#and ended up taking a break to game that’s landed me going on an Evil Within kick and trophy hunt for TEW & TEW 2 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

queen-of-the-avengers · 9 months

Text

Shine Bright

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Star!Reader

Word Count: ~4k

Warnings: fluff, angst, being kidnapped and almost killed, but then fluff again

Summary: Hydra wants to reign eternally, and the best way to do that is to eat a falling star's heart. They knock you out of orbit but didn't expect the Avengers to find you first.

Squares Filled: stars (2021) for @buckybarnesbingo

Author’s Note: This takes place during or after FATWS, but I've made John evil, and everyone who died post-Endgame is alive and well.

I am absolutely in love with the movie "Stardust", so I decided to base this story on that! The picture down below DOES NOT represent the reader at all, I just wanted to showcase the movie.

The sky above is still and peaceful. There isn’t a cloud in sight that allows visibility to whoever looks up at it. John Walker looks through the telescope and positions it on the star Hydra is targeting. If he wasn’t on a mission right now, he’d appreciate the stars shining brightly for their human audience.

“John, is everything in position?”

“On my end. What about yours?”

John looks at his coworker who is in charge of the missile they plan on using for this mission. The man tweaks the numbers and aligns them with the correct star.

“We’re ready.”

All eyes turn to Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. She is in charge of this whole operation under the assumption this is for the CIA. She sits at the large desk in the middle of the room, leans back, and rests her hands in her lap.

“Fire away, gentlemen.”

John and his coworker turn the machine on and launch the missile at the star. John rushes over to the telescope and watches as it flies into the sky, breaks off into tiny pieces, and zooms straight into the heart of the star. Instead of blowing it up like most missiles do, it knocks the star off its orbit and sends it straight down to Earth. Whatever John is seeing through the telescope, everyone can see on the monitors in the room so that Valentina can see what’s going on.

Everyone watches it fall straight to Earth to a place they don’t know. They can’t predict the crash site for something as big as a star but it won’t be hard to track it down. Once they figure out where it is, they’ll have so much fun dissecting it for what they truly need it for.

It was Tony’s idea that the entire team kick back and relax after a hard working week. Sam and Wanda brought out the board games that can account for a lot of people since everyone lives at the compound. The only one not here is Thor but that’s because he has duties to complete on Asgard.

“Okay, this time, don’t cheat,” Tony says to Sam.

“Hey, that was one time and I was trying to get Steve.”

The game they’re playing is Cards Against Humanity, something they all love to play—adult edition. What’s a good night in with alcohol and friends if not for an inappropriate game?

“Bucky, you in or not?”

“Yeah, pass me some cards.”

With everyone on board, the game can get started. The first few rounds were hilarious and the next couple was causing a lot of people to drink. Tony loves to put a spin on his games. If he can get people to drink, then a lot of people are getting drunk. By the tenth round, everyone is relaxed and willing to kick things up a notch.

Tony brings out a Truth or Dare drinking game when something bright lights up the night sky.

“What the hell is that?” Clint asks.

Everyone gets up and gathers around the window to watch it fall to the ground. It lands not far from the Avenger’s Compound but far enough to where they can’t see it.

“Tony, Sam, let’s check it out,” Steve says seriously.

Tony and Sam get suited up while Steve fetches his shield. Steve catches a ride with Tony to travel two hours from the Compound in Madison County. There is a big crater on the ground from the impact of the white light, and the three men tread carefully over to it. Steve’s shield is in front of him ready to protect him, Sam’s drone, Redwing, flies next to him cautiously, and Tony’s repulsors are ready and waiting to be fired.

Tony expected to see some kind of weapon in the middle of the crater but instead of a thing, it’s a person--you. You’re wearing a white dress that goes down to your feet, and you have a white glow about you. You groan in pain just as the light dies down and you look up at the three men staring at you.

“What the hell happened?” you ask.

You look to the sky to see your sisters shining in the night sky. How the hell did you get from up there to down here?

“Who are you?” Steve asks.

“My name is Y/N. Who are you?”

“Steve, Tony, and Sam. What happened here?”

“I don’t know. One minute I was shining in the sky and the next I’m down here and in pain.”

“Shining in the sky?”

“I’m a star. I was minding my own business and someone knocked me out of orbit.”

Steve, Tony, and Sam walk down the crater’s walls and toward you cautiously. They still don’t know if you’re good or not until you get up and reveal what’s been behind you this whole time. A shell of a missile that has the Hydra symbol on the side of it.

“We need to get her inside. If Hydra wants her, then she must be special. We can’t just leave her here.”

“Leave me here? What the hell is going on here?”

“If Hydra wants you, it’s for a reason. We should get you inside before they come looking for you.”

Going with them beats sitting here and waiting for someone bad to find you. Everyone who was left behind waits eagerly for the men’s return, and they’re shocked when they return with a gorgeous woman. You’re scared of the many unknowns of your situation: who are these people? What do they want from you? Who is after you? Are you in danger? Will these people hurt you?

“Who is this?” Natasha asks.

“The white light.”

“Here, sit,” Steve offers, and you take a seat away from everyone else. He knows you’re scared so he’s trying to make this as easy as possible for you. “She’s a star.”

“A star?” Bucky asks with two eyebrows raised.

“As I said to them earlier, I was living peacefully in the sky when something knocked me out of orbit.”

“Hydra knocked her out of the sky. They must want a star.”

“Why? What’s so significant about a star?” Bucky asks.

“There’s lore around shooting stars,” you explain. “For centuries, people have tried to get stars to fall to Earth for their hearts. If our hearts are consumed, it’ll grant the person a sort of immortality. No one can live forever, but our hearts can extend life for centuries. Many of my sisters have fallen and died because of it.”

“Hydra must want to reign for a long time,” Steve theorizes. “Listen, why don’t you stay here until we can figure out how to get you back into the sky.”

“Can we even do that?” Natasha wonders.

“There’s a way. It’s complicated but there’s always a way.”

“Bucky, why don’t you show her to the room next to yours.”

“Sure.”

“Thank you,” you sigh and follow the man with a metal arm. He’s very quiet and doesn’t talk much which you relate to. “I appreciate your kindness.”

“Sure. Let me know if you need anything.”

Bucky leaves you alone in the room and you sit on the bed in thought. You never sleep at night and allow yourself to rest during the day so you’re not tired at all. Bucky looks at you before he leaves but pauses. You look so scared and nervous that he can’t help but walk back into the room to be with you. He sits next to you on the bed and wipes both hands on his jeans.

“I was once new here. I didn't know anyone besides Steve. I’m gonna help you figure out a way to get you home.”

“Thank you,” you smile.

The rest of the night is uneventful but right before the sun rose, your eyes started to droop. All of your sisters are sleeping as you’re supposed to be, but the Avengers are so loud you can’t fathom sleeping with this noise. If Hydra wants you then they must have a base somewhere to hold the equipment to knock a star out of orbit. All that equipment will take a lot of money to acquire and a lot of space to hold, so they all come up with places that can be potential bases.

“Ah, there she is. We need your help,” Tony says and waves you into the room.

“What are you guys doing?” you sigh and slump over to them.

“We’re trying to figure out where Hydra’s base is. If we can, then we can plan an attack before they try and come for you.”

“Great,” you sit down and place your chin in your hand.

All of them start talking over one another creating a small headache to form.

“Y/N, I know you’re tired but can you remember where the missile came from? If we can get a sense of direction, we can narrow potential places significantly.”

“I’m not tired, Steve, I’m exhausted. I never stay awake during the day. I need to sleep and rest but you’re all being so loud,” you sigh.

“Come with me,” Bucky offers.

Bucky leads you past both your rooms and to a wing of the compound that rarely is used. This place is the farthest from where anyone is gonna be. There is a spare bedroom down here that Bucky takes you to, and he opens the door for you.

“You’ll be able to get some sleep here. I come here when I want to be alone. It’s quiet.”

“Thank you, Bucky,” you smile.

Your entire body shines slightly to show how happy you are but Bucky doesn’t think much of it. You’re a star. You’re supposed to be shining. All he does is give you a friendly smile and leave you alone to rest. It’s easy for you to fall asleep and you stay asleep for the whole day. When the sun goes down, your body wakes you up to start shining. Then you remember where you are and your glow dims.

You’re ready to take the night on and wander until you find the majority of the Avengers. They’ve been working hard all day to figure out where the Hydra base is and are now taking a break to watch a movie.

“Hey, sleepyhead,” Tony says when you enter the room.

“Got room for one more?”

Bucky moves over so you can sit next to him, and you blush slightly when your leg brushes up against his.

“Did you find out where Hydra is located?”

“No. They have defense walls that aren’t coming up on our radars, but we have Friday constantly looking for a way in.”

“Who’s Friday?”

“My AI,” Tony answers.

He turns the movie up so everyone can hear it, and you turn to Bucky with a shy smile.

“Thank you for letting me use your space,” you whisper.

“I don’t mind.”

“What movie are you guys watching?”

“Dumb and Dumber. They love it.”

You try to get into the movie but you’re not connecting to it as much as you hope to. Everyone laughs at the same time when something funny happens but not you. You’re not sure if you fit in well with this group. Humans have always been part of your fascination but you only know of the evolution of them, not them personally.

“Excuse me,” you whisper and get up.

Bucky watches you walk off toward our room without another word. He knows more than most what trying to fit in feels like and how bad he can feel when he doesn’t. He leaves his friends and follows you to your room. You’re sitting on the balcony and staring at the night sky where your sisters are.

“I promise I’m coming home. I’m figuring out a way to do that,” you sigh.

They twinkle to let you know they hear you.

“Mind if I join you?” Bucky knocks on the balcony doors.

“No.”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m not really a group person.” Bucky sits next to you on the lounge chair. “I’m more of a loner. I didn’t have any planets orbiting me, and the closest star to me is my sister Vega. She’s such a sweetheart.”

“Yeah, I’m more of a loner, too.”

“My sisters are the only ones I can count on, and they’re watching over me right now to make sure I’m okay.”

Bucky looks up and they twinkle so he can see where they’re located.

“When you were in the sky, could you watch over humans?”

“It was my favorite thing to do. I’ve watched humans grow since they first arrived. I see the value in human life because it ends. They’ve come a long way from where they first started.”

“I’ve never met a star before. You’re pretty nice and beautiful.”

Your body shines a bit at his compliment.

“Thank you. Stars are pure and innocent despite the violence and horrors we see on a daily basis. We represent everything good about the world. We represent beauty.”

“I can tell,” he smiles.

Your body shines a bit more the more you are happy being here with Bucky. The stars in the sky shine a bit brighter when they see their sister happy.

Hydra hasn’t made a move against the Avengers over the course of the following week because they’re not sure how they can approach the situation. Valentina knows exactly where the star is and she can’t charge in like she normally would. The Avengers are powerful that deserve careful planning and strategy to overcome.

Meanwhile, you and Bucky have grown closer. When you’re not sleeping, you’re spending as much time with Bucky as you can. There is only a short amount of time you can spend with him before one of you needs to sleep. In the beginning, you were only allowed a couple of hours to be with him, but now you’re spending half a day with him. You’re slowly starting to fall asleep later in the morning and waking up later in the night. It’s something you’re willing to change in order to be with Bucky.

“Tell me something,” Bucky says.

You two are lying on the roof of the building admiring the night sky which is sure to come soon. Your skin is glowing brightly that if whoever were to look up at the roof, they’d see nothing but a white glow.

“What?” you ask and look at him.

“I know that stars shine but do you get to choose when you get to? I’ve seen you with and without.”

“I shine when I’m happy,” you say with a bright smile, “and I’m happy right now with you.”

You and Bucky stay on the roof until there is no more sunlight left in the sky, and you yawn tiredly.

“Tired?”

“A little bit.”

“Let’s go back inside.”

You and Bucky head back inside your room to get ready for the night, and you look at your bed in thought.

“You know, I haven’t been sleeping well. I’ve been transitioning into sleeping at night so I’m still struggling a bit. I might be able to sleep better if it were next to you.”

Bucky holds his flesh hand out, too scared to use his metal hand for fear of breaking you. He takes you to his room where you two get comfortable underneath the sheets. He’s shocked he can sleep with you shining next to him but it gives him a sense of comfort knowing you feel safe enough with him to shine.

The next morning, you wake with a smile on your face and your skin glowing.

“This is the first time I slept through the night.” You look beside you but Bucky isn’t there. The brightness dims on your skin until it looks normal. “Bucky?” You get up and walk around the compound in search of Bucky, and you find him in the main room where the other Avengers are. “What’s going on?”

“We found Hydra’s base. Nat’s gonna stay here with you,” Tony declares.

Your eyes immediately find Bucky’s.

“You’re not gonna stay here with me?”

“I know Hydra like the back of my hand. I have to go with them.”

“Oh, okay.”

Tony, Steve, Bucky, Wanda, and Sam get geared up to go while you and Natasha stay behind. She’s decked in her gear just in case something happens. She has the capabilities to keep you safe since you’re not a fighter--you’re a lover. You don’t think you could fight even if you wanted to.

“So, how long have you been with the team?” you ask.

“Too long.” You look away in thought and bounce your leg nervously. “Look, I haven’t known Bucky for very long but he’s trying. He used to be one of the bad guys but he’s doing a helluva lot more good to make up for the bad. He knows how to handle Hydra. He’s going to be okay.”

