#Film Theory: You Are Breathing Poison
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The issue with Moro's wound
Although "Princess Mononoke" is one of my all time favourite animated films, since deep childhood I couldn't understand the one certain aspect. Why Moro was afraid that the Forest Spirit will take away her life instead of healing? And why would the Forest Spirit take her life away instead of healing?
This question bothered me many years not only because Moro is my favourite character in the film (and Adagio of Life and Death sequence still gives me goosebumps even after many years), but also because the movie doesn't give proper explanation, why she is ready to accept her fate and to die. So, despite her hatred toward humans, Moro still saw in Ashitaka the worthy one, who can and will care about San.
The theories like "Moro is too old already, what's the point to prolong the life of old suffering animal?" are very weird, if you realize that Moro is 300-year-old wolf goddess. At least, the official artbook states exactly this age.
While Okkoto is 500-year-old boar god.
He is twice older than Moro, so what's the deal? Especially, if Okkoto himself was sure that the Forest Spirit will heal him after really deadly wounds and serious blood loss (not to mention, how the Forest Spirit saved Ashitaka, who already was almost dead).
The poisoned bullet could be removed from Moro's chest, and if San is less experienced in it (I guess), Ashitaka could help her for sure. I doubt that the bullet broke into several fragments, which are stuck in the bones and are located next to the internal organs. Probably it stuck in layers of skin and muscles. So, technically the removing of this bullet and then sewing up the wound are possible. Especially if to remember that Moro got this wound like a day ago or even only couple of hours ago.
So, most likely there's no threat of sepsis, for example.
Again, the Forest Spirit saved Ashitaka, who was almost dead due to the bullet wound in the heart.
Near the end of the film the Forest spirit saved and healed both Ashitaka and San from the hatred curse they got during confrontation with demonic Okkoto and Nago earlier.
And if to look closer, you can notice that the deadly blood/body of the decapitated Forest Spirit is very similar to the snake-like worms that were inside of the demonic boars and spreaded the curse, as well as the liquid around the Forest Spirit's head either accelerated the spread of demonic poison through the body or it added another curse itself.
And only after the head was returned, the Spirit healed both Ashitaka and San.
Hence the versions like "Moro confronted Okkoto, trying to save San, so she got Okkoto's hatred curse and will become the demon herself or will die, devoured by the curse, so that's why she can not be healed" also are not valid.
I can only assume that Okkoto couldn't be healed, because he fully transformed into the demon and lost his self irrevocably, so the only way was to give him rest in peace. Plus, mentioning Nago, he kinda hinted that becoming the demon is also some kind of tragedy for entire tribe and the one, who became the demon, is lost forever for his family/tribe (in pretty similar way Ashitaka became lost and dead for his tribe after Nago cursed him during confrontation).
And the cherry on the top of a cake — according to early sketches, originally the Forest Spirit actually helped to San and her wolf brothers, healing Moro from the poisoned bullet.
He can do this easily, he is the patron of the forest. So, why on Earth would he refuse to heal and save the wolf goddess, who is not only the wise and useful ally, fighter and guardian, who protected him, the forest and its habitants for many centuries, but also she is mother with the three children, who are not adult for now and hence less experienced?
Maybe there was some allegory for cultural aspects of Feudal Japan or symbolism for warrior-emperor relationships (you know, the idea of "I exist only to serve and to protect my king and kingdom to my last breath, it is forbidden to ask my king for help" or whatever, and the line "She is the daughter of the wolf tribe, when the forest dies, so dies she" kinda gives impression of it), but looking at acts of the Forest Spirit near the end of the film, I don't think so. There was a chance to heal Moro at least from the poisoned bullet.
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After a Second Viewing and Much Consideration: The Boys E7, Take 2! 😁
Dear Soldier Boy - Please stop being so beautiful when you're SUCH an asshole. Or better yet, stay beautiful, and stop. being. an asshole!
K, now that that's out of the way, you can find my much shorter, original reaction to the episode, here. (There are major spoilers to be found if you click on it. Just a head's up.) It was a lot to take in at first! 😜
Tons of spoilers and a few gifs under the cut:
Okay, on second viewing can I just say that as horrifying as it is to watch SB is in this episode, Jesus Christ Jensen is a FUCKING insanely good actor. I mean, not like this is news to any of us, but sometimes he still manages to blow me away. 🤯
Because in spite of all the evil SB has shown himself to be capable of, Jensen still manages to give the character layers. Obviously he is FULL of, not only TM, but a poisonous kind of rage and hate, yet I still saw moments of vulnerability. Brief and fleeting, and quickly smashed aside with some, as Hughie would call it, "Marlborough Man" BS, but they were there nonetheless. Like these moments:
Kimiko (and Butcher a couple episodes ago) said the V doesn't change you, it just enhances what was already there. So, I wanna know how and why SB was so full of hate and anger to begin with, that now it's at absolutely horrifying levels? Where did that come from?
It was amazing to see how much of Butcher's dream showed him to be so much like SB, full of rage, and focused on "the mission" at all costs. And his actions at the end with Hughie absolutely broke my heart. I'm hoping to GOD that there's an ulterior motive behind what he's doing, that he has some kind of plan that will redeem him.
I'm also hoping against hope that SB is lying to HL, for some kind of ulterior motive, as well. But I'm definitely not holding my breath on that one.
What I actually think is going to happen, is MM and Noir and gonna team up to take down SB. They both have ample reason to hate him. Just a theory.
Anyway, other moments from the episode that I loved:
Kimiko CHOOSING to take the V again so she can protect her family. 😞😩🥺
Starlight filming HL and getting all that stuff on RECORD!! Don't know how he's gonna try to get away from that! 🎉🎉
I found some interesting parallels and differences between The Legend and SB. So, back in the 80s they were both happy to be living large, SB did shit, TL covered it up. He knew all SB's bullshit and helped him get away with it. (MM even said TL helped cover up his Grandfather's death) TL said he produced that horrifying, culturally appropriating, misogynistic, gross video that SB made. So he was right by SB's side, and then "profited from all of it", as he says. So, there are the parallels.
It's very clear, however, that TL is now quite regretful and mostly disgusted by the things they did.
So, as far as I can see, the differences between TL and SB is that TL was awake, alive and kicking, while change was happening in the world and within our society. He could change and grow with the world - learn, mature, age. I'm not saying if SB was around he would have necessarily changed. But I think it's an interesting point the show is making in showing that change is possible; it's not inevitable, but people can grow, even if it's in small ways, over time.
MM punching out that piece of shit, Todd! I know it was bad his daughter witnessed it, but he had it coming!! She's not your kid, asshole!! And he DID put her in so. much. danger.
I felt like the stuff with The Deep was just kinda thrown in there, kind of tacked on to the episode. For comic relief, no doubt, but mostly I just wanted to get back to the other storylines.
Omg!! A-Train is ALIVE and apparently back in the game. 😲 Except, I'm wondering whether he will still be happy to go along with Vought's BS. Interested to see where that goes.
Yay for Hughie's breakthrough, and for Starlight saying she's gonna save Hughie. 😊❤️
The first time through, there was just TOO much to take in. But second time around...still too much to take in. Lol!! But I could get past my shock with
THAT ENDING!!!!!!!
to appreciate more of the episode.
Now a few more gifs:
First, just JFC - I'm going to hell for finding this hot - I know it.
Jesus Christ! 🤦🏼♀️🤯🤦🏼♀️🤯🤦🏼♀️🤯
What was going on in the couple times this ⬇⬇⬇ happened? I'm so curious?
This second little nod to SPN 😁:
And lastly, I'll repeat my original issue - why are you SO UNBELIEVABLY HOT, when you are SUCH a dick? It is absolutely unfair!
This is my cycle of emotions when SB is on screen:
🥵🤬😭🥵🤬😭
Dreading and drooling for the finale next week!
#the boys s3#the boys s3 spoilers#soldier boy#jensen ackles#hughie campbell#butcher#kimiko#frenchie#long post
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Musical Asks Challenge
Thanks for the tag @itsbrittbeyotch I had a hell of a time.
A fun little game to see the diversity of your music taste.
Rules: Do NOT repeat songs and ONLY use songs that you have listened to in the last 6 months
1. Songs you like with a color in the title
Blu - Jon Bellion
2. Songs you like with a number in the title
1980s Horror Film II - Wallows
3. Songs that reminds you of summertime
Dog Days Are Over - Florence + The Machine
I've Been Dead All Day - Bayside
Why Do You Feel So Down - Declan McKenna
4. Songs that reminds you of someone you would rather forget
Anna Sun - Walk The Moon
Bullshit - Dune Rats
5. Songs that needs to be played LOUD
Rob A Bank - Confetti
Feed The Machine - Dead Mans Poison
Blonde Hair, Black Lungs - Sorority Noise
6. Songs that makes you want to dance
I'm The One - DJ Khaled (feat. Justin Beiber, Quavo, Chance the Rapper & Lil Wayne)
Hollaback Girl (Metal Version) - Leo
7. Songs you must SCREAM
The Drug In Me Is You - Falling In Reverse
My Heart Needs To Breathe - The Faim
8. Songs to drive to
Sex Sells - Lovejoy
Rot - DBMK
Ma Chérie (feat. Kellin Quinn) - Palaye Royale
Especially You - Wallows
Sober - FIDLAR
9. Songs that makes you happy
Projector - Set It Off
Another Song About Tequila - Tequila Mockingbird, Bohnes, Hudson Thames
Bella Ciao - Manu Pilas
10. Songs that makes you sad
Dirty Paws - Of Monsters and Men
Mother - Small Pools
Puff The Magic Dragon - Peter, Paul and Mary (Don't Judge Me)
Cancer - My Chemical Romance
11. Songs that you never get tired of
Shit Show - Peter McPoland
Straight Jacket - Theory of a Deadman
Life - Mother Mother
12. Songs that make you feel a certain way
All Time Low - Jon Bellion
Viva La Vida - Coldplay
Heathens - Twenty One Pilots
Twin Skeleton's (Hotel In NYC) - Fall Out Boy
13. Songs that made your childhood
Little Talks - Of Monsters and Men
Hey Soul Sister - Train
Some Nights - fun.
Somebody That I Used To Know - Gotye, Kimora
14. Songs you would love to be played at your wedding
Just My Soul Responding - Amber Run
15. Songs that are covered by another artist
I Got You - Train
Hot Girl Bummer - ANSON
Teenage Dirtbag - Cavetown, chloe moriondo
Evermore - Tethra
16. Songs that are not in your native language
ZITTI E BUONI- Måneskin
Amour Plastique - Videoclub
17. Songs from the year you were born
Seven Nation Army - The White Stripes
18. Songs you would sing duet with on karaoke
Men Are Trash - Scotty Sire (@itsbrittbeyotch Taco Bell drive thru flashbacks)
E-GIRLS ARE RUINING MY LIFE! - CORPSE, Savage Ga$p (@lexilouu yeah u know)
Carnivore - Bear Attack! (@bing1314 this has been stuck in my head for the past 8 years)
19. Songs that makes you think about life
Weak - AJR
Guns For Hands - Twenty One Pilots
20. Songs that have many meanings to you
I'm Gonna Win - Rob Cantor
Next Up Forever - AJR
Think About Things - Daði Freyr
21. Favorite songs with a person's name in the title
Achilles Come Down- Gang Of Youths
Nancy Mulligan - Ed Sheeran
Ramona - Jukebox The Ghost
Judy You Hung The Moon - HARBOUR
22. Songs that move you forward
Fuck You World - Rare Americans
Riot - Hollywood Undead (this song makes me feel like I could fight God)
23. Songs you think everybody should listen to
King of the Clouds - Panic! At The Disco
Misery - blink-182
Spiderhead - Cage the Elephant
Summer Is A Curse - The Faim
24. Songs by a band you wish were still together
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da - Remastered 2009 - The Beatles
25. Songs by an artist no longer living
Wake Me Up - Avicii
26. Songs that make you want to fall in love
Someone To You - BANNERS
27. Songs that break your heart
This Isn't The End - Owl City
28. Songs by an artist with a voice you love
Gasoline - Halsey
House of Memories - Panic! At The Disco
29. Songs people would be surprised you listen to
To The Hellfire - Lorna Shore (the last few seconds of this song y'all)
Brutus - The Buttress (this song lowkey scared me the first time I listened to it)
30. Songs that remind you of yourself
Ghosting - Mother Mother
parents - YUNGBLUD
Bugbear - chloe moriondo
Sad Forever - Anthony Amorim
I invite anyone who sees this to join in! I had lot's of fun, but it literally took me about 3 hours
#laughing at 29 bc I dress like hippie fairy princess and listen to screamo#I was so emo in middle school#but a closeted emo#no one can know#my chemical romance#twenty one pilots#panic! at the disco#mother mother#cavetown#set it off#confetti#halsey#cage the elephant#bohnes#metalhead#alternative#indie music#i love ajr#blink 182#music#tag games#tag game#rare americans#ed sheeran#emo music#fall out boy#emo trinity#jon bellion#ajr music#good music
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Exhibition
Cornelia Parker
THIRTY PIECES OF SILVER
'Drawn to broken things, I decided it was time to give in to my destructive urges on an epic scale. I collected as much silver plate as I could from car-boot sales, markets and auctions.
Friends even donated their wedding presents. All these objects, with their various histories, shared the same fate: they were all robbed of their third dimension on the same day, on the same dusty road by a steamroller.
I took the fragments and assembled them into thirty separate pools. Every piece was suspended to hover a few inches above the ground, resurrecting the objects and replacing their lost volume.
Inspired by my childhood love of the cartoon 'deaths' of Roadrunner or Tom and Jerry, I thought I was abandoning the traditional seriousness of sculptural technique. But perhaps there was another unconscious reason for my need to squash things. My home in east London was due to be demolished to make way for the M11 link road. The sense of anxiety lingers even now.
The title was borrowed from the Bible. Thirty pieces of silver was the amount of money Judas received for betraying Jesus.'
Embryo Firearms
1995
Colt 45 guns in the earliest stage of production
While in Hartford, Connecticut, in the US, visited the firearms factory where the Colt 45 handgun is made. I was amazed by the first stage in their manufacture, in which blank pieces of cast metal already take on the iconic shape of the gun. I asked the factory foreman if I could have a pair of guns at this early stage in production.
He gave them the polish of the finished article. They became Embryo Firearms, combining the idea of birth and death in the same object.
Embryo Money
1996
Ten pence pieces in the earliest stage of production
Money seems such a powerful material, but in the end it's only metal. I was keen to see how it was made and managed to get behind the scenes at the Royal Mint, in Pontyclun, Wales. I asked if I could have some coins without a face. Removing these metal discs from the process just before they were struck made them a currency interrupted before it had value, before it accrued power.
Poison and Antidote Drawings
2010-13
Rattlesnake venom and black ink, anti-venom and white ink on paper
While I was on a residency in Texas, US, I asked the nearby rattlesnake farm if they could milk some snakes for me.
They procured enough bright yellow venom to kill at least ten people. I then approached a local doctor to prescribe an antidote. I combined the poison with black ink, and the anti-venom with white ink. In theory, these drawings could poison you and save your life at the same time.
PERPETUAL CANON
'I was invited to make a work for a circular space with a beautiful domed ceiling. I first thought of filling it with sound. This evolved into the idea of a mute marching band, frozen breathlessly in limbo
Perpetual Canon is a musical term that means repeating a phrase over and over again. The old instruments had experienced thousands of breaths circulating through them in their lifetime.
They had their last breath squeezed out of them when they were squashed flat.
Suspended pointing upwards around a central light bulb, their shadows march around the walls. This shadow performance replaces the cacophonous sound of their flattened hosts.
Viewers and their shadows stand in for the absent plavers.'
COLD DARK MATTER:
AN EXPLODED VIEW
'We watch explosions daily, in action films, documentaries and on the news in never-ending reports of conflict. I wanted to create a real explosion, not a representation. I chose the garden shed because it's the place where you store things you can't quite throw away.
The shed was blown up at the Army School of Ammunition.
We used Semtex, a plastic explosive popular with terrorists.
I pressed the plunger that blew the shed skywards. The soldiers helped me comb the field afterwards, picking up the blackened, mangled objects.
In the gallery, as I suspended the objects one by one, they began to lose their aura of death and appeared reanimated. The light inside created huge shadows on the wall. The shed looked as if it was re-exploding or perhaps coming back together again.
The first part of the title is a scientific term for all the matter in the universe that can't be seen or measured. The second part describes a diagram in which a machine's parts are laid out and labelled to show how it works.'
WAR ROOM
'I was invited to make a piece of work about the First World War.
I had always wanted to go to the poppy factory in Richmond, London. Artificial poppies have been made there since 1922.
They are sold to raise for money for ex-military personnel and their families.
When I visited the factory, I saw this machine that had rolls of red paper with perforations where the poppies had been punched out. The fact that the poppies are absent is poignant, because obviously a lot of people didn't come back from the First World War, and other wars since. In this room there's something like 300,000 holes, and there's many more lives lost than that.
I decided to make War Room like a tent, suspending the material like fabric. It's based on the magnificent tent which Henry VIll had made for a peace summit with the French king in 1520, known as the Field of the Cloth of Gold. About a year later they were at war again.'
JUST THINKING
It doesn't seem meaningful in itself to find the meaning and definition of art in modern times. Now all of these phenomena can be talked art. There is no need for art to be put into a lofty, ancient, and mysterious frame. So in this modern era we can't absolutely say that it's art or not. It's art for someone to say it's not art.
To be honest, the responsibility for how designers influence what they make is important, but do I have to make what others want to see? People will watch whatever they want anyway, so do we have to be nice?
If Some artist or designer compromises what other people want to see, the reason is the money. What if I pursue an ideal of something other than money? Oh, that's right. You know, when I'm responsible for the design, shouldn't be scared of being cursed at or loved by others, have to build a solid pillar in my heart, whether it's art or design. I know responsibility is too important, so I'm getting more and more scared...
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The Shadow Glass by Josh Winning
"True belief, no matter if it falters or fades, is the most powerful force in this universe. After love, of course."
Year Read: 2022
Rating: 4/5
About: As a child, Jack loved the world of Iri that his father created in his cult classic film, The Shadow Glass. As an adult, he's jobless and bitter over his father's obsession, and he wants nothing to do with Bob Co., the film company Bob left behind after his death. Jack is in no way prepared for a storm to bring the discarded puppets from The Shadow Glass to life, and he’s suddenly surrounded by brave kettu warriors and evil skalions in the search for an artifact that will save their world. I received a free e-ARC through NetGalley from the publishers at Titan Books. Trigger warnings: character death (on-page), parent/child death, gore, body horror, dismemberment, poison, violence, cancer, grief.
Thoughts: I had a chance to beta read this, so getting the opportunity to buddy read it again with Roberta from Offbeat YA was so wonderful. This book has a special place for both of us (and the rest of #TheShadowGlassGuild), and I'm so happy to see it find its way into the hearts of fans everywhere. The Shadow Glass is a love letter to 80s fantasy films like Labyrinth (1986) and The NeverEnding Story (1984), with its own original twists. The world and characters are new but feel familiar, and it's a sort of sequel-in-spirit to those films. We fought monsters and saved worlds with Atreyu and Sarah when we were younger, but what happens when we grow up and no longer believe in magic?
The book is well-paced, and the quest starts off strong in the early chapters without too much set-up, allowing us to pick up on the world-building as we go. The action/battle scenes are exciting and tense, with an almost cinematic quality to them that pays homage to the films of childhood. However, there's also plenty of downtime in between fight scenes while the characters follow clues to hunt for the missing pieces of the Glass (in true quest fashion). It gives the novel breathing room to get to know the characters and the worlds.
Jack's character arc is strong, and it's satisfying to watch him transition from a bitter non-believer to the hero the story needs. Learning to accept our parents as humans with their own flaws and private battles is a tough lesson, especially after they're gone, and that grief buried under Jack's anger makes for an emotional read. My favorite character, hands down, is Zavanna, one of the foxlike kettu warriors who loves as fiercely as she protects. She's brave, sassy, and as real as the human characters, alongside her warmer partner, Brol. My second favorite, of course, is Toby's cute and fluffy lub. (Where can one acquire his t-shirt that says "I LUB YOU"? Asking for a friend.)
The villains of the novel are equally well-drawn, and the ravenous queen Kunin Yillda is downright terrifying, helped by her manipulative soothsayer, Nebfet. The puppets grow more lifelike the longer they're on Earth, synthetic fur becoming real, stuffing turning to flesh and blood, and it's a cool detail to track throughout the novel. If there's a shortcoming in the characters, I think it's that we never get to see more of the Guild members who help Jack on his quest. There's little page-time with them, and while I liked them all in theory, they never felt as real as the non-human characters, with the exception of Jack and Toby.
I sometimes struggle to get into fantasy worlds, but Winning makes it easy to pick up on the various intricacies of Iri, using Jack's memories and the bits of media such as scripts, book excerpts, and blog articles in between the chapters. These are brief and well-timed, and I really felt like they added to my experience of the novel, helping to flesh out both the world of Iri and the cultural impact of Bob's film. The book examines both the light and dark sides of fandom, from the way fandom love can be a powerful creative force and a bonding experience, to the toxic sides of fandom in gatekeeping and purism. It's clear Winning truly understands what it means to be fan of something in a way that shapes our lives and brings brightness to dark times, and that love is at the heart of The Shadow Glass.
Books don't always live up to their comparisons--and 80s nostalgia fantasy is a high bar--but this one does in creativity, but most of all in heart. The ending is an emotional homage to a lot of these films, and just like I needed to give the Childlike Empress a new name and visit the friends I made in the labyrinth in the bedroom mirror when I was a child, I need to remember why magic and fantasy worlds are just as important as an adult as they are when we're younger, and The Shadow Glass gives me that. Revisiting this book in the future will be like checking in with an old, much-loved friend. Thanks so much to Josh for sharing this beautiful story with us. 💛
#book review#the shadow glass#josh winning#fantasy#titan books#adult fantasy#adult fiction#netgalley#4/5#rating: 4/5#2022#the shadow glass guild
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Godmonster of Indian Flats
If I had a dollar for every movie I’ve seen about a bloodthirsty mutant sheep, I would have... two dollars.
I was entirely willing to feature Godmonster of Indian Flats based on its strangeness alone, but it does have one connection to MST3K in that actress Peggy Browne was also in Avalanche. Another performer here, Kerrigan Prescott, also had a part in previous Episode that Never Was Fiend Without a Face, so hey, close enough!
Dr. Clemens and his assistant Mariposa discover a mutant lamb on Eddie the Rancher’s sheep farm, and take it up to a secret lab at Indian Flats for study. This seems somewhat outside of Clemens’ claimed purview as an anthropologist, but whatever, I’m just here to watch the movies. While the monster grows to maturity in a tank, the mayor of a local tourist town, Mr. Silverdale, is refusing to sell land to a Mr. Barnstable, who is interested in the mining rights. We soon get the idea that Silverdale is less interested in tourism than he is in having his own private Wild West LARP, and the townsfolk have an almost cult-like reverence for him. Eventually, their increasingly violent attempts to run Barnstable out of town cross paths with Dr. Clemens’ pet mutant, and all hell breaks loose!
Well, maybe not all hell. This movie hasn’t got the money for all hell. Rest assured, though, that they unleash all the hell they could afford.
The hell in question takes the form of a lumpy hunchbacked sheep creature with a rubbery sock puppet head, one long dangling arm, and a huge Kim Kardashian ass. It interrupts a picnic, and blows up a gas station by knocking over a pump with its bubble butt. It may or may not understand English, and it breathes poisonous gas when injured. The puppet is pretty weird and scary-looking in the darkness of Clemens' secret lab, but out in the full light of day it is ridiculous.
Any movie with a mutant sheep monster is going to be weird, and the monster is the weirdest thing in the movie, but make no mistake – Godmonster of Indian Flats sans monster would still be a weird fucking movie. The other story going on here, Silverdale vs Barnstable, is thoroughly bizarre in itself.
Apparently it's not enough for Silverdale and the townspeople to simply refuse to sell Barnstable their mining rights. Instead, they have to totally ruin his career and both his physical and mental health! First of all, they invite him to their 'Bonanza Days' and have him take part in a shooting contest, where the whole town conspires to make it look like he accidentally shot the sheriff's dog. Then they hold a funeral for the dog as if it were a person. The whole time the dog is fine – it was just playing dead, and afterwards the sheriff sends it to live with a friend.
When Barnstable still doesn't leave town after this, Silverdale's toady Phil whacks him over the head with a bottle, then shoots himself in the shoulder and puts the gun in the unconscious man's hand. Barnstable wakes up in jail and demands a lawyer, but everybody ignores him. Eddie and Mariposa help him escape, and the sheriff then forms a posse to hunt him down and lynch him! At the end of the movie Silverdale triumphantly tells Barnstable that he's going to lose his job because his boss is embarrassed by all these goings-on. At this point Barnstable also has a cracked skull and a broken arm. He's a PTSD-ridden shell of a man and yet Silverdale is still yelling “I've beaten you, Barnstable!” as the end credits roll.
