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#this entire event is just me throwing danny a situations but having it be from someone else's pov so i never say his name until the end
avaritia-apotheosis · 2 years
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Crossover Danuary Week Day 2
Day 2: Marvel (Thor: Ragnarok)
Summary: The berserker, the stories said, became the draugr king. And it was said that one day he would lead his legions of the damned to lay siege on the world of the living, conquering and pillaging in the name of his mistress.
Loki did not expect Hela’s general to be a child.
(Then again, Loki never expected Hela to even exist.)
cw: violence
It was only the three of them: Thor, Valkyrie, and Loki. The only people that stood between the remainder of Asgard’s citizens and the goddess of death. Their chances of surviving this, Loki estimated, was slim to none.
“Asgard is a place, not a people,” Thor said, finally sounding like the king he had grown to be. Though the insane plan he proposed after that—the one about causing Ragnarok—broke the illusion. And if Loki thought a plan was insane…well, that spoke enough volumes as is.
Thor was trusting him to cause the apocalypse.
That damn völva was right after all.
“Now where do you think you’re going, brother dearest?” Hela laughed as she approached them at a sedate pace, lips stretched into a cheshire grin. Her long, clawed fingers twisted in the air. “Stay a while. Didn’t your mother tell you it was rude to not greet a guest?”
The Bifrost shook and shuddered behind Loki. Rumbled like an earthquake and he could see the cracks forming and widening and— “Go, go, go!”
He pushed Thor and Valkyrie ahead of him and ran. Behind him, the rainbow bridge splintered and broke apart, giant pieces of the Bifrost falling down into the emptiness of the void. A giant blast of green energy tore through the bridge, casting a ghastly beacon into the sky.
Each step brought them further away from the gaping maw of the void.
Each step brought them closer into Hela’s grasp.
They managed to outrun the splintering Bifrost, skidding to a stop at one of the bridge’s supporting pillars. Hela, merely a stone's throw away from their position, laughed.
She cocked her hip to one side. “Come on, little king!” She called out— not to Thor, but to something behind them. Her fingers stopped twisting in the air. She curled them into a tight fist and pulled.
Though knowledge of Hela may have been scrubbed away from history (covered up like some shameless secret best left forgotten, as Odin was wont to do), myths of the Goddess of Death persisted. Tales of Helheim’s ghastly queen and her half-rotten face spilled from the mouths of parents as a warning to their misbehaving children when threats of Frost Giants in night would not suffice.
Stories spoke of Lady Death having a general. A hulking beast. A madman. The ghost of a berserker who died in the midst of battle but refused to ascend to Valhalla. Not when there was more bloodshed to be had, more conquering to be wrought. They say that Lady Death extended a hand out to him and promised him unimaginable power if he would but take a knee and obey.
The berserker, the stories said, became the draugr king. And it was said that one day he would lead his legions of the damned to lay siege on the world of the living, conquering and pillaging in the name of his mistress.
Loki did not expect Hela’s general to be a child.
(Then again, Loki never expected Hela to even exist.)
The figure rose from the void like a specter. His skin a deathly pale and hair bone white. His eyes were enveloped in a bright, toxic green; no sclera, no pupils, nothing but the blank stare of death. And hung around his neck was a pointed crown too big for his head.
It was the valkyrie who broke the silence. “That’s not Pariah Dark.”
Hela’s lips twisted into a wry grin. “No. This little pet of mine is much stronger.”
Ice burst from the draugr’s hands.
Loki’s centuries of battle-honed instincts kicked into overdrive, his seidr pulling at some untapped raw power that thrummed beneath his skin. He raised his hands—frostbitten blue—and manipulated the ice’s trajectory, curving it over them like a crested wave.
Without even giving them a moment to think, the draugr flew through the ice and slammed himself into Loki’s stomach.
“Loki!” Thor bellowed.
Loki grit his teeth. With a pulse of seidr he pushed his attacker backwards. “Go!” He shouted back at them. “I’ll keep the boy busy, you lot go after Hela.”
The boy spazzed. His shoulders slumped forward, head lolled to the side like some puppet gone slack. Loki threw a dagger straight and true at the boy’s heart.
The draugr jerked up. His form faded out of existence in the blink of an eye, allowing the dagger to pass through him.
Loki bared his teeth. So the boy can fly, shoot that green energy, summon ice, and render himself intangible. Just how many other spells can he do?
***
There was something wrong with the boy. With the way he fought.
Sluggish was not the right word, not when the draugr had that supernatural speed on his side. It was as if he was dazed. Not all there. A marionette on the string being dragged this way and that.
The draugr king was powerful, Loki knew. Legends spoke of the previous one—Pariah Dark—being as cunning as he was strong, wily as he was ruthless. If this slip of a boy was Pariah’s successor, then Loki knew better than to assume that his opponent was a fool.
He could fly, he could become intangible, and he had a multitude of ranged attacks at his disposal. If he truly wanted to, he could simply exhaust Loki from afar— but no. The boy took every opportunity to attack at close-ranged, allowing Loki’s daggers to be within reach. There are moments when the glow of his eyes would flicker. Precious seconds where he would suddenly freeze and leave himself wide open for attack.
As if he wanted to be attacked.
A theory formed in Loki’s head.
The whispers of a spell surrounded them. Loki’s seidr coiled around them like a serpent; searching, seeking, found.
There you are.
There, wrapped around the boy’s neck was a heavy chain made of a dark and twisted kind of seidr.
The crown was no symbol of power; it was slave’s collar. And the one holding the end of the chain…
Loki’s eyes flickered towards the battle near them. Hela parried Valkyrie’s blow just in time to whirl around and shove the pummel of her sword in Thor’s gut. There, Loki could see the faint glimmer of a dark chain twisting around her right hand.
“If you can hear me in there—” Loki was a man of words before he was a warrior. His silver tongue was sharper than any weapon in Asgard’s treasury. He grunted, holding his bruised ribs. “If you still have a mind of your own, then I suggest using it right about now.”
The boy flew at him, ice blade forming between his hands that Loki quickly disarmed with his own dagger and threw over the bridge. For a split second, Loki could see those blank green eyes flicker into something else. Something more mortal.
“I can help you.” Loki punched the boy’s face and sends a bolt of fire at his chest.
“Tell me how to free you!” The boy phased through it and retaliated with beams of green energy. Loki narrowly missed the first three shots, but a misstep, a bad twist of the ankle made him stagger. Loki braced for the pain—
The boy seized, suddenly angling his attack elsewhere Enough time for Loki to recover and send a flurry of daggers at the boy’s feet.
This enchantment, whatever it was, did not operate under the same rules as the mind stone. A hard knock to the head would do no good. What Loki needed to find was the spell’s anchor.
His eyes were immediately drawn to the crown. The collar.
The boy lunged at him, fists glowing a bright green. Loki rolled with it, taking the opportunity to hook his dagger into the pointed crown and slam the boy into the ground with a sickening crack. With his other hand, Loki summoned another dagger and stabbed it into the boy’s side.
The draugr screamed.
Pain, Loki learned, was an effective distraction.
Loki pressed the flat of the blade against the boy’s throat drawing a thin line of not-blood. The boy thrashed in his hold. Loki twisted the blade deeper into the not-flesh.
He let go of his daggers and wrapped his hands around the crown, hissing in pain as the fires licked his skin but did not burn it. He could feel it, the whispers of this ancient seidr, dark and heavy and full of promise if only its wearer bowed in obedience. If he wasn’t fighting for his life and home, he would have liked to study it. Liked to delicately unravel each enchantment embedded into this wretched crown and learn of its secrets.
But, well, we can’t all have what we want.
He screamed as he pushed his exhausted seidr to the limits, channeling every bit of energy he had into overwhelming the enchantments. Cracks had begun to form at the base of the crown.
In the distance, Loki could hear Hela shout “What are you doing?”
The enchantments still held but Loki’s Asgardian seidr was slowly fizzling out.
If he persisted in this endeavor then—
Norns damn it all!
He pushed past his weakening seidr and latched onto the tendrils of jotunn magic buried deep within him. He could see his fingers turn into that hateful shade of blue, feel the winter settling into his skin like something familiar.
Ice clawed its way in between the cracks of the crown. The cold extinguished the bright green flame and corroded the metal.
Loki screamed.
The boy screamed back. White gloved hands reached up to take hold of the crown. Glowing green eyes flickering into something more solid, more there. The boy screamed as he tried to wrench the crown away from his neck, and Loki was more than happy to oblige.
The crown splintered into a thousand pieces. Loki could see the faint glimmer of the chain disintegrate, Hela’s hold now gone.
The boy slumped to the ground, heaving. Arms thrown over his face to hide the sobs wracking through his body. “Thank you,” the boy rasped. “Thank you.”
Loki staggered to his feet with a grunt. “No time to waste, boy. I didn’t free you out of the goodness of my own heart.”
“Phantom.”
“What?”
The boy rubbed his face and slowly sat up. “My name is Phantom. Not ‘little king’ or ‘pet’ or ‘boy.’
Loki held out a hand and helped him to his feet. “Well then, Phantom, now that your mind belongs to yourself, how would you like to cause the end of the world?”
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S.N.A.F.U-A Daniel Ricciardo Fic 'I'm FINE!'
A/N:  Hey everyone and welcome to my first foray into Danny Ric fanfiction. I’ve previously written HP, Castle and two other RPF’s and this is my first story I’ve written in over five years.
A note that I hope will make the reading of this fic a better experience.  I’m Australian and as such use a lot of Aussie slang, idioms and variations of the English language particular to Australia. I apologise in advance for any mistakes in scenes featuring characters that aren’t Australian.  If you have any feedback in this regard please don’t hesitate to leave a review in the notes or a message in my inbox.  I actually really like and value feedback because it motivates and enthuses me!
A fair warning, there is a lot of swearing and less than desirable language in this story and it’s entirely possible future chapters will feature NSFW content!
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SNAFU is an acronym that is widely used to stand for the sarcastic expression Situation Normal: All Fucked Up. It is a well-known example of military acronym slang.
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“Max I’m FINE! 31 year old Daniel Ricciardo snapped shoving his friend away as they arrived back at the hotel the F1 teams stayed at when in Bahrain “Seriously bro fuck off!”
“No.” the young Dutchman replied simply as he followed his friend through the sumptuously decorated lobby “I promised Christian I’d see you back to the hotel saf-”
“You did that, now you can fuck off” Daniel shot back rudely as they arrived at the elevators “why does Horner give a shit anyway?  “He’s not my boss anymore hic....”
Max Verstappen rolled his eyes
“He’s still your friend hic” he replied covering a vodka induced hiccup “we all are.”
“Well apparently that doesn’t extend to everyone” Daniel replied hammering on the up button “seriously if I see Abitboul again I’m gonna fuckin’ kill him!”
“I’m-hic-surprised you didn’t already” Max replied as the lift arrived.
The two men entered the lift and rode in silence to the twenty fifth floor where Daniel’s room was situated.
“Seriously Max you can go,” Daniel said in a slightly more calm tone as the doors slid open “I’m fine”
“Oh you are not” Max replied following his friend down the hallway towards their room “dude you literally just caught your boss having sex with your girlfriend, I’d be pissed off if I was in your position hic”
“How long are you going to stay then?” Daniel grumped shoving a hand into his pocket and roughly retrieving his room access card.
“Until I know you’re alright and you’ve seen a doctor.” Max replied indicating to the Australian’s right hand which was swollen and a dark red colour “that is not normal, you have to have broken something.”
“Who gives a shit?” Daniel replied as he shoved the door open “I don’t.”
“You will in the morning when you can’t wipe your own ass because its swollen up so much” Max replied following his friend into the room and closing the door behind him “now are you going to call your team doctor or am I?”
“You do it, I’m going to have a shower, then empty the liquor cabinet” Daniel replied drunkenly throwing his phone on the nearest chair.
Leaving his friend in the main part of the apartment style suite Daniel stumbled into the bedroom where he awkwardly stripped off, then trying his best to ignore the increasingly agonizing pain in his right hand he marched into the bathroom and turned the shower tap onto scalding.
Taking a moment to reflect on the events of the last couple of hours, the Australian recalled what had led him to this moment.
After the final race in Bahrain the previous night all the personnel from all ten teams had gathered back at the track to celebrate what had been a rather unusual year due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.  The food was plentiful, drinks flowed freely, the music was loud and there was a party atmosphere in the air as everyone finally allowed themselves to relax.  Everyone had their partners and family join them and Daniel like all of his fellow drivers had let his hair down and had partied hard.  His long time girlfriend Jemma had flown in from London to join him and seemed to get into the party as much as Daniel had himself.
But a couple of hours into the party the Australian had noticed her missing and went on the hunt for her, after a bit of searching he had found her in the Renault garage bent over his own car being raw dogged by his boss Cyril Abitboul.  From then on his memory was hazy.
For a solid half an hour Daniel stood under the scalding water trying in vain to wash away the evening’s trauma.  Only after scrubbing his face and body raw did he shut off the water and step out onto the tiled floor.
“Seriously fuck my life and everything in it!” he said out loud, as he wrapped a towel around his waist.
“Bro you out of the shower yet?” Max called “Robert said he’s on his way.”
“Yeah alright” Daniel replied “wanna pour me a vodka on the rocks?  I want to get drunk!”
“Really?” Max replied “Bro, I had to help you out of the taxi, you’ve had enough.  Pour your own vodka.”
“Fuck you!” Daniel called back half heartedly.
“You’re not my type!” came the amused reply.
Daniel was still dressing when a knock came at the door.
“Daniel?” a thick French accent inquired “are you in there?”
“Y-yeah hang on-shit!” Daniel replied, swearing as he tripped over his own feet.
Encumbered by his own inebriation Daniel struggled to get dressed but as soon as he was sure his backside wasn’t hanging out he opened the bedroom door and was greeted by Robert Pichet the Renault team doctor.
“Well I ‘ave seen you look better” he declared pointing to a nearby bucket chair “sit”
“Fuck off I’m not a dog.” Daniel snapped “sorry” he hurriedly added as the Frenchman raised his eyebrows.
“So what ‘appened?” Robert enquired, retrieving a blood pressure device from his bag as Daniel sat down with a huge drunken sigh.
“Caught Cyril fuckin’ my girlfriend,” he said “walked in on them raw dogging on my car.  Jesus fucking Christ!”
“Yes, I ‘ad ‘heard somezing like that” Robert said delicately as he wrapped the cuff around Daniel’s left bicep “everyone at ze party knows what ‘appened.”
“Oh fucking hell!” Daniel exclaimed “and now word’s going to spread, those aresholes at Ferarri couldn’t shut up if their lives depended on it!”
Robert remained silent as he measured Daniel’s blood pressure.
“Vell your blood pressure is a bit high but zat is probably because of all ze alcohol you’ve consumed” he said undoing the cuff a minute later “eet is nothing too concerning, if you don’t drink any more tonight.”
Daniel rolled his eyes hard.
“Dammit, I was hoping to get obliterated,” he declared as the doctor began inspecting his swollen right hand “maybe try and forget what I saw tonight.”
“You are obliterated!” Max piped up from the front of the suite “the only person drunker than you was Kimi, the only difference is he could walk in a straight line!”
“An if you do zat you’ll get alcohol poisoning and end up in hospital,” Robert informed his patient gently manipulating Daniel’s wrist.
“AHHH, fucking hell!” Daniel exclaimed yanking his hand away as Max re-entered the room “Jesus Christ!”
“I’m sorry,” Robert said gently taking the Australian’s hand again “describe the pain to me.”
“It feels like I’ve broken something,” Daniel groused “fuck it hurts!”
“You need an x-ray.” Robert declared “I’m taking you to hospital”
I’m not going to fuckin’ hospital!” Daniel snapped angrily “I just want to go to fucking bed!”
“Daniel sit down!” Robert demanded pushing Daniel back down in his chair.
“I don’t want to fuckin’ sit down!” Daniel shouted getting up and stalking around the room “I want to find Abitboul and smash his fucking face in!”
“Looking at your ‘and I suspect you’ve already done that” Robert said evenly “what ‘’appened?” he asked Max who was unsuccessfully trying to get his friend to sit back down.
“Well I didn’t actually see it happen but I think he punched Cyril in the face” Max replied “by the time I arrived at the Renault garage he was belting him up with a tyre iron.  It took me, Christian, Toto, Lewis and Valtteri to pull him off.”
“I think you’ve fractured your scaphoid,” Robert informed Daniel who was still striding around the room huffing and puffing like an enraged bull “of course I can’t tell for sure unless I get you to an ‘ospital for an x-ray”
“And how long is that going to take?” Daniel questioned petulantly “I’m supposed to fly home to Australia tomorrow night”
“Well if you come with me now I’ll make sure you get seen to quickly “Robert replied “unless you need surgery I think you’ll be out by the time the sun comes up.”
Daniel collapsed in the bucket chair with a dramatic sigh.
“Well I suppose I’d better go to hospital then!” he announced sarcastically.
“Okay let me make a phone call then I’ll take you downstairs” Robert replied “Max d’you want to come?”
“I better or who knows what this one will get up to” Max answered dryly.
“I don’t need a babysitter!” Daniel declared.
“No but you need a friend” the Dutchman replied sagely.
“You’re too young to be so fuckin’ sensible Verstappen” Daniel informed his friend grumpily “you sound like my Nonna.”
Max just grinned.
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Just on sunrise Daniel left hospital with Max and Robert hung over and his right hand and wrist encased in a fluorescent yellow fiberglass cast.
“Ugh I feel like absolute shit!” he declared as they all slid into the rear seat of the car returning them to the hotel.
“You look like shit too.” Max told him in amusement “so at least the outside matches the inside.”
Daniel rolled his eyes
“Brilliant job making me feel better mate” he said dryly “thanks a lot.”
The trio returned to the hotel a short time later.
“Don’t do anything silly with your wrist” Robert instructed Daniel sternly “when you get ‘ome to Australia I want you to go and see an orthopedic surgeon for a consult.  Get ‘im or ‘er to contact me and we’ll work together to get you any more treatment if needed okay?”
Daniel rolled his eyes
“You’re worse than my Mum,” he groused “But thanks for looking after me.  Don’t fancy following me to McLaren do you?”
“Désolé, I have a contract with Renault,” Robert said apologizing in amusement “I’ll see you through with this injury then you’ll have to see the McLaren doctor from now on.”
“Worth asking,” Daniel countered with a snort “I’ll see you around next year then?”
“Of course,” Robert replied taking the Australian’s proffered hand and shaking it firmly “au revoir for now Daniel, good luck for next year”
“Yeah you too brother.”
Robert disappeared into the bustling lobby crown and Max led Daniel toward one of the many bistros dotted around.
“Where are we going?” Daniel whined.
“Over there” Max replied pointing to the little Italian Bistro that had become rather popular with all the teams over the last few years “you need to eat something, you haven’t eaten in hours.”
“You’re too young to be so sensible,” Daniel groused pulling the hood of his jumper over his head further in an attempt to conceal his identity “seriously, what twenty two year old sounds like a little old lady?”
“My mother says that to me all the time,” Max replied with a snort “Victoria says I belong in a nursing home.”
“Well she’s not wrong,” he said with a “surrounded by a harem and a bunch of slutty nurses”
“Har har, do you want a double ristretto?”
Daniel screwed up his nose
“The shit you drink?  Vomit” he replied “Just a skinny latte, thanks man.”
Max went to the counter and ordered some sustenance for himself and his friend and followed him to the outside deck that overlooked an elaborately cultivated garden.
“Okay now that you’re no longer drunk or high as kite on nitrous oxide d’you actually want to talk?” he asked sitting opposite his friend
Daniel fixed his friend with the best ‘What do you think?’ look and rolled his eyes skyward.
‘I’ll take that as a no then” Max answered primly “c’mon brother, you’re going to have to talk about it soo-”
“How the hell d’you think I feel?” Daniel exclaimed loudly “how do you think I feel?” he repeated as several people looked around for the source of noise “no more than twelve hours ago I witnessed my boss fucking the woman I was going to propose to over my own goddamn c-car!”
Daniel’s voice broke and he scrubbed at his eyes hurriedly.
Max’s eyes widened and his eyebrows shot up.
“You were going to as Jemma to marry you?” he exclaimed incredulously.
“Y-eah,” Daniel admitted “I mean I hadn’t picked a ring or where I’d pop the question but it was definitely going to be in the off season.”
“Oh man I’m so sorry.” Max told his friend sympathetically “that really sucks.”
“Well life does that apparently,” Daniel replied sarcastically with a loud sigh.
The two men sat in silence for a while the outside dining area slowly began to fill. Kelly Max’s girlfriend sauntered through the door and wandered over to their table.
“Hey,” she said in a soft tone allowing Max to momentarily squeeze her hand “How are you doing Danny?”
“Oh y’know, just great,” Daniel replied sarcastically “sorry,” he added hurriedly “bit shit, honestly.”
“I don’t want to say I understand, because I’ve never been in your situation,” Kelly informed him “but we’re all behind you, literally everyone is on your side.  I just saw Valtteri, Toto and Christian and they all want to find Cyril and eviscerate him.”
“They’ll have to line up behind us,” Max declared angrily.
“Please guys don’t do anything,” Daniel pleaded “he’s not worth it, seriously-”
There was a pause, during which Valtteri Bottas, Toto Wolff and Christian Horner arrived at the table.
“Can we join you?” Valtteri asked in his thick Finnish accent.
“Yeah, take a seat,” Daniel answered flatly.
“Lewis sends an apology,” Toto said as he pulled out a chair and sat down “there was a chance to fly home early and he’s on the way to the airport.  He said he would text you when he had the chance.”
Daniel nodded
“Thanks for telling me that,” he said with a sigh “look I just wa-”
Danny was interrupted as his and Max’s food was brought to the table.
“I just wanted to say thanks,” continued once the waiter had disappeared “for being a great bunch of mates, I know we’re not all on the same team b-”
“You don’t haff to thank us for anything,” Toto piped up “yes we’re all on different teams but we’re all the same family and family look after each other.”
“I agree,” Christian agreed “Danny you’re our mate, you’re everyone’s friend, what you went through is really shitty and we all want to support you.  Besides we didn’t think you’d want a criminal record if that tyre iron had hit anything vital so we needed to pull you away.”
“You’re strong when you’re angry,” Valtteri said in amusement “the Incredible Hulk”
Oh com on-”
“No you were,” Max said nodding his head “but I totally get that, everyone does, or would anyway”
Danny went bright red and dropped his head into his hands in embarrassment.
“Everyooooone?” groaned “god my life is so fucked up, this is embarrassing!”