“I know,” you nod with uncertainty.

You and Natasha make conversation for the next couple of hours when the alarms start blaring inside the compound.

“Stay here.”

“You’re leaving me alone?” you gasp.

“I’m sure it’s nothing. Just stay here and don’t move. I’ll be right back.”

Natasha is gone before you have a chance to question her further. You wait nervously for her to come back because you have no clue where she is, what’s going on, and who is inside the compound. After an hour of waiting around, you get up and look out the window. Everything seems normal as if there isn't an intruder inside. Footsteps near the room you’re in, ad you turn to the door waiting to see Natasha.

The door opens and you smile.

“I was beginning to worry.”

The smile is lost when you see a strange woman with four soldiers around her.

“So was I. The easy part was tracking you down. Stars have a bit of… aura about them that is easily tracked. The hard part was infiltrating this place. I had to make sure I had all my bases covered. You’re coming with us.”

“No,” you stand your ground.

“No? Emilio.” One of the men takes out a tablet from one of the pockets and flips it open. He presses a few buttons and shows you what’s on the screen. All your friends are tied with Hydra soldiers all around them. Of course, you’re worried about all of them but you can’t help but look at Bucky. “Either come with me or your friends will be killed.”

You have no choice but to go with her.

The woman, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, leads you through the large Hydra base to a big room with a staircase leading up to a small landing. A large table is on the landing with a medical cart next to it. There is nothing but different sizes of knives--knives that will be used to cut your heart out.

“A shining star’s heart is the way to go, but I’ll settle for your scared little one any day of the year.” You’re only doing this because you’re scared of what these people are going to do to Bucky if you fight back. You’re forced onto the table where Valentina straps you down so you’re not tempted to leave. “Don’t worry, darling. I’ll make sure to make it quick and painless.”

She grabs one of the sharpest knives and walks over to you. You close your eyes and send a quick prayer to your sisters in hopes they can hear you. She raises her knife when the double doors slam open. You both look to see Bucky storming in with his deadly gun.

“Bucky!” you smile and shine brightly at the sight of him.

“Get him!” Valentina orders.

A dozen guards make their way into the room and start shooting at Bucky who is more than prepared to handle them. Bullets fly as your concern for Bucky grows. However, he seems to beat every single one of them as he makes his way closer to you.

“Emilio!” Valentina yells.

The big guy who was with her earlier steps into the room with two charged electric gloves. His metal armor makes him immune to the bullets Bucky is firing at him, and he gives him an uppercut when he reaches him. Bucky goes flying across the room and uses his vibranium arm to slow his descent down the walkway.

Emilio and Bucky meet in the middle as they fistfight for your honor. There is no way Valentina is cutting your heart out now. She wants to see how this fight is gonna end. She is pretty confident that her soldier is going to win against the Winter Soldier, but oh how wrong she is. The double doors bust open and Wanda comes in with red magic at her fingertips. Tony and Steve are behind her ready to fight whoever they need to in order to save you.

Red magic encases Emilio to hold him still while Bucky delivers a deadly punch to the bottom of his jaw. Emilio is thrown across the room and knocks into a mirror, and he slides down it unconsciously. Valentina sees the urgency of the situation and raises the knife.

“Tony, heads up.”

Steve rears his shield back and throws it in Valentina’s direction, and Tony shoots his repulsors at the shield to make it fly the rest of the way. Valentina tries to escape but is hit before she can find coverage. She falls to the ground completely knocked out. Bucky runs up the staircase and over to you with an easy smile.

“You really thought I’d let you get sacrificed?”

“I’m glad you’re okay.”

Bucky undoes your ties and helps you off the table, and the both of you run down the staircase to the other Avengers. Before you can reach them, all the doors that lead into the room slam open. Dozens upon dozens of guards come in with their weapons, weapons that can kill everyone here. There are too many guards for Wanda to control and too many for them to take on.

They might not be able to but you can. You pull Bucky into you and wrap your arms around his neck.

“Hold onto me and close your eyes.”

“Why?”

“What do stars do best?” You pull him down so that his face is nestled into the shape of your neck. “They shine.”

Your entire body shines with the intensity of a real star. Your teammates cover their eyes to protect themselves but the same thing can’t be said for the Hydra soldiers. Your light kills whoever dares look into it, and the soldiers in the very back leave as quickly as they can before they can succumb to your light. You pull away from Bucky and dim your light knowing that these soldiers aren’t going to hurt them anymore.

After Valentina is apprehended and taken back to the States for punishment through the CIA, Bucky returns back to the Compound with you by his side. There is a lot of paperwork that Nick Fury has to fill out, and Tony and Steve offered to stay behind to scour through the base and see what kinds of things Hydra has been up to.

The night sky is shining brighter than normal because your sisters are happy for your safe return.

“They say thank you for saving me,” you say to Bucky.

“No problem,” he says to the sky before looking back down at you. “She’s worth saving.”

“You know, these last two weeks with you have been amazing. If I’m being honest, I’m having second thoughts about going back. I don’t want to leave you.”

“I don’t want you to leave either.”

You wrap your arms around his neck and he pulls you in closer by your hips.

“Maybe staying here for a while longer won’t be so bad.”

He slides one hand up your body to your jaw which he cups. He leans down and kisses you with such intensity that causes butterflies to erupt in your stomach. The stars twinkle in the sky as your own light shines brightly for all to see.

Follow my library blog @aqueenslibrary where I reblog all my stories, so you can put notifications on there without the extra stuff :)

192 notes · View notes

mochib3ar · 7 days

Text

I don't get how Apple is the only one who's said to be selfish ngl, yeh she is, I can't deny that but she had as much reason as other's do. I'ma rant cuz Eah tiktok has some tasteless and un-understanding rats that forms Apple hate clubs and with their only reason is Raven and Apple's constant bad decision, while completely ignoring Apple's lore to understand her motives behind them.

1st point: Raven is also selfish.

Yes. While she wanted freedom of choice that included everyone, she was risking lives at the same time by doing so. She did hesitate and consider other's going poof, but she did it anyways knowing that possibility. Good for her that no one went poof but what if they did? By that one risk she was willing to take cuz she wanted her own happily ever after(good for her for wanting it, not shaming, but that's also a selfish decision to risk the lives of others for her own).

One proof of this is Farrah Goodfairy's diary, Spoken to her by another fairy that Cedar's fairygodmother disappeared cuz she didn't want to follow her own destiny, and was told to fix the problem with Ashlynn and Hunter's romance for her to not disappear, which thankfully she didn't because she found a solution to fix it. Although mentioned as a test near the end it was still mentioned that the Cedar's fairy had undeniably disappeared.

So basically, not following ones destiny that has a fairygodmother would make their fairies disappear when their owner(whatever they're called. Partnership?) Decides to not follow their fairytale path.

Point 2: Apple's reasons.

From what I've gathered from her diary, the wiki(although untrustworthy, it's the same story as the other sites I've scouted), and also the series. She's indeed selfish, but she's a child/teenager too. After skipping a class much to Briar's encouragement(friends are like that cuz me too fr fr) and getting caught by the teacher doing so WITH THE STATUS OF BEING THE FUTURE QUEEN OF ALL THE LAND AND HAVING THE MOST IMPORTANT STORY, with expectations placed upon you from the moment you been brought out, and adults like Headmaster Grimm blackmailing you, and your mother constantly nagging you to be at your very best. You will act selfish.

But Apple is not just selfish, she considers her friends, believing that everyone would go poof, and being scared(ptsd of the well) of the uncertainty of an unsecured future. She does care, not only for herself but others. She likes order because it is secure, not just for herself but for the people she'll come to rule. She worked hard for her happily ever after, SHE DID NOT SEE IT JUST AS PASSED DOWN SHE SAW IT AS SOMETHING TO BE EARNED!!!

And she earned that well, following every rule, doing charity works for the school, considering the plans of everyone INCLUDING MADDIE. I WOULDN'T EVEN CONSIDER MADDIE IN A COUNCIL ASIDE FROM TEA TIME, SHE'D DRIVE ME NUTS WITH HER RIDDLES ESPECIALLY WHEN IT'S URGENT DAFUQ-

Anyways.

APPLE CARES! SHE DOES STUPID SHID BUT SHE'S TRAUMATIZED FROM THE UNCERTAINTY, THE LACK OF SECURITY, THE HEAVY WEIGHT OF EXPECTATIONS THAT SHE NEEDS TO UPHOLD AND BE ON PAR OR EVEN BE BETTER FOR!

AND TO TOP IT ALL OFF, IN THE DRAGON GAMES(CUZ SOMEONE MADE AN EDIT SAYING "I thought she's finally understanding" smth smth like that with the edit consisting of her words from Wonderland saying that she doesn't find evil in Raven then cut to Dragon Games where Apple becomes pushy again towards Raven) HER MOTHER NAGS HER ABOUT RAVEN CUZ APPLES POPULARITY DROPPED! I'M NOT EVEN GONNA INCLUDE HER BEING MANIPULATED TO ANGER AND THREW THAT APPLE BREAKING THE MIRROR. CUZ SHE DIDN'T EVEN WANT THAT TO HAPPEN EITHER, BUT DUE TO UNRESTRAINED ANGER SHE DID AND SHE AT LEAST HAD CONSEQUENCES FOR THAT(Raven getting angry at her).

Point 3: She loves her friends more than the world view she had.

WHAT BICH OR SELFISH PERSON DOES THAT?? 😭

The Ashlynn and Hunter thing, She was devastated. But she cared for Ash too, and when Ash broke up with Hunter because of the pressure she didn't even want that. She wanted her friend to be happy despite her disapproval of their relationship out of worry of what would happen.

She's understanding, but at the same time, still trapped in the world she was cramped into. Which had her confused on Ash dating a rebel.(I found the absolute flabbergasted confusion Apple had with Ashlynn's decision hilarious, bro was genuinely confused). And even with it she preferred her friend to be happy and lets them be.

The only times she gets pushy, as far as I've seen was with Raven. And I don't think it was just because she was a part of her destiny, Apple doesn't use tactics like her mother(what she calls as a little push) but she is pushy in terms of mentioning it.

She only speaks about it to Raven, but she doesn't force her to it. She was even upset at Headmaster Grimm for tricking Raven to sign.

And Raven understands that both their mother's were pushy just by the scene where Apple who was alright with Raven being free from destiny and doing good regardless of popularity, suddenly mention DESTINY again.

And by that what I mean is, the only reason she's THAT pushy with Raven was because Headmaster Grimm Blackmailed her to do it. Yeh she would've been mentioning it to her even without the blackmail but it probably wouldn't be that intensely.

Bro was blackmailed after acting like a normal teenager and she had no choice but to obey unless she wanted to disappoint or embarrass her mother. The thought of wasting the work they did for her and being expected to rule as perfectly as her mother despite the different shade of hair she was birthed with( which made her work further to becoming good enough to earn the title of Snow White and be a good queen to her subjects)

AND THE AUDACITY OF SOMEONE TO COMMENT "And they have to be ruled by her" BISH WHAT YOU MEAN??

BRO DID DUMB STUFF BUT SHE'S PERFECT TO RULE. NOT ONLY THAT HER FRIENDS LOVE HER TOO EVEN WITH STRAINED ALTHOUGH BUILT UP RELATIONSHIPS THEY HAD WITH EACH OTHER.

She ain't even Evil, bro suffered under rules and pressuring adults. (ESPECIALLY THE HEADMASTER, BLACKMAIL?? REALLY?? Snow is an exception, they have a good relationship but some mother's like her just straight up act like that, oh and the duties they need to uphold, that's a plus for Snow's not open-minded world view. But she's not a terrible mother, she's pressuring tho that's for sure.)

That's enough for me. I just got annoyed by the fact that OH LOOK RAVEN'S SO NICE(she is, not saying she isn't) AND APPLE'S A COMPLETE BISH yadayadayada. LIKE HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT ABOUT HAVING THAT HUGE BURDEN TO CARRY?? What if Raven didn't sign and because of a reckless decision(although cautious, she still did it) everyone started disappearing?? CUZ WHO WOULD KNOW IF THEY WOULD OR NOT DISAPPEAR. And just because of not wanting to risk that to happen Apple was called a selfish bish. THE DRAGON GAMES! YES SHE HAD A SELFISH DECISION! But during the preparation of the floats for thronecoming APPLE HAD A POINT! Raven was Selfish and due to that everyone, not only their stories could go poof!

Would love to know your thoughts. :3 ❤️

#apple white #eah #applewhite #'she was such a bitch to raven and so manipulative and vain' babygirl she was forced into that by every adult around her and grew out of it #raven queen #I love them both stfudgeup #😤❤️

24 notes · View notes

theworldofkirby · 5 months

Text

i adore you, noble haltmann… (president haltmann x reader fanfic)

A/N: hai guys i wrote a haltmann/rader fic as a kind of sequel to the dedede dating simulator bc i dont feel like coding another game to make a haltmann dating sim so take this haltmann x reader fic instead

ok so like u are in dream land right??? well :) it was taken over by capitalizm!!!!1 omg

you, (y/n) the SEXIEST freak in planet plopstar is almost crushed by one of those leg things on the haltmann works company star dream thingy ok? yea so you dodge that and like… there's a window or somethin and a guy falls out of there

you watch as he falls. he falls for like 10 minutes. but then he lands on the ground next to you and you hear a crumch.