All of this might become a little less weird (but way more horrible) when I mention that Barnstable is the only black character with dialogue. And yet, none of it is ever overtly framed as racist. Nobody ever uses a slur – in fact, Barnstable's race is never once referenced in dialogue, not even obliquely. You could cast a white actor in this part and nothing would have to be changed. What Barnstable seems to represent, and what Silverdale and the townspeople claim to be fighting against (Silverdale declares that he is 'the custodian of an era'), is decadence and capitalism, concepts traditionally associated with a white elite.
This in itself should be read as a commentary on race. It's notable that Barnstable is playing by white rules. He's a smooth businessman representing the interests of his presumably white boss. When Silverdale invites him to Bonanza Days, he is happy to step into that role, too. He dresses the part and takes up the six-shooter, and does a pretty good job with it. Barnstable is a 'model minority' figure, a black man with the trappings of white success... and in spite of that, he is still abused. Hard as he tries to fit into the white people's world, he is not welcome there.
I don't think that's actually what Barnstable is supposed to represent to the viewer, however. The people of this town are described in the opening as 'living in the past' and we see that they're very dedicated to it. Silverdale dresses the part of a nineteenth century gentleman even when he's at home. Everybody dresses up in period costumes for occasions like parties and church, and the town's status as a tourist attraction requires many people to play such a role full-time. There's a dark underbelly to this quaint little world, as we see in the opening when a barmaid steals Eddie's casino winnings, but even that fits their chosen period.
Barnstable intrudes into this world as a representative of modernity and reality. If you're paying attention, you soon realize that the 'past' the townsfolk are living in isn't like the real past at all. The real history of this little mining town would have involved filthy, back-breaking work in the mines, and saloons full of drunks, prostitutes, and crime. The modern town has adopted the pretty trappings of the 19th century – the clothes, the horses, and nice little shows of piety like the dog funeral – while sweeping the dirt and violence under the rug. The latter are only to be turned on outsiders.
This fantasy version of the old west is also very, very white. In the real world, history is always more diverse than we usually think it was – one of the historical figures who inspired the character the Lone Ranger, for example, was Bass Reeves, the first black US Marshall in the west. The people in Silverdale's town have no interest in that. There is not a single Native American character in the movie, and I've already mentioned the lack of other people of colour, except for a couple of background tourists. This is an essential part of throwing away the ugly parts of the past – race brings conflict, and Silverdale and his followers want none of that. Barnstable's race makes his status as an outsider all the more obvious, both visually and as a reminder that the world these people are trying to live in never really existed.
This puts Barnstable in a very strange place in this movie. He's definitely a victim, but never a hero – in fact, Godmonster of Indian Flats is yet another movie that doesn't have a hero – yet he is not a villain, either. He's just some poor bastard who wandered into a horror movie and now he can't find his way out of it.
So... what does any of this have to do with a mutant sheep monster?
I dunno. There seem to have been mutants in this area for a long time, since Clemens talks about legends of a 'mine monster' and even shows off weird fossils he's found, but how does that tie into the theme of clinging to the past? Maybe it's supposed to be about history repeating itself, since new monsters are being born just as the mines are about to re-open? I have no idea.
Does the monster die at the end? I cannot tell you. I think it dies when the truck it was caged in blows up? The movie ends with an angry mob pushing the truck over a steep slope where they dump their garbage, while Eddie, Clemens, and Mariposa try to reveal Silverdale's own land-grab scheme. This all degenerates into chaos and people tumbling down the hill and shooting each other, while Silverdale stands there yelling about how violence controls the masses and how he's beaten Barnstable. It's an ending that seems calculated to leave the audience going, “... huh?”.
Why is it a God monster? Now this, I do have a theory about. I don't think the sheep is actually the godmonster – I think the titular menace is actually Mr. Silverdale! He wields a god-like authority within the town, even when his evil scheme is apparently exposed at the end, and uses it to do monstrous things! If that's not what they were going for... then I have no idea.
I mentioned in the opening that I've seen two movies about mutant sheep monsters. The other is Black Sheep, which is one of those off-the-wall movies they make in New Zealand when they're not doing Tolkien-related stuff. Black Sheep was apparently inspired by Godmonster of Indian Flats, but it throws out the race relations stuff and runs with the 'mutant sheep' thing to make on of the most perfect dark comedies I've ever seen. I would recommend it to the strong-stomached in the same way I recommended The Valley of Gwangi to anyone disappointed by Beast of Hollow Mountain – it is everything the older film should have been but was not.
#mst3k#reviews#episodes that never were#godmonster of indian flats#70s#just fuckin weird#allow me to recommend a better movie
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The Freedom of Expression Ep 45 - Walking from Kishibojin, Haunted staircase.
00:00 J: Ah, this, this! Akamaru Bakery.
00:20 K: So, as to why we are here..it will be a mystery to everyone I think.
J: Haha
K: Joe just really wanted to eat this bread.
J: Thats right.
K: So, we came here.
J: Yes.
K: Akamaru Bakery.
J: Yep, Akamaru Bakery.
K: Where is this?
J: Its Zōshigaya. Well, Zōshigaya is just up there, but this place probably only locals know about. Its on Tsurumaki Street. This is a very small shopping street, but Akamaru Bakery is here. I found this place by chance before, and it was really good.
T: What did you get?
J: Kaoru?
K: Chicken Nanban
T: I got a hot dog.
J: I got this tuna and egg mix.
K: I wanted to get that, but I thought I shouldn't if you are getting it.
J: Haha, no, no, no, that makes me look bad.
K: Hahah.
J: This is ¥190, right?
T: Its cheap, isn't it?
J: It is cheap! Ok, lets stand and eat.
T: Yep.
J: Ok, lets go for it. Apologies to the locals, we are not trying to be rude. Its a food report. This kind of bakery is quite rare these days, isn't it? They're all like new, stylish ones now.
K: *eats* Mm.
J: *eats* Mm, tastes good.
K: Yeah, its good.
J: The bread is really soft too.
T: Yeah.
J: I didn't eat before this.
K: If this was in my neighborhood, I would come every day.
J: Absolutely. Ah, delicious. So, this is like an 8 min walk from Zōshigaya station, right? Its a bit of a walk, but you'll be able to find it online if you search for it.
T: Ths is good. Its delicious.
2:25 J: (*At station*) Well now..
K: Where is this?
J: So this is the tram on the Toden-Arakawa line.
T: Its Kishibojinmae station.
K: Ahh, so ??? (*Facing away from camera with mask on...couldn't clearly make out what he said*)
J: Thats it. So, we are gonna move to a different spot from here.
T: Yep, its been all funfunfun before now, but this time we are gonna go looking for some Tokyo mysteries. So, we'll get on this train and go to a certain place.
J: Tokyo Sports is all about mysteries, monsters, and UFOs, right? (*Couldn't really follow the rest of this exchange*)
*They get on, then off the train at the next spot*
3:29 T: The mystery spot that I am gonna introduce is this bridge. Omokage bridge (Omokage=face/visage).
J: It just looks like a regular bridge.
T: Its a really short bridge. Its almost not a bridge. This explains the name (*points to info board*). So, actually, on the otherside of the bridge there used to be the criminal execution center for Zōshigaya.
J: Ahh, so this is not exactly the river Styx, but..
T: Yeh, and they would part from thier family on this side of the bridge, and be taken over to the other side.
J: I see.
T: Its just a theory, but its thought that its called 'Omokage/visage brige', because they left the memory thier faces here. But there is also a history to this brigde. You know the story of 'Yotsuya Kaidan'/The Ghost of Yotsuya?
J: Yep, yep.
T: With Oiwa san..
J: Like 'I curse youuuu'
T: Yeh, yeh, yeh. Do you know the story of Oiwa san?
J: Yeh, I do. Like 'One plate, two plates..'
T: No, thats Sarayashiki, thats a different one. So, what happened was, there was a man, and his wife called Oiwa. The man became annoyed with her, and she was made to drink a poison which scarred her face. Then he forced her to seperate from him. The woman cursed him, saying she would come back as a ghost. This woman Oiwa was nailed to a door post, and thrown in the river to be washed away, there's a scene like that, right? Its thought that this is the spot she was thrown in the river. So, this story, Yotsuya Kaidan, came about as a Kabuki play after its writer, Tsuruya Nanboku had gathered up a lot of these kind of local rumors during the Edo era. We don't know if Oiwa san really was washed away here, but we know this kind of thing did happen. Its only a short bridge, but its got this kind of history going back to the Edo era.
J: ???*1
T: Actually, I used to live around here.
J: Ehh? Why in such a frightful place?
T: It was cheap.
J: Is this in Shinjuku ward?
T: No, its in Toshima ward.
J: Oh, Toshima?
T: Just on the verge of Shinjuku.
K: It says Shinjuku here.
T: Yes, but..Oh, the other side is Toshima.
J: Where we are stood now is Shinjuku. Its next to Waseda, right?
T: Should we cross the bridge?
K: Yeah, lets cross it.
6:50 J: The river is pretty, isn't it?
(*Next is short exchange about the sakura leaning into the river, and execution spot over on the other side, which I can't make out clealy due to them all facing away from the mic, and very loud traffic passing simultaneously*)
T: So you see, this place is very historic.
J: It makes a shiver run down your spine when you think of it.....*shudders*. Sorry, its just being in this place.
K: Ok, should we head to the next spot?
J: Yeh, should we go?
K: Its a different place next.
*In the suburbs*
7:46 K: Where is this?
J: Here in Bunkyō Ward, they call this place Nezucchi (*The name of a comedian who is good at tellIng riddles*)
T: Nezucchi?
J: Haha
K: He lost it. haha
J: Sorry, Im embarrassed now, haha. Well, actually, they call this area Yanasen/谷根千, which is the neighborhoods of Yanaka, Nezu, and Sendagi together, and we are in Nezu today. Its a very quiet surburban area, but this place was voted for by a listener, or rather a user, as a good mystery spot. We recieved this email, so Kaoru could you read it out?
K: (*reading*) Its from 'Yasubeniisann'. It says, 'This is quite famous, but in Nezu there is a haunted staircase. When you go up the stairs there are 40 steps, but going down, there are only 39'....Um..did..
J: We already spilled the mystery.
T: Yeah.
J: Well, we already spilled the mystery , but yes, this is what we are going to see. A mysterious set of stairs. Lets go.
8:49 K: (*approaching the stairs*) Right up to the top, yeah? Not half way?
J: Yeah, I think right up to the top.
K: Both sides are the same, right?
J: Seems like it. Which side is the way up?
K: Eh? You could go up either side, right?
T: You mean like on an escalator where one side is up and one side is down.
J: Should we try counting the steps?
K: You're too eager, haha.
T: Which side should we do, the right side?
J: No, lets go with the left side.
T: Like in Kantō.
J: Yep, Kantō style.
K: Ok, Im gonna start.
J: Ok...1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7....
9:57 K: (*reaching the top of the staircase*) 39 steps.
J: 39? Yep I got 39 too. And next, if we go down..
T: On that side?
K: Will it be 39?
(*They walk downstairs *)
K: (*Reaching the bottom*) Eh?
T: Wasn't that 40?
K: I got 39.
T: Huh?
J: Huh?! I got 39. You got 40?
T: Yeah, I got 40.
J: Eh?! Hang on, whats going on?
10:55 K: (*Re-reading the email*) It says there are 40 steps going up.
J: 40 going up?
K: Are they including this? (*points to first concrete step on level with the ground*)
J: Oh, is that it?
K: If they are including this..
J: Yeah, if thats included, then..
T: I see.
K: I'll try starting from this. (*starts going up*)
J: Maybe you're supposed to go up the other side.. I can hear you.
T: Im out of breath..
J: Oh, you're carrying the bag..
T: Its embarrassing, im out of breath.
J: Its this step, this one.
11:36 K: (*Gets to top of stairs*) Ah, I see.
J: (*Getting to top*) 40!
T: (*Starting from the bottom*) This is the first step, yeh? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9....
J: Haha
T: Then across?
J: No, no, diagonally.
T:...38, 39, 40.
K: You included the very first step at the bottom, right?
T: Yes...huh?
K: Huh? Really? How come only I'm different?
12:30 T: (*Going down*) This is the first one. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6....... ....... 37, 38, 39, and this is 40.
K: You're not counting this one, are you? (*To J*) This one is ???*2
J: Ahh, thats the difference.
13:08 J: Do we count this one? Thats the problem. According to the email, there are 40 steps going up, and 39 going down.
K: Its like can you count this as 1..?
J: Yeah, thats it.
K: Im not sure.
T: Its raised by about 5cm.
K: Well, I mean...we'll digest that bread easily.
J: Haha, yeah, we can definitely say we exercised today.
T: Its been quite tough for the staff doing the filming.
J: Yeah, haha. While we were going up one by one, they were going up and down each time. But what is our verdict about this?
K: Was is right? If this is the first step?
J: Im pretty intrigued about this.
T: Well, let's give our answer here. To conclude.
J: As a last word?
T: Yeah.
J: Well, it depends on whether or not you count this as the first step. If you do count it, then there is 40 steps going up. But if you look over here, this side is barely elevated from the ground at all. So you end up taking the second level as the first step.
K: Yeah.
J: Thats it right? And back over here, the first step is more elevated, so you would make that number 1.(*Starts climbing*).1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6...
K: (*To T*) Ok, shall we go?
T: Yep, lets go. Bye Joe.... ... ... That was fun.
K: Yeh, it was. (*Too windy to make out what they are saying*)
T: I wonder if Joe is still doing it.
15:00 J: (*Coming downstairs*) They're not here? They left me. Hello? You two? What? There's no one here.
Takabayashi: That was 39.
J: Was it 39? So, yes, that means going up is 40 steps, and coming down is 39 steps. The others have already left, so if you'd like to try this, its in Nezu...the haunted staircase. Please come and have a go, get some exercise.
15:31 T: He didn't call out for us to wait, right? haha....... ... ... Haha, here he is.
J: ??? (*No idea what he means here*)
T: You didn't realise we'd gone?
J: No, I didn't. When I came down there was no-one there, so it was a bit lonely. I closed the segment by myself.
T, K: Hahaha
T: How about this haunted staircase?
J: What do you think, Kaoru?
K: There was no ghost.
J: There wasn't, was there.
K: Its more like a mistaken staircase.
J: Yeah.
T: Ah, I see. Haha. To be accurate, the mistaken first step.
J: Yeah. When you go up, the fist step on one side looks as if its slightly elevated, so..
T: Yeah. We could go looking for other mysteries like this.
J: Yeah, lets solve them all!
K: So it seems as if we can use this one then.
J: Ah, thats good! We didnt waste our effort. So, if anyone knows any other mysteries that we could solve..?
K: Yeh, anything is ok, just let us know.
J: We'll solve them.
K: Ok, well, we can finish here. Please subscribe. Thank you very much.
*1,2 Couldn't catch.
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Heal Me, Kill Me Ch.4
Pairing— Kim Taehyung x reader
Genre— Vampire!Taehyung x Vampire Hunter!reader, ANGST, mild smut +18, comedy (i tried), fluff in this chapter
Warnings— Unprotected explicit sex, fingering, blood mentions, death,
Word Count— 6.9k (nice)
Summary— You’re one of the best vampire hunters in the world. That’s to be expected when your parents are the best of the best. Your life had solely revolved around ruthlessly killing vampires, making you a cold blooded machine. However, things take a turn once you meet Kim Taehyung, your latest target.
A/N— Huge shoutout to @dee-ehn for this beautiful banner! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, please let me know what you think! Things are starting to get spicy~
The chilly crisp air that once gently kissed your cheeks had transformed into a biting cold that gnawed at your bones. Dread began to settle in as Taehyung led you by the hand, blissfully unaware of the daunting job you’ve been tasked with. You knew you should have killed him right away, but you couldn’t help yourself. You were well aware of the consequences, and now it is time to face the repercussions.
Your jewelry was prepped and loaded with your special poison that consisted of neurotoxins from the deadliest animals. Pufferfish, scorpions, and king cobras were among the lethal mix. You had also laced your anointed silver dagger with the poison, as you would need every advantage you could get to combat Taehyung's strength.
“Would like some tea to calm your nerves, darling?” Taehyung asked sweetly.
“Yeah, that might help,” you shot him a meek smile.
Taehyung nodded and kissed the back of your hand before leaving you to make the tea. His sweet gesture made your heart sink. How could you possibly kill this man? The one and only person you’ve ever loved in your life? Well, even though he was not technically a person, no one had ever made you feel so loved before.
Taehyung quickly returned with hot tea and you gratefully let the cup warm up your hands. He pressed his cold hand against your forehead to check for any sign of illness.
“I’m fine, Taehyung,” you assured him.
“The air is getting colder. This is the opportune time for pestilence to strike,” Taehyung chided.
“Ok dad,” you rolled your eyes at him. God, you’re gonna miss this silly banter.
“I thought girls address their significant others by ‘daddy’ now?” he innocently asked, causing you to nearly spit out your drink.
“Some girls yes, but not in this instance. It’s more of a kink,” you explained.
“So was Freud correct in his reasoning?” Taehyung questioned.
“Well, yes and no. I don’t know. His theories are stupid and sexist. I hate that guy,” you concluded.
“I’m inclined to agree, he was rather odd,” Taehyung nodded wistfully.
“You act as if you actually knew him,” you scoffed, knowing damn well that he probably did meet him at some point.
“Of course not, that would be impossible. How old do you think I am?” he tried to joke with you. The subject of time and age always seemed like a touchy subject for him (and rightfully so).
“We’ve been over this. You’re probably centuries old or some shit. You always talk like some old timey character in a cheesy period film.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
“Not necessarily,” you smiled at him.
You really should stop dragging this on. It’s only going to cause more pain. Well, maybe spending just one more day with him wouldn’t be too bad. Nothing you do now is going to avert the pain. You might as well make this final day count.
“Darling?” you asked after a moment of silence.
“Yes, my love?” Taehyung gazed softly at you.
“Can you cuddle me all day? And make me feel like the most loved girl in the world?”
“My darling, you are the most loved girl in the world. Nothing in this realm can ever diminish my affections for you,” Taehyung tightly embraced you.
His kind words made you shed a silent tear. You will cherish every last second you had left with him. And that you did. The rest of the day was spent bundled up together under the warm covers of his bed watching Peaky Blinders. You insisted that he finish all of the episodes that day (which was a silly notion to him, but he obliged nonetheless).
It was late afternoon by the time the show was completely binged, and now your stomach was growling relentlessly.
“Hungry?” Taehyung chuckled.
“I believe so,” you clenched your stomach.
“I’ll go whip up some quick sandwiches then. Would you like some tea as well?”
“I can make the tea, you just handle the food,” you ordered.
“As you wish,” Taehyung complied.
It was time. You brewed the tea as you normally would, making sure you acted as if everything was okay. Just like you did before, a quick motion was all it took to pour a lethal dose of your special concoction into Taehyung’s tea.
There was no turning back now. Taehyung happily brought the sandwiches to the table. You smiled at him, fighting to hold back tears. At least your last memory of him would be pleasant.
“I love when you make the tea, it always tastes better than mine,” Taehyung praised you as he brought the cup to his lips.
Your breath hitches as he takes a sip. Immediately his face contorts with disgust and he looks at you with hurt betrayal in his eyes. Your heart breaks as you hesitate for a second; your hand is gripped around the hilt of your poisoned dagger.
With tears streaming down your face, you lunge at Taehyung. He quickly evades you, your blade narrowly missing his neck. Just a scratch of your blade would spell out his doom. Taehyung coughs out as much of the poison as he could.
Again, you propel yourself at Taehyung, zeroing in on his neck. He grabs you by the back of your head and effortlessly flung you across the room. You crash into the wall, the impact knocking the wind out of you. In a split second, Taehyung was in front of you, pulling you up by your hair.
You tried to stab him, but your efforts were futile. He grabbed your wrist with such force that it felt as if it was about to shatter. The dagger falls to the floor and his hand moves from your wrist to your neck.
The pain in his eyes was too unbearable to look at. Tears welled at the bottom of his eyes as he opened his mouth to speak but couldn't find any words to say.
“I could kill you right now,” is all he managed to say.
“Then do it,” you say without any hesitation.
“Go to sleep,” Taehyung demands, his words laced with the most potent magic you’ve ever encountered. In an instant, you were in a deep slumber.
You wake up in an unknown amount of time later. Your hands and legs are tied up to a chair in the middle of Taehyung’s living room. The restraints are so tight that you couldn’t even squirm your wrists or ankles.
Taehyung was rapidly pacing back and forth in front of you. His puffy eyes indicate the waterfall of tears he must have shed while you were knocked out.
“Tae--” you tried to call out.
“Don’t,” Taehyung snapped at you, instantly shutting you up.
He was using his magic now, and there’s nothing you can do to combat it. You had no choice but to sit helplessly as you waited for Taehyung to speak again.
“Why? I thought we had something real. I would have never hurt you. Did I not show you that I am harmless?” Taehyung finally said as he imposingly stood over you, “You may speak. Tell the truth.”
“I was ordered to exterminate you by the VEC. Taehyung you have to believe me when I say I love you. That was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, and I regret ever doing it,” you cried.
“Why should I ever trust you again?” he scoffed.
“If I didn’t kill you they would just keep sending more and more agents. You already encountered some before me,” you kept trying to explain.
“I tried to tell the vampire hunting couple that I have not done anyone harm in centuries. I’m sure you’re curious as to how I satisfy my peculiar craving. I pay a very handsome sum to the local hospital, and in return they supply me with endless blood donations. No one is harmed in the process. But those people refused to listen to me. I didn’t want to hurt them, but they gave me no choice,” Taehyung recounted.
“Those people were my parents,” you said softly.
Taehyung’s harsh gaze softened. He didn’t know how to react. He reasoned that avenging your parents may have been a justifiable reason to kill him.
“I’m terribly sorry, ___. I did not want to hurt them, but they were belligerent. I did not have a single moment of peace while they were pursuing me. You must have thought I was a monster this entire time,” Taehyung’s voice cracked, and he turned to hide his face from you.
“No, Taehyung, not at all. I love you. I never really knew my parents, so as awful as it is to say, their deaths didn’t really affect me. I treated this mission like any other, but curiosity got the better of me. Taehyung, I’ve never felt more human than when I’m with you,” tears began to cascade down your cheeks.
Taehyung remained silent and refused to look at you.
“I foolishly thought that the least I could do was give you a quick painless death. I didn’t want you to suffer,” you continued.
“___, I have never known a greater pain than this betrayal. I was willing to give you the world,” he finally turned to you, revealing that he too was crying, “And I still am. I have not been so enthralled by another for as long as I can remember. I do not know what kind of spells you used on me, but I fear that they are unbreakable.”
“Neither of us used any magic on each other before this, Tae. I wish you killed me on the spot when you first saw me,” you wailed.
“And ruin the single most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen? I couldn’t bear to think of it,” Taehyung said softly, gently caressing your wet cheek with the back of his hand.
Taehyung picked up your chair with one hand and brought you to the dining table.
“I’m going to untie you. Please do not try to run away or kill me again. We both know you are no match for me,” Taehyung said sternly.
You nodded quickly, eager to get the restraints off. You obediently sat still after he tore off the rope that bound you to the chair. Taehyung took his place opposite of you. Silence filled the air as tension built. Finally, Taehyung slid his poisoned tea to the middle of the table.
“Since peace does not seem to be an option, I believe it would be best for one of us to die,” he stated.
You stare blankly at him.
“Or perhaps, we could run away together and never look back. I can forgive this little infraction if you can forgive me for my deceit. We were both keeping secrets, and in the end it only harmed both of us,” he continued.
“We both know that can’t happen. The VEC would hunt us down relentlessly,” you disagreed.
Before he could react, you grabbed the cup and consumed its contents in the blink of an eye.
“___! What are you doing!?” he yelled at you, leaping across the table to smack the cup from your hands.
“I have a tracker in my bloodstream, Taehyung. They’ll always be able to find me, and we will never know peace. At least this way, you can flee and continue to live out your life,” you smiled weakly.
It won’t take long for your body to become paralyzed. After all, this was meant to kill vampires, not humans.
Taehyung cradled you in his arms, clutching you close to his chest. He wept over you as your body began to stiffen. Your cognitive abilities will remain intact until the very end. You watched as Taehyung’s heart broke for the second time that day.
“You fool. I don’t care if they keep coming after us. It would all be worth it if it means that I can have you by my side,” he cried as he cupped your cheek.
It was evident that the poison had begun running its course. You couldn’t reply nor could you move any part of your body. Only your eyes could convey your sorrow. Taehyung leaned down to plant kisses on both cheeks before gingerly placing one more on your still lips.
