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#The triumph of the Spider monkey
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Mama’s boy
Plot summary: Spider works up the courage to ask Quaritch about his mother. He’ll quickly learn that his mama was just as feral as he is.
Relationships: Spider Socorro and Miles Quaritich Paz Socorro/Miles Quaritch
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Spider was bored out of his mind! He had been leading his captors through the forest for hours, as they slowly but surely made their way to the Hallelujah Mountains, so the recom team could tame some Ikrans. His body may have been steadily moving forward, but his mind was a frenzy, in desperate need of stimulation. So he did what he always did when he was bored. He grabbed onto the closest tree branch and began to climb.
 “The hell do you think youre doing” said Quaritch. Spider looked down at the Na’vi clone of his father, already high up his tree and well out of the recoms reach. Spiders responded with an annoyed look and defensive hiss, then continued the trek foreword, leaping from tree branch to tree branch.
Quaritch watched him for a moment before continuing on, a feeling of fondness taking root in his chest as he watched his boy skillfully jump through the air.
Wainfleet glanced up at the kid, an amused smile spreading across his face at the sight of the monkey boy. 
“He really is a feral little gremlin isn’t he” he said to the Colonel, falling into step with the man.
Quaritch looked up at Spider again, with a shrug. “Nah, he’s just like his mama.”
Spider heard that and his heart fell into his stomach. He was like his mama? He had only ever heard about how he was like his father, the comparison hurled at him by others in fits of anger. But now here was that same man (or the ghost of him) comparing Spider to his mama- one of the biggest mysteries in his life. 
Quaritch’s one little comment had Spiders mind racing with so many thoughts and questions that the boy completely lost his concentration and slipped. He fell his body ping ponging between thick branches on his way down. 
Quaritch swore his ears picked up on his son’s fall the moment his kid’s breathing changed from steady to panicked. He snatched the boy out of the air as soon as he fell into arms length, and pulled him close.
“Are you hurt,” he asked Spider while he frantically checked the kid for injuries, checked his mask for cracks and his exopac for any malfunction. Spider just looked at him, eyes glazed. “Did you hit your head” Quaritch didn’t wait for an answer as he gently looked over the boy's head and neck for injury. 
Spider's eyes lit up again as he shoved the man's hands away. “I’m fine. Get off of me.” He worked his way out of his, not father’s arms, and stalked away.
Quaritch felt like picking a fight with the kid at that. Spider could have died. What had made him so agile one moment, then falling to his death the next? He stared at his sons tensed back, large dark bruises already beginning to bloom across his skin. Later, he told himself. They both needed to calm down before they could have any kind of productive conversation. For now he’d just make sure his son's feet stayed on the ground.
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“Yeah that’s right!” Quaritch hollered in triumph on the back of his ikran. His team cheered him on as he showed off. He didn’t miss the little smile on Spider's face, and it only made Quaritch’s pride swell more.
“Alright who’s next” Quaritch called as he landed, pulling his braid from his ikrans queue. He could feel the energy drop at his question. He knew that while everyone on the team wanted an ikran, no one wanted to be the one to follow him up. Not after he’d almost died.
“Oh come on. We’re not scared are we.” He looked around at his squad, took in there faces “ it wasn’t that bad.” Then he jabbed a thumb in Spider's direction and said “taming the boy's mother was harder than this.”
Spider’s smile fell, and his cheeks turned pink. The recoms all laughed uproariously around him, practically mocking his embarrassment.
“Alright, I’ll go next” said Wainfleet 
“Good man” Quaritch said. As Wainfleet stepped up to the plate, Quaritch watched Spider walk away from the group out of the corner of his eye.
“Hey” he called after him “don’t you go too far. Don’t you forget…”
“Yeah yeah I know” Spider said waving him off.
Quaritch sighed. Teenagers. Can’t even take a joke.
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The team had made camp for the night and they were now gathered around a fire, eating, talking, joking and laughing. The only one not taking part was Spider. The boy was noticeably withdrawn, sitting with his arms hugging his knees, curled into a protective ball. Quaritch kept side eyeing him but didn’t say anything.
Just ask him, Spider thought, it’s just one question. It’s not that big of a deal. That was a lie. If it wasn’t a big deal he wouldn’t be this anxious about it. He sat there for who knows how long trying in vain to amp himself up just to ask one simple question.
His, not father, apparently tired of his tense body language and far off stair moved closer to him. With a heavy sigh he asked “what’s eating ya kid?”
Spider had spent so much time trying to ask his question, that the man’s prompt, made it burst out in a rush. “What was mama like?”
The entire squad silenced. Quaritch looked like he’d been smacked. Spider continued on in a rush, trying to recover the situation. “I mean I don’t really know that much about her. Everyone that really knew her either died or was sent back to earth, so all I really knew about her was her name, and that she was a pilot.”
Spider was breathing hard. He hadn’t taken a single breath since his question tumbled out of his mouth. He cautiously looked up at his not father. His eyes looked pained and far away.
  The question and explanation from his son hurt Quaritch. Paz had been dead for 15 years by this point but from his perspective it had only been a month. Now at his son’s words his grief was compounded with guilt. That’s my fault, he thought, it’s my fault my son doesn’t know his mother. 
He didn’t have the final memory between himself and the mother of his child. He knew he was planning on seeing her after his memories were uploaded. He knew what he had been planning for her, and while he might not have known what happened definitively between the two of them, she was dead now. Deep down he knew. It was his fault 
Smiles and small laughs broke out among the other recoms. Wainfleet spoke up, “Kid your mom was the craziest, wildest, most badass bitch….
“Hey!” Quaritch shouted low and threatening “don’t you dare call my woman a bitch! Especially not in front or our boy,”
Those words made a mix of emotions flood Spider’s chest. He didn’t know how to fully process that right now but he did relax slightly, a small smile tugging at the side of his mouth.
Wainfleet held his hands up in surrender “No offense.” 
“Did you all know my mama?” Spider asked the group.
Quaritch spoke before anyone else got the chance. “Of course they did! Your mama was the best pilot there was. And I’m not just saying that. She was legitimately the best pilot there was. Leagues better than anyone else. And an absolute genius to boot. And hands down the most gorgeous creature on earth or Pandora and…”
The squads growing snickers made him stop his ranting. Spider was smiling up at him, his big brown eyes shining bright. 
Her eyes.
And damm did his son look like his lady. Spider had Paz’s eyes, her smile, her laugh, and the best parts of her personality. That realization had his heart both soaring and crashing at the same time.
“So why would she get with you?” Spider asked all snark and attitude.
The other recoms laughed at their colonel's expense. “Tell him how you two met,” Z-dog exclaimed.
“Oh my god. Kid you're gonna love this” Manks said playfully nudging Spider with his elbow.
Spider eyed Quaritch expectantly. The man sighed deeply, pushing down all of his negative emotions. He just couldn’t say no to that look. “Fine.”
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Damm new recruits. The latest crop of soldiers had landed earlier that day and by the sound of it they were celebrating. Quaritch had been awoken at 2 am to loud music blaring. The shouts and cheers of the new recruits echoing down the halls.
He made his way from his private quarters to the barracks. He imagined he’d find a crazy frat party going on. Nothing but booze and stupidity as far as the eye could see. He was not prepared for what he found. 
“Wanna see a cool trick?” A woman’s voice. Just beginning to slur from the effects of her drink. She was lounging on top of a table surrounded by her cohorts. She took a big swig out of the bottle in her hand, shook her long, dark, curls, away from her face, then clicked the lighter clutched in her right hand. In one swift movement she spit the alcohol out of her mouth and lit the spray, giving the effect that she was breathing fire. Quaritch eyes went wide. Quickly he crushed his shock and got serious.
“What in the hell is going on here” Quaritchs voice boomed out over all the noise. Everyone, but the woman froze in fear. Someone had the good sense to cut the music.
She had the audacity to smile at him, looking at him from over her shoulder with mocking eyes. She couldn’t care less. “It's a party.”
He was shocked by her boldness. Men a good foot taller than her and packed with muscle were practically shitting themselves at Quaritchs presence but here was this little Disney princess looking bitch looking at him coyly like a cat that’d just caught its prey.
“Who’s responsible for this, party” he asked, already having a good sense of the answer.
She slid off the table like water, stepped up to him, not an ounce of fear present. “Me”. She looked proud of it too.
“Follow me.” He moved to the side so she could take the lead. She strolled past him head held high, so casually she could have been taking a leisurely stroll in the park. “The rest of you get to bed. And don’t you think there won’t be consequences for the rest of ya.” With that he slammed the door.
“Y’a coming” she said, looking back at him already several feet ahead. His response was to stalk towards her. She turned and continued down the hall still leading the way.
“That’s far enough” he called as they neared the end of the hall.
“No it’s not.” She didn’t even look at him, just kept walking, turning the corner.
“That wasn’t a request.”
“I’m aware.” And didn’t that just make his blood boil. He went to grab her by the arm but she dodged him, turned to face him. She was now walking backwards but that didn’t slow her down in the least. Her eyes were still mocking him but there was razor sharpness to it now. She was smirking but he couldn’t tell if it was in amusement, or if it meant danger. Maybe both. 
“What’s your name solder”
“Paz. Socorro.” she turned away from him, quickening her step ever so slightly, to be out of Quaritch’s reach.
“Well Miss Paz Socorro I’m not asking. I’m ordering you as your command officer to stop” She simply ignored him. They continued on like that for a few more feet, him shouting at her to stop, her ignoring him completely. 
Finally she seemed to be satisfied with the distance they’d put between themselves and the barracks. She rounded on him abruptly, eyes like a wildfire, muscles tense ready for a fight. Quaritch noted that while she had the face of an angel, she had the body of an Amazon warrior. “What the hell is wrong with you.!” She didn’t yell. The words were hissed through her teeth, voice low and threatening. 
Quaritch had been surprised first at her sudden turn then at her words. “Oh I’m so sorry.” His words were dripping with sarcasm. “Did I ruin your little party.”
She waved him off “Oh the party I threw because of you.”
Now he was legitimately confused “ How the hell you gonna spin this back on me?”
“Your little speech from earlier. Everything that flies or squats in the mud wants to kill you.” As she repeated his word back to him she perfectly mimicked his southern drawl “It is my job to keep you alive. I will not succeed. Not with all of you. The hell is wrong with you saying that shit!”
“It’s the truth. Don’t like it, then you shouldn’t have come here.”
“I knew what I was getting into.” She stepped up to him, getting in his face as best she could. She barely reached his chin. “I’m not afraid of this planet, and I’m not afraid to die. But at least I thought this operation would be run by someone actually competent at their job, and not someone who freely admits that he’ll fail all of us on the first day!”
She might as well have smacked him. “I was just being realistic and honest…”
“No! You were filling them with fear. Fear breeds hesitation, and hesitation will get you killed faster then any creature on this planet.”
She had a point. But Quaritch didn’t want to be wrong. “The hell do you know. You’ve barely been on this planet, five minutes. I’ve been running this operation for ten years.”
He could see it in her eyes, she didn’t want to lose either, “I just layed in bed for hours listening to my comrades cry, and moan, regretting every decision that led them to here….”
 “That’s their problem.”
“No that your problem! How successful is your mission going to be if your fighting force is nothing but a bunch of sniveling cowards.”
He clasped his hands behind his back and leaned down to be more in her face. He took a mocking placating tone when he said, “So your genius solution was to throw a party?” 
That dangerous smirk was back on her face. She lifted her chin so she could look down her nose at him. “My genius solution was to make them forget. Forget the damage you’d done and make them feel strong again. Make them feel invincible.”
Quaritch could see the logic in that. From Paz’s account no one was sleeping that much tonight anyway, so why not get drunk, forget your troubles, let the energy of the music lift your spirits, and do stupid drunken bull shit to make you feel invincible again. Quaritch nodded at her in understanding but still didn’t agree. “Too much fear will make you weak. You're right about that. But feeling invincible? That’ll make you stupid.”
She took in his words. Her face betrayed nothing of her thoughts. “So you're aware that fear makes you weak and yet you still chose to scare the shit out of your newest recruits. Because you did make them too fearful today. You weakened them.”
“I’ll break them of that. And I’ll break you too of this attitude of yours little miss.”
He meant it as a threat. She laughed at him instead. Not a mocking or sarcastic laugh. A full on deep belly laugh. She patted him on the shoulder as she moved past him, beginning her walk back to the barracks “Better men then you have tried Colonel!”
He was getting whiplash from this woman. He turned in her direction and shouted, “I’ve got my eye on you Socorro!”
She turned around to face him again, walking backwards like she had before. Her smile, bright and excited “Wouldn’t want it any other way!”
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unseelie-robynx · 2 years
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Soo in the End Of Hope tyrant prince ending.. what does the beaten rebellion do? What are their lives like now?
!!!!!!!!! I am terrible at remembering I have things in my inbox cause I don't get the little number on the letter because tumblr is dumb so I'm sorry this is so late
So there's a few thoughts on that located here, but let's get into it.
WARNING: DARK!! also Brainwashing, Mind control, Objectification, and probably Dehumanization in here. Bad End.
Also, this ended up getting LONG so it's under the cut.
