#what's especially weird about GA is that ever since that comic came out the GA franchise has had a weird thing about Native Americans | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

hugespace · 3 years

Note

Prompt: van, thunderstorm, link is scared and rhett is there for him and gives him hugs and kisses

Thanks love 😘

There you go! 🥰 I ended up writing some high school Rhink - lots of fluff with a dash of angst. Hope you’ll enjoy it!

*** (~2k words) ***

"How the crap did you miss that, Rhett?!" Link rapidly turned his whole body in the passenger seat, making his bleached blonde locks flap around on the top of his head. "How are we even out of gas-? Didn't you just say, like yesterday, that you'd fill it up?!" he threw his hands in the air, staring with disbelief at his friend who sat quietly behind the wheel.

Rhett muttered something in response, his head downturned and eyes focused on his own lap.

"Rhett!" Link exclaimed impatiently, not having gotten a clear answer out of the other boy.

"I thought we'd make it, okay?! I was gonna buy gas with some of the money we'd get after the gig!" Rhett repeated his explanation in a raised voice this time, finally looking his friend in the eyes and shrugging in the process.

Link only returned the look with wide eyes.

"Are you serious-? You're so irresponsible!" he answered even louder after a few short seconds of processing Rhett's words. "You're telling me you wanted to buy gas with the money we won't even get now because we won't get to the damn concert- because. You didn't. Get. Gas. In the first place?!" Link continued thought clenched teeth. "What the crap, Rhett?!"

The taller boy felt his face grow warm. Sure, perhaps Link was right, it wasn't the smartest decision of his life, or even of just that day, probably – electing to risk not reaching their destination in a borrowed van full of equipment for the two of them and the other members of Wax Paper Dogz just to be able to spend the last of his cash for the week on snacks. But he certainly wasn't going to give the other boy that, or the full reason for getting them stranded in the middle of a road on the way to the farm they were supposed to play at, for that matter. Truth was, Rhett didn't do well with criticism. Not even when it was earned.

He opened his mouth and got ready to match Link's tone, when a powerful crash of thunder resounded directly above them all of a sudden, immediately preventing the shouting match that was surely about to ensue.

"What was that-?" When Link's voice reverberated to Rhett's right again, it was remarkably smaller and less filled with anger than just seconds ago.

"Shit" was the only response the older boy could muster as the sky opened up, letting thick and heavy drops of rain fall onto the world around them, drumming angrily against the van's roof.

"At least we don't gotta worry about the gig-?" Rhett tried for a reassuring smile after a few beats of silence between them ticked by, interrupted only by blaring sounds of the summer storm they’d apparently gotten caught in. "It ain't gonna happen now with that rain-" he conceded, hoping it won't anger Link any further.

The younger boy was silent, the unexpected arrival of thunder seemed to have not only taken away his temper, but his voice as well.

"Link?"

A pair of blue eyes, still wide open, met Rhett's. The fire that burned in them just moments before the first loud crash fizzled out completely, giving way to a cold shade of fear, and the face they belonged to quickly became visibly paler, taking on a greyish colour only intensified by the sudden lack of sunlight.

"I don't like this-" Link whispered, clutching the edges of his seat with such force that his knuckles soon matched the paleness of his face.

Now, Link didn't exactly suffer from a deadly fear of thunder, not to Rhett's knowledge at least, which after more than a decade of being best friends meant it could as well be equalled to a fact. On the other hand, he wasn't especially keen on those either, and the aspect of being trapped in a metal can in the middle of a country road with absolutely nowhere to go to seek refuge only added another dimension to that.

Instinctively, Rhett reached out a hand and rubbed the other boy's shoulder soothingly.

"Hey- Hey, look at me. Link-?" he leaned forward trying to catch his friend’s eyes again and grasp his attention, temporarily directed towards the sky where bright flashes of lightning cut through the dark graphite clouds one after another. "Hey"

Link finally directed his attention back to Rhett, gulping loudly, almost comically, if it weren't for the entire situation. "We're gonna be fine. The car's safe, we're better off here than anywhere outside probably, just don’t touch the doors. We'll wait till the rain passes a bit and then I'll go get us gas, okay? The station's not that far. We'll be good." Rhett added in a calm voice, still keeping his right hand on Link and gently rubbing his upper back.

"Okay" the boy replied, still in a weak voice, and drew in a deep breath, only to be startled by another instance of rumbling thunder and hastily clasp Rhett's other hand.

"Sorry..." he cleared his throat and tried to compose himself once the sound of thunderclap died down, leaving them only with the deafening banging of raindrops against the van. Link went to retract his hand but was stopped by Rhett's before the taller boy could think about it.

"Ssh, don't. S’okay, brother."

The split-second decision to comfort Link and hold him like he hasn't since they were kids came from the feeling of guilt for getting them in that situation in the first place, he told himself. And sure, he did feel responsible for making Link endure the storm in a car stuck in the middle of nowhere all because of his stupid idea. But it wasn't just guilt; the vulnerable look on his friend's pale face combined with the fear in his big glassy eyes made him look like the boy he was when they were still in grade school - small and innocent, and it tugged at Rhett's heart in a way he didn't fully comprehend, awakening an instinct to protect Link no matter what.

"Do you... Maybe we'd- Should we...?" Yes, Rhett did make a decision but was suddenly struggling to articulate it. The scared boy next to him wasn't really listening anyway, his whole attention focused on the sky again and his free hand grasping Rhett's sleeve and trembling. Rhett cleared his throat and tried again. "We should move to the back."

"Whaa...?" Link started but was cut off by his friend gently removing his fingers from the fabric of his shirt and swiftly moving to the row of seats behind them.

"C'mon. It's gonna be more comfortable. The stick's poking my leg when I lean over like that." the older boy offered from the expanse of the middle row, gesticulating to the gap between Link and the now empty driver's seat.

If Link was hesitant to join him, another growl of thunder must have been enough to persuade him because suddenly, he was clambering to join Rhett, inadvertently nudging his thighs and elbowing him in the process.

"Auch! Okay, okay- Com'ere" The older boy grabbed the other's shoulders once he was situated next to him and moved his body even closer, encircling it with his long lanky arms and squeezing hard, making Link's head fall onto his chest.

To his surprise, his best friend didn't protest, he only burrowed his face deeper in the front or Rhett's bunched up flannel and breathed in deeply, obviously trying to relax.

"Good, good" Rhett praised absent-mindedly and slowly stroked Link's smooth hair, temporarily stunned by the feeling of warmth and peace holding the other boy so close gave him. After a couple of minutes of stillness, he felt Link's arms move, too, and wriggle in between the backrest of the seat and Rhett's lower back, finally hugging him back around the waist. It made the taller boy instinctively seek even more contact, and he lowered his head, positioning his face on Link's hair and eventually, before he could rethink it, leaving a kiss on top of it

Link froze and tensed up again, though this time there was no crash of thunder or flash of lightning to blame it on.

Oh no. Rhett's action caught up to him. This was weird. He was being weird. They never kissed each other, not even like that, not even when they were kids. His heart sped up from embarrassment and he was sure his friend could feel it, with the way he was still clinging to his chest. But he wasn’t letting go- In fact, he seemed to hug Rhett even tighter now, nuzzling his face into his body, left cheek smushed against his sternum.

Shyly, Rhett risked another smooch to Link's head, this time as close to his forehead as he could reach in the position they were in.

In response, the boy let out what sounded like an appreciative hum, or maybe even a tiny whimper, and a warm breath against Rhett’s skin, making his heart pick up the pace again. Continuing the pattern of acting before we could talk himself out of it, Rhett gathered his friend and tried to pull him even closer, not even sure if it was possible at that point, and was rewarded with Link landing almost entirely in his lap.

The face of his best friend was now nearly level with his. It was blushed, he realised, the earlier sickly tone of his complexion gone almost completely. His hair, equally blonde as Rhett's though significantly longer, was dishevelled. The sight was endearing, there was no other word to describe it, and the look in Link's eyes, blue as ever and soft now – not as filled with fear anymore, only made the effect it had on Rhett more intense.

Blinded by the affection that flooded him all of a sudden, he leaned in again, now able to kiss Link's forehead, and left another peck there, keeping his lips pressed to it for a bit longer. Before Rhett could really get used to the new sensation, Link straightened his back, making himself taller in Rhett's lap and as a result, bringing his own lips to the same hight his friend mouth was at.

The taller boy flinched slightly and almost recoiled on instinct, seeing how there were no more than two inches of tense air filled with petrichor separating their faces, and nothing else.

Almost.

Instead, he gathered all of his courage and closed that gap, planting his lips square on Link's.

They were incredibly soft, almost cushiony, and oh so warm. And they were moving against his! He realised, stunned, as the other boy's hand reached up to his face and gently cupped his jaw.

Rett felt his own lips form an involuntary smile, soon matched by the lips he was kissing. As they started to separate, both beaming and searching each other’s faces with sparkly eyes, he took in the near silence that surrounded them.

The rain stopped, there was no banging on the roof of their van and no rumbling of thunder above. It was like the clouds dissipated the moment they kissed, giving way to sun again, Rhett thought not caring about how silly and romantic at the same time that idea was.

Divine intervention or a simple coincidence, he didn't care. The sky was clear now and so was the fact that he just shared a kiss with the person he loved most in the entire world. How he hadn't realised that earlier was unimportant. It might have taken being stranded in the middle of a road, surrounded by nothing but trees and crops and a thunderstorm worse than any other time that summer to get there, but they did, in the end - that was all that mattered.

And with that thought, Rhett embraced Link trying to put all of his love into it, and went to kiss him again.

#Rhink #rhink fic #my writing #jonesy84 #thank you so much for the prompt Lovely!

66 notes · View notes

happylittledrabbles · 3 years

Text

Four Years

Rating: T

Fandom: Haikyuu!!

Pairing: Tsukishima/Kuroo, Tsukishima/Yamaguchi, Kuroo/Kenma

On the day of Kuroo's graduation, Tsukishima kisses him and runs away without another word, leaving both of them confused. Neither speaks to one another after that, and Tsukishima has to figure out his own emotions now that the person he loves has left, bouncing around from one person to another in order to fill the hole Kuroo created. Angst, hurt, self-discovery, and acceptance ensue, all ending in a high school reunion that ends in tears.

AO3

—

It happened so quickly, Kuroo barely knew what happened.

One second, he was congratulating Tsukishima on his good work outside the nationals tournament gym, joking around with the skinny beanpole he had grown close to for nearly a year. Pushing him playfully, ruffling his hair, patting him on the shoulder. All the standard forms of affection Tsukishima had learned to tolerate over the months. Keyword: tolerate . The last thing Kuroo expected was to have that affection returned by the same Tsukishima who slapped him the first time he placed his hand on his back.

Especially in the form of a kiss.

A chaste kiss, one that lasted barely a second, but a kiss nonetheless. On the lips.

Before Kuroo could even form a thought, nevermind actually react to it, he was faced with the back of Tsukishima’s head as he sprinted away and down the sidewalk to the hotel. If he hadn’t just been kissed, he would have found it comical that Tsukishima was finally putting effort into exercise—running no less—but all that he could summon was a shaky exhale as his trembling fingers came up to his lips, where he could have sworn he still felt Tsukishima’s chapped lips on his.

If Kuroo knew that the last thing he’d see of Tsukishima for months to follow would be the back of his head, he would have sprinted right after him and captured his wrist, spun him back, and made fun of his escape plan before kissing him squarely on the lips.

But he didn’t know that. So as he switched his gaze from the diploma in his hands up to the audience at his graduation and didn’t see the skinny blond he’d had his eye on since he first practiced with him, to blond who stole a kiss from him, he couldn’t help but feel his face fall and his heart go gray. His grip on his diploma tightened until his mother slapped the back of his head for damaging his diploma, but he couldn’t help it. He apologized to his mother and thanked his family for coming out in support of him and walked home with his family, desperately using the celebratory alcohol to escape the images of glasses paired with a shit-eating grin that assaulted his mind. What he would do to have that shit-eating grin in front of him and wipe it off the holder’s face with a deep kiss.

He couldn’t even escape it in his dreams. Tsukishima dominated them in every form: his determined face as he practiced, his bored face as he watched his teammate’s foolish antics, his sleeping face that showed off an unguarded version of him for only a short time. But that short time was more than enough to win over Kuroo’s obsession. But that obsession had to come to an end. He had to focus on his new job while Tsukishima had to focus on school. They were at two different points in their lives. At least he would always have that kiss.

The problem was, Tsukishima wasn’t focusing on school when it started up again. Or practice. He wasn’t focusing on anything other than the kiss. Summer was torture since he didn’t have homework to at least pretend to lose himself in. All he had was his thoughts, and those were lethal. At random times, he’d find himself running his fingertips over his own lips, letting his eyes flutter closed and imagine Kuroo’s face in front of his, except instead of that surprised expression Kuroo held that day, it would be something full of want, of desire. When school started again, he was a lot more excited than usual, especially for volleyball practice. Except he still couldn’t escape the kiss.

“Tsukishima!” Daichi yelled, snapping Tsukishima out of his thoughts.

He hadn’t even noticed the volleyball that had whizzed past his head and nearly knocked Hinata down behind him, all thanks to the amazing ace who was currently apologizing profusely to the both of them, but Tsukishima couldn’t have cared less.

“Sorry,” he said monotonously, trying to hold back a roll of his eyes. He got back into his blocker stance, holding his arms at chest-level in anticipation for Kageyama’s serve.

“Great, now get your head out of your ass and actually play, moron,” Kageyama demanded before doing one of his powerful serves.

Tsukishima scowled at the other, but the scowl lessened when he noticed how the light streaming in from the barred windows fell so perfectly against his black hair, casting an almost halo around him as he jumped nearly two feet in the air, seeming to float before finally landing on Earth. Kageyama at that moment reminded him so much of Kuroo, from the black hair to the offhanded remarks about his performance. Although Kageyama was a tad more offensive in his remarks, Tsukishima couldn’t tell the difference, especially when he was just reeling from the powerful effects of his first kiss.

He swallowed thickly and swiftly blocked one of Asahi’s spikes, resulting in a very red palm from the aftermath. He cleared his throat and glanced directly at Kageyama, who was staring him down through the net.

“That good enough for you?” he asked calmly, resulting in Kageyama needing to be held back by Daichi and promptly hit in the back of the head by Suga. He walked off the court and leaned down to pick up his water bottle, drinking slowly as he watched with pleased amusement as Kageyama tried to wrestle his way out of Daichi’s arms.

“You do that on purpose, don’t you?” Hinata asked, causing Tsukishima to jump from surprise.

“Geez, you pop out of nowhere, don’t you?” Tsukishima grumbled behind his straw, glancing down at Hinata before looking up at the ceiling. “But yeah, it’s fun to see him freak out.”

Hinata went quiet for a moment, which usually would have been a blessing for the blond, but it made him uneasy at the same time.

“He has feelings, too, you know,” Hinata mumbled, looking down shyly at his fingers clasped in front of him. “He just can’t control them.”

Tsukishima scoffed. “What are you, his handler? Now I know that he officially needs to go to therapy for anger issues.”

“No!” Hinata exclaimed, attracting the attention of the nearby teammates. He blushed from embarrassment before grasping Tsukishima’s wrist and pulling him over to the equipment closet, staring up at the blond as much as the dimly lit room would let him. “He’s just misunderstood! And you need to stop throwing gas on the flame. He’s a nice person when you get to know him.”

“If I didn’t know any better, I would say you have a wittle crush on him,” Tsukishima teased, making grabby hands to further cement the idea of Hinata being a lovesick puppy. However, with the combination of Hinata’s deepening blush, the turn of his face to hide it, and his lengthening silence, Tsukishima’s eyes widened in realization. So...his suspicions ever since the first day of meeting them were right? Oh, this was delightful.

“No way,” Tsukishima breathed, a grin of disbelief spreading on his face. “You actually have a crush on that volcano?”

“Don’t tell anybody!” Hinata pleaded, clinging to the front of Tsukishima’s shirt and not letting go as much as the blond tried to shake him off. “Please! I...I want to deal with it on my own time. Please…”

Tsukishima, had he truly been heartless, would have picked up Hinata by the back of the shirt like the scruff on a kitten and burst out the equipment room to proudly announce Hinata’s crush to everybody. However, he had a crush of his own, and due to his calm and collected nature, was successful in keeping it hidden. Nonetheless, if anybody had found out…

Safe to say, he had sympathy for the little orange.

“...Fine,” Tsukishima relented, pushing him away and walking over to the ajar doors. “Just don’t rub your weird couple fights in my face when you get together.”

He rolled his eyes at Hinata’s loud declarations of gratitude, shutting the doors on the redhead’s face before walking back over to his water bottle. Since then, Kageyama had calmed down (the lack of Tsukishima’s presence possibly contributing to this). He was practicing his serves in the short break Daichi afforded them, probably because he was too busy flirting with Suga to notice the rest of the team. Was everybody on the team just interbreeding? It was kind of disgusting to Tsukishima. Who the hell would fall in love with a teammate?

“Hey, Tanaka, throw me one,” Kageyama said, motioning to the sack full of volleyballs. Tanaka nodded and tossed him a ball, which Kageyama responded to by backing up behind the line and tossing the ball into the air, jumping up, and practically spiking it onto the other side as a serve.

Just that move, paired with the nearly slow-motion view Tsukishima’s brain tortured him with of the wind moving so swiftly to push back Kageyama’s hair to reveal his determined expression, was enough to get him to swallow his previous criticisms.

Oh, no, he thought. Oh no no no no. No, not a crush. It’s not a crush. Just...appreciation of beauty, is all. Not that he’s attractive! He’s an ugly bastard. Yeah, that’s it.

But as much as Tsukishima tried to convince himself that his eyes cementing on his day-one rival and sliding down his figure glowing with sweat was purely platonic, he was intelligent enough to recognize a crush when he saw one.

So he did what he usually did with crushes (the only exception being Kuroo): avoided Kageyama at all costs. It did help that Hinata eventually confessed to Kageyama, who reluctantly confessed back and ended with them as a couple. It was literally no different to their relationship from before: they constantly fought, with Kageyama continuing to throw insults that would make any regular person cry, but Hinata only laughed and took it as an encouragement to play harder. The only difference was when they would walk back home together at night after practice, they would be holding hands. Their hands must’ve been so warm together in the snowy night. As opposed to Tsukishima, who had perpetually cold hands. And nobody to warm them.

It also helped that a few weeks later—Tsukishima’s crush on Kageyama completely gone—his lifelong friend Yamaguchi confessed to him that he’d had a crush on him since he first learned about romantic feelings.

“So...all these years?” Tsukishima asked, breathless.

It was a cloudless night, the moon on full display to light up the pair of friends like a stage show. It was cold enough to have their opaque breaths overlap with each other with how close Yamaguchi was to the blond, his eyes shining with wetness from his overwhelmed tears.

“Yes,” Yamaguchi whispered, his eyes never leaving Tsukishima’s. “I...I don’t remember a time when I didn’t love you, Kei.”

A crush was one thing. But love? Yamaguchi... loved him? And not in a platonic way? As much as Tsukishima hated to admit it and never would out loud, he loved Yamaguchi as a friend. He loved their friendship and cherished it as close to his heart as his headphones. But in a romantic way...he couldn’t lie and say he never considered it. He found himself closing the gap, both physically and metaphorically, between him and Yamaguchi over the years, with the inches between them when sitting in class turning into centimeters and then millimeters. And when they had sleepovers, Tsukishima couldn’t help but turn over in his bed and watch Yamaguchi sleep. Sometimes, he’d wake up on the floor right next to Yamaguchi, who just assumed Tsukishima had sleep-walked or fallen out of bed. And he tried to convince himself of that fact so much that he thought it was true. Until now. Now he knew…

“Can you give me some time to...process all this?” he asked haltingly. His heart broke when a few tears escaped Yamaguchi’s eyes at that response. He knew very well it wasn’t the one Yamaguchi wanted. It was better to be turned down than to be kept waiting. But he physically couldn’t think at the moment from all the thoughts and flashbacks swirling in his head.

“S-sure, Kei…” Yamaguchi mumbled, wringing his hands. “Bye, then.”

He turned away and ran as fast as he could home. Tsukishima knew they both lived in the same neighborhood, so he’d give Yamaguchi a running start before he began to walk home to prevent any more awkwardness. Besides, he couldn’t imagine walking with the way his legs were shaking.

—

The next night after practice, their sweat drying down in the frigid night, they found themselves in the exact same position as yesterday: facing each other with tears in Yamaguchi’s eyes.

“Really?” Yamaguchi breathed in disbelief, clutching his hands into excited fists.

“Yeah, Tadashi,” Tsukishima replied, cracking a rare shy smile. “I really like you. I...I want to try this out.”

That was all Yamaguchi needed before he threw his arms around Tsukishima’s neck and pulled him in close, joining their lips that were so chapped, but it didn’t matter to him. All he knew was that he was kissing the best friend he’d loved since they were old enough to have abstract thought. And he wasn’t about to let go anytime soon.

All Tsukishima knew was that this kiss was...different. Different than the only kiss he’d ever had before. This kiss wasn’t bad—in fact, he found himself wrapping his arms around Yamaguchi’s waist and pulling him closer until their chests pressed together, cocking his head to the side to deepen the kiss. But a flash of Kuroo’s face made him gasp and pull away, lifting the back of his hand to his lips.

“Did...did I do something wrong?” Yamaguchi asked in such a small voice, Tsukishima immediately went to reassure him.

“No, no, it was just...overwhelming,” he replied quickly, adding in a small awkward chuckle which made Yamaguchi’s face brighten.

“I’m glad,” Yamaguchi whispered, nervously picking at his hangnails. “N-not at you being overwhelmed, but that I wasn’t doing anything wrong.”

“You weren’t,” Tsukishima whispered back, his face reddening to match the rose bush across from them. “At all.”

In fact, it was all his fault for imagining the black-haired upperclassman who refused to leave his mind, even after all these months. He was probably succeeding heavily in his new job, had a girlfriend—or a wife, who knew? Maybe he had some mini Kuroos running around. The thought made him nauseous. But why? He had his own boyfriend now. So why was he still thinking about that stupid kiss with that stupid Kuroo?

“Let’s go home,” Tsukishima offered, to which Yamaguchi furiously nodded.

“Yeah,” he replied, slipping his hand into Tsukishima’s, their fingers lacing together. He ran his thumb over his knuckles, which gave Tsukishima the impression that Yamaguchi had been imagining every single second of how this confession would go.

“Let’s go,” Yamaguchi murmured, pressing a kiss to Tsukishima’s cheek while standing on his toes.

They dated for the rest of high school, sharing all their firsts together. Minus Tsukishima’s first kiss. That was still reserved for the devil named Kuroo who still haunted his dreams instead of his boyfriend. They are right, though: time really does heal all wounds. It didn’t take long for Kuroo to disappear from Tsukishima’s mind. From homework to tests to volleyball to Yamaguchi, he simply didn’t have enough brainpower to focus on the man who was probably already married. That logic ended with his dreams. And he’d rather die than admit he still dreamed about anybody other than his boyfriend.

They went to the movies, had picnics, ice skated, laughed, and kissed. When they weren’t on formal dates, they hung out just like they did as before when they were just friends: at school or in each other’s bedrooms, playing on their phones absentmindedly or helping each other with their DS games. The only exception being their bedroom doors had to be left open, per their parents’ instructions. But that didn’t stop them from doing exactly what their parents were trying to prevent in their third and last year in school.

“Are you sure about this?” Yamaguchi asked breathlessly, his breath having been sucked out by the near ten-minute makeout session they were having before he pushed Tsukishima onto the bed and wavered over him.

Tsukishima only nodded, not having any courage to confirm out loud. His face was beet-red, and it only got redder when he felt Yamaguchi’s lips on his neck, chest, stomach, and beyond. The entire time, he hid his face with his arms and silenced himself, only letting out occasional whimpers and pants. It ended with both of them satisfied and with Tsukishima wordlessly clinging to Yamaguchi’s side. That was something new he learned about himself: he could be very clingy. And Yamaguchi was more than pleased to learn this.

However, he wasn’t afforded the same luxury of hiding away evidence of his pleasure the next time, with Yamaguchi physically ripping away Tsukishima’s arms from his face in order to look at his boyfriend in all his glory. After that time, Tsukishima boycotted cuddling with Yamaguchi...for the first ten minutes. Then his need for physical closeness overruled any grudge he had.

