive. It isn’t like he does much to justify his continued survival. “I mean, Claus is still here, too, for the same reason. He was given a second chance because he deserved it. There ain’t many Pigmasks left... ‘n’ I know it’s hard for him, but I think it would probably be nice if he had someone like you around...”

“That’s what I wanted,” For murmurs. “That’s why I wanted to talk to him.”

“Right... ‘n’ it seemed like you guys were close before, right? He told me you were, kinda. I don’t think he wants ta admit he got along with you-- or maybe that he still kinda likes you.”

Doesn’t want to admit it... that may be Claus’ pride, or perhaps a refusal to identify with who he was as a Commander. Affiliating with someone from his time as Commander might be complicated for a kid like him, someone who, based on For’s brief interaction with him, appeared so desperate to distance himself from that past. There didn’t appear to be any reconciling those two identities for Claus.

For can’t exactly blame him. It’s not like he really knows the kid anymore, but he’s smart enough to take a guess that the experience of being a Pigmask was far more traumatic for a kid like Claus than it had been for Eoforwine. He seemed to take it much harder, just based on how poorly he reacted to For’s presence. But even then... just the suggestion that Claus might still like him sort of adds a spark of hope to this conversation.

“You think he does? He made it pretty clear he hated me when we talked. He went outta his way to tell me that we weren’t friends, which... yeah, I guess he’s right.” A bitter laugh. “Still kinda hurt, but I guess me tryin’ to baby him when he was Commander without ever really helpin’ doesn’t count.”

“I cain’t say I know fer sure what it was like, because I wudn’t there, ‘n’ Claus doesn’t rilly like ta... talk about that time, but compared to some of the other stuff he’s said about back then? He wudn’t as harsh as he could’a been about you.” Jeez, if that wasn’t Claus’ worst, he’d hate to see how nasty the kid could get. “I think Claus says things he don’t mean because he panics or gets nervous ta admit what he really thinks.”

“So what do you think he really thinks, then?” For asks, arms crossed. He’s honestly curious. As nice a thought as that is, it really just feels like he’s making more and more excuses for his asshole of a brother.

Lucas probably already knows how it seems, though. For gets this feeling that this isn’t the first time he’s had to do something like this, as unusual as his meeting with Claus had been. The ginger doesn’t seem like the friendly type. He sort of gets where the “unhinged” comment came from with Compass, though he’s clearly not seen the worst of the kid yet.

“Well, he wouldn’t admit it with me, but y’know what I think? I think once he settled down about you randomly showin’ up, he was upset you chose now above any other time.” Huh. “I mean, it’s been quite a long time since you two knew each other, right? Four years is a long time to not see someone you care about. ‘Nd I do think Claus cares about you, For. But I think he’d be right to be unhappy that you’d pop up randomly now ‘n’ expect things ta be normal between you two. That’s what you want, right?”

He’s right. It’s weird, but he is. Although For had never bothered to get to know Lucas for obvious reasons, he did always seem like a smart kid. If anyone knew how Claus would feeling, it’d probably be this kid, right? And For can understand being pissed about that sudden reappearance after radio silence for years. He knows that he should have done it sooner, but he didn’t.

Of course he wants it to be normal between them, but it’s not like that could be accomplished by staying away. His best bet was trying to appeal to the familiarity of their friendship-- though that backfired.

“I had my reasons for not tryin’ earlier,” For replies hesitantly. “What matters is I wanna make sure we’re okay with each other now. You said Claus would do good havin’ someone like me around. So how do I do that? All he did was scream at me.”

“That’s the hard part,” Lucas concedes, “because Claus can be... um, rilly stubborn.” For snorts. That’s an understatement. “I guess I’ll have ta talk to him more. I didn’t tell him I was comin’ out ta see you yet. I figured it’d be better ta tell him after we get this sorted.... ‘cause I know he won’t do anythin’ to fix this himself without a little push from me. I doubt you were able ta rilly express yourself when talkin’ to him, so... you have a second chance.”

There’s a pause of For studying the teen for a moment before finally responding. “Why are you helping me?” Lucas blinks, then tilts his head, confused. “I’ve never done a good thing for you in your life. Why do you wanna help me so bad? I appreciate it, but-- I don’t get it.”

“Because I think this means a lot to Claus-- ‘nd I never thought o’ you as one o’ the especially bad Pigmasks. It’s not like we got along, but... if you were special to Claus, I can respect that. And I told you before, I trust that you ain’t like you used to be if you’re still here.”

“Do you really think he wants us to get along?”

“Yes, I think so. I think he just don’t wanna admit it, but I know he’d be better off havin’ someone like you. You might understand him better since you were there with him... back then. I still can’t say I understand what it was like. I do my best! But there’s a lot missin’ for me. He don’t have to explain half as much to you. You’ll just.. understand, right?”

For nods along to that. It’s a fair point. As much as it makes sense to want to distance himself from that time in his life, Claus might do good with someone who understands what it was like-- at least to some extent. Their experiences will obviously differ... Claus wasn’t like the other Pigmasks in the army. He wasn’t like For, exactly, but at least For was there. Both being high-ranked Pigmasks meant that there was something to be shared-- if only Claus would give it a chance.

He still can’t believe that Lucas thinks it’s possible, but it is giving him some hope. So long as Lucas is able to get through to Claus... maybe there is that chance. It sounds like Claus will be more willing to listen to his brother than anybody else.

There’s a moment where For lets the silence sit between the two of them, thinking over what’s just been said. “I know it was shitty not to try and talk to him before now, but... I had no idea if he was alive or dead or not. I didn’t think most Pigmasks were alive. Hell, I’m not even sure why I got to live and lots of others guys didn’t.”

“There’s a reason that--”

“I know there’s a reason, but I still don’t know what it is. But I’ll take advantage of that chance, for whatever reason Dragon Jesus gave me the extra go.” That term seems to confuse Lucas slightly, but he doesn’t ask, and For doesn’t explain it. “I figured somebody like him probably wound up dead. I wanted to check, but... well, I saw how nasty people got about Pigmasks real fast, and I thought it was smarter to get the hell out of dodge than to stick around in hopes of seeing him pop up again. Figured it’d be better to just go my own way, so I did. It’s worked out for me, but boy... it’s fuckin’ lonely.” A laugh. “It’d be nice to have him-- or somebody-- around again. He doesn’t feel too different too me. He’s, uh... really intense now, but the Commander had bursts of that sometimes, too. I dunno. I feel like there’s a lot of that kid still in him, but maybe I just need to get to know the new Claus better. I noticed he... carries a lotta anger, doesn’t he?”

Lucas nods grimly. “That’s somethin’ we’re tryin’ to work on, but it’s slow to make progress... he tries his best, but it’s hard to control how you feel when you feel as intensely as Claus does. He feels the most outta anyone I ever met. It’s can be pritty overwhelmin’ for me too-- ‘n’ o’ course, for Claus. It’s frustratin’ ‘nd drainin’ for everyone involved, trust me. The problem is he doesn’t seem to have a healthy way to get rid of it... and I’m not sure how ta help him on that.”

“Not sure I know either, but it’s sure as shit important he gets that shit on a leash sooner rather than later. That kid’s gonna get his teeth kicked in it he ain’t careful.”

There’s an uncomfortable hum from Lucas. Maybe that was a harsh way to put it, but it’s how he felt. For could see Claus easily getting himself in trouble with that attitude. After all, he’d quickly lost favor with those Pigmasks over a likely similar conflict as he had with For. “I know...” is the blond’s eventual answer, followed with an awkward laugh. “I’m tryin’ to help him work on that, too. I worry about that sometimes.”

“You seem to got a lotta worries with that kid.”

“No, no! It’s not like-- I don’t want it ta seem like--”

Raises a hand. “Hey, relax, I’m not tryin’ to say anything about Claus. I’m just tellin’ you what I see. And considering how much that wigged you out, I think I’m more right than you want me to be.” No immediate reply from Lucas, so For continues. “I’m not tryin’ to overstep, dude, but just sayin’, I don’t think all of this should be your responsibility to start with. That’s up to him-- and you ain’t his dad. In fact, I hope you guys’ dad is helpin’ you with that. This is more an adult’s job than a kid’s.”

“Right...”

That response sounds doubtful, and so raises a question of what sort of parenting is in the picture here, too, if Lucas is constantly trying to fix these problems for Claus himself. It really doesn’t seem like his problem, but perhaps Lucas is just the type to try and fix it all himself regardless of what else Claus has to rely on. Still... he gets a weird feeling from that.

“Yeah.” Pause. “Sorry, I think I am overstepping now, so never mind. But y’know-- do you know those Pigmask guys too? Compass and, uh, Toffee?”

“Oh, yes, I do.”

“You met ‘em?”

“Yes! I’ve met Compass on several occasions. I would consider him a friend o’ mine.”

This kid is shockingly nice, so that’s probably a big bonus when Claus is such a huge prick, especially to those two, apparently.

“All right. Well, Claus probably told ya that I came there ‘cause Compass ‘n’ Toffee suggested it to me. It wasn’t exactly their idea, but I remember the Commander tellin’ me I could probably... really... give Claus some guidance that maybe you or someone else close to him can’t give. I mean, we already went over that earlier, right? And that’s all I fuckin’ wanna do, kid. It’d probably be help for Claus, help for you, too, if you don’t have to worry about him all the time.”

“Then I think we have an understandin’ here, Mister For. We’re on the same page! I just hope Claus will be too. I’ll talk to him about it when I get home. I’ll pro’ly send you a letter about it later, okay? I think the pigeon should be able t’ find yer home. I wouldn’t want Claus to pop up at yer door without any warnin’ first.”

“Okay... uh, thanks.”

Lucas smiles to For. “Of course! I really want things to work out for you. I don’t know as much about you as he does, but based on what he told me about you? I think you could really be good for him. So... I’ll let you know!” The blond moves towards the front door, and opens it before turning to For to say a goodbye before he’s gone.

God... that was weird. It wasn’t unwelcome, but just... odd for him. Maybe it’s just because he feels like he’s no good at this socializing thing currently; he’s all out of practice. He still can’t believe that kid would ever do anything for him as nice as this-- it’s bizarre to think about how this was the same boy For had fought several times before years ago.

Claus is lucky to have somebody like Lucas around... and that same kid thinks For’s just as worthy to have around Claus, too. He can’t stop thinking it, but it’s weird, weird, weird-- someone having that much faith in him. He doesn’t consider himself to be a bad person, but he wouldn’t think that he could be so helpful to someone. He wants to be, though. He wants to be. That was his plan all along, wasn’t it?

