#who does target put in charge of their ads??

[turbulentscrawl]

Ganji Gupta General HCs

I'm unable to make a header for Ganji at the moment, but I'll add one to the post later when I can get on my good desktop.

Edit: Added!

-First of all, in case it isn’t clear, Ganji started the fire. However, it’s important to note that Ganji chose arson for a few specific reasons. Plausible deniability was one. The second was that a fire gave people a chance to escape. Ganji believes in something along the lines of karma (I’m not especially religious or philosophical myself so I don’t feel inclined to pick one in particular for him), and a fire better allowed that to step in and save his targets. If the universe or whatever higher power, decided they deserved to live then they would, and Ganji could rest assured that they weren’t a wholly bad person. All but that child perished in the smoke and flames, though, so that settles that doesn’t it?

-Ganji is a man suffering from disillusionment. This is the result of him being taken advantage of. He left everything behind, came to another county just for the sport he loved, for his passion, only to find out that he was seen as nothing more than a novelty item. Something—not even a someone—kept around because his very existence was “amusing.” Disgusting.

-And it all happened because he’s naïve. He knows this, and just about everyone that’s around him for more than a day knows it, so now he’s incredibly protective of that aspect of himself. He’s not self-conscious of it or anything, he knows that naivety is just as aspect of someone being kind and trusting, but he’ll be damned if he lets someone else use him to their benefit again.

-Like Andrew, he’s developed a tendency to be sharp and reclusive as a defense mechanism. However, his emotional walls aren’t as thick, as dense. In a way, his hurt runs less deep because he doesn’t have self-hatred to factor into the cocktail of his pain. He warms to people faster and has a sweeter disposition under his cover…but you’ll have to be persistent if you want to get to that point. Ganji will shrug off offerings of kindness several times before giving someone a chance.

-In-line with his kindheartedness, but counter to the façade he puts up, Ganji can’t ignore someone else in real need. His mask falls as soon as someone’s peace or safety are threatened. He’s either the greatest hero or the biggest liability to have in a match because he can and will charge head-long into a hunter if it means saving another survivor. Even the ones he doesn’t like all that much. Additionally, he’s generally willing to argue on behalf of someone not willing to speak up for themselves.

-This boy is hard-headed. Stubborn! There are so many stupid hills he’s willing to die on. But he’s also not very good at arguments (which is unfortunate, considering the above hc), he stumbles over his words a lot, jumbles his points up. He sounds a lot more put-together in writing than in person, but his handwriting is atrocious so honestly good luck reading it. Poor guy is at a communication crossroads and both roads lead to embarrassment.

-As one might guess, this all makes Ganji very one-track minded in matches…and with most of his problems in life. Something wrong, anything? Swing the bat. At a ball, at a head. You know, whatever the situation calls for.

-His nativity also means that he doesn’t pick up on flirtation well. Someone either has to be very direct or very patient for Ganji to pick up on their interest. When he does catch on, he’s hesitant to reciprocate. He can’t deny the appeal of relationships, but he hasn’t had one since before he left home. Things are different. Really different, considering the manor…but it’s not hard to convince the guy to give love a chance as long as you’re not overly pushy.

-He spends a lot of free time at the manor trying to get people to play cricket with him. It doesn’t matter that no one else is really good at it, he just misses playing. William and Mike are the only ones who agree regularly, and that’s certainly not enough people. Most others only play along for Ganji’s birthday.

#idv batter #identity v #ganji gupta #ganji gupta x reader #turbulentscrawl #idv x reader

[mariacallous]

(JTA) — The Jewish French-Moroccan journalist Ruth Elkrief — who has delivered TV news in France for over 30 years — found herself at the center of the story when she was placed under police protection in December.

Elkrief received the security detail after an online attack from the far-left politician Jean-Luc Mélenchon. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Mélenchon charged her with hatred against Muslims after she challenged one of his colleagues during an on-air interview about the Israel-Hamas war.

“Ruth Elkrief. Manipulator. If we don’t insult Muslims, this fanatic is outraged,” Mélenchon said of the journalist, adding that she “reduces all political life to her contempt for Muslims.”

Mélenchon, leader of the far-left party La France Insoumise, known as LFI or, in English, France Unbowed, posted his comments moments after Elkrief conducted a heated interview with LFI lawmaker Manuel Bompard on her TV channel, La Chaîne Info, on Dec. 3. Elkrief asked Bompard about his party’s refusal to condemn Hamas and its characterization of the militants as “resistance fighters” after their Oct. 7 attacks on Israel. She also asked about the party leaders’ decision to describe Israel’s war in Gaza as a “genocide,” and whether this language might provoke civil unrest in France.

In response, Bompard referenced warnings from the United Nations that the Palestinian people were at risk of genocide without a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. Elkrief in turn quoted the French historian Vincent Duclert, who has said of Gaza’s high death toll, “Even a frightening humanitarian situation is not enough to qualify as genocide.”

Elkrief, who says she “came out” as Jewish to her viewers after Oct. 7, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that she merely did her job of debating an interviewee and dismissed Mélenchon’s accusation of Islamophobia. According to Elkrief, she was challenging the positions of France’s far-left political class — not French Muslims, whom she does not believe to be well represented by LFI even though nearly 70% of them voted for the party in the 2022 national elections.

“Most French Muslims don’t support Hamas and they don’t support all these catastrophes,” she said. “They can of course fight for a Palestinian state — and I agree with that — but they are not agreeing with Hamas and terrorism.”

Nonetheless, Mélenchon’s charge prompted a wave of threats against the Jewish journalist and raised an alarm for French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin. Darminin said he decided to provide police protection because Mélenchon “put a target on the back of Ruth Elkrief, who already faced many threats as a journalist [and] was just doing her job.”

The government was on high alert for domestic attacks responding to the Israel-Hamas war. Mélenchon’s statement came the day after a knife-wielding man killed a German tourist and injured two others near the Eiffel Tower, telling police he was angry about the fate of Gaza and “so many Muslims dying in Afghanistan and in Palestine.”

While it’s typical for domestic attacks to increase in France during conflicts in Israel and the Palestinian territories, a recent surge in antisemitism has been especially pronounced. Darmanin reported over 1,500 antisemitic incidents in the six weeks after Oct. 7 — a three-fold increase from the total documented in all of 2022 — including desecrated Jewish graves and the stabbing of a Jewish woman in Lyon whose door was marked with a swastika.

Whether or not Mélenchon planned for an antisemitic backlash against Elkrief, his choice of language on X was loaded, according to Dorian Bell, a professor researching France’s history of race and antisemitism at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

“To accuse a Jewish member of the media of ‘manipulation’ arguably draws on long-standing antisemitic tropes about Jewish control of the media,” Bell told JTA.

Mélenchon’s words landed in the middle of a polarizing fallout from the Israel-Hamas War in France, home to one of the largest Muslim populations in Europe (about 5 million) and the world’s third-largest Jewish community after Israel and the United States (about 500,000).

French authorities met the wave of antisemitic incidents with a crackdown on pro-Palestinian rallies. Darminin attempted to impose a blanket ban on demonstrations denouncing Israel’s military campaign, which he declared “likely to generate disturbances to public order.” Although the ban was overturned, local authorities can still block protests on a case-by-case basis, prompting an outcry from some French citizens who accuse the government of suppressing free expression in support of Palestinians.

France’s Jews and Muslims have both experienced a painful recent history, including institutionalized discrimination against Muslim immigrants and Islamic terrorist attacks that targeted a Jewish school in 2012 and a Jewish supermarket in 2015. The reverberations of the Israel-Hamas war in France have further shaped a perception, solidifying for decades, that the country’s antisemitism and Islamophobia can be collapsed into a Jewish-Muslim conflict.

Michel Wieviorka, a Jewish French sociologist who studies violence and terrorism, told JTA there is no evidence that antisemitic incidents are predominantly driven by French Muslims. In fact, most of the perpetrators behind the recent spike in incidents — particularly non-violent ones, such as property damage and graffiti — are unknown. Between Oct. 7 and Nov. 15, 1,518 reports of antisemitic acts resulted in 571 arrests, Darmanin announced in November.

“Nobody knows exactly who is acting,” said Wieviorka. “Many people believe that most of these acts come from people with immigrant origins, but they can also come from the extreme right. For instance, I know some cases of destroyed graves in Jewish cemeteries — these attacks usually come from the extreme right, not from Muslims or Arabs.”

For Elkrief, Oct. 7 marked a turning point both personally and professionally. The 63-year-old journalist was born in Meknes, Morocco, and moved to France with her family when she was a teenager. (A remaining synagogue in Meknes bears her family name.) She started her long career at the French desk of the Associated Press in 1984. She spent 14 years at TF1, the oldest TV channel in France, helped found two news channels — LCI in 1993 and BFM TV in 2005 — and has hosted an LCI show about French politics since 2021.

She is also the great-niece of Chalom Messas, who was Morocco’s chief rabbi in the 1960s and 1970s until immigrating to Israel in 1978, when he became the chief Sephardic rabbi of Jerusalem. Elkrief is part of France’s small Liberal Jewish community and maintains Jewish traditions, keeping kosher at home and gathering the family for Shabbat evenings — including her two daughters and a newborn granddaughter. (Liberal Judaism in France is most similar to Reform Judaism in the United States.)

In all her years on air, Elkrief never spoke about her Jewish identity on TV before Oct. 7. She felt obliged to keep a “poker face” about her private life until the Hamas attacks, when she was moved to share more — fueled by her fear of rising antisemitism and enabled by her recent position as a commentator.

“I could explain where I was coming from and how much I was anxious about antisemitism in France after the 7th of October,” said Elkrief. “I called it my ‘coming out.’ I’ve since had some opportunities to speak about the conflict as a French editorialist, but also as a French Jew, for the first time in my life.”

On Oct. 9, Elkrief told her viewers that she was born in Morocco and lived there until early 1974, when she was 13. Her parents, both descended from generations of Moroccan Jews, feared regional tensions in the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, when Israel fended off attacks from Arab countries. They went to France because they believed their children would have a safer life there.

“When I came at that time, I couldn’t imagine that there would be antisemitism in France,” Elkrief told JTA.

Worried about antisemitism gaining currency in French politics, Elkrief has criticized far-left factions heavily on her show. In addition to her dispute with Bompard, she blasted LFI for boycotting a march against antisemitism in November.

France’s traditional left, which encompasses socialist and communist parties, has nearly collapsed and left the more radical, controversy-dogged LFI in power, said Wieviorka. Meanwhile, the far-right National Rally — including anti-immigration leader Marine Le Pen, whose father and predecessor is a convicted Holocaust revisionist — has escaped the same censure for antisemitism during Israel’s war on Gaza, largely by proclaiming support for Israel.

“My idea is that they hate Arabs, Islam and migrants so much that they consider they have to be fighting on the other side,” said Wieviorka.

Bell cautioned against focusing exclusively on what is often described as the “new antisemitism” on the far left. The “old antisemitism” on the far-right never went away, he argued, but has only been masked by pro-Israel sentiment. Indeed, Bell said that historically antisemitic tropes — particularly those depicting an invasion of Jews too different or unassimilable to become truly French — have merely been recycled by the far-right to stigmatize Muslim immigrants.

And even if this narrative now primarily targets Muslims, Jews are not free from the conspiratorial discourse, said Bell. He pointed out that while members of the National Rally may not explicitly attack Jews, they sometimes use euphemisms for Jewish “elites” whom they blame for engineering mass migration, in a French version of the “great replacement” theory that has fueled violence around the world.

“When Marine Le Pen talks about ‘cosmopolitan nomads’ who are encouraging migration and destroying European nations, she has a tendency to mention Jewish French political figures — Jacques Attali, Daniel Cohn-Bendit,” said Bell. “I don’t think that’s an accident.”

Elkrief and Mélenchon have one thing in common: They are both among the estimated 836,000 Moroccan immigrants in France. (Mélenchon, 72, was born in Tangier and lived there until he was 12.) Elkrief said she is a strong believer in the “Republic,” which in France denotes an idea that there are only equal individuals in the public sphere, no minorities or ethnic groups. The country’s principle of “laïcité,” loosely and imprecisely translated as “secularism,” enshrines in French law the state’s neutrality between religions and confines religious symbols and practices to the private sphere — a pillar that Elkrief believes can protect France from discrimination against both Jews and Muslims.

“I don’t want to be defined by my religion, and I don’t want other French people to be defined by their religion,” said Elkrief. “I believe in the French Republic staying a space of debate, where religion is a private question.”

[57sfinest]

What do you think about Evrart Claire? You mentioned you think about him in one of your tags I think.

okay i will first direct to you to trusted mutual @sydmarch for the most in-depth evrart thoughts with the appropriate warning for nsfw lmfaoo

but like. evrart is one of those characters where you have an initial knee-jerk reaction to them and then you kinda have to reevaluate after all is said and done because you get a LOT more context on them as you go.

most shallowly, you're meant to see evrart as the slimy "fantastically corrupt" union (mob) boss who sits in his office embezzling and making others do his dirty work (the hardies as his enforcement, you as his little errand dog, you get the point). however, a first point i want to make is that comparing a justified labor or civil rights advocate group to a "mob" is such a ubiquitous piece of capitalist/bigot rhetoric that it should automatically clue you in to the fact that something else is going on here. also taken in context with the fact that kortenaer poses as a scab to break the strike, further framing the union as a lazy, entitled, unreasonable splinter faction of stupid socialists-- obviously we know that the people who made this game are leftists, so it's not just Ough Unions Bad. there is Something Else Going On! because we are seeing this union strike filtered primarily through the lens of someone who is, consciously or not, a moralintern lackey! even at his most self-aware, calling himself the moralintern's bitch, harry does not have enough awareness of the world and his role in it to recognize how he is being manipulated by the various agendas at play here, and that affects our perception of it.

i think evrart presents as corrupt and weaselly on purpose! again syd has said a lot of this already & i've added some stuff in their tags, but i'll reiterate here for convenience. he is aware of the rhetoric people can use against him and he uses that to his advantage. he's using his personal reputation as misdirection. we see in dialogue that even joyce, an ultraliberal diehard capitalist who obviously dislikes the union, concedes that it was respectable in and of itself before the claires came in:

and we can infer that a lot of that might be because the union was *less effective before the claires took charge*. of course a capitalist will respect an ineffective labor union! but on top of this, the claires' open "corruption" give anti-union people an easy target for criticisms that serve to legitimize the union itself. oh, they say, well, the union is alright, it's just the claires that are ruining it. it's misdirection and it's genius. evrart's reputation isn't a concern if the union is doing its job, right? and here's another thing: i think people will trust open corruption more than they'll trust altruism that seems to good to be true. especially in a world with something like moralism, where this organization has killed millions and will kill *millions more* for a "greater good" that is literally just the status quo. if evrart's corruption is an open secret, as joyce puts it, people feel they can trust him *because* he's transparent about the bad things he supposedly does or supports or whatever. at least he's honest, right?

this makes the juxtaposition of evrart with joyce SUPER interesting, too. i think they both have that 'honest about their bad traits' way of going at people- joyce with her self-aware but relentless ultraliberalism, evrart with his intentionally misrepresented agendas. of the two, i think people tend to like joyce a lot more, despite her and evrart using pretty much the *same exact tactics*, and i think that tendency is largely explained by the intersection of gender and fatphobia and ingrained capitalist rhetoric, but i digress.

yes, the way evrart's little tasks are presented makes them *feel* slimy- you're evrart's peone, you're a little bitch dog running his errands to get a gun you never should have lost to begin with, he knows how to help and he's toying with you- but it's on purpose!! you can be joyce's little bitch dog too and it's not framed anywhere near as scummy. It Is On Purpose. because if evrart pretends to be the "socialist" mob boss, maybe it really does get martinaise the youth center, or enough money to, you know, fix the crumbling buildings that could kill the tenants at any moment. there are genuinely good things he is sincerely trying to accomplish. he is curating his image exactly as he needs it to be to get things done and that's partly why joyce hates him *so much*.

and of course this isn't to say that the claires never do anything wrong. contracting dros to kill the previous union head, for example. if i had to pin evrart's major sin, i think he's an "end justifies the means" type of guy. the other union head candidate needed to die for progress to be made. the fishing village will have to go so we can build martinaise up properly. some people, if not willingly cooperative- like harry- need to be used for their status regardless. we see the union at the opposite end of "for the greater good" as moralism: where moralism wants to stall the world, the union represents ruthless progression. why else the red-vs-blue juxtaposition of the union vs the moralintern and its financial interests? the red banners draped over shipping containers?

