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spiralcass · 3 months

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NEW X-MEN: THE ANIMATED SERIES - SEASON 3, EPISODE 8

We open in Dr. Sean Garrison’s office, where he’s having a seemingly normal session with Quentin.

GARRISON: “Anything new in your life? Friends? Crushes? Anxieties?”

QUENTIN: “Don’t think I’m welcome with my old “friends” anymore, but I don’t care. I’ve got my own gang now.”

GANG: “A gang?”

QUENTIN: “Just a name. Was actually thinking of calling us “The Omega Gang”. You know. For the infinite potential we’re going to show humanity we have.”

Garrison laughs.

GARRISON: “Cute.”

QUENTIN: “Some of the girls in the gang brought in a kid. Still unsure about her. Crushes? No. But I figured out my best friend has one on me a while ago.”

GARRISON: “Brian? I thought you were out of that crowd.”

QUENTIN, smiling: “He’s different. He never belonged with them. He’ll see that soon.” BEAT. “Anxieties? Heh. No. Ever since you helped me find myself, I’ve only felt alive.”

GARRISON: “I am so happy to hear that, Quentin. Usually, therapy can take months or even years to see any progress, but you’ve gotten this far in mere weeks.”

QUENTIN, overly proud of himself: “I’m one of a kind.”

GARRISON: “I agree.” Garrison stands up, pruning tool in hand, and approaches his flowers. “Now, update me on our plan to destroy the Jean Grey School.”

QUENTIN, cracking his knuckles: “I got everything we needed off Cerebro. I’ve gone over the plan with The Omega Gang a million times. And Laurie Collins moves in tomorrow.”

GARRISON, grinning as he prunes a flower: “Brilliant.”

QUENTIN, eagerly leaning forward: “It’s going to be awesome. I don’t know if the X-Men will get the message, but no parent will ever send their kid to this rancid school again. So…” He eagerly leans forward. “When do I get to meet Lady Akabba?”

Garrison prunes another flower.

GARRISON: “My lady is the inheritor of Lord Apocalypse’s will. To be granted an audience with her, you must first prove that you are fit.”

QUENTIN: “You know I am!”

GARRISON: “Of course I do. And when you and the Omega Gang are triumphant, she will understand that.” Quentin nods along. “Before you launch your attack, there’s one more thing we need you to do.”

QUENTIN: “Name it.”

GARRISON: “Introduce yourself to your newest classmate.”

Garrison prunes another flower as we hard cut to Laurie being toured through the Jean Grey School by Sofia.

Laurie looks at everything and everyone with wide eyes. This is so cool! She hasn’t gotten to go to a real school in almost two years, and now thanks to Sofia, she can be in a school with people like her.

Sofia is glad she’s happy, and she’s very excited to introduce her to all of her friends.

LAURIE: “They sound really cool from what you’ve said.”

SOFIA: “We have had our many ups and downs, but they are my family. I fight for them. Who do you fight for?”

LAURIE: “I don’t really fight. But I guess I wanna make my mom proud?”

SOFIA: “She is a lovely woman. What about your father?”

LAURIE, sullen: “I never met him. He died a long time ago. Mom has never had anything nice to say. She never even told me his name.”

Sofia doesn’t think that’s fair. Passed on or not, there is nothing like the bond between father and daughter, and she deserves a taste of that.

LAURIE, confused: “I…thought you hated your dad.”

Before Sofia can respond, Pixie flies up to the two other girls, no longer wearing her helmet, chewing bubblegum, and with a black streak in her pink hair.

PIXIE: “Hey new kid!” She pops a giant bubble in her face, scaring Laurie. “Try not to look so cute and helpless, okay? That’s my thing!”

SOFIA, as Megan flies off: “So glad you are doing better, Pixie!” BEAT. “And I was worried she might turn out like her sister.”

LAURIE, confused and afraid: “Huh?”

SOFIA: “Don’t worry about it.”

Sofia grins and hooks her arm around Laurie’s as the two enter the cafeteria. Sitting at his table with the Omega Gang, Quentin sets his eyes on Laurie while Glob and Redneck play “Draw the short straw” with their french fries, Redneck lighting up his molten hands in frustration and Glob laughing after the former’s consecutive losses, Tattoo and Radian are scribbling doodles of dead X-Men in their notebooks, Tattoo using her power to imprint titles underneath the pieces, and Ernst frustratedly asks Martha where Shela is; this is the third day in a row she’s skipped out on lunch with them.

Quentin tells all of them to shut up. He’s got his eyes on the target.

RADIAN: “You do not get to tell us to shut up.”

GLOB, confused and looking around: “I don’t see any targets.”

Quentin seethes, before putting on an obviously fake smile and floating over to Sofia and Laurie.

QUENTIN, telekinetically shoving Sofia out of the way (with Sofia momentarily dropping her “mask” and looking like she’s about to murder him): “Why hello there!” He takes and kisses Laurie’s hand, her face instantly going red.

LAURIE: “I’m…um…”

“Not interested.”

Quentin’s head aches, Sofia taking the opportunity to remove Laurie from the situation.

QUENTIN, telepathically: “Cuckoos? What’s your problem?!”

SOPHIE: “You are.”

ESME, CELESTE, PHOEBE, AND MINDEE: “Loser.”

Quentin is confused. He thought they were cool now. Sophie points out to him that was before he drugged Surge. “And not in a fun way”.

CELESTE: “We like your style.”

ESME: “And how you handle humans.”

SOPHIE: “But you’re still just the same old Quentin.”

Quentin sneers, with a veiny forehead, glaring over at the friend group’s table and, in particular, Brian, as he’s just having fun and messing around with Noriko, Cessily, Roxy, Sooraya, and the no longer distracted Cuckoos. From the brief look we get at their game, they’re playing a Mutant version of snap, with powers allowed, but Noriko being forced to play with her teeth to keep things fair.

Their happiness and friendship only serves to piss him off more.

On the lunchline, Julian approaches Sofia and Laurie, telling them good morning.

LAURIE, shrinking behind Sofia: “Um, I’m not interested.”

Sofia tells her not to worry and that this is Julian; her ex-boyfriend.

JULIAN: “I know it shouldn’t, but it still stings hearing you call me that.”

Julian introduces himself to Laurie, with Laurie questioning if he isn’t dating Surge. Julian cringes, and Sofia apologizes for giving Laurie out of date gossip, letting her know that they broke up.

SOFIA: “I really am sorry things didn’t work out.”

JULIAN: “Not your fault. It’s Quire’s. For the best anyway.”

SOFIA, smiling and delicately resting a hand on his shoulder: “I am sure you will find exactly who you belong with eventually. Perhaps sooner rather than later.”

Julian cycles through multiple expressions at her touch, including shock and pleasure, before asking if they can talk later after class and training. Just the two of them. Sofia tells him she’d love to.

Julian, pleased with how that went, walks away with his head held high. Laurie is confused; it sounds like he wants to talk to her about getting together again, but she’s still dating Laura, right?

SOFIA, still smiling: “We’re just going to talk. I promise. I would never hurt Laura like that.” Sofia and Laurie reach the front of the line. “Now, would you like the meatloaf or Doop’s Surprise?”

LAURIE: “What’s the surprise?”

Doop scratches himself, with flakes flying off of him.

LAURIE, grossed out: “Meatloaf, please.”

In the Mission Room, the six current adult X-Men are having a meeting. Cyclops starts things off by sarcastically thanking Sunspot for taking time out of his very busy schedule to join them; he knows that can’t be easy.

ROBERTO, staring at his nails, unbothered: “I wouldn’t still be here if I wasn’t worth it.”

Scott points out that this is actually a good place to start; he’s not asking them to put in as much as the rest of them, but Sunspot and Magik should both become more involved in the school. Magik laughs at this, balking at the idea.

MAGIK: “You want the soulless monster influencing the little children? You must be dumber than those sunglasses make you look. I mean I’m not complaining but–”

KITTY, holding Magik’s hand: “I think you’d make an excellent teacher.”

MAGIK: “But I think I’d love to give it a try!”

Beto makes a whipcrack sound with his mouth, Magik sticks her tongue out at him, and Magneto ponders to himself if he’s traveled back in time five years. Sunspot points out that he does teach a class, with Emma quickly countering that, yes, he teaches “a” class, far fewer than herself, Kitty and the others. And with Kurt having run off with Pitor to join Logan and Storm, all of his classes are now up for grabs.

