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#and i was like . Marlon. I am very calm about a lot of things. You know this.
knifenymph · 3 years
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when i get back to costa rica..... i promise to take sexy pictures with my machetes.......... and not sexy like male gaze sexy i mean sexy like i assume y'all know what i mean and what my vibe is HHAHA and anyways any picture with a machete in it is sexy so its not hard
#op#chatter#I AM SO EXCITED FOR THEM#oh my god so before i left i hid my machetes in my lil cabin space#not super well hidden but i doubted anyone would be in my space like that so ...#and later marlon made a joke and said that he found them and was planning to use them for dumb marlon stuff LMFAO#and i was like . Marlon. I am very calm about a lot of things. You know this.#But touching my things? My Machetes Especially? Ab So Lutely NOT.#LMFAOOOOOO#and he got the memo real quick LMFAOAOAOOO do not TOUCH my machetes#i am very very borderline territorial when it comes to my things#i dont have many knickknacks or possessions but i am very particular abt the ones i do#i do not like anyone touching my things - even my mom doesnt enter my room when im not present LMFAO and knocks when i am#i am very very chill abt near all else lol but .......... thats a hard no without permission#one time one of the girls in the program was like .. Jasmine.. i have.. a Question for u..#and i was like ... Yes ?#and she goes.. could i .. pretty please so possibly .. maybe .. use your guitar? i PROMISE I KNOW GUITAR SAFETY AND etc etc etc LMFAOOO#and it was only because shes queer and masc and we kinda would flirt that i said yes ....#and then later another girl was like .. yea wow i was amazed that she even asked - i thought that was 100% off limits LMFAO#i forgot that when we stated boundaries at the beginning of the program i told ppl not to touch my stuff and not to even ask bc id probably#shoutout to past jasmine for layin down the LAW!#but so when marlon made that joke i was like ..... Ah .... you do not know Proper Jasmine Etiquette ......... LMFAO
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I might be back on my bullshit thinking about Louis [as if I ever stopped] and episode 2 again. Like... there are a lot of things that could’ve been handled better when it comes to ep2, but can we just appreciate his apology to Clementine during the archery scene? 
[note: this turned into a bit of a rant, and for that, I apologize]
It still baffles me that he gets dismissed as a shitbird by portions of the fandom to this day for being upset with Clem and AJ when he just found out his best friend gave away the twins, murdered Brody and tried to pin it on Clementine to cover his tracks... only to then be murdered by AJ after he already gave up, shot him in the back of the head right in front of everyone and left Louis heartbroken and traumatized. 
Like I understand that some of y’all think Clementine and AJ should never be held accountable for anything they do and they’re always right, even when they’re in the wrong because you’re the player projecting yourself onto them and everyone who is mean to you is a stupid head unless they’re mean in the right way.
Or you’re one of those violentine stans who feels like the only way to validate your ship is to create this narrative that Louis is a traitor and Clementine would never love him after he voted for them to leave as if the only way you know how to make Violet look good is to make Louis bad by comparison instead of like... y’know, being one of the decent stans who explain and gush about the positives of the ship itself and why they love it rather obsessing over the other ship. 
Either way, you’re really gonna look at that situation of Louis reacting to his best friend’s death after what just went down and be like “calm down, Louis, you’re being a jerk :/” like.... I’m sorry? 
Aren’t you the same people who complained about Luke not giving a shit about Nick’s death back in s2? how he didn’t have a reaction? In fact, aren’t you also the same people who vigorously defended Kenny for his reaction to Sarita’s death after he lashed out at Clementine? Remember? When he yelled at her and called her a stupid fucking kid who thinks she can just get anyone killed and it’s okay because she said sorry? but it’s fine because Kenny’s reacting in a realistic way that makes sense for his character and he later apologizes for it? 
but now here you are, getting a realistic reaction out of Louis that makes sense with his character and all of a sudden, you don’t like it? You want him to just be like “Oh no, Marlon.... anyway.” Really?
Louis is hurt, he’s pissed and he doesn’t know what to do. He’s so shaken by what the hell just happened, Marlon’s dead body is bleeding out on the ground, Ruby’s talking about getting fucking medicine as if that’s gonna do anything, Violet waving her cleaver around at them even though literally none of them were looking at AJ they were all looking at Clementine, Violet you are not helping anyone in this situation, you’re only making it worse and adding to the aggression... but no, Louis shouldn’t be a fucking mess right now. He should just shrug his shoulders and be like “Welp, this is fine.” 
Then there’s the damn funeral. Look, Clementine and AJ shouldn’t have been there. I know they had to be for story purposes, but it’s such a bad idea that it makes Violet, the one who wanted them there, look like an ass who has no regard for anyone other than herself, Clementine and AJ, and those who agree with her... which is only Tenn and I guess everyone else sucks and their feelings are invalid because no one else wanted them there since it’s not a good idea to have Marlon’s murderer attend his funeral and if you believe that isn’t going to piss people off or make them uncomfortable, then either you don’t care or you don’t know how to read a room. 
And by the way, Louis wasn’t the one who suggested voting them out. He wasn’t even there when MITCH said they should take a vote and everyone agreed to it. So why is it that Louis gets all this blame for how the vote turned out? Oh, Louis is such a traitor because he’s the reason they got kicked out.... except no? 
First of all, if you’re so mad at Louis then how come you’re not mad at Ruby? She voted them out, too. So did Omar. They contributed to kicking them out. How come no one else talks about how much they hate them after they said having the vote was a fair idea and then voted them out? Oh, and Willy, too. Willy voted them out. The only other person who gets heat for the vote is Mitch, and he was the one who came up with the idea in the first place... but no one else, huh? 
Also, how come only Violet gets praise for wanting Clementine and AJ to stay? Never see anyone talk about how amazing Aasim is after he was the third vote for them. He has legit reasons for wanting them around, too, but he didn’t want them at the funeral either so what, does that cancel out his vote for you? Where is the Aasim love? 
Then we got the dorms where Louis and Violet come to escort them away, and once again, I have to mention that both of them are wrong in this situation. They’re on the extreme opposites where Violet thinks they should stay because they didn’t do anything wrong, and Louis thinks they should leave because AJ’s dangerous. Both of these view points make sense with their characters.
However, I guess some conveniently ignore how conflicted Louis is about the whole thing and how he’s feeling about it because it doesn’t fit with the narrative they’re trying to push about his character. 
Again, he’s dealing with a lot of shit right now only to be constantly invalidated by Violet, who keeps telling him what a shithead he is for hurting about this, how he’s just burying his head in the sand again and all this other shit, and he eventually snaps at her and says AJ’s dangerous, which hurts AJ and it’s all over Louis’ face that he realizes he snapped and he feels bad about it. 
But Louis never got aggressive with them, he never laid a hand on them, and he was there to escort them out in the woods. And that argument of “he sent them out there to die therefore Clementine and AJ should hate him, Clem shouldn’t want any friendly/romantic relationship with him because he put AJ at risk and got him shot” is.... I dunno, ugh? It’s ugh. You act like Louis did this to intentionally get them hurt when that’s not true. 
Clementine and AJ have survived on their own for years, so it makes sense that Louis would try to justify this to himself like “they’ll make it out there, they’ll survive because they’ve done this before... this is for the best for everyone” and no, him telling them that this is probably like going home for them isn’t okay, but it makes sense for his character because he doesn’t actually know how bad it is out there. 
None of them know, they’ve all lived in walls their whole lives. It’s naïve of him, yes, but it makes sense and he didn’t do this with shitty intentions of wanting them to get hurt. He didn’t know that Lilly and Abel would be out there, he didn’t know AJ would get shot, he didn’t know any of it. He didn’t think that if they voted them out, this would happen. He was struggling with his feelings about them and saying goodbye to someone he was starting to feel a connection with. 
And he let them back in. Hell, he carried AJ into the school himself when they showed up wounded and you still wanna call him an asshole and a traitor? He could’ve said nope, get the hell out. We kicked you out, you’re not welcome here. 
He didn’t do that, he ran to them to see if they’re okay, he brought AJ to Ruby and stayed with him the entire time Clem was in the office with Violet.... AND he apologized to AJ, quietly begging for him to be okay... and when he’s faced with Clementine after what happened, he doesn’t know what to say to her. He can’t even look at her because he feels so ashamed of himself and feels all the blame for this. 
This is a moment that ties back to backstory. Louis’ emotions overpowered him, he made a decision and now AJ is shot and bleeding on the couch.... when he came to the school, they [the staff, I assume] said these kids were bad people, they told Louis that he was bad after what he did to his parents and he internalized that, and this whole this just reaffirms that idea “I am bad, I hurt people, this is my fault.” He blames himself for everything even though there’s no way he could’ve known. You can feel Louis’ genuine concern for AJ and how he’s doing, but at the same time, he’s trying to distance himself from Clementine… and well, sorta failing since he brings her clothes and they have the conversation in the dorms. 
Then the archery scene.... y’know, the scene I was gonna make a simple little post about that somehow turned into this. 
Once again we have Louis and Violet arguing because that’s what they do now, and Violet continues to tell him to get over himself without listening to anything he says, and he goes to practice archery so that y’know... when the raiders come he can use a weapon to help defend them since he’s not very good with it and needs practice.
Clem goes to check on him, and Louis apologizes for voting them out, explains that when AJ shot Marlon, he blamed Clementine when that wasn’t the right thing to do. He had a lot going on emotionally on top of what was happening around him, but after having two weeks to work through things alone, even though he’ll never be happy Marlon died, he can understand why AJ thought it was the right thing to do... and if he could take everything back, he would. He knew that the moment they came back, and he still does. 
I just.... how often does Clementine ever get an actual apology from anyone who has hurt her? A real apology from someone who means it and then doesn’t just turn around and repeat the same hurtful actions? Like... it baffles me that people will look at this genuine apology and tell him to fuck off, but will accept and continue to adore someone like Kenny who will apologize for hurting Clem, only to never try to be better and ends up hurting her even more next time. 
Or they’ll accept and justify Violet’s last minute apology for punching Clementine in the face on the boat and putting everyone [including AJ, rememeber?] at risk of either dying or being made into brainwashed soldiers by the delta. 
They both have reasons for their behaviors and you’ll work your ass off to justify them, and I’m not saying your points are wrong or invalid, but you seriously won’t even try to extend that same thing to Louis? Why? 
Well, jokes on you because I too will work my ass of to talk about Louis and what he’s going through and that’s how posts like this get made. I know not everyone is going to feel that connection to him that I have, and you’re allowed to not like him as a character, but realize that I’m also allowed to give my perspective on his character and why I disagree with points posed by those who don’t like him. 
The archery scene is one of my favorites. It’s Louis and Clementine proving that they’re able to open up to one another and say they’re sorry, to forgive the other without being petty or holding it over the other to throw back at them the next time they argue. It proves that Louis wants to put in the effort to repair their relationship and atone for the mistakes he made, to step up and not be “bad” anymore. 
I mean, Louis says it best himself. Everyone heard the jokes and the piano, after that, they stop listening... a lot of people just boil him down to a funny man who never takes anything seriously and the only thing he could ever bring to Clementine’s life is a good laugh, but those who stuck with him and put an effort into building his and Clementine’s relationship know better than that. They know how much this apology in ep2 means even with the downer that the timeline of events rushes everything a bit. 
The fact that Louis doesn’t have this big ego that prevents him from apologizes, that he can forgive AJ for what he did and still build a strong relationship with both him and Clementine, that if you earn his trust he will follow you to hell and back, that he isn’t afraid to call Clementine out on her bullshit and doesn’t have a come apart when she does the same to him, that with her and AJ by his side he finally doesn’t feel alone anymore.... it’s all just so fucking good. 
I dunno, maybe you can understand why I get so ugh whenever I still see these same arguments about him being made with this double standard that doesn’t apply to other characters.
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Episode 10–The Court Ends; Scene 7
Judgment of Corruption, pages 303-316
It was thought that the revolts would quickly be suppressed by the release of the military.
But on the contrary, it was here that something unexpected occurred for the government. A portion of USE allied forces that they deployed defected to the side of the militia.
The former soldier Gammon likely laid the groundwork for that in advance.
Due to this, the fight spread to one of much larger scale, until what had at first been a simple uprising began to take on the look of a full-fledged civil war.
On August 10th, the Dark Star Bureau was attacked by the militia.
The allied forces and the soldiers of PN put up a fight, but they were at a loss against the militia’s strength of numbers, and in just eighteen hours the Dark Star Bureau fell into the militia’s hands.
The next day, reports surfaced that the chief of PN, Bruno Zero, had been captured by the militia.
.
Gallerian had somehow managed to escape from the militia’s clutches, and slipped out of the bureau.
He used a secret passageway hidden in the back of his fireplace—a device that had been used for the princess to escape from the palace in the “Daughter of Evil” story. The same thing had been put in the Dark Star Bureau.
While avoiding the public eye, Gallerian headed for his estate.
He was sure he had at least some final strength left to him for battle.
“Eater! Where are you!?”
Gallerian cried out the name of the one who controlled his dead soldiers—the “dead god”.
But there was no reply.
He couldn’t find that large frame anywhere in either the house or the gardens.
“…Maybe he ran away.”
The other dead god Lich must have still been with Ma in “Evils Theater” in Elphegort.    
--Gallerian no longer had anyone left here he could count on as an ally.
He was the militia’s target. He had provoked too greatly the people’s animosity with his many corrupted judgments.
Gallerian knew that it would be dangerous to stay in his own home. He outfitted himself appropriately and then immediately moved to leave the mansion.
But once he saw what was outside his window, he halted.
“…I’m already surrounded…It’s too late.”
At that moment, running out there would be fatal. He turned on his heel and returned to the study, sitting down in his favorite chair.
And then, though I don’t know why, he switched on the radio that was sitting on his desk.
“—Breaking news. The corpse of Major General Tony Ausdin of the USE allied forces was recently discovered in the garden of his home. There were several wounds on his body, but the one thought to be the killing blow is a .44 calibre revolver bullet that was fired into his temple. General Tony was declared innocent in a trial held—”
After listening that far, he shut off the radio.
Then he noticed a smoking pipe that had been left next to the radio.
Something Ma had forgotten.
Gallerian picked it up and lit it.
Right after he put it to his mouth and sucked in the smoke,
“Cough”
He vigorously started hacking, and immediately set the pipe back down on the desk, putting it out.
“…Not my thing.”
He stood and this time passed his eyes over the bookcase next to him.
His eyes rested on the third shelf, whereon seven thin volumes that looked hand-written were lined up.
Other things Ma had forgotten.
The titles to each were written in small print on the spines.
.
The Lunacy of Duke Venomania
Evil Food Eater Conchita
The Daughter of Evil
Gift from the Princess Who Brought Sleep
The Tailor of Enbizaka
.
The remaining two works didn’t have titles written on them.
These were screenplays that were based on tales Ma had gathered on the seven Vessels of Deadly Sin.
“The Vessels of Deadly Sin…I’d been so close. I was—almost about to save Michelle.”
He took one of the screenplays in hand.
Then he sat back down in his chair.
“Michelle…Papa wasn’t able to save you. But at the very least, you must keep living. Where no one can find you, in that theater in the forest—”
After murmuring that, Gallerian leisurely opened the book and started to read.
.
The Dark Star Bureau had already fallen.
He no longer had any friends or colleagues.
The money that he had saved up was now worthless to him.
Having lost everything, this isolated man waited in his mansion for that moment.
As he read.
That moment when the enraged militiamen would break into his home.
.
“…They haven’t come in.”
Gallerian closed the book and put it on his desk.
He stood and then peered out his study window.
Just like before, the militia soldiers were surrounding the mansion.
“Why haven’t they advanced?”
There was no one in the mansion anymore to answer his question.
--Or at least, they shouldn’t have been.
“They’re waiting.”
Gallerian turned around in surprise at the voice he heard behind him.
Standing there—was a blue-haired man who looked similar to…or rather, exactly like Gallerian.
“They’re waiting for her to arrive. The person who would be most appropriate for killing you.”
“Who…are you?”
They were two Gallerians, facing each other.
“Who am I? What cruel words. Don’t you know this face better than anyone?”
“Ah…You are me. …No, that’s ridiculous. I can’t be standing in front of myself—”
“But it’s the truth. I am you, and you are me.”
The other Gallerian laughed mockingly.
--But I knew, watching from the side.
It was a terrible joke. He…though he may be identical in form—
He was not Gallerian.
Gallerian himself appeared to realize this.
“I see, you—are ‘Adam’. The being in the spoon.” So saying, Gallerian pulled out the spoon that he always kept on his person. “It was through contracting with you that I became able to speak to Michelle.”
“Correct. It is by my power that you were able to converse with the soul that resides inside the doll.”
“Michelle…lost her body in that incident. But her spirit lived on, and rests inside the doll. If I were to gather the ‘Vessels of Deadly Sin’, I could restore my daughter’s body to her once more—it is believing in that that has brought me this far.”
“But you failed. Before you could finish collecting them all--here you are in this sorry state. Why could you not notice sooner that your own sin would ruin you one of these days?”
As the two of them spoke to each other with their identical faces, I lost track of who was who.
Gallerian—no, Adam, started to laugh as though to make fun of the other.
”Keh heh heh.  I’m disappointed in you. –Even with mine and ‘Eve’’s power you failed to gather the vessels, in the end.”
“And ‘Eve’ is?”
“The soul that resides in the doll—You thought that was your daughter, didn’t you? That crafty Ma had you completely fooled. But you’re mistaken. It’s Eve’s soul. Eve and I are fated to be attracted to each other…It’s for that reason that I can converse with her soul.”
“…No. That’s Michelle.”