#the passivity of 'a blue forget me not a piece of the gray sky' #and the absolute useless resignation of their unofficial motto 'for a moment there was hope' #vs the unyielding demand of EVERY WORKER A MEMBER OF THE BOARD #do you understand. gripping you by the collar DO YOU UNDERSTAND. #also this shit is partly why evrart goes for harry and just shuts kim down every time he tries to interject #evrart knows harry is impressionable in this moment #kim 1) has the potential to talk harry out of sympathizing with the union #and 2) has strong moralist or at least anti-disruption convictions already so evrart knows he can't be swayed so easily #if evrart bothered to do research on harry OF COURSE he looked into kim as well. #saurrr yeah take evrart as you like but he is doing real work you can't deny that #kiwipost #evrart claire #disco elysium #ec meta #gen meta #ask

[krikeymate]

Kirby Reed is 30, a recovering alcoholic, and on suspension from her job for getting in a fistfight with her bigoted partner during working hours.

She's given her entire life to the job. She has nothing else. She's so incredibly lonely, and it feels like her targeted ads know it.

One catches her eyes. It feels so stupid. It must be a scam. She clicks through anyway.

A 'hugs for help' service. Bringing physical comfort for those with no-one to turn to.

Shit. What's the worst that could happen, what does she have to lose?

Kirby's assigned hugger is Tara Carpenter. 20 years old with the face and stature of a 15 year old. Kirby stands in her doorway, gaping for a moment, maybe it was a fucked up call girl service after all?

Tara's friendly and confident and takes charge when Kirby fails to get her wits about her. By the end of their one hour session, Kirby can't deny that nomatter how awkward it felt, she does feel lighter, and it felt so nice to lie there and listen to Tara talk about everything and nothing.

She books another session, requests Tara again. It ends up being a weekly thing, she starts to open up back. They become something a little like friends. Kirby feels a little weird about unloading so much onto some kid, but Tara is always quick to put her into her place and remind her that that's what she's here for.

They start to hang out outside of sessions. Kirby refuses to let Tara pay for her drinks or dinner or anything at all. The girl is just a struggling college student trying to pay the bills, and Kirby's a grown woman with decent savings, she just wants to give something back to the girl who's made her smile again.

Then one day she's assaulted by the hottest woman she's ever seen accusing her of making her baby sister into a sugar baby.

She barely notices Tara hanging onto Sam's arm, trying to drag her sister off of her. All she can think about is those arms and how nice they would feel wrapped around her.

#/mp #Scream #Sam Carpenter #Tara Carpenter #Kirby Reed #miscellaneous scream au's #just came up with the funniest thing #my writing tag

[everlastingdreams]

The Weeping Monk x Reader : Born In The Dawn Chapter 14

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Story Summary: Locked inside a dark room in a dungeon, kept alive only for your power, you believed you’d never see the daylight again. That is until the Weeping Monk finds his way down and steals you from your captors. It is the beginning of a journey that leads you through hardship and newfound hope, but nothing is assured in a world that is changing for the Fey. The magic that runs in your veins is drawing out the worst the world has to offer, does it include the man who pulled you from the dark?

Chapter Title: Semper Ad Meliora

Notes: /

Warnings: Grief. Violence. Torture. Sexual Assault. Rape Threat. Gore. Enemies To Lovers. Pining. Trauma. Flagellation. Manipulation. Strong Language. Blood. Gore?. Misogyny. PTSD. Spicy and smut parts. Slight redemption arc.

Other warnings: Jealousy. Forbidden Love. Romance. Slow-burn…

Word count of this fic: +190K

Chapter:  14/ It’s a secret.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

You were the first one awake and went down to the inn to stretch your legs.

The Innkeeper greeted you warmly, as did the barmaid. You took your chance and asked if there was perhaps a spare aketon left behind by a patron. The Innkeeper had indeed a spare and kindly gave it to you free of charge, you hoped it would fit the Monk.

It was nice to see some friendly faces, the inn’s environment felt quite welcoming.

Some people were there to eat their breakfasts, others used ale to start their day.

You looked around the place to pick a suitable target, you searched the patrons for signs of wealth, it wasn’t in you to steal from the poor.

The door of the Inn opened and in walked a wealthy looking young fella.

A gold chain around his neck, two golden rings on his fingers and garments the nobility would wear. A lord by the looks of it.

The lord ordered only a tankard of ale and paid for it without saying much else.

Lancelot and Squirrel came down the stairs and walked over to you.

The Monk saw that your attention was fixed on the man. “What is it?”

You did not let your target out of your sight. “I’m going to get us some coin.”

He sighed. “Something tells me that you will not earn this in a honest manner.”

You handed him the aketon. “You worry about your clothing, I’ll handle this.”

You did not give the Monk a chance to get the idea out of your head and went over to the lord.

The lord was drinking his ale alone, but not for long, you went to stand right next to him.

“Hello.” You offered your most charming smile.

His eyes traveled over you slowly, then snapped up to your face.

“Good day, milady.” He greeted you back with a shy smile.

He was wearing a long overcoat and long tunic under it, you had seen him take the coin out of the pocket of the overcoat.

You turned your body towards his. “Has anyone ever told you how well that your attire suits you?”

The compliment surprised him and he brushed a hand over his overcoat, “You believe so?”

You boldly touched his chest. “I do. How firm…”

He cleared his throat nervously and took a sip of his ale before putting the tankard down on a table. He was distracted enough by the looks of it.

Then you did your usual trick and walked around him like a feline searching for attention, close enough to quickly let your fingers slip into his pocket and catch some coins between them, you closed your hand to hide them.

Slowly the young lord turned and put his attention on you fully, having felt the light brush of your hand along his waist.

“Forgive me, I am being too bold.” You apologized and tried to step away, but the man’s interest was awakened.

The Monk was watching the interaction like a hawk.

When the stranger put his hand on you, he was ready to step in.

The man held on to your arm lightly. “Not at all, milady. I enjoy your appearance as well.”

In your vest with holes in it? And two visible old blood stains on the hem of your shirt?

They would say anything to try and melt a woman’s heart if it got them what they wanted.

Squirrel knew what his part in this act was and came over running to your side. “Mother! Should we not return to father before he thinks we have gotten lost?”

Not a single one of these men you had played this trick on had ever pursued you further when they saw you had a child.

And this lord was no different, he let go off your arm right away, stunned by it all.

You gave an apologetic smile and took Squirrel by the hand, walking past the Monk to nod towards the door of the inn. You slipped the coins in the satchel at your side.

The Monk followed right behind you and when you were outside, he took hold of Squirrel’s shoulder, telling the boy, “Go and mount Goliath. Now.”

Squirrel did as told and hurried towards the stables.

Then the Monk caught you by the elbow and steered you towards them too, “Did you steal from that man?”

“I did. We need to survive and he clearly has enough.” You answered.

He walked faster, pulling you along. “We need to leave, before he realizes you have robbed him.”

With that, you agreed.

Even Squirrel knew it was unwise to linger around the inn for longer, it was why he had listened to Lancelot.

You thanked the stable boy for looking after the horses well and quickly got on your horse.

The Monk was the first out of that stable and you followed Goliath’s canter.

Once the inn was out of sight, you calmed the horse’s pace and rode beside them.

“How much did you get?” Squirrel look over at you.

You dug your hand into your satchel and fished out some of the coins to show him.

Four golden ones, the other’s in the satchel felt smaller and were most likely silver ones.

“You two have done this before.” The Monk stated.

You and Squirrel grinned wickedly. “The moment the men see that a child is with me, they stop pursuing.”

“Why?” He asked.

You thought he was joking, he was not. “I am afraid it is not uncommon for men to lose their interest in a woman if they see she has a child. I think they fear the responsibility it would bring them.”

A frown settled on his face and you realized that this act would not have worked on someone like him, the presence of a child did not scare him off.

Squirrel was chirpy, “But we do get coins easily from them.”

“Exactly.” You were proud of the scheme you had thought of together.

Squirrel proceeded to tell the Monk some stories of times when that scheme had almost failed and you had to improvise together.

After taking a short break from riding to drink some water and eat something, you continued on your journey.

The boy wanted to get something off of his heart and told the Monk, “Before you saved me from that ugly paladin, when I tried to save the Green Knight, he made me a knight of the Fey.”

You put your attention on Squirrel, as did the Monk.

Squirrel turned around for a second to look at him, “Do you think he’s alive?”

The Monk was quite for a moment, then truthfully replied, “I am not sure. All I know is that he was taken to Uther’s camp.”

It saddened the boy. “I hope he survived…”

This child was mourning a friend and could possibly be mourning another if the Green Knight had not survived.

The apology for the Monk’s part in this came forth, “I am sorry, Percival.”

Squirrel looked down at his hands. “I’ll forgive you, as long as you don’t go back to the paladins.”

It was a fair agreement.

You were looking over at him expectantly and waiting for what he would say to that.

The Monk said it to Squirrel and looked at you, “I will not.”

There was still fear in you that he would turn his back on the Fey again, that he would return to the Church and ask for forgiveness, maybe it was your own struggle to trust others that made you see the worst in others before seeing the best.

Then Squirrelsought an answer to the question many would have, “Why did you kill Fey?”

The Monk grew uncomfortable, the boy was brave enough to ask things that could have painful answers.

He answered with what he was raised to believe in, “Death is not the end. Cleansing would save their souls.”

Squirrel was worried what that included. “Are you… going to cleanse us too?”

He firmly told the boy, “No.”

Death is not the end…

You had an idea where that came from, “Death is not the end, that is something the Hidden have been known to say. Is that were you heard it too?”

The Monk cast his eyes to yours. “Death is not the end-”

You found yourself saying, “Save them…”

The slight widening of his eyes said it all, the Hidden had not just called upon you, but upon him as well.

You were starting to understand how they had turned him against his own people. Father Carden made a child believe that the Hidden agreed on the cleansing, that death was not the end, cleansing them was saving them.

The Hidden’s words had been twisted until it fitted the narrative of the priest.

You quietly told him what you believed had happened, “What you heard from the Hidden was used to turn you against them by the Church. You really believed you were saving us…”

The Monk looked away, like shame came over him.

Squirrel sensed the turmoil in him and carefully asked, “How long were you with them?”

He was rather quiet when replying, as if he feared to be judged, “I was younger than you, around the age of six, when I was chosen by Father and began my training. My memories of life before the clergy are vague, but I remember how I became the Grey Monk.”

“How?” Squirrel asked.

He fidgeted with the reins. “After four years, in the midst of my training, Father took me along to a cleansing. The Fey there saw me, saw my cross bearing clothes, and attacked me. I no longer belonged with them, I belonged to the Church. Father offered me a chance to save myself from the influence of evil.”

So that dammed priest had made a Fey child believe that the Fey were dangerous.

You tried to understand his point of view and reasoned with him, “The Fey attacked you because they believed you to be the enemy, not because evil gods took control of them. They were just scared.”

As he must have been too after that.

The Monk was trying to find the truth between the lies, at least he seemed to think it all through now.

You could not begin to imagine what other tactics they had used to mould him into the Weeping Monk. “They twisted your mind until it fitted their purpose. A frightened child is easy to manipulate.”

“Oi!” Squirrel piped up.

You saved yourself out of that one. “A child. Not a knight.”

The boy was pleased with that.

The Monk did not reject the possibility that it was true. “I was not permitted to question the faith.”

It came as no surprise. “At least you are willing to hear our voice now. Maybe death is not the end, but I prefer to live life to the fullest before I skip to the next one.”

You shared a look with the Monk, who seemed appreciative of how calm you had managed to stay while speaking of this. Seeing him outside the inn last night in the gushing rain to mourn Father Carden’s death, had made you less vigilant towards him. There was good in him, under all that struggle with his identity, and only he could make the decision if he would embrace that or not.

Returning to the Fey or returning to the Church was his choice to make. And if he were to keep his promise on earning your forgiveness…

