#and i can see this eventually panning towards him ''involving'' her in his kills but more-so on the level that he uses her. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ratherhavetheblues · 1 year

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Claire Denis’ STARS AT NOON: “I think maybe a big mistake…”

by James Clark 2023

At the conclusion of her brilliant career, filmmaker, Claire Denis, staged a couple of shocking films (far beyond her usual mayhem). The first entry, Both Sides of the Blade (2022), amounts to a protagonist-humanitarian, concluding that blacks in France are ruinous. The second film (with its second humanitarian), Stars at Noon (2022), chooses philosophy; but getting to the nub is a bugger; and a treasure. In fact, we must visit the precinct of Marcel Proust (1871-1922), in order to understand Denis’ venture, her disappointment and her glee. Proust and the landslide of advantage. His hopeless bid to break free from it. Finding in tiny moments what he meant.

It needs to be repeated. Despite great filming, these actions had moved toward philosophy. (Coming to the gut.) As such, Denis had dared to visit the turf of novelist Marcel Proust. From that vantage point, she would visit the old errors, so molten. Thereby, in the film, Both Sides of the Blade, we glimpse remarkably in intensity, hatred and lostness. Thereby, we reach out to our film today, Stars at Noon. The end of planet Earth.

Trish, the protagonist, is not what we need; however, she stands as a flowing horror. Could her fear stage a comeback? Otherwise, why would an American woman move to a place like Nicaragua, and its military nonsense. Her mission of humanitarian good is clearly bogus. Her long involvement in foolish danger is more to the point. (Recall, many years ago, Denis produced a TV show called, U. S. GO HOME.)

Irony helps. “No meat today. Sorry, miss.”

Hands appear. All it takes is a little concentration. Perhaps more than a little.

She is trying to get out money from a money machine.

The plague. Truly everywhere.

More fucking. “If you get more skinny, I don’t want you no more.”

He: “You’re not a journalist.”/ Trish: “Yes, I am.” (Wanting to be valid, but way over her head. And yet the sensibility beckons. She being, at a loss. Balance needed. Balance refused.)

There is no serious traction in this work.

Visual marvels. Wasted.

An Englishman, Daniel, is looking for something in the jungle. Trish stages a long and rocky interplay with him. But Daniel is a different equation.(He has the lack of a mouse.) One could say, he’s a perfect gentleman. But a perfect gentleman is not good enough.

Trish: “You have the good manners that eventually you get killed for. I can tell you my motives. I wanted to know the exact dimensions of hell.” (A stupid priority. Also stupid: “We’re all for sale.”)

Her silhouette. The two twists of them, covering a universe. “How can one be more than a disaster?” (Many fingers in the dark.) “You’re just a mist… only mist…” (Much more than that!)

Daniel: “I never really miss anybody… I feel I’m in danger of throwing my life away…”

Trish: “See how fast the tropics sap you?” (Now excuses, as you hope.)

Covid-19. It will be something else.

Trish: “And if you could just get me to Costa Rica, I promise you I’ll get my act together.” (Things aren’t as simple here as you hope… She becomes morose… Quickly, however, she puts out to Daniel a bogus threat, to get something going. The land of fakes. The land of shallows, oversimplified, flimsy, insubstantial, empty. “I can’t see a thing…” Daniel chuckles, as often done.

Trish marches like a soldier, but she doesn’t know what courage is.

Daniel thinks that there are people here with principles. Yes and no.

Trish: “I think maybe I’ve made a big mistake.”

No milk today.

Trish kisses an old man she knows. The old man is rich and powerful. She asks for money for Costa Rica. The answer was, “no.”

On the road, Daniel, driving to Costa Rica, with Trish. At the border: “We can just wait here for a moment.” Pan to the gringos of chaos.

Now the work becomes a dream of Trish’s best shot. Can surrealism do the trick? Find the best direction. Find a way to the cosmos itself. It’s available.

Our protagonist starts with a dark night and two cars parked closely. Each driver has been butchered. Planet Earth is not one of the better planets.

Finding something better. An enigma.

Trish in a jungle where Daniel has had a small accident. They come to a deserted house, by which to patch up Daniel. Neither of them notices that they are in a structure of brilliant and loving marble, wood and glass. A deep design. A deep artistry, on the walls. A deep heart. The presence of authority. Not for them.

Not for the millennials at the forefront here, by which to cover the steep bill. This last film of Denis’, in a blaze of dance. Sensibility, both tawdry and deft. And always a prisoner. (And yet simple love has its strengths; while it burns out, and leaves ashes.)

The black who haunts the treasure. How much does he know?

Trish demands, “Cover me up,” Trish demands. Cover me up. Cover me up. Cover me up. Cover me up.”

Many soldiers appear. The leader tells the protagonists, “I will practice my English with you.”/Daniel Tells the student-soldier, “You know, you work for despicable people.” Theatre of Absurd. And yet it can touch one’s heart.

#claire denis

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quirofiliac · 3 years

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multiadored said: ✔

@multiadored: chiko／ quick & easy plotting guide ／ accepting.

do i know your muse(s): yes | no | a little | tell me about your muse

pre-established relationships? yes | no | depends on the relationship

#multiadored #me leaning on u from behind: hello again.#so we already have a thing of kira and chiko doing this sort of thing where it's like... he leads her on. fully aware of how this is bad but #still does it because he can get things (nothing in... particular? just general things.) out of her because of it. does chiko realize this?#who knows! probably as it gets further and further down the line. (: but that's why kira always figures out some way or another to #reel her back in like it's nothing. he essentially wraps a rope around her neck like a noose and gives it One Firm yank the moment he thinks #she's acting out of line. and it can be something completely made up-- be it from his paranoia his idealized version of her crumbling or...#just? something that /he/ doesn't like. he's always there to pull her back when he sees that she's getting A Little Too adventurous.#and i can see this eventually panning towards him ''involving'' her in his kills but more-so on the level that he uses her.#to lure in potential targets. and even just as a general ''basis'' of a networking system.#someone is bothering her that ALSO happened to bother him? they're the next target; they were just there at the wrong place - wrong time.#i think he'd use chiko as a way to help control his urges-- she provides him with a long list of potentials. he doesn't say anything tho.#just kind of... does it. if she figures it out she figures it out. what's she gonna do? kira's too confident (arrogant even.) that #he has her wrapped around his finger.#because he's just So Damn Good at acting normal around her. it takes time for him to reveal his true self to her. and even when he does?#that's only a fraction.#he's still incredibly secretive. reclusive. withdrawn. only lets certain details show.#details that he thinks chiko wants to see and - thus - tricks her into feeling like she's even closer to him than before.#i also wanna say that in tandem to this-- he definitely would be more than willing to go on ''dates'' with chiko in diu!verse #to pacify her mom. he'd introduce himself as this perfect gentleman and lull her into this Amazing but false sense of security.#then come post!diu and he just fucking slaughters her.#bc he politely (in a casual tone. like he's talking about the weather.) recalls to chiko all the times she's bemoaned her mother #and how kira need pry only A Little and he's figuring out their relationship.#learns that he could probably get away with it. so she's one of his first kills when he's come ''back to life''.#easy target. an even easier kill.#he does up the house. gets rid of the body. /considers/ taking her hand but then gets rid of that too. because it's a little too old.#kira's a man with standards after all. and fast forward past the funeral. chiko spies him after what feels like months of nothing.#and then chiko tries to ''reconnect'' with him. something he doesn't know if he wants. but he does it anyway. because he's a good friend. (:#＊ 💥 摘発：out of character.

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skellebonez · 3 years

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(kicks door down) INVERTED AU WITH PROMPT 72, SPECIFICALLY WITH MK

I’m not going to write out the ENTIRE TikTok so just. Watch an enjoy the madness that is B Dylan Hollis. It will make this fill so much more entertaining.

Don’t you dare.

Had it not been even a few weeks ago things would be almost completely on their normal “regular day with no special plans” schedule. Wake up, work, hang out with Pigsy and Tang, get Mei to have some fun, run off to Mount Huaguo for training with Sun Wukong, make sure the immortal Monkey King is taking care of himself, go home and sleep (a few gaps between each in case he needed to chuck a water bottle or granola bar at any of his friends and make sure they weren’t overworking themselves and if he came across anyone who needed his special brand of, as Macaque once called it, “aggressive self care affection”).

But no. Oh no. This was not a few weeks ago.

This was now, not even a month after the Lunar New Year Festival. Not even a month after he was finally introduced to the rest of Spider Queen’s family- plus one not so accidental addition who had decided it would be a fantastic idea to experiment on himself for funsies and “oops all spiders”.

Said addition stood, or rather half stood and half reclined on the mechnical legs protruding from his back, diligently typing away at his computer. The same computer he hadn’t stepped away from except to take a shower earlier in the day.

17 hours ago.

“Syntax,” MK said with the most gentle warning tone he could muster... which, to anyone unfamiliar with MK would sound like he spoke the human turned spider demon’s name like a threat. “Please tell me you have eaten more than a single calorie bar today.”

“I have eaten more than a single calorie bar today,” the scientist assured with a barely thrown over his shoulder smile in the younger man’s direction.

“Ok g-”

“I ate 2.”

The proud look on Syntax's face, as if he had figured out the loophole to end all loopholes, was a stark contrast to MK's expression of angry horror.

"You can't just eat TWO CALORIE BARS, Syntax!" He shouted, grabbing the scientist by his lab coat sleeve before starting to drag him out of the laboratory. If anyone was there to witness this they would find this feat impressive given how Syntax dug his mechanical legs into the floor in protest.

"I have survived on these so far and I will conti-"

"Survived, yeah, as a human," MK noted as he realized the other was simply allowing him to lead him along without a fight in the least. "But you're a spider demon... cyborg... guy now, you need more sustenance than that. And you needed more before!"

"3 bars?"

"NO MORE OF THE FUCKING BARS!"

The moment Syntax shrunk back in reaction to MK’s yelling the Monkie Kid took his chance and gripped the scientist’s sides and tossed the man over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes before breaking out into a sprint down the halls of Spider Queen’s lair.

“Don’t you dare!” Syntax yelped, attempting to free his arms or move his spider legs but gave up on the later and instead retracted them out of fear he might accidentally harm his captor. “I have work to finish, young man!”

“You can’t finish if you die of malnutrition, I’m teaching you how to cook!”

As they ran toward the entrance they passed Spider Queen who, upon realizing what was happening, gave them a calm wave and a smile.

“Make sure to have him back in time for you to get home before dark, MK!”

“EVEN MY QUEEN IS BETRAYING ME!”

Syntax eventually gave in. After all, despite his new enhancements he was still no match for the sheer strength of the Monkey King himself in the hands of a very determined young man with a hard line stance on self care.

And somehow this man decided he should be deposited in... his kitchen.

In front of a phone set up like... a camera.

Huh.

“Uh-”

“Hold that thought!” MK said, positioning Syntax just out of sight as he grabbed a cook book and hit record. “A bean PIE from the 1920s! Today we’re doing something different-” he reached over and grabbed Syntax’s arm, pulling him into frame without even a single change in his expression. “Today I have an assistant because SOMEONE doesn’t know how to EAT NUTRITION and needs more Vitamin B.”

As he let go of the scientist’s arm he turned to him, face as serious as a miscalculated formula when a project was due in 1 hour.

“OK, you’re the science dude. Let me tell you something from experience,” MK grabbed the cook book, holding it up. “Cooking IS science. And this science insists that BEANS can be made into a PIE which I think is bullshit and I am going to prove on camera. Until you learn how to eat things that aren’t instant bars, you are going to join me on my cooking science experiments. Understood?”

Truth me told, Syntax didn’t see the appeal in cooking. It was far too much hassle for something as basic as nutritional supplements you could acquire from far easier means that did not involve making a mess you had to clean up later... but...

The idea that cooking could be a science... that he had never considered before. And MK seemed to be pretty well convinced that he was correct in this assertion. This was part of why Syntax had, for a while now, considered reaching out to him with an offer of becoming his assistant. His tenacity and determination was something that was a great asset in the field of scientific discovery after all! And well...

If making a weird pie could get him into the young man’s good graces...

“Where do we start?”

MK held up a bowl of beans to the camera. “Now these took a long bath last night-” he turned to Syntax. “-I’ll splice in some footage from earlier here later-TIME TO COOK EM!”

“The pot,” Syntax noted, pointing to the pot on MK’s stove that had begun to over boil.

“AAGH!” MK yelped, sliding over from where he was grabbing his mixer. “BEAN REBELLION!”

“Eggie,” MK chuckled out, cracking an egg into the mixing bowl with the rest of the ingredients.

“How many eggs does it call for?” Syntax asked, trying to make sense out of the madness he was being witness to.

“How many? I don’t know, it just says EGGS.” MK gestured to the cookbook before them as if it has just insulted Pigsy himself to MK’s face.

“FORE!” MK yelled, closing his eyes and turning on the blender as Syntax held a frying pan in front of himself in preparation for disaster.

And disaster came... just not in the way either expected, as the blender sputtered and just.... stopped.

“... did you just kill my blender?” MK turned the knob on it, shaking it and tapping it gently. “HELLO?”

He shook it harder, twisting and turning the knob on the front wildly before he broke down into laughter. “THE BEANS KILLED MY BLENDER.” MK crossed his arms on the counter, laying his head down on them as he devolved into equally amused and annoyed cackles. “This has never happened before, how the hell!?”

“Well...” Syntax looked around, finding an induction blender sitting half buried on the opposite side of the counter. “Will this work?”

Finally. After waiting for the pie to bake. It was done.

A piece sat on a plate before both men, looking both intimidating and somehow delectable at the same time. But both were well away this concoction was primarily sugar, cinnamon, and BEANS. They looked at each other for a moment before nodding, each taking a fork full of the pit before shoving it into their mouths expecting the worst.

MK looked at Syntax as they chewed. Then the camera. Then he started to laugh through his bite as Syntax’s face went on a journey from “this tastes good” to “HOW THE FUCK DOES THIS TASTE GOOD”.

“Nothing makes sense anymore,” he moaned, gesturing to the pie slice before him as he began to laugh in disbelief.

“WHY ARE YOU GOOD?” Syntax asked, shaking his plate slightly. “You have a bag of BEANS in you!”

MK laughed harder, needing to put his plate on the counter as he needed to hold his sides from the pain of trying not to laugh louder than he was.

“This is like if tomato soup made a cake that tasted like chocolate!”

“I-It!” MK wheezed, holding up one hand to get the scientist’s attention. “It has!”

“I’M SORRY- WHAT!?”

“Yes? Oh, that’s fine dear! Yes, as long as he has somewhere to sleep and I know where he is- ... yes, we would love to try some when you escort him home tomorrow! Thank you, take care now,” Spider Queen said, smiling as she hung up the cell phone that Pigsy and Tang had no kindly helped her acquire.

“So, uh...” Huntsman asked, rubbing the back of his neck in concern and confusion. “What’s up?”

“Syntax will be spending the evening with MK!” She announced, smiling wide. “He’s taken up an interest in baking, apparently. Something about needing to unlock the secrets of tomato soup and beans.”

#monkie kid #lego monkie kid #fanfic #inverted au #prompt fill #mk #qi xiaotian #syntax #spider queen

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celticcrossanon · 3 years

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BRF Reading - 4th of August 2021

This is speculation only

Cards drawn 1st of August, 2021

Question: Will Harry and Meghan divorce?

I am revisiting this question to see if anything has changed.

I am putting this under a cut due to length.

Interpretation: yes

Card One: The Queen of Swords. This is an air sign person, particularly a Libra, or someone who is good at strategy (but not as good as the King of Swords). This is someone who is able to look at situations from a purely rational point of view, devoid of any emotions. It is someone who assesses the facts objectively, without compassion, empathy, or any concern for other people's feelings (some people will add those factors in later, but that is not the provence of the Queen of Swords). What will achieve the desired result is the primary focus. These people can be very determined and they have no hesitation in calling out people who cross them.

In this spread, this card represents an attitude towards divorce, and with Meghan appearing as the underlying energy (King of Wands), it shows Meghan's attitude towards divorce. For her, it is all about strategy. She will divorce Harry when she thinks that is the best move for her and her ambitions. This card can also reflect the attitude of the people opposing Meghan - they are being very strategic in how they approach the question of divorce (the Air suit can be about communication, so any discussion of divorce will be done very strategically).

Card Two: The Eight of Cups. This is a card about loss, leaving a situation, walking away from something (such as a marriage). Coming after the Queen of Swords, this card shows that the strategy is related to leaving a situation, such as a marriage. The card shows Psyche leaving everything behind her as she descends into the underworld. This says to me that one partner may have to leave everything behind as they walk away from the marriage - they will leave with the clothes on their back and very little else (what eventually gets divided in a divorce settlement is another question entirely, this card focuses on the act of leaving).