SUNSPOT: “I’ll think about it. Could we please move on to the ongoing crisis at hand?”

Cyclops obliges that request. As far as finding the Horsemen and figuring out what happened to Sofia, they think they may finally have a lead. Thanks to Magik.

Magik, who’s already stopped paying attention, is brought back to attention by Kitty phasing a hand through her. Startled, she tells them all that the Horsemen definitely used Pixie to make their knockoff Gem of Cyttorak; a chunk of her soul is missing.

KITTY: “That explains the personality change.”

EMMA: “Did she fling mashed potatoes at you, as well?”

KITTY: “No, I think she just doesn’t like you.”

Magik continues to say that she was able to track the source of the magic, to a point; they definitely have a teleporter, and that makes things fuzzy.

MAGNETO: “So you have nothing?”

MAGIK: “I didn’t say that, Teach. I took a closer look at what was going on in the remnants of her soul, and at what had been done to it. It’s…indelicate. The soul is chipped, not cleanly broken apart. Comparing it to the energies coming off the sapphire, it should have been far more difficult for me to destroy.”

SUNSPOT: “All this to say?”

MAGIK, kicking her feet up on the table: “Lady Akabba isn’t some long-lived, perfect heir to Apocalypse, capable of all that he was. She’s a novice. I’d bet Cyclops’ head she’d never cast a spell on this level before.”

BETO, suspicious, with gears turning: “I see.”

Emma asks Magik if she’d be willing to help her provide counseling for Megan, potentially able to offer a valuable perspective on what she’s going through, while Magneto brings up that that can’t happen today, as she’s already agreed to try examining Wanda to see if magic can undo Pestillence’s infection.

Magik groans in frustration, pulling at her hair over what all the headmasters want from her. They know she runs a hell dimension, right?

KITTY, intentionally overly sweetly: “Please?”

MAGIK, cringing: “You are taking advantage of my devotion to you.”

KITTY, still smiling: “Yeah, I am.”

She kisses a grumpy Yana’s cheek.

Cyclops asks Emma to use Cerebro to check in on all of the planet’s teleporters. Amelia Vought, Lila Cheyney, all of them. See if any of them can lead them to the Horsemen. Emma agrees to get on that as soon as they’re done here.

EMMA: “But we have another matter to discuss. Mr. Quire.”

The X-Men continue to speak via voice over, as we cut to Quentin, sitting in his gaming chair in his room with his eyes closed. They note that the kid is spiarling out of control, he didn’t regret using Cerebro without permission or fighting Hellion, he’s talented enough that he could have hidden info from Cerebro from Emma when she scanned his mind, he’s still been seeing Dr. Garrison despite the X-Men cutting off their relationship with him, and while he did show regret over what happened to Surge, they doubt he isn’t still finding ways to take Kick himself.

SCOTT, voice over: “We go easy on these kids because the world throws enough at them already, but we need to come down hard on him before he slips through the cracks.”

Quentin sneers as we zoom inside his head. Inside Quentin’s mindscape, which takes on the form of an elegant museum full of portraits and sculptures of himself, The Omega Gang, now including Escapade is waiting.

QUENTIN: “Listen up. We’re going over the plan one more time.”

The Omega Gang groans.

TATTOO: “We all know what we’ve gotta do to take this place down, Q. Don’t sweat it.”

QUENTIN: “Never call me that again.” Quentin glares at a clearly anxious Shela. “Martha, Ernst, why does your friend look like she’s about to piss herself?”

MARTHA, able to speak here: “She’s fine. Right, Escapade?”

QUENTIN: “I think she can speak for herself.” He gets right in Shela’s face and makes a big toothy grin. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

SHELA, creeped out: “Uh, nothing. I just kinda sorta don’t understand why we’re doing this?”

MARTHA: “We told you already!”

ERSNT: “The X-Men don’t care about us.”

RADIAN: “They care about Mutants, obviously. And about keeping us safe.”

TATTOO: “But they don’t care enough to take real action. Not when they can play superhero for the flatscans.”

REDNECK: “We would be ruling the Earth right now, never needing to worry about Purifiers or U-Men or politicians again if it wasn’t for them.”

GLOB: “And however nice they seemed when they recruited you, don’t believe it. They only care about their “special” kids.”

QUENTIN, still grinning and putting his hands on Shela’s shoulders: “That’s why we need to teach them a lesson. Some people may get hurt, but the X-Men will finally understand what it is they owe us, and what all of Mutantkind is owed. Do you understand?”

Shela nervously looks over at Ersnt and Martha. They shake their heads at her. She looks back at Quentin.

SHELA: “Yes. I understand. This is for the best.”

QUENTIN: “Glad that’s settled.”

Shela breathes a sigh of relief as Quentin turns and walks away from her.

Quentin gets them back on topic and explains that he knows even the dumbest among them understand their assignments But he’s making a last minute change of plans. They need every bit of firepower they can get to pull this off. There’s someone he wants to be a part of this. The person who first helped him see he could be more than what he is.

Quentin psychically drags a very confused Tag into his mindscape.

BRIAN: “Huh?! What the Hell?!”

QUENTIN: “Hey Bri. Hope you weren’t doing anything important. We need to talk.”

Taking a look around him, and at Quentin and the others, Brian is able to quickly assess that something bad is going down.

Back in the Mission Room, everyone is getting up, having each been dealt their assignments. Kitty tells Magik not to take too long helping Emma and Magneto; they still need to make up for being too exhausted to do anything on Valentines.

Kitty opens her mouth to say something to Scott and Emma, but she decides it’s a bad idea. Scott asks her what it is.

KITTY: “I was gonna ask if you two wound up doing anything on Valentines, but then I realized there’s nothing I’d rather not know.” She immediately transitions to saying, “Emma, put the knowledge in my brain and my hand goes through your chest.”

Emma’s amused, while Scott’s a little embarrassed. She tells Kitty that she’s sure she could get them separate seats for the opera she and Scott are attending that night, but Illyana shuts that down, saying they’ve already got tickets for monster trucks. Emma facepalms as she’s walked away by Scott, the younger women both clearly enthusiastic about their plans.

Erik asks Roberto if he’ll be choosing what other classes he wants to teach immediately, or if he has another flight to catch.

ROBERTO: “I should actually be around for quite a while, now. I have someone else to handle flying for me.”

Beto more somberly asks Magneto how he’s managing with everything that’s happened with his children.

ERIK, glaring at him before speaking: “I’m afraid unless you’re prepared to pick up where we left and share with me what’s going on, that isn’t a question I’m comfortable answering.” Roberto cringes. “That’s what I thought.”

Erik dramatically departs with a swing of his cape, leaving Beto on his own to kick his feet.

BETO: “Shit.”

In Quentin’s mindscape, Brian has been filled in on what The Omega Gang is doing.

BRIAN, shaking his head: “No. No, this isn’t you.”

Quentin laughs. His gang laughs with him.

QUENTIN: “Of course it is. You know that better than anyone.” He puts an arm around Brian and looks at the others. “Did you he know he was the one who helped me bury those humans whose brains I cooked?”

The Omega Gang cheers and applauds Brian.

Brian shoves Quentin away. Yes, he did do that! Because he cares about him. But drugging Nori crossed a line. And what he wants to do crosses every line.

REDNECK: “Of course you’d think that! You’re one of their special little X-Men in Training.”

RADIAN: “Yeah. Some of us don’t get to have futures outside their welfare.”

TATTOO: “We won’t even all get to stay together. Only so much space here. A new crop of kids will come in, and we’ll be out.”

Brian grimaces, as he flashes back to his fight with Firefist.

FIREFIST: “The X-Men somehow win and you’re still with them? A loser like you will be dropped just as quickly as I was.”

Brian contemplates for a moment before his face fills with determination.

BRIAN: “I get what you’re saying. It’s something I’m worried about too. But I won’t betray everyone.”

QUENTIN, irritated: “What, then? You’ll rat us out? Watch and chortle with your friends as they “come down hard” on us to set an example so that no one ever dreams of calling out the perfect X-Men again?”

BRIAN: “No, dude, I’m saying let’s just talk to them so we can tell them our problems. They’ll listen!”

ERNST: “Exactly which of the supermodel billionaires or monarchs past or present will listen to US?”

BRIAN: “If they’re really as bad as you all think, they’ll at least listen to me. Like you said, I’m part of that crowd. For now.”

Quentin sneers.