"ow" the male says

"omg!!!!! are u ok" u ask the masculine man

"i think i broke my pelvurouscula" he says

"omg no……" u say and hold him gently. u have magic healing powers so u heal him

"gasp" he gasped. "i don't feel like dead anymore"

he gets up and u cant help but admire he. his beautiful egg shaped bod and wicked pinstripe suit. and his luscious hair and mustache.

"newayz my name is haltmann. max profitt haltmann" he said with not a trace of happy

"haltmann….. my name is (y/n)" u smile

"ok" he says. "i have to go home. bye"

he goes into his headquarters but u follow him. u keep talking to him "um so wat are u doing? i almost died" u frowned

"oh no" haltmann says. "did i accidentally park my plant on u"

"ya" u nod

"im so frickign sorry" haltmann starts crying. "i'm such trash i cant commit capitalizm without almost killing peopel"

u frown at the egg's sadness. "dont cry haltmann…" u say comfortationally

"no it's not okay i'm shaking and crying rn. i might throw up" haltmann starts crying

haltmann cries and opens his office door and runs in and throws himself onto his bed dramatically like a sad disney princess. u enter his office and hear some haunting lyrics…

"I pull away to face the pain

I close my eyes and drift away

Over the fear that I will never find

A way to heal my soul

And I will wander 'til the end of time

Torn away from you

My heart is broken

Sweet sleep, my dark angel

Deliver us from sorrow's hold

Or from my hard heart"

u turn off haltman's ipod. "Haltmann" u say

"no my music" haltmann sobbed

"haltmann." u say again but more like… asssertively

"ouuu" haltmann screams into his pillow. "first i break my airpods and now my music is dead"

"HALTMANN" u grab him and sit him up

"what" haltmann sniffs

"whats wrong" u ask

"u see (y/n) i lost someone in da past… i forget who that was tho… but like someone died ok? and now im sad" haltmann explaines

"halmann" u look into his deep blue orbs. "i…"

"yes (y/n)?" haltmann blinks his beautiful sapphire saucers at u

"i…" u blush "i…"

"..." haltmann …ed

"i think u need to seek therapy" u gently stroke his bangs

"omg… ur right" haltmann tears up. he gives u a hug. "thank u (y/n)"

"ur welcome" u smile

"im so tired of depression. i will defeat this evil inside me. thank u (y/n)"

u get on his computer and start googling local therapists in dream land. "here's one," u say. "call them and see if they're accepting new patients"

haltmann gets his sexy cellphone out and calls the therapist. "hi mr. therapist, my name is max profitt haltmann and my friend (y/n) says i need therapy"

"ya we can take u in" says the therapit. "we will have u do an intake next month ok"

"n. next month." haltmann starts to tear up

u look at haltmann ernestly. "better late than never, haltmann… ur patience will be rewarded"

haltmann sighs haltmannly. "ok. we will do next month"

haltmann finishes scheduling his therapy appointment. u look at him with a pleased look on ur face. "that was kinda sexxy of u haltmann, working towards self care like that" u smirk and wink

haltmann blushes "haha yea i guess that is pretty sexy. um, not that i'm trying to be cool or anything" he stutters

"hey u can call urself sexy and cool all u want," u laugh. "ur epic even"

"(y/n)..." haltmann blushes. he leans in and gives u a kiss. his cute little mustache hairs tickle ur upper lip.

"teehee" u giggle. "ur mustache is so cute"

"thank u" haltmann says. "star dream says its ugly"

2 MONTHS LATER

haltmann knocks on ur door. u open it

"hi (y/n) my sweet honey bunches of oats" haltmann wraps his hands around u and dips u for a kiss

"h-haltmann" u blush "where did this come from"

"so u see, i followed thru with therapy like u suggested. little did i kno this would change my life" haltmann says. "going to therapy made me realize that i wasn't treating myself with respect, and if i want to feel respected by others, i need to develop respect for myself. without respect for myself, i won't be able to recognize gneuine respect from my friends and employees. and i cant live being so cynical anymore. i need to love myself, (y/n). i need to be my own bestie becuz who will be there for me when everyone is gone? i need to be there for myself"

u look at haltmann like this:

"haltmann… u… u mean…"

"yea. i love myself, (y/n), and its thanks to u…" haltmann kisses u again. "sory i didnt talk to you for the past 2 months btw i was depressed amd busy with therapy lol"

"its ok haltmann i love u no matter what" u stroke his egg head

"yea" haltmann nods. "um btw i like need some new music to listen to bc my therapist says i shuld stop listening to such depressing music if it makes me wallow in sadness more"

"say no more" u say as u smirk and take out of ur bookshelf a CDs of Hannah Montana 3 and the High School Musical Sountrack

u and haltmann spend the night picking out the best disney channel songs to boost his self confidence. soon enough its morning. "omg its morning" haltmann gasps

"it was nice spending the night with u haltmann" u blushed "we should do it again someday"

"no, (y/n)" haltmann gives u an onion ring "we will do it again today. marry me"

"ok" u blush

u and haltmann have a beautiful wedding with the stupidest most extravagant dress and cake bcuz hes rich. ur live happy ever after the end

#kirby #kirby series #kirby fanfic #kirby fic #president haltmann #max profitt haltmann #haltmann #y/n #fanfic #other art

30 notes · View notes

fandombird123 · 8 months

Text

My Opinion On Mortal Kombat 12

The good, the bad, and the salty.

Quick disclaimer, I am not at all a professional reviewer, this will not be formatted or written with any sense of professionalism. If you can not handle, openly simping, stupid meme references and jokes, cussing, very strong feminine opinions, or general NRS criticism maybe pass on this one.

First- Spoiler free game play advise:

Kitana's AI in story mode is brain dead, she'll be the easiest fight in the game.

Shao is pretty easy to beat as long as you don't let him hit you.

Hit boxes are wild and (maybe) broken. Basically you're gonna 'miss' a lot of shots you could have sworn you actually hit. Don't be surprised. Just keep attacking and eventually you'll land a hit.

NOW I will be spoiling the story. Sooooo SPOILDERS FROM THIS POINT ON.

The Good:

Kronika wasn't actually part of the story. Not gonna lie, they had me in the first half (I have more to say on this but those belong in the Bad and the Salty list).

Baraka, Bi Han, Reptile, Sareena, and Nitara can get it. Yes I'm being shameless right now. It's my blog.

FEMALE REPTILE! FEMALE REPTILE! (This skin better be available or I will have words)

I don't know if this was intentional, but having Sareena share a voice actress with Sindel was a cute call back to the two being originally played by the same actress during their OG games.

Baraka was really interesting and I hope he come back. He wasn't just some savage monster, he actually had a real personality and goals. It was a great evolution of his MK11 version (but I'll still miss MK11 Baraka). I want to see him progress more and get his own proper story line.

I have opinions about Hanzo in MK12, but I will compliment one thing. His new suit is bad ass. That's the only nice thing I will be saying about this topic.

Bi Han didn't die, I was quite pleasantly surprised.

With the Mortal Kombat competition never happening I believe this means Hydro is canonically alive. So Maybe Hydro in MK13?

Johnny and Kenshi's friendship was wholesome and I loved it. It was really the highlight of the game for me and I'm looking forward to another Johnny/Sonya/Kenshi team up.

The writers actually remembered Johnny's divorce. I'm shook.

Smoke is adorable and got to live through the story. I'm so proud of him and he deserves the world.

Evil Sindel's outfit was 11/10... if only there was a way to unlock it (I'll get to that later)

I like the Special Forces characters, but it was nice to get a short break from them. Gave us some time with other characters. That said I want them in the next game. I'm missing Sonya, Jax, and Kano already.

While I'm not a huge fan of the base skins (they're not bad, just not great) I loved a lot of the alternative skins shown off in the storymode look amazing and I'm hoping they're unlockable.

I was incredibly happy Raiden's old voice actor came back for this game. I'm not sure when he'll get to play Raiden again so it was nice to see him take up the roll one more time.

I liked that you could pick which character you played in the ending.

The Bad:

First thing is first: there are microtransactions. WHY DID I PAY 60 DOLLARS FOR A GAME IF THERE WERE GOING TO BE GOD DAMN MICROTRANSACTIONS?????????? Boon???? Why??? It'd day 1 and there's already god dang microtransactions. Like I guess it's nice that the invasion is available, but charging me 60$ and then asking for more is stupid.

The AI really puts the i in idiot. Basically it's bad. I know I originally mentioned Kitana's AI (since that's who it's the worst with in my opinion) but I also had an issue with Ashrah and Baby Raiden. They will literally walk backwards until they hit the end of the stage, of if they can fly they'll just jump in the air and stay there. Even on the harder difficulties the game felt too easy. I have lost a total of two fights between both the story mode and invasion.

It feels a bit manipulative that the whole 'tournament' that was heavily featured in the trailers only lasted maybe about 1/3 of the actual plot. It was such a nothing plot point, you could probably cut it out and it wouldn't be missed. Yet that was the only real plot point we saw in the trailer.

Jerrod's death is never explained. He was just killed, but apparently by no one of relevance. He just fell and couldn't even get back up.

They REALLY went with Evil Bi Han, which doesn't even make sense. Let me explain, as far as we know Bi Han has no reason to hold the opinions he does. Human opinions don't exist in an echo chamber. His father was against his ideas, his brothers were against his ideas, everyone around him was against his ideas. Where in the hell did this come from???? I would have understood if maybe if Shang Tsung had been slowly manipulating him throughout the game, but Bi Han was already on that 'f#ck them gods' juice since the beginning of the game (which is a mindset I very much indorse). (Okay I just thought about it but what if instead Quan Chi had used Sareena to try and tempt Bi Han over to their side. As in he sends her in infiltrate the Lin Kuei and get close to Bi Han so she can talk him into turning on Liu Kang, but has she spends more time in the Lin Kuei and with Kuai Liang and Bi Han she starts to have a change of heart and kind of has a sort of Mythologies arc where she begins to understand human feelings and gets attached to them. Having her then join the good guys and tries to undo her manipulation on Bi Han. Sorry idea rant. Back to the review.) MY POINT is that as far as we know there is no one who could have influenced Bi Han in this way. It just doesn't make sense why he thinks this. At least with Shang Tsung and Quan Chi it made sense since 1. They were manipulated and 2. Liu Kang actually f#cked them over and they had a valid reason to be mad. Bi Han had no given reason to hate Liu Kang other then he didn't like his clan being under the god's boot (WHICH I MEAN IS KIND OF VALID).

They didn't even have the balls to let Bi Han murder his his own father. "I didn't help save him!" WTF does that mean???? Did Bi Han just wait to long to call 911??? Did Bi Han watch him fall off a cliff? What does that mean?

NRS Writers have yet again created a situation that made me have to sit there and wonder if we were really on the good guys side. There were a few points where the "bad guys" said something that made me pause and be like "wait, let's hear them out". Often times that makes Liu Kang look like kind of a d!ck since he did design this timeline. See this post here for more of my feelings on this. Examples:

Ashrah confronted Nitara and Nitara explained she just wanted to save her people but apparently we're siding with Ashrah, the woman who's magic sword told her to commit murder to "cleanse her soul". Not Nitara, the woman who's people are incredibly ill and at risk of dying (ALSO WHO ASHRAH ADMITTED TO KILLING).

After Sindel tells Rain that he was like a son to her (a relationship we never get to see) Rain made a comment about how Sindel limited him. I actually what to know what he's talking about. He could just be being a salty bitch, but we don't know since this comment is never explained. Plus Sindel in intros has been shown to be rather cruel if she viewed it to be in her benefit, so what Rain was referring to might have happened. She might have nerfed the demi-god if she viewed his as a threat, but we'll never know since this is never explained.

I think Mileena's outfit is too pink. Her color has always kind of been this purplish pink color and I think the color they picked was just too pink and not purple enough. X had this issue too but we're not talking about that one right now.

The whole 2nd half of the plot was honestly a whole mess. It just completely went all bonkers. I don't even have words. It's like they had two different writing teams and switched mid way through the plot with no communication back and fourth. While I'm glad Kronika wasn't back the actual plot twist was somehow worse. It just felt like to much and felt very unsatisfying in the end.

Mileena and Tanya's relationship feels more like Kitana x Jade then Mileena x Tanya. It feel like the writers wanted to do Kitana x Jade but got told no and just wrote Mileena and Tanya in the roles instead.

Hanzo... Now this. I'm not going to repeat myself so to see how I feel about this in context of how it effect Hanzo as a character go here. I will go over some other issues I don't talk about in that post. The fact Kuai Liang's first canonical love interest is Hanzo's dead wife is something so rage inducing I'm not sure how to put it into words. Kuai Liang has never had his own thing, he has his brother's title, his father's powers, he remade his old clan, and now even his wife was another's before she was his. As a long time fan of Kuai Liang the only reasonable response to this I can have is disappointed. I'm just disappointed in NRS's handling of this character and their clumsy recreation of Hanzo rather then just including Hanzo in the game. Even in a new timeline NRS is to scared to try something too new. It's different but not different enough to mean anything. Just an endless circle of the same story they told two timelines ago. I really don't have the words to properly express the storm of unpleasant emotions this plot point causes me. It just sucks.

Sub Zero vs Scorpion has gotten old. This is all.