He picked you up bridal style and headed for the door. He walked along the trail on which you used to skip alongside him. The chirping birds that once greeted you were eerily quiet now. The evening dusk hour made the trees cast long spooky shadows along the path. The lake comes into view, but now it looks menacing as fog rolls along the water.
“I wish I didn’t have to do this, ___,” Taehyung said somberly.
You couldn’t say anything, but your eyes expressed your deep heartache.
“Don’t look at me like that, love. It’ll only make this harder,” Taehyung set you down gently on the edge of the dock, “I loved you, you know. I trusted you.”
Taehyung bent down to give you a final kiss. You could feel his sorrow as his cold lips pressed against yours. After parting, Taehyung began to sing. Tears began to roll down your cheeks. Of course, you were crying because you didn’t want to die, but also because you loved Taehyung’s voice so much. It was probably the one thing you’d miss most from this world. Besides Taehyung himself, of course.
“Have I lost myself? Or have I gained you?” Taehyung’s beautiful voice carried through the air.
Taehyung placed you into the lake on your back. You floated for a few seconds before your legs began to dip deeper into the water. Now completely immobile due to your poison, you had no choice but to drown peacefully.
“Please don’t say anything. Reach my hand out to cover the mouth,” Taehyung sang, his eyes never leaving you.
The water engulfed you as your head finally sank below the surface. Taehyung’s voice began to fade away as your lungs filled with water. Is this what your dreams have been warning you about? Have you already seen your own demise? None of that matters now, as the dull light from above the water gets further and further away.
Everything fades to nothingness as the water swallows you whole. Your vision, hearing, and consciousness slip away. Nothing but the frigid lake can be felt now.
Is this really how you’d go? Maybe you deserved it. You did attempt to kill the love of your life. You couldn’t help but be thankful for the time you spent with him.
Water fills your lungs, and you’re certain that your time has finally come. For being raised as a vampire hunter, you managed to stretch out your life expectancy. You closed your eyes for the last time as you sunk further towards the bottom of the lake.
Suddenly a warm light caressed your cheek. Your eyes fluttered open as you desperately gasped for air. All of your senses flood back and it’s incredibly overwhelming. There’s an unbearable white light that temporarily blinds you. Loud indiscernible sounds cause you to crumple to the ground. Soon the loud noises turn into a muffled tone that you can’t quite make you. The light begins to fade away as well.
You finally open your eyes once again, and are shocked by what you see. You’re in a lush garden, surrounded by gigantic trees and beautiful flowers. Birds can be heard chirping overhead.
‘Is this heaven?’ you thought to yourself.
“Not quite yet, child,” a voice boomed from above.
The sudden response made you jump. You looked around to try and find who responded, but to no avail.
‘God…?’ you thought.
“You flatter me, little one,” the voice chuckled.
The voice wasn’t as loud, but was now much closer. It honestly even sounded a little familiar. You turned around to see a giant figure looming behind you. Flowing golden robes elegantly wrapped around the figure. As your eyes focused on it, you saw a familiar face smiling down at you. Wait what the hell? It looked and sounded exactly like Yoongi.
“Let me speak before you ask any more questions,” the faux Yoongi said, “Welcome to Purgatory. You are neither dead nor alive nor undead. Your soul is temporarily in limbo. You must be a rather peculiar human. Most souls merely pop in here for an instant before their fate is decided or they are pulled back into the mortal realm. I have been instructed to converse with you,” the being explained.
“Y-yoongi?” you stammered in your confusion.
“Ah, I am not Yoongi, though I’m sure I resemble that fellow. I am perceived as any being who is held dear by those who gaze upon me. Usually I appear as a lover or a parent. Forgive my curiosity but under which category is ‘Yoongi’ to you?” the being sat beside you.
“Neither. But he’s probably the closest thing I have to a parent,” you shrugged.
“Interesting. Do you have a lover?”
“I think I did before I fucked everything up. What happens now?” you asked. You didn’t want to ponder on why this strange being did not take the form of Taehyung. Surely you held Taehyung more dear to you than Yoongi.
“You get to choose,” the being replied, “Also, I am not a god, upper or lowercase. You can think of me as sort of a cousin to Death. I am inevitable, but much less known,” it must have sensed your eagerness to figure out what it was.
“Do you have a name?” you inquired, now looking at it in awe instead of fear. If you didn’t know any better, you would think you were sitting with the real Min Yoongi. However, this being’s powerful aura easily gave it away as an imposter.
“Names are powerful things,” fake Yoongi tsked.
“Surely you know mine. It’s only fair for me to know yours,” you replied, “And I keep calling you Fake Yoongi in my head.”
“You may call me Lethe, as some have called me before,” it said after a long pause.
“Cool. Nice to meet you, Lethe. So what is this choosing business? Whether I live or die?”
“Of course,” Lethe said as a matter of factly.
“Wouldn’t it be obvious that I’d want to live?”
“Do you?”
That question filled you with doubt. What happens if you go back? How would you face Taehyung? Would it even be possible to talk it out and pretend like it never happened? Or would you need to go through the ordeal of attempting to kill him again?
“Those are all valid questions,” Lethe nodded.
“I forgot you can read my mind,” you said with surprise, “How long can I stay here?”
“Time does not exist here. But I suppose for your feeble mind to comprehend, I’d say about 2 more hours. At least, that’s what it’ll feel like to you. You can converse with me for the time being,” the immortal sat beside you.
And so it went. Lethe helped you weigh out your options. Lethe taking Yoongi’s form helped you open up. This was the closest thing you’ve ever had to a real heart to heart with a parent. Perhaps Yoongi was more important to you than you thought.
Lethe had already known every detail of your life, as they do with all those who pass through their domain. It was clear that you weren’t ready to die. You were just lost on what to do when you go back.
“Time is nearly up, little one,” Lethe softly said, “Have you made your decision?”
“Yes. I want to go back to the land of the living,” you smiled.
Lethe returned your smile as they began to wave their hands above you, making you instantly sleepy.
“I’ll be happy to see you again when it’s finally my time to go,” you managed to make out before letting out a yawn and shutting your eyes.
“That would be nice, little one. But no one ever remembers me,” Lethe said in a bittersweet tone as they sent you back to the mortal plane.
“___? ___! ___ wake up!” you heard muffled yells.
Your eyes opened slowly, but it was too dark to see anything. Your entire body ached. Bitter chills began to set in as you realized you were sopping wet, making the wintry air even more unbearable.
You drop back into a state of unconsciousness, but you swore you still faintly heard someone calling out your name.
“You didn’t have to come here yourself.”
“Are you fucking kidding me? I lost her parents. I can’t afford to lose her too. Why the fuck didn’t you step in immediately?”
“You ordered me to observe her, and that’s exactly what I did. She would be dead if it weren’t for me.”
“I’m gonna kill that bloodsucker myself.”
“...Yoongi…?” you weakly called out, your eyes still closed.
“___?!?” you heard the men scramble to your side.
The sheets you were wrapped in were warm. The biting cold that hurt your bones had faded away. Your body ached beyond belief, and you didn’t have the strength to sit yourself up.
“___, are you okay? I’ll get you some water,” a familiar voice said. It must be Jungkook.
“___? Are you awake?” Yoongi’s voice was much closer now.
“Yoongi?” you repeated while your eyes slowly opened to adjust to the light.
“Oh my god. Thank god you’re okay,” Yoongi pulled you in for a tight embrace.
“We really thought you were done for,” Jungkook handed you a glass of water.
“I thought I was too. I really think I died for a little bit. I can’t remember exactly what happened, but all I can recall is a bright light and maybe a forest? I think Yoongi was there?” you replied in a daze.
“Well, I was the only person with you until Yoongi showed up so I’m not sure about that. Unless you mistook me for Yoongi, which I take offense to,” Jungkook half smiled before taking a serious tone, “I saw him dump you in the lake. Why didn’t he drain you first?”
“Extremely tactless of you, Jungkook,” Yoongi admonished.
“He hasn’t harmed a living person in a long time. Well, except for my parents,” you softly answered.
“Come to think of it, he didn’t drink your parents’ blood either,” Yoongi stated.
“Please don’t hurt him. Please leave him alone. He won’t hurt anyone,” you begged.
“He hurt you, ___. For that, he needs to die,” Yoongi said sternly.
“I poisoned myself,” you admitted.
“What?” Yoongi and Jungkook said in unison.
“I...I love him. I told him to flee and live in peace after I sacrificed myself,” you began to cry.
“Are you stupid?” Yoongi asked in disbelief, “That thing killed your parents!”
“In self defense! They wouldn’t leave him alone after he told them numerous times to back off!”
“How do you know that? How do you know he wasn’t lying?” Yoongi argued.
“I can tell! You of all people should know that a vampire hunter doesn’t survive for long unless they can detect deceit in any and every form.”
“Sir, pardon me, but I think she’s telling the truth,” Jungkook interjected.
“Unbelievable. You too, Jungkook? Are you in love with the vampire too?” Yoongi scoffed.
“No. I just believe in her. When has ___ ever deviated from a mission? She’s your top agent. I don’t think she’d let herself get swept up by seductive charms,” Jungkook reasoned on your behalf, “I spoke with her yesterday. There was no trace of magic on her. Hopefully my word as your second highest agent means something. Plus, I’ve seen her express more emotion this past week than I have her entire life.”
“Jungkook,” you gratefully smiled at him.
“What the fuck are we supposed to do then? Just let him go without any consequences? I will not let your parents’ deaths go unavenged,” Yoongi crossed his arms.
“Let me talk to him,” you requested.
“What are you gonna say?” Jungkook joined you on the bed.
“I…” you trailed off.
What can you say to him? For one, he thinks you’re dead. You can’t imagine what he must be feeling right now. Anger? Sadness? Maybe he would be temporarily happy if you returned to him. However, it wouldn’t be long until your betrayal hurts him again.
“I just want to see him,” you finally say, “I’ll figure it out when I get there.”
“Absolutely not,” Yoongi shook his head, “I’m not sending you back without a plan.”
It took three days before you fully regained your strength. Yoongi and Jungkook took turns taking care of you. Jungkook offered to help you bathe, but you turned him down with a glare.
“Can HQ function properly without you?” you asked Yoongi in the kitchen.
He turned around quickly, surprised that you’re out of bed, “___! Sit down, don’t strain yourself.”
“I’m fine, Yoongi. I’ve been in bed for too long,” you shooed him away.
“I guess we can all have dinner together at the table tonight. I made fried chicken,” Yoongi said triumphantly, “Also, I haven’t had a day off in years. The VEC can handle itself for a little bit longer.”
“The chicken smells amazing, Yoongi. I’m gonna take a shower because I feel and smell disgusting.”
“You sure you don’t want my help?” Jungkook materialized out of nowhere.
“Sure, you wanna help me take a shower?” you peered up at him.
“Are you being serious?” Jungkook’s doe eyes widened.
“Yep. The only condition is that I’m going to kill you afterwards,” you deadpanned.
“Mm so you’d still want to take at least one full shower with me,” Jungkook teased.
“Shut up, bunny boy,” you rolled your eyes.
You could hear Yoongi chuckle to himself behind you. It must be a relief to see you back to normal and bickering with Jungkook as if nothing happened.
Flashbacks of your last encounter with Taehyung filled your head as warm water cleansed your body. You didn’t know what you’d do, but you made up your mind. You needed to see him. You wanted nothing more than to be in his arms again. You longed to feel his soft lips on yours.
Dinner was full of smiles and playful banter. The food was delicious (fried chicken was Yoongi’s speciality) and it tasted even better since you hadn’t been able to eat solid food in days.
“So, what are we gonna do now that ___ is feeling better?” Jungkook questioned with a mouth full of food.
“I’m going to go talk to him,” you affirmed.
“Again, what are you going to talk about?” Yoongi raised his eyebrows.
The rest of the evening was spent devising a plan. It took a lot of convincing by both you and Jungkook, but Yoongi finally gave in. It seemed like even Jungkook was hesitant about the plan, but backed you up nonetheless. Jungkook and Yoongi would be your backup in case things went south.
The next day you drove to Taehyung’s home. The drive that you once happily made now brought you dread. You had no idea how Taehyung would react. You just prayed that he wouldn’t kill you on the spot.
It was now well into the winter season. Snow covered the ground and frosted the windows of Taehyung’s weathered home. Knocking on the front door may not be the best move, but it’s what you decided to do. There was no answer. You tried to turn the knob to find that the door wasn’t locked at all.
You snuck through the front door, cautious not to make any sounds. Something was amiss. Someone as cautious as Taehyung would never leave their front door unlocked. The house was eerily quiet.
He was nowhere to be found on the first floor. You journeyed up to the second story in the hopes of finding him. A rustling from his room was heard.
You tiptoed to his room, the door was wide open. Taehung was staring out of his bedroom window. The world seemed still for a moment. You quietly walked into the room, and realized that the room was filled with bouquets. Flowers ranging from lillies, chrysanthemums, carnations, and roses made the room smell sickly sweet.
“Taehyung,” you called out to him.
He turned to you to reveal his tear streaked face. His eyes were red and puffy. He cast a disinterested gaze at you before he shooed you away with one hand.
“Go away. You’re not real. When will this hell end?” he sighed.
“Tae, my darling, I am real,” you approached him slowly.
“My own imagination won’t let me live down my guilt, huh? I suppose I deserve it,” he replied sadly, turning back to face the window.
“Taehyung, I’m right here, dumbass,” you say with more conviction as you hug him from behind.
He jumped at your touch, whipping around to face you with inhuman speed. His cold hands gently cupped your face, as tears began to fall from his eyes.
“How? There’s no way you can be real. There’s no way that you’re ___,” he cried out, hugging you tightly.
“You better believe it, Taehyuung. I didn’t come back from the dead to be ignored,” you tried to joke, but your voice gave you away.
It was a bittersweet reunion. Tears freely fell, wet kisses were shared, and best of all, you were in each other’s arms again. Any fear you had regarding awkward tensions had dissipated.
Taehyung held you in his arms as you recounted the past few days. You came clean to him about being a vampire hunter, and about how you were the VEC’s top hunter. You started to cry again as you told him about the inner turmoil you struggled with ever since you met him. Taehyung listened intently to everything you said, clutching you closely the entire time.
“The President of the VEC knows that you’re here?” he asked after you finished.
“Yes,” you answered.
“Is he going to kill me?” he seriously inquired.
“He may try, depending on the choices you make today,” you replied.
“What choices do I have? I’ll receive any consequences you deem fit,” he kissed your forehead.
“How do you feel about working for the VEC? It took a lot of arguing, but Yoongi agreed that if I can keep you in check, you would be allowed to work with me. However, one slip up and you’re dead. Those were his words exactly,” you explained.
“What exactly does a ‘slip up’ entail?” he questioned.
“Killing and/or eating any humans. You would only be allowed to kill vampires. The VEC would ensure that blood will always be provided to you to avoid any hunger killings,” you laced his fingers between yours, as if this was any normal casual conversation.
“My ultimatum is that I either work for the VEC to kill my own kind or to die? Is that correct?” he clarified.
“That sounds pretty harsh. But yes, those are your only options.”
“What if I kill all of you instead?”
“Okay, you have three options then.”
“But only one of them will allow me to spend my life with you,” he replied gently.
“You’ll do it? You’ll work with me at the VEC?” your eyes lit up.
“If it means I get to be with you, of course. Vampires are solitary creatures anyway. I have no remorse for my kind that resort to needless violence,” he planted a tender kiss on your lips.
“In that case, I have one more condition. This is a personal request,” you whispered.
“Anything for you, my darling,” Taehyung cooed.
“Turn me.”
Taehyung’s eyes widened, stunned by your request. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.
“I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I finally found a real reason to live, and it’s you. I had just been going through the motions until I met you. Please, Taehyung. I want us to stay like this. Forever,” you pleaded.
“Do you know what you’re asking, ___? You’ll be dead, just like me. You’ll be dependent on feeding on human blood. I’ve had countless years of practice, but the hunger can sometimes become uncontrollable,” Taehyung tried to reason with you.
“I would have you to help me through all of that,” you stroked his cheek.
“What if the VEC decides to hunt us down?”
“Then we can flee together. Or we can fight them. I don’t care, as long as we’re together. You don’t have to do it right now, but just know that I want it,” you say in a defeated tone.
“If you’re sure,” Taehyung gripped a handful of your hair and tilted your head back, “I’ll do it.”
“Then do it. Bet you won’t,” you teased to hide your nervousness.
He chuckled at your response. He peppered gentle kisses along your neck, before licking a long stripe along it. The tingling sensation made you moan. Taehyung’s hand found its way between your thighs. He slowly began to rub your clit while seductively whispering in your ear.
“I’ve been dreaming of doing this since the first time I saw you,” he growled.
You took off your pants to grant him easier access to your intimate spots.
“Good girl,” he praised, slipping a finger into you.
You moaned as he added another one. You felt your body clenching as he brought you closer to your climax. His fingers curled perfectly and his pace quickened. He had simultaneously been kissing your neck the entire time.
“You smell so fucking good, darling,” his deep voice resonated in your ear, “I can’t promise that this won’t hurt. But I do promise to fuck your brains out after.”
He didn’t give you time to respond. You had been holding out long enough. You reached your high as his sharp fangs bit into your neck. The initial puncture hurt, but it began to feel better as soon as Taehyung lapped up the blood. Taehyung suckled your neck as his fingers played with your clit.
“T-tae t-that’s too much,” you struggled to say.
“Don’t act as if you can’t take it, darling,” Taehyung growled in response.
He threw you on your back. He let you have a second to catch your breath, as he tore off his blood stained shirt. He dove right back into feeding from you, but now his hard crotch was grinding against your wet exposed core.
“I have to warn you, this next part may be a bit unpleasant for you,” he stated as he licked the blood off of his lips.
This sight of a bloody Kim Taehyung was oddly erotic. Knowing that it was your blood on him strangely made it even more hot.
Taehyung bit his own wrist. He held his bleeding wrist over your mouth.
“Drink,” he ordered.
You did as you were told, hesitantly licked his wrist. The metallic taste caused you to cringe.
“It won’t work if you don’t do it,” he scolded.
You grabbed his wrist and brought it to your mouth. You sucked on the wound hard, swallowing as much as you could. Taehyung groaned, the sight of you feeding from him turned him on more than he could imagine. You couldn’t take it anymore after a few minutes. You stopped to get some air.
“That should be good enough, darling. Well done,” Taehyung kissed your forehead.
“How will I know if it worked?” you asked.
“It takes a little while for my blood to circulate throughout your body. It’ll happen, don’t worry. For now…” his voice trailed off as his hand returned to your pussy.
“Do you want me to make you feel good again?” he teased, his fingers lightly tracing your lips.
“I thought you promised that you’d ‘fuck my brains out’?” you deviously smiled.
“I do intend to make good on that,” he returned your sly smile.
He flipped you onto your stomach, and propped your ass up. He gave it a good slap, one that stung for a few seconds afterwards and immediately turned your ass red.
He ran his length along your pussy, coating himself with your juices. He teased you by slowly putting just the tip in before coming back out. You didn’t have the energy to be your normal cheeky self. You patiently waited for him to ease into you. His hand came around to grip your neck, forcing your head upwards.
“You’ve been such a good girl,” he growled, as he finally gave you his entire length.
His hips bucked into you ferociously, his grip still firmly around your neck. Your neck was still sore from being bitten into, but at this point you didn’t care. You were still sensitive from your last orgasm, and Taehyung was drilling directly into your g spot.
“Fuck, you’re so wet,” he panted.
“Please fuck me as hard as you can. I really can’t keep up with you much longer,” you managed to say.
“Sure thing, darling,” Taehyung obliged.
He pounded into you harder with speed that you couldn’t handle. He let go of your neck, allowing you to collapse onto your chest. His hands gripped your ass instead. His strokes became sloppier, indicating that he was now close to his limit.
With a sudden grunt, Taehyung released his load into you, his hot semen filling you up. He leaned over to you, and you thought he was going in for a kiss, but he licked your neck instead. You didn’t realize that you were still bleeding. You turn to the side to give him better access. After the bleeding stopped, he cuddled you, pressing his chest against your back.
“You have the sweetest blood I’ve ever tasted,” he kissed your ear.
“Thanks I guess? Have you ever tasted a diabetic? That might change your opinion,” you laughed.
“I can’t recall. I just know that no one has ever tasted better,” he squeezed you tighter, “Also creeping thistle.”
“Huh?” you turned to look at him in confusion. Was he speaking in code?
“You asked what kind of flower I thought you were before. I believe I can give you my answer now,” Taehyung replied thoughtfully.
“Okay I’ll bite. What does a creeping thistle look like?”
“You know those tall purple flowers you see on the sides of the road? Those are creeping thistles,” he answered. You paused to recall driving past them.
“Wait, those are weeds!” you cried out in disbelief, “You think I’m a pest like a weed?”
“They are weeds, yes. They are resilient, persistent, and can hurt you if you’re not careful around them,” Taehyung chuckled.
“Those don’t really sound like compliments--”
“But they also produce beautiful purple flowers that go unappreciated. Purple is my favorite color,” Taehyung interrupted you.
“Fine, I’ll take it since you said they’re beautiful or whatever,” you playfully rolled your eyes, but you were touched by the thought that went into his answer. You noticed you were growing colder by the second, and snuggled closer to Taehyung to try and produce some body heat. He noticed this and helped you get under the covers before cuddling with you again.
“You’re going to die tonight. Don’t worry, that’s part of the process. I’ll be by your side the entire time. You’ll be like me in the morning,” he kissed your forehead.
“Will it hurt?” you asked, slightly scared.
“The worst is over. The most excruciating part is when my blood begins to circulate in yours, but I think I successfully distracted you from that pain,” he smirked.
“Oh I’m sure that was the only reason you dicked me down senseless. Thank you for your generosity,” you laughed.
Your body began to feel heavy yet weightless at the same time. Panic began to set in. The feeling was similar to when you drowned in the lake. Your breathes became more strained as you struggled to inhale sufficient oxygen. Sensing your distress, Taehyung held you tighter and whispered a single word into your ear.
“Sleep.”
“You look pretty harmless.”
“I try to be, for the most part.”
“Jungkook! Get away from him. Don’t talk to him. Taehyung, if that’s even your real name, you’re on thin fucking ice. If ___ doesn’t wake up when you say she will I’ll put your pretty little head on a spike.”
“You think he’s pretty?”
“Shut up Jungkook.”
You slowly opened your eyes after hearing the men bicker. You woke up to find all three of them standing in front of the bed. Jungkook had an uncharacteristically somber look on his face while Yoongi looked gloomier than usual. You could tell that Taehyung had reverted back to his reserved state in their presence.
“Yoongi? Why are you here?” you questioned. You started to panic. Did Taehyung admit to turning you? You hadn’t even thought about how to break the news to Yoongi. If you weren’t dead now then you’d surely be dead after Yoongi found out.
“Your phone rang. I answered “Yoongles” who had some rather choice words for me. I told him that you were fine and resting. He barged in immediately after that,” Taehyung explained.
“Yoongi I told you that I would--”
“I’m beyond relieved that you’re still alive. I only called because it was urgent and--”
“The VEC was attacked,” Jungkook butted in.
“What?” you were shocked.
“We’re the only ones left,” Yoongi stated.
Published October 24, 2020. No editing, copying, translating, or reposting allowed. All Rights Reserved © 2020 Baepsaesbae.
#bts smut#kim taehyung smut#bangtanarmynet#bangtanshadowfamily#btswritingcafe#ksmutclub#bts vampire#bts angst#vampire taehyung#taehyung angst#kpop fanfic#bts fanfic#bts fluff#kim taehyung fluff#taehyung fanfic
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perfidy;tom holland|1
chapter 1: the script
enemies to lovers au
story summary: Tom and you have been sworn enemies since you were young. However, you happened to be best friends with the twins. When one of your friends challenged you to break Tom’s heart, you immediately accepted to get back at him for all the times he’s hurt you. Old feelings might come back, while both of you try to go past your pride and your lies.
chapter summary: the first time he broke your heart
pairing: tom holland x y/n
warnings: swearing, flashback in italics, juuuuuust slightly angsty but not really
word count: 3.9k
teaser
next chapter
series masterlist
wanna be tagged?
As you know, Limits of Desire is coming to an end so I’m starting this new series. I’m very excited for this! Maybe it’ll flop but I like the idea, so I hope you like it too!
You were running late. Your alarm had not gone off and you were currently running around your apartment. Your wet hair was leaving droplets around the kitchen as you quickly devoured a cereal and tried to apply your makeup at the same time. You needed to look presentable, you’d have an interview to be an official writer on the series you currently interned at.
Everything was going too quickly this morning for your own convenience, it seemed like you were running out of time and it seemed like nothing was real. It didn’t feel real, but it was. You were trying to catch your breath as the excitement and nerves were tickling your skin.
A writing assistant/intern/coffee-runner was all you were by now, but you didn’t want to give up. Everybody’s got dreams and maybe yours were closer each day. You knew you’d have your big breakout one day, maybe it was closer than you could think of.