“That’s what you want to believe, isn’t it? Your mind would be broken if you didn’t. It’s because you know how severe your own weakness is that you’ve clung so heavily to Eve’s soul and the Vessels of Deadly Sin. You’ve continued to accumulate money for an impossible wish. Ordinarily the ‘Marlon Spoon’ houses the demon of ‘Greed’—but whatever the case might have been, you had no need of that. Even without contracting with it, from the very start you’ve been a man greedy for what’s beyond his lot.”
“You’re wrong.”
“Keep saying that. –It is true that once you gather all the Vessels of Deadly Sin, a wish will be granted. But that wish is mine and Eve’s. Once all are assembled, Eve and I will have a second advent. We will recreate this broken-down world. And then we will enjoy eternal happiness in our true Utopia—”
“You’re wrong!” Gallerian cried in rage, moving to knock the other man against the wall.
But his hand passed right through Adam’s body.
“You certainly are obstinate. –Very well. How about I have the very woman herself come here? I’ll call the doll here now…and then we’ll ask her directly whether her soul is that of ‘Eve’ or ‘Michelle’.”
“Can you…do that?”
“I can. Didn’t Ma tell you? I have the power to weaken the repulsion effect of the Vessels of Deadly Sin. Naturally, this isn’t normally a power I can actively use, myself. The power is endowed to the person that I contract with. …However. During my long years of wandering the world, I made my own studies. As long as I am in the middle of contracting with someone, I can receive the benefits of this power. And if I use it skillfully enough—”
“—No, hold on. This place is surrounded by the militia right now. Don’t call her here under these conditions!”
Gallerian tried to stop him, but it apparently fell on deaf ears.
“Now then—come here, Eve!”
.
--There was no severe change or anything like that.
There was no sound, no flash of light.
She just appeared there beside Gallerian and Adam.
Bizarrely, as she sat in her wheelchair, she was no longer a small doll.
She was the same size as a person—as though she were a living human being.
Even I couldn’t tell if that was reality, or else some illusion that Adam was displaying.
--Well, that’s only natural. I am just a bat, after all.
“Eve!”
“Michelle…”
The two of them both spoke up to the doll at the same time.
When they did, the doll’s eyes quietly opened.
Those calm blue-green eyes looked at the two of them.
“…There’s two of you, Papa?”
The doll inclined its head curiously.
“I’m not your Papa. It’s me, Eve—It’s Adam. Your husband.”
Adam sprang towards the doll.
“No. You’re Michelle, aren’t you? Papa’s beloved daughter.”
Undaunted, Gallerian approached the doll.
The doll compared both of their faces for a short time, but eventually she suddenly faced Gallerian and said, “Papa. I want to see outside.”
“…O-of course. Right away…”
Despite appearing confused, Gallerian went to move the wheelchair so that the doll was facing the window to the outside.
“Who are those people out there?”
“…They’re militia. A revolt—a war has broken out in this country. They’re angry with me, and are all leading an assault on this place.”
“That’s terrible! You haven’t done anything wrong, Papa!”
“No…I—”
“It’s alright, Papa. I—will protect you.”
The color of the doll’s eyes seemed to faintly change.
And immediately afterward—
“AAAAAUGH!”
Screams became audible from outside the window.
One of the militia-men was writhing, blue flames billowing up from his body.
“Did…you do that, Michelle?”
“Don’t worry. That fire only burns people, so it won’t catch on the trees in the garden, or the house.”
One by one, the militia solders burst into flame. They didn’t seem to have any idea what was happening. They tried to put out the fire on their comrades even as they flew into a panic.
The doll said happily to Gallerian, “Everyone at the theater tells me this: ‘You and us are one and the same’. –But they’re wrong. ‘Cause I have this incredible power I can use.”
Gallerian was speechless.
And behind him, Adam was trembling all over.
“What…is that power. Eve…can’t…do that. Who the hell—are you!?”
The doll replied to that question, as though it were perfectly normal, “I am—Papa’s daughter. No more, no less.”
“…Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuah…” Then Adam suddenly started to wail pitifully, “Ma, you bitch! You fucking set me up! This isn’t Eve. This is—AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGH!”
Gallerian gazed upon this scene with a cool expression.
“Have you broken, Adam?”
“Ha ha ha! Satisfied? Are you satisfied, now that you’ve beaten me, Gallerian!? But! You’re mistaken! We’ve both lost! We were both deceived! Not just with the doll. There’s a secret that woman didn’t tell you! –Did you think Bruno was your friend? Then I pity you. Even he lied to you. He figured that secret out but he didn’t tell you!”
“What are you saying? I don’t at all get what you’re—That’s enough now, isn’t it Adam? Send Michelle back to the forest where she was.”
“NO! My contract with you is now over! I’m going back to the forest alone—And you two can stay here and burn away in this house together! HA HA HA!”
And with those as his parting words, Adam disappeared with a pop.
.
The only ones left were Gallerian, and—
An ordinary doll, no longer able to move.
With Adam gone, and the contract between him and Gallerian broken—it was now powerless.
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ericsonclan · 3 years
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A Close Shave
Summary: Marlon freaks out on the day of his wedding and gets a little too close and personal with his electric razor.
Word Count: 2065
Read on A03:
Marlon paced back and forth in the guest bedroom of Sophie’s house, his mind reeling as he struggled to determine whether he had forgotten anything for the wedding back at his place. He had the dog bone cuff links for his suit that Sophie gave him on his last birthday, his suit was already on, his shoes were polished- the rings! Marlon’s hands rushed back to clasp his butt. Nope, the ring box was in his back pocket. Then what was it?
“Hey there, Groomeo,” Louis said, slipping into the room with a playful wink before his face fell as he saw his best friend’s distress. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
“I’m forgetting something, something big….”
“What?”
“That’s the problem! I don’t know!” Marlon clasped the sides of his head in frustration, pulling at his hair. “Ugggh, I never should’ve agreed to this!”
“You mean the… wedding?” The hesitance was clear in Louis’ voice.
“No! I mean, yes, but not like that. When I proposed, somehow I thought I’d be able to have enough saved up by the wedding to give Sophie the dream wedding she deserves, but here we are getting married in her parents’ backyard eating homemade burgers and I’m wearing my dad’s suit that I wore to my senior prom,” Marlon collapsed on the bed in defeat, his face wrought with utter dejection.
Louis took a seat beside his friend, placing a hand upon his shoulder as he gave a sympathetic smile. “You know Sophie doesn’t care about any of that stuff. She loves homemade burgers,”
“I know… but she deserves so much better. If we’re gonna be married, I should be able to provide for her. Yet here I am running the same deliveries I did years ago when I met her,” Marlon let out a perturbed sigh which blew a piece of lint off of his suit. The fuzz ball floated through the air for a moment before nestling within the blonde locks of his mullet. “Look at me. I got so frazzled during the wedding that my dumb old mullet grew out,”
“Soph says she digs the mullet though!” Getting to his feet, Louis tried to drag Marlon off the bed and out of his funk.
“She just says that out of pity,” Marlon mumbled, his face half buried under a pillow. “She hates it. You know how we started dating,”
“She told you to cut it as a joke! She told you that when you did it!” Louis pulled on Marlon’s arms, getting him to sit upright only for Marlon to flop back over face first. “This is just wedding nerves talking, dude. You gotta ignore them!”
“No,” Marlon croaked, one eye gazing up at his friend. “It’s the truth. I’ve just been in denial all this time.”
Louis rolled his eyes, his hands coming to rest on his hips. “This is ridiculous. Do I have to bring Ruby in here to talk some sense into you?”
“She always thought the mullet was stupid. She’d probably volunteer to shave it off…” Marlon’s voice trailed off, his eyes wandering to his duffel bag.
Louis followed his friend’s gaze. “Marlon?”
“The razor…”
“What was that?”
Before Louis could stop him, Marlon had jumped to his feet and was rummaging through his bag. He’d packed the razor in case he missed a spot shaving at home, but it could also work for shaving other things. Namely this embarrassment of a mullet. In seconds he had located the razor; his heart raced as he heard its steady thrum. Without hesitation, Marlon lifted it to his head.
“Marlon, NOOOO!” Leaping forward, Louis tackled his best friend to the ground, doing his utmost to wrestle the still buzzing razor out of his hands. “This is a terrible idea, man! Just drop the razor!”
“No! I’m gonna look like a dork in all the wedding photos! I can’t ruin the wedding!” Marlon grunted as he rolled over on top of Louis, trying to angle the razor toward his head once more.
“Hey guys, Sophie was wondering- what the fuck!” Violet stood in the doorway in bewilderment as she watched the pair struggle for ownership of the still buzzing razor. “What sick sort of male bonding ritual is this?”
“Vi! Grab the razor!” Louis yelled, his arms wrapped around Marlon from behind as the two wrestled on the floor, the razor moving ever closer to Marlon’s locks. “He’s freaking out!”
“They need to go!” Marlon cried, rolling back and forth wildly. His hands were white knuckled with how tightly he was gripping the razor.
“Just calm the fuck down, Marlon!” Violet snapped as she joined the fight, trying to yank the pair apart and stop this nonsense. “You’ll look like even more of a dumbass than you do now if you cut your hair during a panic attack so just give Louis the razor!”
“See?! Vi says the mullet’s dumb!!”
“I think every way you look is dumb! Now give it!”
Louis and Violet were trying their best to hold off Marlon’s mullet assault but making little progress. With Louis pinned underneath Marlon and Violet unable to get enough leverage from above to move Marlon’s hands, the razor loomed ever closer.
“Marlon, you’re gonna cut your face!” Louis warned, watching in horror as the razor hovered mere inches above them.
“Just… let me do this…” Marlon grunted, putting all his power into his arms. Violet got a hold of his wrists, pulling back as hard as she could, but it wasn’t going to be enough. With a forceful grunt, Marlon thrust the razor straight toward himself. Louis screamed and rolled them both out of the way. The razor hit the hardwood floor and skidded away, still buzzing steadily.
The trio looked round in shock. Marlon was the first to speak. “Shit, I didn’t mean to freak out like that. Thanks for pulling me out of the way, Lou. Are you…” He glanced back to see his friend sadly looking down at the floor. A mangled dreadlock lay there, cut clean through. “Fuck. Lou, I’m sorry,”
Sighing, Louis pulled his handkerchief out from the breast pocket of his suit. Opening it up, he laid the dread inside then refolded the handkerchief and tucked it back in place. “Rest in peace, little guy. I’ll miss you,”
“You can’t even tell the difference,” Violet lied.
Marlon groaned as he let his head fall into his hands. “I’m the worst,”
“No, you’re not,” Louis got to his feet and offered Marlon a hand up too. “You’re just freaking out. Everybody does on their wedding. We just need a way to calm you down before the ceremony,”
“Good luck with that. I’m a fucking mess,”
Violet looked thoughtful. “I think I have an idea on how to solve this. Lou, get Marlon to the end of the hallway in 5, the point right before you turn right toward the bathroom,” Without elaborating further, Violet left the room.
“Well ok then…” Louis quirked an eyebrow before turning back to Marlon. “You ready to head over there?”
“I guess,”
---
Marlon and Louis waited together at the corner of the hallway. Marlon wasn’t sure what sort of cure all Violet had in mind, but he desperately hoped it would work. The anxiety was driving him crazy.
Louis kept a close eye on his friend, making sure he wasn’t going to make a run for it or anything else crazy. “Vi should be here any second now. We just gotta wait and-”
“Marlon?”
Both men froze. It wasn’t Violet’s voice that had just said that. It was Sophie’s.
“Soph!” Marlon wanted to rush around the corner and hug her, but he knew it was bad luck to see the bride before the ceremony. He glanced back at Louis to see his friend already backing away, giving a thumbs up and an encouraging smile.
“Hey…” Sophie let out a low giggle from the other corner of the wall. “It’s good to hear your voice,”
“Same,” Maron wondered if Violet had told Sophie about his freak out. If she hadn’t, he didn’t want to be the one to mention it. He didn’t want his own stupid panic attack to hurt Sophie.
“Vi could tell I was freaking out so she told me to meet up with you for a few minutes, even though we can’t be face to face,”
She was freaking out? Marlon hadn’t expected that. Sophie was always so chill and easygoing about everything. That’s how she’d been the whole way through the wedding planning up to this day. “You doing alright?”
“Eh, I’ve been better. I have napkins tucked under both my armpits right now so my sweaty pits don’t stain the dress,” There was a pause. “Crap, I probably shouldn’t have said that right before the wedding, huh? Not very romantic,”
Marlon chuckled. “No, you’re good. I… had my own little freak out while I was getting ready too,”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. I was thinking of cutting off my mullet cuz, y’know, you didn’t like it,”
“Marlon, that was years ago. That was before I knew you. I love you in whatever hairstyle you want. The mullet looks good cause it’s on you,”
A soft smile crossed Marlon’s face at those words. He wished he could hug Sophie, hold her close and tell her how thankful he was to have her in his life. He couldn’t see her in the dress, but maybe… Marlon extended a hand, sneaking it round the corner. “Thanks. I needed to hear that,” A warmth surrounded his hand as Sophie took it in her own.
“It’s good to hear your voice too. Makes all of this less scary. Not that marrying you is scary! But, y’know, the future,”
“Yeah,” Marlon gulped, feeling a lump well up in his throat. “Soph?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m sorry. I figure I haven’t helped make the future any less scary,”
“What do you mean?”
“Well… I should’ve found a better job,” Marlon looked at the floor in dejection. “That way I could’ve been saving up for our future and then maybe things wouldn’t be so scary,”
“Marlon, it’s not that. We don’t have a lot of money sure, but I never expected that. I mean I choose a career as an artist for crying out loud! Money doesn’t scare me, it’s more like… kids and stuff. The big life changes,”
Oh. Marlon squeezed Sophie’s hand softly, wishing he could see her face. “You’re gonna be a great mom, Soph. But that doesn’t have to happen right now. It doesn’t have to happen anytime soon if you don’t want. We’ve got time. And shit… I don’t think I’m really ready myself to have kids and stuff,”
“I’m getting ahead of myself, aren’t I?” The wry smile she must have on her face right now was easy to picture. “Well, whatever comes our way with money and kids or whatever else is freaking us out, I know we can get through it. Cause we have each other. And that’s all I could ever want,”
Marlon felt tears pricking his eyes. He tried to swallow the lump in his throat that had switched from one of fear to emotion. “Yeah,” He paused, rubbing his thumb across his soon-to-be wife’s hand. “Hey, Soph?”
“Yeah?”
“I love you,”
Marlon heard a little sniffle from round the corner. “I love you too,”
A chuckle escaped Marlon’s lips. “Look at us, a bunch of saps,”
“Crying before we even reach the altar,”
“Yeah,”
“But they’re good tears,”
Marlon smiled. “Yeah,”
A beeping sound went off and Sophie pulled her hand out of Marlon’s. The sound stopped a moment later. “Shit, I gotta run. That was the alarm for painting nails,”
“Better not keep Ruby waiting,”
“For real. She’s intense about the wedding schedule. I’ll see you soon then. I guess… at the aisle?”
“I’ll be waiting at the end of it,”
Sophie ran off down the hall, the sound of her squeaking sneakers following in her wake. Marlon leaned back against the wall, closing his eyes as a smile covered his face. He was marrying the love of his life. He was one lucky man. Things might be scary, but knowing Sophie felt the same way made all the difference. Straightening his shoulders, Marlon went off to find Louis and figure out what was next before the ceremony. He was ready to get married.
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maybemitch · 5 years
Text
PAIN WORSE THAN DEATH
Description: “How many times can one endure a pain much worse than death?” - OR - In which, a girl in the apocalypse watches her friend be in pain.
Word Count: 2,984
Warning: lots of swearing, mentions of blood, epsiode 3 events.
FORGIVE ME LOUIS STANS!
Fem!Reader
———
“Get the fuck off me,” Y/N shouted as she was being dragged by the hood of her ash grey hoodie. The women which went by the name of Dorian was the one which was doing the dragging. The older women hadn’t cared to wait for the girl to wake up, not did she bother to keep her in pristine condition like she was supposed to. Y/N balled her first, banging the floor either side of her as she struggled to breath, “Let me go, you evil bitch!”
Dorian scoffed, opening up the door which was diagonal across from where Aasim and Omar were locked up and threw her in. The older women’s face twisted into a sadistic smirk as she saw the girl double over, coughing for her breath. The sound of mental scraping echoed in the small room, the signalling that they were now officially prisoners to the Delta and they weren’t leaving the room any time soon - unless Clementine and the rest showed up to save the day.
Shuffling of footsteps were heard outside of the door and down the corridor. A hushed whisper tone was pasted back and forth between two people. One of the voices belongs to Minerva, a voice in which Y/N had thought she’d never hear again consider she was declared dead by Marlon and Brody over a year ago. Y/N couldn’t hear a thing which they were saying, only what sounded like coded names for people which meant something to them but not to the Ericson group.
“Y/N?” Louis whispered from behind the girl. At the sound of his voice, Y/N turned around, a beaming grin plastered over her face as she saw the boy which wore his beloved trench coat. Louis crouched down, enveloping her into a tight hug, his chin resting on her shoulder, “You don’t understand how happy i am to see you”.
Y/N nodded into him, not daring to remove her arms from his tall frame, “Im so sorry. I tried helping you but i made us both get captured. I fucked up, I really did”.
Louis laughed lightly, “Don’t beat yourself up. At least you tried to help me. I thank you enough for that”.
Y/N pulled away from the hug first and began to rest of the heels of her feet, smiling at Louis. “At least we’re together right now. And not in separate rooms,” Y/N scratched the back of her neck looking around the very bland room, “Did they take your deck of cards?”
Louis patted down his pockets, trying to locate the rectangular box. He soon came to the realisation that they had indeed took his cards, luckily enough he had enough deck at home - that’s if they make it. Louis nods his head and then lowers it in disappointment, “They took my deck of cards”.