The Salty:

(This is just things that annoy me personally and I don't really view as actual criticism. Ignore this part if you don't care about mindless ranting)

I don't like this Mileena. She feels nothing like her previous self and I'm just not a fan. There's none of her fun loving, but creepy, personality she had before. I kind of get why but as a hardcore Mileena simp I just don't like the change.

I didn't unlock a single new outfit during storymode and that's very frustrating given the amount of unlockables we got in MK11.

Since when has Bi Han been a blood purest??? That seemed stupid.

I don't like Sindel's story mode outfit. Hers in particular I'm not a fan of.

I hate this version of Ashrah. She seems to self righteous for my liking. Plus her blaming Quan Chi for her sister's deaths when SHE was the one who killed them kind of annoyed me.

Honestly overall 4/10 story wise and maybe I'll post about the invasion later, but I don't know.

#mortal kombat #mortal kombat 1 #non fic post #bi han #sub zero #kuai liang #rain #mk rain #mortal kombat 1 spoilers #review post #opinion post #scorpion #sareena #mk sareena

34 notes · View notes

delta-the-mando · 4 months

Text

AS PREVIOUSLY MENTIONED, THE FIC HAS BEEN COMPLETED BEFORE DBL UPDATED THE STORY, AND HERE IT IS

This is basically my take on how an interaction went from Giblet’s side of things. Only a few very very minor changes were made to the dialogue, but otherwise what they say is the exact same in-game.

Kami, this game is making me feel things.

- UNTIL THE END -

SPOILERS AHEAD FOR PART 15: NO WAY OUT! THE LAND TREMORS

…

So that was it.

Zahha was wished back to Earth with everyone else..

And Shallot actually believed the bastard would stay put, and not try any funny business.

…

So be it.

That didn’t mean Giblet was any fonder of the idea, of course, but if the fiend actually decides to use Earth as their final battlefield, then that would be a hell of a lot easier than having to track him down all over again.

…But the more he thought about it…the more he felt an ache grow in his gut—an ache that he hadn’t felt in a long time.

He knew exactly what it was…and that only made it worse.

Uncertainty.

Worry.

That was the last thing he needed right now, though he knew it was most likely inevitable.

Hope for the best…but prepare for the worst..

…Isn’t that how the whole tournament has been?

…

Giblet reached his hand into his cloak and fished around for the small communication device previously given to him, then keyed in the only frequency he had ever planned to use.

“Shallot. Can you hear me?”

There was a startled yelp on the other end of the call, and Giblet raised an eyebrow. There was still no visual.

If Shallot ran into some trouble, Giblet would at least be able to hear sounds of conflict and battle through the communicator. But there were none.

“Why are you acting surprised?” He asked, half puzzled.

“Oh…right! The communicator!”

The audio crackled a little, and there was finally light and movement on the screen as Shallot retrieved this communicator from somewhere in his armor, and brought it comically close to his face.

“I haven’t used it in so long I totally forgot I had it.”

Giblet rolled his eyes.

..Of course.

“So, uh… What’s up?” Shallot asked, a tone of confusion in his voice. “If you wanted to talk to me, you could have asked that King Kai guy, right?”

Giblet shook his head.

“This doesn’t have anything to do with the others. Hence the communicator.”

He looked over his shoulder to unintentionally emphasize his point, paranoid that someone was possibly eavesdropping nearby.

“Oh? Can’t it wait until we’re at the Lookout?”

…

“Maybe…” Giblet sighed softly, looking back at the screen. “But who knows what’ll happen by then. So I figured now’s a good time.”

Before the plan changes again…

“Do you remember, Shallot? About what we needed to do back in our own era?”

“Of course I do! That’s the whole reason we’ve both been training our butts off!”

Over and over again, whenever Shallot got carried away with something or didn’t take things seriously, Giblet would remind him of their original goals. It was no new topic for them.

“So…is that what you wanted to talk about?”

Giblet shook his head again.

“No…what I’m saying is…”

He took a deep breath.

Shallot was certainly correct. They have both been training their asses off for the longest time, and now they had great power to show for their efforts.

The power of Super Saiyan God.

It was practically their birthright.

It had to happen sometime.

And now, they had the power they needed to fight back against the Evil Saiyans back…

…back home.

Since breaking free of Zahha’s control, there had been a lingering worry in the back of Giblet’s mind.

A worry that…this all would’ve been for nothing.

A worry that, once they return to Sadala, they won’t be as strong as they were now. Like all their training had never happened.

Like they were never brought to the Tournament of Time to even begin with.

A worry that…when they finally go home…

…they won’t retain any memories of anything that happened.

Like this had all been nothing more than a strange dream, fading away into nothing as they eventually woke up.

The allies they’ve made..

The places they’ve been..

How they’d have saved the universe from destruction..

And most importantly…how they’ve managed to become Super Saiyan Gods.

Gone.

He tried to ignore it, of course, and he could never mention it to Shallot. He didn’t need his brother worrying about it as well.

Especially considering that the tournament’s outcome…the fate of the universe…rested in their hands, here and now.

“…beating Zahha doesn’t mean our fight is over. Not by a long shot. Don’t forget that.”

Despite his brother’s warning, Shallot grinned widely.

“As if I could!”

Shallot had pulled his communicator away from his face far enough so Giblet could see the clouds passing behind him.

Judging by the almost-sickening spinning motion of the clouds, it was evident that Shallot was either flying corkscrew or in loops as they chatted.

Giblet almost smiled at the sight of his brother still being able to have such a positive attitude even while danger and death relentlessly lurked around every corner of this damned tournament.

He tried to recall when the last time was that the two of them could just…have fun.

How long ago was that?

The war on Sadala made them turn every free moment they had into a training session.

And being thrown into a killing free-for-all against their will had been a major change of plans.

Sure, they’ve both gotten way stronger since the whole catastrophe began, and now they’ve succeeded in becoming Super Saiyan Gods like they’ve wanted.

But was time still passing normally in their own era?

Would they be too late when they return?

…

And not to mention the times Giblet had trained by himself, away from Shallot.

Or the times he just upped and vanished to be alone with his thoughts.

He didn’t dare to think about the time when he actually obeyed Zahha’s orders..

Giblet felt guilty.

In more ways than one.

“Hey, uh…Giblet…did you get food poisoning or something?”

Shallot’s question dragged Giblet back from his trip down memory lane.

It was…kind of odd, and certainly random as all hell.

“No? Why do you ask?”

Shallot laughed a bit nervously, and Giblet could just barely make out a few drops of sweat on the younger Saiyan’s face.

“Well, it’s…just that you’re saying all this out of the blue with such a serious face. It’s like you’re giving me your dying words or something!”

…

Giblet didn’t answer immediately.

He took a slow, steady breath, and forced a smile on his face to hopefully reassure his brother.

“Hmph…maybe I am…”

He knew the grim possible truth would hurt more than any physical injury that either of them have ever had to deal with, so he carefully chose his next words to try to sound at least a little optimistic.

“But there’s still a lot left for us to do. So I’m not looking to get killed. I’m making it out of this alive.”

You can’t promise that.

Not in war.

But I still have to try.

“Heh! You said it!”

Even with the serious nature of the conversation they’ve been holding, Shallot’s exclamation still sounded as bright and determined as ever.

And for a moment, Giblet’s smile turned genuine.

“That’s all I’ve got to say,” Giblet said bluntly. “See you at the Lookout.”

“Right!”

The call ended.

And that was that.

And Giblet’s frown returned, as did the ache in his gut.

He continued to stare downward at the now blank screen of the device he still held in his hand, his talk with Shallot replaying in his mind.

…

I’m making it out of this alive…

He wished he could promise that.

He wished he could promise his brother, the only family he had, that everything would go according to plan and everyone would make it out alive.

But he couldn’t.

He shouldn’t be worried about it.

He shouldn’t doubt his or Shallot’s abilities, especially now, not when they were so close.

But for some reason, he still felt troubled.

Giblet shut his eyes, and took a slow, deep inhale.

He held it for a moment, then exhaled just as slow.

…Shallot.

I’ll do what I gotta do.

Just do what you gotta do.

And if anything does happen to me...

He let that thought trail off.

What the hell was he going on about?

It’ll be fine.

They’ve made it this far.

He had no plans on dying, especially not to the likes of Zahha.

It was then that Giblet realized just how tightly he was clutching his communicator, and he quickly tucked it away in his cloak before he crushed it by accident.

Damn nerves…

Now wasn’t the time for that..

With his chin up and his eyes to the sky, Giblet set out on his trip back to the Lookout, his mind flying faster than he was.

…It didn’t really matter in the end.

Even if he did have to lay down his life, whether it would be to stop Zahha or the Evil Saiyans, at least he would go down fighting.

For his beliefs.

For Sadala.

For the only family he had.

No matter what.

And no matter the cost.

That was his resolve.

Until the very end.

#I AM SORRY BUT ITS PERMANENTLY ON MY BRAIN NOW #I hope he isn’t ooc or anything but it’s hard for me to tell #Giblet #Shallot #dbl #dragon ball legends #dragonball legends #Delta’s Dumpster #fanfic #happy new year have some sad

11 notes · View notes

apomaro-mellow · 8 months

Text

Ep 3

The Caricature Car

Lucas let out a shudder as they exited a door and came to the outside of the car. "Can we take a moment to look around before falling headfirst into something? That was the grossest thing I've ever experienced."

"I tripped", Steve rolled his eyes. "And it wasn't that bad."

"Not that bad?!", Lucas' eyes bugged out.

"Didn't realize you had such an aversion to jello", Eddie grinned.

"That was not jello, that was aspic. Which is just one of the many crimes your people have to eventually answer for", Lucas said while walking the bridge between the cars.

"Who's people do you think he means?", Steve asked.

Eddie patted his shoulder. "I'm gonna wager he's bemoaning the cuisine that many suburban white moms seem to favor. The fact you didn't flinch at beef suspended in gelatin tells a lot about you."

Lucas got to the next door first. "Just watch your step next time."

He opened the door and immediately walked through a scanner. Lucas groaned at his luck while Steve let out a big and smug 'Ha!'.

"What sort of contraption be this?", Chadwick walked in next, but moved around the scanner, as did Steve and Eddie.

All four of them watched in awe as a giant printer sounded and a paper flew from the output. It fluttered until it landed right in front of Lucas. A life size drawing of him with exaggerated features.

"Hey, it's like one of those things you get at an amusement park", Steve snapped his fingers in recognition.

"Honestly not the worst thing to walk into", Eddie put his hands in his pockets as he leaned in to take a closer look at the drawing.

"What are you looking at, freak?", the drawing said, making Eddie jump back, nearly into Steve's chest.

"What the...?", Lucas took a step back.

The drawing stepped off the paper and Chadwick drew his sword. "Stand back, villain!"

"What's he supposed to be? The Tin Man?", Caricature-Lucas said with a sneer.

"Wow, it's like looking at twins", Steve said sarcastically.

"You're taking this so well, it's almost attractive", Eddie said.

Steve would've replied with something he hoped to be clever, but he was caught on Eddie's words.

"Okay, granted, this is probably just as weird as everything else we've seen, but it's still majorly MESSED UP!", Lucas shouted.

Chadwick began to panic. "What evil! I can't tell which is which!"

"Oh give me a break", Lucas groaned and started to walk. The door to the other side wasn't far. It was visible in the distance. Caricature-Lucas followed.

"Why am I going along with these two? A has been and a wannabe?"

Eddie leaned over to Steve. "Am I the has been or the wannabe?"

"Is either good?", Steve asked, tolerating the drawing because surely they'd be able to leave it once they left the car. Then again, Chadwick was able to come with them.

"Steve and Eddie are my friends", Lucas said. "And you don't look anything like me!"

"You're friends with them? I thought the whole reason we joined the team was so we'd stop being bullied. Isn't that why we're doing the basketball camp?", Caricature-Lucas pressed. His paper limbs make crinkly sounds as he walked.

"He's doing the camp because he wants to get better at his game, right Lucas?", Steve said coming up beside him.

"Yeah, I do...But what if getting better means I turn into that?", he asked while gesturing to his paper self.

"I'm what you wanna be", Caricature-Lucas stood in front of him, blocking his way. "Jason was crazy in the end, but you looked up to him. He has everything you want."

"Not everything. And I didn't want to be anything like him."

"Good as basketball, popular, he was able to get the whole town to rally behind him. If you stood up in a crowd and tried that, I don't even think your friends would get behind you."

"Hey, back off", Steve said, pushing the drawing. It felt exactly like shoving paper, ineffective.

Caricature-Lucas continued. "I bet if Jason had shot you that night-"

Eddie roared and took Chadwick's knife, slicing through Caricature-Lucas. Steve took one of the halves and started ripping it into even tinier pieces.

"Fuck that guy", Eddie spit on the lifeless shreds. Then he turned to Chadwick with a low bow. "My apologies for taking your blade without permission.

"None taken, Sir Eddie. I only wish my own hand had been much quicker. How dare he question Sir Lucas' honor and worth?"

"You guys...just ripped me to pieces", Lucas said, looking at what had been himself, all over the ground.

"Lucas, that wasn't you", Steve said. "It was literally a caricature."

"Yeah and a bad one", Eddie added. "Your ears aren't that big. Now if it was my talented hand, I would bring the attention to your strong brow and perfect row of teeth, but that's just me. We can't all be skilled artists."

"Skilled artist my ass, I've seen your doodles", Steve said, stepping over the shreds, towards the door.

