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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Streaming on Plex: Best Horror Movies and TV Shows You Can Watch for FREE in October

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This article is sponsored by Plex. You can download the Free Plex App now by clicking here!

When October hits, the folks at Den of Geek almost exclusively consume horror content. Any spooky story that has ghosts, ghouls, goblins, or any chill-inducing monster that doesn’t start with a G is fine with us. Whether it’s a campy B-movie or “prestige horror,” we embrace all horror subgenres and relax with old favorites and new cult classics in the making alike. Now that Spooky Season is in full force, we are grateful that Plex TV is here so we can stream all of the creepy content that our black hearts’ desire for free!

Plex is a globally available one-stop-shop streaming media service offering thousands of free movies and TV shows and hundreds of free-to-stream live TV channels, from the biggest names in entertainment, including Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM), Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution, Lionsgate, Legendary, AMC, A+E, Crackle, and Reuters. Plex is the only streaming service that lets users manage their personal media alongside a continuously growing library of free third-party entertainment spanning all genres, interests, and mediums including podcasts, music, and more. With a highly customizable interface and smart recommendations based on the media you enjoy, Plex brings its users the best media experience on the planet from any device, anywhere.

Plex releases brand new and beloved titles to its platform monthly and we’ll be here to help you identify the cream of the crop. This month, we’re keeping things strictly scary, but view Plex TV now for the best free entertainment streaming, regardless of genre, and check back each month for Den of Geek Critics’ picks!

DEN OF GEEK CRITICS’ PICKS

The Ninth Gate

Though director Roman Polanski is a horrific figure himself, this 1999 neo-noir horror film, The Ninth Gate is superb. Thirty years after Rosemary’s Baby, Polanski conjured the devil once again and injected it with some of the pulp from his noir classic Chinatown in a movie that finds Johnny Depp as a man in Satanic Detective mode. Depp is a classic book authenticator hired to authenticate De Umbrarum Regis Novum Portis (The Nine Doors To the Kingdom of Shadows), a book believed by cultists capable of raising Satan to Earth.

The Ninth Gate doesn’t provide cheap thrills; it tightens the suspense like a noose. Polanski subtly creates an uneasy atmosphere using minimal effects. The director knows where evil lives and lets the settings and sound make the invitations with subliminal references to recognizable horror and cinematic danger, using framing and music similarly to Stanley Kubrick. The Ninth Gate packages its scares with classy style that the characters deliver with sexily provocative intelligence. Dean Corso may be Johnny Depp’s greatest spiritual transformation, from odious to ultimate evil and the audience cheers on his descent, happy to ride with him straight to hell.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

Perhaps the world’s first horror film and a go-to example of early German Expressionist filmmaking, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari has been unsettling audiences for over a century.

The film’s main story centers on two young friends, Francis and Alan (Friedrich Feher and Hans Heinrich von Twardowski), who, while jockeying for the affections of Jane (Lil Dagover), visit a local traveling carnival. There they take in the act of the mysterious, top-hatted and wild-haired Dr. Caligari (Werner Krauss). As they watch, Caligari awakens his somnambulist subject, Cesare (the great Conrad Veidt), who under hypnosis answers questions from the audience. When Alan jokingly asks when he will die, Cesare responds “Before dawn.” We’ll let you guess the rest.

The film isn’t remembered much for its story, but for its arresting visual style, featuring painted backdrops that make the entire production feel like a fever dream. The painted townscape is filled with curved and pointed buildings teetering at dangerous angles, almost as if they were alive and shrieking. Roads twist and spiral to nowhere. The perspectives are deliberately mismatched and inconsistent, with the props and sets sometimes being too large for the characters, and others too small. The result is a transgressive, deeply influential film that has been unsettling audiences for over 100 years.

The Exorcist III

Based on his 1983 novel Legion, writer-director William Peter Blatty’s Exorcist III arrived 17 years after William Friedkin’s The Exorcist. Despite the still-looming pop culture presence of the original, The Exorcist III is sneakily the most interesting film in the series. Less a horror movie than a psychological thriller with supernatural and spiritual overtones, The Exorcist III takes place 17 years after the events of the first film, and with no reference whatsoever made to the events in the second. It finds Lt. Kinderman confronted with the apparent reappearance of two figures from his past who had supposedly died. The first is father Damien Karras (Jason Miller), who had died after bouncing down an endless flight of steps while performing an exorcism in the original movie, and the Gemini Killer, a serial killer loosely based on the Zodiac Killer that had been executed 17 years prior. However, there’s been a new string of murders around town carrying all the hallmarks of the Gemini.

While the studio famously mangled Blatty’s original cut of the film, there’s still a lot to like here, including a terrifying performance from Brad Dourif. Blatty is fantastic at creating dread-inducing atmosphere and has a keen attention to character and detail. It may not be as exciting as the original, but it’s a smart-slow burn film worthy of the Exorcist mantle.

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The Devil’s Rejects

An homage to sleazy ‘70s C-movies, Rob Zombie’s sequel to House of 1,000 Corpses will leave you in the need of a shower, but it’s delightfully demented and the musician turned filmmaker’s finest effort. The shock-fest finds the Firefly clan, Otis (Bill Moseley), Baby (Sheri Moon Zombie) and Captain Spaulding (Sid Haig) – on the run from die-hard determined sheriff Wydell (William Forsythe). What unfolds is a nasty thrill ride full of twists, turns, and more gore than most audiences are comfortable with. How Zombie still manages to make such repulsive content entertaining, how he manages to get you to almost root for the despicable Firefly clan, is inexplicable magic trick, but indebted to Zombie’s use of black humor and deep knowledge of genre conventions that he sometimes subverts, but often gleefully leans into.

Train to Busan

The overused and increasingly predictable zombie genre got a shot in the arm with Train to Busan, a South Korean film from director Yeon Sang-ho about a young father desperately attempting to get his little daughter to her mother via train as a zombie pandemic breaks out all around them. Even if it veered close to outright sentimentality at times, Train to Busan differed from most of the films and TV shows we’ve seen in this genre due to its genuine bond of love between its main characters, and the flickers of empathy and humanity found therein.

And on a technical level, Yeon crafted his film with a kinetic energy that had been missing from the genre as of late. Train to Busan was not just a monster hit in its native land but amassed an international following as well, along with critical acclaim across the board. It’s easy to see why given the film’s well-drawn characters, subtle social commentary (some on the train feel they are more worthy of survival than others) and frightening action sequences that add up to a thrilling and emotionally powerful ride.

More Horror Films Available to Stream FREE on Plex TV

The Descent

Train To Busan

The Ninth Gate

Rec

Coherence

Night Of The Living Dead

The Host

Hannibal Rising

The Devil’s Rejects

Nosferatu

Monsters

I Spit On Your Grave

Eden Lake

Wolf Creek

Day Of The Dead

The Collector

The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari

Red Lights

The Wailing

Grave Encounters

Colonia

Scouts Guide To The Zombie Apocalypse

Diary Of The Dead

Black Death

Alone In The Dark

The Descent: Part 2

Maggie

Teeth

Ginger Snaps

After.Life

John Dies At The End

Black Christmas

The Last House On The Left

Nosferatu the Vampire

Splinter

The Void

Deep Red

Phantasm

The Changeling

Feast

Hatchet

The Prophecy

Pulse

Fido

Open Grave

Cell

The Blob

The Exorcist III

Vanishing On 7th Street

House On Haunted Hill

Penomena

Eye See You

Cooties

The Werewolf

Pumpkinhead 4: Blood Feud

Messengers 2: The Scarecrow

Sugar and Fright Collection

Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies

All Cheerleaders Die

Another Evil

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes

Bad Milo

Better Watch Out

Bitter Feast

Cooties

Corporate Animals

Crimewave

Dead Snot 2: Red vs. Dead

Deathgasm

Deep Murder

Drive Thru

Excision

Fear, Inc.