But everything had seemed to be stopped suddenly, as soon as good things were coming down your way, life would bring in more and more pebbles to your path. Just like the day before, everything was ready but your car, however, had decided to stop working, and of course you had been stuck under the rain in London.
Cue to the next day, to this morning when you had overslept and your nose was slightly red, and you had no transportation. You believed life hated you, but you ended up not worrying, everything would turn out to be fine even if all the odds were constantly turning around for you.
You had called your best friend, and he had assured you he’d be there to give you a ride. Seemed like he was the guardian angel that you so much needed in your life at the moment. Besides, you were excited to see him, you’d barely seen him in the last few months, his new girlfriend was taking him away from you. And you weren’t jealous, you’d still have Sam, but Sam was too busy with his own things so whenever you went to visit Harry you’d end up stuck with his older brother, whom, thank you very much, you despised.
You heard the usual claxon honking outside your building, you grabbed your coat and bag and rushed downstairs.
Harry would be picking you up and he’d probably give you a very needed pep-talk to get you ready.
You ran to the car as you felt butterflies inside your stomach. It’s alright to be nervous, you guessed, it was the opportunity of a lifetime.
But life was once more proving to you how much it could suck.
“I thought Harry was picking me up,” you stated as soon as you saw who was behind the wheel. Tom looked up from his phone and dedicated a corny smirk, you could even see a wink under his sunglasses.
“He got some stuff to do, you’re stuck with me,” Tom said.
“Was Sam not available?” You groaned.
“Work.”
“Haz?” You asked with hope.
“He had a shoot.”
“Paddy?” You were desperate.
“Oh, fuck’s sake y/n, be thankful I came. I was about to leave, took you long enough, you know makeup won’t do you miracles.”
You rolled your eyes as you opened the door and hopped into the car. You pulled out your phone to avoid any further conversation.
“You know, I’m no uber,” he sassed.
“I know, uber drivers are usually nice,” you snapped.
Tom started the car.
“I brought you tea,” he said as he eyed the cup with a smirk.
You frowned staring at it.
“I didn’t poison it, y/n,” Tom said condescendingly.
You slowly picked it up, “Thanks,” sceptically, you took a sip.
“I did spit on it, though,” Tom grinned.
You widened your eyes and glared at him. “Oh fuck off, Tom.”
“Oh, you’re gonna be that way?” Tom frowned. “You know I could pull over right here and you’d have to walk to your precious interview,” he snapped.
You sighed. “I’m sorry,” you rolled your eyes. “Did you really spit on it?”
“No, I’m kidding, y/n, gee you don’t have to take everything that serious,” He chuckled as you flipped him off.
“I don’t trust you,” you admitted.
“I know you don’t,” he laughed. “Which is the reason as to why I didn’t even have to do anything with the tea, your sole mind is doing the trick.”
You remained quiet. The ride was going to be very long.
“Are you nervous?” He turned slightly to look at you.
“A little,” you confessed.
“Ya goin’ to pitch a screenplay?” He asked.
You shook your head. “I...uh, not really.”
“Good, they wouldn’t like your writing anyway,” Tom cornily input. “Bit cheesy.”
You clenched your jaw. “They liked your acting, didn’t they?”
He scoffed. “Remind me who’s got a career.”
You stayed quiet and looked out the window. He pursed his lips.
“I’m sorry,” he broke the silence, and it seemed real. “I was joking, you’ll do amazing.”
“You really don’t have to try to make conversation, you know?” You said, slightly hurt.
There was no easy way to explain your relationship with the Holland’s. With each member of the family, you had your history.
Your mum was best friends with Nikki since diapers, they had been to school together, roommates at college and even their respective maids of honour. Naturally, they had expected you to be friends with all her kids. You were sure your mother and Nikki had had the fantasy of their kids playing in the garden, while they enjoyed a mean cup of tea. You were also sure they both had had the stupid fantasy of one of their kids falling in love growing up and becoming best friends with the others.
And it kind of went like that, growing up with them in your house, birthday parties with them, some Christmas, New Years. Always together. You knew them perfectly. Too much for your own convenience.
You were friends, at least with the twins and Paddy. There had been no trouble with the twins, the three of you got along perfectly. Sam, Harry and you had been inseparable since you were young, even if you were slightly older than them. You had hit it off right away. Even if they were fighting between them, you’d always be alright with them. It was a very innocent friendship.
Especially with Harry, both of you had shown your interest in films and cinema from a very young age. You’d be seen together always with a camera on your hands and directing Sam and Tom to act. You’d come up with the stories and Harry would help you bring them to life. Usually, your homemade movies came out fine, even if they usually involved hours of you and Tom fighting.
Especially since you lacked crew, the four of you would end up playing roles you never really liked.
But Harry would always bring out the camera your parents would borrow and film everything. Thanks to that, you’d have a lot of memories of your childhood on video. Even the ones you didn’t want to remember.
Tom always wanted to be in front of the cameras, but since you were the only girl at the time, you’d often be paired up with him. That’s when you stopped coming up with romantic stories, you really didn’t want to even hold hands with Tom,
Tom, Tom was complicated. Older than you, and extremely annoying. You had been “ friends” when you were kids, but he seemed to always have a reason to bother you. It was extremely annoying. When you were only toddlers, you got along fine, but of course what problems could toddlers possibly have.
But you grew up, and Tom possibly, no, he definitely was the worst kid you could have ever possibly imagined. He never wanted to share anything, he would always whine and he’d throw tantrums. And he’d pull your hair and he wouldn’t let you play and he’d go running to his mum to cry to complain if you ever won while playing together. He, very maturely, would stick his tongue out whenever you spoke, and he’d push you, and he’d mimic you. Now, now, if you were completely honest you weren’t good friends, you’d both always end up on the floor fighting each other. You would always pride yourself on being able to take him down. More than once you had been on top of him, after an innocent and childish wrestle.
However, you were getting tired of never being able to have 5 minutes without him insulting or bothering you. Because even with everything, you found the boy cute. Whenever he wasn’t bothering you, he was nice, he was remotely kind. It was cute. It wasn’t that you guys didn’t get along, well, you didn’t, but it seemed that Tom wasn’t able to be decent around you.
He had his good moments, like whenever he would be a gentleman and give you the first cookie, or whenever he would cut a flower and give it to you, but of course, that was usually followed by dirt being thrown at your face, as if he was trying to make a point.
And he’d constantly confuse you and your stupid little heart, which would make you blush whenever he decided to be remotely kind.
And you cursed the day your mother and Nikki had said the following words;
“He bothers you because he has a crush on you,” Nikki had said.
“That’s true, boys want attention and the only way he’s getting your attention is by being annoying. He likes you.”
And being the stupid 6 yeared old you were, you changed the way you viewed Tom, and finally became completely foolishly smitten with him. Very stupid decision. Because, really, whoever came up with that theory was very stupid. Why would you bother someone you like? And why would people go on around telling girls that guys treating them badly would mean they loved them. It was fucked up, wasn’t it? Of course, now you were older and you didn’t believe in any of that bullshit. Because at the end of the day, that’s all it was, pure horseshit.
But of course, you didn’t know well back then, so after they told you Tom had a crush on you, you, it started, the stupid decision to crush on him more. And you started to act differently, and initially, he noticed. He would ask why you would wear more dresses rather than the tomboy look you loved to have when younger, and he’d ask why you had stopped being fun. Because of course, you’d take longer to brush your hair and now you wouldn’t be playing soccer with him as much. You’d still let yourself wrestle him every now and then because that meant you could, if you took him down, hold his hands.
You were very stupid.
And you took your shot, because not only were you stupid, you had the balls. Which, looking back at it, only made you more of an idiot. But one day, just as you’d taken him down, and as he was trying to push you off of him, you decided to try something different.
“Calm down,” you had said just before you kissed his cheek, making the boy turn red and frozen to shock.
You hadn’t said anything else and you had quietly left him.
He had changed after that. It seemed like he had caught on to that, and he had stopped in a way, bothering you as much. Of course, he’d always bring in his childish games like burping in front of you, or proving how masculine and ‘better’ he was whenever you’d play anything. He’d still get angry at you whenever you beat him in a videogame or any game at all.
But something had changed. He’d now be nicer, in his own particular way. He’d be smiling more often and he’d give you more hugs, like children do. He’d let you use his favorite car, or let you be spiderman if you played.
Tom Holland had broken your heart several times throughout your life, that didn’t mean each time it hurt less, but you got used to it. You weren’t going to let him get near your heart ever again, or so you had promised yourself.
The first time he’d ever hurt you, you had been young. He was 10, you were 8. And you had taken the guts to finally tell him how you felt, in your own particular way. You’d told the twins, 7 back then, to help you.
And you had planned it perfectly, a new homemade movie. Your script consisted of you telling him you had a crush on him, and you had the guts to even write a kiss. And you were going to film it, and to this day you remembered it, and even if you didn’t want it, it was on camera.
“Alright, so the princess is going to…save the prince!” You explained to Tom. “Because she is in love with him!”
“Why does it have to be a princess?” Tom frowned. “Why not be a superhero! Besides, it should be me who saves the damsel!” Tom pushed.
“This is my movie, Thomas,” you complained.
“This is my movie, Thomas,” he mimicked. He groaned. “Why can’t I be the dragon? Why does Sam get to be the dragon?”
“Because you’re the prince!” You pushed.
He took the script off your hands. “What does it even say?” He asked as he read it. “This is stupid!”
“No, it’s not!”
Tom frowned. “Why would we kiss?” He wrinkled his nose as he stuck his tongue out.
“Because we like each other,” you explained.
“Why would anyone like you?” He sounded disgusted. “You’re ugly and stupid and you’re you!”
“Tom, Tom,” Harry said behind the camera. “It’s a movie, it’s pretend!”
“I don’t want to be in this movie anymore, less with her,” he frowned. “You’d have to be pretty stupid if you think I’d kiss you.”
“Maybe I am.”
“Everything you write is very stupid.” Because Tom and you had had boundaries, and he knew he was crossing the most important one.
“Tom that’s very mean,” you said.
“I’d rather eat a frog than kiss you.”
“She did this because she likes you,” Sam admitted, with a giggle. An innocent stunt a child pulls. “Tom and y/n!” Sam sang.
Tom walked past you. “Disgusting.”
And he left, and Harry pointed the camera at you. Your face was conflicted, and confused and sad.
Your first official heartbreak was on camera, and of course, you never watched it. You guessed your current feelings for Tom were derived form that one moment. You had been cold after that. And that was the first time you even truly cried because of him. But you were 8, it was stupid to cry over a boy.
Your mum understood why you had distanced yourself from him, for a while, at least. Even Nikki understood, so for a while, you didn’t visit the Holland’s household, and you’d only invite the twins.
And you were very petty and explicit if you ever were with the three brothers you’d use his words: “I’d rather eat a frog than have you come over.”
And the movies were ceasing, at least for a bit. But Tom did apologize, and you had been sure Nikki had forced him.
But he had come to your house with flowers on your 9th birthday and apologized, and you were sure he had written and learned the apology. But you were still very angry, and it wasn’t even because he had rejected you, it didn’t even have to do with the fact he had dared to reject you in the meanest way he could, but you were angry he had insulted your writing. From a very young age, your pride was even more
“I’m very sorry, y/n, I didn’t mean it, I didn’t mean your writing was stupid and I am sorry for calling you all that, I was the one being stupid,” he had said. “And I really want to stay friends with you, because I really like you as a friend. And you look pretty in that dress.”
You had looked at the flowers, gently took them in and said: “I like the flowers but I don’t like you and I don’t want to be friends but you can have cake, I guess.”
And he was slightly upset, you could tell. And then you walked away and placed the flowers on the bin. You were dramatic.
But he had had his revenge right there on your birthday, one stupid insignificant revenge, he had ‘accidentally’ tripped on your dress and dirtied your dress with cake.
And it had started, the war. Tom and you were constantly fighting and you were sure you were now sworn enemies. It started innocent, from little pranks to insults, to very hurtful pranks that had had you crying. But you were hanging out together again, at least in the same room, and now the videos weren’t movies anymore, they were just you and Harry sillying with the camera, or sometimes Sam. Even Tom. Creating memories, you guessed. You filmed everything, birthday parties, the first time either of you got drunk, proms, studying sessions and successes.
Tom and you were friends sometimes, sometimes you weren’t, sometimes he’d act like more than friends which would make you very untrusting.
There had been several more times when Tom had hurt you and he’d later apologize. It seemed like that’s the only thing he knew how to do, apologize without meaning it. Because an apology wears out when you keep on committing the same crimes.
But you’d always end up believing in him again, and he would pull the exact thing he’d always done, give you flowers and then throw dirt at your face.
But he was so complicated, so complicated. But you guessed your feelings were more complicated. You hated him, you couldn’t stand him. Whenever he was around you’d get annoyed. But there were sometimes, just like you were kids that you’d end up having nice times, like when he’d give you one of his favorite cookies, or when he let you play with his favorite controller.
Because he’d done things that were nice, very significant things. Like the time your boyfriend had broken up with you hours before prom and Tom had shown up at your house, tux and everything, maybe it was slightly awkward at first, but he’d been there to cheer you up. He had been decent then, even nice. You had even believed, for a bit, that he could like you. Of course, he stopped talking to you the very next day and then proceeded to say that you had pathetically begged him to go to prom with you. Even if Harry had on camera how Tom had picked you up and given you flowers, he denied it, saying you had been the one to ask him.
Yes, he was still an asshole.
Yet you never seemed to learn your lesson, he always managed to warm your heart just slightly and make you forget, at least for five minutes that you hated him . You never learned that he’d always end up hurting you, just like right now, you were in the car with your stomach hurting from listening to yet more hurtful words, even if he knew he had crossed the line he shouldn’t cross. And you wished you were somewhere else instead, because he knew he had poked on what he shouldn’t have poked, and you knew he was sure you wanted to cry. But it seemed like he loved doing that, his favourite sport. He loved to play with your heart.
Because Tom and you had an off and on relationship, the relationship being enemies. But sometimes, if you were true to yourself and to each other, you were nice. Just like right now, even in his own rude way, he was still driving you.
“I really do mean it, y/n,” Tom pushed again.
You ignored him.
“Y/N.”
“What? You meant I suck at writing?”
“I meant you were amazing,” he whispered. “I’m sorry.”
“You’re always sorry,” you sighed.
Tom bit his lip. “You know, you could...uh, send me one in an I could help you get to producers, or we could write one together, or I could produce one-”
“Thanks but I--”
“I know you want to make a name by yourself,” he sighed. “But I could help you in.”
“I know, I know, thanks, Tom,” you were merely saying this because you wanted to avoid any further conversation.
“And—uh, I’m really sorry for last week when—“
“Don’t bother, don’t worry,” you quickly silenced him before he could continue with the subject. You really didn’t want to get your head thinking on anything but the interview. Probably Tom was trying to sabotage you and that was the reason why he was bringing it up.
He played music. It seemed extremely awkward. But you didn’t want to give in to any kind of conversation, because if you did then you’d have to understand if today you were going to be decent or if you were going to be rude.
You didn’t want to be anything, you didn’t have the energy to fight with him and you didn’t have the energy to pretend and be nice. It usually was his call, you just played along unless you were in the mood for something. It was either fight or flight with him.
His phone rang, and he gulped as he saw it was Harry calling. He answered it with the free hands mode anyway.
“Tom—Where’s the car? Fuck, I overslept, I didn’t set my alarm.” Harry seemed rushed.
“I took it,” Tom explained.
“No wait, I forgot I had to drive y/n—Shit I’m gonna call her.”
“No need man,” Tom cleared his throat.
You raised your brows.
“Tom, fuck, I know you guys are very angry again but this is very important to her, like—“
“I know,” Tom seemed anxious listening to his brother.
“I need the bloody car, don’t be an asshole,” Harry stated.
“You don’t need it,” Tom pushed.
“Tom—“
“Hi, Harry,” you chipped in. “He’s driving me.”
“Wait—what?” Harry was shocked.
“I was up early, tried to wake you up but since I saw you were definitely not waking up I grabbed the keys and I’m driving her,” Tom explained.
You raised your brows, perplexed. So today, he had decided it, he was your friend.
“What?” It seemed that Harry was as confused as you were.
“Yeah, I’m here,” you said.
“Y/N I’m so sorry I completely forgot last night to set it,” Harry apologized.
“No worries,” you chuckled. “I overslept, too.”
“Are you being held against your will? Is Tom not trying to kill you?” Harry asked.
“No, I’ll do that later,” Tom laughed.
“Well—uh, I’ll—“
“See you later, man,” Tom hung up quickly.
You stared at him. “I don’t want to know what you’re up to. But now I’m even more scared of being in this car with you.”
“Can’t I be nice?” Tom smirked.
“No, you can’t,” you stated. “But—thank you.”
And you would believe Tom was being nice, but you knew that he wasn’t doing this to be your friend, he was probably feeling guilty about last week. This was just another empty apology.
But you could live with it today.
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The Devil Doesn’t Do Children
Part: 2 / ?
Setting: About a year after 5a
Word count: 3.5K
Rating: T
Summary: ‘I certainly did not choose to impregnate the Detective, Doctor!’ In which Lucifer doesn’t know how to cope and goes to see the one person who might be able to help him.
Warnings: Mention of death, murder (and, quite indirectly, foeticide)
When Chloe parks the car a little outside the film set, Lucifer has finally got his thoughts and the threatening sensation in his chest under control. He had stared silently out of the window the entire ride, calculating, weighing the different possibilities; which one was more likely—him impregnating her after being sterile since the dawn of time, or her getting food poisoning from a hole in the wall filthier than medieval England? The latter. Definitely the latter. It is the only logical—nay, possible explanation. He has no doubt.
But then she asks him to get her a gum from her glove box (she still has a bad taste in her mouth), and when he looks inside the small space to find the pack she always keeps there, something catches his eye, something pink and flat, something he usually associates with mood swings and five days of limited access—something that reminds him she’s more than a week late.
He grabs the gum between his fingers and hands it to her, smacking the glove box shut as if it will erase what he just saw and the distressing epiphany it led to. He searches for alternate explanations in his panicking mind, something, anything, that will ease his returned and now stronger fear that she’s… That they’re… But he comes up with nothing. Just obscure theories that even he will admit are far-fetched.
He doesn’t say anything—not because he knows she doesn’t want to have the conversation on their way to talk to a potential suspect, but because he can’t. So he just follows after her like a lost puppy, until they’re suddenly sitting in a cramped trailer, facing former child-star, current man-child Max Steinfeld.
‘Why did you walk away when we asked you about Laura?’ Chloe asks the actor. He had fled? Lucifer hadn’t noticed. Then again, he’s not entirely sure he would have remembered if they’d been in a car chase, or a gunfire.
The sad example of a man slides a tabloid towards them in response to the Detective’s question. The front page shows a picture (undoubtedly shot by a paparazzo) of him and Riley walking down the street hand in hand, smiles plastered on their polished Hollywood faces. Next to the headline promising insight in ‘all the details about the magical wedding,’ there’s a close-up of an offensively distasteful diamond ring.
Lucifer sees a chance at escaping the cacophony of disturbing thoughts in his head and takes it. ‘What, because you’re marrying Miss Riley and didn’t want a murder case spoiling your-’ he takes the magazine and swiftly flips through the pages till he finds the right one, ‘uber-romantic seaside wedding? Is that it?’ Lucifer leans a little forward and stares intensely into the man’s eyes, his best cheshire grin playing on his lips. ‘Come now, Maximillian, what is it you truly desire?’
‘I…,’ he begins, not blinking as he’s sucked into Lucifer’s stare, ‘I want to stop pretending.’
‘Pretending that you didn’t kill an innocent woman because you put a bun in her oven?’
Steinfeld’s brows draw together in confusion before they arch up in worry and disbelief. ‘Laura’s… dead?’
Lucifer’s just about to call him out on his charades, when the Detective jumps in and confirms that she was found in her home, stabbed to death.
Max’ face turns white. His jaw goes slack. Then a cry of raw agony fills the confined space.
*
Once Steinfeld has calmed down enough to continue the conversation, Chloe decides to go easy on him and begins by asking him where he was between 9 and 10 PM last night.
‘With Moni,’ he says, looking almost ashamed. ‘I had a date with Laura—we were gonna see each other for the first time in weeks—but she didn’t turn up. I figured she was still mad.’
‘Mad?’ Chloe prompts him to elaborate.
‘Yeah, well, I didn’t exactly handle the whole pregnancy-thing very well. I couldn’t- I just- I panicked.’
‘So you killed her,’ her partner concludes beside her. She gives him a stern look and a reprimanding ‘Lucifer.’ He ignores her.
‘No! I would never hurt her! I love her,’ Steinfeld tells them, all kinds of emotions swimming in his eyes. ‘But when she told me, I just couldn’t… deal with it, so I ignored her, for five weeks. One thing was trying to wrap my head around the fact that I’m-’—he gulps and takes a deep breath—‘was gonna be a dad, but I also had no idea how I was gonna tell them.’
Chloe is just about to ask who he means by ‘them’ when Lucifer opens his mouth. ‘Oh, I’m sorry, my mistake. I’ll refer to them as Mx Riley from now on.’ He sounds genuinely apologetical. Chloe side-eyes him, confused.
‘What? No,’—Steinfeld shakes his head—‘Moni goes by “she”. I meant the studio. They made us sign a contract at the beginning of production in which we agreed to pretend to be a couple in public to-’
‘Build hype around the movie, sell more tickets and boost your personal career?’ Chloe finishes. She’s familiar with the concept.
‘Yeah, something like that,’ Steinfeld mutters and rubs his brow, his hand still visibly shaking from the shock. ‘But I was growing tired of it. I like Moni, she’s one of my best friends, but nothing more than that, and what I had with Laura was so… real. It was all pretty new, but she made me happy. I wanted her in my life—to share my life with her. Still, I was nowhere near ready to have a baby with her, to become a dad! I mean, I still have a bad reputation in the business, I’ve spent all my savings on drugs and alcohol and a mansion I can’t afford, and sometimes I get so stressed I don’t eat for days. How am I supposed to take care of a kid?’ His voice is laced with frustration and tears stream down his stubbled cheeks. She expects Lucifer to scoff at the ‘dramatics’, or at least show some kind of disapproval of the emotional display, but he doesn’t.
‘Look, I get it,’ Chloe says, laying her arms on the table. ‘When I was pregnant, me and my ex-husband were absolutely terrified too.’
She senses Lucifer looking at her out of the corner of his eye. She’s not sure why, or what it means, so she ignores him and continues.
‘Is that why you did it? Did you go to her place when she didn’t show up for your date and then when she brought up the baby you lost your temper? You got scared?’ She wills her voice to be calm, knowing the man is vulnerable.
Max frantically shakes his head. ‘No! No, more the opposite! I was gonna tell her that I loved her and that I was gonna try. That’s why I went to Simone’s when she didn’t show up. Moni knew about Laura, what she meant to me, so I went to her to talk about how we could escape this fucked-up PR stunt controlling our lives,’ he points angrily to the smiling picture of him and Riley on the cover of the tabloid, still on the table. When he continues, his voice is calmer, but also more emotional, ‘so we could be free, and I could do right by Laura… and our baby.’
Chloe turns to look at Lucifer—to see if he, too, believes Steinfeld is innocent—only to discover that her partner is glowering at the now frightened man across from them. Lucifer is breathing heavily, his fist clenched between them, his knuckles white. His voice is sharp and venomous when he speaks, almost hisses, ‘How exactly were you gonna do right by them? How could you just accept that you were gonna be a… a father, even when you knew, in every cell of your damned body, that you couldn’t?’
He’s standing now, his tall frame shaking, heat rolling off him. She reaches for his hand to calm him down (Steinfeld has faced enough trauma today as it is), but he quickly draws it back, as if he’s burnt by her touch. His eyes remain brown and his face smooth and tan, anthropomorphic—still, a lump settles in her throat. Before she can say anything, he speaks again, his voice lower now, only a few octaves from demonic and flaming with something she can only describe as wrath. Wrath and pain. ‘How could you ever pretend to love something you never wanted?’
He storms out of the trailer, surprisingly elegantly considering his emotional state. She excuses herself to Steinfeld and rushes out to talk to her partner, comfort him, ask him what the Hell is going on.
But he’s gone.
Vanished.
Sighing, she bends down to pick up a large, silky feather from the ground.
*
The door bursts open, the hinges shrieking in protest as it slams against the wall and knocks down a picture frame in the process. Linda takes a deep breath and slowly turns around to face her intruder. ‘Lucifer, what have I told you about barging-’
The words get stuck in her throat when she sees him. His hair is dishevelled, his clothes wrinkled and disarranged. A dash of colour is missing where a pocket square usually sits and completes his outfit—whether he lost it without noticing or he didn’t pick one out in the first place, she can’t tell, but either way, it’s concerning. Even more so when combined with his face. Oh God, his face. He looks pale, too pale—ghostlike. His pupils are mere specks, his eyes manic. His chest heaves rapidly as he takes in short, ragged breaths.