“Them bastards,” Y/N laughed, making Louis laugh with her. The way she said it was in a joking matter but could be taking literal considering the situation they were in, “Now what on earth are we meant to do. Sit here and wait?”
“I suppose,” Omar called out from across the way. Louis and Y/N both got to their feet and moved over to the door, their hands wrapping around the bars on it. Omar and Aasim were doing the exact same, looking in the direction of their friends. “I mean, what else are we meant to do?”
“Are you even meant to be standing?” Louis and Y/N asked at the same time, the two then nudging each other in a playful manner - their way of saying jinx.
Aasim rolled his eyes, “Ive told him to stay sitting down but he’s a persistent one. But no”.
Omar poked Aasim in annoyance, “Dude, i’m standing right besides you. I have ears”.
Y/N rolled her eyes and back away from the door. She could still hear the miniature argument Aasim and Omar were having, the points within it was bizarre and unnecessary but they make her chuckle every now and then when one which reply with something out of the blue, she swore she could hear the perplexed look in their faces.
Louis was still hanging around the door, pulling it back and forth every now and then trying to break the door hinges due to how rusty they were. He would groan at it every now and then, giving it an unnecessary kick for good measure, but it wouldn’t do anything.
Y/N was slouched up in the corner, her knees brought into her chest. Her eyes were trained on to Louis still, who would still occasionally let out small frustrated screams. Deep inside of her, Y/N wished the male would shut up, feeling as if his behaviour is a little unnecessary for the situation, but he wouldn’t see it that way.
“For fuck sake,” Louis cried out, his hand still shaking the door. Aasim and Omar were trying to calm him down from their cell but the dreadlocked boy wasn’t having any off it, “How the fuck are you so calm, Y/N?”
The girl blinked as she saw the boy spin around in rage - it was out of Louis’ character, something she had never seen in him before. She shrugged, “Because i believe in Clem. She isn’t one to admit defeat is she? You know full fucking well, she coming up with a plan!”
“I also believe in Clem but it doesn’t mean we have the right to sit down and god damn relax about it,” Louis took a step closer. Down the corridor people were rushing up, wanting to silence the commotion. Y/N kept glancing to the door, to give Louis a heads up but he wasn’t taking it, “They kidnapped us. Out of our homes! They’re fucking pricks!”
Before Y/N could speak, Dorian appeared between the bars of the door, snapping her fingers to Louis. The dreadlocked male turned around, panic set onto his face as he took a deep gulp, “Shut up. Don’t make me tell you again”.
Louis nodded rapidly, not wanting to be screamed at. Dorian smirk and turned away, only after checking on Aasim and Omar. The dreadlocked boy looked down to his friend and shrugged her off, placing his hands on his hips and began to walk in a small circle.
“Un-fucking-believable,” Louis muttered. Y/N and Aasim both winced at the sound of his voice. Louis was still walking around in a circle, “Not only are we hostages, we’ve more a less been stripped of our speaking rights”.
“And yet you’re still speaking,” Y/N whispered her reply, stating the obvious once again. She tapped her foot against the floor and then patted the empty space besides her, “How about you come sit down and take a breather? Maybe shut it for a while”.
“No, Y/N,” Louis replied, his voice rising his voice once again. Y/N was wincing once again, she knew his voice was beginning to bounce down to walls to where Dorian potentially stood. Y/N was set into a panic when she noticed Louis walking back to the door and rested his back against it, “Why should I? I have a right to speak?”
“That you do, Louis,” Y/N pointed out, pushing herself to her feet by using the wall, “But we don’t want to risk anything, so please. Shut it”.
Louis took it into consideration for a moment but decided against it, therefore resulting in him talking continuously about varies of topics.
One was how it was totally unfair that the school allowed this to happen, Y/N had pointed out that Clementine only has two hands and cannot do everything. Another topic was how he didn’t want to be solider, Y/N had pointed out that he wouldn’t be because Clementine would be here in no time. One was about how he missed his cards, which resulted in him kicking the door in frustration and how he missed his piano in times like these. Y/N had tried to reassure him that everything will be fine, and that they would be home before they knew it.
Y/N knew staying optimistic was the best thing to do right now. But what she didn’t know was that Louis was being pessimistic because he didn’t want to be let down by anything.
“And you know what else is pissing me off. And is totally unfair?” Louis asked, his voice raised to the maximum, his foot constantly tapping against the floor. Aasim, Omar and Y/N shrugged, knowing full well he was going to tell them regardless of their answer, “How they are keeping us as prisoners, when we’re in the fucking right! I mean what did they expect us to do? Sit back and let them take us? No! We were defending our home, which these pricks took from us!”
“Louis!” Y/N hissed.
A hand grabbed Louis through the gap in the door, the poor boy gasped in due to him being startled. Dorian was once again holding a sadistic smirk on her face. Besides her stood their leader, Lilly, who was holding a disapproved look.
“Let him go, I want to go inside,” Lilly ordered. Dorian dropped the boy from her grasp, making Louis scramble to the corner where Y/N sat slouched. Aasim and Omar were standing closely at the door watching what the women was doing. Dorian bent down, unlocking the door and pulled it backwards, the door hinges began to squeak and it swung open, Lilly stepping a foot into the room, “Dorian told me you’ve been acting out”.
Louis looked down to Y/N who was still in the corner, wanting her to support, but the girl was looking down at the floor, where the peoples shoes were. Louis gulped, looking around the room, causing Lilly to laugh lightly.
“Now, she’s asked you nicely to stop talking, but she informed that you didn’t listen to that,” Lilly took a step forwards, Louis was finding himself hands pressed up against the wall, trying to get more space between him and the Delta Lilly. “Let’s have a chat outside. Come along”.
Louis gulped, his hand moving down to grab the girls shoulder. He was scared and Y/N could tell with the way he was acting.
Y/N grabbed his hand, giving him a reassuring squeeze, “Can you stay here?” Y/N begged as she realised Louis didn’t want to move nor leave the girls side, “Please”.
Lilly nodded her head towards the boy, Dorian came marching into the room, grabbing ahold of his forearm and yanking him forwards. Louis emitted a scream, a fear bubbling more rapidly as the seconds go by. Y/N had managed to pull herself to her feet in a split second, ready to race after Louis but Lilly held her hand up.
“I’d advise you to stay here,” Lilly advised, tilting her head as she spoke, “This is going to be a personal matter that he and I will have to discuss”
Lilly moved to the door, slamming it shut behind her and locking up right up. Dorian held tightly onto Louis who was still panicking, Aasim and Omar were standing by the door, trying to reach out for their friend to sooth him.
Y/N ran to the door, wrapping her hands around the bars, sneering at the women, “What the fuck are you going to do to him! Don’t you lay a fucking hand on him you bitch!”
“I’d watch your mouth, if i were you girl,” Dorian snapped before dragging the dreadlocked male out of the scene, Lilly following closely behind them.
Y/N tried to watch the three leave, taking a left at the end of the corridor. Yet all she could see was three shadows in the candle light. Aasim and Omar looked over to her, noticing the rage which was visible one her face. They could see her hands tightening around the bars, the knuckles changing colour due to the pressure. Y/N groaned, kicking the door once, then twice and then a third time.
“Y/N, stop!” Omar called out across the way, wanting to protect his school friend. “Please”.
Down the hall, a scream occurred. One in which belonged to Louis. None of the three other students could tell what was happening, but it involved something happening to their dear friend, someone which they have known the whole walker age.
Y/N shook the door once again, “What the fuck are you doing to him? You psychopaths! You hear me? You’re fucking psychopaths!”
Footsteps patted up the floor, a moaning mess of some nonsense occurring. Dorian appeared in the door, her hand holding tightly onto Louis’ shoulder. Louis was holding onto his jaw, for a reason unknown to the people around them. Swinging the door the open, Dorian gestured Louis inside the room which be obliged too, not wanting to mess up any further.
Y/N held her arms open for the boy, which Louis took as an invitation to bury himself into he crock of her neck. Whilst he move into her, the girl noticed the stream of crimes in blood dribbling down his chin. Louis sobbed hard into her, his chest moving in her arms.
“What did they do to you, Louis?” Y/N asked, as she rubbed his back. She glanced over to Aasim and Omar who were mouthing ‘what’s happened’ to which Y/N replied with a small shrug which went undetected by the dreadlocked male.
Louis pulled away, a small smile on his lips, despite the fact blood was running down his face. Y/N could sense he was shaken up, he was allowed to be with whatever happened to him.
“You’re okay,” Y/N whispered to him, holding onto his forearms, “Ive got you, I’ve got you. You’re okay”.
Louis once again smiled, nodding his head to her words, finding a comfort in them. Louis finally removed himself from the girl and quickly crawled over to the corner, his back towards the room.
Aasim spoke up, “Is he alright?”
Y/N lowered her voice, not wanting the same fate, “They cut out his tongue. He’s pretty shaken up which is understandable. I’ll fucking hurt them if they lay on hand on him again. Any of you for the matter”.
Louis tried to shout out, yet only muffled sounds came out. Inside of his mouth, he could taste a metallic substances. It was on his checks, the back of his throat and the small reminder of his tongue. Never once in his life had he favoured the taste of blood - no one liked the taste - but as of this moment, he couldn’t do anything about it.
Y/N shushed the boy, not wanting him to strain his mouth. She didn’t know how much pain he was in, but she could only imagine what he felt.
Y/N looked through the gaps of the door. The women known as Dorian was patrolling back up the walk way, a weapon in her hand. Y/N could feel her finger nails digging down in her hand in rage; most likely going to leave moon crevices in her skin.
A fiery range was lighten inside of her the moment the women turned with a smirk on her face, pure satisfaction with the looming silence she now had.
“It’s a nice sound, isn’t it?” Dorian asked as she raised her weapon - a knife. The sharp end of the blade was beginning to be waved in the girls face, “The silence. it’s a shame that your friend had to lose muscle”.
Y/N spat. A grin plastered itself on her face as she watched it fall down Dorians face. “You seem to have something on your face, right here,” Y/N directed to the location the spit was with her hand.
This gesture caused Dorian to shoot her arm which was holding the knife through the gap, and slash away at the young girls arm. The impact of the knife on the skin make the girl hiss out in pain, the red blood now staining the grey arm on the hoodie she wore.
“Does it satisfy you when you torture kid?” Y/N snapped, her eyes avoid Aasim and Omar who were frantically waving their arms around to make her shut up, “Because if it does your sick”.
Dorian smirked, wiping the blood from the blade on her outfit, “Listen here girl. I think it would be best if you behave. Would want to end up like that boy. Would you?”
“Lay your hand on me again, and i bloody snap it,” Y/N barked which caused Dorian to take a step back, “I have it in me”.
Y/N moved away, not feeling the the mood to deal with a angry adult. She sat down on the male shift bed, her feet tapping the floor repeatedly, in an off beat. Louis moved his head side to side at the sound, feeling a sense of home in it.
“I’m so sorry Louis,” Y/N whispered, the dreadlocked boy took a glimpse over his shoulder at the soothing voice, “I didn’t want this to happen to you. I tried, i did. When i heard you scream, I felt every so guilty. I should have fought for you, especially when you want my help”.
Louis shook his head, his dreadlocks waving by his face. He didn’t try to speak, knowing full well that he couldn’t pronounce his words correctly.
“Lou,” Y/N spoke again, Louis still taking a glimpse over his shoulder, “Im really sorry. But in the bright side, you can think about the moment Clementine gets here, she’ll get revenge. And you know i’ll be backing her up every step of the way”.
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quinlinkin · 4 years
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take it from me ( i’d be lost without you ) ↳ Q’s twdg writing challenge
character(s): ruby, mitch ship(s): n/a word count: 1268 author’s note: again- whoops on the word count pfffff. but listen, a solid af connection between mitch and ruby is honestly sooooo important to me, and i could literally talk about them forever ok
[   ao3 link   ]
*credits to the wonderful @stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale​​​​​ for creating this challenge! you can view the entire prompt list + further details here. happy writing!!
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                                                         ― ☼ ―
                                        day eight ; walkers.
As she kneels against the cold, dry earth, a lone tear falls from her face.
It’s become somewhat of a routine for Ruby to visit Ms. Martin’s grave site. While she may not be physically buried here, it brings her an odd sense of comfort to sit with the memory of the former school nurse. Her former mentor, the true mother figure she never had. It’s been a long while since she’s missed her quite as much as she has over the past week since stumbling upon her remains.
She still bears a lot of regret for what happened. At the very least, she wishes she’d pushed further for an attempt to recover her body over the years, despite how Marlon had always so indignantly refused the idea. The last time she’d tried, she’d ended up in tears, Marlon with a sore chest from where she’d forcibly shoved him amidst her distress.
But now, with Marlon gone and the school’s way of operating drastically changed, she’s finally offered her wish in providing their beloved caretaker with a proper sendoff.
Not that it had come as easily as it should have. It pains her to know that there was such a fine line between Ms. Martin’s ultimate fate, a single choice that made all the difference in the world.
She still can’t wrap her head around Mitch’s desire to burn her body.
While he’s admittedly been one of the hardest people to get an accurate reading on out of all the kids that have passed through Ericson’s gates, she thought she knew him better by now. Though if there’s one thing she does confidently know, it’s that he isn’t coldhearted.
Either way, she’s left confused, angry, hurt… Mitch remains one of the few people left who knew firsthand the impact their nurse had on them all, yet most especially, what she had meant to her. To even suggest such a thing feels like a backhand to the face, and since she’s sure she’d be immediately shut down if she were to try asking him, she’s been forced to keep her mouth shut about it these last few days.
And so, it comes with a great bout of surprise when his voice suddenly sounds behind her.
“Hey…” he murmurs, and it’s more than enough to have her jumping out of her skin.
Rising to her feet, she wants to turn to regard him, but suddenly finds that she can’t. Shoulders tensing, she lowers her head. “You scared me half t’death…”
Mitch stays quiet for a while. Ruby almost suspects that he’s gone just as quickly as he arrived, if it weren’t for the continued presence she can feel looming over her shoulder.
Finally, he speaks again, and it’s every bit as straightforward as she can expect from him. “Sorry.”
She allows another beat of silence to settle uneasily between them, until she’s forced to speak up in an attempt to quell the prickling of her skin. “What’re you doin’ here?”
Again, she doesn’t receive a response right away. It’s like she can almost hear the gears turning in his head as he works at speaking whatever is on his mind.
“Mhm… Just- I dunno…” he finally continues. “Wanted to talk to you, I guess.”
“You guess?” Ruby presses. She’s still not exactly thrilled with him.
Mitch heaves a deep sigh, before he’s finally voicing his thoughts. “Look, I - I wanted to apologize to you, okay?”
Once again- definitely not what she expected. He’d been so stubbornly defiant in his opinion, so agitated that he wouldn’t even consider the alternative Ruby had proposed. He hadn’t even helped bury her.
“Why…?” she finds herself asking, unable to resist glancing at him from the corner of her eye.
She can see him fidgeting. It looks out of place.
“I was-” he breaks off with a curt sigh. It’s seemingly taking a great amount of effort for him to speak. “I was an inconsiderate asshole, alright? But I mean- I know you know that already. So.”
A part of her already wants to tease him for using the word inconsiderate. If she wasn’t still so angry with him, she just might contemplate doing so.
She doesn't budge, however. She’s not about to give in that easily. “And? Is that it?”
Mitch lets out a breath, until he suddenly makes a mildly awkward, random observation. “The grave looks nice.”
The comment effectively makes her lose it.
“Oh, you think so, huh?” she sneers, and at last, musters up the courage to face him. “That’s awfully funny, since you wanted nothin’ t’do with a burial for her last week.”
Mitch’s eyes advert, gluing to the ground as his brows furrow and his posture visibly tenses.
Ruby is hardly finished with him. Now that she’s finally awarded with an excuse to confront him, she’s not about to waste it. “So? Don’t got anythin’ to say for yerself, or what?”
Although it looks like he’s about to answer, she abruptly cuts him off. “Why? Why would you want t’jus’ - burn her? Like she didn’t mean a damned thing? Do you not remember everything she did? For all of us? Yeah, walkers are walkers, but they were people. She was a person-”
Now, it’s Mitch’s turn to cut her off. “I know.”
Ruby bristles. “Do you? ‘Cause it sure seems like you don’t.”
“It makes it easier to deal with, alright?” Mitch all but snaps. This time, Ruby lets him continue. “Just- separating the undead from us. I get it doesn’t make sense to you, and I am sorry, but- it’s harder to move on if you dwell on who they were. It… doesn’t change anything. They’re still gone, and there’s nothing any of us can do about it. So, it doesn’t matter if they’re burned or buried, but at least we wouldn’t have to see another goddamn wooden cross in this shitty fucking graveyard.”
All Ruby can do is stare, her mind racing to process everything he’s just said.
She’s able to piece it together fairly quick. Or, so she thinks. The only way to confirm it is asking him, and she won’t be surprised if he explodes on her.
“You… don’t like the reminders, do you…?” she tentatively questions, keeping a careful watch on him for his reaction. She’s thankful when he stays relatively calm.
“Who does? Somebody being dead is hard enough to deal with already. Especially if-” he stops himself, though instead of backtracking or leaving it at that, his voice drops to barely above a whisper as he adds, “She meant something to me too, okay…”
In an instant, Ruby feels guilty. She should have known better, that there was an underlying cause to his reasoning for protesting against a burial. First Marlon, then Brody, all buried within a span of less than twenty-four hours. Coming upon Ms. Martin immediately after, it was as if they’d lost her all over again, too.
“Mitch…” she whispers back, her brows pulling together.
He shakes his head, never one to welcome a pity party. “No, it- it’s fine. Don’t-”
For one last time, Ruby interrupts him again. “We don’t have to forget who someone was just because we can’t do anything about them being gone... It’s important to keep their memory alive. Even if it hurts us to think about.”
