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superemeralds · 3 months
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MARIA CENTRIC FIC YAHOO
Maria's life in core memories from her own perspective. Back on earth, as well as on the ARK. Shadow is the cure created just for her, but the new treatment created from his blood doesn't seem to work at first... However, it will soon prove to be working... too well. [ >> The bitterness of a neglected girl knows no bounds when you put her into the infinite expanse of space. ]
basically AU where maria comes out of it all... Wrong
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hyperfixated-homo · 1 year
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The Disney Trivia
Ao3 Link (leave a comment if you wanna! it would make my day <3)
Summary:
It's been months now since the side's have made up, and started actually treating each other like family. Now, with everything back together, they have the brilliant idea to play a game of trivia!
In which, Virgil and Roman are the hosts (who knows more about Disney than those two?) and also may be dating, we'll get back to you on that one.
Patton and Janus are flirting the whole time.
And Remus just thinks Logan is neat.
A/N: Holy god that is the most I have ever written in a single session ever. I don't regret it at all, this was amazing asodijowajd. I missed a lot! But it was kinda necessary because the fic would have been hella long otherwise and some of it was contradictory. I hope you guys like it :)
Word Count: 5117
Ships: Mociet, Prinxiety, Intrulogical
Warnings: Mentions of Remus' heart squishing? I don't think there's anything to be really concerned about lmao
“Why are we doing this again?”
“Because DISNEY Logan!”
“That’s not exactly a sufficient answer, Roman.”
Patton smiled at the two of them as they started bickering. Even now, months after their little family sorted through their drama and everyone started getting along, it seemed like some things would never change.
The sides sat together in a large debate hall, apparently a dreamspace Logan had created a while back for a video with Virgil. Back then it had been the two of them arguing over Thomas’ negative thinking, but now it was being used for something much more fun. The side’s first ever proper group trivia!
It was an idea Roman had a couple weeks ago, during their family game nights (which mainly consisted of uncontrollable chaos). He had thrown it out there randomly during a game of Kahoot, but forgot about it shortly after.
It wasn’t until earlier that week that it was brought up again.
Virgil had come up to him shyly asking if he still felt down to do a proper game of trivia, and had suggested the first theme: Disney!
Roman had agreed instantly, and the two of them spent a couple days planning and researching for the game.
The two of them would be running the game as hosts, while the other sides were split into groups of two. Janus and Patton had been dubbed team Mociet, while Logan and Remus were in team Intrulogical.
Patton was more than a little confused when Remus started giggling at the names, but shrugged it off.
The room had been decorated more interestingly for the fun occasion. Roman and Virgil had stated that they wanted to go all out for this trivia, even if it’s more of a joke than anything else.
The curtains behind were closed, colored black as they were before, but now had added detailing that made it a less monotone background. They had strung up simple banners on the wall, and there were more than a couple new lights in the room that they wanted to use for aesthetic purposes. The floor had been changed to carpeting that had a full rainbow gradient from one corner of the room to the other.
But most importantly was the art.
Hundreds of paintings of Disney characters lined the walls. Different, stylised versions of every princess, prince and villain imaginable had been drawn on them in bright, vibrant colors.
Logan was very confused when he saw them, noting that they wouldn’t be seen much anyways since the attention would be on the judges and the stage, so he didn’t understand why they would put so much effort into it.
Roman said that it didn’t matter.
(The amount of fun that he and Remus had painting them together more than made up for it.)
It was a very neat set up! And according to the boys, there were a couple other things too that they hadn't even shown yet, because they wanted it to be a surprise for when the game actually started.
“Wow, they’re still going?”
Janus’ voice cut through Patton’s thoughts, snapping his attention to the snakey side on his left.
“Huh? Oh- they stopped arguing about the scoreboard ten minutes ago. This is a new argument.”
Janus looked at him with a deadpan expression that Patton couldn’t help but smile at.
“It’s not that bad. We just need to wait for Virgil to get the cards! He’s not going to take that long.”
Janus’ eyes softened quickly, and he turned to look back at Logan and Roman. “Yes… I suppose so. We’ll just have to wait.”
Then he turned back around, suddenly seeming a lot more competitive. “What’s our game plan?”
Patton blinked. He had absolutely no clue what Janus was talking about.
“The what now?”
Janus sighed, fondly exasperated.
“How are we going to win this Patton? You probably know at least a little bit about disney. I’m going to be fully honest, I know virtually nothing. I would say that the teams are fair in that sense except Logan’s a massive Marvel nerd and Remus knows almost as much about Disney in general as Roman, so it really isn’t. We’re at a massive disadvantage here.”
Patton blinked, again.
And Janus sighed, again.
“Do we not- is there no game plan?”
“Uhhhhhhhhhhhh,” Patton looked between him and Roman. “…be nice and hope for the best?”
Janus looked at him for a moment, then once again turned away, mumbling something about how hard it would be to gaslight Virgil into giving them points. Patton was about to make a concerned remark when the door slammed open and the anxious side himself walked into the room.
“Alright losers, stop the fighting. It’s game time.”
Roman audibly squealed, immediately stumbling over to his stand.
“Okay everybody stand in your area. Go stand- you too remus, you stand normally by your podium. We’re starting! Play the music! Why isn’t- LOGAN, THIS IS YOUR DREAMSCAPE, PLAY THE MUSIC!”
Logan rolled his eyes, but complied with the prince’s request, snapping his fingers. The Disney theme started playing, and suddenly the lights shut off.
As the music swelled, new, brighter spotlights slammed on, and the four contestants were surprised to see that they’d been changed into stunning suits and corsets, similar to their outfits at the courtroom but clearly glamorized by Roman. Their podiums had changed as well, the old wooden stands being covered fabric of their own colors with their symbols at the bottom.
Before they had time to even mention the change, another bright spotlight illuminated their hosts. Virgil and Roman were also wearing new clothes, much more layered outfits with more designs sewn into them. Virgil was sat down behind a tilted table that no doubt hid the question cards, while Roman stood in front of them.
The short intro theme faded into a bright show theme, something Patton vaguely recognised.
Roman jumped forwards, welcoming them to the show and going over a prepared speech that played in time with the music.
“Welcome everyone to the first ever Sanders Sides Trivia! Not about us, but being played by us! Today we have a very special theme, suggested by my darling emo nightmare behind me,” Virgil blushed and gave a little wave “DISNEY!”
Patton cheered. Remus joined in, and then all four of them were clapping for Roman.
His eyes were alight as he walked in front of them, posture bubbly in a way that it only ever was when he got the chance to be on stage.
“Thank you! Thank you all!” He took a mock bow.
“Today on the stage we have our two wonderful teams! First up, Team Mociet! Featuring everyone’s favorite father figure, Patton, and the slithery snake himself, Janus!”
Remus whooped from beside them, and Logan and Virgil clapped for them loudly.
Janus loudly said “Totally hate being here today, how dare you invite me.”
Patton waved at everyone, unable to stop himself from giggling.
“And as their competitors today, we’ve got our brilliant book nerd, Logan, and his partner in crime (who may or may not have actually committed some crimes), Remus!”
He and Janus cheered for them, and Remus laughed maniacally while the two of them waved as well.
“I am, of course, Roman Sanders, and this is Virgil! We will be your hosts today everybody!” he continued. The four of them together gave them a round of applause, Patton and Remus yelling out compliments over the loud noise.
“Thank you, thank you. And thank you all for coming! We’re going to go over some ground rules first, before the game can officially start, so we can just jump straight into it!”
He made his way behind the table, as he said that, sitting down. The next part was apparently Virgil’s job to present.
“We’re playing by a point system. You are given points for getting questions right, giving us a good argument or just being cool in general. We’d set better requirements but honestly, I’m sure that all of you guys would find a loophole no matter what rules we set. So we’re not doing that. Points are given based entirely on how me and Roman feel about your answers.” He leaned forwards in his chair, and rested his head in his hands, elbows on the table.
“We can also add points at any time in the game!” Roman chimed in quickly “Not just during question times! For example, padre, I’m loving the attitude right now. Plus ten points!”
There was a loud ring, and then the curtains opened behind them to show a big board, with the two teams' scores on it. Team Mociet had ten points.
Virgil continued. “We can and will take away points, too. Not for getting questions wrong, but for other things. Arguments we don’t like, trying to cheat, sabotage, all that good stuff. Like, say, that stupid hat Janus is still wearing. Minus ten points. Bad hat.”
There was a sort of power down sound, and they watched the points be erased and go down to zero.
Janus didn’t say anything. He just looked at Virgil with the most “are you serious right now” face he could muster. Patton tried his absolute hardest to not laugh next to him. He mostly succeeded.
Virgil was not phased.
“Also, fun fact, even though we can’t actually participate or win, me and Roman can also get points. Because we’re just superior to you guys in every way. We have pretty general rules here, no changing the answer, no physical fighting, no attempted murder, the usual things. Basically just don’t break our monopoly rules and we’ll probably be fine.”
“We’re also not going to win anything.” Patton wondered how long Virgil and Roman had rehearsed this for them to be this in sync. “This is obviously just for fun. No need to get too competitive. I’m looking at you Logan.”
“That’s bold coming from the guy who played checkers with Janus for five hours because he refused to stop until he won a game.” Remus called out.