He wants to be good for Claus-- or at least have that kid not hate his guts. But at least he’ll know they tried if Lucas doesn’t manage to get through to him. But he does really hope that Claus’ll listen.

#A Flash of Memory [DRABBLES]#Swine's Friend [PT]#Young Sun [LUCAS]#( tldr For and Lucas have a very normal level headed conversation. claus is not there to ruin everything JHSDBF )#( I was gonna include a bit with claus but this part of For and Lucas talking turned out to be longer than expected )#( so like I guess I'll do the next bit whenever I get inspo )#( I have to get back to schoolwork soon fml so idk when I'll do it )

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rhunterwriter-blog · 5 years

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A Nightmare is Born

Soraya stalked quietly between sparse trees, careful of loose rocks and dry branches in the fading twilight. It was late fall, and the ground would be blanketed with snow soon, but until then the world as far as she knew it was dry and dead, covered over with fallen leaves.

She was following the sound of chanting somewhere out in the trees. Who made the noise was a mystery to everyone in Somerset, as was why they chose the same nights every year to conduct their strange rituals. On some level, she thought most of them didn’t want to know.

If the people making the alien noise were looking for privacy, they had certainly found the right place for it. Somerset was a small framing community nestled in the foothills, and contact with the outside world was sporadic at best.

As she crept closer she began to notice a flickering light in the distance between the thickening trees. A bonfire if she had to guess.

She slowed her pace, carefully making her way from trunk to trunk. As the voices grew louder and more distinct she dropped to a crouch, sticking to the deeper shadows as best she could.

Boredom had drawn her out into the dark as much as anything else. Boredom, and latent curiosity. Soraya had her own theories about who made the journey out into the cold and spent the night chanting around a fire at this time every year. The explanation was obvious to her; it had to be some sort of local tradition. There simply weren’t enough people that visited for all of them to be outsiders. Strangely, whenever she tried to broach the subject with anyone in town their response was either to profess complete ignorance, or to chastise her for talking about it at all.

That was why she found herself in the middle of the woods on a cold dark night, creeping ever closer to a chorus of voices, listening intently as they chanted something in a language she didn’t recognize over and over again.

It was full dark by the time Soraya could make out a clearing. The light was in the center, the chanters throwing shadows through the forest as they circled the edges. She couldn’t remember having ever seen the clearing before. That was odd. She had spent her entire life in Somerset and the surrounding wilderness. She would have gladly sworn she knew them both like the back of her own hand.

Everything was too far away for Soraya to make it out clearly, so she resumed her slow journey from tree to tree, finally taking shelter behind the raised root of an old oak.

When she lifted her eyes from the ground to look back up at the clearing, several revelations struck her one after the other.

The first was the state of the various revelers. Many were dancing around the edge of the clearing, but others were more stationary, cavorting in twos and threes along the edges. All of them were in various states of undress, and all were glistening wet, though with what she preferred not to guess.

The second was that what she had initially mistaken for a bonfire was nothing of the sort. Instead there were eight black pillars in the center of the clearing, surrounded by the rubble of what might have been a building long ago.

In the center of the pillars, hovering in place a few feet off of the ground, was what looked like a tear in space. Soraya couldn’t think of any other way to describe it. It seemed angry, constantly seething and shifting, leaking a purple-red light that made it appear that the revelers had all bathed in blood.

The last thing she noticed was the screaming. It was faint in comparison to the chanting voices, but it was definitely there. It grew louder, and then faded away again and again, as if the screamer were fighting for breath.

Soraya listened carefully, scanning the clearing from right to left and back again, trying to discern the source of the discordant voice.

Her eyes settled on a young man being carried between two of the debauched figures. He had been badly beaten and abused. His face was swollen and bloodied, and his body had fared no better. Soraya didn’t recognize him, but that didn’t mean much given the sorry state that he was in.

She laid there helplessly, and watched as the two anonymous figures forced his half limp body in between two of the pillars.

The boy almost seemed to struggle for a moment, rising briefly to his feet and walking with determination around the circle. He cut across it a couple of times, but he always stopped short of the edge, as if he couldn’t even comprehend that there was a way out.

After a few brief moments he lost his footing again, and shortly thereafter rose limply into the air.

Soraya watched in horror and disbelief as his body gradually eclipsed the rend in space, casting the world around them all into complete darkness.

The chanting changed in pitch and tone, growing deeper and louder, building to a crescendo. Soraya could still hear the scream that tore from the center of the pillars clearly enough.

After a few seconds, she became aware of another sound, a subtle snapping and breaking. That sound slowly grew in volume until it overshadowed both the chanting and the boy’s screams entirely.

As the crunching of bones grew louder, a subtle light began to illuminate the clearing. It was the same sickly purple-red of the rift, only now it seemed to bleed out from behind the young man.

It was that unnatural light that finally made the cause of the sickening sounds clear. Soraya watched powerless as the joints of the boy’s hands snapped backwards and elongated into claws. His torso stretched and extended. His jaw snapped and unhinged, only to reset into an even more unnatural shape.

When the transformation was finally over, Soraya couldn’t see any resemblance at all between the boy that had been forced into the circle and the creature that had taken his place. That unnatural thing let out an equally unnatural cry. Not a cry of pain. That would have been too ordinary, perhaps even comforting given the circumstances. Instead the sound struck her as almost mournful; a lamentation of the creature’s own creation.

For reasons Soraya would never understand, that was the moment that she finally screamed.

As soon as the sound had left her mouth she saw the head of one of the revelers, still until now, snap towards her. She couldn’t see their eyes, they were too far away, and some sort of mask or paint seemed to be obscuring their finer features.

Soraya couldn’t see their eyes, but she could feel them boring into her, and in that instant she knew that they knew. Everything. Where she was, who she was, what she was doing…. Maybe it was just an irrational fear, but that was the moment that she finally ran.

——————————————————————————————

The next day Soraya made her way through the trees again in full daylight, tracing her path from the night before as best she could remember it.

The fear from the previous evening hadn’t worn off entirely, but she had almost convinced herself that it had all just been a nightmare. Only the scratches and abrasions that she had acquired in her wild run home through the woods told her otherwise.

When she reached where the clearing should have been there was no sign of it, but there was a certain wrongness to the place. The angles seemed incorrect somehow. She tried to walk in a straight line through where she remembered it being, but if she closed her eyes it felt like she was walking in a circle. When she tried to correct the feeling with her eyes closed she opened her eyes to find that she had angled away from her destination, and was heading off into the woods in a seemingly random direction.

Trying to decipher the discordant feelings made her head spin, so she settled for examining the ground instead.

She found a few bent twigs and broken branches, but no definite sign of anything or anyone. Certainly not enough to prove to herself or anyone else that there had been dozens of manic cultists performing unspeakable acts there just the night before.

When she noticed the sun beginning to sink towards late afternoon she quickly turned to head home and determined to never think or speak about the strange rituals ever again.

——————————————————————————————

Hello everyone. Sorry this story is a week late, I had a lot going on last weekend and have been sick all week.

With any luck, I'll be back on schedule by next weekend.

Thank you for your patience and, as always, thanks for reading.

Places you can find me:

WordPress: rhunterwriter.wordpress.com DeviantArt: rhunterwriter.deviantart.com Tumblr: rhunterwriter.tumblr.com Twitter: twitter.com/RHunterWriter

#fantasy #horror #surreal #lovecraftian #short story

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loserdomain · 5 years

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An Unsuccessful Exorcism: Part 5 Family

“Are you hurt,” Dimitri asked, his hands searching your body for injury. You nodded your head and leaned into him.

“I’m fine, I’m just tired” Not only was it late, but you were also feeling the effects of an adrenaline dump. “I didn’t know you could do that, you murmured. Looking around, the two of you were now in your apartment sitting on the couch. Neither of you said anything for a while as you processed what had just happened. After a few moments, you spoke, “So that was your brother, huh?” Dimitri chuckled, causing you to chuckle slightly as well.

“I’ll make you dinner,” he said, pulling you in for a hug before walking into the kitchen. Everything Alistair told you was swirling around in your head.

“You can hear me,” you thought. Heavy silence followed as you waited for him to confirm what Alistair had told you.

“I should have told you sooner about the true extent of my powers,” he said aloud.

“You lied to me yesterday when I asked about other demons; you have a brother,” you seethed. Dimitri could tell you were more shaken from the encounter than you were angry with him about it. Fortunately, he could handle when you were being irrational.

“I wanted to keep you out of my family drama as long as I could, but it seems to have caught up to me. There is so much I need to explain to you, but before I do you need to understand the world I live in.”

“What are you saying?” From the sound of things, it seemed like you were about to meet his family. You wondered if that included a reunion with his psycho brother.

“He won’t be a threat to you once I’m back where I belong. I hope you’ll agree to come with me.”

“Where exactly are you from?”

“It’s called the Underworld.”

A few packed bags later, you were seated in the drawing room of a literal castle while people rushed around you. Nothing seemed too different from the regular world; your uneasiness to your surroundings seemed unfounded. You’d expected something dark and scary. Instead, you were faced with a beautiful, starry sky and an overwhelmingly regal castle.

“Where exactly is the underworld?” you asked carefully. For all you knew, you could just be in Florida or something.

“Its... difficult to explain,” he said, slightly preoccupied.

“Well, are we on Earth?” Dimitri was now completely occupied by a woman who’d just walked up to him.

“You’ve been gone a while,” the woman said in a smooth voice. Pulling him in for an intimate embrace, she whispered inaudibly into his ear. You caught sight of her muscular arms as her shirt sleeves stretched over them.

“I have to take care of something, someone will be here to take care of you,” he said, leaving you in the drawing room. Sinking down until you landed on a stiff couch, you reached into your bag for a book. You hadn’t been reading for more than a few seconds before you felt someone sit down beside you.

“Danielle Rorschach. She’s one of Dimitri’s most trusted advisors as well as his childhood best friend. That being, she lets him call her Dani.”

“Why are you telling me this,” you asked, not wanting to own up to your jealousy.

“I just wanted to stir up trouble between by brother and his...human,” Alistair said to you.

“Since you know so much more about what's going on, why don’t you tell me what I’m doing here,” you asked in a tense voice. It frustrated you even more that however calm your voice was, he could still hear what was going on inside your head. Only then did it occur to you that the castle was likely filled with demons who could all hear your thoughts if they chose to. The feeling of a hand on your elbow brought you out of thought.