He was happy.

—

They wasted no time making up for all the sex they could’ve had the last two years where they only had clandestine makeout sessions and subtle clothed grinding. But it wasn’t just because they were horny, but because it was their last year. Their last year until they eventually split because they had drastically different life plans.

Kageyama and Hinata had already split up a month ago. Asahi and Noya had a very saccharine one year of dating until they split because of the long-distance after Asahi graduated. Suga and Daichi dated only for a month before splitting and graduating, if you could call going on one date and making out and grinding against a wall dating. It was only a matter of time before he and Yamaguchi did the same. All eyes were on them. Well, that was an exaggeration, but that’s what it felt like for Tsukishima.

Which made it all even worse when he found out his feelings weren’t mutual.

“What? You want to...break up?” Yamaguchi asked in such a broken voice that Tsukishima wanted to act like it was a prank. But he couldn’t.

“I’m just thinking about the future, Tadashi,” he replied, trying to keep his voice level, but just that felt cruel juxtaposed against Yamaguchi’s crumbling exterior.

“The future?” Yamaguchi asked, his voice breaking yet again. His confused face fell into despair, his under eyes seeming to sink inches into his face. His eyes fell down to his wringing hands in front of him. “Right...the future.”

“Yeah, I mean, it just—”

“Have you thought—” Yamaguchi interrupted, his eyes still fixated on his hands. “—that maybe I thought you were my future? That we are the future? You’re the love of my life, Kei. I could never just leave you.”

That hit Tsukishima like a train. No, a bullet. No, a bullet train. He physically recoiled, his hand gripping his sweatshirt.

“I-I—” How the hell was he supposed to respond to that? “We’re going to be across the country. You’ll be in Sapporo, and I’ll be in Fukuoka. It’s just too far.”

“Oh, well,” Yamaguchi said, trying to sound casual, but the big gobs of tears running down his cheeks were a dead giveaway that he was, in fact, not casual. “We h-had a good run.”

Tsukishima raised his hand slowly to see if Yamaguchi would object, and when he didn’t, he brushed his hot tears away with his thumb. They were so salty, they burned the cuts volleyball gave him on his fingers and palm.

“The best,” he murmured before leaning down and kissing away Yamaguchi’s tears, ignoring the burning as they slipped into the cracks in his lips. He moved them away from his cheeks to his boyfriend—now ex’s—lips, giving him one last tender kiss before standing back up and beginning his long, tearful trek home. He never cried. Keyword: never . And yet he was bawling like a baby the entire way home, only stopped when he had to walk past his parents before collapsing on the floor of his bedroom and crying until his voice was raw and he ran out of tears.

Graduation didn’t occur too long after that. He and Yamaguchi had stayed tentative friends, especially since Tsukishima wouldn’t have literally anybody to talk to if they hadn’t. He was going to a university close to Fukuoka, focusing on archaeology. He signed up for the intramural volleyball team, the sport being the only love in his life other than Yamaguchi. Despite them being broken up, he still deeply loved and would always love Yamaguchi. Perhaps in another life, or even a few years...who knew? His motto was always “you never know what will happen.” So after saying goodbye to Yamaguchi and Hinata and tipping his chin up in a mutual agreement to never talk to each other again to Kageyama, he thought those were all the friends he had left at the school. The rest had already graduated, and he didn’t really think of them as friends. Not that he thought Hinata and Kageyama were friends.

Bokuto still tried to get in touch with him, but all his face reminded him of was Kuroo. And he seriously thought he was over that pain in the ass after four years. Plus, Bokuto had his own career and tax-evasion to deal with. Almost every time he tried to call Tsukishima, the call was interrupted by the tax service calling him. So when Bokuto called him up a week after graduation, he just counted the minutes until he had to hang up. However, it seemed as if Bokuto knew about his limited phone time, so he got the information out as quickly as possible.

“Hey, so we’re thinking of rounding up all the members of the dream team—Karasuno, Nekoma, Fukurodani, the works—up for a reunion!” he spat out, barely giving Tsukishima enough time to react before launching into the details of the meetup.

“Anyway, see you there!” Click.

Tsukishima blinked. He blinked again. The third time he blinked, it all registered in his mind.

Kuroo might be there.

He shamelessly RSVP’d to Bokuto’s email immediately afterward.

—

He wasn’t exactly given the dress code for the event, so he played it safe with a simple deep violet button-down and black slacks. He wore his father’s expensive Rolex watch and a thick black belt as if trying to convey to the others that he was already so successful after just graduating. “To the others,” i.e. Kuroo. He stared at himself in the mirror, fixing his glasses for the umpteenth time, only looking away once he thought his ear was melting off his face from staring too long at himself. Finally, once his brother yelled at him to get out of the bathroom, he grabbed his car keys and drove to the homey bar downtown where they sometimes visited after practice games to stock up on carbs and protein. It gave him both PTSD and déjà vu.

He took off his shoes at the entrance and slipped into the slippers they provided, but he nearly fell from tripping at the loud, familiar laughter that echoed throughout the bar. That could only be—

“Beanpole!” Tanaka yelled for the entire bar to turn and witness the drunkard ambling like a toddler up to the blond, slinging his arm around his shoulders as he nursed a bottle of beer. “What’s up, man? I didn’t think you’d have the cojones to show up here!”

“I will never miss you saying that word,” Tsukishima muttered, only earning him another loud bark of laughter. He groaned and pushed Tanaka off him, being caught by Kiyoko.

Hm, they seem to be going strong.

Perhaps not every high school relationship fell apart after high school or long-distance. He ignored the thought for now since he knew it would cause him to fall into a deep depression over his need to break up with Yamaguchi for that very reason. He didn’t need that in the middle of a bar, especially since he was sober.

All his former teammates and rivals were sat around three tables joined together, all laughing and clinking drinks and screaming ‘Banzai!’ until their voices went hoarse. Tsukishima’s eyes scanned the rowdy bar-goers: no sign of who he was waiting for. Yamaguchi noticed him immediately. That wasn’t a huge change from their high school years; he had grown a sort of sixth sense to sense when Tsukishima was around and then to provide him company, even though he looked as if he despised it. He never did.

“Hi, Kei,” Yamaguchi greeted timidly, as if he was scared of his lifelong best friend. They were best friends above all, from when they were boyfriends to now that they’re exes. So that hurt Tsukishima even more than he was already in pain. He was lucky if he didn’t walk away with a shriveled heart by the end of this.

He sat down next to Yamaguchi and crossed his legs, smiling at him politely. He had learned to smile more with Yamaguchi—not because Yamaguchi told him to, but because it had happened so gradually and naturally he had barely noticed it until his mother pointed it out.

“What’ve you been doing this week after graduation?” he asked, trying to make polite conversation, but it was obvious that he was a little tipsy.

“Ooh, nothing,” he slurred.

Okay, more than a little tipsy.

“Just, hehe—” He made a jerking up-and-down motion with his hand, which caused a red blush to overtake Tsukishima’s face at the connotations and the fact that Yamaguchi was being so brazen with his insinuations. “—and looking at internships. Trade school, maybe. I never figured it out in school. I was too busy with...you know.”

His eyes dropped to Tsukishima’s butt before flicking back up to those horrified brown eyes.

“I love baking,” he continued as if he didn’t just say something to get the teammates around them snickering. “Maybe I’ll work at a bakery.”

“It...fits you,” Tsukishima replied, still reeling from the neverending suggestive comments his friend just made.

“Hey, Yams, if those scones you brought us that one practice are any indication, I’m gonna spend all my money on your bakery,” Nishinoya butted in before taking a long swig of beer, being goaded on by Tanaka and Bokuto.

“Heh, thanks,” Yamaguchi mumbled, a blush spreading on his cheeks.

Oh, so that’s what gets you blushing?

Tsukishima got lost in the conversation, especially when more and more alcohol was placed in front of him. He got so lost, in fact, he would have completely missed the doors to the pub opening to reveal the main reason he came to the reunion in the first place. The only thing that pulled him out of his mental fog was Bokuto’s dramatic gasp and sprint to the door to envelop the dark-haired figure in a bear hug.

“Enough, enough—get off me, Bokuto!” Kuroo yelled, bonking Bokuto on the head as a last resort.

“Is that any way to say hello to the love of your life?” Bokuto asked tearfully, batting his eyelashes as Kuroo rolled his eyes.

“Sorry, lovey,” Kuroo grumbled, hooking Bokuto by the back of the neck and pulling him in to kiss him on the cheek. “Better now?”

Bokuto giggled and nodded. “Yeeahh.”

Kuroo turned to his side, and oh, Tsukishima barely recognized him without the awful dye job.

“Get jealous there, Kenma?” Kuroo asked with a wink, to which Kenma rolled his eyes and went back to typing on his phone. Kuroo immediately reached forward and yanked the phone out of Kenma’s hands, pocketing it quickly. “I said no phone tonight.”

“You say that every night,” Kenma mumbled as they walked over to the table.

Tsukishima physically could not tear his eyes away from Tetsurou Kuroo. He looked so...handsome. So beautiful. Genuinely. He looked almost the same, and yet there was a certain aura around him that screamed ‘successful’ and ‘confident’ and ‘good-natured soul.’ He thought Kuroo was attractive in high school…

Oh, he was drooling.

As he wiped his mouth with a napkin, he secretly prayed that Kuroo wouldn’t go anywhere close to him. But that was too much to ask for, apparently, since Kuroo sat right across from him. It was as if he made a beeline just for Tsukishima. Could he maybe still…? No, it was just a coincidence.

“Hey, Kei,” Kuroo said before dissolving into laughter. “Ha, the rhyme never gets old.”

Tsukishima forced on a pained smile, but it wasn’t because the joke wasn’t funny. Well, it wasn’t, but he’d gotten used to the cringiness of it long ago. No, just having Kuroo in the same vicinity was enough to get him sweating profusely, nevermind right across from him, talking to him.

“How are you doing?” Kuroo continued, pouring two glasses of sake.

Get ahold of yourself.

“I should be asking you that,” Tsukishima replied with a nervous laugh, about to reach forward for one of the glasses until Kenma reached for it first. He only processed how awkward it was that his hand was just wavering above the table, so he quickly wrapped it around an empty beer bottle and acted as if it was full.

“Ah, I’m boring,” Kuroo said with a dismissive wave. “Same old, same old.”

“And what is that ‘same old, same old’?” Tsukishima asked, swirling the last drops of beer around the bottle. His entire body was warm. He set down the beer bottle to take off his coat, and he could’ve sworn he saw Kuroo’s eyes give him a once-over before returning to his face. Just the thought caused him to heat up even more. At this rate, he’d be stripped naked by the end of the night. Well, if it meant Kuroo’s eyes would be on him—

Wow, he was drunk.

“Well, office work, mostly,” Kuroo explained with a shrug. “Being a software developer is a lot more boring than it sounds.”

“Are you still playing volleyball?” Tsukishima asked hesitantly, his eyes focused on the table because otherwise, he’d be staring very creepily at the man in front of him.

“Every once in a while when I can get out of the office,” Kuroo replied. “At the local gym. I’ve found a couple of guys.”

“Oh, cool,” Tsukishima said with a bob of his head.

What a lame response.

“Any cuties at work?” he blurted out, and woah, he would take a lame response over the abomination that just left his mouth. He looked down at the beer bottle he was just drinking from to see if it was accidentally pure vodka.

Kuroo seemed more taken aback than Tsukishima himself, which made him want to wallow in self-pity even more.

“Oh, uh—” Kuroo laughed, although it didn’t seem nervous. “No, I’ve actually had my eye on somebody for a while.”

“For a while?” Tsukishima repeated, his eyes brimming with hope. His chest felt as if it would burst. He didn’t imagine their mutual love confession being in the middle of a bar with everybody nearly blackout drunk and falling over themselves, but as long as it happened, he’d be over the moon. He very conspicuously leaned forward and over the table, his eyes dropping to Kuroo’s lips.

“Yeah,” Kuroo replied slowly, his eyes also dropping to Tsukishima’s lips.

This is it, this is it, this is—

“Your eye on somebody? Really? You’re so romantic,” Kenma interrupted sarcastically, so rudely interrupting the moment Tsukishima and Kuroo were having. “It almost makes me forget our anniversary is next week.”

Anniversary…?

“What, you can’t catch my eye?” Oh, God, Kuroo was resorting to baby talk. He lifted a hand and cupped the side of Kenma’s face, and only then was it glaringly obvious that Tsukishima was horribly, horribly wrong. To add insult to injury, the golden band that suddenly appeared on Kuroo’s ring finger glinted atrociously in the light, as if bragging to Tsukishima that it wasn’t his.

“Mmmm,” Kenma hummed absentmindedly, burying his face back in his phone, which he magically got back from Kuroo’s pocket.

“This is why I married you,” Kuroo replied, earning a bout of whooping and happy shouting from amongst the other guests in celebration of the announcement. But Tsukishima was silent. And stone cold.

Without a word, he stood up and tossed his jacket over his shoulder before promptly walking out of the bar into the cool air, but it did nothing to calm the rage and shame mixing pitifully in his chest. He had seriously thought that...with Kuroo...and he would…

I’m such a fucking idiot.

He kicked a rock into the street, which instantly got run over by a car. That’s exactly what Tsukishima’s heart felt like. Crushed ruthlessly.

The opening of the bar door caused him to turn, revealing Yamaguchi stumbling out with near sobriety. His body hadn’t quite caught up, though.

“Hey, where’d you go?” Yamaguchi asked, walking straight up to Tsukishima until he could smell the alcohol on his breath.

“I just needed some air,” he explained, looking up at the sky and how his condensed breath clouded it temporarily until it dissipated.

“You know I know when you lie, Kei,” Yamaguchi replied, raising a brow before his face dawned with realization. “Was it Kuroo? Did he say something?”

“I—no, it’s nothing. It was just really hot,” Tsukishima said, waving Yamaguchi away. “Now go back, you’re missing the fun.”

“What, missing Tanaka throw up on Bokuto and try to clean it up himself and make it worse?” Yamaguchi joked. “Yeah, no thanks.”

They stayed silent for a moment more before Yamaguchi’s soft voice broke the silence.

“It was him, wasn’t it?” Yamaguchi asked, which immediately caught Tsukishima’s attention. Yamaguchi shoved his hands deep into his pockets and sighed. “It was always him.”

“I...don’t know what—”

“Don’t lie to me, Kei!” Yamaguchi shouted, not caring about the passerby giving them strange looks. “I’ve always seen the way you look at him. Ever since that damn training camp...I thought that maybe, maybe I was just making it up because I was insecure, especially when you said you liked me back. But…”

Why did it always end up this way? With Yamaguchi crying his eyes out and spilling out his heart and Tsukishima dying of guilt?

“But you never looked at me the way you looked at Kuroo just now. N-never.” Yamaguchi sniffled and wiped his eyes, but more tears just replaced the others. “Was I just...a replacement? Somebody to have fun with before moving on to somebody else? Was that it?”

“Tadashi, no—”

“Nevermind,” Yamaguchi interrupted, shaking his head emphatically. “I don’t want to know. I’ve already beat myself up enough after you broke up with me. I just...I hope you are happy, Kei. Or at least, I hope you get happy. I hope you find somebody who makes you as happy as Kuroo made you.”

He smiled, but it was so pained that it felt like thousands of little needles were sticking straight in Tsukishima’s chest.

“It’s okay, Kei. It’s okay.” Yamaguchi got on his toes one last time and pressed a long, tender, and tragic kiss onto Tsukishima’s cheek, wet with tears. Only then did he realize he was crying.

“I’ll see you at the next reunion, okay?” Yamaguchi said softly, smoothing out Tsukishima’s shirt. “We’ll both be happy, Tsukishima.”

“I was always happy with you, Tadashi,” Tsukishima croaked, basically pleading for Yamaguchi to listen to him.

Yamaguchi said nothing. Instead, he nodded curtly, pat Tsukishima’s chest, and walked back into the bar. Not long after, he walked back out with his coat, sparing Tsukishima another glance before getting in a taxi and leaving far away from the site of so many happy moments and one horrible, awful, disastrous moment.

Tsukishima was getting ready to leave before the creaking of the bar door caused him to pause, but he didn’t turn his head. It was probably just a stranger, so he continued to search his pockets for his car keys, coming up empty.

“Searching for these?”

A metallic jingle accompanied the voice, belonging to none other than his car keys and Kuroo himself.

Tsukishima made sure the last of his tears were wiped away, but he still felt that his cheeks were burning and his eyes were bloodshot.

“Uh, yeah. Thanks.” Tsukishima held out his hand and looked down at the sidewalk, awaiting the weight of the car keys in his hand, but it never came, forcing him to look back up and be met with Kuroo’s incredibly close figure who was currently smirking.

“Why are you leaving so early? You just got here,” he asked, raising a brow in suspicion.

“I just got tired,” he explained quickly, motioning to the car keys. “Please.”

“Ah-ah-ah,” Kuroo sang, shaking his head. “Aren’t you drunk?”

“Please.” Before long, Kuroo’s teasing got very old, and Tsukishima couldn’t hold himself back from blowing up. “Please give me my keys!”

Kuroo, for the second time that night, was taken aback. It reminded him of the good old days when he would be taken aback with every word Tsukishima said because he expected him to never talk, and when he did, it was always a jab at somebody. He found it amusing, but in this moment, he found it terrifying.

“Tsukki, no way,” Kuroo objected sternly, stuffing the keys in his pocket. “You’re drunk. I’ll drive you home after this; just come back inside.”

“No!” Without thinking, Tsukishima grabbed Kuroo and drove him deeper into an alleyway, throwing him against the wall and shooting his arm out to try and dig his keys out, but Kuroo blocked him in every way possible. “Just let me get my keys!”

“If you want to leave so bad, let me call a—”

“Don’t you understand? Are you that fucking stupid, or are you just blind?” Tsukishima was crying again by now, his face glistening with new tears thanks to the moon shining straight above them. “Let me leave, and I’ll leave you alone.”

“What’s your issue, man?” Kuroo asked, but it was less of a question and more of demand. He continued to hold Tsukishima’s keys hostage, which made him even more desperate to get them. He clawed at Kuroo’s chest, practically falling on top of him with how his legs were failing him.

“Do you seriously not remember? Or notice anything? I don’t remember you being this idiotic,” Tsukishima yelled, and he watched as Kuroo’s face morphed from confusion to calm realization.

“...That was nearly four years ago, Kei,” Kuroo said. This time his voice was low, rumbling deep in his chest, and Tsukishima could feel it through his hands.

“And I never stopped thinking about it! I never stopped thinking about you. You did this to me. You made me fall—” He hesitated, but he had already gone too far. Time to come clean about everything. “You made me fall in love with you! It’s all your fault, and now I have to deal with the consequences. You won’t leave my head no matter what I try. And now you’re fucking married? Did I mean nothing to you? You never...you never talked to me again after that. I…” He raised a trembling hand to his face, hiding it as best he could. “I’ve loved you for so long, it’s ruined my entire life.”

Kuroo was dead silent. The alleyway was silent other than the ambient noise filtering in from the entrance of the alley, of traffic and passerby and animals. The only sound between them was Tsukishima’s panicked panting, trying to get ahold of his own breath, and his strained weeping.

“You’ve always loved me,” Kuroo repeated, and Tsukishima let out a pitiful cry just at the sound of Kuroo saying those words. Kuroo pushed Tsukishima away but only to look him square in the face. “You never contacted me, Tsukki. I was just giving you space to figure things out.”

“I-I-I—” He didn’t have any excuses for that. All he wanted to do was blame everybody around him for his out-of-control feelings other than himself.

How’s that working out for you, Kei?

“Tsukki,” Kuroo started, and just hearing him use that nickname after so long in that low voice made Tsukishima nearly melt. “Tsukki, you were always like a little brother to me. I—”

A pathetic yelp erupted from Tsukishima’s throat at hearing that. Just that sentence alone was enough to kill him entirely.

“But—”

There weren’t any buts. He was now just a walking husk of a man, rejected by the man he’d been yearning after for years, had devoted his dreams and daydreams to just to get by in high school.

“But I’ve never stopped thinking about it,” Kuroo finished. “I never stopped thinking about you. I never forgot about you, Kei. Or what could’ve happened.”

“What could’ve happened…” Tsukishima gasped and clutched Kuroo’s hand, another burst of excitement swelling in him. “Y-you mean—”

“No, Kei, I’m happily married,” Kuroo clarified, showing off that dastardly ring that mocked him in all its beauty. “If we did get together, I know it wouldn’t have lasted very long. But I do know we would’ve been happy during that time. Until we found true happiness in somebody else.”

“Which…” Tsukishima winced, “is what you did.”

Kuroo nodded sagely. “And you will, too. You don’t have to forget me, Kei. You just have to find somebody who doesn’t make you look back on me with regret but with thankfulness that you got to a point where you found somebody you love more than me.” He reached up and caressed the side of Tsukishima’s wet cheek, stroking the red skin with his thumb. “You’ll always be my beanpole middle blocker.”

And you’ll always be my pain-in-the-ass captain.

“I’m gonna go call you a cab,” Kuroo said, motioning to the end of the alleyway they came from. “I’ll see you later, Tsukki. Take care.”

With that, he leaned forward and pressed a soft, short kiss onto Tsukishima’s forehead, leaving him in the alley to wallow in his own tears and self-pity until the cab he called showed up. The entire cab ride, he never let go of his forehead, wanting to preserve the warmth on his skin for as long as possible.

And when he got home, he realized Kuroo had kept his car keys.

Did he do this on purpose?

—

The next day, after taking pain meds for the killer headache assaulting his mind and cringing sufficiently over his actions last night, he finally mustered up the courage to call Kuroo.

The line rang two times before Kuroo picked up.

“Hey.” His voice was like molasses in the morning. “Calling for your car keys?”

“Yes,” Tsukishima replied, coolly as he always did.

“I’ll see you after work,” was all Kuroo said before hanging up.

When Kuroo showed up later that night, he brought somebody familiar with him.

“Sorry about not telling you, but I needed somebody to drive me back,” Kuroo said, motioning to the tall man beside him.

“Is that…” Tsukishima’s eyes raked over the man’s figure before settling on his eyebrows—or rather, lack of them.

“Aone,” he finished for Tsukishima, bowing in greeting. “It’s very nice to see you again, Tsukishima.”

“Enough with the formalities, Aone, geez,” Kuroo joked, punching him playfully in the shoulder. “Well, anyway, here are your keys. I gotta go drop Aone off at a single’s night at a nightclub. Because, you know, he’s single.”

Aone blushed. Tsukishima never thought he’d see the day this concrete block of a man blush. It was...endearing in a way.

“No need to advertise it,” Aone whispered under his breath, which made Tsukishima chuckle sympathetically. Kuroo’s eyes shone.

“Well, anyway, gotta go,” Kuroo said, motioning to the car and tossing Tsukishima the keys, which he barely caught in time since his eyes were stuck on a certain man.

“W-wait,” Tsukishima said, reaching out to get them to stop. “Single’s club? Um...is it any fun?”

Kuroo laughed his usual devil laugh that sounded more annoying than cute now.

“Of course it is, it’s a club,” Kuroo said matter-of-factly. “But I’m sure it’s not your speed.”

Tsukishima paused and looked down at his feet before admitting, “I, uh, can try it out.”

“Oh,” Kuroo said as if he had just been given a critical piece of evidence. “Aone, did you hear that?”

“I’m not deaf.”

“Alright, Tsukki, go get dressed because those pajamas are tacky,” Kuroo demanded, waving Tsukishima away.

He sneered and turned his nose up as he turned his back on the former captain. “Bokuto is rubbing off on you.”

“Never say that to me again.”

Tsukishima held back laughter as he ran back inside, an uncontrollable grin forming on his face. And for the first time after an interaction with Kuroo, he wasn’t the person that stayed in his mind as he left. Tsukishima himself was the man he was thinking about, about how excited he was getting at the possibility of meeting new people. That never happened before because, well...his heart had always been reserved for Kuroo.

Now it was open, open to everybody. Including himself.