The card also suggests that leaving may be very painful for one partner - like Psyche descending into the Underworld, it will feel like a descent into death for them. It is also suggesting that there is a loss of some sort that is the reason for one partner walking away from the marriage. I am getting both Harry and Meghan energy from this card - Meghan will walk away if Harry suffers a loss that is unacceptable to her (e.g. he loses his titles), and Harry will walk away if some sort of loss occurs that is very painful to him and it almost drives him out of the marriage. I don't know which one will occur first, but the Harry energy is stronger, almost as if he will be the one who is leaving.

Card Three: The Three of Swords. This card is sometimes known as the divorce card, and by appearing in this spread it tells me that Harry and Meghan will divorce. The card shows Queen Clytemnestra and her lover killing her husband, King Agamemnon, and so shows the end of a marriage by violence. The general meaning of the card is that of heartbreak and grief.

Coming after the Eight of Cups, this says that one partner will walk away from the marriage (the Eight of Cups) and the result will be divorce, not a reconciliation. The divorce will be painful. It will cause hurt to both parties. The picture on the card suggests that the divorce will not be amicable, and instead one party (most likely the female, Meghan) will try to 'kill off' the other party (Harry) as part of the ending of the marriage. Swords are the suit of communication, thoughts, strategy, so I expect the 'killing off' to be in terms of gossip and damage to Harry's reputation, and not a literal death. As per the picture on the card, Meghan may have a lover who is involved in this 'killing off' with her.

Card Four: The Devil. The Devil is a card about giving in to your base nature, and/or about being addicted to sex/drugs/alcohol/gambling etc. It is the card of Capricorn and as the shadow side of Capricorn it represents a desire for money/luxury and social status at any cost (the ruthless social climber).

Coming after the divorce card (the Three of Wands), this says to me that what will be of concern in the divorce is money and social status - the ability to fund a lifestyle of addiction to drugs and alcohol. The 'killing' of one party's reputation via gossip is intended to get the other person a larger amount of money in the divorce, and to preserve their social status. This card can also indicate that many unsavoury details about sex, drugs, alcohol use etc will come out in the divorce. It can also indicate that one person is 'addicted' to the other person in the relationship and will find it difficult to 'come clean' and break away during the divorce.

This card can also show the state of the marriage that is broken by the divorce - a marriage fuelled by drugs/alcohol/sex, where one person is unhealthily dependent on the other or 'addicted' to them.

As a card of a ruthless social climber obsessed with money and status, this card can represent Meghan. If that is the case, then if the divorce is not on her terms or she does not initiate it, then I can see her trying to get Harry to return to her by playing on his addictions and appealing to his base nature.

Card Five: The King of Pentacles. This is the card of an earth sign person, particularity a Taurus. Normally this would stand for HMTQ, and coming after the Devil card it would show that HMTQ is the person Meghan (the Devil card) is going after for money and social status, i.e. she will try to destroy the reputation of HMTQ so she looks better after the divorce. While I am getting that energy from this card, I am also getting the energy of another man from it - Harry's replacement. The suit of Pentacles is about wealth, and the King of Pentacles is the richest of the court cards, so this is a wealthy man. Meghan will have a rich man lined up as a future partner before she divorces Harry, although she will still try to destroy Harry's reputation and take everything she can from him.

Card Six: The Knight of Pentacles. This is the card of an earth sign person, particularly a Virgo, and here it stands for Prince Harry, a sun sign Virgo. The King of Pentacles stands between the Devil card and the Knight of Pentacles, so HMTQ as the King of Pentacles will shield Harry to a certain extent from the behaviour of Meghan (the Devil card) and her accusations during the divorce. The demigod Pan on the Devil card looks towards the King of Pentacles, but the King of Pentacles looks straight ahead and ignores him, indicating that the shielding will come through HMTQ ignoring/not responding to Meghan's provocations (grey-rocking).

It is interesting that while the demigod Pan on the Devil card looks toward the King of Pentacles, the Knight of Pentacles look away from both of them and towards the next card, Death. The focus of the Knight of Pentacles, Harry, is not HMTQ or Meghan's behaviour, but the card Death.

Card Seven: Death. This is a card of physical death or a symbolic death, the end of a cycle. Here it represents a symbolic death, the end of a cycle in someone's life. Coming after the Knight of Pentacles, this is referring to a symbolic death and/or the end of a cycle in Harry's life. It could be the divorce, of course, as the end of his marriage, but it could also be the end of his lifestyle in California, or him missing Meghan in his life (if she initiates the divorce). Whatever it is, Harry is going to be focused on this loss and not the divorce and what accompanies it (example: the BRF will be doing everything they can to preserve his reputation, and Harry is going to be sitting there mourning the loss of freedom in his life compared to California - I'm not saying this is what will happen, but it will be something like that, with Harry focused on his loss/the 'death' of something and not on his divorce).

Underlying Energy One: The King of Wands. This is the card of a sun sign person, particularly a Leo, and here it stands for Meghan, a sun sign Leo. Meghan is going to be a major factor in this divorce and may even be the initiator of the divorce, which is a change from the last time I looked, when Harry was the one leaving.

Underlying Energy Two: The Seven of Pentacles. This is a card about tending your investments and making sure they flourish, which means abandoning those that no longer give the return you want. This is Meghan's attitude to divorce - she will hang on to Harry as long as it is profitable for her, and then she will discard him.

The card shows Daedalus being offered money to help Queen Pasiphae, the wife of his patron King Minos, betray her husband. The energy here is of a divided allegiance. This is coming through as Harry's mindset - he has swapped his allegiance from the BRF to Meghan, but he may be wanting both, as Daedalus is torn between supporting his patron or being paid to betray his patron by his wife.

Underlying Energy Three: The Six of Pentacles. This is a card about giving and/or receiving amounts of money. The card shows King Minos holding an amount of money, while Daedalus the craftsman sits at his feet with his hands raised in a begging attitude. This is going to be Meghan during and after the divorce. She will be figuratively begging for as much money as possible from whoever is on the throne.

Conclusion: Yes, Harry and Meghan will divorce. One partner will walk out of the marriage, possibly after a loss of some sort. The separation will be followed by a divorce, with one party (most likely Meghan) trying to kill the reputation of the other party using gossip about sex/drugs/alcohol/addictions in general and the associated behaviour.

The divorce will be messy/violent, not amicable. Meghan will fight for her social status (eg HRH) and as much money as she can get. Her main concerns in the divorce will be social status and money. Harry will be focused on what he sees as a loss or ending, and he will be shielded from the fallout of the divorce by HMTQ.

If Meghan initiates the divorce, she will do so because she has got everything she can from Harry and he is now a liability to her. She views divorce as a strategy to help her with her ambitions and she will approach it without thought for anyone except herself and her aims. She will have another rich man lined up as her partner before she lets go of Harry.

If Harry is the one that walks away, Meghan will try to get him to return to her by playing on his addictions (to her or to other things). This won't happen. Harry will leave if something happens that he sees as a loss. It will upset him so much that he will walk away from the marriage.

Note: This reading was a general overview of where the situation is right now. There is nothing really new here, it is more confirmation of what we have already suspected. I want to do some more readings on this topic to see if I can pin down who will be the one leaving and who will be left behind.

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curiousconch · 3 years

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Chase You / Chase Me

Prologue: I've been roaming around, always looking down

Series Synopsis: Fiercely passionate for law, Gabe Ricci suddenly finds himself quickly enraptured by newly-hired senior associate Alex Keating. As both tread the lines crossing between career and romance, it leads them to a path they never travelled before. But as his past chases him in the present, Gabe and Alex are forced to finally confront what the future may hold.

Book/Pairing: Choices - Laws of Attraction / Gabe Ricci x MC (Alex Keating)

Words: 800+

Rating/Warnings: Mature (16+) / implied sexual content

Author's Notes: It's been a long time coming, but here it is! Another series for another choices book I'm currently stanning. I'm unsure how long will this be, but if you're interested, let me know if you want to be tagged on succeeding installments. If not, please reblog or comment, I'd really appreciate it!

Disclaimer: Characters except MC are original characters from Pixelberry. I am just borrowing them.

Almost Midnight, in a bedroom in New York City

Awakened by the horns of the infamous yellow taxis from the road nearby, Alex Keating rubbed her eyes from traces of the euphoric slumber she rose from.

That fireman surely knew how to set things alight.

Her thoughts got filled by the afternoon she just spent with Tyler, invoking a smirk to cross upon her lipstick-smeared mouth. With so many parts of her aching from the passionate encounter, her effort to sit up from the bed beside the sleeping stranger proved to become a struggle. She boosted herself up with her elbows, and she eventually climbed out and picked up the mess of clothes that scattered on the floor. Zipping her red dress, she picked up her heels and quietly led herself out of the apartment, not feeling an ounce of regret from leaving the guy without even a kiss goodbye.

Perhaps practice made her routine perfect. Good thing her reputation as a fierce lawyer superseded her similar "conquests" back in her hometown. And with a city as big as New York, her playground just got bigger.

Stepping into the hallway of the apartment building, she immediately slipped her shoes on and took the elevator straight down, exiting the building without looking back. The city dwellers that passed her by were none the wiser, not giving any care from her less-than-polished appearance.

She brushed her fingers through her pixie cut as she attempted to map out the right direction towards her own condo, taking a quick glance of her brunette hair on the wide window of a shop she just passed by. The soles of her black pumps clicked against the concrete pavement, the sky a shade of gray as the lights of the sprawling buildings illuminated the city above her head.

It's just been a few days, and she's beginning to love this city. She wondered why she didn't bring herself here much earlier.

As she contemplated, she pulled out her phone and checked her messages. In one of her notifications, she saw his name. And instantly, a prickle of regret rose from within her like poison. She halted her steps, confusion rendering her stuck. With a frown wrinkling her brows, she looked back on her screen, trying to make sense of the sensations taking over.

Gabe Ricci.

Shaking her head, she blew a long breath. She never backed down from flirtations, she loved it. The smooth talking, the pseudo-romance - it was a her own brand of stress relief. Being a lawyer is not an easy job after all. But the strange feelings she was having right now for this particularly attractive man definitely was new to her. She didn't know what to make of it - yet.

Alex Keating was all for the chase. Relentless as she is, she'll definitely bring herself to the end of it, regardless of the outcome. What's a chase without a thrill, right?

I'll definitely see how this pans out. Burying the last of her thoughts of her boss, she finally found the glass door of her own complex. She went inside, dismissing the brewing emotions as she did.

***

At a nearby Penthouse

Half-naked, he downed the remaining scotch from the second shot he just poured for himself. Leaning forward as he set down the thick glass on the marble top, Gabe's tousled hair wet from a quick shower.

His eyes darted to his door, which was ajar from the hasty exit of an attractive blonde whom he met earlier from the bar. He didn't intend to get laid tonight, but alcohol just couldn't drown the itch that a certain senior associate has ignited in him.

Ever since she walked his office at McGraw Byrne, he became enraptured with her. And for the first time since he switched to corporate, he invited this attractive new hire for coffee and made excuse after excuse to be involved with her more. His rationality wants to leave him every time he was around her.

For Gabriel Ricci, this wasn't normal. He was never this infatuated. Groaning, he rubbed a hand on his temples, hoping to quell the distracting thoughts.

He made himself think of his senior partnership. All of the years of hard work has finally came into a fruition. Every effort he made was paying off. And he wanted to revel in it, he really did. Because for the first time, as a senior partner, he has full control on how much pro bono cases he could take. He can make more difference in the justice system . The same system that years before, almost killed his own passion for law.

At last, he can make it up to Rob. A pang of guilt quickly engulfed him at the thought of his lost brother. It took so much of him to swallow it back into the depths of his mind.

But the thought of Alex once again made it difficult to keep his head straight.

So Gabe poured himself another glass, hoping that the strength of the brown liquid was enough to extinguish any of his lingering desire to become someone more in her life.

Yet he knew, deep down, he would never be able to shake it off.

Tags: @choicesficwriterscreations

#gabe ricci x mc #gabriel ricci #choices laws of attraction #fics of the week #choices fic writers creations #yet another choices fanfic

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delaber · 3 years

Text

Chipped

Rafael Casal x Reader

Note: I love when you send me prompts 😭 I asked for angst and you delivered! Thanks to all the lovely anons and to @theatrenerd86 of course!

Words: 3K

Warnings: fist fight 🙃

Tagging: @exrthangel @theatrenerd86 @lonelydance @ohsoverykeri @summerofsnowflakes @ramp-it-up @alexander-hamilhoe @honeysucklechocolatedrippin @riiyy @mysearchforgratification @janthony-stan @sillyteecup @biafbunny @einfachniemand @cashskid (Imma keep tagging you unless you say something lol).

The minute you stepped in the door, everything changed. Time seemed to slow down. The music became distorted. Rafa could've sworn that the lights dimmed considerably. The billiard ball rolling in slow motion in front of him suddenly wasn't as exciting anymore. All he could focus on was you and the heavy heartbeat in his chest.

You looked around the room, shot him a small wave from afar and headed straight for the bar as his senses seemed to return to normal, time speeding up again.

You'd shown up to the party late and even though Rafa had only seen you from a distance, it was obvious to him that something was wrong - again. Even though you had held your head up high, your confident body language was outshone by the fake smile and the sadness in your eyes. Rafa watched your squared shoulders as you poured yourself a drink while trying to look brave. And although you were doing a splendid job pretending everything was alright, he didn't believe a second of it. You had never been able to keep anything from him. He knew you too well.

"Are you seeing this too?" Diggs mumbled as he had also noticed the way you were carrying yourself.

"Yeah," Rafa breathed as he looked at you wipe away a small tear, the smile still broad on your lips. His heart was aching in his chest. It hurt seeing you hurt.

"What are we guessing?" Diggs continued in a quiet mumble, "Rob?"

"Definitely Rob," Rafa said darkly. Of course you were crying because of your asshole fuckboy of a boyfriend. The biggest fucking clown to ever walk the face of the earth. Mr Dickbag himself. Rafa's nemesis.

Rafa and Diggs had absolutely hated Rob from the minute you had introduced him to them - not only because the man was absolutely no good, but also because he had come out of nowhere, pulling you away from Rafa at the worst possible time. Before Rob, you and Rafa had - much to Rafa's satisfaction - flirted quite heavily. Hell, on special occasions, Rafa had even been granted access to your bed! But from the moment you had met Rob, everything had been about him, and Rafa had been degraded to being your old buddy again. ...And he absolutely fucking hated it! And he hated fucking Rob for stealing you away. Fucking Rob with his fucking stupid hipster haircut and his fucking badass Michael K Williams scar.

"We should go talk to her," Diggs said quietly, and put down the billiard cue without looking away from you.

"Yeah, I'll see what I can do," Rafa answered without really paying attention to Diggs.

"You? Alone?" Diggs arched an eyebrow at Rafa, "are you sure that's a good idea? Last time you nearly broke them up."

"That's still the plan," Rafa sent his friend a challenging look, "or do you want him to continue breaking her heart?"

"Of course not. You're just... partial," Diggs sent Rafa an equally challenging look. He was all for you and Rafa getting together, but he also knew that Rafa was in neck-deep water.

"Shut up, dude. I know what I'm doing," Rafa mumbled and started walking towards you with determined footsteps before Diggs could stop him.

"Don't stir shit up!" He heard Diggs yell behind him.

Rafa ignored his best friend and took a few brisk steps towards you before he was standing by your side. You were pouring yourself half a glass of tequila, downing it in one go.

"Hey..." he smiled when he caught your eye.

"Rafa!" You jumped a little at the surprise of suddenly having him in your face, "hey. How are you?" You poured yourself another tequila, your fake smile still broad on your lips. You hoped he hadn't noticed your rather weird mood.

"Better than you it seems..." Rafa eyed the contents of your plastic cup.

"Is it that obvious?" You shot him a look.

"You're drinking tequila as if it was water..." He leaned in close and spoke quietly so only you could hear, "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No," you lied, "I wouldn't want to ruin your night," you said quietly. The truth was that you actually did want to talk about it. Maybe with Jasmine or Emmy - but definitely not with Rafa of all people! You already knew how he would react; he hated Rob and would go absolutely ballistic.

"You could never ruin my night," Rafa smiled softly. "Come," he said and grabbed your hand, tugging you along. You followed him hesitantly but ended up sitting down next to him on a small bench outside the house, determined not to tell him a thing. However, as he immediately put his arm around you and pulled you close, the treacherous tears started welling up in your eyes the second you felt his hand caressing you.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked softly.