All Mitch can do is nod slowly. She knows he won’t be so easily convinced, not when his own way of thinking has been so set in stone.
One step at a time, she supposes.
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nancydrew65 · 5 years
Text
SKAM Austin Season 2 Episode 10 (SEASON FINALE) Thoughts
We’re on the home stretch! Last episode, guys. I am going to be sad to see SKAM Austin go. Despite my misgivings about this season, I think they did an excellent job with the sexual assault storyline and it had several fantastic scenes. I hope SKAM Austin does Season 3 this fall, so that we can squeeze in Zoya’s season before the girls graduate.
Something Else
Are they sleeping on a couch? OK, not important.
I would have liked to linger on them sleeping a bit longer. In OG, this scene was so long, but it really gave you a feel of Noorhelm’s dynamic as a couple. You know, when William wasn’t acting like a total douche.
Daniel apologizes for his brother’s awful behavior which like, yeah, good… BUT dude, apologize for your own messed-up behavior too. This is one of the things that pisses me off the most about this character. He treats his girlfriend like shit when she tells him she may have been sexually assaulted and then he NEVER apologizes for it.
Grace proceeds to tell Daniel about her boyfriend back in Dallas. It is pretty much the same story as Noora’s. Daniel is very understanding about it which I appreciate. At least he hasn’t been like William, who basically disregarded Noora when she said she didn’t want to have sex.
For the most part, I actually really enjoyed this clip. I like that we got to see the conversation between Grace and Daniel about Grace’s past.
Future
Grace and Daniel are chilling as Grace finishes up her essay. It is too late for the deadline, but it did her some good just writing.
Daniel gets a call from Jo’s dad, his lawyer. If he gets charged, he might lose his scholarship and get jail time. Good job, SKAM Austin in actually providing stakes for Daniel. He has something to lose by telling the truth in this situation which will ultimately make his decision to do so that much more mature.
Grace asks if he is going to lie, and he says maybe. He has to think about his future.
Life in Italics
Grace and Daniel are going to Marlon’s band’s concert. On a Sunday? What?
They bump into Shay and Megan finally apologizes to her. Thank god. Shay tells her that Nic didn’t break up with her (Yay, Nic’s actually a good guy!) and she is sorry that she blamed the end of that relationship on Megan. This was a weird scene. I’m not quite sure what to make of it. Are they hinting at Megan/Shay? But then they mentioned Marlon again, so I don’t know.
The band performs. They have an… interesting sound.
Eve shows up and mentions that Shay is hot. Forshadowing for Shay moving into Grace’s house?
Can’t With You
I’m not quite sure what the girls are doing, but I think Jo is studying for an exam, perhaps?
Megan is sad that they have another pointless year until they graduate and… same, girl.
The girls tell Grace they are very proud of her for writing the essay and posting it online.
Kelsey says that her favorite line is: “Being brave is telling the truth to the people you love.” I’m guessing that alludes to Grace being brave enough to share her sexual assault with the girls.
Jo storms out right after that and Grace goes to follow her. She asks what is wrong.
Then we have this beautiful, original scene courtesy of SKAM Austin. Jo tells her that Grace can always count on her in a crisis and that she didn’t want to bring up anything before because Grace was going through a rough time, but now Grace is doing better and she has to get this off her chest. Jo is angry that Grace lied to Kelsey for over a year about the whole Daniel situation. She knows Kelsey forgave Grace, but she isn’t ready to do the same. I love Jo so much and I am infinitely glad they gave this speech to her. GIVE JO A SEASON!!!!!! I think this scene addresses a glossed-over aspect of Season 2, namely Grace’s treatment of Kelsey. In my opinion, Kelsey forgave Grace very quickly and that is OK, I am all for girls getting over boy drama between them. However, it never really felt like Grace’s behavior was ever addressed as being very wrong. I think SKAM Austin overall has done a really fabulous job with this topic. I loved Kelsey’s speech (it was my favorite out of all the Vilde’s) and I love this scene. It shows what a true friend Jo is to Kelsey and I am here for it. I think Grace really needed to hear this.
What Happens Now?
Grace is waiting outside the courthouse for Daniel (in a gorgeous outfit, I may add). 
Side note: I feel like in Season 1, Grace didn’t really have Noora’s distinctive style (which I really liked!), but in Season 2, they really emphasized Noora’s style in her. I feel like it made her less of her own character, so I wasn’t a big fan of that choice. (I still think all her outfits are really cute, though.)
Daniel tells Grace that he told the truth. He couldn’t get her voice out of his head. This is the moment where this character gets the most character growth. Dare I say, the ONLY moment he gets character growth? And I really like that, obviously. (No one is campaigning harder than me for the William character to be a good guy). However, this is Grace’s season and I wish she had her own moment of growth in the last episode, like Eva and Isak and Sana did in their own seasons. This is the one season where I feel like the main character doesn’t really grow as much as she could have, given the opportunity. And that is my main problem with Season 2 as a whole. It makes me very sad. Noora/Grace deserves better.
Losers
The little banter between Zoya and Grace about history class was so cute! I’m gonna miss these beautiful women.
Zoya says she kept her locker because she wanted to remind people that what happened to her was not normal. She and Grace talk about letting go of anger and getting closure. “Maybe closure is not getting closure” Zoya quotes. OK, be existentialist, girl.
Kelsey and the other girls come bounding in, handing Zoya and Grace pink fanny packs with the word ‘SENIOR’ on them. Nice.
Kelsey talks about how good carbs are for a person and how she is done beating herself up about her weight. Yes!
Then the girls go in for a group handshake. Go Los Losers!
Ready
Grace and Zoya are chilling at the party for Daniel, when Hunter approaches Zoya. Why? Why do we have to spend even another minute on this storyline? Just let it die. Please. Hunter is still a jerk, Zoya is still way too good for him. Luckily, it seemed like she was not taking his shit.
Marlon and Megan are making out. I really wished they had kept this couple apart. I haven’t really seen much on Marlon’s part showing that he has grown since his past relationship with Megan.
Jo sees a boy and quickly runs away. Grace follows her to the bathroom. Nice callback to earlier in the episode with the Grace and Jo scene that mirrors this one.
Side-note: Grace’s dress is so pretty and I didn’t realize how short it was until she ran after Jo.
Aw, I think it’s so sweet that Jo doesn’t want Grace to go get Kelsey because Kelsey is having a fun time and she doesn’t want to ruin that for her.
So, Damian (the guy Jo has been texting) just showed up. He lives 4 hours away! While I appreciate the gesture, a heads-up would have been nice for Jo. How does he even know where she is? Like, it’s not her house.
Grace does a great job of calming Jo down and giving her a pep talk. I think their friendship is reaching a better place.
Jo and Damian hit it off after a bit of awkward banter. He seems like a cool dude.
Grace and Daniel go to her room. Daniel asks if she’s sure she wants to have sex. Yay! She nods, and he asks: “So, I don’t have to keep asking?” Why did they put that line in there? It’s not like he’s really been asking her to have sex. It just makes him seem like more of a jerk.
I really enjoyed how they played the rest of the scene. It was much more awkward when Grace and Daniel were about to have sex. It was more realistic IMO.
In between the sex scene, they spliced shots of the party. Pen Joe looks rather jealous of Damian flirting with Jo. Hmm, this is a new development.
OK, Eve seemed to be hardcore flirting with Shay. She also said earlier that Shay was “hot”. Are they making this a thing?
Grace and Tyler have a bit of an awkward conversation before Grace goes off to her friends. Then we see Tyler take a drink out of his cup. His fingernails are painted green! So, people were right when they thought Tyler was Green Nails. Wow, I still don’t know if it was him in the bed with Grace and Clay because I think Grace would have recognized him. That also calls into question whether Tyler was telling the truth about what Clay did or did not do that night. I have so many questions! But this ending does seem to hint that Season 3 will be about both Shay and Tyler. I am not completely opposed to that, but it sure does make me feel so much more grateful that we got Cris’ season in SKAM España. This fandom needs more wlw love.
General Thoughts
Well, here’s the end. Another season of SKAM Austin over. I hope they don’t wait another whole year before releasing a new one. I liked this episode a lot. There wasn’t a whole lot of Daniel being a dick, so that was great! Overall, I think SKAM Austin has had a few stellar scenes this season that really brought the level of this show up. My favorites were Kelsey’s monologue when Grace finally tells her about Daniel, Grace confronting Clay about the possible sexual assault, and the most recent clip they released with Jo explaining how she isn’t ready to forgive Grace for what she did to Kelsey. I am excited for Season 3!
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floatingtoad · 6 years
Text
Piano Lessons.
Title Piano lessons.
Pairing: Clementine x Louis.
Summary: Louis and Clem have a little fun playing the piano together.
A/n: I was never going to post this but I did it anyway, here you go.. I hope you enjoy Baha. Ignore any spelling errors, its like 12 am and I’m writing in the dark. I’ll make sure to edit it soon!
Warning: None, cute, kinda angsty.
Requested by: Not requested (:
-
The off-key sound of the piano goes through her ears as Clementine sits in a chair across the room with a boring old book in her hand, her big hazel eyes glancing up at him every once in a while when he would get frustrated and curse to himself— redoing what he did wrong until he got it right. It was soothing, it just being them in a room all alone together doing what they love and ignoring the fact the world was slowly dying but all they could think about was what they just did merely an hour ago.
Marlon had just died, they both had just buried him together and the tension was strong between the girl and boy— but Louis didn’t change his opinion on her because his best friend got killed by her kid, which she thought was going to happen right after. Clementine didn’t know how he could forgive her for something so horrible, but everyone knew Marlon was going to lose his shit one day.. it was only a matter of time. After they buried him, he nervously asked the girl to go in the piano room with him which she obviously she agreed.
So here they are, two broken kids sitting in a room with only the sound of a badly played piano breaking the silence, trying to stay calm and collected which was helping due to each other’s company— though they weren’t really talking much.
Louis’ mind gets to him, causing him to mess up a key and curse out of frustration with a small frown on his face as he wonders why he’s failing at it, out of all times why now? Why can’t he just do something right for once?
Clementine notices this, eyeing him down with the look of worry before sitting up and putting the book she just had been reading down. “..You okay?” Stupid question, of course, he wasn't.. but she didn’t know what else to say other than that.
He looks back at her, eyebrows furrowing and that sad look in his eyes got even sadder before looking away. “As fine as I can be,” He replies with that smile she knows so well by now before scooting over and tapping the side beside him gently, “Come sit I wanna teach you how to play a song.”
Louis gives her a reassuring smile, patting the empty spot beside him while observing her as she narrows his eyes at him in the slightest bit. “I don’t bite, Clem.” He teases as she hesitantly stands up and slowly walks over. “ Well, I could but I, Louis, would never bite my precious Clementine.” He rambles on, Clementine rolling her hazel eyes as a hidden smile tries to form on her face.
“Good, because if you did I’d bite harder.” Louis didn’t know whether to take that as a threat or just to laugh it off, so he did the last option-- a tiny chuckle escaping his lips ever so slightly. 
The very unlucky girl plops down beside him, her eyes going over the keys as a lump in her throat forms from anxiety, how could someone even remember what to press?  Clementine had a feeling she was going to embarrass the shit out of herself in front of him.
“I know, it’s intimidating at first-- but you’ll get the hang of it sooner or later.” Louis tries to encourage her, it only helps a little. He remembers being so scared to start but Marlon, Marlon encouraged him to do it.. and so he did, that was when he was 10, almost 11.. boy, things have changed a lot.
“I guess,” She responds, eyes still stuck on the black and white keys. “What song do you have in mind?” Clementine rubs her hands over her jeans out of nervousness, her stomach doing flips as she thinks how bad it could go.
A smirk forms on his face, coughing before pushing the same keys he pressed when he had first met her, humming out the song out of instinct as she couldn’t help but blush.
“Really, could it not be anything else other than that?” She asks jokingly, Louis grinning as he stops pressing the keys, facing Clementine.
“It’s easiest and who wouldn’t want to have the first song that they can play on the piano not about them!” He exaggerates, waving his hand around ever so slightly... He had a point, but it’s not like she’s going to be playing piano all the time.
Louis stands up from his seat, making his way around her before leaning against the piano, his elbows propped up as his arms across over each other-- Leaving clementine in the seat alone.
“Why’d you move?” She questions curiously, looking over at him. The dork was still very close to her.. just standing up beside her against the piano.
“You’re gonna need room if you actually wanna learn, silly.” He teases, shaking his head as she rolls her eyes at him while shooting just a bit.
And so piano practice begins, Clementine struggles a bit, pressing each key shes told but as soon as he tells her to play it without his help-- she almost loses her shit from frustration, luckily he was there to help.
Covering her face with her hands, she exhales before looking over at him after pinching her eyebrows together as a thought comes to mind.
“Why are you being so nice to me?” It was a random question that she’s been thinking about all day, and it definitely caught him off guard. He asked himself that many times, most people these days would kill each other if it were them..but Louis was different and he knew it was not Clementines fault at all.
“What do you mean?”
“All day you’ve been so sweet to me and I don’t know why,” She frowns, looking away.” AJ killed your best friend, how do you not hate us?” he could tell Clementine was feeling guilty as hell, and he couldn’t blame her because he’d feel the exact same way.
“I have no room left in my body for hate,” he responds, “ especially for you, Clementine, all people do these days is express hatred and I don’t want to be like them. Plus I know its not your fault, you thought you were doing the right thing and it turned out bad.” Louis speaks, watching as she looks back over at him with hurt eyes. All he wanted to do right now was hug her, but right now probably wasn't the time for that, also they just met 4 days ago... That’d be pretty weird, wouldn't it?
The girl who sat beside him made his heart breaks ever so slightly, the world needed more people like him. 
“I’m really sorry,” She gulps. “ I never thought he’d do anything like that.” 
“Apology accepted my sweet Clementine,” he lightens up the mood by calling her that, but for her, it just makes her blush.” Let’s continue, shall we?”
-
schreeeeeeee @orphic-days
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Text
Chapter 4-Yufina Marlon; Scene 1
The Lunacy of Duke Venomania, page 128-130
“You and I shouldn’t see each other anymore,” the woman said.
“Why?” the man asked.
“We just shouldn’t,” the woman replied.
“I won’t accept that,” the man persisted.
.
A sea lay to the west of the Beelzenian Empire, and it was called the Hark Sea.
The Hark Sea stretched even farther west to the island of Marlon. There, two countries were battling for hegemony over the island.
One of those countries was the country of Marlon, in the east. At the town of Jamet, which was located on its eastern coast, a man and woman were having a lover's rendezvous in the twilight.
The two of them embraced like always, whispered sweet nothings to each other like always, and kissed like always.
And then they exchanged their goodbyes like always.
Their mutual love was clear.
But at the same time it was a forbidden love.
"…I'll have to go back soon," the woman said, making a move to leave--but the man stopped her.
"Wait, Yufina. I'm not done talking to you."
"If I stay here any longer my husband will get suspicious."
"Once you get on that boat to Beelzenia tomorrow I won't see you for a while. Let's spend at least another hour--"
"Don't say such selfish things, Karchess…If our relationship is discovered, we'll both be ruined."
"I know. I know it so well it makes me sick. But even so, I want to be with you for as long as I can."
The man persisted greatly, and so the woman became somewhat conflicted.
The woman herself felt the desire to stay with him. But she was also very self-conscious of her own position, more than the man.
With a resigned air, the woman took off the pendant that she wore around her neck and handed it to the man.
The pendant had a golden key-shaped decoration hanging from it. It was a memento of her mother's, which she always wore on her person.
"Please hold onto this for me until I return. It's very precious. Treasure it as though it was me--"
"Am I supposed to understand with this?"
There was anger in the man's voice. He was convinced that the key pendant was being given to him as compensation for the dissolution of their relationship.
"I need you to be understanding. …Don't worry, I won't be that long in my stay in Beelzenia. It's nothing political, little more than visiting my husband's family. When I get back…Let's meet again soon? Hm?" she said, smiling.
Upon seeing that smile the man calmed down a little, and grasped the pendant tightly.
The man and the woman were the same age, but there was apparently a gap in their mental age. There were a lot of areas where the man was more childish than the woman, but she found such things about him adorable, and loved him for it.
"Well then…I take my leave now, Earl Karchess Crim."
She returned to her way of addressing him when they were in public--with he as her favorite retainer.
The man did nothing but watch her go as she ran off, waving to her.
.
The woman's name was Yufina Marlon.
She was the queen of Marlon.
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lightsandlostbells · 6 years
Text
Skam Austin episode 4 reaction
part of me is laughing at the number of people in the Facebook comments asking, “Is this on Netflix?”
Episode 4
Clip 1 - Sad couch crew
I felt Tyler and Shay were being friendly to Megan here, not snide, at least on a superficial level. Though I guess you can take their excitement about the concert as passive-aggressiveness.
Tyler mentioning the Illuminati - how very Isak. TBH I really hope Julie is making both Shay and Tyler gay, since they’re dividing up the Isak moments between the two. I’m fine if Tyler doesn’t get the big season-long arc and it goes to Shay instead, I’d love to see her get it. But it’s just going to leave such a bad taste if they’ve made Isak into a wlw with no equivalent to the gay male representation that already existed, when there are many supposedly straight female characters who could be have been made into wlw. Especially the Vilde equivalent, who you could easily give a story about discovering and accepting her sexuality, or the Chris character, who didn’t have her own season and really didn’t have any substantial character issues suggested on the level of Vilde’s home life, and would benefit from a meaty arc. 