Last time she saw Lucifer in a state similarly chaotic, dark, leathery wings were sticking out of his back. Before she can ask him what’s wrong, his tremulous voice fills her office.
‘The Detective’s pregnant.’
Not what she’d expected, but his reaction seems about right.
She goes to his side to help him sit down on the couch, pours him a glass of water, and doesn’t sit down till she’s made sure he’s drunk some. Once in her chair, she takes a deep breath, partly to prepare herself for the incoming conversation and partly to make Lucifer mirror her so they can get some oxygen to his head. She’s not sure if angels can pass out, but she’s not gonna take the risk.
‘Okay,’ she says calmly, ‘and how do you feel about it?’ The question sounds kind of absurd as he’s sitting there, practically radiating distress. Nevertheless, he needs to put his feelings into words.
‘How do you think I feel about it, Doctor?’ he growls.
She doesn’t answer that. Instead, she looks at him with a slight smile and raised eyebrows, inviting him to tell her.
‘I feel betrayed, for one,’ he spits, feeding her plant with the sparkling water she’s provided him—before emptying his flask into the glass and taking a large gulp.
‘By whom?’ she asks.
He glares at her and takes another sip. ‘My father, obviously.’
Linda suppresses a sigh of frustration. She’d thought God coming to Earth and their subsequent bonding time had finally made Lucifer bury his manipulative daddy issues. Guess she was wrong. ‘What do you think your father has to do with Chloe getting pregnant?’ She doesn’t miss how he winces at the last three words before his face sets into taut lines.
‘Oh, I don’t know, Doctor.’ His voice is thick with sarcasm. ‘I mean, it’s not like he has ever sent down one of his pathetic thralls to “bless” a barren couple with a spawn.’
‘How are you so sure you’re infertile?’ she asks him with narrowed eyes, leaning back in her chair. They’d thought Amenadiel was infertile, but she has 31 pounds of pure joy at home to disprove that.
‘Well, it’s simple maths,’ he replies. She gives him a curious and mildly sceptical look, and he leans forward, putting his now half-empty glass down on the table. ‘Right, I’ve been practicing safe sex since the first ever condom came about—you know, for the sake of my lovers’ health—but condoms are only 98% effective at preventing conception, and the ancient prototypes were much worse, which means that, had I not been sterile, I would have fathered one hundred thousand children, give or take, throughout history, and I haven’t. I would have noticed; they would have flocked around me like little rats to get a piece of my fortune every time I appeared on Earth. Ergo, infertile.” He gestures towards his crotch with a dead-serious expression.
‘Right,’ she says, forcing herself to look at his face. ‘And what makes you think that that trait, or whatever you wanna call it-’
‘I call it a blessing,’ he interrupts her, the slightest glint in his eye as he peers at her from over the brim of the drinking glass.
‘What makes you think it’s everlasting?’ she asks him, a theory suddenly forming in her mind.
He furrows his brow. ‘Beg your pardon?’
‘Well, you’re not completely immortal anymore,’ she reminds him, her eyes shifting to his thigh where his first (not self-induced) scar is covered by his creased suit pants. He sends her a hurt look. ‘What a positively shitty way of trying to cheer me up,’ he huffs before downing the remaining liquor.
‘What I mean is,’ she begins to clarify, ‘what if your infertility is like your immortality?’ She lets the words sink in before she continues, ‘What if your aversion to having children, to becoming a dad, has affected your ability to physically father a child? But just like you chose to be vulnerable around Chloe, you’re now choosing to have a baby with her, to grow your family.’
He scoffs, almost laughs, but there’s no trace of humour in it. Only torment. ‘I certainly did not choose to impregnate the Detective, Doctor!’
‘Maybe not on a conscious level,’ she argues. ‘But maybe after the personal development you’ve been through, after seeing you’re worthy of being loved, not just by Chloe but also by Trixie, you’re finally realising, somewhere deep inside, that you’re also worthy of being someone’s dad.’
‘That is…’ he whispers, gazing out into empty air with a thoughtful expression, only to ultimately conclude, ‘absolutely preposterous!’ He sends her a dirty look, as if he’s accusing her of humbug. ‘I don’t want to be someone’s dad, Doctor—I don’t want a baby! The Devil doesn’t do children. I despise them. Always have. You know that.’
‘That doesn’t mean you always will. I mean, do you despise Charlie?’ She waits a couple of beats, watching him intently. ‘Do you despise Trixie?’ She nods in the direction of his chest, knowing his phone is in his breast pocket, nestled against his heart, the screen lighting up with a picture of himself and his two favourite girls every time he gets a notification.
‘Your son appreciates my devil face,’ he defends, ‘and the Detective and her offspring are a package deal.’ Linda knows he tries to appear indifferent, but he can’t hide the fondness suddenly twinkling in his eyes. If Linda wasn’t sure before, she’s now absolutely positive that Lucifer loves Trixie nearly as much as he loves her mother. She sees it all the time; it’s in the way his eyes flash red with hellfire when Trixie is hurt or sad; it’s in the way his chest puffs out with pride whenever he talks about her; it’s in his jealous stare when she and Dan laugh at an inside joke; it’s in his jubilant eyes when he’s the one who makes her laugh; it’s in the immense effort he constantly makes to always be there for her, to never disappoint her.
‘You might call them a package deal, Lucifer,’ she says softly, making him look at her, ‘but they call you family.’
He’s snatched the empty glass from the table and is now nursing it in his hand, unintentionally mimicking his nephew with his security blanket. His eyes are downcast, but she can tell his heart swells at the mention of the F-word. He’d dropped by her place about a month ago, shock all over his face. ‘The urchin referred to me as her family,’ he’d said. Linda had smiled and replied with a simple ‘Of course she did’. As narcissistic and self-indulgent as he is, he is surprisingly oblivious to other people’s affection for him. Then again, what else could you expect from a person who was abandoned by his parents, literally pushed into the abyss, and for eons deprived of any kind of love?
With Lucifer’s background in mind, Linda steers the conversation back to his feelings about Chloe being pregnant. ‘If you’re being completely honest with yourself, Lucifer,’—she stares at him until he lifts his head and looks her in the eyes—‘what do you think is the main reason you’re having this reaction to Chloe being pregnant? Is it because you don’t want children?’ She lets him think for a couple of seconds before adding, ‘Or is it because you’re afraid you’ll let your child down like your dad let you down?’
Sadness flashes across his still ashen face before the muscle in his jaw flexes and hot fury fills up his eyes. ‘My father didn’t let me down,’ he snarls, putting the glass down with an alarming clank, ‘He banished me from my home and sent me to Hell—after my mother wouldn’t let him kill me! No words cover that immense extent of neglect, Doctor. That cosmic measure of betrayal!’ His voice is shrill and rough as he shouts the last word, accompanied by the jarring sound of the drinking glass shattering to a million pieces as it collides with the wall behind her.
Lucifer takes a few heavy breaths and, once he’s gotten his anger somewhat under control, pointlessly adjusts his jacket and straightens his spine. ‘No one should have to endure even a fraction of that,’ he tells her, appearing strangely remorseful. ‘Especially not an innocent child.’
And there it is.
‘You are not your dad, Lucifer,’ she reminds him. ‘Or your mom. You’re not gonna abandon your child. You’re not gonna hurt them.’ She waits till he looks up at her (his brown eyes are so sad it makes her chest ache) before she says, ‘You’re gonna love them with every piece of your heart and go to the ends of the earth, or Hell, to protect them, because that is who you are. Maybe you weren’t that person when you cut your wings off on the beach eleven years ago, and maybe not even when you first started assisting the LAPD. But that’s who you are now. Just ask Chloe and Trixie.’ She would add all the other people around him who know this to be true, who know him, but there are only two people whose opinions matter to him in this case.
He doesn’t answer. His lips part, a smidgen of hope and belief appearing in the sea of fear in his eyes.
‘You referred to it as a “blessing” before, the fact that you couldn’t have children.’ He grimaces at the past tense. ‘Based on that, I assume you think having a child would be a curse?’
He raises an eyebrow, questioning her intelligence.
‘Right. But why do you think that is? I mean, if you think about it, is it really so bad that you and Chloe are having a baby? Someone who’s a beautiful mix of the two you, created out of your love for each other?’
He stops tending an invisible spot on her couch to look up at her. Colour has returned to his face, and the anger from before is gone; only a crease of worry remains. He looks tentative, but not scared to his core like earlier, his gaze warm and soft.
‘I…’ he says, musing. After a few seconds of silence, he answers, ‘To be frank, Doctor, I don’t know.’ His lips settle into a crooked line, stuck between a smile and a frown.
Linda lifts a friendly brow, her own lips tugging up at the corners. ‘Can’t know till you try, right?’
‘Right,’ he admits. It’s still not exactly a smile she sees on his face, but it’s close enough.
‘Have you talked to Chloe about all this?’ she asks him.
‘I haven’t, no. Do you think I should?’
Linda blinks, a little dumbfounded he’s even considering it an option not to talk about his fears with the woman who’s carrying his baby.
‘I’m joking,’ he says then, the smallest of smirks playing on his lips. ‘Of course I’m gonna talk to her! I just thought it best to, you know, sort out my own thoughts on the matter first.’
‘Oh,’ she mutters, realising she might not give him enough credit. He really has come a long way since their first session. ‘That’s very mature of you, Lucifer,’ she praises him.
The minuscule smirk from before spreads out into his cheshire grin. ‘What can I say? All good people know everything below an M-rating is boring and worthless.’
He smooths his pants over his thighs and checks his cuffs before standing and walking to the door. Just before he leaves, he turns to her with newfound courage in his eyes and says, ‘Now, if you’ll excuse me, there’s a detective I need to have a chat with.’
Part I | Part III | Part IV (coming soon)
#deckerstar fanfiction#writing#The Devil Doesn't Do Children#lucifer x chloe#lucifer morningstar#chloe decker#dr linda martin#lucifer goes to therapy#hurt comfort#pregnancy#murder case#trixie espinoza#post 5a#established#angst#deckerstar#lucifer on netflix#lucifer fanfiction
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Battle Scars
Summary: Virgil decides to ask his Dad about the scars on his arms, which he had been theorizing about for some time, and Virgil doesn't know if he'll like the answer or not.
Ship: A little bit of Logicality.
Genre: Hurt/comfort I guess? Idk this is just an excuse to write more Patton angst.
Warnings: Cutting(non descriptive), homelessness, cheating, swearing, internalized homophobia, Ethan(because he is his own tagwarning at this point). Tell me if i need to add anything!
Thanks to @effable-as-f and @foreverfangirlalways for some help with the plot!
~~~~~
"Dad?" Virgil asked while cleaning the dishes, curiosity finally getting the better of him.
"Yeah, kiddo?" Patton responded while putting dishes into the cupboard. He's always smiling... Virgil wondered if it was even real most of the time.
"Remember when I asked you about..." Virgil hesitated before continuing. "About the scars on your arms?"
Patton immediately froze, the smile disappearing from his face. "I-I told you that I'd tell you when you're older."
"Dad," Virgil stopped focusing on the dishes, instead turning to face his father. "I was like, 10 the first time I asked. I'm 16. I am older now. And...I kinda have some theories, but I don't really want them to be true."
Patton sighed, then turned to look at his angsty son. "Virgil," He put on a smile, a weak smile, but a smile nonetheless. "I want you to know that I never want to see these scars on you, ok?"
Virgil was in disbelief. "Oh my god. You did. Why would- why would you- when?"
Patton suddenly looked uncomfortable. "Um- mostly in college, but some when you were a baby."
"When I was a baby?" Virgil parroted. "Was I...that much of a problem?" Virgil asked with guilty eyes.
"No, no!" Patton exclaimed. "It wasn't because of you! Honestly, you were the thing that kept me going." He said with sad eyes.
"So...why?"
"I..." Patton took in a shaky breath before continuing. "In college, I had a lot of stuff going on. It was...extremely stressful."
---
~Flashback~
---
The party was loud. Too loud for Patton's taste, but Roman insisted that this party would be fun! And he could always trust Roman.
Yeah, the party did not go as planned.
Patton quickly lost Roman in the crowded frat house, leaving him alone in the ocean of drunk people. He thought having a bit of punch would be fine. He thought that the nice guy just wanted to be his friend. He thought they were going in the bedroom to just talk somewhere a little quieter.
He thought wrong. It wasn't bad. On the contrary, Patton enjoyed it a little. That's what scared him. He has always been told that loving someone of the same gender was a sin. Did he just sin? Would he go to hell? What would his parents say? What would his parents do? Would they yell at him? Would they disown him? Oh god. They would. They would never want to see him again.
He was spiraling. Spiraling into a deep depression that would stay for a very, very long time.
Patton had done a lot of regretful things after that. Most being the cutting. So many cuts just to feel something, anything.
Patton just felt so awful after that; so alone and scared, like nothing would ever be good again. Of course, college Patton didn't know that the future would be so much better.
---
~End Flashback~
---
"Oh...that's awful Dad." Virgil had no idea that that's how he figured out he was gay.
"Yeah...it was."
"So...what happened when I was a baby?" Virgil questioned. He wanted to know if it was his fault or not. He knew it probably wasn't, but that didn't stop him from worrying.
"Well...it wasn't good."
---
~Flashback~
---
"You're-you're leaving? J-just like that? You'd throw everything we had away, just to- just to run off with some random guy you've known for two days?!"
"Patton, this has been going on for far longer than two days." Ethan silk voice was now like lethal poison to Patton. "And I'm not 'running off', this is my house, after all."
Patton froze. "You're-you're kicking us out?"
"What? Did you expect to stay here?" Ethan huffed "Just pack your things and leave."
---
~End Flashback~
---
"Oh my god. You didn't tell me that I had another dad, and an a**hole dad at that."
"Yeah..." Patton looked ashamed, like it was his fault. "But, it got better."
---
~Flashback~
---
Patton went through a lot in only one month. A terrible month of living in his car, then selling the car, then having no where to go. Living on the streets as a single dad with a baby boy, getting fired from his job, not having enough money for food to feed the both of them.
Patton starved in that awful alleyway. He gave all of his food to Virgil, to keep him alive. It was torture.
Two months later, Patton knew he needed help. He had nothing but a baby and the clothes on his back. He had some friends, but he hadn't talked to them since he started dating Ethan. They had told him that Ethan wasn't someone good, he didn't listen to them. He should have listened to him. They probably didn't want to see him.
But...he didn't have any other options if he wanted to stay with Virgil; if he wanted Virgil to live.
He found himself on a friend's doorstep, shame and guilt coursing through him, and a six month old baby in his scarred arms.
He knocked on the house's door. It only took a couple of seconds for it to open.
"...Patton?" Logan looked surprised, but there was no hate on his face, only concern.
"I...I'm so sorry Logan." Patton cried. "I should have listened to all of you, you were all right about Ethan, he cheated on me, and-and then he-he kicked us out, and I don't know where else to go-"
"Patton." Logan interrupted, he took Virgil from Patton's arms. "Dinner's almost done, I want you to eat, and then get some sleep, please."
Patton nearly collapsed under the relief he had. He had never expected to be safe somewhere, where he could sleep soundly and not have to worry if Virgil would wake up or not. Not having to worry if he would wake up or not.
But maybe he would be ok now, Logan seemed to care about him and Virgil, so maybe he would be ok.
---
~End Flashback~
---
"THAT'S how you got with Dad?!" Virgil was extremely surprised that it wasn't like a romance movie, like he thought it would be. His fathers have always been that very cute couple that you wish you were, but he had no idea that how they got together wasn't a PG-13 romantic movie that you would take your date to.
"Yeah, well...it wasn't my proudest moment."
"Did someone call me?" Logan asked while coming down the stairs, student's test papers in hand.
"No honey bear, we were just talking." Patton's faced softened as he saw Logan. See? Exactly like romance films.
Logan hummed in response, then made his way over to Patton to give him a kiss on his head.
The moment was soon over, and the family went to watch movies on the couch. It wasn't until Patton and Logan were in bed, was it brought up again.
"Patton?" Logan asked, looking to him from his spot in his book.
"Yeah, Lo?"
"Are you ok? I know you didn't want to talk with Virgil about...that, until he was an adult. Or just not at all."
Patton looked to his husband, his sweet, understanding, loving husband, and thought for a moment before answering. "I'm perfect, Logan. Everything is perfect right now."
And it was.
~~~~~
This whole thing was an excuse to write more Patton angst, but do I care? Of course not, it's literally what I'm known for! Also, I am working on a couple different fics right now. I have no idea when they'll be done, but look forward to them anyway!
General Taglist: @five-falseh00ds-ph0nated @decadentscissorsapricotdeputy @resident-trash-goblin @thefingergunsgirl @foreverfangirlalways @theantisocialghost @emo--nightmaree @moxiety--sanders101 @quinnthequeer @gattonero17 @trashno0dle Ask if you would like to be added or removed!
Reblogs are appreciated! 💖
#sanders sides#sanders sides fic#sanders sides fanfiction#patton angst#tw cutting#tw cheating#tw homelessness#ts patton#ts virgil#ts logan#tw ethan#patton sanders#virgil sanders#logan sanders#logicality#kawaiikat54 fic#tw ethan trottel#tw internalized homophobia
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Exile
Prompt by @halfaqueen. My goodness, this took forever to write. I have no idea how it got so long.
.
.
.
Danny hadn't realized that exile was still a thing, but when he and Jazz had gotten expelled, and their parents had been banned or barred from basically all public places, and all of them had gotten restraining orders of one sort or another, and dozens of lawsuits had been filed against Fentonworks... Well... Officially, it wasn't exile, but that was what Amity Park was clearly aiming for with this harassment campaign.
He watched his city, his haunt, disappear over the horizon from the back window of the GAV. It was all he could do not to cry out aloud. Leaving like this felt like tearing part of himself away.
"Don't worry, Danno!" said Jack, leaning over the back seat. He wasn't driving, as he had lost his license early on in the city's war against them. "Just give it a few weeks! They'll be begging for us to come back, what with all the ghost that'll attack!"
This did not make Danny feel better.
"Jack," said Maddie, drawing out her husband's name. As clear as day, her tone said, Don't get their hopes up.
"You betcha! Because nobody can catch a ghost better than the Fentons, that's for sure!"
Jack Fenton hadn't ever been good at reading things as abstract as tones.
"They think they can stop the ghosts by closing the portal? Please! If it was as easy as that, we'd have closed it ages ago!"
Danny cringed, and sunk lower in his seat. No. None of that made Danny feel better.
Amity Park had hired other ghost hunters, blatantly replacing the Fentons, but Danny didn't know how good they were. He didn't know how good he should hope they were, either. On one hand, he wanted them to be bad, so that Amity Park would drop the restraining orders and he could go home. On the other, he wanted them to be good, so that Amity Park would be safe, so that everyone would be safe and no one would be hurt. But, then, if they were good, and everything was fine, that meant that Amity Park didn't need him any more, that he wasn't helpful, and, even though it was selfish, part of him wanted to be needed.
But, worse, what if they were good enough to defeat the more common ghosts, but then someone powerful come through, someone big, and they couldn't handle it? What if the new hunters worked for the GIW and would send the ghosts they caught off to be experimented on?
Danny had warned away as many ghosts as he could about what was happening before they left, but it didn't seem to be enough. And what if that warning got to someone who would see it as an invitation? As an opportunity to strike, now that he, Phantom, was gone.
He'd been so worried, stressed, and paranoid that he'd made himself sick. He was probably going to make himself sick again before the day was out.
"Where are we going, anyway?" he mumbled.
"Didn't we tell you?" asked Maddie. Danny shrugged. "We're visiting some relatives of Jack's. They have an interest in the supernatural, and they offered to let us stay with them while we look for a more permanent solution."
"Yep!" said Jack. "My favorite cousin, Cory! She's not quite a ghost hunter, but she has that Fenton blood for sure!"
"Cordelia Nightingale," said Maddie. "I don't think that her branch of the family has been Fentons since the sixteen-hundreds."
Danny swallowed. He was not a fan of the name 'Nightingale,' all things considered. It reminded him too much of pain and Sam pushed up against a wooden stake.
He decided this, on top of everything else, was a bad omen. He bet that 'cousin Cordelia' was going to turn out to be a ghost or, somehow, something worse. Like a witch. Or she had something like Freakshows staff. Or she grew blood blossoms for fun. Or she was part of a cult.
Ugh, why did that sound like something that might happen? What was his life?
Half gone, that's what.
Jazz patted him on the knee. "Maybe it'll be nice?" she said, hopefully.
"Maybe," said Danny.
He didn't have high hopes.
.
Sam probably would have liked the house. Danny didn't. The Gothic architecture only accentuated his fears. He frowned up at the spikes on the railing and the darkly painted boards. No. He didn't like this house at all.
He wanted to go home.
But, at his mother's prodding, he bent and picked up his suitcase. Most of his things were still at home and, if this lasted longer than a week, would then be put into a storage locker along with the rest of the family's belongings, to await a time when they once again had a house of their own to live in.
Jack bounced up the steps and pressed the doorbell with his thumb. Almost at once, a thin woman with graying brown hair opened the door. She wore a black turtleneck and a dark, straight skirt that ended at her ankles. Somehow, she made the outfit look practically Victorian.
"Cory!" exclaimed Jack, giving her a trademark Jack Fenton hug.
Both Jazz and Danny cringed slightly. That felt a bit too familiar for someone who he hadn't seen for literally their entire lives. Danny just hoped this wouldn't be Vlad all over again.
But, to his surprise, Cordelia gave Jack a thin smile and hugged him back. She extracted herself and stepped away from the door, into the house.
"Please," she said, "come in. You must all be tired. Amity Park is hours away."
One by one, the Fentons passed through the door, Danny bringing up the suspicious and paranoid rear.
"You must be Jasmine and Daniel," said Cordelia, closing the door. It wasn't quite dark inside the house, but it did feel rather dim. It smelled sweet, but dusty. Like flowers. Old, dry flowers.
"Jazz and Danny, please, Ms. Nightingale," said Jazz.
"Call me Cordelia. We're family, after all."
Was that ominous, or was Danny just paranoid? Well, it wasn't paranoia if people really were out to get you, right?
His breath went cold in his mouth, and something moved out of the corner of his eye. He whirled, trying to trace it.
He couldn't see anything. His ghost sense hadn't gone off.
"Danny?" said Maddie. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I just thought I saw something."
"Probably my cat," said Cordelia, calmly. "She's a shy little thing, but curious. Don't be surprised if you don't see her again."
"Right," said Danny, doubtful, but not wanting to press the point.
"Now, I've cleaned out rooms for you upstairs," she gestured, and began to lead the way.
Danny started to follow, but another shadow moved at the edge of his sight, this one distinctly humanoid. He turned again, trying to find what cast it. There was nothing. He hurried to catch up with the others.
"Do you live here all alone?" he asked as they climbed the stairs.
"Oh, no," said Cordelia. "This place is much too large for one person. I let out rooms to some nice young ladies who work in town. None of them are here right now, of course, but I'll introduce all of you at dinner."
Well, there went that theory. He glanced back down the stairs. There was definitely a chill in this house.
"You didn't have to give us this much space," said Maddie, snapping Danny's attention back to the conversation. "We should pay you."
"Nonsense. You're family, and those rooms weren't being used anyway. Here, this one has a king mattress, so you two will want this one, even if it is a bit tight, and Daniel, Jasmine, you two take the ones on either side."
Danny and Jazz shared a look. It was a lot easier for Jazz to cover for Danny, or for Danny to sneak into her room for help, when they were next to each other. But there was nothing to be done. They shrugged.
It didn't matter who took which room. Jazz went left. Danny went right.
The room was a lot like the rest of the house. Old-fashioned and dark. It was also meticulously clean and decorated like something out of an old movie. It looked like a set piece. It really did.
Then again, Cordelia did say she had just cleaned the rooms. It wasn't anything to get nervous about, even if it did make Danny feel like he was the main character in a horror film.
He put down his suitcase.
"The bathroom is just down at the end of the hall. The schedule is posted next to it, make sure you write down when you want to shower, so you don't disrupt anyone," said Cordelia, still talking to Jack and Maddie in the hall. "The kitchen is downstairs and in the back. If you take the last of something from the refrigerator, write it down on the shopping list. Otherwise, go ahead and make yourselves at home. Freshen up, take a nap. Dinner is at six."
"Do you want any help with that?" asked Maddie. "You're cooking for an awful lot of people."
"No, no, I'm more than used to it."
"Alright. Did you catch all that, kids?"
"Yes," said Jazz.
"Yeah," said Danny. He wanted to look for whatever was giving him this chill. He didn't like the idea of something supernatural sneaking up on him or his family while he slept.
.
He couldn't find it, and it was driving him crazy.
There was something in this house, even if Danny couldn't see it as anything but a shadow in his peripheral vision. Jazz couldn't see it at all, but she believed him after that whole thing with Youngblood.