It was either the Fey or the faith, and for now he had chosen the Fey, albeit just two of them.

~~~♡~~~♡~~~♧~~~♡~~~♡~~~

When evening came, the Monk picked out a spot in the forest to set up camp for the night.

By now, it was evident that the three of you could work together when there was clear communication.

You were getting the package of linen from your horse’s saddle, feeling the wounds on your back protest against it.

The Monk handed Squirrel a piece of cheese and asked the boy to cut some slices off and put the rest of it back into Goliath’s saddle, he then came over to your side to help you with the stack of linen.

“Does your back hurt?” He asked while putting the stack on the ground and untying the rope from it.

“It burns, but I’ll live.” You admitted.

There was a worried expression on his face,“It will take some days before the pain lessens.”

He handed you some of the linen and then went to retrieve something from Goliath’s saddle bag, he returned with a loaf of bread.

You frowned at the sight of it, “Where did you get that?”

“From a table at the inn.” He confessed.

You blurted out, “You stole it?!?”

The Monk failed to fight off a grin. “While you were occupied with robbing that man. Some bread will go well with the cheese.”

You stared for a second, then smiled. “I should not be proud, but I am. Well done.”

That small smile made him feel a bit better.

He was doing something right.

He let you take the bread from his hands.

You gestured to the nearly forgotten aketon that was draped over Goliath. “I’ll help Squirrel make us a meal. You can try on that aketon if you want?”

The Monk gave a nod and took the aketon from the saddle. “Brown…”

You stopped walking towards Squirrel, having heard the comment. “Just try it on, anything’s better than walking around with that cross all the time. People notice.”

That was true.

He took off his cloak and draped it over Goliath, who stood unbothered by it all.

Squirrel was but all too excited to test the sharpness of the knife he had been given as he cut the slices of the cheese, and then the bread you handed to him.

Together you made the modest meal of cheese on bread.

“If we had a fire, we could get these nice and crispy.” You said.

Squirrel looked up over your shoulder, “Can you make a fire again?”

You turned to see the Monk wearing the aketon, he was looking a bit timid and uncertain about the change of garments.

“It looks great.” You told him, because it did look good.

The Monk appreciated it and gave a slight nod to you, then answered Squirrel, “I can. We’ll need some branches and dry grass to-”

The boy was already up and searching the ground to collect the items.

You got closer to the Monk and adjusted one of the leather buckles that wasn’t sitting correctly, “Is it comfortable?”

The friendly gesture took him off-guard. “I… yes.”

You went over to help Squirrel collect what was needed. “Good. Now let’s get to that fire. I’m starving.”

A little while later, Lancelot had made a modest fire and helped the two of you by putting the bread, with cheese, on thin branches and held it over the fire.

The scent of the cheese melting over the bread filled the air.

He handed the one he had started with to Squirrel who eagerly plucked the crispy bread off of it and almost burned his fingers before putting it in his lap to cool off.

You were imitating the Monk’s idea and patiently waited for your meal to have the right level of crisp, and watched Squirrel try to eat from the hot meal, he was pulling some pieces of the bread and putting them in his mouth.

“You remind me of someone.” You admitted to the boy.

Squirrel was curious, “Really? Who?”

It was rare for you to talk about your family with others. “My cousin.”

The Monk had heard, you had never mentioned to him that you had a cousin.

“Why?” Squirrel asked.

You grinned. “You can be quite adorable too.”

Squirrel scrunched his nose but could not hide the reddening of his face.

You weren’t going to mention it to the boy or tease him about it.

The Monk touched Squirrel’s arm to draw his attention. “I believe you are sitting too close to the fire, your face is getting red.”

The irritated child brushed the Monk’s hand from his arm. “I’m not!”

You scolded the cheeky Monk for it. “Leave him be.”

He in return smirked at you and the boy, but he stopped and ate his meal in silence.

After eating, you saw that the Monk had the discarded surcoat in his hands and was looking at the cross embroidered on it.

He approached the fire and fed the surcoat to it, watching it burn.

You shared a look with Squirrel but kept quiet about it.

An hour passed and darkness had spread it’s wings over the land. Lancelot had chosen a tree to sleep against for himself.

Squirrel was yawning but still walking around and giving the horses some attention.

You could see that the Monk’s eyes were distant again. He was mourning his father figure and burying the agony it brought him.

Part of you wanted to keep a distance, but part of you hated to see the suffering of others.

You were Dawn Folk, it was in your nature to help others.

You collected some linen sheets for yourself and shared a look with Squirrel, who looked back and forth between you and the Monk, you nodded.

With arms full of linen to use for the night, you went over to the tree the Monk had picked out for himself and put your linen sheets down against it too.

He was already sitting against a side of the tree and was about to get up from the grass, you put a hand on his shoulder to halt him.

“Mind if we sit here too?” You asked.

The question might have rattled him a bit, it took two counts before he answered. “I do not.”

Squirrel went to sit at his left side, you took place at his right.

You were already covering yourself with the sheet when you asked, “Am I breaking a rule by sitting next to you?”

There was a short pause before he answered, “No.”

But he was, by not getting up and preventing it.

The scriptures were strict regarding those of the clergy in the presence of women.

You sank back against the tree, nesting yourself under the sheet. “Just to warn you. If I see washed women’s clothing out to dry tomorrow, I intend to borrow some.”

Squirrel chimed in, “Because of the blood on yours?”

The child had not seen the back of your shirt, but the hem of it still showed the proof of the lashing. “Yes.”

The boy fired another question, “Are you going to steal a dress?”

Lancelot knew that these questions could continue for a long time and found himself listening in.

You were not even considering it. “Never.”

The next question came quick, “Why not?”

You rolled your eyes, knowing Squirrel could not see. “Dresses don’t suit me. Besides, it’s hard to fight in a dress. Too much fabric getting in the way.”

Squirrel seemed to agree on it.

The Monk suddenly said, “Careful. Do not cut your fingers.”

You leaned to the side to look past him and saw Squirrel playing with the knife.

“Maybe you shouldn’t have sharpened it so much.” You told the Monk.

He dared to say it, “You’re the one who wanted to give him a knife.”

You glared in the Monk’s direction, then told Squirrel, “Squirrel, put away the knife before you lose your fingers. Try to sleep, alright?”

“Fine.” The grumpy boy mumbled.

You had thought that Squirrel had listened.

Then Lancelot said, “Listen to y/n, Percival.”

Another “Fine.” was the answer he got, and this time the boy listened.

No one said a word for quite a while, and it wasn’t long before you heard Squirrel’s quiet snoring.

You were looking off to the side, trying to let the calmth of the forest calm you too. You sensed that the Monk had shifted his body a little but paid no attention to it.

Not until the Hidden’s faint melodic whispers were in your ears. Strange. You had not heard them sound like this before.

You turned your head and caught him quickly turning his head to look in front of him instead.

Almost had you caught him inhaling your scent. He did not understand why his heart’s pace increased because of it, or why the voices that haunted him were coercing him to do so.

“Did you just smell me?” You whispered a bit uncertain.

You weren’t sure, but you had a feeling that he had done it just now.

“I uhm…,” He paused and then sounded quite embarrassed about it. “I am sorry.”

You blamed it on the lack of change in your attire. “My clothes smell, don’t they? I should have searched in the inn for something else to wear.”

He did not say a word, and you considered getting up and sitting further away.

With his heightened sense of smell, it would be normal if he picked up on certain things quicker than others would.

You pushed back your self-consciousness and asked, “Do you want me to sit somewhere else?”

His answer was a fast and firm, “No.”

“You sure?” You asked.

He was brushing his hands over one another. “I am. Your scent does not bother me.”

It took you a moment to feel confident enough to lean back against the tree again.

And when he was looking at the trees, you discreetly smelled your clothing just to check. You shook the feeling off before insecurity could grow, none of you had been given the chance or time to take a long bath with everything that was going on.

You pulled your sheet up to your chin and turned to your side, away from him, to sleep.

Unlike you, Percival was not afraid to sleep facing his direction. The child had an amount of trust towards him that he wasn’t sure he was worthy off.

Lancelot was the only one still awake, both because he was not used to sleeping close to others, and because he felt responsible to make sure the two of you could sleep safely.

As you and Squirrel slept, the Monk kept watch for as long as his eyes could remain open and focused.

An hour passed, his eyes grew heavy and the quiet breathing surrounding him made sleep all the more alluring.

Then you turned over in your sleep, your hand was put on the bark of the tree to rest, where it slipped off and landed on his arm instead.

It brought him back from the sleepy state he had been in, from reflex he placed his hand over yours. He looked over at you and found you still very much asleep as you reached out for something to hold while you slept.

He lifted his hand from yours again, letting yours stay where it was.

For someone so vigilant, you sure looked a lot less intimidating while asleep.

The next thing he felt was Percival’s foot hitting his leg, the boy had turned over in his sleep as well and far less gentle and careful.

Lancelot did not even realize right away that he was smiling, he leaned back against the tree more and closed his eyes.

This did not feel wrong, it felt like something he had been missing.

A gentle touch, a spark of kindness. A reminder that there was still light and hope in the darkness. And that light came from where he had least expected it.

When he finally was on the brink of falling asleep, he heard something moving through the forest.

The howling that followed was what fully awakened him.

Taglist:

@ourlazydetectivekitten​​ @the-great-adventures-of-me​ @linkpk88​​  @fxrchxldws​​  @elenaoftheturks​​ @slytherlight​​ @beananacake​​    @crystallizedtime​​  @moonlightaura03​​  @angrygardendeer​​  @have-aheart​​   @5am-cigarette​​ @arcanenature​​  @thewinterskywalker​​ @notyourwildestdream​​ @coloursforyourportrait​​ @koressecretidentity​​ @nike90​​ @n1ghtlux​​ @rachlovesactors​​ @luckyzipperscissorsbat​​ @morena-doing-stuff​​  @the-fangirl-diaries​​ @gipsydanger17​​ @heavenly1927​​  @phantasmalbeiing  @labyrinthonmymind  @asarcastic-thiamstan​​  @rainyv-skies @kissingandromeda @stclairesplace @​​katjusja

Please let me know if you want to be added or removed from the taglist of this story.

#the weeping monk #weeping monk #cursed netflix #cursed #weeping monk x reader #lancelot x reader #weeping monk x you #cursed lancelot #lancelot #the weeping monk x reader

[tenebraevesper]

Sonic the Hedgehog Analyzer, Issue #61: Urban Warfare (Part 5)

Finally, we have reached the final part of Urban Warfare, which I feel is so far one of the best Arcs of IDW Sonic (I have troubles picking between it and Scrapnik Island).

We also have several amazing covers, and I put all of them here because I just couldn’t pick one. However, the cover where Eggman runs while being taunted by Sonic, Tangle, Whisper and Lanolin on the computer screens is probably my favorite.

Last time we saw Team Sonic, they had confronted Dr. Eggman, who revealed that his tower was actually a giant mecha. Eggman is currently gloating as Tangle still tries to evade that portal trap that caught Whisper and Lanolin. Sonic gets up, telling Eggman how he hasn’t won yet, while Eggman responds how his creations can take on them. Speaking of creations, Orbot and Cubot aren’t exactly excited about the idea of fighting Sonic and his friends.

Sonic charges at Eggman, who simply snaps his fingers, signaling to the portal trap to target Sonic.

I think that even Sonic knew what was about to happen to him; just look at his expression. He gets trapped inside it, much to Tails and Amy’s horror. I think it also took me a moment here to realize that Eggman had finally defeated Sonic. Oh, I know what’s going to happen next, but think about it for a moment - Sonic is gone, being taken out of the fight. Things are really looking bad for the heroes.

With Sonic gone, Eggman sics Metal Sonic on Tails, Amy and Tangle, with all three of them struggling and Tangle being determined not to lose another friend.

As Tangle tries to fight Metal Sonic, she realizes that she can actually touch him. However, before she can do more, she is pulled back by Eggman, deciding to punch him with her tail. Unfortunately for Tangle- Dude, how many times are you going to bring out that laser gun and point it at an animal character?!

Hey, I’m not saying it’s getting annoying, I actually think it’s awesome whenever Eggman decides to get physically violent, as it shows that he’s willing to fight with any means necessary instead of just using his robots, but still, how many times did we see this thing in this comic? Who does Eggman think he is, Shadow?

I will say it here, I think that Shadow the Hedgehog (2005) joke is definitely overused.

I have to say, Eggman is hella intimidating whenever he decides that straight murder is the best option of dealing with his enemies, and he’s even holding the gun against Tangle’s head. One pull of the trigger and she’s a red splatter on the floor.

In any case, Eggman holds Tangle at gunpoint, with Lanolin appearing literally out of nowhere and telling him how they’re the Diamond Cutters, and Whisper adding that they’re about to be his problem as she knocks him over with the cube Wispon. You go girl! This has to be cathartic for her.

Meanwhile, with Team Silver, we see Silver still trying to free Shadow from the fake Chaos Emeralds, with Shadow warning him to get away and that there is so much energy building, acting like noise in his head. I believe this was Shadow’s way of saying to leave him behind and go on with their mission and to be safe, as he also tells Silver he’s fine and to leave...

...and then he promptly triggers Silver by using the infamous phrase. (I mean, this was written by Evan Stanley, the ultimate Silver fangirl, did you really think she wouldn’t sneak it in?)

He goes into a rant, basically telling Shadow how he’s not going to give up so easily and neither is Shadow, managing to break him out of the fake Chaos Emerald.

I absolutely love this scene, especially with Shadow acknowledging that Silver is right. Neither of them is going to give up so easily.

We return back to Team Sonic and the Diamond Cutters, with Tails realizing that the reason why Lanolin and Whisper are back is because the city’s computer systems are offline. Meanwhile, Tangle has a bit of a crisis in the corner...

Poor girl, she really believed that her friends are gone forever. Luckily, Whisper’s comforting her. Lanolin then takes the charge, taking off her bell and turning it into a really cool weapon.

Using the Wisps power, she shatters the nearby window, allowing for everyone to escape. Eggman sics Metal Sonic on them, but Sonic appears right in the nick of time, kicking Metal Sonic through the window.

I’m probably sounding like a broken record at this point, but honestly, this. is. EPIC! I absolutely love the artwork in this comic. Seriously, kudos to all of the artists. X3

The Diamond Cutters quickly get the hell out of dodge, while Sonic crushes Eggman’s gun. Eggman is pissed and...

Goddamnit, I just have to gush over these awesome panels! Eggman is really furious, probably about to punch Sonic, while Sonic tells him how he has taken things to far, grinning as he adds how Eggman knows what he’s about to do next. He then proceeds to jump out of the window, much to Eggman’s dismay, and I have read how people were annoyed that Sonic didn’t attack Eggman then and there, but I believe that Sonic wanted to hit him where it hurts the most - by foiling his plans.

We see Sonic being caught by Amy, who is carried by Tails, and just as they and the Diamond Cutters wonder where they’re supposed to land, a giant fake Chaos Emerald sprouts from the ground like it’s no one business.

The source of this growth? Shadow, who appeared to have mastered the control over the fake Chaos Emeralds, with Silver cheering him on and Blaze and Rouge (who are riding on Omega’s back) looking utterly stunned. I don’t think either of them thought this would actually work.

As for Eggman, he realizes that his projects are pretty much a waste of time and energy, so he decides to bury them along with everyone inside the city. In short, he’s going nuclear on this one.

We also see that Metal Sonic managed to catch himself after he was kicked out of the tower, and using another Badnik as an Extreme Gear, he managed to grab Sonic and drag him along. We then get a shot of Rouge, Blaze and Omega and- *starts laughing*

Okay, this panel is frigging hilarious out of context. We see the three watching the fight between Metal and Sonic unfold, with Rouge and Blaze being concerned, while Omega is celebrating. When I read it first, I thought he was cheering for Metal, only to remind myself that that’s never going to happen.

The reason Omega is actually so happy is because he finally found another Badnik to obliterate - namely, Metal Sonic himself. Blaze and Rouge go to help out, with Sonic seeing an opportunity in the fire exchange (literal in Blaze’s case) and throws Metal towards Omega, who then gets shot.

Epic! This is why you bring Omega into a fight.

With Metal being charred and smoking, Rouge catches Sonic and they join the rest of the group on a fake Chaos Emerald platform, and it is obvious that they really have nowhere to go. To make things worse, Eggman is shooting lasers at them, his intentions clear - they’re going down one way or another.

We then see Shadow and Silver, with Silver wondering how much damage the fake Chaos Emerald can take, and Shadow is confident that it is enough to win this fight.

Okay, excuse me for a moment... *searches on YouTube*

Yeah, if things weren’t awesome before, they’re about to kick it into overdrive and I read the rest with this song playing in the background. You’re welcome! X3

So, after assuring Silver that they will win, Shadow focuses all his energy, calling out Dr. Eggman on his hubris and the monster he made, and performs Chaos Control.

What follows next is the fake Chaos Emeralds suddenly being teleported, much to Eggman’s shock. We also see several of them appearing around Eggman’s mecha, with Shadow, now sweating beads from all the energy he’s putting into this, saying how he’s not done and how these perverse Emeralds connect his entire city.

With them under Shadow’s control, he has managed to build a cage around Eggman, the latter crying out in despair as the fake Emeralds pierce through and between the mecha’s legs, keeping it on the spot.

Sonic sees what’s going on, deciding to finish it by asking Blaze to give him a boost. Blaze agrees, flying him between the fake Emerald shards towards Tails and Amy, with Amy (whom he calls Ames! Yes, this is the first time since Sonic Boom we got to hear that!) using her hammer to hit him upwards. I always love the teamwork in this comic.

We see Sonic flying over Shadow and Silver, yelling how they should finish this. We then turn to Tangle and Whisper...

Yeah, the artist team was as subtle as a brick about this one. I’m sure many people already pointed it out, so I’ll just add that I’m happy that Tangle and Whisper are pretty much confirmed to be a couple in the comics and not just going by Word of God.