"Yes. I'm just having a really shit night," you mumbled while wiping away an annoying tear.

"What happened?"

"Nothing, I'm okay," you croaked, trying to keep him away.

Of course Rafa didn't believe you, and in a matter of seconds, his expression changed dramatically, "Did Rob hurt you? If he hurt you, I swear to God I will kill him!"

You looked over at Rafa whose nostrils were flared, clearly already angry at the scene he had set in his own mind without even knowing if Rob was involved or not.

"He didn't hurt me, Rafa. Stop jumping to conclusions just because you don't like him..."

"So this has nothing to do with Rob?" Rafa arched an eyebrow at you.

There was no way back now. You knew that Rafa would do absolutely anything in his power to get you to tell him about what had happened. You shot him a sideways glance, trying to determine how angry he was before you admitted to Rob's deeds. "It's Rob, alright - but he didn't do anything on purpose."

Rafa clenched his jaws shut and curtly said, "just tell me what happened."

"Promise me you won't hate him..." you whispered while biting your lip.

"No. What did he do?!" Rafa demanded through gritted teeth.

"He - uhm -" you considered shooting Rafa a lie but knew that he would see right through you immediately. Eventually, you decided to tell him the truth even though you knew nothing good would come of it; "Rob - uh - accidentally kissed someone else last night," you mumbled quietly while carefully examining Rafa's face. He looked as if he could punch something so to diffuse the situation, you quickly added, "- but he feels really bad about it and he told me everything straight away!"

"He cheated on you?" Rafa tried to say as calmly as he possibly could although he was doing a horrendous job. Of all the terrible things Rob had ever done to you, this one definitely took the cake.

"He didn't do it on purpose!" You added quickly, "Please don't be mad at him!"

"Why are you defending him?" Rafa said desperately. His face was distorted, his eyes livid, "He cheated on you! Tell me you broke it off with him!"

"He didn't do it on purpose. He's been going through some stuff lately and he told me that he feels terrible about it..."

"Good!" Rafa said angrily and gritted his teeth, "fucking suits him right. Say the word and I'll deck him in his smug face!"

"Stop trying to save me, I can handle myself! This has absolutely nothing to do with you..."

"I'm the one who has to see you like this," he said softly.

You shot Rafa a look, "you pulled me aside!"

"Yes! Because I see right through your fake smile - and it hurts to see you like this!"

"Rafa, I didn't ask for you to take care of it."

"You'd do the same for any of your friends. I don't know why you can't see that he's bad for you!"

"It's just a rough patch! I know he loves me, he's just been stressed lately."

"Are you not listening to what you're saying right now?" Rafa desperately pulled at his hair, "The guy made out with another girl and you're excusing it? You should be livid!"

"I am livid," you shot Rafa a hard look, "why else do you think I'm sitting out here, talking to you about it? If I didn't care that he kissed someone else, I would obviously be inside right now, enjoying myself!"

"If you're truly upset about it, don't excuse his behaviour! Break up with him! He's toxic as fuck!"

"Would you stop that?!" You said sternly, "I know you aren't his biggest fan but he's my boyfriend."

"Why are you even with him? He's a fucking low life!"

"He's a low life?" You said in a shrill voice, not able to hold back anymore, "as opposed to whom, Rafa? To you?"

"As opposed to anyone!" Rafa spat, "why can't you see that there are so many guys out there who are a million times better than fucking Robert Havert?!"

Rafa's words hit a little too close to home and you got really angry with him, "you really want to go there?" You couldn't help yourself.

"Go where?" Rafa shot you an irritated look

"Riddle me this, Rafa; do you by any chance consider Rob competition?"

"No," Rafa said curtly, looking away from you.

You crossed your arms and tapped your foot, "really? Because you've been sending me some weird fucking signals lately while trying to break me and Rob up."

Rafa's feelings were bubbling inside him and before he could stop himself, he spat, "Of course I consider him competition! Isn't it obvious that I'm in love with you?! You and I had something special before he came along and corrupted you!"

"He didn't corrupt me!" You answered through gritted teeth.

"Why did you turn your back on me then?" Rafa said loudly, his voice breaking. He instantly looked ashamed of himself. He obviously hadn't meant to show you so much of his emotions.

"Because I fell in love with Rob! ...What you and I had was a mistake..." you desperately cried out, "sleeping together was obviously a mistake!"

"If it was a mistake, why did it happen three times?" Rafa spat angrily before his eyes became glossy. He was panting hard, his face all screwed up, "please don't regret me," he croaked, his chest aching horribly, "you can't be serious..."

"Of course I don't regret you, Rafa. But we would've never worked out."

"...Because of him?" He shot you a dark look, his chest heaving up and down.

"No, Rafa," you desperately put your hands on him trying to calm him down, "Because you're you and I'm me. We've been friends for ages."

"I don't want to be friends," Rafa whispered before he angrily looked away from you.

"Rafa, honey," you whispered while searching his face, "I love you - but not like that..." you put your forehead to his. Your hands were now on his chest and you could feel the heavy heartbeat through his shirt. "I'm sorry if I-" Your words were drowned by a car door slamming hard and a voice behind you yelling loudly; "Step away before I punch you in fucking the face, Casal!"

Rob was coming at you and Rafa at full speed, an aggressive look in his eyes. You let go of Rafa as if you'd been scorched by fire and ran to your boyfriend, trying to stop him from beating up your friend. You hadn't told Rob about you and Rafa's escapade but Rob had long ago figured out that Rafa was into you - and you knew that he had been looking for every excuse to fight it out with him.

"Everything's fine, baby," you tried, "Rafa didn't do anything. We were just talking. Everything's fine, I swear!"

Rob's eyes were huge, his nostrils flared as he gently pushed you aside and went head to head with Rafa, "what the fuck are you doing, Casal?! Are you trying to get with my girl?"

"I'm protecting her from you."

"And you plan on doing that by hooking up with her?"

Rafa stood up straight, trying to make himself a few inches taller, "I plan on doing that by actually showing her some emotional support!"

"Don't fucking touch what isn't yours!" Rob was snarling angrily.

"Rich coming from you," Rafa said calmly with a small growl, "do you feel like a big man when you cheat on your girl?"

Rafa's choice of words had Rob shooting him a sickening smile, "that's right, Casal," Rob smiled humourlessly "she's my girl. Not yours. And you know what? She never will be yours. You will never get to touch her, to kiss her, to fuck her. She will never want you. I know you've been dying to experience it but you will never get to see her with your cock in her mouth," he said devilishly.

"Rob!" You interjected, disgusted with how your boyfriend was talking.

Rafa couldn't help himself. He knew he would be disloyal to you and that it would escalate the situation immensely, but he was desperate to wipe away Rob's stupid grin so he too smiled before he calmly said, "oh, you don't think I know what she looks like with my cock in her mouth?"

"Rafa!" You hissed loudly from behind your boyfriend.

Rob's smug face fell considerably and although Rafa could hear the disappointment in your voice, he continued, "what? She didn't tell you?"

In a matter of seconds, Rob's face went from red to purple. He took a firm grip in the collar of Rafa's shirt and plunged his head forwards. Rob's forehead hit Rafa's face with a sickening crunch, and Rafa staggered backwards but was on his feet not long after, decking Rob in the face with his closed fist.

"Please stop!" you pleaded them and tried to pull them apart, but Rob punched Rafa in the stomach, causing him to fall to the ground with a thud when all the air was knocked out of his lungs.

Rob plunged forward, put a leg on either side of Rafa and started hitting him repeatedly.

Rafa was desperately trying to defend himself against the rain of fists that were coming at him, but was so busy trying to avert Rob, that he didn't have the ability to fight back. Luckily, Rob was grabbed from behind by two guys that hurled him backwards and off of Rafa. Rob unsuccessfully fought to wrestle himself free from Oak and Anthony'a grips while yelling, "I'm going to break your fucking skull!"

Meanwhile Rafa, who was now back on his feet, was trying to wrestle himself out of Diggs' grip, responding with a "I'd like to see you try, you fucking pussy!"

As Rob and Rafa were trying to fight the men off of them, you stepped in, "what the hell is the matter with you two?" you bellowed.

Rob looked as if he had almost forgotten you were there, the sound of your voice immediately making him stop squirming in Anthony and Oak's arms as he looked at you. Ant and Oak released their grip on him, and instead of flying towards Rafa, Rob took a few deep breaths, his eyes piercing through you as he tried to calm himself down.

"How about breaking my skull now?" Rafa yelled at him while squirming around in Diggs arms hoping to break free.

Rob's gaze flew towards Rafa, while Oak and Anthony took a step closer, ready to punch him to the ground if he tried anything. Rob felt the two men nearing him and looked as if he had only just realised that if he jumped Rafa again, he would have to deal with Oak, Ant, and Diggs too. He took an ultimate decision and with a last look at you, he huffed, turned on his heel and angrily walked away with balled up fists.

Diggs loosened his grip on Rafa who immediately ran to you, "are you okay?" He almost yelled, his voice laced with concern, "I'm so, so sorry you had to see that!"

You looked up at him with a dark expression, "how fucking dare you!" You started out in a whisper but your voice gradually became louder as your tone changed to anger, "how dare you talk about me like that! As if I'm some conquest that you brag about to your mates!"

"I know I'm sorry," Rafa panted, avoiding your gaze, "Heat of the moment."

"Rafa look at me," you searched his face, "this is over," you said slowly, painfully aware that you were breaking his heart in front of his friends.

"It's over?" He looked as if he didn't understand what you were saying.

"We can't see each other anymore. It's over!"

"What? You're choosing that clown over me? What does he have that I don't?"

"Rafa why can't you see that you're just as big of a clown as he is!"

"...what the fuck are you talking about?!" He panted desperately, "I'm just trying to make you realise that he's a dick! I'm helping you. He's treating you like shit!"

"I don't need or want your help. What I want is for you to stay the fuck away from me," you said angrily giving him a small shove. With one last look back at Rafa, you turned on your heel and desperately ran towards your boyfriend who had almost reached his car.

Rafa watched you chase after Rob. He watched you desperately explain the situation to him. Watched you apologise of all people. Watched Rob take you in his arms as if he was the one who had to forgive you. He watched you kiss Rob's cheek before you started crying. Rafa's heart was aching horribly. He almost couldn't stand still.

He watched you get in Rob's car, kiss the man passionately before he pumped the speeder, sending Rafa a smirk as you once again kissed his cheek. Rafa painfully watched you drive away and all he was left behind with was a black eye, a chipped tooth, and a broken heart.

#rafael casal x reader #rafael casal #daveed diggs #blindspotting #rafael casal imagine #rafael casal fanfiction #bay boys #they gon fight #heartbreak

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introvertguide · 3 years

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5 Great Movies Without a Forward Linear Time Line

Not all great movies have a clear linear story line. The standard kind of story has a forward moving timeline and things progress forward in time from point A to point B. There might be jumps in time to convey age, growth, or decay or there might be montages that demonstrate learning or development without showing every second of the process. The point is that the viewer is not shown the past in something like a flashback or a second telling of the same event. Some movies try to use these techniques to add to the story when in fact it makes things more convoluted. Some movies use jumping around in time as a major plot point like in Looper or Back to the Future. Some movies are almost completely in flash back like The Green Mile and Citizen Kane. This a list of some fine films (in my humble opinion) that use time in interesting ways and are great because they steer far away from a standard time line.

Rashomon (1950); multiple unreliable narrator flash backs to same event

This film strays out of my specialty of American cinema, but it is a masterpiece that is often ranked in the top 10 films ever made. The movie is directed by the absolute genius Akira Kurosawa, who was way ahead of his time. A horrible crime is committed in feudal Japan and different people involved all relate their memory of the incident. Each witness adds information to the story but changes small aspects to make them sound better. Each account is subjective, self-serving, and contradictory. It is such a great example of the human condition that there is a phenomena in psychology called the Rashomon effect in which people will relate a story in a way that paints themselves in the best light, especially if they believe there are no other reliable witnesses. Again, the film is extraordinary as far as the screenwriting and directing and has set the standard for storytelling through unreliable flash back. I consider it a textbook example since I saw the film four times in college: twice in film classes and twice in psychology classes. This is my favorite Kurosawa film, but all of his movies utilize the visual medium to the fullest and I would recommend checking out any one of his films for a cinematic treat.

Once Upon a Time in America (1984); jumps between 3 time frames in a non-linear fashion

There are two versions of this movie and it proves that a story can be better if time is altered to reveal information in a specific order to the audience. The film was originally going to be a pair of 3 hour movies but was cut down to a single 4 hour film that jumped around the Jewish ghettos of New York in the 20s, the 40s, and the 60s. It is a crime drama that follows mobsters in this area and reveals motivation for actions by jumping freely between the three time settings. This long version of the movie is highly praised by critics and considered to be the best work of Italian director Sergio Leone. A severely cut and chronologically reordered version was created by an American studio that was released in the U.S. This version was panned by critics and was a total flop in theaters since it revealed information out of order during the film run time. Some actions at the beginning of the movie seemed pointless while some revelations towards the end had already been spoiled or hadn’t been referenced. The entire value of the film was lost since any skillful directing and editing was completely removed. The complicated nature of how the story unraveled in an anachronistic fashion is what makes the movie great.

Pulp Fiction (1994); series of events over 2 days told out of order

This movie is so much fun and tells just unbelievably crazy stories that occur to low level thugs over a two day period. Many people when first seeing this film did not realize that the stories are out of order, only that character stories cross over into each other. The complicated timelines make the movie great to watch over and over again because you see new things each time. I have actually seen a cut of the film that plays in chronological order and it is no where near as good. The way the film is cut makes fun little vignettes that all have intensely complicated plot structures while simultaneously supporting an overall plot line. Truly a great film and one of my favorites to rewatch.

Memento (2000); scenes played forward in time but in reverse order

Christopher Nolan is famous for his non-linear films like Batman Begins, The Prestige, Inception, Interstellar, and Tenet. This movie, Memento, stands out as the most non-linear (least linear...non-linearist...whatever) and one of the most interesting concepts ever attempted using the film medium. The story follows a man with a brain injury that makes him unable to make new memories. He writes notes in ink on his body to remind him of his mission to find the man that killed his wife. Each scene is played forward in time, but in reverse order. This means that you see the last scene first and the first scene last with a time jump backwards every time the lead character has a memory reset. It doesn’t seem possible to have a good movie this way, but it works exceptionally well and the viewer really experiences each event with fresh eyes much like the protagonist. One of the few movies I watched and then immediately rewatched to see all the things that I missed.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004); recounts a man’s life and relationship in seemingly random order through his subconscious

The story was written by Charlie Kaufman so it is kind of a weird one. A man wants to forget about a girl so he goes in for a procedure in which a machine is used to scan through his subconscious to erase all memories involving his ex. The viewer jumps from the real world to childhood memories to nightmares and eventually all experiences with this girl. As the patient reviews everything, he realizes that he doesn’t want to forget her so he starts fighting the process causing everything to blend together. This film stands out for me because the events on screen are all in the lead character’s head so the time frame does not matter. It makes the movie a little difficult to follow at times, but it is still satisfying at the end. The plot line is just less of a line and more of a web.

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

There are a lot of great movies that aren’t straight forward besides these five. What are your favorites?

#rashomon #eternal sunshine of the spotless mind #memento #pulp fiction #once upon a time in america #non linear narrative #akira kurosawa #christopher nolan #charlie kaufman #introvert #movie list #top 5

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hrtiu · 4 years

Text

@officialrexsoka I’m a week late but I finally finished! Written for Rexsoka Week 2020, the prompt is “shadows.”

Rex and Ahsoka were separated for almost fifteen years after the rise of the Empire, but they saw shadows of each other everywhere they looked.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/26891554

Wolffe was a good companion. He was Rex’s brother, after all, and nobody understood one another quite like the clones. That being said, Wolffe was a bit of a kill-joy.

“Come on, Wolffe. Just one game,” Rex said, holding his portable holochess set out in front of him like a peace offering.

The two of them just barely fit on the beat-up, tiny transport they’d managed to barter for a few systems back, but Rex somehow still felt lonely at times. He only hoped their intel was right and that they’d find Commander Gregor at their destination.

Wolffe crossed his arms and dug further into the ancient copilot seat in which he’d encamped. “I don’t have time for games.”

“We’re in hyperspace. We’ll be in hyperspace for the next few hours. What else is there to do?”

“Plan tactics. Think up our next move. Sleep.”

“Alright, alright,” Rex said, giving up his brother as a lost cause.