So first off are the spiders. Their fate is pretty straightforward. The Queen, as Red promised, is trapped screaming inside her own head while her body runs around being basically a public use public service robot. Anything she gets told to do, happens. Obviously not like, illegal or harmful things, no one could tell her to attack someone or rob a store (not that they would, why would anyone even think of something so horrible in the Perfect Golden City?) if someone tried she'd just like, shut down until a new order was given. But anything else if fair game. carry groceries? Clean up after someone's dog? jump up and down three times and swear to everyone she meets today that the sky is magenta? Done, done, and done.
Goliath is got as far away from the main palace as possible. He's big and strong, so it's easy to just permanently melt his brain, leave him as a manual worker who's blissfully happy all the time, and ship him off to do hard labor somewhere where Xiaotian never has to see his creepy gross spider self again. (Because while Xiaotian needs to keep the Spider Queen in the pubic eye, a 'Symbol of Triumph and his power to redeem even the worst sinners' A warning of what will happen if he catches anyone else trying to ruin his perfect city. There's a reason the celestials have backed off any tentative plans to stop him. They didn't pay attention in time, and now it's too late. And Syntax and Huntsman are kept close for other reasons, the arachnophobic boy wants to get rid of at least one of them if he can)
Wich brings up Huntsman. He went under the 'needs permission but is permanent' version of the Oblivion Track. The price for them not completely breaking Syntax's brain wide open and leaving him most likely braindead. He had to willingly let Red Son and Xiaotian back into his brain, to turn him back into the perfect little pet wife they'd been working on. And Red delighted in making Huntsman 'train' himself. Not just sit there and let them break him, but actively do it to himself. Eventually, he starts begging for more 'sessions' because the faster he loses himself, the faster it stops.
And Syntax get's to watch. Because he's a hybrid, and technically a forced hybrid, his mind is a mess and the venom in his system isn't helping. He's immune to normal versions of Oblivion, but then so is Xiaotian. He needed a special remix trained to the specific mix of human, yaoguai, and celestial that he's ended up as under the Monkey King's influence. So they knew they could make something that worked on him, it would just be time-consuming. Hence the deal Huntsman made to save Syntax. But until they get that done, his life is awful. He'd kept drugged most of the time, so that he can't try and escape or fight back. He's only ever really awake (where he's chained up, still mostly drugged, and with a constant electric current forced through his body to keep his mechanical limbs from being operable) when he's being forced to watch Huntsman's 'training'. So it ends up being almost a relief when Xiaotian comes in one day to 'test things' and Syntax feels his mind falling away from him.
Syntax also ends up 'wifeafied' as it were. Huntsman fixated on him during his 'training' and it was easier for all parties to just go along with it. Plus, Sandy is a bleeding heart so when he got the story about 'kidnapped and forcibly turned into a spider demon' and how Syntax was also his Wife's friend, he offered to take him in. (Poor Sandy has had his mind messed with to the point he just basically sees the two spiders the same way he does his cats. Like pets and Syntax is the poor stray his sweet Huntsman brought home for him to take care of) So Syntax ends up all victorian era ballgowns, because the design makes it hard to move, and he can tuck those 'unsightly disgusting you hate them, hate that they were forced on you' mechanical limbs under the folds. And the corseting makes it hard for him to breathe, constantly putting pressure on his back and the painful implant buried in his skin. Red holds a grudge.
Then there's DBK. He gets exactly what Red Son promised him. He is reunited with his Wife on Flower Fruit Mountain. And he and Princess Iron Fan then get extremely fine detail Oblivion work done on them, curtosy of Yin and Jin's calabash, which had been repurposed to trap someone in a full immersion of the music and then new memories can be programmed in for the victims subjects to live out thus perfectly replacing their old ones. (Xiaotian wants to get this right he'd screwed up with these two once before, and that was before his darling perfect Wife asked for the most perfect doting adoring Mama and Papa to have loved him growing up before handing him off to his even more perfect and wonderful Huband whom he was always meant to belong to.) Sun Wukong happily takes to the arrangement, and a little bit of Oblivion in his ears has him totally sold on the new history. 500 years sealed away? What are you talking about?
The unnamed human and random demon 'leaders' of the rebellion are, of course, 'rehabilitated'. They're all kinda braindead now, but they're so happy to be free of that horrible Spider Queen and what she was forcing them to do. They're a bit in between a warning and just getting them out of the way and making sure they can't do anything to anyone else. They serve time, of course, for their crimes, but that these days is almost exclusively community service. Out in places where they can be exposed to the thrum of Oblivion all day long, driving the changes in deeper
Most of the average members of the rebellion are grouped up and mass blasted with Oblivion and the story of how they were 'kidnapped' and 'abducted' and forced to serve the Spider Queen in her horrid plans. How none of it was of their own free will and even thinking about that time is painful so it's best to just stop thinking about it altogether and let all those memories fade away. Families are reunited there is a lot of celebrating and everyone sings the Golden Prince's (because he's more than just the Monkey Prince now, he's stepped out from under Sun Wukong's shadow) praises for defeating this last great evil in their perfect home.
And then there's Macaque. Who was both part of the rebellion and not. Their spy and informant, but not active in what was being plotted. Who, most importantly, is Sun Wukongs brother in all but blood. He now wears the Golden Circlet that graced the Monkey King's brow on the Journey. He needs it. He knows he does. His nature is dark and violent and he hates that about himself. He wants to be good. To be good and bright and kind, to be worthy of the love his brother still gives him. And someday he will be. Someday he'll stop slipping up and having those violent episodes, (Please, Wukong please! Just let me go! I won't cause problems, you'll never see me again, please), that force his brother to use it to stop him hurting himself or, worse, someone else. Someday he'll be the perfect brother, someone the Great Sage, Equaling Heaven, would be proud to have by his side.
(Macaque begged Sun Wukong not to let Xiaotian take his mind from him. That if he was going cause everything that was Macaque to be stripped away, to at least let it be by Wukong's own hand. And so the Monkey King promised. He takes exclusive control of Macaque, and his exposure to oblivion. This means he doesn't have Xiaotian's years of expertise to draw on, even if he is getting advice, and the results of that, combined with the celestial monkies all having a level of natural immunity to Oblivion, is that sometimes the programing 'slips' and the old Macaque comes out for a bit. But that's ok. Sun Wukong knows that enlightenment and change are a process. But he's going to be here the entire time, helping his brother just like SWK was once helped himself. He had the tightening sutra memorized before the Journey was even half over after all.)
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superfandomcorp · 3 months
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My top best movies of the year 📽️🎬🎞️(2023) part II:
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5. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) 🕷️🕸️
So far, it is the best superhero movie of 2023, with the permission of the Ninja Turtles (do we count them as superheroes, right?). Just as frenetic, ingenious, and spectacular as the previous one, this second installment maintains the freshness while taking animation to another level and continues to play with meta-language with a plot that responds to those who question Morales' choice to lead a Marvel comics adaptation. A strange case of a sequel that does not lower the level of the original.
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4. Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves (2023) 🥷🏻
It is one of the great comedies of the year. A delightful dose of adventure in the style of 'Indiana Jones', 'Pirates of the Caribbean', or the video game 'Monkey Island'. Absolutely charming, fresh, and playful, it has a charismatic cast that you want to accompany to the ends of the earth. Hopefully, they make another one (at this level).
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3. Elementals 🔥💦
It is a beauty, an exciting and very funny story told with the narrative mastery and beautiful animation of the Pixar label. The studio's first romantic comedy is an absolute triumph. It brought a different approach to what Disney was doing.
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2. Barbie 👄
It is a very ingenious comedy that plays with expectations, exudes a love for cinema, and above all, takes advantage of a great cast eager to laugh and have a good time. Of course, it delves into the debate of sexism in society with a perhaps questionable discourse for a Hollywood blockbuster, but it does so with a sense of humor and respect for its characters.
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1. Oppenheimer (2023)🤯💥💣
Despite being a drama based on real events, the filmmaker once again plays with space and time to design an exciting and tension-filled drama that reaches moments of pure horror (the speech after the success of his invention). It possibly has the best cast of the year.
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frstndlstlns · 2 years
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The Triumph of the Spider Monkey
Noise, vibrations, murmuring nosey crowd of bastards with nothing else to do but gawk—grunting sweating bastard in a uniform reaching in and grabbing me out of the darkest and delivering me to light—
Where are you all hiding—?
— Joyce Carol Oates
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markagorman · 3 years
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Unknown Pleasure #9: Ricky Bentley
Unknown Pleasure #9: Ricky Bentley
It was never going to be brief. It was never going to be orthodox. I’ve known Ricky since I was little. Little in advertising years that is. Ricky is a colleague of mine at Whitespace. The agency where I now work but which I helped establish in 1997 (I think.) He joined the company soon after as an artworker ( a great one at that) and remains there to this day. Ricky is a philosopher, of…
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dragonzzilla · 3 years
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Why Are Monsters Relatable?
Ishiro Honda: “Monsters are tragic beings. They are born too tall, too strong, too heavy. They are not evil by choice. That is their tragedy … After several stories such as this, people end up having a kind of affection for the monsters. They end up caring about them.”
It seems to be a perennial question among monster fans. Why do we relate to the likes of Godzilla, a 300 foot tall fire-breathing dinosaur that regularly destroys cities? Is it because the destruction of models hearkens back to a simpler time, when we were young and full of play and felt like giants among our toys? I can’t deny that reading. Yet how many of us were inspired to do that because of Godzilla? What was it about Godzilla that appealed to our child brains, and moreover why does he remain in our hearts still? It can't just be the spectacle; my subconscious is a graveyard of loud and explosive movies, yet Godzilla endures, solid as bedrock. There must be something there, beneath the noisy trappings; some fundamental quality that allows Godzilla to resonate with us, 70 years after his debut.
Speaking for myself, the reason I relate to monsters is because I'm a monster. Not the kind that destroys cities, but someone who is always going to be treated as something other than human. I'm queer and neurodivergent, and for some people that's reason enough to write me off. I'm not like them, and I never will be.
Being different in our society is incredibly alienating. You don't feel the things you're told are 'normal' to feel; likewise, you care about things that you're told you shouldn't. You grow up in a system that doesn't care about you, that puts the onus on you, and tries to hammer and beat you into a more convenient shape. You're constantly reminded of your deviancy. So you learn shame. You start to internalize the hate. You start believing you are grotesque like everyone says, even though it's not your fault. I certainly didn't ask to be made this way. I have trouble communicating and making connections with people; I’ve been the subject of ridicule from my peers; and I often feel helpless.
So is it any wonder why someone like me would gravitate towards these monsters, who keep to themselves, feel utterly alone, and only lash out when thrust into a world that doesn’t understand them? Godzilla, Kong, Rodan, they’re only monsters by virtue of being strange; our system simply isn’t built with them in mind. But these creatures usually live peacefully, until the world forces them to change--and that change is often violent.
But unlike us, monsters are powerful. When change is forced upon them, they respond in kind, striking back against a cruel and ignorant world--smashing the symbols we’ve come to see as monolithic, screaming bloody defiance, as if proclaiming to the world, “I am here!” And that’s cathartic for someone who feels powerless. It’s a power fantasy through and through, even though the stories of these monsters often end in tragedy. Yet the tragedy is essential. When these monsters die, it’s not a triumph of good over evil; it’s framed as terrible and stupid and preventable. It’s an admission that the Other can and should exist, but the world as it currently exists is hostile to it, and it’s something that has to change if we’re to avoid further misery.
I love monsters because I see myself in them, far more than I ever did Batman or Superman or Spider-Man. They’re ugly and maligned, like me, for reasons outside of their control, like me. As Guillermo del Toro once said: “Monsters are the patron saints of our imperfections.”
… that it’s wrapped in the spectacle of fire-breathing dinosaurs and giant monkeys beating the snot out of each other is just the icing on the cake.
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tigerseye46 · 3 years
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A Hero Is Born (Red Shark/Sand Au)
Summary: After being dismissed by Guanyin after centuries under their teaching, Red arrived at the city to live a normal life, hiding his identity and powers. He has spent four years in the city and works at Culinary Cicada, content with how he is now. He didn’t expect his life to change one day.
A/N: Finally got this done. There are going to be rarepairs but aren’t the main focus for this chapter so I didn’t tag it. Sun Wukong’s alias is Sun Hàoyú 昊瑜 meaning “vast and limitless excellence.” Zhu Bajie’s alias is Zhu Xiùliàng 秀亮 meaning “refined light.” Sorry if these aren’t good aliases. I know Sha Wujing’s staff can’t control water, but in this au, it can. He learned how to do that after the journey. Also I want to say thank you all my anons and others who put in ideas for this au! It made it really fun! Anyway enjoy!
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Red would admit he didn’t care much for the legends as other people did. He had been a small part of those legends so they weren’t extraordinary to him (not that he had revealed that information to anyone). 
But Mr. Sun and Tang always loved to talk about them, especially the latter, so he listened to the elders. Today was one of those days. A special day that would change his life forever. 
“The thing you need to understand, bud, is that the old legends are never finished. While there may be no pages left to turn, there is always more. Years ago, the Spider Queen and her army attacked. No one could stop them, no one except… Sha Wujing. Using his crescent moon spade, he trapped the Spider Queen under a mountain. He made it so no one else could wield it and he trapped her forever.”
“With the battle won, Sha Wujing… disappeared and was never seen again. It is said that the spade remains there, preventing our world from being destroyed. Because of him, civilization was able to prosper into the awesome world we see today. All thanks to Sha Wujing!”