"You wound me, good sir!", Eddie exclaimed.

Lucas watched as his number dropped and let out a sigh like a weight had been lifted up from him. He followed behind the two and Chadwick brought up the rear.

Steve’s number: 159

Eddie’s number: 257

Lucas’ number: 25

Next Episode: The Introductions Car

Tag Team

@affablevixen

13 notes · View notes

robobee · 1 year

Text

good morning i'm going to nerd out about my location choices in my silly henrydeclan fic because I know a lot of you aren't into games BUT i think the references are fun. note that none of these pictures are mine cause i dont have my game on me atm.

heclan land in a snowed-in backyard. that's a reference to the jacksonville, wyoming sections of the last of us (part 2). there's a snowstorm, too, so the environment is very dreary and foreboding. the interiors are about as decomposed as you'd expect.

(declan's mobile phone battery is at 7%, and goes to 6 as he uses it. that's a giggle to the FNAF style of "survive a week" gameplay)

once they come out on the other side, the weather is markedly different. it's still a/the same suburban area, but now things are looking a lot like the Hillcrest section in TLOU 2, overgrown and humid.

henry mentions that they keep looping back to the other side when they try to take a route that isnt directly down the street. that's because there IS nowhere to go: it's the classic video game thing of inaccessible areas being blocked by a stack of boxes that really SHOULD be jumpable. good old disguised invisible walls.

there's also a mess of cars blocking the path up the street, up to where henry has to specifically aim for inFecTeD breaking through the barriers of cars at the end of the chapter ^

now for the Ominous Looming Structure. henry misidentifies it at first, before amending himself as they get closer. the 'wall', so to speak, "pops in". that's a term referring to when assets just appear/load in out of nowhere as you're looking at them. a well-optimised game will try to avoid this, since it shows a lack of polish + breaks the immersion. if there's a lot of pop-in, it shows either the device running the game or the game itself is flawed severely.

the structure itself takes from silent hill (2 i think, but mostly the vibe of all the games). it's gross brick that's distinctly fleshy and grimy.

the "creepy hallway" is such a cemented trope in horror media that i could say anything from resident evil, to P.T., to the shining and still get the point across. specifically, though, i was referencing the evil within 2 (the right image is from a dark pictures game, you get what i mean when i say its a distinct trope)

they reach what seems to be a regular wall, before declan presses the pattern in a specific way that causes it to swing into another hall. henry does not notice this because he's trying not to have a panic attack. however this puzzle situation is a nod to the OG resident evil, which also has similar décor.

i didn't have a specific reference in mind for the locked door, but i was definitely thinking of some outlast vibes, like so

carrying on from that we are just fully in silent hill territory. just, bona fide nasty. places which look like they'll give you 4 never before seen strains of tetanus.

and we've about caught up to what's written out now! i didn't go too deep into the monsters/lore here, but a specific i want clear is that the whole place is a leyline-induced amalgamation of horror games, with a distinct fondness for the medium. things don't work cohesively, but that's kind of the point: it's a bunch of different properties stitched together.

of the two, henry canonically "watches video game walkthroughs," and declan is declan; so only one of them really has the background to even be able to recognise the patterns in what's going on. also, henry watches these games but he doesn't PLAY these games. he doesn't have that adrenaline/fear frame of reference either.

below i mention some thoughts about the arms used too. thank you for coming on this fun little journey with me! xx

obligatory mention that i barely know anything about g*ns ive never seen a pistol up close unless while getting mugged. BUT since we're going with a shooter game feel, i'll mention my choices for both of them.

i wanted henry to be a stealth/range build to declan's melee/close-range build.

henry uses a revolver with a long barrel and a very shiny finish. Declan uses a double action pistol, smaller for better concealed carry, and matte. probably a glock because i think GLOCK is the funniest word to say since it reminds me of chickens. his is a 9mm i THINK (i did the research but i forgot it so i WANT to say smth with 35, but i dont think that's right), so he's able to acquire ammo easier.

if i was held at gunpoint (lol) to pick a gun for henry, i'd go with a Korth because he would love to spend an obscene amount of money on things. accuracy over speed is the contrast between them: given declan's greywaren insanity i do NOT believe that man is a careful shooter.

if i DIDN'T have to be bound to like, relative realism, I would say Henry has a Mauser c96. it's a very funky looking ww2 era pistol that was very popular in China for a while and the base for Leon Kennedy's Red9 from the resident evil game. EYE think henry is exactly the type of person to have played re4 age 7 and decide to base his personality off of leon. side by sides of both below:

#trcposting #:P i know its niche but i think of anyone in the trc verse these two would be the calmest and best equipped in an apocalypse scenario #just another day at the market with mom/dad! vibes #viddy games

34 notes · View notes

faroreswinds · 1 year

Note

There's been a recent critique of what's being called the "social justice villain/puppykicker" where a villain who is framed - or at the very least believed by the audience - to have a righteous cause in their actions has to remind the audience that they're a villain by performing some evil deeds. Do you think there are people who view Ed*lgard and to an extent anyone who works with her as this? Cause it somewhat explains where the "Ed*lgard was right" "Ed*lgard's war is a revolution" takes come from. Plus another part of the "social justice villain/puppykicker" critique is that the heroes who oppose the villain are criticized for "maintaining the status quo" which is what people accuse Dimitri of doing (even though he wants change, has mentioned it multiple times, and a couple endings shows he does change things).

I mean, based off your description of the phenomenon, it sounds right to me.

Houses, and especially Hopes, frames Edelgard's war as at least somewhat justified. Only Dimitri's route really pushes back on the ideology of the war's basis, but even then Dimitri "sympathizes" with Edelgard to a degree.

The game rarely every goes "You know, maybe trying to conquer other nations is a bad thing." It's criticism is more "Maybe we shouldn't kill people to make changes to the system." Which is still a good criticism, mind you, but that's basically the only criticism it makes.

Part of that is the game's treatment of Foldan. The developers seem to have forgotten that Foldan is not a single nation, but three. The game, and fans, discuss the three nations as a package deal. It would be like me saying "You know the problems of North America? It's the healthcare system!" as if that has any legitimate meaning. North America has several nations in it, and they all have their own healthcare systems.

But that's basically what Houses does. Replace "North America" with "Foldan", and "healthcare" with "the Church" and that's pretty much what the game does. "You know the problems of Foldan? It's the Church!".

But the Church exists differently in each nation. In the Empire, it has basically no relationship with them anymore. In the Kingdom, it is a major ally and influence. And in the Alliance, it's just... there, I guess, but no one pays it any mind.

But the game seems to ignore these differences. It insists that the Church is the source for all of Foldan's problems.

Now, if the game had actually built itself around this idea properly, I would have no complaints. Let's say... Edelgard really only wanted to stop the Church from influencing the Empire. Let's say the Church was controlling Emperors for generations and she wanted to break those chains. But in the process, she had to go up against the Kingdom because they are allies with the Church, and the Alliance decided to enter the war on their own to get a piece of land-pie.

Well then, I would have no complaints about Edelgard starting a war.

But that's not what she does. She says it's just to take down the Church, but if that's true then why did she try to also take over the Alliance and the Kingdom? Come on, son, that's too much.

I can't blame fans too much on this one. The game really wants us to sympathize with her. Even freaking Seteth- the man who saw multiple wars already and had his daughter kidnapped by Edelgard- is all like "maybe she's not so bad after all." Brah.

#anon asks #edelgard critical #Three Houses discourse

35 notes · View notes

codenamehazard · 1 year

Text

.:Breaking the Shackles:.

.:InFAMOUS: No Man's Land Chapter 1:.

Hey guys! This is the first time I've posted a proper story onto here, so I am both nervous and excited to share it with you!

Since we probably will never get an InFAMOUS game that takes place after the evil ending of InFAMOUS 2, I figured why not throw my hat into the ring and have some fun with it?

Huge thanks to @rogueshadeaux for helping me out. She's a super talented writer and has her own InFAMOUS story, InFAMOUS: Erosion. Check her out, she's awesome and I have been learning a lot from her guidance.

I don't know if this is needed, but I'm putting it here anyways. MAJOR SOILER WARNING!

The story is from Cole's point of view, so be aware of that.

Buckle up and enjoy the read!

The night sky was clear, save for the odd cloud that passed overhead. The wind lazily blew as the fire before me crackled and popped. I warmed my calloused hands and closed my eyes, letting out a sigh. It had been a couple of weeks since I splintered off from the army I once begrudgingly led. A couple of blissful and quiet weeks of pure freedom.

It is in these times of quiet that I am able to think clearly, able to work out and make sense of all that happened over the past god knows how long. It’s hard to keep track of time when the only thing you can look at is the rising and the falling of the sun. I tossed a piece of splintered wood onto the fire as I began to think back. Think back to where it all began.

To when the shackles of the Messiah were forced upon my neck, arms and legs.

—-

I remember the day I became the Beast. After all that happened, all the pain, John just… Gave up and thrust his powers onto me. It was overwhelming, every nerve-fiber alight. The sensation was… Indescribable. It was heaven and hell all at once. It was… Incredible.

It’s a real shame that this buzz had one hell of a hang-over, the responsibility that John now shirked onto me. The task of raising up the next generation of Conduits. A burden I was now forced to bear, an expectation of greatness. Gee, doesn’t that sound fucking familiar?

In the beginning, everything was… Okay, I guess. I didn’t want to lead, never did and never wanted to, but who else would these people turn to? To them, I was their savior. I cured them of the plague that was ravaging their bodies and gave them powers, of course they were gonna look up to me. As much as I didn’t want to, I had to. I had to be provider, protector, teacher, mediator and all the lovely bullshit that comes from being a glorified baby-sitter of grown ass adults. I never sugar-coated anything; if they couldn’t follow me as I am, they won’t follow me at all.

God, and I thought dealing with Kuo and Nix butting heads with each-other was a real headache…

The only thing that made this hell tolerable was the fact that Kuo wasn’t riding my ass all the time, most likely thinking I’ve “turned a new leaf” and I'd suddenly become a changed man. I couldn’t help but scoff at the stupidity of it all, but who was I to look a gift horse in the mouth?

It wasn’t as bad in the beginning, the small group of fledgling Conduits all indebted to me was easy enough to manage. I could stay on top of everything and make sure they didn’t kill each-other while still having a tiny sliver of time to care for my own needs. Over time, as the numbers grew, so did the headache. It seemed like there was always something that needed my attention and if I ignored it to let them sort it out like adults, Kuo would be oh so helpful and “remind me” to go take care of it. I couldn’t get a moment’s peace, more and more I found myself unable to care for my own needs.

It. Was. Hell.

The responsibility of a savior, the nagging of Kuo, the neglecting of my own needs- God it felt like college all over again. My parents bore down on me when all I wanted was the freedom to do as I wished. A hunger started to grow inside, a need that I sated greatly when I had taken over Empire City and made it my own. A hunger for destruction, a need to take what I wanted. This hunger only grew the more I suppressed it. Every now and again, I would try and sate my hunger: toying with enemies, letting loose with my powers, instilling fear into those who followed me, but every time I tried, that icy bitch would get on my ass. If anything, she seems to be much worse than she was before.

It’s easy for her to say. Easy for her to bark at me from her pedestal and scold me, she’s not the one sacrificing anything and she thinks she has the right to judge me? HA! She abandoned her morality when faced with her own mortality, what high ground does she even have? She doesn’t have a fucking leg to stand on.

While infuriating as it was, as much as I wanted to leave, I felt like I couldn’t. I hated this role I was forced to play. Again and again, I was found in the role of the errand boy. Even with my choice, my choice to go against the “destiny” that Kessler groomed me to have, the greatest act of defiance I have ever committed to finally, finally free myself from this vicious cycle. All I seemed to do was to swap one set of chains for another. The breaker had been tripped and I was done! I wanted to be free!

Yet, I couldn’t be free, as without me… All of my hard work would go to waste. I was the only one who could awaken these dormants, the only hope that some people come out of this alive. Without me, these people would die. It was a burden I didn’t want, but it was one that must be shouldered, one I was forced to bear. These shackles I must wear until the end. This was fact, whether I liked it or not.

That is… Until one day.

The small army of fledgeling and newly fledged Conduits and I had gone through Lawton, Oklahoma. I had leveled the city down to the ground and awakened the Conduits within, but I had noticed that there were… Less Conduits than I thought would in a population of around 90k or so. This had spooked Kuo a bit, making her frantic. She believed that the reason for the lower numbers was due to the Ray Field Plague picking up steam and starting to kill faster. A reasonable train of thought. I would have believed it to be the why had there not been something else that I had noticed before Lawton. Something that had been starting to gnaw at the back of my head.

While Kuo was too busy harping on about me not keeping every Tom, Dick and Harry in line because… Oh I don’t know, I’m only one person. I had been paying attention to what was around me and I had started to pick up on some interesting… Discrepancies, if you will. The kind of disturbances that only Conduits could make: scorch marks with no true source to be seen, areas that looked damaged by various elements with no cause, a slight echo of energy in certain spots. These oddities reminded me of the damage I caused back in the beginning, those two weeks in Empire when I was trying to figure out my powers on my own. It made me start to wonder. Was there something else going on? It couldn’t be another Beast or someone running around with a third Ray Sphere… Could it?

The thoughts only continued to grow as I traveled westward. More signs of Conduit activity, but no Conduits in sight or any signs of an activation method. I started to ponder heavily, was it possible for a Conduit to activate themselves?