I love Shay, she’s definitely one of the highlights of the show, I’m just tired of all the fighting over whether it’s better for S3 to focus on a gay boy or a lesbian and seeing a lot of gross shit in the discussions that’s either minimizing the importance of an f/f storyline because homophobia is worse for men in Texas/lesbians don’t have it that bad/lesbians are already represented on TV because they’re accepted by straight men who find them sexy/someone doesn’t care about lesbians and will only accept Evak 2.0, or minimizing the importance of Evak/another m/m storyline because Skam and the other remakes already have gay ships so don’t get greedy/gay men are already accepted because look at all the m/m on Tumblr and AO3/people only want another Evak because they’re disgusting fetishizers. It’s fucked up how most of these talk relies on the assumption that there can be only one LGBT story on Skam at a time and not pushing back on why it goes without question that S1 and a hypothetical S2 about Grace/Daniel can both be about heterosexual relationships. 
Not to be one of those obnoxious people referencing YA novels in response to real life situations, but it makes me think of Katniss at the climax of Catching Fire when her group of Tributes is fighting the Career Tributes and she fires at the force field instead. Remember who the real enemy is. 
That’s a joke, don’t take that too seriously.
Anyway I’m tired. 
Considering how shitty he’s been acting previously, Tyler not laughing at Marlon’s comments and just deliberately eating a potato chip is a step up for him.
Speaking of the chips, they disappear in between shots and I guess Tyler could be putting the bag on the floor between takes or something but it looks like a regular old continuity error.
Marlon is a mega dick and I dislike him but I kinda can’t believe that I agreed with him about the team’s social standings vs. their practice time. But it was Marlon who said it so it sounded like a dick move.
See, he’s been such a dick that it’s hard to feel sorry for him! But also he’s in the right to feel hurt about the concert.
I don't have much to say except he is the least convincing person to be talking about how he’s not upset and he doesn’t care. He’s so obviously pissed.
There’s just not a shred of chemistry between these two. I don’t get why they’re together, I don’t get what they like about each other, they barely seem to have much fun together. There isn’t much of a rapport.
Pointless personal anecdote #1: When this clip came out, I watched it on my phone at a graduation party, and I'm not kidding, in the few minutes while I was watching some middle-aged parents started talking about wanting to move to Texas when they retire, and they named cities and singled out Austin as a bad choice because “it’s been overtaken by liberals,” lmao. There was no way they could have realized I was watching a show set in Austin. The stars just aligned.
Clip 2 - Kelsey, no
Grace is really concerned about Kelsey sleeping with Daniel so soon, probably because what happened in her own past messed her up.
“Ever since I was a little girl watching the Super Bowl, I knew I was going to lose my virginity to a football player.” .... when I was a little girl watching the Super Bowl I only cared about seeing the commercials with the pretty horses.
“It was like he was going down on me, but in my mouth” … oh my God … someone SAVE this child.
Kelsey, you don’t even know what anyone going down on you in the “correct” place feels like, and this just makes you sound like inexperienced and Not Ready . And I’m glad Meg and Grace are suitably horrified.
Oh, they actually mentioned the issue of insurance, that’s good. But she looked a little uncomfortable with the topic of insurance, so if she has a similar financial situation to Vilde, insurance might be an issue? Or, as was hinted later via texts, she might have a super religious or conservative mom who would not take her to the doctor. She might be able to go to Planned Parenthood for birth control except I’m not sure if minors can get prescriptions for the pill without parental consent because well, Texas.
I checked out of curiosity and it looks like the only type of birth control you can get at PP without parental consent are condoms and lol, Grace already had that covered.
“You know you should use a condom, right?” “What if he doesn’t want to use a condom?” “Then you know you shouldn’t have sex with him.” YES. JESUS. Thank you Grace.
“I talked to Jo this weekend and I prayed about it last night” Oh come on, they’re going to have her mention praying about Zoya’s participation on the team and then not even address the sex-religion topic? Okay. Kelsey doesn’t even have to be abstinent or opposed to premarital sex, not all Christians are, I feel like it just makes sense for someone to be like, “Isn’t having sex before marriage against your religion?” And if Kelsey objected to the question on the grounds that they’re making assumptions about her religion, they could always come back at her with “Well, you assumed Muslims couldn’t dance.”
Kudos to Grace for talking sense about the Zoya situation and being very calm and careful about the Daniel thing.
Clip 3 - Backseat
The editing at the start of the clip made me think the mom might be talking to Megan at first but no, the mom is on her phone. Mom’s communication skills weren’t so great in this clip.
The dialogue is pretty on the nose and super specific to the theeeeeeme, with the mom putting all this implied pressure on Megan, but the passive aggressiveness about Megan’s dad is sadly accurate to how certain married-with-kids dynamics are, with the parents always at each other’s throats and dismissive of each other and not caring about how the kids react to these constant fighting. 
I saw some people wondering why Megan was sitting in the backseat and honestly, that didn’t seem too weird to me. It’s not typical but I’ve ridden in the backseat even when I was the only passenger before (usually because sometimes riding in the front seat makes me sick)  but I could see like, a moody teenager wanting to text her boyfriend and not wanting her mom to glance over at her phone. Although the simplest explanation is that Julie wants to hide the parents’ faces.
I didn’t even notice the giant concert posters at first, I was focused on the homeless man. I am assuming he was there to remind us of the stakes to succeed in this world if you’re much of a “dreamer” as Meg’s mom puts it, where if you don’t get a good job that can be you living on the streets, and to get a good job you need to get a degree from a good school, and to get a degree from a good school you need to perform well in high school, and if you make one mistake you are ruined, RUINED forever. 
Meg trying to ask her mom for relationship advice and instead getting reminded that her parents have a shit relationship, lovely. 
The difference in the tone between the coworker call and the dad call is very telling. Right off the bat, when the dad calls, the mom has a pissed-off attitude. They’re at the stage where they fight just to fight.
Also, note the guilt trip caused by the mom yelling at the dad for not remembering she was going to her friend’s (and like, who cares, I mean this might be part of a larger problem but this sounds like the pettiest shit to argue about) and saying people show they appreciate and support each other by listening and taking interest in their loves, when that’s exactly what Megan didn’t do (skipping Marlon’s show that he was so hyped for) and that’s how she feels she can make it up to him (by buying tickets to the concert he had mentioned).
And the mom says people show they care by listening when she doesn’t even listen to her own daughter and interrupts her when she’s trying to ask a question, and she’s definitely not paying attention to Megan’s life. Like, how is it that they can miss that she’s not on the dance team? Surely the team has some performances or competitions that they’d attend? Fundraisers? I can see them not attending all of Megan’s dance performances, but any of them? 
Megan’s mom is a piece of work, though I’m sure the dad plays his part in the dysfunction too, I don’t want to put it all on the mother.
Clip 4 - Straw
Franz Ferdinand???
Not that this is the point but I’m intrigued by this locker setup. But I am from a place with cold cold winters so the idea of having one of these lockers in January seems terrible.
I was curious if Kendrick Lamar was actually supposed to perform in Austin on Friday, so I checked it out, and lo and behold, it was a real concert. Good job, Skam Austin.
It kinda just makes me sad that THIS is how Meg gets Marlon’s attention again, by buying (probably) expensive concert tickets.
“you two are smashing in that bathroom by the nurse’s office” at least you’re nearby if you need offbeat advice and some condoms? Oh wait, this is Texas. Never mind the last one.
This is my chance to talk about how gross I find the word “smash” in any sexual context. It just sounds uncomfortable and makes me think of potatoes.
Shoutout to Tyler’s Prince shirt, certainly a unique wardrobe choice.
Man, Kelsey is just such an easy target. Especially with the way she talks, like-like-like … blood in the water. Tyler and Shay are not here for Kelsey and Jo right off the bat and once Kelsey opens her mouth, it’s doom.
At least Kelsey had the sense to keep Zoya on the team list even if it was for self-serving reasons.
I applaud these actresses for effort, but every version of the iconic spoon scene has felt forced compared to the original. Josefina, my darling, if you’re going to be seductive with your straw, you might wanna purse your lips instead of letting it roll around in and out of your mouth.
I think it’s great that Jo and Tyler spoke Spanish to each other, and that they didn’t have subtitles, but lol at the brazenness of asking that question right in front of Shay when Shay could possibly speak Spanish herself. Or lmao, anyone who has taken Spanish I could understand what she was saying. (Like what if Shay was his girlfriend? Kinda think Jo isn’t concerned with technicalities.)
Calling him jefe, lmao, wow.
Tyler referring to Kelsey as Drew Barrymore made me laugh. Do kids these days have a firm grasp on Drew Barrymore’s legacy? What has she been in recently other than Santa Clarita Diet?
Maybe instead of references to Romeo + Juliet, we can get allusions to Ever After, The Wedding Singer, or Never Been Kissed. (Maybe not that last one.)
Also, I’m glad Meg spoke up for Kelsey so they weren’t just bashing her new friends.
Clip 5 - Internet quizzes should not be used to make major life decisions
Zoya is just looking through a book while Kelsey is talking.
Some of Kelsey’s rules: 
“Always act classy”
“No cursing, fighting, messy hair or appearance” while wearing the uniform
“Positive vibes ONLY”
But yeah, here’s another example of why the dance team wasn’t the best way to adapt russ because like … of course Kelsey is being rude and ridiculous, and I can’t say I’m on her side against Zoya, but … if the team founder calls a meeting to discuss rules, it’s expected that you will be there to discuss the rules and not blow it off? 
With Vilde’s bus, first of all, russ was several years away and they had time to pull it all together. A dance team is going to require some results in the near future, especially if the team is school-approved and getting them out of P.E. Someone is probably going to be checking up on the girls and making sure they’re not getting P.E. credit for sitting around and doing nothing. Second, pretty sure a bus group is not going to require as much day to day practice, training, and energy as a dance team.
I don’t know, however silly Kelsey’s motivations might be, if you sign up for someone’s dance team … you should expect to dance, dude. That goes for all the girls.
When prompted to give her opinion of Zoya, Jo cleverly deflects with the quiz, as her opinion of Zoya is clearly ❤️❤️❤️
I do love and appreciate Grace trying to persuade Kelsey to rethink the whole sleeping with Daniel thing. Not being too harsh, but being firm and not hesitating to point out all the ways it’s not a good choice.
Also being like “keep in mind he’s not your boyfriend” thank youuuu.
Kelsey sure doesn’t like that part about people judging her for having premarital sex. At least they might bring it up in the aftermath of hooking up with Daniel?
“That definitely didn’t happen.” “It did happen and she can’t eat Sweet Tarts anymore.” Jo continues to be the shining star of this show, I laughed out loud at her delivery of that line. 
Whenever one of the Chrises is like “I was totally wasted” about their first time, I’m just like 😧
Kelsey saying option A on the quiz, for her “boyfriend” and her being closer once they sleep together, is the most depressing thing. Stop this train before it goes off the rails.
Oh God. Kelsey does not need to be anywhere near a penis at this juncture. The way she starts giggling and laughing when Grace suggests to think about what turns her on about Daniel … you are not ready to have sex. You are barely ready to talk about sex. None of the Vildes has seemed so young and not ready to go through with this.
Kelsey did not talk about not wanting to be involved in lesbianism, hmmmMMMM. Foreshadowing? Or maybe Julie just realized that people didn’t like the casual lesbophobia if you don’t have a lesbian character? 
I haven’t been all that complimentary to the actors on this show, but I do want to give Kelsey’s actress some props for reciting that whole monologue, which is just a detailed Teen Vogue photoshoot.
It’s amusing that Kelsey integrated the Kittens uniform into her erotic fantasy but sad that Kelsey still wants to be a Kitten so much. She’s not wearing a uniform for her own group, whatever she might want it to be, she’s wearing a Kitten uniform in her ideal scenario.
You know Jo is listening to this fantasy and getting inspiration for her next Kelsey makeup experiment.Also, it makes me laugh that they’re having this discussion in a library.
Overheard in Bouldin - TMI Girl in Library: “People get turned on my different things all the time. My cousin’s thing is dirty socks. She keeps a pair of her ex-boyfriend’s in a Ziploc bag under her bed.”
May we one day meet this intriguing cousin of yours, Jo.
But don’t encourage this Daniel nonsense.
It’s too bad we didn’t get the classic doctor visit but lol, a school doctor in Texas might not be able to be so blatant with the sex ed tips, so I get it. And ultimately I would prefer if Julie tried out new scenes instead of trying to recreate old ones.
At first I thought Kelsey maybe didn’t know who Kendrick Lamar was. Which is perfectly plausible, let’s be real.
“When I have ever asked you for anything?” In the short time Meg has known you, Kelsey ... find Jo, join the dance team, get closer to Penetrator Jo, give you her birth control pills.
Clip 6 - Bowling
Kelsey’s outfit is almost exactly what she described in her fantasy! No access to a Kittens dance uniform, but otherwise very close. Follow your dreams, kids. 
“Martin had a dream … Martin had a dream …” look, I like that Skam uses a variety of music and not just white indie rock, but can we like … quit syncing music by black artists talking about black cultural topics to scenes of this white dude being a big deal.
Look at that dipshit taking up two parking spaces. Fuck offffffffffffff
Kelsey looks so happy and Daniel looks like he’s already 75% checked out.
How long is this Kendrick bowling montage going to go on?
Ha, Kelsey easily had the worst bowling score of the four of them.
“Daniel just touched my ass.” The way Kelsey was thrilled about this was kind of cute and alarming.
Kelsey wanting Meg to stay with them as long as she can makes me think she really just doesn’t want to go through with the impending loss of virginity.
“Then how’d you know my name at Talent Night?” I mean ... you do go to school together, and Jo is on the football team with a high social profile. I could name a lot of my high school classmates by name even if I’ve never spoken to them.
Is Julie going to go full Chris/Eva with this version to give the shippers their day in the sun? I love original Eva/Jonas but Meg/Marlon is an unpleasant trainwreck so I can’t say I’m disappointed. I mean I can’t say I love Meg/Penetrator Jo either,, but I’m not sad about this version of Eva/Jonas not being endgame.
Penetrator Jo is still sleazy in at least a few respects (don’t be a cocktease) and we have still have to meet his girlfriend but his memory of her seems legit so maybe he does really like her. Unless, I don’t know, he stalked her IG and remembered some relevant details and embellished this whole story?
Lmao, I can get why people might think the “No Signal” scenario would be a contrivance but that exact thing has happened to me, so I buy it.
I will give Julie this credit, she’s good at setting up Fredag/Friday scenarios where we think one thing will happen, and instead something else occurs that’s completely different from the fan theories. I figured it would be as simple as Meg or Marlon missing the concert, not that we’d spot Marlon (or “Marlon”) with Abby
I don’t think it’s Marlon, though. That seems a lot like Tyler’s walk, and the person doesn’t seem to be wearing Marlon’s ugly shoes. 
General Comments:
It’s kind of depressing to see people in the FB group and in the comments be like, “I haven’t seen the original show but could Grace be a lesbian? 😃” and the replies be like “No, Noorhelm is coming 😃”
Another “fun” aspect of having this show on Facebook: the MAGA edgelord assholes who leave comments on the episodes about “cucks” and “libtards.”
My opinion of Grace rose so much in this episode just by how doggedly she is trying to bring Kelsey back to earth. and telling her she can back out of this choice. 
In the texts, Grace said she would buy condoms for Kelsey - good job - and later, when Kelsey asked the girls what she should wear for losing her virginity, said, “I know what Daniel will be wearing” and said that she put condoms in Kelsey’s purse - excellent job.
I feel like Grace would roll the condom on Daniel’s dick herself if it meant Kelsey had safe sex.
Abby was stressing over finals on IG so I’d bet that was a hint she needed something to help her out, hence meeting up with Marlon/Tyler for Adderall.
I was wondering what kind of music would be on Skam Austin since original Skam had all sorts of high-profile artists, and that would not be cheap, but so far, it seems like Facebook spared no expense with the soundtrack.
Grace and Shay had IG posts reacting to the Santa Fe High School Shooting. IDK how much Skam Austin would address gun violence in the episodes itself in the future, and I can think of ways it could go very badly, but sadly, as one of the biggest concerns of American teenagers today, it would be very relevant, and that’s what Skam’s supposed to be, after all.
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iamanoneyemouse · 3 years
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Marlon
I’m a little late to the party on posting this, but I wanted to write my experience before it totally fades away now that I’m over what I believe was mild shock and trauma!
On Friday February 19th 2021 our son came into the world (specifically the sofa bed) after a 20 hour labour that my wife made look almost enjoyable. I am blown away by the beauty of nature, the strength of the female body, and the unbelievable combined power of body and mind demonstrated so brilliantly by my wife. 
Our son was due February 16th 2021. When that day came and went we joked that he was going to make us wait until the end of the following week. On Wednesday 17th my wife showed me what I can only describe as a “bit of jelly” so I decided that I needed to start getting earlier nights to be well rested for whenever he decided to arrive (I’d been staying up late recently after getting back into Minecraft with one of my friends), so that night I stayed true to my word and went to sleep early. The morning of Thursday 18th February I woke up naturally, wondering if I’d once again failed to set an alarm. I checked my phone to see what the time was and was immediately alarmed at the notification I saw from my wife via WhatsApp “I don’t think you’re going to be working for the next few weeks now“. Oh shite.