#haikyuu!!#haikyū!!#fanfic #kuroo tetsurō #kuroo x tsukki #kuroo x tsukishima #tsukishima kei #kenma #tsukishima fanfiction #angst #fanfiction #one shot #oneshot #fluff #hurt comfort

12 notes · View notes

murasaki-murasame · 3 years

Text

Thoughts on Higurashi Gou Ep15

*bonk*

Actual thoughts under the cut, lol [Plus Umineko spoilers]

lmao where do I even begin with this episode.

In a lot of ways this is really reminding me of why Gou seems to be so polarizing with people, especially with old fans. Even after this episode I’m still on the side of really liking it.

On the one hand I think it’s been a good thing that Gou has had less focus on gore and violence compared to the original anime [and the VN to a lesser extent], but on the other hand I think this episode actually worked really well, specifically because of how relatively devoid of on-screen gore the first three arcs were. It makes this episode stand out way more when it’s such a step in intensity above everything that came before it.

But other than the sheer violence and horror of it all, and how off-putting that is to a lot of people, I think part of why it’s so polarizing is that this episode also has a dark comedy vibe to it, where the show is totally aware of how over the top it all is. I can see why this sort of tone might not work at all for a lot of people, and might seem outright disrespectful towards Rika as a character and the Vn in general, but I enjoyed it, since I like this sort of humour.

I also don’t think it’s that weird at all for Ryukishi to embrace the potential for dark comedy through violence. There’s already some elements of that in Umineko.

It’s also pretty obvious that the entire point of these loops was to show how Rika is getting killed almost immediately, before she has any real time to think or strategize or investigate. So I think it was necessary for us to go through it so fast in order to properly put us in Rika’s shoes as she goes through this almost rapid-fire series of comically abrupt and tragic deaths. I don’t really think that dragging this part out over more episodes would have worked as well because of that.

I do have some issues with how we’ve seen so little to do with Rika actually trying to investigate stuff, but I still like how this episode was handled.

Anyway, this does give us more clues about what’s going on with the overall mystery, both in terms of what was shown, and what wasn’t shown across these loops.

The only info we really get in each of these loops is that some seemingly random person goes fully L5 and kills Rika [and usually lots of other people as well], and that it’s happening at a way faster pace than it ever happened before. But on the other hand, there’s still no real references made to the GHD [aside from Kimiyoshi talking about the swamp gas, which isn’t quite the same thing], and Takano and Tomitake weren’t mentioned or shown at all. Same with Irie, I guess. The way that people seem to keep going L5 extremely quickly, along with the references to parasites and whatnot, feels like it’s a result of Takano injecting people with the syringe she used on Tomitake originally, and/or giving people her notes about the virus like she did with Rena in Tsumihoroboshi. But the weird thing about that is that Takano hasn’t killed Tomitake with that syringe yet in Gou, and the way these loops play out just doesn’t really feel like it matches her whole MO.

If we go with the idea that everything with her is exactly the same as it is in the vN, then the Kimiyoshi loop in particular is weird, because having Rika get dumped in the swamp would make it very hard for Takano to execute the GHD. Maybe she just didn’t plan for it to play out that way, but that’d be a kinda lame answer. This also reminds me of Rika getting dumped in the septic tank in Watadamashi, which was another murder method that seemed like it’d risk having her body only be found more than two days after she died.

There’s also the fact that in the other loops, Rika’s death isn’t set up in a way to make it look like it’s some sort of ritualistic part of the curse. This is probably less important, but Takano did apparently always set Rika’s body up at the shrine in the arcs where she kills her, because part of her whole plan was to have Rika’s death play into the curse narrative. But in basically every loop in Gou thus far, Rika’s just died in random ways, and usually there’s been obvious human culprits who killed her. So it just doesn’t really feel like Takano’s work, even though she seems like the obvious person to be setting up all these random killers.

She also only ever used that syringe on Tomitake to kill him at the festival. I don’t think she ever used it on someone with the intent of using them to kill Rika, so that’s another way in which the whole method of the ‘mastermind’ feels different to Takano. If anything it seems kinda overly complicated for Takano to do it this way, and to do it with different people each time, instead of just killing Rika herself like she does in the VN. Her whole character is defined by her unwavering will, and her desire to achieve her own dreams for herself, so having Rika get killed ‘indirectly’ in an almost randomized way seems very weird if we assume she’s still behind it. If anything, it reminds me a lot more of how the ‘roulette’ works in Umineko, lol.

In general this episode really hammered in the fact that whoever’s behind all this seems to be going out of their way to screw with Rika, and that they’re maybe acting on the fly in response to Rika’s actions, and choosing what options they think will mess with her the most in each arc. I might be wrong about that, but considering how much they seem to be leaning into this being a Bern origin story, and Featherine literally showing up in the OP, I can totally imagine that the motive of the mastermind this time is pretty much just pure sadism.

Even though Featherine is probably the one who made this new gameboard to begin with, I wouldn’t be surprised if this ends up being more like a game between Bern and Lambda, where Lambda is just toying with Bern by sticking her in this seemingly hopeless loop that’s designed to drive her to despair.

Gou still runs the risk of going off the deep end in a bad way if it leans that hard into the Umineko connections, but this whole turn of events is REALLY making this feel like a Bern origin story. And tbh I still think that any Umineko connections will end up being explained well enough within the context of Gou on it’s own that you won’t have to read all of Umineko to understand it. It’s entirely possible that they could touch upon the meta stuff in a way that’s framed more around Higurashi’s whole aesthetic, and never mention concepts like witches and gameboards. They could just frame it all in terms of gods, demons, loopers, fragments, etc. Which would help make it more digestible for people who haven’t read Umineko.

Anyway, now that we’re down to just one more loop before Rika decides to end it all, my guess is that the last two episodes of this arc will cover her ‘final loop’, but then one way or another we’ll get one more loop covering one big final arc. I’m not sure exactly how it’ll play out, but I think that either something will happen in the next loop to give her new hope to keep going, or she’ll end up being unable to actually go through with killing herself. Like, maybe she’ll use the sword fragment on herself and it won’t actually succeed in killing her permanently, or maybe at the start of the loop after the next one she’ll go to the shrine to retrieve the sword fragment only to find that it’s not even there in that loop. And since we already technically had Rika gaining a new burst of hope to keep going earlier in this arc, I’m leaning more towards the option of her trying to kill herself and being unable to. But we’ll see.

With how these last loops went, it really makes me wonder how Rika would even be able to figure anything out about the mystery with just one more loop. The mastermind seems determined to kill her as quickly as possible now, and it feels like she’s already become resigned to her fate. Especially with what happened with Akasaka, I don’t think she’s going to bother putting any real effort into reaching out to anyone in the next loop.

If the next arc is just one big answer arc to tie everything together, I assume that by the end of this arc we’ll know who the mastermind is. Which at this point probably has something to do with Satoko, one way or another.

This is also making me more convinced that Gou will just be 24 episodes and not have a second season or anything. After the whole ‘five more loops’ thing I thought maybe we’d get a second season, but now that they just straight up speed ran through four of them, that seems way less likely, lol. It’s possible that things will take a total left turn after this, and we’ll still get a second season with it’s own set of arcs, but it seems less likely now.

But on the other hand I still wonder how the next arc would be able to answer everything, especially from the perspective of new fans. There’s still stuff like Rena and Shion’s backstories that haven’t really been touched upon at all yet, and we still need to get answers about what went down in the first three arcs. I guess they might not each get their own full answer arcs, but there’s still only so much time left.

I guess it’s entirely possible that they just won’t bother explaining everything, especially in terms of backstory stuff, but that’s feel kinda disappointing. So I’d want a second season if only just to give them more time to go over the answers.

The fact that they’re still not doing much of anything with Takano and Tomitake also still makes me wonder even more if they’re going to bother getting into their whole deal in Gou, and all the exposition that would require. If we don’t get a second season then it really doesn’t feel like there’d be enough time for all that, on top of everything else that needs to be explained.

But I still think that Takano’s role in this is fundamentally different to the VN, so I think they’ll just side-step that whole issue entirely. I dunno if she’ll be completely irrelevant, but her role might require a lot less time spent on her backstory and development than what happened in the VN.

Though really at this point it seems pretty obvious that the whole climax and end goal of Gou is gonna be totally different to the VN, so I doubt they’re just gonna speedrun the events of Matsuribayashi in the last arc or something. If anything, the Akasaka loop kinda felt like an intentional hint toward the idea that he’s not going to be Rika’s savior again like in the VN, so the whole final arc will probably be different.

I don’t think anyone can say for sure how this will all end, but if this really is some kind of Bern origin story, then I think it’ll end with Rika giving into despair. Or maybe if I’m right about the meta framing of Gou as a whole, Rika will figure out that this is all just fiction, and she’ll just return to the ‘real world’ like when you realize that you’re dreaming and it makes you wake up. Which might be a kinda unsatisfying way to end this, but I’d be very surprised if we get a genuinely happy ending out of this.

Also, if this is setting up for some kind of Umineko anime remake, then it might make a lot more sense for this to have an abrupt and ‘inconclusive’ ending. Which would definitely piss a lot of people off, but since I really want an Umineko anime remake I’d be happy about it, lol.

Anyway, another thing I wanna mention is that this episode is really highlighting how we just haven’t really gotten definitive proof yet about if Rika actually knows about Takano and the GHD and whatnot. The whole concept of this seemingly unwinnable loop feels kinda strange when we haven’t even seen her do anything about Takano. And the idea that she’s just been doing that off-screen is feeling more and more unsatisfying as time goes on. But either way, if she knows that Takano’s behind everything, then surely that should give her a concrete goal to try and overcome. And it’s not like the events of each loop thus far necessarily contradict the idea of Takano being behind it all again [even though I think she isn’t], since Rika should know about Takano’s ability to artificially push people to go L5. She should also know that Takano’s the one who pushes the whole parasite idea onto people, like Rena in Tsumihoroboshi.

This still might just be iffy writing caused by Gou trying to have it’s cake and eat it too by getting into Rika’s POV without spoiling that whole plot point for new fans, but that’d just kinda suck at this point. I much prefer the idea that this version of Rika doesn’t actually know what’s going on with Takano, since it’d explain her apparent passivity towards her, and why she seems to be at a complete loss for what to do in these loops.

Also, on the whole note of the potential Umineko connections, this whole episode really reminded me of ep5 of Umineko, where Lambda sets up a ‘game without love’ where she violates the heart of the story while still having everyone do things that they’re technically capable of doing. It kinda feels like the mastermind is really just treating this like a game where their goal is to mentally break down Rika, and they’re messing around with exploiting as many different pieces as possible to see what they can do. It also reminds me of Bern saying at the end of Matsuribayashi that she wanted to go find a fragment where Akasaka went evil, lol. In general it just has a very ‘witch-y’ sort of vibe to it, in terms of the apparent sadism and random cruelty.

Bern also spent all of Umineko ep7 going out of her way to tear out the guts of the story for the sake of cruelty, so it’s pretty fitting that this sort of thing is happening to Rika here, lol.

Anyway, I really don’t know what to expect from the rest of this arc, let alone the next one, but I’m still enjoying this a whole lot.

#murasaki rambles #higurashi #higurashi gou #ryukishi heard y'all was talkin shit about Gou not being gory enough u_u

16 notes · View notes

thebibliomancer · 3 years

Text

Essential Avengers: Avengers #230: THE LAST FAREWELL!

April, 1983

“Yellowjacket no more!”

Aw, dang! Hank got raptured!

Captain America, Thor, and Hawkeye is a weird collection of characters to be staring forlornly at the empty Yellowjacket uniform.

Thor hasn’t really expressed much about the Yellowjacket situation in comparison. You think they could squeeze Wasp into the shot. Just her ex-husband is all. She’s just the team leader is all.

Put Wasp on the cover, you cowards.

So last times on Avengers: Hank Pym got himself kicked out of the Avengers and out of his marriage and pretty much deserved it. He was tricked into committing treason by his arch-nemesis Egghead and sent to jail. He sat in jail for, like, a really long time. The wheels really spun on the arc.

He was kicked out of the Avengers/walked before he could be kicked out in #213. He was arrested at the end of issue #217. His trial was in issue #228.

He was kidnapped from his trial by the Masters of Evil. Then in #229, he turned the tables on them all in quite a satisfying manner and slugged Egghead in the egg head.

Then Hawkeye manslaughtered him. He’s dead.

Hawkeye arrowed the science gun to stop Egghead from shooting Hank in the back and then the science gun backfired and microwaved that egg.

This makes Hank’s victory a little bittersweet for him.

Hank Pym: “I defeated the Masters of Evil single-handed... but more than anything, I wanted to bring Egghead to justice. He was a thorn in my side for so many years. I was never able to defeat him for long, not when I was Ant-Man... and not even after I became Giant-Man! He bedeviled me in every identity I assumed. He did me the greatest wrong when I was Yellowjacket. I’d already ruined my Avengers career, when he tricked me into committing a federal crime!”

Hawkeye too is set to thinking by what happened. Maybe humming a bit of Bohemian Rhapsody to himself too.

Hawkeye: “This is unreal! I’ve never killed a man before! I never planned on anything like this happening! Yeah, but I can’t feel sorry for Egghead! If anyone deserved this, he did! My brother Barney bought the farm, stopping Egghead from killing the Avengers. And if I hadn’t acted when I did, Hank Pym would be dead! If I had to do it again... I would!”

Hawkeye: ‘Eh, fuck ‘em!’

hah.

But Hank laments that with Egghead dead, so goes his chance of proving his innocence by turning him over to the law.

Hank Pym: “Egghead was always getting away from me, Hawkeye. It’s almost as if he’s pulled the ultimate escape!”

Fun fact: There doesn’t seem to be an Ultimate Egghead! Why would there need to be? Even more than in the 616, Ultimate Hank Pym is by far his own worst enemy.

Hawkeye basically tells Hank to buck up and that there’s basically incriminating evidence lying all over the place.

He doesn’t say it but even Egghead’s dead deceased corpse is kind of like evidence. Evidence that he wasn’t dead until recently.

Captain Marvel shows up because someone finally came looking for Hawkeye.

Hank is surprised, much like others have been that this is Captain Marvel. He knew the old guy, the super saiyan. And I guess he didn’t hear there was a new one.

Hawkeye: “We’ve had a few changes since you went in the slammer, Hank. C.M. is an Avenger in training.”

Huh. Captain Marvel doesn’t even react to the dead body. Then again, there’s a lot of bodies lying all around the place.

And while Hawkeye is introducing the new Captain Marvel to Hank, one of those bodies stirs.

Moonstone has regained consciousness and assesses the situation. She could blast Hank, Captain Marvel, and Hawkeye with her coherent light pew pew but that’d just weaken her.

Like in the previous issue, Moonstone is one of the few supervillains who knows when to fold ‘em.

So she decides to skeedaddle while the getting is good but whoops.

Getting wasn’t good.

The rest of the Avengers have shown up and cornered her while she was pondering.

So Moonstone decides ‘eh fuck it’ and promises to spill all the beans if it gets her a lighter sentence.

So days later, the mostly off-screen trial of Hank Pym finally ends.

A loooot of new evidence suddenly popping up led the prosecution to withdraw all charges.

The lead prosecution witness, Trish Starr, suddenly reversing her testimony after putting on Tony Stark’s magical mental-scan helmet kind of tanked the case, really.

Wait, they really did just admit the use of the helmet in the trial when its new, unsubstantiated technology whose inventor disappeared?

Damn, I knew the Marvel legal system was wild (considering comic books as legal documents as explored in Dan Slott’s run on the character) but still!

Although it makes sense. Egghead got Trish to incriminate Hank by using the bionic arm to alter her memories. The helmet Tony invented undoes that kind of alteration. This connects the dots quite reasonably. Glad Stern was paying attention when preparing to finish this arc.

Moonstone and Beetle confirming that Egghead was using Hank as a tool also helps.

In fact, not only did the prosecution drop all their charges, the judge also dismissed all the charges. Which feels redundant? I dunno much about law, really. Just the She-Hulk version of law. Which, again, uses comic books as legal documents.

Apparently happening at around the same time, Hawkeye also had his day in court.

Literally a day.

It wasn’t a trial, just a hearing to investigate whether he was guilty of wrong-doing in the death of Egghead.

Newsman with a newsplan: “Though he was threatened with contempt-of-court charges a number of times -- Hawkeye was found innocent of any wrong-doing in the death of Dr. Elihas Starr -- the self-styled Egghead.”

Yeah, I bet Hawkeye was threatened with contempt-of-court a bunch. And I bet you anything that at least one of the times he rejoined with “No, you’re out of order! This whole damn courtroom is out of order!”

And then the judge probably just sighed.

I mean, look at that unbelievable Hawkeye in the bottom left panel.

Anyway, I think Stern must have felt a little pent up having to start his Avengers run finishing off someone else’s story, especially having to devote a recap issue to it since the plot had been interspersed with fill-ins.

Because in the middle of concluding this arc, he throws in two plot beats that I have to assume are to set up stuff of his own.

A day after the trial, the Beetle is being escorted to a cell in a Western Pennsylvanian federal maximum security prison when he bumps into another prisoner.

What neither the Beetle or the guard notices is that the bump to “Sam Smithers” has peeled off some skin on his arm and revealed THAT HE IS ACTUALLY MADE OF WOOD!

Suspect possibly a living puppet.

And elsewhere but samewhen, IN SPACE, specifically on Saturn’s moon Titan, Thanos’ brother Eros is basically complaining about being bored.

When Captain Mar-vell died of having a lot of cancer, he asked Eros to look after Mar-vell’s... uh... -google- robot girlfriend?? Elysius.

Eventual mom to Genis and Phyla-Vells.

Soooooo, Eros has done as Mar-vell’s deathbed wish was and spent an agonizing several consecutive months hanging out in Titan’s beautiful inside forests and just having a real hard time caring about one thing for such a long period of time.

I’m not even being unfair to him.

Eros: “This is the first time in ages that I’ve spent so many consecutive months on Titan! I have ever been a wanderer! I’ve sought out adventure across the wide cosmos. Frankly, I have known romance on more worlds than most sentient beings could imagine. That’s part of the problem. Our friendship has been wonderful, but I’m having a hard time adjusting to it. My previous relationships have all been of a fleeting nature.”

‘Look its not you, its me’ except for attempting to dump someone as a friend, instead of romantically.

Not dump, even. He just kind of wants to ditch her and is asking in a roundabout way if she’s emotionally stable enough to ditch.

She goes, yeah sure, go off and have fun. And maybe she’s getting tired of his company too.

Elysius: “Look... you’ve been a great comfort to me these last few months, but now I need to be alone for a while with my thoughts.”

Geez, how clingy has he been this whole time while desperately wanting to be anywhere else?

Anyway, since she’s fine with him fucking off, he does fuck off. Right to the Hall of Science.

Where Eros’ dad is like ‘oh ffs’ when Eros tells him that he needs to use the LIVING COMPUTER Isaac to look up planets with the highest adventure potential.

Mentor of Titan is a man deeply disappointed in both of his sons for very different reasons.

Anyway, would you really be surprised if I told you that Earth was in the Top 3 planets in known space for adventure?

You wouldn’t, right?

Meanwhile, back at the plot, Hank Pym is on a boat with Trish Starr.

She wants to apologize for that time she incriminated him but Hank isn’t going to blame her for being as much a pawn in Egghead’s scheme as he was.

Trish: “Yes, uncle was like that all of his life. I think he really enjoyed using people.”

And she remembers the first time they met in Marvel Feature #5, where Egghead tried to drain her mind to power his machines. Because. Batteries hadn’t been invented? Because he’s just not happy unless he’s screwing over someone else?

Second one sounds likeliest.

She also remembers the time he car bombed her car but siphoned out most of the gas first.

Trish: “He didn’t want to kill me... only maim me. Nice guy, my uncle.”

Yeah. Its stories like that why its only Trish and Hank also Fred Sloan on a boat at Egghead’s funeral. Yeah, by the way, this is basically Egghead’s funeral.

Fred is only here for Trish.

Hank reacts to Fred so I wondered if he’s important in some way or if Hank recognized him but I checked the wiki and his main importance seems to be... this issue? So I don’t know why Hank reacts to the guy.

So Fred is just here for Trish. Trish is here out of duty, since she was Egghead’s only known family. And Hank is also only here out of duty but more archnemesis ‘can’t believe that asshole is dead and I don’t even get to feel good about it’ duty. I assume.

Hank even gets the honor (?) of laying Egghead to rest. By dumping his ashes into New York harbor.

Mostly because it doesn’t seem like Trish wants to?

So Hank quotes some Mark Twain and dumps the ashes.

Hank Pym: “‘Death... the only immortal who treats us all alike, whose pity and whose peace and whose refuge are for all -- the soiled and the pure, the rich and the poor, the loved and the unloved.’ Farewell, Egghead.”

Trish: “It’s awful to say this -- but I can’t find it in myself to be sorry. I think I’m glad he’s dead.”

And that’s Egghead’s legacy. Mourned by no one. And his death is only not cheered because the only people that cared feel shitty about feeling glad he’s dead.

ANYWAY, there’s some other loose ends to tie up.

So Hank takes a taxi to the Avengers Mansion and I guess finally explicitly explains why the mansion has seemed to change positions over time?

Hank Pym: “I never thought I’d be coming here again. The place has certainly changed since the day Jan and I met here with Iron Man, Thor, and the Hulk to draft the Avengers charter and by-laws. And I still recall the time Iron Man and Thor moved the mansion back from the street to give us more privacy. What a project that was!”

Sounds like a heck of a noodle incident, Hank.

... Why just Thor and Iron Man? Did they... did they literally just shove the mansion back from the street? ... There’s... basements and caves under there. How does that work? That seems like a massive architectural project.

Hank, pls, I need to know more details. You can’t just drop that information and casually stroll away. HANK!

Captain Marvel meets Hank at the door and escorts him inside, captain marveling at how calm Hank is despite everything he’s been through.

Hank shows up to the Avengers meeting and-

Oh god, She-Hulk looks like she wants to punch the suppressed emotions right out of Jan. She-Hulk, pls.

So, Wasp is super formal, calling Hank Dr. Pym and telling him that they want to use the mento-scan helmet to see if he was under outside influence when he did all the very bad things he did.

All of the Avengers are harboring their own concerns.

She-Hulk: “I’ve read legal briefs that were more informal! She’s cool on the surface, but inside -- ! Jannie, why are you doing this to yourself?!”

Are you guys already at the cute nickname stage of your friendship or is that just the way She-Hulk be?

Cap is worried that this is rough on Jan but that she’s doing what she needs to do as the Avengers chairwoman. But he’s more worried about the absence of Iron Man who is still missing and who ignored three calls to assemble.

Thor is just internally like ‘just do the helmet, my dude.’

Hawkeye is literally biting his lip at the tension.

Hawkeye: “Jan divorced Hank after his last breakdown. If we find out that he wasn’t to blame, what’s it gonna do to the both of ‘em? I hate this! That stupid court hearing was a breeze in comparison.”

Huh, Hawkeye has a point. Even if outside influence is proven, its not as straightforward as Jan and Hank instantly getting back together, no harm no foul. There was harm. And the problems with their relationship were deeper than one incident. But it would also create this possible expectation that they should get back together because the specific incident wasn’t Hank’s fault.

And Captain Marvel is still looking at this from an outsiders’ perspective.

Captain Marvel: “They’re really hurting over this... all of them! They all care so very, very much. If I ever become a fully active Avenger, I pray that I can live up to their example.”

So Hank very calmly agrees to use the helmet. But...

Hank Pym: “Sorry... no outside influences. It would have changed a lot of things if there had been, wouldn’t it? But no, I made my own mistakes... and I have to live with them.”

Thiiiiis was the best decision for the story arc. It may seem, in retrospect, the worst decision in the long run, but I can respect the story for standing by what it has done and standing by the growth Hank has had as a result of everything that happened.

I think a lot of more modern marvel comics have gone a little wild with letting the heroes do all kinds of dubious things and also die because it can be easily undone. It was a Skrull, they were being mind-controlled, it was an AU Nazi version of them created by a cosmic cube child. Or by giving the hero some big redemptive moment like Iron Man wiping his mind to make up for doing Civil War. Or Iron Man dying to make up for Civil War 2. You can explore whatever scenarios you want without worrying about dealing with the consequences long-term.