QUENTIN: “Maybe we should do things your way. Then you’ll see exactly what I’ve been telling you since we met. Not a single one of your friends or mentors cares about you for you. The second you step out of line, you’ll be cut. Don’t expect to come crying back to us after that though. You’ll be all alone. Again.”

BRIAN, cracking: “You’re wrong.”

QUENTIN: “Or maybe I’m right and we should just skip the heartbreak and get to the part where I save all our futures.” Quentin takes Brian’s hands as he smiles at him and makes him shiver. “Them abandoning you is inevitable. But I never will. We’re the same. You just need to accept that.”

Brian sweats, panicking and breaking down as different members of the gang either egg him on to join or mock him, and Quentin psychically applies just a little extra pressure.

Brian breaks, putting his hands on Quentin’s mouth and making out with him. Quentin goes along with it and keeps it going. Most of the gang is grossed out, but Glob thinks they’re cute.

Night falls on the Jean Grey School.

Julian hangs out above the school, floating in mid-air and looking up at the stars. He pounds his metal fists together and stares down at them.

“Why aren’t you wearing a jacket?”

Julian instantly smiles as Sofia flies up next to him, wrapped in a blue trenchcoat.

JULIAN: “I learned more tricks while you were away than what I show off in training. I don’t even need to make my telekinesis visible to keep myself warm with it now.”

SOFIA: “Very impressive.” She blows her coat off of herself and onto Julian. “But you still look like you could use one.”

JULIAN, liking this, teasing and not complaining: “What are you now, my mom?”

SOFIA: “No, I do not think I’m an uncaring baseline with terrible skin.”

JULIAN: “Ha!”

SOFIA: “I’m serious. I’ve sponsored some products that could help her.”

JULIAN: “Only help my mom needs is a shrink.”

The two giggle.

JULIAN: “Aren’t you cold now though?” Sofia blows a gust of wind in his face, messing up his hair. “Ah. Right.”

Julian tilts his head back.

JULIAN: “What are we doing here?”

SOFIA: “You wanted to talk. You tell me.”

Julian bites his lip. He hates this.

JULIAN: “Do you love Laura?”

SOFIA: “What? Of course I do.”

JULIAN: No. Not like you love all of us.”

Sofia doesn’t answer.

Julian almost silently mumbles, “Sorry, Laura.”

JULIAN: “And what about me?”

Sofia widens her eyes faux innocently.

SOFIA: “I told you I still loved you when I came back. But you were with Surge. If you weren’t going to wait, neither was I.”

Julian cringes, shutting his eyes.

While his eyes are shut, Sofia kisses him. He opens his eyes in shock.

SOFIA, smirking flirtatiously: “What? Are you not your mentor’s protege?”

Julian nervously laughs and stumbles over his words. He pulls himself together.

JULIAN: “Were you just trying to make me jealous?”

Sofia shrugs, as she effortlessly positions herself in Julian’s arms.

SOFIA: “I obviously don’t want to hurt Laura. But I want you more than anything. So if you want me…”

JULIAN, holding her tight: “Yes. A million times yes.”

SOFIA, face unseen by Julian, smirking evily: “Then I will make sure Laura wants to end things herself. And everything can be how it should.”

Julian wishes they hadn’t screwed things up so badly, again, but at least they have a plan. Sofia promises him this will all be over soon; in fact, she has an idea to make Laura happier than ever.

JULIAN, holding Sofia in front of himself, the two looking into each other’s eyes: “I’m never letting anything come between us again, Beautiful. I don’t care if I lose my legs, or if you lose your powers for good, or about anything else; I’m not letting you go again.”

Sofia, pleased for clearly more reasons than just her evil plan, gives him a quick peck.

SOFIA: “I love you too.”

The two passionately make out, beginning to take off their clothes as they fly swiftly down into the bushes.

In the common area, Sunspot and Warpath are playing chess. They go back and forth as James takes one of Roberto’s pieces after another. He gets annoyed.

JAMES: “Why are you letting me win?”

BETO: “Letting you win? That doesn’t like me. You know I love winning. It would be too painful not to for me.”

JAMES: “Uh-huh.”

As the two continue to play, Beto asks James how he’s been feeling; he heard about his tussle with Juggerlossus.

WARPATH: “Yeah, it happened while you were off kissing some girl halfway around the world.”

SUNSPOT: “I’ll have you know I showed her the very best of times on Valentines Day, not that she particularly cared.”

Beto is serious though. What prompted him to jump into battle like that? James makes clear there was no special reason; he may be finding more to himself than just a warrior, but that’s still who he is. They needed backup, and he could provide it.

Beto catches James by surprise as he takes his knight.

SUNSPOT: “Any interest in returning to the X-Men full-time?”

WARPATH, making his next move: “You going somewhere?”

SUNSPOT: “Just a question.”

WARPATH: “It’s never “just” a question with you.”

SUNSPOT: “I’m just wondering where your head is these days. If you’re longing for anything more than being a teacher.”

WARPATH, taking another piece: “These kids need me. I’m doing something that matters. That’s where my head is.”

SUNSPOT: “And that’s completely fair.” Beto takes James’ queen, stunning him. “I just think you could be thinking bigger.” He smirks. “You are the biggest man I know, after all.”

James glares at Beto as he tips over his king.

“James.”

Laura enters the room.

LAURA: “Can we talk?”

In Laura’s room, James examines various pictures arranged of her with Sofia (and the rest of her friends). He asks what’s up; she knows she doesn’t need to ask to talk to him.

Laura tells him that, the last time she ran away, she didn’t tell him anything; she’s sorry about that. James tells her not to bother. He understands from what she’s told him. Kimura hurt her bad. But the important thing she didn’t let her get to her for long, and she remembered who she is. They’ll pay Kimura back in blood one of these days.

Laura thanks him, but he’s wrong. Kimura was right about her. She is a weapon. And that’s why she’s doing what she’s doing now.

LAURA: “Sofia has a plan to find the Horsemen. With just the two of us. And we’re leaving tonight.”

James is very concerned.

Also concerned, sitting alone in dark in his room, is Brian. In only his boxers, he stares into the glow of his phone, with the “X-Men in Training” group chat open, and Emma and Dani tagged. He shivers and pants, before furiously typing.

He gets a message written out, explaining Quentin’s whole plan, not that the audience gets to see the specifics. He hovers his thumb over the send button.

In Shela’s room, Escapade pretends to be asleep, revealing herself not to be as she checks to see if Martha and Ernst are passed out.

Shela tosses on a robe, sneaks out of her room, and races toward the headmasters’ office. She bangs on the door, calling out for someone to open up. It’s important!

Alas, Shela freezes part way through her next knock, as her eyes flash pink.

QUENTIN, telepathically: “And this is why I don’t work with kids.”

In his room, Brian deletes his message, and smashes his phone against the wall.

In the boys bathroom, Julian sweats and pants heavily as he stares at himself in the mirror, exhausted and guilty.

JULIAN: “You didn’t do anything wrong. Sofia shouldn’t have used Laura like that, but you’re just setting things right. You’re not hurting her, you’re keeping her from getting hurt.”

Julian coughs. He clenches his fist and screams as she punches his reflection , not only shattering the mirror, but accidentally putting TK energy behind the punch and destroying part of the wall.

JULIAN, panting even harder: “Shit.”

“You SHOULD be upset; you can’t afford to pay to fix that anymore.”

Julian seethes as he exits the bathroom, where he finds a lone Cuckoo waiting for him in the hall.

JULIAN: “I’m not in the mood to talk, um…”

CUCKOO: “Oh my god, even you can’t tell us apart.”

JULIAN: “Sorry. Sophie?”

SOPHIE, rolling her eyes: “Idiot.”

As the two walk, Julian tells her to cut him some slack. He’s having a rought night, and it’s been a long time since just the two of them hung out and…

SOPHIE: “Interesting way to describe having sex. Like you and Sofia were just having.”

JULIAN, sighing: “Please tell me you weren’t spying.”

SOPHIE: “Eww, no, gross. Your mind is screaming. You’re hurt worse than you look.”

JULIAN: “That so? Then why didn’t the others hear?”

SOPHIE: “They did. I’m the only one who wanted to come check on you.”

They each crack a half smile at each other.

JULIAN: “Thanks. But I really don’t want to talk.”

SOPHIE: “You’re lying.”

JULIAN: “Maybe, but there’s nothing to say. I’m a jerk who can’t stop being selfish. All there is to it.”

SOPHIE, getting in front of him: “I know I just called you an idiot, but are you really that dense? Or did you just just your brains screwed out?