“Come, we’ll speak privately in your rooms.” Your hand shot out when he moved to pick up your small bag of clothes and toiletries.

“I’ve got it,” you said. He stared at you, puzzled for a few seconds before shrugging and letting go of the backpack. It had been difficult to tell just how big the castle was in the darkness, but it took a good long while before Alistair opened a door which led to a very luxurious bedroom almost the size of your apartment. You sat your backpack down by the door, feeling overwhelmed by the space.

“The castle is home to lots of prying eyes; you’ll come to understand that this is your only private space,” he said, shutting the door behind him.

“He told me that he needed to go back to his family in the Underworld and that he wanted me to go with him. He didn’t mention a castle…” Your sentence trailed as you finished the final bit in your head. “What am I doing here?” Alistair had a look of sympathy on his face when you looked up at him.

“Dimitri is very secretive with his private life so I won’t have many of the answers you seek. I can tell you that the Underworld is ruled by coregency; Dimitri and I are the co-regents.” You were silent for a few moments as you processed what he had just told you. For the past few months, the ruler of the Underworld has been living in your apartment. You felt foolish for thinking that your biggest obstacle with Dimitri was that he was a demon.

“Why is this place different from where I’m from? What is the Underworld?” Though you’d only been in the Underworld for roughly half an hour, your search for anomalies had fallen flat, leading to relief and subsequent paranoia.

“Your world is bound by laws that this one isn’t affected by. This includes the laws of gravity which tie us to the land. Since we are demons, among other types of creatures, we are able to utilize magic to bind our world together.”

“So this place isn’t...evil?” Alistair chuckled at your question; you weren’t offended since you were half joking.

“There is a bathroom through that door,” he explained, pointing to one of the doors. “I’ll bring you some food when you are done with your bath,” he said before excusing himself from the room. You had been thankful when he’d offered to bring the food himself since you weren’t in the mood to have to be around people. Now that you were alone, you took the time to look around the room which had an obvious color theme of black and red. This wasn’t a guest room; this room belonged to Dimitri. The realization made you feel even smaller as you peeled off your clothes for a bath.

A tall cabinet held different soaps, bath bombs, and bubble baths. You felt a grin spread across your lips as you imagined Dimitri enjoying a bath bomb. Confusion washed over you instead as you realized none of them had been opened. So why were they there if he didn’t use them? You were cold and tense enough to wait until you were in the warm water to contemplate Dimitri’s actions any further. It amazed you how quickly your life had become unhinged. Things had been quiet since you left for college. Even as a child, your foster parents didn’t give you too much trouble. Dimitri was kind to you like no one ever had been. Your mind wandered as you thought back to your childhood. You remembered the day you met your foster parents. They were a young couple who couldn’t have kids for whatever reason. It must have been for that reason that they resented you so much. They fought every other day about small things but even as a kid you knew they were really upset at you. You remembered the day you told them you’d be moving across the country to continue college. Your ‘mother’ threw everything she could get her hands on at you that day. Somehow you knew they’d have despised you the same is you’d stuck around.

Lost in thought as you absentmindedly shaped bubbles, you didn’t realize you weren’t alone until your peripheral registered a tall shape beside the tub. You flinched and sunk down into the bubbles as he kneeled beside the tub. You could tell your discomfort amused him by his eyes and the small quirk of his lips.

“I brought you a change of clothes,” he said, setting them on the counter.

“Thank you,” you stuttered out.

“You don’t need to hide from me,” he said, leaning in. “I’m sorry I left you so abruptly.”

“Were you listening to me while I was bathing,” you asked.

“I was.” For some reason, you had expected him to lie. In your head, he had done something wrong. Then you wondered if you ever would have had the guts to tell him about your childhood in your own words. You’d known him quite a while and never revealed anything. “Don’t hide from me.” As he spoke, he extended a hand to you. Reluctantly, you took it, rising out of the water under his gaze. Once you’d fully risen, he helped you step out of the tub. His eyes terrified you as they stared into yours; you knew at that moment that he could see every piece of you: every inch of skin, every dark corner hidden away in your mind. All you could do was look up at him and try to guess what he was thinking. When his eyes lowered to look over your body you knew he could tell when they passed something you were insecure about. At the thought, you reached for a towel. Before you could pull it off of the counter, his hand shot out at pulled it away from you.

“Please, Dimitri-” you began before you felt yourself being pushed against the nearest wall. You felt an arm snake around your lower back, pulling you close to him while the other cradled the back of your head. Before you could think of a response, you felt his lips on yours for the second time. Gingerly, you pressed your hands on his chest as you felt his tongue coax its way into your mouth. His kiss was primal and demanding, nothing like the suave kiss you had received that morning. Unfortunatley, like his previous kiss, it was over before it started. Though you felt like he’d stolen all the air from your lungs as you were left panting while he stood watching you. “You need to eat,” he said, breaking the silence. “I’ll let you get dressed.”

The aroma of your favourite soup surrounded you as you stepped out of the restroom in the pajamas Dimitri had provided. Until then, it seemed like everyone except you was aware that you hadn’t eaten since that morning. Dimitri was on the edge of the bed reading one of the books from your bag. His calm voice in your head told you that he’d packed your things away in the closet. You couldn’t care less about your belongings as you picked up one of the small sandwiches on the tray to shove into your mouth.

“I ran into Alistair on my way here. I understand you have questions,” he prodded, setting you book down on the nightstand.

“You and Alistair are Kings?” Dimitri only nodded.

“You knew that already.” You sighed, you were off to a great start.

“What am I doing here?”It came out more as a whisper, like you gave up half-way through the sentence. He knew this was what you were wondering and yet he made you ask anyway fully knowing it would embarrass you to acknowledge your own insecurity about finding yourself in a castle with the king of a place you’d never heard of. “Why am I here,” you asked once more through a clear voice.

“You are here because I want you to be and because you agreed to come,” he spoke concisely. You only stared at him, hoping he would elaborate. “Demons aren’t supposed to...care for humans. Despite this, I can’t think of a single thing I wouldn’t do for you. I have a duty to my world that commands my constant attention, but I could give you anything you want if you chose to stay here with me.” You thought back to every other life-changing decision you’d ever made and quickly determined that this one was the most stressful. He’d never given the impression that he cared for you so deeply. You looked around the room as you thought. No matter how much you wanted to pretend he wasn’t in the room, you could feel his presence within your mind willing you to give in to him.

“Can I think on it,” you asked; knowing he had you, his lips curved into a knowing smile.

“Of coarse, dear.”

A/N This took so long...

#demon #demon x human #demon x reader #occult #supernatural #writing

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raendown · 7 years

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Pairing: MadaraTobirama Summary: One quick change to his usual attire and it was like everyone else had lost their ability to be normal. Tobirama hated being confused.

Utter ridiculousness to be found by following the link or reading under the cut!

Less Is More

Every single citizen in the village of Konoha knew that there was one time and one time only when Senju Tobirama could be seen in public wearing less than full armor: training. It was also a rather well-known fact that despite his genius he tended to be rather oblivious when people of any gender paid him ‘special attention’. It was sort of cute in it’s own way.

The constant presence of an audience at the training grounds every time he needed a workout continued to baffle Tobirama. It boggled his mind how so many people could have so little to do with their day. Not to mention that it was just strange that they chose to lounge at the edges of the training areas where injury was a very real possibility, especially for the civilians. Yet still they came, every day, sometimes twice a day! His morning workout was always performed under the eyes of at least a small group. Sometimes the grounds were nearly unattended when he came back to train his team, though a crowd always seemed to collect around the edges by the time they were done.

As he might have expected, today was no different. Tobirama headed for the training ground already dressed for exertion, a light kimono shirt thrown overtop to ward off the morning chill. By now he had quite a bit of practice ignoring the indolent strangers loafing around the field and his eyes slid right over them as though they were merely part of the scenery. Even the soft sighs and low giggles as he passed by were given no heed.

His attention focused on those already waiting for him. Madara stood off to one side, arms crossed and face thoughtful, watching as Hashirama and Touka went through a series of warm up stretches. It wasn’t so unusual to see Touka here, though normally it would have been Izuna. He couldn’t go all out against Touka the same way he could against his old rival but it was good to spar against different partners every once in a while to avoid stagnating one’s patterns of attack.

Nothing really seemed to out of the ordinary that morning, which was why Tobirama was so surprised by the sudden deadly quiet in the area when he shrugged off his kimono shirt and tossed it to one side. He raised one arm up above his head, using his opposite hand to pull the elbow across and stretch out the limb as he turned back around to face the others.

Then he stopped with a frown, absently continuing his stretch as he looked around at his three training partners.

“What?”

They were all staring at him – intensely. Hashirama’s jaw appeared to have come unhinged, Madara’s face had been drained of blood yet was rapidly gaining too much back, and Touka was trembling with some repressed emotion he couldn’t identify yet.

“Brother…what…are you wearing?” Hashirama’s voice was so quietly that Tobirama almost had to lean forward to hear him, the exact opposite of his usual volume.

“Wearing?” Tobirama looked down at himself. “You’re the one who gave it to me. You don’t remember?”

“And you wore it?” Touka squeaked out, sounding incredulous. Tobirama lowered his arm, shook it out, and then repeated the stretch with the opposite arm. Off to the side, Madara made a strangled noise and gained a little more blood in his features.

Tobirama tilted his head to one side. “Well yes. It was a gift from Brother.” His second arm lowered and he shook it out to loosen the muscle before giving a brief nod to his sibling. “I appreciate it. You were right, it’ll be much easier to stay cool in this while I train. Much less fabric to keep in the heat.”

Without waiting for a response, he set his hands on his hips and bent backwards a little. He’d slept a little funny last night and his lower back was aching something fierce. As he did so, however, he heard Madara whimper. Straightening back up, he looked over just in time to see the leader of the Uchiha clan begin to tilt slowly backwards. Were it not for the fact that he thought someone else would do something, Tobirama certainly could have been fast enough to break the other man’s fall himself.

No one did though. He stood and watched Madara collapse backwards while both Hashirama and Touka stood right next to him, not paying the slightest bit of attention to what was happening beside them. They appeared more focused on his attire for whatever reason. He really didn’t understand it.

“Is he alright?” Tobirama asked mildly after Madara’s head thumped against the packed earth. Hashirama roused himself just enough to look down at his friend.