But in this era of Marvel, they were concerned with the long-term. Not to say that there weren’t cop-outs back in this day too. But since books were expected to keep going indefinitely instead of being cancelled and relaunched, there’s less of a sense of ‘this thing is only here to play with for a little while.’ If you wrote a thing, another writer was expected to follow up on it.

And I miss that a little.

So not giving a cop-out bullshit thing that undoes Hank’s actions was bad in the long run for his image as a character. But that’s a long way from now problem, exacerbated by writers like Chuck Austin and Mark Millar who wanted to wallow in it.

For an arc where Hank fell from grace and proved himself again, taking ownership of what a garbage fire his life can be was necessary.

One among many reasons I probably won’t like the Crossing when I get to it, haha.

With Hank’s actions proven as being Hank’s actions, Hank says there’s one more loose end that he wants to help tie off.

He wants to participate as witness when the Avengers hold a court of inquiry for Hawkeye killing Egghead.

This comes as an absolute surprise to Hawkeye, who I guess never read the bylaws. Which honestly, is very in-character for him.

But it being brought up, he insists that all he has to do is enter the findings of the state judge and be done with it.

Hank insists he participate though.

Hank Pym: “Hawkeye is faced with charges because he acted in my defense. It’s only right that I act in his.”

So, the Avengers go to the first floor library, which is apparently the court of inquiry room. I feel like we’re suddenly getting a lot of details about the layout of the Avengers Mansion in recent issues.

So Wasp convenes the court all formal style, so formal style that Hawkeye thinks that stickler Cap(tain America) couldn’t have done a better job. The purpose of the court of inquiry is to determine the validity of the charge of “unreasonable use of deadly force” and determine what if any proper disciplinary action should be taken.

I think Hawkeye is annoyed at having to go through with this (read the bylaws, my dude) because when Wasp asks if he has anything to add to his claim of innocence of the charge, he says he already gave the court copies of the court transcript that cleared him of the same charge, but also decides to speechify a little, because he wasn’t accused of contempt of court enough today.

Hawkeye: “I have already given the chair copies of the transcript of a hearing of the state courts... a hearing which found me not guilty of the same charge. And I have something else to say as well!”

“I don’t deny that my actions caused the death of Egghead. But in no way did I use undue force! I found Hank Pym in mortal danger, and I used the necessary means to save him... period. After all, we are supposed to be the Avengers, right?”

Luckily for Hawkeye, the Avengers are more willing to put up with him than a state court so Jan just goes ‘ok, noted.’

Captain Marvel also has a minor change of heart on Hawkeye. I don’t think we’ve gotten her in-depth feelings on him before (although he did get pissy about her joining the team, we didn’t see her response to that) but she’s impressed because she thought he had more wind than conviction but is seeing that isn’t so. And she’s also impressed by Serious Mode Jan who she thought was kind of flighty.

Captain Monica Marvel seeing all kinds of new sides of the Avengers lately.

Also, this isn’t important and you won’t be able to see what I mean unless I included more caps than I wanted to, but in the panel establishing the court of inquiry, Monica is just standing off to the side. But in the next panel she appears in, she’s moved over to sit on a couch instead.

I think its a framing thing but its still kind of funny to imagine her going ‘wait why am I standing up’ and heading for the comfy couch.

With Hawkeye’s statement given, Wasp invites Hank Pym to speak his piece.

And Hank gets up and gives an entirely unnecessary but probably appreciated defense of Hawkeye.

Hank Pym: “Ladies and gentlemen... I have not always been on the friendliest of terms with Hawkeye. Point of fact, we nearly came to blows a number of times... back in the days when I was an Avenger. But in all the time I’ve known him, Hawkeye has never used undue force.”

“I realize that this inquiry is little more than a formality. I have no doubt that you will find in his behalf. He did, as he said, act only in my defense. Unlike my own recent case before you, there is not the slightest hint of misconduct or negligence. The only thing Hawkeye is guilty of is being a good Avenger.”

“When I last spoke before this body, at my court-martial, I was not in a rational state of mind. I was unfit to be an Avenger. You wisely expelled me. I never expected to speak before you again. And now, I can think of no finer final statement than this... It has been my sincere honor to have known Hawkeye’s fellowship... as it has to have known yours.”

Okay. So. Half a defense of Hawkeye. And half... just a general good-bye and a demonstration that he actually does know how to deliver a defense at a court-martial. Cool.

I imagine if he had a mic, he would have dropped it.

Probably not, actually. Hank isn’t that exact blend of cool and inconsiderate for a mic drop.

Jarvis intercepts Hank on his way out and asks that he come with him to the second floor study. Jarvis has taken the liberty of gathering up the personal items Hank just kind of left in the mansion and packing them for him.

One suitcase has a bunch of Hank’s clothes that he had stashed in the mansion over the years. Including some wacky ties for wacky tie Fridays and a shirt that Hank had just plumb lost.

The other suitcase is a spare Yellowjacket outfit. In case Hank ever needs it.

Then Hank and Jarvis shake hands, Hank thanking Jarvis for everything that he’s done for him and the Avengers. He asks Jarvis to take care of himself because he knows he doesn’t have to ask him to take care of the Avengers.

This is a very touching scene. Its so touching that Jarvis excuses himself to go get misty eyed.

This is a Jarvis appreciation blog because I appreciate Jarvis as well.

Then, as Hank heads back down the staircase, he is intercepted by Thor, Captain America, and Hawkeye.

Yeah, the court of inquiry resolved off-screen because of how forgone a conclusion it was.

The three Avengers basically fall all over themselves to pat Hank on the back. Hank actually looks somewhat panicked by the positive affirmation.

That’s some mixture of funny and sad that I can’t identify.

Hawkeye tells Hank how much he appreciated his unnecessary defense. Thor clasps Hank’s shoulder and tells him he’s a class act, but in Thor-y words. And Cap extends an offer for whatever the Avengers can do to help Hank get back on his feet.

Hank thanks him for the offer but he’s already received an offer from a small research foundation in the Midwest.

Seems like getting exonerated of a treason charge is the best resume of all. That and Hank’s actual impressive resume.

But Cap has some stuff to work out re: Hank because he starts off on the stuff he put on the back burner back in that Ghost Rider issue.

Cap(tain America): “Hank... I know Iron Man would agree, if he were here, that we’re all sorry about the way things worked out. We should have realized the pressures you’d been under, prior to your breakdown. I was group leader at the time! I should have -- !”

Hank Pym: “Hold it right there, Cap! What I did, I did to myself! If I could have admitted that my problems existed... If I’d been willing to open up to you folks... Well, ‘if’ can be a big word sometimes. The fact of the matter is, I screwed up. And you did the only thing you could do! I don’t blame any of you.”

Hank has boarded the personal responsibility train and goddammit he’s riding it to the end of the line!

Good for him. Good clarity for the arc to have in its last issue.

But having started to slightly shout at the Avengers that he’s taking responsibility dammit! (he looks a bit pissed when he’s responding to Cap) Hank awkwardly excuses himself.

Cap tries to stop Hank from leaving because he has reached the bargaining stage of grief, I guess.

Cap: “Hank, wait! It doesn’t have to end like this! We could make a special amendment to the by-laws! We could reinstate you as an Avenger! You could be a special reservist -- !”

Hank: “Thanks, Cap. But no thanks. Trying to play super hero was the biggest mistake I ever made with my life! I was only fooling myself in ever thinking otherwise. But if you ever really think you might need a Yellowjacket again some day...”

He hands Cap the Yellowjacket suitcase.

Hank: “... Here! All you need is a good man and what’s in this case!”

I would hope, anyway. It’s going to be awkward if he opens it up later and its full of wacky ties.

The funny thing, although not really funny ha ha, is that Yellowjacket is the one codename of Hank’s that never really catches on outside of him.

You have multiple Ant-Men, a couple Goliaths, at least one other Giant-Man. There was a second Yellowjacket, eventually. But she didn’t make a big splash.

Despite Hank’s attempt here to pass the torch, Yellowjacket is a codename that remains inextricably tied to him. Which might be the problem. If there were another, more successful or at least more endearing Yellowjacket, Hank’s infamy in the role would not stand out so much.

Alas.

She-Hulk and Captain Marvel try next to intercept Hank. They don’t know him very well but they wanted to say their goodbyes too, despite not really knowing him that well.

Its the thought that definitely counts, probably.

But Hawkeye has some social awareness for a change and draws their attention to Wasp who is hanging back, but who clearly wants to talk to Hank.

So the rest of the Avengers quickly vacate to let Hank and Jan finally have closure. Or re-closure. “I want a divorce and to never see you again” is a kind of closure.

The situation has changed, however.

They both try to apologize to each other and then laugh at the awkwardness.

Hank: “Janet van Dyne, you are one in a million! After all that I put you through, you want to tell me that you’re sorry?”

Wasp: “I think we both made some mistakes along the way, but there were some good times... weren’t there?”

Hank: “Yes. But you can’t base a marriage on just a few good times. I fell for the young lady who reminded me of my first wife... and you thought you’d found the strong, silent hero. But I was never that strong, Jan. You know that now.”

Wasp: “Uh-huh.”

Damn, his prison time really did bring Hank a lot of clarity. That or the pile of therapists Tony kept throwing at him.

Hank also kind of talks over Jan here. Or at least steers the conversation. I don’t know what Jan would have said because Hank tells her that they both have other lives to lead and tells her to take care of herself.

Maybe its for the best, if, like Cap, she was going to try to shoulder all the blame for Hank’s bad decisions.

Hank walks out the door and finds Trish and Fred from the boat waiting to give him a ride to the airport. And then he is gone.

Like in the final image of the COURT-MARTIAL issue, Jan watches at the window.

“The last time Henry Pym left these walls, Janet felt like crying... but couldn’t find any tears. Today, at last, she has found the tears... for her former husband... for her team... for herself. Today, there is pain and remorse and release. There will be time enough for joy and hope tomorrow.”

Emotional catharsis can be like that.

In that the book kept going ‘Jan is really holding her emotions in and that’s probably not overall great for her’ its good that she can let it out now.

Kind of laughing at Captain Marvel and She-Hulk who only recently just met Jan being the ones going there there while the men she has known for years are just awkwardly standing in the background.

And that’s the fall and rise of Hank Pym. Apparently collected in trade as The Trial of Yellowjacket, which is a decent enough name too.

Overall, a good arc. That is kind of hampered by the need for filler and a writer change near the end. But honestly, Stern catches the ball and runs with it. He concludes the arc just as good as Shooter would’ve.

This arc is all kinds of iconic for Hank, although, unfortunately, most people are only aware of the beginning and maybe have a hazy understanding of what the ending does.

Although. This is a really good send-off for Hank. A really, really good send-off that would have worked best if he did like he said and quit superheroing forever.

That’s not to be, obviously, not in a perpetual narrative machine like Marvel. But it feels like it could have been and maybe should have been the last word on his character.

I enjoy Hank in Busiek’s Avengers and in Avengers Academy. And also, conceptually, Hank telling Reed “it’s on, bitch.” I very don’t enjoy Ultimate Hank Pym. So its a balancing act. The perfect exit for the character vs but I like some stuff when they brought him back.

Anyway.

After this, Stern gets to move on to his own material. Which he already planted the seeds for in this issue.

That’s a pun.

Follow @essential-avengers because of my bad puns. Also like and reblog, if you like to reblog.

#Avengers #Egghead #Masters of Evil #Hank Pym #Hawkeye #the Wasp #Captain America #Thor #She Hulk #Captain Marvel #Monica Rambeau #i did a lot of quoting because the comic has some good quotables here #essential avengers #essential marvel liveblogging

14 notes · View notes

twdmusicboxmystery · 4 years

Text

Insights From the Talk Dead to Me Podcast

Okay, I teased everyone over the weekend that I’d have a lot to talk about today, and here it is. There was SO much interesting information in this podcast.

New Mexico Symbolism

TD isn’t by far the only ones to connect the New Mexico symbolism. On the podcast, they talked extensively about that and about how it will probably play into the sequel. One theory they had (and I hope they’re wrong) is that they think Aaron will get Rick’s comic book death. They think it would mess with Daryl’s head so bad, it would “run him out of town.”

Personally, I don’t think Daryl would leave JUST because Aaron died. For all the reasons many of us have already talked about (him taking care of Judith and RJ, etc). If anything, I think it would make him want to stay more and look after Gracie as well. I really don’t want Aaron to die, though. Unfortunately, it would make sense for him to die, what with him being such a heavy Beth proxy so often, but I’d really like him and Beth to meet first. Just my head canon, but I can’t help it. And they may have a point about Rick’s CB death, given that Aaron has already lost his arm.

Why Extended Seasons Instead of Just Doing S12?

You know how I keep saying it’s weird that they’re doing this massively extended S11 rather than just breaking it into S11 and S12? Yeah, this podcast told me why, and it makes perfect sense. In a nutshell: many of the actors’ contracts expire after S11. AMC doesn’t want to renegotiate everyone’s contract for only one season.

And that’s something I’m positive has changed. If they were going to season 15, they would have just renegotiated the contracts, no problem. But since they’ve decided to end it now, it would have been WAY more inconvenient. And the people on the podcast made a good point, saying that if the actors’ agents find out the show REALLY NEEDS them for one final season, they’re gonna come back with astronomical demands. And given the state of the world, covid, etc., those kinds of monetary demands really could tank the final season. So, I’m glad to know that. It makes tons of sense.

Let’s Talk AMC’s Social Media Practices

So, several of these people who do the podcast correspond with AMC regularly for social media reasons. They talked about how they’ll often press the AMC representatives they talk to for more information. For the most part, they get the same, vague promises we all get from Gimple. “We’re working on a script.” Or the classic, “I don’t know any more than you,” crap. But these podcasters said things might have changed logistically with the Rick Grimes films as well. You know how back when Rick left, Gimple said they’d be doing a 3-film trilogy? Well, apparently, people have begun to notice that ever since then, and especially since CoVid, any time anyone close to the shows references the Rick Grimes films, they talk about them in the singular, not the plural. The Rick Grimes FILM, not the Rick Grimes films. And the podcasters think it’s because the show is playing it by ear. Due, again, to financial concerns, maybe they’ll just make one film and see how well it’s received before deciding to make another. Obviously, I disagree with that idea. I do think things might have changed, the same as them ending the series after S11, in that they might use something other than films to continue Rick’s story. But I think they have a specific story to tell and they’re going to tell it, one way or the other.

I also think they got a bigger backlash about the films than they were expecting. People really threw tantrums about the idea of having to pay money to see it in the theaters. People are just used to getting it free on TV, and I think the reaction took tptb by surprise. Anyway, now with CoVid, and theater attendance WAY down, and heaven only knows where we’ll be in a year, it wouldn’t surprise me if AMC and Gimple are rethinking that tactic. Maybe they’ll only do one film and then segue Rick into another series. Either his own, or the Daryl/Carol one. Kirkman ended the comics in the summer of 2019. That was AFTER Rick’s last episode. So I’m willing to bet that all the changes and shuffling started as soon as the comics ended. However it happens, it does show that more than one thing is being shuffled behind the scenes due to CoVid. But listening to this gave me a huge epiphany that I became illogically excited about, lol. It was nothing they said, but just me thinking through the implications of all of this. I’ve always believed Rick would return in some way. And even though I’d be totally cool with him having a reunion with his kids in one of the Rick Grimes films or whatever, I’ve always had a sense that he would return to the series, despite them telling us he wouldn’t. Well, as I said yesterday, the idea of him returning seems much less likely now that we know they’re ending after S11. But…something occurred to me. Gimple has adamantly said Rick won’t return to the TWD series. He’s never said anything about him not moving to any spinoffs. *mic drop*

Thoughts About the Daryl/Carol Spinoff

Nothing too groundbreaking here, but they did say that the Donnie shippers are super frustrated, which I’m sure is true. They said the Caryl shippers are happy, but not too over-the-top happy about it. (Their words. I really couldn’t say whether that’s true or not.)

They also said that, given how much the show has told us there won’t be romance between them, it will either be the ultimate reward for the Carylers (if they get together romantically) or the ultimate tease (if they don’t).

So, my point is that, outside the hardcore shippers at least, most of the fandom isn’t really thinking this is going to be a romance thing with Carol and Daryl. And because of that, they’re wondering where the show could possibly go with Daryl and Carol. Like, they’ve explored their relationship as far as they can and they’re questioning whether this series revolving around them will be worth watching.

Now, if we didn’t know what we know or hadn’t theorized what we have, I would agree whole-heartedly with that. There has to be more to this spinoff than just Daryl and Carol running around killing zombies together. Even the GA is a little confused about this and thinks there must be more to the story. And, you know, there will be.

Coda Replay (And We Didn’t Even Realize It!)

This came together for me from multiple sources. I have an Ask in my inbox that I haven’t answered yet. It’s from a Nonny who obviously wrote in when the big news broke. He/she says that AMC announced the end of the series and the spin off…and then deleted the post. I wasn’t sure what to make of that, because it doesn’t seem to me like anything’s been deleted. At least on Twitter, the post with the press release and the announcement is still pinned to the top of the account. And probably different click bait sites have reported on it. So they don’t seem to be trying to hide it. I didn’t really know what to make of that, except maybe one of the posts was deleted for logistical reasons (typo or something) and then reposted, and the Nonny just thought it was suspicious when really, it wasn’t. Then I listened to this podcast. And guess what? One of the clickbait sites that was slated to give the announcement, IGN, posted it like two hours early…and then deleted their post.

One of the women they talked to used to be a social media manager for AMC. She isn’t anymore, but she worked for AMC for several years. And they asked her about the “leak.” She said that she felt badly for the company that leaked it early. She said when there’s a big announcement like this, there are dozens, maybe hundreds, of moving pieces behind the scenes. Basically, AMC has a whole network that they coordinate to release the news all at the same time. So, it didn’t surprise her that someone, every so often, messes it up and releases it early. It’s just a lot people and moving parts to keep track of. So like maybe, if they were supposed to post the announcement at 8am central time, maybe they posted it at 8 their time, which was too early. That sort of thing. And okay, I guess that makes sense. But there’s just one problem with that explanation. The EXACT same thing happened with this announcement as happened with Beth’s fate in Coda. One of the companies released it too early.

(I’m sure this is the post Nonny means that was deleted: because it was released too early.)

That’s why, the day the news of the show ending broke, people were talking about “rumors” of TWD ending before the official announcement was made. Between that, and all the references we’ve seen (‘bringing characters back from the dead,’ and ‘the six episode coda,’) I just don’t think I can believe in good faith that this was a coincidence.

A little more about AMC social media accounts.

This just confirms what we’ve suspected for years. This woman said she was one of many social media managers. But all that means is that she “managed” several of AMC’s social media accounts. As in, she posted on them and interacts with fans and comments.

She in no way, shape, or form had any say about what was posted or when. She specifically said that such things were WAY above her paygrade. She suspects that such decisions went all the way up to Gimple and Kang. Like there’s someone who follows them around, and when one of them says something needs to be posted, that person texts all the social media managers and they post it. Boom. The writers 100% control what goes out on social media. What it is, what graphics to use, how it’s worded. Everything. #TDforthewin!

She also said that if someone leaks the news early, everything is reconfigured and they quickly shore up to protect the narrative and make sure everything is correct and appropriate. Very interesting.

He also asked her if she thought IGN did it intentionally or on accident. She was obviously being careful not to throw too much shade, but you could tell she definitely thought it might have been done intentionally. Oh, and also? The podcast guy said he knew about the leak because he had to wait until a certain time (I want to say 8:30 am, but I don’t know which time zone) before he posted about it. AMC told him what time and he made sure not to sleep in so he wouldn’t miss it, but he logged on and people already knew because of the leak.

So once again, even this podcast, who claims not to be directly affiliated with AMC (even though they totally are) is getting posts, directions, etc. from AMC. And that’s important with what I’m about to tell you, because the people on this podcast have definitely mentioned Beth in suspicious contexts more than once. And this podcast was the farthest thing from an exception.

Talking About Beth Randomly

That leads me to my final and the biggest thing that stuck out to me about this podcast. Let me first say that I generally like the podcasters and their attitudes toward the show. For one thing, none of them are pro-Caryl. Most of them like Carol all right, but don’t want her and Daryl together romantically. Obviously, I like that.

Unfortunately, they were kinda being punks about Beth in this episode. They went on a little TD-bashing session. As I said the other day, they didn’t mention TD by name or anything, but it was more of a “did you know there are people out there who think Beth is alive?” kind of thing. And they were being really sarcastic about what they thought about that. But the entire discussion still felt SUPER suspicious to me. They were talking about the OTHER spinoff. Not the Daryl/Carol one, but the “Tales of the Walking Dead” one where they’ll tell the back story of deceased characters. One of them asked who the others would like to see back stories of. Out of nowhere, one of them yelled, “Beth!” Seriously. Out. Of. Freakin. Nowhere. And then they basically started making fun of TDers. They talked about how there really are people out there who think she’s still alive. Then one of them said “those people” think that Beth had a twin sister we never knew about and she’s the one who got shot and Beth is still secretly alive. I had to chuckle and shake my head at that. Maybe there’s someone, somewhere in the fandom who thinks that, but I’ve never even heard anyone argue that before. Have you? He then called people who believe that a great big pile of stupid. So yeah, obviously they were being punks. But the conversation about Beth went on and on. One of them said they hoped AMC did a Beth back story in that spin off series, just to mess with the heads of the people who think she’s still alive. And then someone else replied that she doesn’t have a back story to tell because we know it all already: farm, prison, Grady. (I’m sorry; who’s one big pile of stupid to NOT notice the missing 17 days in S5?) Even though they were basically laughing at us, it just felt really deliberate and contrived. And then, one of the women says, “I hope she shows up in The World Beyond.” Seriously? After that, they finally kind of went, “Anyway…” and moved on. But they didn’t even mention any other names in answer to the question about who else they wanted to see back stories for in that second spin off. They ONLY talked about Beth. I siriusly sat there with my jaw hanging open because again, it just came out of nowhere, and they mentioned her—extensively—in conjunction with BOTH spinoffs AND threw in TWB. Just saying.

You know how I said earlier that they claim not to be affiliated with AMC, though they totally are? Well, technically these people are part of Skybound. (Upper left corner of the picture below.) So in that way, they aren’t directly AMC. But we all know Skybound has posted MANY suspicious things about Beth over the years. And as I established above, they’re definitely being fed what to post by AMC.

So I feel like that applies here as well. It’s almost like AMC told them to mention Beth in some way, even if it was by way of making fun of people who think she’s alive. So they found a way to bring her up in conversation. And hey, maybe these podcasters really don’t know about Beth’s return. Maybe they think AMC wants them to make fun of or dismiss the idea of her return. But either way, they contrived a way to talk about her, and they would only have done that if AMC told them to. Okay, I’ll shut up, now. That podcast just totally rocked my world. Thoughts?

#beth greene #beth greene lives #beth is alive #beth is coming #td theory #td theories #team delusional #team defiance #beth is almost here #bethyl

16 notes · View notes

drowninginblox · 4 years

Text

Thrown into it

Part: 1,2,3,4

Part 6

I just want to say, whoever shopped for my change of clothes- thank you so fucking much. I mean I really thought I wouldn’t be able to pull off ripped jeans but.. I think I look great! Especially how the shirt contrasts how light they are. Oh wait let me clarify. In the bag were some light blue jeans, a white shirt that was a little big on me, some black shoes with orange butterflies, a hair tie, the necessities, and a letterman jacket. Don’t worry I’m all dressed! The only thing missing from this outfit is the jacket. But I'm a little perturbed by it. Like- the more that I look at it, the more I wonder if this is Mirio’s. I mean it's dark blue with white sleeves and white symbols on it. Or are they logos? What I mean is that it looks like the one he wore to the school’s culture festival at the end of season 4.

Wait.. what if this is Mirio’s? What if he gave this to Mic so he could give it to me? My face flushed at the thought. Me wearing Mirio’s jacket.. What would it feel like? What would it smell like..? I hesitate to grab the jacket, eventually doing so and lifting it to my nose. Wait a minute- what the fuck am i doing? This could be his jacket and here I am being a creep! Why am I like this? He might be cute but no way in hell am I gonna turn into Toga! “Stop thinking about him!” I throw the jacket over my shoulder before hiding my face in my hands. “Stop with that shit!” I remind myself. “He is out of our league! Real or not!”