He switched the holochess set on and turned on the one-player setting. It was better than nothing, but he’d always preferred a real, non-artificial opponent.

Rex looked over the projected warriors on the holochess board at Wolffe, who’d taken his own suggestion and fallen into a deep sleep. He remembered a time when he might have behaved the same way as Wolffe. Each of the clones started out essentially exactly the same, but over time different friends, assignments, and life experiences gradually set them on different paths, distinguishing them from each other and refining their personalities. The 501st in particular tended to turn out clones who were more independent, aggressive, and fun-loving.

The battle was fierce, but Rex eventually beat the AI into submission. He knew if the AI had been set on its most difficult setting that he’d never win, which was part of why he preferred a sentient opponent. Rex put the holochess set away and sat back in his seat, closing his eyes and attempting to relax. He remembered the first time he’d played holochess, also on a spaceship but one much larger than this. It had been not long after Teth and the whole mess with the Hutts, and he’d been so shiny it almost hurt to think about.

“It’s your move, Rexter!” General Skywalker’s new Padawan said.

Rex bit back a grimace at the nickname. It was just the kid’s way of showing affection, so he tried to take it in stride, even giving her an affectionate moniker as well, but she’d stick to “Rex” or “Captain” if he had his way.

Rex considered the board for a while, trying to keep all the rules Commander Tano had explained earlier straight in his head. Some argued that holochess could teach valuable ideas about strategy and tactics, but the Kaminoans had considered it too far removed from actual battle to be an efficient use of time. As such, Rex hadn’t learned to play on Kamino.

After some thought, Rex moved a piece three squares over, towards one of her more vulnerable pieces.

“That’s an illegal move,” Ahsoka said.

“What? But I thought it could move three spaces?”

“That’s its range. It’s movement is three.”

“Ah,” Rex said, annoyed with himself for forgetting. “My mistake.”

He moved the piece back two squares so it had only shifted one square from its original position. He was pretty sure it was an awful move, but he didn’t much care. He was just playing to humor the young Jedi anyway.

Ahsoka immediately moved one of her pieces to attack the piece he’d just moved, killing it. She crowed in victory, and Rex leaned back in his chair with a sigh.

“Shouldn’t you be off meditating or something?” he asked.

Ahsoka shrugged. “Eh. You can’t be meditating all the time. It’s important to find opportunities to relax and have fun. It helps you perform better when you need it most.”

“Hmm.”

“I can see you don’t believe me,” Ahsoka said. “But guess what? I’m the best lightsaber duelist my age in the galaxy. Relaxing and having some fun every once in a while didn’t dull my edge.”

“Really?” Rex asked, legitimately impressed. “You’re the best?”

“Yeah,” Ahsoka said with a proud grin. “Why do you think Master Yoda let me get involved in combat?”

That did seem like the only logical explanation for someone as young as Ahsoka fighting. Rex still didn’t approve, to be honest. It didn’t seem right that someone as young and innocent and… full of life as Ahsoka should be on the battlefield. Although he supposed it would be odd of him to object considering he was actually a few years younger than her.

“Well I’ll take that into consideration, Commander. And you’d better watch your back, because one day soon I’m going to beat you at this blasted game.”

Thoughts returned to the present, Rex looked across the cockpit towards his brother again. Wolffe’s eyes were closed, but his frequent fidgeting suggested he was awake.

“Come on, brother,” he said, putting a warm hand on Wolffe’s forearm. “If you can’t sleep at least find a way to relax. We’ll be in a better position to help Gregor if we aren’t wound so tight.”

Wolffe opened first his good eye, then the cybernetic one, casting a sideways look at Rex. “Relaxing and messing around didn’t help save my men.”

Rex’s features softened and he tried to keep the pity from his face, knowing Wolffe wouldn’t appreciate it. “It didn’t get them killed either. That was nobody’s fault but the enemy’s.”

Wolffe stubbornly crossed his arms and closed his eyes again, and Rex decided to let the issue go. He was halfway through another game against the board’s AI when Wolffe stirred beside him.

“Fine,” Wolffe said, turning his seat towards Rex and reaching for the board. “Couldn’t sleep anyway.”

Rex couldn’t help but smile.

---

“Blast it,” Ahsoka cursed under her breath as she dodged yet another laser bolt, this one coming close enough to singe the cloak that covered her montrals. She’d come to this particularly shady smuggler-ridden Corellian city to finally meet an Imperial contact she’d been working for months, but it looked like her contact had set her up.

Ahsoka leapt away from the blaster fire, ducking behind a large crate of who-knows-what for cover and cursing her bad luck. Or maybe it wasn’t luck but rather an inevitability. Whenever she made contacts, no matter how meticulously vetted their background or carefully tested their intel, at some point she had to trust them and take the plunge into a full-blown partnership. The contact she was supposed to meet with today had been very promising, and Ahsoka was disappointed that all that time developing the potential mole hadn’t panned out.

She’d known as soon as she’d stepped into the dingy cantina that she’d been set up—the five imperial soldiers dressed as bounty hunters had given that away immediately. “Dewback,” as the contact had called himself, was a skilled counterintelligence agent, and she had to guess he hadn’t been responsible for equipping the disguised stormtroopers with identical, brand-new E-11’s.

The stormtroopers’ bodies now decorated the cantina floor, but Ahsoka hadn’t managed to take out Dewback himself. She’d caught a vague glimpse of him in the shadows during her fight, but it wasn’t until the stormtroopers were all down, when Ahsoka was carefully looking over the place to see what hostiles were remaining, that he’d attacked.

And now here she was, pinned behind this stupid crate in the dead-end of an alley in some Force-awful Corellian slum.

If only I could use my blasted lightsaber, she thought, but that had to be a last resort. She’d have to only use her two blasters if she didn’t want to stick out like a sore thumb. The empire was looking for her—and her specifically, though she couldn’t imagine why. It would already be bad news if Dewback was able to report back to his superiors that she was a Togruta. If he reported back both her description and that she used lightsabers? That was a worst-case scenario.

Best-case scenario: she killed Dewback here and now without using any Jedi-specific weapons or abilities. He’d already caught a glimpse of her, so he needed to be taken out.

Ahsoka closed her eyes and reached out with the Force, trying to pin down where her assailant might be. The Force was unfortunately being difficult, though, and she could only get a vague sense of distance. He wasn’t sneaking up behind her, and he hadn’t crept too close either, so that was good to know. She took a deep breath, readied her blasters, and decided to take a quick look from behind her crate.

Shec caught a brief glimpse of Dewback maybe fifty feet away from her at the mouth of the alley before he started firing and she had to duck back behind cover. He knew where she was, and she had nowhere that she could run (without using some Force-empowered acrobatics, at least). He had the upper hand in every way except that there was no cover from where he stood at the mouth of the alley to Ahsoka’s current position. She could use that to her advantage.

Ahsoka closed her eyes again and reached out with the Force, this time blocking out any extraneous details and instead only trying to get a sense for when the Imperial spy started moving towards her. As soon as he left the cover of the corner at the mouth of the alley, she’d break cover and fire on him.

Not yet…

Wait for it…

Now!

Ahsoka rose out from behind the crate, a blaster in each hand, and started shooting towards the shadowy figure she saw darting into the alley. Dewback dodged and weaved, and Ahsoka’s shots went wide, her aim getting worse as the kickback from the blaster knocked her off balance. Dewback returned fire, and Ahsoka was forced to duck behind the crate again.

“Kriff!” she hissed. Over a decade later and she still wasn’t listening to Rex. She could practically hear his voice from her first blaster training session all those years ago.

Ahsoka shot towards the target, her blast going wide and her arm swinging wildly from the force of the shot.

“Not one hand. Two,” Rex said sternly.

Ahsoka pouted. “Why not?”

“The kickback is too strong, it’ll throw off your aim.”

“But you shoot one handed. One blaster in each hand, even!”

Rex took the blaster from Ahsoka’s hand, inspected it, then put it back in her hand, adjusting her grip and bringing her other hand up to support it. “That’s because a blaster is my primary weapon, and I’ve been practicing with it for years. My mind and body know how to stabilize against the kickback and adjust my aim accordingly.”

“I could do that, too.”

“I’m sure you could, but your time is much better spent with your lightsaber. Everyone has their place in an army, Commander Tano, and you can be most effective with your lightsaber. These lessons are just to help you out if you’re in a scrap—they’re not meant to make you a master marksman.”

“Fine,” she said, conceding that Rex knew what he was talking about and she didn’t.

She raised the blaster up, keeping the grip that Rex had shown her with one hand on the trigger and the other supporting, and fired off a shot. The center of the target lit up with sparks.

“Good shot, sir!” Rex said.

Ahsoka grinned up at him. “Thanks, Rex.”

Back in the present, Ahsoka tossed one of her blasters to the side and held onto the remaining one with two hands. She tugged the necklace out from under her shirt and held onto the pendant, taking a deep breath and focusing on the Force.

The Force came easier to her this time, and she sensed Dewback not twenty feet from her in the alley. Now was the time. She broke cover again and raised her blaster, holding it straight in front of her with two hands, then shot. She fired off several blasts, but the first one was all she’d needed. Dewback dropped to the dirty street, smoke rising from his singed cloak.

Ahsoka let out a breath of relief and sat back a moment, collecting herself before going to the spy’s corpse to collect whatever information she could. She closed her eyes.

Thanks Rex, she thought.

---

“Don’t come after me!” Wolffe yelled before breaking cover and sprinting towards the besieged bunker. He dodged expertly between screaming blaster beams, some coming from the insurgent forces in the bunker and others coming from the Imperial forces in the valley below.

“No, Wolffe, wait!” Rex screamed after him, then cursed and ducked back behind the mossy boulder.

“He’s going to get himself killed,” Gregor said from his spot next to Rex behind the boulder.

Leave it to Gregor to state the obvious, Rex thought with some frustration. He wanted desperately to rein Wolffe in, but he didn’t think Wolffe would stop at anything to get to that bunker.

A whisper of a hint of a rumor had brought them here, deep in the jungles of Dantooine, in search of one of the last members of General Plo Koon’s Wolfpack. After successfully executing Order 66, the 104th had been sent to track down other “rogue” Jedi. Wolffe had had the misfortune of actually finding his target, who proceeded to massacre his men until only Wolffe was left. Wolffe eventually managed to kill the Jedi, but he never recovered from losing his men. That was when he’d decided he wanted out of the Imperial army.

Several years later and Wolffe had believed himself to be the only surviving member of the Wolfpack, but then they’d started hearing rumors about Boost. Somehow the other member of the Wolfpack had survived, and he was hiding out in the jungles of Dantooine. What Wolffe, Rex, and Gregor hadn’t known when they set off for Dantooine was that Boost had somehow gotten mixed up with a group of dissidents in the jungle, and that those dissidents would be under attack by the Empire when they arrived.

“What do we do, Rex?” Gregor asked. “He’s as good as dead, but we can’t just leave him… can we?”

Rex didn’t know why Gregor and Wolffe acted like he was their CO when he ranked lower than both of them, but it was the dynamic that had developed between them. Rex supposed it was because he’d had longer to adjust to life without the chip, though it could also be because he didn’t have to deal with the guilt of killing his Jedi on top of losing all of his men like Wolffe.

“I don’t know. We can’t go after him, but I don’t want to leave him behind,” Rex said, shaking his head.

“If we’re not leaving then we should join the fight!” Gregor said, his eyes reflecting that wild gleam they sometimes got when he was losing his grip.

Great. Another clone going off the deep end in the middle of a firefight. Just what I needed, Rex thought. Every instinct he’d developed over his long years of service told him to hang back. They didn’t know who the dissidents were or if they’d be hostile to him and his brothers, and they didn’t know the numbers and firepower of the attacking Imperials either. It simply didn’t make sense to rush into the middle of a firefight they didn’t have anything to do with.

“Hang back,” he said.

Gregor looked over at him in disappointment. “But Wolffe!”

“I know, but..!” Rex huffed in frustration, screwing his eyes shut. It wouldn’t help Wolffe if he and Gregor got themselves killed. There was nothing they could do.

“Well I couldn’t just stand back and watch!” Ahsoka shouted, and Rex winced. He’d seen enough arguments between Master and Padawan that he knew this would only escalate.

“Ahsoka, sometimes being a leader means you have to watch people die. You can’t save everyone, and everyone here knows the sacrifices that might be expected of them,” Anakin said.

General Skywalker didn’t say “everyone knows what they signed up for,” Rex noted, because of course the clones never signed up for anything. Rex chastised himself for his traitorous thoughts, but he knew nobody would notice. The two Jedi had forgotten he was there a while ago.

“Well I disagree. We have to at least try to save everyone,” Ahsoka said.

“Sacrifices have to be made to win wars.”

“I want to win the war, but not at the cost of my principles! The men of gamma squad would have died if I hadn’t intervened, and yes, maybe it was reckless. But I had to at least try, and I don’t regret it,” she said stubbornly.

“Karking hell,” Rex muttered under his breath. It was like Ahsoka had stretched her hand out from wherever she was across the galaxy to smack him on the head with that memory.

“What was that?” Gregor asked.

Rex shook his head. “Nothing. Ok, we’re going in, but we’re going to do this smart.”

Gregor nodded eagerly. “Yeah! Yeah!”

“See that tree line along the ridge? We’re going to follow it to the bunker, moving one at a time and covering each other as we go…”

Several hours later they returned to their rusty ship, carrying Wolffe between them. They’d found Boost, but the grizzled clone had refused to go with them, explaining that he was dedicated to the rebel cause now. So they’d helped fight the Imperials off, then left. Rex might have thought the whole excursion was a dangerous waste of time if he hadn’t glimpsed the foreign light of happiness in Wolffe’s good eye.

Rex allowed himself a secret smile as he punched in the coordinates on the navicomputer after liftoff. It had been over five years since he’d last seen Ahsoka, but she still managed to barge into his life. And he was a better man for it.

---

“What do we do, Fulcrum?” the rebel agent asked Ahsoka, eyes wide in fear and uncertainty. His fear was reflected in the handful of other faces that clustered around, all of them looking to her for direction.

“I don’t know, just give me a second!” Ahsoka snapped, guilt immediately rising as the agent flinched back at her response. “I’m sorry,” she amended. “I just need a moment to think.”

Of course the first time she decided to meet with her agents in person the Imps would show up to their rendezvous point looking for them. Ahsoka and her nine recruits had all been meeting together in an abandoned hovertrain platform on Ord Mantell when Ahsoka’s comm crackled to life with a warning from their lookout. Buckets on the move. ETA to your location ten minutes.

This would be so easy if she were on her own. Force leap across the platform, vault a few walls, and nobody would even know she’d been there. But she couldn’t very well carry all nine of her agents with her while she escaped. If they’d been experienced spies then she’d feel comfortable leaving them to their own devices, but none of these people were career agents of espionage. Some of them had been passing along information for some time, yes, but they’d simply been going about their daily lives as normal and reporting Imperial activity in their cities and towns, not infiltrating enemy bases or disappearing in plain sight.

Calm them down, Ahsoka. They need you.

Ahsoka blinked in surprise when she realized the voice in her head sounded a lot like Rex.

“Don’t worry, we can do this,” she said, taking the voice’s advice. “The rest of the station is crowded, and we can blend into the crowd, we just need to make sure we leave at different times from different locations.”

“From different locations? But we’re all in the same place,” one of the spies, a Rodian man named Gundie said.

Six other people started asking questions at once, their chatter forming one incomprehensible mass that hurt Ahsoka’s montrals to listen to.

Delegate. Pick the person with the most potential and let them develop under the responsibility you’ve given them, Rex’s voice sounded again in her mind.

“Quiet!” she hissed, her authoritative voice cutting through the chaos. “Gundie, you take half the group and hike down the tracks to the next platform. That one is also abandoned, so there shouldn’t be anyone there. Once you’re there, each of you leave the platform for the main station one at a time, a minute apart each. Some people can leave together if you think you can make it look like you’re traveling together. I’ll lead the rest of us to do the same thing here.”

Gundie nodded, then opened his mouth to ask another question.

“No time,” she said, cutting him off. “We have eight minutes until troopers arrive. Let’s move, and once you’re safe back in your assigned locations send me a signal”

She picked out the four agents with Gundie and sent them on their way, then turned to her own group. “Ok, head for the platform exit. We wait there behind the gate, then one at a time slip into the main station. And keep quiet.”

Lead by example, Rex’s voice continued. Stay calm and inspire their confidence.

Ahsoka schooled her features accordingly and walked to the head of her little group, crouching low and moving carefully but trying her best to project calm and confidence.