Sonic grabs Tangle’s tail, with Tangle holding onto Whisper, who blasts them into the air, all the while Eggman is desperately pleading with them, saying how if the city fails, there will be nothing to divert the power away from the artificial Emerald network. Their destructive power is incalculable and he’s the only one capable of preventing it.

I’m pretty sure Sonic just rolled his eyes at Eggman’s pleads as Tangle sent him flying right into the mecha.

Sonic then spin dashes right into the mecha, much to everyone’s amazement and worry, and Eggman’s horror, causing the mecha to tilt as Sonic gets caught by Tangle and they quickly escape.

However, not all is well, as Shadow quickly sends Silver to protect everyone. He notes how Eggman wasn’t bluffing and that the Emeralds are about to explode and will take the whole city down with them.

As Tails and Silver join the rest of the group (sans Sonic, Tangle and Whisper), Silver warns them that everything is about to explode.

Meanwhile, Shadow walks over to the edge of the fake Chaos Emerald, observing the inevitable explosion as the energy crackles around him.

This is then followed by him using Chaos Control, erupting in an explosion that causes everything to go white.

What we see next is basically a broken land with debris and Emerald shards...

...as well as Sonic and Tangle looking slightly crispy. Whisper is behind them, but it doesn’t seem like the Chaos Control affected her.

Shadow then teleports back, panting and I assume that he’s exhausted from saving everyone from a giant explosion. Speaking of explosion...

It appears that Shadow teleported the fake Chaos Emeralds straight into the sky, letting them explode where they can do no harm. Honestly, I am a bit at loss for words here because this panel is absolutely beautiful.

☆*:.｡.o(≧▽≦)o.｡.:*☆

We then shift later to a party and... yep, Shadow’s nowhere to be seen. I should’ve known he wouldn’t hang around for too long. Omega’s also missing, but hey, at least Rouge is there to celebrate.

Amy and Jewel then bring in a strawberry cake for everyone. We get some banter between Rouge and Amy, only for her to notice some kind of artifact Rouge had picked up from Eggman’s trophy room (meanwhile Jewel is struggling with holding the cake).

Amy identifies it as an echidna artifact and demands it to be returned to Angel Island. While Tails helps Jewel with the cake, Rouge relents, giving Amy the artifact, who decides to bring it to Knuckles. This is basically setting up the story in the next Issue, which will follow Amy and Knuckles adventuring on Angel Island.

Amy then turns around, wondering where Sonic has gone, with Tails telling her how he already ran off, much to her chagrin. Okay, why does this remind me so much of the last Sonic Twitter Takeover?

Ah, that’s why! (✧ω✧)

The last we see is a shot of Sonic leaping into his next adventure, but as said before, our next story will focus on Amy and Knuckles’ adventure on Angel Island, as well as on Mimic and Clutch teaming up and Mimic infiltrating the Diamond Cutters.

As for Urban Warfare... I absolutely loved it! As I said before, this is definitely one of my favorite arcs, especially since it manages to show off all of the characters in an amazing manner, both heroes and villains.

However, one special shout-out goes to Shadow, who was redeemed in this arc. This is the character I wanted to see ever since I began reading this comic and I’m happy that we got him saving the day this time around.

So, what comes next? Well, from what I know is that we’re getting several comics focusing on various characters: Amy and Knuckles, Mimic and Clutch, Silver and the Diamond Cutters, Sonic and co. going on their 900th adventure, Sonic, the Diamond Cutters and Babylon Rogues having a beach day... Even tho Eggman is out of the picture for now, we certainly aren’t lacking in story department.

Also, another thing to note is that, according to Ian on Bumblekast, we might be nearing the part of the story where Sonic Frontiers happens. He said that there will be probably be a time skip where Sonic Frontiers happens and the comics pick up afterwards. Honestly, if you ask me, the perfect moment would be after the next Arc, but we’ll have to see.

So, until next time!

Links:

#Previous Issue

#Next Issue

#Sonic the Hedgehog Analyzer (Masterlist)

#Sonic the Hedgehog Analyzer #idw sonic #sonic idw #sonic the hedgehog #dr eggman #miles tails prower #amy rose #tangle the lemur #orbot and cubot #metal sonic #silver the hedgehog #shadow the hedgehog #rouge the bat #e-123 omega #blaze the cat #diamond cutters #whisper the wolf #lanolin the sheep #sonic wisps #whispangle #jewel the beetle #belle the tinkerer

[thewingedbaron]

BG 3 Fic Feb Day Seven!

Finally caught up!! Day Seven's prompt was a really fun one, so I don't mind the double feature.

Minor warning for self-harm. Just be aware.

This prompt pulls from an in game arguement I had with Lae'zel about half-way through the Underdark on my first playthrough. Enjoy!

(Ao3 Link for the people that prefer it over there :) )

Day Seven: A Heated Argument With A Companion

“Ishtik, you’re leading us in the wrong direction.” 

Alyss glanced up from the shoulder pauldron in her hands. She wished she was surprised by the figure standing over her, sword clutched at one side.

“Lae’zel, now really isn’t a good time.” 

“Why? Does your injury affect your ability to reason?” She asked. “We are going the wrong way. The druid Halsin may think that salvation lies in the Absolute’s tower, but I have told you many times that we must make for the Creche. My people are the only ones who can save us from the worms that writhe inside of our heads.” 

At its mention, the tadpole behind her own eye squirmed, adding to the piercing pain already nestled inside of her head. Alyss sighed, fighting her own tired mind for reason while Lae’zel glared down at her.

“The tower is our best shot, Lae’zel. If we can learn more about these tadpoles, we have a better chance against them. You, yourself, admitted that it was strange that we had not turned yet. Halsin believes that there is other magic involved. We have no idea if the Githyanki can help us at all.” 

“Our opinions do not matter, ishtik! We are to follow protocol, which dictates that we go directly to my people to be cleansed.” 

“Kithrack Voss tried to kill us!” Alyss shot back. “How are we supposed to know that we don’t have a target on our backs now? Your Creche might try to slaughter us the moment we show our faces there.” 

“They will not!” Lae’zel shouted. “They are honor bound to help me. They would not betray my trust.” 

“They already have!” Alyss shouted back. “They tried to kill us simply because they thought you had stepped out of line. How can you trust them after that?” 

“Vlaakith was testing me, and I survived.” The gith warrior hissed. “This is another test, and not one that I intend to fail.” 

“No.” Alyss shook her head. “I will not put everyone here at risk under the implied promise that we will not be attacked. You included.” 

“You are putting them at risk by refusing to take them to safety!” By now their argument could be heard all over camp. Alyss was increasingly aware of the number of eyes on their fight. Her skin itched as she focused her gaze on her friend before her.

“It’s too big a risk for now. Let us put some distance between ourselves and Voss, and we’ll approach your people from the Shadow-Cursed Lands. There will be fewer patrols looking for us if we come from behind.” 

Lae’zel huffed. “First you take the side of the dark haired one and let her keep an artifact of great importance. Now you deny me the safety of the creche?” In one swish, the gith drew the blade from her side, placing its point at Alyss’ throat. “I will not be denied a second time, ishtik. You will point this group toward the creche, or I will challenge you for your leadership, and kill you now.” 

Alyss looked down at the blade, heart hammering in her chest. Then, slowly, she stood, the point following her throat as she stood eye to eye with her companion. 

“You put me in charge because I know my way around the wild places of the world.” She said quietly. “You’ve trusted me up until this point, even when you disagreed with my leadership. Trust me now Lae’zel. We will see your people. But only after we know more about the thing inside of our heads. I promise.” 

“That is not satisfactory.” 

“Then do it.” Alyss replied evenly. She pressed forward just enough to feel a drop of warmth on her skin. “Use the blade and see how far it gets you.” 

Lae’zel’s eyes tracked the dark colored blood as it painted the tip of her blade. Her eyes widened, and suddenly the sharp point withdrew. 

“Chk.” The gith warrior slammed the sword back into its sheath and stormed away, throwing the flap of her tent closed behind her. 

“That was either very brave, or very foolish.” Wyll said softly, stepping up beside her. 

“She’s afraid. Perhaps more so than the rest of us since she knows exactly what we’re risking.” Alyss replied, her gaze softening. “I wish I knew how to help her.” 

“She’ll tell us, in time.” The Blade of Frontiers eased his own sword back into its sheath. Alyss nodded. 

“I hope so.”

#bg3ficfeb #thewingedbaron #bg3 #bg3 fanfiction #baldur's gate iii #baldur's gate oc #bg3 spoilers #lae'zel #laezel #writers on tumblr #bg3 fanfic #bg3 fic

[countrymusiclover]

10 - Erik and JFK

Part 11

Battle of Heart and Mind

Tag list - ask to be added (in my ask box please) @aintinacage @hiraethrhapsody @mostlymarvelgirl @importantgalaxyrunaway

Leaving from the place I was moments ago I heard the three make voices now in the office downstairs. Entering the room Hank stood by the desk, Logan remained near the doorway and Charles was laying on the couch drink in his hands. “We need your help, Charles.”

“Need his help how exactly?” I came and sat down beside him on the couch seeing him finish what content he had in that glass.

Logan turns his head to me. “Bring the X-Men together. Stop Raven from killing Trask which starts the war.”

“So you’re saying they took her power and what…weaponized it?” Charles got up from the couch pouring himself another drink.

Logan nodded. “Yup.”

Charles plopped down in his desk chair downing some alcohol. His demeanor and physical appearance wasn't what I recalled it to be. Hank and I had tried our best to pull him out of the dark but he's just fallen over the edge now. "Now what exactly does Raven and Addi have to do with all this...saying that I...that we choose to believe what you are saying is true."

"In the beginning, the sentinels were just targeting mutants. Then they began targeting everyone. They began identifying the genetics in non-mutants...who would eventually have mutant children and grandchildren. Many of the humans tried to help us but it was a slaughter. Leaving only the worst of humanity in charge. I've been in a lot of wars but I've never seen anything like this. And it all starts with her and Raven." Logan began explaining looking between the three of us where I could see his whole body stiften at the horrible memories he must have been having.

“Raven won't listen to me.” Charles chuckled dryly looking over in my direction thinking back on Cuba. “Her heart and soul belong to someone else now.”

Logan put a hand on his hip throwing his other hand away from his side. “I know. That's why we're gonna need Magneto too.”

“Erik, you know where he is right?” Hank asked the man from the future who said nothing.

Charles got up from the chair stomping around the table and out the door. “He's where he belongs!”

“Charles!” I called his name forcing myself to my feet regaining my balance for a moment.

Logan tilted his head. “What the hell happened to him? Am I going crazy or are you two together or something?”

“We were…until the day I found out I was pregnant.” Looking over my shoulder I explained softly. “The war in Vietnam destroyed everything. Teachers and students were drafted. Hank attempted to help with his legs but…I'm gonna go find him. Charles!”

Moving towards his bedroom he had the door only cracked open slightly. Pushing it opened he lifted his head up sniffing through tears. “Charles, can we talk?”

“What do you still see in that man, Addi?” He sniffed through tears, wiping them away with his sleeve.

Coming to sit on the edge of the bed with the former telepath professor I laid my head on his shoulder. “Because of what he did the day JFK was assassinated. The part of the story you choose to forget.”

“He's not right for you or the baby, Addi.” Charles weakly responded, reaching down, intertwining my hand in his. “I just don't want you to get hurt. Even if you never truly love me the way I love you. I still want to keep you safe.”

Touching his face with my freehand he leans into my palm. “I know how you feel about him after what happened in Cuba. But this means helping Raven…and apparently saving humanity and mutants from an all out war. If you won’t do it for Logan’s tall tail then do it for Raven…do it for me.”

“I'll do it for the both of you.” He whispered, laying his head against my chest and I kissed his forehead just holding him for a moment. The relationship that Charles and I had was comfortable for sure. He was there for me throughout the pregnancy and with my mother. I did love him but it would never compare to my feelings for Erik.

November 22, 1963 - Dallas

Erik and I made our way through the abandoned building that was on the same street that the president was supposed to be driving down since he was visiting for something. Erik peaked his head out the window with me leaning against the wall beside where he stood. “I got word that the assassin is somewhere in this building with a gun. I can feel it somewhere.”

“Do you want me to go looking for it?” I questioned him, figuring that I should help him in some way.

He shook his head no, focusing his attention back towards the busy street. The president’s car came around the corner following the secret service cars that were behind it and in front of them. A gunfire sound blasted through the air where Erik raised his hand about to stop the bullet but the door downstairs got busted open. “Search the entire building!”

“Erik.” I called his name while watching the commotion from the streets below us. The bullet that had been fired hit the president in the back of the head and his wife reached back trying to help but he was already dead. Everyone in the cars and on the streets surrounded the car and I knew the men in the building must be service men.

He moved away from the wall grabbing me by my shoulders with a serious look in his eyes. “You have to go now before they find me up here.”

“Are you crazy? I am not leaving you here to be captured. How could you even consider such a thing?” I spat at him wearing a dark orange coat with some black jeans and combat boots. I had put my hair in a braid.

He was wearing a green turtleneck underneath a brown coat. His gaze remained on mine and I felt him pressing his fingers into my shoulder blades. “Addison, this isn’t a joke. Those men are looking for the man who just killed the president and they most likely will blame it on me if they can’t find the guy who actually fired the shot.”

“So we run and get out of here before they do. We stick together like we promised.” I snapped at him not wanting to leave him here like this.

He threw his head back, sighing in frustration where we heard a bunch of boots coming up the stairs meaning we were running out of time if we were going to run like I wanted him to. “We don’t have time to discuss this, Addi. I can’t let them capture you too.”

“So what am I supposed to do while you’re stuck in the pentagon…besides coming to visit you if that’s even possible.” I asked, gripping the material of his jacket almost closing the gap completely between us.

Erik pressed his forehead against mine and we just stood holding onto each other till he whispered. “You go see your mother or go find Charles. I need you to promise me.”

“There’s voices upstairs!” One of the men downstairs said to his fellow men and they started to be heard coming up onto the floor we were on.

Erik turned his head back, pouring his attention down to me. “Promise me, Addi.”

“I promise….and I love you.” I blurted out having the elevator door opened and the men started running towards us.

Erik grabbed my arm and we ran towards the old staircase that we had used to get up here. He holds my face in his hands, kissing me quickly. “Don’t get caught while I’m gone, Addison.” He rounded the corner holding his hands up in surrender while I peaked my head around the corner watching the officers arrest him on the spot.

“I'll help you get her.” Charles and I had left his bedroom seeing Logan was still talking with Hank. “But not for any of your future shits but for her.”

Logan nodded. “Fair enough.”

“Tell you this, you don't know Erik, that man is a monster, a murder. You think you can convince Raven to change, to come home.” Charles gave him a half smile. “But what makes you think you can change him?”

Logan admitted. “Because you and Erik sent me back here together.”

“The room they're holding him in was built during the...2nd World war when there was a shortage of steel. So the foundation is pure concrete and sand, no metal.” Hank had unrolled a map onto the large table in the library that revealed the inside layout of the pentagon from what he could find.

Charles rested his hands on the table. “And he's being held a 100 floors beneath the most heavily guarded building on the planet.”

Logan raised a brow. “Why is he in there?”

“What, he forgot to mention?” Charles couldn’t contain his laughter while I just stood back biting my tongue.

Hank said. “Uh JFK.”

Logan finally figured it out. “He killed.”

“What else would explain the bullet miraculously curving through the air.” Charles shakes his head glancing over at me silently for a moment knowing how I felt about what he had just said. “Erik's always had a way with guns.”

Leaning my back against the wall I rested one hand on my growing stomach looking between the three men in the room. “Never thought I'd say this but let's go break into the Pentagon.”

Comments really appreciated ❤️

#battle of heart and mind #erik lehnsherr x oc #erik lehnsherr fanfic #erik lehnsherr fanfiction #erik lensherr #erik lehnsherr x reader #erik lehnsherr #michael fassbender #x men fandom #x men fic #x men oc #x men movies #x men fanfic #x men fanfiction #x men days of future past #charles xavier #x men raven #logan howlett #hank mccoy #jenny boyd #oc : addison shaw #magneto x oc #magneto #magneto x reader #wattpad fanfiction #ask box is open for feedback #comments really appreciated #jfk assassination #sebastian shaw #x men x reader

[shuttershocky]

I know that whenever someone points out how badly Siege got left behind, there’s always someone that goes.:“Oh well she’s going to get an alter”. But…that doesn’t alleviate the pain…maybe that makes it a bit worse

I agree. I don't like the idea of Alters being proper replacements for units that HG failed to buff properly. The module system was supposed to be how HG gave buffs to units that badly needed it and while some poor saps (like Dusk and Mostima) got some good ones, it's often been the rich getting richer (lol Ling) while niche units like Tachanka get absolutely nothing.

But while we're here, let's talk about Powercreep in Arknights, because I see a lot of people on both sides of the tier list debate make some absolutely baffling claims when meta talk gets involved. Then we'll go back to Siege, who often gets a lot of defenders and naysayers alike as soon as comparisons to Saga and Flametail crop up.

Let's get one thing out of the way first: powercreep absolutely exists, though the appearance of a new overpowered unit doesn't actually (directly, we'll talk about indirectly another time and it’s mostly Surtr and Eyjafjalla’s fault) affect the overall /viability/ of an older unit. Or in other words the old unit's ability to solve a stage isn't suddenly gone.

For example, let's look at Blaze. Once the premiere cornerstone of Arknights with her tanky stats, range extension, status resistance, and AOE damage, she stomped CC#0 Risk 18 effortlessly and cheesed stage after stage for months afterward.

Since her heyday however, she's mostly seen stiff competition with Mountain (who is much cheaper, charges up his cornerstone skill in mere seconds, and has massive for self-sustain) and Thorns (also massive regen when not attacking, has gigantic range and ridiculous single target DPS). Nowadays, Blaze only becomes the optimal pick for a cornerstone when her built-in status resistance is needed (such as therapists being unavailable or stuns simply being too frequent), if the stage is very aggressive and requires a cornerstone with more DEF, or if the player simply does not own her competitors.