“Who?” I jump at a familiar voice. “What the fuck man!” I turn to see the hot mess known as Present Mic along with a smiling Nezu in the doorway. Fuck that blonde bastard and shit eating grin. I inhale sharply at the scene I just made all the while silence hangs over us. “Im so sorry.” I mumble, my head hanging down. “I- If I knew you were there I wouldn't have sworn sir.” The small principal laughs light heartedly while Mic chuckles at my suffering. “Y/n, my name is principal Nezu of UA.” He says calmly. I raise my head to properly see him. “Some of my staff have met you and you seem to know them. I can not interfere in the government’s investigation of you, however I am allowed to ask on behalf of my staff how you know them along with some other questions in order to assist.” The mousy man explains. “For example, we will be escorting you to a safe place for you to stay.” He looks up at Present Mic with a smile. “Can you escort Y/n to the car?” He asked. Well, it’s framed as a question but it sounded more like an order. But Hizashi wasn't complaining, at least as far as I know since he nodded with his signature, enthusiastic smile. Once Nezu left the door frame, Mic turned his attention to me. “Got what you need?” Mic asks. I glance over to the jacket, abandoned on the bed. “Hold on.” I say as I go to get it but when I get to the bed it isn’t there. “What the..?” I begin to question only to be stopped by light. Not white light, it was a light yellow- almost gold in color- forming around my chest in the shape of the jacket. “Uhhhhhh-!” In a matter of seconds the light fades and the jacket appears on me. It's a little big but so warm. Almost like a hug from a family member or friend that you haven't seen in awhile. I look back to see Mic in awe at what I just did. “What did-?”

“Dude dont ask me cus I have no idea!” I say to defend myself. From the lower, right hand corner of the door frame, Nezu popped his head back into view. “Did I miss something?” Mic nods his head while I shake mine, both of us dumbfounded at what just transpired. He looks between the two of us and chuckles, leaving us once again. “I-” I start but he just shoves his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “Nope. Not right now. Let’s just go.” He decides and leaves. Seeing as I have nowhere else to go, I follow him.

Walking through the hospital is weird in itself. Partially because I don't remember entering along with the fact that seeing people with animal or alienistic attributes to them isnt something I’m used to yet. Accompanied with all the smells and sounds that come with hospitals, it just is a big nope for me. Some people don't like heights, some people don't like tight spaces, others dont like bugs- “Hey are you okay? You sound like one of my students.” Speaking of. “Huh?” I look around. Couples, families, some people alone sit in chairs while women at desks work quietly. In front of us is a sliding, glass door leading to the world I seem to be stuck in. “Are you coming?” He asks with a hint of concern in his voice. “Oh-um.. Y-yeah. Just grapelling with this again.” I try to calm myself with a laugh. “Again?” He prompts, lowering his shades a little. Woah look at those eyes. Since when did he have heterochromia? I thought he had red or green eyes..? “Uh, kid? You’re spacing out again.” He points out. I jump “Fuck- sorry!” I apologize. “Hey, hey, it's okay! Just got worried that you were trying to bail on us.” It takes me a moment to register what he said but once I did snort at that. “Me? Try to bail on pro heros? Does it look like I am insane?” I ask. The blonde takes a moment to stare. He sighs, taking his shades off to stare at me. Again what are those eyes? He looks up and down at me before I break the silence “You’re a Christmas boi.” I mumble under my breath. He narrows his eyes as a smile teases his lips. “W-what?” He says through a laugh. “You have red and green eyes! You’re a Christmas boi!” I smile wide at my declaration. The sleek, black, car beside us opens a door. Once again Nezu poked his head out for us to see. “I’m sorry to interrupt but we are on a schedule.” He reminds us. We apologize and rush into the car.

This car is packed for what it was. Mic was in shotgun while I was behind the driver. It’s so weird having everything be backwards. Nezu sat right beside me and on his right was pro hero Snipe. Nezu faces me- which was weird in itself since I’ve only seen three- fourths of his face most of the time- and smiles kindly. Before I could say anything he turns his head to Snipe. “Y/n, this is Snipe. He is a teacher at UA. If the government allows it, you will be seeing him again.” The pro remains straight laced from what I can tell. His gas mask leaves much to the imagination. “And if you don't mind looking at our driver,” Nezu adds with a point of his paw. I look through the right rear view mirror to see the helmet of none other than arbor day himself. “Woods!” I shouted, starling everyone in the car to the point of jumping in their seat. “You know him too?!” Mic exhorts, his shades crooked from my excitement. “Of course!” I confirm. “Dude is amazing! So underrated, so little screen time!” Kamui sighs and sits up. “And to think I was getting away from fangirls..” He mumbles. “Sorry! I’ll tone it down. It’s bad enough Mic is in the car.” I apologize with a smile at what I did. “Hey!” Mic yells. From Nezu’s side Snipe gives off what I can only assume is a snort. “Not you too!” The blonde whines. Kamui only starts the car with a sigh, pulling us out of the hospital and out onto the open highway. “The kid has a point Hizashi, you know damn well it's true!” He says through his laughter. “It’s not! Nezu back me up here!” Mic pleads. I laugh when I turn to see the tiny principal with comically wide, Allmight headphones covering his ears. Snipe laughs louder while Mic continues to call on Nezu to help only for it to fall on deaf ears. Kamui- from what I can see- just taps his fingers on the wheel muttering about the situation he’s in. Poor man needs a couch and a blanket. “Hey, um.. Mr. Woods? Woods?” He sighs. “Kamui is fine.” He assures. His eyes glance back at me through the mirror. “What made you want to be a hero?” I ask with a cock of my head like an airhead would. He chuckles a little. “Its a long story..” He assures. “And it isn’t all that interesting. And I don't think I should tell you.” I shrug my shoulders. “Doesn't matter if it is or isn’t interesting. I only know you for your quirk. And your pro hero status. There is always more behind a title.” He rolls his head for a minute and exhales. “Okay but you could be a little brat who could tell everyone.”

“True, but I don't know anyone outside of UA, and surely you've been asked this before?”

He takes a moment and sighs again. “Well, okay. But only because it’s gonna be a while. It's not that interesting though.” He restates as if to ask me if I’m sure. I scoot up a little in my seat like a child, making him chuckle again. “Okay! Okay!” His slumping spine is straightened again. “I didn't really know what I wanted to be when I was younger. My dad said I should be a carpenter.” I chuckle. “Really?” He nods. “Yeah, either that or a fireman. But looking back on it-”

“Fire and wood?” I questioned with a look. He laughs. “I know! If it wasn't for the money that came with being a hero he would’ve insisted. And I would’ve been one too if it wasn't for my sister.” I put an elbow on my knee. “Now what did she do?” A noise of amusement makes its way out of him. “It wasn't all her fault!” He defended. “Well what happened?”

“On Christmas eve, I was about 13. My sister comes running in saying that the family cat ran away. My dad was drunk on the couch and my mom was still making dinner so she didn't hear her. She begged me to help her find the poor thing. So me, being the amazing brother I am- put on my coat and walked out into the freezing cold with nothing but a flashlight. My family lived right next to this deep forest and in that forest is a lake. I walk to the lake to see the cat meowing at some frozen water.” I nod along. “I look too over at it and see a person banging against the ice! So without hesitation I grow a branch larger than anything I have ever made at that point and shatter the ice with it. Later helping out the guy who was trapped under there.” My eyes widened at that. “Woah! Who was the guy?” He shrugged. “He told me he was a friend of one of the neighbors. There were some parties around so I didn’t question it. He went on his way, and I found satisfaction in helping him.” A smile found its way in his voice, now warm and calm behind the wheel. “I guess you could say without him you wouldn't be here.” I conclude. He nods his head. “Wow woods. I didn’t know that was why.” Snipe commented, making me jump. “Y-You-!” Woods stumbled over himself. “Since when did you guys-”

“A third of the way into your story.” Mic pipped. “That's very selfless of you.”

“O-Oh.. Thank you.” Arbor boy mumbled. “Oh! We’re here!”

#miroxreader #bnha #mha #xreader #mirio togata #mha togata

8 notes · View notes

vavandeveresfan · 3 years

Text

Rediscovering “The Greatest American Hero.”

I randomly switched on the TV while feeding the cats this morning, and there it was. That theme song. I hadn’t heard it in literally 30 years.

It immediately took me back to being a 20-year-old who’d just had her first play produced, but had no fucking idea what she was going to do in her life. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

But this theme song, which became a huge hit, spoke to me. I wanted to be Ralph, a semi-inept but well-intentioned high school teacher with a heart of gold, a recently divorced father of one young boy, who wanted to do good but whose life seemed a complete puzzle. Then extraordinary things happen to him. Like Peter Parker, with great power came great responsibility. Except he had no fucking idea what he was doing.

To really understand this show, you have to put it in context with the times. The Disco Era was coming to a slow, crippled, embarrassing end. Hippies were turning into Yuppies (Young Urban Professionals. Think Hipsters who are lawyers and work on Wall Street). Cocaine addiction was rampant; no one really took it and alcoholism seriously. No one ever talked about mental health issues. There was the biggest recession since the Great Depression. Factories were closing; millions of people were unemployed. Big cities were falling apart, crime was spiking. New York City was a fucking mess; Times Square was nothing but porn shops and drug dealers. It was a bad time.

Back then, people who loved superheros and comics were the fringe. There was no MCU or DCU. If you said you liked Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, etc., you were laughed at, especially if you were over the age of 12. TV in the 80s was beginning “The New Realism”: dark, cynical, gritty (for its time, it’s vanilla compared to today). TV shows about superheros were considered laughable, and pretty much just for children, but TV kept trying them, including Spider-man, Doctor Strange, and a weird Captain America. Wonder Woman and The Incredible Hulk were the only ones to be really popular. (In a few years, comics turned dark, cynical, and gritty too; The Dark Knight Returns was the signal to it.)

Also important to note that, in 1970s, what we now call Conservative Republicans were the out of favor. Liberals ruled. So characters who were patriotic and loved Mom, apple pie, and Chevrolet, as the song says, were depicted as villains (think Frank Burns in M*A*S*H). But Ronald Reagan became President in 1980, and the tide was turning toward Conservatives having power.

The idea that humans had been, and still were, visited by aliens was big then, heightened by claims of alien abductions and Steven Spielberg’s mega hit Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

The creators of The Greatest American Hero took a chance and put these elements together. Their hero was original, not taken from comics. Instead of Ralph gaining powers by radioactivity, gamma rays, or WWII scientific enhancement, he was visited by aliens, in a ship that looked almost exactly like that in Close Encounters. They choose Ralph because he was worthy, and bequeathed him with a Super Suit so he could right wrongs and protect innocents. It even came with an Instruction Manuel, because, y’know, dumb human.

And the dumb human promptly lost the manual.

The only witness to Ralph getting The Suit was a Conservative, cynical, alcoholic F.B.I. agent. The series then made him likeable.

I hesitated to watch the show this morning. I was afraid I’d discover that it, like a lot of shows from my youth, was complete shit. But the theme song hooked me, so I stuck with it.

To my surprise, it wasn’t half as bad as I thought it would be. I liked it. The shit part was the depiction of the supposed tough high school kids. They’re played by actors who are obviously 10 years older than their characters, and with all the godawful stereotypes of the 80s. One kid is a blatant rip-off of John Travolta’s character in Welcome Back Kotter.

Beyond that, there’s a naive sweetness to it, and humor as Ralph tries to figure out how The Suit works, learning its many powers along the way.

So I here offer the theme song and the pilot of The Greatest American Hero. If nothing else, you’ll get to see what 1981 looked like, with telephone booths (tapped in the desert? Sorry, no cell phones to call 911. In fact, no 911), gas-guzzling cars, and cultural stereotypes.

And the crappy special effects were state of the art back then. CG didn’t exist.

Pub Trivia: Robert Culp, the FBI agent, was already a star from the 60s TV series I Spy, which was revolutionary because it starred a black man and a white man as special agents who were equal partners and best friends.

youtube

The pilot:

youtube

#The Greatest American Hero #superheroes #superhero shows #William Katt #80s TV #nostlagia

2 notes · View notes

shinneth · 4 years

Note

For the fic author meme (different one from the other I sent), I would ask 12, 5, 6

12. What punctuation do you hate with a passion?

Hm… I kinda have a bizarre relationship with all forms of them, but in terms of general contempt, I really hate semicolons and ellipses. Both of which I regularly abuse, but I hate them because they’re usually the ones that give me the most pause when I feel like I’ve fucked up a sentence.

For the longest time in my life, I didn’t use semicolons at all; I don’t believe I ever formally learned what they were for in class. I don’t remember how I even learned they were a thing. That’s probably the root of my contempt, because when I do use them, I’m never 100% sure if it’s warranted. This past year I’ve gone over paragraphs where it felt like every other sentence had one and kinda subconsciously retooled it to take the semicolon out because it suddenly rubbed me the wrong way. They’re very odd creatures.

Ellipses are obviously something I inherently know what they are and what they’re for. I just have a bit of a habit of leaving them where they shouldn’t be, or at least don’t need to be. I’m thinking it’s a case where my own cognitive narrative is trailing off that I feel the subconscious urge to put an ellipsis in, even if the story itself would be just fine or better off without it. So, it’s very representative of my struggle to separate my jumbled thoughts into a proper final product that everyone else can see.

5. How do you know when a story is “done”?

Not something I really struggle with very often, honestly. Before I even start writing, I usually have a clear Point A and Point B. How I get to Point B often deviates from the path I envision and very often takes longer than I project to reach it, but once I’ve established everything on my mental checklist, I know it’s time to start winding down. This applies to ending chapters and overall stories. Since my MO is all about putting characters through absolute hell in order to overcome and achieve what they’re going after, there’s always been a pretty clear understanding between me and my writing on where to cut things off. The second I check the final task off my bucket list, I’m mentally prioritizing what kind of line to mark the ending. Sometimes it’s witty dialogue; sometimes it’s just the lemony narrative, but whatever it ends up being, I want it to really punctuate where everyone stands in the story compared to where they were when it began.

6. Where do your titles come from?

AHAHAHA. I have made an entire goddamn post on this very subject for my 3-act Gem Ascension series, which has 25 chapter titles plus three act names and the overall GA title itself. I have also made several stories since then, so I’ll properly answer this. Titles are very weird for me because they can come from just about anywhere. When in doubt, I’ll likely go with song titles or a certain lyric. But I’ve also gone the route of using some paraphrased quotes from video games, wrestling, anime, you name it.

And then are are some times when I just whip up a title all by myself. And a little quirk especially with my self-made titles is that they inadvertently end up holding a lot more meaning to them by the time I’m finished with the story than they did when it began.

Gem Ascension, for example. As a Steven Universe story where SU itself often has episodes that start with “Gem”, I did the same. Ascension referred to Peridot’s role “ascending” from kidlike comic relief to a legit leader protagonist. Then in later acts, the ascension refers to where Peridot evolves after proving her worth as a leader; she ends up becoming far more than that, and she literally ascends to a level far beyond what any gem has ever gone before, and never will again. When I started GA, I did not plan for Peridot to go that far. But when it came to mind, it was just eerie how it gave the overall title more meaning to it.

Same can be said for Travels of the Trifecta, actually: I deliberately made the title something the dubbers of the Pokemon anime would come up with, but it was also centered on three characters: the family of Brandon, Reggie, and Paul. As the story expanded, it established that Brandon in his youth traveled with a pair of friends much in Ash-like fashion; said friends were Byron and Palmer. All three of which are significant characters who all achieved some degree of success and fame. The story’s second arc is planned for Paul to be in his own little Ash-esque travel trio of him, Conway, and Barry. Those three would be the centric focus of Arc II, and all three have had time to shine and interact with one another (save for Barry and Paul; I haven’t gotten that far yet, but I’m going along with canon where it did happen). While Paul is ultimately the protagonist of Trifecta, the story itself has a lot of heavy focus on three sets of trios where there is some degree of overlap happening across all three groups in terms of members. I was set to make a separate Trifecta prequel that would focus on Brandon, Byron, and Palmer as well.

So, yeah. My titles come from every friggin’ direction. I can be equally creative and unique as I can be a total hack. :P

And that’s that! Hopefully those are satisfactory answers worth the wait. Just in case it slipped through the cracks, I answered your other meme ask late last night.

#answered asks #nobynaga #writing #fanfiction #meme #grammar #gem ascension #gem re:ascension #travels of the trifecta

8 notes · View notes

lunawings · 5 years

Text

King of Prism SSS episode 4 commentary (Kakeru)

Ahhhh.... finally seeing this episode again after a long time was really good. You may think I’m just being over-dramatic, but I honestly think I felt normal again for the first time since seeing SSS Part 4 while I was watching the stream with you guys. Like halfway through I was like WOAH IM SMILING... ahah....... ha......... Part 4 messed me up even more than I thought holy s--

Thanks for always coming to the streams! And thank you Kakeru, for reminding me about love.....

*deep breath* Now, let’s get to it...

So like I mentioned last time, we’re now on what I know as the “Part 2″ episodes.

My experience seeing Part 2 in the theater was like night and day compared to seeing Part 1. For Part 1 I got to go to the midnight showing, and it was super emotional and exciting seeing it with an entire theater-worth of people also seeing it for the first time.

But for Part 2 I had to work until 1am and thus couldn’t make the midnight showing. Instead I slept for about 2-3 hours, went all the way to Nagoya, saw this at 8am, went all the way home, and went back to bed before waking up again to go to work at 4pm wondering if it was all a weird dream. So needless to say I was super out of it. I got about two minutes into Kakeru’s episode when I was like... wha... huh..... wait wha....... and comical sweat-beads started rolling down my forehead when I realized I had NO idea what was going on. I felt like the entire theater was just as out of it as I was since they were really quiet. Probably because most of them went to the midnight showing and got just about as much sleep as I did....

The whole what is going onnnnnnnn feeling never quite left me. Especially with this episode in particular. But.

My favorite feature of Kakeru has always been his eyes....

So seeing him go through 8 stages of acceptance in this opening always gives me chills....

OH MY FUCKING G..............

So in the past I have railed on Crunchyroll for their wonky wording, but this is the first outright mistranslation I think. (Unless “solid style” wasn’t on purpose, but that one was so ridiculous I kinda feel like it may have been....)

If you have seen Pride the Hero, you’ll know Kakeru doesn’t leak the Prism System to his friends. He leaks it to the Itsutomo Group.

To be fair Sadana doesn’t say Itsutomo Group here. Just Itsutomo. But still, what did the translator think the “Itsu” part meant? They leave so many things as-is, but this... THIS they decide to attempt to translate into something.

Okay. OKAY...................................

I really, really like Kakeru’s dad. But not for anything he does in the movies/anime. He’s a super boring pushover here. But if you take Young of Prism and layer it on top of all that..... he’s fucking great.

I was so out of it when I first saw this the entire natural gas plot went over my head. I was just like “Episode 5: Kakeru goes to Madagascar. Does a prism show. Then he comes back for some reason. The end?????”

I also missed the earlier reference as well. To think when Kakeru looks at the newspaper in episode 1 and is like “Natural gas is expensive!!” that was foreshadowing ahah.

So this is the most controversial part of the episode I think. Globalization/colonization/industrialism has done damage lot of nations which were just fine beforehand, and I think paving over all of Africa’s natural habitats would likely cause.... various problems.

Do I really have any right to be commentating on this? No. But I don’t think King of Prism does either. I just don’t think it’s really the time/place for it.

But all-in-all I suppose Merina’s opinion isn’t too unusual for someone who works for Juuouin Group. I just wish they made it more clearer that his opinion and not the general opinion of Madagascar.

But then again what do I know. I really don’t even want to be talking about this!! It was just such a weird choice to take this episode to Madagascar at all.

This brought me so much joy. Please go read Young of Prism if you haven’t yet.

NNghkdhgkdhg baby Kakeru................. face......... uuuUUUgfh and his cute little voice...........

I also often wonder what Kakeru was doing in Kodama’s office in the first place. He’s not actually his uncle I believe.

My headcanon is that his mother dropped him off there one day when she was busy with something and needed someone to watch him quickly, then Kodama-san’s office just gradually became Kakeru’s daycare.

In cheering people will point up one concert light shaking with increasing intensity. Usually orange because nobody knows what other color to use.

.......GGDGDGDGdksl;fl;sgs.......... AHHHHHHHHHH.....HHH........hhhhhhhhh.. K.....

Crunchyroll agrees with me that Kakeru’s father is “Momojiro”. I know that’s the most likely reading, I’m just really bothered and concerned that there is just no furigana for it anywhere.

And behold, my favorite Kakeru face of all time.

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh poor baby you were so pure back then

And behold my second favorite Kakeru face of all time aahaha

Okay now is as good a time as ever to bring it up, but.

I’m a bit disappointed that young Kakeru doesn’t wear glasses.

Because most kids get glasses before middle school if they are going to get them, don’t they? It makes me worry Kakeru’s glasses are just an image thing.

I mean he’s certainly frikkin adorable without them, but I dunno.... It made me weirdly happy to learn that Hiro wears contacts in episode 1.

I just want visually impaired comrades in my anime I guess!!!

Or maybe he just went without for longer than he should have by memorizing the eye test by listening to the kid in front of him like I did.

Kakeru can you see I’m worried about you.

Okay I’ll move on......

So someone pointed this out in the stream, but he doesn’t really say “mood” here. He says “kao iro” which would translate more into like... health? I don’t know. I honestly have no idea what he was getting at and it’s always puzzled me.

Oh the controversy.....

Okay so, that whole non-issue aside. About the rest of this scene.

I am not particularly offended by it for two reasons.

First...

Kakeru’s grandfather is giving him important life advice while his face is IN A BOOB

YOU CANT TAKE THIS SHIT SERIOUSLY COME ON

King of Prism has a tenancy to pair serious moments with ridiculous visuals that nearly ruin them on purpose and it’s a whole other level of humor ahah. There is an even better example of this in the next episode.......

Secondly...

KEI-CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN

In the theater people hold up two light blue lights as soon as she rises up and then go nuts. It’s the best.

While most of the other characters were inspired by watching male prism stars like Hijiri or Rei, Kakeru watched mostly the girls and I get a kick out of that. We have already known he’s their fan for a while due to his Blowin’ in the Mind ringtone and side materials saying he has their magazines in his room, etc.

“What” - cheering audience

So if you look up “kakeru” in a Japanese-English dictionary, you’ll know it has.... a lot of meanings. And since they always write the boys’ names in katakana (to make it ambiguous I guess) you can never know for sure.

Here we confirmed for the first time it is intended to be 翔 = to fly/soar

This is a theme throughout SSS. How much Shin changed things for everyone............(I’ll come back to this)............

LOVE

So I guess when Kakeru got back from Madagascar Leo was like “So what do you want for your Prism One outfit?” and he was like��“Make me a flamingo” and Leo was like “......You got it.”

Or maybe Leo was already like half done with Kakeru’s outfit and then he just burst in the door like “LEO I NEED TO BE A FLAMINGO--”

I only have one bad thing to say about Kakeru’s prism show and it has nothing to do with Kakeru’s prism show. I noticed that his legwork is really similar to Taiga’s, which was when I realized for the first time that it’s the same person doing all the motion capture. So that kind of brought me back to reality a little bit. But oh well. That person is really fucking talented.

They have been talking about Kakeru doing a prism jump where he’s naked with a pile of money for YEARS. HE DID IT. I’ve seen it in manga, I’ve seen it on Prism Rush... BUT THIS

Also how similar this is to the Prism Rush version amazes me...

CYALUME CH--

.....So I guess the translators haven’t watched PriPara either huh.

Wait is this even supposed to be for “Cyalume Change” because the subtitle is at such weird timing.

Also I felt bad afterwards about putting “CYALUME CHANGE” as one of my shitty out of context spoilers ahah. I hope I didn’t ruin it for anyone. At least I didn’t say what episode it was. My hope is that anyone who read it has been waiting to be blindsided by CYALUME CHANGE and it came at the best possible moment.

The first couple times I saw this episode I really wondered how cheering would go since so much of this episode is just business mumbo jumbo and if a lot of people would even show up for Part 2 cheering at all.

But then after about a week in I found myself waiting in the lobby before a sold out cheering show and saw a girl whip out a giant pink feathery fan.

Then the girl next to her was like hold my beer and took out a giant (fake) money fan.