It wasn’t surprising to her that this advice would come in the form of Rex’s voice. While Ahsoka had technically been Rex’s superior, that had mostly been by virtue of her status as a Jedi. Ahsoka’s role in most battles had more resembled a specialized advanced combat unit than a commander, and Rex had done most of the leading on the battlefield. It made sense. Ahsoka was an expert with a lightsaber, but she’d become a commander as soon as she’d become a Padawan, and she’d certainly never been trained in battle tactics or military leadership as a youngling. Everything she knew about leading men she’d learned from Anakin and Rex. And now that she thought back on it, most of the lessons she wanted to keep with her she’d learned from only from Rex.

They reached the exit of the abandoned platform, and Ahsoka held up a hand to call her agents to a halt. She took up a position behind one of the barriers blocking off the hallway to the abandoned platform where she could see the main hallway but couldn’t be seen herself. She waited for a large group of commuters to walk by, then signaled for her first agent to leave.

The nervous man who’d asked for her help went first. Then an Ithorian woman, then two humans left together. Ahsoka took a deep breath as soon as the last two spies rounded a corner at the far end of the main hall and finally let herself relax. Right on time, a squad of stormtroopers entered the opposite end of the main hall and headed in her direction.

“I’d like to see them try and stop me,” Ahsoka said to herself with a smirk, though of course she’d prefer they didn’t see her at all.

She faded back into the shadows of the abandoned platform and leapt up into the air to land on a metal maintenance walkway high above the ground. She rushed down the walkway towards a utilitarian door that her preparations informed her led to the roof, and by the time the stormtroopers arrived on the platform, she was long gone.

That night, as Ahsoka curled up in her tiny bunk aboard the ancient stealth fighter she now called home, sleep evaded her. She tossed and turned for a bit, but still her thoughts raced. Hearing Rex’s voice, imagined though it had been, had called attention to the ache in her chest that had laid mostly dormant for a while now.

With a sigh Ahsoka sat up, giving up the fight to sleep for now. She tugged on a leather strap that she always wore around her neck out from under her shirt, feeling along its length for the pendant and holding the smooth metal in her hand. She didn’t need to look at it to know what she’d asked the Togruta craftsmen to etch there for her. Not many people knew how to read Togruti, Ahsoka included, but even if they did they wouldn’t know what 7567 was supposed to mean.

Ahsoka held the pendant tight in her hand and her mind gradually calmed, allowing her to drift off to sleep. She missed Rex terribly, but today had been a reminder that he was always with her, even if only in shadows.

#rexsoka #rexsoka week #fanfic

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secret-time-is-here · 3 years

Text

An Error's Journey

Chapter 13

Previous - First - Next

TW: Non explicit death, Killing, wounds, Death.

He was awoken from his nap suddenly by a teleport, drearily looking around to find he was in Lust’s arms just far enough inside the tree line that they couldn’t be seen. His lover shushed him and pointed to the path that led from the ruins and to Snowdin.

A young human was walking along the path, a burnt frying pan hanging off from the apron.

“A human…?” He whispered, and Lust nodded. “Why…?”

“I wasn’t sure if It was the fifth child or sixth.” Lust didn’t elaborate any further, his tense body finally relaxing when the human was out of sight.

Lust sighed, and holding Sans close, pulled out his phone and texted someone, it was hard for Sans to read, eyes cloudy with sleep and not wearing his glasses.

Then, unexpectedly, Core appeared.

“You think it’s wise to already do this?” Core’s ominous voice asked, not even bothering to notice Sans.

“To keep him safe and alive- yes.” Lust glared, Core tipped their head a bit as if silently asking Lust to rethink his decision.

“What’s going on?” Sans spoke up, Core just shook their head, raising a hand for silence.

“For now, you will not know. I’ll see you two in a year or so.” Core nearly left through a portal, before turning around, “Oh, and Sans? Hold him to that promise.”

Even Lust was confused at that warning.

Core left, and Lust hugged him close, curling around him. As if he was afraid of what would happen if he let go.

Sadly, it wasn’t long before he heard Papyrus calling for him, and the two of them had to separate. Lust promised to cuddle with him again at night, and that he’d be waiting in Sans’ room. Then he teleported away just as Papyrus came into view.

Papyrus had just barely missed the human, having taken a ride from the River Person back to Snowdin from Undyne’s place, only to hear from everyone about the human running through. Sans patted him on the back and took him over to Grillbys, buying him a milkshake to lighten his mood.

Afterward, he sent Papyrus home and called up his old friend Alphys to see where the human was last seen so he could continue to escort them. The human was still in Waterfall, about to meet Undyne.

A quick teleport to a sentry post and he surprised the human, the scared little child shaking with their frying pan clutched close.

“Ya alright kiddo?” They stood still, “I ain’t gonna hurt ya, just escort ya over to the King.” They were still shaking, but dropped their guard, holding their frying pan to their side, and giving a confused look. “Ya got a name kid?”

They didn’t answer, and Sans CHECKed them, their soul was green. “How ‘bout I call ya after ya soul? It’s green, for kindness, so I can call ya that.” They nodded their head, “Alright, Kind, let’s go.”

Sans began to walk with them to Hotland, and they followed. They easily passed Undyne, who only nodded her head to Sans, and walked back into Waterfall, and any other sentry let them pass as well.

It wasn’t long before they made it to Alphys lab, who was working on a robot, one that would either break the barrier or maybe help out a ghost-type friend of hers.

Alphys said that the human could continue through the puzzles of Hotland on their own, while Sans helped Alphys with the robot. Alphys had recently rigged Cameras around all of the Underground, so they could watch and help from the lab.

Sans wished he had gone with Kindness.

Most of Hotlands puzzles involved Conyers and timing, and it was difficult to go back afterward. Kindness learned that the hard way when they left their frying pan behind.

Another annoying thing about the Conyers is that the ribbons of the human’s aprons kept getting caught in them, and even when they tucked the strings in, they would eventually fall out again and trip them again.

Sans just had to watch as they left behind the apron, at a safe point between puzzles.

After that it was a long while of Alphys helping Kindness through the puzzles and Sans working on the robot, until Alphys turned her attention away for a moment, going to check on the monsters in the True Lab. The human was supposed to wait at the end of the puzzles, but much like perseverance, they didn’t.

Sans knew they wouldn’t, and watched the screen as they walked further. A sudden attack pierced their soul, a sneak attack from a sentry, and they fell right in their steps. Sans didn’t even have a chance to teleport to them.

He didn’t have any more tears to cry, and simply finished the robot and left before Alphys got back.

He didn’t teleport home, and instead took his time to walk back.

Poor human, poor humans. They get stuck in the underground and just want to go home, only to die because of misunderstandings that have been left unresolved. Would all of them have survived if Asgore was more understanding or open-minded? Would they have lived if they never left the ruins? Would they have lived if Chara never died? Or if even Asriel was still alive? What if Queen Toriel never left Asgore? All the possibilities hurt his tired mind to think about.

The walk also gave him time to think of other things, like how events began to line up with Lust’s universe.

Gerson plans to retire once the sixth human arrives, and give Undyne the role as Captain after. That just leaves the question of what happens for her to lose an eye and only one of them at that. There’s also the question of Mettaton, the robot in Lust’s world. It seems like the robot won’t be able to break the barrier, but at least it’ll give a home to a ghost that- if things follow similar to Lust’s timeline, will give the underground a distraction from the constant death.

By the time he made it back to snowdin and in his room, his feet hurt and his eyes were ready to drift into a deep sleep. Yet, his mind was still very awake, a questioning plaguing his mind that he couldn’t answer.

Thankfully, Lust was waiting in his room, just like he said he would.

“How long until the sixth human?” He asked, laying down with Lust and settling into his arms under a blanket of his own making.

“Not long,” Lust assured, “After the sixth, there’s a long gap until the seventh. It varies a lot, but usually, it’s a few months to a year.”

“Alright. Thanks, Passion.” He smiled, his mind finally able to rest. Hopefully, he won’t be disturbed by nightmares.

“Anytime, Darling. I’ll help with anything I can.”

“I’ll hold you to that.” He chuckled, eyes closed and already yawning, not noticing Lust’s sudden tense expression.

It was another week until the sixth human arrived, and their sudden appearance shocked the underground like lightning.

Everyone had gone to bed alive, night shift trading with the day to protect everyone for the night, and the morning brought many piles of dust through Snowdin and even some at Waterfall.

All of the guards were put on high alert, Gerson using this as a sort of test run for Undyne. Undyne acting as the Captain for all searches for the human, directing everyone, and also searching on her own. Alphys had got the robot, unsurprisingly named Mettaton, working by then, and Mettaton began to search most of Hotland as well.

Thankfully, it was later that same day that the human, ironically with a yellow soul of Justice, was found and killed. At first, Undyne had found them but had underestimated the human’s abilities. The human had caught her off guard, and with their gun, shot at one of her eyes. Escaping easily while she was in shock from the wound.

They were next found and cornered towards the end of Hotland by sentries, Mettaton flanking them. With their combined effort, they were able to defeat Justice. In an “Inspiring Plot Twist!” As Mettaton had called it, Mettaton began plans for a resort and entertainment center in that spot. It’s rumored that after the attack and between the beginning of the construction of the resort, someone had found and taken the gun as well as a cowboy hat that Justice had owned.

A few days after the attack, Sans and Papyrus paid a visit to Undyne, she was wearing an eye patch and announced to them over tea that Gerson had passed down Captain to her.

Everything was lined up to Lust’s universe now. All he had to do was wait for the seventh human.

All characters belong to their respected creators.

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sithsdoinshit · 4 years

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O-OKEY OKEY I WILL

Putting them under a read-more, it’s going to be a long post. Sorry to those whose “read-more” option doesn’t work/isn’t available. 😭

CW: Mentions of abuse, mental illness, death, drugs in some OC’s backstories.

We’ll start with that kinda-S/I

Name: Torrin

Background: An intersex Dathomirian who knew Savage and Feral when they were young. Was raised as a Nightsister, but never really liked the sisters ---- and not all of the sisters accepted Torrin, either. Torrin would often visit the Nightbrothers, especially their biological brother Carnage. But one day their brother was “chosen” and was killed soon afterwards---as many Nightbrothers were. Some more shitty stuff happened, then Torrin couldn’t take it anymore and fled Dathomir. Took up odd jobs, eventually settling as a healer at a clinic. Many years later, Torrin would encounter Savage (around the time he was looking for Maul) aaaand thus starts a Happy!AU for the Zabrak bros. 👀

Okay now for the SWTOR characters. I’ll.. I’ll try to keep their entries short ;_;

Name: Aoto Starrider

Quick facts: LS Smuggler (Gunslinger). Bisexual. Married to Akaavi.

Background: Dumb of ass, pure of heart. His jokes mask how insecure and Afraid he is. Grew up in the Coruscant slums with his brother---his single mother died of spice overdose. Though he had to resort to theft and smuggling to get by, his older brother raised him to be a Good Boy.

Name: Mawusi

Quick facts: LS Trooper (Vanguard). Butch bisexual. Married to Aric.

Background: A tough but kind lady. Constantly feels the need to prove herself, as her mother was a well-known Imperial criminal. Just wants to be a good soldier and a good person, but... well, if you know anything about the Trooper storyline, she gets very conflicted with those two desires.

Name: Siva Tulam

Quick facts: LS Knight (Sentinel). Lesbian. Married to Lana.

Background: A shy and soft-spoken Knight that is very harsh on herself. She struggles with schizophrenia, which was especially bad when she was young and didn’t have the support she has now as a Jedi. Nobody loves her friends as much as Siva does!!

Name: Darshan Kil

Quick facts: LS Consular (Shadow). Ace. In a relationship with Arcann.

Background: A former drug addict who was helped by the Jedi. Now a jolly old man who sticks to the Jedi Code like glue.. for the most part (see: falling in love with Arcann).

Name: Paarva Ti

Quick facts: DS Consular (Sage). Trans woman. Pan. Married to Felix.

Background: She’s not a “dark sider” per se, but a Grey Jedi. Autistic and tired of apologizing for it. Her special interests are Togruta culture (part of the reason she leaves the Order---she wants to embrace her family and culture fully) and everything medical. A very good Jedi Sage!

Name: Malephar Ban

Quick facts: LS Warrior (Marauder). Bisexual. Married to Vette.

Background: Born to a noble but abusive Pureblood family. After his twin, Elatha, killed their parents (understandable), they fled to Korriban. He’s the calmer, more charismatic and merciful twin. And also twice Elatha’s height, which he is very glad to remind her of.

Name: Elatha Ban

Quick facts: DS Warrior (Juggernaut). Straight. Married to Malavai.

Background: Same as Malephar. The angrier twin, though like Malephar she doesn’t tolerate cruelty towards innocent people. She’s just more eager to kill a fool than let them go. Despite being the smaller twin, Elatha is the Juggernaut and Malephar is the Marauder.

Name: Xiann’bril

Quick facts: DS Inquisitor (Sorcerer). Straight. Married to Andronikos.

Background: Queen bitch. Had an especially horrific time as a slave (which.. is horrific in and of itself, but you get my drift). Has a rather nihilistic view of the world; the only thing that matters to her is power and survival. And perhaps some nice jewelry.

Name: Ellis Von

Quick facts: LS Inquisitor (Assassin). Genderqueer (AMAB, presents neutral/feminine). In a relationship with Koth.

Background: Somehow retains a positive view of the world despite their time as a slave. Constantly outwitting and snarking at Imperials tends to put a smile on one’s face. Blind as a bat but can still see through your bullshit. Pretty dresses are a must.

Name: Kett’him’osum (”Thimo”)

Quick facts: DS Bounty Hunter (Powertech). Trans man. Bi. Married to Mako.

Background: Grew up in an orphanage at Nar Shaddaa. Bounty hunter by day, sex worker by night. Nowadays he doesn’t have time for his second job (being the Champion of the Hunt/Outlander will do that to you). Mainly money-motivated, but deep down he has a heart of gold --- Thimo refuses to take any job that involves hurting children or anything like that.

Name: Khonra

Quick facts: DS Agent (Operative). Agender. Gay. Married to Theron.

Background: Raised basically from birth to be fiercely loyal to the Empire. Of course, as the story goes on, his loyalty and beliefs crumble until there is nothing but hatred left. A rather cold, ruthless person with a very sarcastic sense of humor.

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marshmallowprotection · 3 years

Text

Dont mind me, just rambling about Sayaka at 1 am cus I fucked up my sleep schedule yet again 😃

Sayaka is very much so capable of killing someone. This is shown in her 4th bad ending, the one where she kills Seven without any sort of brainwashing involved to make her want to like in her BE3. She's kind of like Ray, where she looks cute and harmless (well, as cute as you can look when your face looks constantly devoid of emotion and your skin is basically porcelain colored and you look like a ghost) but is actually extremely dangerous in several ways. She may not be strong physically (seriously there's no way with her semi-malnourished, thin body, and short stature she could in any way be physically strong enough to actually hurt someone or even defend herself if she has absolutely no access to anything that could hurt someone, weapon or anything that can be used as a weapon like a pencil or a pen or something, or even just a fucking table she could throw at someone somehow) but she's extremely good at deception when she wants to deceive. She knows how to fake an extremely convincing smile, trust me, she's had to fake a smile or two when she was living with her brother since in her eyes he was constantly worried about her and she didn't want to worry him hence fake smile, plus her ex-abusive-boyfriend treated her like a doll (obsessively) in a lot of ways and one of those ways was where he wanted her to never stop smiling- since a lot of dolls are constantly smiling. He also stated she looked cuter when smiling (for better or worse, she didn't know, but probably for worse).

If Ray or Rika ordered her to kill someone, she would do it without question.

And she has killed people before AS/OS. I headcanon that "Traitors" in Mint Eye sometimes have been executed, probably if their disciples, not the lowly believers, since the disciples are highly respected and trusted by Rika so it's a huge betrayal in a sense to the cult and Rika. Since Ray is busy working, Sayaka becomes the executioner (good for Ray, bad for Sayaka I guess?). I mean, she's already the party planner, interrogator, investigator, and resident creepy doll-like lolita, so why not add executioner to the list?

Sayaka loves playing the violin. I forgot to elaborate on it in her bio info, but when she was younger one of the few things she had to distract her from her parents' fighting and abuse towards her and her siblings was a violin she found near her house one day. It was in playable condition, and so she taught herself how to play. She also likes to sing, and can reach pretty high notes, but can't sing very low (her voice is fairly high). She is good at singing, actually, and trust me, she's is the best lullaby singer you'll ever meet. Once whilst Ray had one of the extremely few day-offs he had ever been given (probably Sayaka negotiated it with the Savior *cough* not because she's hopelessly in love with him *cough* ok maybe *cough*) she sang him a lullaby to help him got to sleep and he fell asleep only moments after she began to sing (despite his attempts to stay awake to keep on listening). He once secretly heard her singing to herself in her room and he recorded it and made it his ringtone despite it being fairly quiet. He has since kept his phone as far away from Sayaka as possible so she doesn't find out.