“That’s not what we’re talking about right now.” Roman replied “And honestly, you would have too if you saw how close I was. There were so many times I almost won. We tied at least-”
“ANYWAYS!” Virgil interrupted him. If Roman started rambling now they would never actually play. “That’s all we have to say. We might add or change some rules later on if things are too chaotic.”
“Right, right. Okay! With that all out of the way, let the games begin!”
A happy little tune that sounded somewhat similar to the ending of a looney toons episode played, and the lights flickered on again.
There was silence for a moment in the debate room, and then Virgil spoke quietly.
“So… how was that?”
“Guys that was amazing!! Oh my goodness I loved it!!” Patton was practically vibrating on the spot from pure excitement over the performance that the two of them just gave.
“Oh I absolutely despised the personal nicknames. Horribly kind of you.” Janus couldn’t seem to keep a smile off his face, clearly also very hyped up.
“I was not expecting the lightshow, I will admit. It was a brilliant choice to use that blackout period to change the scenery, we were all invested quite quickly.” Logan commented.
“Very good idea. We all look hotter than a hooker on a Friday evening in these clothes!” Was Remus’ response. An interesting complement, but a complement nonetheless.
Their judges were clearly happy with the positive reception, Roman hardly able to keep still in his chair and Virgil’s eyeshadow glowing a bright, glittery purple.
“Then let us not waste any more time! Onwards, to the competition!”
Patton let himself relax into a more comfortable standing position, as the category of the first questions were announced.
They would have an absolute blast playing this, he was sure. He just wondered if it would get as chaotic as their previous family times.
———
Everything instantly fell apart.
Well, instantly was a bit of a stretch. Everyone behaved for at least five minutes, usually the game nights spiral downhill as soon as it starts!
Patton just needs to keep looking at the positives. If not, he might literally explode.
“THUMBS both ARE and ARE NOT FINGERS, ROMAN. Some people, especially those in the medical field, do refer to them as such for simplicity's sake, but the truth is that the answer to that question is SUBJECTIVE. They have a DIFFERENT ANATOMY, ROMAN. I DID NOT ANSWER INCORRECTLY.”
“LOGAN THE QUESTION WAS HOW MANY FINGERS MICKEY MOUSE HAS. IT ISN’T THAT COMPLICATED.”
“DEFINE A FINGER FOR ME ROMAN. DEFINE IT. TELL ME WHAT A FINGER IS. IS A THUMB A FINGER TO YOU? IS IT? DOES EVERYONE HERE CONSIDER A THUMB A FINGER?”
Remus raised his hand lazily, pretending to not find this entire situation hilarious. “I don’t think a thumb is a finger. It’s a digit.”
“REMUS STOP SUCKING UP TO LOGAN LIKE THAT FOR MORE POINTS-”
It was honestly sort of amazing that they’d managed to start screaming at each other so quickly. They hadn't even gotten to the actual “debate for points” questions. These were just regular trivia. And yet they somehow managed to start a debate. About fingers.
When Virgil said that they could gain points by “giving a good argument”, Patton didn’t think he considered how far Logan and Janus were willing to go to convince the others that they were correct. Maybe he forgot that one debated for fun and the other liked to pretend to be a lawyer. This was bound to happen eventually.
Although, Patton wasn’t really focusing on that right now, but rather the fact that Janus was trying to change the points on the scoreboard behind them again.
“Jan! Stop that!” He whisper shouted.
“Stop what? I’m not doing anything.” He lied. Like a liar.
“Stop trying to give us points, we’re tied already, it doesn’t matter!”
Indeed, the two teams were tied at 30 points each, after seven questions. So far, they had been pretty simple, and the reason that their team didn’t have more points was because Virgil had randomly decided to subtract five from them, because he “felt like Janus was up to something. Nothing in particular but… something.”
He was right, obviously. Janus was trying to steal the question cards from the host table with one of his spare hands. But Virgil didn’t know that.
“No, you're right. I’m sorry sweetheart. There’s no point in cheating this early in the game, it’ll just make the others suspicious and make it harder to do so later on. I’ll save that one for later” Janus winked.
“That is not what I meant and you know it mister.” Patton crossed his arms, as if that would make Janus take him more seriously.
“Do I?” His mischievous smirk only seemed to grow.
“Yes! You do!”
“Sorry about that darling. I’ll get it eventually, promise.” Even if Patton wasn’t literally face to face with him right now, he would be able to hear the smirk in Janus’ voice.
“That’s-”
“FINE. YOU GUYS CAN GET TWO POINTS. IS THAT OKAY?”
“FINE.”
“FINE.”
Roman threw his hand up and the scoreboard behind them changed to show the numbers 30 - 32.
All four of the other sides just stared at the two of them.
“Okay, Virgil, what’s the next question?”
He looked Roman up and down, squinted, and then looked away.
“Uh… when did snow white come out.”
“Alright. JANUS.” The deceitful side jumped slightly, then turned to Roman, smoothing out his outfit as if it never happened.
“Right. What’s the question?”
“Minus five points for not paying attention.”
“Wha- excuse me?” Janus stared at Virgil in shock. “That’s not fair-”
“Shoulda been listening dude. You keep forgetting that we can do that. Pay attention.” Virgil smirked at Janus’ barely concealed rage. “The question is what year Snow White came out.”
Janus rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. “Pfft, easy. 1957”
Roman stood up quickly, and in a dramatic gesture moved to point at Janus “HAH, WRONG! It was-”
“No, it’s not! It’s totally 1947! Are you just making stuff up to make me lose?”
Roman stared at him, immediately stumped. He spluttered out a “What? No! I promise it’s-”
But Janus was quick, and also an expert gaslighter. “Then did someone change the date on the flash card? Because it was definitely 1937! How could you get such an easy question wrong!?”
Roman’s mouth opened and closed a couple times, as if he was trying to refute the statement but couldn’t find the words.
“When did it come out then?”
Virgil rolled his eyes in response. “1937. Dude you were off by like twenty years.”
“No he wasn’t.” Remus’ voice. Yet again speaking purely to add on to this meaningless argument, adding flame to the fire. “He said 1937.”
Virgil looked at him like he’d grown four heads. “N- dude did you miss that entire conversation? He said 1957.”
“He did also say 1937, though.” Said Logan, as if he was helping them in literally any way. “Are we still counting it if he changes his answer before the actual answer is revealed? His final date was 1937.”
Roman just stood there, trying and failing to process their questions. Virgil answered for him.
“We. We’re not accepting that. Final decision. We’re the hosts here, and he’s not getting any points.” Then he turned to glare at Janus again. “Matter of fact, minus five points for trying to trick us.”
Now it was Janus’ turn to splutter, exclaiming various forms of “what the hell, Virgil?” and “why??? Just why???”
Patton sighed, leaning down to lay his head on his stand.
“Patton! This next question is for you!”
He snapped his head up to look at them, smiling on instinct. “Yeah! I got this!”
“I thought it was one question per team-” Logan tried to interject but Roman steamrolled over him.
“How many years was Genie from Aladdin trapped in the magic lamp?”
“Oh! Uhh… like a hundred thousand years right? It was a really long time!”
Roman looked at his card, then at Virgil. He just shrugged. “Close enough.”
The princely side turned back to Patton, a beaming smile on his face. “Great job popstar, 10 points for you! You’re doing fantastic!”
“Ten poi- he didn’t even get it right?!”
“Shush up Logan, he deserves it. Anyways, Remus!”
Patton found himself smiling as well. The fact that his kiddos would give him points even when he got it wrong, ah he loved them so much!
He looked over to see what Janus thought, only to see him quickly turn away to look at their friends. He caught a glimpse of a smile on his face though, a moment of fondness in his expression.
And then Patton found himself smiling a whole lot more.
It was nice. This was nice. Maybe a little bit chaotic, but when were they not?
Besides, it wasn’t that bad.
———
At some point during the trivia, Virgil and Roman had started to give themselves points. Which was fine, they had mentioned that they would do so at the start after all!
But then they started doing so increasingly often.
Like, every couple minutes often.
For things like how cute the other looked, or how smart they were, or how well they worked together.
And they gave each other a lot of points. Like, hundreds of points. Way too many points, considering the fact that it was over double the amount of points the two teams had combined.
So Remus and Logan, the competitive bastards that they were, of course immediately decided to comment on it and start a debate on whether it was appropriate to give each other points for things like “the color of their eyes” (Roman you can’t give your team points every time you look at Virgil because you think he’s pretty. If we could all do that then what is even the point of the point system in the first place?)
And the hosts immediately took offense, justifying it by saying that they were the ones in charge here, so obviously they got to decide what was and wasn’t a good reason to give someone points.
Which prompted Janus to start another debate about how unjust it was that the two of them were in complete control in this situation even though it was not through democratic election, thus making them the unofficial rulers of a self proclaimed biarchy.
To which they responded that since it’s not a government system, it doesn’t work like that.
And now they were talking about kingdom hierarchy, in the middle of a disney debate.
And yet again, Patton could not find reason to care, because Janus was once again attempting to change the scores in their favor.
“Jay! We said that you couldn’t do this!”
“We said? I think you mean you said, my dear. I never agreed to anything.”