Feast

Fido

Ghost Killers vs. Bloody Mary

Hansel & Gretel Get Baked

Hatchet

Hell Baby

Hellboy Animated: Blood & Iron

Hellboy Animated: Sword of Storms

Hobo with a Shotgun

John Dies at the End

The Last Lovecraft: Relic of Cthulhu

Lesbian Vampire Killers

The Love Witch

Night of Something Strange

Nina Forever

Office Uprising

Shrooms

Snoop Dogg’s Hood of Horror

Stan Helsing

Stitches

Suburban Gothic

Survival of the Dead

Teeth

Turbo Kid

WolfCop

Yoga Hosers

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inkheart01 · 3 years

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The Crossover conundrum

Or the DOOM x EFTS crossover nobody but I was interested in

Alternative title: Someone builds a dimensional hole puncher and the first one thru is Doomguy

I'll edit when I have enough brainpower to make words do the pretty thing. Bonapitete. Enjoy. Here's my disaster. adios

The day started like any other, though Calle didn’t know whether to call it day, night, dawn or dusk, or everything and anything in between considering she was floating around in a giant warship in some sector of the galaxy that she had no possible way to pronounce. She took pride in knowing that she was the furthest human away from Earth. No, that was a lie. Last she had checked, Jade was on the other side of the ship. But still, the sentiment was valid.

A rough blow to her shin spurred the young woman out of her stupor. She whipped towards the culprit, who was buried half under a giant ring, deep in the guts of the mechanism. Calle didn’t know what it was and didn’t want to.

Jemma pushed herself out from the behemoth, signing for a helping hand before clambering back under, pale face stained with dirt and mousy hair slick from sweat.

Calle reached towards the nearby mess of supply’s, handing Jemma exactly what she had asked for.

Which meant that moments later, she had front row seats to watch as the girl channelled her inner high schooler and rocket out from under the ring, tossing the literal hand with all the strength and speed of a professional pitcher.

And then she came for Calle, going straight for the talkers ankles as she ran, laughing and crying in mad glee.

Almost lost in the cacophony of joy, the machine beeped loudly, once, twice, three times.

Then it screamed.

Bathing the room in a violent red glow, it sprung to life, gears and cogs churning as it wailed, beeping and flashing in a wild symphony of horror.

The two girls sprung to action, Calle slamming the button to the intercom, screaming over the chaos as Jemma lunged towards the beast, twisting knobs and levers in a mad attempt to silence it. Time seemed to drag on ph so slowly as the two battled against the towering ring, desperate to quell it before the ship tore in half from its quakes.

They almost missed the door shuddering open like a camera, an influx of children and aliens pouring into the room and into action.

Jade was still in her flight suit, and Calle briefly realised that she would have to apologise again. The self-proclaimed pilot never got to fly.

Ian raced to help Jemma with the controls alongside Rochelle and Hunter, the towering aliens orange complexion drowned out by the violent red.

The only one who seemed to sink deeper into the glow was Max, who, alongside Hayley and Bayley and Adam, took up defensive positions around the machine, guns drawn and ready for anything that emerged.

The rest, Calle, Jade, Eviee and Maeve rushed to tear into the machine but were forced back by another shudder.

Which meant that the whole of the Lazarus’ VIP crew had first-class access to the portal swirling with a sickening green, and a metal giant emerging.

Towering and frightening, the human emerged from the portal, shotgun at the ready and so impossibly imposing.

Clad in green armour, the man was a sight.

And then he charged. Far too fast for anything human, he barrelled past Jade, past Ian and Adam. Straight for the triplets standing guard.

Calle cried out a warning, unable to help as the siblings leapt aside, followed closely by the man.

And then, almost in slow motion, the door opened again, revealing the tiny shape of Emily, bathed in light. She stood with her bear clutched tight, eyes wide and searching. “Teddy?”

And the man froze, turning to the six-year-old in shock.

Taking the moment of opportunity, Max lunged, all 11feet and 4inches of alien crashing into the man like a freight train.

But the man was quicker, spinning out of the Rashikk’s way. But he didn’t account for the aliens head-tail.

Quick as a whip, the length shot forward, desperately trying to wrap around his armoured neck, but with little luck. And so Max lunged again, dodging the arm blade and pulling the man to the floor with a strength that anyone who had seen a Rashikk fight, would know was a mere fraction of their might.

And anyone who knew Max, also knew that he was just waiting for an opportunity to unleash hell.

And that presented itself in the armoured man on the floor, who, with startling strength, pushed the alien off and lunged for his Shotgun, the weapon having been knocked aside in the calamity.

But Adam was faster, nimble and quick, he scrabbled for the gun, tossing his rifle to Calle who easily slid into his place, gun aimed at the man and finger on the trigger. Adam slid under the man's arm, gun in hand as the warship lurched.

The armoured man slid, unaccustomed to Vivaane’s piloting, or the alarming nimbleness of the Lazarus, and Max took the opportunity to force the man's helmet off and knocking him out in the process.

Hours later, after the crews buzzing had died down, Captain Kalishnamara strode was not the medical wing, intent on finding out what the incident was this time.

But nothing could prepare her for what she saw when the doors opened.

Eight humans flitted around the room, Emily was perched on Max’s bed, bear in her lap as she laughed at her adopted father's antics. Eviee and Jemma, ever the scientists, were drilling into the half armoured man confined to the room, a dark robot at his side, translating. Jade, Rochelle and Ian were watching, transfixed as the Rashikk triplets tried and failed to beat Adams score for the fastest time to take apart and re-assemble a gun.

And then there was the Askiir, Maeve, the one she trusted the least, who was hovering nervously around Eviee. She had nothing against him personally, but when one gas the ability to manipulate emotions, there will always be a slight distrust, at least in her experience, Eviee seemed fine with the lanky bug.

Jade was the first to notice Kalishnamara and snapped to attention seconds before everyone else, bare the two newcomers, and Emily who was using the wrong hand, but no one held that against her, and if they did, the Lazarus fleet was always ready for a hunt.

“At ease. Alright, I’ll keep it simple. Someone’s already given me the incident report and I’ll get around to it when I have the patience”, Eviee made quick work of translating the Rashikk’s odd symphony of clicks and whistles that made up their spoken language. “All I want to know is if there is a body count”

“Not today”, Bayley answered cheekily, earning a laugh from those in the room that could understand, and leaving the last two to Waugh’s for Eviee translation.

“Good. Let’s keep it that way a little longer”, finally moving from the doorway, she stalked towards the newest members of her VIP crew, noting something peculiar in the way they communicated.

Leaning down as not to be overheard, she motioned to Jemma. “You both speak in the language of hands, yet you cannot understand each other without translations. Why is this?”. Though she was still not fluent in Jemma’s hand language, she understood enough of the basics to cobble together a sentence.

‘Different hand language. Different Home’

“I see. Thank you”. The captain rose to her full height, and the man glared, unknowingly annoyed at feeling oddly small not once, nor twice, but three times since coming through the portal. Was this what everyone else felt when he walked past?

Eviee dutifully translated the aliens oddly melodic language, a strange sound to come from creatures so adept at war.

“On behalf of the Crew and Residents, I welcome you aboard the Lazarus” the robot thanked her, introducing himself and the man. Flynn and Vega. Odd names, but who was she to judge. “I am Captain and Fleet Commander Kalishnamara. But you may call me Lisa. It is a nickname, as I am told.

“You will be regarded as VIP guests while aboard, much like everyone in this room. Please, referring from breaking any of my men why we try to get you home. Now, any questions?”

“Just one actually”, Vega spoke up, “how can you understand them?”

It took Lisa an embarrassingly long time to realise that the robot had been talking to Eviee, who was desperately hiding her laughter from the confused Captain. But still, she managed to pull her source up and reveal the thick golden band around her bicep. “Universal translator. It hurt like hell but is incredibly useful. The downside, both speaking parties have to have one to be able to communicate.”

Flynn turned to look towards Emily, who was squealing as Max and Rochelle bickered.

“What’s the diagnosis doc?”

“You want my diagnosis? Your gonna fuckin die!”