I immediately felt like I was sweating as I rushed downstairs to find my wife in the kitchen, leaning over the kitchen island in the midst of a surge (contraction if you’re not a hypnobirthing nob like us). I asked her when they began and she showed me when she started tracking them “4.57am! Why didn’t you wake me?” I exclaimed. One thing was clear at that moment; she was in control and relaxed and I had been caught off guard. I was so confident in how late he was going to be that I’d left a couple of finishing touches at work until that morning. Suddenly I felt life flashing before my eyes, sadly for all the mundane shit I’d been putting off that under the surface I was in a real panic. However, my wife was in such control, and the surges were around 5-7 minutes apart, that we knew we had plenty of time. We’d also been practicing different massage techniques for in preparation for labour, so one of the first jobs was to apply pressure and play around with which techniques worked best. I quickly set about notifying work colleagues what was going on whilst finishing off the handover document I’d pulled together and kept live each day. I did this in between stopping to support my wife during each surge; it turns out that in spite of the the 3 or 4 techniques we’d practiced, the key one was simply applying pressure to her lower back, or occasionally holding the bump at the front to release the weight. Once I’d shut down from work the surges were still every 5-7 minutes, so we decided to carry on with our day by enjoying some lunch, watching Friends and getting my wife a couple of naps in. We also used the opportunity to try out the TENS device, which involves sticking 4 pads (2 to the upper back, 2 to the lower back) and pulsing electricity that can be intensified during surges to alleviate pain by applying counter pressure to that area (it seems like it was pain distraction). This seemed to work alright, but as the surges progressed I was also holding her stomach at points to alleviate the weight from her front. As the day progressed, the surges were still inconsistent (it’d go from 5 minutes to 9 minutes to 4 minutes to 8 minutes etc.) so we planned an early night so my wife could rest, assuming that this would continue well into Friday afternoon/evening. At around 9.15pm my wife went to the bathroom to brush her teeth etc. and then shouted out that her waters had released. With the waters broken, perhaps it wouldn’t be an early night after all. 
After resisting the phone number all day quite calmly, we made the call to the Midwife, who wanted to know how consistent the surges were. At this point they were still not consistent, or happening 3 times within 10 minutes, so they asked us to call back in an hour. There was a little bit of blood in my wife’s maternity pad, but nothing concerning to the Midwife, so we carried on monitoring surges. I asked my wife if we should begin filling up the birth pool, to which she paused to think, before replying “no, not yet”.
From this point onward the surges became more consistent at around 6 minutes continuously for the next hour. Then they gradually started to average toward 5 minutes, with some more frequently at 3 or even 2 minute intervals, but it still wasn’t consistent. We rang back at 10.30pm and told the Midwife team they were averaging around 5 minutes, but with some at shorter intervals. It wasn’t consistent enough but they offered to get someone out if we wanted. We didn’t want to waste anyone’s time so we declined and carried on monitoring. 
The inconsistency in surges continued until 11.15pm, which is when everything really kicked up a gear; we decided it might be a good idea to start filling the birthing pool, and we also placed the TENS device back on my wife, which we had taken off during the evening because the mixture of my wife’s breathing and me applying pressure to her lower back appeared to be working quite nicely. Looking back at the monitoring, we actually registered 5 surges within 10 minutes, which In hindsight was a fairly clear sign, but my wife’s superbly controlled handling of the surges, and the inconsistency of time in between, gave us a false sense of what was going on. Between 11.30pm and midnight my wife was having surges in waves of 2 surges every 2 minutes, with a third every 5 minutes (2, 2, 5, 2, 2, 5). It was at midnight that she went to the toilet and then called me in to show her underwear pad to me. I was horrified to see a lot of blood, but I didn’t want to show her how much this had panicked me. In an effort to remain calm I suggested we call the midwife, so at midnight the call was made and they said someone would contact us very shortly to arrange a visit. My wife and I were in the bathroom as she was wiping more and more blood out from herself, as we were clearly both locked in internal battles to keep calm “maybe the placenta has come away” my wife stated, steadily, trying to make sense of the alarming amount of blood we were staring at. A sinking feeling entered my stomach... what if our little boy was in trouble? What had been a relaxed and controlled journey upto this point suddenly felt very lonely, and we were unequipped to deal with what was round the corner if our little boy needed emergency help. In spite of this inner battle I tried not to let my wife see I was struggling, so we bagged up the pad ready to show the midwife and continued monitoring and helping to deal with the surges as they came. The atmosphere had changed though, and it felt like the control was slipping through our fingers, whilst now also waiting on an imminent call back from a Midwife who would be assigned to help us.
Almost ten minutes had passed without a call; earlier in the evening they’d asked what the best contact number was, so I had given them my number in case my wife was otherwise engaged (and she has a tendency to leave her phone somewhere for long periods of time - in today’s society of being glued to phones that’s not necessarily a bad thing). Nothing was on my phone and the surges were becoming more intense and frequent. I suggested checking my wife’s phone, which she told me was on charge in the bedroom. As I walked in it was ringing, so I answered quickly and a lady called Alexia introduced herself. I was panicked, it had been 10 minutes and it felt like we were getting to more established labour. She was extremely calm and assured me she only lived down the road in the next village, so would be with us in around 15 minutes. I tried to explain to her that there was quite a lot of blood in my wife’s last pad, but she was more interested in getting directions (again, seems sensible in hindsight rather than ignoring my panicked statements of what we’d seen in the pad). After trying to frantically explain which takeaway restaurants we were in between, and which side of the road we lived on, she calmly said she’d see us soon, and we were on our own again.
By 12.15am the time in between surges was getting down as low as 1 minute, followed by a 4 or 5 minute gap. The inconsistency was confusing, but my wife was finding them more intense. The wait for the Midwife was agonising as we both tried to remain calm and positive, but I could still feel that bubble we’d held together all day beginning to bulge ready for bursting. I then spotted headlights pulling onto our driveway, the Midwife was here, which filled me with both hope and relief. As I walked to the door my wife mentioned that she could feel pressure in her bum; not thinking too much of it and being fixated on getting the midwife in and showing her the bloodied pads we’d bagged up, I went to the door to let in the Midwife. She was collecting her belongings and bringing them to the door in a very relaxed manner. i stood with the door open trying to look inviting whilst hiding my impatience and worry. That’s when I heard an almighty scream and alarm ripped through me.
I’ve never heard my wife make a noise quite like it, it was filled with horror and pain. Alexia, the Midwife, was asking me questions as we both hurried into the room where my wife was. I was trying to calmly get across my concern about the blood in the pad “it sounds like the baby is coming” she remarked, as she calmly went about putting her gloves on and light heartedly remarking that she usually would like a bit more time to get equipment. Her calm presence was as frustrating as it was oddly relaxing. Another almighty scream from my wife had us both reaching to comfort her as she was clearly distressed and exclaiming that she wanted to get in the birth pool “it’s half full” I said to the Midwife as I hurriedly removed the TENS device and pads that my wife was trying to rip off herself. Suddenly everything felt frantic and out of control; my wife was acting on instinct and it was clear that the baby was now coming. 
My wife was trying to talk but not making much sense; she was panicked in her tone and mentioned about pressure in her bum again. She wanted to get in the pool and was clearly distressed, so I yanked down her underwear and leggings and she put one of her legs up as if she was kneeling on one knee leant over the sofa bed. As I did this I looked up and to my horror and amazement, facing me was our son’s head, his eyes completely closed and looking peaceful. He looked purple and lifeless; it was joyous to see him, and heartbreaking in the moment because I thought he was stillborn (looking back with a clear mind it makes sense that he was purple because he doesn’t receive as much oxygen through the umbilical chord as he would through his own lungs). So there was our son, with goodness knows what other fluid gushing out from around him, almost in slow motion. My eyes welled up; I didn’t know what to feel, but instinctually I continued trying to remove the leggings from her ankle “no, no, leave that, this is a really good position” remarked Alexia calmly “OK, one more push and he’ll be here, ready? Big push” and with an almighty scream from my wife, our son was released into the world, along with fuck knows what else with him, directly onto the towels we’d put around the sofa bed. Alexia then picked him up and began to blow on him, gently rocking him “come on now little boy” she said as he rocked there in between her hands, still lifeless. After a few seconds he then took a big gasp and began to cry - he was here, he was alive and he was perfect.
It was an incredible moment - with three pushes my wife had brought our little boy into the world without us even having filled the birth pool (just about half full at this point). The midwife placed down some pads for my wife to sit on, and I was prompted by her to collect some cushions so my wife could sit up to enjoy immediate skin to skin, whilst we waited for the placenta-releasing injection to kick in and the umbilical cord finished pulsing. After a few minutes the placenta was pulled out by the umbilical cord, and like a grand opening of a supermarket, I cut the cord to signal our son’s start as an independently functioning human being. The midwife had a lot of paperwork to do, which gave us time to focus on our little boy and start to process what had taken place “do you have a name?” Alexia asked. We both looked at each other; we hadn’t agreed a name as we were waiting to see what our son looked like. We were also potentially in different places with which name we should give him “errm... not yet” remarked my wife, so for now he assumed her surname whilst we decided.  
He was fascinating to look at - a piece of sperm and egg had forged to make this little chap, and he was more beautiful to me than I was ready for. I’d secretly believed that my wife would have an easy labour because of how focused and disciplined she’d been in her preparation, I just never voiced it too much so I didn’t put any pressure on her. She absolutely exceeded any expectation of what I thought the birth would be like, to the point she made it look (dare I say) quite relaxing and an enjoyable experience. After a few minutes of holding our creation, my wife looked at me and said “I think he looks like a Marlon”, which was one of the names we had shortlisted. I smiled as the moment seemed absolutely perfect. We then agreed on his full name, and that was it, he was a fully registered boy and newest member of our family. 
Our midwife, Alexia, stayed with us for a few hours and was extremely helpful, even changing his first nappy full of meconium and weighing the boy in at 5 pounds 10 ounces. My wife sat upright with him for quite some time, even getting Marlon his first breastfeed as I paced around, possibly still traumatised from what I’d witnessed come out of my wife. We had some photos, Alexia cleaned up and then left us to it, noting that someone would be round the next day to check in. That night felt euphoric; my wife and I stayed up watching our son, listening to his noises and discussing our experiences of the event. I was blown away by how well my wife had coped and taken it all in her stride, but as I mentioned earlier, deep down I knew she would be this way because of the way she fully applies herself to everything she does, and does it brilliantly. What a birth day it was for us, and what an easy birth it was for our son.
The next day we received a call. The midwife had checked his weight against the threshold requiring follow up checks by the paediatrician, and Marlon fell within that threshold. We were asked to bring him in that afternoon as a precaution, so without any more than 30 minutes of sleep, we hurriedly packed some bits together, including the pram, and went to the hospital. It turned out that my wife and son would have to be monitored for 24 hours, so what we thought would be an afternoon trip ended up becoming an overnight event. Unfortunately due to COVID I was not allowed in the ward, so I could not visit, which was difficult for my wife and I, so I did the best I could by dropping off some favourite takeaway food and snacks that I knew she would love. Soon enough, our son had completed all his tests and the results were fine, so at around 11pm on 20th February we all arrived back home as a new family. My wife hadn’t slept for over 33 hours by this point, so I stayed up with our son for about 3 hours whilst she napped to recoup some energy. He must have been tired because he has not slept that long since, but I wanted to do whatever I could to ensure she had enough energy to carry on a little longer. 
We’re now entering our fourth day of Marlon’s life, and I can’t be any prouder as a parent or husband. My son and I are lucky to have such a powerful woman in our life, and I want to remind her of that as often as I can. There are so many hopes I have for my son, but one of the most important ones I want to continually remind myself of is the hope that he grows up with an open, free mind. This will allow him to remain genuinely content, empathetic and curious of the truth (whilst being flexible with having his mind changed by truth), which will most likely lead a very fulfilling life. I aim to leave the world a little better than I found it, whilst helping others on the way, I hope I can inspire Marlon to do the same, but I think because of who he has as a mother, and I a wife, he will exceed that.
Marlon, I can’t wait to help you take in the world, make sense of it, reason with it and grow within it. I look forward to the conversations, the laughs, the cries, the lessons and the connections. You have made my life complete; the rest of time with you is now a bonus.
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Chapter 3, Section 1–The Diva’s Waltz; Scene 5
Wiegenlied of Green (VG), page 149-158
🍀 Michaela ~The Country of Elphegort, "The Freezis Estate/Parlor"~
 .
Since I had come to show off my singing before other people, I had made the acquaintance of many nobles and merchants. And accompanying that, something troubling started happening. Among the younger nobles I'd met, there began to appear those who would make marriage proposals to me.
Lord Keel had been supportive, saying that this was an extremely joyous thing, but all the same I couldn't oblige them even if I wanted to. There were two years left of the time that I could spend as the human "me". And once those years were up, I would have to once again return to being a spirit.
More than that, I still couldn't fully understand human feelings of love.
What does it mean to love someone?
Having been a genderless spirit originally, I had never been in love before.
Observing the humans who would visit the forest, several times I had witnessed men telling women they loved them, or women telling men, and people exchanging kisses. And I had seen many tragedies that came from when love ran wild. But I couldn't empathize with such people. In my eyes it had looked only to be a strange breeding behavior characteristic of humans.
 .
At the banquet that night, just like the others, I received thunderous applause. Singing was as fun as ever, but the courtesy calls after it had gotten extremely painful. The reason being I had to skillfully trade comments with a great deal of compliments and pick-up lines directed my way.
"Oh, are you alright? If this is getting hard on you, I don't mind if you excuse yourself for a little while?" Mrs. Freezis said, me being much more exhausted than usual. Taking advantage of the madam's kindness, I started walking towards the parlor, which was being used in place of the waiting room during the banquet party.
"I'm beat."
I plopped down on the sofa. There were several paintings put up in the parlor. They were part of Lord Keel's collection. I gazed at the paintings, for no particular reason. I didn't know why, but there was one picture among them that I found extremely fascinating.
That oil painting had a much more reserved usage of color than the others around it. It was a calm picture depicting a blonde haired girl smiling and standing on a coast, but somehow it felt strangely ominous, and also the slightest bit sad. In the bottom part of the picture there was the signature of the artist, but unfortunately I couldn't read it.
I wish Elluka had taught me just a little bit.
During my one month crash course, there hadn't been time for things like learning to read. Elluka had told me that if it was necessary I would manage on my own later, but in my life as a farmer that had been impossible.
Clarith's mother had been able to read and write, hadn't she? I wish I'd gotten lessons from her.
I stared at the signature in utter stillness.
"Karchess Crim. My pen name."
The one who informed me of the artist's name from behind was the King of Marlon, Kyle, who had entered the room at some point without my knowing.
"K-King Kyle!? You startled me, don't come in so suddenly like that!"
"Sorry, although I did knock…I didn't hear any response."
Maybe I'd been so engrossed in the painting that I hadn't heard. Even so, he shouldn't have entered so willfully like that…He could have at least said something.
There were times when he showed the dignity one might expect of royalty, and then there were times like now where he would be completely tactless, as though unable to read the situation. The women attending the banquet seemed to, conversely, find this adorable; as such, and because he was a bachelor, it seemed he was very popular with them.
"This painting is actually one I did when I was a child."
Kyle began to speak somewhat nostalgically. His expression was calm.
"That was seven…no, eight years ago. I was fourteen or fifteen at the time, and I had wanted to be a painter. I was even considering abdicating the throne for my dream. As I recall it was around then that I met Keel, too."
Quite frankly, that was surprising. That he would have the resolve to throw everything away for the sake of his dreams, despite having a set future ahead of him. …In that way too, he reminded me of Ayn.
"Although, well, those dreams were crushed at my mother's instigation. In secret she made preparations with art dealers and critics, and had me completely excluded from the art world. To the point where I can no longer go back."
"My word…"
"I guess the heir to the throne becoming a painter was a ridiculous concept to begin with. After my father died, I burned almost all of the paintings I'd made up to that point. …The only ones left now are these ones, which Keel bought from me."
"…King Kyle, do you hate being a king?"
"It's not that. I have a lot of pride in my position as king. With a single word I can save a nation, or make them suffer. It's a heavy responsibility, and at the same time I think it's a wonderful, irreplaceable job. But…sometimes I get to thinking. That maybe I've only walked along the rail that my mother's laid out for me, maybe I'm just her puppet. I decide who I am. That's what I've always thought, but…that hasn't really panned out that well.
In that moment I felt an inexpressible discomfort. What was this feeling…? I felt a sensation of goosebumps, unconsciously rubbing my arm.
"…Even now, there are times when I want to abandon everything and run away. I'd quit being a king, mingle with the commoners and live a humble life. Surround myself with a wife and child that I loved, you know."
At that point, Kyle glanced at my face.
"In that time …I would be incredibly happy if I had someone like you by my side," he said, blushing up to his ears. At the sight of that, the strange feeling from earlier faded away. I suspected that I knew at least a little bit this feeling of "adorable" that the other women felt.
"Do you love me, King Kyle?"
"Uh…You don't mince words, do you?" Kyle seemed to have trouble talking, though spoke plainly, as though taken by surprise by my words. "It's true. I do like you. Ever since I first met you, I fear."
Watching Kyle as he was then, I pondered him. Maybe if I was a normal human woman I would be glad to hear him say such things, or get embarrassed, or maybe be bewildered at why he'd pick me, or get angry. But none of those emotions surged forward in me. It certainly wasn't unpleasant, to be receiving favor. Although, well, I was a little fed up with it, this being the fifth person to seek marriage from me.
"I am happy that you feel this way, however I do not know what it is to love someone. As such, I cannot accept. I am very sorry."
I answered bluntly. I thought that being vague with Kyle's feelings would be very dishonest towards him.
"You don't know…what loving someone is?"
"Yes. I have never been in love before. So just…what exactly is love in the first place?"
"Oh dear…that's a difficult question."
It was a question that apparently led to the other person getting angry, as though they were being made fun of, if it went poorly; but Kyle seriously considered it.
"Michaela, do you have someone that you hold dear to you aside from any siblings and family that you have?"
"…Yes, I do."
"When this person's in trouble, do you want to protect them?"
"Yes, of course."
"I see. Well then, are you happy to always be with this person?"
"Yes."
"If this person told you that they don't want to be with you anymore, that they'd prefer someone else, would you be able to accept that?"
I had been answering the questions smoothly up until that point, but at that one my chest hurt a little bit.
"…No. I'd want to accept it, but I don't think I could."
"Then maybe you love this person. This is just my own theory, but I think that love is a selfish thing. On one hand, you want to give the other person everything that they desire; but on the other hand you can't help but desire that other person's everything. If they change their interest to someone else, you get jealous. With friendship, in some respects it involves keeping your distance. So I think that's the difference between love and friendship."