Honestly, Unknown is not a very good person for Sayaka. I think you know why. Post SE Unknown is a huge maybe. Sayaka goes with Unknown in the SE and undergoes everything he does. So, she'd be in a lot better of a mindset, especially since she is far more willing to get help than he is since she chose to go with him Seven and the MC whilst he did not. She chose to do a lot of what Saeran is forced to undergo in the SE. She already had a major realization about what the hell Mint Eye is and realized that she's just being abused once again. So, as I said, huge maybe. Their two people with similar pasts who have recovered from it unwillingly in Unknown's case and willingly in Sayaka's case. Sayaka is probably in a better mindset than Unknown is.

Sayaka is probably only shipped with Zen in OS. She probably is chosen by the Savior to infiltrate the RFA and in the process, she falls in love with Zen accidentally; since her love for Ray at this point has become an obsession, not love. In AS it's genuinely a mix of more love than obsession, but in OS? 17 months can change people a lot. And it twisted Sayaka's love into pure obsession.

Zen may be kind of a narcissist, but he is a good guy. And trust me, he did all he could to try and get Sayaka out of her self deprecating habits (you better bet whenever she was in the chatroom it eventually led to her being self-deprecating because of her comparing herself to the RFA, especially Jaehee because to her Jaehee was far more beautiful while Sayaka sees herself as an adult (well, a 22-year-old) whose in a child-like body (*cough* her development got fucked over by years of abuse, constant starvation & malnourishment plus the elixir, so...*cough*), since she herself says "my chest is almost completely flat, my behind is similar, and I'm not at all curvy anywhere."). Sayaka is, however even more self-deprecating in real life than in the chatroom.

The huge thing here is the difference in how they got out of Mint Eye. Specifically the willingness. I just don't think with how things panned out that they could work, but I honestly don't know how to describe it. Post SE Sayaka and Zen might work better honestly. So, yeah. — Submission

It’s an intriguing concept, I will say that. The shared trauma of a situation can very well bring people together but it can also be a sentiment that holds you back if it doesn’t help your recovery. I’d say that they would stand to be able to do a lot together, even as friends, in the SE, simply for the fact that Saeran and Sayaka share a lot of... traumatic choices. They might benefit from growth on the level that they need.

Zen can only reach out and try to help if she’s willing, so a part of Sayaka will have to try to listen to him for it to work.

#mysme mc #mysme cmc #cmc #custommc #cmcSayakaYamato #SayakaYamato #mysticmessenger #submission #ask #mod kait #oc #littleghostlyrose

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outlaw-unicorn · 4 years

Text

The dragon!Arthur AU you didn’t know you needed

(and maybe didn’t want either but @eaglepatronus and I had too much fun with this :D)

here be dragons (and charthur)

AcademySenseiIruka

Now I can't stop thinking about a dragon Arthur AU where Charles is the knight sent to slay the dragon. As he searches for the mighty beast, Charles meets and falls in love with a cowboy (Arthur) who it turns out, is the dragon he's hunting. XD

Charles: Is that a tail? Arthur: No. Charles: Sure looks like one. Arthur: No, It's a trick of the light. Charles: ... Arthur: (knocks over a table with his wagging tail) :)

[...]

AcademySenseiIruka

Ohhhhhh, hers my version.

Arthur's mom was a dragon who tried to live life as a normal human. See, all the dragons in Brittian were hunted to near extinction and she fled to America in search of safety. Eventually she had Arthur, and when Arthur was young an irate drunk tried to kill him and, sensing her child was in danger, she took her true form to defend him. Later, when she was human again, she tried to explain things to her husband. To tell him she really loved him but he wouldn't have it. He shot and killed her.

Arthur then spent years chained to a wall in a deep cellar. That is until two outlaws, Hosea and Dutch found him. They raised him as their own but Arthur was always careful to keep his mothers secret. But one day, when the law was coming down on them, Arthur had no choice but to turn into a dragon and escape. When he landed, Arthur expected to be yelled at. To be disowned or attacked... and though Hosea was frightened, Dutch was excited. He praised Arthur for his abilities and began coming up with ways to use Arthur to rob banks. Eventually the Van Der Linde gang became known for picking up monsters as John Marston, a young Werewolf joined them as well as others cursed with magic.

After years of traveling and robbing banks, Arthur had amassed quite a bounty. And though no one outside the gang knew Arthur's true identity, Dutch had begun to treat Arthur more and more like an animal. Eventually new members of the gang were allowed to use Arthur the same way Dutch had. One day Micah ordered Arthur to attack Strawberry and in the attack Arthur felt something break inside him. He really was a monster. Some bloodthirsty beast that deserved to be hunted and killed. Arthur despised everything about himself... But Charles, a new member of the gang was a psychic. He could hear Arthur's fears and hate and self-loathing. Charles could feel Arthur's heart breaking, his grief for a life of peace he had never known.

Charles then sets out to prove Arthur is wrong about himself. To teach the dragon just how precious and kind he really is. Charles brings to Arthur's attention every good thought he thinks, every kind act he performs. But also he swiftly warns him away of the untrue dark self-deprecating thoughts.

In the process of saving Arthur from himself, Charles begins to fall head over heels for him. It doesn't take long for Charles to discover a steady growing feeling of love, growing in Arthur, is directed towards him.

But as the two fall more and more in love, Dutch and Micah have set their sights on attacking a heavily guarded bank. If they pull it off, they could be set for life, but if they fail, Arthur would be captured... Now it's up to Charles to convince Arthur he is worth more than what Dutch has convinced him he is. That he isn't some monster to be summoned and used, that he is precious and worthy of being protected.

rivendellelve

Really loving Psychic Charles ♥ :D does that mean, in that universe Trelawny is an actual magician? :D

AcademySenseiIruka

Gosh, didn't think of that but yes. lol

And Micah is probably able to manipulate thoughts... So in the end, it's down to a battle between Charles and Micah. Micah trying to controle thoughts and Charles being able to break others free because he can feel the true thoughts of a person.

rivendellelve

Dang, now I'm imagining the big showdown between Charles and Micah.

Maybe Micah has taken over Arthur's mind bc he wants to use him for his plans (and swooping in an a dragon definitely fits his ego) and Charles has to rescue Arthur and then he and Micah are fighting for control :D that would be epic :D

AcademySenseiIruka

YEAH!!! Charles hasn't noticed Micah even has that abuilitiy untill he tried to sway Arthur into doing the plan by making him bloodthirsty. Arthur can't tell what are his thoughts and what are Micah's but Charles can and tries to stop Micah. During the mental battle, Micah tells Arthur he has taken over Dutch. It enrages Arthur (just as Micah wanted) enough to transform. With Arthur angry, Micah is able to take control but Charles is able to get through to Arthur by reminding him he is kind. that he isn't a monster and that he is loved. Eventually, it breaks Arthur from Micah's intrusive thoughts and Charles is able to protect him.

Together they Kill Micah and when he dies, Dutch is able to break free of Micah's hold as well. Apparently, Dutch been trapped in his own head but still aware of what's going on. Just not able to stop Micah. He apologizes to Arthur for how he has treated him and Arthur forgives him, knowing it wasn't really Dutch all along. The camp goes back to the way it was and they all live happily ever after. It ends with Arthur and Charles cuddling together, both blissfully content... And Arthur realizes he is finally at peace.

(hope it's not too heavy-handed but I think it's a satisfying conclusion)

rivendellelve

This is the best thing ever! !! Like, I can totally see Micah taunting Arthur and Arthur falling for it even though he knows better and oh the drama Charles desperately trying to get through to Arthur while he's huge (and incredibly dangerous ) dragon ❤❤❤

And the idea that Dutch is conscious but unable to break free! ! (Have been playing around with a demonic possession story in my head for a bit that was kinda like that bit your Micah-version is way better ) Probably really gets him thinking about how he acted before that people didn't notice he was being controlled He probably changes for better after that

Now I imagine the gang actually settling down somewhere peaceful Like everyone gets on Arthurs back and they fly somewhere far away from Pinkertons in the dead of night Maybe they start a farm. Mangoes may or may not be involved 😁

AcademySenseiIruka

GASP... MICAH IS A DEMON!!! It would explain is mind manipulation and also give him other abilities, so no one would suspect him with controlling people. Maybe Micah is pretending to be a warlock or something? Like he can make things explode. But he hides his mind manipulation abilities because the more unaware you are the more effective it is.

Also, Flying off on "taxi" Arthur is the new best ending. They fly off to Tahiti and that's is where Arthur and Charles cuddle etc. If you want to write this it's all yours. I would love to see this as a full story but can't... plus you are the better writer. But no pressure. It's just fun to brainstorm.

rivendellelve

Oh boy, I would love to write it (even more so I really want to read it) but there is no way I have the time and energy for such a long story 😅 But sharing ideas is so much fun

Speaking of not-so-Warlock Micah, I'm thinking one of the other gangmembers is an actual warlock (maybe one of the girls) and they're something's off about Micah but mindcontrolled Dutch is like noooo, the poor man has just been through a lot

Also I remember reading something about a dragon whose treasure are his friends instead of gold and I can't stop thinking bout how the gang means everything to Arthur So when people go on a trip he's always lowkey clingy Like you'll be back soon, right? And lots of stay safe's

When Dutch and Hosea found out he was a dragon they got him some gold and were very confused when he more or less ignored it

Hosea got a bit teary eyed once he realized what was going on

AcademySenseiIruka

Awwww, I love that! Arthur is so precious as a person hoarder! And he probably doesn't even realize it and Hosea never brings it up to him cause he doesn't want Arthur to be embarrassed. (cause at this point its instinct and he can't really stop it)

Gasp, it would also explain why Arthur is sooooo angry with John when he leaves! It's not just that john left the gang it's that one of his treasures left. lol

Hosea would have the ability to see the future but because of Micah, his visions have been confusing lately. He keeps seeing Micah as a murderous dragon but Hosea says nothing cause he doesn't want Arthur to think he thinks Arthur is a monster. (also in the game Hosea says a lot of prophetic stuff, so it would fit)

Grimshaw would straight up be a witch. lol

(also, cause I didn't mention it before, Micah controls Arthur during the Strawberry attack. Arthur just doesn't figure it out until the battle with Micah at the end. Its why he got all bloodthirsty and why he enjoyed killing. Micah's influence taking over is why he felt broken.)

rivendellelve

yes to all of this!! i love Hosea being clairvoyant1! It fits sooooo well with canon. and just imagine - Dutch usually would accept Hosea's advice without question but suddenly Hosea's abilities don't work properly anymore and he can't fulfil his role as an adisor the same way as before. So Hosea thinks that's why Dutch isn't listening to him anymore

and he has no idea Micah is responsible for both.

and of course Micah controlled Arthur during the attack. Micah probably figured a high-stress situation such as this would be a perfect opportunity to test how far he could push Arthur with the level of control he already had over him

Grimshaw being a witch is awesome :D I'm pretty sure whenever someone was getting sick, she'd send Arthur to gather some herbs that she sneakily added to Pearson's stew. and what would've been a fulllblown pneumonia just ended up being a minor cold :)

also, can Uncle be a a satyr / pan? that way he could claim lumbago and goatlegs as reasons why he can't work :D

AcademySenseiIruka

Yes to everything! OMG, It's amazing how well this AU is fitting the canon. lol

I think Marry should be half muse. But she doesn't want to be someone's inspiration, she wants to be an author.

Molly should be some high elf princess runaway. Cuse it fits her personality.

Going back to what you said about one of the girls being a warlock... well I read a story a long time ago about this warlock who's magic was stronger the drunker he got. So Karen? Like usually she's just a normal human but when she gets drunk things start to levitate.

I keep wondering what Dutch would be. He needs to be something impressive because his overconfidence would be why he never suspected Micah when he should have. But nothing is really coming to mind.

Can Duffy be a Centar? lol

Maybe Sean would be a tall leprechaun? or is that too much? lol Nymph maybe?

rivendellelve

:D :D :D drunk Karen OMG I can totally imagine her being completely hammered and the most random things start happening. (and actually she's even more powerful sober but trauma and lack of confidence has her convinced she needs to be drunk to be able to use her powers)

and I love Mary-Beth deciding to be her own muse and not somebody elses :D

I think Sean tells everyone he's a leprechaun bc that's what people assume and what random a-holes on the street yell after him. but actually he's a Selkie :D

and Kieran is definitely a centaur. that's why he's so good with horses :D

Maybe Abigail is a Medium? and can talk to spirits? she's been making a living like that but bc there are so many fakes she has to resort to cheap tricks like levitating candles to make people believe her. (she tried a show with Karen once and it worked like a charm. Until drunk Karen started to sing ring dang doo :D)

but Dutch is difficult indeed. I am almost tempted to give him either no abilities - fitting the theme of him raging against society even though being born upperclass / upper middleclass. only this time he's like society'll never accept us "monsters" even though he's the only one that isn't

or make him a vampire. bc his ego would definitely fit - vampires being quite canny in the art of mindmanipulation themselves. He'd be so sure no one could ever control him that he only realizes once it's too late. he probably has Pearson or maybe Strauss make him some special ointment so he can stay out in the sun

AcademySenseiIruka

I love both your ideas for Dutch for different reasons. Love him being a normal human (or norm) I don't know why. I think it's cause it somehow fits his personality to be some average person but how he carries himself is what gives him power and authority. It also makes him being in charge more of an illusion. That said, I also love the Vampire idea. Perhaps one that feeds on animals, not people? I just think high honor Dutch wouldn't feed like that. But once Micah gets involved maybe he would. That could be one of the warning signs for Arthur and Hosea.

I think Lenny should be an apprentice of some kind. Cause he's young he doesn't know quite what he want's to be yet so he's kinda a jack of all trades.

Speaking of Jack, with his dad being a werewolf and mom being a medium, would Jack be both or would he have the abuility to talk with animals? Like comunicate with animal spirits etc?

rivendellelve

OOOOh Micah is the one who starts convincing Dutch to feed on O'Driscolls and Skinners and Lemoyne raiders bc they're "basically doing the world a favor" and it goes downhill from there

maybe Lenny was training to become a magician when his dad was killed and he never completed his training but Trelawney decides to teach him a thing or two

and Jack can definitely talk to animals :D it might not be clear enough for real sentences but he gets pretty good impressions and can like, ask a bunny for the nearest clover field and he'll know the direction and have a pretty good idea of how far away it'll be :D

AcademySenseiIruka

XD Yes, Jack would be their best scout. lol Also, Dutch would just have him talk to bunnies and deer to find the safest places to camp.

So this got out of hand :D but it was too much fun not to share. Maybe definitely we’re hoping someone goes and writes dragon!Arthur fic :D

(and if you do it would be awesome if you dropped the AO3 link or tagged us)

link to complete thread https://archiveofourown.org/comments/277788937

#RDR2 #RDR #charthur #dragon!Arthur AU #ff #I need a fantasy to fanfic machine asap #bc I really wanna read this #also filed under:#why you shouldn't be afraid to talk to authors in the comment section #Arthur Morgan #Charles Smith #Dutch Van der Linde #Hosea Matthews #John Marston

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razberryyum · 4 years

Video

The Untamed/陈情令 Rewatch, Episode 15

(spoilers for everything MDZS/Untamed)

[covers MDZS chapters 57 and 58]

Yunmeng pain meter: 🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪 out of a possible 10 🔪

(no WangXianness to measure, so I’m counting knives instead)

I’m going to be honest: the next couple of episodes are NOT my favorites in the series. First of all, there’s the almost unrelenting Yunmeng pain we’re subjected to, followed by that weirdness in Yiling (which I will get into when I get there) and then there’s even more pain. Not to mention, Lan Zhan’s pretty much MIA during this episode and the next three, and while it’s understandable why he’s not involved, I still really felt his absence and missed him a lot. As a result, I kind of dragged my heels on getting to this episode during this rewatch since I wanted to give myself some time to prepare for the arduous emotional turmoil that lied ahead. Stupidly, as a means of procrastination, I decided to read “The [Dumb] Husky and his White Cat Shizun” (aka 2HA/二哈和他的白猫师尊) by Meatbun Does Not Eat Meat, thinking that it would perhaps provide me with a bit of levity before I delved into all the Yunmeng pain. Oh my God, was THAT a WRONG decision. HORRIBLY WRONG. It was equivalent to me choosing to jump into the hot oil in order to escape from the frying pan...so now the frying pan isn’t looking too bad anymore. Here’s the thing, I had not read any spoilers about 2HA, only heard that it was really good, and I figured, it had to at least be less painful than MXTX-laoshi's Heaven Official’s Blessing (aka TGCF/天官赐福) because I DID hear how painful that is, so even though TGCF is also in my queue, I figured, I’ll read 2HA first to alleviate my mood. I am literally still trying to recover from the emotional scars that 2HA left in my poor weak heart. Seriously, Meatbun-laoshi owes me 300 more chapters of bliss to make up for all that suffering. It’s not that MXTX-laoshi didn‘t leave scars on my heart—I have plenty from MDZS/The Untamed too, and to a lesser degree from Scum Villain as well—but I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that 2HA left two-fold the amount of both of them combined. I shudder to think what TGCF is going to do to me since I’ve been told in terms of devastation it’s even worse than MDZS and SVSSS, but I’m not sure how it ranks next to 2HA. Just to be on the safe side, I definitely don’t think I’m going to touch that novel until I’ve finished crying through The Untamed all over again.