“Don’t worry about her”, Eviee waved off the giants concern. “She doesn’t have one. We’re working on an alternative”

At that same moment, Lisa turned towards Max. “I was told that no major injuries were sustained. Why are you in Ned at?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. The beds are just comfortable”

Lisa sighed as she left the room, muttering about needing a drink. Followed by Jade, Calle, Ian and Adam, the rest of the Chaos club, two aliens, a robot and a confused mountain of a man and a six-year-old and her stuffed bear.

The day ended like any other, in that the Days without Incident board was wiped clean, five new reports were written up, and the crew was abuzz. The only new thing being that the armoury was now locked, indefinitely.

#EFTS #DOOM #God these kids #its a wonder there still fucking alive #Doomguy: Sees child #Also Doomguy: The fuck is you?#G/T #If you squint #Minigiants maybe #my writing #FUCK YEAH EFTS #Escape From The Stars

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imhereforbvcky · 5 years

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Watch Me Run - Part 13

Masterlist - Series Masterpage - Part 14

Summary: You inherit a family relic that gives you the gift of foresight but there are others who are interested for more nefarious reasons. You turn to the Avengers for help. (Bucky x reader) Chapter: You and Bucky get a little closer. Meanwhile Loki moves closer to his goals and Natasha follows a new lead.

Word Count: 2183

A/N: Slowest of burns on this fic apparently. It’s building though! We’re going somewhere!

“Romanoff’s got a lead,” Tony explained. The old payphone thinned his voice, made it sound sharp and scratchy and so very far away.

Bucky held the heavy plastic to his ear with his left hand, so he would leave no trace of who had been there. Metal left no fingerprints. “What kind of a lead? Someone finally spot this guy? Where?”

Your eyes darted up to him, wide with a potent mix of fear and hope. Bucky worked hard at projecting passivity. Even if Tony did deliver alarming news, he needed you calm, here in this public location.

“No, no. I’m working on tracking Loki from here but it’s gotten a bit tangled with the Podunk Police force out at the hotel. Hell of a crime scene. They’re rattled. Understandable. But they want to call in Feds; we just want the reports. It’s—“

“What’s Natasha after then?” Bucky interrupted.

Eyes sharp and cool as steel scanned the room for the fifth time. It was a big room, lots of activity, no one would notice or care about two passersby using a payphone. Not in an ER. He’d scoped out this particular phone long ago. It was in the breezeway before the lobby, so as long as he kept his back to the room, the cameras wouldn’t pick him up.

“Some rumors about that necklace thing. It’s a little frightening how easily she finds information. I couldn’t dig up a damn thing about a green glowing rock in a big ugly eye-shaped necklace. But she makes two phone calls an--”

“Tony,” Bucky urged, watching you shift on the hard plastic stool, anxious and bored. When you leaned forward, gaze following the path of an incoming patient with a frown, Bucky’s hand was on your shoulder. He made a loose fist in the fabric of your t-shirt before pulling you back into the shadows and away from the waiting room with its cameras and its witnesses.

“Right. Payphone, limited time. If you’d let me send a Stark phone…,” Tony complained, gears always turning, even over old arguments. “Anyway. She’s headed to Nepal. Some temple or healer. I’m not sure how it’s connected, but you know how she is. Once she decides on something, there’s no persuading her.”

“She’s usually right.”

Natasha stood before the great wooden door, ornately carved, paint dull and chipping. The entry to such power appeared entirely ordinary. Not unlike the Black Widow herself, here, in simple denim and pale linen. This hall of reputed knowledge and force could just as easily have been the entry to a modest home or a forgotten shop.

The man who answered the door when she knocked stood on the step above her, looking down with a resolute calm. He barred her entry. Blunt force would be of little use here, but that was not a concern for her. She had been trained in many forms of persuasion, but in this case, she thought the truth might serve her best.

“I believe you have information I need,” she answered his questions with trademark composure.

“We are healers,” he frowned, equally cool. “We have nothing to offer a warrior.”

“About the Eye of Agamotto.”

She watched him carefully. The man standing before the door to the Kamar-Taj had broad shoulders and a stern eye. His spine, already straight as an arrow, seemed to stiffen like a drawn bow at the mention of the ancient relic.

“Indeed,” he finally conceded. A quick glance down the street and his hard gaze fell upon her again. “But you do not come alone. Deception will not serve you within.”

Natasha glanced across her shoulder, watching the faces in the bustling street. A merchant she had seen earlier, stared at her, bold as brass, determined as steel.

She hummed her agreement. “I’m not the one deceiving you. Bar him, if you like.” A one-shouldered shrug. “He follows with the same purpose, but he is not with us.”

The man at the door narrowed his eyes at the merchant, watching for the length of two slow meditative breaths before turning back to Natasha.

“This is a place of knowledge, not war.”

“I just need information,” Natasha urged. “You keep him out long enough for me to get what I need and the war will follow me home. I’ll make sure of it.”

He nodded and stepped aside. The heavy wooden doors creaked open before her. With a quick sigh of relief and one last glance over her shoulder at the merchant who now openly scowled, Natasha stepped inside.

Weeks of dead-ends and Loki was frustrated. Out of leads and growing more agitated by the second, he’d followed when one of the Avengers slipped quietly halfway across the globe.

He was seeing rather more of this planet than he had ever intended. This should have ended with the death of one old man on a frozen spit of land. It should have ended with Loki unwinding the clock right there. He should be holding three infinity stones, not chasing Midguardians through crowded streets in New York and Nepal and Hel only knows where else.

What a mess. But what a challenge.

This avenger, the one who’d tricked him once before, stood outside a door like any other with a glance to him like a challenge. Fortunate, then, that Loki had spent hours poring over books in the Palace library at Asguard, learning magic from his mother, and strategy from his father. Those doors were guarded by more than man and Loki knew this.

Now that they were here, at this hall of Mystic Arts, it didn’t much matter that both she and the guard at the door had discovered him. Shape-shifting wouldn’t get him into that sanctum, but he didn’t need in; she did. He could wait.

For soon enough, she would tell him all he needed to know. And he would master time for himself.

The clatter of the plastic receiver landing in its cradle brought your attention back to Bucky. He sighed and shook his head at your raised brow. The question always on your mind, and on his, remained unspoken: Is it over yet?

Somehow if you didn’t ask, it seemed less disappointing, less frightening when the answer, inevitably rang a painful no. The answer was always no.

“Am I ever going to get to make a phone call?”

“No.”

He stood and held a hand out to help you up.

You rolled your eyes, but took it anyway. One swift tug and you were on your feet, marching back out to the rusty old truck.

“Wh-hey!” you complained, eyes darting back to the hospital. “I was gonna grab some snacks from the gift shop!”

“We can stop at a gas station on the way,” Bucky grumbled.

“More gas station food?” If you had to eat one more ham and cheese hot pocket you thought your insides might actually turn into molten cheese substitute. “Couldn’t we at least go to a restaurant? Hell, I’d take fast food at this point if it had something green on it.”

A smile curved at the corner of his mouth as he glanced down at you. “Drive-thru windows have CCTV,” he explained. “And there are too many people in there, too many variables.”

“Fine,” you sighed. “I hate hospitals anyway.”

“Everybody hates hospitals.”

“They do, don’t they?” you pondered. “Why is that? Good things happen at hospitals too. Babies are born, they make people better, save lives…”

“It’s the closest most people ever come to really seeing death. You walk in and mortality is suddenly more than someone else’s horror story.” Bucky’s eyes were set forward as he spoke. It was a simple matter of fact to him.

“The worst abstractions become concrete,” you surmised. “That was… very philosophical and also very morbid of you.”

He shrugged. “It’s true.”

“Do they still bother you? Hospitals, I mean.”

He paused. Even stopped walking. Something dark and angry flashed across his face. When he turned to you, it was gone, passive again, calm.

“Not anymore.”

You chewed on your lip for a moment, kicking yourself for even asking. What a stupid question. Of course hospitals were hardly a blip on the radar for him. A soldier, an assassin, a man who’d lived a hundred years. What had he to fear? Death paraded his loved ones away while he slept while he bent it to his will and the demand of war. All the while it left him cruelly untouched.