Even if they couldn't find the thing, however, they found lots of other... things. Creepy things. Dead-eyed porcelain dolls. Dusty portraits. Bundles of dried herbs. Weird sculpture things. Light fixtures that should have been updated before Danny was born. A stuffed cat. A closet full of brooms.
"You know what I haven't seen?" asked Danny, as it turned five o'clock.
"No," said Jazz. "What? Ghosts?"
"A litter box," said Danny.
"That doesn't really mean anything," said Jazz. "It could be in one of the bedrooms, or there's a cat door and the cat goes outside."
"Maybe," said Danny. "Let's check out the yard."
This far from the nearest town, the yard was big and cut into a forest that loomed darkly over them even in the bright sunlight. The yard itself was full of flowering plants, but...
"I think these are all poisonous," he said. "At least, a lot of them are."
"Isn't that normal for decorative plants?" asked Jazz. "They weren't bred to eat."
"Yeah, I guess," said Danny, frowning. "But would you necessarily want a cat out here with all this?"
"Cats are carnivores. They wouldn't eat the plants. Can you see the neighbors?"
"No. Too many trees."
"How far away are we, I wonder?"
"It can't be that far," said Danny. "Not if her boarders commute to town."
"That's true. We're not in the wilderness." Jazz scanned up and down the height of the trees. "Not really."
"Maybe a little bit," said Danny. He could imagine some of those trees being hundreds of years old. The ground might not have been untrod by human feet, but... "Does everything here just sort of feel... off? Or is that just me?"
"I don't know," said Jazz.
Gravel crunched in the driveway, audible even from the other side of the house. Jazz and Danny walked to the corner of the house so that they could see around the corner and watch what was happening.
A small white car was pulling into the driveway. It stopped next to the GAV. As they watched, three young women stepped out. One of them had long, dark hair and wore a red sweater and skirt, reminiscent of Cordelia's. The second had pale blond, almost white, hair and wore a deep brown shirt and skirt. The third had red hair, and wore white. All of them had wicked looking boots and matching leather purses.
"Okay," whispered Jazz, pulling Danny back around the corner. "I... Maybe they just like to match?"
"I hate this so much," said Danny. "I want to go home."
"Maybe whatever is going on here is friendly?"
"We are literally never that lucky," said Danny. "I hope it's just a ghost. I can deal with ghosts. It's probably a ghost."
"Really?"
"No. Let's go in. We're going to have to meet them eventually."
.
"This is Sofia," said Cordelia, indicating the dark haired woman. "This is Alison." She put her hand on the blonde's shoulder. "And this is Morgan." She nodded at the redhead. "Girls, these are my cousins, Jack, Maddie, Jazz, and Danny."
Three sets of eyes moved sequentially from Jack, to Maddie, to Jazz, to Danny. They stayed on Danny.
"It's nice to meet you," said Sofia, still looking at Danny.
He tried to hide his discomfort. Could they tell he was half-ghost? He hoped not. That was his trump card if everything turned out as badly as he feared and he had to get his family out in a hurry.
What he wouldn't give for a piece of concrete evidence right now. Without it, his parents would never listen to him. They hadn't with Vlad.
They were still looking at him. Jazz slipped in front of him.
"So!" she said, brightly. "Dinner?"
Danny pushed back in front of Jazz. "Yeah! It's six, right?"
"Well, it sounds like the kids have inherited that good old Fenton appetite! Huh, Cory?" added Jack
"Yes, yes, come along. Girls, why don't you go ahead and get the table started. No, Maddie, the girls know how I like it, I'll show you later. You just sit down and relax." Cordelia disappeared into the kitchen.
The three younger women moved smoothly around the room, pulling plates and silverware- real silver silverware- from a china cabinet. They set the long table in the middle of the room with rigorous formality. There were more kinds of forks at each place setting than Danny had seen even when having dinner at Sam's. They topped it off with two candelabras.
Cordelia emerged with a casserole dish. Whatever was in it was thick, roughly cylindrical, and covered with a thick red sauce.
"Wow! Is that a roast?" asked Jack.
"Yes," said Cordelia. "I always make this when new guests arrive. The girls have all had it."
The 'girls' nodded as one, and retreated to the opposite side of the table. They almost moved in sync with one another.
Cordelia put the roast on the table, and went back to get side dishes. This gave the three women more time to stare at Danny.
On occasion, Danny did want attention, acknowledgement, what have you, but this scrutiny would have been a bit much even when he was at the height of his 'look at me' phase. He kept a tight hold on his core to keep himself from flickering invisible.
Cordelia came back with two serving dishes full of green... things. Possibly vegetables, but Danny didn't recognize them. She then started to, with excruciating slowness, carve the roast.
The slow exposure of the meat under all that sauce was enough to make Danny vaguely ill. It was too... wet. Too vibrant and too gray all at once. He swallowed against the smell.
"Wow!" said Jack, as Cordelia dropped a slab of meat on his plate. "This looks great, Cory! What kind of meat is it?" He was already sawing away at the flesh. It was all Danny could do to keep himself from slapping it away from him.
"Beef," said Cordelia, smiling at him as she carved. "Locally grown and harvested. It's an old family recipe, from before our branches split and we were all Nightingales."
"You mean Fentons!" said Jack around a mouthful of meat.
Cordelia's smile turned brittle. "However you would like to put it, Jack." She went around the table, serving herself last.
Danny made no move to pick up his utensils. The women on the other side of the table ate while watching him, barely looking at their food. Jazz was the only one who seemed to notice, and when Danny caught her eye and shook his head, she put down the bite of meat she had picked up, turning her focus to the vegetables.
"So," Jazz said, "what do you three do?"
Sofia's eyes flicked briefly to Jazz. "Graphic design," she said.
"That must be interesting."
"It's a job."
Danny didn't eat that night.
.
"I have some granola bars," said Jazz, grabbing his arm before he entered his guest room. Not that he intended to sleep there. Or anywhere.
"You keep them," he said. "I'm fine. You didn't eat much, either."
"You didn't eat anything," said Jazz.
"I'll be okay." Danny flared his eyes. "I've got an extra reserve, remember?"
"If you say so," said Jazz. She was frowning. "Danny... Let's share a room tonight."
"What?"
"I don't like how those three were looking at you," she said. "I can't believe Mom and Dad didn't notice..."
"They don't notice anything," said Danny. He pulled Jazz into the dubious safety of his room. He didn't want to have this conversation out in the hallway. "Wait," he said, eyes flicking over the room. "Where's my suitcase?"
Jazz shrugged. "Kind of reminds me," she said, not quite whispering. "I was thinking about barricading the door."
Danny hissed through his teeth. "I put my thermos up here when we went to eat. It's gone, too."
"If this were a horror movie, this would be when we yelled at the screen for the characters to leave."
"Think we can convince Mom and Dad?"
"Maybe together?"
Danny shrugged. "Let's give it a try."
They left the bedroom, and knocked on their parents' door. There was no answer.
Jazz frowned. "Maybe they have their earplugs in already," she said. "Can you, you know." She made a gesture where her arms crossed each other.
"Let's see," he said, going back to the bedroom. He waited until Jazz shut the door to turn invisible and phase through the wall.
Passing through the wall felt... odd. Like walking through layers of cobwebs. He shook his head as if to clear it and surveyed the room. Jack and Maddie were already in bed. He made a face and stepped back into the other room, becoming visible and tangible for Jazz.
"They're asleep," he said, shaking his head.
"First thing tomorrow morning, then," Jazz said, wringing her hands. "Maybe- Do you think we should sleep in the GAV? Put up the ghost shield?"
"I'm not even sure that this is a ghost," said Danny. He walked around the bed, part of him still looking for his missing suitcase. "But you have a point, I just..." He glanced at the wall his room shared with his parents'. If he and Jazz slept in the GAV, Jazz would be very safe, but their parents would be vulnerable. If he stayed here, and Jazz slept in the GAV, she'd be safer than sleeping alone in the house, and his parents would be safer, but if something happened to her, he wouldn't be able to react to it, he wouldn't be able to protect her. "I don't know."
"Let's at least go down and look. Maybe you left your suitcase in there, after all?"
"I don't think so," said Danny.
"We can get the weapons locker."
Danny blinked. "I almost forgot about that. Yeah. Let's go."
They were halfway down the stairs when Jazz grabbed his shoulder. "What?" whispered Danny.
"I can't hear anything."
"Huh?"
"This house is old. These stairs creaked when we were walking on it before. Why isn't it now?"
Danny bit his lip. "Let's keep going." He put his hand on Jazz's and made them both invisible.
"I can't see my feet," said Jazz.
"Just be careful," said Danny, continuing down the stairs. "I'm going to phase us through the front door, okay?"
"Fine."
It was still twilight when they stepped outside, the first stars just beginning to show. It wasn't hard for them to navigate, slipping around the white car, but when they did, and finally got a good look at the GAV, they froze.
Jazz said something very un-Jazz-like. Danny let his invisibility fade.
"What happened?" asked Jazz, in shock.
"It looks like someone beat it with a crowbar," said Danny, almost reverently, touching the crumpled metal. "A really big, really fast crowbar."
"Danny, this glass is supposed to be bulletproof."
"And ghost-proof," agreed Danny. "Let's go barricade your room. Think it can get through a dresser?"
.
The thing about being under high levels of stress for long periods of time was that it was tiring. Exhausting, even. So, even though Danny didn't intend to sleep, he did.
He woke up unable to move, something heavy weighing down his chest. His eyes fluttered open. Something huge and dark, the shadow he'd only glimpsed before, loomed over him, pressed down on him. He could see Jazz's bright hair hanging off of the bed above him. He tried to call out, to warn her, to get her to run, but he couldn't speak.
He couldn't breathe-
.
When his eyes opened again, light was weakly streaming through the thick glass of the windows, making the dust in the room sparkle gold. He sat straight up, breathing hard. He was still in Jazz's room, the dresser pulled across the doorway. Why do that and then leave him here? It didn't make sense.
"What's wrong?" asked Jazz, voice deep and crackled with sleep. She yawned.
Danny told her.
"That sounds like sleep paralysis."
"Like what now?"
"Sleep paralysis," said Jazz. She yawned again. "Some people get it. They wake up, but they're still asleep and they can't move. And also they hallucinate."
"That sounds fake."
"You sound fake."
"You know what? That's fair. That's actually fair. This whole situation sounds fake, so why not add sleep paralysis to the whole thing? It's better than an actual literal demon." He took a deep breath. "What do we do now?"
Jazz licked her lips and ran a hand through her hair.
"We tell them that the GAV has been trashed, that those women were staring at you like they wanted to eat you all dinner, and that your clothes were stolen. And then I'll spell it out for them, if I have to."
"What, that this place is probably haunted or possessed and Dad's cousin is a witch?"
"No," said Jazz, making a face. "That'll probably only make them want to stay even more. That those three are probably pedophiles who stole your clothing and wrecked the GAV so we couldn't leave, and that neither of us felt safe sleeping alone. Sorry. Then we'll make them call a cab."
"No, no, that's fine. That's a better explanation than I could come up with. Let's do that. I would honestly rather stay at Vlad's than here."
"Yeah," Jazz dragged her hand through her hair again, and grimaced. "Let me get dressed, first. Do you see my brush over there?"
"No," said Danny.
Jazz looked around the room. "Actually... Where is my suitcase?"
"It was-" Danny stopped. "It was in that corner when we came in, wasn't it?"
"Yeah," said Jazz. "Okay, forget getting dressed. We're talking to Mom and Dad now." She swung out of bed and made her way to the door.
Danny phased through her, so he would reach the dresser first and easily pushed it out of the way. He stuck his head out the door, looking both ways for Cordelia and the borders.
The door to the room next to Jazz's, their parent's room, was open.
"Shoot," said Danny. He walked over. "They're not here."
"Downstairs? Maybe they went to get breakfast." Jazz emerged from the room crossing her arms over her chest.
"Maybe," said Danny. He had a bad feeling about this.
Cautiously, they made their way down the stairs and peered into the kitchen. No one was there.
"Hello, children," said Cordelia, directly behind them.
They jumped, both trying to get away and spin at the same time. Jazz clipped her elbow on the doorway and almost fell. Danny caught her and pulled her back up.
"If you are looking for your parents, you just missed them."
"What do you mean?" asked Jazz, a little more sharply than she usually would.
"I mean, they just left," said Cordelia mildly. "They took that vehicle of yours to town to go shopping. Something about not eating me out of my house. It was very kind of them."
"But the GAV was wrecked..." said Jazz, even as Danny gave a tug on her arm.
"Was it?" asked Cordelia, smiling. "It seemed fine when they left. You should get dressed, though, Jasmine, and, Daniel, are those the clothes you were wearing yesterday?"
"Our clothes are gone," said Jazz.
"You left them in your car? Well, no wonder you're looking for your parents. I think I might have some old clothes that will fit you. Come along, now." She turned.
Possibilities tumbled through Danny's head. A large part of him wanted to just grab Jazz and fly away to find their parents in town, but he estimated that there was a pretty good chance that they weren't in town, but trapped here somewhere. Jazz had apparently made that same calculation, because she was giving him the 'don't you dare use your powers' head shake.
Fine. Okay. Play along it was, then.
Cordelia lead them into a dusty ground floor room full of chests. She opened one, knocking free a number of cobwebs. "These are a little old fashioned, I'm afraid, Daniel, but it has been a while since a boy your age lived here." She handed him a small, neat stack of clothing. "And these are for you, Jasmine. I wore them when I was about your age. I grew a few inches, after that."
"Right," said Jazz, already backing away. "We'll just go... change... then. Right Danny?"
"Yeah," said Danny.
Jazz didn't speak to him until they were back upstairs. "What now?"
"Now," said Danny, "I go ghost and see if Mom and Dad are trapped in a dungeon under the house or something. If not, I take you and get the heck out of here. If they are, I rescue them, we get the heck out of here. We'll steal Cordelia's car or something."
"Not much of a plan."
"Don't kid yourself. We never have a plan. Do you want to get dressed, first, or...?"
"Pass."
"I'll have to bring you with me. I don't want to leave you alone up here while I'm searching," warned Danny.
"I know. I don't want to be alone here, either."
Danny took a breath and-
Did not go ghost. He doubled over, gasping for breath, transformation rings flickering to nothing around him as the shadows pressed inward, suffocating him. The huge fingers around his chest- The almost-human silhouette-
"Danny?" asked Jazz, alarmed, shaking his shoulder. "What's wrong? What's happening?"
"Not," wheezed Danny, "sleep paralysis."
The shadows crept up over his eyes and everything went dark.
.
When he woke up, he was wearing different clothes. Very different clothes. They were all white and loose. He wasn't sure if he should call them robes, but they had that kind of feeling. His shoes were gone. He was in his guest room, on the bed. Jazz was nowhere to be seen.
Danny should have taken his family and run as soon as he saw that not-ghost shadow. He swallowed, shaking, and clenched his fists. It was still here, watching him. He could feel it, even if he couldn't see it.
Okay. First step, get out of here.
He swung his feet off the bed. As soon as they touched the floor, something twined around his ankle and rapidly climbed up his leg. He gasped and yanked himself back, trying to free his knee from the shadow twisted around it. It held fast, firmly squeezing his thigh.
Danny growled. This wasn't the first shadow he had fought. He gathered ectoplasm in his hand and poured energy into it until it burned brighter than magnesium. The shadow retreated, and Danny scrambled to stand on the middle of the bed, ectoblast still in his fist.
"Now, now, no need for any of that."
Cordelia stood in the doorway, not the least bit surprised to see Danny wielding supernatural powers.
"Where's my family?" demanded Danny.
"Safe," said Cordelia, neutrally, "and they will continue to remain so."
Danny shifted, and the bed springs squealed. "What do you want?" he asked.
"My heritage. Come along. I will explain as we go." She turned in the doorway and looked over her shoulder. "Our shadow will not trouble you, should you follow now."
Danny clenched his jaw at the threat but gingerly climbed down from the bed and followed Cordelia across the frigid floor.
"Our last common ancestor was Elizabeth Nightingale," said Cordelia. "She was married to James Fenton. They had two children, John Fenton-Nightingale and Mary Fenton-Nightingale." She paused. "Elizabeth was knowledgeable in what would have been called witchcraft, and she was very, very good at it."
They climbed down the stairs to the first floor. All of the lights were off.
"But, as these things happen, she died. A mistake with a summoning." Cordelia turned into a long hallway Danny had missed in his earlier explorations of the house. "John and Mary were divided on how to handle her legacy. John," the name was said with anger, "decided that Elizabeth's craft, her knowledge, was evil, and decided to destroy it. He burned generations of Nightingale knowledge in a single night. When Mary tried to stop him, to salvage her mother's legacy, he tried to burn her, too. He denounced her as a witch."
"I'm sorry about that," said Danny. "I really am." After all, he knew exactly what that felt like. "But I don't see what that has to do with us. That was hundreds of years ago. A bit late for revenge, don't you think?" A sufficiently disturbed ghost wouldn't, but Cordelia was, as far as Danny could tell, human.
"This isn't about revenge," said Cordelia. "Besides, it has everything to do with you. Of the two of us, you are the one who met the man, Phantom."
"What are you talking about?"
"There's no need for you to play coy with me, young man," said Cordelia. "Why else do you think I put so much time and effort into getting you here? The magics to turn your town against your parents weren't child's play, after all." She bent and seized the corner of a rug, pulling it up and back to reveal a trap door. "Neither was calling the shadow to keep you bound." She lifted the ring handle on the trap door, pulling it open. "After you."
Danny stared down the dark hole below. There was a metal ladder, but he couldn't tell where it ended. A very faint light from somewhere to the right reflected off of some of the rungs.
"Is this where you reveal you're a cannibal?" asked Danny, unimpressed. "Is that what horror movie this is?"
Cordelia rolled her eyes. "Hardly. Although you and Jasmine refusing to eat with us last night made everything harder than it had to be."
That definitely wasn't Danny's stomach growling at the reminder that he hadn't eaten since lunchtime yesterday. "Drugged, was it?"
They stared at each other over the trap door.
"If you refuse to cooperate, we can always use Jack. Or Jasmine."
Danny's lips twitched as he held back a snarl. "Fine," he snapped, angrily climbing down, into the hole.
It turned out that the ladder wasn't terribly long after all. It descended into a basement of normal height.
That was, however, the only normal thing about the space. Far from simply being unfinished, the floor of the basement seemed to be stone. So were what little he could see of the walls. It was like the basement had been carved from one huge piece of bedrock, but that couldn't be possible. Danny didn't know, well, anything about geology, but he was pretty sure houses usually weren't built on stuff like this.
To the right, there was a small table with a single burning candle on it and two chairs, one on each side. Beyond that, Danny could make out a circle on the ground marked with chalk.
The cold feeling that had been plaguing Danny since yesterday was a hundred times stronger in this room. His core was alert, but the relief that his ghost sense usually brought just never came.
The strain was beginning to ache.
"Sit down," said Cordelia, indicating the chair closest to the chalk circle.
Danny complied, tense, and Cordelia moved the candle to one side, taking out a book and setting it on the table. The book was old and singed, the edges of the leather cover and several of the pages burnt and curled. Cordelia stroked it, reverently.
"This is all that Mary managed to salvage from the flames," she said. "Just this one book, out of so many. All that knowledge lost. Elizabeth was the last one to have it."
Danny heard movement in the dark corners of the room and turned his head to Sofia, Alison, and Morgan emerging, all of them in robes similar to his own, but in their own colors. They came close, and grabbed the back and arms of his chair.
"You asked me what I wanted. I want Elizabeth Nightingale."
A surprised laugh, almost a scoff, forced its way between Danny's lips. "Well, I'm sorry, but I don't exactly have her in my back pocket. Do these pants even have pockets?"
"You might not have her," said Cordelia, annoyance creeping into her otherwise level tone, "but you can get her. Bring her back from beyond."
"Uh, not sure what's in your book, but, contrary to popular belief, not all dead people know each other. She might not even be a ghost. She might have moved on."
"She hasn't," said Cordelia, almost smiling. "Not with the summoning she was doing. We are going to send you to her, and you are going to bring her back." She tilted her head to one side. "We could do this with any blood relative. The original plan was to use Jack, but your condition makes you so much more open to this kind of thing. Your chances of success are much higher."
Danny crossed his arms. "And if I don't succeed, you'll make Dad and Jazz try."
"That's right."
"Why don't you do it?" asked Danny. "You're a blood relative, aren't you?"
"Sadly, the ritual requires four people."
"Yeah, that's the only reason, huh?" said Danny, because he liked to antagonize people he couldn't strike back against in other ways, and also because he was an idiot.
"As I said, we can always use one of the others if you do not cooperate."
"And you'll let us all go if I do?"
"If you bring back Elizabeth, yes."
"Fine," said Danny. "What do I need to do?"
"Very little," said Cordelia. "Give me your hand. Your right hand."
Reluctantly, Danny held out his hand. Cordelia took it and wrapped a thin, white cord around it.
"That will lead you to her."
"I thought you were sending me to her," said Danny.
"You won't be in exactly the same spot," said Cordelia.
Then she whipped a knife out from under the table and sliced deeply into Danny's hand. He pushed back, away, holding his bleeding hand close to his chest. The only reason the chair didn't tip back was because the other three witches were holding on to it.
"Go stand in the circle," ordered Cordelia.
In a fit of pique, Danny phased backwards through the three women holding the chair, not bothering to wait for them to move away to let him go. The shadow pushed uncomfortably against his shoulders, but did not otherwise protest.
The circle was simple, no runes or symbols, just a single line of white chalk on the dark stone. Danny stared at it for a long moment, before stepping over it and standing at the center, his elbow dripping blood as it ran down his arm from his hand.
"Alright, girls, you know what we need to do," said Cordelia.
.
Danny stood in a field of washed-out red grass. Overhead, the sky billowed with rolling, boiling gray clouds. They seemed too close. The air smelled of smoke. The horizon was blurred and warped, as if Danny were looking at it through thick, wavy glass, or as if in a dream.
This wasn't the Ghost Zone.
He took a deep breath, the smoke washing through him. Okay. He was here. Now he needed to find Elizabeth Nightingale.
He looked down at his hand. The white cord had been turned red with his blood, and it had grown longer, reaching back over his shoulder.
"Eat your hear out, Ariadne," muttered Danny. He looked over his shoulder.
A forest was on fire.
The tall, straight, slender trees burned from their tops, like candles. Their trunks were bare, entirely free of leaves, needles, or branches. Danny should have felt the heat, even at this distance. He didn't.
The bloody cord led between the trees.
"Right," muttered Danny, "because nothing can be easy."
Resigned, he started walking towards the trees and discovered that the 'grass' on the ground actually consisted of thin-walled ceramic-like tubes. Fragile ceramic tubes. The ones he stepped on shattered and cut into his bare feet. He hissed, resisting the urge to hop around and get even more shards stuck into him. The bottoms of his feet felt wet and hot. He tried to phase the shards out and couldn't.
"Is this hell?" asked Danny, aloud. "This has to be hell. Ancients."
He couldn't feel the shadow near him anymore, but that didn't mean it wasn't there. Despite the 'grass,' he hesitated to try and go ghost to fly over it. He didn't want to pass out onto the tubes and break them even more. He didn't want those shards in his face or hands.
The squelching of his blood as he shifted his weight decided it for him. He couldn't walk over all of this.
He sent one last look around him for the shadow and summoned his rings. He was relieved when they flowed smoothly over him, transforming him into a ghost, into Phantom.
His normal hazmat suit did not appear, however. Instead, the white robes he had been dressed in turned black. Danny frowned at this. He was not a fan. He wanted his hazmat back.
Whatever. There were more important things to focus on. For example, both his blood and the cord had turned a lurid, ectoplasmic green. Much easier to see against the red-hued backdrop of this world.
He lifted up off the ground and flew on, occasionally pausing to pull shards out of his feet. His accelerated healing made the wounds scab over quickly. The cut on his hand, however, continued to bleed freely. This was beginning to concern him. He didn't have an infinite supply of blood. Or ectoplasm. Whatever.
As he approached the burning forest, he expected to start feeling heat, but even when he was right at the treeline, hovering midway up the impossibly tall, thin tree trunks, he couldn't feel anything. It wasn't hot. It wasn't cold. The smoke didn't smell any stronger.
Even so, he knew fire didn't have to be hot to burn. Fire was a chemical reaction, and Danny had no intention of being one of the reactants.
That was, if this place obeyed anything like normal physical laws. Since the trees hadn't actually burned down at all, the fire staying at the same height, he had to conclude that they didn't.
Still. He was going to stay away from the fire. Briefly, he considered flying over the forest, but the cord angled ever so slightly down, and he didn't know how the cord would fare trailing through the fire. Nothing the witches had said made him think it was indestructible.
He flew under the fires. It was bright underneath the trees, in a sort of inverse of a real forest. Bright, dry, and somehow brittle. Danny flew cautiously. This might nor be the Ghost Zone, but he didn't trust it not to have carnivorous landscape features, and even Earthly forests had their dangers. Lions and tigers and bears.