I got my answer as I traveled deeper through the Great Plains.

It was there I saw them, the “missing Conduits.” I stood in shock as I watched as two small gangs of super-powered humans clashed. Powers of all kinds and creeds striking and igniting the area with colors and damage. If that wasn’t enough, these Conduits weren’t rookies either, the way they used their powers reminded me a bit of the gangs back in Empire City. They had experience.

They had been awakened long before I came. Now the pieces were falling into place as I gawked at these… Free-Ranged Conduits as they fought. For what, I didn’t know, but all I knew was it looked like one hell of a party and I wanted in. That feeling, that urge, my hunger, it now burned hotter than before. I was about to rush down before I felt a cold hand on my shoulder, stopping me.

I turned my head and let out a low growl when I saw it was Kuo, stopping me. “Leave them be, Cole. It’s a good thing we figured out the mystery, but we still have a job to do. There are still people who need you.”

We? HAH!! There is no we. The only time she ever lifted a finger was either to bitch at me or when I had to twist her arm to actually get her to be useful and actually help for once. I pull my shoulder away from her touch. “Don’t touch me, Kuo.” I had hissed out at her before continuing onto the next city.

That day, that moment… It never left me.

I continued to see these Wild Conduits as I traveled on. Seeing how free they were. Able to live their lives however they saw fit as they roamed in roving gangs, taking what they wanted, doing as they pleased. Having the freedom that for years I have been starved of. How they turned the Great Plains into a post-apocalyptic playground. Absolutely lawless. Seeing them made my blood boil. They got to be free while I was stuck in a cage. Such thoughts made me grow bitter and even more resentful than I already was. Even nature was reflecting the mounting rage. The clouds darkening and rumbling with thunder as the storm in my heart builds.

I slipped into my old Empire City habits, no mercy, no care. Why should I? It’s not like the world ever gave a damn about me, the only people who ever did are dead. Kuo only cared when I was doing the things she wanted me to do and the people I commanded didn't give a shit either. The hatred burning and gnawing away at my chest like a rabid animal, demanding I do something, anything, to let it free. To sate my long suppressed needs, to take care of myself for once, just as I had done before. I started to do just that, little by little. My attacks on cities became more brutal, my training and sparring more harsh and unforgiving, my temper growing shorter. The relief I felt was welcomed, but short-lived as soon afterwards; the screeching icy harpy would be at it again. Bitching at me, screaming at me, interrogating me, undoing all of the progress I made. One step forward and ten steps back. It doesn’t take a genius to see the obvious, I was a ticking time-bomb. All Kuo was doing was adding more gunpowder to the mix and shortening the fuse.

It was only a matter of time before I blew a gasket, and that day came sooner than anyone thought.

It was only two short weeks after that moment, I remember it well. A pained scream rang out as I had thrown a pair of Fledged Conduits onto the ground, having beaten them senseless. They were getting into an argument about something; what it was, I didn’t give a shit. If they wanted to fight so much, I'd give it to ‘em. Now the two lay in the dirt, battered, bruised and pleading for mercy. I was about to knock them out when I heard the ear-piercing screech of that ice bitch. I felt the temp drop as she teleported over.

“What in the HELL do you think you’re doing??” She screamed indignantly at me. I turn my head to look at her, my eyes glowing with fury.

“What does it look like I’m doing? Dweedle Dee and Dweedle Dumbass wanted to have a scrap, I just gave them what they wanted. Is that a problem, Kuo?” My voice dripped with venom as I said her last name.

“What in God’s name has gotten into you? I shouldn’t have to tell you not to take your anger out on these people!” Her voice was like a fork on glass, piercing and painful. “You're a leader to these people! You can't just beat the shit out of them just because they piss you off!”

My face curled into a snarl as I walked up to her, I could feel the electricity in my arms building up as I got closer to her. “I can’t fucking win with you, can I?” I growl at her as I loom over her. “If I do something, you’re bitching and if I don't do something, you’re bitching! So which is it, huh? Do you want me to do something when these idiots act up or do you want me to let them sort out their shit on their own?”

“What I want you to do is to be responsible for once in your life!” Kuo screeches out. “These people rely on you, Cole! You can't just do whatever you want! You saved them, you must protect them! It's your duty!” Those words. Those fucking words. It felt like my blood was replaced with hot plasma hearing the pure and utter audacity she has. She was a hypocrite.

A crash of red lightning overhead as I finally snapped. That’s. It.

Before she could speak another word, I raised my hand and unleashed a torrent of electricity dead center in her head. The force of the shock sent her flying backwards as the crimson glow of the bolts changed to a color I haven’t seen, a hue I had missed.

Black and red.

I walked over to Kuo as she laid on the ground, her eyes looking up at me dumbly. I could see it in her face, she was gobsmacked. She tried to get up to shout at me again, her hands forming the tell-tale mist that she was going to fire back a volley of her own ice, but I shocked her again before she got the chance. She writhed in pain on the ground as I stared at her, electricity arcing off of my arms and thundering rumbling above us. She slowly tries to get to her feet as she gets control of her body.

“Cole! Have you lost your mind??” Her voice screams out, full of fear and indignation.I couldn’t help but to scoff.

“Lost it? No Kuo, if anything. I have found it.” I growl out with a sneer. “I’ve put up with your bitching and hypocrisy for far too long and I’m done.”

Kuo looks at me with that stupid shocked look, like she hadn’t known this had been a long time coming. “Are you giving up?” She gasps. “Wake up, Cole! This isn’t something you can-” I zap her again before she can utter another word.

“No! You’re the one who needs to wake up, Kuo! It must be real easy barking demands and telling people what to do while you get to sit on your ass. Not even lifting a finger to help unless I force you to help me.” My voice dripped in malice and hatred as I got into her face. “It’s so easy to yap and bitch while not having to do any of the hard work or make any sacrifices.” I can tell she wanted to say something, but she seems to have enough sense to shut up, especially since the Beast is staring her down.

“What? No retort? No backtalk? Good!” I snap. “It’s high time you shut up and truly listen to me for once in your damn life.” I could feel eyes around me as I could feel the others coming around and spectating in fear. “They way you talk and act; you think being a leader, being a messiah, is a walk in the fucking park. You’re not the one sacrificing. You’re not the one bearing the weight of everything on your shoulders, having to neglect your own needs and go against your very nature because there’s always somebody who needs your help.” I could feel the static building on my skin as my mind rushed with thoughts of the past. Of all the moments I had been denied the ability to choose my path. “ You never had to deal with the pain of being forced into a role you never wanted, the feelings of being an animal trapped in a cage.”

“But, Cole…” I hear the harpy’s voice speak up, much meeker than before. “John gave you those powers for a reason, you have a duty to fulfill, a moral obliga-” I hold my hand up and she shuts up again.

“Oh no, don’t you even think about going there with that “moral obligation” bullshit. You don’t have a leg to stand on!” I hiss out, teeth bared. “You’ve always been like this, Kuo. You act all high and mighty but when it came down to the wire, you sold your soul to the devil. You’re no better than me, but at least I’m not a hypocrite like you.” I spat out those words as if they were acid in my mouth. “I know I’m no saint, I never have been and you’re a fucking idiot for even entertaining the thought that I had become a changed man after John shrugged off his responsibility onto me.”

“Look! I get it!” Kuo squeaks out. “You were hesitant to take on this responsibility, but I was trying to help you! Regardless of whether you wanted to be a leader or not, you are now! You have to step up to the plate and be better!”

Was she serious? Was she that dense? Did she not hear anything I said?? “Oh, you don’t like how I do things??” I snarl as I grab her shirt. “You think I’m such a terrible leader! You think being a messiah is so easy, Why don’t you try it!?” Venom dripped off of my words as I growled. “You think you know how to be a better leader, be my fucking guest!” I pushed her back, knocking her onto the ground. “I’ve had it with you, I’ve had it with all of this. I’m done.”

I turned around and began to leave, leaving Kuo in the dirt as terrified onlookers watched me. Hearing Kuo stand up and reach to grab my shoulder, I turned around and unloaded several thousand volts of “fuck you” into her. It wasn’t enough to kill her, but it was enough to hurt like hell. I wanted to make sure my message to her was loud and clear, I was done playing nice.

I stand up on a rock to address the crowd of onlookers. “I’m taking my leave of this hellhole.” I stated, my voice firm and matter-of-fact. I wasn’t going to pussyfoot anymore. “If you want to continue to follow me, I won’t stop you. That’s your choice to make. Just know that if you do, I’m not gonna hold your hand anymore. You sink or swim and you take care of your own shit like adults.” With that, I step down and I walk out into the open plains.

I walked, then I ran, then I sprinted. I could hear Kuo’s voice calling out for me, but I didn’t pay it any mind. My body was filled with adrenaline as I made my mad-dash towards the very thing I have been denied time and time again, like a wild animal broken out of its cage. Freedom.

I ran out into the wildlands and I never looked back.

—-

The fire was starting to dim as I slowly came out of my moment of reminiscing. I had been on my own for a couple of weeks and it was goddamn heaven. I was now doing what I should have been doing from the very beginning; whatever the fuck I wanted. The shackles of the messiah were finally broken and I revel in every second of pure freedom I have. For once in my entire life, I was now truly a free man. I answered to nobody but myself.

I tossed a piece of wood onto the fire to give it a little bit more fuel before I looked out onto the horizon. My lips curled into a genuine smile, the first time in forever. Endless possibilities now at my feet. My eyes catch sight of a small band of roving Wild Conduits and my smile turns to a grin. What lay before me was a lawless world, full of people just as lawless as I.The world before me was a chaotic Eden. Ripe for the picking and now it was time for the Beast to come and play.

I just hope, for their sake, that they’re ready for the storm that is now coming. After all, it wouldn’t be much fun if I broke my new playmates, now would it?

#infamous 2 #infamous #cole macgrath #Xeno Writes #fanfiction #Evil Ending #SPOILERS #tw spoilers #Evil Karma #Lucy Kuo #Also #just a heads up #My dislike for Kuo shows heavily here #So my deepest apologies to any Lucy Kuo fans out there!#Evil Cole #Evil Cole MacGrath #demon of empire city

12 notes · View notes

sharperthewriter · 10 months

Text

Chapter 22 of Roneo and Kimliet

Chapter 22

(4 hours later)

Two GJ hovercraft were flying over the Atlantic, en route to the Senors' island lair. There were about 60 GJ agents, 30 per craft, in addition to Kim and Ron.

Kim and Ron were now in their mission outfits.

"We should be near the Senors' island in a few minutes!" the pilot of the lead craft said over the intercom.

"Good! This should be enough GJ agents to arrest Senior and Junior for the thefts!" Kim insisted. "As well as the henchmen!"

Ron also chimed in, "I'm gonna show them my karate moves! Got them from seeing Bricks of Fury II !"

"Very funny, Ron!" Kim sighed, "We need to keep the Senors occupied long enough so that we can take the artworks back to the Louvre where they belong!"

"Got that, KP!" Ron obliged before Team Possible heard the Kimmunicator beep.

"Hey Wade, what's the sitch?" Kim asked.

"Global Justice is approaching the Senor's island, but Senior has set up a heavily-guarded security system around the island." Wade replied, "I can shut down the entire system for you in a flash!"

"Please and thank you, Wade!" Kim replied, "We don't wanna have to bail out of a burning aircraft...again!"

Wade, from his computer system, typed in a code that overidded the Senors' security system.

"One security system down!" Wade exclaimed.

"You totally lock and load-rock, Wade!" Kim said with a smile.

On the Senors' island, Junior was rubbing another can of Le Goop in his hair when Senior came in.

"Father, do I have cowlick issues?" he askled, looking at himself in the mirror.

"My son, I do not have time to talk to you about your hair problems." Senior hissed, "We have to get these works of art to the black market by tomorrow!"

"But, can we keep at least one of them?" Junior asked, "I do want the Venus De Milo !"

"Fine, Junior." Senior relented before giving a smile "But we are still going to make millions off these arts once we sell them!"

And then a loud explosion rocked both of them.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Senior exclaimed.

"I do not recall this island being on a fault line!" Junior added.

A voice then came from the GJ hovercraft. It was Kim on a jetpack.

"The only thing you're going to sell is license plates...in prison, Senior!" she exclaimed as she landed on the ground.

"Ah, Kim Possible! We meet again!" Senior evily chuckled.

"But where is your sidekick friend? The one who always loses his pants?" Junior asked.

"I'm coming, KP!" Ron insisted as his jetpack was flying around like crazy. It was going up and down and sideways!

But Ron finally managed to land the craft.

"Look at me! I landed feet first!" he exclaimed.

"Wonderful! Too bad that you will not win the day, Miss Possible!" Senior mocked.

"Give those artworks back to the Louvre where they belong, Senior!" Kim exclaimed as GJ agents came in to reinforce Team Possible.

"I hate to break it to you, but the evil villain tradition states that I have to say 'No' to your demands!" Senior taunted.

"In that case, we'll take back those works of art by force!" Kim snarled, getting in a karate pose. "You're hopelessly outnumbered!"

The GJ agents rappeled down from the two hovercraft.

"Well..." Senior snicked as he pulled out a remote, "...two can play at that game, Miss Possible!" He pressed the button and out from two whooshing doors came 40 Henchco henchmen, twenty from each door.