Death held no fear for a man like that. It was his to command.

“Once. A long time ago they did bother me,” he volunteered into the growing silence. It caught you by surprise. There was something of a smile warming his eyes, but of sadness rounding the edges. “Steve was my best friend; he was always sick. Real sick. If I was in a hospital back then… meant it might be the end of the line for him.”

You looked up at him, compassion in your small frown and nodded. The rest didn’t need saying. You knew who he was. Bucky Barnes had fought in wars, been taken, torn down, and rebuilt. He’d become so intimately acquainted with mortality that for a time he’d embodied death itself. He’d done half those things chasing a scrawny kid from Brooklyn who couldn’t say no to a fight. Loyalty. Love. Determination. The defining qualities of James Buchanan Barnes, as you’d come to learn.

“Doesn’t help that the food’s gross.” Your shoulder nudged into his, a big loose grin staring up at him.

He laughed and you enjoyed the sound, but more, you liked the way a smile looked on Bucky. Laughter had a way of softening his angular features, plumping on his usually sharp cheeks and brightening his quick, wary eyes. When he laughed, you could see something gentle, something kind.

He slowed to a stop, but you couldn’t take your eyes off of him. It wasn’t until he glanced down that you realized you were standing beside the old rusty truck. You followed his gaze, down to his hand, still holding yours. It’s funny how comfort can creep up on you like that. You couldn’t even recall the moment you’d taken hold.

Within the darkened halls of the Kamar-Taj, Natasha pored over the pages of the book, but it held little meaning to her. She couldn’t understand it. Mystic Arts, spells, chakras, it all sounded like a children’s story. And yet Loki had come from another planet to collect on this knowledge.

“So, whoever has the Eye can…?” She nodded toward the book, unsure how to finish that sentence. The drawings and instructions seemed… farcical.

“If the wearer is sufficiently skilled in the Mystic Arts, yes.” The woman was small and thin. She looked ancient and young all at once. Thin skin stretched taught over sharp cheek bones and a perfectly round head. Delicate but not weak by any interpretation. She was not at all what Natasha had expected with a title like Sorcerer Supreme.

“But manipulating time this way is difficult, and dangerous,” she continued to explain. “Time loops, paradoxes, one could easily spawn divergent realities. These spell books are guarded vigilantly, and kept far from the stone itself for a reason.”

“And the stone-keepers?”

The woman paused, eyeing Natasha carefully. The Ancient One knew of The Black Widow, her many roles throughout history, the many sides of history, and she was wary.

“Please,” Natasha begged, “A few years ago two of these stones were here. In Ne –“

“The Battle of New York,” she acknowledged, slowly nodding.

“Yes. Loki, he’s practically a god from another world and he’s back. He’s after this Eye of Agamemnon,” Natasha pointed sharply to the drawing on the page.

“Amagotto,” the Ancient One corrected.

“If he gets his hands on it…”

“You think he’ll go back to 2012 and try to take the other two stones.”

Natasha nodded, wide eyes imploring. “The Eye, the stone-keeper… we’re trying to keep her and this relic safe.”

“Her?” The woman tilted her smooth head only a fraction, but her brows dropped in worried astonishment.

Natasha’s gaze shot up, surprise superseding her own worry. The Sorcerer Supreme didn’t know. “Loki murdered the last stone-keeper. The old man.”

When the other woman stepped forward, speechless, deep wrinkles growing deeper in her forehead by the moment, Natasha quickly reached for her phone. A few quick swipes and she’d called up the crime scene photos. The images that had started it all.

Blood cast across the screen, pooling deep red in strange crystalline patterns through the snow. The Ancient One drew in a sharp breath when she beheld the Seer’s eyes, cloudy and pale with cataracts, frozen wide but unseeing.

When she turned her face back to Natasha’s it was pale and grim. Suddenly, Natasha could see the years etched there, the soft wrinkles at her eyes and mouth, hollow cheeks and narrow lips. Most noticeable, though, was the fear that flickered dark in her eyes.

“But we have not trained a new stone-keeper.”

Part 14 >>

#bucky x reader #bucky barnes x reader #bucky time stone fic #bucky x reader angst #bucky x reader fluff #bucky barnes #bucky bodyguard fic #bucky fanfic #watch me run 13 #watch me run

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gengarpng · 3 years

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4, 6/7, 24? :)

Ty kwEEN guess i should shove this under a read more lol

CAEDRIC- 4. Has your character ever witnessed something that fundamentally changed them? If so, does anyone else know? I’d imagine the war would be something that would uhh, change him a lot lol. And also seeing thales right before the timeskip would cause him to regress back to the scared 13 year old he was when he first ran away, so that would be a pretty big change for him;;; I suppose more people would know abt how the war changed him rather than the whole, thales thing, but he would probably confide to his close friends about what he went thru.

6. Does your character have recurring themes in their dreams? For his dreams, I guess he’d mostly have dreams about the world around him, lots of open environments, lots of books, lots of exploring, etc. Probably quite a bit of “unfulfilled wish” type dreams as well.

7.Does your character have recurring themes in their nightmares? OOF, uh, definitely has a lot of nightmares about shambhala and what he went through, very loud and dark and clustered with too much going on at once. Lot’s of nightmares about losing those close to him and ones about being found again by TWSITD and forced back underground. Some body horror/life or death themes as well.

24. How quick is your character to trust someone else? MMMMM it’d take him a while. He has the sort of sense of whether a person is good or not, but even then he’d still take a while to warm up. Even when his parents adopted him and repeatedly proved they had his best interest in mind he was still wary of their intentions for a while. And once he went to Garreg he would be super drawn off from everyone, like he’d be able to offer a fake facade of friendliness but he would just constantly be on the ready for that off chance that someone was ready to back stab. It’d probably take a few weeks/months of really trying with him to get him to work those walls down.

CADA- 4. Has your character ever witnessed something that fundamentally changed them? If so, does anyone else know? Hmm I’m gonna say that like, their backstory was they were a battle star, and one time they won against someone who was a VERY sore loser, so just witnessing the anger and the hatred coming from that person was enough to turn them towards team rocket for the sake of their safety. Giovanni would probably know since he’d kept an eye on their career and was probably the one to pounce once he noticed stuff going south. Arlo probably wouldn’t know right away but Cada would eventually reveal that story eventually. Other rocket grunts probably wouldn’t get to hear it tho.

6. Does your character have recurring themes in their dreams? Very light hearted dreams, really. Occasionally they find themselves dreaming of returning to their battle star career. Thanks to their connection to that psuedo legendary i designed, they sometimes have prophetic dreams (before they discovered the pokemon tho, they would like have dreams of exploring, as it was trying to hint where it was to help Cada find it)

7.Does your character have recurring themes in their nightmares Being back into their battle star career, but this time with much more negative vibes. Such as being there because they were forced. They often feel as if the stares from the crowd are more intense and malicious in their nightmares though. They’d also have nightmares about fighting the sore loser previously mentioned and things going very south. Nightmares about losing their pokemon are a given.

24. How quick is your character to trust someone else? When they were younger they were super quick to trust, but after joining rocket they would be a bit harder to work with trust wise. Sort of nervous and withdrawn. You can help speed up the process with their favorite food/drink though. If they see you have a good relationship with your pokemon that would help a lot too. They have this want to see the good in everyone, but they know that that’s a risky view point to have. if that makes sense.

#asahina asks #cae posting #cada posting

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is-it-madness · 4 years

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My Glorious Purpose | Loki x OC Chapter 4

A/N: Hi all! I hope you’re enjoying the story so far. Just wanted to let you guys know I will try to post the next chapter as soon as I can, since I had to break this chapter into two. It would’ve been waaay too long. So I’ll try to post it in the very near future.💜

Pairing: Loki x OC (Tera Digitalis)

Word Count: 2.7k+

Warnings: Battle, mentions of blood

Chapter 4: The Battle of New York: Part 1

(Tera's POV)

I feel myself laying down on something soft. I don't remember going to sleep last night. Suddenly, the memories hit me. Thor being real, Natasha taking me to her interrogation, and Loki. I bolt up, but it's too fast, I become dizzy.