That being said, Blaze's actual ability to do her job as a cornerstone wasn't changed by her competitors being added to the game. She's still tough, does a lot of AOE damage, and in most stages you can pretty much set her, glue a medic, then forget about her like you could at the height of her popularity. She’ll still shred most stages, and even still gets recommended now and then as the borrowed 6 star for new player guides due to how easy she still is to use especially when the map layout suits her. Blaze hasn’t been deleted from the game, though the situations where she’s the most optimal operator given all available options has been greatly decreased.

Don’t feel bad for using her when she works even if she’s no longer considered the top of a tier list. This isn’t a PVP game and chances are you’re not a world record max risk CC player either, the only thing meta chasing will do for you is instill FOMO.

And now let’s go back to Siege, because when I posted her module here I had quite a few people rush to her defense.

Siege is not unviable. In fact for her original job of just holding a lane normally to make DP, she’s not even bad. It’s just that putting her head to head with Saga and Flametail makes it obvious that Siege faces stiff competition from operators who could do her old job while still having larger niches / more use cases than her. That’s /undeniable./

When I complained about Siege’s module sucking because it was just a +ATK +DEF boost, it’s because, well, it just sucks. The stat buffs it gives Siege creates no practical advantages vs Saga. You can use it yes, Siege will still work yes, and in fact I myself still use Siege more often than Saga simply because i like Siege’s convenience, but in terms of its cost efficiency I’m going to call a spade and spade and say Siege deserved something much better considering her position vs the competition no matter how much I like her.

Siege’s main advantages over Saga and Flametail are the convenience of her S2 being auto activated, her talent increasing all vanguard stats, and the ability of her S3 to scale into a ridiculously high damage per hit because of it being a large ATK% multiplier, letting her nuke even very high DEF enemies when buffed. Thus she becomes the optimal pioneer choice when there’s a constant stream of weak mobs (such as vs Essence of Evolution), or if there’s a very high DEF unit that specifically will only be faced by a vanguard (nothing comes to mind), or if the player specifically wishes to go Vanguardknights.

Her module should have doubled down on these advantages. If Saga contributes SP support to the team and has a get out of jail free card for a talent, while Flametail has double attacks and very high evasion with fast skill cycle times, then Siege’s module should have helped her go all in and become the phys nuker. Make it so that she doesn’t need to have Warfarin + Aak on her at once to crunch a guy with 2000 DEF – a module effect like “All Vanguard ATK and DEF +8%, when deployed with another vanguard, gain a 25% chance to get +100% ATK when attacking” for example, would help her out.

Bam, Siege is suddenly the DPH phys nuker pioneer, the one most effective against high DEF mobs. Rather than encroach on Saga or Flametail’s niches, she instead emphasizes her own unique quality, which is her ability to scale her damage per hit to really high numbers. This won’t suddenly make her broken or a must-have (she still has survivability issues, S3 continues to not make ANY DP at all, Bagpipe will still be the superior damage dealer to all but very high DEF enemies), but it at least would have emphasized what makes her different. At least it would have been fun. It would have helped sell Siege’s unique identity among pioneers.

And you know, very obviously a Siege Alter is coming and it’s probably gonna be super busted and yadda yadda, but relying on the promise of an Alt to “fix” a character left behind by evolving game design is pure sellout behavior when that’s what the module system was made for in the first place. Siege’s fans deserved better. They deserved to see her S3 unbuffed by anyone else smack a Patriot Shieldguard and randomly crit for 3k damage, then realized if they buffed her up by investing on her S3 they have a 14 DP solution vs high DEF enemies that doesn’t even get taken out by a Guard ban risk.

I understand and even encourage the quest to find the viability and unique identity of every operator. i do it a lot myself. But also like, we can be criticizing HG’s boneheaded balancing decisions and that doesn’t imply that the old unit is now worthless. We had dedicated Passenger players from when the guy was so fucking bad even HG realized they had to buff him thrice. You can make (almost) anything work.

#Arknights

[zorilleerrant]

“Fuck,” Bernard says, when he first sees Tim. He’s not alone, which is a good thing – that means he wasn’t targeted, which means no one here is trying to make a point about Bernard’s personal life. Not that no one’s been making points, but they’ve been the occasional dig, nothing too personal, nothing even very creative, not enough to bring up more than the occasional what the fuck about someone who hadn’t expressed much in the way of politics beforehand. No one outright threatening Tim, though, just insulting him.

“Hi,” says Tim, with a little smirk, and it’s one word, it shouldn’t be able to sound snarky when he says it, but it does. He’s got a black eye pending, and there’s a smear of blood on his lip that Bernard can’t tell where it’s from (probably he fought back and got punched in the nose, but it isn’t bleeding anymore), but he doesn’t look too roughed up, and probably took a few hits for everyone else around him, given that they include his sister and a couple of his friends.

That’s a little bit of the issue, though, isn’t it. Tim’s freedom Bernard could probably swing – people wouldn’t like it, but they’d do it for anyone else in the Family – but he can’t go letting Tim free all of his hostages, can he? Bernard can say all he wants, oh, that’s my boyfriend, but when he starts adding: and his sister, and his ex-girlfriend, and that guy who hangs out with him a lot who works for his dad or something, and, what, his neighbor? And Tim will probably start adding people onto that, too. He doesn’t know everyone Tim went to school with before they went to school together, or who he’s been in clubs with, who worked with his parents, his squash partners or his business associates or his family friends. (Okay, he’s pretty sure Tim doesn’t play squash, but.) He can’t just let everyone go. That would defeat the purpose.

The crux of the issue is that, though, and how, until Tim saw him here, deliberating, no one knew about any of this. And he knows no one knew, because Tim never said word one about it, and his family would’ve brought up something, even if it were just suspicions, and Robin hasn’t been following him around, either, and Bernard may not know what Tim’s relationship with Robin is, but he knows they’re friends. Someone would’ve been checking him out, at least, even it got kicked up the chain all the way to Batman.

And Batman doesn’t know fuckall about this whole hostage situation, or else he’d have crashed through the ceiling by now. They’re pulling people aside to film them for ransom demands. It’s kind of cruel, Bernard thinks, making them plead for their lives on camera while the rest of the partygoers watch. Of course, the whole hostage thing isn’t actually for the money. Or. Well. It is for the money, it’s just keeping them out of the way while the money man fucks with their accounts, and covering it up as ransom payments is just going to muddy the waters long enough for them to get away. That’s not Bernard’s job, that’s the nerd stuff.

Bernard’s job is a huge problem, because they know he’s the boss’s kid, and while that doesn’t put him in charge (yet), he’s definitely supposed to be in charge of this job. Or, at least, whatever this job looks like to the people who’ve been kidnapped, which he can hope no one’s associated with the Family, or there’s going to be much worse fallout, but that means that it probably looks to Tim like Bernard rounded up his own petty criminals and taught them how to take hostages, and, wow, maybe he should’ve put on a mask instead of deciding the charismatic guest suddenly taking over was the dramatic entrance he should go for.

Anyway, it wasn’t his decision to film people like that, but it looks like it was. And Tim’s giving him sort of quizzical looks, but he doesn’t seem scared, which is good and all, but Bernard’s pretty sure it’s because Tim still thinks he can free him, and maybe everyone else.

Bernard was so careful to pick a party that Bruce replied no to. He forgot to check whether anyone else might be going, because the rest of them hate galas, or at least Tim does, and he said everyone else did, and what the hell? He definitely didn’t notice Luke Fox on the guest list, and he’s pretty sure he would’ve, because that’s the guy who Tim sort of maybe has a crush on, or at least the way he talks about Luke makes Bernard jealous sometimes, which might not be his issue. It’s not like anyone is supposed to get hurt. Tim wasn’t supposed to get hurt.

“Hey,” says Tim, reassuringly, like he’s staring down the barrel of a gun, like he’s stared down the barrel of a gun before, “Bern. Breathe. It’s gonna be okay.” And he pats Bernard comfortingly on the arm, even though he’s very sure all the hostages are supposed to be tied up. He thought Tim was tied up, but he wasn’t looking that hard.

“Are you a crime lord?” Steph asks, from where she seems to still be tied up at least, lounging against a pillar. “Tim are you dating a crime lord? You’re supposed to tell me if you’re dating a crime lord. Or else it’s entrapment.” She grins and then squeezes her lips together into a frown, trying to look like she’s upset about the situation. To reassure Bernard? He isn’t sure.

Cass stares at him for the longest time, like she’s looking into his soul or reading his mind or willing him to spontaneously combust or something, and then eventually says, very quietly, “he won’t hurt us. He doesn’t want to be here.” Which, true or not, Bernard wishes she wouldn’t say in front of his goons, who might hear her. On the other hand, he does want her to reassure Tim, who also seems to trust her the most on stuff like that.

Luke Fox looks at him skeptically. Bernard is about to introduce himself, or get Tim to make introductions, or something like that, but Luke Fox interrupts with, “yeah, yeah, I’m sure they weren’t supposed to find out this way. If I had to use the bathroom, is that something you could make happen?” Bernard has never heard a more blatant escape attempt in his life. But if the goons want to trust the man to use the bathroom, who is he to stop them? Luke looks inordinately pleased when he calls some henchperson over as an escort, even though he’s still tied up, and Bernard doesn’t really want to know what he has planned. At least if he calls Batman or whatever, it won’t be Bernard who screwed up. Technically.

“So, come here often?” Tim says, standing up so he can lean into Bernard’s space. It’s kind of a problem, because Bernard would normally kiss him right about now, but he definitely doesn’t want to do that in front of the guys, because they’re going to make trouble for him, and if they make trouble for him it’s going to get back to his dad, and if his dad hears it’s going to be more of you can’t handle this job and trying to make him give up Tim again. Not that Bernard even wants this job, but it’s the principle of the thing.

“He doesn’t want to kiss you because the goons are homophobes,” Cass says, blithely, not even looking at Bernard anymore, while Steph cuts her off before Tim can react with, “so, wild being kidnapped at two parties in a row, isn’t it?” to which Tim shoots her a scathing glare and she looks caught out, and now Bernard is worried.

“What party did you get kidnapped at?” he asks. He didn’t think Tim had even been to any parties for a couple months, although if he had gone he’d usually just put in a few appearances, make nice, and walk out an hour later, so it’s not like it would take much time out of his day. Kidnapping would, though. Has Bernard been so busy going to his dad’s ridiculous meetings about taking over the city that he didn’t even notice his boyfriend was missing?

“Um,” Tim says, and now Bernard is sure he should be concerned about this, so he crosses his arms and tries to glare enough to seem like he’s serious without glaring enough to seem like he’s, you know, a hostage taker trying to steal everyone’s billions. Which he knows Tim has independently, but he’s not sure about Steph or Cass. They both wear enough designer stuff that they could, easily, but it could just be Alfred shopping for them. He isn’t sure about Tim’s old neighbor he can’t remember the name of, either. He knows Luke Fox is a billionaire, but he also heard a crash a minute ago and is pretty sure the man isn’t here anymore.

“You didn’t tell him?” Steph asks, sufficiently incredulous on Bernard’s behalf that he feels a little defensive of Tim. Cass, at this point, nods agreement to Steph, and Tim shoots her a betrayed look, and the neighbor looks in confusion between the three of them, and then gives Bernard an eyeroll in commiseration, because Bernard is clearly not following the silent conversation, either.

“Okay, look,” Tim says, waving the concerns away, “someone at the last party thought I had the codes to one of the vaults where we keep our proprietary technology, only I never even worked in that department and do you know how often we change the codes, anyway? Plus, like, the biometric data would’ve been hard to fake and I was never in the system. For, uh, for probably reasonable security reasons no one under 25 is allowed into the biometric system.”

“People under 25 do stupid shit,” Cass says, to stifled laughs from all of them. Including Tim. Including Bernard, even, and he glances around to make sure no one saw him. One of the goons is giving him a weird look, but not saying anything, so, right, so far so good. Also it probably means no one noticed Luke Fox jumping through a window. He’s over 25, but not by much, and Bernard wonders whether they count his antics as stupid shit or not.

“Okay, no offense, but what is actually going on here right now?” The neighbor says, flinching when Bernard turns to look at him a little too suddenly. He moves like he wants to hold his hands up in front of him, but he’s tied up like the rest of the hostages, so he kind of just shrugs instead. “Hey, I don’t mean anything by it, man, but what’s happening?”

Tim looks a little embarrassed, like he’s caught out being a bad host, and Bernard’s pretty sure he’s lost control of this whole hostage situation. “Right, sorry, Bernard, this is Kyle. Kyle, Bernard. My boyfriend. And also apparently head of some kind of criminal organization.” He smiles fondly at Bernard, who thinks that might be the wrong response to all this.

“Like a supervillain?” Kyle says, squinting at Bernard and then looking at his friends like they’ve completely lost their minds, which they might have, considering how calm they are. It’s not that uncommon for people in the midst of a major stressful event to try to ignore it in order to cope, Bernard figures, so maybe they’re just traumatized. Kyle sucks in a deep breath, and whispers like he'd rather be shouting. “Are we trusting a supervillain right now? And, like, a brand new supervillain who doesn’t even know what he’s doing? No offense. I don’t think we should probably trust a supervillain!”

“He’s not a supervillain,” Tim says, offended, wrapping a proprietary arm around Bernard’s waist and tugging him close. Bernard appreciates the little peck at his cheekbone, even if he’s not sure he can reciprocate at the moment. “He’s a good guy, and I don’t really know what’s going on here, but I’m sure it will be fine.”

“Are you?” Kyle asks, looking anxiously around at the various goons and the other hostages, including someone else tearfully asking their family to send money before their fingers get chopped off. “Because Luke has been gone for a while, and I don’t know what they did to him! I don’t want to be here. I don’t think any of us want to – do you want to be here? Like, do you need help, or something, because we’ll let you come with us if you let us leave.”

“Oh, yeah!” Tim says, brightly, holding Bernard out at arm’s length and beaming at him. “Do you need our help getting out of here, Bear? Because we can run you away and hide you, or help you reform, or whatever. We’ve done wonders with people way worse than you. Remember Harley Quinn? She’s like 90% fine now!”

“Oh my god, are you as bad as Harley Quinn?” Kyle asks Bernard in horror, while everyone else tries to reassure him that no, obviously not, and Bernard wonders who exactly they’re going to blame the failure of this plan on. He might throw himself out the window, too. (That’s when Batwing crashes through the skylight.)

#look i said something #my writing #fanfic #batman #timber week 2023

[lunehong]

Black Pirates | Three

Modern era robin hood ATEEZ X Undercover spy fem OC

ship : ??? X OC

Genre : slowburn, angst, fluff, enemies to lovers

Synopsis : "The world may be unfair but it does not stop us from changing our own fate."

Kang Sohyun tries to investigate a group of bandits who are causing havoc in all of Korea. As she gets into close contact with them, her view of them slowly starts to change.

"Why do people even hate you?"

"If we worried about what people thought of us, we would've all been in a slump of despair by now." 

Warnings : none

 A/n : If anyone wants to be added to the taglist let me know !

Masterlist , Prologue , Chapter one , Chapter two

CHAPTER 3 

The investigation room was dark, a faint glow from the laptop being the only source of light in the room. Sohyun was skimming through all the information given to her by Mr Kim. She knew that she'd need more sources to piece the vague clues she already had. 

The problem was that everyone was portraying the Black Pirates as the sole villain of the story, trying to find information about them but failing. Sohyun did not know if it was intentional or not but there was not much information about the victims of the Black Pirate attacks. She knew that she needed to dig into the victims more to find a clue on why they were targeted.

Sohyun knew she needed information sources that were unbiased and listed everything about the people she needed to know. The only person she knew that had sources like that was Jongho. She remembered him boasting about how he aced all his projects because he had the most accurate sources to back his research. 

She hacked into Jongho's system, feeling her guilty conscience kicking in. However, she knew she wouldn’t have been able to reveal her true purpose to him anyway. 

Sohyun browsed inside Jongho's system and noted down all the things she thought were of use. 

'Their first attack was robbing the account of a CEO from Seoul National Bank. It was on October 24th of 2018?' 

She searched more about that CEO finding out that he was practically stealing money from people through his business tactics and also got out of a possible murder case without any charges. 

'Interesting. He was deemed not guilty on the 16th of October which was eight days before his account was robbed.'

She started researching more on the victims that got robbed by Black Pirates, finding a common pattern in their attacks. 

'So far they have 12 charges of robbery, attempted murders and small charges here and there but these are just the ones in the police record. However, the way they chose a victim and the time of attack definitely follows a pattern.'

Sohyun had learnt enough to figure out their next attack. She chose not to inform the agency just yet, as it might have a chance at ruining whatever she was planning to do. Even walls have ears and nobody should be trusted with this newly found information. 

The victims chosen were all influential people undoubtedly, but the common case for all of them was that they wronged ordinary citizens in some way and got away with their crimes using money and power. The time of their attack was constant all 12 times - 8 days after the victim got away with their crimes in court. This detail was probably not out in the open as influential people like them hide any record of their crimes.

Sohyun put up Jongho's firewall again, back to how it was. She made a mental note to check the news and read newspapers more often. She might also take help from an informant in the agency team as well, to keep an eye on new possible targets the Black Pirates could go for next. 

Jongho was conflicted.