Red hummed as he leaned against the counter. “That’s cool I guess.”
Mr. Sun scoffed. “Just cool? You know how many people would love that story?”
“I’m just not that impressed by it.”
“How dare you. You always react to the stories that way. Thought that one would bring more excitement.”
“Well, I’m not your audience. You’re not putting on a play for me.”
“At least you listen anyway.”
“That I do. I do think Sha Wujing is more impressive than say the Sun Wukong or Zhu Bajie.” At least he didn’t attack him as much as the others.
Sun appeared as if he was offended by the statement. “He is impressive… I like the Monkey King better,” he muttered. “Anyway, you know the deal. One peach soup.”
“Yea, yea. You got it.” He attempted to pass the bowl but it was quickly taken away by Tang.
“Not so fast. You left out so many details, Hàoyú. No extensive details of how he defeated the Spider Queen? He’s a hero! He deserves a better explanation than that.”
With an eye roll, Hàoyú responded, “Whatever.” He made grabby hands at the bowl. “Can I have my soup now?”
“No. You’re a scholar, tell the story accurately or I might go to your rival.” Sun huffed at the mention. “I could do better, better than those stupid depictions of Sha Wujing, no one can really capture his handsomeness, huh?” He cleared his throat, the small blush on his cheeks fading away. “Anyway, Red, you have orders to take out. Get to it!”
“I was about to take my break.”
“Break? You've been taking a break all morning. How is Culinary Cicada supposed to flourish if you’re slacking off?”
He began pushing Red, rumpling the other’s lotus print shirt. He shoved takeout bags in his hands then sent him out. The human heard a slurp behind him. He spun around to see Sun had stolen the soup back. Furrowing his brows, he suggested, “How about you tell an actually good and detailed story about Sha Wujing and you keep the bowl?”
“You just love hearing about your crush. Alright, it’s a deal.”
————
Red entered an abandoned construction site, whistling a tune under their breath and focusing on their phone. He paused when he heard a voice. “It’s amazing that you’ve finally done it! Are you ready, you two?”
A nasally voice replied, “For the last time, Goliath, we’re almost done.”
“Sorry, Syntax! I’m just so excited!”
“You can’t blame uncle Goliath’s excitement, dad.”
“Hmph. Well, try to hold it in for a bit longer.”
The demon hid behind some rocks. He spotted three spiders and a human surrounding a mountain.
One spider towered over the group, he fiddled with his fingers nervously, indicating that despite being the giant, he was probably the most gentle one out there.
Another had his hands behind his back, tapping his feet impatiently.
The third was tinkering with an invention, a device strapped to his back. The human was beside the third, he had a purple bandanna with two green marks, almost like eyes, wrapped around his forehead and a black coat with white fur.
“Because of you two, we can lift Sha Wujing’s spade!”
Red moved higher up and looked at the glowing object. The duck beside him quacked out of surprise. What was a duck doing here? Whatever. It wasn’t important.
“Sha Wujing’s spade,” he whispered.
“The spider clan will be restored!” Goliath’s shoulders briefly bounced up in surprise. “Huh?”
Huntsman was on top of the mountain and started reaching for the weapon. “Huntsman,” Syntax yelled. “Don’t do that!”
“Whatever, nerd.” He gripped it and instantly got zapped by it which sent him crashing into a wall.
Syntax stood over him. “Idiot. This is the hundredth time you’ve tried this. You think you would have learned your lesson by now. We’ve clarified that he made it so only someone worthy would wield it.”
“Which is why we have this.” The human gestured to the power glove. “Don’t worry. I’ve got this.”
“Hmph, brat.”
“Go ahead, Xiaotian.” Syntax pulled Huntsman up, their cheeks becoming green for the slightest second before they focused on the kid.
Xiaotian strolled up to the weapon and pulled on it with the glove. Sparks danced until he was able to rip it off. He held it high in the air and shouted in triumph, “Look at what I did!” Goliath and Syntax applauded him while Huntsman huffed.
“I could have done it,” he mumbled.
Xiaotian went back up to his family with a smile and waited a second before asking, “Wait, why isn’t anything happening? Are you three sure this is the right mountain?”
Syntax scoffed. “No, Xiaotian, I think it’s the other one.”
The mountain rumbled and cracked in the center. The Spider Queen destroyed it and crawled out with a cackle. “I’ve returned! The queen is back!”
Red’s eyes widened. Oh no. The queen was free. What should he do?
The duck pecked his hands as he was pondering. “Hey!” He attempted to shoo the duck away. “Shoo! It’s rude to peck at people’s hands!”
The four bowed to her with heads hung low, the human placed the crescent moon spade aside. “My queen,” Huntsman started. “We’re glad to have you free.”
“My clan,” she cried. “Wait, where are the rest of you?”
“I’m sorry. We’re some of the few spiders left.”
The Queen’s fist clenched, her happy tone at being freed slipped away. “I see. It’s all Sha Wujing’s fault. Now introductions are in order for the new members.”
“Well, there’s me, Huntsman. Then there’s Goliath and…”
“I can introduce myself, brute. I’m Syntax, my lady, and this is my son, Qi Xiaotian.”
If Red wasn’t so focused on the situation, he would have thought, Son? Those two look nothing alike.
“Son?” Her majesty questioned.
“Yes, he is my biological son. I wasn’t born a spider but I would say those details are for another time.”
“Alright. How did you all manage to free me?”
The human stepped forward with a spring in his step. “I did it, my queen! I managed to harness its power to make it our-” Her majesty loomed with a glare. Xiaotian nervously chuckled. “Our power,” he finished.
With a scoff, the queen congratulated him reluctantly, “Good job… for a human.”
Ignoring the human comment, he beamed. “Thank you! Now, we, the Spider clan, can rule the world!”
The duck continued to peck at the demon. The demon flapped a hand to get rid of the sting while the bird focused on the other one and made him fall right onto Qi Xiaotian.
Red held up the bag of food. “Hey… did someone order food?”
Huntsman and Syntax stared at Goliath. “What? I didn’t order anything.”
Xiaotian shoved him. “Get off me, dumbass! You ruined my moment!”
Spider Queen focused on the intruder. “Well, well, we’ll, an eavesdropper has fallen into our midst. It’s a shame to crush such a tiny, insignificant thing like you as my first act but, oh, what can you do?” She was about to crush them when she was interrupted.
“Wait, my queen.”
Ugh, the human. She rubbed her face. “Yes?”
“You don’t have to waste your energy. I’ll handle it! Allow me to prove myself!”
“Fine. Go ahead.”
Red muttered, “Maybe I can go now.”
“You’re fortunate, grocery boy. It’s not every day someone is crushed by the Spider Clan! You should consider yourself-”
The demon’s ears picked up a sound, his gaze drifted to the staff. “Sha Wujing’s staff,” a voice whispered.
Xiaotian growled, “You’re not listening! I, Qi Xiaotian, will not be disrespected! You’re toast!”
The human attempted to punch him with the glove but he blocked it… blocked it with the crescent moon staff. Fuck. “How did you?”
How did he? He could have used his fire to block it. Why didn’t he? Well, his identity was a secret and he barely used his fire since he became Guanyin’s disciple so that was understandable. But to grab the staff, what was he thinking?
“That’s scientifically impossible,” Syntax said.
“I don’t understand what’s happening but I don’t care. That’s ours!”
“I was supposed to be on my break! Dang it, Mr. Tang!” The weapon activated and whacked the human and the spiders (save the queen) away.
“This can’t be,” her majesty muttered in disbelief.
“That was not what I expected.”
Huntsman hissed, “That doesn’t belong to you. Give it to us!”
“Ummmm… no?” Then suddenly he was launched into the air by the weapon. “AHHHHHH!”
“He can’t leave with the damn thing!”
“I was trapped under a mountain and suddenly, a thief takes it!”
Xiaotian bowed. “Allow me, your majesty. I won’t fail again.”
“Fine! Go!”
The human grabbed his technological staff and made off in his motorcycle to give chase.
-------
Red took in deep breaths to calm himself down as he landed on the ground. Xiaojiao snapped a picture of herself with her sword and motorcycle outfit. During the picture, she used her magic to create sparkles. “Nailed it!” She pocketed her phone and put the sword away.
“Xiaojiao!”
“That was a cool game of tag! You looked like you were having fun! I wanted to join in too!”
“I almost died.”
“But you didn’t! We should go to the arcade! Invite your new friend!”
“He was trying to kill me.”
Her face turned dark. “Where does he live? I’ll handle him.”
“Red Son! Where are you?” Tang stormed up to them. He showed his phone to reveal a zero-star rating. “I got a zero-star rating because of you. Would you like to explain yourself?”
“I think what happened is-”
Xiaojiao giggled. “Congrats, Tang! It’s better than nothing!”
“No, it isn’t! You know you would be in trouble if this happened to my magic shop, missy. Now, Red, you’re-” Tang searched around. “Where did he go?”
Red slipped past him. “Mr. Sun!”
“Hey! Come back here!”
Ignoring him, the demon ran into the shop. “Mr. Sun!”
Hàoyú was in the middle of his bowl. “Yea?”
“So, remember the story you told me this morning? About the Spider Queen?”
Tang and Mei followed him. “Red, we weren’t done talking.”
“Yea, that’s great, Mr. Tang.”
Sun sipped his soup, completely disinterested. “Yea? What about her?”
Red got close to his face. “She’s back! Sha Wujing’s staff was removed! We have to find him! He has to save-”
Sun pushed him back and held his bowl protectively. “You’re getting spit in my soup. Calm down. Who knew that would be the story you get wrapped up in? Relax, it’s just a story.”
“It’s not just a story.” He showed the spade. Hàoyú pursed his lips, contemplating the possibility or holding back from saying something snarky, Red wasn’t sure.
“Wow, Red, you found a stick!”
“No! It belongs to Sha Wujing!” The three burst into laughter. Red growled, his fists briefly flamed but no one noticed except him. “Listen to me! The Spider Queen is out there. I’ll prove this belongs to Sha Wujing.”
Sun raised a brow. “Okay. How?”
“Ummm…” The spade wobbled, it grew then stabbed part of the wall, causing a crack before shortening.
Sun gasped and he was about to get a closer look when Tang pushed him away. Tang grabbed the arm holding the spade and hoisted it up towards the sky. His eyes twinkled. “Sha Wujing’s spade! I knew it! His awesome weapon that he used to seal evil! Wait… why do you have it? And where is the queen now?”
“She’s at a fashion store,” Mei responded.
“What?!”
“I hope this isn’t one of your puppy videos, young lady.”
“There’s always time for a puppy video, Tangy, but no. Look at what’s trending. Hashtag Spider Queen!” She showed a video of the Spider Queen robbing a fashion store with Qi Xiaotian. The queen used some device to absorb a one-of-a-kind item.
Tang panicked when the video ended. “Okay! We have to do something! Get in the truck!” He shoved them in the truck while they shouted out of surprise.
The group yelped as Tang drove like a madman through the streets. They were squished in the car, Red rasped out, “This is a little uncomfortable.”
“Tang! Can you slow down? You’re going to kill us,” Mr. Sun told him. He couldn’t die but he knew it would be unfortunate if the group got into a crash.
“Yea. We need to get to Sha Wujing without getting injured in a crash.”
“Guys! The Spider Queen moved downtown! She’s destroying the mall!”
“We need to get to Sha Wujing fast. The only problem is we have no idea how to get there.”
“Ugh, you’re right. How do we get there? Do we just keep driving?” Tang asked in a frantic tone.
Mr. Sun replied, “Well, if you would have let me talk before you pushed us in here. I know someone who could get us there!”
“Really?”
“Yep! An old friend of mine. The greatest, excellent, glorious Zhu Xiùliàng. Now drive there, Tang!”
“Drive where?”
“Uhhhh… oh, yea, you need directions.”
-------
The group watched kids climb on the tall pig like a jungle gym while others were in the corner conversing or doing other activities. Wukong had a big grin on his face at the scene.
Xiùliàng chuckled and cautioned, “Careful, little ones.” He gently put them down, they frowned and he reassured them, “You can play later. Grandpa has to talk to these people first.” They reluctantly agreed and began breaking away to do their own things.
Sun blushed as the light hit Xiùliàng in a way that illuminated his beauty. Tang whispered to him with a smirk, “Oh, now I know why you brought us here.”
Xiaojiao teased, “Wow, Mr. Sun. We have to save the world and here you are trying to pick up a guy. I see you.” Sun shot them both a glare.
The pig didn’t hear them, he instead focused on beaming at the kids as they walked away. A hand was placed on his hips and he turned to the group with a “Sorry about that. That’s a lot to take in.”
“It most certainly is, old friend. I was hoping something like this wouldn’t happen,” he muttered.
“I was hopin’ that too,” Xiùliàng muttered back. A child with black hair tied up in braids and a blue headband with a flower ran up to the pig with a drawing in hand. “What is it, Yǎshuǐ?” He picked her up so she rested on her arm.
“I made you a drawing, grandpa!” She waved it in front of the pig’s face then looked towards the group. Her eyes briefly widened in surprise before she gave a wave. “Hi, yéyé!”
“Hi, hon,” he greeted.
“Oooo, yéyé. Didn’t know you had grandkids with him,” he teased. “Why didn’t you invite me to your wedding and why didn’t the paparazzi cover it?”