Oh my.
The angle on the cord began to point down more sharply. Danny was getting closer. The forest was also becoming stranger. The tree trunks bled, and glowing eight-legged flies licked at the ichor. Flowers of sickly fire bloomed from the ground in intricate geometric patterns.
Then, amid the burning brightness, Danny saw a house. A big house. A castle, even, its sides built into the burning trees, its pennants alight with flame, smaller fires moving, no, patrolling the battlements.
Danny quickly went invisible. He had a horrible suspicion that Elizabeth would be in the dungeons of that castle. The cord was going to make him hilariously easy to see, not to mention that he was still dripping blood. This was going to suck so much.
But as Danny approached, the fire creatures did not appear to have noticed the cord at all. Some of them even passed through it without slowing down.
Okay. So, as shocking as it was, Danny had actually caught a break.
Slowly, relying on the fire creatures to open the doors, Danny made his way through the castle and down. Down. Down.
The walls down here glowed, as if with heat, but it was a dull, old, tired glow. A rosy cherry color that burned Danny's eyes and made his head pound. Doors in the walls were made of wood that burned from the inside, veins of embers streaking their surface. The bars set in them glowed white-orange.
The green cord snaked across the floor and wove in between the bars of one of these doors.
Danny stopped. He was quite sure Elizabeth was behind that door. But...
Was freeing her the right thing to do? He had gotten the impression that she was dangerous. At least as dangerous as those witches. Even to save his family, should he set someone like that loose on the world?
But Danny had made this decision and all decisions like it the moment he died in the portal. That was the essence of an Obsession.
Besides. Elizabeth was family, too.
He held out his hands, letting frost form on his fingers and palms and pressed them against the door. Once again, he wondered why he couldn't feel any heat. He should. His ice should at least be registering the pressure, the power drain, of something trying to melt it. It didn't.
Ice spread over the door, extinguishing the light and making the metal creak. Feathery tendrils wound up the bars and encased the hinges. The wood began to fall into ash, as if the fire had been the only thing holding it together, and the bars clattered to the ground.
The inside of the cell was incandescent white. The only dark spot was a huddled, burnt black figure in the corner. The cord let straight to it.
Danny, very emphatically, did not want to go into that room. He hovered at the threshold.
"Elizabeth Nightingale?" he called, softly. If the falling bars hadn't alerted the fire creatures to his presence, he wasn't going to ruin that luck by speaking too loud. "Elizabeth?"
The figure abruptly lurched sideways and fell. Danny flinched. Bit by bit, the figure clawed their way towards the door, dragging itself onward.
Danny could hardly bring himself to watch. Part of him wanted to help. Part of him wanted to run far, far away and never come back.
But, at last, the ruined and horrible body made it to the threshold. It reached up with a claw-like hand and grasped Danny's ankle. He cringed at the feeling of the flaking burnt flesh, but didn't try to shake off the hand. He bent slightly, unsure if he should try to help the figure up.
"You," rasped the figure, ash falling from its jaw, "not from here."
"Um," said Danny. "No. I'm not."
The figure began to pull itself up. As it did so, it sort of began to piece itself back together. Danny had seen similar things before, with ghosts returning to their base form, healing, after an unusually devastating attack. Usually, though, it was slower and usually-
Danny abruptly pulled away. Usually ghosts who were doing that were draining his energy to do it. He glared.
"One of mine?" asked the figure, that was now decidedly feminine. It finally drew itself to its knees. Her knees. "One of my," she coughed, "grandchildren?"
"I'm a descendant of yours, I guess," said Danny, cautiously. He wasn't quite pressed up against the far wall, but he was close.
"You came for me," she said. Her voice was still too rough and dry for Danny to detect any emotion in it.
"I was sent," said Danny, flatly. "If I pick you up, are you going to start draining me again?"
She didn't respond for a long time. "No," she said, finally.
"Great," said Danny. "Let's go."
Elizabeth wasn't hard to carry. She wasn't much larger than Jazz, and he flew her around all the time. The problem was, he couldn't seem to extend his invisibility to her. Any power he sent to cover her was simply absorbed.
"Okay," he said, finally. "We'll just have to be fast, then." Mentally, he began to map out the path he would have to take, and how many doors he would have to blow down. It made for a discouraging picture.
"They can't harm you," croaked Elizabeth.
"What?"
"Pure soul. They can't harm you." She reached up to trace his chin and cheek with her still-charred fingers. "You don't feel the heat. You can't. You can't be harmed."
"Uh. Yeah. I don't think that's how it works. I stepped on some sharp stuff when I first got here, and, let me tell you, it hurt."
"The fires can't burn you. Sending you was clever." Elizabeth seemed to have exhausted herself at that; her hand fell back into her lap.
Right. Well. Whatever. The fires hadn't burnt him yet, but he had stayed well away from them. He was going to continue to do so.
He took a deep breath and flew out of the dungeons as quickly as he could. As expected, the fire creatures spotted him quickly, and they began to shout and shriek in a language Danny couldn't even begin to understand.
They also threw fireballs. And fire spears. And fire chains. Just, a lot of things made out of fire.
It was a good thing Danny had ice powers. Otherwise he would have had a hard time combating all this. A few fireballs passed far too close to his head for comfort. His ice also seemed to be unusually effective on doors.
Finally, Danny was able to get above ground, and, no longer constrained to follow the cord around his wrist, he escaped through a window. He spiraled up, almost high enough to hit the underside of the flames licking at the trees, and then dove away.
"So," he said, "what now?"
"You don't know?" Elizabeth looked a lot better now. Almost human.
"I wasn't given a whole lot of information when they coerced me into doing this. They just said to follow the cord to you, and I did that." Speaking of which, what had happened to the cord? It had just vanished, without Danny even noticing. "I was half-expecting to just get zapped back the moment I found you."
"Coerced?"
"They said they'd make my dad or my sister do this, if I didn't, and they can't fly."
"They're alive."
"Yeah."
There was something like a frown on Elizabeth's face. "They shouldn't have done that."
"Yeah. You don't have to tell me that." More shrieks were approaching from the direction of the castle. "They did this with one of your books. Please tell me you know how to get out of here."
Elizabeth licked her lips. Her tongue was pink. "We go out where you came in," she said.
Danny looked at the trees around him. He only knew where the castle was because of the noises coming from that direction. Otherwise, everything looked the same in every direction. He was pretty sure that even if he went back to the castle, he wouldn't be able to tell which direction he had approached it from, and after that...
They were screwed.
"Follow the blood," said Elizabeth.
It was better than nothing, Danny supposed. His green blood did stand out against the red, but he's been high in the air when he shed it. Following that trail was going to suck, and it still required going back to the castle and avoiding all the fire creatures.
Some of this must have shown on his face, because Elizabeth said, "Not like that, boy, look." She pointed to the small puddle of ectoplasm that had dripped from his hand while they had been talking.
Flowers and vines were growing from it. Ghostly green and blue flowers and vines. As he watched, the vines grew longer, the flowers opened wider.
"Oh," Danny said. "I guess that makes things easier."
.
Easier was, of course, a relative term. Was following the trail left by ghostly plants growing out of Danny's blood easier than stumbling blindly around the burning forest? Yes. Was it easy? No. No it was not. Especially not with the fire creatures hunting them through the trees and how far apart the blood spatters could be.
Still. Danny was able to follow the trail for an hour before the fire creatures caught up to him.
When they did, they seemed almost, confused. They didn't attack. It was like they were waiting for something.
Danny would have run, but he was worried that he'd lose the trail if he tried to do that, and he didn't think he'd be able to find it again. He and the fire creatures stared each other down. Every few seconds, one of them would make a noise and another would answer.
Rapidly, Danny was becoming surrounded. He would have to make his move soon. He really didn't want to lose the trail, but he didn't think he could win this fight.
Too many enemies. Too much fire. Maybe if he flew straight up, he-
The fire creatures attacked. Danny ducked, wove, and conjured shields of ice and ectoenergy, but there was a limit to what he could do against this many attackers, especially while carrying Elizabeth.
He saw a ball of fire coming that he couldn't dodge and instinctively twisted to spare Elizabeth.
It splashed against him harmlessly.
Everything stopped. The fire creatures froze, even their flames going still, as though they were videos that had been paused. One began to wail, and then they all fled, disappearing into the brightness of the forest.
"A pure soul," said Elizabeth again. She patted his shoulder. Her skin was a burnt red, now. Her eyes were as blue as his were when he was human. Her frown was deeper, more obvious. "It was clever to send you... but they shouldn't have."
"Sure," said Danny, a little surprised. He scanned the trees, trying to see if any of the fire creatures were waiting in ambush. Seeing none, he continued.
.
They reached the field of tubes, and Danny followed his blood trail back to where he had lacerated his feet.
"Now what," he said.
"Land," said Elizabeth.
Danny grimaced, remembering what had happened to his feet the last time he had tried to walk here. He landed carefully on what looked like the thickest part of the vine growing from his blood-
-and was abruptly back in the chalk circle in Cordelia's basement.
The shadow pounced on him. Unprepared, Danny dropped Elizabeth and fell. Pain sparkled along his limbs as the shadow pulled at his ghost form. It was too much. The lack of sleep, the hunger, the stress, the energy he had spent finding Elizabeth and bringing her back, the blood loss and pain from the wound in his hand, his inability to protect his family, and now this attack. He curled up, trying to protect his head and hand, and abandoned his ghost form.
"Stop this at once!"
"Grandmother, I-"
"Call off this shadow."
A beat. "Very well." The shadow stopped its assault, and Danny stumbled up and out of the circle, scuffing the lines beyond all recognition. Cordelia and Elizabeth were the only women standing. The boarders were all kneeling, faces hidden.
"Grandmother, many times great grandmother, I greet you. I am Cordelia, the last descendant of your daughter, Mary, and I have labored long to bring you back to this world, so that your works will not be lost."
Elizabeth, Danny noted, was standing very straight, her skin sunburn-pink in all but a few places, her arms crossed over the burnt rags of what might have once been a shirt. She did not look pleased.
"So my works won't be lost," repeated Elizabeth.
"Your son betrayed you," said Cordelia. "He burned all your books, all your magics. This is all that survived." Cordelia held up the singed book.
Elizabeth pressed her eyelids together briefly. "And so, you forced your cousin, a child, into that place after me, rather than coming on your own?"
"There was no choice-"
"There is always a choice," said Elizabeth, cutting her off with a sharp gesture. "Better that book should have burned as well, and I was imprisoned forever. You were lucky in my captors. Others would have delighted in taking a pure soul as an ornament for their court, even if they couldn't have harmed him."
"You can't mean that-"
"I do. Is it true you have imprisoned the other members of this boy's family?"
"He would never have agreed, otherwise. Please, this is all we have left of our heritage. We need you. This was all necessary. I beg of you, teach us."
Danny began to back away, to the ladder. Maybe if he got out fast enough, he could trap them in the basement and look for Jazz and his parents.
"Do you know how I wound up there? In that place?" asked Elizabeth. "I went too far, and I ignored the rules. What's your name?"
"Cordelia."
"Cordelia. Cordelia Nightingale-Fenton?"
"Just Nightingale."
"I begin to see," said Elizabeth.
Danny was almost to the ladder. Maybe he could tap into his ghost powers a little bit and float up, quietly.
"If you had come to get me yourself, if you had even asked him-" Elizabeth gestured to where Danny had been. Both women did a double-take, and then their eyes traced up to where Danny currently was.
"What are you doing?" hissed Cordelia. This was the first time Danny had seen her visibly angry.
"Stop," said Elizabeth, grabbing Cordelia's shoulder. "What is your name, boy?"
"It's Daniel Fenton," said Cordelia, when Danny didn't answer.
Elizabeth considered Danny for a moment. "Go to your family, Daniel. Whatever curses or enchantments Cordelia cast on them should be lifted. Including that hate curse." She ran her fingers down Cordelia's arm. "Why on earth did you cast that?" Her eyes flicked back up. "Expect to receive my correspondence, Daniel Fenton."
.
Danny found Jazz and his parents in the attic. Their luggage was there, too, and Danny and Jazz's missing clothing. Maddie's cell phone was going off. Danny ignored it. He started shaking them. Slowly, they came awake.
"Danny?" said Jazz. She scrubbed at her eyes. "Ugh, what's that sound?"
"Mom's phone is going off."
"What?" said Maddie, groggily. "My phone?" She fumbled at her pocket. "Yes, what is it? Yes, this is Doctor Fenton. What? Well," this last word was a bit snide. "It's about time. We'll be there before the end of the day." She snapped the phone closed. "Jack, sweetheart, wake up, we're going back home. All the charges against us have been dropped, and they want us to look into a ghost attack. Apparently, Phantom didn't show up. As we knew he wouldn't."
"Huh? Ghost? Where?"
"In Amity Park, Jack."
"In Amity Park! Alright!" said Jack, jumping to his feet, and grabbing most of the luggage. "I knew they wouldn't last two days without us! Let's go, kids!"
He ran down the stairs. Maddie took a moment to look around, pursing her lips. "How did we get up here?" she asked. She shook her head, dismissing the question. "Do either of you kids know where Cordelia is?"
"She went out," said Danny. "To town. She won't be back 'til later."
"We'll have to leave a note, then. You two should get dressed before we go, or you'll have to try and do it in the GAV bathroom."
"So what really happened?" asked Jazz, after Maddie went down the stairs.
"Long story," said Danny, throwing on a pair of jeans, "and we really do need to leave. Fast." He took his luggage and rushed down the stairs.
.
Danny watched Cordelia's house shrink in the rear-view mirror of the GAV, right up until it shimmered out of existence like a mirage. He clenched his teeth. He had seen worse.
He turned in his seat and put his hands in his pockets, intending to brood over what had happened, but his hand encountered a stiff piece of paper that had definitely, absolutely, not been there before. Well. Elizabeth had said to expect her correspondence.
He pulled a crisp white envelope out of his pocket. On the front, in spidery cursive, was his name. He turned it over. On the back flap was written the name Elizabeth NF.
She was family. Distantly. He put his thumb under the back flap, and began to open the letter.
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Reset Character | Kim Taehyung
pairings: kim taehyung x oc
summary: oc gets dared by friends to spend the night in a supposedly “haunted” mansion that used to belong to a upcoming actor in the 70’s, kim taehyung, oc comes face to face with the spector himself and has questions about the broken veil
word count: 2.9k
warnings: unedited language, mentions of death, taehyung is a very angry ghost at first
author’s notes: last story of spooktober !! omg i can’t believe i did this and finished it !! i’ve gotten some nice feedback over the course of whipping up these stories and it’s makes me truly happy that people are enjoying them :) as always i hope you enjoy this one too !!
link to my main masterlist
The darkness of nighttime made the mansion look huge and intimidating in front of you, Jimin and Seokjin. Losing a drunken bet placed you in the circumstances you were currently in, standing in the walkway to the door of the long abandoned mansion.
“Okay fuck it. If I can’t get the dart on the target. I’ll spend a night in the Kim mansion” you had slurred, arm thrown over Jimin’s shoulder as he had looked at you laughing and struggling to hold his composure. “if you guys make it I’ll spend the night but if I don’t I’ll go. Yeah?”
“You’ll go? If you don’t make it?” Seokjin slurred, just as hammered as you were. Jimin, being the only one who’s head was clear and on his shoulders.
You nodded. Standing back and lining yourself up with the dartboard. You had three darts, three chances to hit the target on the nose. Staring hard at the board, one target turned into four that seemed to be moving around. You threw the first one, hitting the far end of the board. You threw the second one, hitting closer to the target. The last one didn’t even hit the board; it actually almost punctured the toe of Seokjin’s Nikes.
“Fuck it. I don’t care, it's just one night. How bad can it be?” you laughed.
Bad. Very bad. Very fucking bad. The liquid courage that those uncountable shots of vodka gave you had you out of your fucking mind to place a bet like that. Now here you were, superstitious as hell and very frightened to get close to the mansion.
The Kim mansion or known to some people as 0613 Morado Dr. had once belonged to a South Korean film star in the 70s named Kim Taehyung. A young handsome actor who started making his big break starring in a few indies and huge blockbusters before his untimely death in 1976. The medical examiner said it was an accidental overdose of pain medicine he had been prescribed a year prior for an injury on set. But a conspiracy theory quickly arose that it was one of his close friends that poisoned him due to jealousy. Rumor has it that his ghost treads the property scaring away anyone who dare enter.
“Are you ready Y/n?” Seokjin asked, wringing your shoulders.
“No and I wish I hadn’t said I was going to do this. I’m never drinking again. I swear to the heavens.” you said, shaking your head. You could feel the bile rise up your throat threatening to spill out all over the dead lawn.
“Well. Anywho, here’s your tote” Jimin handed you a canvas bag, stocked to the brim full of different things. “you have your sleeping bag, portable charger, charger cord, salt, holy water, lighter, sage. You know .. the necessities.”
“We’ll be out in the car camping out in case anything happens-“
“In case anything happens? What would happen? Why would anything happen? Why would you say that?” you rambled quickly, Jimin’s small hand clasped over your mouth stopping you from going any further.
“No rambling. None of that right now. The quicker you get in there and fall asleep the quicker this all will be over! Speaking of, there’s some melatonin in there if you need it. We gotta blast. This big ass house is giving me the heebiejeebies.” Seokjin patted your tote and him and Jimin ran back to Seokjin’s car parked across the street. You looked at the house in front of you. Patting your pockets to make sure your phone was there, taking a deep breath you started up the walkway to the front door.
You pushed the door open, the flashlight Jimin placed in your tote illuminating the way. You stepped around the mansion and it was big. Tall walls with brown wooden panels and slanted ceilings. Old plants in their pots that had since died long ago, old furniture, laid astray stained and in ruins. The shag carpet in the same state. You could see the beauty that this place had once ago. You continued moving forward through the house going up on the steps on the landing to set yourself up for where you’d be sleeping for the night.
The mansion was chilly, that was for sure. For it to be California in Autumn was one thing for you to be sitting in a “haunted” mansion of a deceased celebrity was another thing. Your nerves were on edge. You had called everyone you could think of starting with Seokjin and Jimin separately. There were only so many people you could call this late at night who would actually pick up the phone and answer. Out of the friends you called the only ones that answered besides Seokjin & Jimin, were Dahyun, Yeosang and Changkyun and that wasn’t even half of them. You dug through the tote looking for the melatonin, before finding it and taking it dry.
Even in the darkness your eyes kept moving around darting around, the feeling like you were being watched accompanied you like an unwanted friend. You leaned back against the wall closing your eyes and letting the melatonin do its job.
Slam! You jumped awake with a gasp, heart beating out of your chest. Reaching around for anything on the floor besides you, finding your phone the time read 3:36 a.m. You fumbled to turn the flashlight on. Your deep breaths were the only noise heard in the house. The old mansion looked the same as it did when you first entered. Scanning around when you saw something in the doorway to the kitchen. You whipped your flashlight around, the figure disappearing further into the kitchen almost as soon as your flashlight came it’s way. Your heart felt like it was deep in a cave beating so fast and sending echos up the walls of your chest. You were terrified.
Resisting your senses telling you not to get up you had to ignore them out of curiosity. Standing up and walking down the steps as slow as possible to not make any noise and alert whatever it was to your current location. You turned your flashlight off, stepping into the kitchen blind. The moonlight that slipped into the windows past the tattered curtain illuminated the kitchen, a soft blue glow almost made you confuse the green tiles of the floor to a different color. If anything was in here it would’ve seen you before your foot could completely make it past the threshold.
Chalking it up as a trick of the eye. Knowing that sometimes melatonin messes with people, you turned away to leave. Why would a film star wanna stay put and haunt people. I’d just go and pass on if I were them. You thought to yourself shaking your head that you were being silly about everything.
“Leave!” a voice whispered in your ear, causing you to scream and run away. Back up the steps instead of out of the house. Now everytime you yell at the characters in horror movies for doing that. It made sense now you couldn’t control your legs, it was like your brain put you in reverse taking you back to the last place you were, nonetheless you still felt stupid for not leaving. Everything you needed was grasped right in your hand, everything on the landing could be replaced.
Yet here you were panting like a dog after a run attempting to call Seokjin and Jimin only to be met with endless ringing. Pulling back to look at the screen to discover you had no signal, zero bars. The house got so cold you felt yourself shake. The shutters on the outside of windows slammed back and forth against the house. The sounds of groaning, like multiple voices overlapping over one another. Crawling back into the closest corner you felt your eyes start to water, a sob leaving your lips. You were frozen in place, glued to the wall.
All of a sudden everything stopped. The house became quiet. Lifting your head up you examined your surroundings. A figure stood at the end of the staircase. You locked eyes with the man at the end of the staircase, his strong glare meeting your frightened eyes. His down turned lips parted in a sigh.
“What the hell are you doing in my home?”
You’d straightened up wiping the tears away with a sniff. Staring back blankly at the man.
He yelled, making you jump. “You! I’m talking to you! What the hell are you doing here?”
“I- I’m just tryna honor my end of a bet. I lost a bet that’s it.” you whispered. The man shook his head. You took in his appearance, dressed in all black. Black robe almost dusting against the floor, striped button down and black slacks. Jet black hair styled in a slight middle part.
“My home isn’t your playground.” the man said, gripping the bannister on the staircase.
“You must be Kim Taehyung?” you asked.
“I’m the only ghost living here so I would hope so.” he stated.
“I can leave if you want.” you offered, wanting to facepalm yourself after asking such a stupid question of course he would want you to leave. Taehyung looked a little taken back.
“You’re not afraid of me?” he asked.
You stalled. “I mean yeah. You just did all that stuff just now. I’m actually terrified, but I don’t know if you’re gonna kill me so I figure it wouldn’t hurt to use my manners.”
Taehyung hummed. “Normally the type of people that come through want to vandalize my home or film ghost hunting videos they say, perform seances to try and talk to me. But if you are just here to truly honor a bet I’m sure another three hours wouldn’t hurt.” He walked up the steps sitting a couple of feet away from you on the landing. You kept looking at him out of the corner of your eye at him as he idly played around with his fingers.
“Are you just going to stare at me?” Taehyung asked, coldly.
“I’m sorry it’s just I’m really scared right now. No offense to you Mr. Kim.” you apologized.
Taehyung snorted at your formality. “You don’t have to call me Mr., just call me Taehyung. I’m sure we’re around the same age…” he paused, rolling his eyes “I’m sure we would’ve been or something.. you get what I’m trying to say.”
“I get it. How old were you? If you don’t mind me asking.”
“24.”
You nodded in response. You had maybe… 3 hours to finish in the house. You only had to make it until sunrise since that is technically staying the night. If Taehyung wasn’t going to do anything but sit there and be quiet it wouldn’t be too bad.
“So are you tampering with the signal or…” you trailed off. Taehyung made a face like a lightbulb that had gone off above his head.
“I’m sorry. It’s not intentional. It’s just something about me that does that. You’re not the first to complain about your smartphone? Is that what they’re called?” he asked. You held in a laugh, nodding your head.
“I just. I’m confined here. I only see the world when it comes to me. So I don’t really know too much about out there anymore.” Taehyung confided in you, speaking barely above a whisper.
“It’s fine. On the bright side you would’ve been older, maybe you would’ve been the type to dodge this stupid social media shit.” Taehyung looked at you confused.
“Don’t worry about it.” you looked around the house from where you were sitting and up the stairs leading into the bedroom. “Nice house you got here.” Taehyung scoffed.
“Thanks. Didn’t always look this run down.” he said and with a wave of his hand it was like a light came through the place, showing what used to be. The bright orange carpet and brown couch, huge sparkling chandelier hanging from the ceiling, plants live and green. You looked over at Taehyung, seeing the pained look on his face as dropped his hand, making everything return to normal.
“A little trick I picked up over the years.” he mumbled. You couldn’t imagine what he went through. Having everything pulled away from you so quickly at a young age.
“Bet you threw some cool parties here. I know if i had a place this big I would’ve.” you tried to uplift the mood. Taehyung nodded.
“Yeah I was gonna throw a big bash here when I finally got my Oscar nom. I knew it was gonna happen. I was gonna be the first of the first. Start breaking down all types of doors for people to come in and follow up.” Taehyung wiped away a tear.
“What happened? Was it really your friend? Or was it an accident?” you asked. Taehyung looked at you eyes narrowed angrily.
“Why would I tell you what happened? So you could run and tell my business to whoever will listen?” he asked.
“Who the hell is gonna believe my crazy ass? I spent the night in a celebrities haunted mansion and talked to said celebrity and now I have the answers to a decades old mystery? Get the fuck outta here.” you shook your head rolling your eyes.