Never underestimate Kakeru fangirls is a lesson I have learned over and over and over again.

A lot of people will also have three or four pink concert lights in one hand and an orange one or a color changing one in the other for this part ahah.

PAINT IT ORANGE PAINT IT ORANGE

(The lyrics to this song are nonsense. But it’s Kakeru, you can’t expect anything less.)

Prism shows with jungle animals are always a good time. (I can’t help but think of Shi Yoon.)

And there you have it, Kakeru saved the entire country of Madagascar.... with his prism show........ let’s not..... let’s not think too hard about this........

I suppose there are multiple ways this could be true so I shouldn’t be thinking too hard about this either. But.

The debut of the Leo pigtails.

Well actually I think he had them earlier in the episode too, but this was the first time I noticed.

Nothing warms my heart more than the few times Taiga throws Kakeru a bone by showing him the tiniest bit of affection. Even if it’s tsundere. Look at him. He’s just so happy. Aw Kakeru. Good for you.

I think this moment was kinda ruined by the new ending music though. In the theater it’s more quiet.

So I have always kinda felt like the Part 2 episodes are a bit weak compared with Part 1 and Part 3, but that’s probably a bit unfair considering how I experienced them. All of them grew on me more with time. It was also kind of hard coming down off of Taiga’s episode. After Taiga’s was so high tension I kinda expected the same for Kakeru too, but they went in a totally different direction. It was nothing like I thought it would be.

Before it aired I wondered if it would be about Kakeru trying to decide if spending his life in the Juuouin Group was right for him or not. And he did question it at one point when he was younger, but unless I misinterpreted it this episode was more about him loosing what he had and trying to get it back? He had doubts in his mind at one time about whether love exists, but he already came to believe it does before the events of this episode. So I guess Kakeru really has no doubt in his mind about what he wants for his future. You know, I think I like that better. I worry about him burning out with all the stuff he does, but it really does seem to be his true calling.

I find it rather sad that the Edel Rose boys never found out Kakeru’s backstory though. Instead he shares it with Merina. He couldn’t even tell them he was leaving. But then again, Minato quickly interpreted that it was probably too difficult for him, I’m sure he was right. The other boys seemed to understand and support him regardless. Kakeruuuuuuuuu...............

In side materials it’s kinda of hinted at here and there that Kakeru really wants to be more like Minato. He wants to be someone strong who supports everyone. He also really seems to not want to show any weakness to anyone, especially his friends....? (As I’m typing this I’m thinking back to the White Day event on Prism Rush when he was trying so hard to organize everything while also trying his hardest to hide that he was falling apart......) I guess he picked this up in the business world as well. Because of this I still feel there is a lot to Kakeru we still don’t know.

Well. Since I remembered this time and I liked this one: The special video for this episode that they show in the theaters has a voice over describing Kakeru’s intense schedule on a normal day.

But apparently on weekends he does no work at all. He gets caught up on manga and then plays with his friends. They showed a lot of stills of him hanging out with the Edel Rose boys, but my favorite and the one I remember the most was him playing arcade games with Shin (on a mysteriously PriPara-looking cabinet.... I think it was a fighting game though?)

Also Kakeru has a secret trunk in his room which must never be opened.

#king of prism #king of prism sss #king of prism shiny seven stars #kinpri #kakeru juuouin

30 notes · View notes

distractedhistotech · 5 years

Text

Ghost +1

Sydney was in the back of the van. She preferred it back there since she could move around more. Plus it felt weird staring out the window since losing her eye. She guessed it was the loss of depth perception. She was still learning how to gauge distance.

“So, that was kind of lame. Why did they think that guy was a ghost anyway?” asked Sydney as she tried to contact juggle some balls they had and dropped them all over the place. “He didn’t even put a lot of effort into his costume.”

“They were really superstitious,” said Arthur. “Only a few steps from being a cult when you think about it. They decide that anything strange has to have a supernatural or spiritual cause. Don’t even think there’s a scientific explanation because why couldn’t it be something that proves they’re right.”

“Arthur, you’re starting to ramble,” interrupted Vivi.

Arthur blushed. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine. They were a bit…extreme,” admitted Vivi. “I can see why it would upset you.”

Mystery decided this was a good reason to lay his head on Arthur’s lap. Sydney then flung her arms around him. “Yeah! I thought they were creepy too!”

“Sydney! I’m driving!”

“Pretty sure they thought I was an idiot,” continued Sydney. “I mean that tone they used with me was just insulting! Just because I’m missing an eye doesn’t mean I’m an idiot! Lots of people are missing parts and are smart! I’m not a pirate!” Sydney paused. “Actually, there were some pretty intelligent pirates. I don’t know where I was going with that. I seem to come back to pirates a lot lately. I know why I do, but it’s getting kind of old. I need to find something else to obsess with when I get riled up.”

“You could go back to talking about comics,” suggested Vivi.

Sydney sighed. “Yeah, I miss that…Why do I have so much trouble bringing comics up nowadays? It used to be second nature, but now I have to focus to talk about them. Even though I still love comics. It doesn’t make sense. Is this part of growing up? Part of recovering from a traumatic event? Both? It feels like something’s wrong. But isn’t that normal now?” Sydney rested her forehead on the back of Arthur’s head, not noticing how hard he was gripping the steering wheel. “Do you ever feel like that?”

“Yes,” said Arthur. He’d felt like it since he woke up in a hospital missing an arm, missing a friend, missing memories, missing so much… “I don’t think it’s gonna go away.” Mystery let out a whine and licked one of Sydney’s hands.

Vivi looked between the two as the mood quickly started to darken. God, she just wanted her two friends to be happy like they used to be. She needed to find a way to change the subject and make them smile. “Why don’t we pick up a couple of pizzas or something and then watch a couple of hours of Star Trek or Star Wars or Captain America?”

Arthur caught on to what she was trying to do and smiled. “That would be nice. It’s been a while since we hung out.” He frowned. “That’s my fault.” He’d been busy looking for Lewis. He was trying not to ignore his remaining friends, but it was hard when he wanted to find the other one and mentioning him did…something to them.

“What the heck are you working on anyway?” asked Sydney. “You’re not usually this secretive. You’re not trying to make a mechanical eye again, are you?”

“No!...Not usually anyway,” admitted Arthur.

“I can see where he’s coming from,” said Vivi. “I don’t think we can buy another eye if something else goes wrong. We need an alternative method.”

Sydney shuddered. “Okay, point taken. Being blind sucked. I don’t know how someone can live with that for a lifetime. Especially if you’re born like that! Can you imagine never knowing colors? And I bet light doesn’t make a lot of sense either. And you can’t play videogames!”

“Can’t work on cars or fabricate parts,” continued Arthur.

“Probably can’t paint either,” mused Vivi. “Unless the various colors smelled different from one another.”

Sydney wrinkled her nose. “Is-Is that a thing? And I don’t mean synesthesia! Can blind people have synesthesia? Or deaf people? Or anyone missing one sense?”

“What if sounds are linked to smell instead?” suggested Arthur.

“Can that happen?”

“Dunno. Maybe.”

“Pigments are just a type of chemical compound, so it would make sense for them to have a scent,” said Vivi, keeping the conversation from veering off in a completely different direction for once.

“Depends on the chemical. Some don’t have a scent, or at least the scent is too faint for humans to pick up on,” explained Arthur.

“I dunno, I swear I was smelling more right before you fixed my eye,” argued Sydney.

“It’s not quite the same thing. When you lose a sense you pay more attention to the ones that are left, like reassigning roles. We get the most information from sight, so when someone loses their sense of sight they pay a lot more attention to little things that they didn’t even realize they were ignoring. Also, I think there’s some neuroplasticity involved. Your brain isn’t using the part that used to be for putting together what your eyes saw, so it starts using it for other things over time.” Arthur was silent for a moment. “Um. But you, uh, would know better than me, given, you know. Sorry, I got a little too into the science papers I’ve been reading.”

Sydney smiled and shrugged. “It’s fine. I think it’s pretty interesting, even if I don’t understand all of it.” She tapped her eyepatch. “Does losing an eye affect how much of my brain it uses?”

“Just one? I’m not sure. You are seeing less…”

“Can you still smell and hear more than you’re used to?” asked Vivi.

Sydney shrugged. “Dunno. I don’t think so. Was kind of distracted at the time. Plus, everything looked different when I could see again.”

Vivi huffed. “It is just so unfair. How is it that my abilities still haven’t manifested but my half of the eye lets you see spirits?”

“It is really strange,” agreed Sydney.

“Maybe it’s because your abilities are already active,” suggested Arthur. “And you do have some control over ‘em.”

Vivi hummed in thought. “That might be it. There are still so many unknowns…”

“Hey, I don’t care how as long as no one else has to go blind,” said Sydney. “Besides, I’m sure something will wake you up eventually.”

“Yeah, but what if I’m like 40 when it finally happens?” complained Vivi. “Heck, if I have kids by then, they might have gotten their power before me…”

Arthur winced. “Do you want kids?”

Vivi nodded. “Of course! One, maybe two. I just have to find the right guy,” she said, giving Arthur a significant glance.

Arthur missed said glance entirely as he was distracted by thoughts of what could have been. Sydney was blind on that side. The only one to notice was Mystery, who huffed. Why did life have to be so difficult for these kids? The last time he’d had charges this prone to trouble…

It hadn’t ended well. Mystery would rather not dwell on the depressing memories.

Vivi realized her hint had gone over their heads yet again and decided to just move on. “Do you guys want kids?”

“I want one! So there can be a Sydney Scoville III!” proclaimed Sydney. “But just one. Don’t think I could handle more than that.”

Arthur was silent. Lewis wanted kids. He’d be an amazing father with how well he handled his sisters. “I dunno if I want children. I don’t want to pass on any of my issues.”

Vivi and Sydney both frowned at Arthur’s reasoning. “Most of your issues are due to your early upbringing,” pointed out Vivi. “You wouldn’t make those same choices and mistakes. That would prevent most of those issues from happening.”

“They could still pick up the behavior from me,” argued Arthur. “There’s only so much that I can change.”

“I don’t think you need to change,” said Sydney. “I mean, yeah, you’ve got anxiety issues, but lots of people do. You’re also smart and nice and help people and have cool hair and stro-”

“What if I attract something dangerous?” interrupted Arthur.

“Then I’ll just keep living nearby,” reasoned Sydney. She’d live with him if he asked. “I mean, I don’t see why I would leave Tempo.”

“Me either. Tempo is our home,” agreed Vivi. She placed a hand on Arthur’s flesh and blood hand. “We’re stuck with each other. For life.”

Arthur felt himself cheer up a bit at that. He gave Vivi a smile and tried to give Sydney one as best he could. Maybe he was being selfish, but he wanted to stay close to his friends.

And then the dashboard started to spark. Arthur’s eyes widened. “What?! No, no, no…” He stomped on the gas several times but failed to pick up speed.

Vivi frowned. “Is something wrong with the van?”

“There shouldn’t be! I just performed maintenance on it!”

Sydney raised an eyebrow. “Am I the only one who thinks the purple sparks were weird?”

Arthur blinked. “Purple?”

Sydney nodded. “Yeah, I was staring right at the dashboard.” The high beam light looked like a jellyfish. “Definitely purple.”

“That is not a thing that should happen!” shouted Arthur.

Vivi nodded. “Electricity’s supposed to just be white, which suggests this isn’t normal.” The van came to a stop right in front of…Vivi blinked several times. “A dancing mansion?”

Okay, it wasn’t actually dancing. However, it was sort of pulsing/bopping to a beat that one could fell in their bones. It was noticeably run down and purple and had eerie lights in the windows.

“There’s no way that’s not haunted,” deadpanned Sydney.

“Erm…” Arthur tried turning over the car again. “We don’t, have to investigate, do we?”

Vivi thought of what happened last time they’d jumped into an investigation without any preparation.

Blood. Hospitals. Loss. Guilt.

“If you can get the van started, we’re leaving,” said Vivi. “Sydney, you’re not wearing your suppressor?”

Sydney shook her head. “Still practicing controlling it on my own.”

“Good. Don’t reign it in.”

Mystery just stared at the mansion. He recognized its aura. He could barely believe it.

When did Lewis come back and what did he have planned?

Lewis was planning to exact his revenge. The plan had been simple: Create a mansion on a road that they often traveled along near Tempo (He couldn’t get into Tempo, but that could be because of some of the wards Vivi had tried setting up.), lure the Mystery Skulls (especially Arthur) into the mansion, separate them, bring Arthur to his location, kill Arthur, and reunite with the girls and Mystery, with possible minor changes as were needed. He was also open to making Arthur confess what happened to the girls (They must not have seen what happened to just go along with him.) before killing him.

The plan started to unravel as soon as the van came to a stop in front of his mansion. Part of that was because instead of rushing into the mansion on the heels of Vivi like he was expecting, they stayed in the van. And stayed. A lot longer than he recalled them ever doing so when he was alive.

Part of it was indirectly Sydney’s fault. He’d known that her aura was potent against malevolent spirits and the like, but he hadn’t really appreciated it until he felt it pressing down on him. From all the way outside. He found himself rubbing his temples. Ow. No wonder the nastier spirits went out of their way to avoid her. He was actually leaking some energy. He could last for some time as long as he was careful, but theoretically, they could just stay in the van until he was too drained to keep them here. If they tried that, he’d have to go out and confront them. Not something he wanted to do, but if it became necessary…

Lewis wondered why he was being affected in the first place. He wasn’t evil…Well, okay, he did want to kill Arthur. That was justified, but maybe it was gray enough for Sydney’s ability to categorize him as malevolent. If that was the case, then it would probably stop after he killed Arthur and no longer had any desire to hurt someone.

Lewis was dragged from his musings as several figures started exiting the van. Finally! Lewis quickly started setting up the finishing touches of his plan.

It was time to end this.

Arthur had to admit defeat. “I’ll need to look under the hood, and I don’t want to do that in front of a haunted mansion.” He sighed. “I don’t wanna go inside either.”

Sydney had been staring at the mansion the whole time. She could see the music. And anger. This eye was so weird. “I think you’d be okay. Pretty sure my aura will reach that far.”

Mystery could confirm that her aura did extend that far and would retain enough potency to be effective. Not that he could tell them, but it was certainly a weight off his shoulders.

Vivi started handing out various items for protection and fighting. “It’s a tough choice. Stay out here alone but relatively safe or go inside with us to stay close to Sydney and me.”

Arthur groaned. If he was less worried about the girls’ safety he would stay outside, but he couldn’t help but worry that if he let them go inside that he would never see them again. It had happened before. Even if he couldn’t do anything to protect them, he could draw fire away from them.

“I think I’ll go with you guys,” Arthur decided.

Sydney and Vivi studied him for a moment before Sydney suddenly bit her thumb and smeared some blood in the center of his forehead. “Just in case.”

Arthur instinctively looked up with crossed eyes for a moment. “Uh. Okay. I guess that’ll work.”

“It should. There is power in blood,” said Vivi as she gave him some holy water and slipped a beaded necklace over his head and under his shirt. “We can try practicing making protective symbols with it too.”

Sydney chuckled. “Like an anime.” She nodded. “Anything that you think will help.”

Arthur fought down the urge to wipe at the blood on his forehead. “Can I just say that I don’t like having other people’s blood on me?” It brought back bad memories.

Sydney winced. “Oh. Sorry. Should’ve asked first, shouldn’t I?”

Arthur took a deep breath. “I’m fine. I’ll be fine. You said it might help so it’s something to try.” The blood itched on his forehead. “But I am totally scrubbing it off when we get out of here.”

Vivi nodded. “Sounds like a decent enough compromise.” She handed an ofuda to Sydney. Sydney smeared some more blood on the back of it. “I don’t want either of you getting hurt again. You’re just starting to get back to where you were before.”

That made both of them wince. The last few months of learning to live with new handicaps had been difficult and frustrating in several ways. They didn’t want a repeat with themselves or Vivi or Mystery.

All four of them silently vowed to protect the others.

The walk up to the mansion’s front door took just a few seconds. Vivi knocked on the doors (She was concerned that the inhabitants would be excited by Arthur knocking and see Sydney knocking as a declaration of war.), which creaked open ominously. The inched in, the doors slamming shut behind them.

The darkness didn’t last long enough for them to pull out flashlights. Several purple wisps of fire floated by and lit candles lined along the walls and set on a chandelier.

Vivi absently noted that the layout kind of reminded her of the Spencer mansion, except a lot more purple.

“Sydney, stop humming.”

“Oops. Didn’t notice-”

Several purple ghosts suddenly popped up. “Who-o-o-o-oa!”

Most of the group immediately tensed up. Vivi didn’t immediately though. “Cute!”

They really were adorable…until more popped up behind them. “This time I might just disa-Who-o-o-o-who-o-o-oa!” They suddenly got pointy toothed with claws. “Oh yeah!”

Nope. They took off running down the hallway through break in the ghosts.

“This time I might just disappear!”

A suit of armor suddenly lunged towards them and swung an ax. Sydney and Vivi dove under the ax. Arthur vaulted over it. Mystery barely dodged it, having to use his kitsune magic to retract his head into his body.

“Gah!”

“Mystery!”

“)%$*&$^#$(%^)*%(&%*&$&!”

Mystery popped his head back out before any uncomfortable questions could be asked.

“Who-o-o-o-who-o-o-oa…”

They abruptly realized that the paintings lining the hall were moving. They suddenly leapt out. “Oh yeah!”

The Mystery Skulls leapt into each other’s arms. Thankfully, the portrait spirits pulled back into the paintings. “Who-o-o-o-oa…” And then the lady painting reached out and pulled a rope next to her painting.

A trapdoor opened under them. They fell down screaming, and things became bizarre, even by their standards. They weren’t falling as quickly as they should be. It was more like they were floating. Not to mention there were several random items in the space with them. A few hours later, they would comment on how it was oddly reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland.

They floated past several mirrors. Vivi was a bit confused by the fact that her reflection had completely purple eyes. From what Mystery could see in his cracked mirror they could see past glamours. Arthur was facing away from the mirrors so he didn’t see that they failed to reflect his prosthetic. Sydney did faintly notice this but was a bit distracted by how her reflection showed her right after her injury with her remaining eye leaking various colors from it.

Then Arthur’s fall suddenly sped up. Vivi and Sydney made to grab him, but just missed him. Then they noticed Sydney was falling even slower and tried to grab each other, but it was too late again.

Sydney let out an ‘oof’ and shot to her feet as she landed. “I’m armed!” she shouted, brandishing the ofuda. She turned around. There were a bunch of boxes, a dusty bed with no covers, and… a mannequin in a wedding dress and holding an ax? Sydney thought she was in the basement until she noticed some windows that she ran over to. She felt her brain short circuit. “How the *&^*) do you fall down into the attic?!”

Vivi and Mystery had landed in a kitchen where a pair of dagwood sandwiches were laid out on the center counter. The two stared at them for several moments but managed to pull themselves away. “Right. Separated…We should look for Arthur first. Sydney can take care of herself in this sort of situation.” Her stomach growled. Mystery’s growled even louder. “…I wonder if it would be safe to grab a few pieces.”

Arthur landed on his ass in what was probably the basement. He absentmindedly glanced upward in confusion (How did that work? Ghost logic was so weird.) before zeroing in on a large coffin with a skull and thorny vine design on the top of the lid. It was beating like the rest of the house.

Not good.

The coffin slowly opened, revealing a jawless skull floating above a large body in a nice suit.

Lewis narrowed his eye sockets as he floated out and slammed his feet in front of Arthur. He glared at his murderer, full of hate and anger.

Arthur stared in fear, unable to recognize his dead friend. All he saw was a scary, probably powerful, likely dangerous ghost that had separated him from his friends.

Lewis broke the silence by pointing a finger at Arthur. “Fuck, it’s you I hate the most.”

Arthur gulped and pointed at himself. “Buh-buh-Why?”

It was a reasonable question from Arthur’s point of view. Lewis…it did occur to him that he wasn’t as recognizable without his face. He lit the braziers and let his hair form. “Does this answer your question?!”

No, it didn’t, but Arthur decided he wasn’t going to explain that this was a case of mistaken identity to a ghost that probably wasn’t going to listen. He threw the vial of holy water, turned on his heel, and ran.

Lewis did recoil a bit at the holy water. He was a fire ghost. Water stung even if it wasn’t holy. Then he threw it off, decided this was proof of Arthur’s guilt, and gave chase.

Arthur was in good shape (He didn’t understand how he was still so healthy when he’d been hospitalized and locked in his workroom so much for the last few months.) and used to running from scary things. He glanced behind him and saw the ghost practically flying towards him. No more glancing back. He put on a burst of speed.

Oh, hey, Vivi and Mystery. ��Angry ghost! Run!”

Vivi and Mystery looked away from the sandwiches they were still debating eating. They looked in the direction Arthur came from, threw the sandwiches at the angry ghost, and ran after Arthur. Lewis didn’t bother trying to avoid the sandwich contents and flew right through them.

“We need to find Sydney!” shouted Vivi.

“Where is she?!” shouted Arthur.

“I don’t know!”

Mystery could feel that Sydney had ended up in the attic and was managing to work her way down. He pulled ahead and ran up some stairs, Arthur and Vivi close behind him. They ran through a bunch of doors and rooms.

Sydney heard the racket and threw open the door of the room she’d wandered into. “Angry Elvis ghost!”

That threw Lewis for a loop. “Elvis? Are you kid-” He saw the eyepatch. “What happened to your-”

Sydney threw an ofuda at him. Lewis yelped and pulled it off. That hurt!

“You stay away from Arthur!” demanded Sydney.

That hurt almost as much as the ofuda. “You don’t get it. He-”

Vivi darted back and grabbed Sydney. “What’re you waiting for?!” She then dragged Sydney off.

Okay, Vivi and Sydney didn’t know about his murder. Somehow. Maybe it was post traumatic amnesia or something. Clearly, this needed to be remedied. Also, why was Sydney wearing an eyepatch? She wasn’t wearing an eyepatch for the heck of it. There’d been scars peeking out. He gave chase, now equally intent on telling Vivi and Sydney what happened along with killing Arthur.

He threw fire to keep Arthur from moving down a hallway. Arthur turned and stared at him fearfully. Lewis felt his desire for vengeance clawing up his heart.

And then Vivi and Sydney put themselves between them, Vivi with her arms outstretched as if to shield Arthur as much as possible, Sydney with her hands up as if she was prepared to fight him.

This was wrong. Vivi and Sydney were supposed to be on his side. He wasn’t the enemy! He just needed…Maybe…Yes. That would work. He willed his anchor towards them.

They just needed to see the proof of who he was, that they knew him.

The flames died down. Arthur was certain he knew the way to the front door from this spot. He grabbed Vivi and Sydney and booked it.

Vivi and Sydney glanced back once.

Mystery made sure to take up the rear.

Lewis stared in disbelief and heartbreak as his murderer and the love(s?) of his life and (more than) best friend.

And his anchor fell and broke.

And Lewis switched to frustration and anger and despair and why did this happen to him?! Why why why?!

He screamed, pouring his everything into it as his fire erupted around him.

The living Mystery Skulls barely made it through the doors in time to avoid being burned alive. Mystery might have had something to do with it. They rushed to the van. “Go go go!”

Arthur revved the van. It started. “I’m going!”

They peeled out of there.

None of them saw the figure watching them from one of the high windows. Lewis watched as the van drove away. He pressed down on his cracked anchor and looked at the picture inside.

It was from shortly after he and Vivi started dating. He had an arm around Vivi, who was hugging him. Sydney had an arm thrown over his shoulder while he used his free arm to support her. No Arthur. The three of them were smiling and happy and whole and alive.

They could never go back to that.

Lewis barely noticed the tear running down his face as he finally passed out and returned to his anchor, the house fading around him.

#MSA + 1 #msa+1 #Mystery #Vivi #Arthur #Lewis #Ghost #mystery skulls #extra member #au #grrlpowercomic au #What am I getting into?

4 notes · View notes

javocjovian · 5 years

Text

A Very Supernatural Christmas Party, Chapter Four

As you may know, I’ve decided to write a fic for million Christmas December Supernatural Prompt Challenges. The challenges include:

Gabriel’s Monthly Challenge @gabriel-monthly-challenge, @archangelgabriellives, @ttttrickster, @archangel-with-a-shotgun, @warlockwriter, @archangelsanonymous, and @revwinchester

spnfanficpond’s Weekly Episode Writing Challenge @spnfanficpond @mrswhozeewhatsis

Supernatural Amino’s Holiday Prompt List and their Hunters Writing Club Challenge - December.