“Shut up, Tang. It’s for respect, you know that.”
“Mhmm…”
Red shook his head. “Disregarding Mr. Sun’s love life,” he murmured. “Mr. Zhu, we need your help to find Sha Wujing.”
Xiaojiao got on her knees, bringing her friend down with her and pleaded, “Yea, we could really use your help.”
Red sighed. “Please help us. The fate of the world is at stake.”
“Alright,” he answered. “Really?”
“Of course. Anything for Sun.” The two cheered. “I’ll just drop these kids off then we’ll go.”
“WOOOOO!”
------
Tang hummed as he walked along the path, trying to contain his excitement. “See, this isn’t that bad,” he said then a trap sprung out of nowhere. “Eep! Never mind! Stupid Sun, stupid Zhu, why did we let them stay behind?”
“Because you said they could.”
“Careful, Tangy. I wonder why Sha Wujing chose to live here.”
“I don’t know. Good thing it isn’t Sun Wukong’s home or we would have to go pass the Flaming Mountains. They actually had to borrow my m- Princess Iron Fan’s fan to-”
A cackle came out of nowhere. Syntax appeared. “If it isn’t you three.” Syntax used the glove to pound at the ground, sending it up.
“Hey! Be careful, kids!”
“I’ll be taking that spade.”
Red held the weapon up. “This is Sha Wujing’s. You are not taking it.”
“You’re just a bunch of broken metal, can’t even make anything useful.” “What? Oh, whatever.” He charged at the spider who caught the spade with glove.
He was launched and heard the distant cry of “RED” as he blacked out.
------
The demon woke up on Sha Wujing’s mountain. “I’m… I’m here?” He stood up and started walking. He spotted a house and peeked inside but found no one so he continued onwards. There was a handmade statue of Tripitaka and Sha Wujing. “Wow.”
The sound of a twig snapping caught his attention. He saw the very person he was looking for glancing at him with a frown. “Huh?” Then the figure ran off.
He followed quickly and reached a river, a single fish. “A fish?” The fish jumped out of the water, a blue light surrounded it. “Ack!” The older demon appeared. “Sha Wujing?”
“It’s been a long time, Red Son or should I say, Red Boy?”
“You know it’s me?”
“You literally just switched the Boy to Son. No shit. Surprise your little friends haven’t figured it out yet.”
“Yea, I haven’t told them yet.”
“I know. Anyway, where’s my spade?”
“Oh… ummm… I’m sorry! I lost it. I was trying to bring it to you and-”
Wujing laughed. “I know. I’ve been watching you.”
“What?” He flashed back to some of the animals he saw. “That was you?”
“Yep. I need something of you, kid. I need you to be my successor.”
“What? Are you sure? Has your brain short circuited?”
“No,” he replied annoyed. “My brain is fine. You’re going to be my successor. Look you came all this way and were fine.”
“Because I’m a demon!”
“Regardless of that, you still made your way here and you’re experienced in fighting. Be a hero.”
“What about the Spider Queen?”
“What about the Spider Queen? Take it as a trial or a warmup.”
“But I-” He sighed, he was hoping he could lead a normal life but he supposed he had no other choice especially since the elder had no intent on helping. The elder was changed, certainly different from the demon who was considered more calm and rational.
Sha Wujing grunted. “What are one of those bullshit quotes I can give you? Oh, right. Believe in yourself and you’ll be fine. The spade was taken from you! Get it back!”
“Alright!” He zoomed off.
Wujing whispered, “Hope this makes you happy, master.”
-------
Xiaojiao was about to use her powers when Red Son crash landed. Red dusted himself off.
“Kid,” Tang yelled.
“Red,” Xiaojiao shouted. “You’re alive! We saw you blast off! We thought something happened to you! Where did you get the jet? You crashed it already! Did you find Sha Wujing?”
“Yep!”
Tang questioned as he looked around frantically, “Where is he?”
“He said it’s up to me, to all of us.” Sun and Zhu exchanged glances.
“What?”
“That’s anticlimactic.”
“How are we meant to fight that?” Sun motioned to the Spider Queen’s humongous form.
“We believe in ourselves. You clean the streets while I stop her… somehow.”
“The jet would have been useful.” She kicked the broken pieces and a speed bike was revealed.
“That works.”
“You can do it, pal!”
Red drove off and approached the queen. “If isn’t the thief trying to ruin my big moment.”  She attempted to squish him when he dodged with the bike.
“Where is it? Where is it?” He squinted at the device the queen had been using to absorb objects, the spade rested in the middle. “Here goes nothing.” He ran into it.
Xiùliàng covered the group. “I’ve won! The clan has been restored!” She stumbled. “Huh?” Red emerged with the weapon. “Sha Wujing?”
“Nope. Just Red.” Red punched her. Spider Queen tried to blast them, they dodged with taunts, “Nice try! You missed! Almost!” They pushed her down with the spade then used it to cut half of a building. “Here we go!”
As he was about to trap her, the Queen roared, “I won’t let this happen again!” She destroyed it, the younger demon was sent backwards. “Sorry, doll. Good luck trying to trap me again. I AM THE QUEEN!” Red’s gaze shot towards a body of water. “You might have that idiot’s staff but you are not Sha Wujing!”
“No, I’m not. I’m Red, his successor!” He lifted the spade up, water swirled around it and he sent it to attack the queen. “It’s time for your reign of terror to end!”
The queen gasped and her powers waned, she turned back to her normal form. “That’s impossible!”
“Nothing is impossible if you believe.” Xiaotian raged, “This isn’t over! You wouldn’t be so mighty with your precious powers, sand boy! Come fight me!”
Red was about to do when a web entangled him. The three spiders showed themselves. “Nice try. We know when to leave the party. We’ll see you,” Huntsman said. Syntax threw a smoke bomb and they disappeared.
The group cut Red free. “You can’t run when I’m about to win! Hmph.”
His friend hugged him. “You kicked SQ’s butt! Without us the city would be toast.”
“I couldn’t have done it on my own.”
Xiùliàng hugged them. “You did.”
“You’re the new Sha Wujing now I guess.”
“I’m proud of you, Red,” Tang said. He was proud of his kid but he couldn’t understand why Sha Wujing had chosen to hand his weapon to a random kid. He’ll think about it later. “I’m really proud.”
“What do we do now?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Red perked up. “Yea! We could bring justice to the world! Go after bad guys!”
Sun suggested, “Or we could eat.”
“Let’s go with that.”
The group discussed their recent adventure while Sha Wujing watched from a building. He frowned, shifted to a duck and flew off.
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lunar-wandering · 3 years
Text
Medicine
so, earlier today, I got hit by the thought that, the reason why Wukong is so much... calmer in LMK compared to JTTW is because he’s taking adhd/anxiety meds now. and so, I decided to spend an hour or 2 of my time to write this.
...really this is just me projecting, and i have no other excuses.
Word Count: 1.1k
read on Ao3
---
MK was staying the night at Flower Fruit Mountain, per Wukong's insistence. They had both gotten a little bit distracted during training, and time had flown by far faster than either of them had thought it would. It was already dark outside when they realized what time it was. Not exactly feeling like flying MK back into town, and not really trusting that MK could use the staff to vault back in the dark, Wukong proceeded to call for a sleepover.
Which was how they ended up standing in Wukong's tiny bedroom, with him rummaging around in his drawer.
"I could've sworn I had some pyjamas around your size in here somewhere." Wukong muttered, tail swishing.
"It's fine Monkey King, I can just sleep in my clothes-" MK started to say, but was interrupted as Wukong "aha'd" in triumph, pulling out a set of golden coloured pyjama's with a peach design on them.
"Here you go kid." Wukong said, placing them in MK's hands. MK was surprised to find the fabric was....really soft. Genuinely, this might be the softest fabric he'd ever touched. Without any further protest, MK went into the bathroom to get changed. When he came back out, Wukong was in a matching pair of pyjama's except his were pink.
"Monkey King, I'm gonna be honest, I'm pretty sure these are the most comfortable pyjama's I've ever worn." MK said, "....You might not get this back."
"That's fine kid, you can keep it." Wukong said, waving his hand dismissively. "I can always ma-buy another set whenever I want."
MK paused, catching his mentor's near slip.
"....This wasn't just made by you blowing on a piece of your hair right?"
"Excuse you, I put actual work into making that, and I will not accept that kind of slander." Wukong said, "I don't always take the easy way out you know?"
"Mhm, sure."
".....So! How about we watch a movie!" Wukong said, purposefully changing the subject as he led MK into the living room. "I've got unlimited access to about....pretty much every film that ever existed, so we can watch whatever you want!"
"...Can we watch the Monkey King: Animated Series?" MK asked.
"Kid, who do you think I am? Of course we can watch Monkey King: the Animated Series!" Wukong said, picking up MK with his tail and setting him down on the couch as he grabbed the TV remote from the coffee table, turning on the television to show that he had already had the Monkey King: Animated Series queued up. Selecting episode one, he pressed play.
----
2 hours and multiple peach flavored snacks later, (seriously, there were a lot of peach flavored snacks. MK was going to have to start bringing his own, normal snacks at this rate, because while he like peaches, there is a limit to how much peach flavored food one can eat), and MK was fully ready to just fall asleep where he was sitting. He yawned, tired.
Wukong paused the show.
"Time for bed then, huh?" He asked. MK nodded, drowsily rubbing at his eye.
"...Don't you feel tired too, Monkey King?" He asked. Wukong shook his head.
"No, I don't exactly...get tired normally, I guess. I mainly sleep to pass the time and because it keeps the monkey's happy." He said, standing up, and walking over to the closet, pulling out some blankets and pillows. "If you stand up, the couch folds out into a bed. You know how to set that kinda thing up right?"
MK hummed an affirmative, standing up and pulling the cushions off the couch in order to start the process of turning it into a bed. As he did so, he happened to notice that one of the monkeys was digging through his bag, looking for something. MK momentarily contemplated stopping it and making sure the monkey didn't steal anything, but then thought better of it, deciding that that was something that could wait till morning.
MK set up the bed-couch, running his hands down the sheets that were on it once he pulled it out, checking the bed for anything as a habit. He found a spider in his bed once, and now he couldn't go to sleep unless he'd checked the bed for spiders and bugs beforehand.
He was about to just crawl on the bed and curl up to wait for Wukong to throw the blankets over top of him, when he felt a sudden weight on his shoulder.
He stumbled a little under the sudden weight, but quickly recovered. He turned his head to the side to see the same monkey that had been digging through his bag, holding a small pill bottle.
Oh right, he'd almost forgotten to take his medicine.
Politely, he thanked the monkey, gently taking the pill bottle out of its hands and twisting it open. The monkey, seemingly satisfied in that he was taking his medicine, jumped off his shoulder and ran away. MK watched the monkey as it ran and jumped onto Wukong-
Who was covered with other monkeys. Somehow, while setting up the bed, MK had failed to notice as the other monkeys had basically swarmed Wukong. He was standing still, still holding the blankets and pillows, as the monkeys tugged on his ears and fur.
"Okay, okay, I get it, fine." Wukong said, "Geez."
"Uh," MK said, frozen, pill halfway to his mouth. "What the fuck is happening?"
"Language." Wukong quietly admonished, before sighing. "This happens every night. They're reminding me to take my meds. Speaking of which, hurry up and swallow that pill before you drop it."
MK hurriedly followed through on that, taking his pill with bottle of peach juice that he had left on the coffee table earlier. While he did this, another monkey came in, holding a pill bottle that was rather similar to MK's, and forcibly putting it into Wukong's hands.
"So." MK said, "You uh. You take medicine too?"
"Yeah.....I hate taking it though. I can swallow a pill but that doesn't mean I like doing it." Wukong said, untwisting the cap of the bottle, and dry swallowing the pill. "Tried using the liquid version once, but it tasted gods-awful, so I don't plan on doing that again."
Seemingly satisfied that Wukong had taken his medicine, the monkeys finally got off of him, spreading to curl up in different places around the room. MK, figuring that the monkeys had the right idea, climbed onto his bed for the night, laying down on his side. Wukong dropped a few blankets on top of him, and then proceeded to flop onto the bed himself, curling up beside him.
-----
The next morning, when MK was late to work, his only excuse was that Wukong really didn't like alarm clocks.
(Wukong promised to pay to get MK a new phone, but the damage had been done.)
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rain-bow-donkey · 3 years
Text
Catch and Release: Ch 4
Inspired by @starsfic fanfic "Demon Customs!"
WARNING!!! Lego Monkie Kid Spoilers!
Previous Chapter
Summary:
Wukong got captured. And is confronted before he can make his escape.
—————————
Gods, how could he be so stupid?
Of course they were baiting him into a trap!
How could he be so reckless?
To say Wukong wasn’t happy about his predicament was an understatement. Tied up in webbing hung upside down wasn’t the best spot to be in. The worst part is he did it to himself.
In his defense, how could he have known the Spider Queen would team up with the White Bone Spirit?
At least he isn’t the only one that was bested by them.
Despite the circumstance, it was nice to see the Demon Bull King again. Teasing him and getting on his nerves had always been fun. Though his ox brother isn’t too thrilled to see him in return.
Something Wukong used to get them out of here.
It would have been better if his ox brother didn’t slam him into the wall and then the ground, but he freed Wukong all the same.
All that’s left is to get out of here.
That is, until he sensed the White Bone Spirit as she stood several paces behind him.