"I see…Hm, although,"
"What is it?"
"The person I'm talking about is a girl."
"…Then I'm stumped."
Kyle looked to the ceiling as though imploring for advice. It was, of course, Clarith that had come to mind for me.
"Hmmm, I guess love isn't necessarily something that's only with the opposite sex...Looks like I'm still a bit inexperienced myself in matters of love."
"I don't think so. At the very least I think you know more than me?"
"…Michaela."
Kyle took out a small seashell necklace from his pocket, and put it around my neck.
"This is proof of my pure love. I would be very grateful if you would accept this."
"…I can't."
"Can you so coldly refuse a gift from the king of Marlon?" Kyle said with a joking tone, pouting like a spoiled child. His cheeks were still red, probably from blushing.
"You so quickly abuse your authority."
"Just kidding. Haha, sorry if I've spoiled the mood. I want to get to know you better. We should start as friends first. Would you like to get closer to me?"
He made a mischievous smile, eyebrows lowered. I touched the pendant on the necklace that he'd put around my neck.
"Well, if it's as friends, then I guess I don't mind."
"My goodness, how bold of you to treat the king of Marlon as a friend."
"…You're gonna make me mad."
"Ha ha ha, just joking. Well then, I look forward to getting to know you."
So saying, he returned to the banquet.
 .
Once I had rested a little bit my exhaustion started to go away, so I left the room to return back to the meeting hall. When I did, I found Clarith standing there.
"Clarith? What's wrong?"
"…The King of Marlon was here just now. What were you two doing?"
"Huh? We just talked a little bit."
"Hmm…What's that necklace?"
"Ah…he gave it to me."
"Frankly speaking, it's a little tacky."
Clarith was obviously displeased. I was surprised at such a sarcastic barb, something so uncharacteristic of her.
"What is it, Clarith?"
"Well, Michaela--please don't get close with anyone else."
"Huh? …Why?"
"It scares me. I makes me very afraid, to think that you might go far away from me. …I want you to look only at me."
Clarith's brow was furrowed, looking like she was on the verge of tears. What did she have to be so afraid of? I was right there with her.
"…I'm sorry, that was weird of me to say. Please forget it," she said, turning her back to me and running off.
While she was running she was caught by a half-asleep Yukina, and scolded not to run in the halls. Panicking, Clarith bowed her head and, somehow, appeared to have been able to receive forgiveness.
.
I recalled what Kyle had said to me earlier.
"Love is a selfish thing. On one hand, you want to give the other person everything that they desire; but on the other hand you can't help but desire that other person's everything. If they change their interest to someone else, you get jealous."
It seemed to me that those words could certainly apply to Clarith just now.
It couldn't be…could it?
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4.10 The Forecaster #163
 I hate to leave you here with all this.
No.
I'm kind of looking forward to it. Me and Agnes hanging out in our new place, listen to some tunes, unpack a few boxes. Maybe even eat some strained pears.
Everything's coming together for us.
Yeah.
We've got Agnes back.
We've got each other.
I'm an agent again.
Yeah, we got out of Reddington's safe house.
No more bodyguards.
We have windows that we can look out of and actually see the sky.
Not bad.
It's a new beginning.
It's a lot to give up.
No.
Believe me, it's not.
Oh, sounds like someone's ready to get her groove on.
You know, I think we're gonna go old school.
I'm thinkin' The Romantics.
- Oh! - [Okay, now I'm jealous.
Tom.
Aram: Oh, oh.
Agent Keen, that is so cool.
I had no idea you were so artsy-craftsy.
Liz: I just found this outside my front door.
What? Like a gift? No, like a warning-- or a cry for help.
This is ghoulish.
A drowning superwoman? That's not a cape.
That's a judge's robe.
Federal Judge Trisha Culpepper drowned in her country club pool this morning.
The guard at the club saw her enter around 8 AM and then, 30 minutes later, 9-1-1 received a call from an employee saying she drowned.
Someone made this diorama after learning about what happened and put it on your doorstep? No, the guard saw her at 8 AM.
I found this around 7 AM-- an hour before she drowned.
Or was murdered by a killer who left this at your doorstep.
Well, do you think it might be somebody from your days at the Mobile Psych Unit? I already contacted the New York field office.
They're sending me my files now.
Get this to the lab for processing.
Maybe we'll get trace evidence or a print.
Ressler, Navabi, get to the crime scene.
Agent Keen, talk to Reddington.
See if he can shed some light on this.
Woman: Everything's included.
The last tenant left the furnishings behind.
Just disappeared.
I'd have to stick to champagnes and white Burgundies.
One spill of a red varietal and this heavenly sanctuary would look like a crime scene.
White wines are good.
I drink white.
But would I be capable? Let's say somebody stops by with a Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, and it's a '78! [ Laughs ] [ Lowered voice ] Couldn't he just drink it in the kitchen? I just had a revelation.
I could drink it in the kitchen! - [ Laughs ] - So I'll draw up the paperwork.
- Month to month, right, Mr.
Homan? - [ Knock on door ] Thank you, Pamela.
[ Door closes ] I don't want to know how you did it or what it says about the fate of our country that you were able to, but I wanna thank you for getting the President of the United States to pardon me.
As my grandmother used to say, it's good to have friends in low places.
When Dembe said you had a case, I thought, how quaint.
It's not.
You looked at the photos I sent.
Yes.
Judge Culpepper was above reproach, which means many people would like her dead, but none I could connect to you in any way.
I've looked at every case file from my time at the Mobile Psych Unit, and no suspect's an obvious match.
Any leads off the diorama? A partial print, but inconclusive.
I'll have a team outside your apartment within the hour.
No, that's not necessary.
Whoever's doing this does not want to hurt me.
They wanna match wits with me, see if I can catch them.
Do not take this lightly.
This is your next Blacklister.
But you don't even know who this is.
He's killed a federal judge, which means he goes after high profile targets.
He left clues at your doorstep, which means it's a game to him, one he'll keep playing until you stop him.
You're being baited, Elizabeth, taunted by a killer who knows where you live.
[ The Romantics' "What I Like About You' playing ] hey! [ Singing along ] what I like about you you hold me tight [ Giggles ] keep on whisperin' in my ear tell me all the things that I wanna hear 'cause it's true what I like that's what I like about you - [ Giggles ] - what I like about you Oh, come on.
You don't think I can sing? I see you laughing at me.
[ Footsteps approach ] that's what I like about you that's what I like about you hey! uh, huh, huh, hey, hey, hey, hey [ Door closes ] [ Horn honks ] Hey! Stop! Stop! [ Horn honks ] [ Whines ] Hey.
Hi.
- [ Giggles ] - Hi! are What you doin'? Hi! Come here, come here, come here.
- [ Fussing ] - I know.
I got you.
I got you.
We've been going through the judge's docket.
Six months back, six months ahead.
There's a total of 53 cases.
Seems like revenge killing, retaliation for a ruling.
The next one could be a witness, a lawyer.
Navabi: First a drowning, then a shooting.
What's the pattern? The victims can't be random.
The clock tower.
I've been thinking about it.
It's, uh, it's familiar.
And then I realized I remembered it from Mr.
Mathiesen's seventh grade civics class.
We studied all the great DC buildings in that class-- Aram, the building.
I think it's the old Post Office tower.
Ressler: Well, this clock says 12:30.
If that's PM, we're in trouble.
Alert the MPD.
Tell them we have actionable intel that a homicide is about to be attempted.
Right, I'll mobilize surveillance.
We're gonna take this guy down.
He's not getting anywhere near your place this time.
[ Door closes ] Geoffroy! Thank you for coming.
I was surprised you called me, Mr.
Reddington.
What can I do for you? [ Chuckles ] Tell me about cobalt.
Every cellphone battery requires at least 3 grams of it.
Laptops, even more.
I'm told Iniko's investing in cobalt mines.
I want in.
You're gonna have to talk to Iniko about that.
Shall I set a meeting? Do you recognize this apartment? No.
Should I? Belonged to a dear friend of mine, a former acquaintance of Iniko's.
I say "former" because Iniko had him killed right where you're standing.
Imagine all that blood on this very carpet.
Amazing.
It's like it never happened, as if he never existed.
Why are you telling me this? I'm interested in the mines, but not in doing business with Iniko.
[ Chuckles ] You're asking me to betray my boss.
Yes, I'm prepared to make a substantial contribution to the venture.
He would kill me if he found out.
If he were still alive.
Look, Mr.
Reddington, I don't know what you're suggesting-- I'm suggesting that this is your moment if you're smart enough to seize it.
Iniko's loyal only to himself.
He suffers you because your uncle has the ear of the President.
You're a patronage hire who buys Iniko good will with the powers that be.
But when they go, and they will, you'll go.
Like my dear friend who bled all over this white carpet.
All right, I'm tapped into every camera in the area, and I am not seeing anything.
I hate bikes.
They're good for the environment.
Well, there's no way to tell which one's our perp.
Liz: I just got word from the lab.
They were able to pull a print from a handrail outside my apartment.
It matches a partial we pulled from the first model.
Suspect's name is Fiona Driscoll.
[ Clock tower chimes ] [ Chiming stops ] [ Horn honks in distance ] Aram: Uh, guys? We're looking for a guy on a bike, right? [ Engine revs ] I think that bike might be a motorcycle.
Down! Get down! [ Gunshots ] [ Engine revs ] - You okay? - Yeah.
Who the hell are you? FBI.
Iniko.
I understand you're in town to bribe a congressman.
Tell me, what's the going rate to get someone to ignore rape, slave labor, child soldiers, child brides? I was told you had a business proposition, not a lecture.
The cobalt mines.
I want in.
Not interested.
So lecture then.
You've been betrayed by a trusted employee.
I recently experienced a similar betrayal.
So I know that it's a bitter pill, especially since in our line of work, betrayal requires swift and decisive retribution.
And you will give me the name in exchange for a cut of the mines.
25%.
Assuming you can verify what I tell you is true.
Geoffroy Keino.
He approached me about investing in the mines if I agreed to kill you.
His terms were very generous, so you can imagine how tempted I was.
But as I mentioned, I have recently felt the sting of duplicity.
And I simply couldn't bring myself to facilitate such a betrayal of someone else, even someone so loathsome.
[ Chuckles ] And people say there is no honor among thieves.
Stay.
Have some foie gras.
No, thank you.
I find it difficult to enjoy foie gras.
All those poor geese, all those painfully engorged livers.
[ Chuckles ] In my opinion, some lives are inconsequential, and delicious.
We'll be in touch with any further developments.
You shouldn't use her like that.
Not here.
As a story to get what you want.
It's disrespectful.
Kate doesn't deserve that.
[ Engine revs ] [ Tires screech ] [ Panting ] [ Cellphone beeps, speed dials ] Hey, it's me.
We have a problem.
It's about Milch.
The feds were waiting when I got there.
I don't know how, but they knew it was gonna happen.
All right, calm down.
Don't talk to anybody.
I'll call my source downtown, see what he knows.
[ Cellphone beeps ] [ Door opens ] - Hello, Ms.
Driscoll.
- Agent Keen, - I think there's been a terrible mistake.
- [ Door closes ] We have your fingerprints on the renderings of crime scenes you left outside my home.
I know what you must be thinking.
I know how this looks.
Well, it looks like you were taunting Agent Keen, giving her details of the murders you were about to commit, seeing if she could stop you.
We found traces of aconitine in the judge's system.
You poisoned her and then tried to murder Marlon Milch.
Marlon Milch? Is that his name? Come on.
You're trying to say that you don't know the name - of the man that you tried to kill? - You've got it all wrong.
I wasn't trying to kill these people.
I was trying to save them.
I left the models for you because I wasn't sure what else to do.
Models of crime scenes made before the crimes were committed.
So how do you explain that? Unless you're the killer.
They're premonitions.
All right, tell us about the victims.
A respected judge, a controversial businessman.
Why target them? Why are they connected? I only know what I see in the dioramas.
Why haven't you taken these premonitions to the police? I have.
They looked at me like I'm crazy.
That's why I came to you, Agent Keen.
I saw you at the grocery store, recognized you from the news.
I followed you home because I thought you'd understand.
The pardon.
You know what it's like to be judged harshly, how it feels not to be believed.
When did these premonitions start? Just over two years ago.
So there are more dioramas.
[ Switch clicks ] At first, it was butterflies with glitter, and things like that.
Then they turned into these.
There are 42 in all, each forecasting some horrible tragedy-- murders, accidents, catastrophes.
This is Flight 361.
It crashed in the Andes last year.
Sometimes they come with vivid detail.
Others are more impressionistic.
How do you get these visions? Oh, no.
They're not mine.
I don't see them.
[ Door creaking ] Her name's Maggie.
She's 9.
Maggie's mind is different.
She suffers from what doctors call a constellation of birth defects, the result of fetal rubella.
Heart problems, hearing impairment, any number of developmental issues.
But I feel like she understands more than they think.
Just because she can't talk doesn't mean she has nothing to say.
Maggie's visions, when did they start? February, two years ago.
She drew me a picture, this terrible image.
A train and a bus crashing.
Bodies everywhere.
The next day, a bus was struck by a train in the Ukraine.
13 people were killed, another 6 injured, and she knew.
Somehow, Maggie knew.
Were they any changes in your life at the time? Had you moved? Did she change schools? No.
Nothing.
We've always been around the same close circle of friends.
Our world is very small.
What is she working on now? The next one.
I cross-checked the dioramas against verifiable incidents, and in each case, the incident and the diorama were a match.
This July, a sailboat washes ashore south of Naples.
Both the owner and his wife are lost a sea.
- [ Beep ] - Two months earlier, a Jaipur factory fire kills 18.
- [ Beeping ] - A bus accident in Miami.
A mass shooting in Madrid.
These aren't just crimes, these are catastrophic events happening all around the world.
You say the mother claims the child predicted all this? - That's what she says.
- I don't believe in premonitions.
So prior knowledge of these events has to have come from somewhere.
We're running down a list of everyone who interacts with the child, but the list is not promising.
- You said she can't speak.
- Her mother says she has an undiagnosed cognitive disorder.
Pull her medical file.
I want to know exactly what we can and cannot expect her to be able to tell us about these premonitions.
[ Cellphone vibrates ] Tom.
Hey.
Is everything okay? Three agents from the Bureau are camped outside.
Cooper insisted, but the person who delivered the dioramas wasn't the killer.
It was a mom whose daughter somehow knows about crimes that haven't been committed yet.
Okay, well, that's a little weird.
- [ Agnes fussing ] - And creepy.
And if the mom knows where we live, maybe the killer does, too.
Tell me about Agnes.
She is blissfully unaware that her parents are talking about a serial killer.
Liz, what can I do? How can I help? You are helping.
You know what I mean.
I do.
And I appreciate that.
But for now, we're good.
I'll call you if anything changes.
Sure.
Okay.
Go-- go do your thing.
[ Phone beep, thuds ] [ Fussing ] The mining deal is closed.
You sound surprised.
[ Door closes ] And you look scared.
Iniko completed financing without consulting me.
And now he's not returning my calls.
Perhaps he has a new acolyte.
Or grew wary of your ambition.
I've given him no reason to be.
Others might have.
People hoping to gain his trust by betraying you.
I haven't done anything.
[ Laughs ] But you're here.
So you want to.
If he suspects me Oh, please.
Spare me the wide-eyed innocence.
You're the top aide to a man who pays your salary with the lives of women and children.
You're every bit as responsible for committing atrocities as he is.
Cheer up, Geoffroy.
This isn't the end.
It's the beginning.
Your beginning.
One you need to announce loudly enough to scare off other pretenders to the throne.
Might I suggest something in broad daylight? Perhaps a nice car bombing.
A cliché, I know, but clichés work.
That's how they get to be clichés.
Hey.
[ Knocks ] I think we found something in Maggie Driscoll's medical records.
A way for us to communicate? Us? Maybe.
Or a killer.
She wears a hearing aid, a very tiny high-frequency model.
- So? - We've run down everyone she knows, no suspects.
So maybe the killer or killers are people she doesn't know.
I think the hearing aid might be picking up nearby conversations via radio frequency interference.
Conversations? Phone calls transmitted over a frequency that bleeds onto the one her hearing aid operates on.
Which means at least one of our suspects is close.
A neighboring building, uh, someone in the apartment complex.
Get there.
Interview everyone in the building.
Ressler: There could be hundreds of people.
- You have a better idea? - Actually, yeah, I might.
I think I can get us a step closer yet.
[ Cartoon music playing on TV ] [ Thuds softly ] Aram: I'm still getting interference.
Ressler: Is this really gonna help? We, uh, we need to unplug anything that might cause RF interference-- lights, appliances [ Whispers ] Sorry.
Okay.
Uh, cellphones.
And, uh, turn off your coms.
We gotta go with walkies.
Aram, we listening for bad guys or are we holding a séance? That is not funny.
When I was in college, Matt Skrdell had a Ouija board, and we actually made contact with my pet rabbit, Dash, God rest her soul, and it turns out she did not escape from her cage like I was told.
[ Switch clicks ] [ Static hissing, adjusting levels ] [ Switch clicks ] [ Static crackling ] [ Static ] [ Distorted voice ] [ Distorted voices ] [ Man speaking indistinctly ] [ Static, distorted voice ] Man: That should solve it.
[ Static ] [ Distorted voice ] [ Static, distorted voice ] [ Static continues ] [ Distorted voices ] Man: [ Distorted ] Hey, it's me.
We have a problem.
[ Man speaks indistinctly ] [ Distorted conversation continues ] Man: has to happen sooner in the tower as discussed.
Aram, where are they? Man: We couldn't finish Milch, and you're talking about the next job? What have you found out? Man: I said I'd get back to you when I know more.
Stick to the plan.