Julian tries to get past her, but she shoves his back with telekinesis, Julian not resisting.

SOPHIE: “How many times have you fought to protect everyone here? And the world? How many times have you wound up in the medical bay because you’re always the first to put yourself in the line of fire?”

JULIAN: “I know I’m an awesome X-Man. Doesn’t mean I’m a good guy.”

While Sophie acknowledges that to be true, she’s seen who he is at his core. He’s a dimwitted blowhard, like all boys, but he always put his friends before himself; from her limited understanding of the situation, being honest with Laura is the only thing he could do, and that would be far crueler than Sofia’s plan. The guilt he feels is because he knows this is all wrong.

SOPHIE: “If anyone should feel guilty, it’s Sofia.”

Julian shakes his head, telling Sophie that Sofia isn’t a saint; with what she’d been through and found out, of course she lashed out.

JULIAN: “I can relate.”

Julian bursts ahead with his telekinsis, with Sophie following behind. She isn’t trying to make this about Sofia. She’s not about to judge what she did; she can respect the cold-bloodedness.

SOPHIE: “When we first arrived and were on a rampage, you stopped us. Made us rethink our approach. Helped us make actual friends. Ones we could have forever. And since then, we’ve gotten to fight with you.” Sophie hangs her head, smiling. “My sisters have varying thoughts…but I think becoming an X-Man sounds really cool. Being one doesn’t mean you’re responsible for what everyone else does.”

Julian stops walks and sticks his hands in his pockets.

JULIAN: “If you wanted to, you could have just zapped the guilt from my brain.”

Sophie kisses his cheek.

SOPHIE: “No need. You’re a superhero. Try not to think so hard about it.”

Sophie starts walking away, with Julian not saying anything, until…

JULIAN: “Hey, Sophie!” She turns her head. “Looking forward to you joining the team. Means I’ll get to be your boss.”

SOPHIE, smirking: “Dork.”

As Sophie departs, Julian is a little more at ease.

Laura and Warpath exit the former’s room, James wishing her good night. Once he’s gone, a gentle breezes passes by Laura, making her smile. Sofia flies up to her, in full costume.

SOFIA: “Ready to go?”

Laura bends down and, right next to the door, grabs a bag. Sofia takes her hand.

SOFIA: “Are you nervous?”

LAURA: “You’re asking me?”

The two smirk.

Outside, Sofia calls out mentally to Exodus, saying they’re ready.

Exodus telepathically laughs, mockingly.

EXODUS, telepathically: “You are making the right decision, children. Lady Akabba will make you both stronger than you ever dreamed of.”

Sofia and Laura both scowl as Lila Cheyney appears in a flash and, just as quickly, teleports them away.

Night turns to morning, as the sun rises.

Emma, Kitty, and Magik slump into the teacher’s lounge, where Dani, Karma, and Rahne are already having coffee.

DANI: “Wow. You guys look like crap. What happened?”

Emma, clenching her forehead as she telekinetically prepares a cup of coffee, asks Magik if she’d like to explain or if she.

Magik shrugs.

MAGIK: “I thought the monster trucks could be spiced up by some actual monsters.”

KITTY: “It got a little out of hand.”

The other New Mutants start laughing.

EMMA: “It isn’t amusing. Cyclops and I had to come clean up the mess. In spite of that, he wanted to get straight to work despite the lack of sleep, so I told him I’d be a dear and get someone else to make his coffee.”

As she says this, we see Scott yawning as he sits down in his office, alone.

DANI, sarcastic: “How sweet of you.”

EMMA: “Yes, I’m a positive housewife.” Getting more serious, she turns to Rahne. “Wolfsbane, how did Escapade do on her first remedial history quiz yesterday?”

RAHNE, nervous: “Oh. Well, don’t be mad, but I didn’t give it to her.”

EMMA, this being the last thing she needs, deadpan: “Why?”

RAHNE: “Lass said she was anxious! I can’t blame her. Poor thing hasn’t been gotten schooling in years.”

EMMA: “Hmm. Well, hopefully she’s at least well rested for a makeup.”

We cut to Shela’s room, where she’s stuff in a trance in bed, her eyes glowing purple.

KITTY: “Well, I need sleep. I’m just here to grab that whole box of donuts and–”

Kitty is cut off as the power goes out.

KITTY: “Oh come on!” BEAT. “Wait, aren’t we supposed to have multiple back up generators?”

EMMA: “Yes. We are.”

In Scott’s office, he yawns. He tells himself not to fall asleep just because of a little blackout. The backups should be on any minute.

Scott yawns again.

SCOTT: “Well, maybe a quick nap after I get a little done.”

Scott turns his computer on, the sounds of it booting up all we hear.

The screen flashes on…brightening up the room more, and startling Scott, as he finds a grinning Quentin standing on the other side of his desk.

QUENTIN: “Hello, Mr. Summers.”

Scott tries to take action, but he finds himself immobile, as the rest of the Omega Gang becomes visible, sans Shela, enters sight.

SCOTT, pissed and concerned: “Kids, what are are you doing?”

“No, Mr. Summers.”

Scott is shocked as Brian joins the rest of his gang.

BRIAN: “What are you doing?”

Quentin smirks triumphantly, putting an arm around his friend.

Around the school, various students react to the blackout. Some gather around Match for light, Eye-Boy starts looking around his and Prodigy’s room for his blacklights, Mercury and Bling! see it as an excuse to get back into bed and snuggle, and Pixie cackles faux-manically, plotting to pants everyone and then act like it was an accident.

Before she can do that, however, everyone in the school covers their ears as their heads are filled with eardrum shattering British punk rock.

QUENTIN, telepathically to everyone: “Students and faculty, the Jean Grey School is now under lockdown. I am in everyone’s minds, and if any of you attempt to leave, I will execute my hostage, Headmaster Summers.”

While many students gasp, and are afraid and confused, including Laurie, the X-Men and teachers in the teachers lounge, Magneto in Wanda’s room, and Sunspot, Hellion, and the Cuckoos in their respective bedrooms look ready to beat this kid.

QUENTIN: “My team, The Omega Gang, and I, are currently located in the headmasters’ office. Should anyone attempt to enter the office, I will execute him. But fear not my classmates, I mean you no harm. Today, my compatriots and I simply mean to bring attention to a critical situation: the failure of the X-Men.”

As the X-Men rush to meet up, Emma telling everyone, teachers included, to get to the Mission Room NOW, Quentin continues to say that he knows the student body doesn’t care for him, and that’s okay; he hates who he used to be too. Fortunately he isn’t that weakling anymore, but it is true that he and his gang are largely friendless…with one exception.

As Hellion races through the halls, he’s stunned to hear Brian take over the announcement.

BRIAN: “The X-Men have let down each and every one of us. They give us comfort, a roof over our heads, meals, and an education. That’s great. No one’s saying they don’t care about Mutants. But they don’t care about US.”

As Brian continues his speech, Emma, Dani, and all of Brian’s friends are in complete disbelief.

BRIAN: “They provide us the illusion of protection, but that’s all it is. Yeah, they’ve saved some of you, and they’ve fought some bad guys, but all they do is fight symptoms, not the cause.”

OMEGA GANG: “FLATSCANS!”

BRIAN: “They keep hunting us! They keep trying to kill us! And what do the X-Men do? Put them in human jail and wait for the next ones! And while we wait, do they give us all the same treatment?”

OMEGA GANG: “No!”

BRIAN: “Of course not! The X-Men are the privileged elites of Mutantkind. Billionaires, monarchs, handpicked from youth prodigies. And it’s the same story with those they prioritize. I don’t even need to say their names. You know I’m talking about my friends. This message is from me to them.” BEAT. “Surge, Dust, Wolverine, Wind Dancer, Bling!, Mercury, Cuckoos…Hellion…”

Each of them are shown reacting as he says their names, save of course for Laura and Sofia. In particular, Cessily and Roxy just look worried about him, while Dust is as angered as everyone else.

BRIAN: “I love you guys. You’re the best friends I’ve ever had. But I’m done pretending like I belong with you.”

Quentin down more Kick, just pouring pills down his mouth from the bottle, as he pats Brian on the shoulder.

QUENTIN: “But oh, it’s not like the X-Men have all the time in the world. If they’re not saving it, they’re spending as much time as they can with us, right?”

OMEGA GANG: “Wrong!”