The kings fur stood up in hostility. “Your webs of lies and manipulation has been broken.”
Calmly, the spirit smirked at him. “I still have a few cards up my sleeve.”
Baring his teeth, Wukong prepared to attack her. “You should just disappear!”
The Monkey King lunged at her, aiming a powerful punch to her face. Only for her to vanish from thin air seconds before he can land the hit. As soon as he landed, her power surrounded him. Keeping him in place.
He once again felt her behind him. “Your name will be what disappears.”
A vision then blinded him. A giant silhouette stood over the city as it was up in flames. The White Bone Spirit seemingly to be on the top of it, looking down in triumph at the remains of the city. And Xiaotian.
Xiaotian was screaming as he went up in flames with the rest of the world.
It was all too much for Wukong.
Turning around, he tried to strike the demon. But his arm had met air. Looks like the coward made herself scarce.
Damn that demon. He’ll have to do something about her. But that was for later.
Now he has to focus on helping his kid with the Spider Queen. Turning to the gigantic hole in the wall, made by the Demon Bull King, Wukong was about to leave.
“Going somewhere peaches.”
Wukong eyes widen on hearing the nickname. He recognized that voice.
No, not him. Not now.
Before he could react, the Monkey King was slammed face first into the ground.
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panlight · 5 years
Text
Cataloging books at work and there is one called “The Triumph of the Spider Monkey” and my brain immediately went: “Alternate title to Breaking Dawn Pt 2 movie.” 
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slurpingsoba · 5 years
Note
How about a first date with Spinner in a amusement park? :3 Reader could win him some plushie or something. Oh and maybe reader held him durning the hunted house ride thing??? :33 please and thank you! Oh and if possible can you make the reader female? If not than that’s okay! :33
This is such a cute first date idea!! I tried to do this prompt justice to the best of my abilities, so it took long for me to write. And it’s also sorta long so it’s under a cut.
Word Count: 2.1k
-
On a phone call with Spinner, you suggested going to the amusement park with him. You met him not too long ago in a video game store and instantly recognized him as a member of the League of Villains, even though he was in disguise. At first, he was scared that you would turn him in to the heroes, but once he found out you actually supported the League, he relaxed around you. 
After hanging out with him for a while, you thought asking him out on a date wasn’t a bad idea. To your surprise, he accepted your proposal. 
So you two decided to meet at an amusement park that wasn’t too far from where you first had your encounter. You sat down on a bench in the park, waiting for Spinner to arrive. When he came, you noticed that he was wearing a hoodie under his jacket. It looked nice on him, but you were worried that someone would be able to identify him.
“Is this you being incognito?” You asked him as he approached you.
“I was planning on hiding in plain sight and it seems to be working well so far.” 
“Hmm,” you mumbled to yourself before standing up and gazing at his smooth leather jacket sleeve and taking his hand in yours. He squeezed your hand slightly in surprise, and when you looked up at him, you saw that a light blush dusted his cheeks.
“You’ve never held hands before?” 
“O-of course I have.” Spinner’s cheeks turned an even darker shade of pink; an overstatement, of course. Blush on Spinner just looked like a more muted shade of green, like olive, in comparison to his usual bright complexion. You chuckled at his obvious lie. 
Interlacing your fingers with his, a water shooting game not too far in the distance caught your attention. The stuffed animals hanging on display waved slightly in the breeze. From what you could see, there was a periwinkle bunny with mismatched ears, a monkey with chestnut colored fur, and-
“Spinner, let’s go over here!” You pointed towards the vibrant string of prizes dangling over the game, waiting to be claimed, “I wanna win you something!”
Not waiting for a response, you pulled him behind you as you made your way towards the activity. Both of you weaseled your way through the bustling crowd of visitors, with Spinner bowing his head to hide his face. 
“Nobody’s gonna report you to a hero,” you began, noticing his unease, “everyone’s here to have fun, just like us.”
Spinner didn’t answer, but he lifted his head up, and that was enough proof to show that he believed in your statement. 
You let go of his hand when you reached the water gun stand, and you clasped your hands together enthusiastically while watching the game’s attendant reset the activity. Other people waited patiently for the game to start as they sat on plastic stools, and it occurred to Spinner that only one open chair was left.
“You’re playing, right?” Spinner said, nudging you with his elbow and gesturing towards the empty seat.
“Yep.” Sitting down, you fetched some change out of your purse to pay for the game and handed it to the employee. You placed each of your hands on opposite sides of the water gun, holding the black handles tightly. When the game began and water started squirting from the gun’s nozzle, you had a hard time accurately aiming your stream of water at the target across from you.
“Down! Down! Point down!” Spinner exclaimed, almost reaching over you and seizing control of the water gun.
“I’m trying!” You replied, but whenever you tried to change the water stream’s course, it always seemed to travel in the opposite direction that you wanted it to. Still, your meter rose higher than your opponents, and when you looked up to assess your status, you realized that you were close to winning!
A few seconds passed before a bell rung, declaring your victory. 
You jumped out of your stool and raised your arms into the air in triumph, cheering for yourself before leaping into Spinner’s arms. You got some weird looks from the people around you.
“Woohoo! We won!” You tried to say, but your face was flush against Spinner’s chest, so your words came out muffled. Your cheek touched the soft fabric of his hoodie, and you nuzzled into him a bit before the attendant called for you to collect your prize.
“That one,” you said, pointing to the grass green dinosaur that caught your attention earlier. When it was handed to you, you immediately passed the animal to Spinner.
“Here! I thought it looked a little like you.” 
Smiling, Spinner took the plushie from you and held it out in front of him. “Just a little bit,” he tucked it under his arm after examining it, “thanks y/n, it’s cute.”
You beamed, glad to bring innocent joy into Spinner’s life. You couldn’t imagine the last time he’s gone out and had fun, even before he became a villain. He let it slip once that he was sort of a shut-in when he was younger, so as his girlfriend, you wanted to make sure that he got to experience life as beautifully as possible.
Well, maybe you were getting ahead of yourself. You and Spinner weren’t dating yet, but at the end of this date, you hoped that Spinner would ask you out officially.
But for now, you were content with just spending time with him.
“What do you want to do next?” Spinner asked, scanning the park grounds for a new attraction. 
“A roller coaster?”
“Scared of heights.” Spinner answered tersely.
“Ferris wheel?”
“That’s no better!”
“The haunted house?” You said, suspiciously eyeing a shabby looking shack with spider webs decorating the exterior. To be honest, you weren’t sure if the building was up and running or not, but you assumed it was, and that the offputting aura that the shack gave off was intentional.
“Scared of-“
“Ghosts? What, is the big bad villain actually a scaredy cat?” You teased.
“Shh. Don’t say the v-word so loudly.”
“Villain.” You whispered in his ear repeatedly, your voice growing louder with each use of the “v-word”. “Villain. Villain. Villain.”
“God,” Spinner swatted at you playfully like you were a fly invading his personal space, “you’re so annoying!”
You giggled, grabbed his hand, and dragged him with you. “Haunted house time!”
Now, according to your observations, the haunted house in front of you didn’t look like the average spooky feature. The rundown place didn’t even have a sign on the front, let alone a marked entrance. The only distinguishable thing about it was the trail of nauseous-looking people exiting the house, their faces green - like Spinner-level green - and pale. 
One guy threw up. You had second thoughts about going in.
“C’mon, you can’t get cold feet already.” Spinner said, “and besides, I kinda wanna go in now.”
“After seeing that?!” you said, referencing the pile of vomit that was deposited rather close to you. Too close for comfort.
This time, Spinner was the one persuading you to live life to the fullest and have a good time at the fair. You still had doubts about the haunted house, but with Spinner by your side, you knew you would be safe.
Or so you thought…
Ten seconds into the attraction, a pair of actors covered in ghastly cloth to resemble ghosts chased you down a hallway. You weren’t sure who screamed louder: you or Spinner. But the terror was far from over.
The hallway ended abruptly, and you and Spinner were pressed into a corner, cowering and fearing for your life. You held onto Spinner for support, and he did the same with his stuffed dinosaur. 
Then, as anxiety settled in the pit of your stomach, a previously unseen door - or coffin, you didn’t get a good look - on your left opened to reveal a mummy wrapped up in dusty gray wrappings. It moved slowly, like a mummy should, thank god, so you had the opportunity to escape with Spinner through the coffin-door in which the mummy came from. After all, that secret opening seemed to be the only way out. 
The floor creaked under your feet in the next room, startling you. Ominous pictures lined the walls, and they seemed to move with every step you took. You held onto Spinner tighter as you headed down the deep and dark passageway. 
Just then, a high pitched scream was heard in the distance. You weren’t sure if it was from another visitor like you or one of the actors, but it jolted Spinner out of his wits. He answered the scream with an ear-shattering yelp of his own. You would’ve laughed at him if you weren’t paralyzed with fear.
“Y/n,” Spinner whispered, “I don’t wanna be here anymore.”
“Me either. I know this was supposed to be scary, but not this scary.”
You heard footsteps approach, and then, the unmistakable sound of a chainsaw powering up made your eyes widen. Slowly, you turned around, locking eyes with the mummy from before holding the weapon menacingly.
“Run!” You shouted, letting go of Spinner to pivot on your heels and sprint away from the mummy. Spinner followed suit, dashing behind you like a madman.
The end of the passageway was near pitch black, but you felt around the wall in front of you for a doorknob. And sure enough, there was one. Turning it as quickly as you could, you opened the door, light from outside pouring in as you exited the haunted house.
“G-geez, that was no joke.” You said, attempted to catch your breath.
“I think we skipped most of it too,” Spinner added, “I don’t think we were supposed to go through that coffin thing.”
“At least we’re out, right? All three of us intact.”
Spinner raised an eyebrow at you before realizing that you were talking about the dinosaur plush. Fear subsiding, Spinner looked down at the animal in his hands fondly.
“Mhm. All three of us.”
-
Some time had passed since you went into the haunted house. You shared some disgustingly sweet fair food with Spinner, and both of you felt ill from the sugar rush not too long after. But it was now nighttime, signaling the end of your date.
As you two were exiting the amusement park, Spinner pulled you close to him and took a deep breath. 
You knew this was the moment you’ve been waiting for all afternoon.
“Hey,” Spinner’s voice was shaky, and his shyness from the beginning of your date was returning, “I had a really great time with you today, and I was wondering…”
“Go on.” You prodded.
“Will y-you be my boyfriend?”
You gave him a second to realize what he said and make up for his mistake.
“S-shit! I meant girlfriend. You know what I meant! I’m just really nervous if you couldn’t already tell.”
Not for the first time today, you burst out laughing. In fact, you found his little error so funny that you ended up doubling over, tears forming in the corners of your eyes.
When you regained your composure, you said your piece. “Of course I’ll be your girlfriend, Spinner! I’ve been waiting for you to ask!”
“Really?” His eyes lit up, brighter than the stars that gathered up above the both of you in the sky. 
“Really.”
With that, you leaned in the kiss Spinner. You thought this was the perfect time to do so, with the romantic but awkward confession and perfect scenery around you. He wrapped his arms around you and anticipated the fated moment between the two of you.
It was his first kiss, but he wasn’t going to tell you that. 
When your lips were supposed to touch, your face met his at an odd angle, and you bumped your nose into his snout. The collision caught both of you off guard, but it made you smile nonetheless.
Even though you couldn’t end the night with a perfect kiss, at least you could end it in the arms of the man you were passionate about. 
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zippdementia · 4 years
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Part 84 Alignment May Vary: City of Lies
For the last few sessions, we’ve been playing through Mirrors of the Abyss, a wonderful glimpse into the insanity of the Abyss and a perfect dungeon for what we needed at this point in the game. But last session I talked about how I could sense my players were ready to get back to the storyline, so we’re more or less leaving Mirrors behind for the time being and focusing on some of my own material. Not entirely leaving it behind, though. We actually start in a secret area from the Mirrors module, an area where maybe the only creature Esheballa’s fears resides, a mysterious figure known only as Abbraxas.
Who is Abbraxas? There are a few demons working behind the scene to topple Esheballa’s crazed rule. Darragor, who contacted Imoaza a couple sessions ago, was one example, though he has since secretly been found out and disposed of by Imoaza. His head actually showed up in the treasure hoard where Milosh found his broken arm, but Milosh didn’t recognize him as he never met him and Imoaza never described that scene to anyone.
But Abbraxas, he’s an entirely different creature with a whole other layer of power to him. Abbraxas served the Abyss long before Esheballa arrived on the scene. I’m not sure Mirrors fully defines exactly what he is. He may be another Demon Lord, or maybe a Demonologist who became exceptionally powerful and poses a real threat to Esheballa. In my head-canon for our game I think he is a piece of Primus left in the Abyss, still trying to make order out of the chaos. Regardless, Esheballa does fear him and his power. It is said he helped her take over the Abyss after the Blood War and that she believes he can undo what he helped create. She knows he still lives somewhere in her realm but she doesn’t go looking for him, not even to evict him. She’d rather just pretend he doesn’t exist and hope that if she pretends long enough it will become true. So Abbraxas has lived mostly undisturbed on the fringes of Esheballa’s game... or maybe it would be better to say he has lived behind the scenes of the game, in between the spaces that Esheballa uses to build her chambers and challenges. The players slipped into that in between space when they traversed the Fossil Wall and now they are on the edge of Abbraxas’ lair, which is the lighthouse shimmering through the thick fog ahead of them.