Did we lose them? [ Static crackling ] For now.
But they're out there, very close.
[ Static continues ] The next time they call, we're gonna find them.
I don't know whether to be relieved or terrified.
Thanks to you, I know how it's happening, but it's only happening because these people, - these killers live nearby.
- [ Static crackling ] How much of it do you think she actually understands? Too much, I'm afraid.
That's why she does it.
She knows they have to be stopped.
[ Static ] Man: a kid? That's ridiculous.
We're live.
Man: Not according to my source downtown.
Her mother told the cops about us six months ago.
They ignored her, so she must've gone to the FBI.
That little kid was able to give them the time and the location of the Milch assignment.
Man: You're saying she's listening, watching.
How is that possible? I don't know.
The investors are upset.
If we lose another offer-- Look, she's a threat that needs to be dealt with.
Signal strength is S3.
We are very close.
[ Static crackles ] Get me a name.
I'll handle the kid.
Fifth floor, fourth apartment from the end.
The east wing.
[ Beep ] [ Crackling ] It's okay.
It's okay.
You are gonna be okay, all right? Officers are gonna be here any minute.
FBI! - Clear.
- How did we miss him? [ Door creaks ] Aram, issue an alert.
White male, dark hair, about 5'10".
We need units covering every way in and out of this building.
- Aram? - Aram's down! We're gonna need an ambulance! Woman over radio: All units, please be advised, we have a federal agent down at the fol-- [ Gunshots ] [ Speaks indistinctly ] [ Man speaks indistinctly ] - I had to disarm him.
- Are you playing me? Is this some kind of sick joke to you? Okay, calm down and tell me what happened.
- He found it.
The car bomb.
- [ Door closes ] It was as if his security detail knew where to look.
- And you think I told him? - No one else knew.
Except the munitions expert who made the bomb, the mechanic who installed it.
You were sloppy, and you're looking for someone to blame.
Blame yourself.
If I go home, I'm a dead man.
Then don't go home.
Iniko may not be taking your calls, but he will certainly take mine.
I told you, the deal on the mine is closed.
There's always another deal.
I have one in mind that I know he will find especially hard to resist.
Relax.
Have a drink.
Help me finish this infuriating puzzle.
And when Iniko does come, you'll be waiting with a magic bullet.
- [ Radio beeps ] - Aram, talk to me.
Are you sure you didn't see which way they went? [ Radio chatter ] I didn't, no.
But MPD says we had two officers down in the building.
One was stripped, missing his gun, his badge.
- The guy's in uniform.
Great.
- [ Beep ] - [ Beep ] - Well, she's gotta be close.
We could call out to her if she could only hear us.
- [ Beep ] - Maybe she can.
Liz: How? Aram: Police radios operate on an RF frequency just like Maggie's hearing device, which can cause interference.
All right, go to frequency 154.
400 and turn it up.
- [ Beep ] - Turn it all the way up.
[ Static crackles loudly ] [ Groans ] - What is wrong with you? Get up! - [ Screams ] [ Screaming ] [ Screaming loudly ] Turn it down.
The officer that was with her, has anybody seen him? [ Indistinct conversations ] [ Breathes unevenly ] I can hear.
He's in there.
Use this.
It's untraceable.
Would you ever do this? Betray your own boss? I don't know.
Geoffroy, what are you doing here? [ Door closes ] Unfinished business, I'm afraid.
[ Trigger clicking ] What the hell? You set me up.
Reddington-- it was his idea.
Actually, it was ours.
[ Silenced gunshots ] [ Gun clatters ] [ Beep, speed dials ] I'm texting you an address.
My clean-up crew.
[ Touchscreen clicking ] I once bankrolled a diamond mine outside Tshikapa.
One day, a man showed up alone, unarmed, started to talk to me about the mine.
I had guns and guards and an enterprise worth I don't know, $50, $150 million dollars.
He had nothing but a story about greed driving atrocities and conflict, about armed groups using mass rape and mutilation as a means to control people in the villages around the mines.
I had bullets, he had words.
But when he was done talking, for the first time, I truly understood which of those was more powerful.
I abandoned the mine, agreed to finance his campaign of protection and protest, and did so until two months ago when you had him murdered.
Cyrus Choi.
Yeah.
[ Clip thuds ] He was a good man and my friend.
[ Clip clicks, gun cocks ] And somehow, your cleaners removed even the memory of his blood from this carpet.
They are the best in the business.
They better be.
They're gonna have a lot to clean up.
The girl's with the paramedics now.
She's gonna be fine.
What do we know about our runner? Navabi: Benjamin Allen Charnquist, 35.
He went to Berkeley.
He was kicked out his junior year after being convicted of rape.
He was shipped off to San Quentin.
- When did he get out? - 2002.
He's been off the radar ever since.
Now we know why.
Guys, um, check this out.
We couldn't see it from Maggie's dioramas, but, uh, there is a pattern.
All right, the factory fire in Jaipur, it tanked the stock of the Zardozi Imports company.
The man and his wife, who vanished off the coast of Naples in their sailboat, he was the CEO of a Silicon Valley tech firm.
The company lost a quarter of its value after he disappeared.
Judge Culpepper was set to rule against OJN Global in a patent infringement case.
And Marlon Milch is the CEO of a Fortune 500 company.
Each of these catastrophes involved someone who was invaluable to the company they worked for, and their deaths dramatically affected the stock prices - of those companies.
- So maybe the motive is profit.
Maybe Charnquist was shorting the stocks.
He's a college dropout with a felony record.
I doubt he came up with this on his own.
The partner, the guy he was talking to? At his parole hearing, three people testified on his behalf-- his parents, and the CEO of the private equities firm he interned at in college.
Chris Farnsworth.
CEO of Jasek Financial.
Just because Farnsworth testified at Charnquist's parole hearing, what makes you think he was involved? According to SEC filings, Farnsworth's company made a fortune after each and every one of the people Aram mentioned were murdered.
Once or twice is luck.
This many times is a conspiracy.
Get a tact team to Jasek Financial now.
Ressler: Look, we heard them talking about pulling another job, but we don't know where and we don't know when.
No, but we know someone who does.
They know everything.
I've got feds swarming my place.
Calm down.
Stick to the plan.
Calm down? They have my files, every trade.
I'm going to jail.
Ben, you and I have forecasted how many transactions? We knew this day would eventually come, that it would eventually end.
- Now the plan is-- - They have the girl.
Yes, and they know about you.
How long before they connect us, the company? When they do, my face will be on every network and screen within the hour, shares of Jasek Financial will crater and we'll have our golden parachute.
It's the escape we've discussed since day one.
And Beckner? Beckner is the only loose end.
I just hung up with him.
He placed the short against Jasek through the shell 20 minutes ago.
We've got to see this through.
Why don't we just put a bullet in Beckner's head? Because a bullet brings unwanted attention, ends up with FinCEN looking through each and every one of Beckner's transactions, which could point to us.
No.
It has to look like an accident.
He's the only one who knows where our funds are routed.
If he's dead, we're ghosts-- rich ghosts.
Finish him, and I'll see you at the plane.
Wait! You can't go in there.
No.
No, no, you can't ask for her help.
- Not after what happened.
- I wish we didn't have to.
This is exactly what I wanted to avoid.
I brought you her dioramas anonymously to prevent her being involved.
Look, if we're gonna catch the person that did this, we're gonna need Maggie's help.
Just because she can't express her feelings doesn't mean she doesn't have them.
She's terrified.
And determined.
Cobalt.
Cassiterite.
Wolframite.
They are the diamonds of tomorrow.
Let me go, and you can have a piece of all of them.
A piece of the mines.
Think of the money you will make.
On the backs of children.
Given enough money to eat, but not enough to ever leave.
Cyrus would be disappointed.
I worked in the mines.
I got out.
And instead of helping those who suffer as you once did, you profit off them.
I'm a bad man, Iniko, but not that bad.
[ Knock on door ] Ah, your cleaners.
What are their names? Sakiya and Fudo.
Why? - I want to hire them.
- They work for me.
- Not anymore.
- [ Silenced gunshot ] That's what this was all about, replacing Kate.
Kate is irreplaceable.
To me, she is.
[ Knock on door ] We're meeting Iniko.
Iniko just met his maker.
You done did him? I did done do.
Sweet.
Guy was a straight up tool.
This place looks familiar.
It should.
You cleaned it two months ago.
Friend of mine, shot six times, 5 liters of his blood on this carpet.
After you were done, not a drop.
You're Raymond Reddington.
Yes.
And this is my associate Dembe Zuma.
Well, aren't you a tall drink of chocolate milk? I'd like you to work for me.
Whatever Iniko was paying you, I'll double it.
So you know, we only moonlight.
A day job.
How old-fashioned.
Not really.
We're crime scene cleaners for Metro PD.
Well, won't this be fun.
"Jasek.
" Keen.
What's that? What does that mean? Jasek? I think we know what his next target's gonna be.
Aram, Farnsworth's gonna hit his own company.
[ Dark Horses' "Alone" playing ] Yes, the trade was clear.
Funds will be wired to the Panama account.
Agent Ressler, I think I have something, a way Charnquist may be planning to access the building.
Surveillance imagery shows an engine room on the roof, - and it is connected to a-- - An elevator.
- How'd you know that? - Because of the girl.
Her diorama's focused on how the crime's going to be committed.
This one featured an elevator.
Aram: Okay, the one in this building is a Westbrook freight built in 1922.
That's before pneumatic fail-safes.
They're gonna crash the elevator.
- I've got him.
- Security.
This is Bobby.
This is FBI Assistant Director Cooper.
We have credible intel that one of your employees in the building may be in danger.
I need you to shut down everything.
Nobody in or out.
Metro PD and FBI agents are on our way to you now.
[ Gunshots ] Cooper: Hello? Hello? Charnquist is in the building.
Get Con Ed on the line.
Cut the power, lock up that elevator.
Aram: Sir, I know have a lot of bad news today, but the security system in the building shows there's a backup generator.
he gripped the wall, he gripped the wire so alone so alone so alone [ Whirring ] [ Clank ] [ Tires screech ] there's always time enough to heal, moral to reveal - I'll bet you all you got - [ Whirring ] that you'll never miss a thing never miss a thing [ Man shouts indistinctly ] and no matter how you feel, nobody wants to kill What the hell is goin' on? Get Ressler on the horn now.
He's not answering.
[ Whirring ] - but watch - [ Gun cocks ] he stopped to feel [ Whirring stops ] - now he's not alone - [ Whooshes ] Not alone - not alone - The stop! Where's the emergency stop? there's always time enough to heal, moral to reveal I'll bet you all you got that you'll never miss a thing never miss a thing Incredible.
Truly incredible.
What happened to your last cleaner? She was murdered.
I'm so sorry.
Were you close? Yes.
Not a speck to be found.
Fudo: Have you caught the killer? No.
Clean as a whistle.
Clean as a whistle.
Do you know who he is? Yes, I do.
That's good.
Then it's only a matter of time.
Well, this seems like a good fit.
For now.
Last two years haven't been kind to people we work for.
- You take care - [ Door opens ] or we'll be mopping you up with club soda.
[ Laughs ] So you do use club soda.
Fascinating.
Uh, what was that about? - [ Door closes ] - I spoke with Harold.
He tells me you've had a pyrrhic victory.
We lost one of the killers.
Chris Farnsworth.
Who were those two? For years, colleagues have crowed about his rates of return, urging me to invest with them.
Called him "The Forecaster.
" But as I don't believe in investing in anything I can't control, I declined.
I know you've been concerned about me, about a killer knowing where I live.
I just wanted you to know you've got nothing to worry about anymore.
May I see your new apartment? Not yet.
[ Chuckles softly ] Maybe someday.
[ Lighter clicks ] [ Sighs ] I've been working on this, so let me know what you think.
[ Chuckles ] Yeah? Smells pretty good.
All right, bon appétit.
What is this? It's a promise.
I lied when I said it wasn't a lot to give up.
Yeah.
It wasn't a lie, it was a hope.
Yeah, I I want this to work.
And wondering whether or not that's possible is totally natural.
Right.
But what isn't natural for me, anyway, is talking about that, so [ Inhales deeply ] it's my promise, to share this doubt with you.
Thank you.
I threw those out this morning, yet here they are.
Good.
This is exactly where they belong.
David Lucas, and Kaya.
I used to be scared of those guys.
- [ Fork scrapes ] - Not anymore.
[ Chuckles ] [ Knock on door ] You got it? We could use a little peace and quiet in our lives.
[ Door creaks ] Dembe.
Is everything okay? No.
Please come in.
[ Door creaks ] I'm worried about Raymond.
I don't think he cares about anything or anyone in the world right now other than you or Agnes.
I don't recognize him.
I can't reach him.
And you think I can.
The people at the apartment He wouldn't tell me who they were.
They're cleaners.
Cleaners? What about Mr.
Kaplan? It's because she helped me fake my death, isn't it? - He's punishing her.
- He saw it as a betrayal.
- So he's replacing her.
- No.
He didn't replace Kate.
He killed her.
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katedoesfics · 4 years
Text
Under Shadow: Chapter 57
They drove through the night and into the next day, not daring to stop for more than a moment. With the discovery of Stardew Valley, time was of the essence for the survivors. It wouldn’t be long before the Shadow People attempted another attack, and they were eager to do whatever they needed to do to survive the war. They were just an hour out from the Gotoro base, and Najia was quickly beginning to doubt their plan.
“This is gonna work,” she said softly to herself.
“It better,” Shane muttered.
“They’re reasonable people,” Najia attempted to assure herself. “They want the same thing we want.”
“Sure,” Shane said. “But the difference between us and them is that we won’t murder innocent people to get there.”
“Except we have,” Najia said. “We’re just as awful as they are.”
Shane gritted his teeth together. “Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do,” he said. “This isn’t a game. People lie and cheat and steal to come out on top.” He hesitated for a moment, as if trying to convince himself as well. “We’re just trying not to end up at the bottom.”
“I stole this ring once,” Najia said. “Awful, ugly thing. They had balls to put this ridiculous price on it.”
Shane smirked. “How did you manage that?”
“It was shortly after my fat, bald, bastard landlord kicked me out for not paying rent. I needed a place to stay.” Najia shrugged. “I wasn’t very smart, but a blowjob will get a girl far when she needs to.”
“You’re kidding.”
“We pretended we were happy in love. I hung on his arm like a trophy wife.” Najia caught Shane’s gaze. “I clean up nice when I want to.” She hesitated and turned her gaze back to the road, watching the old, faded yellow lines run passed the car. “It wasn’t the most expensive ring. A decent one. Can’t be too suspicious, you know? He excused himself. Told me to pick out whatever I wanted. I picked that sucker. Put it on my finger, admired myself in the mirror, babbled on about this great wedding photographer we found, and how we decided to go with a live band.” She turned back to Shane. “Our colors were silver and gold.”
“Classy.”
“And wouldn’t you know it, the fire alarm went off. Everyone stayed pretty calm until smoke came out of the back room. And when they were distracted, I booked it. Straight to the pawn shop with a sob story. ‘Can you believe he got me this ugly thing? I can’t believe I almost went through with it. I’m SO done with men!’ Easy money.”
“You must have been heart broken.”
“I was feeling so good, I pocketed the cash and never saw that guy again. We were supposed to go 50/50 on it.”
Shane met her gaze. “That’s not a true story.”
Najia shrugged. “Believe what you want.”
“You did not blow a guy for free rent.”
“I did a lot more than blow him.”
Shane turned his gaze back to the road.
“Like you’ve never done something you regretted,” Najia muttered.
“Oh, I don’t think you regretted any of that.”
“I was just trying not to end up on the bottom.”
Shane turned back to her, but she was looking out the window.
“I was best friends with Jas’s parents,” Shane said as his eyes moved back to the tailgate of the truck, lit only by the dim tail lights. “Greg and Jess. Knew them for ever.” He hesitated. “I slept with Jess the night they got engaged.”
“Oh, that’s way worse that anything I’ve done.”
“How is that worse?”
“I was just a broke ass homeless girl trying to get by with her good looks. You chose to betray your best friend.”
“Fine, I’m worse,” Shane snapped.
“It’s not like you’re completely to blame,” Najia said. “It takes two.”
“Don’t even go there,” he hissed. “Jess was better than that. We never spoke of it. Greg never knew.”
“Sorry,” Najia muttered.
Shane hesitated. When he spoke again, his voice was just a whisper. “Jas was born nine months later.”
Najia turned to him, her brows knit together. “Is she…”
Shane shook his head. “No. No, of course not.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Jess… Jess did a DNA test.”
“And made you her godfather.” Najia paused and turned her gaze out the window. “That’s definitely worse.”
Shane gritted his teeth together. “Thanks.”
“Why did you tell me that?” Najia asked softly.
Shane shrugged. “Figured it would make us even. We’re both shitty people.”
“Maybe I can seduce the Gotoro army into taken our alliance offer.” Najia smirked at Shane.
“Wish I had known sooner that that was all it took.”
“Please,” Najia said. “You are of no use to me. I wouldn’t have gained anything from that.”
In their headlights, the tall, wood gates of the Gotoro base loomed before them. Armed men approached as the three vehicles came to a stop. John, Gil, and Marlon stepped our first, their arms raised in defense. Alex, Sam, and Abigail followed suit.
Shane turned to Najia. His hand grabbed hers. “Don’t fuck this up,” he whispered.
“Right,” Najia said. “I know you don’t want a rifle shoved up your ass.” She pulled her hand away and stepped out of the car.
“Who are you?” one of the Gotoro men barked at them.
“What business do you have here?”
Najia stepped into the headlights, her arms raised, her heart racing. “I think Michaels is looking for me.” She forced herself to straighten in an attempt to appear confident, but her knees shook, threatening to throw her body to the ground. She placed her hands on her hips and pinched her lips. “Here I am.”
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