QUENTIN: “They go to the opera and sky shows! They party half-way around the world and are never around! One of them I don’t think has spoken to a single one of us! You know she’s an actual demon from Hell, right?!”

ILLYANA, to herself: “Tch. Limbo.”

QUENTIN, screaming in Scott’s emotionless face: “Some of them leave! Some of them are pushed out! Some of them invite school exploding robots to teach science. Some of them transform into dark, flaming gods that threaten to end all life on Earth!”

Quentin knows this is a lot, and that they must be wondering what the point of all this is. Simple! The time is now for the future of Mutantkind to make their voices heard! The time is now to demand that the X-Men embrace what it means to be homo-superior!

QUENTIN: “I ask all of you…do you not want more?”

Quentin pants as he finishes, and silence spreads over the school, everyone wondering what they should do. Until…

CRASH!

PIXIE, having just knocked over a vase: “Yeah! Riot!”

Quentin grins as students follow Megan’s lead, and begin screaming and tearing things up.

In Egypt, Lila Cheyney materializes with Sofia and Laura inside the underground base, shoving them forward.

LILA: “My masters will be with you shortly.”

LAURA: “Wait…I know you. Aren’t you a musician?”

LILA: “No, hon, I’m a certified rock icon. Doesn’t mean I can’t also fight for a good cause.”

Lila disappears.

SOFIA, shaking her arm, whispering: “Definitely not listening to her music anymore.”

Wide doors open, Sofia and Laura bracing themselves as Exodus, Malice, and Akihiro appear before them.

EXODUS: “Ladies, welcome to the headquarters of Clan Akabba.”

MALICE: “What is it you X-Men say? “Hope you survive the experience”?”

AKIHIRO, glaring at Laura: “I wouldn’t give them good odds.”

Laura glares back at him.

SOFIA: “We aren’t X-Men. Not anymore. It is like I told Exodus; Apocalypse was right.”

LAURA, to Akihiro: “And if Logan hurt you, I need to know exactly how.”

Exodus snickers. He then launches a telekinetic wave, blasting them both back and into a stone wall. Akihiro and Malice join in the amusement.

EXODUS: “First things first. Initiation.”

Exodus tells Akihiro that he will teach his sister how things work around here; he doesn’t need the boy getting carried away. But he can play with Wind Dancer.

AKIHIRO, smirking sadistically at Sofia, licking his lips: “Sounds fun.”

Sofia cringes in disgust.

MALICE: “And what about me? Who do I get to play with?”

EXODUS: “Oh, I don’t know. Why don’t you go kill an X-Man?”

LAURA: “I thought Lady Akabba gave the orders here.”

EXODUS: “Lady Akabba has bigger things to concern herself with.”

Exodus orders the other Horsemen to give him and Wolverine some privacy. Akihiro comes over to the girls to drag Sofia away, but before he does, Sofia kisses Laura.

SOFIA: “We’re going to be okay. I love you.”

Laura is shocked, but grins confidently from that.

LAURA: “I love you too.”

Akihiro grabs Sofia and pulls her away, as Malice exits on her own.

AKIHIRO, squeezing Sofia’s arm tight: “You look so fragile. Should be fun breaking you. Especially when you thank me for it.”

SOFIA: “We will see who breaks who.”

AKIHIRO: “Ha!” Akihiro shoves Sofia through a door, making her trip and fall. “Move!”

The door shuts behind the two, leading Akihiro and Sofia into the throneroom, where the large, intimidating Death towers over the young woman on the floor.

Both begin to giggle. Very quickly, this turns into hysterical laughter, as Akihiro helps Sofia up.

AKIHIRO, crying from laughter: “Oh, that was too much.”

SOFIA, equally amused: “You really sold that you were going to torture me.”

AKIHIRO: “And “I love you?!” Really twisting that knife.”

Sofia, pleased with herself, shrugs, as Lila appears next to them.

SOFIA: “Make sure Exodus doesn’t kill her. She’s more valuable than him.” Sofia takes Lila’s hand. “I’ll be back soon for my costume change.”

In the Mission Room, Emma, Magneto, Kitty, Magik, Sunspot, Hellion, and Wind Dancer, as well as the teaching staff, Dust, Mercury, Bling!, and the Cuckoos are gathered, the telepaths keeping everyone’s perception so that they can actually see each other. Magneto questions where Wolverine is, with Sofia expressing that she isn’t sure. Emma sighs. They’ll just have to proceed without here.

HELLION: “Shouldn’t we be tapping in Surge?”

KITTY: “Even if she weren’t suspended, she needs to rest. Emma’s keeping her asleep so she doesn’t hurt herself.”

Julian begrudgingly accepts that.

EMMA: “Whatever any of you feel about what these miscreants have to say, or conflicts regarding Tag’s involvement…” She looks right at a pissed Julian as she says that. “...put it aside. They have taken Cyclops, incited a riot, and forced punching down to become our unfortunate priority. We will worry about understanding at a later time. Any disagreements?”

Erik, nor anyone else, speaks up, even as Julian clearly thinks about doing so. Cessily holds his hand to comfort him.

ERIK: “Emma and I have already worked out our plan of attack. We will–”

Magneto is cut off as Kitty starts responding to someone over her com. She’s concerned, but firm as she gets the information, and promises they’ll be right there.

SUNSPOT, irritated: “What now?”

KITTY: “It’s Dazzler. Exodus and Malice are after her.”

Magneto’s eyes fill with rage and his nostrils flare, as Dani notes that this can’t be a coincidence; they planned this. Which means…

EMMA: “Which means Mr. Quire is doing their bidding, and we have all the more reason to not feel too bad about maiming one of our students.”

Erik quickly adjusts the plan for this and dishes out orders. They’re baiting him away from the school, but it’s bait he has to take. He will go and fight the Horsemen, defeat them both, and force Pestillence to undo the harm she’s done to his family.

MAGNETO: “Magik, I will require transportation and potential backup.”

MAGIK: “Aww, I wanted to beat some kiddies.” She groans and gives a thumbs up. “But I’ve got you, Teach.”

Magneto then turns his attention to Dust, Mercury, and Bling! Alison is currently on tour in densely populated Paris. He’d like Mercury and Bling! to accompany him and Magik and provide crowd control and rescue. The girls, while a little afraid of Magik, agree. As for Dust, she and Warpath are in charge of protecting Wanda. The Horseman want her, and they cannot rule out that obtaining her is the true purpose behind all of this.

DUST: “No harm will come to her.”

Magneto notices James glaring at him.

MAGNETO: “A problem?”

JAMES, smirking: “No. Not at all.”

Erik doesn’t have time to question that and continues. Cannonball, Wolfsbane, Karma, and Danger are to restrain the students without harming them, before they hurt each other or cause significant damage to the property.

MAGNETO: “Wind Dancer, your new friend and our newest student controls pheromones. Do you believe you could–?”

WIND DANCER: “Use my winds to spread calming ones throughout the school? Of course.”

EMMA: “That just leaves Quentin and his friends. Kitty, Sunspot, Danielle, Hellion, Cuckoos, you’re with me.”

MINDEE: “Actual approval to crush Quentin like a bug?”

CELESTE: “I don’t know if that makes it more or less fun.”

Julian hangs his head. Emma notices.

EMMA: “Hellion, I care for Brian as well, but we do not have time for doubts. Kapeesh?”

JULIAN, seething: “Kapeesh.”

In the headmaster’s office, lit up by Quentin’s TK energy, Quentin taunts Scott.

QUENTIN: “Do you hear all that ruckus? That’s the sound of your students opening their eyes and turning on you.”

Scott ignores him and doesn’t answer.

QUENTIN: “Martha, you’re letting him speak, right?”

Scott chuckles.

QUENTIN: “You’re laughing. I’m tearing down your establishment and you’re laughing. Here I thought I’d be getting a whole speech about why I don’t really want to do this.”

Scott shakes his head.

SCOTT: “Why couldn’t you just try and make friends?”

QUENTIN: “Hello! I have friends!”

SCOTT: “That so?” He grins. “Brian, don’t you find it funny that Quentin checks every box for the kinds of people he claims to be fighting against?”

QUENTIN, not giving Brian a chance to speak: “I am nothing like you!”

SCOTT: “You’re a natural genius from a family of billionaires gifted with telepathy among the most powerful on Earth. You’re as privileged as any X-Man.”

QUENTIN: “If that were true, everything would be different.”

SCOTT: “Quentin, there’s only one difference between you and an X-Man, and it’s not about privilege. You’re just a dork.”