Ruze leads the way through the fog. He has an instinct of where to go in the Abyss, having spent so long here. Also, secretly, he is keeping an eye on Imoaza. Ever since meeting her, he has been seeing strange shapes flit in her shadows and dance around her, gone when looked at for more than an instant. He doesn’t know it, but this is the influence of the Necronomicon playing on Imoaza, drawing her ever closer to some unknown, unfathomable purpose. Ruze sees only the blurred edges of that purpose and it is already enough to cause him to sweat in pure terror.
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Statue Walk
There is a fun little section of Mirrors where the PCs have to traverse an area made up of statues of different aspects of Esheballa, each one representing a different riddle and a different challenge if the riddle is failed. There is a little mechanic involving having multiple maps and having to figure out the right map to use, but I simplify this down into just three encounters with statues, each encounter taking the players closer to the lighthouse. Each encounter is actually two statues that the players can see partially through the fog, and they have to pick which one they which to approach, then solve the riddle suggested by its pose. For example, they see a statue of a little girl kneeling and holding out her hands and a statue of a vulpine warrior. They choose to go towards the little girl, feeling certain the vulpine warrior will just want to fight them. Then they examine the girl’s statue and realize she is not holding out her hands, she is clutching at something near her neck, something missing. They figure out it must be a necklace of some kind and Ruze, who has some gems in his possession from years of wandering the Abyss alone and exploring wherever he pleased, places a gem before her, which the statue suddenly moves to scoop up, and a path opens ahead for them.
This ends up being a fun and interesting section, as the players  first have to debate which of the two statue options I present them with they think will provide the most beatable challenge (or the least painful consequence), then they actually have to approach the statue and see if they can solve its puzzle. I offer a little direction but aside from the final statue which has the difficult ask of giving it something “pure,” they nail it. The first statue is maybe the most surprising, as it is a huntress statue which definitely wants a sacrifice put on its arrowhead. Milosh grabs his new sea monkey buddy and slams it into the arrow, leaving it to writhe and die there in agony. It’s a surprising sign of his character changing, maybe as part of the influence of Illrastayne, the sword of Envy containing a piece of Bitterberry’s (Tyrion’s) dismantled and broken soul, which Milosh has attuned to in order to have a weapon while his gun arm is smashed and broken. Illrastayne has also told him that he knows someone who can fix Milosh’s gunarm, and that “person” is Abbraxas.
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A Turning of the Page
It doesn’t take long after entering the lighthouse to tell that (A) it is magically much bigger on the inside than it could be from its exterior dimensions, and (B) someone clearly lives here.
Foremost, this space is a shocking spectacle of the triumphs of alchemy and machinery, as hulking struts, cogs and gears turn astronomical orreries and churn vats of arcane potion. You don't have to investigate to know that the conductor of this place has used unparalleled intellect to manifest this laboratory. In the farthest corner, there sits a stout magician, dressed in silks. He is attended by a cadre of malformed vrocks and other low-level demons while a huge wheel of open books spins for his perusal. He strokes his thin beard and moustache, as he reads, unaware of or unconcerned by your presence. A nervous artist paints his portrait, constantly repainting over his own canvas in an attempt to capture any changed position of the man or movement of his demonic servants.
This is Abbraxas and presently the players address him, asking where they are and have they left Esheballa’s game. Abbraxas tells them that they have left the game “for the moment,” and are occupying a glitch in the realm that he built, a pocket space within a pocket space, undetectable by Esheballa. He also says he can get them home, back to Faerun, but that they need to help him topple Esheballa’s rule. He says the time has finally come for such a thing to pass, because just before they arrived, someone else new came and brought with them the key to change. Unfortunately, he says, that person (whom he refers to as a “she”) became trapped in a world of their own creation, spun from lies that they told themselves. Now she is lost in this “City of Lies” and the companions will need to enter there to retrieve the key.
Abbraxas also tells Milosh that his arm can be reforged in Esheballa’s inner sanctum, where she keeps a fire hot enough to forge even the most magical of items. He gives Milosh a strange mechanical spider looking thing, that crawls into his tunic to hide, and tells him that if thrown into the fire along with his gunarm and certain other key items, the gunarm will be remade more powerful than ever. He indicates the golden crown taken from the Lich and the ruby that Hecate took from the museum as two such items.
With that short scene, the party has a quick discussion about what to do next (and slaps Daymos, still in the Quasit’s form, away from stealing one of Abbraxas’ books... remember what I said about that player wanting to just mess with the world and see what he can get away with?)
Hecate: I’ll follow where mother leads.
Imoaza: There doesn’t seem to be much choice. We either go back to Esheballa’s game-
Ruze: Which I refuse to do.
Imoaza: -or we take direction from Abbraxas.
Milosh: Ah! I believe that the best option is to take the advice of this... man? Demon?
Abbraxas: Yes to both.
Milosh: Man-demon.
Daymos Quasit: It’s not a bad thing to be.
Imoaza wants to ask Abbraxas about the Rod of Storms, too, as it has been radiating more and more power recently, but he immediately tells her not to touch it. “The Abyss is already too fickle a place and this dimension I’ve made more unstable by its very nature. If you pull that out here, you could do terrible damage.” He warns her the Rod of Storms is becoming extremely volatile. It wants to be used by her and her refusal to do so has built up in it a sort of anger. The piece of the elemental that has been infused into it was meant for Aldric’s use, and Abbraxas knows this, but he only shares this with Imoaza in veiled terms because he also knows what her companions don’t: that she killed Aldric to claim this item of power.
“It will reshape history,” Abbraxas tells her. “And sooner than you think. Until then, keep it close and be wary of drawing it out on the Abyss.”
With that, he creates a portal and tells them to find the “marked door” and not to step through any other door lest they end up back inside the game. He tells them that once they get to the City of Lies they should “seek the one that doesn’t belong.” More than that, he does not know, but he can feel that the key they need “doesn’t belong here.” He wishes them luck and they step through.
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Choices and Lies
The portal leads to a white stone corridor, lined with old doors. The corridor twists and turns but only goes in two directions, forwards and backwards, with no discernible end point. The players start looking around for a marked door and before long they find one, a door with a massive gash in it that looks like an old wound on necrotic skin. The players hesitate for only a moment, then push their way inside.
They end up in a dark alley, on stone streets with buildings towering over them. Movement in the dark puts them on edge and a shape lurches out at them. They prepare to fight whatever demon is approaching, but it turns out it is not a demon. It is a devil. Hecate recognizes it as a Chain Devil, from her days spent on hell. What’s more, it is drunk. It stumbles forward and peers at them.
“Where the hell, heh, did you come from?”
Everyone hesitates except for Hecate, who strides forward.
“We are emmisaries from the lord of hell! Bound for the ruler of this city! How dare you speak that way to your betters! Do you not recognize this woman?” she gestures to Imoaza. Right on cue, Imoaza summons a disguise to surround herself, black swirling cloaks form to disguise most of her features. The Chain Devil peers at her for a moment, uncertain.
“Give me your name, so I can report you,” Hecate says. At this, the Chain Devil stumbles backwards, stammers out an excuse and flees into the night.
Hecate nods at Imoaza and Imoaza nods back. About as much thanks as a Yuan Ti is going to give, or accept.
While trying to get their bearings, they see a poster on a nearby wall. It reads:
Worship the Queen of the City of Lies. And underneath it is a painting of someone they recognize: Alyss.
What follows is a bit of improvisation on all of our parts. I know who it is they have to find and where he is being taken, but I leave it up to the players to really build the scene and the direction we are going in. When doing this as a DM, I find there is a really simple structure that can be followed that helps keep things moving. Have an end goal in mind and communicate that to the players, then ask what they wish to do next. Whatever they come up with, give them something to push them forward, and then add a complication, so that they have to react to this new obstacle.
In this case, the players know they have to find “the one that doesn’t belong.” At first they think it is Alyss herself, but Ruze brings up that Abraxas said that the one who built this city is trapped here by her own lies and somehow he doesn’t think that fits the idea of someone who doesn’t belong here. This is HER city after all. That’s when Milosh and Imoaza remember Puck and wonder if it is him who doesn’t belong.
To figure out what to do next, Daymos decides to adopt his thought form (he can still do this, even as a Quasit) and flies high into the city sky to survey the area. He immediately sees that the city is laid out in symetrical streets, much like a vast spider’s web, and not far from where they are a group of devils is carrying something in a small cage towards a grand and imposing building. This is a clear goal, so that’s the thing I “give” the players. The obstacle is that Daymos lingers a little too long and suddenly a group of three Erinyes, vicious female devils with whips and magical longbows, spot the light and come to investigate. This leads to another deception round with Imoaza, who claims that the light is her familiar and that she is on her way to interrogate the prisoner (a nice bit of on the spot thinking!) Hecate whispers in her ear that Devils respect authority and so Imoaza plays this up, acting like she is higher on the food chain than these devils. The Erinyes buy it and press down on the cobblestones with their hands, sending a light into it that lights up a path to the prison, that imposing structure. This is a fun bit of on-the-spot description I come up with, where the actual stones change color to “direct” the players to where they need to go.
We continue with this back and forth problem solving and obstacle laying for a while, the players making their way to the prison and talking their way past a disgruntled Pit Fiend warden (who is dealing with problems at home) into seeing the prisoner for interrogation and torture (another good deception!) The prisoner does turn out to be Puck and he fills them in on what’s going on and what they need to do next.
Puck seemed exhausted as the four companions crowded inside his small cell and he began to explain. “The Abyss is chaos. But it is also capable of being influenced by outside emotion. This layer of the Abyss in particular is very susceptible to that. It is built on the broken hopes and dreams of Esheballa and she is not a very detail oriented creature. She’s left holes in the realm, places where the lies we tell ourselves hold sway.
Alyss, she spoke to you of her past, yes? She told you she was the queen of an age, long ago, when the followers of Asmodeus ruled the land. It isn’t true. It is a lie she told herself. I know, for I am Asmodeus, or what was left of him after the Blood War ended.
“My body was all but destroyed in the attack on the Abyss. Even in my death throes I was able to strike down the last of the demons, but I could not escape the Abyss except as a thought, a belief. I found a home in the City of Ghosts, on Hell, where all the unclaimed lost souls go to wander. And there, my most fervent believer found me. Alyss gave me shape again. She knew what I was from the start and plotted to get me off of hell and back to the Abyss, to reuinite me with the remnants of my body somewhere in the void. That’s why she redirected your ship. That’s why she brought you to Hell. To rescue me. Only now, she needs rescuing. The lie Alyss told you is one she told herself for a long long time, to shield herself from the pain of the truth. That truth is buried deep inside of her and you must now find it, force it to take shape on this plane, and confront it.
“You’ll need to take me with you. If you can find Alyss here in the City of Lies and bring me to her, I can get you inside of her sleeping mind. We’ll only have one chance at this. I can only do this once before my power will be finally spent. If you do not find the truth then the lie will reign forever and this City of Lies will become the only truth Alyss knows.”
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A Sad History
Puck turns himself into a beetle and crawls inside Milosh’s tattered tunic, reminding him they need to get close enough that Puck can make physical contact with Alyss. Then the party heads out again to find her. They bump into the Pit Fiend again and Imoaza gets the idea to ask him where Alyss is. The Pit Fiend, bored with manning this prison and impressed by another good roleplay and deception roll by Imoaza, decides to take them to Alyss, whom he says is preaching at her church. He summons a light into his hand and presses it into the floor, much like the Erinyes did, which lights the way to the Church of Eternal Sin, where Alyss holds court in this world.
When they arrive at the church all hell breaks loose (if you’ll forgive the term). Alyss recognizes Milosh and Imoaza and realizes why they are here. She demands that her congregation stop them and suddenly the whole party finds themselves facing a mob of 80 cultists, Alyss four bone devil bodyguards, and the Pit Fiend Malphiss, who is overjoyed to have something to do.
Combat is swift and dynamic. Daymos turns invisible and flies towards the ceiling, avoiding the mess altogether. Milosh rushes forward, using misty step and the dash action to begin to cross the huge 200 foot long expanse of the church, rushing for Alyss. He gets stopped by a horde of cultists, who tear at his metalic skin and claw at his tunic, nearly knocking Puck from where he clings to Milosh’s back. Milosh draws Illrastayne and the raspy voice of the demonic version of Tyrion rings out in gleeful song as he directs Milosh’s sword arm to cut down cultists and clear a path to Alyss. Ruz also flees, using his own teleportation magics to avoid the crowd, who is distracted by Milosh, but then he comes face to face with the Bone Devils. He begins summoning magic, throwing balls of fire and acid and magic missiles while the Bone Devils dive at him with deadly poisoned scorpion-like tails and vicious razor sharp claws. Alyss begins to chant and a summoning circle appears in the middle of the church and large, indistinct shapes can be seen forming inside of it. 
Hecate and Imoaza, meanwhile, are facing down Malphiss, the two sharing the split version of Drosselgreymer, mother and daughter darting in and out of Malphiss’ attack range, slicing the Pit Fiend and spilling his foul blood on the church floor. But the Pit Fiend finally catches them and with two mighty blows demonstrates his ungodly strength. The Yuan-Ti retreat, but Malphiss isn’t ready for them to go. He summons a wall of fire, cutting down several charging cultists as he does, and the wall essentially traps the pair, creating a fiery arena which he lopes into gleefully, happy to finally face a challenge... especially since he knows it is one he will win.