“You’ve got all our numbers, if you want come visit in the off season,” Valtteri offered “when was the last time you went skiing?  I have a chalet in Finland and you’re welcome to come visit, y’know within whatever regulations we have at the time of course”
“Thanks brother, that’s really nice, I’ll definitely take you up on that offer,” Daniel replied gratefully “maybe when the world is a bit less fucked up yeah?  The offer’s on the table to come visit the farm back home too.”
The Finn nodded.
There was a long silence as more food arrived and the group began consuming their breakfast. Fifteen minutes into the meal Kelly looked up and swore in such a vulgar manner everyone’s heads snapped up incredulously.
“Oh that slut is not walking in here!” she declared loudly “oh heeeeeeeelll no!”
Daniel looked up from his plate and immediately saw Jemma walk into the dining area and look around.  Her gaze swept the deck and she immediately started in the direction of the table when she saw Daniel.  Kelly leapt to her feet and before Max could grab her hand and pull her down back into her seat she strode over to the other woman, drew her hand back and inflicted such a hard slap the sound echoed around the deck.
“You’ve got fucking nerve coming here you whore!” she screeched shoving the other woman backwards, then grabbing her by the neck and pushing her back til she slammed up against a sandstone pillar.
In one fluid motion Daniel, Max, Christian, Toto and Valtteri leapt to their feet and sprinted over to the fighting women, Daniel was the first to reach the cat fighting pair, he wrapped his arms around Kelly’s torso and swiftly pulled her away.
“Kelly calm do-”
“Danny GET-OFF-ME!” Kelly snarled struggling in vain against the Australian’s restraint “I want to fucking kill her!”
“Max take Kelly....away” Christian instructed Max firmly as the Dutchman grabbed his girlfriend’s arm and pulled her out of Danny’s grasp “just go”
“You better not show your face around here again bitch or next time they won’t be here to save your ass!” Kelly snarled at the younger women as she snatched up her purse before allowing Max to lead her away.
“We-need to talk-” Jemma began addressing Daniel directly.
Daniel opened his mouth to respond but Christian cut across him.
“Jemma, now isn’t the time to talk,” he began ‘you’re not welcome here after last night’s ‘activity’ don’t you think it’s best if you just leave and go back to London?”
“I don’t think where I go is any of you busin-”
“Yeah we can ‘talk’” Daniel said in clipped tones “but we’re doing it here and these three are going to stick close enough to cut in if necessary.”
Jemma screwed up her nose
“I suppose,” she said shortly.
Daniel flashed his friends a slight nod then led Jemma over the table.
“So?” he said crossing his arms and legs “care to explain yourself?”
“You know you don’t have to take that tone with me,” Jemma snapped rubbing her cheek that had a perfect print of Kelly’s hand on it “that bitch is a fucking psycho-”
“Keep saying shit like that and you can leave right this minute,” Daniel told her a huge lump forming in his throat “what she did was totally justified.  Now shut up and explain yourself”
Suddenly Jemma went bright red and looked into her lap.
“I-I was stupid,” she began.
“No shit Sherlock!” Daniel countered as a pair of security guards ran onto the deck and looked around for a commotion “go on”
“I drank to much and acted stupidly,” Kelly continued in such a small voice as Valtteri motioned to the security guards “I shouldn’t have let myself go but I did and one thing let to another an-”
“How do you even begin to think that getting drunk and fucking someone that isn’t your partner is a justifiable reason to fuck someone that isn’t your partner?” Daniel asked her incredulously as he felt hot tears pricking at his ears “Jesus Christ Jem, Kimi was drunker than the pair of us together and you didn’t see him go into the Alfa Romeo garage and fuck Vasseur’s wife over his car do you?”
“N-no-but-”
“There are no buts!” Daniel hissed swiping away a tear that had escaped his left eye “fucking hell we’ve been together for thirteen years and not once have I every considered cheating on you with my boss or anyone in that time.”
“I knoooow!” Jem wailed as she began to cry “I love you and what I did was wrong and million types of stupid an-”
“Stop,” Daniel told her “just stop.”
“W-what?”
“You don’t love me and never have if you would even consider cheating on me” he continued not bothering to wipe away the tears now “being drunk is no excuse to cheat on your partner, especially the one that was going to propose to you during the off season.”
Jemma’s head snapped up and her mouth fell open.
“What?” she exclaimed incredulously
“Yeah I had planned on asking you to marry me,” Daniel informed her “I mean I hadn’t bought the ring but I was planning on taking you to Margaret River during the holidays and doing it during that trip”
“Oh”
“But obviously that isn’t going to happen now.” Daniel went on “I want to know two things.”
“Y-yes?”
“Why did you throw everything away?”
Jemma looked down into her lap where she had clasped her hands.
“I d-don’t know” she said in a small voice “as I said I was drunk, I know that’s no excuse but that’s the reason it all happened.”
“Okay, and how long has it been going on?”
Jemma shrank under Daniel’s hard glare
“J-ust the on-”
“Don’t LIE!” Daniel snarled.
“S-since, the b-beginning of the y-ear,” Jemma admitted “when the race in Australia was cancelled. That’s when we first hooked up”
Daniel dropped his head into his hands and pulled at his hair.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” he exclaimed “are you telling me you’ve been fucking around on me for nearly a year?  You spent Christmas with my FAMILY!”
As soon as Daniel raised his voice one of the security guards approached the table.
“What’s going on here?” he asked in a thick British accent.
“Absolutely nothing, our discussion is over.” Daniel informed the guard “Jem we’re over, get out of my life.  Do not return to the apartment in Monaco. I’ll have your belongings packed up and returned to your place in London. Don’t ever contact me again for any reason.  Don’t contact my friends, family or colleagues ever again.  I don’t want to see you anywhere ever again.  I hope you and Cyril will be very happy together.
“Dan please,” Jemma pleaded.
“Ma’am you need to come with me now.” The security guard said assertively “you can come quietly or we can make this difficult, its up to you.”
Jemma stood up and gave Daniel a searching look.
“Is this really it?” she said
“Yeah and it’s all your fault, goodbye Jemma.”
And with that Jemma turned and left the deck.
Chapter 2 can be found here:
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aanau · 3 years
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this is the ultimate enemy rewrite post cause someone made the mistake of asking me how i’d rewrite danny phantom and the ultimate enemy required its own damn novel
ok the more i think the more i actually want to keep many of the parts the same because TUE i think is actually pretty damn good (with some stuff holding it back like is the deal with most of DP) just with different interpretations/executions, the WHY and intention is changing around a bit. Also i forgot clockworks name until halfway through typing this when it just CAME to me out of nowhere so he’s just mr time guy for a bit.
anyway long post under the cut. i literally do not expect anyone to read this but its here like all my other nonsense. again, not much is changing structurally, but a lot changing thematically.
* I love the original opening. It’s so good. Futuristic Amity Park, surrounded by desolation. What happened? And as we follow Valerie we get more questions. Where are the Fentons? Where is our trio? And the reveal of Dan (i imagine canonically he just goes by Phantom) is fantastic. And the pause and zoom out to Mr Time Guy being tasked with preventing this future and then the baller opening theme plays? Classic. Peak cinema. You have the suspense and intrigue. Fantastic opening would not change a thing EXCEPT FentonWorks is completely gone and replaced, but we can tell it used to be the FentonWorks based on some reused materials in its structure and its location, though it might not be completely obvious.
* So we have the same trigger: the test. The thing that forces Danny to think about his future. He’s been throwing his future away with his ghost fighting with his grades, absences, and mental+physical health and now he’s confronted with the CATs. There’d be some commentary on how stupid it is to place this much pressure on a single test you take as a teenager that decides your future as a bonus via Sam.
* The purpose is mainly to show Danny’s growth from the beginning of this hypothetical rewrite of the series. Earlier, he wouldn’t think twice about using his powers to cheat. But now he’s having some ~inner conflict~ which shows hey he actually is learning “With Great Power...” and is developing a stronger moral code.
* But we also see some resentment. He does all this work, sacrificing his physical and mental wellbeing, and now as he is realizing, his future, to protect people. He rationalizes to Sam and Tucker that he “deserves” to cheat. They understand and they can’t really argue with him, but they still voice their discomfort. Even Sam, the resident “standardized tests are stupid and the education system is corrupt” gal feels like it’s wrong, because she has always felt using your powers to get ahead and take advantage is the problem, not necessarily the cheating itself. The audience is meant to sympathize with bth Sam and Danny’s viewpoints, though.
* Amidst the stress, and amidst the moral dilemma and rationalization of how much Danny sacrifices so why shouldn’t he cheat, we bring back a previous episode plot point: how the ghost portal will explode if the filter is not changed. The Nasty Burger explosion thing is stupid, and we already have this established, and it will also make more sense for Lancer to meet at the Fenton household and for everyone to be there. While Danny studies and gets into an argument with Jazz a ghost attacks and Danny is at peak stress and is now hurt and tired from fighting on top of it so he’s not at his best work and the ghost ends up damaging the ecto filter without him noticing. It starts overheating or whatever it does. This is not Danny’s fault btw im not buying into blaming the 14 yo kid with a dangerous life and not-great adult figures.
* Lancer has a suspicion that Danny is Phantom but he’s never 100% sure. In the original timeline, he wants to meet with the entire Fenton family as well as Sam and Tucker because Danny cheating on the CATs (which only a ghost could do so he goes from suspicious that Danny is Phantom to certain, so Danny cheating essentially reveals his identity) is the final straw for him to want to intervene for Danny’s wellbeing and Sam and Tucker are involved and will need to be there too. Anyway, Danny does sorta accidentally steal the answers in the current timeline in the same coincidental way as in the show (because if he stole them intentionally I feel it’d regress his character TOO much...him accidentally stumbling upon them and the moral dilemma being “do i put them back or do i take advantage of this incident” feels less like Danny is regressing and being the same kid he started the series as to me and more like his progress and growth is being challenged), but he doesn’t yet look at them. The moment he tries to, because Danny looking at the answers is the point of no return where Mr Lancer will be able to tell Danny is Phantom and get everyone to meet (worth noting that the Fentons would have had time to notice the filter needs to be fixed if not for the call by Mr Lancer, that’s why the cheating specifically is the thing that locks the timeline lol). Mr Time Guy intervenes by sending a ghost from the future to stop him, and take them to his lair through the time pendant.
* The trio walk through the castle, seeing little hourglasses with scenes playing out. They recognize some moments from their own lives as well as some historical events and reason that they’re seeing snippets of time. Tucker touches one and gets scolded for it but he’s like “damn did anyone just see that I just saw what happened to amelia earhart” or some other historical mystery askfjdjd. They come across the main “hub” which is currently showing the future with Dan destroying the last of Amity Park
* So here’s where I stop to explain how I think this all works. I generally subscribe to the headcanon that ghosts are “impressions”/minimalistic copies of people who died with unresolved feelings. They’re not actually the people, which is how they can both be people who died and just creatures from another world. Some ghosts are born in the ghost zone, and there are some “deity” ghosts, but those deity ghosts are just really powerful ghosts and don’t actually act as gods or anything, just rulers of the GZ who meddle to keep things running smoothly in their dimension. The GZ runs parallel to the real world (and they “leak” into each other, exacerbated by the existence of the two ghost portals and two halfas who kinda made the two worlds collide permanently...so like before they were running parallel next to each other never colliding with “leaks” but now they bend and collide every time the portal opens or Danny and Vlad transform) so chaos in the human world ends up affecting the GZ etc so the deity ghosts meddle more in the human world to protect their own world with how much chaos the new connections have caused. Maybe I made it super confusing but that’s the best explanation I can think of on how I see it.
* I imagine the dynamic timeline theory rather than a multiverse theory (or fixed timeline where what you do to change history has already been done). Changing something changes the whole timeline, not makes a new one. There’s only one timeline that can be altered. Paradoxes don’t usually exist because Time Guy takes care of them/prevents them as the only person with the power to travel through time, and he can undo events and clean up paradoxes easily with whatever timey wimey magic he’s got. Also time just keeps progressing with or without you if you leave your time unless he specifically plops you back where you exited from
* Back to the story! Danny still has the same first reaction of “wow what a cool power!” cause i love that for him lmao. But he is horrified after. Clockwo—FUCK THATS HIS NAME TOOK ME LONG ENOUGH—ANYWAY CLOCKWORK!! Eggs Danny on for a fight, Tuck figures out the pendants and gives one to each of them, but the fight is still outmatched, forcing them to escape into the future.Really it all plays out basically the same: they meet Valerie who drops hints of what happened, then they meet Dan, they get hints from him, Sam and Tucker take off their pendants before getting killed and return home, Dan tells Danny what happened and traps him in the future while he goes back to ensure everything happens the way its supposed to. Few things I’d add: Sam and Tucker stay a bit longer in the future with Danny. Valerie catches up on the situation and gets back up to kick ass so the kiddos can get away. She probably shouts a warning to them while they run or asks them to make sure this never happens. They run through Amity Park a bit more and discuss what’s happening while hiding from Dan. When Sam and tuck get away back to the present, Dan phases the pendant in Danny and ties him up and sends him into the GZ while he goes back and ensures everything happens as it should.
* Dan is able to pass as younger Danny scarily well. It should be very creepy and unsettling how well he can just mimic the lovable Danny we know. He already had some of the same mannerisms (i noticed in the og how both danny and dan say “oh please...” a lot) but now he also looks like danny and sounds like him
* Same thing happens in the GZ: Danny’s attacked by a bunch of ghosts his future self has screwed over. Dan’s just hella malicious. He just enjoys hurting people and ghosts, and taking things and power (something Vlad does btw, takes advantage of people, hurts people, power hungry, etc). Danny wonders why he’d ever get enjoyment from causing so much suffering but upon some reflection after some comments from the other ghosts, realizes he’d always been sorta a dick to people and ghosts (not horrible, of course, but in the og cartoon there are many instances of Danny taking enjoyment in causing pain to people he doesn’t like and being unnecessarily cruel to ghosts who could probably just be reasoned with, and of course he also has instances of power hunger).
* He ghostly wails (since he knows the power exists, he’s able to manifest is sooner) and escapes and before he takes the medallion out he wants to find out more before he goes charging in (basically showing more character growth—not charging in without a plan, and also having more empathy and thinking maybe he can reason with his older self and appeal to his better nature if he just finds out what went wrong—side note my friend when rewatching DP said he kinda wished for a bit more of a steven universe vibe where there would be more instances of danny needing to be kind and helpful to his enemies rather than punch first questions later and i agree that this would be a good development—obvs not a rule because DP is too fun as an action show with great villains as it is but definitely having MORE instances of that Kindness and Empathy Wins vibe esp since many of the DP villains are so likable—i think many of them are good as enemies-to-allies that would require Danny learning to be more empathetic and diplomatic)
* Danny finds Vlad’s portal and is surprised to see him, a tired weak old man. Dan backstory time! So I take inspo from a fic I read where I see Vlad being an unreliable narrator (cause nothing about him in his storytelling feels trustworthy) so what Vlad has to say is different (but not totally) from what actually happened (and what actually happened is also inspired by this fic). But we’ll get to the truth later. For now Vlad tells in his melodrama how the explosion killed off Danny’s friends and family, Danny had nowhere else to go and came to him, wanted the ghost half removed because of how much pain it has caused him, and Vlad obliged. But here’s where I also take a lil inspo from steven universe and say that dannys ghost half isnt just a tool or something—it is HALF of him. It’s just as much Danny as Danny’s human half is. Same with Vlad’s ghost half. But when you separate the ghost/human halves, you’re left with two unbalanced incomplete beings, which is messy. (Note that in other situations where Danny separates from his ghost half, it’s not as messy as it is here because here Danny is in immense pain and Inner Turmoil which makes the split go horribly). And in this case, Danny is projecting everything he hates and does not want into his ghost half as he splits, meaning you’re left with the half of Danny that is selfish, cruel, uncaring, irresponsible, resentful, and powerful. And that half of Danny does not like his human half for being so weak and holding him back (I have the headcanon that Danny’s ghost half has the potential to be extremely powerful, having been blasted by the whole GZ all at once, but literally CANNOT achieve that potential because of his human half...but that’s okay because power corrupts as we’ve seen). First thing ghost boy does is attack his attacker, and he also HATES vlad, and has no inhibitions or limits on his power, so he separates Vlad from his ghost half and straight up destroys the bitch and absorbs his power—so the “fusion” is not mental/personality at all, just danny’s out for more power and to stabilize his incomplete half and absorbs plasmius’s energy. Then he sees human danny cowering and is angered (probably blames him for everything that happened to them) and kills him. Vlad gets away and dan decides to just let him go since a powerless cowardly vlad full of loss and regret is a much funnier fate to him.
* Danny realizes that if dan is just pure anger and hatred and selfishness incarnate than there isn’t really reasoning with him, but he at least has learned something about himself and taking care of his ghost half and being a better person and takes off the pendant and returns home.
* Right in time as jazz is confronting dan before the ghost portal explodes. Showdown ensues. Dan kicks dannys butt so danny attempts to reason with him: why let this horrible future exist? why not prevent it? is this really what he wants to be? dan had been angry at his human half for letting his loved ones die, so why is he letting it happen again? all that power cant possibly be worth the love of his friends and family. maybe add in a little exchange somewhere where dan figures that danny has spoken to vlad and makes fun of him for trusting him (“lol i knew my 14 yo self was stupid, and should know never to believe a word vlad says blah blah” and mentions that who he is now is all vlads fault). danny loves his friends and family and promising them that he’d never turn into dan is enough. ghostly wail, and final fight that’s more equally matched, and end. dan is permadead and his timeline is erased once danny is sent back to the moment he cheats on the test, he is not taken by clockwork.
* Clockwork saves everyone and explains to danny how he works. Danny also asks what happened with vlad, since his older self mentioned this being his fault. Clockwork explains that after the accident, tons of people flocked to help danny. The foleys, the mansons, his classmates, his aunt alicia, etc (even some ghosts!!) all supported him and let him know he was not alone and he would be okay, but vlad had no one because of the type of person he was, and he forced danny to come live with him, further isolating danny from caring and loving people. Vlad in all his manipulation also made danny further believe it was all his fault and he’s Just Like Vlad and all the bs which is why he made vlad remove his ghost half. Vlad only agreed because he thought he could control danny further by separating him from his powers and potentially use his powers. His intentions were never good. Dan saw that he would have eventually been okay if not for vlad (im basically making a point of the adults in dannys life having responsibility for the bad things that happen, obviously not ALL but like. A reasonable amount). Dan likely agrees that this future is not what wants and he would have liked a happier future, but he’s too fueled by selfishness and anger and cares more about his own self preservation and his power to want to actually change it for himself.
* Danny admits to lancer he was planning on cheating, and because he made the right decision lancer doesnt go through with staging an intervention (though he now knows he’s phantom) and danny rushes home to fix the filter but his parents are already on it, and jazz confronts him (instead of at the school, she was always stuck in the house so she’d be caught in the explosion, since dan leaving her in the school closet doesnt make sense) outside the lab thinking he’s still dan and they talk and everything is okay.
* And the status quo for the series changes as now jazz and lancer know (but lancer is secretive about it like jazz was before), and danny also has gone through huge revelations about himself.
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glapplebloom · 3 years
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If anyone knows who made the original picture for this, please let me know.
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One thing I have to thank the ponies for is making me more out there. From using Skype to being part of numerous Discords. And it was in one of them that inspired me with this: What if there was a Horror Movie version of Secret Wars? I figure why not. So here are the rules...
Only one character per franchise (for both sides). So if I pick someone from one franchise in one side, they CAN NOT be in the other.
Only Horror Movie Related characters. For example, Dutch from Predator is not considered since he’s more associated with Action. But the Predator creature is since he hits closer to horror than action.
So let’s gather the forces of Good for this side!
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Ash Williams (Evil Dead) - Leader
Starting off with a character so popular in horror people wanted to see him in the sequel of Freddy Vs Jason is Ash Williams from the Evil Dead franchise. I picked him as the leader because as awesome as everyone else on the team, Ash has seen his fair share of freaks and monsters that can make him fit to face anything horror can throw at him.
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Erin Harson (You're Next)
A Survivalist who just so happened to be in the middle of a group of siblings’ plan to kill the rest of their family, Erin is what you get if you want Kevin McCallister’s traps to be more fatal. She’s proven she can survive horrific situations and with the rest of the team she’ll most likely learn how to use weapons as effective as the rest.
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Laurie Strode (Halloween)
If anyone in this team knows how to deal with a unrelenting killer, its Laurie Strode. Be it later that day, 20 years later or 40 years later, Strode is a survivor who knows how to fight back. With her planning skills and weapon experience, she’ll be a benefit to the group at any age.
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Andy Barclay (Chucky Franchise)
While Laurie may have dealt with her killer the longest, Andy has been facing his for most of his life. As a child being a victim to an adult ready to take down the doll and the rest of his cult. While his opponent maybe smaller, Andy showed the ingenuity and determination to take on anyone of any size.
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The Janitor (Willy's Wonderland)
Ignore the fact its Nicolas Cage. This is a guy who, in one night, without weapons, defeat 6 of the 8 Animatronics as well as cleaned an entire restaurant that was in disrepair for who knows how long in one night. Imagine what he can do if you give him actual weapons. Give this man a task and he’ll see it through.
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Selene (Underworld)
As great as Humans are, let’s bring in some heavy hitters in terms of what they can do without weapons. Being over 600 years old this Vampire is capable of fighting heavy hitters on her own with weaponry to boot. Bonus, she’s immune to sunlight so she can fight alongside the others anytime to day.
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Ellen Ripley (Alien)
She survived some of the most dangerous creatures in the universe. In comparison to the monsters on the other side, this maybe a cakewalk for her. But between her alien hybrid abilities granted to her in the later movies as well as her experience fighting some of the most deadliest hunters, Ripley is an asset for anyone.
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Danny Torrance (The Shining)
He may look ordinary, but Danny possesses within him the power of the Shining. This grants him many abilities that are not very well defined but enough known power to prove he is a great ally to have in this team. Not to mention with how well he can use a gun, he can provide more than just mystical powers.
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R. J. MacReady (The Thing)
He maybe a helicopter pilot, but he’s proven to be able to survive a creature that can be anyone. Granted, his fate is ultimately left unknown but after all the heck he been through he would be a great addition. Between his improvisational skills as well as the fact he doesn’t have to worry about not trusting his allies, MacReady is ready for anything.