Quentin takes Cyclops’ bait and, livid at his word choice, telepathically assaults him. Scott attempts the Red Triangle, having wanted this opportunity, but Quentin’s power combined with Martha’s is too much, and he writhes in agony.

Quentin laughs at him. He almost had him there! But Cyclops made a critical error. He thought that he was “one of” the most powerful telepaths on Earth. But he knows his worth! And with a little help from Kick, he knows that he is the most powerful telepath on Earth!

QUENTIN: “I never did pick one of those codenames everyone else has. How does, “Kid Omega” sound?”

Quentin doesn’t actually give him a chance to answer, as he proceeds to psychically torture Scott. As Redneck, Radian, and Tattoo cheer him on, Brian looks away, guilty.

Around the school, the teachers get to work. Wolfsbane becomes a pack of wolves to scare kids back to their rooms, despite the best threat she’s able to toss out while bearing her fangs being that they won’t be getting any supper if they don’t behave.

Karma, not wanting to possess any of the kids, delivers quick, knockout chops to a bunch of wily, but purely physically mutated students, while Danger handles more capable ones like Loa and Onyxx by stretching out her arms around a whole group and pulling them in close to physically restrain them.

DANGER: “Believe me, children, I understand wanting to destroy the X-Men. I came close. But it isn’t worth it.”

Wolf Cub, from behind, throws a baseball at her head.

WOLF CUB: “No one cares what you think! You blew up our school!”

All the kids in her arms scold her and tell her that she should just leave them alone. Danger grabs Wolf Cub, and keeps everyone else restrained, but is saddened as she does so.

Meanwhile, Cannonball flies around the school, just able to flick students unconscious at the speed he’s moving at. Hearing a lot of noise, he moves toward another area of the school. By the time he gets there, however, the sound of a riot in this area has been replaced with gentle 60s folk music, courtesy of Icarus on his ukelele. The rampaging students are peacefully pacified on the floor, as Jay, and a dancing along Melody, float over them.

JAY: “We’ve got things covered here, bro.”

SAM, proud: “Nice work.”

In Sofia’s room, Laurie has been told what they need her to do, but she isn’t sure it’s a good idea her control of her powers is terrible! What if she sends out the wrong kind of pheromones?!

Sofia tells her to breathe and helps her through a familiar exercise. She promises her that she can do this. Laurie is still nervous. She hasn’t been here long. How does she know Quentin isn’t right?

SOFIA: “Please, Laurie. You only briefly met Quentin, but you must have been able to tell he isn’t a hero. He’s a hypocritical supremacist and misogynist, and it is up to us to stop him.”

Laurie is swayed and begins producing pheromones. Sofia channels the winds…but Laurie’s pheromones aren’t what she blows away. Instead, she blows open a small bottle of pre-made pheromones hidden in her boot and spreads those.

We quickly see the effects as Anole and Specter go from having fun together trashing the school to violently assaulting one another. Sofia has spread rage pheromones.

In Paris, Exodus rains terror upon the city, blowing away entire buildings, leveling streets, and murdering hundreds of people. He regrets having to do this to his home nation, but it has tragically been filled with millions of impure vermin.

EXODUS: “I would say a prayer, but the lord has already decided the fate of your species.”

Nearby, Dazzler lies in rubble, having been brutalized. Malice stands over, without barely a scratch on her, smirking sadistically as she stomps down on Allison.

MALICE: “Now…be honest…was fighting to protect the humans really worth it in the end?”

DAZZLER, grunting: “No one…hurts my fans.”

MALICE: “Perhaps not while you live. But that won’t be an issue anymore.”

Malice magnetically raises a metal beam, ready to crush Allison with it, but as she goes for the kill, Magik and Magneto appear from a stepping disc, Illyana cutting the beam in half with her sword, before Erik uses his own magnetic powers to launch the beams into Malice’s got, sending her flying.

ALLISON, grateful but not enthused: “Oh. Great. They sent you two.”

Magik rolls her eyes as another stepping disc brings Mercury and Bling! to their location. Magneto orders Roxy to tend to Dazzler’s injuries, while Cessily begins protecting the civilians.

MAGNETO: “Exodus!”

Exodus grins as he takes notes of Magneto, flying down next to Malice.

EXODUS: “My former lord and master! How wonderful to see you again. Especially as we were previously denied the previous opportunity to reunite.”

MAGNETO: “As I understand it, you fled with your tail tucked between your legs because you couldn’t even best Iceman. Yet you wish to challenge me? I thought you smarter than that when I made you my right hand.”

EXODUS: “I was smart enough to find a new master upon realizing you were a false prophet who lacked the will for what was necessary.”

MAGIK: “And yet Apocalypse still chose a little girl to be his heir over you.”

Exodus sneers.

Magneto turns his attention back to Malice and commands her to release Polaris, and undo the harm done to Scarlet Witch; if she complies, she may live.

MALICE, ready to fight: “I will not surrender my body. Not for anything…Father.”

Without further hesitation, Magneto begins the fight.

In the headmasters’ office, the Omega Gang continues to stand around, while Scott has been knocked out.

REDNECK: “You guys think we’ll have, like, titles and crap when this is all done?”

RADIAN, mockingly: “Yeah, I’m sure the queen of all Mutants will just be handing them out like candy to a bunch of kids who threw a riot in a school. Get a grip, man.”

REDNECK: “I was just saying, man! Be nice to get some thanks!”

ERNST: “We aren’t doing this for thanks. It’s just what’s right.”

TATTOO: “I’m hoping Lady Akabba could use some Court Musicians.”

RADIAN: “Oh, I like the sound of that.”

REDNECK: “Please, you guys suck at guitar.”

RADIAN AND TATTOO: “We do not!”

GLOB, quietly: “I think I want a fancy hat.”

While Quentin continues to be annoyed by everyone, he notices Brian has positioned himself in a corner, eyes stuck on Cyclops.

Quentin’s face softens, genuinely, as he moves to talk to him, but before he can, he receives a telepathic message.

SOPHIE: “You’ve really done it now, haven’t you?”

Quentin smirks, adjusting his glasses.

QUENTIN: “Thanks for helping me make so many friends. I couldn’t have done this without them.”

SOPHIE: “It didn’t have to go like this.”

QUENTIN: “No, this was inevitable as soon as I asked you out, and you laughed at me. It woke me up to who I needed to be, and from there, it was impossible not to see what needed to be done.”

SOPHIE: “What needed to be done was turn everyone here against each other? You and I agree that Mutandkind is superior. But I learned not to step on our own. Surrender now, and you can still learn that yourself.”

Quentin wipes his nose with his fist as it starts to bleed.

QUENTIN: “I’m guessing that means you’re helping Ms. Frost come after us. Fine. I’ll be more than happy to show you, and your sisters, exactly what I’ve learned.”

Sophie sighs.

SOPHIE: “So be it. But for what it’s worth…”

The door to the office is busted down, with Emma, Kitty, Sunspot, Dani, and Hellion in the doorway.

SOPHIE: “...I didn’t laugh.”

Outside the comatose Wanda’s room, Warpath and Dust stand outside. Sooraya is disturbed by all the violent noise going on elsewhere, but James tells her that he knows it's hard, but she has to stick to her assigned task and trust that the others will get the job done on their end. Being able to maintain that trust is part of being an X-Man.

Sooraya is able to compose herself and thanks Mr. Proudstar. She turns her attention to another thought.

DUST: “I don’t fully understand what it is Scarlet Witch does, but isn’t she meant to keep our whole world safe from monsters? Are we in danger right now?”

WARPATH: “There are things out there a lot worse than monsters. But we should be fine. Captain Britain and Prestige were able to convince Selene Gallio to help them fill in for Wanda until she’s healed. She can’t rule the world if it’s been gobbled up by an angry god.”

SOORAYA, somber: “So that is a yes.”

Warpath notices Sooraya isn’t doing so well and asks if there’s anything else on her mind, outside their immediate crisis. Soo doesn’t wish to bother him, but James assures her she won’t. Sooraya explains that this is her fault. The others are always all busy, with their romance and adventures, but she’s only ever here, doing her best to study and train so she can keep her friends and mother safe.

SOORAYA: “I should have seen what was happening to Quentin and Brian.”

James tells her to shut that thought down right now. He’s sure there’s going to be a lot of people playing the blame game when this is all done, but everyone makes their own choices. Quentin’s doing this because he wanted to and Brian joined him because he wanted to, just like he joined the Hellions back in the day because he wanted to…

JAMES: “And just like no one’s to blame for what happened to my brother besides the people who killed him.”