"Whoa there, кроли." Someone nearby says.

I feel a hand on my arm.

"You okay there kid?"

I recognize the first voice as Natasha's but the second...

"Clint?"

"In the flesh," he responds.

I'm no longer seeing stars. I look up to see Natasha, Clint, and a very battered Thor standing by my bed.

"Clint! You're okay!" I fling myself on him.

"Whoa, there kid! I'm glad to see you too, but jeez, calm down. I'm still recovering here."

"Sorry," I apologize sheepishly.

He shrugs and gives me a hug. "It's okay. You're worth it."

I pull away from his embrace. "So what happened? How's Clint back? Why does Thor look like he's been rolling it dirt?"

Thor gives a hearty laugh at my last statement.

"Loki believed he could rid of me by dropping me from his cage. But, he could not. Because I am mighty!" He proclaims, raising Mjolnir to the sky.

Nat sits on the bed next to me.

"I'm sorry Bunny."

"For what," I ask her, confused.

"I told you everything would be okay when I left you in Loki's room. I was stupid to think I could trust that trickster with you. I promised you I would come back for you, but I didn't. When Fury said he found you I-I was scared I had lost you."

I take her hand in mine. "It's not your fault Nat. We're dealing with the biggest threat we've ever had to face. We make mistakes. These things happen. And besides, I'm fine."

"She is right, Lady Romanoff. Loki only cast a sleeping spell on her. He did not harm her in any way."

At that moment, Steve enters the room. "Good, you're alright. How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine, it was just a sleeping spell."

"In that case, it's time to go."

"Go where?" Natasha asks.

"I'll tell you on the way. Can you fly one of those jets?"

Clint speaks up, "I can."

Steve looks at Nat, who nods at him reassuringly.

"Got a suit?" Steve asks him.

"Yeah."

"Then suit up."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Steve, Clint, Nat, and I walk towards a quinjet. Nat and I had to convince Clint and Steve to let me join them.

"Come on, please? I've been training with Nat for the past few months!"

"She has. And besides, she knows a lot of Loki's powers and what he's capable of."

Steve sighs, "Alright, fine. But you're responsible for her Romanoff."

"I already am Rogers."

We cross the tarmac. Clint with his arrows, Steve with his shield, and Nat and I with our knives and guns. When we enter one of the jets, a S.H.I.E.L.D. engineer runs up to us.

"Hey, you guys aren't authorized to be in here."

"Son, just don't," Steve tells him with a look.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We fly towards Stark Tower in New York City. As we near, Nat radios Tony.

"Stark, we're on your three heading north east!"

"What, did you stop for a drive-thru? Swing that park, I'm gonna lay 'em out for you."

Clint and Natasha are piloting the plane. They release the canon gun. Tony flies past us at high-speed with the Chitauri following close behind him. Clint and Natasha begin to release continuous fire at the troop in front of us. They fly us through the smoke and up to Stark Tower. We circle around the building, blasting the army who are firing at them. One of the wings is grazed by Chitauri gunfire. We slow down as we come to the balcony of the tower. There, we find Thor busy, smashing Loki's head into glass on the catwalk of Stark Tower.

"Nat!" Clint says.

"I see 'em."

Loki turns to face the jet. He throws Thor to the ground, then blasts one of the jet's rotor blades with his scepter and it catches fire immediately. Thor gets up, and furiously charges at Loki and tackles him. That's the last I see of them as the quinjet falls to the ground.

Natasha and Barton hold on for their dear lives. Cap grabs a hold of the ceiling as I wrap my arms around his waist. The plane grazes against buildings. Steve's feet are lifted off the ground, I tighten my hold on him, scared to let go. Clint tries to maneuver the jet away from buildings and he's able to bring us, crashing, to the street. We slide several yards, before coming to an abrupt halt. Natasha and Barton remove their headsets, open the ramp, and we all run out the jet and towards the base of Tony's tower.

"We gotta get back up there," the captain tells us.

No one replies, we freeze in our tracks because high above the tower is the portal. And coming out of the portal...

"Oh my God," I say in horror.

A giant armored Leviathan, the warship of the Chitauri, and more fleets of warriors bleed into the sky.

We watch it fly past us as warriors jump onto the side of buildings and crash through the windows, gunfire following immediately after.

"Stark, are you seeing this?" Steve asks in disbelief.

"Seeing. Still working on believing," Tony answers through our earpiece. "Where's Banner? Has he shown up yet?"

"Banner?" Steve repeats.

"Just keep me posted," Tony says.

Clint, Natasha, and I crouch behind a taxi cab, our weapons drawn, preparing to fight. Steve runs over.

"We've got civilians trapped," Clint tells him.

The army flies past us and we see Loki with them on one of the flying crafts.

Steve growls. "Loki."

Loki and his following troops blow up the streets, laying waste to everything in their path. The police and civilians run for their lives as chaos rains down upon them.

"They're fish in a barrel down there!"

Nat turns towards me. "Are you ready? You can leave if you want. I won't judge."

"I will!" Clint calls as he runs toward the fight. I would have smacked him but he's already engaging in combat.

"No, no. I'm ready. I can do this," I tell her firmly.

She smiles, "Alright then intern, let's see what you can do in a real battle."

Natasha and I stand and we begin to fire our guns at an incoming group of Chitauri. We crouch down again as Clint bends behind an overturned taxi.

Nat turns to Steve. "We got this. It's good. Go!"

Steve looks at both of us. "Don't worry Steve, we can handle them," I say reassuringly.

"You think you can hold them off?"

"Captain," Clint says from his position, "it would be my genuine pleasure."

Clint reaches for an arrow, quickly nocks it, and shoots, hitting one alien in the head, while the arrow quickly separates into more arrows, killing three more Chitauri. Natasha and I stand and we quickly resume our fire. Steve jumps off an overpass, rolling onto a bus and into the street.

Clint helps people off a nearby bus as Natasha and I shoot our pistols at Chitauri. He runs over to us and rapidly sets off a barrage of arrows, raining down on the enemy as we continue reloading and shooting.

"Just like Budapest all over again!"

"You and I remember Budapest very differently," Clint replies.

"What happened in Budapest?" I ask. I thought I heard all of their stories, but I guess not.

"I'll tell you later!" Nat yells.

"Maybe I should tell her! We have different views on the story."

"I don't care WHO tells me, I just want the story," I bellow over the gunfire.

We soon engage in hand to hand combat with the invaders. Clint trips one with his bow. He pulls an arrow from his sheath and stabs it. I see Natasha use her Widow's Bite on a warrior as she sits on his neck. I use my knives to stab their heart and slice their arms and legs off. Clint is tackled by an alien, I run to help him, decapitating the beast. Natasha picks up a Chitauri weapon and uses it to fight off the warriors. One warrior tries to slice her head off and she slides, dodging it. She spins down onto one knee before shooting at one of the aliens charging towards me. He flies backwards. She continues to hack them away from us, defending my back while I watch hers. Clint runs towards us, slides, then fires more arrows at the growing number of enemies. Our circle becomes smaller and smaller, the three of us being forced closer together. I begin to accept my fate. This is how I'm going to die. By the hands of a monster, no thanks to a certain god of Mischief. We nearly have our backs pressed together, when Steve jumps into our fight to help. He slams the Chitauri away with his shield and suddenly we are able to expand our circle a little more.

"So lovely of you to join us," I tell him.

"Hey, someone's gotta rescue the civilians, right?"

"Hey! I saved some too, you know!" Clint wines.

I suddenly see a beast taking aim at me with one of his weapons, preparing to fire, but before I am able to fire at him, he and the surrounding aliens are struck by lightning. They are brought to their knees, dead. Thor drops down from the sky, landing beside us.

"What's the story upstairs?" Steve asks him

"The power surrounding the cube is impenetrable."

We hear Tony in our earpiece, "Thor is right, we gotta deal with these guys."