“Uhh…” His gaze returned to his younger sibling, head shaking gently from side to side. “I can’t believe you wore it…”

“You’re a walking hazard to the population, Cousin,” Touka managed to say before finally her trembles spilled over in to raucous laughter. He failed to see what exactly was so funny, but then, he very rarely understood her jokes.

“What does she mean?” he asked his brother.

Hashirama bit his lip, the corners of his mouth twitching. “Nothing. Don’t pay her any attention. Could you take Madara to the medi-nin for me? Looks like he’s bleeding.”

Tobirama didn’t see why he had to be the one to take the flailing Uchiha idiot to the hospital but didn’t bother arguing. When he stepped over he saw that his elder had been correct; Madara appeared to be suffering from a spontaneous nosebleed. Strange; he hadn’t seen the man take any sort of blow to the nose or face. The medi-nin would be able to help him, however, so Tobirama didn’t bother worrying too much about the why of the matter.

Madara murmured fitfully under his breath as his arm was thrown across a set of pale broad shoulders. His legs seemed slightly weak when he was hauled back to his feet but he managed to stay standing, leaning perhaps a bit heavily on the one supporting him. After taking one more sideways look at his helper, his unoccupied hand flew up to cup his nose, stemming the fresh flow of blood.

“Hmm, maybe you should put your shirt back on,” Hashirama mused as they began to step away. Tobirama huffed.

“I am wearing a shirt!” he protested. Touka’s cackling slowed just enough to allow her to speak, wiping tears of laughter from the corner of one eye.

“That is half a shirt at best!” she crowed. “Maybe don’t wear any more crop tops to training. It’s a danger to other people’s health!”

Then she was off again, clutching her stomach and doubling over with mirth. Tobirama still didn’t understand but he decided it wasn’t worth the effort of trying to. With a roll of his eyes he walked away, helping Madara off the field. As they passed through the crowd gathered by the edges of the grounds he was distantly surprised by the continued dead silence which met his ears. A brief look around showed him a most worrying sight.

Madara was not the only one suffering from spontaneous bleeding from the nasal cavity. An epidemic seemed to be going around. He wondered if it were a form of sickness or if perhaps he should check for airborne toxins. What could possibly be happening here?

Almost halfway to where the Konoha Hospital was being constructed Madara roused himself and seemed to blink around at his surroundings. Tobirama hummed and the other looked over at him with some surprise.

“Back with the living I see,” he said. “Hashirama made me take you to the medical staff. If you’re feeling better though, perhaps you could answer a question for me.”

“Answer a…question…” Madara wasn’t particularly coherent at the best of times, so Tobirama didn’t think very much of the hesitation in his voice right then either.

“I asked Brother when he gave it to me but he refused to answer for some reason.” He looked down at the shirt which appeared to have caused such a strange fuss. “What is a ‘Boy Toy’?”

Tobirama was most concerned when Madara’s eyes rolled back and he fainted for the second time.

#silly stuff inspired by silly conversations #rae writes #madatobi #madara #tobirama #hashirama #touka #fanfiction #naruto shippuden

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darkspine10 · 4 years

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GF Fanfic - A New Course

A New Course (1829 words) by darkspine10

Chapters: 1/6 Fandom: Gravity Falls Rating: Teen and Up Additional Tags: Beach City, Sea Monsters, Maps, Monster hunting, Twins, Aged-Up Character(s), Reunions, Missing Persons, Dipper and Mabel solving mysteries, Bows & Arrows

Summary:

People are going missing from the beach town of Sapphire Bay. College students vanishing by the dozen with no obvious cause. Dark spectres haunt the forests and beaches, but no-one in town wants to talk about it.

May Pines, renowned activist and trouble-maker, has made it her mission to save the town. Calling on the help of her brother, the twins must reunite to work together to solve the mysteries of Sapphire Bay.

The small beachfront house stood alone at the barrier between forest and sand. Waves lazily sprayed against the beach out below the house which hung over a small slope. From behind, the leaves of the trees rustled, a soft wind blowing in from the sea. Stepping out into the sunset light, Dipper Pines shielded his eyes and spotted a reclining figure on the wooden balcony.

Shutting the car door, he gave a deep sigh. This was still something he wasn’t yet fully used to. Meeting up with his sister as a regular thing, rather than it being an aberration. Time and new perspectives had healed the cracks that had led to their separation, but it still took some adjustments to his mindset.

Forgetting his initial wariness, he strode over and yelled out. “Mabel! I’m round the front!”

Out on the balcony her saw her stir – or fumble to get up rather – and disappear inside. He took a last look at the surroundings, building up a picture of where he’d be based for the foreseeable future. It would help to know every little detail, so any differences would stand out all the more clearly.

The wall of dark trees inland was much like what he knew from Gravity Falls, but the unmistakeable tang of salt ever-present in the air made him aware of the Pacific just a stone’s throw away. Dipper sensed this was a different kind of forest entirely. The chances of running into a cryptid were almost certainly lower for one thing.

A muttered cursing from behind the front door was followed by the sound of locks being unhinged. A single heft and the door was pulled away, leaving a grinning Mabel, sunglasses perched on her forehead, leaning against the frame affecting a cool air. “Yo yo yo, welcome.” She wrapped herself around Dipper in a side-hug, then gestured him inside. “Come on, park your keister, bro. I bet you’re tired from the drive. It’s great to see you.”

All his concerns from before melted away. There divide he feared between them was nothing but a bout of undue anxiety. Mabel was happy to see him, as she’d always be from now on. “Great to see you too,” he said with a grin. “So, this is where you’ve been chilling out for the last few weeks.”

Mabel had a habit of moving around a lot, never in one place for long. Often his attempts to contact her would fail, his letters arriving after she’s already left or spotty connections keeping them apart. The only constant was that she’d always call from someplace else than before, some new exotic locale where she’d parked her special brand of troublemaking.

In the past he’d resented her for this. In his eyes she was just running away from any kind of responsibility. Now he sympathised more with that wanderlust. To simply take what you could carry and head off into the unknown.

Mabel’s newest abode was hard to make out with the sunlight glinting through the wide bay windows. Squinting, he saw the interior of the rustic cabin. It was airy, with an open sitting area dotted with pillows and comfy sofas abutting a kitchen with cabinets of painted wood.

Donning her sunglasses, Mabel grabbed a bottle of beer from the counter took a deep swill, before guiding Dipper out onto the balcony. “This is the life, eh.”

He sat down on a chair overlooking the sea and slowly nodded. “Yeah, I could get used to this. Not quite got the same…” He drifted off, an expression of warm remembrance on his face.

“Same what?” Mabel asked.

“Not got that same thrill as home though, does it.”

Mabel leant over the balcony as memories of the hundreds of adventures they’d gone on as a pair or trio with Pacifica. Her smile grew into a smirk, something Dipper didn’t fail to notice. “Well… you might be surprised.” As he raised an eyebrow, Mabel’s tone grew serious. “Let’s talk.”

With the sun now long set over the distant horizon and reheated pizza scattered around the living room, Mabel spread a bunch of papers across her kitchen table. She tapped a basic map of the coastline. “Nearest town, that’s Sapphire Bay. About 20 minutes on foot. They got beaches, boardwalk, carnival stuff. Perfect place for a getaway.”

“Is that the reason you brought me out here?” Dipper crossed his arms sceptically. “To unwind?”

“Hold your horses, I’m getting to the important stuff.” Mabel sifted through the documents and grabbed a pamphlet of local hotspots. “Most tourists that pass through are college kids, visiting for their spring breaks or whatever.”

“Lemme guess, lots of young adults getting wasted and partying all day and night.”

“Not all of us go on boring walking vacations like you.” Then she shrugged. “But yeah, you’re not far off.” With her black crop-top and colourful tattoos Mabel looked every bit the part of a small-town rebel, sticking it to the man and living life to the full on the beach. She fit in perfectly.

“That why you’re here then? A rest.”

“You could put it like that.” Mabel lent back in her beanbag, oddly pensive. “Needed a break from all the travelling. Last year was totally intense, as you well know. And with Zera off in space with that budding phase of her lifecycle, I thought I’d take some Mabel time to myself.”

Dipper detected a hint of reticence. Mabel’s relationships had never been easy to define – let alone when her partner wasn’t even from Earth. “You two still all good?” he asked gingerly.

“Oh yeah yeah, fine. This is something she’s gotta do, I understand. She’ll be back in a month or two.” Mabel sipped from another bottle of beer. “Anyway, how about you? Pacifica really chose to stay home watching the kids? Don’t tell me she’s gone all maternal at last?”

Dipper snorted with laughter. “You really think? No, she just doesn’t care to drive all this way on a whim.”

“Ha, that sounds like her. When you get home tell her she missed out on all the fun.”

“You bet. I gotta say, moving back to the Falls permanently was a great idea.” It had been a hectic few months deciding to finally return to the West Coast. The work of moving had left little time for their traditional Mystery Hunts or journal time. But Dipper wouldn’t have given up one second with his new family for the world.

“Pacifica’s certainly got her hands full. Merrise is struggling a little; still a new environment for her and all. Plus someone’s gotta look after the baby.” He set down his own drink and bent over the table. “Anyway, enough about me. I know you; we could be stuck on gossip all evening. Tell me why you need my help.”

Mabel leant back, melting into the beanbag, puffing out her cheeks. She was deep in thought about where to start. Stretching up out of her cocoon, she grabbed a single sheet off the pile strewn on the table.

“I got here a few weeks ago. My last protest kinda went south, you know, the one in Paris, with the unions, and I wanted somewhere to crash.” Dipper nodded. He remembered seeing his sister’s face on a news channel, though thankfully only in passing as part of a crowd. Mabel was getting better at keeping a low profile these days. To minimise the consequences should her actions suffer repercussions that might affect him and his family. Still utterly devoted to the cause, but mindful of getting others caught in the crossfire.

Mabel turned the sheet around to show Dipper. There was a grainy shot of a young man with name and identifying features beside it. Traditional chiselled features of your average jock visiting the beach. At the top of the poster was a single word, underlined in red:

Missing.

Dipper felt a pit of dread in his stomach. He knew where this was going.

“Spotted this on the boardwalk,” Mabel continued. At first I thought it was nothing. One lost kid, what can you do? Then more people started disappearing. Almost all the cases have been tourists. Like I said, lots of college kids passing through, having fun… and never going home.”

“And you think there’s something linking them?” Dipper cautiously asked.

“Lotsa kids vanishing, all recently, within the last few months as far as I can reckon. Normally I wouldn’t call you for something like this, but there’s something else on top.”