Patton threw his head back tiredly. “Janus, that’s cheating. It’s not fair to the others! We aren’t even winning anything, there’s no need to keep trying to find ways to win!”
“Oh but Patton, I need to do something to assist you! After all, you’ve almost been carrying me this whole game!”
That was true. Virgil and Roman had tried their absolute hardest to find ways to discredit Janus’ every answer, and take away points from him at any chance they got. In direct juxtaposition, they gave Patton as many points as they possibly could, even for completely incorrect answers.
(Patton didn’t really know how to explain that the points didn’t really mean anything to him, and by now was answering wrong just to see how Janus would react when they gave him the points. The fact that they were somehow still above negative points was honestly just a bonus.)
“C’mon sugar, let me do this? Please?”
Well. If Janus was going to play it like that, then Patton was going to have to bring out the big guns as well.
He turned to him, opened his eyes, and gave him is best pouty face.
He saw the exact moment Janus’ face went from “smug flirting” to “oh no he’s cute”.
He had to fight to not blush at the way the snake looked at him.
(Janus couldn’t stop looking at his eyes, his lips, the soft curves of his face as he tried to win him over. Patton looked every bit like the sweetheart Janus kept calling him.)
He sighed, closing his eyes, and pretending that he wasn’t completely melting on the inside. “…I suppose it doesn’t matter that much. If it really upsets you, I’ll stop.”
Patton’s face split and without really thinking about it, he launched himself forwards to crush Janus in a hug.
Arms wrapped around him by instinct (too many arms for a normal person, probably, but Patton had always thought that more arms meant more comfort). He laughed out a small thank you, burying his face into Janus’ suit.
“Yes, yes, I’m amazing, I know. Go back to your stand, you’re making me look soft.”
Patton laughed at the comment, but did indeed stand up and go back to his podium (he didn’t mention the fact that despite the complaints, Janus didn’t try to separate himself from him until Patton did).
The others had been arguing for far too long now anyways.
“I’m just saying, we should definitely have guillotined more rulers! It would have fixed so many problems!”
Wait, what?
“Remus, that would be RIDICULOUS. They didn’t have the concept of free will, or rights back then. They just would have elected another bad ruler!”
“Guys what the hell are we talking about.”
The conversation died instantly. The four of them looked at each other, and then at Janus, and then back at each other.
“I uh… I have no clue.” Was Virgil’s reply.
Which was typical. And also understandable. But maybe not what they should be doing right now.
“…okay. Can we get back to trivia now. That’s… that’s like the only reason we’re here in this stupidly fancy room, still standing up, still killing my legs. Can we wrap this up please.”
Roman snapped into action, getting the cards and moving swiftly on to the next question.
“Right! Yeah! Y'know what, we’re going to do a couple flash rounds. Me and Virge will just call out some questions and whoever answers first and most accurately gets points. Good?”
They nodded.
The game continued.
———
“Order!” Roman called out in the loud room. “Order in the court! This is the FINAL question! Up for debate here my guys, gals and nonbinary pals. Completely subjective, alright?”
Everyone hushed up, ready to answer the final question.
“Who is the best Disney prince?”
“Flynn Rider.” Four voices called out simultaneously.
The hosts paused for a moment, before looking at each other, and then back at their contestants.
“Correct. Five hundred points for everyone. Good game!”
“Well, this was a miserable experience. I despised every part of it.” he smiled at Virgil and Roman, not out of mischief or irritation but of pure, unfiltered care. “Thank you for organizing this. It was wonderful.”
Patton nodded aggressively next to him. “Yeah!! We got super side tracked but by golly was it fun!”
Roman laughed, and Virgil’s eyeshadow seemed to brighten a few shades to match the pink growing on his cheeks.
“Yeah it was… it was fun or whatever.”
“It was enjoyable.” Said Logan from beside them. His voice was low, a little raw from how much yelling he did in the two hours they spent doing the trivia. “Even though it devolved quickly into something that was most definitely not trivia.”
“Maybe next time we should have another group host it.” Remus said. “Y’know, like the winners of this game get to choose a theme for the next time.”
All of them seemed to perk up a little at that idea.
“Who won?” asked Janus.
“Not you guys.” was Virgil’s immediate response.
Janus hissed at him. Virgil hissed back.
“Did we even count the points?” Roman squinted at the board behind them, as if closing his eyes would make the massive numbers on them make more sense.
“I believe you stopped trying to actually calculate it when you started adding thousands onto the board. Much less the millions.
Roman shrugged. “Eh. That’s fair. We don’t really know who won then. Maybe we can hold a vote or something.”
Logan hummed. “That would be appropriate.”
Patton felt a hand rest on his, atop his podium.
He smiled, and closed his eyes.
For a moment there was peace. The group was tired out, energy completely depleted after that rollercoaster of emotions.
“…Maybe Janus should be disqualified though. I would consider changing the question cards and the scoreboards quite an easy disqualifier.”
“He did WHAT.”
———
Maybe it was a little bit mean for Remus to tell Logan that Janus had cheated right at the end there. Everyone was tired after all, so there was no point in wasting any of their remaining energy on questioning how he did it.
But Remus was petty.
And Janus did try to mess with his score.
All is fair in love and war.
Besides, who would he even be if he didn’t try to cause a little chaos right at the end?
He looked over at the other sides from his spot in between his and Logan’s podiums, bent in a position that would probably be impossible, if he weren’t an imaginary person who could make his spine disappear if he wanted to.
Janus was trying to justify himself to a group of three angry light sides, although it was clear that most of that effort went into trying to explain his methods to Patton. Said moral side was making an attempt to scold him that would probably be more effective if he looked in any way mad, and not just like his kitty had clawed up his favorite couch cushion. Roman and Virgil were leaning together in their seats, heads leaning on each other and holding hands.
He turned to look at his teammate. Logan stood resting his elbows on the podium in a rare moment of relaxation. He was observing the “fight” just as Remus was before, but usual cold expression was replaced with a soft, happy smile.
Something about it made Remus’ heart squish strangely. Maybe he was having heart palpitations.
He untangled himself enough to poke Logan's leg with his foot.
“Psst.”
Logan turned to look down. The fondness remained on his face, albeit with a little bit of added confusion.
He looked really hot from down here, damn.
“What is it you need, Remus?”
“If you could see any marvel scene in real life right now, to study, what scene would it be.”
Logan furrowed his brow and tilted his head. “…Comic book or movie scene?”
Remus shimmied, moving around so that he could stand up.
“Either.”
Logan took a moment to think, looking away from him in concentration. “Hm… there’s a fascinating scene in the marvel comics where the Scarlet Witch removes the abilities of all mutants from planet earth, almost by accident, because she doesn’t want them and the humans to keep fighting. Although, I suppose that’s not exactly a visitable scene, since her powers are never really thought to be observable in that sense.” He looked at Remus again, who was now standing up. “I would want to see what Tony Stark’s lab looks like. I know most of the science there isn’t real by any means, but it would still be fascinating to see how he would theoretically create his suits and weaponry.”
That sounded really smart. And complicated. And like it would take a lot of effort.
Remus reached out and grabbed him by the hand.
And suddenly, they weren’t in Logan’s dreamscape anymore, but Remus’.
Although it didn’t look like what his dreamscape usually looked like.
There were tables and tables of tech all around them. Holograms and metal scraps and projects were laid out that looked incredibly similar to the ones in the original Marvel movies. There were some odd choices of weapons, for sure, some of them seemingly old fashioned and not at all what would actually be in Ironman’s lab.
It didn’t matter.
And it didn’t matter how much energy it took Remus to make the room. Or how much his head hurt trying to remember basic mechanics so that he could make anything here believable.
None of it mattered.
It was all worth it, for the way Logan screamed in happiness.
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shadow-bringer-ao3 · 8 months
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Writing Master List
Naruto
Alone Together
If, Perhaps, They Were Less Idiotic, Things Would Go Smoothly
soulmates are hardly sure-fire
sometimes all you need is a chance 2 3
Bleeding Grey 2 3 4 5 6
Edo Tensei and it's Equivalents 2 3 4 5 6 7
The Weight of the World 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Boku no Hero Academia
ripples reach far from a single pebble (she is far from a pebble) 2 3 4 5 6 7
Tian Guan Ci Fu
Rest When You Are Done
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shadowphoenix-2 · 2 years
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Quiet Rain: Chapter Three
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Warning: This chapter includes death and violence
A/N: Yeah, so it’s almost been half a year. Sorry. School and procrastination got in the way, but this chapter is done! One of the main reasons is because of the fact that this is one of the most important chapters. I’m okay, guys! Not dead, haha! Hopefully we’ll meet again in like two or three weeks. Hopefully. 
Flying through the turquoise sky that seemed to stretch out for miles, a black noibat with neon blue ears swerved in and out of the twisting branches that tangled within the grove. 
It was odd; his color, as he’d been made fun of multiple times in the past because of it. He’d hated it, but at least afterwards, he got to fly freely through the valley, which he’d always loved. 
Perching at the top of a tree, watching the land spill outward like a long river in front of him, he could see the caves he lived in, the sturdy and rocky terrain of the area where large glowing red pokemon roamed, and even some human settlements up ahead. He could see everything from here. 
The noibat let out a deep sigh before twitching his ears slightly. He heard shouts and laughter coming from below. That’s when his head seemed to explode. 