"How do we do this?" asks Nat.

Steve looks up to see more Chitauri fly by. "As a team."

"I have unfinished business with Loki," Thor tells us.

Clint is readying some arrows when he says, "Oh yeah? Get in line."

"Save it," Steve tells him. "Loki's gonna keep this fight focused on us and that's what we need. Without him, these things can run wild. We got Stark up top, he's gonna need us to..."

He trails off at the sound of an engine sputtering towards us. We look to see Dr. Banner riding an old fashioned motorcycle. He dismounts, and walks toward us as we gather around him.

"So, this all seems... horrible," he says, surveying the damage.

"I've seen worse," Nat tells him.

"Sorry."

"No, we can use a little worse."

Steve reports to Tony, "Stark, we got him."

We hear Tony ask, "Banner?"

"Just like you said."

"Then tell him to suit up. I'm bringing the party to you."

Tony flies around a corner and towards us, followed closely by one of the huge Leviathans.

My eyes widen in horror, while Clint and Steve look on calmly. Thor growls and tightens his grip on Mjolnir.

Nat stutters, "I-I don't see how that's a party."

"Maybe it will blow up into confetti?" I ask softly.

Tony draws the monster low to the ground and it skims the road. Dr. Banner turns towards it and begins to walk straight for the Leviathan.

Steve follows him. "Dr. Banner, now might be a really good time for you to get angry."

"That's my secret, Cap." The doctor responds, looking back at Steve. "I'm always angry."

As he turns back around to face the oncoming alien, green suddenly sprouts through his skin and he grows in size, ripping his clothes to shreds. He immediately punches the Leviathan, smashing its face into the ground, but its body begins to roll over its head, coming to crash down on us.

"Hold on!" Tony yells.

He blasts a small missile at the creature when it's armor falls off. The missile explodes as it finds its target. An inferno blasts from the monster, flames and debris engulf us. Clint grabs my hand and we sprint away like mad, ducking in an alley. Thor just stands there taking the blast, while Steve grabs Nat and protects them with his shield. The heat scorches us, the surrounding cars melting from the intense heat. I can hear the cries of the Chitauri as the monster crashes and burns. Clint pokes his head out from the alley, checking to see if we can emerge safely. He takes my hand and we regroup in a circle. The Hulk roars, Clint nocks an arrow, Thor readies Mjolnir, Nat and I reload our guns, Steve stands ready with his shield and Tony hovers above us, next to the Hulk.

We look up, only to be greeted by more Leviathans and hundreds of warriors flying through the portal.

"Guys?" Nat and I say together.

"Call it, Captain." Tony tells him.

"Alright, listen up. Until we can close that portal up there, we're gonna use containment. Barton, I want you on that roof, eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays. Stark, you got the perimeter. Anything gets more than three blocks out, you turn it back or you turn it to ash."

Clint turns to Tony. "Wanna give me a lift?"

"Right. Better clench up, Legolas."

Tony grabs Clint and flies him up to the top of a building, then flies off.

Legolas, huh? Gotta make fun of Clint for that later. I smirk.

Steve turns to Thor, "Thor! You gotta try and bottleneck that portal, slow 'em down. You got the lightning, light the bastards up."

Thor spins Mjolnir around, and takes off into the sky.

Steve turns to face Nat and I. "The three of us, we stay here on the ground, keep the fighting here." He then turns to face the green machine behind us. "And Hulk!

The Hulk growls, turning around to face Cap, who points towards the incoming Leviathans.

"Smash!"

Hulk grins, then leaps off, taking out dozens of warriors that are on the sides of the buildings—grabbing, smashing, and throwing them.

Natasha and I stand side by side, fighting the monsters together.

"How am I doing boss?"

"Not bad intern," she answers with a quick smile.

She is suddenly thrown upon the hood of a car. I run towards her to help as I notice the warrior about to attack her, but before I can, a Chitauri comes out of nowhere and tries to slice at my neck. I bend, sliding past him, but his blade makes contact with my forehead. I quickly come up behind him and sink my knives into his back.

I turn to see Nat wrestling the Chitauri gun from its grasp and shooting him back. Steve lands behind her, and she twists around with the gun ready, about to shoot, until she realizes who it is. She lowers the gun and leans against a car, blood dripping from her head and lip. Blood oozes from my head wound and I lift a hand to wipe away the blood because it starts to obscure my vision. I poke at the gash, just above my right eyebrow. It's not deep, but it's long, at least three inches.

"Captain, none of this is gonna mean a damn thing if we don't close that portal." Nat tells Steve.

I giggle. They turn to look at me, shocked at how I found this funny.

"Yeah Cap." I repeat. "Not a dam thing."

Nat just rolls her eyes at me. She's heard me use that joke so many times now.

Steve looks confused, but decides to ignore my statement. "Our biggest guns can't touch it."

"Well, maybe it's not about guns," Nat states, looking at the portal.

"You wanna get up there, you're gonna need a ride."

Natasha glances up, watching the Chitauri crafts fly past. She makes her way over to the other side of the overpass.

"I got a ride. I can use a boost though."

A look of understanding crosses his face, "You sure about this?" He asks readying his shield in front of him.

I quickly move out of the way.

"Yeah, it's gonna be fun!" She says without excitement.

Nat runs at Steve, who uses his shield to boost her up. She grabs on to a passing Chitauri vehicle. We look up as she flies off in the distance.

We get hit by a blast from our right, but Steve raises his shield to protect us. We turn to see more warriors coming, inching towards us, carrying their blasters.

"C'mon kid. Let's kick some butt."

Part 5

#loki x oc #avengers #loki odinson #mcu #loki fanfic #marvel #marvel fanfiction #loki laufeyson

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losersclubsidegig · 4 years

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Loser Horror Picture Show (2/?)

Neibolt backstory (1/?)

Okay, so I wanted to elaborate more on what’s going on at Neibolt in this AU, before heading on with the story. The Deadlights are very much a thing that exists here. They are what are controlling Richie, Mike, Bill, and Stan.

The Deadlights originally lured people to Neibolt to kill them by itself, but realized that it wasn’t working as well as IT wanted IT to. So, some years back (Maybe around 10? Idk) the Deadlights managed to lure Richie into Neibolt and, instead of killing him, put him under IT’s control. IT started using Richie as a way to get people to come into Neibolt more willingly and got Richie to kill for IT.

Note about Neibolt - The Deadlights make it so no one will notice Neibolt unless IT wants you to. Everyone will otherwise ignore the house as if it didn’t exist.

Eventually, Stan went looking for Richie, wondering what happened to his best friend (Was he really dead? Just missing?) and stubbles upon Neibolt. He’s drawn to Neibolt, and even though his gut twists with worry and unease, he goes in. While walking thru Neibolt trying to figure out what drew him here, he finds Richie. Richie (who is under control of the Deadlights) convinces Stan to traverse further into Neibolt, saying that he was kidnapped and kept here, and that whoever took him is sure to have noticed that someone else is here.

Richie initially intended to kill Stan to sate IT, but a part of him, the part not fully controlled by the Deadlights does not. So he comes up with an idea - put Stan under the Deadlights’ control too. Together they’ll be able to lure more people here (Plus, it’s lonely here by himself with only the Deadlights to keep him company).

So he takes Stan into the depths of Neibolt and when the two are far enough down, he knocks Stan out, it will be easier for IT to gain control over him if he is restrained. He drags Stan the rest of the way down, restraining him when he arrives in the lowest chamber where the Deadlights reside.

Richie confronts the Deadlights, hoping to convince IT to take control of Stan as well. The Deadlights agree, knowing that the two are a part of the seven who are destined to destroy IT. If IT gains control over all seven of them, taking their will and making them kill for IT, they won’t be able to destroy IT.

Stan comes to and notices he’s tied up. Stan wonders what the fuck is going on when Richie comes back. He tells Stan that Stan is going to live here now and join him under control of the Deadlights. Stan, who is freaking out, asks him what the actual fuck he’s talking about and what the fuck the Deadlights are. Richie says that he’ll know soon.