Her next document was a blurry polaroid. Dipper could make out crashing waves and a bulky shape in the water, but it was vague enough that it could have been anything, a boat, driftwood. Seemed to him that most cryptids were naturally camera shy.

Mabel was deadly serious however, and he was there right along with her. “You took this?” he asked, but she shook her head.

“Local paper. Last Tuesday. And there’s more.” She rifled around for a list of witness testimonies, but Dipper held up a hand.

“I get it. This is more than a simple missing persons case.”

Dipper pondered the facts. There was something oddly haunting about unsolved mysteries quite like this. Mundane in some ways, but the thought of people just disappearing off the map without a trace still gnawed at the back of his mind. Maybe, he considered, it was parenthood. Being responsible for his own kids, imagining a myriad of potential fates for these lost youths got to him.

Mabel tossed the paper down, her face contorting into an angry scowl. “I’ve tried figuring out what’s going on, but nobody likes talking about it. The cops certainly don’t care; to them it’s just a bunch of out-of-towners getting overwhelmed partying. ‘Can’t handle the lifestyle’, that’s what they say, before dropping all investigations.”

From her tone, Dipper could guess this was a common point of contention for her. She’d probably attended a number of riots protesting against the very corruption she was outlining right now. As a whole, she preferred relying on herself to sort things out.

“I know it’s not some grand conspiracy to solve or anything big like that. But it’s real, Dipper, and it’s happening to innocent people.”

Immediately he assuaged her doubts. “You don’t have to worry. I know how important this is. Besides, after everything we’ve been through in our lives we deserve to take it small-scale. Do some practical good.”

Mabel’s resulting grin was infectious. The spark of adventure was already spreading. “Right then!” She stood up decisively and tucked away her messy pile of collected evidence. “Tomorrow morning we can head into town. I’m already friends with a bunch of the locals, we can work on getting some pointers.”

“I’m sure once the Mystery Twins set up in town we’ll have this cracked in no time.”

“Cheers to that.” They clinked their bottles together, ready to solve this thing as soon as the sun rose.

#gravity falls #gravity falls fanfic #dipper pines #mabel pines #AO3 fanfic

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enguardebitch · 7 years

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Okay, I’m sorry but I feel like the last ask I did doesn’t explain how I feel about Kenny’s character in full, and because I feel like this is gonna be long as shit, it’s going under a read more.

So I gotta start with how I felt about Kenny in Season One, because that was where the complexity and reality to his character can have some people like him for who he is.

Season One Kenny to me was a man who portrayed a character that put his family above anything else, above his group, above other survivors, above anything in the world, because to Kenny, his family was his world. His family were the only thing that kept Kenny going before he developed that potential friendship with Lee, and when they died later on in the season, his whole world was gone. After that, you no longer saw a man who would do anything, even murder an ill man with a heart condition under the fear that he might come back, to ensure that his family is safe, but rather you saw a man who was lost in an unforgiving world with nothing behind him that told him that he could keep going. Kenny was a man who symbolized how Lee could go if he ever was unfortunate enough to lose the one thing he had left in a world that already took everything; Clementine.

Kenny was determined, he was headstrong and he knew what he wanted in his eyes. However, the problem was that he didn’t have the character to do what he wanted, every time he was given a chance to do something, he always put it to Lee or another character, or he broke down into tears. It’s very possible for Lee to step up and put down Kenny’s own son after Katjaa took her life, and while Kenny kills Larry either way, he first defers to Lee to make the choice of helping him or helping Lilly save her dying father.

You can’t be on the fence about this! You got to have my back on this one!

Lee had to make his own choice before Kenny acted.

So when Kenny was confronted with the person who was responsible for causing the death of his wife and son, he lashed out, he acted, but besides a few words he did nothing else. That is until Ben fell in the alleyway in Episode 5 and Kenny decided that rather than defer to Lee to make his choice, he would act regardless of what you, and Lee, choose.

He forgave Ben, he made sure a scared and injured teenager didn’t have to feel more pain than he had to at the expense of his own life, and that is where I can see players siding with Kenny and liking his character. Because he was complex, and that complexity meant there was no right or wrong with him or how you reacted to him.

Now in Season Two, all of that is torn away when Kenny came back and shows that he hadn’t really forgiven Ben at all, still showing that anger and hate that we saw he was slowly letting go back in No Time Left. It shows that while Kenny cannot let go of the past, he is also pushing away the past by finding replacements of his family in new people, mostly with his relationship with Sarita and his fatherly attachment to Clementine. The problem is, Clementine and Kenny hardly interacted in the whole of Season One, and she had started forming attachments with people other than Kenny. And that’s when it starts to get ugly.

Right off the bat, Kenny assumes that Clementine would be staying with him rather than the group she was already with without even asking for her opinion, and if the player says that she can’t just abandon her friends, he acts hurt and has to quickly be cut off by Sarita before he could continue on. Then after that, he starts arguing with Nick and Luke before trying to rope Clementine into the argument, trying to see if she would take his side simply by the virtue that he knew her longer than the others had.

Throughout the whole of Season Two, Kenny’s actions become more and more unhinged and violent, and he starts going off on not only everyone in the group, but also Clementine. Yet, again and again and again you hear characters, even Clementine, excusing his behaviour because of what happened in the past and what we as the player saw. The whole game basically says; it is not Kenny’s fault, it’s his past that made him like this. While trauma explains behaviour, there’s a big problem with it being used with him.

It’s the same reasoning used with abusers.

It’s what I’ve been told all my life. It’s my fault they got angry with me, so therefore I deserved to be berated, screamed at, even slapped and punched. It’s the exact same thing with Clementine. Because she was unable to save a woman that was bitten in the middle of a herd, she must accept Kenny screaming and berating her because he is hurting. The whole reason you, as the player, cannot say anything during this is because Clementine is either too scared of Kenny to defend herself or she actually believes his words herself. That is why her and Kenny’s relationship in Season Two is downright awful.

It’s not even how he acts solely with her. Anyone that Clementine bonds with, Kenny alienates them with mostly violent tactics, and when they lash back and don’t accept his behaviour anymore, he makes Clementine choose between him or them. The only choice in the entire game where we have some influence on the game is the finally one between Kenny and Jane. With Kenny, you can shoot him or abandon him and he accepts Clementine’s choice, the game basically says “These endings are considered good endings”, but then you’re left with an eleven year old girl with either a woman who lied about a baby’s death to manipulate her into leaving Kenny, or growing up in a harsh world alone and caring for a baby.

But then you have the endings where Clementine stays with Kenny, and either choice you make in this ending, he is always shown to be the good choice. Either way, Clementine will leave safety for both her and a baby to remain with her abuser because, simply putted, she has no one left who Kenny hasn’t pushed away or killed. If Clementine decides that she will stay in Wellington, then Kenny is shown to be this man who gave up his last hope to keep going so that she and a newborn baby have safety at last. Either way, Kenny is shown to be the hero, and has no ramifications for being emotionally abusive towards Clementine.

Season Two had taken Kenny and blown his faults out of proportion while justifying it by saying he has had a hard life these past few years, while ignoring the people who had lost but took that lost and kept going with their humanity intact. Season Two Kenny is never called out for being an abuser, and in the end, Clementine is left with no real hope and two awful people to choose from because every time she chose compassion, she was punished for it by watching all the good people around her die while the horrible people survived.

In my honest opinion, Kenny had died in that alleyway back in No Time Left. The Kenny we see in Season Two is not the same Kenny.

#//abuse #//rant #twdg #twdg kenny #twdg jane #twdg clementine #I really wouldn't read this if you're a huge fan of Kenny #I'm not looking to argue about this #it's just what I feel about his character #anti-kenny

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waterlilyvioletfog · 7 years

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Rhaegar Targaryen was a Dick

Using real life, historical evidence, and based on what we know for sure (and also some speculation on what we don’t) (and also some things that I’ve seen most fans of the series agree as canon ex. KotLT was Lyanna). Oh, and by the way, SPOILERS.

DISCLAIMER: I love Jon Snow. He’s arguably my favorite character, both in the show and in the books. He’s intelligent, kind, honorable, and good (and far smarter in the books by the way) and I do agree that after the life he has had, Jon deserves everything he’s ever wanted. Jon, Sansa, Gilly, Davos, Grey Worm, and Missandei- they all deserve the Iron Throne. They deserve that after having such absolutely SHITTY lives. I am also pretty much a member of the Lyanna Stark Protection Squad. She’s blameless in all of the events in my eyes. She’s a teenager, for fuck’s sake, she goes with Rhaegar when she’s FIFTEEN years old, for Christ’s sake, and she gets WAY in over her head. Cut her some slack- in America, she wouldn’t have been able to vote, smoke cigarettes, or get drunk. She was not in any way responsible for the events that unfolded in her life. This is my stance on BOTH of these characters until there is sufficient evidence disproving my claims. MOVING ON.

This past Sunday’s episode included a crucial scene where Gilly is reading from a book of an old maester, who wrote down everything because y’know, that’s the job of maesters. Fact. She asks Sam what an “annulment” means. He tells her, and it’s clear that he’s not really listening because he interrupts her sharing crucial information for the future of the show: this maester gave Rhaegar Targaryen an annulment on his marriage to Elia Martell, then in a secret ceremony in Dorne remarried him to “someone else.” Gilly never explicitly states the name of the other woman, but we can infer that the “someone else” is Lyanna Stark, who was revealed to be the mother of Jon Snow in the season six finale. Ergo, we can safely conclude that Lyanna Stark found out that she was pregant, told Rhaegar, they got married, and eventually Jon was born. (Actually she might have gotten pregant after the ceremony, but regardless. Something like that.)

While many fans (including myself) were screaming with joy at the thought that Jon is the rightful ruler of the Seven Kingdoms (moreso than Dany, actually, because of the male primogeniture rule that most monarchies work with) others expressed rage at the thought of Elia Martell, Rhaegar’s wife, with whom he had two children, being set aside. And rightfully so.

YES, it is pretty widely understood that Princess Elia of Sunspear and Crown Prince Rhaegar were not in love. It was an arranged marriage, devised by the mad king. They were married at twenty and twenty-three, when all other options (in the eyes of Aerys) were either unacceptable or non-existent. Under ordinary circumstances (hell even in our universe) the annulment would’ve been perfectly acceptable. Their marriage was amicable, but divorce is always an acceptable alternative. I’m not saying that the divorce was bad. Hell no, it was probably a good thing. But the consequences of Rhaegar’s actions mean that the many people see that Rhaegar was a dick who screwed over his wife and kids.