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Abraham Van Helsing (Dracula 1958)
He maybe a Vampire Hunter by trade, but his skills can be applicable to any creature he faces. While he may not trust Selene because she is one, his knowledge on Vampires as well as other creatures would be a great help in the long run. Also, it would be fun to see Helsing using modern weapons against the Vampiric Kind.
And that’s my pick for heroes. But why weren’t others chosen?
Carrie White (Carrie) - Not sure if she would count as a hero or villain.
Herbert West (The Reanimator) - Like Carrie you could argue if he’s one or the other.
Sidney Prescott (Scream)/Chris Washington (Get Out)/Shaun (Shaun of the Death)/Other Similar Survivors - They survived, sure. But in a Secret Wars kind of event its not just survival you have to work for. And compared to those in already, they won’t provide a lot together in comparison to one. Heck, Sidney was included until I realized she stuck out like a sore thumb.
The Toxic Avenger (Toxic Avenger) -  As fun as the movie is, I think Toxie tends to blend the line depending on the timeline and how extreme he can go.
Clarice Starling (Silence of the Lambs) - She was originally in because of the movies, but the book reveals she is now Hannibal’s lover. So… No.
Buffy (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) - Keep in mind, this is for Horror Movies. So if Buffy was included, it would be Movie Buffy, not TV Show Buffy.
Anyone not Mentioned - Either I forgot, too similar to people here or the rules prevented them from being included. 
Feel free to reply who you would pick for Team Hero or next week’s Team Villain. 
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distant-rose · 4 years
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Hey so, care to share any of the mood boards and /or playlists that I'm 99% sure you have your your next gen marvel universe?
Okay, I know you sent this like yesterday morning, but you’re asking for me to share a piece of a universe that @justanotherwannabeclassic​ and I have been developing since…July? Which is insane but I made my first post about our Earth-6828 universe on the 26th July 2019. We have an estimated ninety-three characters for this universe that categorized as a next generation or involved in the next generation narrative. Ninety-three characters. Nine. Three. It’s insane. WE’RE INSANE. We created an entire universe over the course of a half year.
Anyway, with that many characters, I don’t think it’s possible to share everything on the internet involving them. So, I’m gonna focus on the OG team - the Daughters of Liberty. They’re the catalyst for Earth-6828 universe and they’re eleven women from different backgrounds and skill sets. We deliberately made a all-female team that’s diverse and we really have fun playing with them. So I’ll share some mood boards and playlists that I made for them.
NOTE: Please note that when I make playlists, I’m a weirdo with very specific rules. I make playlists made of songs sung by the genre of music I think the character would listen to, in the gender they identify with and I only do one song per artist. So, a character like Bekka who likes old school country and jazz, she’s a big fan of Duke Ellington and Miles Davis and Wendy Nguyen who is folksy really likes the Lumineers and the Mountain Goats but neither of those artists are featured on those lists because both characters are female and I like to think of the songs as being from their perspective. It’s really weird but I feel the need to make the disclosure.
I’m gonna put this under the cut because this is gonna be LOOOOONG. Also, if you’re interested in other characters and nuances of the universe, you’re also welcome to hit up not just me but also Shea because she’s done some amazing work too.
Valeria “Val” Richards
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Val Richards is an Earth-616 canon character and the daughter of Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic) and Susan Storm (Invisible Woman). She’s the smartest woman in the world and holds more degrees than she knows what to do with. She’s constantly working on a new degree and really hates the amount of condescension she gets sometimes from people who don’t believe how smart she is and underestimate her. It’s half the reason she’s involved with the team - she wanted to show that she and the women she works with shouldn’t be underestimated. She’s the team coordinator and is the most tech savvy. She’s known for drinking her weight in coffee, listening to Led Zeppelin on full blast and always having her hands in one project or another. She has a habit of never going to bed because she’s constantly involving herself in a project and because she’s constantly blasting music, her hearing isn’t always the best. She constantly has people repeat things since she often can’t hear them. Though she’s not involved with the family business, she’s got a great relationship with her parents and especially her brother, Franklin, who is without a doubt her hero. She’s a part of the LONGEST slowburn I’ve ever written and it took SIX YEARS for her and the team empath Wendy to get together. 
Val’s Playlist: Classic and Hard Rock, this is the type of music that Val generally listens to when she’s in the lab. It features Lita Ford, Pat Benator, Joan Jett and The Pretty Reckless. I think shows a lot of her attitude and some of her anger.
Eleanor “El” Rogers
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El Rogers is an Earth-85826 canon character and the daughter of Steve Rogers (Captain America) and Sharon Carter (Agent 13). She is a professionally trained spy and is a specialist in various forms of combat. Though she offered the mantle of Captain America to Dani Cage, she is very proud of her father’s legacy and sometimes nags Dani on how she should handle things, which sometimes leads to some contention between the two. Prior to the starting the Daughters of Liberty with Val Richards, she was a SHIELD agent and often known as “Espionage Barbie.” Growing up in the spotlight, she’s a gifted and knowledgeable public relations specialist and has more than a few headaches trying to manage this team and the array of personalities she deals with. Despite her PR skills, she’s naturally more introverted and prefers to spend her time with her close friends and working on her art. Though she’s more like her mother, she did inherit Steve’s sense of justice and morals while also keeping questionable company seeing that she often finds herself in some morally grey company, namely a couple of rebellious Southern mutants and three SHIELD trained professional killers. Most people often see El as perfect but she is riddled with anxiety and constantly beats herself up for not living up to people’s expectations. Before her father’s death, she was seen as very upbeat and friendly, but has been much more subdued and even more argumentative. She’s incredibly stubborn, which often gets her into epic fights with Dani and Meredith, as well as the leaders of the Avengers (Sonny Stark) and X-Men (Olivier LeBeau).
El’s Playlist: El is very much a pop music kinda girl, but her playlist comes with a bit of a twist of her anxieties, depression and desires to live up to that expectations that have been put on her. It features Taylor Swift, Elle King, Demi Lovato and Ruelle.
Danielle “Dani” Cage
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Dani Cage is an Earth-616 canon character and the daughter of Luke Cage (Power Man) and Jessica Jones (Jewel). She’s the current Captain America and it’s a job she’s very ambivalent about because as much as she is honored by being bestowed the title, it comes with a lot of pressure and criticism which Dani is not great with. Due to her super strength and invulnerability, she rarely uses the iconic Captain America shield which is one of the many things she gets criticized for by El. Like her parents, Dani is tough as nails, a little rough around the edges and swears like it was its her job. Despite her short fuse, Dani has the biggest heart of them all and tends to come from a place of compassion rather than a place of judgment. This doesn’t stop her from being one of the sassiest members of the Daughters of Liberty however. When she’s not shouldering her duties as Captain America, Dani is working out her frustrations in the gym through boxing and acting as a volunteer for the Harlem Boys and Girls’ Club. Dani is a creature of habit. She goes to the same gym that she’s gone to since she was a little girl despite having a gym in HQ, she eats the same thing for breakfast and orders the same thing whenever she goes out for dinner. Her teammates often make fun of her because of this habit, but with all the stress in her life, she clings to these habits as a source of comfort and normalcy. Dani is best friends and incredibly close to Lucy Rand, who is about 85% of her impulse control. Sometimes the only thing keeping Dani from punching out her teammates and the occasional reporter is Lucy.
Dani’s Playlist: Her playlist is the perfect workout playlist because it’s intense and high energy R&B, Hip-Hop and Rap songs. It’s an ode to black excellence and being unapologetically awesome. It features Beyonce, Cardi B, Lizzo and Salt-N-Pepa.
Lucy Rand
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Lucy Rand is an Earth-21722 canon character and the daughter of Danny Rand (Iron Fist) and Misty Knight. She’s a highly skilled martial artist and gifted detective. While Val might be the most intelligent person in the world, Lucy is skilled at picking up social and culture nuances quickly and reading people despite not having empathy and psychic abilities. Despite having great tragedy in her life and losing her parents at a young age, she’s a very positive person who tends to do her best to make any difficult situation manageable. Lucy’s anger rarely comes out but when it does, it usually is when people disregard the sacrifice her parents made. Though privately, she’s very upset with them for not being there for the major events in her life and though Luke Cage and Jessica Jones had a big hand in raising her, they are not her parents. She has a permanent job at handling Dani’s short fuse but she wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. Like Dani, Lucy is very involved the community, but she has a lot of other outlets including knitting hats and managing the Instagram of her favorite little gremlin - her hairless cat Dobby. Lucy is the type of person who tends to put the focus on everyone but herself, something that the team does their best to curb. Very rarely is Lucy in any photos, mainly because she’s normally the one taking them. While she’s not field commander like Dani and El, she’s certainly the team negotiator when it comes to arguments. Needless to say with the amount of big personalities on the team, there is a fair share of fights she needs to break up and while Dani might be her best friend, Lucy’s most trusted companion is her jumbo sized bottle of migraine reliever pills. 
Lucy’s Playlist: Like Dani’s playlist, Lucy’s playlist features a lot of black excellence, but completely genre. Like Lucy herself, it’s a playlist with a lot of Soul and with a focus on fluidity rather than high energy. It features Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone, Whitney Houston and Ari Lennox.
Rebecca “Bekka” LeBeau
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Bekka LeBeau is an Earth-41001 canon character and the daughter of Remy LeBeau (Gambit) and Anna-Marie LeBeau (Rogue). She inherited her father’s kinetic manipulation and her mother’s enhanced durability and flight. A complete Daddy’s Girl, she’s an incredibly gifted thief and has a penchant for using her abilities to blow shit up. However, instead of using playing cards, Bekka’s weapon of choice is…random objects from the dollar store? Don’t be surprised to see this chick throws weaponized plastic army men or marbles at your face. Despite her charisma, revolving door of men and natural extroversion, Bekka rarely opens up to people nor does she let people get close to her. This is a result of a very traumatic event in her childhood that completely changed both of her and older brother’s lives and caused her mutation to develop early at the age of eight. Due to this, she often suffers from nightmares and can be seen putting her absurdly gifted baking skills to work in the middle of the night. She’s the unofficial chef of the team and has introduced the team to a lot of Cajun cuisine. She’s a proud New Orleans girl and prepared to stomp your Southern stereotypes out of you. A running gag with Bekka is that despite being a very observant person, she is a penchant for refusing to see what’s right in front of her if she doesn’t want to see it such as her brother and best friend hooking up or that a certain ginger SHIELD agent is madly in love with her.
Bekka’s Playlist: Like Bekka herself, her playlist is a mixture of old school, new old and a little bit of subtle darkness. It has a mixture of Old School jazz, Classic Country and Southern Rock. It features Billie Holiday, Delta Rae, Dolly Parton and Gin Wigmore.
May “Mayday” Parker
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Mayday Parker is an Earth-982 canon character and the daughter of Peter Parker (Spider-Man) and Mary Jane Watson. She inherited Peter’s enhanced physiology and wall-crawling abilities. While Mayday has her father’s intelligence, smart mouth and penchant for science, she’s more of an athlete than a nerd. She’s an avid lover of basketball and even played two years of Division Three basketball at Empire State University. She is a very frustrated New York Knicks and New York Mets fan and is often antagonized by Dani Cage, who has a tendency to be a very obnoxious Yankees fan. Though Mayday has a spot on the Daughters of Liberty team and often works outside the team as a research chemist, she has struggled with her identity since she stopped playing basketball. While she is currently Spider-Girl, she always views it more as her continuing her father’s work rather it being her own thing. Despite being incredibly bright and formidable fighter, Mayday also struggles with a lack of confidence and anxiety. She is often makes sarcastic jokes and often at her own expense. Mayday is loyal friend and often agonizes over the fact her superhero duties sometimes make her break her promises to her friends and family. However, she’s found a good support system in her girlfriend Nancy Lu, a telekinetic member of the X-Men and in her mentor, Val Richards. Though she is seven years older, Mayday often mothers her younger sister Annie, whom she sees as reckless and impulsive.
Mayday’s Playlist: This playlist is a mixture of Alternative and Rock music. It has a lot of songs that deal with self-esteem and discovering who are you is enough. It features Paramore, Avril Lavigne, Halsey and P!nk.
Anne “Annie” Parker 
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Annie Parker is Earth-18119 canon character and the daughter of Peter Parker (Spider-Man) and Mary Jane Watson. Like her sister, she inherited her father’s enhanced physiology and wall-crawling abilities but that’s where their similarities end. Like her mother, Annie is an incredibly outgoing personality. With her love for pink, glitter and partying, most people look at Annie and think of her nothing more than an empty-headed party girl who does stupid shit and has nothing to add to the conversation. Wrong! Annie has one of the world’s highest IQs and is usually the smartest person in the room. She’s gifted in both sciences and mathematics. At the start of the story, she’s a student at Empire State University and is pursuing two degrees in Mathematics and Physics. She’s got an endemic memory which helps her manage her schoolwork, hero work and social life. Annie wasn’t initially invited to be a part of the team, but Mayday convinced Val and El to bring her on in hopes of curbing Annie’s partying. She’s a bit of hedonist and often does things to an excess. Since she was a child, Annie has been known for her bubbly attitude and infectiously positive attitude. This was developed at a young age as she rarely saw her older sister happy (not understanding that her sister suffered from depression and anxiety) and she made it her personal mission to make Mayday smile. Annie is a fearless girl with a big heart who doesn’t often think before putting herself in harm’s way, which unknowing stresses out her older sister more.
Annie’s Playlist: This playlist features a lot of Pop, Hip-Hop and Dance music. It’s high energy, upbeat and makes you just want to have a good time. Honestly, a good chunk of these songs have featured on RuPaul’s Drag Race as Lip Sync for your life songs. (Annie is a massive RuPaul fan). It features Arianna Grande, Britney Spears, Rihanna and Tove Lo.
Meredith “Mere” Pryde
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Meredith Pryde is an Earth-41001 canon character and the daughter of Piotr Rasputin (Colossus) and Kitty Pryde (Shadow Cat). She inherited her mother’s phasing power, tech skills and ability to make epic callouts. She inherited almost nothing from her father, whom she doesn’t really remember since he died when she was young. She was raised mainly by her mother and her aunt Illyana Rasputin. Meredith joined the Daughters of Liberty so she didn’t have to deal with her brother Cameron second-guessing all of her choices and telling her to calm down. When Meredith sees injustice, she does her best to correct the situation and she doesn’t care who she has to call out. When she’s not doing work for the Daughters of Liberty, Meredith is active activist who is involved in various projects but especially on mutants’ rights. She attends and supports every march she can and her instagram is full of all her favorite protest and march signs that she sees. Aside from being involved in activism, Meredith’s second favorite activity is trolling her teammates, especially those who tend to be nonplussed about things. She’s notorious for her pranks and for playfully flirting with her teammates’ siblings to make them uncomfortable, namely Bekka. While she’s a notorious flirt, she has no interest in relationships and will punch you in the face if you ask her if she has a boyfriend or girlfriend. Though she is involved with the Daughters of Liberty and various movements, Meredith often suffers from loneliness because she doesn’t have a lot of time for herself and fostering her friendships. She’s every girl’s friend, but no one’s best friend. 
Meredith’s Playlist: This playlist highlights Meredith’s confidence and unapologetic nature. She is who she is, and you can take it or leave it. It’s an eclectic list which has mixture of Pop Rock, Pop, Alternative and R&B music. It features Superchick, Billie Eilish, Lily Allen and Icona Pop.
Wendy Nguyen
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Wendy Nguyen is a character Shea and I made up, she is not related to anyone. Shocker. She’s a licensed therapist who often treats other superheroes and was actually assigned to El Rogers after the death of her father. She is an empath who is capable of sensing people’s emotions and when she touches them, she gets not only your emotions but your thoughts and even your memories. Her senses are incredibly strong and she often cannot be in the same room when someone is feeling things a bit too strongly, particularly her teammate Maya Ayala during the team’s first year together. Because she feels people’s emotions so strongly, Wendy is often confused whose emotions she is feeling - hers or someone else’s. This is one of the reasons it took her so long for her to admit her feelings for Val. Wendy is often seen as a quiet and thoughtful person who does her best to make her teammates confront their feelings for both her sake and theirs. She has an affinity for tea and has the world’s most absurd tea cabinet which is filled with tea from all over the world from her many travels. She also as an affinity for butterflies, which she views as being similar to human emotions - intense, sometimes beautiful but fleeting and fragile. Wendy often wears gloves to keep herself from accidentally touching others and taking their thoughts and memories without their permission. The ethics of her ability sometimes is a struggle for her since while they allow her to be good at job, however she feels them without control or consent from others. She rarely goes out with her friends in public areas mainly because being around so many people who are feeling a variety emotions is too much for her and causes her to have splitting headaches.
Wendy’s Playlist: Best described as folksy and acoustic. Wendy prefers most chilled out music because feeling others’ emotions can be very overwhelming. However, there’s a range of emotion here because she feels a lot. It features Of Monsters and Men, Regina Spektor, Jolie Holland and Hannah Connelly.
Yasmin “Yas” Khan
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Yasmin Khan is a character Shea and I made up, she’s the niece of Kamala Khan (Miss Marvel). Like her aunt, Yasmin has Inhuman heritage alongside holding Pakistani and African heritages from her parents, Aamir and Tyesha. She was exposed to the Terrigen Mists and gained abilities similar to her father in which she can create psychic force fields, however she also has telekinesis and touch-telepathy. Yasmin is a practicing Muslim and while most of the women don’t wear hijabs nor expect her to wear one, she often feels to try and normalize Muslim practices in a society that is suspicious and often hateful towards her culture. She likes to joke that it covers up her bad hair days. Yasmin loves fashion and color, and though she is often the most modest wearing person in the room, she is definitely the most colorful and enjoys outrageous patterns. She is a big lover of pop culture and can often be seen playing Pokemon Go and watching shows on Crunchy Roll on her phone. She has a massive sweet tooth and can be seen in the kitchens watching Bekka bake in hopes of being allowed to have a bite. Though she doesn’t drink, she is best friends with Annie and often accompanies her on nights out and makes sure her friend doesn’t get into any trouble. Yasmin is one of the few people who isn’t out with her personal identity and this is mainly due to her fear of people hurting her family due to the rampant Muslim prejudice in the United States. As one of the youngest members of the team, her teammates are incredibly protective of her and have actually a designated plan ready to cheer her up if they ever see Yasmin is upset, which is called Operation: Yas Smiles. 
Yas’s Playlist: Like Meredith, Yap’s playlist is very colorful and has a diverse range of generics from R&B to Soul and Rap. It has a range of emotions since while Yas is a very cheerful person and absolute sweetheart, there’s some anger there at how she and other Muslims are treated. It features Mona Haydar, SassyBlack, Daya and Azealia Banks.
Maya Ayala
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Maya Ayala is a character Shea and I made up, she’s the daughter of Hector Ayala (White Tiger) and the niece of Ava Ayala (White Tiger). Nothing happy ever happens to the Ayala family and unfortunately that saga continues with Maya, who witnessed her entire family and boyfriend being murdered in front of her during a shoot out in the Bronx. She took up the mantle of White Tiger and has been on a search to find their murderer. Before becoming the current incarnation of the White Tiger, Maya was a former competitive gymnast who was almost on the United States Olympic team and was working as a gymnastics coach. However, since the incident, she’s put all of her energy into getting revenge for her family and joined the Daughters of Liberty to honor her aunt and to use her resources to get justice. While her focus is on revenge, her greatest desire is to see her family and her boyfriend again. At the beginning, she kept herself from her teammates because she didn’t want to get attached, but after awhile, she became very close with Wendy, Val, Dani and Lucy. Maya has a secret love for telenovelas which she tries to keep quiet because she’s afraid of being seen as stereotypical. Despite this, she’s very proud Latina and gets pissed off when people write her off as “Mexican” or “foreign,” especially since her family hails from Puerto Rico and she’s just as American as anyone else. However, occasionally she does share her culture with the others, and occasionally makes arroz con gandules and pollo guisado with Bekka for the team. 
Maya’s Playlist: This is list is a mixture of Latin Pop, Alternative and R&B. It holds a mixture of Maya before the loss of her family and after. A lot of the latin pop are from gymnastic routines she would create. However, there’s also a lot of anger and sadness here, which is understandable. It features Audri Nix, Ciara, Lana Del Rey and Skylar Grey.
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mlmdarkfiction · 4 years
Text
Power of Three
For a Friend who wishes to remain anonymous
Fandom: Dead By Daylight Ship: David King /Jeff Johansen/Danny Johnson Description: Instead of confiding in each other when odd things begin to happen to them in their everyday lives, David, Jeff, and Danny decide to keep it to themselves instead, leading to things becoming worse and worse until they all disappear one by one. No trigger warnings, however the fic is very canon divergent/close to a different canon entirely. Read on AO3: 
Read Below:
Jeff wakes with a start, covered in a sheen a sweat, hair sticking to his face. A nightmare. That’s what it was. He recognizes this fact immediately, as he’s met with the familiar surroundings of the apartment he shared with his boyfriends.
He’d fallen asleep on the couch again. A bad habit the man had formed some time ago. His nightmare, he notes, was probably caused by the playing of Halloween, left on the TV.
He’s sure Danny was watching with him, but maybe the other man had ditched him when he’d started to snore. Wouldn’t be the first time he complained about Jeff falling asleep while they’re supposed to be watching something, and then snoring so loud he can’t actually enjoy it.
Turning the TV off doesn’t calm his post nightmare anxiety, neither does realizing he can hear both of his boyfriends bickering somewhere else within the apartment.
Jeff lies on his back, staring up at the ceiling, his eyes making patterns in the white paint.  The dream, or more accurately the nightmare is still fresh in his mind. It’s odd enough that he remembers it at all.
Woods, dark woods, and he’s running for his life from something but…he can’t quite remember what. Whatever it was that was chasing him, it was blending into the darkness, blending in and-
“Hey! Why’d you turn the movie off?”
Any more thoughts on his nightmare are interrupted by Danny literally flopping onto him on the couch. He’s got a bowl of popcorn with him, as reaches over for the remote. “You don’t get to fall asleep on me and turn off my movie, that’s fucked up.”
“Sorry. What were you and David fighting about?” “What do we always fight about?” Speak of the devil.
Danny doesn’t elaborate, just sticking his tongue out at David before shoving a handful of popcorn into his mouth.
“Fuck you.” “Fuck me yourself, coward.”
It’s normal. The normalcy is enough to calm any left-over anxiety. He readjusts the Danny on his lap, sitting up to enjoy the rest of the movie.
-
Danny is jittery. Something just doesn’t feel right about his walk. He grips the knife in his pocket, he carries it for protection, even if his boyfriends argue it’s a bit much.