"Sixty-two against forty-two!" Kim snickered while doing the math.

Rufus then muttered from Ron's pants pocket.

"Fine...sixty-three against forty-two!" Kim corrected herself. "You're still outnumbered, Senior!"

"Not quite!" Senior grinned and from the south end of the pool area, a large metal door made a whoosh sound. And out of it came a small evil robot army of 120 robots armed with lasers.

"That would do the trick!" Ron remarked with fear at the robots.

"Now I have the upper hand, Miss Possible!" Senior snickered. "You will surrender to me either the easy way...or the hard way! That was for knocking out my security system earlier."

"Not on your life, Senior!" Kim growled as she got in a karate pose. The evil army was closing in around Team Possible and Global Justice.

Kim got with Wade on the Kimmunicator.

"Wade, we need to stop an evil robot army now!" she insisted.

"Got it, Kim!" Wade replied while typing up specifics on the robots the Senors recently bought. "According to the specs, they used to be break-dancing disco robots. So if I can rewire their hard-drives, it should revert them back to their original state."

"Just do it!" Kim insisted.

The robot army was 15 feet away from them when the bots were stopped in their tracks.

Senior grinned, "Now...capture them!"

The evil robot army, however, did not even move a millimeter.

"Huh?" Senior asked, confused, "Why aren't they moving?"

"I am just as confused as you are, Father!" Junior replied.

And then, the robots started to party around, dancing along to disco tunes from the late-70s.

Senior, at first, was shocked and then turned an angry glare to his son.

"Junior, you did not disclose to me that the evil robot army that you picked out...were formerly disco-dancing robots!"

"But Father, I chose them because once we got rid of Kim Possible, we were going to dance all night long!" Junior complained, before he too started to dance to the beat.

"You are an embarrassment to everything that is villainous!" Senior exclaimed before he also noticed that the robots were starting to short-circuit from the dancing. The robots started to smoke and then all collapsed in a heap of metal.

Team Possible and Global Justice got a sense of relief that all they had to handle were the HenchCo henchmen.

"You disco-rock, Wade!" Kim complimented the tech genius. "Now to take care of business!"

(15 minutes later)

Team Possible and Global Justice routed the HenchCo henchmen, thanks to Kim's fighting skills and Ron's distraction talents as well as GJ's intensive training regimen. The Senors and five of the HenchCo henchmen retreated to an open space in the middle of the living room. Kim, Ron, and the GJ agents have surrounded the Senors and the remaining henchmen in the middle.

"You may have won this battle, Miss Possible..." Senior remarked. "But I can assure you that our war is far from over! Right after I have a very long conversation with my incompetent son!"

"But Father, I wanted to do a little..." Junior said before Senior cut him off.

"Not a word out of you, Junior, especially not the d-word! This is the last time I will allow you to buy an evil robot army!"

"Oh please!" Kim chuckled a little, "Face it, Senior. Your robot army is defeated and the works of art will go back where they belong! You're going to be in jail!"

"Not this time!" Senior replied as he pulled out a remote control and pressed a purple button. White smoke billowed from the walls as it covered the entire room.

Kim, Ron, Rufus, and the GJ agents began to cough. Once the smoke cleared up, the Senors and the remaining henchmen were gone. What happened was that Senior, Junior, and the henchmen escaped in a submarine that could camouflage itself in water and make itself invisible to radar.

"Aww man!" Ron complained, "I hate it when the bad guys do that!"

"Same here, Ron. Well, at the very least, we can return the artworks to the Louvre where it belongs." Kim said. "And we foiled Senior's plan of selling them on the black market and captured almost all the henchmen!"

"And I think we should head back to Middleton! We got a play to rehearse!"

#kim possible #fanfiction #ron stoppable #global justice #roneo and kimliet #chapter 22 #senor senior senior #senor senior junior

4 notes · View notes

protokirby · 8 months

Text

Raihan appeared in my dream. This is actually big news for me because previously the only time I remember Raihan appearing in my dream was a few years ago in a nightmare in which he died right in front of me and all this time it felt like "dream continuity" doomed me to never see Raihan again.

Anyhoo this dream was fun and terrifying at the same time. (can Raihan get a break please?)

I was viewing the dream from Raihan's point of view.

Leon was at the top of a tower and Raihan was climbing it. Becaaaauuusse he wanted to rescue Leon from a curse. Did he have the cure for said curse? Nope. But he was going to try.

Leon had become a monster thing. Got in the way of a blast that some evil wizard had for Hop I think. The backstory is a little hazy in my memory but one way or another it had to do with Leon shielding Hop from something.

The tower was extremely crazily built. It was as though the concept of nonsense was a tangible material used to build with. That's really cool honestly. Also paint buckets. There were paint buckets everywhere, mostly spilled. Lots of pink. Like danganronpa blood. But it was clearly paint spilled from buckets.

There were bossfights throughout the tower that were.... modded Spore creatures(?) At least the dream said they were creatures made in Spore but they were definitely modded with nonsense because they did not have identifiable parts from the game.

After reaching the top of the tower, there's a monster reveal.

Leon looked normal except for a few things: a large mouth with sharp teeth and blank dull-dark-red eyes. For a completely accurate depiction of how the mouth looked, the episode of the megaman battle network anime in which there's a crossfusion with dark protoman has something exactly like that. I haven’t watched that in maybe like 4 or 5 years but that's definitely where my dream got the idea.

Raihan tried talking to him to see if he could be reasoned with. He could not be reasoned with.

They started an epic anime battle that led with both of them crashing through a window and falling from the top of the tower while still fighting on the way down.

Leon didn't take fall-damage in monster form and Raihan was on top of him when they landed so they were both all right after that. Alive and well. A bit scratched up from fighting and also glass, but not particularly in need of medical attention.

Oh. And Sonia was there at the bottom of the tower hoping to get her friend back. Waiting for Raihan to come back with a totally normal Leon. Then she just sees them land like that and - this is honestly quite appealing to my broken humor. In an absurd, partially dark sort of way.

Anyhoo, Leon returned to his senses because it turns out the tower itself was making him uncontrollable. Though, he's still monsterfied. Still has the scary face. Now he's totally confused because he does not remember a thing.

Raihan and Sonia don't quite know what to say.

The dream ends when Leon reunites with Hop. Hop was completely unbothered by Leon's new monster face

1 note · View note

rallamajoop · 1 year

Text

Resident Evil Village: The Mercenaries

So I may be a little bit addicted to RE8’s Mercenaries mode.

RE8 comes with an impressive array of post-game unlockables to keep the susceptible player hooked, with Mercenaries being an integral part. Finish the main campaign to unlock Mercenaries, complete challenges to unlock more Mercenaries, and/or new weapons and options for the main campaign – it’s all one happy ecosystem, and much the richer for giving you the chance to play as Dimitrescu or Heisenberg as of the DLC. But it’s not a mode without some glaring issues, even for the enthusiast, so the itch to write a proper review of the thing has been with me for a while.

And having sat down to write that review, it soon became so long I gave in and cut the thing in half, so what follows is part 1: an overview of the basics (what works about them and why), and then some more about the individual levels (which ends up being mostly about just That One Level, because ye gods, were some choices made there).

Background and Basics

For the completely unfamiliar, Mercenaries is RE8’s optional-challenge mode, setting you up in familiar areas with a hoard of easily-dispatched enemies and a time limit, and scoring you mostly on how long you can keep a kill-combo going (resetting at 15+ seconds between kills). Levels consist of 2-5 ‘stages’, with chance to buy or upgrade weapons and consumables between.

You’ll face all the usual enemy types and an assortment of bosses or minibosses – but with some extra variety added in. Remember that one puzzle you had to solve by setting a moroaica on fire? Now, we’ve got flamining moroaice everywhere. And some moroi wear helmets now, which I don’t think they ever did in game. Other enemies are huge (and have extra HP), or tiny (with the same HP, but now much harder to hit). And now there are Soldats in the village, and lycans in the factory – it’s one big free-for-all.

How RE8’s Mercenaries compares to the same mode in previous titles (none of which I’ve played) I’m not qualified to say. But it seems pretty significant that some form of this mode appeared in Resis 3-6 (as the series descended into smax-action-min-horror) – but not 7 (the deep plunge back into survival-horror-land). Notably, the closest comparable mode in 7 (Nightmare) isn’t about finishing within a time limit, it’s about surviving one – levels complete only when the clock hits 0. Killing monsters is about not-dying first, points second. It’s all very on-brand.

Not so for RE8’s Mercenaries. Though it’s possible to die (especially in the hard stages) or run out of time, the main challenge is racking up higher scores – we are deep down the shooty-bang end of the survival horror pool. And when each kill rewards you a few seconds bonus time, and often some health too (depending what abilities you’ve picked up), more killing is the standard solution for those problems too. You’ll get bonus points for earning more money (from enemy drops), or finishing with leftover time (kinda ditto). Unlike the main game, enemy health bars and damage numbers are clearly displayed, so you’ll know whether what you’re doing is working. Getting locked into an extended lycan-bite animation is annoying for the damage you'll take, but far more annoying when the time it wastes breaks your combo. Ammunition isn’t unlimited: managing it is a real part of the challenge in some levels, but everything else is about maximising KPS.

‘Abilities’ are a lot of this mode’s novelty value. You pick them up from floating blue orbs (yellow orbs give you 30 bonus seconds), which offer a choice of three randomly-selected options that range from generic speed and damage boosts to “enemies now sometimes explode on death.” A few come with a corresponding debuff (move faster but take more damage, etc), but even more exciting combinations come from how bonuses don’t just stack, they multiply. Not sure why you’d bother taking 10x knife damage, if it nerfs every other weapon by 70%? Try picking it after picking up the 5x knife damage bonus, and now you’re on 50x damage, and can 1-hit-kill a Soldat with a single stab. Wheeheeee!!

That randomness adds a lot to replay value (even if it can get a little frustrating for those grinding for increasingly better scores). The other key hook is everything you can unlock. Extra playable characters, extra stages, extra abilities – even a fricking lightsaber that becomes available in the main campaign. It’s all down to how well you score.

The other great joy is how quickly things scale, especially in longer levels. The more abilities you pick up and the more weapons you upgrade means your speed and damage can accelerate so much faster than in the main story, while enemies largely remain the same. Getting Heisenberg to the final stage of The Bloody River II in one piece is a challenge and a half, but oh boy can you cut loose once you're there.

But to really cover that, we've got to go over some of the uglier parts first...

Level Progression

All current enthusiasm aside, Mercenaries took a little getting into. The original (pre-DLC) version came with four unlockable levels, each with normal/hard variants (which are very different experiences). Scoring goes from C to SSS, with C being a fail (death ends your run, though you can still score an S-rank on death if you’ve done well up to then). You need an ‘A’ to unlock the next level (on Normal, at least – you only need a B on hard), but scoring a ‘B’ on any Normal level lets you restart with extra cash available, so you can go in with better-upgraded weapons. It took me a number of tries to get into the groove enough to score that ‘A’ on the first level (The Village) – though after that, the second (The Castle) was pretty much a breeze.

And then I hit level 3: The Factory.

There are two things major that make the Factory a real challenge: for one, it's broken into only two stages (all others have at least 3), which means only two chances to visit the Duke between, spend money and upgrade your gear. That means you’re spending half the entire level with only basic equipment.

The other big problem is that it’s the factory, and navigating this place is just as difficult as ever. Worse, the factory’s two levels are effectively the same level with minor differences, run in opposite directions, making remembering which way you’re going so much harder. Worse still, navigating requires a lot of backtracking through the main hub, making it that much harder to keep your combo going. And you’ll need a halfway-decent combo for an A, let alone an S-rank.

Did I mention there are no maps in Mercenaries? The factory is bad enough even with the map (with its many levels and sublevels, its doorways that look straightforward but actually lead to a staircase that goes down two sub-levels, and how am I supposed to know?) but without it, this place is a nightmare. I eventually learned the layout well enough only after going back there in the main game, so I could run around it without a time-limit. Youtube has some decent videos with recommended routes, but good luck remembering them under pressure.

Even with all this, what really makes me wonder if the Factory made it in here without proper QA is that the first stage – the marathon you run with your weapons barely-upgraded – pits you against four different minibosses (all 3 of Dimitrescu’s daughters, potentially at once, plus Sturm at the end). The second stage (after you have had the chance to upgrade) has none. A few armoured Soldats are the worst you’ll encounter. It’s such a bizarre choice that leaves me honestly wondering if the two levels were ordered backwards by mistake.

The final level, The Mad Village, has 5 stages culminating in a boss fight with Miranda (plus lackies). After The Factory, it’s a walk in the park. Honesty the hardest thing in this level was finding that elusive 35th enemy in the first stage (a bluebird sitting on top of the Gardener’s house – not easy to spot until you know to look for it).

So, yeah: when I say I love this mode but it has problems, the Factory is a big one. I don’t even especially mind it as a challenge, but making it the penultimate level is a very weird choice, and suggests it’s not totally working as intended.

While I'm griping about this mode's weirder issues, what is up with the default weapon slots?

Some context here: in the main game, the first weapon you pick up is a knife. It goes into slot 1 by default. The second is a pistol (slot 2), then a shotgun (3) and a sniper rifle (4). This works well on keyboard, because 1 is honestly a little annoying to reach with your little finger, whereas 2 and 3 you'll be relying on when something's leaping into your face. RE8 has very effectively programmed me to understand that shotgun-is-on-3.