Picture after picture flooded his mind, memories darting to and fro as well. The noibat’s head was quite literally spinning. All these weird visions. All these weird paths. 
Stop it! The odd noibat shut his eyes, trying to avoid whatever was flashing through his vision. 
Get out of my head! 
Suddenly, it stopped. Everything was okay. But what was going on down there was not. If it was strong enough to change multiple timelines just in his mind alone… 
The noibat drifted down from the treetops and landed on the ground with a soft thud. Twitching his ears again, he pinpointed the location of whatever was going on. 
Quickly flapping his wings, the noibat finally ended up where he needed to be. Looking from behind a tree, he saw three woobat surround what looked to be another noibat. Their scales and fur were a green and black color, but the noibat’s face was covered up by their wings, ears pinned back. 
“Wow, what’s with your eyes?” One woobat snickered, flying around. 
“They look just like a ditto’s!” Laughter rocked through the trees between the three bat pokemon. 
“Isn’t her mother a ditto? D’you think she can transform like one?” 
Before the three woobat could conversate more, the noibat slowly went out into the open, before rushing out and shielding the other noibat. 
“Are you hurt?” He whispered, but the noibat didn’t look up. She stayed down, quivering almost violently. 
“I suggest you three stop it,” the noibat turned back to the woobat, “or I’ll make you stop.” 
One woobat flapped around, giggling. 
“All right then, make us!” 
Before the noibat could do anything, his head started blaring again. 
No! Not again! 
A loud screech echoing through the forest made the noibat jump a little and snapped him out of… whatever was happening with him. A large dragon-like figure dove from the sky and landed in front of him. 
A noivern! 
After letting out loud growls and flapping their wings, the three woobat flew away in fear, presumably back to their caves. When their vigorous wing beats were out of earshot, the noivern in front of them laughed. 
“Haha! I haven’t scared children like that in a long time! I hope I’m in their nightmares too!” 
The noibat behind him perked up and tackled the noivern in the leg. She didn’t speak nor shout anything but stayed silent as she hugged the dragon’s hind leg. 
“Oh, right. You two. Thanks for having her back while I was gone. I swear, those woobat appeared out of nowhere!” Watching the noivern turn around, the noibat quickly noticed their eyes weren’t normal. It was almost like they were a ditto…
Wait. 
“Are you her mother?” 
The ditto craned her neck, cocking her head to the side. “Why yes, I am. I thought it was pretty obvious. What gave it away for you?” 
“Your eyes,” the noibat said, blinking. “Can I call you by anything?” 
“You mean like a name?” The ditto made a puzzled expression; though, it probably wasn’t so hard to do considering ditto almost always looked puzzled. “I just go by Ditto. But my daughter's name is Silver.” 
“Well,” the noibat twitched his ears again, “you can call me Soundwave, or Wave for short.” 
Silver, who was still hugging her mother’s leg turned around, and Wave noticed her eyes really did look like a ditto’s. He didn’t really care, if anything, she was probably the most beautiful noibat-who-looked-like-a-ditto he’d ever seen. 
“You look really pretty,” Wave blushed, realizing what he’d just said. 
The two sit in silence for a few seconds.
“Mama, can we go home now? I think I’ve had enough affection for one day.” The green noibat pushed the ditto’s leg, and the larger pokemon lifted the limb, sending her toppling over. 
“No, you haven’t thanked him yet.” 
“Do I have to?”
“Well, it’s basic manners isn’t it?” 
Silver groaned before shyly walking up to Wave, her head down. 
“Th-thanks. For what you did back there. I should probably thank you…” Shuffling her feet, she flew up to a nearby branch and grabbed a berry. From the look of it, it was an Oran berry, and Wave grabbed it without saying anything and took a bite out of it. 
“You can come back to our caves if you’d like to,” the ditto smiled kindly while rearing up to fly away. 
Before Wave could move, his mind flashed furiously again. 
“Caves.”
“Drive them out of their caves.”
“Hit them where it hurts them the most.” 
“And rule the skies once more.” 
Wave spun around, trying to figure out where the voice he was hearing came from. But he couldn’t. The words repeated in his head over and over again while he was trapped. Trapped in his own mind. The very thought of it made Wave panic. Something had normally brought him out of this weird trance, like a loud noise or a very sudden initiative. 
But now it was different. No one was here. The only thing around was the darkness of his own mind, holding him captive. Fear surged through Wave as he struggled to move even his wings, as his body stayed dormant. This was it-surely, it was. Wave was going to die. 
All of a sudden, Wave began to see his own memories. Well, they weren’t exactly his memories, they were his memories in different timelines, it was weird to see. That if he hadn’t simply caught something as simple as a wimpod for dinner, so many things could’ve been different. But he also hated it. Because, technically, judging by the way his power worked, there could be one where he just… saw terrible things happen. 
Like how that noibat he just met could die tomorrow, and he could’ve seen that, and decided not to do anything about it. He felt an odd amount of power, but also weakness in this ability he had. 
Wave soon decided to give up in trying to get out of his mind. He relaxed, slowly letting his overwhelming tiredness take over him…
“Wave?” 
“Wave!”
“Wake up, Wave!” 
What do you want now? Wave thought, scrunching up his nose until he realized it wasn’t that odd voice anymore, or any of his other memories or visions. 
Wave’s eyes shot open, and he was also met with a terrible headache. 
He realized he was in a dark area, and it was very rocky, from what he could see. 
“Why’s he squinting? Shouldn’t he be able to see in areas like this?”
“It’s because he’s always out during the day like an idiot!” 
“Predators can catch you easily in the daylight… though, I don’t like it in these stupid caves either… too many tight spaces.” 
“Guys—we shouldn’t be making fun of our sister’s boyfriend.” 
“Shut up! We aren’t even friends!” 
“We should probably check if he’s okay,” the noise of strong wingbeats filled the cave, and Wave saw a face he recognized. Only, he didn’t. It was a noivern, but it didn’t have the dotted eyes ditto had. 
“Who are you?” Wave asked, surprised at how strained his voice sounded. 
The large noivern tapped their wing claws together. “I’m the older brother to these four idiots. It’s nice to meet you.” 
Wave frowned. “It isn’t very nice to call your siblings idiots,” he said, his vision slowly adjusting to the dark caves. Now he could see the small crystals that reflected the outside world’s light and lit up the area in cool purple and blue shades. 
“Well, it’s basically what they are though; one hive mind split between four stupid bats.” 
The noivern smirked, and Wave felt all bubbly and angry inside. He turned away from him and growled to himself. 
“Just ‘cause you like her, doesn’t mean she’s left out of my insults.” 
“Shut up,” Wave was this close to biting his friend’s own brother, though it probably wouldn’t do much. 
“Well; I think I’ve successfully made a fool of and made fun of our sister’s boyfriend.” The noivern got up and flapped away. 
“WHAT DID I JUST TELL YOU?!” Wave remembered that voice. He realized he actually preferred if she would be a bit quieter. 
“COBALT—” 
“Ta-ta, sister~” the noivern’s voice became more distant as he flew away. 
Wave sighed with relief. That stupid preposterous noivern was finally gone. 
But, those other brothers aren’t. They probably won’t bother me. 
Wave heard something scuttle over to him, but it was smaller and seemed more skilled at maneuvering about wherever he was. 
“Sorry about my brother. Sometimes he’s just… difficult.” The noibat he’d met earlier had returned to a quieter state, but hadn’t locked eyes with Wave. 
Wave rolled his eyes, “Yeah, I can tell. Seems to me he goes out more during the daylight.” Actually, he did go out more in the daylight. He just knew. Somehow.
“Yeah, he’s a weirdo,” Silver tilted her head. “Maybe he just likes being outside. He’s always back in the early hours of the night.” 
“So, Ditto said I could stay over, right?” 
“Uh, yeah. But you were kind of already doing that, considering you randomly blacked out in the middle of the valley.” 
Wave laughed nervously, wrapping himself in his wings. 
“I probably shouldn’t touch on that though,” Silver sucked in air between her teeth. “A-Anyway, I’d like to know a bit more about you. Um, you have parents, right?” 
“Yeah,” Wave shrugged. “Don’t know 'em, but there are a lot of other pokemon I live with who take care of me instead.” 
“O-Oh! I’m sorry! I didn’t…” 
“It’s fine; I get it a lot. Besides, the Fromith Guild is where I’ve been living my whole life, without my parents.” Wave looked at Silver directly, but she was holding her head down, wringing out her wings. Was she beating herself up this much for asking a simple question? 
Silver blinked, pinning her ears back. “So, why are you over here then?” 
“I just came here because I wanted to. I like to stretch my wings around the valley, not much room back at the guild. Very crowded, and too many tourists. But there’s different districts to the guild as well. I live in the Cave District nearby.” 
He stared into Silver’s eyes, but her expression suddenly changed. She quickly closed her eyes and shook her head before turning away from him.
“O-Oh, that sounds interesting,” she said, waving a wing. “Anyways, I really gotta go back and finish cleaning up my nest, or else my parents will have my hide.”
She took off into the air and vanished from Wave’s sight.