It’s not uncommon for him to go out this late. He does it all the time, taking photos of things just slightly off putting enough to be interesting.
The photos he takes for the paper are all mundane, just shots of people and events, things that are boring and a waste of his time. No one cares about the photo’s he actually wants to take. No one but Jeff…and maybe David. Danny’s still not convinced that David just pretends to be interested in what he and Jeff talk about when it comes to art.
He doesn’t take long to think on this though Every other step he takes fills him with anxiety. It’s like something in the darkness is watching him.
He’s the people watcher, he’s the predator. This role reversal is what makes it incredibly nerve wracking. He knows what he would do if he were the stalker in this situation, and it terrifies him.  
Finally, he’s had enough, pointing his camera into the darkness and taking a photo. The flash lights up the dark…at least some of it. Danny saw it, a large portion of the darkness, a blob of it seemingly unmoved or caring about the camera’s flash.
Maybe his eyes are playing tricks on him, maybe…
Danny snaps another photo, just in case he is seeing things, but no, the flash once again penetrates only some of the darkness.
The rest seems to be advancing on him, getting closer, and closer.
Fuck.
Whatever it is advancing on him, he’s not waiting to see what it will do. He turns, high tailing it off the path as fast as he can, not even stopping when his camera slips from his grasp crashing onto the rocky ground below, only to be absorbed like everything else into the darkness.  
-
David went out to the bar by himself. It’s not that he didn’t enjoy spending time with his boyfriends, he does, but it’s much easier to blow off steam without them. You see David enjoys getting into fights. He enjoys the adrenaline rush he gets while tussling with some drunken rando, and he enjoys the fact that nine times out of ten he wins. And he used these fights, and these wins, to justify his masculinity to himself.
One of the reasons his boyfriends insisted he doesn’t need to do this. That he has nothing to prove to himself, or to others.
David knows, on some level that they’re right, but that doesn’t stop him from needing to do this. So when Danny’s sick, and Jeff’s busy taking care of him he manages to convince them both he’ll be fine to go out on his own for a little. He does feel a bit guilty leaving his sick boyfriend just to go out drinking and fighting, but he needs this. And besides, it’s not as if there’s anything he can do that Jeff can’t.
The bartender knows David, even with how little he’s come in recently, David see’s how the man’s eyes narrow. A reminder that he will be kicked out if he starts anything inside, any fighting he wants to do should be outside the bar. David can respect that.
He keeps to the rules, at least until he finds a man drunk and belligerent enough to piss him off. David’s the one who gets up, grabbing the man from the shoulder, and pulling him back from the bar.
“Come on- You and me. Outside.”
The drunken man blinks several times, taking multiple minutes to actually understand what it is David’s said to him, and by then the much younger man’s already pulling the drunkard out of the bar and into the street.
David doesn’t even get a chance to throw a punch before the other man is torn free from his gasp, fist colliding with the side of David’s face.
It stings, but more than the physical pain is the shame of knowing he just got slammed by someone who was far more intoxicated then him.
This was supposed to be an easy fight, once David could win without a scratch, and then return home his ego inflated, not get almost KO’d in one shot.
He stumbles back, leaning against the wall, and it’s then he realizes there’s something off with this man he’d chosen to fight. What was definitely just a regular drunkard before was now definitely… something inhuman. It’s the eyes. That’s what makes him realize that something is wrong.
The drunkards eyes, they’re pure black.
All David knows is that suddenly he’s back, in front of his home, no strange black-eyed man in sight. He makes his way inside, but no matter how much he tries, David’s unable to relax until sunrise.
- Maybe things would have gone differently if they had told each other about the odd things that were happening. The nightmares, the stalking, the strangers with pitch black eyes.
But they don’t. All three seemed to silently agree to keep their discoveries to themselves. Jeff simply doesn’t want to worry his boyfriends with something as simple as reoccurring nightmares. Danny’s afraid that his experiences are nothing more than his mental state deteriorating, and what revealing his struggles to his boyfriends could mean in the long run. And David is simply unwilling to admit to the others that this problem all came back to his fighting, something he was supposed to have given up already.
And by refusing to share their experiences with each other, they doomed themselves.
It’s Danny who goes missing first.
He was there one day, and the next he was gone. As far as David and Jeff knew, aside from them, he had no friends, no family, no one else to miss him. It was almost as if he’d never even existed in the first place.
But that’s not true. He did exist. And they did miss him. Everyday.
Both men were a wreck, and although they tried everything in their power to figure out just what had happened…
They never learned anything.
The police even went as far as to claim that, because there was no evidence, that perhaps Danny had willingly left to start fresh somewhere, or that he’d even gone as far as to kill himself, doing so in a way that they hadn’t yet found the body.
But neither man could allow themselves to believe such a thing. For all his quirks and occasional bitterness, Danny loved them. There’s no situation in which he’d leave them, but even if somehow, for some reason, Danny did decide he was going to leave…then why would he leave his camera?
It’s his prized possession, and like all of Danny’s other things, it stays untouched exactly where he’d last left it in the apartment.
When Jeff goes missing-
At least when Jeff goes missing David’s able to make some sense of it.
His mind is whirring with all sorts of theories.
But the one that makes the most sense, is what the police thought happened to Danny.
David thinks, tries to accept, the very real possibility that Jeff killed himself.
The man had struggled with his mental health long before Danny had disappeared, and although Jeff had done his best to keep it from David, he wasn’t stupid, he saw how everything just kept getting worse, and that there was nothing that David could do to stop it.
And with both Jeff and Danny gone, all that left was David. David completely alone in an apartment far to big for the one person, an apartment filled to the brim with reminders of people who are no longer with him.
He breaks within days.
David doesn’t care about the black-eyes stranger that he’d confronted before at the bar, or the fear the man had caused.
He wants a drink.
And what’s more…
What does he care? What does he have to be afraid of? What does he have to live for now?
David welcomes the inevitable fate that awaits him that night when he goes to the bar. He welcomes the group of men, talking in too loud drunk voices, about mugging him. He welcomes the fight and beating that follows.
It goes as well for David as one would expect. A three versus one fight, that leaves David bleeding out alone in the dark of the alley way behind the bar.
But…he doesn’t die.
Despite his deliriousness, the alcohol, the bleeding out, David is still aware enough of his surroundings to notice the shift. He notices the way the world around him shifts into darkness. The void shifts and turns around him
-
When David comes to, it’s not the dim streetlights of the alleyway that he’s faced with, but the unfamiliar crackling of a campfire.
“Jeff- Jeff he’s awake!”
He doesn’t get to question what’s going on. The campfire, the unfamiliar female voice, and the name. Jeff’s name.
David doesn’t get to question it because he’s pulled into an embrace, a familiar one at that. It’s Jeff. It smells like Jeff, it feels like Jeff, and the fast talking, blubbering voice above him definitely belongs to Jeff.
“Jeff?”
“Yeah?”
“Please stop crying. I have a headache…and that sound is just…the worst.”
It’s comfortable though, being held by Jeff again, after all this time thinking he was dead. Even if David can feel the prying eyes of strangers watching the two of them.
“I thought you were-“
“Dead?”
“Yeah.”
“Not dead just…here.”
David finally looks around to get in a look of their encompassing surroundings. Fog, a darkened forest, and the campfire surrounded by equally confused and damaged looking group of people.
“Where exactly is here?”
He listens to the explanation from Jeff and the others; an Entity, and a never-ending game of life and death meant to keep it fed on all of their individual suffering.
Still despite the explanation, David’s just thinking one thing.
He cups Jeff’s face.
“If you’re here does that mean….”
The other man doesn’t have to answer, the look of despair on the metal heads face is more than enough of an answer.
Danny isn’t here.
-
At least as far as they know.
Because Danny is within the Entity’s realm, simply not with the survivors. Danny was sent to the side of the Killers, their own fire, a sanctuary for them as well in between the trials.
He knew why.
Why he’d been chosen to be a killer and not a survivor.
He’s not ashamed of what he’d done before coming here, he refuses to be ashamed of his art.
But then Jeff arrived
The only thing Danny had missed at first in his pseudo captivity were his partners.
And then Jeff arrived.
His course of action was simple, and easy.
Under no situation was Jeff allowed to know that Danny was here, and under no situation was Jeff to find out what Danny had become- no, who Danny had always been.
Keeping his secret hidden was an easy enough task. It’s not as if the killers and survivors had any contact outside of the trials, and when faced with one another well…
Danny made sure Jeff was sacrificed. Every time. Every single trial.
-
This task only got harder with the addition of David, however.
David, who was more than happy to put himself between Jeff and harm’s way.
David, who without fail got Jeff down from the hook before the Entity could come.
And when David finally got tired of defending, and of saving, he got angry. The anger grew until he fought back.
A piece of glass lodging itself within Danny’s shoulder blade as he carried the boxers towards the hook.
The scream that ripped from his lips was familiar.
His game was over.
Identity discovered, not by the removal of a mask, but the pained scream which ripped from his throat.
There was no mistaking the glint of familiarity in David’s eyes, nor the way it was quickly replaced with betrayal.
Although the injury was far from severe, Ghost Face wasn’t seen for the rest of the match, the survivors, David included, were all able to leave, (mostly) unharmed.
-
David doesn’t tell Jeff.
He can’t bring himself to.
This place has already taken so much from the two of them, and there’s no reason to add to Jeff’s suffering.
It’s nicer, David thinks, to let Jeff continue to believe that Danny simply left them in the real world.
To let him think that at least one person he cares about may still be free, living a happy regular life, and not trapped in this hell hole.
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threewaysdivided · 5 years
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For the fanfic ask: D, S, and U ;) thanks!
For wornquillsandspilledink’s Fanfic Ask Game:
D: Is there a song or a playlist to associate with your fics?
Hmmm… I’m not a particularly music-based writer - a lot of my inspiration comes from other stories, or visuals, or personal experience.  Usually musical associations come afterwards, once I’ve got a scene/character fixed well enough for a song to resonate with them.  It also means that I tend to associate songs with fic-moments, characters or fandoms-in-general rather than with a single entire story.  So, a list:
As mentioned before, the opening Instrumental of the Disturbed Sound of Silence Cover is a good match to the ambience of YJ:DW Chapter 15.
Coldplay’s Paradise gives me angsty S1 Artemis vibes.
For Danny Fenton, Coldplay’s Gravity and Simple Plan’s Astronaut get the sad feels going.
Most Imagine Dragons songs tend to make me think YJS1 due their being used in a bunch of super talented fan-animations and AMVs.
More broadly the general emotional tone of ColdPlay’s Fix You and The Fray’s You Found Me kind of underscore sadder, heavier moments of writing.
There was a lot more Sad™ and Coldplay in there than I expected.  Whoops…
S: Any fandom tropes you can’t resist?
I’m one of those annoying Tropes-are-Tools-not-Guarantees types so there aren’t many tropes I can confess to seeking out for their own sake, or deliberately inserting into all of my stories.  That said, I tend to be pretty characterisation-focused (even though I like long-fics to have some kind of accompanying plot too), and there definitely some tropes/patterns I’ll gravitate towards:
Believable Depictions of Grief/ Trauma and Healing/ ClosureI enjoy finding stories that actually address the hard experiences or losses that characters have gone through, that the process is messy, and ways they might attempt to work through/ around it, while still letting them be themselves, have moments of levity, live their lives and eventually reach a point of closure.  Grief depicted like this is weepy, delicious, catharsis and I am here for it.
Trust and RevealsI can get a bit frustrated with stories (especially crossovers) that have characters just know or decide to immediately overshare secrets and personal information.  Always more satisfied when those secrets are treated as secret by the narrative, with characters having to sleuth it out or build genuine respect and trust before learning/earning the truth.
Intrigue and the Suspense of AnticipationLove me some Fair Mysteries.  Also when creators are willing to play games with the audience, letting us reach the answer ahead of the characters and wait in anticipation for the penny to drop.  Good stuff.
 Actual Communication and MisunderstandingsThere’s a certain sort of masochistic anticipation that comes from seeing two or more characters end up in conflict because their own personal biases and hang-ups are causing them to misrepresent and/or read  things into the other person’s words/behaviour that aren’t actually there.  Usually followed by either a fight or moment when someone says something that throws that misinterpreted reading off-balance and the whole truth ends up being brought to light and resolved.  I also like this because it lends itself well to grey-on-grey conflicts; no clear “good vs bad” but instead all sides somewhat sympathetic and somewhat at fault for poor communication.
Character studiesKind of self-explanatory: stories that focus in to put the microscope on a single character’s emotional reactions to, and reasoning behind, specific canon behaviours/ events make me happy.  The more believably close to canon-characterisation the happier this gremlin will be.
U: Share three of your favorite fic writers and why you like them so much. 
Fair warning: I tend to read pretty widely, so this has the potential to balloon into a huge list. While I could definitely recommend some of the classic fandom bigs like BNHA’s PitViperofDoom and Laquearia, or DP’s Haiju (all of who deserve it and you should check out if you haven’t), I think I’ll take this chance to ping some writers from older/ wider fandoms:
tactfulGnostalgic’s Into the Spiderverse The Family Brooklyn Series.  Hits a lot of my personal trope favourites (character studies, reveals, believable depictions of grief, actual communication, accepting oneself) and also because oh my gosh that prose.  There’s an almost Markus Zusak-ian quality to their writing at points and the rest is just impeccable and fun.  Also packs some really good snappy dialogue.
skyflower51′s Skyrim storiesI really enjoy the environment design, side-quests and lore of Skyrim, and Skyflower51 does a great job of writing interesting characters to fill the blank-slate player-insert MC position, fleshing out in-game plot-lines and characters with much more nuance and detail by having a specific personality from within that world interact with and push them beyond what the limited RPG writing would allow, as well as exploring the possible identity/responsibility issues that come with being thrust into the role of legendary hero.  If you want a look at what Skyrim could be if written as a fantasy world instead of a videogame backdrop, these will probably scratch the itch.
Blackfriar’s Young Justice storiesOh hey, a fandom I actually write for.  Lovers of fluff will want to tread carefully here, as their stories are frequently rated M for angst and violence with good reason.  That said, if you like white-knuckled suspense, horror and anguish, or seeing Batman, Robin and Kid Flash being trialled by difficult situations both in and out of uniform, these will certainly get you your fix.  They also have some crossovers with Under the Red Hood which may satisfy those disappointed by YJ’s lack of Jason.
Also want to give a quick shout to Daruku Janubu/ DJAnubis, whose art for the TTxDP fic Turning Tables was what first got me into fanfic, and whose own story, Unfair Justice, made me cry.
Thanks for playing!
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cards-onthetable · 5 years
Text
Okay but what in the actual fuck...?
I just watched 9x03 and I have a lot of Thoughts. Spoilers ahead I guess.
For the Minor (read: non-Jamko) Issues that I hated... let’s just get these out of the way:
Wtf @ Erin in this whole episode. Misunderstandings/communication failures with coworkers happen all the time. But she was so unnecessarily bitchy to Anthony. And then she blamed him for making her look like an asshole in front of everyone else. Nope, that’s your own fault, gtfo. And don’t even with their ~sweet reconciliation~ with booze at the end. That doesn’t excuse Erin for acting like a terrible person.
Wtf @ Frank/Garrett’s whole storyline. Garrett acts like some butthurt 7th grader who didn’t get invited to the cool kid’s sleepover birthday party. “I may not be a cop but I’m still important!” Ugh. Quit the whining. And also what was even the point of this story existing? Cool @ the secret bunker but centering the story on Garrett’s Feelings was dumb.
....I actually liked Danny/Baez’s story for once. You know it’s bad when I just want the next Danny scene to curtail my misery.
OKAY BUT THE REASON WE’RE ALL HERE: Wtf @ Jamko. I hate everything. Let me elaborate:
Jamie seems so indifferent to Eddie when she brings him lunch. I could almost excuse that in the name of Looking Tough as the boss at a new shitshow precinct. But then Eddie sits down like she’s going to hang out and chat and he actually sighs and rolls his eyes like she’s this big imposition. Eddie, sis, you deserve so much better than this clown.
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He also tells her during that scene that the 2-9 is “much busier than the 12th” with a gross undertone of “...so can you go so I can get back to work?” Ugh. Fine @ being professional at work but... really? Act like you like her a little.
Can Eddie give Jamie a compliment other than “you look good in stripes” every episode for the rest of our lives? I mean look at that jawline.
I’ve had Feelings about Eddie’s wardrobe this entire season so far, and that continues here. Why does she look all dressed up to bring Jamie lunch at the precinct? Dresses at Sunday dinner are one thing, but normal, Off Duty Eddie would be in a t-shirt and jeans, not all fancy like here (and in that bar scene with the yellow dress). It’s some kind of intentional Choice, I think, to make her softer and more ~feminine~ as if that’ll win over the Eddie Haters who are probably pissed about their engagement. IT’S OKAY HATERS I AM TOO. LET’S BE FRIENDS.
Though I also think there are new wardrobe people all around. Like what’s with Jamie’s clothes this season? I can’t handle these chinos and iced macchiato colored Pumas. Bring back the dorky dad New Balances and dark jeans.
Sorry, I’m getting ahead of myself. Anyway.
This diner scene. I had mixed feelings.
Pros: Jamie looks hot af. Eddie has a 10/10 ponytail. Apparently Jamie is putting off sleeping post-night shift to eat with her, which let me tell you as a night shift nurse, this is a Big Deal. So maybe he does actually like her or something.
Cons: it makes me sad that Eddie is less than up front with Jamie. Like you’re going to marry this guy but you don’t want to tell him some info that’s honestly probably not new to him? Odd. Also why does Eddie say she’s “dating” Jamie? That was weird. Him correcting her was kinda cute and their conversation was less forced in that scene than it has been this season but still, really?
Also wtf @ this weird hand holding situation? Jamie looks like the Claw in one of those stuffed animal vending machines at the bowling alley.
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OH SIDENOTE: Somewhere In here, Anthony calls Erin “sweetheart” in this gross demeaning tone and it was gross. Moving on.
OH COOL WE’RE... mini golfing? Okay this might be cute?
WAIT JAMIE FUCKING PROPOSED AT THE MINI GOLF PLACE? Oh my god kill me now.
Who..... who thought that was a good idea?
It’s like the writers are trying to throw fans a bone since they know everyone wants to know more about how he proposed. But it comes off as ridiculous satire and/or them almost making fun of the fans. I look forward to reading all the coming fics of this Putt Putt Proposal™️ and making fun of everything 5ever.
Also LOL @ the idea of Jamie and Eddie at this mini golf place on a Sunday morning before family dinner. Who the fuck goes mini golfing (...and proposes there) on Sunday morning?
OH NOW WE CAN TALK ABOUT THESE SHOES:
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Okay and the pants also showcase Jamie’s Assets nicely. That’s a trend in recent episodes I can be on board with. So maybe I shouldn’t complain. But also bring back his jeans plz. Like what are we, on vacation at the country club?
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What’s with Jamie grabbing Eddie’s wrist all the time? But also 👀 @ his grip here like can we see this in another context next week? 🌶
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WHAT IS GOING ON? Does... does Eddie just carry a copy of their ~vows~ around in her purse? Or did she just jot those down real quick as they’re chatting? Either way, wtf?
It’s a little sweet, I guess, that Eddie wants to transfer to the precinct where everyone hates Jamie to be a friendly face/change everyone’s minds about their new boss. But I am seriously sick of this will-they-won’t-they back and forth as far as working together. The will-they-won’t-they was more fun when it was will they or won’t they fuck.
And them working together is a terrible idea anyway. Would it even be allowed for an officer’s fiancé to be her direct superior at work? That seems even more professionally compromising than an engaged couple riding together. Cool I hate it.
Do all married/soon-to-be married couples settle disagreements by just... reciting their vows? What is this, a recap of the S8 finale? WHY?
Oh hey they’re kissing. Oh that’s nice. But why are we looking up from underneath their chins?
OH LOOK EDDIE’S AT THE 2-9 making major Heart Eyes at her sergeant/fiancé. So I guess this settles the last 3 episodes of uncertainty as far as their Work Future. COOL I HATE IT.
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That dinner scene was... something.
I’m surprised the Reagans were so fine with Eddie and Jamie’s little practical joke centering on grace. The show could’ve accomplished a similar result without turning the prayer into a joke. And I don’t think fucking up the prayer is going to endear Eddie to any Haters. So that was an interesting choice.
I’m also tired of this drawn out Transition of Eddie fitting in at family dinners. When I imagined Eddie integrating into the Reagan family I saw maybe one awkward, best-behavior instance and then fast forward to next week and she’s going at it with Danny and Erin, requiring Frank to intervene and remind everyone of dinner table decorum.
But I guess playing tricks on the fam means she’s One Of Them now?
Here’s my official vote for a Normal family dinner next week, which just happens to include Eddie in a seamless way, as if she’s always been there. No more Big Events at dinner.
In conclusion, why do I watch this show?
There was one Redeeming Factor — the cop at the 2-9 at the beginning who says “Is that a stick up your butt or are you just happy to see me?” Jamie wishes he had something up his butt. @ontherockswithsalt I hope you’re on that. I need Something To Believe In.
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disinvited-guest · 5 years
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10/25/18 Ithaca Recap
I was a little worried about this being a seated show, since my spot (the second row far house left) was a little further from the stage than I would have preferred.  I spent the whole time at my seat low key freaking out about the situation.  I shouldn’t have worried.  As soon as they came onstage, Marty started freaking out on the drums and Flans demanded everyone stand up, come up to the front, and fill in the aisles.  
I didn’t have to be told twice, and ended up in the front row, to the left of the keyboards, giving me a great view of all the guys throughout the show (with the exception of Marty, who was blocked by the keyboards.  
A few general notes before I start the recap in earnest.  Flans was wearing the jacket that has been the center of fso much discussion over the past week.  Pictures don’t do it justice, the thing is a beacon!  Also, this is the first show I’ve been to where they’ve made extensive use of video projection.  They were a bit distracting at first, but after I got used to them I thought they made a nice addition.
They started into Damn Good Times and before the first verse was done, Danny looked my direction and recognized me.  He gave me a smile, and I think he was a little surprised to see me.  Flans took time in the middle of the song to thank us for coming, noting that we “Had our choice of They Might Be Giants-like bands. The song ended with Dan’s always wonderful solo, and the crowd cheered as the song ended.  As we fell quiet, a few people in the back started to cheer again, Flans looked out at them, put his finger to his lips and said “Shh!” as they started into I Left My Body.