You can find me and this fic on AO3 Archive of Our Own

I’m also on Ko-Fi

If you’d like to read this chapter directly on AO3, here’s a link: A Very Supernatural Christmas Party - Chapter Four

A Very Supernatural Christmas Party

Summery: Metatron’s annual Christmas parties are the stuff of legends. As in, no one has ever been able to stop Gabriel bitching about how terrible they are. This year, Gabriel decides to ask one of the Winchesters to go as his date. Guess which one. Castiel has a similar idea, but things don’t go as planned. Meanwhile, Sam, Dean, and Charlie discover the true meaning of Christmas. Spoiler: it’s shopping, and a lot of booze.

Ships: Destiel, Sabriel, the rest are surprises!

Characters: Sam Winchester, Dean Winchester, Castiel, Gabriel, Charlie, Metatron, and a whole lotta angels later

Chapter Four Summery: Sam suspects Castiel has asked Dean to the party, but HAS he??? Bonus: Castiel makes cookies and Sam and Gabriel bond.

Chapter Four

Effigies and Angels

The morning after the party occurred without incident. Sam had expected Gabriel to barge into his room during the night, especially after what Sam had agreed to, but no such thing happened. Sam didn’t wake until 8am, and it was because Dean was pounding on his door.

“Sammy! Wake up, I’m making pancakes. How many do you want?”

Sam checked his alarm clock, “Uh… just two.” He said groggily.

“Do you… want marshmallows on that?” Dean asked again. He sounded like he was trying to keep his voice serious.

Sam had to think about that one, “Did… Gabriel ask for marshmallows on his?”

Silence.

“Hurry up. Get some pants on and let’s eat.” Dean said.

Sam laughed to himself and got up.

Sam, Dean, Charlie, and Gabriel ate breakfast together at the Men of Letters’ table, while Castiel drank coffee and stole not so subtle glances at Dean. Dean looked a bit stiffer than usual, but maybe it was just Sam’s imagination. Sam hadn’t had time to think about what he’d heard last night, but if he was right, then Castiel was going to ask Dean to the party. Or maybe he’d already asked him.

Gabriel was regaling Charlie with tales of his shenanigans as Loki.

“What? He’s in Marvel comics.” Charlie said sheepishly, listening to every word Gabriel said, “So is that why you like sweets?” She asked.

“Well...” Gabriel stabbed a syrup soaked marshmallow with a fork, “You do something enough you start to appreciate it.” He said wisely, then ate the marshmallow. Sam huffed a laugh. He hadn’t seen Gabriel so carefree since he was the Trickster. Gabriel sneaked Sam a wink over his coffee and Sam nearly spilled his.

Charlie left after breakfast so she could beat the afternoon traffic. Sam and Dean saw her off, and shortly after that Castiel and Gabriel went their separate ways. Soon it was just Sam, Dean, and the palm tree.

Sam looked at it and laughed softly, “I can’t believe he ripped a palm tree out of the ground.”

Dean grinned, “Tell me about it. Can you imagine? Some couple’s laying on the beach on their honeymoon and a guy in a trench-coat shows up.”

Sam laughed.

“Ah… what a night.” Dean sighed, “You want more coffee?”

“No man, I’m good.” Sam sank into a chair at the table and opened his laptop.

Dean took the last of the coffee and returned to the table.

“Oh, hey.” He said, “Check this out.” He’d spotted the box of ‘X-Mas Shit’ on the floor and was grabbing something out of it, “I meant to show you last night, but...”

“We ended up having a Christmas party?” Sam said.

“Yeah.” Dean huffed. He handed Sam a beat-up old Christmas card. It looked like it came from a gas station convenience store.

Sam took it curiously. Slowly, his expression softened, “Is this from dad?”

“Yeah.” Dean sat down beside him, watching contently as Sam opened it and read.

“Ha!” Sam laughed aloud, “Oh man. Dad.” He said fondly, “I can’t believe you kept this.”

“It was in the box. I guess I forgot about it.” Dean sipped his coffee.

“Hm.” Sam smiled at it, “You should put it on the fireplace.” He handed it back to Dean.

“Yeah, alright.” Dean took it and got up, looking for the perfect place.

Sam watched him set the card above the homemade Christmas stockings, turning it until it faced the perfect direction, “Hey, Dean?”

“Mm.”

“Did Cas ask you anything last night? You know, anything weird?”

Dean stood back to look at the card on the mantle, “What do you mean, weird?”

“I mean, well. Before I went to bed...” Sam paused, “He just seemed a little out of it.”

Dean thought about it, “Nah, I think he’s just not used to drinking. I mean, I thought angels couldn’t get drunk but… obviously he can.”

Sam was staring at the card, too, “Yeah. Yeah, you’re probably right.” He looked back to his laptop.

Sam watched Dean out of the corner of his eye as he sat back down to enjoy his coffee. If Castiel didn’t ask Dean to the party, then Sam wouldn’t say anything. It wasn’t his business. Besides, the party was nearly a month away and Sam had his own problems to worry about: namely, how to tell Dean that he’d agreed to go with Gabriel.

“Hey.” Dean said suddenly, “Do you wanna build a snowman?”

Sam stared, “Did you just quote Frozen to me?”

Dean raised his eyebrows at Sam.

Sam laughed, “Uh… sure. Why not?”

“Awesome.” Dean finished his coffee with a single swig, “You’re doing down.”

“W… what?” Sam sputtered, “It’s not a competition.”

“Not with that attitude!”

Sam and Dean spent the freezing afternoon in winter coats and hats, not thinking about angels what so ever. It turned out that when Dean said ‘build a snowman’ he really meant a ‘have snowball fight’. Sam hadn’t even made the base of the snowman before he got pelted with a snowball so hard that his hat flew off.

“Oh, alright. That’s it!” Sam scrambled to his feet, scooping up snow.

For the next half an hour, Sam and Dean Winchester were at war. They threw snowballs hard enough to knock bark off trees, built up impenetrable snow walls, and at one point Dean dive bombed Sam’s snow fortress, crushing everything including Sam with an almighty shout, “Leroy Jenkins!”. Birds abandoned their nests in droves as their shouts and laughter echoed through the silent, snow blanketed woods.

Eventually, they really did build a snowman. They drank beer chilled in the snow, and added to the snowman until it looked so atrocious they couldn’t look at it without cracking up. It had an empty bottle for a nose, one of Cas’s old trenchcoats, Christmas lights around its neck, and moose antlers made of sticks Dean had to climb halfway up a pine tree to break off. Sam had abandoned his hat and gloves, so Dean added those, too. Finally, he gave it angry eyebrows made of tree bark.

“Sammy…check it out.”

“Wha...” Sam turned. He expression broke into a laugh, “Ha! It looks just like Cas.”

Dean grinned.

By the time they headed back inside, their faces were red, half of their winter gear was bundled under Sam’s arm, and there was a stretch of snow half a mile wide that was packed down and littered with destroyed snowforts and trenches. It looked like a war scene. The snowman stood sentinel in the center, guarding the entrance to the bunker. Sam had completely forgotten about Metatron’s Christmas party.

Dean showered while Sam made them hot cocoa and checked the news feed on his laptop. It wasn't long before Dean came out looking refreshed and joined Sam at the table.

“...Sam.”

“Hm? What’s wrong?” Sam looked at him.

Dean’s face was set, “What is this?”

Sam looked at the mug of hot cocoa Dean was holding, “What?” Sam held back a smile, sipping his own mug, “You said you wanted Christmas, so drink up.”

Dean lifted it to his nose and smelled it.

“Plus I added bourbon.”

Dean drank it.

Sam huffed a laugh.

Dean sat beside him, looking over the news reports while they both drank their spiked hot cocoa in silence.

“Sam.”

Sam glanced at Dean, “What?”

“Are those… little marshmallows?”

Sam looked at his mug, “Y...yeah.” He said nonchalantly, “Why? You want some?”

Dean eyed him suspiciously. Then, “Yeah. Load me up.” He held out his mug.

Sam pulled out the bag he’d been hiding in his lap. Dean snorted. Sam opened it, and overflowed Dean’s mug with mini marshmallows.

“Aw, come on!” Dean said as they bounced onto his lap and on the floor. Dean flicked marshmallows out of his lap and took a sip while Sam chuckled. When Dean looked up he had marshmallows stuck precariously to his cocoa covered lips.

“Now that’s festive.” Sam grinned.

Dean gave him a serious look, but it just made Sam laugh.

“You’re getting marshmallows in your underwear drawer later tonight. Just so you know. They’re gunna be everywhere. Watching you.”

Sam was red from laughing.

“Sam. Dean.” Castiel’s voice interrupted them. He was rushing down the steps looking severe.

Dean did a double take, and a couple marshmallows flew off of him, “Hey Cas.” He said casually.

Castiel paused, looking at Dean, whose lips were covered in chocolate and sticky marshmallow, then at Sam, who was laughing silently into his hand.

“What… are you doing?”

“Nothing.” Dean said smartly, “Why don’t you join us? Hot cocoa? Here, I’ll make you some. Sit.” Dean got up, doing absolutely nothing about his festive look.

Sam calmed himself as Castiel sat down.

Castiel glanced at Sam, “What’s going on?”

“Nothing, Cas.” Sam said genuinely, “What’s up?”

Castiel seemed taken aback. “Did you forget my phone numbers?”

Sam looked puzzled.

“Because… oh, thank you.” Dean had brought him a mug and sat back down. He was suddenly looking awkward again, “You didn’t have to build me an effigy, you know.” Castiel said, “You can just call me on the phone.”

Sam looked startled, “W...what?”

Dean blinked.

They shared a small glance.

“Cas… it’s not...” Sam started.

Castiel tilted his head slightly.

“You know what. I’m glad you like it.” Dean said.

“Yes, the uh… the tree bark was a good idea.” He said seriously, “But I don’t have horns.” He almost looked offended.

Dean broke into a smile, “Yeah, I know. That was for Sammy. Anyway, drink up.” He said, “Don’t worry, it’s a virgin hot chocolate.”

Sam looked at him, “You can just call it a hot chocolate.” He said, “You drunk.”

Dean gave him a quick look.

Castiel tried the beverage, “It’s alright. I guess. Tastes like… molecules.”

Sam and Dean were grinning.

“What?” Castiel asked, marshmallows now sticking to him as well as Dean.

“You’ve got a few… molecules on you.” Dean gestured to his face.

Castiel wiped his face with his hand and looked down, “Ah. Yes. That’s. Hilarious.”

The sole purpose for Castiel’s visit seemed to be addressing the ‘effigy’ in front of the bunker. So once the matter was settled, and once Sam didn’t find anything convincing on his news feed, he decided he’d give Castiel and Dean some space.

“Well, I’m gunna go do a check on the alarm system.” Sam got up, taking his laptop with him.

Dean turned slightly, “I thought we do that on Wednesdays.”

“Yeah, well, after last night I figured better safe than sorry.”

“Yeah. That is your motto, isn’t it?” Dean gave him a look.

Sam scrunched his face up at him, then left the room.

Silence.

Dean cleared his throat, “So uh… Cas.”

Cas looked at him suddenly.

“Is something up? You look like you’ve got a... tree up your ass.” Dean bit his lip.

Castiel stared at him, “No. Nothing’s up. There. Anywhere.” His eyes widened slightly, “But I uh… I made you these.” He reached into his trench-coat and pulled out a small package.

Dean’s brow furrowed at the brown-paper package. There was a card on top. He took it and set his mug aside. He picked up the card. It was just a piece of thick paper folded in half that said ‘Merry Christmas, Dean’ on the inside in scratchy, nearly illegible writing. Dean looked at Castiel.

“It’s customary to accompany your gift with a card.” Castiel said, sounding a little unsure. He nodded at Dean, “Open it.”

So Dean opened it. It wasn’t wrapped very well, but inside was a stack of plastic-wrapped… “Cookies?”

Castiel cleared his throat, “Christmas cookies. I uh… looked up the recipe on Pin-trest.”

“You made these?”

Castiel nodded quickly, “I did. Try them. They’re good. I think.”

Dean took one out of the wrapping, careful not to spill the rest. They were frosted, kind of, to look like candy canes, Santas, and… mules? Dean’s was a mule. He stared at it.

“It’s a donkey. The website said that it’s tradition to make them look like Christmas objects. You humans believe there was a donkey at the manger when Christ was born, but really it was a camel. I couldn’t...” Castiel watched as Dean took a bite, “...draw a camel.” Castiel watched apprehensively as Dean tasted it, “Too much cinnamon?”

Dean shook his head, holding the bite in his mouth. He blinked a few times, then swallowed determinedly, “They’re… good, Cas. Thanks.” Dean set the package on the table. He looked like he had something stuck in his throat. He swallowed again.

Castiel shifted in his seat.

“Cas...” Dean finally said.

“Well, Marry Christmas, Dean.”

“Cas.” He repeated, “Is there something you wanted to tell me? To ask me, maybe?”

Castiel’s eyes widened slightly, “No. Why do you ask?”

“Hm.” Dean eyed him, “No reason.”

There an awkward silence that Dean let spiral horribly. He watched Cas, his expression inscrutable. Castiel’s resemblance to his frozen effigy was uncanny.

Finally, “Well, I should go.” Castiel got up.

Dean didn’t stop him, so with a rush of air, Castiel was gone.

Dean stared at his mug of hot cocoa, looking stony. He finished eating his donkey cookie, chewing down each feeling that rose up and swallowing it into the pit of his stomach soundlessly.

Suddenly, Dean was plunged into darkness. All the lights in the bunker turned off simultaneously. Dean nearly choked. The emergency lights turned on, and then the sirens were back. Dean almost fell of his chair, slamming a fist into his chest.

Before he could even get up, the sirens turned off and the lights went back on.

“Sorry!” Sam’s voice hollered from below the study.

The rest of day passed without another visit from Castiel, Gabriel, or anyone. Sam and Dean kept to themselves after Sam sensed that the conversation with Castiel didn’t go well. Sam cleaned, ate cold pizza, read through a few Men of Letters’ files, while Dean did Chuck knows what in his room. It was late at night when Sam finally decided to go make sure Dean was still alive. He grabbed some left over pizza for him and was on his way downstairs when he heard something that made him nearly drop the plate.

“Sam! Sammy!” Dean’s voice was echoing through the hallway. He sounded injured, “Sam! Help.”

Sam broke into a run. He slid around a corner and landed right into Dean’s door, the pizza sliding to the edge of the plate. He grabbed the handle with one hand and threw the door open with his shoulder, “Dean!” His eyes scanned Dean’s room urgently, “Dean?”

“Sammy...” Dean groaned.

Dean was laying face down across his bed, one arm hanging off the side toward a plate of half eaten… where those cookies? The only light in the room was from the big-screen TV that was in the middle of another Christmas slasher flick.

Sam’s urgent expression fell.

“Get these away from me.” He waved his arm towards the cookies.

“Really, Dean?” Sam said tensely. He turned the lights on and Dean groaned. He dropped the plate of pizza on the nightstand by the bed, then stooped down to collect the cookies. “What are these?” He smelled them.

“They’re good, actually. Cas made them.” Dean grumbled, rolling over and clutching his stomach miserably.

“Did he use cinnamon?”

Dean belched, “Yep. They’re like cinnamon roll cookies, Sam. They’re… amazing. I can’t stop eating them.”

“Yeah.” Sam stood up with a huff, “You look amazing.”

“What’s that?” He nodded at the pizza, “Ugh, no.”

Sam rolled his eyes and took both plates, “Okay, well. Have you just been down here all day eating cookies and watching slasher flicks?”

“Yeah, I have. You gunna give me a time out?”

“No.” Sam sighed, “But, why did Cas make you cookies?”

Dean shrugged weakly.

“Mhm.” Sam said, looking at the state of Dean’s room. It looked like he hadn’t moved all evening, “You should give him a break. He’s just trying to...”

“Trying to what?” Dean looked at him upside down.

Sam took a breath, “Trying to be your friend.”

“Yeah.” Dean said, “Friends don’t try to murder you with cookies.”

“You tried to murder you with cookies.” Sam corrected him, “Jeez, you’re like a dog in sausage factory.”

“A what?”

Sam turned to leave, “If you throw up, use your own bathroom this time? Okay?”

“Okay!” Dean grabbed a pillow and threw it over his face, “Hey! Turn the lights off.”

Sam turned the lights off, leaving Dean to finish his movie in peace.

“Great coping skills, Dean.” Sam muttered. Although, this didn’t surprise him at all. He went back upstairs to put the cookies and pizza away.

On his way up, Sam’s curiosity got the best of him and he tried a bite of a misshapen candy cane that looked more like a like a life saver. He nearly choked. It was a lot of cinnamon. As he chewed, he understood why Dean liked them. They kind of did taste like cinnamon rolls. Kind of.

As Sam walked into the kitchen, he almost choked for real. He dropped the plate of pizza, but Gabriel grabbed it just in time.

“Hiya Sammy.” Gabriel grinned at him.

Sam caught himself on the kitchen counter, “Yeah! No! Don’t worry about me. Save the pizza!” Sam breathed.

“Damn straight. Aw, you made me pizza.” Gabriel took a piece, “You okay, Sam? Didn’t mean to startle you.”

Sam stood up and collected himself, “Yeah, right.” He snatched the pizza out of Gabriel’s hand.

Gabriel pouted at him.

“How did you get in here anyway?” Sam put the pizza back on the counter by the cookies.

“Oh, that. Right.” Gabriel began, “Well I wondered how Dean’s bff always got in here will all your fancy warding. So I looked around last night, and I found that little panel with a smidge of Cas’s blood.” Gabriel scooted around Sam and leaned against the counter.

“So you added your own.”

“So I added my own.” Gabriel said, sneaking a piece of pizza behind his back and taking a not-so-subtle bite.

Sam glared at him, “So that’s why you came by yesterday? To add your blood so you could spy on us?”

“No! No, Sam.” Gabriel assured him, swallowing, “I really did just come by to ask you to the party. But since you said yes...”

Sam sighed.

“...I figured it was best if I could come by every now and again to discuss it.”

“Discuss what?”

“You know, matching suits, ties. Do you wear boxers or briefs?”

Sam glared.

“Well, I go commando. So...” He raised his brow flirtatiously at Sam.

“No. No, okay. I take it back. I’m not going.”

Gabriel looked crushed.

“Castiel tried asking Dean, I think, and he said no, too. So we’re not going.” Sam said, finally voicing his suspicions.

“Dean said no?” Gabriel looked confused, “Well that explains why he’s been moping.” He collected his thoughts, “Sam, look, you have to! I said no funny stuff, and I meant it!” He put the pizza down.

Sam folded his arms.

“Sam, I didn’t ask you just for kicks. I really do want you to go with me. Come on. You’re my top pick. Numero uno. Sam Winchester, with all his hair and… shoulders.” He looked Sam over.

“Enough.” Sam clenched his jaw.

“Okay. But look...” Gabriel said seriously, “Sam. I care about you guys. I do.” He added, seeing Sam’s tired look, “I swear. No tricks. No funny stuff. I’m asking you to be my date.”

Sam considered him, “Like, an actual date?” He clarified.

“Yup.” Gabriel nodded.

Sam looked away for a moment, thinking, “You mean, like, you’re asking me out?”

Gabriel smiled in exhaustion, “Yes, Sam. I’m asking you out.” He eyed him, “Should I get down on one knee?” He offered, starting to crouch down.

“No! No no no...” Sam pulled him back up, “No, you’re short enough.”

Gabriel grinned, “Ouch.”

Sam glanced down, the smallest of smiles playing on his lips.

Gabriel beamed, “So what you do say? Go out with me?”

Sam glanced around, sighed, then said, “Fine. Why not?”

Gabriel cheered, “Yes! Oh, Sam, you’ve made me the happiest Archangel. You won’t regret this!” He grabbed the slice of pizza and took a huge bite, “Okay, so matching suits. Yay or nay?”

“Nay.” Sam took a slice, too, “Definitely nay.”

“Okay. Complimentary colors at least? Red and green? It’ll be Christmassy.”

Sam thought about it, “I thought you didn’t want to go to this thing. Why are you all excited about it now?”

“Cuz I’m going with you.” Gabriel said smoothly.

Sam huffed a laugh, “Alright. Alright. Red and green, then. I’m green!”

Gabriel sighed, “Fine. You drive a hard bargain, Sam. But that’s what I like about you.” He winked, “Red it is.” He hoped up onto the counter, sitting a bit closer to Sam’s height.

They talked and ate pizza, although Sam saved the cookies for Dean. Finally, Sam had to ask.

“So, what did you mean when you said Cas has been moping?”

“You know. Moping. Wandering around like his puppy just got hit by a car.”

Sam frowned.

“I caught him staring at cookie cutters for an hour at that shop downtown.”

Sam slowly hide the plate of cookies behind his back.

“But that’s what happens when you get turned down, I guess.” Gabriel said mournfully, “Honestly, I thought Dean would say yes.”

Sam stared at the empty pizza plate, “I don’t know.”

Gabriel looked at him patiently.

“He’s very… reserved about that kind of stuff. Never admits it when he really likes something. Or someone.” He said, remembering Cassie Robinson, “Plus, I don’t even think he’s, you know… into guys.”

Gabriel nodded thoughtfully.

“And Cas is, well, Cas.” Sam sighed, “So yeah, I’d say they were doomed from the start.”

“Well, that’s sad.” Gabriel said, “Never met an angel and a human with more promise. Oh well.”

Gabriel could tell that Sam was done talking about his brother’s social life, so Gabriel changed the subject.

Sam wouldn’t admit it, not yet, but when Gabriel wanted to, he could be surprisingly tactful. Suave, even. That chatted for a few more minutes, then Sam kicked him out so he could go to bed. Gabriel didn’t even make any jokes about joining him.

It wasn’t until Sam walked past Dean’s room and heard the TV still on that he felt bad for feeling so… good.

Chapter Four Prompts:

Here are the prompts for this chapter.

Amino's Holiday Prompt List 3. snowman 4. hot cocoa 5. cookies 6. snow fort 7. snowball fight 10. holiday cards

If you’d like to read this chapter directly on AO3, here’s a link: A Very Supernatural Christmas Party - Chapter Four

Enjoy! And Happy Holidays!

1 note · View note

imagine-darksiders · 6 years

Text

Forgive this thing omg it’s a mess I wrote in like an hour..

I just wanted to explore how an early friendship with Death might function. Like, you’ve known him barely a week and you’re both still getting the hang of each other’s personalities. You are missing your friends, you’re getting touch-starved and frustrated looking at everything that’s happened to humanity. So, naturally, you take out your anger on the only person available to witness your anguish.

---

“I hate you.”

Death, who had never heard a hostile thing from you in the few weeks since you came crashing down into his world, looks up in bemusement.

Still, he supposed it was only a matter of time before you came to your senses, although he couldn't say the sting he felt at those words didn't cut through him as sharp as any blade.

But so often had he heard, or rather, felt the words in the past, that Death can only huff at you and returns to running the whetstone over Harvester's already razor-sharp edge.

“Join the club,” the horseman states quietly.

There's a deep, hot sigh from the human in his company and the distinctive sound of a stone being booted spitefully over the side of a rocky crevice, at the bottom of which it's swallowed by a thick blanket of fog.

“Not you,” is your biting retort, “Well...Not exactly.”

When the horseman doesn't respond, you spin around to frown at the side of his head and scrub at the skin beneath your eyes, surprised to find wetness there. “I mean, you. Nephilim. Angels. Demons. The Charred Council and every other flipping creature who seems to have it in for my species!”

Brushing your hands roughly through your hair, you clench your fists tightly into the locks and begin to pace up and down in front of Death.

“Why does everybody in this damn universe seem to have a say in humanity's fate? Everybody except for humans!?”

The whetstone is placed delicately to the side as the horseman leans forwards and plants a hand on each of his knees. Peering at you through narrowed eyes, he asks, “Are you truly so self important as to believe that you know more than the powers that be?”