Shaking his head, Wave sighed once again and started flying towards the surface. Looking around for a bit, he spotted Cobalt. The older Noivern wasn't paying any attention to him though, instead he was looking around feverishly and swerving his ears around attentively. Could he be hiding something? He stood motionless for a couple of seconds before letting out a deep sigh and flew out of the cave's entrance.
Wave was confused by his odd mannerisms and wanted to know more. So he silently flew behind at a safe distance. Wave was amazed at how quiet his wingbeats were to his own ears. He knew that noibat and Noivern had silent flight, but it came in handy this time. 
When Cobalt landed, he scanned the ground near the mouth of the cave and picked up what appeared to be a rock. He threw it toward a tree, hitting it hard enough to cause a loud crackling sound. His tail swayed side to side in agitation. 
"Come out already, will you?" Cobalt scoffed. 
Wave froze for a minute, thinking he'd been seen—or at least heard—until he saw two long, green and fluffy ears peek out from behind a tree. 
A jolteon emerged in front of Cobalt, shaking stray leaves from his fur.
"S-Sorry, Cobalt. I thought your mother or Sil would've seen me if I'd come out earlier."
"It's okay, Jackal. Though, I have no idea why you were afraid. We all know Silver and my mother don’t have the best eyesight." 
Jackal laughed before composing himself.
"Anyway... I got you something you might like!"
"What is it?" Cobalt shook himself in anticipation.
Jackal opened a pouch with his paws, sitting on his haunches. Wave cocked his head to the side. How did he open that? He has paws, nothing like claws or fingers…
Jackal pulled out a very light colored scarf from the pouch. "My mom knitted it for you," he smiled sheepishly. 
A wide, toothless grin appeared on Cobalt's face. He took it from the jolteon with gentle wing claws, setting it around his neck.
"Sometimes I wish I could tell my parents about you," Cobalt shifted his feet.
"You'll have to tell them eventually. Especially because of our plans."
"Y-Yeah..." 
"Speaking of plans, when are you going to tell them!"
Cobalt laughed nervously. "I-I'll tell them tomorrow!"
"Swear to Arceus?" Jackal teased.
"On Arceus! I'll tell 'em!"  Cobalt laughed. 
Jackal hopped onto one of the branches of the trees, and waited for the Noivern to finish tying the scarf properly. He held onto it carefully, as he wasn't used to such light fabrics.
"Thank you for the gift, Jackal," he placed a wing to his chest in a dramatic gesture.
"Aw, shucks. It's nothing," Jackal chuckled. The two reveled in their company for a little longer before Jackal said goodbye to Cobalt and bounded back off into the forest.
Cobalt sat alone for a while. Wave blinked in awe. 
What plans are they talking about? Why don’t they want to be seen by anyone? Though, those were questions that wouldn’t be answered to him. How would Wave explain to Cobalt that he’d spied on him? It would be uncomfortable, and potentially make Silver’s older brother trust the odd noibat even less.
When he heard Cobalt flap away, presumably back to the cave, Wave got an idea. He could use his power. He didn’t know how to master it yet, but this would be a good way to start. What harm would it do, anyway? Just seeing into the future to know what Cobalt and Jackal were planning and stuff. But he didn’t even know how to activate it! Ugh, too many complications. 
Maybe, he could use it like a normal move. Concentrate into it and then let it out into a sudden burst. Yes, that would work. Everyone back at the guild would practically worship him for having an ability like this! He could save lives before they were endangered, and foresee possible storms and—
Wave felt his head explode once more. But he let it this time. This is what he’d wanted! Now… it was just a matter of getting to the right timeline. Wave swan around in his own mind for a little while, before he’d found what he was looking for.
But it wasn’t what he’d been expecting. Jackal was on the forest floor, bleeding out, Cobalt standing over his body. Wave had to stop himself from panicking. He tried looking through it again. Whatever this power was, it allowed him to traverse every timeline, every possibility. So, maybe, this was one of many possibilities! 
Wave followed another branch of a different timeline. Same outcome. Third times the charm? Wave thought as he skimmed another. 
Nothing changed. No matter which timeline he’d flipped through, around maybe ten by now, it always ended in the same way. Wave didn’t like it. There still had to be a way to change it, right? To prevent Cobalt from killing Jackal? Warning him before it was too late? 
Wave went to one final branch. It was one where he’d gotten Cobalt to speak of his plans earlier than expected, and his mother had approved him of something. Or, maybe, that was his father, because this Noivern’s eyes weren’t dotted. It didn’t matter to Wave. As he skimmed further along, skipping unimportant things regarding the rest of the family, he found the ending: Jackal and Cobalt were still alive, Cobalt giving rushed goodbyes to his family. 
Finally, Wave had understood. 
If I can get Cobalt to tell everyone what he’s planning… the timeline stays good. And if I don’t, well, who knows what that could do…
Silver rested in the quiet, open forest. It was no longer midday, the sky painted in orange and pink, signaling that nighttime would be soon. She felt calmer now. It wasn’t so noisy out here, and she rocked back and forth in a blissful silence. 
But something still felt a little bit off. She couldn’t pinpoint it, but for some reason Silver had been feeling less like herself lately. She looked down at her wings and examined them quietly. She hated them. And she didn’t know why. Silver craned over the river that flowed through the valley. Seeing her reflection, she grimaced at it. 
She hated the fur that wrapped around her neck. It was too… too–she didn’t know! Too neat? Too much of it? Too sparkly?
Maybe she hated herself so much because of those stupid woobat! And it wasn’t just them, either! It happened every time Silver had finally gained just a little more self confidence. But every time, it was destroyed, worse than the time before. Either by someone else, or just something really unlucky happening to her at the wrong time.
It’s never been this bad! She messes with the fur on her cheek with a wing. She just wanted to claw herself up and curl up into a ball and hope no one would find her like this! 
She looked down into the river again, taking in a deep, shaky breath. She hated her eyes! She hated her teeth! She hated that she was different from everyone else! 
But most of all, Silver hated her ears. They heard every little thing everyone else said about her. It was often her, in fact, of whom everyone would talk about. 
About how small and frail I am, or my color, just… everything! I hate it! I hate it, I hate it! 
Without hesitation, Silver slammed her wings into the water, distorting her reflection. The ripples went off into the river’s flow. She tried to take a deep breath and concentrate on something else; maybe her brothers. They’d always make her feel at ease and more like herself somehow. She related to them more than her own sisters, anyway. 
It wasn’t working. Nothing she tried to think about was working. Nothing would stop anyone from making fun of her and shoving her self esteem into the dirt. Nothing would stop her from having the eyes she had, or the fur color. Maybe she could prevent it somehow? Hinder it just a little bit. 
The water in the river cleared up, revealing her face once more. Silver stared at it for a little bit, before touching her ears. Her ears were the problem! She’d just tear them off! 
Okay, maybe not straight off. Maybe causing her own deafness was easier. Except, maybe not, because you’d have to damage the eardrums a lot for that to happen and a noibat’s ears are not that fragile. Or—
Silver was so prolonged in thought that she got frustrated, and dragged down her ears with her claws, causing them to fall limp on her face. She felt a dull pain on one of her ears, and something wet dripped down onto her claws. 
She squealed and leapt back as blood flowed out and onto the ground. She helplessly curled herself up, praying to Arceus that some noibat eating predator—maybe noctowl, or seviper—wouldn’t eat her. If she tried to fly, they would easily pursue her. Silver tensed up as she heard something land beside her, sniffling softly. 
“Silver?” 
Silver looked up to see her mother, shifting her talons. The two stared at each other in an eerie silence. Neither seemed to have anything to say. 
“Who did this to you?” Ditto lifted up Silver’s injured ear. 
“I did,” Silver avoided her mother’s gaze. 
“Why?” 
“I got really angry.” “At who?”
“Myself.” 
Ditto let out a quiet, short gasp, and then sat down next to Silver, moving her closer with her tail. The noivern groomed the small cut on her ear, smoothing out ruffled and matted fur. As relaxing as she should’ve found this, Silver’s fur was still standing on end. 
“Why were you angry at yourself?” Ditto started again, combing through Silver’s neck fluff. 
“‘Cause I don’t like the way everyone else looks at me. They think I’m a freak!” Silver flared her nostrils. 
“Pokemon would look at me the same way; I know how you feel. Nobody really liked having a shapeshifter around. They thought I would start trying to look like them and replace them as pokemon entirely! So, they’d constantly shun me. It hurt sometimes… a lot… but, as long as I didn’t think of myself in that way, it would be fine!” 
“But I do think of myself in that way! I hate myself! I hate the way everyone treats me! And I hate being a—” 
“Being a what?” Ditto made an almost concerned expression. 
“I hate being a female,” Silver finally spit it out. 
“Well, it can have its downsides sometimes but—” 
“No! I don’t wanna be one at all! It’s just… not me!” 
Ditto paused for a moment, small gusts of wind blowing through her fur. An unreadable expression crossed her face. Remembrance, maybe? A feeling of familiarity? “I understand. Would you like for me to refer to you as a male from now on?” 
“...Yes…” Silver slowly nodded his head. 
“All right. You want to head back home now? I caught a caterpie for you.” Ditto lifted into the air, waiting for her son to catch up. 
Silver shook out his fur before launching himself into the air, following behind his mother. 