Through out Robert’s Rebellion, the Dornish fought with the Targaryen forces, knowing that if they did not, their beloved princess and her children (three years old and an infant) could easily be disposed of. Yes, the war basically started when Rhaegar kidnapped (we now know actually ran away with) Lyanna, “Shaming Elia” in the eyes of many, but that didn’t matter. Elia was in King’s Landing. Elia, beloved by her people, could not be risked.

And oh, yeah, sure, Elia might have known that she and Rhaegar were divorced, but it is doubtful, but there is very little reason to believe that she was okay with it. Since, you know. She was still a hostage, and you might as well be destined to be queen if you’re gonna be a hostage. (Note that Targaryens were cool with polygamy so actually Rhaegar didn’t have to divorce Elia at all but whatever showrunners, we’ll ignore that for now.)

Remember that whole “Tyrion’s on trial for Joffrey’s murder” thing? And how Tyrion demanded a trial by combat in that awesome scene? And how Oberyn Martell volunteered as tribute to be Tyrion’s champion so he could avenge his sister Elia Martell and her children? And how that got Oberyn killed? And the insuing Dorne plot, which we all hated? Yeah. You do.

Oberyn Martell needed to avenge the deaths of Elia Martell and her children due to Rhaegar’s actions; he and his father started the war, Elia and her children paid the price alongside them.

So, after abandoning Lyanna in the Tower of Joy, Rhaegar proceeded to be murdered by Robert Baratheon. The Lannisters, figuring that “Yeah, the Targs are screwed” decided to march to King’s Landing and clear the way for the Baratheon forces. This was called the Sack of King’s Landing.

Tywin Lannister, hoping to curry favor with Robert, sent on a couple of his goons (including the Mountain, Ser Gregor Clegane) to go kill Elia and her kids. Cause y’know. Tywin was a Bad Dude.

Rhaenys Targaryen, age 3, was stabbed multiple times. Aegon Targaryen, who was even younger, was thrown against a stone wall. Elia Martell, at this point not even the wife of Rhaegar, was raped with the blood of her son still on her rapist’s hands, and had her skull crushed in.

But here’s the thing: Sunday’s episode says that these deaths were pointless. Those weren’t Targaryen deaths.

We can infer this using real life history.

Back up a second, to King Henry VIII of England. The dude who had six wives. Yeah, him.

King Henry’s first wife was Catherine of Aragon. Catherine was the Princess of Spain, and it was an arranged, political marriage. She was beloved by the people, and was certainly the longest marriage Henry had. They were married for nearly twenty years, but she only gave him one living child: a daughter, Mary. Henry couldn’t have that. He needed a legitimate heir. A son.

Henry looked around his court, and lo and behold, his eyes fell upon Anne Boleyn, the daughter of an important emissary. She was feisty, tempramental, and extremely intelligent. She was unwed, and younger than Catherine, and soon Henry came to the conclusion that shit would need to go down so they could be married.

So, Henry split off from the Roman Catholic Church and created the Anglican Church, which at the time was basically the same thing as Catholicism, but whatever, that’s not relevant. Henry could divorce his wife, and so he did. Meanwhile, he and Anne ran off to get married in a secret wedding (NOTE THAT CATHERINE PROBABLY HAD NO IDEA OF ALL OF THIS BEING A THING THAT WAS GOING ON), and she got IMMEDIATELY PREGNANT, so they had another secret wedding, and then finally he and Catherine were officially divorced, so Henry and Anne had NOT secret wedding, blah blah corronation blah blah blah, out pops the baby.

Oh, and while all the secret weddings and pregnancies were going on, Henry made his legitimate daughter, Mary, sign a contract that essentially said “My dad is a certified dick, but he believes in the power of true love to grant him the kid he needs, so I, after being a princess for all thirteen years of my life, do rescind my princess-hood and declare that I am a bastard. I have no (ZERO) claim to the throne, etc etc etc wow my dad was a dick.”

When Henry got bored with Anne’s feisty, intellectual, quick-tempered-ness, he had her beheaded and made their daughter Elizabeth sign the same contract so that he could marry Jane Seymour, the only one of his wives to actually give him a son (though she, like Lyanna died from birthing fever).

So, to sum up: THE PARALLELS BETWEEN RHAEGAR AND KING HENRY, ELIA AND CATHERINE, AND LYANNA AND ANNE ARE UNDENIABLE.

Both Henry and Rhaegar were obsessed with having children (Henry a son and Rhaegar a second daughter) and both, upon receiving the information that their current wives were incapable of giving them more children, turned to the young women who were available. Henry chose the feisty, temperamental, quick-witted ANNE, a daughter of an important emissary, younger than his current wife, and Rhaegar chose the feisty, temperamental, sword-wielding LYANNA (c’mon, you get what I’m getting at with Anne and Lyanna being kinda the same, right?) the daughter of an important lord, younger than his current wife. Both married their respective second wives in secret ceremonies, either immediately before or after said wife becomes pregnant. Catherine and Elia, two “foreign” princesses (many people have noted the vaguely Spanish tinge to Dorne, in the show at the very least) who were beloved by their people, who gave their slightly unhinged husbands legitimate children, and who were set aside due to an inability to give said husband the child he needed. Both were divorced from their husbands, likely largely against their wills and without knowledge of it, and after each had been set aside, it was all for naught: Lyanna couldn’t give Rhaegar his Visenya, just as Anne couldn’t give Henry a son. Considering these parallels, it is not beyond the scope of the imagination that Rhaegar could also have had Rhaenys and Aegon made bastards, especially since we know from the books that Lyanna didn’t like the idea of Robert having children with women other than her! This means that the death of Elia, already being pointless, is now complemented by the pointless deaths of her two innocent children.

That’s my two cents on why Rhaegar is a dick.

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theartofbeinganerd · 7 years

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A day late and a dollar short, but here it is folks, Part Thirteen of 1 Night (+9 Months) - which is likely to only have a couple more parts after this one, so we’re really getting close now!

((Did I ever mention that there would be mutual pining? Because yeah, there’s some mutual pining oops))

(Ao3)

“I still just can’t believe it.”

Jemma indulged in a little roll of her eyes at Daisy’s exaggeratedly-shocked tone, hidden as she was rifling through her closet for something to wear on her date with Fitz that night. Once Bobbi and Daisy had found out about the event (Jemma suspected that Fitz had let it slip to Hunter, who in turn had spilled the beans to Bobbi, who then passed the information along to Daisy, but she didn’t have any solid proof), the two had showed up at her doorstep and barged into her flat, demanding details.

Fortunately, Fitz had left earlier that day to head back to his own flat in order to find some nicer clothes to wear and get ready as well, so he hadn’t accidentally overheard any of Daisy’s loud and embarrassing comments and questions.

“I mean, I never thought Fitz would work up the courage – I was so sure that it would have to be you who made a move for anything to happen, Jem, and you’ve been insisting for months now that nothing could happen between you guys,” Daisy continued, gesturing widely with her hands as she went on, her eyes rounded with continued shock.

Leaning further out of her closet to make their conversation easier, Jemma reminded her, “I still have to be careful, you know, even though I’m sure now that Fitz feels something for me in return. And, besides, I still can’t be guaranteed that it’s the same as how I feel for him.” Ignoring the eye-roll Daisy gave and the low scoff that issued from Bobbi, she continued, “We have to take things slowly and cautiously, because well…we aren’t just two people going on a date – we’re Evelyn’s parents first.” She nodded then to where Evelyn was happily perched on Bobbi’s lap, playing with a set of plastic tools that Fitz had delightedly purchased for her recently.

“You’re right, you do have to be careful,” Bobbi agreed softly, though her eyebrow was arched in the way that Jemma knew she was being analyzed and was about to receive some form of advice. “But, I also don’t think that you should be too cautious that you accidentally mess things up with Fitz, or don’t take any chances, because I think that you two could really make each other happy.”

Flushing just a bit, Jemma nodded, silently agreeing with Bobbi on that as she promised aloud, “Well, I’ll do my best.” Just then, she couldn’t quite hold back on her excited little shimmy as she admitted, “I just can’t believe that we’re actually here, that I’m preparing for a date with Fitz. I’ve been so afraid that…that I’d just spend the rest of my days being hopelessly in love with him from afar.”

Daisy let out an inelegant snort at that. “Jem, with the current situation you and Fitz have got going on, someone was bound to break eventually.” Leveling a knowing look and a smirk at Jemma, she added, “With how thirsty you can be, I’m sorry to say Jemma, it probably would’ve been you.”

Scoffing and ducking back into her closet to hide her blush, Jemma called over her shoulder, “I’m not thirsty – I’m a mother, and I’ve got bigger priorities than getting Fitz into bed, thank you.”

“Getting Fitz into bed is the reason you’re a mother,” Bobbi reminded her helpfully, but Jemma pointedly chose to ignore it.

Despite herself, however, she couldn’t help replaying a few choice memories from that night almost two years ago, and an eager little shiver traveled up her spine as she imagined that soon she might be experiencing a repeat of that night, perhaps many times, all without the haze of alcohol. Even though she’d never admit it out loud (and especially not to her nosy, gossiping friends), she really was looking forward to the possibilities.

Stepping back out of her closet, Jemma held up a clothes hanger in each hand, dresses hanging on either one, and asked, “Opinions?”

Almost immediately, Daisy’s eyes grew wide, and through her brilliant grin, she collapsed into a coughing fit that had even Evelyn glancing up. Pointing exaggeratedly toward the dress in Jemma’s right hand, she managed to cry out through the coughs, “It’s the boob dress! Jemma Simmons, you totally want to get laid!”

Feeling her cheeks begin to burn, Jemma snapped defensively, “That’s not my plan at all! You know, not everything is about sex, Daisy.” Throwing a look at the dress in question, which did show a bit more cleavage than any of her other dresses and had gotten her some very good results in the past, Jemma shook her head before hanging it back up in her closet. Left with the other, more conservative dress, she told Daisy pointedly, “See?” as she laid it on the bed (out of Evelyn’s sticky-fingered reach). “I have no ulterior motives for tonight; I plan to go on a nice, romantic date out to dinner with Fitz, and then we’ll see where things go. Besides, you know I don’t put out on the first date.”

With a little chuckle and an arched eyebrow, Bobbi pointed out, “Well, you did put out two years before Fitz ever even asked you on a date.”

Huffing and crossing her arms over her chest, Jemma replied simply, “Semantics.”