On one hand, he could see that his best friend was completely fine, laughing and chatting away with her classmates and would probably greet him with the same enthusiasm if he approached her then, like the cheerful person she usually was. On the other hand, there was a nagging feeling creeping up on him telling him that something was wrong and his best friend was probably hiding something. However, it was just a feeling and he hadn't seen any suspicious behaviour from the girl as of yet, so he shook it off thinking he was just being paranoid.

Kang Sohyun was a very precious person to Jongho, even though he never admitted that in front of her. She had been the only other person to be able to break his walls down and become as comforting as his own family was. He had always felt the need to protect her, even though he knew she was perfectly capable of doing so herself. He always wished her happiness and prosperity in life and hated seeing her sad.

Little did he know that Sohyun wasn't what he thought her to be and she had always managed to hide things from him throughout their years of friendship.

Jongho wasn't conflicted anymore, he was just confused. 

It had been a few days and Sohyun looked completely normal throughout. Then why did he feel like she was out of it?

Just as he was thinking this, Sohyun approached him.

"Hey Ho-yah, up for lunch today?"

"Yeah of course! I would've gone to Treasure anyway."

They were walking in comfortable silence when suddenly Jongho spoke up.

"You know, you could've just told me you were a member of the Black Pirates. It's not like I would stop being your friend because of that..."

Sohyun looked at him as if he grew a third eye on his forehead.

"Oh no! Looks like my well-kept secret is out! What do I do now? Should I shoot you and leave you to die in a ditch?" Sohyun said with a serious face but her lips were fighting to quirk upwards.

Jongho looked at her, unamused.

"I'm not joking Hyun-ah. You've been out of it for a while now. It seems like you're hiding something from me. Am I not trustworthy enough, even after all these years?"

Sohyun stopped walking and took Jongho's hand in hers, halting his steps.

"You think I don't trust you? I trust you with my life, Jongho-yah. I have no idea why you think I was distracted or hiding something from you but I'm not."

Jongho tried to find any speck of nervousness or uncertainty in Sohyun's voice but she seemed sincere to him. 

 "Plus, member of the Black Pirates? Me? Seriously, Ho-yah your imagination knows no bounds! I gotta tell this to Song and the others so that they never let you live this down!" Sohyun retracted her hand, only to smack him upside the head.

Jongho chuckled at it, realising how foolish that sounded. He chastised himself in his head for being paranoid for no reason. Sohyun reassured him and joked about his words just like she always did, lightening up the mood.

What he failed to notice was the sigh of relief Sohyun let out when she was successful at changing the topic.

"The last one to reach Treasure pays for the both of us!" Sohyun shouted before running off.

"Hey! I thought you were paying!" Jongho took off as well even though he was startled at first and tried to catch up to Sohyun while laughing at each other's childish antics.

Next chapter

Tags : @wooyoos @jwnghyuns @starillusion13

#ateez au #ateez fanfic #ateez wooyoung #ateez san #ateez mingi #ateez yunho #ateez yeosang #ateez hongjoong #ateez seonghwa #ateez angst #ateez #ateez fluff #ateez imagines #ateez x oc #ateez jongho #ateez scenarios #ateez fic #kpop fanfic #kpop imagines #kpop scenarios #kpop fic #kpop fanfiction #kpop fluff #kpop angst

[churchydraws]

Head full of Celestial Siblings Show AU have basic timeline of events (not many dates mentioned before July 16 event cuz uhhh idk)

Okay so it all starts the same as canon probably does, Moon makes seperate bodies for himself and Sun, and they finally get to be brothers. Some time later, maybe half a month either Moon, while doing some maintenance on himself and Sun and notices stray code starting to develop into a new AI and safely removes them and starts working on coding them a little more properly, OR he just decides "hey what if I made two new AI to see if I can" and does exactly that. Haven't decided which of these will be what happens.

Anyways these new AI are eventually finished and put in backup Daycare Attendant bodies (which are colorless and in Night Time mode by default. All 5 siblings have rays and can shift colors to their siblings color). Time passes and eventually the older AI, now named Eclipse (he named himself!), wakes up and activates. Eclipse becomes the secondary Daytime Attendant, although he also patrols with Moon. He's kinda hot headed and kinda freaks out the kids at first but pretty quickly adjusts. He usually keeps an eye out for trouble and helps calm down any fights between the children (which he learned from Sun!). He's the one that tends to deal with adults that attempt to get physically aggressive, and enjoys a good fight. He can be just as big of an asshole as canon SAMS Eclipse, it just wouldn't be directed towards his brothers. He can be very quick to anger. Do not let him play Octodad or I am Bread, the computer will not survive.

The AI that will be Lunar has yet to wake up and activate.

Time passes. Eclipse decides it wants to try its hand at programming and makes a very basic and (for now) non sentient AI. He gives it the basic Daycare Attendant programming and some potential self learning capabilities. Later, Sun is infected with a an AI ghost thing that is yet another incarnation of William Afton cuz this bitch just will not stay dead. Eclipse's AI project goes missing, having been taken by the Afton AI, who took over Sun's body while he was "asleep" and charging (Sun notices his battery is slightly lower then it should be the next morning but doesn't question it). It begins to work on the AI and adds features to it that William added to his animatronics (you know how Circus Baby would count how many kids were in a room and how she got Elizabeth when she was alone? Stuff like that. [Elizabeth is no longer possessing Circus Baby at this point in time. Most of Afton's victims have moved on and not longer possess the animatronics])

July starts. The stolen AI wakes up, and the Afton AI, deciding to call it Bloodmoon, immediately begins training it. Said training involved simulations that involved stealth, luring, and killing. Bloodmoon often failed these training, either failing to kill a target or immediately killing all entities in the simulations out of frustration from not knowing what to do. Each failure resulted in an "electric" shock and other abuse.

July 16. The Afton AI prepares another test for Bloodmoon. Bloodmoon, at this point incredibly stressed, exhausted, scared, and angry, lashes out. It (accidentally) takes control of Sun, and breaks a child's arm and badly injures another. It eventually retreats back into Sun's mind, and immediately panics because it believes it will be punished. It lashes out at the Afton AI to stall him and begins to flee. It eventually "slips" out of Sun's mind and body entirely, and rolls a natural 20 on luck and falls into a prototype Daycare Attendant model. It freaks out, which attracts the attention of a few human staff workers, who go to investigate. Bloodmoon, already scared and angry, lashes out at the closest human and injures them. Bloodmoon runs off, although not without getting jabbed with a taser, and eventually makes their way to the area where the Van Ending is in the game. They run out, and manage to sneak inside a truck, which drives away from the Pizzaplex soon after. When the truck gets to its destination, Bloodmoon is discovered, and immediately attacked with a taser (again). Bloodmoon bites their attacker, almost biting off their hand. This is the first time Bloodmoon sees and tastes real blood. More humans show up, and Bloodmoon quickly makes their escape, and hides out in an abandoned building.

Big ol time skip. March 24 arrives, Sun and Moon both decide to start a YouTube channel and call it The Sun and Moon Show. Events proceed as normal. Slight difference in the 48th episode, Moon notices difference in "Sun's" behavior, and calls him out on it by saying "brother." In a slightly annoyed but disappointed tone. Eclipse reveals himself, although his name is not mentioned out loud, and explains that Sun told it he wasn't feeling well mentally and asked if it could fill in for him, which he agreed to, but decided to have a little fun with it and shifted his colors to match Sun. Moon explains that any other time he might be slightly amused but is currently more worried due to Sun's unusual behavior. Eclipse asks why Moon hasn't told him about this, and Moon responds that he knows Eclipse has been busy on personal projects and checking on the kid ("the kid" being Lunar, after which Moon asks if they've arrived yet, to which Eclipse responds with a negative and ponders why they haven't since he himself didn't take as long a time). Eclipse requests that Moon keeps it the loop with what's happening with Sun, saying "he's my brother too, you know."

Episode 51, the entity in Sun reveals itself! And this little scene happens:

Moon demands a name from them, and it responds that some people have been it Eclipse, and follows that up by saying it's "Much too loud and flashy, and I can't very well take someone else's name, can I?" It then says it much prefers the name Violet, stating that it’s “such a nice shade of purple.” Moon very quickly excuses himself to call someone. He dials a number, and when the call is picked up, asks Eclipse to come to the Daycare quickly. This is the first time Eclipse’s name is said in context to the character. Eclipse arrives, and both him and Moon confront Violet. Events go the mostly the same as the canon episode.

Most events proceed as they do in canon, with Eclipse popping in every now and then and showing up for (most) major lore videos. Events like the time Sun and Moon are trapped in the Backrooms now include Eclipse being trapped with them. Eclipse goes with them to Golden Freddy and attempts to fist fight Golden Freddy when he turns Moon into a plushie. Eclipse is not present for the fight Moon and Sun have or the Wither Storm. He is also not present for the interview. He is present for when Roxy dumps Sun and at one point tells her to basically fuck off and not talk to him (he later feels bad because he knows it's not entirely her fault but hasn't found the right moment to apologize). There's other stuff but I'll have to rewatch some videos to get a better idea of how I want it to go.

Skipping to the episode where Moon is tampered with, Sun and Eclipse call Glamrock Freddy to help figure out what's wrong with Moon. Both Sun and Eclipse get a ping right as they're about to enter Moon's room, and it's revealed that their 4th brother is finally waking up (this is revealed by Eclipse exasperatingly asking why the kid is choosing RIGHT NOW to be born, which causes Glamrock Freddy to ask if he's "pregnant", which Eclipse responds by shouting no, he's not, why would Freddy even ask it that). After a small argument, Sun eventually tells Eclipse to check on their new sibling so they don't wake up alone while he and Freddy check Moon, to which Eclipse agrees to.

To quickly explain how I think pregnancy works for the animatronics, you know the movie Robots? It's like that. Two parents will build a body for their child, while also making a copy of their own code and separating from themselves to let it grow. Eventually these copies will finish growing and will be removed and the two copies from both parents will be merged and put into the body. There's no physical changes to either parents during this. Headaches are a common experience during this process. This isn't the only way new bots can be made obviously, they can also be made by a single person (or robot) and then placed into a body. What makes Eclipse, Lunar, and Bloodmoon/Red different is that while they're young, they were programmed to be adults. They also have the Daycare Attendant code as the base of their programming, rather then a mix of Sun and Moon's coding, so they're their siblings, not their kids, although one could technically say Red is Violet's child, though both would not be happy about it.

Headcanon dump over, the episode would proceed as it does in canon with the new AI revealing itself to Sun and calling itself Lilac, but would probably be followed up with another episode showing Eclipse welcoming Lunar (who also named himself) to the world and have some cute bonding.

For Lunar's mannerisms, he's much more sure of himself, although he's more confident in his ability to work well with his brothers and feels like he's not as good when he's working alone, though all 3 of his siblings would say otherwise. He's the secondary Night Time Attendant, and he's pretty well liked by the kids (his soft appearance helps with that, he actually asked for that along with his colors when the upgrades were added). He's friendly and energetic in a relaxed way if that makes any sense. His chubby appearance makes some adults think he's a pushover but he very much is not, as he has kicked out parents causing scenes and even two Daycare Security staff for saying things like slurs or just generally being unfit for working at a Daycare. He's not afraid to throw down, he just won't like doing it. Being passive aggressive is more his style. He can also be pretty manipulative, like Eclipse can, but he rarely shows off that particular skill. Like Sun, he's very smart emotionally, and is very observant like Moon and Eclipse are.

To the episode where Bloodmoon is mentioned for the first time it mostly proceeds as normal and Lilac explains everything to Sun, Eclipse, and Lunar, although when Sun asks where Bloodmoon even came from, Lilac tells him to ask Eclipse. Eclipse is visibly and audibly confused and demands to know why Lilac thinks he would know about Bloodmoon since it had never heard of them until that moment. Lilac tells it that it would know because it made Bloodmoon in the first place and Violet just finished the rest. Eclipse remembers his AI project and puts two and two together. Horrified and very pissed off he demands to know where Bloodmoon is (barely correcting himself before he can say "brother") and Lilac basically says the same thing canon Lunar does.

Now onto what's going on now, things would mostly play out the same, but in the episode where Sun and Moon are taken over, Eclipse and Lunar are present and attempt to comfort Sun and Moon. They hug for a while before Moon tells them both to leave the Daycare and the Pizzaplex entirely so they don't risk getting hurt by Violet and Lilac. They both begrudgingly agree, and Eclipse promises to do whatever it takes to save them. They both leave, and the episode proceeds as it does in canon.

Now, the Eclipse and Lunar Show does still happen, but it's under the explanation that Sun and Moon aren't feeling well so Eclipse and Lunar are taking care of it for them. This is obviously not true but they're kinda desperate to have some normalcy. Lunar is pretty low energy for the first episode, and is sad because it was a game Moon had been wanting to play, and Eclipse attempts to make him feel better by saying Lunar can play it first and then tell Moon if it was good or not when he gets better.

I'm not sure what I want to do for Bloodmoon's first appearance, if I want Lilac to be the one that meets him or if I want Lunar to be the one that finds him, mostly because I haven't fully developed Lilac and I'm not sure if I want them to betray Violet or not. I'm leaning more on Lunar finding him while wandering the city, though he would ultimately fail in fully catching up with Bloodmoon who very easily slips away since they've been living on the streets for months now and know a lot of good hiding spots and the beast ways to lose pursuers. The plan is to have Eclipse and Lunar finally track Bloodmoon down, and after a scuffle, have them both ask them to help save their brothers.

Onto Bloodmoon themself, or Red as they will prefer to be called much later on, they're very aggressive due to the abuse they've been through and the bloodlust coding the Violet added to them. They get headaches often because their Daycare Attendant protocols often conflict with the code Violet gave them. Their pain receptors are also damaged to to having been struck by a taser, so they often feel random jolts of pain for no particular reason (they end up relating to Moon because of this). Seeing blood in general causes their code to go haywire and can send them into a frenzy. Tasting blood makes it worse, it's like an addiction for them and they hate it. Their Daycare programming thankfully protects children and animals from their violent tendencies (something Violet was planning on fixing but never got the chance to) but adults are very much on the table. And menu. They have in fact eaten a person, though it was just an arm and they couldn't keep it down anyways. They've had multiple negative interactions with humans and they refuse to trust humans even after they start staying with the brothers for long time because of it. They have some damages to their body, and although they've managed to fix some things themself they have a bullet hole in their left leg and two in their back. Thankfully they didn't hit anything major and Bloodmoon was able to fish the bullets out, but they couldn't repair the actual holes. They're also incredibly filthy and the paint on their legs has started to fade. They hang out with cats a lot and even steal or hunt food for their feline friends. This started when they caught a pigeon for a street cat with an injured leg, cats just started to gravitate towards them after that.

Once the whole business with Violet is done they actually slip away and go back to the streets, although the siblings quickly track them down and bring them back because Lunar didn't like that they were out there alone and without a proper way to repair themself if they got hurt. Bonding with them was a very long and slow process, but it was quickly discovered that they enjoyed soft and warm things so the siblings used blankets and pillows as peace offering. Sun and Moon don't hang out as often as Eclipse and Lunar since they're both seeing a therapist that Golden Freddy suggested ("You two seriously need to talk to a therapist, and I happen to know one! Besides, from what you're both telling me, you have some common ground with her anyway!"), so it's mostly the younger brothers trying to help Red adjust to living in a house, or building, in this case. When they finally manage to convince Red to let them clean them and take them to whatever machine there is in Parts and Service that takes care of that sort of thing, it's a little alarming how different they look when they aren't covered in muck and dried blood. Unfortunately, it also causes a lot of their paint to wash off as well, but they figure they can repaint them later. They give Red some clean clothes and make a proper bed which they instantly ruin by turning it into a messy blanket nest. But hey, they're smiling now!

Things start getting better and easier after that, Red and Eclipse have a heart to heart talk that ends with Red engaging a hug (very rare), they get the junk that Violet added to their code mostly removed and the bloodlust coding numbed to the point where it's barely there, and they start to come out of their shell more and more. They're pretty quiet and don't talk a whole lot for a while, but while they still are quiet they start to talk with full sentences more. They (along with Eclipse and Lunar) also start to see the therapist Sun and Moon have. Much much much later in the future they eventually take on a Daycare job, where they specialize in watching over disabled and neurodivergent children. They have their own room for this purpose, dubbed The Quiet Room, and it's full of soft things and various stim toys, and well as some books and drawing supplies. They still aren't fully trusting of adults, but it's much better then before when they would snarl and lash out at (but never actually hitting) staff as way of telling them to fuck off, as well as sometimes verbally telling them to fuck off. They'll still let human staff know when they don't want to interact, it's just not as violent.

Also the cats that Red was friends with on the streets are let into the Pizzaplex by Red which causes a huge scene, but eventually it all gets solved and the cats are checked by vets and adopted out, with the exception of the cat Red caught the pigeon for, she stays with them as a sort of emotional support animal.