Cobalt sighed, chewing on the leftover bones from his dinner. His younger brothers were all staring at him, their eyes wide and curious. 
“Where’d you get that from?” Gold asked, climbing onto Cobalt’s back. 
“Where’d I get what from?” Cobalt’s face scrunched up. 
“That scarf!” Mercury says, pointing to the light fabric. “And don’t say you did it ‘cause we bats can’t weave silk together like that.” 
Cobalt flushed. “Oh. Um… A friend gave it to me.” The noivern’s teeth managed to crack open the bone, and he began to scoop out the marrow with his tongue. He didn’t really like to refer to Jackal as a friend, because he knew he was more than that. But, it was better to play things safe rather than reveal he’d been hanging out with a stranger for the past few months. 
“Who is it? I wanna meet them!” 
“Erm… he’s uh—he’s away for the summer months. Doesn’t really thrive in ‘em.” 
“Is he a water type? Or a ground or rock type? Or a—” Copper was cut off by the wild beating of wings. 
Cobalt turned around to see a little black and blue noibat land at his talons. 
Wave. 
Cobalt wasn’t a fan of the strange noibat, but his younger siblings seemed almost entranced by him. Luckily, he’d be gone in a few hours, so he wouldn’t have to deal with him. 
“Cobalt, I know what you’re planning,” Wave hissed, and Copper gave him a sour look. 
“What are you talking about?” Cobalt squinted. 
“That friend of yours isn’t away for the summer. He’s a jolteon named Jackal, and you’re planning to go somewhere else with him. You’re going to kill—” 
“Woah, woah! What are you on about? I’d never kill anyone!” Cobalt’s fur stood on end, his face contorted into distress. 
How does he know all of this! Unless he’d been stalking me, but I made sure no one had followed me! 
“That’s what you want them to think,” Wave pointed a wing towards his other siblings. 
“Why would I murder my own friend? Seems kinda counterproductive, doesn’t it?”
“Because you don’t like the life you have here, so you’re going to frame me instead so you have enough time to escape—” 
“Get out!” Cobalt suddenly screeched. “All of you!” 
His siblings flew out quickly with huge, worry-filled eyes. Wave stayed a couple of seconds longer, giving the noivern a glare before following the others. 
Cobalt curled himself up, shutting his eyes. He’d never do something like that, right? It was just a lie. Or another story to impress his brothers and sisters. Surely it was the former. Gold seemed outright horrified, and Mercury’s ears were slammed down against his head to block out whatever was being said. 
I’m not a killer, am I? I hope not. Arceus, I’m not a murderer, am I? I’m not, I’m not, I’m not! 
“Cobalt? Is there something wrong?” Cobalt whipped his head around, ready to snap, but it was his father, Halite. 
Cobalt refused to say anything, sniffling softly. 
“You don’t want to talk about it?” 
“It’s just,” Cobalt tried to find the words, “I don’t like Wave. He… he just puts me off, tricking everyone into thinking I’m going to murder someone—” 
“H-Hold on,” Halite’s eyes widened. “Why’d he say that?” 
Cobalt let out a huge sigh, a lump forming in his throat. 
“Remember that eevee I met? Jackal? He’s a jolteon now, and we had been thinking… to move to Fromith but… I was too afraid to tell you and—” 
Cobalt stopped himself and looked over to Halite. His father looked down, not meeting his eyes. He was fidgeting his claws, something he did when he was nervous. 
I knew it. I knew he wouldn’t let me leave and—
“You know,” Halite reeled Cobalt out of his thoughts. “Everyone has to leave the nest eventually. I understand. But it was wrong of Wave to say that to you. I’ll make sure to talk to him about it, if I can.” 
Cobalt pulled Halite into a hug. Halite looked shocked at first, but eased into it. 
“I’ll miss you, dad. Tell mama I’ll miss her too. And Gold, Mercury, Neon and Silver and—” 
“All right! I’ll tell them! Don’t worry your tail off!” 
Cobalt let out a sad laugh, before letting go. 
Silver flew to a nearby tree to take a quick rest. It was close to his home, so Ditto went the rest of the way without him. 
He taps his talons boredly as he takes a breather. He’d started to spread his wings a little so he could fly back, but a small splash of something wet made him lose the rhythm. 
Silver looks up. More droplets plop onto his fur as dark storm clouds roll in. He sees a white flash, and then—
BOOM
The noibat nearly slipped off the branch when he heard the thunder. He’d seen a couple of storms before, but his mother and father always kept him and his siblings inside and blocked out the noises of thunder. But… these clouds were darker than any he’d ever seen before, and they were laced with… red? 
BOOM
Rain water was soaking Silver’s leathery wings now, he wouldn’t be able to fly home without extreme drag or plummeting from the sky altogether. He swallowed hard. 
No escape. 
He hung upside down on the bark, wrapping himself in his wings, praying to Arceus he wouldn’t get swept away. 
Jackal couldn’t see anything in the pouring rain. He squinted, trying to find some form of shelter—
“Oof!” Jackal grunted as he was tackled. He rolled onto his back to see Cobalt, with a depressed look on his face. 
The two were out of the storm now, in an abandoned cave, the muffled sounds of wind and thunder roaring outside. 
“C-Cobalt? Are you all right? You look… erm—” 
Cobalt waved a wing dismissively. “My father said I could leave.” 
“He did?” Jackal furrowed a brow. “Then, why are you so… down?” 
“B-Because! He just—He just let me go! Without even putting up a fight! He told me I could go, but it’s just! I—” 
“You don’t want to leave, do you?” 
Cobalt sniffled. “No, it’s—It’s not—” 
“It’s okay, y’know. I understand…” Jackal got up on his paws and shook water from his fur. The jolteon’s fur puffed out a little, static crackling within it.
“W-Wait!” Cobalt cries out, it’s sudden, and it shocks Jackal. 
“Hm?” 
“P-Please… don’t leave me…” 
Jackal let out a short laugh, “Oh, I’d never do something like that over a matter so trivial. If you need a little more time for yourself, I won’t mind.” 
“I-I dunno, I feel like a coward a-and—”
Cobalt began to sob, and all Jackal could do was press himself against the noivern and provide comfort. He doesn’t leave him alone, contrary to what Cobalt had thought. 
Jackal flicked one of his ears, as he thought he’d heard someone else, but, when he turned around, there was no one. The jolteon stands up on all fours, preparing to leave. With Cobalt. 
“C’mon, let’s go, don’t wanna find out that this is an ursaring den, right?” 
“N-No, I think I heard someone. Or, something at least.” Cobalt swerved his ears around. Okay, a noivern’s sense of hearing was almost impeccable. Someone was definitely there. 
Jackal felt his heart begin to race. “Y-You think this is an ursaring den?” 
“No, it’s been abandoned for months, I check every once-in-a-while.” 
The tension grew thick as they heard the scrambling of claws. 
And then a dark figure leaped at Jackal. 
Cobalt shakily stood over Jackal’s body, heavy rain flushing away the blood from his cuts. 
“I’ll get help! I swear, I won’t let you die!” 
“No… hopefully we’ll… see each other… soon…” Jackal rasps as his eyes faded into a bluish white. 
Cobalt shook Jackal, “No, no, nononono! I can’t lose you! I can’t—” 
“Don’t worry,” An oddly calm voice called, “I’m sure you’ll reunite soon.” Cobalt looked up with a flash of anger to see Wave, mocking him. 
“You… you killed him… I was never going to do it… you were going to frame me! WHY!” Cobalt’s screech echoed through the trees. He hoped someone could hear him. 
“Yes, you’re right, but your father’s not here to proclaim you a murderer.” 
“Why did you do it!” 
“Sometimes, when you see something someone else has, you feel a little… jealous…”
“You… wanted to replace me?” 
Wave doesn’t answer. Cobalt felt as if he were seeing red, and in a sudden action, he lunged himself toward the noibat. 
He skillfully maneuvered out of the way, despite the attack being quite sudden in Cobalt’s opinion. There was no way he would have dodged it!
Wave shot a dragon pulse in retaliation, and it hit Cobalt with a shock. He fell to the ground, and he looked around with rain-blurred vision to see what he could use to stop the crazy noibat. 
And then, Cobalt saw Silver. 
He called out to his sibling, pleading for the other noibat to move. But Silver was shaking. I can save her. I can save her, and take her home, at least. As he reared up to fly, something hit him in the head, too quickly for him to react, and Cobalt’s vision blotted out. 
He reopened them to see Wave’s claws at his neck. Something was holding Cobalt by his ears, and he flailed around. 
“Any last words, outlaw?” 
Outlaw? That term was only used in the Guild to describe an irredeemable crime. He felt tears prick at his eyes. He was going to die. No matter what he said, they were going to kill him. 
Cobalt looked back up at Wave, his eyes narrowed into slits. “I hope that, if you kill anyone else… that their spirits come back to reap your soul.”
Silver couldn’t move. Even though he’d heard multiple pokemon cry out for him, his eyes were shut and his ears were pinned back. It wasn’t until the rain had slowed a bit when he unwrapped himself. 
The scene he saw made him scramble up the tree branch. A jolteon in the grass looked mauled almost, fur ripped out from his body, ears mangled and torn. Then, he saw his own brother, bathed in his blood, neck slit from presumably a sharp set of claws. 