And wow did I cry a lot during this episode, and it’s only the start of the Yunmeng pain. I chose to highlight the scene above where Madame Yu bitch-slaps the shit out of Wang Lingjiao because it’s really the only jovial-adjacent moment in this episode and the next ones. The first time I saw this scene, I laughed my ass off and cheered out loud since Madame Yu was doing what I pretty much wanted to do to Wang Lingjiao since back in the Xuanwu of Slaughter’s cave when she branded Wei Ying. But now, it doesn’t bring me as much joy as it did when I watched it for the first time, knowing that it is the essential domino that gets knocked over which lead to the subsequent cascade of events that brought about the near-obliteration of the Yunmeng Jiang sect, the deaths of Mama and Papa Jiang, all the emotional and physical suffering that the three Yunmeng siblings experience, and of course the drastically different and ultimately tragic turn that Wei Ying’s life takes. So even though the bitch-slap scene still makes me smile, it mostly fills me with dread now, especially because of how quickly things take a turn for the worse. Of course I wish Madame Yu had succeeded in murdering every Wen sect member in that room, that Wang Lingjiao didn’t get a chance to summon Wen Zhuliu or succeed in sending that signal to bring Wen Chao and the wrath of the Wen sect down upon the Yunmeng Jiang sect. But perhaps what is the saddest aspect of the whole thing is, even if none of that happened, that STILL doesn’t mean the Jiangs and the rest of the sect would have escaped their destiny because there was no way Wen Chao or even Wen Ruohan would have let them get away with killing Wang Lingjiao and Wen sect members. So the destruction of the Yunmeng sect was inevitable sooner or later. More importantly, if the events didn’t lead to Wei Wuxian losing his golden core, getting thrown in the Burial Mounds, and practicing demonic cultivation, then the Wen sect’s rule over the cultivation world, and maybe even the world in general, would’ve been absolute and undeterred since the Sunshot Campaign was pretty much won because of Wei Ying. So basically, there is no way to escape horror and tragedy: no matter what line of dominoes got knocked over, they all eventually lead to an abyssmal pit of misery.

So Many Tears

Really I should just go through this episode by tracking the amount of times I teared up or straight up just cried, starting with this moment:

Seeing Madame Yu whip Wei Ying just made my heart ache so much: it’s one of my least favorite scenes of the entire show; so much so that this might be only the second time I’ve watched this moment all the way through. Actually, I can probably say the same about this episode and the next one as well: I think this is only the second time that I’ve been able to sit through these episodes from beginning to end since the first time I watched them. What makes this scene especially sad for me is the uncertainty of whether or not Madame Yu was just whipping Wei Ying for show and took no pleasure in it, or did she secretly relish this opportunity because she disliked Wei Ying that much. Considering their history, it’s hard not to believe that it’s probably mostly the latter. And while I want to think that she would have felt bad about cutting off Wei Ying’s hand, the unfortunate truth is that I’m sure she would’ve gotten over that pretty quickly. If it wasn’t for Wang Lingjiao bringing up the matter of turning their home into a supervisory office for the Wen Sect, Wei Ying definitely would have lost that hand, that was pretty clear. It’s rather disheartening that Madame Yu didn’t even try to talk Wang Lingjiao out of that punishment. I remember wishing that at the last minute she would come around and ask for mercy on Wei Ying’s behalf, even though that would have been out of character for her. So while her compliance wasn’t unexpected, it was still disappointing at the same time because if it had been Jiang Fengmian, no doubt SOME attempt would’ve been made to save Wei Ying’s hand. But at the end of the day, that’s unfortunately the nature of Wei Ying’s relationship with Madame Yu, which to me is one of her biggest flaws as a person. I love her overall, I think I’ve made that pretty clear, but her inability to forgive the existence of this orphan and accept him as one of her own is really her most upsetting trait, because even though she’s constantly arguing with her husband, she obviously does love and care about him.

I actually thought this was a really sweet moment since it plainly showed how much Madame Yu cared about Jiang Fengmian, even though she would never admit so in front of everyone, and I love the “kids” reaction. They’re probably used to scenarios like this so their little smiles just made the moment cuter and more real.

Even though what we’ve seen of the interactions between the Jiang parents was usually contentious, I appreciate the fact that we also got some sweetness like this moment, even though it also made me sad that they couldn’t be more loving to each other because Madame Yu couldn’t get over her own petty jealousy over a dead woman. I actually teared up during the scene when her Zidian transferred over to her husband right after Jiang Fengmian clearly expressed his doubt it would answer to him.

To me, this moment really encapsulated how disharmonious their relationship was, how out of sync they were as a couple. Even though Madame Yu clearly loved her husband enough to grant him ownership of her most prized sentient weapon, she never told him and he himself had NO IDEA of his wife’s feelings for him whatsover to the point that he didn’t even think the weapon would respond to him. There’s just something so sad about that whole scenario that it literally makes my heart ache for the Jiangs. I really wish there had been more understanding, communication and forgiveness in their marriage, and less jealousy, resentment and obstinacy. It wouldn’t have changed their fates, but at least their time together would have been happier and their family life would’ve been more joyful and peaceful.

Even More Tears for Wei Wuxian

My heart really broke for Wei Ying during both Madame Yu and Jiang Fengmian’s farewell scenes with their children because of how obviously different they treated him compared to Jiang Cheng and Shijie. I think when this episode first aired, I had only started reading the novel so I didn’t know just how bitter Madame Yu felt towards Wei Ying; therefore, when I initially watched this moment, I was actually holding on to the hope that at the last minute, she would come around and even if she did not give him a hug then perhaps at least she would soften up a little towards him.

Of course that was super crazy wishful thinking on my part, and honestly considering how this was the last time she would ever see Wei Ying again—this boy whom she more or less watched grow up into a man—she was pretty fucking brutal. The contrast between her attitude toward her son and Wei Ying almost took my breath away. I can only imagine Wei Ying probably never felt more unloved and like a servant than in that moment. Just looking at the screencap right now is making my eyes well up again for him. He looked so HURT.

Not to mention, her last words to Wei Ying really is pretty devastating, considering how momentous a catalyst it ended up being. He essentially gave up his life and future because of her words. And it’s not that Wei Ying wouldn’t have sacrificed himself for Jiang Cheng anyway, but I’m sure her words, and Jiang Fengmian’s shortly after, is what drove him on to make the decision he did at Yiling, which lead to just about every tragic event in this first lifetime afterwards.

Speaking of Jiang Fengmian’s farewell, it also made my heart hurt so much for Wei Ying because even though Papa Jiang’s good-bye was much more warm and gentle than Madame Yu’s, if there ever was even a smidgen of suspicion in Wei Ying’s mind that the rumors of him being Jiang Fengmian’s illegitimate child were true, his final parting words and gesture to him compared to how he is with Jiang Cheng and Shijie had to have put that thought to rest.

There was no tender face touching, just a good old shoulder grab followed by instructions to take care of his two children. I know the argument would be, well, Jiang Cheng and Shijie ARE his actual biological children, why wouldn’t Jiang Fengmian be more affectionate towards them in their final time together? Very valid, of course, but I guess I was also hoping his actions wouldn’t be any different among the three of them because he seemed to have really loved Wei Ying as well, to the degree that both his son and wife got jealous of his seeming favoritism. If only Madame Yu was also present to see this moment, she would probably realize all her jealous accusations and suspicions over the years really were utterly stupid and pointless.

They Cry, I Cry

I would have to be a monster to NOT cry during this scene. I was a sobbing mess, and really. I don’t think I’ll ever not be one during this scene no matter how many times I watch it. Frankly, I don’t even want to see it again after this time because it’s just too unbelievably sad. This whole episode really drains me, and yet I know the worst is yet to come.

Ode to Jin Zhu and Yin Zhu

These two ladies who are essentially Madame Yu’s right and left hands barely had any screen time or dialogue, but they more than made their mark with what they little had. Just by their defiant attitudes and the way they stood up to Wang Lingjiao, they were able to successfully convey both their status in the Jiang household and their strength of character. I really loved the economy and effectiveness of their brief time on-screen. Talk about making every single second count. Not to mention, they were able to hold off Wen Zhuliu long enough to allow their mistress to properly say good-bye to her son, and that is definitely no small feat to accomplish. I wish we had more time with them but I do believe these two loyal attendants deserve some solid recognition and accolades.

I Hate This Asshole

I wish the Wens had killed this SOB too when they obliterated his sect. I don’t dislike Jin Guangyao or Xue Yang, but I absolutely dislike Sect Leader Yao.

VOMIT

I HATE everything about this scene, and to be honest, I hate just about every scene involving Wen Ruohan in his throne room. The performance by Xiu Qing is just so horrible that I truly don’t understand WHY they gave him so much more screen time since that’s not how it was in the novel at all. I think Wen Ruohan only popped up twice in the source material, with the second time being his death scene. I know this was probably Team CQL’s way of extending the episode count but man was Wen Ruohan poorly cast. Why couldn’t they find someone closer to his donghua counterpart? Instead we’re stuck with this greasy old man who overacts in every single freaking scene he’s in. I’m not familiar with this actor’s work, I looked him up and I don’t think I’ve seen most of the shows he’s in so if he’s actually a well-respected veteran actor or something like that, and that’s why they expanded his role in The Untamed, then, wow, I’m sorry, I am just not a fan at all. As for the other crap going on in that throne room, don’t even get me started on those shitty Yin Metal zombies. So. Damn. CRINGEY. Everything about these Qishan scenes are really a big blemish on the show.

Questions I Still Have

Don’t really have any...really too sad to think.

Overall Episode Rating: 7 Lil Apples out of 10

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tbhwhocaresanymore · 4 years

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Nancy Drew 1x10

SHE’S BACK BITCHES. DEAD LUCY IS BACK.

Ahem. Sorry, had to get that out of my system.

Okay so I finally had time to rewatch the new Nancy Drew ep and it is just as fantastic as the first time. When you look at it in comparison to episode one you can really see just how much the characters have grown, as individuals and especially as friends. Bess being very obviously in George’s office so she’s not alone with Ryan? Watching George go from hating Nancy’s guts to trying to break open a door with poison on the other side just to get her out? Nancy very resignedly saying to Claire “yeah but they don’t ever listen to me.” Beautiful. And Ace is back from his coma, and it sounds like Lara Tandy also soon will be. The writers are just juggling so many storylines with such a huge cast, and they are doing such a great job which is a nice change of pace from the other shows I watch.

This episode had some phenomenal jump scares, mostly involving Dead Lucy (my literal favorite character). When they entered the gym and the lights and buzzer switched on with no warning? I physically fell out of my chair. And the plot was really good too. It was written like a stand alone episode, but also in a way where it still tied into the overall plot. Nancy hanging all the ghost traps, mentions of her dad’s arrest and her arraignment, the Bonny Scot stuff. As for Claire being the murderer? The second Nancy started showing symptoms and not Claire I grew suspicious, but the plot twist was still wonderfully done, and Claire’s actress did an amazing job for only having like five minutes of lines. Also, Ace’s dad? Huge plus. He seems like a cool character and I am always down for deaf/ASL representation, and they did it so well.

I don’t trust that the Bess being a Marvin storyline is fully wrapped up, it could just go so many different ways. And for it to have been the point of like six episodes only to be wrapped up in thirty seconds? Maybe Bess is not really a Marvin and Owen is playing her to get her to help him with the Bonny Scot case because I still do not totally trust him. But I may be biased here, because the book fan in me is still rooting for her and George to turn out cousins somehow, and if she’s cousins with both George and the Marvins? That’s pushing the suspension of disbelief a little bit.

I also truly do not know where they’re trying to take Ryan Hudson’s character. Maybe going for some sort of morally grey character, or an anti-hero? He told Bess and Owen he wouldn’t help them but he also has an artifact that was clearly from Bonny Scot, and wants to get together with his dad. If I had to guess, and I love to guess, I’d say he’s planning to blackmail his family with it. Whether to just get out, or maybe get recompense for Lucy all those years ago, I don’t know. But I do love that George does not buy his bullshit.

Nancy did a really amazing job this episode. Seeing what her father’s arrest has done to her, how much it has taken away her confidence and made her question herself. I am very much looking forward to her coming out the other side of this stronger than ever. And she is honestly so brilliant. Realizing Claire must have taken an antidote and that it was the ring on her finger because one of the pearls was missing? Are you kidding me? And even though she’s dying, using her possible last breaths to try and find out if this is the woman who killed Tiffany. And then seeing Nancy Drew, badass, crooked cop catching, murder solving, take no prisoners Nancy Drew, asking for mercy, saying she doesn’t want to die, because after all she’s only 19 years old? Spectacular.

All the Nancy and Nick moments? I am officially deceased. When he was performing CPR, his voice cracking as he yelled “come on Nancy!” And then when she woke up and he gave this little sort of half-sob and just held her into him, saying “got you, I got you.” I am dead and these writers have killed me. Then at the end, when they were leaving, and Nick left and Nancy sort of turned around and rested her head against the door. The shipper in me was hoping they would get back together right then, but I also think it’s good that they didn’t. Nick broke up with her because he feels she just doesn't have room for him in her life, I think he’s going to stick with that for a while, regardless of his feelings for her. In the meantime, still pretty sure the writers will go in the Nick x George and Nancy x Owen direction, or maybe Nancy x Ace? This episode definitely showed off their chemistry.

Now I have to talk about this, you know I have to talk about this, I am so looking forward to talking about this.

DEAD LUCY.

As I said, she’s BACK. When Nancy was walking toward the light and you could just sort of see her standing up? Poetic cinema. The second I could sort of see her silhouette I was like “FUCK YES.” Nancy is literally about to die and she’s just like “not today” and screams her back to life. I have two possible reasons. This plays into my Nancy is Lucy’s daughter theory, or it could be that she knows Nancy is her best chance of her murderer getting brought to justice after almost 20 years. And then at the end of the episode, when the camera pans, I legit sat up straighter and leaned toward the tv, all ‘come on where is she’. And then she was there in the closet doorway and I felt so vindicated.

The one downside of having a cast full of amazing characters is I want all of them to be on screen all the time. (Except Owen and Ryan, they can go get married and move to Europe and be shady husbands only mentioned in passing and I would be fine with that.) Chief McGinnis, Lisbeth, Victoria who I am still waiting on, Ace’s dad, Lara Tandy. I want them all to come back.

A few final thoughts moving forward. Is Nancy ever going to get arraigned for breaking and entering? This happened all the way back in episode one or two, and it keeps getting mentioned. I mean at this point Dead Lucy better show up and kill the judge, like I need something important to happen at this thing. I am also now even more invested in my ‘Nancy’s mom killed Lucy’ theory. Her dad isn’t explaining any of the evidence against him away, and the only reason he would do that is to protect Nancy. Now either he is protecting her from the Hudsons, because they told her dad to take the fall and he knows they’ll hurt her if he doesn’t; or, he is protecting her from the knowledge that her mom is a murderer. And because I feel like we’re supposed to think the Hudsons killed Lucy, it makes me think the mom killed her. Speaking of Dead Lucy, I’m hoping there was a specific reason Simon threw her very far away, and it’s not just chalked up to ‘he’s evil’. Still hoping that George eventually becomes psychic like her mom.

Super excited for 1x11 the promo and summary look promising. I have no idea how Carson’s arrest relates to the Bonny Scot sinking, but I can’t wait to find out. And Dead Lucy will be present, which immediately improves any episode quality by five thousand percent. And the episode title, the Phantom of Bonny Scot, makes me think we might be getting another ghost. Fingers crossed.