This is one of my favorite moments of the fight. So much suddenly happens at once! Milosh breaks free of the cultists and charges Alyss, slamming into her and grappling her. Puck runs out and latches onto her neck then psychically cries out for everyone to touch Alyss or be left behind. Daymos swoops down at Ruz and casts a haste spell on him, then clings to him as the now twice-as-fast Ruz breaks free of the Bone Demons, barely avoiding attacks of opportunity, and long jumps onto the stage where Alyss and Milosh are grappling, grabbing her wrist. Imoaza yells for Hecate to hold on and she grabs her daughter then pulls free the grapple hook she got on the planet of air, firing at a high balcony railing that overlooks the church interior. She pulls her and Hecate out of the Arena as the Pit Fiend moves forward to slice them down with a fiery blade. They reach the railing and three cultists try to cut them down, but Hecate wraps her snake body around the railing and fights them with both her hands free, slicing with the sickle version of Drosselgreymer and firing at the with her gun arm. The Pit Fiend follows and Hecate screams at Imoaza to leave her and go join the others, that if she doesn’t do this they are all dead anyway. Imoaza feels suddenly concerned for her daughter, an unusual feeling for her, but listens and fires her grappling hook towards the stage where everyone is gathered around Alyss. She soars towards Alyss just as the Pit Fiend reaches Hecate and prepares to tear her apart. Imoaza grabs Alyss’ hand and shouts “Now!” Puck uses his magic and they all deep dive into Alyss’ mind and memories.
And suddenly all the PCs are handed level 2 character sheets and told to chose one to play. There is a Dwarven Cleric, a Halfling Rogue, a Drow fighter, and a Human Paladin.
What’s going on here is that the players are actually replaying history. We’ve had a few moments over the course of the mega-campaign where similar things have happened. Karina, Trakki, and Tyrion all dove into Rayden’s mind to figure out the truth of Karina’s time in the War of Forgiveness, for instance. This is very similar, only here the PCs can’t change history, they just have to survive it.
The situation that is set up for them begins in a cornfield, at dusk, outside of a farmhouse. The PCs are all part of a mercenary group, led by the Halfling Rogue (player choice on this). The rogue has a letter, instructing them that a young noble girl named Alyss was kidnapped thirteen months ago by cultists of Asmodeus. She has been spotted recently in a neighboring town and reports have suggested she is being kept here. She is also said to be heavily pregnant now. The group has been hired to recover her if they can, though there is rumor that she has been brainwashed beyond repair by the cultists. The baby is to be brought back at all costs. It is of noble birth and the family wants their potential heir to be under their care. The letter is signed simply “Z.”
I set this up with a number of different possible approaches. The house has cultists in it, and the PCs initially try to sneak up to that, but they are spotted by a strange tall man sitting on the farmhouse stoop, with glowing eyes (he is actually possessed by a minor devil). He chases them off with some choice words and the PCs then decide to avoid the main farmhouse and instead focus on a barn on its outskirts. They break in to find the barn full of zombies, which they dispatch, and then they discover a secret door in the floor that leads into a small trapped dungeon. They avoid the traps and come to its final room, interrupting some kind of summoning:
The room’s floor was totally covered in a complex pentagram, inscribed here and there with powerful runic sigils. Surrounding the pentagram were red robed cultists and in its center lay the noble girl, Alyss, naked from the waist down and moaning in the throes of childbirth. She was not bound, unless it be by invisible chains, but she gave no sign of being able to fight back, either. Her entire attention was concentrated on the birth, her screams and cries punctuating the chanting of the robed clergy. Blue flames floated about the chamber, illuminating everything in an alien light.
One of the clergy stepped forward, his face covered by a complex mask shaped like a devil’s visage. “Interlopers,” he hissed. “Your presence befouls this sacred place!"
Then another voice spoke, seeming to come from within the pentagram, though it was not Alyss: her cries still rose above the deep, sepulchral command: “KILL THEM.”
A fight of course breaks out and actually some of the characters do die... though whenever they do, it is like a glitch in time: they come back to life with full health as if nothing had happened. That’s because that isn’t how it happened in the true past. That doesn’t mean it is without consequence: the bodies of Imoaza, Daymos, Ruz, and Milosh are all taking damage back in the Abyss, as psychically they channel the pain of these second level mercenaries here in Alyss’ memory.
But eventually history wins out, and the PCs are victorious. The cultists are defeated. And then we see how history played out.
See, Alyss was never truly ruler of a great satanic cult that lived “ages ago,” as she had claimed to the group. She was as was depicted here: a young girl of 19, kidnapped from her family and brainwashed into thinking she was meant to be the bride of Asmodeus. In a satanic ritual she was impregnated with Asmodeus’ seed, and planned to give birth to a baby that would rise to command the cultists.
But instead, a group of second level adventurers found and disrupted the birthing ritual. As they killed the cultists around her the head of this branch of the clergy, the masked cultist, used his last breath to dive into the pentagram and stab Alyss, mortally wounding her. At that moment, the cleric of the party was killed, as Asmodeus released his rage at what had been done to “wife” in a flurry of psychic energy. In the same instant, the baby was born, a deformed thing with skin of purple, two horns, and a long tail. Nevertheless, a job is a job and they were ordered to bring the baby back The Paladin snatched her up and backed out of the room as Alyss bled to death on the floor, her final cry following after them:
“No, you can’t have her! You can’t have my Karina!”
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Passing On
This is a big reveal. For those who have not been reading since the beginning (and even for those who have, it’s been a while), Karina was one of our original cast of characters, played by Morganknight who has since played Nysyries and Imoaza. Karina also was the only character to survive the entire first arc and the Haggemoth campaign before being retired to take a bigger role in the overarching plot. The question of her parentage is one that originated from the very first session where, as an offhand question, I asked the player “who are Karina’s parents?” I still have my notes from that first session, where I jotted down her answer in the margins: “I don’t know.”
Figuring out Karina’s backstory has taken literally years to come up with and connecting her here to Alyss feels so perfect, both in terms of explaining her powers and devilish heritage (she is a direct descendant of Asmodeus) and why she was so important to the fate of our world. And it takes a side character, Alyss, whom the players have enjoyed as an NPC for a long while, and makes her much more complex and complete.
Sadly, while the rest of the party has a lot to appreciate about the reveal, Daymos’ player talks to me later and says that this is his sign it is time to pull out of the game. This moment seemed so big for the other players and he says that he “felt no connection to it.” It is the clearest sign he and I have both had that story isn’t his motivator, or at least not this story. The discussion that follows confirms a little of what I talked about last post, that playing for a narrative reward doesn’t really work for him and he feels like there is too much consequence to any action he may take, because it could throw off a story that the others are so deeply invested in. I had hoped, like Ruz’s player, he would find a way to join them in that investment, but it wasn’t able to happen.
So Daymos leaves the table. The character still remains, though, and has been changed in interesting ways by this player’s decisions. Those decisions will change the shape of the story as originally envisioned and lead to some intriguing possibilities a little later on. For now, though, the party still has a game to play, to put An End to Demons.
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scifiandscary · 4 years
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The Triumph of the Spider Monkey by Joyce Carol Oates #BookReview
The Triumph of the Spider Monkey by Joyce Carol Oates ~a #horror novel~ #BookReview by Olly_C @whatmeworry
Abandoned as a baby in a bus station locker, shuttled from one abusive foster home and detention center to another, Bobbie Gotteson grew up angry, hurting, damaged. His hunger to succeed as a musician brought him across the country to Hollywood, but along with it came his seething rage, his paranoid delusions, and his capacity for acts of shocking violence.
Unavailable for 40 years, The…
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smokeybrand · 3 years
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Smokey brand Movie Reviews: Well, Sh*t, Diana
I’m not a fan of the DCEU. I think they make capeflicks the wrong way. Sure, i absolutely understand there is artistic merit in he creation process and i do love a different interpretation of a character but there are certain elements that absolutely have to hit in order to make your version of the character, true to the core character. Spider-Man is a geek, Iron Man is an arrogant asshole with a heart of gold, and cap is a roided out boy scout. Unless the character has some nebulous history, like Donna Troy or Captain Marvel, the blue print for creating the characters is right there. Someone needs to be in charge to make sure you follow the plan. someone needs to be the one to reel you in when you stray too far from what’s been established before you go from Batman to Rorschach I know it sounds like i don’t like DC but that’s not true. I love them. Not as much as Marvel but i still dig their stories. Mostly. Hell, The Dark Knight is one of my all-time favorite films. I’m not saying they need to be as good as that but at least give me recognizable version of the characters, especially when there are excellent adaptions like this out there for comparison. Just because you CALL your movie a Superman movie, doesn’t mean it IS a Superman movie, ya dig? With that in mind, here’s hat i thought of Wonder Woman 1984.
The Good
Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman hits it out of the ark. This is the best I've ever seen her act in her short career. Look, i know she’s been doing it for a while now, but it's be honest; Wonder Woman is literally the strongest role she’s had to date. The emotional complexity of Diana Prince is easily the most nuanced character Gadot has ever played to this point and it took a while for her to really nail that as a reality. WW84 really demonstrates how Gadot has finally found a happy medium between her acting ability and the strengths of the character. I was a little sus when she was cast originally but immediately got on board when it turned out that she as the best thing about BvS. Since then, shes continued to grow with the character and seeing the ultimate version of her interpretation was a joy to watch.
Chris Pine as Steve Trevor was Chris Pine. Look, he’s great at his job. Dude knows his range and he stays in that lane perfectly. This makes his characters kind of same-t, you’d be hard-pressed to tell me the difference between Trevor and his version of Kirk, but I'm not mad either way. It’s always a delight seeing he show up to steal a few scenes then disappearing before overstaying his welcome.
I legitimately love the chemistry between Gadot and Pine. They are great together onscreen and it really lends a bit of authenticity to their relationship in the film. The way Trevor returns is wonky as f*ck and I'll get into that in a minute, but it was good to see him up there with Diana, for sure.
Pedro Pascal as this version of Maxwell Lord was pretty okay. I generally enjoy Pascal’s work, specifically on The Mandalorian and GoT, and he executes here to that inspired degree. He does an able job being a different kind of foil to Diana’s different kind of hero and it all works. Even if this version of the character does not.
Kristen Wiig’s Barbara Minerva was delightful. Look, i love Wiig, man. She’s great in everything she’s in. There is a charisma to her that only the very best SNL alumni can claim to have and it makes it really difficult not to root for Wiig in her projects. I mean, i paid money to see her version of Ghostbusters! Legit disappointed with that nonsense but i went because i like Wiig and she was the star. I was not disappointed in her performance as Minerva. No, she was exceptional as that character. I was, however, put off by her version of Cheetah but I'll get to that, too...
This movie is gorgeous. I’m an Eighties baby so seeing that whole aesthetic is always fun. Takes me back to when i was young. Part of the reason i love Stranger Things is because of that nostalgia. WW84 doesn’t execute as thoroughly as that show in their Reagan era retro run, but it’s serviceable. Big hair, big shoulders, big colors; It’s all there and it’s fantastic.
The effects are a little hit or miss but, overall, they’re okay. Certain aspects of this film’s super abilities, that fantastical sh*t which makes this a capeflick, could have been visualized better but i get why they weren’t. Most of my gripes with this type of stuff are nitpicks and you get over them pretty quickly. Most, not all.
Patty Jenkins is getting more and more comfortable behind the camera in films like this. The action in WW84 is much more detailed, much better shot, than in it’s predecessor. Free from Snyder’s grimdark influence, we have a relatively bright, relatively light, take on Wondy akin to the old camp from the Seventies show and i kind of dig it. It’ a choice and i commend Jenkins for making it.
The score is great. I mean, it’s Hans Zimmer, man. When does he ever drop the ball on sh*t like this? His score is actually incredibly important to this flick. There’s not a lot of action in it, thing is almost a character study or morality parable dressed up as a capeflick, so you need that extra impact to get you over the expository hump. Simmer delivers this with a delicate and powerful companion soundtrack. One could make the argument that this score is the best thing about Wonder Woman 84. I’m not, but one could.
The Monkey's Paw effect was executed pretty well in this flick. I was surprised by the level of escalation and how it all kind of made sense. I'd say that the writing was great because of that but it really isn't, just this one aspect.
That Lynda Carter cameo, tho.
The Bad
I hate this plot so much, man. The overall narrative is goddamn convoluted and a little inept. The primary conflict seems incredibly forced and the absolute hurdles this thing had to do in order to shoehorn Trevor back into the story is f*cking disappointing. It’s effectively Heaven Can Wait with Amazons, magic wishes, furry nudity, and Eighties excess. This sounds like a dope ass anime but it’s not. It’s a wonky, uneven, adequate time spent with contrived nonsense.
This is easily some of the weakest dialogue I've ever heard in my life. I cannot stress enough that I absolutely understand this is a capeflick so I'm not expecting Shakespeare but at least give me something better than this.