Lastly, he saw his own father, standing over the two, and in a chilling moment, he looked up slowly and locked eyes with Silver. 
Did he… did he kill them? Why? 
Silver felt his heart slam against his ribs. His father was going to kill him, too. He couldn’t fly back, or warn his siblings or anything! All he could do was cry into his own wings. When his father finally shot a blue pulse at him, he finally got the strength to fly again. 
He couldn’t fly back home, and he couldn’t think of anywhere else to go. So he just… flew. And he’d never flown so desperately in his entire life. He felt his wings cut through raindrops, and wondered for the first time how great it would be to evolve. He took a glance behind him and noticed his father barreling towards him, areas it took Silver seconds to tunnel through were crossed by his father in a single wingstroke. 
He could also see a figure of black behind him? But it was pretty dark, so it must’ve been the dark greenery of the forest. 
Silver’s father spewed out another attack, one that he thankfully managed to dodge. A sudden air slash pushed the noibat further. 
“What are you doing?!” Silver cried out. 
“Wave—He’s—” His father didn’t continue before charging another attack, and releasing it. 
Silver watched as it hit something right behind him. Whatever it was fell down into the forest, and then the attack hit him, too. His wing surged in a bright pain through his body, and he fell. 
Down, down, down… 
This was it. Silver was going to die. He shut his eyes and awaited his eventual demise.
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sanguinarysanguinity · 6 months
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Expanding a thought from a conversation this morning:
In general, I think "Is X out-of-character?" is not a terribly useful question for a writer. It shuts down possibility, and interesting directions you could take a character.
A better question, I believe, is "What would it take for Character to do X?" What extremity would she find herself in, where X starts to look like a good idea? What loyalties or fears leave him with X as his only option? THAT'S where a potentially interesting story lies.
In practice, I find that you can often justify much more from a character than you initially dreamed you could: some of my best stories come from "What might drive Character to do [thing he would never do]?" As long as you make it clear to the reader what the hell pushed your character to this point, you've got the seed of a compelling story on your hands.
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emuanon34 · 1 month
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ghostbsuter · 7 months
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There was a teen in the cave.
A teen no one knows and looks like he could be a wayne, stands in the cave.
"Actually, I'm a wayne." He says with a shrug.
Bruce, Batman, carefully thinks of the implication.
"Not yet," The teen, Danny, doesn't say anything. Simple smiles. "You're not a wayne, yet. You will be. But not yet."
Then Bruce sighs, dropping the batman mask in order to take in the teen.
"Does future me know of the time travel?"
Dannys smile grows into a grin, deciding to take pity on the man. "You, grandbat, have..." He makes a vague gesture. "Theories, which none of your children ever confirmed."
The bat's mind short-circuits at the choice of words
Dick is sputtering incomprehensibly, there are Baffled expression all around.
Because.
Because that child isn't Bruce's, but one of theirs.
"Who is it?" Jason demands, hand clenching his gun uselessly.
Danny continues to smile, a hint of mischief now peeking out.
The cave is filled with theories, some yell, some sob, yet all eyes leave danny.
All but one pair.
She had known the moment his body language switched just enough for her to read.
She had known the moment he disappeared before the clan.
Had known when his hand found hers, shoulders bumping.
Her heart clenches, throat dry and memories of her childhood flooding to mind.
So she asks, voice soft and hesitant.
"Am I a good mother?"
And danny looks up at cass, adoration and pride laid out plain for her to see and accept.
"You're the best."
And so they both watch the clan together, silent and comfortable.
(Cass doesn't question when she finds him, how and why. All she knows is that she's more attentive when out on patrol, looking and waiting.)
(This is how Cassandra Cain-Wayne returns one night from patrol, a child, barely out of toddler stage and clinging to her form.)
(This is how the Batclan officially meets one Daniel James Cain-Wayne, freshly washed and clothed, a cookie in hand and hiding shyly behind Cass.)
(When they meet, all they say is "Welcome home, danny," and "Good to see you again.", Danny doesn't necessarily get it, but that's okay. Maybe his new mom will explain it one day when he's bigger.)
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deliciousnecks · 7 months
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The Immigrant Experience: Early 19th Century
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ochi06 · 7 months
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🌾come and leave your mark
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quieroguero · 8 months
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sweet dami.
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Finally finished this mini talia comic, two weeks for four panels, seems like a fast workflow no? anyway it’s my birthday
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devin-the-writes · 4 months
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read the full article here
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superemeralds · 3 months
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BLACK ARMS MARIA FIC HAS A NEW CHAPTER
it's getting freaky, the true body horror will kick in soon.
you have been warned
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hyperfixated-homo · 10 months
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Welcome to my blog!
Hello! My name is Shadow! My pronouns are She/They/Vi/Vaey.
This page is where I post my art, rambles and (occasional) writing. I post a lot of fanart, for whatever fandom I am currently interested in.
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BLOG TAGS
My art: #shadow draws
My writing: #shadow Writes
Random rambles: #shadow rambles
My Rise AU:
General tag: #rottmnt horror au
Leo: #psych!leo
Donnie: #cosmic!donnie
Mikey: #slasher!mikey
Raph: #paranormal!raph
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Masterposts
Rottmnt Horror AU
All of my fics
Sides in skirts series
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Find me on other accounts!
Ao3: Shadow_Girl56
Instagram: shadowgirl56lol
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luxaofhesperides · 4 months
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Danny accidentally appearing out of Duke's shadow. And doing it purposely every time after that. ; requested by @kyrianclawraith! (deviated from your original prompt a bit, sorry! the ghostlights brainworms got away from me)
Traveling through shadows has become second nature for Duke after using them so extensively over the years. He even uses them as a civilian, hopping between shadows when he’s running late to class so he doesn’t have to stress out over traffic. 
Not even Batman’s scoldings can stop him from making it on time to his classes. Risks need to be taken for the sake of his education!
The shadows are comforting. They hide him from sight, get him to where he needs to go, and gives him the alone time he needs when he’s been around people for too long and desperately needs some quiet to recharge. Duke would say that he’s well versed in the shadows at this point, no longer stumbling out into the light.
Even with all his practice and confidence, he still can’t prepare himself for tripping over someone in the shadows while he’s trying to escape some of The Riddler’s goons. 
They both go tumbling out of the shadows, landing in a corner hidden by storage shelves. The poor tripping hazard of a person is under him, groaning lightly as he reaches up to press a hand to the back of his head, where he hit the concrete floor. 
“Oh, shit,” Duke whispers, “I’m so sorry. What are you doing here? How are you here?”
“I was hiding,” the guy hisses back at him. “I wanted to get out of the rain and dozed off and when I woke up, guns were being shot! I was up in the rafters, so excuse me for thinking no one would find me up there!”
Another gunshot rings out, alarmingly close to where they are.
Duke curses under his breath, then picks up the guy and hauls him over his shoulder. “Time to go!” And then he’s disappearing into the shadows again, following the line of them outside the warehouse and down the street. 
As soon as they’re safely away from the goons, Duke steps out of the shadows and carefully sets the civilian back onto his feet.
“So sorry about that,” he says, “But I need to get back and deal with them. Stay safe!”
He’s gone before the civilian can say anything else, and though it’s embarrassing that he tripped over someone while shadow hopping, at least it ended relatively well. It’s not like it’ll happen again.
Duke, sweet, naive Duke, doesn’t think much of the civilian again. He’s a busy guy with a busy life! Lots of things to do! Lots of embarrassing moments to keep secret from the other Bats! No one has mentioned it at all, so he thinks he’s safe from being teased about it.
That is, up until he’s training with Dick and a hand pops up out of his shadow.
“Um,” Dick says, backflipping away from Duke’s punch. He lowers his escrima sticks and squints at the space behind Duke. “Are you… trying something new with your powers?”
“...No? I’m not using my powers right now.”
Dick looks more and more alarmed. He won’t look away from the space behind Duke, and it’s making him nervous. He doesn't want to look, but he knows he has to. 
Steeling himself, Duke takes a deep breath, then turns slightly to see what’s behind him.
Nothing. 
His gaze goes down, and he sees a pale hand sticking out of his shadow, moving back and forth. It then comes out some more, up to the elbow, and the hand pats the ground Duke’s shadow lays on, a stiff mat perfect for sparring.
Behind him, Dick turns on his escrima sticks, the electricity crackling through the air.
The hand disappears for a moment. 
Then two hands appear and grab the ground, hauling up a body from Duke’s shadow.
Duke is very well versed in shadows. He travels through them almost daily. He thinks he would know if there was some strange netherworld hidden in the shadows where other beings could pop out of shadows like portals. This is alarming, to say the least.
“Don’t move, Duke,” Dick warns, creeping closer, ready to attack.
A head pops out of his shadow. Whatever it is glows and their white hair moves softly as if underwater. They’re facing away from him, so he can’t see their face, but he can see the black, skin-tight suit their wearing as they float up from his shadow, no longer needing their hands to pull themself out. 
“Huh,” they say, looking up at the ceiling.
Dick grabs Duke’s arm and pulls him back, shielding him with his body. “Who are you?” he demands, voice cold. 
The creature/person startles and whips around to stare at them with wide green eyes. His gaze darts down to the electrified escrima sticks, then back up again, visibly nervous.