Sooraya breathes, touching James’ arm, and smiling.

JAMES: “What?”

SOORAYA: “This sounds like a lesson Ms. Frost would teach.”

JAMES, playing along: “Oh, you know that hurts, kid. That hurts worse than any attack.”

“Is that so?”

Dust and Warpath turn, knives drawn and sand ready, as they hear a modulated voice and turn toward it.

LADY AKABBA, in her full armor: “Shall we test that?”

In the Horsemen’s lair, Laura wakes up on the grounds, filthy and covered in cuts and bruises.

AKIHIRO: “Looks like Famine had fun with you.” Laura looks up to see him standing over her, Muramasa in hand. “You must be angry. Care to get any of that out?”

Laura grits her teeth, pops out her claws and attacks. Just as in their last encounter, Laura is outclassed, with Death blocking all her attacks. This time, however, instead of taunting her, with each failed strike, he tells her what she’s doing wrong. He kicks her down, but she gets right back up. She still isn’t able to hit him but can see her already listening and learning and doing better. Still, he ends up grabbing her and slamming her into the floor before she can land a clean it.

AKIHIRO: “Quick learner. That’s good. How do you feel?”

Laura picks herself up.

LAURA: “Where is Wind Dancer?”

AKIHIRO: “Occupied. Lady Akabba had a use for her after all.” Laura sneers. “Don’t be jealous. You’ll get to meet her too, in time.”

Akihiro tells her to keep coming for him until she can hit him. And while she does…

AKIHIRO: “You already made the smart choice, coming here. But I’m sure you still have doubts. Allow me to share my store, and rid you of them…little sister.”

The two stare each other down before Laura goes on the attack again.

In the Headmasters’ office, Quentin arrogantly greets the X-Men, as the Omega Gang assembles around him. Brian casts his head down as Julian glares at him.

QUENTIN: “I knew you attempt to spoil everything. Too bad for Cyclops.”

Quentin puts his fingers to his head, and attempts to fry Scott’s brain, but…

EMMA: “You were just speaking to Sophie, yes? While she was distracting you, the rest of my girls snuck inside your head. No telepathy for you.”

Quentin is irritated but shakes it off. They still aren’t afraid. He is an Omega, and all of them have Kick running through their veins to make them their best selves.

GLOB: “Yeah! I crushed a guy’s head a couple days ago!” He turns to Brian. “Wanna see me do that to your old friend, Tag?”

Brian stays silent.

KITTY: “Oh, now you’re quiet! What the Hell happened to you, Brian?”

DANI: “Kitty, don’t.”

The others are confused as Danielle steps forward.

DANI: “Robert, did you really kill someone?”

TATTOO: “We all did. Had to know we could trust each other.”

DANI, clenching her fists and welling up: “I’m so sorry.”

ROBERTO: “Dani, care to explain to the uninformed?”

Dani struggles to compose herself.

DANI: “They’re my squad. My other squad.”

The fact that Sunspot, Hellion, and Kitty are all surprised by this knowledge only pisses the Omega Gang off. Quentin just stepping back and leaning against the desk, while his teammates berate her.

TATTOO: “I thought you were so cool when I first got here, I thought we were becoming like a little family..”

RADIAN: “But then you decided we weren’t good enough! You wanted the powerful kids!”

REDNECK: “Then suddenly we never saw you outside training.”

GLOB: “You abandoned us, Ms. Moonstar.”

Dani is so sorry for making them feel like this for so long, but they have to believe her that this was never her intention. She didn’t take another squad because she wanted more powerful kids, she wanted another squad because she was already close with Surge and Wind Dancer. She didn’t know the kids saw her like they did, and she didn’t realize how little time she was making for them.

The kids don’t seem impressed by her apology.

QUENTIN, seeing an opportunity to drive more conflict: “Emma knew about the first people Brian and I killed.”

DANI, instantly flipping to rage toward Emma: “What?!”

EMMA: “Do not fall for his game, Danielle. Not when we’re in this predicament because, unlike me, you couldn’t handle two squads.”

DANI: “Why you…”

Kitty pulls Dani back and gets between everyone. Look, this doesn’t need to go any further! The kids wanted to send a message? They’ve sent it. Now they can listen, and make changes accordingly.

KITTY: “We’ve let you down. But I promise things can be better. We can do better.”

SUNSPOT: “Unless, of course, this isn’t really about a message.”

Quentin laughs.

QUENTIN: “If that’s you’re way of telling me you sussed out who I’m working for, and attempting to assess if they are as well? I am, and they are.”

Upsetting news to everyone. Except…

JULIAN, powering up with his aura: “That’s it then, isn’t it?! Everything is simplified? We’re X-Men. They’re villains.”

He says that last part, not having taken his eyes off Brian since he entered. Finally, Brian looks up and stares back, glaring.

BRIAN: “Yeah. We are.”

Brian slaps his chest, tagging himself.

Everyone starts forcibly shifting, with Julian roaring as flies right at Quentin, grabs him, and crashes them both out the window.

Hardcut to Paris, where Magneto and Magik battle Exodus and Malice, while Mercury pulls civilians out of rubble, and uses her body to form shields to protect civilians from falling debris.

As Magneto and Exodus exchange blows, Exodus decides to show Magneto exactly how far beyond him he’s become, flying up high. Magneto chases after him, as Bennett fires off a telekinetic blast large enough to destroy the entire city. Magneto, in turn, creates a shield to deflect the attack.

While Exodus is panting and shocked, an unamused Magneto merely dusts off his shoulder.

Magik bounces around the sky in a circle around Pestillence, via stepping discs, taking pot shots to kick, punch, and slice her. Malice meanwhile can’t hit her while she’s teleporting around like this.

MAGIK: “You really should surrender now. You’re not going to hit me, and since you’re running around in Polaris’ body, I can’t even have fun cutting you up into itty bitty pieces.”

Malice is pissed…but Magik just gave her an idea. She’s seen Polaris’ powers and the power gifted to her by Apocalypse, but she has her own weapon.

YANA: “You think I’m gonna give you MY body? I just got this thing!”

Malice smirks as her eyes open past her eyelids. Magik’s eyes open the same way.

Inside of Magik’s mindscape, which looks like a normal little girl’s bedroom, save for the mutilated stuffed animals with fleshy guts, Illyana is confused by what’s going on.

MALICE, appearing as a 14 yo goth girl with a British accent: “Sup?”

Hellion crashes Quentin down into the school’s front lawn, forming a crater. He repeatedly punches a still-smug Quentin in the face, trying to break through his forcefield.

HELLION: “I should have pounded your skull in the first time you talked to Brian, you dweeb! You messed him up, you hurt Noriko, and you’re hurting everyone here! You’re not hurting anyone else!”

Quentin blasts Hellion back, as he floats up into the air.

QUENTIN: “You know why we could never be friends, Hellion? Because you, none of you, can acknowledge what you are. You think you’re the sad little victims of this world, despite being the gods among gods! I know my worth. I know who I can uncaringly step on.” He smirks. “And who my useful lessers are.”

Hellion charges Quentin again, but Kid Omega meets him in mid-air, grabbing the back of his head and smashing him into the ground.

Inside, Emma in diamond form is punched through a wall by Ernst. As Ernst points out, she has to stay in that form to avoid getting trapped by Martha. But like this, they’re on the same level.

EMMA: “Do not insult me like that, child.”

Emma moves in to attack, but slips as a rioting student uses her powers to form a puddle underneath Emma, while fighting another kid, allowing Ernst to hit her again.

On a staircase, Dani fights Radian and Tattoo. Ms. Moonstar may never have given them proper attention, but the hand-to-hand training they’ve paid attention to. Dani pleads with them to not make her hurt them, to which Radian uses his light powers to blind her, while Tattoo phases her hand inside her to torture her by tattooing her insides.

In the common area, Sunspot is left fist-fighting Glob. He calls KItty over the coms to ask where she is; he hates to admit it, but their lowest-performing student may be stronger than him - at least on Kick. Kitty responds that Tag got her good, and sent her phasing through the Earth pretty far down. She’s working on coming back up as fast as she can.

This is no comfort to Beto as he takes a punch to the face.

In the Mission Room, the Cuckoos sit around the table. Things aren’t going well. They need to do something. Celeste notices that Quentin’s telepathy is still partially active. Mindee sees it now too; he has someone knocked out.