I hate this version of Maxwell Lord. Look, in the book, this dude was evil Batman. He bested the entire Justice league, every last one of them, with his sheer brilliance and terrifying capability. He achieved absolute victory over DC’s heroes prompting Diana to literally break his neck to rob him of his triumph. It’s wild to see. She actually thinks about it. Wonder Woman pauses, contemplates her options, and them murders Lord in cold blood, in front of Superman, and just walks away from dude’s corpse! It was brutal and understand. Maxwell Lord was a f*cking problem and he was only going to get worse. WW84′s version is not a problem and could have been much, much, better.
Full-blown Cheetah is gross looking. The effects for her wholly CG body are f*cking terrible, man. Obviously, they frame this “fight” at night to hide all of that but it’s still really, really, bad. I understand that there’s a budget that you have to hit but, f*ck, you couldn’t give me Rebirth version of Cheetah with two hundred million dollars? Word? I shouldn’t be surprised about this, all of the DCEU CG villains look like sh*t, but how hard is it to execute Cheetah properly? The Mortal Kombat guys did it for a game but you can’t do it for a movie? Really?
This feels like a throwback capeflick and i have a real issue with that. Of course, i like the old versions of superhero movies. Donner’s Superman and Burton’s Batman will always mean a great deal to me but we are beyond that now. We have a better understanding of how to do this now. It’s a legitimate film genre with prestige pieces and everything. Why the f*ck are we looking back instead of forward with this movie? I imagine the cartoonish nature of this movie was a conscious choice by Jenkins but it definitely feels like a miscalculation on her part.
There are a great many plot holes and loose threads left unexplored. Why didn't Barbara lose her powers when Maxwell lost his? That convoy really didn't see them f*cking kids in the road? How and why did she go full Cheetah for that matter? Why does Steve look like himself to Diana when he doesn't even look like himself to himself? How the f*ck did Barbara just walk into the whole ass White House like that? While on the the subject of Barbara, what the f*ck was the cost of her wish? Was the the Cheetah thing? None of that was very clear. Will Stagg get out of prison for the tax fraud thing in the beginning? I get that I shouldn't b e analyzing this movie to the extent that I am but it's so loose with its own internal logic, I can't help it.
Two and a half hours is a real big ask, man. This flick did not need this run time. You could easily trim thirty to forty minutes off this thing and still have a really compelling watch. As it is, there's too much time for the pacing to get dumb and, boy, does it get dumb.
The Verdict
Wonder Woman 1984 isn’t a Wondy flick. It’s a generic superhero vehicle that happens to have Diana slotted in the pole position. You could have put any character and their main love interest in these roles and it would have worked out fine with little to no tweaking. This sequel feels uninspired in a lot of ways. It’s completely devoid of the emotional weight that first run carried. I can’t say it’s terrible, though, because i know what else is in the catalog to this point. WW84 is still one of the best in the DCEU and that says way more about the franchise than it does this flick. It’s not all bad, however. I did enjoy Gadot as Wondy. She’s come a long way and you can see just how comfortable she is as Diana. Chris Pine is going to Chris Pine. His Steve Trevor is, once again, the best thing about this movie. Rather, his and Gadot’s chemistry is the best thing about this movie. The newcomers are pretty okay as well.
I always enjoy Pedro Pascal and this version of Maxwell Lord ain’t terrible but it is way too different from the core character for me to really get on board Just write a different character, you know? Nothing on the page about this version of Lord, come anywhere near the violent mastermind from the books and i think that’s a very real missed opportunity. I was a little sus of the Kristen Wiig casting for Barbara Minerva but she pulled it off. I really enjoyed her as Cheetah literally until she actually be Cheetah. i was curious why the marketing refused to show her in full-blown Cheetara mode and, when i saw it, i understood. They should have let those effects cook a little longer. That’s the theme of this entire flick, though, wen i think about it; Sh*t should have cooked a little longer.
WW84 is a decent watch, if a little long in the tooth. It;s mad campy, saccharine sweet at points, and is definitely a capeflick envisioned through the eyes of a woman. It’s not bad, mind you, it’s just not that good, either. Everything seems almost but not quite. The villains are almost compelling but not quite. Diana’s entire arc in this seems almost cathartic but not quite. The necessity of Steve Trevor seems justified but not quite. This thing just misses the mark and yet, somehow, it’s still one of the best in the DCEU catalog. hat sh*t just boggles my mind, man. If you know your Amazonian lore like i do, this film can be frustrating at time. If you’re a fan of the DCEU, you’ll probably enjoy this flick. If you’re a fan of this version of the Wondy myths, then 84 is definitely for you. There is enough other stuff here to entertain and distract so it’s an okay time overall. The first one is still the best out of the lot, though.
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catwhite7-blog · 4 years
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This match is much harder compared to the initial, and you'll get on its own degree or happily die trying.
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tenorbox0-blog · 4 years
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This match is much harder compared to the initial, and you will receive on its degree or thankfully pass away trying.
hentai porn games is maybe not to be trifled with. Construction on the initial tough-as-nails reputation, Team Ninja's second samurai action rpg extends the original's penchant for penalizing and highly nuanced combat. The sequel hones the initial distinctive spin about the Souls-like without entirely obliterated itself. The outcome is a long, tough slog that will push the many challenge-hungry players to their splitting things as they fight for every inch of ground and become master samurai. Inspite of the title, sexgames can be really a prequel, showing the secret background of the decades-long phase of war from ancient Japan. Since the quiet, glamorous hero Hide, you struggle to uncover the trick character of"spirit stones," that grant unnatural power, and defeat hordes of all Yokai round the nation. The plot, which you chiefly hear through cut scenes and exposition in between missions, posseses an intriguing historic bent, but it is really just glue to hold the degrees together. Historically pertinent titles such as Nobunaga and Tokugawa engage in into the saga, but whatever flavor they add from the minute hastens the moment you require control and it is the right time to start killing elephants. But that's okay. adultsexgames's narrative gives just enough time that you check out together with force you to truly feel like you are making progress without getting in the method of the game play. gamesofdesire's definitive element is its own challenge. With center mechanisms refined from your bones of dim Souls, adult online games boils down to a series of battles and duels in a myriad of conditions. These conflicts demand powerful precision: Not only are the attacks and skills limited by a stamina meter--termed Ki--but some excess attack or mis-timed movement will probably leave you vulnerable, often to a attack that'll give you a significant quantity of well being. As with other Souls-like games, there's a painful joy in controlling all rivals the match throws your way. game of desire builds to the beautifully diverse scope of options for having a personalized fighting fashion. The original systems return: Each one of the nine weapon types supplies a distinctive balance amid rate, electricity, and range, that you simply may fine the fly by either switching one of several stances (lower, mid, and higher ). Each weapon type has its own personal skill shrub along with development, for that you earn points by using it. The center weapon fight remains mainly unchanged against the original, outside a few brand new skills and also two brand new weapons types, the speedy two-handed Switchglaive and really speedy double-hatchets. Nevertheless the fight is extremely precise. sex games necessitates that you are in possession of a profound comprehension of most of the attacks your weapon(s) could do, but there is a wide range of attacks and also they each set their own spin on how you fight.
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Additionally, there are multiple general skill timber, plus temperament degrees that raise your stats based on earning Amrita from murdering enemies. Additionally, adult games online can be a loot game, and that means you'll always be looking at brand new weapons using trade offs that tweak your own stats. It has a lot to control, however, it becomes manageable as you find your specialization and focus on updating the knowledge you would like you like making use of. For 3d hentai games vets, that's all old hat: adult porn games's biggest additions revolve around the notion that conceal can station Yokai spirits. The most crucial is a hard parry referred to as the Burst Counter, which permits you to counter powerful enemy attacks. Every single enemy has a minumum of 1 attack which is vulnerable to the countertops; they're usually big, powerful motions that you'll be enticed to complete. Fighting that impulse and also throwing your self at your enemy to reverse the wave of struggle for an instant is vital, which makes the combat feel more tactical and competitive. At as soon as when you set a enemy squeezing a burst attack, you are feeling successful, as you have gotten one more on your opponent, even for a moment. As the match is very hard, these minor successes help induce you forward. You also learn Yokai abilities via equippable Spirit Cores that make it possible for you to momentarily transform into the enemies you have murdered touse among of the strikes. Greater than Ninjutsu and magical, which return from your original, Soul Cores add a much wider selection of contextually useful skills. For instance, as the Monkey Yokai Enki, you jump into the atmosphere and toss a spear, that will be quite novel as sex games will not have a jump button. When the Yo-Kai capture greater --each and every boss offers you a Spirit Core--sometimes a giant head or fist or foot appears to maim your enemies. They aren't so powerful which you could lean onto them to win a fight, however these expertise widely expand the array of things you could do. Last but most certainly not least, gamesofdesire includes a super-powerful"Yo Kai Alter" transformation, which makes you stronger and faster. Triggering the conversion doesn't obviate the need for tactics. Though you're invulnerable, equally using strikes and taking damage reduce the quantity of time you've got on your stronger shape. A failed attack in Yokai manner not just simplifies a strong, gradually charging strength, but might also leave you unexpectedly vulnerable when you revert to a previous self as your competitor caught you off-guard. In true adultsexgames fashion, even your best advantage could develop into a chance for the own enemy to get the top hand. This is lots to learn and, once again, you need to receive down it to over come exactly what adultsexgames yells at you. Now you will likely earn a whole lot of mistakes and die many, many times. Some times it will feel just like you've hit a solid brick wall and also simply can not triumph. In many circumstances, you have to have a deep breath, determine the reason you're failing, and adjust the strategy to match. Refusing to modify firearms or take dangers or otherwise be considerate about how you play will render you annoyed. The more frustrated you get, the more likely you are going to drop again. Learning your skillset is simply part of this adventure. To really shine, in addition you need to know hentai porn games's extensive environment. There's an immense quantity of amount across a very long campaign. Its twisting, multi-area missions interval a myriad of surroundings, from burning off temples and castles, to armed forces crews, into forests and mountain sides. A number change radically because you research themgiving you a good sense of"travel" and achievement for covering what feels like a long period. One early level, by way of instance, commences to a hillside outside a castle plus ends at a enormous underground cave. Even when the levels seem like you only siege a few castles across 20 campaign assignments --diverse degree design in both pathing and detail make each one feel distinct and values conquering. It will help that the maps are somewhat more than twisty, turny dungeon crawls. Many have a minumum of a single area having a exceptional trap or environmental conundrum. At 1 forest amount, for instance, a huge owl Yo Kai patrols certain places, alerting enemies if it sees you. During a castle siege, you have to dodge artillery fireplace as you duel enemy soldiers. Also, you can find Black Realm zones, black and white spots haunted by Yo Kai that provide a level increased challenge by slowing down your Ki regeneration, then sprinkled throughout each level. It truly is only by defeating a specific enemy at a Black Forest that it will dispel eternally, injecting more ways for you to earn progress that doesn't reset when you use a shrine (or expire ). For many its variety, hentai porn games stretches all of its content just as much as it can. For every mission in its core effort, you can find just two to 3 unwanted assignments, many which re mix a part of the narrative mission. In addition to that, you will find rotating Twilight Missions for high end people. Plus, upon finishing the campaign, you are going to receive entry to a difficulty degree with higher-level enemies along with gear. When it can be a bit annoying in-principle to play exactly the same part of the level a few instances, every variation finds modest strategies to modify your course and also present new problems to keep things clean. If you should be interested in wringing out everything out of game of desire--learn just about every weapon, get the maximum degree loot--that there are more than enough mission configurations to proceed and soon you have had your fill. Likewise, 3d hentai games never seems to run out of fresh enemies to throw . Almost every degree has a minumum of one new kind of Yokai that you study and fight in opposition to. They run the gamut, from Deadly giant spiders to animalistic sonic soldiers such as the Enki, a huge monkey having a spear, and the harpy-like Ubume. Every enemy has got its own assortment of skills, and also you want to know everything about them to be able to anticipate their attacks and receive the upper hand. This practice takes timeyou won't obtain it on the first take to, and even following the very first victory. Every enemy, even the tiny Gaki demon, which resembles a balding, redeyed little one, can eliminate you when you're not attracting the a game. Dissecting enemy layouts and figuring out out how to counter these would be the sweetest joy hentai porn games provides: That there are many enemies using so many distinct strikes to navigate be certain that the game never loses its own flavor. Even if the degrees seem similar--you just siege a few castles round 20 marketing campaign assignments --diverse degree design in both pathing and detail make each and every one feel distinct and values beating. You see this most certainly when you move up against each of the match's extremely difficult boss experiences. Like the numbers, the bosses fluctuate broadly and so are typical sights . In a giant spider having mini-snake arms into some three-story spider with a bull's head, every single flagship enemy style and design has a lot of character and so is similar to anything you have seen from the match before. All of them have something in common, though: They are incredibly tough. Even more than ordinary battles, the bosses effectively require perfect drama for a protracted time period. You have to be able to recognize every movement that they make as they make it know just how exactly to respond immediately. Hardly any took me less than several dozen attempts, and several of them took me multiple hours. Sometimes I thought if maybe a few of these bosses ought to be just a little shorter, since you can find many bosses wherever I felt I had mastered their own patterns however couldn't finish as they landed one one-hit-kill overdue at the fight. Eventually, that agonizing trouble and also the feeling it evokes are baked into gamesofdesire's DNA, though, and its supervisor struggles stay persuasive even when they vex and frustrate. Though it feels like a curse as you possibly can play, it is really a testament that hentai porn games successfully catches and holds your entire focus so close for such a long time term.
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