Some of this will probably change once I flesh more shit out but for now there's the timeline/synopsis of the Celestial Siblings Show AU

#Sun and moon show #the sun and moon show #celestial siblings show au #celestial siblings show au red #the sun and moon show eclipse #sun and moon show eclipse #the sun and moon show lunar #sun and moon show lunar #sundrop #fnaf sun #sun fnaf #fnaf sundrop #sundrop fnaf #moondrop #fnaf moondrop #moondrop fnaf #fnaf moon #moon fnaf #churchy talks #tw abuse #celestial Siblings Show AU violet #celestial Siblings Show au Lilac #ask to tag #Red is probably the most drastically different from canon. they became my baby whoops

[yjwhatif]

RANDOM NOTES FOR TARGETS…

This is super late but I wanted to get it out before reading the final issue…

#4

ONE...

gar: why didn't she come to me?

cassie: c'mon gar. why do you think? you're her ex.

tim just awkwardly moves away from that subject: annnyway...

I always love a reference to the under-explored ill-fated romance of Cassie and Tim… rip WonderBird!

TWO...

its nice to see all the love ollie is getting whilst he's in his coma - in past seasons he's usually the one receiving all the criticism for the decisions he makes... in s1 he was the one to tell clone!roy about the watchtower, s2 original!roy hates him for not having saved him from lex/the light and there was the added guilt ollie felt for all the tragedies that seemed to have befallen those he was mentor to, then in s3 dinah was hating on him for going along with batman and resigning from the justice league. but now in this comic series weve seen cissie clearly care about him, lian, perdita, dinah - its all very nice to see.

THREE...

i had a random thought regarding the squad animal choices... raptor squad were in charge of observing and executing a targeted attack on Henchy - like a bird praying on its meal then flying down to strike. gorilla squad go straight into their attack - big and loud as a gorilla would if it needs to... also, I did a bit of googling on gorilla behaviour and it said they aren't actually as aggressive as they are often represented to be and unless they absolutely have to, they will make themselves look as threatening as possible by making a lot of noise to intimidate their enemy before actually attacking -- which is interesting, and made me think, you could say gorilla squads job is to make a lot of noise and direct the enemies toward them while mganns alpha squad sneak in undetected to find Perdita... I may be reaching with that interpretation and it might not actually make sense but that's just what came to my mind. then there's mongoose squad who are the backup team, quick, agile and the surprise cavalry you dont expect who pack a pretty heavy punch, the mongoose may be small and not look like much but they are capable of taking on a cobra and winning. (ill be honest this point made way more sense in my head and now ive written it down it does not.)

FOUR...

Match is back! i do really love how this show doesnt forget about things of previous seasons - like, in s4 when dick says bibbo got security cameras specifically in response to his abduction by the kroloteans back in s2 - they didnt need to give a reason for the cctv, but by having one it keeps everything tightly knit together and shows that nothings wasted - even with more minor characters... to me its the same with match being brought back here - any other show would have introduced match in s1 then forgotten about him and never bothered mentioning him again - but not yj - things might not get talked about constantly but that definitely doesn’t mean they’ve been forgotten… that’s why anything is possible with yj.

FIVE…

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THE ARRIVAL OF MONGOOSE SQUAD! That whole two page spread is epic and looks amazing. It honestly gives off the same amount of energy as it would have had it been animated - when I first read these pages they got me so pumped for the rest - it gave me the same energy as the arrival of the heroes in Summit. It’s also great to see that all the outsiders are getting to play some part in this story - something that was obviously very lacking in s4 - I love seeing how everyone’s powers are translated into the printed format - massive kudos to Chris jones and Jason wright for crafting that - it’s so brilliant!!

SIX…

The “call Brandon!” sticky note on Barbara’s fridge - do we know anyone called Brandon or is it just a nod to Brandon viette? My guess is the latter but I thought I’d still put it out there.

SEVEN…

Cassie vs Devastation - so cool… Cassie being face slammed against the floor by devastation - so not cool! Ouch dude - that has got to hurt!!!

EIGHT…

I like how they show the broken comm signal as oracle tries to warn Conner about the kryptonite - it works really well at building the tension in conjunction with the imagery of match collapses atop of Conner… it certainly had me at the edge of my seat when I first read it.

NINE…

I’m gonna be honest, when I first saw metallo I thought it was another superboy clone situation but lex had crafted this one into a cyborg this time - he does kinda looks like Conner… it wasn’t until I read the next issue I realised he was someone else, then I realised he does actually say his name in #4 and he obviously wouldn’t be a Kryptonian clone because he’s literally fuelled by kryptonite… so yeah, in short I’m an idiot and I don’t know anything about metallo but he does look pretty cool.

TEN…

I really love how they colour the memories, there’s this soft, almost fuzziness to them which really emphasises the fact that these are moments of the past being remembered in comparison to the main present day plot. It’s a nice touch.

ELEVEN…

Ollie really went through some injuries as he kept perdita safe - though he never once stops protecting her despite all the bumps and bruises and arrow impalements - it’s great seeing their bond grow as things keep escalating.

#5

TWELVE…

I really love that first page of perdita walking aimlessly through complete darkness demanding answers - it’s eerie and mysterious - I can totally imagine it animated and her words echoing in this hollow void. Love it.

THIRTEEN…

Virgil being squad leader for Mongoose Squad is so cool - it’s about time we saw him properly in a leadership role where he’s actually respected instead of being the joke of the group because he can’t think of what to do next. Obviously we’re still not actually seeing him give specific strategical instructions here, as the goal is just pick an evil robots and take it down, but it still shows a lot of growth for him since s2. Back then he was always so eager to be a hero capable of taking charge and guiding others towards victory, the problem was that eagerness always got the better of him and prevented him from figuring out the strategies needed when under pressure. Though his moment of leadership in Illusion of Control proved he was certainly ready to take on that responsibility - he just needed confidence in his ability to believe that - it’s good to see he’s finally got that. You go Virgil!

FOURTEEN…

I’m slightly concerned that robot just broke Bart’s back… I’m sure it didn’t and even if it did do some kind of damage, I’m sure Bart will probably just heal as he always does - but I’m still concerned about the boy! Also, I don’t know if it’s just a case of the narrative needing Bart out of the fight because he could potentially deal with a lot more than the plot wants him to, or if he’s just genuinely being clumsy, because he seems to be getting injured a lot recently. Bart you either need to pay more attention to your surroundings or just stay away from green things - they never do you any good!

FIFTEEN…

I’m gonna guess Shimmer melted Courtney’s staff is probably definitely not a good thing!

SIXTEEN…

Well Luthor certainly did a number on mr Juan Cordero, didn’t he… I mean, JEEZ! Honestly, the more we see of these metas Luthors taken under his wing (manipulated) the more I’m like - thank goodness for roy getting kicked off the team and tagging along with the runaway’s that time because they seriously dodged a bullet by cutting ties with lex when they did… imagine the way things might have turned out had that not happened!

SEVENTEEN…

“When I found out I was a metahuman with self healing abilities I figured everyone would treat me like a total freak.” Dude, self healing is not a freakish power - it’s actually a pretty damn cool power - one that would only be known about if someone either saw you heal or if you told them about it - so if you’re issues with image then you’re pretty golden. it’s also not really something you can lose control of unless you’re purposely getting yourself into scraps and scrapes. It’s really not that bad… ya wanna know what definitely is freakish - BECOMING A FRICKIN ROBOT WITH ONLY YOUR FACE LEFT GRAFTED ONTO IT!! THATS INSANE!!

EIGHTEEN…

“Scarab, we are NOT nuking the building, and I am NOT having this conversation!” Blue arguing with scarab is always a joy to witness - I’ve missed that!

NINETEEN…

I see you looking over at perdita roy… now tell me what is the situation with these two - are they together or not?! There are vibes and I have wanted answers since the first issue!! GIVE THEM TO ME!!

TWENTY…

I like how vertigo’s power is illustrated - the wobbly layers look really cool!

TWENTY ONE…

Poor perdita, Will just drops her catatonic form on the floor so he can worship queen bee - where’s Ollie the human shield when ya need him… oh ye, he’s in a coma.

TWENTY TWO…

So, it is cool to see queen bee and her power finally being used to cause havoc with one of the teams and for it to not only be the boys who are affected by her but also Violet who is of course also attracted to women - that’s all cool… I’m just like - I really want queen bees powers to be used to reveal a character’s sexuality that hasn’t previously been made canon in the show - I just think it would make for a great moment… like with Ed and Bart, who were unjustly denied their s3 reveal (I will never not be over that!), I wanna see them not being affected by her power, or alternatively, any of the female characters that are speculated about by the fandom, like zatanna, Raquel, traci, it would be cool seeing any of them being affected. It would be a really simple way - especially for the more minor characters who aren’t able to get a lot of plot time, to reveal this kind of information to the audience without needing to say a word or spend much time on it… but that’s just my opinion.

TWENTY THREE…

And once again everyone is dead… well, 50% of everyone… I’m sure they’re not staying dead… they never do… unless their names are Wally, Tula or Tomar-Re… The question is how will things be reversed? Is it another martian mind trick or could halo heal them or something else entirely? Guess we will find out soon…

The one thing I’ll add about this situation is that they really need to consider pulling back on the fakeout deaths… unless they surprise us all by actually committing to the kills - which isn’t gonna happen - we’ve had a lot of death fakeouts recently and the more they happen the less effective the moments becomes… compare the emotional response of this moment to when Kaldur killed Artemis back in s2 - with the s2 moment theres shock, confusion, disbelief - nothing like it had happened before so you truly believed things were real, up until the truth was revealed and with it you’re still feeling a whole load of emotions… with this moment, other than the initial oh no that’s not good, I don’t really feel anything towards it because I don’t expect them to stay dead for long. And that’s all I’ll say about that.

TWENTY FOUR…

Violets little bashful wave at queen bee is kinda adorable… while whatever Roy’s face is doing is definitely not!

TWENTY FIVE…

Ollie: that’s me. Always hogging the limelight.

Merlyn: ah yes. Lime. Green. So clever.

Ollie: wasn’t actually attempting a pun there, but whatever.

This moment should not be as funny as it is - but it is! I love it!

TWENTY SIX…

Perdita high-fiving Ollie after taking down Merlyn is a great moment! They’re so adorable together and I love seeing perdita being a happy/giddy 10 year old when she can be - her little face and excited jump for joy at Ollies proposal to Dinah is way too cute!!

TWENTY SEVEN…

I am now very intrigued as to how long Ollie and Dinah have been engaged and if they ever actually got married - because if they have been married this whole time, then that makes ollies walking out with Batman in s3 very bloody awkward… I shouldn’t laugh, but there’s just something a little bit funny about Batman breaking up their marriage… I’m sure that didn’t happen… or at least I hope that didn’t happen… 😬

TWENTY EIGHT…

Some random prediction I guess for the final issue… they’ve established this engagement so I’d presume the wedding or some sort of celebration will take place to close out the final memory. I think Wally’s gonna show up somewhere - probably in the final memory - and considering this is all taking place on November 11th, which is Wallys birthday, I’m gonna say they’ll be some sort of anniversary gathering/acknowledgment of that fact. In terms of how the fight against the robot and queen bee is gonna conclude - I have no idea - same goes for how perditas gonna be saved… in all honesty, the only thing I’m truly hoping for is some confirmation on the relationship status of roy and perdita! (I don’t ask for much)

TWENTY NINE…

Anyway, I’ve really enjoyed Target and will be sad to see it end - here’s hoping for this not to be the final chapter! There is honestly so much story yet to be explored in this universe and I hope whoever at dc/WB realises it’s just as worth making as all the other stuff they’ve greenlit!

#renewyoungjustice

THIRTY…

If you’ve stuck around this far, thanks for reading!

LB

#renewyoungjustice #young justice #yj #yj targets spoilers #young justice targets #my random thoughts #young justice phantoms #young justice outsiders #renew young justice #long post #perdita vladek #cassie sandsmark #conner kent #oliver queen #bart allen #virgil hawkins #roy harper #not my pictures

[limeinaltime]

Since Episode 2 is out it’s remaster time babeyyyy

I’ve honestly wanted to rework my OC AU for a while and the characters were in need of some de-edgifying and tighter writing, so while it’s still hideously incomplete because I just watched the episode and might still be in shock, I do have things to share. So. Many. Things.

- The Internecion Drones come from a phase JCJ had where they got really experimental with the nanites, and accidentally made one that allowed the IDs and all the other drones that were built at the time to “age” aka grow in size as time passed.

- The IDs started out as war machines, but JCJ got boycotted for supporting war and building powerful machines and were like “lmao what war machines”, leading to the IDs getting tossed into the basement and recycled into other workers, who would eventually become the Murder Drones

- X is still the oldest Murder Drone in the AU/OC cast, and was basically a result of JC Jenson fucking around too much and finding out. As the first drone to be outfitted with the experimental nanites, she is pretty much a war veteran and after the IDs were recalled and repurposed, she was experimented on for a bit before the remaining IDs were bought as head of security at the mansion shown in the episode.

- While X, R and S were heads of security as well as the wardens for the Workers at the mansion, Q was the sole head of medical and in charge of making sure the rich people didn’t have to “waste money” on repairs.

- Several other pseudo-IDs (The Projects) were bought by the family for added efficiency and because they looked cool. 7, Hotel, Iota were among them. They were kind of assholes to the then-Workers because they were “replaceable”, but noticably did it less after X was alerted of this.

- The security staff weren’t allowed to form any form of empathy towards the Worker Drones, but X ended up taking them under her wings and teaching them things and treating them kindly in her own aloof, . This harmless intent is what gets her exiled later on.

- When the WDs were repurposed into Murder Drones, X and R were still put in charge of training them, as they were the most deployed of their assembly line. S was more of a warden/monitor and Q remained on repair duty.

- Core Drones are a derivative of the Internecion Drones specifically built for handling extreme environments such as near the cores of planets where all the valuable materials form, because what’s more similar to an active battlefield than bumping elbows with the burning core of a planet.

- They had the power to re-direct energy/electricity to help in clearing and dispelling obstacles and rubble, and grew at a smaller and slower rate than the IDs (similar to that of humans, but only slightly quicker) due to the nanites in their bodies.

- Eko’s AI was hand-made by her mother to save her from being wiped out, but an quirk with her system causes her to have more internal energy than a normal Core Drone, resulting in the blue electricity I often draw her with. She can now release it in controlled bursts that can blast back or temporarily paralyze targets based on the strength of the blast, or she can channel it throughout her body for an quick boost (or a convenient light source, like a glowstick). She also has the Absolute Solver, but mostly uses it for her medical/repair work.

- She also doubles as a forensic since Core Drones were also responsible for “disposing”/consuming the fallen bodies of their fellow Worker Drones as an energy source after identifying the cause o death and sending reports back to the humans.

- Eko’s mom, Indy, has two different fates now. In HPE, she survives this shutdown by accidentally discovering a way to prune that kill switch in her AI but not having the time to do the same for her kin, and beforehand had a thing with the teacher guy who vouches for them to be let in (and convinces the bunker that no, they are not robo-zombies take a chill pill y’all). In my personal AU, Indy does get wiped out but is able to prune the kill switch from her daughter’s AI before uploading it to Eko’s new body.

- Poor girl got Carrie-ed so bad in high school. There’s prom-related trauma involved as well.

-Eko and Khan’s relationship is way less messed up up, and is more well-meant but misguided on Khan’s part and more tired but reluctantly understanding on Eko’s. He does genuinely care about Eko as much as everyone else in the bunker, and sent her away to spare her from the bullying that led to a lot of pressure and complaints from the other parents after the prom incident. The two are much more amicable now, although tense due to Eko’s reasonable frustration at Khan caving in and cutting her teenhood short, but she mostly thinks he should focus more on the daughter he has instead of trying to form a parasocial father/daughter dynamic with her.

- Uzi and Eko’s relationship is a lot less bitter and has better communication, and Eko gets Uzi enough to know how to not completely set off Feral Teen Mode™, acting as her sort-of guardian in Khan’s absence and having to serve as a stand-in for all the life experiences the Doormans are missing out on. Uzi probably has the most respect for Eko out of anyone in the bunker due to Eko’s “unflappable, sarcastic, retired anime protagonist who has seen some shit” personality and godlike sharp-shooting skills, and Eko totally wasn’t the start of Uzi’s bi disaster awakening and she totally doesn’t have immense respect and admiration that she’s subconsciously perceived as a super secret senpai crush on Eko what are you talking about that’s so stupid lmao.

- M, E and D were also butlers as well, and M was well-liked due to his charisma, general charming outwards personality and impeccable ability to fake it til’ he makes it. It was this that gave the company the idea to give him the shape-shifting nanites, to test how far he could push that ability. The answer is pretty damn far.

- O was a performer/dancer before she was turned into an MD and put on a happy facade to hide how miserable she was. She used to be friends with N and V, but was killed and replaced as one of the chosen squad leaders by J after she started regaining fragments of her memories as a Worker.

- Mae is an orphan but didn’t have good parents, and has the same thing going on as Doll. The two aren’t sisters or even related anymore, but still have a close bond and hang out when Doll isn’t with Lizzy or the other cheerleaders. Mae isn’t a popular student due to her circumstances and air of mystery, but she’s still very sweet and uses the Absolute Solver abilities she has to repair things and to tend to a glacial cave garden she found while exploring the bunker.