The Deadlights descend, and Stan is forced to look at IT by Richie. Once Stan sees the Deadlights, Richie stops holding him, no longer needing to force him to look. The process to put him under full control of the Deadlights will take a few hours (Around 2-3?), so Richie leaves Stan down there with the Deadlights, while he goes upstairs into Neibolt to fix one of the rooms up for Stan.

After he’s finished, Richie travels back down to the chamber to retrieve Stan, the process to put him under having ended long ago. When he arrives, Stan is unconscious, just as he was when he first looked into the Deadlights.

Richie unties Stan, carrying him up into Neibolt and into his new room. Richie gently lays Stan down, before grabbing some rope and tying his wrists to the headboard. He gently brushes some hair from Stan’s face before pulling the bedding over him. He takes one last look at Stan before heading back to his own room, awaiting morning when Stan will wake up, under the control of the Deadlights as well.

#it #it 2017 #it 2019 #richie tozier #stan uris #lhps #lhps au

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geejaysmith · 5 years

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Wolf 359: A running list of things I have a heightened appreciation on second listen, pt. 2

Part one here.

SEASON 3:

Pan-Pan: Still a little miffed they didn't explicitly do the "we have to huddle to conserve body heat" trope. Yes, it's corny, but also shut up, let my touch-starved space disasters cuddle.

So Eiffel stopped Hera and Minkowski arguing in season 1 to address an emergency, and now with Eiffel absent, the team starts arguing again. The fact he doesn't exactly have much Pride In His Own Self-Sufficiency to get in the way of "hey! Guys! Remember, imminent death? More important priorities happening?" tends to defuse situations like this aaaaaand now he's absent.

"Cutter will send a squad of psychos to come up here and kill us faster!" ...she's not wrong.

"Pick a corner and relax! Hop to it!" I just like this line delivery.

"The entire station is a SPACE YUKON and this thing is overheating!" I know, it's like it's symbolic or something.

Episode 29: "we all feel responsible for losing Eiffel and are lashing out because we're scared and sad and grieving and fear getting backlash while we're vulnerable if we admit we need help, and we don't know what to do but keep going because the alternative is breaking down and possibly never getting back up again." Alternatively: "It's Metaphors All the Way Down."

Mayday: Eiffel's frustrated screaming.

Brain Ghost Minkowski showing up like "Yeah, we know I'm a hallucination, or Weird Alien Shit, or maybe just a clever metaphor representing the abstract process of thought, but who gives a crap, this is more interesting than listening to you talk to yourself for an entire episode."

BGM: Hi, I'm your thought processes externalized using a face and personality that you subconsciously think you need to hear from in this situation, possibly because you think so little of yourself you need to hear it from somebody else first. Eiffel: Oh hey cool, this is just like this one web comic I kept up with sometimes back on Earth- BGM: Not another word.

Eiffel getting slapped by Brain Ghost Lovelace, who is a projection of his thoughts.

What is that whispering in his head that reminds him of the Hermes' name supposed to be anyway? Score one for my Weird Alien Brain Shit theory. Having Lovelace's alien juice in your system comes with such fun side effects.

"I dunno, I only know what you know." "Shut up, don't go meta on me." / "Hilbert wouldn't know that word! He's never even heard of Empire!" Yeah, toldja: it's Brain Ghosts.

Brain Ghost Hilbert may represent the realist in Eiffel and the brutal, calculating reality he doesn't want to confront, but Brain Ghosts Minkowski and Lovelace are his cooler head and ingenuity, working him through staying calm and devising a way to survive, and Brain Ghost Hera, who appears when Hilbert tells him it's hopeless, telling him that against all the odds he will be okay, is his stubborn determination to never, ever quit. They're all his determination to live when Doug might want to just stop trying. They're the better parts of himself, reflected in the voices of his friends.

And Hilbert. But I digress- HOLY FUCK, I just realized the brilliance in the one-two punch of the Brain Ghost Brigade contrasted with the previous episode's Stress Fracture Argue Crew, it's The Sound And The Fury all over again.

Paging the Wolf 359 incorrect quote blogs: "Save my friends! And Zoidberg Hilbert!"

Sécurité thru Don’t Poke the Bear: Maxwell! I've missed you! (':

"And I build pretty awesome battle drones on the weekends." ...Does Maxwell have her own souped-up version of one Jamie Hyneman's Blendo?

Eiffel, realizing he's starting to sound like Minkowski: My god, what have I become.

Eiffel mumbling to himself in general. "This is hell and I'm in it."

Is it just me or is Kepler's pig story not as agonizingly drawn out to listen to the second time around?

A Matter of Perspective: Funzo: 12 different board games, three of them TCGs and maybe at least one TTRPG, all tossed in a blender, because Pryce and Cutter are psychopaths.

The Funzo manual is the size of the actual Bible and don't try to convince me otherwise.

How into the game the girls all get.

Headcanon: Minkowski and Lovelace are both the types to get stupidly competitive over any kind of game regardless of their initial level of investment.

Eiffel keeps a photo of (it's implied) him and his daughter taped to the underside of his console...

"He looks so... happy." shUT UP

"I had no idea Eiffel had a-" daughter. Was it "daughter" you were going to say Minkowski. Well, no one else knew you were married til you brought it up, so turnabout's fair play.

"You think you know me? You know the artist formerly known as Warren Kepler, you've met my job. Aside from that, there's no one left for you to know." In light of the series finale, I, uh... I don't if I like this, Scoob. Also, stop reminding me all these people are human persons underneath all the desensitization to horror and violence.

"Happy birthday, Eiffel." They remembered! Hope this one is less traumatizing than the last, Doug.

"Happy Kwanzaa!" "Lovelace."

"Long Story Short, that's the last time I saw Maxwell's feet" wh. What. What happened involving Maxwell's feet. What's. why-

And to make a long story short, that's where my "Maxwell has hands for feet" headcanon came from.

Need to Know: Minkowski's dreams, apparently, include both creating musicals and commanding a deep space mission. She's gotten the latter way the hell off the bucket list, somebody with actual songwriting skills want to get in and write the former with me?

Lovelace overindulging on painkillers for her broken arm after losing Officer Fisher... "It was a difficult time." ):

Aaaand serious implications of the above are immediately headed off by Lovelace quacking aggressively at Jacobi.

Fire and Brimstone: where is my fanfiction about Lovelace overseeing Minkowski during her solitary confinement?

The Backstory Episodes: Zach Valenti wrote all the backstory episodes! I just find that kind of sweet.

Once in a Lifetime: Small detail I only noticed on my second listen, after a fanfic put the thought in my head: Minkowski's parents are only referred to in the past tense. Oof.

"Thank you for coming in on such short notice. We had a hiccup in staffing for this upcoming quarter." So... according to the wiki's timeline, the launch for the second Hephaestus mission was some time in late March 2013. The beginning of this episode (and Eiffel's) states it takes place in 2013, with 3 months of training, meaning they were probably brought on board in January and the whole thing moved *ridiculously* fast. Everything points to them wanting to get people up in space as quickly and with as little fuss as possible, giving the newcomers no time to think it over or do additional research. Once they start the training program, they're probably too busy to look further into Goddard's deep space missions, and are likely in an environment where Goddard Futuristics can cut them off from other information sources. The people they select are relatively isolated (Minkowski and her husband being an exception) - the easier to make them disappear. Even Lovelace has been stationed at "a lot of very isolated, very quiet outposts", the implication being her superiors wanted her somewhere out of the way. Kind of makes me wonder about the rest of the Hephaestus 1.0 crew...

Greensboro: Nice ominous foreshadowing you've got there vis a vis Captain Lovelace and "are you an alien?"

Decommissioned: "We're not about to force anyone to do something they don't want to do!" ...Marcus Cutter deserves to have his trousers ablaze constantly.

All Things Considered is still a bit confusing (because I somehow keep listening to it while doing something else) and I'll need another listen to figure out what probably actually happened, but it is also hilarious.