During Your Racist Friend, Flans began singing the second verse where he should have sung the first.  Dan made a face when he realized what was happening, but Flans kept going, just switching the two verses entirely. Curt’s big intro was as perfect as always, and he took his place on the riser, demonstrating clapping enthusiastically as they segued into Particle Man.  The crowd was a little off the beat at times, but we got it on track for Linnell’s interlude of Here You Come Again.  
As the song ended, Flans walked right over to me, hand outstretched, with the clear intention of giving me his guitar pick.  I raised cupped hands, not trusting myself to take it in my suddenly shaking fingers, and he dropped it into my palm before moving back upstage.  I was in shock, and checked my front left pocket thoroughly for any holes in the lining (fool me once…) before placing the pick there.  As I did, they started into The Famous Polka.  I didn’t even connect the dots between me having the pick and them playing that particular song until Flans was holding the guitar right over me.  I desperately reached for the pick in my pocket, it taking enough time that Flans felt the need to offer me another he had in his hand, but I got the first one out in time. It was simultaneously one of the most terrifying and exhilarating moments of my life.  I couldn’t even look at the guitar directly as I went, the view I remember is of Flans’ left hand changing chords for me.  I was so worried I would mess it up but I didn’t!  I’m not saying it was good, but it was passable and then it was over and I had played Flans’ guitar.  I was in shock and I must have looked it.  As Flans walked away Danny, who had been watching the event, cracked up when he saw the expression on my face.  
After the polka ended, Flans asked Linnell what he had done that day.  Linnell said that he had heard that ACDC was getting a new singer, and that it was a crow.  He did an impressive crow imitation, moving from a few simple “caws” to saying “back in black!” in a crow’s voice.
Flans mentioned that “the guy who wrote Back in Black and  was with the band for 30 years” had to go because “you know how new guys are.”
Linnell then informed us all that crows were really smart and asked if we had seen “that video of a crow trying to get food out of a jar.”
“They [ACDC] could work that into the act,” Flans told him.
When asked what song was next, Linnell said that this was the first time in 30 years they had had a good segue for the song, and that it was about what they were just discussing.  Flans was clearly baffled, but Dan and Danny, who were looking off the setlists, were nodding and laughing behind Linnell.  “See, Dan and Danny know,” Linnell told Flans.
“I know they know,” Flans replied, a little frustrated “I wish I had a setlist in front of me so I could know too.”
The next song was as fitting as Linnell had said:  Birdhouse in Your Soul.  They then went straight into the Guitar, meaning two of the highest energy songs of the night were back to back.  Linnell was jumping around a lot, and his one ear monitor, which he had out of his ear and hanging fairly loose, bounced so much it almost hit him in the cheek.  While Flans was introducing the Future of Sound, asking us to put our hands together, Linnell “demonstrated” by pounding his two fists into each other.  Flans noticed and changed to copy him, telling us to put our fists together.  “Who will win?” Linnell asked, once we all were, effectively, punching ourselves.
“Left fist! Ow! Right fist! Ow!” Flans chanted rhythmically.  We all switched back to more conventional clapping as the Future of Sound began.  Linnell was basically responding to Curt’s trumpet using his Kaoss pad, but he also would bang his fists and head on the keyboard.    Altogether, it was the perfect blend of funny and musically interesting.  
After they wrapped up The Guitar Flans stepped back up to the mic to ask Linnell what song was next.  When Linnell told him it was off of Mink Car, he replied “Aww that’s not good.  That’s gonna mess up...it was going so well!”  Rather than go straight into the song, Flans told us that he loved Ithaca, and “I spent four-thousand dollars at an antique store today.”  He then began describing one of his acquisitions to us, a bottle labelled “lead and opium wash” which he has since posted to his instagram.   He told us that he was amazed that it was freely available for sale, since there was some liquid still left in the bottle.  “I could do without the lead,”  he announced, getting a laugh from the audience, “And I could probably do without the opium.”  Linnell noted that it was just like Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop,  “It will balance your chakra, and it’s also addictive!”
Flans told us that the strangest part was that it said “poison” on the bottle.  “Would you like to buy some poison?”  he asked us in a gravelly voice.  He moved on to speculate what exactly a lead and opium wash would do to him.
“There’s only one way to find out.” Linnell answered
The audience laughed, but Flans said “And that is pure research.”  Apparently this was a reference to a movie, but Flans couldn’t remember the title.  He described it as being about two identical twin scientists, and one of them going crazy.  Eventually Dan came up with the title (which I can’t remember) and Flans started to go on with his description, but then stopped, saying that he shouldn’t be telling us spoilers in front of Marty.  Marty protested that he had already seen the movie, but Flans went on to say that Marty is “so anti-spoiler that, even though we hadn’t seen the movie, mentioning the title of A Star Is Born was a spoiler because it revealed that a star was born.”  Linnell then relayed that Marty had seen the movie already, so Flans went on with his story.
He explained that in the movie, when the one brother goes crazy, the other brother is trying to cover for him, and so he tells everyone that he had moved to pure research.  According to Flans, he and Robin now use that term to refer to someone “flipping their shit.”  
Linnell then told Flans that he always claimed that he was researching a character “whenever I’m throwing a temper tantrum.”
Flans then asked Linnell what the next song was again.  Linnell told him it was from Mink Car, and Flans remembered “Oh right, and it’s going to ruin the energy of the show.” He paused, then added “More than this long, rambling…”  he trailed off and they started into Bangs, which sounded amazing and didn’t ruin the show’s energy at all.
From Bangs, the band started straight into Authenticity Trip, but Linnell wasn’t ready, and announced that he hadn’t come in when he was supposed to.  The band kept playing the opening refrain, obviously expecting him to join in so they could move on, but he made them stop and start over again because it was “what his character would do.”
After all but crawling on the ground during authenticity trip, Flans returned to his mic stand to call for some audience participation, since it was the part of the show where we got to be “masters of showmanship” like them.  He told us that when we heard the words “new song”  we had to pretend we were excited, “I know there’s nothing worse than hearing a band’s new songs,”  and cheer and throw our hands up in the air.  
We tried it, Flans announced that they were going to play a new song and we screamed for all we were worth.  Linnell, who was coming over to his accordion mic, pretended to be blown backwards by the noise.  Flans had us do it another time, then they played Let’s Get This Over With.  They segued into Doctor Worm from there.  In final verse, which Linnell usually does in that broken-sounding, croaky voice, he instead shouted the first word of each line over Flan’s backing vocals, which sounded really neat.
Linnell announced that the next song was one they hadn’t played yet on this tour, then paused and added “I don’t know why I’m telling you this.”
Flans told him it was so the audience would “get to see us looking at our hands.”  Rather than start the song from there, Flans told us more about his shopping trip, announcing “I bought my first piece of taxidermy today.”  
He described it as looking like a tiger, but much smaller.  He wasn’t sure what the actual animal was, and Linnell seemed skeptical from the description that it was real, and a bit put-off by the concept.
Flans had already worked out a plan for bring the thing home “Before I unwrap it, I’m going to tell R-- I’m going to tell my wife Robin that if she never wants to see it again, that’s fine, but if she likes it I’m gonna start waxing my mustache.”
Linnell told him that introducing taxidermy to a person was just like introducing a new song.  “You have to introduce it slowly, and if she stands up and claps you know it’s good.”
Danny, who had been looking anxious throughout the banter, stepped behind Linnell to ask if they were going to start or not.  “Danny wants to start the song,” Linnell told us, and made some reference to what his character would do before they began Museum of Idiots.  I’d never heard this live before, and it was fantastic.  I was especially enthused about the bassline, which is as amazing live as on the recording.  
As they finished, Linnell mentioned that he thought it had gone well before moving to get the contra alto clarinet from it’s stand.  Flans agreed with him, then introduced the instrument as being on the endangered species list.
“Like miniature taxidermied tigers,” Linnell shot back.  
This brought them onto the idea of a “miniature taxidermied contra alto clarinet.”  Flans decided that “once you make a taxidermied contra alto clarinet, you know everything there is to know about taxidermy.”  This got a huge cheer.  Danny then pointed out that this was another new song which Linnell relayed to the crowd and we cheered again as they started into All Time What.  I always love to watch Linnell joining Curt on his riser during this song.  Once he’s up there, he always bows to Curt, which is hilarious.
Linnell put the clarinet away as Flans announced they were coming to the end of their first set.  They played When Will You Die, during which Linnell included “and that’s Curt,” and moved on to Spy.
The beginning of the song was what I can only describe as a personality-filled intro from Curt.  It sounded amazing, but it was also clear that he was having a lot of fun with it.  He was stepping around Danny, angling his trumpet so it was aimed directly at his bass, and sometime out at the crowd.  As he finished and started to walk back to his drum riser, he turned and played a bit more over his shoulder before they started the song.  When it was Linnell’s turn to direct the ending he started by playing that “now the night is gone” alternate the band.  Then he switched to his crow imitations from earlier that night.  The next time he let the band go, Dan played the guitar riff from Back in Black (Because apparently he can just DO that!) When Danny looked over at him, surprised, Dan just shrugged like it was no big deal.  When Flans directed, he started by having Curt then Danny play really closely together, which they managed to an incredibly precise degree, eventually expanding to the rest of the band then bringing the audience into the mix.  We were a little slow on the uptake, but eventually got the hang of it, and Flans began to experiment with just how little he could move to cue the band or the audience.  By the end, he would sway just a fraction of a degree one way or another, his movement barely perceptible.  Eventually, he grew tired if it, and they finished the song, finishing out the first set.
A few people returned to their seats during the break, but most of us stayed where we were.  After Marty’s electronic drums had been set up, they were covered by a Canadian flag with a pot leaf in place of the maple leaf.  
After we all watched the Last Wave Video, Marty and the Johns returned to the stage, with Flans introducing the first song by telling us we “probably heard the title in 9th grade AP History Class.”
“Like all the songs in our second set,” he continued, “this song was written by George Soros.”  He explained that George Soros had written this song in the early 19th century because “he doesn’t age.”
Linnell jumped in to note that “As you can tell, we put our own spin on it,” before they started into Tippecanoe and Tyler Too.  
Flans told us that the next song was also by George Soros, but for this one, they were going into the future: 1844. Flans went on to reveal that at a meeting of their secret society, they had stolen the song for themselves before having Linnell introduce James K. Polk.
I believe it was at the end of Polk when a series of loud pops could be heard.  After they finished, Linnell turned to Flans and said he wanted to “make sure that wasn’t just me having an aneurysm.”  
Flans told him “It was all three of us having an aneurysm.”  Before learning that the PA had briefly gone out.  He told us all that the problem with that kind of noise is that “they have to happen an even number of times.”  He checked that everyone could hear him, then asked the people in the balcony if they could hear him.  When they cheered in response, he called up “Good! We thought you were just being nice!”  He then stepped forward and said in a much quieter, mumbling voice to the people up front “They can’t hear us.  They’re just being nice.”
By then, Curt had joined them onstage, with Flans introducing him, and getting the asked-for cheer when he told us they were about to play a new song, I Like Fun.  Watching them perform this, I noticed that Linnell has become a lot more confident with the contra alto clarinet since I first saw I Like Fun performed, which makes the song tighter and better-sounding overall.
The next song Flans introduced as being from September “awakening all of those fond September memories,”  and was, of course, Applause Applause Applause.  It was amazing! Marty got to use a whole lot of weird and wonderful sound effects on his electronic drums for it (bells, clicks, etc) and Curt’s trumpet sounded amazing in place of the sax on the dial-a-song version.
The last song of the Quiet Storm, introduced simply as being from Factory Showroom, was How Can I Sing Like A Girl.  Flans then reintroduced Curt as being on the trumpet AND the valve trombone, who began the intro to Istanbul downstage of Marty’s drum riser.  While he was blowing everyone away, Flans and Danny helped Fresh to move Marty’s electronic drums off the stage.  They finished with plenty of time to start Istanbul.  
As Curt returned to the drum riser, I noticed that his thumb was wrapped in gauze and secured with neon electrical tape.  I guess it made his a little clumsy, as he dropped his water bottle cap, which bounced off the riser out of his reach.  He looked at it for a moment, then shrugged and put the bottle down capless and continued with his part.  I hope it didn’t spill later on!
The song was capped off with two especially committed fake endings, the second one fooling me for a moment.  The final ending included a bit of Dan and Curt switching off lead, which is always one of my favorite concert moments.
Flans then moved upstage so they could do their phone call bit.  The phone ‘rang’ and Linnell apologized, saying he had to take it.  The call came from their new manager, Richard Face, who wanted to introduce himself.  
“Richard Face?” Linnell asked.
“That’s the name my mother gave me.”
“Your mother Mrs. Face?”
“MS. Face.  I was born in the 80s.” replied ‘Richard’
Linnell thought about that for a moment, then asked if his mother’s first name was Jerk.
“No.” was the only answer.
Linnell said he was glad to meet him, and then announced “our new manager!” to the audience.
‘Richard’ grumbled “I don’t know, I might sell your contract to Live Nation,” then ended the call.
The dial tone ended, and Linnell was about to move on, when the phone rang again.  Danny, from behind Linnell, looked over at Flans moved to sit on the edge of the drum riser, apparently deciding the bit might take awhile.
It was Richard Face once again. “Hello? Oh, that was a pocket dial.  I have to go buy a Chevy Volt.”  He said, and then the dial tone sounded once again.
Linnell chuckled, then explained “That was a call back to a conversation we had backstage.”
The phone rang once again.  This time ‘Richard’ was angry “I didn’t appreciate that comment about my mother.”
Linnell told him it wasn’t a comment at all, but “pure research” and the dial tone sounded again.  This time, Flans kept pressing and letting go of the button, so the sound stopped and started repeatedly.  “I don’t know if we’re done with this segment or not,” Linnell told us after it had gone on for a few seconds.  This prompted Flans to stop pressing the button and walk away to begin the next song.  After a few steps though, he stopped, looked over at Linnell, and reached back to press the dial tone one more time.  He moved away once again, and Linnell introduced the next song as “about an ancient near-eastern rock band that had a TV show on at 8:30/7:30 central when I was growing up.”  This, of course, led into The Mesopotamians, and from there straight into Why Does The Sun Shine?.
The song was going along with amazing energy, Danny was absolutely killing it, and Flans had the lyrics.  Then, it was time for Linnell to share the sun facts.  In the driest, slowest, most high-school-teacher drone, he began.  It was the funniest thing I had ever heard, especially in contrast to the loud, fast song.  I’ve forgotten bits of it because I was laughing too hard (and because it’s hard to sort between nights...shh).  The highlights:
“The sun i so hot that everything on it is a gas aluminum, uhhhh copper….metal, gas.  Gas is a gas on the sun.”
“It’s 93...miles away.  The sun is 93 miles away.”
“Scientists...they say they’re scientists”
“is caused by the nucleus.  That’s all I know.”
At the end of his last fact, it was clear everyone else on stage was waiting for him to say more.  He finally said, in that same, slow voice “I’m done.  You can play the rest of the song now.”
They did, and moved from there straight in to She’s An Angel, which started with just Linnell’s voice.  
After it was over Dan, who was on his acoustic, played a few chords.  Flans heard him and said “That’s right, we’re moving up the half step,” and they started into Number Three.  During the song, Flans almost smacked his guitar into Danny’s face!  He noticed at the last minute nad moved it out of the way, but it was a near thing.
Dan left the stage briefly while they played Don’t Let’s Start, then returned as they played Whistling in the Dark and Let Me Tell You About My Operation without pause.  Flans then went up to the mic and told us that it was almost the end of the show and that he had three stage announcements to make “Let’s see if I can remember them all.”  He ticked the announcements off on his fingers as he went. The first announcement was that “this next song is available for download at our website, which is 1-800 GOT JUNK.”  The second was that the IFC was open for the next few weeks.  Flans didn’t say much about it, telling us it was our responsibility to “do some digging.”  
The third wasn’t much of an announcement.  Flans asked for the house lights to be turned up so he could thank some people individually.  He thanked maybe 4 or 5 people, but the one that stands out is when he thanked the guy in a Science Is Real shirt.  Flans thanked him for supporting their political agenda, and then went on a rant pretending to be a guy who hates when bands went political.  It was muttered into the mic, tight and fast, and demanded that band “get in line and accept this dystopian hellscape that we life in,” and made an appropriate introduction to The Communists Have The Music, which is amazing live, and finished out the set.
They were back soon for the first encore.  They played Twisting, and then Flans told us it was time to introduce the band.  Curt, Dan, Danny, and Marty all were introduced and wowed us with their respective skill in turn.  I was really happy about this long-form introductions, because I felt like it really gave each of them a chance to shine.  After the introductions Linnell, who had been standing upstage on the far side of the drum riser, returned to the keyboard and said into the mic “You guys hurt my feelings!” The audience laughed, some cheered for him too, and one person shouted that we loved him as well.  “Not you guys,” Linnell responded indicating the crowd.
I believe it was here that the Johns discussed playing in Baltimore the next night.  Flans told us the name of the venue was “Curt Ramm’s Head Live.”  
Linnell added that they didn’t know if it was all just in Curt’s head, or if was a real place.  They would only know when they got there “And maybe not even then!”  They finished out the encore with the always beautiful End of the Tour, then left the stage.
As they came back on stage, Flans went straight up to the mic.  He told us they were playing in New York City on Saturday. He told us that they would play different songs at that show “but not too many,” and said that if we knew anyone on the other side of the state, we should tell them about it.  He then announced the next song as being by the band Cub, and about New York City.  After New York City, Flans announced the next song as being the b-side from their 1987 single and they ended the night with Hey Mr. DJ.
Before the house music had even switched on, Fresh was bringing the case of stickers on stage.  Marty, Danny and Flans all came out onstage.  Danny came over to me to shake my hand and say hello (he’s so nice!) before he joined Marty and Flans giving away stickers.
They didn’t have much luck.  Aside from those of us at the very front, most of the crowd left right away.  As things cleared out, Flans looked across the house at the people leaving and shouted “Hey!” trying to get them to come back and take their stickers.  I got a setlist from Danny and left, walking on air.
A brief, post concert note: After a bit of unpleasantness trying to leave, I finally got to my car.  As I stopped at the garage’s entrance, I saw Dan walking into the hotel across the street!
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queenofmoons67 · 6 years
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The World Knows Our Name
Summary: More than a decade in the future an incident reveals werewolves to the world. As the True Alpha, the American 'wolf community pushes Scott forward as their main representative, throwing the entire McCall Pack into the spotlight as people try to figure out what to do with this revelation.
Notes: This happens a little more than a decade in the future, when Scott is thirty years old. This was written before season six aired.
It is the 11th fic in my series “The Strength of the Wolf is the Pack”. It can be read without reading the others, but for those who have read them: because it takes place in the future, the pack hierarchy has changed and more people have joined it, while others have left (sorry, but I didn't think the McCall Pack could last ten years without a death).
The new hierarchy, in order, is: Scott, Kira, Stiles, Derek, Melissa, the Sheriff, Chris, Liam, Hayden, Mason, Lydia, Isaac, Malia, Braeden, Parrish, Corey, Ethan, Danny, Brett, Lori, Naomi (OC), Jackson, Marshall (OC).
The title is adapted from Hamilton's "Alexander Hamilton".
WARNING: There is a mention of self-harm in this fic. There is another warning right before the paragraph it's in, and it's easy to skip.
The truth began as a rumor no one believed, spreading for the simple fact that it seemed impossible. A werewolf, they whispered. With yellow glowing eyes and claws and fangs. A werewolf's been found in Virginia.
The truth began as a horror story no one wanted to believe, spreading for the simple fact that more danger lay in not believing and being caught off guard. An omega, they whispered. Trapped in a jail cell on his second full moon with no alpha and no control. An omega's the death of us all.
The truth… the truth was online for everyone to see in full technicolor HD video within a week, and when the rumor and horror story became truth, the only surprise anyone really had was that it took that long. Then the truth set in, and so did the panic.
Scott yawned as he rolled over in bed, the ringing phone piercing his sensitive ears. "Mm… what time is it?" Kira murmured from beside him, eyes still shut.
"Two am," her mate replied softly, thumbing the answer button. "Scott McCall, may I - mmph," the alpha rubbed sleep from his eyes, trying not to yawn. "May I ask who's calling?"
"Turn on your TV."
"Wha- Satomi?"
"Yes."
"What are you - what are you calling so late for?"
"Turn on your TV, Alpha McCall."
This woke him up fully. She always called him Scott unless there was a serious reason, usually one that also required her deferring authority to him. "What channel?"
"Any of them, though a news channel would be best." Scott nodded, though he knew she couldn't see him, and flipped the TV on while making sure his worry didn't flow through the pack bonds, ignoring the click over the line that told him the other alpha had hung up.
"- Has been transferred to a high security prison. One can only hope that it's enough to hold him," a news anchor stated.
"You don't think he deserves the benefit of the doubt? Callie, he was only in jail in the first place for being in the middle of a bar fight he didn't even start."
"That may be true, but have you considered what might have happened if the deputies hadn't managed to stun him? He could have killed someone! As it is, one of the young officers remains in the hospital with severe injuries."
Slowly, Scott reached over and shook his mate. "Kira…" he said lowly, not taking his eyes from the TV as he sensed her stir.
"We don't automatically sentence people to prison for being criminally insane, we give them a trial," the second anchor argued. "We can do no less for him when he obviously had no control over his actions."
"This is…" Kira whispered, trailing off. Scott nodded anyway, knowing exactly how she felt. Until now, there had been hope that it was a lie, or that no one would believe the rumors. The news had discussed it jokingly, but now they were completely serious, trusting the story. There was nothing funny about it now.
Muting the TV, the alpha turned to his mate. "We need to prepare for the worst, more than we already have."
Kira nodded, slipping out of bed and throwing on jeans and a sweatshirt. "I'll get the adults up and in the War Room. Can you get the pups?"
"Yeah. I'll try and break it to them gently, calm them down. Do you…" Scott took a deep breath, considering the past and possible future events. "Do you think we should head out into the Preserve? Get the pack away from civilization, just in case? Or stick it out?"
"Stick it out," the kitsune stated firmly. "But pack easy-to-grab bags just in case."
With that, she headed out, while Scott pulled on clothes and kept thinking. He knew his mate was right, that wasn't a question. It had been the answer he was leaning towards anyway, as he now knew why Satomi had figuratively bowed to him. As the True Alpha, with a reputation before he even left for college, once he'd left school for good the 'wolf community had dragged him in deeper. Now filling a position similar to the one Talia Hale had held, he couldn't just leave - not even for the protection of his own pack. The 'wolves that would stay - the majority, he suspected, as it wasn't in their nature to run and hide - would turn to him and his pack for support and guidance.