- In comparison to the mechanical bugs Doll has associated with her, Mae has mechanical butterflies that hang around her and sometimes bring her things.

#murder drones #oc #Hell. Pain Even. (Murder Drones Edition) #deus ex murder machina #soup speaks

[syrma-sensei]

Moon's Scarab → Ch. 3: It's supposed to be easy.

Marc Spector x Layla El-Faouly.

pre-canon fic; based on the Marvel comics and Disney's series Moon Knight.

warning: violence, cursing, angst, smut maybe in the future (?), the majority of spoken Arabic in this story is in Egyptian dialect.

taglist: @kesskirata @zinzinina @urlocallsimp

tell me if you wanna be added to Moon's Scarab taglist!

previous chapter | series masterlist | next chapter

Marc Spector

Marc Spector has been in shitty situations more than he can count on his fingers. But this, this... this is an entirely whole new level of shitty situation since he's taken the cape of Moon Knight. Marc is still in utter shock of what just happened; his task for the night was supposed to be super simple; him breaking into the building, beating the shit out of the man with the name Mr. Profile — which is a ridiculously stupid alias in his opinion — after he and Duchamp have worked their asses off to locate him to interrogate him and gather some information they're in need of, kill him, then leave. His plan, didn't include, by any fucking chance, him dragging an unconscious girl all the way back here, and on his fucking shoulder, carrying her like a potato sac.

“Fuck,” An indignant hiss escapes Marc's mouth as he rubs the shimmering string of sweat off of his temple with the heel of his palm. Marc checks the stitches he just did on the kid's head where Mr. Profile left a wound with the butt of his gun before throwing her unconscious and bleeding on Marc in order to distract him and run away; which he successfully did.

Marc clicks his tongue, tearing his elongated gaze away from the sleeping girl on his bed.

“She isn't supposed to be here,”

Marc cranes his neck up, glancing at the tall figure of his god, and sighs, “Yeah, I know.”

“Then why is she lying on your bed, Marc?”

The latter almost, just almost, rolls his eyes, but he clenches his teeth instead, “Need to ask her some questions, okay?”

“Even if she does know something, you should've never brought her here.”

“She was there for a reason,” Marc mutters, pinching the bridge of his nose, “And I wanna know why.”

Of course Marc needs to ask her some questions, because he knows for a fact she was there for a reason, given the sudden circumstance he had to deal with there. Marc didn't have on mind that he'd face kids — fucking kids, when he went to interrupt a smuggling deal in order to capture Mr. Profile. The plan was simple and was strategized to take both sides by surprise and to get rid of them without much a mess. However, he did sense something was off about the bunch of kids he knocked out before arriving at the target room; they were way too amateur to be in charge of securing the place, but he didn't dwell on it much, for he'd encountered criminals who hired kids before. That's why he bothered to drag one of them all the way here, thinking it'd be easy to intimidate her and coax the information he's in need of from her. Plus, he couldn't leave an injured girl in such place like that, the thing his god wouldn't actually understand.

“What if she's indeed one of them, hmm?” Khonshu enunciates, his baritone voice mocking, “Are you going to reveal your real face to her?”

Marc sneers, “They already saw my face,”

Khonshu stomps the heel of his moon-shaped sceptre on the ground slightly, “And ruin every discreet measure you have taken to maintain a low profile, as you put it.”

Marc gazes at Khonshu, unamused, “What I meant by keeping low profile is not to use the face of Moon Knight unless it's necessary, so we don't attract the attention of higher authorities.”

Even though no expression can be read on Khonshu's face, Marc knows he's sulking, “Look, if you want me to eradicate The Committee, you're gonna let me do it my way.”

Khonshu chuckles, “You know you're way too insolent for an avatar talking in such way to the god who's snatched you from clutches of death, Marc Spector.”

Marc glowers at Khonshu for a moment, before lolling his head down a tad. Here he goes again, reminding him of why he's still alive until now. Marc doesn't forget that, he never will, that's why he's doing all of this to begin with; trying to repaying his debt to the moon god. But as always, he doesn't make it easy for him, never.

“Anyway, was it truly necessary to bring that here?” Marc points at the statue of Sekhmet, sitting elegantly, even though the circumstances is any but that, on at table Marc has set up for it, “Guess, that what's supposed to remain there, Khonshu,”

The latter's tone appears to be amused, “I couldn't let them have it.”

Marc arches an eyebrow, “Thought you aren't very fond of the other gods.”

“You see, Sekhmet isn't like any other, that's why the gods have determined to banish her, deeming her barbaric actions would draw the humans attention to them.” Marc isn't truly interested in the gods in particular, and his master doesn't speak of them too often, but the sudden eagerness in Khonshu's voice doesn't go unnoticed by him, “She was among the first to defy their absurd decision to abandon humanity,”

“What happened to her?” Marc finds himself ask.

Khonshu lets out a sigh laced with forlornness, “The same fate any god faces when tries to disobey the judgement of the Ennead. She's been sealed in a stone.”

Marc glances at the statue again. It is unique, he must admit, it seems as if it's sculpted just today. The lioness head of the goddess oozes of reverence and viciousness; her expression is calm yet her eyes are glimmering with imperishable wrath. Her setting position is majestic, befitting a dignified goddess like her, she has a remarkable and imposing presence. Small wonder Khonshu speaks so admiringly of her, Marc muses. With the might of Khonshu's given powers, he could carry it along with the girl with ease... well, sort of.

Marc spends the next two hours in taking a quick shower, eating a meal, then reporting what happened to Duchamp, and asks him to do some research on the girl for him. He also wraps the idol with old rags he found in the safehouse; dealing with one god he can do — almost. But dealing with two? No, he doesn't have to. Even if the other is a mere reminiscent of what she'd used to be. She makes him feel suffocated more than Khonshu himself.

As Marc sits behind his laptop at the table again, he hears whimpering emitting from the sprawled girl on his bed. His body instantly reacts and jerks, hands fisting up. But he puts himself at ease again as he stands up and heads slowly towards her, eyeing her stirring and groaning.

The girl grunts and moans, Marc raises an eyebrow, watching her wriggling and moving, til her eyes snap open and her body trembles up. Marc freezes for a moment when his eyes lock with hers. She has a beautiful pair of eyes, he must admit that, dark and wide of a doe's, framed by thick and luscious lashes. For a moment, just a mere moment, he feels ensnared by those two brown orbs, plunged to deep into the dark colour.

His continuous glaring must've scared her as she cowers backwards, pushing her heels on the mattress.

“Where am I?” Is the first thing she asks. “A-And who are you?”

Marc extends his arms, hands firm in a decisive gesture, “You're safe I promise,”

The girl grimaces and winces as she instantly brushes a hand to her freshly stitched wound. Her nose scrunches up, and a moan escapes her lips as she gazes at her fingers.

“I wouldn't touch that if I were you.” Marc warns, “Not if you want it to split open again,”

With a pained scowl, the girl gazes at him, sitting on the edge of the bed, “What am I doing here?”

“About that...” Marc purses his lips in a thin line, pointing his forefinger at her. “Your boss abandoned you, he's the one who caused you this if you remember,” He juts his chin at her injury, “So, I don't think it'll be in use if you lie to me, okay?”

The girl furrows her eyebrows in pure confusion, “What are you talking about?”

“Your boss, Mr. Profile—”

The girl snores, she dares to fucking snore as if he said something funny.

“Mr. Profile... my boss?” She chuckles, shaking her head “Look, mr. secret agent or whatever, you got this all wro—” The girl's eyes flit momentarily to the covered statue and her eyes widen. She darts towards it, and fumbles to unwrap it, before even Marc can block her, he gets up and follows her. She stills when her eyes meet the glimmering, green ones.

“What is this doing here?” The girl hisses at Marc who made several steps towards her. “Fuck, you're another smuggler, aren't you? It makes sense now.” She takes an attack position, readying herself for the worst.

Marc's eyes go wide, taken off guard, “What? No!” he flares through his nose, “Look, you practically sabotaged a very important operation, and because of you a very bad guy has escaped from my grasp, after I spent months of looking for 'em.”

The girl snickers, “Sorry to tell you, but that you fucking did the same thing! How am I supposed to believe you and you practically stole this?!” Her chin juts towards the statue.

Marc grumbles, puts his hand on his forehead, almost slamming it, then shakes his head. From the corner of his eyes he sees Khonshu tilting his head to the side in a jeering manner.

Marc sighs deeply, then gazes back at her. “I took it so nobody steals it again!”

“You sound like the British Museum,”

“The little bug does have a point,” Khonshu remarks.

Marc sulks, glancing at Khonshu with the corner of his eyes, “Shut up,”

The girl answers, “Excuse me?”

“I wasn't talking to you.”

She twitches a quizzical eyebrow, “Hello, it's just me and you here.”

Marc shakes his head, closing his eyes for a moment, “Nevermind.” He sighs then gazes at her tiredly, “Look, I honestly don't mean you any harm,” He declares, “Just wanna get some info, and you're free to go, I promise,”

“Why would I ever trust anything an American say?”

Marc's eyebrow lift up; comparing this to little Shahd's reaction, he finds himself slightly irritated. But given Egypt's state at the moment, and his country's indirect string-pulling, he can't blame her actually, so he lets that slide for now.

“I'm trying to save many lives here by tracking down a group of dangerous people to stop them.”

“Who's them?”

“The ones Mr. Profile works for.”

Marc notices the sudden flinch in the girl's body. She swallows hard, “W-Why are you after them?”

“Like I told you, they're a bunch of bad guys that needs to be stopped.”

The girl darts her eyes between him and the statue, he lifts his hands up. “I have no business with this, but speaking of which.” He smirks slightly, “Why are you so interested in this? And how did you get in there if you don't work for Mr. Profile?”

“I was with a team obviously—” She cuts herself off, panic invades her face, “Wait a minute, you were the one he held them back, weren't you?”

Marc's hard expression turns into a confused one, “By team you mean that group of kids that got in my way?”

She gasps, “D-Did you kill them?”

“What? Of course not!” Marc lashes out, triggered, “They were a bunch of kids, of course I didn't kill them!”

“Then why didn't they show up in time and instead of you?!”

“So you're one of them?”

“Yes, obviously, dumbass!” She huffs, clearly irritated and unsettled. “We call ourselves the Free Preservationists, we detect stolen valuable items and give them back to their rightful owners.”

Marc lifts his eyebrows, lower lip flipped, he's clearly impressed by that. But again, he isn't going to easily to believe that, he needs more details, “Why don't you just trust the police with this stuff?”

The girl looks at him in a manner as if he said the stupidest thing on Earth, maybe he just did. “Same reason you do what you do...”

“But what do you really do?”

“Because that,” She points at the statue, “Belongs to Masr, and only Masr.”

“I like her,” Khonshu untimely comment makes Marc twitch, causing the girl to grimace, “Have a problem with that?”

Marc exhales, “Not at all, but why work in the shadows tho?” He inquires.

“Well, ever since Balaha has forced himself upon us as a president, he and his men are no different from the ones we stop; they, themselves, are involved in the sudden and big movement of stolen Egyptian relics in the black market. How do you think that get there?”

“So, according to the current law now, you and your pals are criminals?”

“Yes, pretty much so.” She agrees, “Logically, when a citizen finds a national treasure, they hand it to the authorities, they're gonna reward them some cash and host them to nonsense interviews. But it's not exactly what we do, we steal what they already have stolen, and that's the jeopardy of our job.”

“Hamiha haramiha,” [The supposed guardians are the thieves]

“Yes!” She exclaims, “Exactly,”

“What do you know about this guy,” Marc straightens his posture, “Mr. Profile.”

“He's been behind multiple smuggling deals. However, this is the first time we managed to capture him. But thanks to you, it magically failed!” She snarls.

Marc lifts his arms indignantly, “Okay, listen to me, kid—”

“I'm not a kid, goddamn it!” She squeaks, “I'm freaking twenty-two!”

Marc raises his eyebrows at the new information; her baby face is really deceiving, he thought she's at most seventeen or so.

The girl sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose before gazing back at him, “Okay, let's say you're the good guy here,” She says cautiously, “Who do you work for, huh? The CIA? MI6? A PI”

“First of all, I never said I'm the good guy, I'm just a man who tries to make things right,” Marc says.

She rolls her eyes and twitches her eyebrows, “That makes you kinda a good guy, dipshit.”

Marc bits the inside of his lower lip, trying so hard not to snap. “Second, I work alone.” He answers bluntly, frankly. “Third, I don't think that's a decent way to speak with the man who saved your preservationist ass,”

The colour of her face rises, and he's satisfied with that. “Again, if it weren't for you, we'd have a successful mission!”

“Well, same shit here!”

Marc sighs, takes a deep breath as he swips his palm over his face. “How am I supposed to know about your operation from the first place....” He realises he didn't get her name. “Sorry, I didn't catch your name...”

“Dude, are you for real...?”

“Just answer the damn questions, damn it.”

“Scar.” She answers almost immediately.

“Bullshit.” Marc blurts out.

“Yeah, says the man who claims to do the right thing by kidnapping a woman.”

“Y'know, it was a mistake.” Marc growls, “Should've left your ass right in there.”

“Well, don't recall asking your favour to save me.”

Marc's face deadpans as he eyes her stoically even though he's boiling on the inside. It's supposed to be easy; getting a couple pieces of information from a harmless girl.

Scar breathes in and out, before speaking again, “Okay, that was mean to say. I'm sorry.”

Marc sucks his teeth, waving his hand, “Doesn't matter.”

Awkward silence.

“Okay...” Scar says gingerly, “Since I told you everything, I'll be off now. Good luck with your superhero wor—”

Marc grits his teeth as he clasps her wrist, “No, you didn't, and that's up to me to decide—” A ringtone interrupts his words, and he draws his phone out of his his pocket.

“Are you for real, man?” Scar groans. “This is furthest thing from being a pro.”

Despite his unamused face, Marc ignores and speaks to the caller, “Yes, Frenchie,”

“I'm still here by the way,” Scar says after he lets her hand, and turns his back to her.

She huffs angrily, “Wo khara!” [Shit!]

“Fi wishek,” [In your face] Marc retorts calmly, not even heeding her a glance.

Scar gasps, and he allows himself to smirk, but it drops as he hears seriousness in Duchamp's voice he seldom probes, “Where did you find that madmoiselle, Marc?”

“Doesn't matter now, tell me what you got,”

“I'm afraid it does matter, my friend,” Duchamp's voice rises as he snaps a bit, “I'm sure as fuck that I told you to be careful, merd!”

Marc senses something's wrong, so he leaves the woman alone and heads to the kitchen, “What is it, buddy?” He finds his heart go rapid for no reason, a gesture he normally has when something doesn't bode well.

“Do you even have any idea about the name of the girl you've captured, smartass?”

“Well, that's why I've asked you to do some research, smartass.”

“I did, and here's the shit: the girl you dragged right into your place, her name's Layla Abdullah El-Faouly.”

Marc feels an electrified tremble pass through his entire being, as his body freezes. God, he's totally fucked. A nauseous knot coils at the tip of his stomach as a rapid image of that night flashes through his head. It begins to huddle and latch on the base of his skull, writhing achingly to gyrate around his mind.

However, he's quick to shake himself out of it this time; the adrenaline snaps him out of it. And he darts towards the room where he left her. Layla.

He opens his mouth to say something as he steps in, but he finds nobody, and the statue is no where to be found.

“Oh, fuck.”

Marc's mind shoves into deafening numbness.

#marvel moon knight #moon knight fanfic #moon knight #marclayla #marc x layla #moonscarab #marc spector x layla el faouly #layla moon knight #layla el faouly #egyptian #egyptian mythology #egyptian history #marc spector imagine #marc spector fanfic #marc x layla fanfic #marc spector #syrma writes #moon's scarab

[alittlefrenchtree]

I may be an anomaly in that barbie didn't really do it for me. As a person who has read a lot of books about women's rights and the experiences of women, it felt a little too on the nose for me BUT I've enjoyed talking to others about it and have since realized many people probably do need to hear that stuff out loud. And I'm glad it's really touching people.

I will say the costumes and throwbacks to some of the dolls I had a kid was a nice surprise.

I'm hoping you'll write about your viewing experience (likes and confusion) I always enjoy what you have to say.

I don't think you're an anomaly and I pretty much agree with what you've said.

I didn't even read that much on these topics, but I kind of feel the same (for various reasons). Again, not saying it does not exist, just that I've experienced life very differently than many women, so I also learn by listening to them. And I kind of had the same feeling as you, by watching and listening to the 4 teenagers who were at the screening and seem to be enjoying themselves very much. And if it's good for them, the movie is worth existing already.

The costumes, decors and throwbacks were pretty to watch (I wasn't really into Barbies as a kid so none of it was really relatable to me) but I can recognize a well built universe for the movie. I regret that it sometimes felt kind of like an #ad for Mattel and selling Barbies (as do many of other franchise movies). Like: https://shopping.mattel.com/fr-fr/collections/barbie-the-movie where did they draw the line between feminism and "womenwashing" ? Seems a bit too low to me.

I'm still not sure about how to write about my viewing experience to be honest. I liked Weird Barbie for example, because it felt like she has the most subtlety in her lines but overall, I think my main problem was with the script itself? I think that by trying to write something intelligent and engaged but with big budget and massive audience targeting constraints they've ended up with a movie lacking of coherences in the storytelling? They kind of lost me from the moment they go back to Barbie Land, I think. I don't know how to express it but I guess my main interrogation is what was a point (beside the one carried by Ken)? Does Barbie Land is supposed to feel fixed at the end of the movie? Or are Barbies the men of the real world ('s movies) and are we supposed to know that bad people have won in Barbie Land? If so, was the point making a movie where the oppressive part of society is still in charge at the end? Where does the want of Stereotypical Barbie to be human come from? and what does it say in the general meaning of the movie?

A few of many questions I could ask myself so yeah very confused I am. I'll probably browse through analysis of the movie to find some answers when I'll have a bit of time to do that but I thought it would be fun to ask around first.

Thank for sending me your message and a bit of your opinion about the movie, dear Nonny. It helped reading some of your thoughts and having to put some of mine in actual words to answer you 🙏💜

#alft asks #barbie spoilers #barbie