“Um, hi! Sorry, I didn’t know anyone would be here. Wherever this is.”
“How did you get here?”
“I was practicing a new portalling method. I found a ghost to teach me how to move through shadows, since my usual portals are very bright and noticeable. Not great when you’re trying to be stealthy! I did not mean to end up here.”
Duke stares at him. “You came out of my shadow.”
“Sorry,” the guy repeats. Then he squints at Duke. “Hey, didn’t you save me the other day? From the warehouse?”
It’s been a while since Duke’s saved anyone from a warehouse. Criminals and goons have moved on to condemned apartment complexes and the back rooms of bars. The only person he’s saved is the tripping hazard…
“Man, what is up with you and getting caught in my shadows?”
“This is your fault!” the guy insists. “I associate shadows too strongly with you! That’s why I’m here! Probably. I don’t actually know how this works.”
“You don’t know how it works but you did it anyways.”
“It sounds bad when you say it like that.” The guy floats down to the ground and offers Duke a hand. “I’m Phantom, by the way! Figured I should introduce myself because this will happen again.”
Duke considers introducing himself as the Signal, but Danny is looking directly at his bare face, so it’s lost cause. Talk about an unexpected security breach. “Duke. You looked a little different when we first met.”
“Yeah, that was my human form. This is my ghost form.” A watch on his wrist, some clunky looking thing that looks like it came from the early 2000s, beeps and Phantom frowns at it. “Shoot, I need to go. I’ll see you later!” And he dives right back into Duke’s shadow, disappearing.
Duke blinks at the empty space where Phantom used to be, still reeling from the shock of it. He’s so busy processing the last few minutes that he doesn’t hear the escrima sticks turn off until Dick is dropping a heavy arm around his shoulders, holding him in place. There’s a smile on his face, but it’s not happy; it’s a warning that he’s at his limit and is barely hanging on to niceties.
“So,” he says as Duke cringes, “Looks like we need to have a talk about the things you’ve been hiding from us, Duke.”
He can’t do anything but resign himself to his fate.
After that conversation, he’s instructed to let them know when Phantom pops up. Which is fine until he realizes that Phantom really did mean it when he said that it’ll happen again. 
Phantom pops up constantly. Most of the time, Duke is lucky enough to be at home, or in the Manor, or in the Batcave away from the public where no one will freak out about a glowing boy popping out of his shadow. Sometimes, he’s in the middle of the street as a civilian and has to sprint away, ducking into the first empty alley he can find in order to climb up onto the rooftop where no one will see him.
It’s stressful and confusing and he wishes he could be more upset about it, but Phantom is fun. He’s funny and charming and tells the craziest stories about ghost fights that Duke can’t help but hang onto every word.
He dutifully updates his Phantom Log, noting each time he’s portaled through Duke’s shadow, any information he’s revealed, and an injury count after Duke noticed a concerning pattern of Phantom often showing up after he’s been in a fight.
Duke begins to get a feel for when Phantom is about to show up. A shiver runs down his spine and his awareness of the shadows around him grows. Sometimes, he could swear he could feel something tear apart in his shadow. He feels it then, a tear that stitches itself up almost instantly, a ripple in the shadow, before that familiar hand pops up again and Duke grabs hold of it to haul Phantom out into his bedroom. 
He is, once again injured. There’s a large gash running down the length of his other arm, bleeding a toxic, glowing green. 
“Dude,” Duke says, unable to keep the judgment out of his voice.
“You should see the other guy,” Phantom snorts. “I slammed him through five streets, then ripped his limbs off.
“Dude…”
“Just to be clear, they weren’t his real limbs. He has a robot suit he uses like a body because he’s like a tiny little bean.”
“Yeah, I don’t know how to take that. Anyways, have you still not figured out how to open portals that aren’t connected to my shadow?”
Phantom shrugs. “Nope. And I’m not really trying to figure it out. I like hanging out with you. Plus, it’s nice to see a friendly face after a fight.”
“Can’t you like, go home and have your family take care of you first.”
“Uh, better not,” Phantom laughs nervously. “They’d probably kill me for real if they saw me like this.”
Duke quietly notes to himself to add that statement to the Alarming Things Phantom Says list. 
“Does it… bother you? Me always coming to you?” There’s a smallness to his voice, a fragility that makes Duke want to beat himself up for making Phantom feel like that.
“No! No, I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t keeping you from anyone else.”
Phantom brightens. “Oh! Well, no need to worry about that. No one’s worried, back home. They know I disappear sometimes.”
…Another concerning thing. Duke is considering bribing Phantom into staying in Gotham forever, living in his shadow, just so he can take care of him. Just to be sure Phantom’s safe. “Is there anything I can do for you?” he asks, eyes flickering down to Phantom’s bleeding wound.
Phantom futilely tries to hide the wound with a hand. The green blood leaks out from between his fingers, and he applies more pressure to the wound with a faint wince. “Nope! All good here. I’ll heal in no time, honest.”
“Then, do you want to just hang out? I really don’t know why you’d chose to keep coming to me.”
“You’re good company, dude. Very chill. Very fun. And you’re a hero! That’s so cool. Why wouldn’t I keep coming back?”
Duke shrugs, not sure how to put his insecurities into words. He’s already starting to get the Bat-specific inability to communicate emotions, which is definitely a problem. He’ll need to spend time with other people to be normal again. 
As if sensing that Duke’s mood is falling, Phantom launches into another tale, complaining about people who bother him, teachers who are terrible at teaching, having snark-fights with the embodiment of Time itself, and so on. He always has the craziest stories, and he tells them so casually that Duke has to second guess himself, wondering if he’s overreacting when he’s shocked by what Phantom tells him. 
He starts telling his own stories as well, mostly fun civilian interactions he’s had since they last spoke, villain fights, the ever changing theories on the ‘Who is Batman Sleeping With Now?’ shared document all the other Bats have. By the time an hour passes, Phantom’s arm is fully healed and he’s flying in lazy circles above Duke.
His watch beeps again in the middle of him recounting the insane drama happening at his school. Phantom sighs and sinks back to the floor, hovering just above Duke’s shadow.
“Thanks for letting me stay,” he says, voice warm.
Duke shrugs. “You’re good company. I like when you visit.”
A slow, soft smile spreads across Phantom’s cheeks, making him glow even brighter. “Sweet talker,” he accuses fondly, then flies in for a quick, tight hug. He pulls back before Duke can reciprocate, and salutes him with a cheeky, “See you soon!” and is gone, flying into Duke’s shadow before he can respond.
Shaking his head fondly, Duke falls back against his bed.
Despite how unconventional their friendship is, he is glad Phantom keeps coming back. He hopes he’ll get to see Phantom’s human form again.
…And get more used to the horror movie scene that is Phantom clawing his way out of his shadow. No matter how many times he sees it, the sight still makes him jump.
Not that he’s ever going to admit that.
If Phantom thinks he’s cool, he’s going to do whatever he can to keep that impression from changing. It’s only reasonable, really.
(“Shut up, Dick,” he says later when he recounts this encounter with Phantom. Dick just keeps laughing, endlessly amused that Duke got ‘jumpscared into a crush’ as he phrased it. That’s definitely not what happened.
Next time, he’s definitely convincing Phantom to scare Dick with him. 
Revenge will be his.) . . .
[send me ghostlights prompts! one day left before they close on 11/17]
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totallyboatless · 10 months
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All of the actors for the Six of Crows storyline are remarkably well cast, but gonna focus on Kit Young for a second because that dude has something so fucking special. There's a subversive joy in his choices as Jesper that just kills me. Like at the end of season one with the line: "Tell me you have a plan. I don't care if it's a lie."
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Reading that in your head without having seen his interpretation, the instinct is to go a little ragged, sardonic, exasperated - something to tell us that the character does actually care but just fucking can't deal with this shit right now. But Kit puts a pleading inflection on the line, his Jesper truly wants to be lied to, bringing it around to comedic desperation.
And it's not just with this line delivery, those facial expression reactions he does elevates every scene he's in. My favorite underrated moment is when he gives Wylan a confident wink and thumbs up when they're both getting the shit beat out of them. The juxtaposition of Jesper indicating "this is going exactly according to plan" when it's clearly not brings so much fun to the scene.
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But the scene I keep coming back to over and over that I'm blown away by is under the carriage, when Jesper remembers Wylan. I could see so many actors taking those line directions and putting some angst behind them. We know Jesper was hurt when Wylan left in the morning, we know he blocked it out because his ego was bruised and he didn't want to face the pain of it. It would have made perfect sense for the line reading to have an edge to it, any indication of a grudge.
But Kit's face is lit up with nothing but fondness and joy as he remembers. And obviously actors aren't islands, the writers and directors have big influence - and they clearly are in line with a joy-filled Jesper, since the first thing they have Jesper say isn't "and you left me," it's "and you brought me stroopwaffles."
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Jesper isn't a clown, but he's allowed to be one when he wants to be, and Kit leans into choosing joy with such effervescence. It only serves to make the dramatic scenes that much more heart wrenching. I hope we get a lot more Crows on screen, but whatever happens I'm excited to follow Kit's career, what a talented dude.
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hauntingyourself · 11 months
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I want to see these interactions on-screen
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