The truth was that werewolves existed, and everyone knew it. There was no hiding from that, whether you were human or 'wolf.
Scott slipped silently from the master bedroom and moved down the hall. The door to the automatic right of his own was open, lamp light spilling softly out, and he knew Kira had decided to wake Stiles first. They'd split up - his mate probably staying on this floor to wake Derek, Melissa, the Sheriff, Liam, Mason, and their mates, while Stiles headed down one floor for Lydia, Parrish, Isaac, Malia, Ethan, Brett, Jackson, and their mates - and meet him and the pups in the War Room. Nicknamed by Stiles as such because it was the only room in the McCall Pack's Den big enough for everyone to sit down, with a giant conference table in the middle, they had planned everything from battles to dinners to marriages in there. But nothing like this. Never anything like this.
Scott paused outside a door two down from his own, willing away the fear-provoked red eyes. He didn't need to cause chaos the moment he stepped in the room.
Opening the door, he moved inside and whispered, simultaneously tugging on their pack bonds, "Lori. Naomi. Wake up."
Two pairs of glowing yellow eyes opened, both girls sitting up to take in their alpha as the flare eased. At the sight of them safe and uninjured, something in Scott eased. Despite both of them being in their mid-twenties, only a few years younger than Liam and already graduated from college, they were two of the three youngest in the pack, as well as two of the newest additions. Both taken together had caused quite a few protective urges in the older 'wolves, and no matter how many times they proved they could take care of themselves and weren't teenagers anymore, it would take several more years and a few more new additions until they stopped being "pups" to everyone.
"Come with me. We're getting Marshall, having a talk, and then meeting everyone else in the War Room."
The girls shared a glance, but followed him.
Marshall, unlike Lori and Naomi, was a pup in every sense of the word. Seventeen years old, he'd only been bitten by Scott a few months before when they'd found him dying in the woods from hypothermia (unfortunately, dying or in mortal danger seemed to be the state of every person Scott bit, from Liam and Hayden to Marshall and Naomi, who Lori had begged Scott to bite after a terrible car accident nearly took her life a few years back). Somehow, he'd managed to convince his parents to let him move into the Den. Part of it, Scott knew, had to do with him rooming with Jackson, whose parents were good friends with Marshall's parents. But otherwise, the alpha didn't have a clue - he knew his mother would never have allowed it, though then again, having first Peter the murdering psychopath and then Derek the doom and gloom murder suspect as an alpha were extremely different circumstances from having Scott the veterinarian (not that Marshall's parents knew the truth anyway).
Scott peeped into the room the last pup shared with Jackson, noting that the older beta was gone already. Stiles must have woken him already. "Marshall," he whispered, tugging on his pack bond like he had the other pups'. "Wake up."
The entire McCall Pack - twenty-three people strong - sat in silence around the table in the War Room. Emotions surged back and forth across the pack bonds, rebounding off each other, multiplying in strength - panic, fear, disbelief, anger. Scott and Kira had explained the situation and what the plans so far were, but with no one outside the pack knowing they were werewolves the best they could do was act normal and hope for the best. If no more werewolves were found, nothing would happen except a lot of speculation, possibly the passing of laws that would never affect them.
More werewolves were found. Or rather, old hunter families like the Calaveras and the Campbells got their information out there through the Internet, the media, any way they could guarantee that it would spread quickly. Within a day of the original video release, over fifty packs worldwide had been revealed to the public, along with the knowledge that more than just werewolves existed. Of the packs caught in the crosshairs of the rising panic, the McCall Pack knew the majority and had treaties with ten of them spanning across Mexico, the United States, and Canada. The only reason they themselves hadn't been revealed in the information dump was that Chris's treaty with the Calaveras still stood. The truth was out there, and the McCall Pack couldn't just sit back and watch their world - their friends - turn to ash.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Stiles whispered, glancing out at the podium with the spotlight and cameras shining down on it and then back to Scott. "You don't have to. We can start out slow, if at all, and-"
"Yes, he does, and yes, he is," Satomi and Derek chorused, both glaring at Scott's right hand.
"Geez, sorry," he muttered, raising his hands in the universal 'I-give-up' gesture. "I just wanted to make sure."
"I know," Scott nodded. "But they're right. Even if I wasn't a True Alpha, I'm bound by treaties ten times over to help. There's no choice to make."
The moment Scott stepped on the stage, Kira by his side, the reporters and city leaders in the audience snapped to attention. The pack hadn't revealed much about the press conference, only sending out invitations stating that it was 'wolf related, knowing that would be enough.
"Many of you know us," the alpha began. "But for those who don't, I'm Scott McCall, Beacon Hills veterinarian."
"And I'm Kira, a science professor at Beacon Hills College and Scott's mate."
"Yes, mate," Scott continued. "I'm also the alpha of the McCall Pack. Our territory occupies about half of Beacon Hills, including the Preserve from the city line in."
"We're revealing ourselves today," Kira picked up, "because of the crisis facing the 'wolf community. Anyone in need of help of any kind, whether it is understanding our world or facing prosecution with who you are revealed, you can come to us. We'll do our best to help. Any questions?"
One reporter shouted, "How do we know you're telling the truth?"
The video of Scott and Kira, standing strong side by side, flashing red and orange irises garnered a record number of views on YouTube.
They had all thought things were going as fast as they could, but it didn't take long after the press conference to figure out they were wrong. Kira, and several other member of the pack guessed to be 'wolves just by association, lost their jobs. Marshall's parents refused all contact with him. Other alphas followed Scott's example, trying to show people trust in the hope they would return it. Others turned and ran, entire sections of communities all over the world disappearing without a trace overnight. The number of gun sales in the United States skyrocketed, and the amount of wolfsbane being imported into the cities was so large the scent of it followed the 'wolves wherever they went. But the final tipping points happened within the same hour as each other.
Kira, Derek, and Chris sat in the kitchen enjoying lunch, the TV on in the background and the voices of news anchors humming lowly. The pack's left hand, about to take a bite of his sandwich, suddenly jerked in his seat and whirled to face the screen, wolf blazing its way to the surface. A clawed hand grabbed the remote, muscles tense as he held back to avoid crushing it, and began turning the volume up. Blue eyes peered out from a jutting brow, entirely focused on the news. Kira and Chris exchanged startled glances. Whatever had scared Derek was cause for serious worry.
"- His condition has worsened, his body refusing to heal itself, and the doctors say he is not expected to make it," a voice reached a level regular ears could hear clearly.
"This is a grave day for us all," the second news anchor added. "This attack demonstrates the lowest humans can go. When frightened, we're no better than the animals the majority of us claim the werewolves are."
"And yet, Evan," Callie - Kira recognized her from that first night - continued, "We must ask ourselves if it's not a push in the right direction. Alvin Coleman has just been declared dead on arrival. Cause of death? A beta werewolf, completely in control of herself an entire two and a half weeks before the next full moon, ripped his throat out on the street."
"But you can't say he was completely innocent. Witnesses say the attack was provoked by multiple barbs, and the beta ignored him the best she could for several minutes."
"She tore his throat out with her teeth. There's nothing innocent about that, just pure savagery."
"Scott?" Chris asked into his phone, thumb on the mute button, eyes watching Derek and Kira. "The omega was just attacked in prison. And a beta killed someone in broad daylight. I suggest you get the pack home safely and then contact other alphas. We need to do something before this gets anymore out of control than it already is."
Seconds after Scott ended his call with Chris, his phone rang again. Frowning down at a number he didn't recognize, Scott answered it anyway.
"Alpha McCall?" a stranger's voice asked.
"Yes?"
"Alpha McCall, this is Alpha Quinn. I'm calling on behalf of the American Packs. Since the igniting incident, all that has come out of waiting for things to calm down has been chaos. I have discussed with multiple other alphas doing something that has never been done before - electing one alpha to represent us all. In the light of today's events, we came to a decision and reached out to other packs to make sure they were in agreement. They are."
"I never received a call," Scott frowned.
"That is because you are the agreement, Alpha McCall. Congratulations, you have been elected to the new position Representative of Werewolf Packs in the United States." Scott breathed in sharply, eyes widening and flashing red in recognition of the responsibility laid at his feet. "After this conversation, I will be contacting President Sandoval and letting her know of this development. I would expect a call soon after. Any questions you have can be directed to Alpha Ito. Do you understand and accept this position?"
Doing so would place his pack in the spotlight as a prime target for hunters, even more than they already were. Doing so would put them in the best place to help, especially with a pack as diverse as theirs. They were more than capable, Scott thought. He hoped. He knew. "Yes."
"Thank you, Alpha McCall. And good luck."
There was a click as Alpha Quinn hung up, but Scott barely noticed, too busy locking up the clinic and hurrying home.
Scott wandered the halls that night, senses reaching out to try and settle the red occasionally taking over the brown in his eyes. Kira, the scent of her lightning and the steel of her sword engrained within the very walls of the Den. Stiles, his heart beating just a little bit faster than everyone else even in sleep. Derek and Braeden, their scents entwined after more than a decade as mates. His mom and Chris, her distinct hospital smell mixed with his gunpowder from a marriage of five years. The Sheriff, an affectionate nickname now as he'd finally retired and become a consultant only a year before, snoring loudly. Liam and Hayden, in training to become the alpha pair when he and Kira eventually died as the more experienced of the four betas who could actually inherit his True Alpha power, sleeping and, judging by their steady heartbeats, without nightmares. Mason, who had taken over Deaton's position as Pack Emissary after the druid died in a car crash of all things, his job obvious to anyone with a good sense of smell and the right knowledge. Corey, who Mason had finally convinced to officially join the pack a year before the chimera proposed, his reptilian scent mixing perfectly with his husband's herbs.
Lydia and Parrish, banshee and hellhound, hearts beating in sync. Isaac, Ethan, Danny, and Jackson - three betas and one non-supernatural who'd all left at one point and returned home safely, their scents part of that unique McCall Pack smell. Malia, the lone source of the coyote smell in the Den. Brett, who'd gradually transitioned from Satomi's pack to his over the college years, and brought his sister Lori with him, their hearts beating similar tunes despite being on different floors. Naomi and Marshall, one fully integrated to the pack and the other still adjusting, still learning, but both their scents screaming McCall Pack.
WARNING: MENTION OF SELF-HARM IN THE NEXT PARAGRAPH.
Satisfied that his entire pack was safe in the Den, the red faded entirely from Scott's eyes, but he didn't stop his wandering - which was, he admitted to himself, not wandering at all but guarding and marking his territory with each brush of his arm against the wall. There should have been more. As big a pack as they were, there should have been more. Allison, Aiden. Erica and Boyd. Deaton, of course, and… Scott hesitated, not wanting to go down that path. No matter how much the guilt had been relieved by pack members, it was still a dark road and one that, without fail, would send tendrils of pain carving their way down the pack bonds. The alpha breathed sharply, claws piercing his hands and the pain bringing him back to himself before he could think the name. The emotional pain, for the moment, pushed back by the physical.
Scott hurried through the Den, eased open the door, and bolted for the woods their home bordered. Within the safety of its trees, he dropped to all fours. A midnight run would, hopefully, clear his mind of past pains and future worries and burdens enough for him to get some sleep before his flight to Washington, D.C. in the morning.
"Don't go," Liam pleaded, panic and fear pulsing in his bond. Next to him, Hayden stood still, the same emotions emanating from her own bond, but eyes wide with understanding.
"They have to, Liam," she whispered, curling her fingers between his and squeezing.
"I'm not ready to… to… be you!" his first bitten beta cried.
Scott shook his head, smiling softly. "You'll be alpha eventually, and this practice run means you get to try it out with me coming back as a safety net. Besides, you won't actually be an alpha - you'll just be in command. And Stiles will still be here, and my mom and the Sheriff. And you have Hayden to support and advise you. Liam, you'll be fine. Besides, you've done stuff like this before."
"Not like this," Liam muttered, but still nodded shakily, his bond settling a little.
"Come here," the alpha commanded, opening his arms for a hug. The two betas gladly stepped into it, sighing as they felt his fingers run through their hair, curl around the backs of their necks, and finally squeeze tight around their bodies. They had watched him do it with their pack mates, and so had Derek, Kira, and Chris - instinct telling them to scent mark the ones they left behind more than they usually did, especially when they had no idea how long the trip would take.
Getting to D.C. wasn't the problem, as President Sandoval had sent a private plane. When they arrived, though, the press bombarded them the best they could considering the security surrounding them. All of them wanted to know why the president would go to such trouble for a group of people from Beacon Hills, California. All it took was one person recognizing him and Kira from the YouTube video the week before, and then the scene became more chaotic than it already was.
"Alpha McCall! Why did the president summon you to D.C.?"
"Alpha McCall! How could you leave the rest of your pack weakened without four of its top members? I thought pack protocol went against that."
"Werewolf! Are you here to defend your kind?"
"Alpha McCall! Has the president asked for the bite? Are you going to give it to her?"
"Alpha McCall! Is it true your bite has killed someone before?"
All the other questions, the sensory overload from the camera flashes and yelling, all that the pack could weather with little trouble. But at the last question, the pain that ripped through all the pack bonds from their alpha had Derek turning on the source, eyes blazing electric blue, fangs snapping in warning, a growl rumbling in his chest. The entire mass stilled, security unsure who they should defend and the reporters' eyes wide in fear. The spell broke when Scott stepped up to his beta, murmuring words so quiet only the 'wolves could hear them, and rested a hand on his shoulder. Security, assured that no one was about to be mauled, took the chance to push the reporters back - not that they were protesting much. Derek's eyes faded and his fangs vanished. Standing staunchly at his alpha's shoulder, mirrored on the other side by Kira and Chris, the four members of the McCall Pack made their way to the car waiting for them without further incident.
"Scott?" Kira murmured inside the car.
"Hmm?"
"Are you ok?"
"I will be. I have to be."
Derek, his anger closer to the surface ever since the world learned about werewolves and the omega was attacked and killed in prison, growled, "How did they even find out?"
"Medical reports?" Chris suggested. "His death was labeled as an animal attack, and it probably didn't take long for people to figure out most of those were actually supernatural. Taking into account the one bite, the fact he was found on McCall territory, and after Scott became an alpha… It wouldn't be hard to guess."
Scott nodded, mind flashing back unwillingly. His death. Dustin's death. A young boy, not even a teenager, out playing in the woods alone, unaware that another pack had made a move on the McCall Pack's territory and the preserve wasn't safe that night. He had, they guessed, heard the sound of fighting and, like all young kids that age, decided to investigate instead of running away. He'd run straight into the claws of a beta from the other pack fleeing the battle. Scott hadn't found him until after, when he'd bled too much to have a chance at the hospital and Scott… Scott had bitten him, hoping and praying that his youth and strength would turn him and save his life. They hadn't.
Like all other werewolf related things those days, the video went viral (though not as much as the picture of Alpha McCall shaking the president's hand on the steps of the White House did).
The next few weeks scraped by. Scott, as the True Alpha and Representative of Werewolf Packs in the United States, Kira, as his mate, Derek, as a born wolf, and Chris, as a hunter who found himself a member of a werewolf pack, found their days filled with explaining to and arguing with congressmen, Supreme Court justices, representatives of the House, and every other government official imaginable why, exactly, werewolves were people, deserved the same civil rights as everyone else, and did not need to be systematically hunted down and imprisoned, if not killed, by the United States Army. Most agreed with them, at least on some level, but there was always someone in the room who firmly believed they would eventually go to hell and there was no reason not to send them there early.
At the same time, Alpha McCall found himself fielding calls from 'wolves - omegas, betas, and alphas - across the country on issues, as well as calls from the Representatives of Werewolf Packs in other countries around the world to discuss what they needed to do (the formation of RPAW, Representatives of Packs Around the World, had been fairly quick). One of the first things they did was create and release "So Your Neighbor's a Werewolf" and "A Guide for Werewolves: How to Handle Your Entirely Non-Werewolf Neighbor's Issues With You". They may not have made much impact in resolving the riots, shootings, and maulings, but they did drastically decrease the number of calls and allowed the Representatives to focus on resolving those.
In the end, though, things didn't start calming down because of something RPAW did, but rather because of They Are Human Too, or TAHT. Their non-supernatural pack members, the McCall Pack members in D.C. learned, had not been sitting idly by (not that they thought they were, they just hadn't thought they were doing something quite this big). Led by Stiles and Melissa, TAHT had become immensely popular in Beacon Hills, quickly spread throughout California, and then went country and world-wide simultaneously, though slowly, with the non-supernatural members of other packs joining the charge. People who, for years, had been ignorant of the werewolf community only to find their families and best friends part of it, barely hesitated. With a movement to get behind, the people arguing werewolves were all monsters soon found themselves vastly outnumbered.
There would always be problems, they all knew that. Regardless of how many people accepted their werewolf friends, most remained at least a little wary. The Census of American Werewolves, with jail time if it was discovered you didn't reveal yourself, would likely pass. No one wanted unknown concealed claws and fangs any more than they did non-permitted concealed guns. Other laws meant only for werewolves would, over the coming months and years, be introduced as well. RPAW and TAHT would pick their battles carefully and fight the ones necessary. Some would pass anyway. Some wouldn't. For the moment, though, the McCall Pack - for the first time in two months - would be whole.
Note: You can find the complete series of “The Strength of the Wolf is the Pack” on AO3, and a list of all the fics’ summaries on Tumblr.
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eddycurrents · 6 years
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For the week of 19 March 2018
Quick Bits:
30 Days of Night #4 gets into the first assault on Barrow from the vampires. It’s bloody and beautifully illustrated by Piotr Kowalski.
| Published by IDW
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Avengers #685 is a whole load of fun and despair as a large portion of the US Avengers team (and Lightning, Vision, and Quicksilver) attempt to stave off the assault of the Immortal Hulk. It really feels like we’re headed towards the endgame now and the braintrust of Mark Waid, Jim Zub, and Al Ewing are just churning out an epic. Also, the art from Paco Medina, Juan Velasco, and Jesus Aburtov is gorgeous.
| Published by Marvel
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Avengers: Back to Basics #2 concludes the first arc with Iron Man, Hulk, and Thor attempting to stop Fenris and the Disir from bringing about Ragnarok. It’s a fun and action-oriented story from Peter David, with some great humorous moments, and the art from Brian Level (with colours by Jordan Boyd) is pretty much worth the price of the book alone. Great panel compositions and page layouts that greatly help the issue’s story feel meaty.
| Published by Marvel
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Big Trouble in Little China: Old Man Jack #7 gets us close to the end, but of course it’s not as easy as rescuing Egg Shen and defeating Ching Dai, there has to be funny misadventures, in-fighting, and heaps of betrayal.
| Published by BOOM! Studios
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Cable #155 is pretty damn great. It begins the “Past Fears” arc from the new creative team of Zac Thompson, Lonnie Nadler, Germán Peralta, and Jesus Aburtov and leaps headlong into Cable’s past mixing it up with some body horror. Thompson and Nadler have a nice grasp on Cable and Hope’s characters, showing off their heart and stubbornness. Peralta’s art puts the book over the top, though. 
| Published by Marvel
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Dark Fang #5 brings to an end the first arc of the series, finally giving the lead character a name in-story itself. It’s a bizarre approach to vampires from Miles Gunter, almost like a twisted Disney fairy tale, but it’s entertaining and has some great artwork from Kelsey Shannon.
| Published by Image
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Death of Love #2 features more wacky hijinks as Philo tells his friends about seeing the little Cherubs/Cupidae and...naturally they don’t believe him. It just gets more absurd from there as Justin Jordan and Donal DeLay push the series into new and more disturbing territory.
| Published by Image
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Dept. H #24 ends what has been a good series with a nice bit of quiet reflection, Mia reminiscing about her father, her first case, and morality as she struggles upward for that last leg of survival.
| Published by Dark Horse
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Dissonance #2 dives deeper into the machinations of the Fantasmen as they plot and scheme to control humanity. Singgih Nugoro and Ryan Cady are laying it on pretty thick, while making you wonder what all of it is truly for.
| Published by Image / Top Cow - Glitch
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Doctor Strange: Damnation #3 is basically an issue’s long fight between the damned Avengers and the Midnight Sons. There’s some nice character bits and humour thrown in. Plus, a seemingly most ineffective plan.
| Published by Marvel
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Evolution #5 sees Joe Infurnari and Jordan Boyd step up their game, and the art on the series was already incredible. It seems as we go on, the designs and presentation of the infected just get more and more impressive.
| Published by Image / Skybound
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Harrow County #29 returns with the beginning of the end. Emmy is trying to come to terms with her actions in the last arc, while Hester’s return heralds more nightmares to come. Tyler Crook’s artwork is stellar, horrifying and evocative, elevating the terror with each subsequent panel.
| Published by Dark Horse
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Ice Cream Man #3 is weird, trading in the more traditional horror notes of the past couple of issue for absurdist science fantasy, following a washed-up, fading musician who penned a one-hit wonder as he fades into obscurity. W. Maxwell Prince’s story gets pretty strange, but it allows for Martín Morazzo to really flex his muscles.
| Published by Image
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Infinity 8 #1 begins adapting in English and North America’s standard comics format the Infinity 8 series that was previously published by Rue de Sèvres, created by Lewis Trondheim and Olivier Vatine. Part of the pitch for the book is an 8-part series each containing three issue arcs. The 8 parts certainly play into the structure of the story as each part will be done by a different creative team, and focus on a recursive time loop of agents exploring a debris field.