So why does Mercenaries start you with a pistol on 1, and your knife on 4?

What this means is a short but very annoying window before each level, manually rearranging my shortcuts to something that won't trip me up. And when you've just died for the umpteenth time on a hard level, it's the sort of little annoyance that can really stick in your craw.

But the hard levels can wait for another post. Back to the regular ones.

As of the DLC, you now get two extra levels to unlock beyond The Mad Village – The Bloody Village and the Bloody River (honestly, the fact fully half the levels are called “The [X] Village” probably qualifies as another issue). 3 and 4 stages, and again, neither are a patch on the difficulty of The Factory. The last (The Bloody River) pits you against Moreau (plus bonus goons) in something much like the Miranda battle – and he’s the logical choice, since Dimitrescu and Heisenberg are now playable characters.

There’s decent challenge in these boss stages, since to have any hope of including the boss in your combo, you’ll have to alternate between damaging them and taking out lesser enemies around them, but at the end of the day, it’s not really what this mode was made for. So I do like the decision to make Moreau the second last stage of that level, then fill the last with an absurdly long stage full of 100 lesser enemies to finish off: it’s exactly the kind of mindless fun that this mode excels at.

But no-one’s playing the DLC for two bonus stages: we’re here for the bonus characters.

And that, too, really needs its own post.

#Resident Evil Village Mercenaries #Resident Evil Village #Resident Evil #meta

3 notes · View notes

iturbide · 2 years

Note

Yeah... Fire Emblem as a whole has an issue with imperialism. Like, no joke, in the first games, Marth just ‘accidentally’ ends up the ruler of the whole continent at the end of it. No, really, just... apparently the excuse is that No One Else Is Left between the events of the first and third game with a strong royal claim to the kingdoms??? So, we all just bend the knee to Hero King Marth. The second game, as mentioned, does this with Hero King Alm uniting the lands because, again, the events of the story killed everyone else with a claim (oh, and Celica is there I guess). Genealogy is iffy because it frames Arvis’s True Mistake to be betraying Sigurd and trusting Manfroy and not, you know, taking over the continent under the Granvale Empire; Seliph even becomes Granvale’s new king and... a few kingdoms (that happen to be claimed by Seliph’s allies) break off (if said allies survive to the end), but otherwise we just replaced the Evil Emperor with Hero King Seliph (you are seeing the pattern, yes?). Thracia 776 is the different and the same. Lief leads the peninsula of Thracia against Granvale (then under Manfroy’s control), by uniting the two kingdoms of Thracia under his banner and they become one kingdom under Hero King Lief (which Seliph of course allows and support because he’s friends and allies with Lief). We literally only stop this trend at FE 6, which makes no mention of Roy taking over the continent after defeating evil king. The same goes for FE 7 to FE 10. I want to include FE 13 as not imperialist, but... the way Chrom’s Father trying to kill all of the Plegians just serves as “Why Plegians are evil, because they want revenge for the *attempt at genocide*” is very... like, the only ‘good’ Plegians are the ones that join Chrom or have Reese reservations about the war, but apparently any Plegian that holds ill will towards Ylisse and it’s royal family are all ‘bad.’ Chrom does not take over the continent (this is good), but man Awakening sure does say that military interventions into brown people is Okay and if they are angry about it they should let it go (this is bad). So, I guess FE 13 is half imperialist and half not imperialist? We dedicated too much time to this, on to FE 14 where... god damn it, I get it is trying to pull a ‘we should just get along’ message, but why is the Beautiful Land Always Bathed In Light the Japanese one and the Dark And Dreary Hellhole Alway Bathed In Darkness the not-Japanese one??? This is weird. Not imperialist (I think), but it’s iffy. Then we have FE 16. 3 Houses. 3 Houses is kind of neat because this is the first time I have seen folks seriously debate this whole imperialism issue, but also that’s because it also fumbles. 3 Houses is the first game where all of the actors are playable characters so naturally everyone got attached to everyone in the cast, so everyone was suddenly Very Aware that they were doing an imperialism at the end of every route.

I think it is kind of to 3 Houses credit that some folks are debating these concepts, but also to its detriment because 90% of this debate is over the fact 3 Houses tried to subvert previous tropes (hey, the brown skinned guy is actually the most moral person here!) while playing others straight (we must all be united by the Heroic King/Duke/Emperor that wins the war).

anon you're preaching to the choir here -- if you've spent much time on my blog, you've seen me come down on Awakening and in particular A) Chrom's father and his genocide, B) the story spending all of two lines on it summing up with "but Ylisse was really hurt by it too," C) the only good Plegians are the ones that join Chrom, and D) all the good Plegians having pale skin while the bad guys (Aversa and Validar in particular) have dark skin tones. My AO3 is more or less 500,000 words dealing with that.

Basically no one hates Fire Emblem more than Fire Emblem fans.

(Claude in Three Houses is still one of the best things that's ever happened to the franchise though and I will stand by that.)

#answered #anonymous #fire emblem #i'm not qualified to speak on any of the older games #so i'm just not even going to do it #and i don't feel like digging for links right now #if you want me to send receipts i will dig but #again: i really just want to write at the moment

8 notes · View notes

scrawnydutchman · 2 years

Text

Howard Hamlin; The Christ Figure of Better Call Saul

*SPOILERS FOR BETTER CALL SAUL AHEAD*

How’s that for an essay title? Lol.

Sooo let me start this by saying if you haven’t seen any of the Breaking Bad spinoff ‘Better Call Saul’ you are doing yourself a HORRIBLE disservice, ESPECIALLY if you’re a fan of Breaking Bad. This show that was once misunderstood for it’s ultra slow burn pace and it’s restrained violence in comparison to Breaking Bad has proven itself as not only a worthy successor to Breaking Bad, but possibly even better than what many would consider the best tv show of all time (whether or not that’s true depends on if BCS sticks the landing in its finale, but there’s no reason to believe it won’t). Anybody who is keeping up with the series up to Season 6 episode 8 (and probably more beyond that) will have one solemn thought lingering in their mind . . . the tragic fate of Howard Hamlin.

Howard is arguably the most interesting character in Better Call Saul because of what he represents. Better Call Saul is all about just how thin the line between good and evil can truly be. Every character in the show ends up defying expectations by showing their true selves in unexpected ways. Nacho, the deadly right hand of Tuco Salamanca, turns out to be a tender hearted young man who desperately wants out of the criminal game and wants nothing more than to protect his father. Lalo is the charming, outgoing and seemingly approachable demon of the show who is arguably the most evil of them all. Chuck is the righteous, steadfast and wise Lawyer of the show who turns out to not be nearly as impartial in his judgement of character as he would like you to believe. Kim isn’t the angel we all thought she was, Mike isn’t the cold hearted hitman we thought he was in Breaking Bad, I could go on and on.

“I’ve known good criminals and bad cops. Bad priests, honorable thieves” - Mike Ehrmentraut

So where does Howard fit into all this? Well, Howard is the show’s red herring. He’s set up in season 1 to seem like the main antagonist of Jimmy McGill and effectively so. He comes off as disingenuous and pretentious. A douchey stick in the mud whose supposed good intention is only surface level. Fun fact: Vince originally planned for Howard to be the sincere villain of this show. But as we continue to watch, we quickly learn that these assumptions about Howard just aren’t true. In truth, Howard’s only real crime is being loyal to Chuck to a fault and being needlessly punishing of Kim by keeping her in doc review. Honestly? Not really THAT egregious in the grand scheme of things. And really, why wouldn’t he do this when you consider his position? Of COURSE he sided with Chuck. He looked up to him. Everyone did. Chuck was put on a pedestal as the sharpest legal mind ever. Chuck mentored Howard from the ground up. When somebody is that significant to you it can take a while for the rose tinted glasses to come off. And of COURSE Howard kept Kim in doc review. Kim committed a big betrayal of trust by not informing him about the commercial. She convinced Howard to vouch for Jimmy and when Jimmy inevitably broke the rules that reflected poorly on HIM and HIS judgement. She made him look like a fool. She can’t just expect all to be forgiven by getting one good client.

But honestly, whether Howard was in the wrong for those things or not, he did ULTIMATELY make amends for them.

I’m reminded of one particularly interesting line from Jimmy in episode 1 of season 4. After Howard confesses that he thinks he is responsible for Chuck’s suicide (even though we the audience know that Jimmy is arguably more responsible) Jimmy says

“Well, Howard, I guess that’s your cross to bear”.

Cold. As. Ice. But what’s interesting is that phrasing. “cross to bear”.

Anyone who knows the story of Jesus of Nazareth (so like . . .everyone in the world) will know the old adage that Jesus “died for our sins”. Jesus took the punishment for a crime he did not commit. Because the masses wanted to see him suffer. Because they hated how his good nature disrupted the natural order of things. He suffered immeasurably not for his own sins, but for the rest of ours. He took the bullet for us.

What’s interesting about Jimmy saying this to Howard is that it’s much more relevant to the story of Christ than we might think. It’s not simply “this is your problem”. It’s “This is technically my fault but I’m gonna let you take the blame anyway”. Jimmy lets Howard go through immeasurable guilt and torment so that he doesn’t have to. And, fittingly, he feels an enormous weight lifted from his own shoulders and goes right to feeding the fish, to the confusion of Kim and Howard.

So Howard takes all the blame and more for the fate of Chuck, especially after a frankly unearned reprimanding from Kim. Howard goes through immense depression and insomnia for things that are not at all his fault.

And yet . . . . he finds the light at the end of the tunnel. He goes through therapy, makes the effort to come back out on top and is made better for it. He’s spiritually whole again. He has dinner with Jimmy (who is going by Saul at this point) and he offers Jimmy everything that was unfairly denied from him for so long. A position at HHM. The legacy he deserved FINALLY given to him. Howard fessed up to all wrongdoing and expressed sincere commitment to making things right.

Jimmy’s response? He destroys his car with bowling balls and sends prostitutes to his dinner with Chuck. Not the answer one would expect. But it makes sense.

Jimmy sees Howards strength of character to triumph over such darkness . . .and he resents him for it. Jimmy let him take the burden because he didn’t want to face the horror of his brother’s death or what has become of the fate of his family. Because that would be too hard for Jimmy to healthily go through. So he sees that Howard faced that darkness honestly and healthily and emerged victorious and he resents him for coming out a better person. Because he could NEVER do that.

Howard tries to tell Kim about this and she . . . ALSO does not give the response one would expect. Yeah, it turns out she’s not nearly as upright as we were lead to believe for so many seasons. Turns out she’s way more into Jimmy’s antics than we thought . . . and wants to REALLY up the anti.

so Kim and Jimmy devise an elaborate scheme to tarnish Howard’s reputation forever. They go to GREAT lengths to convince everyone he is a drug addict, and boy howdy do they succeed. Howard keeps trying to end this feud with Jimmy honestly by exposing him the right way and by ending it in a boxing match, but it doesn’t matter. They successfully ruin Howard’s reputation irreparably. Not knowing that he already has enough on his plate with his failing marriage.

Howard goes to Kim and Jimmy’s apartment and confronts them on this. He really tares into them, and despite being inebriated with alcohol he somehow manages to remain classier than both of them.

And then . . . Lalo pays an unexpected visit. Howard is caught in the middle of a conflict he has no idea about . . .and he’s killed. For no reason at all. All because Kim and Jimmy couldn’t help but fuck with him for really petty reasons. As a cover up they make his death look like a drug induced suicide: maintaining the false narrative Kim and Jimmy have put up all this time.

Once again, Howard pays the price for Kim and Jimmy’s awful behavior. Once again, Howard takes the fall so that Kim and Jimmy can be preserved. Howard literally died for Kim and Jimmy’s sins.

What is a “Christ” figure? It’s somebody with altruistic qualities who was made the fall guy for the crimes of more horrible people.

Howard was misunderstood from day one. He was established from the very beginning as the guy who takes the fall for the awful behavior of others. He willingly acted like the bad guy on Chucks behalf and let him pretend he was always on Jimmy’s side. He paid Chuck out of pocket to get rid of him. He willingly slept in a guest house for the better half of the year because his wife refused to have any empathy or interest in him. Over and over again, Howard pays the toll for the shitty behavior of others.

And that’s what makes him the strongest character in the show.

“You’ve mistaken my kindness for weakness” - Howard Hamlin

When it comes down to it, Howard ALWAYS stuck by his principles. Over and over again he did what he truly felt was right. He didn’t try to justify shitty behavior. He wasn’t motivated by a vendetta against anyone. He didn’t make excuses for his shortcomings. Howard is the truly good man of the main cast of Better Call Saul . . . . and he suffered a horrendously awful death so that the bad guys could go on living.

Even when he’s in Kim and Jimmy’s apartment when Lalo shows up. Nobody would have blamed him for bailing. Nobody would have blamed him for putting his own safety first. But he stayed to try and talk Lalo down; to do what he could to protect two people who worked so hard to make him seem awful.

“there’s really no need to--” - Howard Hamlin’s last words.

And then Howard was buried with his killer under a lab that would go on to harbor the great Heisenberg. The worst criminal Albuquerque has ever seen.

What does his sacrifice lead to? Just more criminal antics from Saul Goodman. Even after the Christ figure takes the fall for us, we just keep on sinning.

#better call saul #howard hamlin #season 6 #breaking bad #essay

13 notes · View notes