A lone demon's roar of outrage reaches your ears from somewhere in the city, far from your little campsite but you think it adequately portrays how Death's words made you feel. Whirling on him you snarl raggedly, but you're devastated when it comes out sounding no more intimidating than a kitten's mewl. “No, I don't think I know better than them, you know I don't think anything of the sort! That wasn't fair, Death.”

'You're right, of course,' he gripes to himself in private. That wasn't a fair thing to say, but he's curious to know the heart of the issue and pushing you seems to be the best way to find out.

Death racks his brains quickly for the best way to try and help you to understand the order of things. “Humanity is a young species,” he at last explains softly, “There are things that will happen – have happened to you that seem without reason or justness. The End-War was always going to occur-” he grimaces, “-just not as soon as it did.”

Your hands are trembling now, though something else has joined your anger. “To Hell with you, we're not toys that you get to break when you're done playing with us! Why is it, that whenever the cosmic shit hits the fan, somehow it's always Earth that takes the beating?”

Humming, Death offers, “Earth is the easiest target?”

“This is serious, Death!” you cry with frustration lacing your tone.

He holds up hand placatingly, “Balance, Y/n. It must be maintained.”

“But we were progressing so much!” you argue. “How is it fair to just cut us down when we're in our prime and set us all the way back to square one!? All of those thousands upon thousands of years just gone because of your 'balance'.”

The tail-end of your loud rant echoes off into the night and you're left panting and clenching your teeth against an onslaught of tears. Silence settles over the camp, whilst Death's ears twitch to listen for any approaching demon that might have strayed too close after hearing you yell.

The horseman observes you quietly with a thoughtful glimmer behind his burning eyes whereas you allow your whole body to slouch from sudden, overwhelming exhaustion. The quiet stretches on for a long time before it's broken.

“What happened to us?” The whisper is quieter than a breath, softer than Death had ever heard you speak. “We used to be great. We cultivated half of the planet to suit our needs. We looked at the boundaries we were given and thought, 'you know what? That can't be it. There has to be more than this.'” A smile tugs at your lips fondly. “We walked on the moon and still it wasn't enough. We reached even further, to the stars and then beyond to where we dreamed our destinies lay. We may have had our heads buried in the sand from time to time, but we always looked back up to the stars.” A single tear escapes the confines of your eyelid and trickles steadily down to your chin. Death watches it's journey with mild curiosity, wondering what it must feel like to be so vulnerable.

“And now look at us.” Your smile falls sharply when you gesture with a sweep of your arm out to the wasteland of a city and shake your head despairingly. “All of that development, evolution and improvement. All those good people, just..... Gone.”

The tear you'd cried is abruptly followed by several more.

“Death, we didn't deserve this. Some of us might have, sure, but not all. Most of the people on Earth did not deserve to die. Not down here....Not like this.”

It isn't long before your heart feels too heavy to hold up and suddenly, the concrete where Death is sitting looks as comfortable as anywhere else in the camp.

Sniffing, you sidle up to the horseman and collapse to the ground with a thud, aware of Death's blazing gaze on you the entire time. You've given up the battle to stop the tears from pouring down your face, uncaring of something so pointless anymore. If he sees you cry, so be it.

A stale wind blows over the city and lifts with it the stench of decay and rust. Copper on the breeze is no longer an unfamiliar scent, especially having been around Death for a few weeks now, but it still isn't pleasant.

The horseman beside you tears his gaze from your prone form to raise Harvester into the air and tilt it this way and that, inspecting the curve of the scythe closely. Bright moonlight glints off the sharp edges and illuminates the now clean blade. With a hum of satisfaction, Death places the scythe on the ground in front of his feet and leans back, putting his weight on both arms and turning his head up to the stars. Slowly blinking back tears, you follow his gaze.

“Funny things, aren't they? The stars,” you begin, voice a little unsteady from crying.

Grunting, the horseman acknowledges your statement but doesn't respond otherwise.

“I mean, they're just big balls of hydrogen gas and other weird elements I can't remember, but we find so much meaning in them.”

A rumble of soft laughter interrupts your lamenting.

“Humans finding meaning in the meaningless,” Death chuckles, “Someone had better inform the scribes.”

That, at least, pulls a tired giggle out of you. “Stop the presses,” you translate for yourself.

The horseman casts a secret glance down at your face and when he sees the smile growing there, he feels an odd sense of pride at the accomplishment. He's thankful that the mask hiding his face also hides his own gentle smile when you tilt your head up at him.

Your eyes drop to the horseman's hand that rests by your own and you find yourself thinking about the last time one of your friends had hugged you. For some, frustrating reason, you could not begin to recall the person you'd hugged last.

It's funny. What you're about to do feels harder than any battle you'd faced yet...

“Death?” you ask timidly without taking your eyes off his bandaged-wrapped hand. He examines you intently and waits for you to finish your thought.

“C-could I...maybe.....” You swallow thickly and choke back a sob that threatens to burst from your throat. Bravely, you finally throw your eyes up and force them to lock with his far more intimidating ones, gazing imploringly into their depths. “Please. I-I'd like to touch your hand, if that's okay? Just to have someone to hold onto. Can I?”

The very moment the request leaves your lips, you wish you could swallow it back up and pretend you'd never asked. It sounded so childish. So needy.

Death meanwhile, could not be more surprised. His eyes widen comically and his jaw actually drops fractionally before he remembers himself and snaps it shut. This is the first time you'd asked if you could willingly touch him. Until this point, he'd picked you up, nudged you in a specific direction or helped you up when you fell, of course. But now you've just insinuated that you want to initiate physical contact with him. It's not a regular occurrence for the being that people would usually, actively avoid.

But he supposes that given the state you're in and the harmlessness of such an action, not to mention the very minimal threat you'd pose if you were to try anything, he could allow the small comfort you clearly so desperately need.

Slowly and more than a little unsure, for once, Death nods down at you and remains still as your face relaxes in momentary relief. You can't allow yourself time to be nervous though, so you stretch your hand out towards Death's.

Before you can touch it however, the horseman shifts. For an awful moment, you think he must have changed his mind. But he simply turns his hand over so that the palm is facing skyward, inviting you to lay yours in his. The generosity and level of trust behind Death's gesture is not lost on you. You know he's not fond of even good friends laying their hands on him, so this is monumentally meaningful.

Once again, your hand resumes its journey towards the pale, corpse-like appendage resting on the ground beside you until your fingers slide delicately, reverently over the palm before coming to a stop. You allow yourself to release the breath you'd been holding, only to lose it again when the horseman's hand ever so slowly starts to close over yours. The tips of his clawed fingers meet your skin and he ends up engulfing your relatively tiny hand entirely in his own.

Apparently, that simple, easy point of contact means more than either of you had initially anticipated. Without warning, a cry of anguish erupts out of you and actually startles the eldest horseman, who's hand clenches over yours tightly for a brief second. In an automatic response, you squeeze your thumb beneath his palm and cling to him desperately.

“I'm s-so sorry!” you whimper. “I don't know what's wrong! I just needed to-to-”

With an internal sigh, Death gives your arm a tug and rises to his feet, pulling you with him. When you're standing upright in front of the horseman, he jerks you towards his body brusquely but invitingly. You hesitate, but in reality, it only takes a heartbeat before you're colliding headfirst with his wiry, sinewy chest.

Death merely blinks at the unexpected suddenness of the motion, but otherwise remains perfectly still.

You both stand like that for a long while.

After what honestly must have been close to a half hour of crying against the horseman's cold, grey skin, you finally heave out one last sigh and move your arms from their position at Death's stomach. Instead, they rise to drape themselves around his neck. He tenses at the movement, but then settles once more. You decide that you'll feel embarrassed about all this in the morning. But for now, you raise your head from his chest and peer up at the horseman apologetically. “Thanks for letting me get that out in the open, buddy,” you say softly, “Sorry for using you as an emotional punching-bag.”

His eyes find yours and they seem so full of understanding, you briefly consider the possibility that you'd fallen asleep against him and this is simply a dream. “So does that mean you don't hate me?”

Your mouth falls open slightly and you wince, “Oh, God. I didn't mean that, Death. Please don't think I hate you, I really don't.”

Faint laughter rumbles from behind Death's mask as he waves your apology away with a hand. “It's fine, young one. Believe me when I say it wouldn't be the first time somebody has said such a thing.”

Your expression softens, “See now, there's another injustice I just don't understand. How could anyone hate you?”

“You haven't known me for long. Give it time,” he grumbles.

He's right. You really haven't know the horseman for long at all. But you know enough to recognise that you certainly don't hate him. Far from it. You were just....angry. But looking at his bright, orange eyes that cast themselves up to the moon and seem so full of melancholy and millennia of regrets, you can't find it in yourself to harbour any ill-will for your bizarre new friend.

“Well, I don’t think I will ever hate you,” you conclude.

He scoffs sceptically and folds his arms over his chest.

“You’re naive and foolish. But don’t worry, even you might see, in the end.....”

#darksiders #darksiders 2 #imagine darksiders #death #reader

108 notes · View notes

most-likely-terrible-dr-imagines · 7 years

Text

Yes!

- Modaspooky

Kotoko Utsugi This child gets you to make the cutest costume (at least in her own personal opinion) which was a light pink princess dress, and put her hair all nice. She was the absolute pinnacle of sweet and classy, and then this happened but we’ll get to that in a second.

The two of you walked around your block, feeling like normal kids for once. She had been clad in her little outfit, while you wore a zombie costume that Kotoko couldn’t help but scoff at. The two of you seemed like polar opposites just by your costumes alone, but despite your differences the two of you were actually really great siblings and friends so going together today by yourselves was quite fun.

Door to door the both of you did your rounds, calling out ‘trick or treat’ to each person who had answered their door. Then you came up to a house decorated by only a pumpkin with a candle in its mouth, the two of you were hesitant as you were unsure that this house was taking trick or treaters. However you both decided to go, knocking on the door and waiting for a moment the door opened to reveal an older woman with curlers in her hair. She looked irritated.

“Trick or treat!” The two of you said happily, despite the fact that you had this weird feeling in your stomach.

The woman dropped a piece of non-name brand candy into your little sister’s bag, only scoffing at you as if your existence had been a bother to her. “Aren’t you a little too old for trick or treating?” She asked you in a condescending voice, as if she were one to judge despite her current appearance.

You were taken aback by her blunt remark, your eyes darted from the woman and back to your little sister’s head. “I’m taking my little sister out so I wanted to dress up to...” You trailed off while putting your bag close to your chest, not wanting to get into a big argument in-front of Kotoko.

The woman rolled her eyes at your attempt to keep the peace, but before she could say another word a sudden stomp on the ground caught both of your attentions. “Maybe you should knock it off with that attitude, Miss Lady, because as I see it. It isn’t very cute.” Kotoko said, you could hear the bitterness in her voice but it quickly changed. “So please give my big sib the candy and we’ll be on our way!”

“Just go, here’s your stupid candy.” The woman told you, dropping a piece of candy on the floor for you to pick up. “Freeloader.” She muttered under her breath before closing the door.

As the two of you walked out of the driveway, Kotoko knocked over the jack-o-lantern when you passed by it causing it to make a comical ‘splat’ noise.

Nagisa Shingetsu Buttoning up the cape to his costume, the blue haired boy turned his attention towards you. His older sibling, that was making him participate in Halloween rather than his normal activities. He was impressed you were able to convince your parents to give you time off, but that didn’t mean he wanted to join in on this ‘false holiday’.

“Why do we have to do this again?” He asked you, his eyes momentarily widening when you hugged him tightly. The buttons of your wolf costume digging into his back when he recieved your embrace.

“Because Nag-i-sa, we never get to celebrate any holidays and this is the only one where Mom and Dad don’t even have to participate.” You hummed, sensing his annoyance with both your hug and sense of reasoning.

“What if I really don’t want to?” He asked you, his serious demeanor still holding up well. It caused a small frown to come to your face, you hated that he had gotten his childhood ripped from him at such a young age. You couldn’t even try to regain some of that innocence back.

“Please do it, for your big sibling who only wants you to have fun.” You were on your knees now, lip sticking out dramatically as you begged at his feet. At first he was frustrated but after a moment you had tricked him into believing your act.

“Alright I get it, let’s go.” Nagisa sighed, putting the bag over his shoulder like a woman would a purse. It got a small laugh out of you, but you happily led him on to your next point of interest.

Once you got to one of the neighborhoods that participating in halloween, you could see it was crawling with other kids causing Nagisa to cross his arms and give you a look. “It’ll be fine.” You assured him, gently taking his hand into yours as you led your little brother up the concrete path to one of the larger houses.

This was when you realized he didn’t even know what he was doing, he just awkwardly stood there while you said trick or treat to the person who had been sitting at the door. You felt your hand go up to your face. “I apologize Sir, this is the first time my little brother has gone out for Halloween.” The man nodded patiently as you lowered Nagisa’s hand that held the bag. “See? Open it up.” You explained to him, and he followed your movements. “Now, ask the man ‘trick or treat’.”

Nagisa gave you a small side-glare that was unnoticeable to anyone other than you. “This is stupid...” He muttered under his breath as he took a step up. “Trick or treat?”

Monaca Towa The absolute Queen of Halloween, with her cute costume and equally adorably decorated wheelchair (that you decorated for her yourself, and you’re quite proud of how it turned out) it isn’t hard for her to get a lot of candy just after the first couple of houses.

You always went into the richest neighborhoods that gave out the good full-sized name-brand candy bars, since you rather did live in a neighborhood like that anyway it wasn’t that big of a deal to the two of you.

Plus the both of you were practically the children of the city, so that was only a bonus for the two of you to get more candy from all the sucker adults that wanted to suck up to your father by just assuming you’d tell him about them, and honestly you were perfectly fine with that.

This year was no different, as you pushed her up the driveway to each-and-every house and watched as the candy had been practically stacked into her bag. “Thank you!” She said happily as you two left the scene, she always made sure that she was very polite.

You had a run in with a couple of teenagers who hadn’t been dressed up at all and had their backpacks opened and turned around on their chest, but you were able to get away from them rather quickly. Even if Monaca had tried to get you to stop, since she was determined to do something to them. You feared to know what she had in mind.

After you had made your rounds and the four sacks that you had brought back to your house each time had been full, you let out a long breath which allowed you to see your breath in the cold weather. “Wanna go get some cocoa?” You asked her, leaning against her chair tiredly, your feet hurt from all the walking but you were more than happy as long as your sister had a good time.

“That sounds like fun, meow.” Monaca agreed, feeling you begin to push her to the both of you’s favorite little diner that would serve breakfast foods and hot chocolate even at late hours.

Masaru Daimon While Monaca is the number one ruler of Halloween, Masaru is surely a close second. Of course he can’t rely on simply his cute looks in order for you both to get a complete sugar rush. (and possibly be the only food you’ll eat for a while, especially if you got caught doing the underhanded tricks that you often pull...).

The both of you always wore homemade costumes, making masks out of old paper plates and using whatever fabric you could find. More often than not the two of you would end up being made-up superheros, purely for the reason that they were one of the easier costumes to make.

When you went out you decided not to go in your own neighborhood but rather all the way across town, this was a yearly thing since if you ever got caught there was a smaller chance of your father knowing about it.

It was in a neighborhood close to his school, so you ran into a few of his friends once but ended up going separate ways quickly after... That’s when it began, the night of mischief.

Over the years both of you have become quite sneaky when going about, well just about anything. So it was pretty easy to nab a bunch of candy out of people’s buckets for Masaru while they handed you candy, or sometimes just completely cut out the bottom of the bucket and the entire batch of candy would simply fall into the bag without them even noticing until the two of you were long gone.

Once you were all done you’d go home and hide your bags under your beds, not before having a large candy eating fest outside the nearest gas station.

Jataro Kemuri “Are you sure I have to wear a costume? Mom says I’m scary just the way I am now, so I can just go out with my mask...” Jataro had been trying to convince you before even began to make his costume. Honestly, it was sad that this had been the exact same conversation every year.

It really hurt you to hear him say things like that, but you had to go along with it and simply buy yourself your own costume. You decided to go as your favorite character from one of your top three movies, mainly because it was on clearance so it was cheaper.

Despite the somewhat depressing conversation that always took place a couple of weeks before the ‘big night’, the Halloweens the two of you spent together had always been pretty special for the both of you.

People would always compliment his mask or mistake if for being from some television show, but Jataro really didn’t mind all of that. He even didn’t seem to mind being out in public, which normally was really hard for him to do.

He wasn’t as much for candy than most kids were, but he was always super glad when he found sour candies in his bag at the end of the night or the two of you would end up trading candies with one another.

That was another thing you’d do, since you Mom always had some big party to go to on Halloween (or any holiday, really) the two of you were able to just dump all of the candy onto the living room floor and begin to trade with each-other while some goofy horror movies from the early television days played on your television at two o’clock in the morning.

It was rare you’d ever get sleep either, since the both of you had always ended up high on a sugar rush.

#warriors of hope #monaca towa #kotoko utsugi #nagisa shingetsu #masaru daimon #jataro kemuri #danganronpa #danganronpa another episode #danganronpa imagines #dr imagines

137 notes · View notes

spillingmylifetea4481 · 4 years

Text

Chapter 5: My breaking point.

As if I hadn't experienced already that revolving my life around my boyfriend led nowhere, douchebag and I were really fond of each other. But of course you don't really know someone until you live with them. The first time I came to his house in Carlton Ga before I moved in there was a girl in his bed. This rubbed me the wrong way but I did finally see they were just really close friends from highschool and that she wasn't a threat to me after some time. Red flag number one. His hobbies were smoking weed and playing video games and reading comic books, endless hours of netflix watching. Oh. And messaging a shit ton of girls. Red flag number two. We lived with his mother and sister in a beat up trailer and he would constantly ask her for money for food and weed etc. He would have his close friends over for smoking sessions for hours on end and I grew tired of it because I wanted time with him too. He didnt work ever in his life for anything up to that point. He never cleaned up after himself or his dog or showed respect for himself as well as those around him. I ended up getting a job up the road at a gas station/cafe and ended up smoking loads myself, supporting his endless habits and showering him in attention and gifts. But at this point in my life I was easily jealous. When I was with Bob he cheated on me before he even took my virginity as well as my first couple short time boyfriennds also cheating on me before him so I was on my toes about douchebag talking to so many girls. We ended up hanging at his friends house often where I experienced xanax and psychedelics for the first time without a care in the world. We would get into arguments all the time over me demanding that he treated me with more respect and stop flirting with other girls. It never got anywhere. I dont really remember all that happened but one night I took xanax and drank after a fight and he left to his friends house and my mind immediately went to him going off with some girl so evidently I had ended up sending pictures of myself to Bob in my underwear ( funny because when we were together somehow the ones I sent him back then ended up on a porn site and my best friend in South Florida saw it had had to report it as child porn) and douchebag woke me up holding my phone to my face saying" what the fuck is this?" My immediate reaction was to crush my phone with my bare hands and beg him to believe me that they were old pictures. I was embarassed and couldn't believe I did that with hardly any memory of it.. So I chose to lie as if that was justifiable. Not long after that he ended up cheating on me with a girl down the street and I didnt find out about it until right before I had my son. I believe this is what initiated the inevitable with this poor excuse of a man. Many months went by with this toxic relationship and I became more obsessed with digging into his phone to find evidence of him cheating on me that I never spot on found. Anything I did find he always had a lie or excuse or gaslighted me on it. Then boom. A year and a half in I find out im pregnant. I had a hard pregnancy and gained a shit ton of weight so I was miserable. I went from 132 pounds to 204 pounds in 8 and a half months. I had mostly quit smoking but occaisionally I didn't stop myself due to relationship stress and physical exhaustion. Finally douchebag proposed to me at 7 months pregnant surely enforced by his mother and grandfather and we planned to get married. 8 and a half months pregnant I went into labor. I was so scared and excited all just to be ruined by him saying to me " look before we get married I want us to have a clean slate. So im telling you that I did cheat on you with someone." I said I forgave him but really I didn't. That's all it took to verify I wasn't crazy and he was a liar and a cheat and that I would most definitely would never trust him again. It was rough after we had my son. I was only 19 about to turn 20 and knew nothing of taking care of myself let alone a whole fucking baby. But we went through the motions of arguing and moving to Athens together into our own apartment with a lot of help from our income taxes and his mother. After I spied on him through his phone I found out he started seeing girls online behind my back while I was at work at our house, and even had them meet up with him at his work. I heard so many stories of his infidelities since at the time we both worked at Waffle house. I lost count of how many girls there were. I was desperate to fix the relationship so I started dancing around the idea of threesomes and open relationships to try to please him since he didnt seem to believe in monogamy. He brought girls over having them stay for days on end. I would cry and get angry and jealous and didnt know how to handle myself or the situation especially with my at the time 1 and a half year old baby. There was one girl in particular who came to our house to meet us to see if we were compatible for a threesome and she ended up seeing him behind my back. She was beautiful and honestly it wasn't her fault as much as I wanted it to be at the time.. He was head over heels for this girl and I thought to myself how I wasnt good enough. How all my hard work into this relationship was never going to be enough and I must have been ugly or unlikable, I gained weight so maybe he just didnt find me attractive anymore. We tried having a threesome after I confronted them about it and I guess they did it out of pity but mind you I genuinely have no interest in having sex with girls. Of course one night when he was supposed to be hanging out with her I talked him into staying home and trying to work things out and the girl FUCKING DIES IN HER SLEEP BRO. I was a chump and supported this man I had spent up to 4 years with and had a fucking child with crying over a woman I had caught him cheating on me with multiple times. I went to the funeral with him which Im sure everyone felt was fucking weird. Even had a video of them fucking since I needed proof to show him I knew he was lying dead ass to my face. I was depressed, contemplated suicide, etc. We fought in front of my son and I yelled at him when I lost patience. Made him spend time to himself in his room a lot which wasn't fair or responsible of me at all and I think about it every day. Im sure some part of me was going through post partum depression and didn't accept it. My poor baby boy had to see so much. I was addicted to pills and would spend all day finding money for my fix and dealers just to keep myself high enough to deal with him. I ended up going to jail in 2015 for shoplifting because I was ballsy about stealing stuff for my house since I spent all my money on drugs. I almost caught a felony. (Don't worry im not a theif anymore I learned my lesson) He respected and cared for me less every day of that relationship. This went on for at least several more months before I finally snapped and had enough of the lying and cheating and had a physical altercation with him..I moved in with one of my friends. He had already moved another girl in right after I left. I didn't even have a chance to get my things. I tried to befriend his new girlfriend and warn her of what he put me through and she didn't listen to me at all. Two weeks go by, I stopped taking drugs so I was going through withdrawals and fucked in the head even more intensely at that point and he calls me up throwing accusations at me taking his girlfriends belongings so I nutted the fuck up. I drove over there to get my shit and told him off for having me wait that long because "HE needed space." I go to unlock the door and this piece of shit holds the lock closed. So what do I do? Rationally handle it and call an officer to supervise? Nope. I took a fire extinguisher and busted the fuckin door down. Broke his tv. He started fighting me after I pushed him back for not letting me get my shit. Tried to strangle me, slammed my body in the door smashing my extremities repeatedly trying to keep me out, I went straight for his hair since he was sensitive about balding when he was young, he scratched my arm, he started destroying my lesther jacket with a steaknife,and my photo canvases that were not cheap after I broke his Tv, I don't even remember what all was said, then he threatened to cut his wrists with it and I just laughed and said "Give me that you little shit if you were going to die that way you would have done it already". My dumb ass went to take the knife from him and he pulled it back and cut my finger open. The police were called and they took me to jail since I was too fucking honest and told them I had just moved out even though my name was still on the rental agreement. After I got out I tried to get back on my feet. My son ended up staying with his Grandfather and his wife in the midst of all this so he didnt see any of these altercations go down thank god. I stayed in bed for about a whole month and did nothing. I didn't eat, couldn't sleep, and smoked weed just to keep my nerves and withdrawals from opiates at bay. I did get revenge on the girl he was with by cutting 2 of her tires and cutting one of her brakes. It was risky but I got away with it. I lost a bunch of weight in a month and looked sick but I was thin for the first time in 2 years so I didnt care.. I slept around a good bit trying to fill the massive hole in my heart but nothing really fufilled what I was longing for. 5 years of some prime years in my life so disgraced and wasted on this fucking guy. Another fucking guy once again I've spent too much time and effort on. I've never been the same since then. To be continued...

1 note · View note