Then, with Daisy and Bobbi keeping an eye on Evelyn for her, Jemma got ready for the date, curling her hair and doing her makeup before finally putting the dress on. She was just perching on the end of her bed to slip her heels on when her phone began to ring somewhere behind her.

Startled by the sudden sound, she glanced over her shoulder and found Daisy just picking up the nearby phone to read the screen. “It’s Charlotte,” she informed her.

Pleasantly surprised, Jemma took the offered phone from her and answered the call, lifting it to her ear as she said without a greeting, “Char, you’ll never believe what I’m doing tonight.” After all, Charlotte had been just as sure as anyone else that there was something going on between her and Fitz; she figured she’d let her sister get her inevitable ‘I told you so’s in sooner rather than later.

However, Charlotte then replied softly, “Jem…” and there was a catch in her voice that had Jemma’s heart sinking into her stomach as though it was made of concrete.

All in all, it was a short conversation and it wasn’t long before Jemma was hanging up the phone in a daze. Before Daisy and Bobbi could even ask her what had happened, Jemma was up and across the room, digging out her suitcase and mindlessly dropping clothes and other essentials into it. To herself, she muttered under her breath everything that she had to get done as soon as possible, “Get a plane ticket, pack up Evelyn’s things, call the lab…” She wasn’t even listening as her friends gently tried to prompt her.

She didn’t hear the doorbell ring, didn’t notice as Daisy got up to answer the door, or as she returned to Jemma’s bedroom with Fitz. It wasn’t until Fitz whispered, “Jemma…you look…” that she finally glanced up to reveal the tears causing her carefully applied makeup to run down her cheeks.

His easy, adoring smile fell in an instant and he stepped toward her, holding out his hands helplessly as though he wanted to offer her aid or just some comfort, but didn’t know how. Just then, she couldn’t help but notice through the fog in her brain that he was wearing a dark blue button-up shirt that brought out his eyes and a tie for Christ’s sake, and if everything wasn’t so abruptly wrong she’d no doubt have been giggling and blushing like a school girl.

“Jemma,” he said softly, concern clear in both his tone and his furrowed brow, “what’s wrong? What do you need from me?”

Jemma just barely caught a glance of her friends slipping out of the room then with a sleepy Evelyn in tow, her little cheek resting against Bobbi’s shoulder. Her focus quickly returned to Fitz as she told him a bit brokenly, a bit desperately, “I – I need to…I have to go home, Fitz. I need to…oh, I have so much to do…”

“Why?” Fitz asked, his tone still remarkably gentle and understanding, even though he couldn’t possibly understand, since she’d yet to even tell him what was wrong. “What’s happened? Is everything alright?”

She shook her head in response, sucking in a ragged breath before she explained, “Charlotte called, and…my dad, he…he’s in the hospital, Fitz. She said that he had an awful heart attack and…” She paused then, giving a slightly unhinged, watery laugh before going on, “You know, we were always telling him to slow down, to ease off of his workload a bit and just take some time to de-stress, but…he never listened, did he?”

As soon as she’d finished, Fitz asked seriously, “What do you need to do now?”

Releasing an almost unconscious sigh of relief that Fitz had automatically understood and was ready to help her (as if there’d been any doubt in her mind that he would), Jemma repeated the items on her mental list, “Get a plane ticket, pack up Evelyn’s things, call the lab, and finish with my packing.”

“Okay.” Fitz nodded, then told her, “I’ll get Evelyn packed up and buy our tickets.”

At first, Jemma didn’t even notice his use of the word ‘our’, but when she did, a frown tugged her lips down at the corners and she shook her head. “Fitz…you can’t just…you have to go to work and you can’t just drop everything for me.”

Fitz stepped closer to her, reaching out to gently grasp her upper arms in his hands as he argued softly, “Of course I can. Jemma, if you need me, then I’m here. Always.” He was quiet for a moment, then, as he gazed into her eyes, he asked, “Do you need me, Jemma?”

At his words, Jemma wanted to start crying even harder, felt a sob building in the back of her throat because god did she ever need him – he was all that she could ever need, and she truly didn’t know how she was supposed to get through this without him. But, she also knew that she really couldn’t ask him to drop everything and fly to Sheffield with her, no matter what he said; she didn’t even know how long she’d be gone, after all.

So, Jemma cleared her throat and did her level best to keep her voice from shaking as she told him, “Fitz…you should stay here, get everything sorted, and…if I’m still in England in a couple of days, then I won’t stop you from coming to join me.”

It was one of the hardest things she’d ever had to do (all she wanted was to curl up in his arms and cry into his shoulder and let him hold her together), but she knew that she couldn’t be selfish when it came to Fitz’s life, so she did it anyway.

He seemed to hesitate for another moment, then he released a sigh and nodded. “Alright,” he agreed lowly as he lifted a hand to thumb away some of the tears still rolling down her cheek.

“I’m sorry for ruining our date,” Jemma started to apologize, but Fitz was quick to cut her off.

“Don’t,” he said firmly, shaking his head. “This isn’t your fault, Jemma, okay? I don’t blame you in the least, and I’ll still be here whenever you’re ready; nothing’s been ruined.”

Jemma felt the sudden and desperate urge to kiss him then (he was so close, all it would take was half a step, her heels putting her at the exact right height to lean across the small distance and slot her lips against his), but if she were to kiss him now, she was fully aware that she might never have been able to stop. With that thought firmly in mind, she forced herself to step away so that she could continue her packing instead; the sooner she finished, the sooner she could get to her father’s side.

However, she stopped after only a couple of steps and turned back slightly to meet Fitz’s eyes as she murmured, “Thank you, Fitz.” She wanted to add that she didn’t know what she’d do without him, but she had the feeling that he already knew that well, so she simply offered him a wobbly smile and hoped that he understood just how much she loved him and appreciated his presence in her life.

Fitz’s answering smile was full of warmth and affection and comfort, and Jemma’s heart surged in her chest, no longer feeling still and frozen as it had since she’d gotten the news from Charlotte. “Always,” he promised, then he left the room to go get Evelyn’s things ready.

As Jemma stepped back into her closet to continue grabbing some clothes to take for the trip, her gaze fell on the “boob dress”, as Daisy had called it, and she paused. She stared at it for a handful of moments, then pulled it down and removed it from its hanger, shoving it into her suitcase before she could think twice.

Of course, her first priority was her father and her family just now, but she had to find something to help her believe that things would turn out alright, that her father would be okay, even the smallest, most ridiculous thing. At that moment, all she could seem to think was that if everything did turn out to be alright, then she and Fitz could make up for tonight. It would give her hope, at least.

Once she’d finished packing, she (rather reluctantly) changed from her dress and heels into a much more casual outfit of jeans, a jumper, and trainers, then cleaned away what was left of her makeup. Before she left her bedroom, she took a moment to leave a message for her supervisor at the lab, explaining the situation and telling her to call if she had any questions.

Upon exiting her bedroom with her suitcase in tow, Jemma found that Bobbi and Daisy had left at some point, and Fitz glanced up from where he was waiting on the couch, Evelyn asleep against his shoulder and her packed little suitcase resting by his feet. “All set?” he asked, nodding to her own suitcase as she placed it down beside Evelyn’s.

“Yes, I think so,” Jemma answered, running a hand through her hair before she gathered it all together and tied it into a ponytail. “When did Daisy and Bobbi leave?”

“Not long after I arrived,” Fitz replied, “But I explained the situation and they said to tell you that they’re just a phone call away if you need to talk.” A little smile curving his lips, he added, “And so am I, for the record, any time of day or night.”

His words managed to pull her lips up into a tiny smile of her own, and she nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Oh.” He shifted Evelyn carefully so that he could tug his phone out of the pocket of his slacks, and told her, “I’ve already done some searching for tickets, and there’s a plane that leaves later tonight.”

Breathing a quiet sigh of relief that he’d helped to check off another item on her frenzied to-do list, Jemma thanked him. Once she’d purchased the ticket, she was sure to text Charlotte, letting her know the details of the flight and when she should hopefully be arriving.

“I can drive you to the airport, if you’d like,” Fitz offered suddenly, and Jemma opened her mouth to tell him that he’d already done enough, but he was clearly anticipating her response as he went on, “I mean, you can’t carry both suitcases and Evelyn on your own.”

“Alright,” Jemma finally accepted, however grudgingly – she’d already been a bother enough to him tonight (though she would’ve never guessed it by looking at him, with his warm smiles and kind eyes and willingness to do whatever he could to make this whole situation easier for her).

When they arrived at the airport, Jemma checked in at the desk. Fitz insisted on waiting with her up until her flight was called, even though he could’ve just gone home and gone to sleep, even though he was still dressed up in his nice clothes, his tie now slightly askew.

Finally, the silence they’d fallen into was broken by the announcement of her flight, and Jemma rose from her seat as Fitz hurried to get up as well, and she cautiously extricated Evelyn from his arms, so as not to wake her. Before she could take a step away, Fitz gently caught her arm and murmured, “Hey, everything’s going to be alright.”

Giving him a weak smile and a nod, Jemma told him, “Thank you again, Fitz.” She wasn’t sure whether she was thanking him for everything he’d done for her tonight, or was simply thanking him just for existing, for being in her life.

“Of course,” Fitz replied, lightly squeezing her arm. “No matter what, I’ll see you in a couple of days, okay?” When she’d given another nod, he leaned forward to drop a kiss on Evelyn’s head, whispering, “I love you, Evie, and I’ll see you soon too.”

He moved to pull back from Jemma’s personal space then, but before he’d retreated completely, Jemma abruptly leaned in to brush a kiss just at the corner of his lips, giving into the temptation that had been haunting her for months now. She was already emotionally compromised tonight, and couldn’t be expected to completely hold back at a time like this (or at least, that was what she told herself).

Fitz froze immediately, and after a beat, he slowly leaned back just far enough to meet her eyes. There was a sudden heat, a longing in his gaze that had Jemma’s stomach twisting up in knots. She licked her lips unconsciously, and sucked in a sharp breath when Fitz’s eyes darted down to watch the action.

Jemma could feel herself swaying closer, her eyelids flickering as she started to close her eyes, her self-control all-but disappearing –

But, then the loud call of her flight being announced once more broke into the moment, and they both snapped out of it, taking hasty steps back from one another. Clearing his throat and glancing anywhere but at her, Fitz repeated, “I’ll see you in a couple of days, then.” He blinked, then cautiously brought his gaze back to meet hers, and added, “Don’t forget to call me when you land, okay? Even if it’s the middle of the bloody night here, I won’t care.”