“It was a mix of both” Taehyung ran his fingers through his hair “a friend of mine, Hyunwoo he knew my knee had been hurting that day he knew it was. He saw me take my medicine earlier. But little did I know that evening when we sat down for drinks he slipped more of my medicine in, letting it disintegrate in my liquor. I had now clue. When I choked on my own vomit, he didn’t yell for help. He didn’t call 911, like a good friend would. No, he laid me back. Stroking my head, saying his apologies and watching the light leave my eyes and that was it.” Taehyung looked at you, your mouth parted in shock.
“Jesus fucking Christ.” you said, holding your chest.
“All that just to steal my role alongside Al Pacino. The big role, guaranteed to get my Oscar. I don’t even know how the movie ended up working out for him.”
“You know to be honest. I don’t even think the movie might’ve went through production because I have quite literally never heard of it.” you confessed. Taehyung shook his head.
“Well this is news to me. I got murdered just for the film to get scrapped or stuck in development hell.” he laughed bitterly.
“That’s fucking tragic. I’m really sorry, Taehyung.”
“What are you sorry for? Don’t be sorry. You weren’t around, wasn’t even thought of when I died. All things happen for a reason. That’s something I had to learn. It’s hard not to be a bitter ghost. I don’t mean to scare people away to be a dickhead. But I’m stuck here. The last thing I want is people poking and prodding around my home. It’s the only place I can get peace of mind.”
“Hopefully one day you can move on. I know I don’t know you but hopefully ya know.” you sighed.
“Thank you.” he said.
You and Taehyung talked for a while. About a whole bunch of things. From you telling him all about the internet and what it can do and him telling you all about his start in acting. Weird shit and secrets nobody knew about other celebrities back then.
You looked down at your phone, not having checked it for a while. 6:47 it read.
“Fuck. I’ve gotta go. My friends are gonna be waiting for me. They’re not gonna believe I made it through the night.” you said, quickly standing up to get your belongings. Taehyung stood up too watching you walk down the staircase. You turned around to look at him.
“What? Are you not gonna be a gentleman and walk me out? I thought people your age were big on chivalry and shit.” you joked. Taehyung smiled, the first smile you saw all night, big and boxy as he made his way down the steps.
Taehyung paused.“May I ask you something?” You nodded waiting for him to continue.
“Do people.. do people still talk about me?” he asked.
“I mean besides the bad stuff yeah. My friend Seokjin, he’s a film major. They talked about you in his class last week. You’re up there with like James Dean.” you stated. Taehyung gasped.
“Really?”
“Really. Although your image isn’t exploited like his. Yeah people know you.” you smiled. Taehyung stuffed his hands into his pockets.
“It was nice meeting you. I hope everything goes well for you. Work and life and stuff.” Taehyung said.
“Same. I hope you finally make it up there because when I die I’m gonna need a tour guide.” you laughed. Taehyung chuckled.
“See ya around.” he said.
“See ya around.” you opened the door closing it behind you. Seokjin and Jimin were waiting for you, car running in front of the house. You slid in the backseat.
“You fucking made it out!” Seokjin yelled, as Jimin put the car in drive to pull off.
“Yeah, I did.”
“So, did you see him? Did you see Kim Taehyung?” Jimin asked.
“No. Thank God I didn’t. I probably would’ve peed on myself.” you lied.
“Wow. What a bummer. I guess it wasn’t that bad being in there.” Seokjin said.
“No it wasn’t too bad at all. I might have to go back home and check out some of his movies.” you said, leaning back against the back seat. Looking out the window, hopefully Taehyung makes it to the sky some day.
#taehyung x reader#bts imagines#bts fanfic#taehyung imagines#taehyung scenarios#taehyung fanfiction#bts fic recs#bts fics#taehyung fic recs#fic:reset character#author:almostkoo#spooktober 2020#HAPPY HALLOWEEN
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oner 《恶浪》 mv/film theory
(this is less of a theory and more of a debunking of the mv though)
warnings: mentions of violence, murder (i wont include gifs of the bloody moments but it will be discussed!!!), animal abuse, and a bomb or two ? (someone gets blown up ;-;)
honestly the debunking might get a lil bit dark around the ling chao and ziyang individual parts, so be warned of that!
it would be helpful for you to watch/listen to these to process whats going on here:
oner 《恶浪》 mv (cw blood, murder, animal abuse, & heavy violence - please dont watch if these are triggers for you!!!) (there’s also eng subs in this link ^^)
oner - AGENT (this is a song, but there’s quite a bit of dialogue near the end that ties into this plot!) (cw gunshot, beeping noises that resemble a bomb ?? - all at the end of the song w/ the dialogue)
okay lets dive into it d(^-^)> !!!
to get the important info out of the way!
the start of the mv shows the three of them chilling on the couch, as friends do, watching,,well themselves on the screen (oner’s past performances as idols) (and i do believe that the idols part of this has some significance that i can figure out). the important takeaway from the beginning rlly is that they’re three good friends...who are completely unaware of each other’s secret occupations
their occupations being: ziyang, a murderer, yueyue, a spy, and ling chao, a hacker
now to jump into the main story! (starting around 1:35)
yueyue and ziyang both have the same target: the man in the restaurant. however yueyue gets there first and does his job well, as he gets away without being caught. ziyang is frustrated that his target is taken already.
*interesting detail here, but when trying to enter, ziyang shows them a ring with a purple jewel in the middle for entry,,,coincidentally, the man yueyue kills in the bar in his personal segment in the film later also has the same ring? obv the ring is for the restaurant entry so maybe ziyang wasn’t going to kill this “boss” but maybe negotiate/discuss something with him instead...but also thats disproven by the fact that ziyang pulled out a gun to presumably shoot him before realizing the dude was dead....
but also,,,suspicious how there was a zoom in to the purple ring when yueyue kills the man in the bar..maybe it means more than we think it does? altho im not too sure what to think abt it for now
for reference:
ziyang’s ring
dead man in bar’s ring
.
moving on
okay so since yueyue is a spy n all, he has to confirm his kill somewhere right? this somewhere is a phone booth,,,one that ling chao has rigged up with a bomb,,,,
speculation: someone hired ling chao to kill someone who will be approaching the phone booth; at this time, lc doesn’t know that this someone is yueyue (and is v shocked to see him there through his cameras as evident by his “what the hell! are you kidding me?”)
....and after this part the film dives into their personal stories to give more background on who these three are (i’ll expand on those after i finish explaining the present timeline ^^) before coming back to the main story
so!
ling chao “accidentally” blew up yueyue oh no (he’s still alive tho yey)
& then yueyue holds up a piece of candy,,,and immediately knows its ling chao (cuz its the piece of candy lc was eating earlier in the film)
(and to take care of all loose ends that my brain is providing me with: in the beginning they didn’t know abt each other’s secret occupations...how does yueyue know that lc is capable of doing this? my answer: they used to be agent buddies!!! i’ll expand on this later hehe)
.
and so
it was at this moment ling chao knew...he fucked up
he’s afraid yueyue might come after him.
which, is exactly what yueyue does
after going home or somewhere, yueyue receives a text telling him to get rid of “them” (ling chao) bc his “identity is exposed”
....so now yueyue has to go and hunt down his buddy ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ
and they fight! looks very painful for ling chao,,,poor dude,,,
since ziyang comes out from the back door to join the fight, theres two possibilities that come from this:
1) ling chao knew yueyue was coming and knew he couldnt take him down himself (lets be honest; he looks rlly scrawny) so he called ziyang to his location for backup (how could he know ziyang can fight? agent buddies 👐)
2) ziyang and ling chao live together in the same house
anyways, both results making it obvious that ling chao and ziyang are on the same team while yueyue is on another (lets ignore the fact that ling chao was getting up to fight ziyang as well)
the fight scene is so dramatic oml T-T
ziyang could also be motivated to beat up yueyue in this fight cuz the dude did take his target before he himself could (loophole: how did ziyang know it was yueyue who took his target? answer: maybe yueyue left like a signature or smthn at the crime scene, or ziyang saw him walk out ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯ )
and when they all beat the living heck out of each other and are dramatically lying down in different areas of the room
the tv turns on to a council saying “still want to be idols?”
(and remember, the thing they were watching on tv earlier was themselves performing,,,as idols. i cant connect it further than that so lemme know if yall figure smthn out ^-^)
so mayhaps this council is yueyue’s agency and they wanted to turn the trio against each other...? they would have set this whole situation up: they knew ziyang wanted to kill the restaurant “boss”, so they assigned yueyue to take care of him first, which creates conflict between those two. then, they hired ling chao to rig up a phone booth with a bomb; basically setting him up against yueyue
whether this council succeeds with their plan or not is unrevealed bc the film has a “to be continued” at the end, so the storyline still will have more to it!!!
although i would say the council succeeded since they all did beat each other bruised and bloody
.
that leaves the question: why is the council setting them up against each other?
what are there previous connections beyond them just being friends 👀 ?
and here i shall bring back the “agent buddies” bit i was talking abt earlier, as well as why i linked the agent song in the beginning
near the end of the mv, there’s quite a lot of dialogue between the three of them, and it goes like this:
[robotic voice: welcome agent oner
ling chao (?): check
yueyue: yo what up guys!
ziyang: yo what up bro
ziyang (yueyue?): alright lets take them out
yueyue: okay gentlemen we got a lot to do
ziyang: ey we gotta finish this quick, i got a date tonight
yueyue: really?
ziyang: no hard feelings (couldnt catch the rest)
yueyue: okay shut up
ling chao: hey guys, i saw a hit
(?): copy that
yueyue (ziyang?): hold your breath....now
ling chao: guys watch out
yueyue: okay guys locked and loaded
*single shot can be heard, then the reloading of a gun*
yueyue (?): go go go!
yueyue: fire fire fire!
yueyue: ???? *indistinguishable orders*
ziyang?: i got trouble i got trouble
yueyue: ?? i got ?? lets go
ling chao: stay together
ziyang (yueyue??): okay set to kill
ling chao: damn the truck is (blown?)
yueyue: what the hell
ziyang: okay let me (???) it
*bomb beeping noises*
yueyue: ???? clean this blood on my shirt]
(not sure how accurate my hearing is but its enough to make some guesses 😅)
agent buddies! the three of them used to be agents, as the song is titled, at some agency...and they probably made a pretty strong team together
the agency story would explain why they all seem to be good fighters too!
thats why the council might have wanted to tear them apart. perhaps the council was doing something that they knew would displease the trio, so they needed them separated lest they team up and try to defeat them
i also think this audio could have been describing a mission going wrong for them, possibly their last one as a team. someone was probably hurt (im betting on either ziyang or ling chao), and they quit the agency and aimed to live normal lives from then on
...but old habits are hard to forget, so ziyang starts to kill ppl in his free time, yueyue joined another agency as a spy, and ling chao uses his hacking skills for other purposes
however they all dont tell each other, which could add on to the tension of their fight at the end of the film
.
now to dive into their individual bits of the film. these all don’t connect much to the main lore, just expands onto their lives with their secret occupations btw!
.
YUEYUE
his segment details moments in his daily agent life; im guessing he’s not very happy with it judging by his nightmares? or the nightmares are bringing up his past at his old agency which he does not like
he’s also master of disguise woah
personally i think he’s losing “who he is”. he’s always playing the role of another person, always putting on another disguise...so he starts losing his sense of identity (if that makes sense ;-;)
(and if you wanna stretch it and make things wholesome, maybe the only times he [feels like himself] is when he’s around his two friends)
so basically: he’s always filling out other personas to the point where he doesnt know who he is anymore
(this is also the segment where he kills a man in the bar with poison,,,and the man was wearing the same ring as ziyang,,,,which is like Hm. why’d the directors do that 🤔)
.
ZIYANG
aka the murderer :D
(and not just regular serial killer type, more like joker-esque type where they’re a bit insane,,,)
okay his segment starts of with him dragging a man through a white room, where the floors is covered with plastic, and on the walls are a bunch of clay molds of human body parts
:D
my brain has concluded that! ziyang takes clay and makes molds of his victim’s faces/body parts of who he kills! to make statues!
(i dont even know how i got there aksjdhdh but thats just what i assumed the first time i watched this film thingy)
and to make it more messed up than it already sounds,,,im guessing he’s a famous statue maker too, and holds shows where he presents his works to the public and maybe even bids them off ?
,,,,little did the audience know,,,,
(this kinda remind me of sally and gabe’s statue from the pjo too now aksjhdkdh)
(i got this assumption from 6:50 in the film where he walks out in front of an audience who start clapping,,,and let my brain run wild with the rest,,,)
of course, he probably kills off the people he was the molding the clay off of once he’s done with his works,,,or sometimes even in the middle of his works as shown in the mv (*-* )
but alas that is not all to his story,,,
judging by his flashbacks when he’s beating that one dude to death with a bat, he used to be bullied when he was in school, which seems to be the source of all his anger throughout the film..
( yeah he killed the bullies too (_ _ )> )
its part of his personality to be rough and short tempered - he doesn’t like people looking down on him (as the bullies did)
and,,,if you want to be wholesome again! perhaps he found some bits of happiness and peace when hanging out with the others :]
.
LING CHAO
cw: animals abuse!!!
his is pretty simple and is already explained in the mv itself! i’ll walk ya’ll through it though in case you didn’t watch the film tho akdjdjkf
basically: he’s just a dude who loves dogs :]
a lot
in his segment, a girl (handong, looking absolutely stunning ToT) approaches him wanting to take home another stray, and when he asks her where how the previous dog she adopted was doing, she says that “my bestie loved him a lot, so i gave him to her” ( -_- )
so...he lets her keep the dog, but also decides to keep an eye on her...to the point where she becomes very paranoid that someone is stalking her (which..she isnt wrong in)(but she doesn’t believe it to be ling chao because they’re..dating? i think? and he lulls her into a false sense of security that he’ll protect her from harm)
and then bam! one day he breaks into her house, steals the dog away, and then,,,,blows her up,,,,,
(i must say as disturbing this scene is,,,,i absolutely adore ling chao’s look here askjdjfd)
(i mean?? look at him?? loving the black lipstick ugh)
(v pale tho ;-;)
okay anyways the next flashbacks reveal that handong was abusing her dogs & starving them, and him being the animal lover he is, decides to kill her for it ig
(also she,,,stabbed the other dog that she “gave to her bestie” so-)
yeahh thats the end of his story; nothing much to take from it except that his hacker skills are still intact past agent days
.
.
.
annnd thats a wrap folks! nothing else to expand on; i’ll definitely make another part to expand on this if they decide to release another mini film in the future tho :]
#violence cw#animal abuse cw#oner#yueyue#mu ziyang#ling chao#ayra goes crazy#so i didnt add much original lore here but...eh...#cant wait to see how qins ent is gonna expand on the onerverse :>#plz tell me if i missed any warnings!!
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TW: Dinosaurs, messing with genetics, black market deals, double crossing, near death experiences with dangerous predators, death, animal theme/reservation parks, fictional science, kidnapping
Welcome to the Librarian’s Suggestions!
The librarian is aware that there is an existing chatbot with themes for the Jurassic World series, @taeyongxowengrady. This suggestion post focuses on the original trilogy for Jurassic Park.
Today’s Theme: Jurassic Park (films)
Plot: Two doctors with paleontology and paleobotany backgrounds are recruited by an eccentric man who has created a theme park with dinosaurs to observe the cloned breeds prior to opening to the public. (To ensure the operations are safe for outside visitors.) They are amazed to discover that the man has worked with scientists to bring these creatures back to life, using DNA from West African frogs to fill in the missing parts of the DNA strands. While the pair, along with a chaos theorist and lawyer go on a tour of the park, an employee of the park cuts the power to the systems and park, while trying to steal dinosaur embryos for a rival company. This stops the vehicles the group are in, as well as powers off the electric fences, which allows some of the more dangerous breeds to escape.
In the sequel, the plans for the park on a remote island are scrapped and it is revealed the dinosaurs from the first film were created on a sister island not far from the other one. The eccentric man who planned the original Jurassic Park has lost control of his company to his nephew and reaches out to the chaos theorist to join a documentary crew to the sister island to show the creatures in their natural habitat. The theorist runs into his girlfriend on the island who was there to observe the dinosaurs. Eventually the pair, along with a documentary activist, discover that the nephew is capturing the dinosaurs and transporting them secretly to an unfinished Jurassic Park theme park in San Diego.
The third film focuses on the paleontologist from the first film researching the intelligence of velociraptors and trying to get funding for his research. He is recruited by a couple who pretends to offer to help fund his research, only to be kidnapped by them to help them find their missing son and his friend, who were last seen parasailing over one of the islands. The group lands on the island where the dinosaurs were created, and try to navigate their way around, while avoiding the more dangerous predators.
Characters
Dr. Alan Grant: A paleontologist who works alongside his partner Dr. Ellie Sattler. He specializes in velociraptors and believes that dinosaurs are closely related to birds. He is introverted and slightly adverse to kids, but eventually warms to them when he is forced to protect the grandchildren of John Hammond from a T-Rex. He is a bit skeptical of the concept of Jurassic Park, believing the creatures roaming Isla Nublar are genetically engineered theme park monsters, versus real dinosaurs.
Dr. Ellie Sattler: Dr. Grant’s partner who specializes in paleobotany. She is sharp, yet caring, as seen in how she treats Hammond’s grandchildren upon meeting them. She grows concerned for the dinosaurs when she notes poisonous and dangerous plant-life growing in areas of Isla Nublar that could harm them. (This is observed in a sluggish female triceratops found roaming freely in one of the areas of the park.) She was dating Dr. Grant during the first film, but ended the relationship by the third film and has married a US State Government employee.
Dr. Ian Malcolm: A mathematician who specializes in chaos theory, brought to Jurassic Park to assess if it is safe for outside visitors. It is implied that he is a bit of a ladies man, as he mentions having children with different women. The events of the first film leave him haunted by the near death situations and he loses credibility for saying that dinosaurs are back. He agrees to assist John Hammond with proving that the dinosaurs on Isla Sorna can live in harmony and should be left alone, with the hope that he can persuade his girlfriend to leave the island. He is able to help the team stop Hammond’s nephew from trying to open a Jurassic Park in San Diego and regains his credibility.
John Hammond: A kind, eccentric businessman who dreams of opening Jurassic Park to spark interest in families and people who wish to see and learn about something. He is not as well versed in science, which is why he relies on the experts to help. He means well, but fails to realize that the creatures created are not as easy to control and could pose a real threat to people. Eventually, he and the others are rescued from Isla Nublar and he ruefully concludes that his planned park is merely a dream and must not be finished.
These are a few of the characters. Please refer to the respective Jurassic Park Wiki for more.
Possible Plots
Your muse is invited to preview and assess the safety of a future theme park, centered around dinosaurs. Initially they believe they are seeing highly advanced animatronics, but are shocked to discover that they are living, breathing creatures.
Your muse has survived a near death experience with genetically engineered dinosaurs and has tried to put the events at the back of their minds. Unfortunately, they’re called back by someone who needs their help in proving that the dinosaurs left on the island are safe, provided no human ever enters that land.
Your muse is dragged into a situation to find someone else’s loved one, who went missing near one of the islands inhabited by dinosaurs. However, you’re not familiar with this area and have to wing it, all without becoming a dinosaur’s next meal.
Notes
While the series is set in the 1990s, this can be adjusted slightly.
Good variety of characters to choose from.
Genders can be swapped or changed, based on your face claim and character you wish to base your muse on.
Great for those who want a science-fiction theme with action/thriller elements.
@yanlee (OG) @detectivexsicheng @lawyer-mingyu @mafia-chae @hanjisung-bot @softboijisung @lixielee-chatbot @mafiafelixlee @your-seunghun @vampiremomo @mitsukojen @dateline-academy @sydney-oc @seleneminnie @dandyboyseungminie @nvrendngstry @doll-seungmin @doll-hyunjin @doll-soobin @doll-jeongin @scholar-lia @subbyhyunjinchatbot @ares-bc @soft-hyunjin-chatbot @domyukhei @guitar-sihyeon @softiehyunjinie @darkfaeskz @fairy-yeji @tattooistchannie @playgirljennie @skz-cb @eboyfelixbot @yourdaddychan @mafiajjh @mulanxningning @demon-lee @moonlit-jaemin @yeojinsheight @skz-bot @fairy-dejun @kaanghana @chans-chair @model-lucy @churchgirl-nayeon @rose-musician @soft-magicxyujin @sg-jennie @caretaker-irene @vampire-queenirene @universe-of-superm @fatherfigure-jin @hackerxiaojun
#chatbot themes#chatbot resource#chatbot concepts#chatbot library#[tw: archaeology]#[tw: near death experiences]#[tw: death]#[tw: dinosaurs]#[tw: messing with genetics]#[tw: black market deals]#[tw: double crossing]#[tw: animal theme/reservation parks]#[tw: fictional science]#[tw: kidnapping]
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2020: Harley Quinn Takeover
As the time of writing this. We are exactly one month away from the release of Birds Of Prey/ Harley Quinn the movie. The marketing for the black and red jester will officially be in full force from now on. It’s still ironic to think, and actually imagine a character who was created by the great Paul Din all the way back in 1993. When the Emmy award-winning Batman The Animated Series was still gracing the screens of fans that appealed to all ages of demographic. The jester appeared as a side character or a write-off, but fate has it has turned into one of the most popular, and influential icons of comic book media.
Now in the early days of 2020. Harley Quinn has a successful animated series on the upcoming app of DC Universe. However many feel the platform is still finding it’s footing compared to say Netflix or Disney+. Moving on the show Harley Quinn is bloody, definitely NSFW, and only intended for viewership of mature audience status. Setting aside the preference of concern.
The show is riddled with star-studded talent. Ranging from Kaley Cuoco from Big Bang Theory as Penny, and even Tony Hale as Doctor Psycho.
Even JB Smoove from Curb Your Enthusiasm as Leon. Now on this property plays one of Poison Ivy’s plants named Frank. He is sarcastic, but also able to toy and tease ivy. The interaction between the two is quite genius writing.
There is so much to say about the cast. Alan Tudyk is a legend to be able to play as Joker with his sardonic humor, and his emotions of hatred and jealousy towards Harley. Then being able to switch into Clayface, and spin a different tone from the Clown Prince of Crime.
The presence of the Bat still looms in Gotham with Diedrich Bader once again taking up the cowl of the Dark Knight. From his tenure on Batman Brave And The Bold. Bader still brings the same charisma of the part, and actually gives a breath of comedy due to the wacky nature of the series.
Also can’t forget Ivy is voiced by Lake Bell, and nails everything about the character. Definite MVP for the majority of the season so far.
Many will ask how is the dynamic between Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn. The seeds for there comic accurate relationship have definitely been planted, but at the same time, Ivy is in more of a sister role. In the show, Harley’s plot thread is that she just broke up with the Joker. Only due to Ivy stepping in and telling her to see past the guilt of stock holm syndrome.
Another thing to realize, Harley is trying to find Independence, and the world she inhabits is one that doesn’t take her seriously because she was a henchman or let alone female. Quinn eventually does and finds a crew of people like her. Many, who are forgotten from the world due to their appearance or moral actions. Then, Of course, there are zany side adventures, but they all loop around to the commentary of realizing how depressing the world of DC comics really is.
The Harley Quinn show brings a lot of that to light. Joker is abusive and treats Harley as a trophy. However, In reality, Joker doesn’t care about Harley. He only cares about his battle with Batman. Essentially the yin to his yang.
There is so much that this property reveals, and of course, there are tons of Easter eggs for eagle-eyed DC fans. However maybe we shouldn’t notice the colorful costumes, but the emotional state that these fictional characters inhabit through the actors bringing them to life.
See the thing I started to realize is that every episode of this freshman season has a purpose or goal of sorts. The answer is to understand a moral or fact about life
Just like Birds Of Prey with the title of the film being Emancipation. Harley is seeking to be her own woman. She longs to identity as her own self. Not just someone seeking refuge and acclaim as Joker’s punching bag. Huntress is looking to atone for her sins, and Black Canary is really kept in the shadows with a lot being kept under wraps.
At this period of time, I can only guess and predict. However, one thing I can state and bring to light is that the DCEU is creatively groundbreaking due to the ingenuity of aesthetic. I truly feel that DC has found a way to compete with the mouse. The key is doing films that have there own identity, and direction from the mind of visionary directors. Todd Philips opened the door with Joker. Now the blueprint lies on the table let’s see what Cathy Yan does with Birds of Prey releasing Feb 7th this year.
Also, remember if you want to see Harley Quinn take deep shade at the DC Universe while also revealing many hidden layers of ethos. Tune in every Friday on The DC Universe app.
“Remember 2020 is the year of Harley Quinn, and this is her world. We’re just living in it”
#batman arkham series#batman and robin#batman#the batman#kaley cuoco#lake bell#harley quinzel#harley quinn#harley quin cosplay#harley x ivy#poison ivy#dc univerise online#dc universe#animation#batman the animated series#batman the telltale series#batman the brave and the bold#batman the killing joke#batman the enemy within#margot robbie#jurnee smollett bell#mary elizabeth winstead#black mask#dcau#dc news#dc#dc comics#dc titans#ewan mcgregor
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