"Eiffel had engaged the machine, but that's why I build in extra safeguards. My mistake, clearly, was to assume that would be enough to stop the slapstick routine."

“All Things Considered”: Did you have fun with this over-the-top romp of hilarity and and hijinks, dear audience? Good! Because that was us burning off our comedy quota for the rest of the season. Get ready for six whole episodes of nonstop emotional gut-punches!

MEMORIA.

Just... Memoria.

Putting this quote here because of Reasons: "Three years... Three and a half years... I've had this thing in my head breaking me, and making me think it was all my fault, that there was something wrong with *me!*"

So Memoria is still one of the best episodes and the last five minutes fuck me up in a special little way.

Time to Kill: "Or the one outside is the real Jacobi... and the alien is already in here with us." The funny thing, Maxwell, is that you were half-right and didn't even realize it, and you *were* just speaking to Lovelace.

So... do alien duplicates only get reloaded from the singular "snapshot" of the person, or does getting flare-scanned once give them a continually updated source of info? What I'm getting at is: if another Jacobi shows up post-finale, would he need to be filled in on events between his horrible, terrible death and the present?

Persuasion: Maxwell switching to First Name Basis to get Jacobi to be honest with her.

I always forget until the scene after that Hilbert is totally setting up the Space Telephone to manipulate her, but of all the ways he could've gotten Minkowski around to "we are disposable and need to act *now* before these people decide they're done with us", it still kinda touching that this is the method he chose.

Desperate Times/Desperate Measures are just a blur of "oh god oh god oh god" and it's just as nailbiting the second time around. One thing I love about this podcast is how comfortable it is with (for its medium) long stretches of silence, which can feel a LOT longer when you have no other forms of feedback except dialogue to know the first gunshot was just a warning.

So you really *do* feel Minkowski breaking out into laughter when Eiffel tries to invoke Air Force code is a release of the tension that's been building for multiple episodes. Like he's finally gotten through to them just how far this has all gone and how much further it could still go. I keep saying this: when the situation starts to threaten violence, he's got an amazing gift for keeping the rest of the crew in touch with their common humanity when the rest get far too used to a world that runs on self-interest and subterfuge. Hell, he even gets Hilbert and *Kepler* opening up over the course of the story (presuming Kepler is being honest when he talks about being a shell of himself, but even though he was trying to manipulate Eiffel, that doesn't exclude there being a kernel of truth in those words).

Speaking of Kepler: he's definitely riding the adrenaline high of the situation and it turns him into a monster with a manic streak. It makes Jacobi's and Maxwell's relative calm all the eerier by contrast. Those two really do make you forget that all of this is... pretty horribly routine for them.

Until they meet their match, that is, when the women of the Hephaestus refuse to stand down, and each of them is unspeakably badass in their own way. What Kepler didn't account for is that they're ready and willing to die together rather than sacrifice one another for their own survival.

Although again, the irony of the situation is that just dropping the station into the star could have let them avoid, /gestures at season 4. BUT I'm not gonna rain on the Badass parade here.

Bolero, aka "The podcast kicking me in the feelings while I'm down."

The way Minkowski orders everyone else out of the room before Brain Ghost Lovelace conversates with her. ...did she pop up in the middle of that conversation, I wonder? And all this when psi-wave radiation is spiking, apparently. Coincidence?

Oh come on Hera, war is no reason to end a friendship- Look, I came here from Metal Gear. I see folks dunking on Hilbert and I'm just over here like "he's still not as revolting as Huey Emmerich."

Listen I've seen enough of Warren Kepler and Marcus Cutter in this fandom to know y'all aren't above liking a bad guy, you just prefer the ones who're having fun with it.

"You're gonna come to my funeral! And you're gonna like it! ...I mean you're gonna feel really sad! And cry! And stuff! GOT IT??" Ah, good ol' Eiffel.

THE COMPUTER ALSO HAS BRAIN GHOSTS

"If I'm not your doctor, then what are we?" "We're... complicated?" Listen, Eiffel, if you're not careful, I'm going to start shipping you and Hilbert ironically For The Lulz, and we all know where shipping things ironically always leads.

Errybody gets brain ghosts this episode. Again: I accept that this is a device that's more interesting than an alternative method of expressing these same ideas, but the ambiguity of a Watsonian explanation (is it all in their heads? Do they really see an apparition of some kind?) lets me do my Weird. Look, I once wrote in a joke in a fic about Death from Discworld complimenting a Quirky Miniboss Squad member from Metal Gear Solid 3 on his taste in interior decorating arena design, and that spawned entire subplots in projects for two different fandoms, and eventually roped in a third fandom to elaborate further on their now-intertwined cosmology. Do not underestimate how much I can give myself to work with.

The last ten minutes of Bolero also fuck me up in a special way, partly because We Are Dealing With the Hard and Unavoidable Fact of Death but also the aliens are about to throw a curve ball that'll... alter that last part a little.

Like, words cannot describe the "Dead Man's Curve in the wet" hard right turn of going from being in mourning for several beloved characters (including my favorite) to SURPRISE, SHE'S BACK! I love it.

I'd have to check the scripts to be sure exactly because some words got lost in Lovelace's respiratory spasms but I do like to imagine the her head wound closing up in front of a horrified Eiffel and Minkowski, with a side order of glow-y shit. I've drawn too many Homestuck god tier revivals I guess.

Update: I DID check the recording script's stage directions to see just how disgustingly physical the whole event is and okay, so no weird glowing shit (I reserve my right to depict it that way anyway) but I'm delighted to report that the gross anatomical-ness I was picturing? It's worse! It is so much worse!

The goddamn AGONY that is the Special Episode being TWO HOURS LONG when it comes right after the BIGGEST CLIFFHANGER IN THE SERIES.

You have NO IDEA WHAT KIND OF TEMPTATION IT WAS TO SKIP THIS AND COME BACK TO IT LATER

LOVELACE 1.0 I LOVE YOU BUT ALSO I WANNA TO SEE WHAT'S HAPPENING TO FUTURE-YOU RIGHT NOW

Change of Mind: love the framing device placing this episode as within Lovelace's mind during her successful cranial reconstruction saving throw.

"Buncha nerds, gonna crash my-"

Just how familiar she is in this place, with these people... Hera was installed in her sister's grave (as another post put it), but Lovelace lives in the gutted cadaver of her home.

Zach Valenti's Lambert voice *does* sound like a bad Minkowski impression.

"I have a physicist to put the fear of *me* into." That's my girl. She kind of was more of an ass pre-Total Party Kill, though? Like come on, Isabel, how necessary *is* all this arguing with Lambert?

Fourier's voice is very nice, also. Very soft, very easy on the ears.

I'm now appreciating how it sounds like Fisher is the older and calmer mediator among the crew.

Also the image of Isabel just floating out in space and listening to some chill tunes is sooooo good.

Hey Doc, did it turn out Fisher was too perceptive to live. Was getting caught outside in that meteor shower really an accident. Hey. Hey Hilbert. Answer me.

Also goddamnit, has EVERY character in this series has read Harry Potter?

Did the Fishers always differentiate each other by audio channel? I had to rewind the scene when I realized Lovelace's questions in my right ear weren't getting an answer.

"Say you're a big pink elephant!"

*gunshot* *gross biological dissolving noises* WHY

"Just because somebody made you something doesn't mean that's all you're going to be - you can be more!" I wrote this line down prior to the end of the episode's confirmation that it's a Big Thematic Point.

Aaaand we're back to the framing device, and with that, season 3 wraps. Or maybe season 4 kicks off? Either way, hell of a way to kick it off.

Cecilia Lynn-Jacobs had a hand in writing this episode? Aw... that's sweet...

So, yeah, headcanon: Alien resurrection does the weird glowy thing to close any obviously fatal maladies, then the gross biological viscera part kicks in, hence Lovelace sounding like she's trying to hack up her lungs as soon as she starts using them again.

Listen, sometimes the gross biological viscera parts are my favorite parts, okay? Okay.

#wolf 359 #wolf 359 spoilers #long post #i underestimated how detailed these posts would get as the plot ramped up lmao

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