“I will,” Jemma promised, her voice merely more than a whisper as she told him, “I’ll see you soon, Fitz.” Then, she forced herself to turn away from him and to go get on the plane because right now, despite her entire body aching more and more with every step she took away from Fitz, she knew that she needed to be in Sheffield, where her whole family was waiting on her.

Or, well, she would be with her whole family, if Fitz did end up joining them in a couple of days.

Jemma inhaled a deep breath, readjusted her grip on Evelyn, and double-checked that she had her boarding pass as she reminded herself sternly, twenty-four hours without Fitz, I can do this. She nodded decisively, but it was only a moment before she grimaced a bit and added, or at least, I hope I can.

#shayna writes #fsfic #fitzsimmons #one night stand au #1 night (+9 months) series #part thirteen #look y'all i told you it wouldn't be this easy #but it's not like this can keep fs apart for long #because nothing can #not oceans or hell planets or alternate dimensions #it's just a little bump in the road #so what i'm really saying is don't kill me??#k thnx

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hipsterbrutus · 4 years

Text

Changed Pronouns Hamlet

So I wanted to see what a classic story like Hamlet would be like if all the male characters were female and vice versa. So I just took the Wikipedia summary, and changed only the names and pronouns. The results really interested me, and I think this would be a very epic play... Disclaimers: 1. I changed some of the names more than others, mainly because some of them were so ingrained in my head as one gender or another that I needed to distance myself further from that association. 2. I chose to go with the name ‘Amla’ as a feminized tribute to the original historical Prince Amleth, on whom Hamlet is based. 3. I chose to use binary male/female genders for this experiment because I wanted to explore the contrasts and stereotypes of the roles that we expect binary male and female characters in literature to fulfill. (The only gender neutral change I made was to change ‘What a piece of work is a man’ to ‘humanity’ instead, since it is used in a gender neutral way in the play. I am aware that this would necessitate further challenges with the wordplay on ‘man’ that follows in the actual script, but this change suffices for now.) All that to say, non-binary version of this story or of some of the characters therein would also be epic as well, and if you write that one I would love to read it.

Act I

The protagonist of Amla is Princess Amla of Denmark, daughter of the recently deceased Queen Amla, and niece of Queen Claudia, her mother's sister and successor. Claudia hastily married Queen Amla's widower, Gerald, Amla's father, and took the throne for herself. Denmark has a long-standing feud with neighbouring Norway, in which Queen Amla slew Queen Floria of Norway in a battle some years ago. Although Denmark defeated Norway and the Norwegian throne fell to Queen Floria's infirm sister, Denmark fears that an invasion led by the dead Norwegian queen's daughter, Princess Floria, is imminent.

On a cold night on the ramparts of Elsinore, the Danish royal castle, the sentries Bernadette and Marcella discuss a ghost resembling the late Queen Amla which they have recently seen, and bring Princess Amla's friend Hanna as a witness. After the ghost appears again, the three vow to tell Princess Amla what they have witnessed.

As the court gathers the next day, while Queen Claudia and King Gerald discuss affairs of state with their elderly adviser Polina, Amla looks on glumly. During the court, Claudia grants permission for Polina's daughter Laetitia to return to school in France and sends envoys to inform the Queen of Norway about Floria. Claudia also scolds Amla for continuing to grieve over her mother and forbids her to return to her schooling in Wittenberg. After the court exits, Amla despairs of her mother's death and her father's hasty remarriage. Learning of the ghost from Hanna, Amla resolves to see it herself.

As Polina's daughter Laetitia prepares to depart for a visit to France, Polina offers her advice that culminates in the maxim "to thine own self be true.” Polina's son, Orpheus, admits his interest in Amla, but Laetitia warns him against seeking the princess' attention, and Polina orders him to reject her advances. That night on the rampart, the ghost appears to Amla, telling the princess that she was murdered by Claudia and demanding that Amla avenge her. Amla agrees, and the ghost vanishes. The princess confides to Hanna and the sentries that from now on she plans to "put an antic disposition on", or act as though she has gone mad, and forces them to swear to keep her plans for revenge secret; however, she remains uncertain of the ghost's reliability.

Act II

Soon thereafter, Orpheus rushes to his mother, telling her that Amla arrived at his door the prior night half-undressed and behaving erratically. Polina blames love for Amla's madness and resolves to inform Claudia and Gerald. As she enters to do so, the Queen and King finish welcoming Rosaline and Genevieve, two student acquaintances of Amla, to Elsinore. The royal couple has requested that the students investigate the cause of Amla's mood and behaviour. Additional news requires that Polina wait to be heard: messengers from Norway inform Claudia that the Queen of Norway has rebuked Princess Floria for attempting to re-fight her mother's battles. The forces that Floria had conscripted to march against Denmark will instead be sent against Poland, though they will pass through Danish territory to get there.

Polina tells Claudia and Gerald her theory regarding Amla's behaviour and speaks to Amla in a hall of the castle to try to uncover more information. Amla feigns madness and subtly insults Polina all the while. When Roseline and Genevieve arrive, Amla greets her "friends" warmly but quickly discerns that they are spies. Amla admits that she is upset at her situation but refuses to give the true reason, instead commenting on "What a piece of work is humanity". Roseline and Genevieve tell Amla that they have brought along a troupe of actors that they met while traveling to Elsinore. Amla, after welcoming the actors and dismissing her friends-turned-spies, asks them to deliver a soliloquy about the death of the Queen and King at the climax of the Trojan War. Impressed by their delivery of the speech, she plots to stage The Murder of Gonzaga, a play featuring a death in the style of her mother's murder and to determine the truth of the ghost's story, as well as Claudia’s guilt or innocence, by studying Claudia's reaction.

Act III

Polina forces Orpheus to return Amla's love letters and tokens of affection to the princess while she and Claudia watch from afar to evaluate Amla's reaction. Amla is walking alone in the hall as the Queen and Polina await Orpheus's entrance, musing whether "to be or not to be". When Orpheus enters and tries to return Amla's things, Amla accuses him of immodesty and cries "get thee to a monastery", though it is unclear whether this, too, is a show of madness or genuine distress. Her reaction convinces Claudia that Amla is not mad for love. Shortly thereafter, the court assembles to watch the play Amla has commissioned. After seeing the Player Queen murdered by her rival pouring poison in her ear, Claudia abruptly rises and runs from the room; for Amla, this is proof positive of her aunt's guilt.

Gerald summons Amla to his chamber to demand an explanation. Meanwhile, Claudia talks to herself about the impossibility of repenting, since she still has possession of her ill-gotten goods: her sister's crown and husband. She sinks to her knees. Amla, on her way to visit her father, sneaks up behind her but does not kill her, reasoning that killing Claudia while she is praying will send her straight to heaven while her mother's ghost is stuck in purgatory. In the King's bedchamber, Amla and Gerald fight bitterly. Polina, spying on the conversation from behind a tapestry, calls for help as Gerald, believing Amla wants to kill him, calls out for help himself.

Amla, believing it is Claudia, stabs wildly, killing Polina, but she pulls aside the curtain and sees her mistake. In a rage, Amla brutally insults her father for his apparent ignorance of Claudia's villainy, but the ghost of her mother re-enters and reprimands Amla for her inaction and harsh words. Unable to see or hear the ghost himself, Gerald takes Amla's conversation with it as further evidence of madness. After begging the King to stop sleeping with Claudia, Amla leaves, dragging Polina's corpse away.

Act IV

Amla jokes with Claudia about where she has hidden Polina's body, and the Queen, fearing for her life, sends Roseline and Genevieve to accompany Amla to England with a sealed letter to the English Queen requesting that Amla be executed immediately.

Unhinged by grief at Polina's death, Orpheus wanders Elsinore. Laetitia arrives back from France, enraged by her mother's death and her brother's madness. Claudia convinces Laetitia that Amla is solely responsible, but a letter soon arrives indicating that Amla has returned to Denmark, foiling Claudia's plan. Claudia switches tactics, proposing a fencing match between Laetitia and Amla to settle their differences. Laetitia will be given a poison-tipped foil, and, if that fails, Claudia will offer Amla poisoned wine as a congratulation. Gerald interrupts to report that Orpheus has drowned, though it is unclear whether it was suicide or an accident caused by his madness.

Act V

Hanna has received a letter from Amla, explaining that the princess escaped by negotiating with pirates who attempted to attack her England-bound ship, and the friends reunite offstage. Two gravediggers discuss Orpheus’s apparent suicide while digging his grave. Amla arrives with Hanna and banters with one of the gravediggers, who unearths the skull of a jester from Amla's childhood, Yora. Amla picks up the skull, saying "alas, poor Yora" as she contemplates mortality. Orpheus's funeral procession approaches, led by Laetitia. Amla and Hanna initially hide, but when Amla realizes that Orpheus is the one being buried, she reveals herself, proclaiming her love for him. Laetitia and Amla fight by Orpheus's graveside, but the brawl is broken up.

Back at Elsinore, Amla explains to Hanna that she had discovered Claudia's letter with Roseline and Genevieve's belongings and replaced it with a forged copy indicating that her former friends should be killed instead. A foppish courtier, Osra, interrupts the conversation to deliver the fencing challenge to Amla. Amla, despite Hanna's pleas, accepts it. Amla does well at first, leading the match by two hits to none, and Gerald raises a toast to her using the poisoned glass of wine Claudia had set aside for Amla. Claudia tries to stop him but is too late: he drinks, and Laetitia realizes the plot will be revealed. Laetitia slashes Amla with her poisoned blade. In the ensuing scuffle, they switch weapons, and Amla wounds Laetitia with her own poisoned sword. Gerald collapses and, claiming he has been poisoned, dies. In her dying moments, Laetitia reconciles with Amla and reveals Claudia's plan. Amla rushes at Claudia and kills her. As the poison takes effect, Amla, hearing that Floria is marching through the area, names the Norwegian princess as her successor. Hanna, distraught at the thought of being the last survivor and living whilst Amla does not, says she will commit suicide by drinking the dregs of Gerald's poisoned wine, but Amla begs her to live on and tell her story. Amla dies in Hanna's arms, proclaiming "the rest is silence". Floria, who was ostensibly marching towards Poland with her army, arrives at the palace, along with an English ambassador bringing news of Roseline and Genevieve's deaths. Hanna promises to recount the full story of what happened, and Floria, seeing the entire Danish royal family dead, takes the crown for herself and orders a military funeral to honour Amla.

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