This first arc, written by Lewis Trondheim and Zep with art by Dominique Bertail, focuses on Agent Yoko Keren, a woman looking for a compatible mate among the ship’s crew so she can get pregnant and basically retire better off than she is currently. She gets to be the first guinea pig for the Captain’s time loop exploration of the debris, and it gets a bit weird when some of the ship’s complement of aliens decide that eating it is of the utmost importance. This story is weird sci-fi in the vein of Heavy Metal, but to me the draw is Bertail’s art. I’ve really been enjoying Bertail’s art in Ghost Money and he proves equally adept with wacky space stuff.
| Published by Lion Forge / Magnetic Collection
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Iron Fist #78 jumps head first into Danny’s unresolved issues in what’s probably the best Damnation tie-in thus far. Ed Brisson uses the chaos of the event and the trigger of the penance stare to dredge up Danny’s feelings and reactions to what he considers his loss and failures, giving some really deep cuts into continuity in an organic, natural fashion. The art from Damian Couceiro and Andy Troy is also up to the heavy lifting. The layouts and panel designs at the beginning of the book as Danny navigates the surreal landscape of his memories and fears are particularly impressive.
| Published by Marvel
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James Bond: The Body #3 has some great art by Rapha Lobosco, in the first of two series that have his work this week. His art is in a similar style to Eduardo Risso and it lends itself well to this dark tale of neo-Nazi arms dealers from Aleš Kot.
| Published by Dynamite
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Kick-Ass #2 asks some important questions as Patience backslides into justifications for her criminal behaviour. Mark Millar steps up the moral quandary from just the vigilantism of the original Kick-Ass, even as she later protects a child from an abusive father figure.
| Published by Image
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Lucy Dreaming #1 is fun. For starters, it’s nice to see Michael Dialynas again on another sci-fi/fantasy series after The Woods, even if it is just a limited series. His art naturally lends itself to the fantastical and it pays off in spades in this first issue, with nice designs for aliens, starships, and more. It’s also great that Max Bemis is bringing more of that weirdness and altered realities from his works like Centipede here. I’m really looking forward to seeing where this goes from here.
| Published by BOOM! Studios
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The Mighty Thor #705 will break your heart. Epic storytelling and gorgeous art. Jason Aaron, Russell Dauterman, and Matthew Wilson should be proud.
| Published by Marvel
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Ninja-K #5 brings the battle to the Acclimation Bureau and sparks off a deadly confrontation between Ninja-C and Ninjak. Christos Gage and Tomás Giorello bring this first arc to a stylish conclusion.
| Published by Valiant
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Pathfinder: Spiral of Bones #1 brings the adventuring party back for a new expedition, this time far beneath Kaer Maga, the City of Strangers. Crystal Frasier is a new voice to the Pathfinder comics, but old hat to the roleplaying game, so she slides in nicely to the writer’s chair here. There’s a good amount of set-up and humorous banter as the Iconic character Imrijka is introduced in the comic as an old friend of Valeros.
| Published by Dynamite
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Punks Not Dead #2 gets into more of Fergie’s ordinary life and the supporting cast of characters at his school and beyond. David Barnett fleshes them out fairly well, setting up some interesting hooks for what might be coming next. Combined with Martin Simmonds artwork, this series really is a must buy for anyone who enjoyed the British supernatural flavour of mid to late ‘90s Vertigo or the later series Vinyl Underground.
| Published by IDW / Black Crown
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Regression #8 sees Adrian explore the nature of the cult and their grounds a bit more, although there is a weird bit in that he’s seemingly all right with the past lives, the demons, the cult itself and such, but apparently an orgy is a bridge too far. Death, murder, and demons are copacetic, but as soon as sex is introduced, Adrian wants to bug out. I’m hoping that Cullen Bunn does more with that theme in a future issue.
| Published by Image
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Rumble #4 mainly deals with the fallout from Bobby’s injuries, with John Arcudi penning a growing divide between Rathraq and Del. David Rubín’s art perfectly capturing the insanity and the heart of the entire situation.   
| Published by Image
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Runaways #7 begins the “Best Friends Forever” arc with the team trying to adjust to their new status quo and “normal” life. Rainbow Rowell is great at these kinds of interpersonal relationships and it makes for an entertaining read.
| Published by Marvel
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The Spider King #2 is more glorious madness blending Vikings and bizarre alien technology. The artwork from Simone D’Armini just fits this action perfectly.
| Published by IDW
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Summit #4 concludes the first story arc, with Val coming to the realization of Lorena’s motivations and Foresight’s shadiness that readers of the broader Catalyst Prime line already know. It comes a bit suddenly after a moment of misdirection, but it makes more story sense to get Val back to her friends at the MIT labs.
| Published by Lion Forge / Catalyst Prime
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Tales of Suspense #103 is that issue that tells us exactly what has been going on with Black Widow while Hawkeye and Winter Soldier have been running around chasing after her body count. It’s kind of dark and has some fairly complicated potential Alien Resurrection style implications. Matthew Rosenberg still throws in some humour with Ursa Major, but this one’s really an opportunity for Travel Foreman to showcase some of the darker end of his skill set.
| Published by Marvel
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TMNT Universe #20 continues the excellent “Service Animals” arc from Ian Flynn, Dave Wachter, and Ronda Pattison that’s getting to the core of what Null has been doing, and providing an interesting, humanizing look at Raphael and Alopex. The art from Wachter and Pattison is wonderful. There’s also a great back-up from Matthew K. Manning, Adam Gorham, and Brittany Peer that tells a humorous and heartfelt tale of Raph trying to get some sleep.
| Published by IDW
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Thanos #17 is the penultimate chapter of “Thanos Wins”, featuring both Thanoses against the Fallen One, with a few surprise guests. Geoff Shaw really gets the opportunity again to showcase just how damn good he is at action and spectacle.
| Published by Marvel
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Usagi Yojimbo: The Hidden #1 is the first of the series to follow the series of series format Dark Horse tends to use for Mike Mignola’s Hellboy universe. Regardless of the approach, this still has the same great Stan Sakai taste. Ostensibly we’re dealing with some fugitives, and a secret package, being tracked down by agents of the shogunate, but we’re light on details so far and high on mystery.
| Published by Dark Horse
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Vampirella #11 is the second of the books illustrated by Rapha Lobosco this week as he and Jeremy Whitley bring this current volume to a close. This issue serves as a recap of Vicki’s adventures with Vampirella as she comes to a new understanding of herself, opening up to find a solution for the fake heaven and missing God problem.
| Published by Dynamite
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Weapon H #1 is probably better than any one would have thought as ridiculous a concept as a Hulkverine would be. Spinning out of the “Weapons of Mutant Destruction” crossover and subsequent Weapon X follow-up arc, this series follows Clay, a former soldier and test subject for some mad science experiments blending Hulk and Wolverine DNA. Greg Pak blends those two aspects in the story itself, taking elements from both the Hulk and Wolverine legacy, and wisely begins this with a new take on the tale that introduced Wolverine to the world in the pages of Incredible Hulk with a new Wendigo. The art from Cory Smith, Marcus To, and Morry Hollowell sticks the landing.
| Published by Marvel
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Witchblade #4 continues the trend of being another great issue of this series. Caitlin Kittredge is beginning to get into the meat of the lore behind the Witchblade and the thirteen Artifacts, tying the reboot in to the mythology of the original Witchblade/Darkness universe, while also fleshing out more and more of Alex’s backstory. The art, again, by Roberta Ingranata and Bryan Valenza is some of the most beautiful on the shelves today.
| Published by Image / Top Cow
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Other Highlights: Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows #17, Archie #29, Babyteeth #9, Berlin #22, Corto Maltese: The Golden House of Samarkand, Descender #28, The Further Adventures of Nick Wilson #3, Ghostbusters: Answer the Call #4, Go Go Power Rangers #8, Incredible Hulk #714, Jim Henson’s The Storyteller: Fairies #4, Kill or Be Killed #17, Mata Hari #2, The Mighty Crusaders #4, Monsters Unleashed #12, Monstress #15, Moonshine #8, Ms. Marvel #28. Outcast #34, Quantum & Woody! #4, Southern Cross #14, Spider-Gwen #30, Star Wars #45, Star Wars: Poe Dameron #25, Superb #8
Recommended Collections: Aliens: Dead Orbit, Black Science - Volume 7: Extinction is the Rule, Giant Days - Volume 7, Harrow County - Volume 7: Dark Times A Coming, Iron Fist - Volume 2: Sabretooth Round Two, Moonstruck - Volume 1, Rick & Morty: Pocket Like You Stole It, Spider-Men II, X-Men Blue - Volume 3: Cross Time Capers
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d. emerson eddy is doing stuff, Lori. Things!
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swiggity-swump · 6 years
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Late Work
This is a prompt from @taylor-tut​ who is absolutely lovely <3 I ended up writing over 2k words! Which is pretty awesome, since I tend to have trouble getting more than a thousand, usually. (I have a few other Danny Phantom prompts as well, I’ll be working on those now that I’ve finished this one.)
I haven't read Percy JAckson, so I'll send a DP prompt!! How about something where Danny is sick and hasn't slept in days, and then has detention with Lancer. He tells Lancer that he doesn't feel well, but he thinks it's an excuse, so he tells him "you can either do detention today or all next week" and so Danny goes. But when he's finally there, Lancer realizes that he's not faking--he's burning up and exhausted.
Danny slumps against his locker, pressing his forehead into the cool metal. He’s exhausted after two sleepless nights spent ghost hunting. There had been a lot more of them out causing trouble recently. He’s sure that he and his friends will have to start investigating what was causing the sudden spike, but even the thought of bringing it up makes him want to curl up in a ball; investigations were always lengthy and draining.
“Hey, Fen-toad!” Danny sighs through his nose upon hearing Dash’s characteristic greeting, if it could be called that. He turns to face Dash, who grins at him, his cronies fanned out behind him.
“Get it over with, then,” he mutters, opening his locker and gesturing towards it halfheartedly. Dash’s wicked smile falters a bit; ever since getting his powers, Danny had always put up a lot more of a fight. He couldn’t remember the last time that he’d submitted to Dash’s bullying like this.
Dash hefts his slender frame into the air easily. He unceremoniously deposits Danny into the locker, giving him a second to tuck his limbs inside before slamming the door. It might have been Danny’s imagination, but as the group walks away to pick on more social outcasts it occurs to him that Dash usually roughed him up a bit more than that before moving on.
He decides not to dwell on it. Instead, he marvels at the fact that he’s actually not too upset to be stuck in his locker. The chattering of the other students is muffled, and he’s able to sit back and rest without getting weird looks.
It’s a testament to how much things have changed when Tucker doesn’t immediately open Danny’s locker to check whether he’s inside. Danny has to knock on the inside of the door to get Tuck’s attention. His friend starts and turns around to scan the lockers behind him, meeting Danny’s eye through the thin slats and instantly moving to unlock the combination.
The door is unlocked in seconds - it hasn’t been that long since this was an everyday occurrence - and Danny sluggishly uncurls himself before sliding out of his locker. Tucker doesn’t wait for him to have both feet on the ground, babbling on about something that he’s programmed on his PDA. Danny looks over Tucker’s shoulder, nodding and humming noncommittally as Tuck explains the features.
He doesn’t get a reprieve from the onslaught of technical jargon until Sam finally shows up. She wastes no time in getting down to business. “Okay, so obviously something’s been going on for so many ghosts to show up. And the same ones every night. I swear, if I have to deal with the Box Ghost telling me to ‘beware’ one more time I’m going to throw him into the nearest ball pit.”
Tucker jumps in. “We’ve seen the most activity around Axion Labs, but there’s also been some spike in activity around the Nasty Burger. I vote that we check things out over there first,” he adds with a huge grin.
“Wherever you guys think we should start,” Danny says wearily. Sam gives him a look, and he gets the feeling that she’s about to call him out. He straightens his posture. “Nasty Burger is as good a place as any,” he continues, a little more assertively. “We can head over there after school.”
The warning bell cuts their conversation short and the three speedwalk towards their classes without so much as a “see ya.” Unfortunately for Danny, his class is farther than either one of theirs, and his pace quickly starts to flag. It’s another minute after the late bell before he finally manages to drag his feet through the door.
“Nice of you to finally join us, Mr. Fenton,” Mr. Lancer deadpans as Danny slouches into his seat. “I do hope that you had time in your busy schedule to complete the homework I assigned as well.”
“You have an awful lot of time in your schedule to pick on your students instead of teaching them,” Danny sasses back, eyes fixed on his desk. The shocked silence that follows makes him realize that he had probably said that louder than intended. A peek at Mr. Lancer confirms this.
Mr. Lancer looks taken aback, but he quickly recovers his authority. “That will earn you a detention, Mr. Fenton. My room after school - and I had better see you catching up on your late work while you’re here.”
Danny bites his tongue to stop himself from protesting. Mr. Lancer’s glare is angry enough already; arguing won’t get him anywhere. He may as well suck it up and do the detention. It’ll be an excuse to put off ghost hunting for a while at least, and Lancer is right - it gives him a chance to catch up on his missed work.
Or so he thinks. As the class drags on he feels steadily worse and worse, which he hadn’t thought physically possible. The throbbing ache that starts at the base of his skull and spreads to his shoulders and back is only compounded by having to slog through the literary devices of a book he hasn’t read.
By the end of the period Danny wants nothing more than to pass out and sleep for five days. He’s made up his mind that he won’t be going to detention or the Nasty Burger this afternoon; even he’s self-aware enough to know that he’ll only be a target in this condition.
As everyone else pushes to leave the room, Danny approaches Mr. Lancer’s desk. The teacher looks up at him, marking his place in his book. “What do you need, Mr. Fenton?” Danny picks up on the tightness in his voice. The guy’s probably still pissed at the remark he’d made earlier. Still, Mr. Lancer’s expression is neutral and open. It’s something that Danny has come to appreciate; unlike a lot of other teachers he’s had, Mr. Lancer gives a lot of second chances. More than Danny would have given in his position, probably.
“Mr. Lancer,” Danny begins sheepishly, “I’m really sorry about what I said earlier. I wasn’t thinking and - and I just really don’t feel well. Could I please do my detention another day? I don’t feel up to staying after today.”
Mr. Lancer’s eyes harden before he’s even finished speaking. “That’s no excuse for being rude, Mr. Fenton. Half the school is fighting off colds right now, but you don’t see anyone else talking back, or at least I would hope you don’t. And doing something that you’d rather not is the entire point of a punishment, in case you’d forgotten.”
Danny’s face falls. “So it’s not possible to reschedule - “
“You can either do it today or all next week. Do I make myself clear?” It’s clear that Mr. Lancer is deadly serious. As much as Danny desperately wants to accept that trade-off, he knows that he can’t. There will definitely be ghosts to deal with next week. If he’s stuck sitting in detention, they’ll be free to wreak havoc or else they’ll come and threaten the school, neither of which is something he wants to deal with.
“Got it, sir,” he mumbles. He’s turning to go when the bell for second period rings, and he groans to himself. “Great.”
To his surprise, Mr. Lancer slides a hall pass over his desk. “Hurry along,” he says, already looking back down at his book.
“Thanks.” Gratitude spurs him to get there as fast as he can, but he knows that he’s in for an agonizing rest of the day.
-----
Mr. Lancer frowns to himself, lost in thought about the events of first period. Danny Fenton’s accusation had some truth to it. He did tend to call out students publicly, and he knew that it went a little bit far sometimes. But he’d never considered the fact that it might be having a negative impact on his ability to teach.
He was tempted to brush it off as a harsh remark made in a heated moment, and Danny’s apology afterwards had seemed genuine. Still, comments like that didn’t come from out of nowhere.
It was possible that Danny had lashed out because he was so frequently the subject of Mr. Lancer’s call-outs. It was something that Mr. Lancer couldn’t quite figure out. His previous teachers had described him as a decent student - not great, perhaps, but well-behaved and with a strong work ethic. At the beginning of the year, Mr. Lancer would have agreed with that assessment.
But early on, Danny seemed to slip. Ever since the incident with the meat in the teachers’ lounge, he had started to build up more of a permanent record. He was often tardy to class, and grading Danny’s homework felt like a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence akin to watching a solar eclipse.
Mr. Lancer had been teaching for long enough to know that there was a reason behind the change, but he couldn’t exactly go digging into a student’s private life, even with the intent to help. Besides, he felt that whatever it was couldn’t be so terrible. Danny always seemed at ease hanging out with Tucker Foley and Sam Manson. Mr. Lancer had always seen kids in bad situations withdraw completely. If there was a problem, Danny’s friends were probably more equipped to handle it than Mr. Lancer was.
He reaches this conclusion just as Danny walks in, dropping into the chair nearest the door.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Fenton,” he greets the student. “You have your book with you, I hope?”
Danny only nods in response, pulling it out of his backpack and resting his chin in his hand as he starts reading - from the very first page, Mr. Lancer notes in resigned disappointment.
The room is utterly silent for a while. Too silent, Mr. Lancer realizes. The sound of pages turning ceased several minutes ago. He scowls when he realizes that Danny’s eyes are closed and his heads droops forward slightly.
“Mr. Fenton,” he barks, “I know for a fact that you are not reading with your eyes closed.” Danny doesn’t stir. This concerns Mr. Lancer. As careless as Danny has been for the rules, he tends to become compliant as soon as the faculty becomes involved. Blatant ignorance isn’t like him at all.
Mr. Lancer moves to nudge him. “Mr. Fenton,” he begins, placing a hand on Danny’s shoulder. His eyes widen when he does do. “Fever 1776!” he exclaims, louder than he’d intended to. Danny’s eyes fly open and he jerks into a sitting position, scrambling to get his bearings and shooting Mr. Lancer a nervous look.
Mr. Lancer sits in the chair opposite Danny and places a hand over the open book to prevent him from trying to read it. “Danny,” he says gently, “you’re in no condition to do anything but rest at the moment.”
Danny blinks at him uncertainly. “But earlier you said-”
“I know, and I apologize. I didn’t realize at the time how sick you were. As it stands, I will not compel you to remain here for detention.” Relief is plain on Danny’s flushed face. “Do you have a ride home?”
His movements are shaky as he packs up his backpack. “I can call my parents from the office.”
Mr. Lancer nods. “And Danny? I don’t expect to see you back in school until you’ve recovered. Don’t stress about completing your work, either. You can come back and talk to me about extensions.” The last thing he wanted was to send Danny home only for him to slave over a week of missed work. His health should come first.
Danny shoots him a surprised glance. “Thanks, Mr. Lancer. I appreciate it.”
“Of course. I’ll walk you to the office.” Danny seems steady enough on his feet, but Mr. Lancer hovers behind him just in case. A fever like that could easily spike and send him sprawling in the hallway.
The secretary looks up as Danny enters. She immediately takes in his appearance - pale and a little out of it - and reaches for the phone. “You need me to call your parents, hon?” Danny nods and lowers himself into a chair, hugging his backpack to his chest.
Mr. Lancer lays a hand on his shoulder. “Will you be all right from here?” Danny turns to look at him, and pity claws at Mr. Lancer when he notices the purple circles under his eyes - has he even been sleeping?
“Yeah. Thanks.” Despite the short answer, Danny’s tired smile gives Mr. Lancer the feeling that he was able to help. He hopes that, once Danny is back in school, he’ll be more comfortable approaching Mr. Lancer for help in the future. That’s all he wants to do, really.
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thesportssoundoff · 6 years
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“Main card a dime, prelims are fine”The UFC On FOX Preview
Joey
December 10th
Fights: 12
Debuts: 2 (Pietro Menga, Julian Marquez)
Fight Changes/Injury Cancellations: 6 (Justin Scoggins OUT, Pietro Menga IN vs Tim Elliott/Antonio Rogerio Noguiera OUT, Jan Blachowicz IN vs Jared Cannonier/Sultian Aliev vs Nordine Taleb cancelled due to Aliev injury/Danny Roberts vs Sheldon Wescott cancelled due to Westcott injury; Roberts vs Taleb put together in its place, Vitor Miranda OUT, Darren Stewart IN vs Julian Marquez)
Headliners (fighters who have either main evented or co-main evented shows in the UFC):  10 (Robbie Lawler, Rafael Dos Anjos, Mike Perry, Glover Teixeira, Misha Cirkunov, Ricardo Lamas, Santiago Ponzinibbio,Jan Blachowicz, Tim Elliott, Erick Silva)
Fighters On Losing Streaks in the UFC:  3 (Jordan Mein, Oluwale Bamgbose, Darren Stewart)
Fighters On Winning Streaks in the UFC:  5 (Rafael Dos Anjos, Santiago Ponzinibbio, Ricardo Lamas, Mike Perry, Chad Laprise)
Stat Monitor for 2017:
Debuting Fighters (Current number: 44-38)- Pietro Menga, Julian Marquez
Short Notice Fighters (Current number: 24-36-1)- Pietro Menga, Darren Stewart, Jan Blachowicz, Josh Emmett
Second Fight (Current number: 32-39)- Galore Bofando
Cage Corrosion (18-15-1)- John Makdessi
Twelve Precarious Ponderings
1- #1 contender fights are basically suggestions. When I was studying to be a paralegal, they had an entire course (or what felt like it) on the term "reasonable expectations." #1 contender fights bend, twist and split the concept of a reasonable expectation. In boxing or kickboxing or MMA, the concept of the #1 contender is flexible since there's nothing binding to them. You can win an interim title and then never fight the champion OR you could win a #1 contender fight, become the mandatory challenger and then never get the fight. Or you could win the title fight and then move on with your life, we're talking about a reasonable expectation. Should the winner of this fight between RDA and Lawler have a reasonable expectation of a title show? Well.....
We can begin by setting the stage a bit. Who IS here and who ISN'T here as it pertains to the champion. Scratch our GSP and Nate Diaz, neither guy is getting this fight. Tyron Woodley is out for the foreseeable future with a shoulder injury. Before that point, Woodley bleeted about money fights and not thinking either fight did anything for him or so on so forth until death do us part. For one half of the equation, I can see the argument. Woodley beat Lawler and left no doubt----so hey! It might be fair to say "Look I beat Lawler and since then he's beaten two blown up 155ers (even if RDA is legit at 170 lbs), what else can I do?" It's not a knock to say that. It may be rude and unfair---but it's also kinda factual, am I right? Woodley doesn't GET anything from that fight. What's more, it could be genuinely argued that from a business standpoint, that fight is a hard sell unless Lawler KOs RDA in a fashion by which nobody expects.
For RDA though, it's a different situation. Dos Anjos is a fresh face at 170 lbs. He is a former champion at a different weight class. A win over Lawler establishes him as a genuine force at 170 lbs and RDA fights frequently (June to September to December) so it's not like Woodley would be in for a long wait. Dos Anjos would be beyond credible as a challenger and he'd be new to the picture. Also it's not RDA's fault that Woodley isn't a draw. One of the things that the UFC/MMA has stolen from its TRUE business model; the art of pro wrestling is that the heat is always on the B Side for not upping the numbers. When a Hogan feud didn't work or draw, the onus turned to whoever he was facing. When Mr. Perfect vs Hulk Hogan did poorly, they didn't blame Hogan (and why would they I suppose?) and it fell on Perfect. The Miz was punished for Rock/Cena vs Miz/R-Truth not doing big numbers. It's easiest to blame the #2 guy because why not? It's not RDA's problem that Woodley can't draw but if he wins, he's earned it. Why wouldn't he be the #1 contender? Woodley denying RDA would be foolish and incomprehensibly bad when he should be trying to get some positive publicity.