#Nancy Drew #Nancy Drew cw #Nancy Drew 2019 #George Fan #Bess Marvin #Ned Nick Nickerson #Nancy x Nick #episode analysis #I analyze things #or try to #Dead Lucy #my theories #the mark of the poisoner's pearl

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cogentranting · 4 years

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I still think Once Upon a Time could have done something really interesting if Rumple died instead of Neal in season 3.

Rumple has arcs I like after season 3, but overall when I look back at his full story over the seven seasons, it doesn’t work very well because there are too many back and forths between he’s redeemed, no he’s not, he’ll do anything for Belle, he’s gonna be really abusive for a season etc. It’s too inconsistent. But if you end the story with his death in 3, it’s a pretty clear clean arc.

Meanwhile Neal is the Dark One’s son, a huge part of Emma’s origins, Henry’s father, the whole reason the curse was cast... and his impact in the present is pretty minimal. Even his sacrificial death doesn’t actually do that much. It just tells them who the witch is (which they could have found out if they just thought to themselves for a second ‘hmm there’re exactly two new people in town after this second curse. Zelena and Robin. I wonder which one is the evil witch lady?’). Even his role within the love triangle feels underutilized because Emma never makes any sort of choice. She never even really confronts her complicated feelings for Neal.

So what if, instead, Rumple dies stopping Pan same as always, but then when Neal brings him back using the vault, the way that they save Neal is not by doing the weird combining Neal and Rumple thing- it’s by giving Neal the dagger and having him stab Rumple, becoming the Dark One.

Then you have Rumple die his big hero death in 3A and cement it in 3B by not letting Neal trade his life for his. And you have Neal suffer the consequences of turning to Dark magic regardless of the price, by being corrupted. From that point forward, Neal can take the place of most of Rumple’s story lines.

For the rest of 3B Neal is the Dark One and is controlled by Zelena. Through this there’s little hints of him going dark but mostly he remains the same. During this Emma follows the same progression in her relationship with Hook, but at the same time gets to actually make the choice to close the door on her relationship with Neal instead of having it closed for her. She can even make that choice at around the same point that Neal dies in the real show (3x15). Then at the end of the season, Neal is free, seems to be stable, but kills Zelena, just like Rumple did. This is his tipping point into becoming really the Dark One.

Season 4A his motivations are essentially the same as what Rumples were; he wants to separate himself from the dagger but keep his power (because he’s been powerless his whole life, trapped by his father, by Pan, in hiding in the real world, controlled by Zelena etc. and he’s never gonna be controlled again blah blah blah). He still takes Hook’s heart but this time the connection dives more into the whole twisted family history and their Neverland connection. You maybe bring in some of the “you took Emma from me” idea but keep it pretty clearly as a side thing. The whole situation now has this added note of tragedy because instead of a straightforward rivalry there was once real familial affection between them. At the end of 4A he’s driven out of town just like Rumple. I think you maintain the connection/friendship that he had with Belle in 3x15 throughout 3B and 4A and still have her be the one to use the dagger for this (though now maybe also have Hook and Emma there as his other two main connections) and it still reflects similar growth in how she views the Dark Ones just with the romantic element removed.

4B plays out basically the same except that instead of Rumple rewriting his story to make Belle love him, Neal is trying to force Henry to love him (you use 4A to do more with their relationship of them trying to build something but it being off because of how Neal is being corrupted, and then you use Hook and Henry bonding as a foil for that, a positive alternative. This influences the animosity Neal feels while he’s controlling Hook. And at the end of the arc Henry also cuts ties with Neal. In fact if you wanted you could have him fully take the role of Belle in this arc and not develop a relationship with Belle and Neal. However, I don’t want to cut Belle from the story, so you’d have to find her a completely new arc. Maybe you find her a new love interest (not Will. Ana’s his true love) or maybe you just develop her as a friend for Mary Margaret or Emma. ) The story mostly plays out the same way but with Henry a little more center which fits well with his role in the finale becoming the author. However, there are two difficulties. 1. you have to remove the arc about the darkness killing Rumple, since Neal wouldn’t have accumulated near enough darkness to be killing him. You do have to work in some actually truly evil things for him to do instead of just evil things he almost does, so I think some characters have to really get murdered. I’m thinking Archie or some fairies since they don’t do much anyone and everyone would be horrified. The attempt to remove the darkness to save him would need slightly different justification but it’s all magical mumbo-jumbo anyway so who cares. Potentially he could do something to try to hurt Henry and that could be framed as “an act so dark and against his nature that it’s destroying all the light in his heart” or something like. or it could just be a misguided attempt to stop him from being the Dark One that backfires. The other difficulty is the alternate storybook. The finale story line really only works if Henry isn’t initially in the book. But I think you can work around that just by saying that A. Isaac is pulling the strings and B. putting in something about how because Henry is the author, their attempts to rewrite him into the book didnt’ work. Other than that it’s the same. You can even still have “heroic Rumple” in the story.

Season 5A plays out the same except Belle needs a new plot. Play up the Merida connection, let her flirt with Merlin, have her trying to save Neal for the sake of Rumple. I don’t know, her 5A story isn’t great to begin with. Emma and Hook’s Dark One guide is still Rumple not Neal (for that matter if you want to keep Rumple around let Neal see Imp Rumple as his guide for a season or so). Letting Hook die to get his power back is seen as a big step toward Neal being irredeemable. His underworld arc involves a lot of back and forth of different influences-- he’s being forced to try to save Hook who he’s burned a bunch of bridges with, he’s reunited with his mother who gets to move on but her influence isn’t enough to save him, Pan plays more of a role of trying to forge a connection with him, and ultimately he keeps making worse and worse choices until he’s more and more like Rumple at his worst. Eventually he sides with Hades in the conflict and he ends up killing someone (Robin if you want to keep the rest of the story mostly the same, Zelena if you want to make further changes. Belle if you want to go really dark and tragic.) Then Henry trying to destroy magic in the finale is a direct parallel of Baelfire trying to go to a land without magic, because this time Henry is trying to save Neal from the influence of the Dark One. But the season still ends with Neal being the most evil he’s been yet.

Season 6 has more of a shift. The Black Fairy is still a major influence but instead of using Gideon (who no longer exists in our story), she’s interacting with Neal directly. You keep the savior Rumple backstory because it still plays into the themes of the family history and the two sides of Henry’s lineage. But here Fiona takes more of a backseat and Neal becomes the main villain of the season, and in a lot of ways the culminating villain of the main seasons 1-6 arc. It ends with Emma defeating him, but after he’s defeated there’s a moment of him turning on Fiona inspired by Henry’s love for him (very Luke and Vader- esque). This isn’t presented as redeeming Neal, just offering a glimmer of hope for his redemption. He ends up banished back to the enchanted forest (or another realm).

Neal then takes Rumple’s role in season 7. He’s looking for the Guardian but now the motivation is sort of a short cut to redeeming himself-- he’s trying to remove the darkness at the expense of someone else in hopes of it magically making him back into who he once was. The Alice relationship is essentially the same. Now the Weaver/Tilly relationship also provides a sort of parallel to the his relationship with Emma when they first met (though of course not romantic) except this time he’s redeeming himself by becoming a more positive influence rather than shaping her into a thief. The Weaver/Rogers relationship plays basically the same role, with adjustments made to accommodate the ways in which the Hook/Neal relationship is different from Hook/Rumple one. But now, Weaver’s connection to Henry is a big deal, and the relationship ties the plot lines together more tightly. Neal’s redemption plays out through this season in equal parts through Alice, Rogers and Henry. It culminates in the finale, with Wish Rumple still being in the finale as a sort of final temptation, and with the glimpse of evil Wish Henry being an inspiration toward his final act of redemption, saving Rogers in order to heal the separated father and child in a way that his own family was never able to heal. This is also plays a part in Wish Henry and real Henry’s final confrontation.

The way I’ve described it here make it sounded a little like focus is shifted off of Emma, but that’s not the case, her story remains virtually the same and she is just as dominant. But this gives us three clear avenues- the hero lineage with Snow and Charming and Emma, the redeemed villains with Regina and Hook, and the villain lineage with Pan, the Black Fairy, Rumple and Neal. It gives us a clear through-line on the side of the villains where each subsequent villain gets us closer to our ultimate villain as we watch Neal go from the kind and noble son of the Dark One who he lost, to the skeevy love interest, to the Dark One and the main nemesis. His negative character development becomes the antiparallel to Emma’s heroic growth.

It also keeps the story lines more closely linked, since often Rumple’s motives in the real show are tangential to what the main heroes are doing. Neal’s corrupt “love” of Henry that put him in clear opposition to Emma’s true love. The romantic history of Emma and Neal informs and complicates their dynamic and presents extra challenges in confronting him, without being a main point, except to positively highlight the strengths of the Captain Swan romance. It let’s Emma be a clear nemesis to the main villain, rather than an incidental obstacle. Defeating him also thematically represents defeating the tragedies of her past-- rising above the broken relationship that made her stop trusting, led to her giving up her son, and putting up her walls etc. in order to be someone who is a wonderful mother, is very happily married, and a hero who protects everyone.

It also streamlines Henry’s arc. There’s some concept in the existing story of Henry’s mixed lineage, but it’s only explored intermittently. This allows him to have clear representation from all three avenues: from his mother’s side of the family you have the clear heroes. From his father’s side you have the worst villains. And in his chosen family (his adoptive mother and his stepfather) you have the redeemed villains. He’s the product of every type of great hero and villain. By having an evil Neal continually vying for his affections, and having Henry continually and consistently choosing the side of good and hope and redemption, you have a clear representation in him of the show’s main themes. The finale involving adult Henry, Wish Henry, Wish Rumple, Dark Neal, Regina, a version of Hook (even if it’s not actually the one that’s Henry’s step father) and (in this version) more of a presence for Emma (discussing her more even if you still couldn’t have her in it, but if we’re spinning entire alternate shows here, I’m putting her in the finale) Henry and Wish Henry become a focal point for the themes of the show and Henry’s triumph and the resulting redemption for Neal become a representation of the show’s values. The heroes of seasons 1-6 who aren’t in season 7 also get a piece of this final triumph because their influence on Henry (making him someone who ultimately kind, and generous, and brave and faithful) is what has won out in the end.

#ouat #ouat au #ouat rewatch

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theheadlessgroom · 4 years

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(1, 10, 13, 14, 22 and 24, please!)

Thank you!

1. Aside from the enigmatic status Ol’ Hatty maintained for several decades, being built up into a larger-than-life legend among parkgoers, before being revealed to be real after all and making a triumphant return to the Mansion, I was really enthralled by the idea of him being the intended of the Beating-Heart Bride, especially given his head and her heart being in sync, not to mention all the promotional and tie-in materials that seemed to make it pretty clear that she was ‘his bride’. That, combined with the open-for-interpretation nature of the ride, led me to start drawing my own conclusions, and I felt he’d make a great character to RP, once I had a solid history down for him!

10. I feel like there’s a lot of overlap between the fandom’s interpretation and my own: A lot of other fans, at least as far as I’ve seen, tend to interpret Hatty as being from the lower-class, not to mention being predisposed to being generally cranky and cantankerous, not exactly a social butterfly, but at the same being good-natured at heart, and being absolutely head over heels (pun fully intended) for the Bride. Obviously, there are exceptions to these examples, but those are the most common tropes I’ve seen crop up.

13. Some of my favorite threads include...

1. Family Reunion/Baby Boos - Maybe I’m cheating by including two RP’s here, but the two are so inextricably linked that I can’t list one without the other! The characters of Randall’s parents, Wilhelm and June Pace, have really grown into their own since I started this blog, stepping out of the background to become vastly more front and center as fully-fleshed characters, and they were defidently front and center in these two RP’s with @beatingheart-bride, in which the Pace parents arrive at the Mansion and not only reunite with their only son, but also meet their daughter-in-law and lend a hand in Randall and Emily’s graduation to parenthood. They’re both warm and fuzzy RP’s (in particular the latter), and I love going back and reading through them.

2. From Beyond The Grave - Keeping with the theme of Randall’s parents becoming a larger part of both his mythos and the RP’s, June showed up in this RP with @askthebrokenones-fm, reuniting with her son as well as getting to know his friends, up to and including a fellow ‘Hatty’, the demonic Egore, whom she’s quickly become very motherly to in follow-up RP’s (such as Motherly Instinct). It’s a relatively short but nonetheless RP, I love watching Randall’s parents interact with other characters in the Mansion, and June’s interactions with both Sinclair and Egore makes me smile, as well as makes me really look forward to what future RP’s hold for her, Randall, the Sentient Staircase, and the Ghost Demon!

3. Videodrome - I never expected to see an RP blog based around any children Hatty and the Bride would have, but @erika-de-claire has taken the concept and run with it, and we’ve had some very entertaining RP’s because of it. While it was sorely tempting to put the more recent ExtraTerrorestrial Alien Encounter (mostly because of Erika’s adorable interactions with Skippy, her new alien pal), I just had to put this modern AU one, involving Randall and his daughter being trapped in a video store on a rainy night, trying to avoid becoming the prey for a fear-hungry monster in the vein of John Carpenter’s The Thing and Poltergiest’s Reverend Henry Kane. It’s such a creepy and atmospheric RP, and I do wonder if that monster will ever crop up again in the future-it’s possible the flaming nitrate didn’t kill him...

14. I think Randall and I would get along pretty well: We do have similar interests (nominally being classic horror literature and film, including those starring Lon Chaney Sr.) and are artistically-inclined (him being passionate about millinery and tailoring; while I’m passionate about writing and film), so I think we could find a lot to talk about!

22. Three interesting facts about Randall include...

-He and Emily would always bake a cake for Mardi Gras: A tradition of Mardi Gras is the king cake, a braided brioche dough laced with cinnamon, filled with a flavored filling (Randall’s favorite, unsurprisingly, is strawberry filling) and smothered in a glaze or colorful frosting, and usually has a little figure of a baby inside of it. When the two married, each year they would celebrate the holiday by baking this cake together, and seeing who would get the figure first (usually, the tradition is that the one who finds it has to provide the cake or host the party next Mardi Gras, but as it would usually be just the two of them, they ignored it). It took them a few tries to get the cake right (the first few years they tried it, something always seemed to go wrong), but they eventually mastered it, and when it was their turn to bake the cake when they celebrated Mardi Gras at the Mansion, they did it with aplomb.

-His favorite New Orleans dish is a crawfish boil: Although Randall ate his fair share of Irish dishes in his youth (on account of his mother preparing the recipes her husband brought with him from the Emerald Isle), he naturally grew up eating plenty of Louisiana cuisine, including po’boys (which could be made with just about anything on hand and made a quick, easy meal that could be taken on the go) and dirty rice (another simple but filling dish that he ate a lot of, since it was relatively cheap and made plenty of helpings). By and large, his favorite was a good crawfish boil: He would catch them down at the river and bring them back to his mother, who would cook them up, usually along with a small tray of biscuits or potatoes. The Mansion’s cooks still prepare plenty of New Orleans dishes (given their master is a New Orleans native as well), and so Randall still gets to enjoy these boils every now and again, particularly during the summer.

-His least favorite story is Peter Pan: I’ve made very clear Randall’s fear of the Fae (mostly spurned on by the stories he heard in his youth of their turning foolish mortals into all sorts of unnatural things), and as a result of this, his least favorite story is J.M. Barrie’s famous story about the Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up. Randall finds nothing whimsical or fun about fairies stealing innocent children away from their parents, feeling that’s the start of a horror story than a fairy tale, and as a result, has not read the original story, nor has he watched Disney’s famous adaptation. At the most, he’s at least quite sympathetic towards Captain Hook-being continually terrorized by a Fae child sounds awful, and he can relate to the struggle of having lost an appendage: If a fairy cut off his hand and fed it to a crocodile, he’d be pretty cross too.

24. “Are you sure you don’t wanna watch Peter Pan with me?”

“Absolutely not!”

“Oh, come on, Randall! It’s still a fun movie, it’s cute, fairies aside!”

“Child, they steal three children from their bedroom, and whisk them away to a far-away world where the elder sister is terrorized by an angry fairy and is nearly drowned by mermaids! That does not sound like fun!”

“It’s not Tink’s fault, she’s only got room for one emotion at a time on account of her size!”

“And the murderous mermaids?”

“...okay, I don’t have anything to say about them, but c’mon! Can’t you put aside your fear of the Fae for just one night?”

“How about you put aside your fear of spiders, and we watch Arachnophobia instead? What do you say to that, lass?”

“...never mind.”

#OOC: Mun Talk #About The Groom #beatingheart-bride

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