Then there are the three outsiders who could steal the title shot. Kamaru Usman is one, Colby Covington is another and Darren Till is the last. Usman PROBABLY is far off from a title fight for various reasons; some his fault and some not his fault. Darren Till would be an interesting story but one win over Cerrone probably isn't enough. Colby Covington, unfortunately, is the winner of this fights biggest threat. He has the big name win over Maia and he built an angle for himself, as tawdry as it may be. Covington's attitude attracts attention and while it's primarily the wrong kind, this is the fight business and not the "Do the right thing" business. Even so it feels like Usman vs Covington is in the works so why would Covington jump the line at this point? Wonderboy vs Woodley III needs to be a total non-starter.
So what, pray tell, is our reasonable expectation here as it pertains to a title fight for the winner? I'm not betting on it. Woodley is far, far, far away from being healthy and I can totally see him throwing a stink at whoever the winner is. As much as people might not wanna hear this, it's almost as likely that the UFC strikes while the iron is hot and rolls with Covington as it is that the winner of this fight gets a title shot. What's more, given that the UFC needs to fill up February soon-ish, why would they rush to conclusions anyways when you could probably get Lawler or RDA to fight again soon anyways?
2- Keep a VERY close eye on Lawler in rounds 2-5. Robbie's reputation in five round fights can be summed up as such; when it's going well, he's engaged for twenty five minutes with the occasional pauses in action. When he's just not firing, rounds 2, 3 and 4 are rounds where he seems incapable of turning up the jets and going.
Against Hendricks 1 and Rory-- He was always in the fight, laughing during exchanges and being a generally all around wild human being.
Against Condit, Hendricks 2 and Matt Brown-  He came out fast and firing early----and then slowed. Now he did score a big knockdown in the second round vs Condit so in that fight it was more about him just being mentally asleep for the middle portion of the fight. Now 5th round Lawler is a thing because he takes those rounds off BUT rallying vs a tremendously durable guy in RDA might be a tough ask.
3- I hope RDA understands that Lawler is hard to take down and even harder to keep down so his usual technical leg kicks into the clinch aren't going to work this time.
4- Dana White talked about Frankie Edgar as the #1 contender and he left the door open that Holloway COULD fight before Edgar is ready to fight again. That combined with Ricardo Lamas staying n the co-main spot despite a more attractive fight in Ponz-Perry, leads me to believe that there's a slight chance Lamas could sneak his way into a title fight with Holloway soon.
5- Does the fact that Ricardo Lamas' last three wins all lost their next fight make it harder to buy into him as a top 5 featherweight?*
So @theanticool corrected me and pointed out that Diego Sanchez beat Jim Miller (which I forgot about) and Oliveira beat Will Brooks. I’ll leave this here because I like laughing at my dumbness but will instead rephrase point five: Does the fact that Lamas’ top wins recently have all basically flamed out make it harder to make the argument that he’s a top 5 featherweight?
6- So much of what makes Mike Perry work is his aggressive approach backed by his one hitter quitter-esque power and sterling chin. Perry lives to create 50/50 exchanges where he believes his one will trump your two or three. He isn't entirely out of his element on the ground but it's clear what his gameplan is. His secret weapon are knees, be it in the clinch or out of the plum set up. Mike Perry is not the walking gimmick some people believe he is---but Santiago Ponzinibbio is one of those fighters who is always different in his approach going into each fight. Against Gunnar Nelson, he had a good idea how to attack Nelson even if it meant eating fire on the way in. Against guys Nordine Taleb and Zack Cummings, Ponz just outworked them with pressure, volume, versatility and power. Ponzinibbio can still be hurt by strikes and he isn't always the most intelligent survivor (the two times I remember him being most hurt, he just seemed to throw caution to the wind and fire back despite having no base of support on the feet) BUT he's one of those guys who doesn't need much to get going on offense. His footwork, movement and ability to turn the pressure on and off at a moment's notice makes him a serious threat for Perry who has struggled with those kinds of guys in the past. If this gets into a firefight in the pocket though, I think we'll ALL be winners.
7- So what do we make of Misha Cirkunov? Cirkunov is 4-1 in the UFC and he just turned 30 in a division devoid of youth. He is a prized commodity for sure and his last fight went by so quickly that it's hard to even know what went wrong. It seems everyone not named OSP falls victim to the Volkan Oezdemir dim mak. At the same time, Misha Cirkunov has one win over someone still in the UFC and he's so rigid and stiff on the feet that it's fair to wonder just how high is upside really is. He and Glover Teix is a great match up that'll test what Glover has left and whether Misha can beat a top 10 LHW. This division really needs Misha Cirkunov to be everything people think he can be.
8- Speaking of LHWs, Jared Cannonier gets a chance (again) to join the big boy lunch table when he draws Jan Blachowicz as the prelim fight headliner. Cannonier since dropping to 205 lbs has gone a tidy 2-1 with  the loss being a fight where Glover Teixeira simply had too much for him in the grappling department despite Cannonier occasionally landing hard shots on the feet. Cannonier was expected to get a big name in Antonio Rogerio Noguiera but instead draws a tougher test in Jan Blachowicz. Jan's coming off his first UFC win in about 9 years and 28 fights but he showcased a lot of the stuff that made him such a highly regarded LHW to begin with. It's worth pointing out that Blachowicz has only lost to ranked opposition (Gus, Manuwa and Cummins) so if Cannonier wants to take a step up, this is the right opponent to try it against.
9- The Dana White Tuesday Night Contender Series has delivered onto us some dandy fighters, would you not agree? Thus far, fighters who have competed on DWTCS in the UFC are 4-3 thus far BUT there are some caveats inside those numbers. Two of those fighters were short notice additions who were NOT offered contracts during the show (Mike Santiago and Azunna Anwanyu) and another one was Allen Crowder who was signed by virtue of just being big. On the other hand, Benito Lopez, Alex Perez, Karl Roberson and Sean O'Malley have all had exciting fights and wins in the organization. Julian Marquez will be the latest DWTCS guy to take to the cage and I'm....torn. I discovered Marquez while watching him fight in Combates Americas vs Matt Hammil. At the time a typo had me thinking he was older than he really was, like 10 years older. At just 27 years old, Marquez is already an interesting name and I think he can be something although he was very adamant that cutting to 185 lbs was really hard for him on the Contender Series so I can't imagine that being a cut he'll want to take more often. He takes on short notice Brit Darren Stewart at 185 lbs.
10- Is it a lock that Darren Till winds up facing the winner of Ponz vs Perry?
11- Danny Roberts has a 3-1 UFC record but it hasn't been easy outside of his debut vs Nathan Coy. Roberts is one of those guys who is winning until he loses and losing until he wins. Vs Mike Perry, Roberts won a ton of exchanges---except for three. The one that dropped him in the first round, dropped him in the 2nd round and then finished him in the third. He was getting lit up by Bobby Nash before he iced and finished Nash in the third. Roberts has that sort of talent where he's always in a fight no matter what the odds or the scorecards say.
12- Aye leggo Pietro Menga! New flyweight on the block!
Must Wins
1- Glover Teixeira
Once upon a time, Glover was in the position of needing a must win to really save his spot in the division. He rallied from that with three straight finishes over OSP, Patrick Cummins and Rashad Evans. NOW he's back in the same spot after a 1-2 run since that Evans finish. He was blasted by Rumble, beat Cannonier while looking shaky on the feet and then got beat up and battered by Gus. Glover is an old man in an old division which means that so long as you don't lose it all overnight, you've got a chance to be relevant. Still at this point you're left wondering just how relevant Glover can be. He's lost to the elite of the elites (Jones, Davis, the aforementioned Rumble and Gus) but a loss to Misha Cirkunov would officially close the door on him. This is a must win for both dudes if ya think about it.
2- Santiago Ponzinibbio
Ponz is one of those fighters who deserves a ton of credit for wall walking his way up the rankings. After losing to Lorenz Larkin, he's racked up five wins and three of those by finish. He's not just eating up on jabronis either with wins over the likes of Gunnar Nelson, Nordine Taleb and Court McGee. He's a damn good fighter who is improving every single performance he has. The problem is that Ponz is not the most marketable WW even if he's action packed and capable of speaking multiple languages. Ponz is the guy who should be a bigger force but alas alack. He's gotta beat Mike Perry to really secure his spot in the 5-10.
3- Ricardo Lamas
In the world of "all things are connected", Ricardo Lamas is competing vs not just Josh Emmett but also the likes of Brian Ortega, Frankie Edgar and etc etc down the line. Lamas has done a lot of good recently---but look at his wins at 145 lbs. We just saw Moggly Benitez eat up Jason Knight over three rounds, we've seen what's happened to Diego Sanchez recently and Charles Oliveira, while very credible, is not the sort of win that gets you talking title shot. He's got a short notice opponent he's being expected to run right through but Josh Emmett is no joke with how hard he hits.
Top 5 Must See Fights
1- Robbie Lawler vs Rafael Dos Anjos
2- Santiago Ponzinibbio vs Mike Perry
3- Jared Cannonier vs Jan Blachowicz
4-Chad Laprise vs Galore Bofando
5- Darren Stewart vs Julian Marquez
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captainkilly · 7 years
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do you have any headcanons for wish soulmates au?
OH GOD DO I (in fact, I have a backbone for an entire fic I’m never gonna write so here you go lol)
Okay, so, I wrote a soulmate AU for Kastle not too long ago that works off the idea that most of us get soulmate dreams that do not reveal our soulmate's actual identity and that since the first dream we see electric bright colours the closer we get in physical proximity to our soulmate and we begin to display certain mannerisms etc that our soulmate has. When we're almost on the verge of knowing who they are our dreams turn blindingly white, and when we finally meet we switch places very briefly to literally stand in each other's shoes. When the bond is finally acknowledged by both out loud, the world just explodes into vivid colours/sounds/smells/etc. 
I'm situating the Wish soulmates AU in the same universe, so imagine:
* Trish gets her dream first, on the first night after she moves out of her mother's house. It means she wakes with the taste of coffee lingering in her mouth and the smell of expensive aftershave hugging her body. The yellows and pinks in her new apartment are vehemently at war with the midnight blue and brightest cyan that streak past her out of the corner of her eye. She can't work her way through her breakfast without wanting to spit the chia seeds back out.
* She calls Jessica the next morning when she steps outside and the sky overhead is teasing her with technicolour flashes that all travel toward Grand Central. Her soulmate is here in the city somewhere and it takes all her willpower to meet Jess somewhere other than the place all the colours seem to be converging on. It's not until Jess cautions her with a "needle in a haystack, stop looking, just live your life" that Trish relents on the idea of going out to look for her soulmate. 
* Just because she's not looking doesn't mean she's not rolling her eyes more often, nor does it mean that she can stop herself from making snide comments she usually would've kept to herself. Jess thinks her soulmate's an asshole and calls it "beautiful". Trish just thinks it's a pain in the ass.
* She catches herself humming along to rock songs on her morning commute. When she finally belts out a pitch-perfect rendition of Whole Lotta Love, she rests her head on the steering wheel and vows to never again ridicule Jessica for all the times her sister began to rap mid-sentence since meeting Luke.
* Sometimes, she walks past a newsstand and watches bright flecks of cyan dance across the headlines. Tilts her head at it before straightening again and moving on. She never purchases any of the things that turn blue before her eyes, although she is sorely tempted when the NY Bulletin keeps dancing blue circles around her for a whole week whenever she goes out to grab her coffee from the stand next to it.
* Words get stuck in her throat when her first and rather vehement reaction concerning Danny Rand's return to the city is to smash her coffee cup into the nearest wall. She goes into hiding for a full week when the newspapers all light up with brightest blue and there's a rainbow dancing overhead that trails to the exact location of Rand Enterprises. (She knows that much, because her curiosity got the better of her one night. Drove all the way up to that exact city block before losing her nerve.)
* There's blood all over the cuffs of her white blouse and she can't wash it out. Or so she thinks for the first ten minutes in which she's desperately trying to salvage her best blouse. It's not until Jessica walks in on her and confusedly asks "what the hell are you talking about?" that Trish comes to realise the blood's not really there at all.
* She wakes one night feeling as though someone just hooked her up to a new life supply of oxygen and she can breathe properly again for the first time in her life. It reminds her of the time she finally said "no" to her mother and that fact alone is enough to make her curl up around a pillow and pray for her soulmate's wellbeing tonight.
* She finally meets Danny Rand properly in the aftermath of the Midland Circle fiasco and stops dead in her tracks when he laughs out a "you remind me of someone I know" in response to a rather acidic comment she throws his way. Claire shoots her a too-knowing smile when Trish has to steady herself on her feet the second Danny takes a phonecall. Her dreams turn white that night.
* Ward is convinced he won't ever have a soulmate dream. Goes all the years without it, claiming to be married to his job, until he has his first soulmate dream the first night after Harold's cremation. He wakes with the taste of cherries on his lips and the smell of bubblegum shampoo in his nostrils. Stumbles toward the bathroom in a daze as competing streaks of yellow and pink curl and fold around him in what is almost an embrace. It's the first time he ever showers cold, because his skin feels as though it is burning up.
* He doesn't tell anyone about the dream, not even when he steps outside and the sky overhead fills up with a glaring rainbow of colours that almost makes him purchase sunglasses out of spite. He doesn't go out to look for his soulmate. Who'd want him now, anyway?
* He realises something's wrong when his first instinct at signs of trouble is to shout out a "fight me!" that leaves Danny shaking his head at him. Just about breaks down in the office when he can't renegotiate a deal without appealing to the other party's empathy. Thinks it's a good thing Harold's dead when he starts to cry over nothing one night.
* Pink hues dance just on the outskirts of his vision when he calls Danny about the dramatic events at Midland Circle. He chooses to ignore that, mostly because he's too busy yelling at Danny about improper business conduct that's going to get all of them killed one day. He surprises Danny, himself, and a smiling Colleen when he pulls Danny in for a hug the next time he sees him. (Makes them vow to never speak of it again.)
* It's harder to ignore the voice that finally seeps into his ears after a long night at the office has him turning the radio on for background noise. They're doing a rerun of some talkshow or other, which Ward is sure he's listened to a million times before now. He's not certain why the warm intelligence in the woman's voice suddenly has him parking the car or why his fingers grip the steering wheel so hard it hurts. (He tells himself he's not sure, anyway, even though he's lying to himself when her name flares up brightest yellow that sets his car alight in the dead of night.)
* He almost refuses Claire's offer of "drinks with a support group, we all look like we need it", but then Danny takes up Daredevil's mantle in earnest and the budding migraine behind Ward's eyes suddenly craves a drink or twenty. He's somehow not surprised to find his dreams turn glaringly white the night he calls Claire to confirm his presence.
* Trish decides Claire is evil when the nurse shouts out a "please get the door for me, my hands are full!" upon hearing the incessant knocking at the door on the evening of their get-together. Or, well, she decides Claire is completely and utterly evil when she opens the door and feels as though the earth tilts and shifts on its axis the way no earthquake ever could force it to. It takes considerable effort before she is able to right herself against the doorpost. The only comfort is that the sharply-dressed man in front of her looks so shaken that it almost seems like he saw a ghost.
* They don't switch places right away. Most of the evening passes with them sneaking glances at each other every so often. Claire's full house (seriously, how many vigilante friends can one city contain?) makes it easier for Ward to pretend he doesn't feel pulled into the direction of the very blonde and very intimidating woman who's cradling a cup of tea in her hands and talking up a storm with Karen Page. Colleen, next to him, mutters an "oh boy" when she finally catches on to the reason why Claire keeps looking back and forth between Ward and the blonde as though she's watching a very interesting tennis match.
* Trish finally plucks up the courage to say "it was nice to meet you" before she swings out the door with Karen in tow. She spends the better part of the night headdesking over the stupidity of that comment. Ward goes home smiling.
*They don't switch places until Danny's done something monumentally stupid that puts them both in danger. For one, brief, scary moment, Trish's hands are the ones that are coiled around a gun and Ward's hands are the ones growing sticky with Jess's blood. The moment is gone as quickly as it came and it's not until they're out of danger that they allow themselves to acknowledge that it happened at all.
* A hospital waiting room is not exactly the place Trish had envisioned the acknowledgment of the soulmate bond would take place in, but Ward is far too tired and far too highstrung to care once they get stuck in one together. He's off ranting about vigilantes and superhero siblings and the continuous downward spiral of life before he grounds out a "I know you're my soulmate but there's no way in hell you're actually going to stay" that leaves her raising her voice in anger and yelling a "consider yourself stuck with this soulmate, asshole!" that she's sure is going to reverberate in the walls of this place for years to come.
* The technicolour explosion comes after they're done yelling at one another for the better part of an hour. Ward mutters out a "jesus christ" when the subsequent noise level in the hospital spikes up to the point where he's sure he hears Whole Lotta Love playing in a room five stories down, while Trish just rakes her hand through her hair angrily at the noises before commenting "is blue your favourite colour because it's literally everywhere right now?" that has him choking out a laugh. "Is pink yours?" he asks soon after, and thinks he's just about done fighting this soulmate-thing when she smiles back an affirmation that makes her entire face light up.
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alivingfire · 7 years
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So i've just recently started reading sterek fic. And i've completely fallen down that rabbit hole. So i was wondering if you could recommend some good fics as you seem to have been reading some recently? It would be amazingly helpful if you could. Thanks! - Sam
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you’re damn right i can rec you some sterek! 😊 i tried to pick some that weren’t just on the first page when you rank by kudos. here we go: 
sterek fic rec
→ Play It Again (ABSOLUTE FAVE. stiles’ characterization is PERFECT)In which Stiles goes along with one of Derek’s plans and ends up in an alternate universe as a result. He should’ve known better. He did know better, actually, and that means he has no one to blame but himself.
Laura wants to lure the kid in with food and kindness and make a pet of him, like a feral cat. Derek wants to have him arrested for stalking. They’re at an impasse. (And the rest of the family is staying emphatically out of it in a way that suggests bets have been placed.)
→ Say Something (my favorite The Sheriff Finds Out scene ever)That first time Stiles decided it was probably wise to let sleeping werewolves lie.
→ The Socioeconomic Repercussions of Mutually Assured DestructionThe trouble with having the kind of brain that likes to write essays on male circumcision for an Economics class, is that it also likes to turn PowerPoint presentations for Biology into odes on the perfection of notorious bad boy Derek Hale’s backside.
→ Fly a Little FasterEveryone knows when you go back in time, you shouldn't step on an ant, just in case you accidentally kill your own grandparent or something. But what happens when you go back in time and, uh, accidentally interrupt the one event that apparently made the Grumpiest Alpha in Town into a ball of mindless manpain?
Well, if Marty McFly can do it, so can Stiles Stilinski. All he has to do is get Derek and Paige to fall in love before he gets pulled back to his own time. And before he makes anything worse. That's easy as pie, right? Right?
→ Hell Is Other People series Stiles discovers the hazards of growing up a real boy when, at heart, he's not a real boy at all.
→ Safety in SilenceIt's perfectly understandable. Even Derek wouldn't want to be Derek's soulmate.
→ Crash Landers In which Stiles learns to Stalk That Stalk. (Or, how to accidentally woo your unfriendly neighborhood alpha in roughly five hundred handwritten steps.)
→ this boy, half-destroyed (don’t let the second person POV throw you off, it’s BEAUTIFUL)Bodies – those are something you understand, mostly; you know immediately exactly how much smaller he is than the last time you saw him. Too skinny, too pale; his cheeks cave in a little too much, from his face. He’s a shadow of something: he looks like the dead walking. His hands are stuffed down in the pockets of his hoodie and he looks tentative but not afraid.
Derek Hale used to have a family. Now, he's got a teenage human more trouble than he's worth. Post-S2.
→ the blood blooms clean in you, ruby (same author, same concept, seriously, READ THEM BOTH)You don’t remember, anymore, where exactly you were when you found out that she was dead. You remember almost everything else about her dying, though.
Stiles Stilinski has always been the person who will do what other people don't want to. It's hard, though, when your friends keep trying to protect you. Post-S2.
→ will to follow through (like, if i wrote teen wolf, this fic would’ve been season four. just absolutely 100% perfect, and i love danny mahealani) “It depends entirely on how you look at it, I guess,” Stiles shrugs. “On the one hand, instant healing and the apparently inherited ability to pull off leather at all times. On the other, serious attitude problems and a suspicious disappearance of eyebrows.”
“Even Derek’s?” Danny snorts, “that’s a lot of eyebrow to lose.”
“I know,” Stiles agrees. “You should see, it’s so weird. Every time I want to ask him where they go, except he’d totally eat my face off.”
“There are worse ways to die.”
→ cool story, broFUUUUUUCK, is it a sweet valley high situation where Stiles is very aware that his twin is way more attractive and confident than he is, EVEN THOUGH THEY'RE IDENTICAL, and he always ends up with the hotter significant others and more friends and Stiles guesses that's why he's attracted to the pack at first, because it's something that's just his, not his twin's too. But of course, Stiles's twin gets bit and now he's part of Derek's pack, and Derek doesn't snap at him like he snaps at Stiles, never slams him into things, fucking FIGURES, STILES'S TWIN GETS EVERYTHIIIIIIIING.
→ Hold The Door (Supernatural crossover but like... trust me)When Derek is killed by a rival alpha, the pack will stop at nothing to get him back. Even if that means blackmailing the most dangerous hunter duo this side of hell. Whatever. That whole devil thing was probably totally exaggerated, anyway.
→ Apathy, Apathy, You’ll Be The Death of MeEveryone's apathetic. Except Derek. Derek cares so much.
or Boyd is a pragmatic posthumous reappropriater, Erica spends her free time impersonating Meursault and playing Fruit Ninja, Isaac would like everyone to settle down already, Stiles is bi, Scott’s actually holding it together pretty well for a week-old Alpha with a two pack problem, Jackson’s a lizard, Lydia accessorizes, Allison’s playing on a rival (semi-murderous) team and Derek just keeps showing up.
→ que tu m’aimais encore (read the fake boyfriend convention au by the same author after this one to cheer you up)Wolves mate for life, don’t they?
→ But I’m Not a SoldierThe first time Derek shoves Stiles against a wall, she pepper sprays him in his face.
→ But The World Won’t Stop Turning (y’all know i can’t resist a time traveller’s wife au)Derek glances at Stiles, who is watching him with a curious expression.
“Oh shit,” Stiles exclaims as comprehension dawns on him. “Everything makes sense now. Derek, I know what the witch did, she cursed you with – “
But before Stiles is able to finish his sentence, everything fades away and Derek is surrounded by darkness.
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