PHOEBE: “Eww. It’s that freak.”

SOPHIE: “She may be a freak, but if Quentin’s afraid of her, I say we wake her up.”

Sophie quickly changes her wording, telling the others to get on that. She has her own plan.

SOPHIE: “I know how to operate Cerebro. That should provide a far larger power boost than mere pills.”

As Sophie gets up, Esme grabs her wrist, telling her to stop. They’re the five-in-one. Splitting up is dumb. Especially when Sophie has never done anything like this before. They should just let everyone else do the stupid fighting.

SOPHIE, pulling Esme off her and smiling: “Come on, Esme. Haven’t you ever wanted to be a superhero?”

Back by Wanda’s room, Warpath gets in front of Dust, as Lady Akabba draws her sword.

WARPATH: “Lady Akkaba, I’m guessing? Nice armor.”

SOFIA: “Thank you. My father made it for me.”

WARPATH, nervous but quickly assessing the situation: “Dust, get in the room.”

DUST: “What?! You cannot fight her alone!”

WARPATH: “If she gets Wanda, she can do anything. If she kills me, you need to get her out of here. Got it? Do not help me, no matter what.”

Sooraya hates this,but after a quick glance at the monster in front of them, agrees.

SOORAYA: “Good luck, Mr. Proudstar.”

Dust shifts into dust to get under the door.

Lady Akkaba tells Warpath she hoped to avoid this. However, Magik cast a nasty protection spell preventing her from directly entering that room. She’d hoped to take her out of play before today like she did Surge and Wolverine, but he got in the way out of that.

James questions what she did with Laura. Akkaba tells him she’d be happy to tell him, once he bends the knee. Warpath is a fierce warrior, a former X-Man who was able to hold his own against her Juggernaut, and who’s even fought Externals before. He belongs in her army.

James pretends to think that over.

WARPATH: “Warren Worthington was everything I grew up hating. I never spent a ton of time with him, but enough to learn he was a good man.” He takes a stance. “Tell him I say hi when you see him.”

SOFIA, sighing: “You X-Men are so difficult.”

Warpath lunges forward and attacks Lady Akkaba. For all his strength, Lady Akkaba is far faster and lighter on her feet, blocking all of his knife swings.

Swinging overhead, he forces Lady Akkaba to hold a block.

LADY AKKABA, barely struggling: “Your knives are nice. Adamantium?”

WARPATH: “Same as your sword I’m guessing.”

LADY AKKABA: “Hardly. My blade was forged millenia ago by an invincible Mutant, and wielded by one even stronger.”

James knees Akkaba in the stomach, hurting her and knocking her back.

WARPATH: “I get it. You love Apocalypse.”

LADY AKKABA, amused: “I wasn’t speaking of Apocalypse.”

Sofia sets her hands aflame. Realizing that in the narrow hallway, there’s no room for cover, Warpath tries to launch one more attack, but he’s met with the flames of war to the face, as they fully consume him.

Akkaba presses on her attack, promising Warpath that if he survives this, he will come back stronger. Only to receive a surprise punch to the face from the burning man, sending her flying down the whole hallway and crashing through the wall.

Able to fly, this doesn’t phase Akkaba. As Warpath continues to rush after her, she fills the hall with more flames. James refuses to slow down. X-Man or teacher, he promised his life to these kids, and he’s not letting them down!

Warpath leaps again at Lady Akkaba, but is unable to reach her. Once he’s in mid-air, Sofia uses her winds to blow back all the way across the hallway, and back into the flames, as she lays on even more.

This time, James can’t get back up. Sofia absorbs all the flames back into herself.

SOFIA: “As expected, you fought well.” She raises her sword as she stands over the unconscious Warpath. “But there is only one fate for those who refuse to serve me.”

Rather than execute him immediately, Sofia’s swordhand quivers.

We zoom inside Sofia’s helmet to see her blue face, as she breathes with trepidation. She rapidly flashes back to all the time she spent with Warpath, back when he was teaching her to control her rage.

In the present…

SOFIA, under her breath: “I cannot be weak.”

Lady Akkaba brings her sword down to kill Warpath…

…only to be stopped as a sandstorm overwhelms her.

DUST: “You will not harm anyone else!”

SOFIA, protected by her armor: “Didn’t your teacher tell you to stay put? He had the right idea!”

Rather than burn Sooraya, Akkaba merely blows her away, through the hole Warpath made, and far away from the school.

Sofia breathes heavily as she looks down at James, left to decide what happens next.

Back in the Horsemen’s lair, Akihiro has finished telling Laura his story, while Laura is in the process of healing up large slashes all across her body, and has been provided a water bottle.

LAURA: “I don’t know what to say.”

AKIHIRO: “You could say our father is a monster who won’t be worth another thought once we torture him to death.”

LAURA, hanging her head: “Are you sure that it’s all true?”

AKIHIRO: “Do you doubt me?”

LAURA: “No.” Laura picks up her head and looks at her brother. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize.”

AKIHIRO: “Realize what?”

LAURA: “That you were used like I was. By The Hand. And Romulus. You were just their weapon.”

Akihiro sighs in annoyance.

AKIHIRO: “Look, try not to be too annoying about the whole, “I’m a weapon” thing, okay? Last I checked weapons don’t have beautiful girlfriends. You’re a Mutant, a strong one, and if you play your cards right, a valued one to our lady. Help me take out Logan and I’ll even put in a good word for you.”

LAURA, squinting: “You’re being nice.”

AKIHIRO: “Would you rather I cut your head off?”

LAURA, slightly smiling: “No.”

AKIHIRO: “Smart. You keep drinking that water, I’m gonna go grab something a little stronger. We’ll pick up training after that.”

LAURA: “Sounds good…Brother.”

Akihiro smirks as he walks off. We see him texting Sofia that he’s still with Laura, and she wasn’t kidding: She’s a very good actress. But she still doesn’t suspect a thing.

We zoom in on the smiling Laura, as she scowls.

We flashback to her earlier conversation with Warpath.

LAURA: “Sofia has a plan to find the Horsemen. With just the two of us. And we’re leaving tonight.”

Laura continues.

LAURA: “I’m going to play along and act like I don’t know what she’s up to.”

WARPATH: “You sure it isn’t time we tell Cyclops what we know?”

LAURA: “No hard proof. I know she’s Lady Akkaba. I know from how War fought, I know from her smell, I know Sofia. I know that isn’t really her, that Apocalypse brainwashed her, but she already showed she can get around telepathy.”

With Apocalypse down, Exodus must be running the show and controlling her now and using her as a distraction. Either that, or Akihiro is controlling with his pheromones. Or Malice can actually possess multiple people. It doesn’t matter. She knows Sofia won’t really give her the opportunity to figure out where the base is, but if she can get close, she can start picking off the Horsemen until she gets the right one.

James doesn’t like it, but he trusts Wolverine’s judgment. Can she promise him she’ll be careful?

LAURA: “No.”

JAMES: “Figured.”

One more thing though. Akihiro. Logan talked to her about him after their run-in, right?

LAURA: “Yes. He has been used. In ways he doesn’t even realize. I don’t know him. You’re more a brother than he is. But Logan wants him alive.” Laura picks her head up. “I will kill Exodus and Malice first. If he isn’t the one controlling Sofia, I will save him. I will save them both.”

In the present, Laura sips her water.

In Magik’s mindscape, she takes a guess: this goth girl she’s talking to is the real Malice?

Malice giggles as she plops down on Illyana’s bed. It’s who Alice McAllister used to be. A normal girl from Yorkshire who couldn’t stand her bloody annoying parents or any other authority.

MALICE: “I had hobbies. Journaling. Making Pinterest boards. Protesting. I had dreams. I was going to be an artist. But, you wake up one morning outside your body, unable to be seen or heard by anyone, or touch anything, and suddenly you can’t write, or draw, or scream for change. Just wander. Alone.”

Yana yawns.

MAGIK, mockingly: “How sad for you.”

MALICE: “What, no sympathy for another young girl who had her life stolen from her?”

YANA: “Don’t. I promise your experiences do not compare to seven years in Limbo with Belasco.”

Yana does ask how long she’s been like this though.

MALICE: “Four years. Don’t tell Exodus, though. I don’t want him thinking I’m another of Apocalypse’s kiddies.”

MAGIK: “I promise you I couldn’t care less.”

Malice laughs as she pokes at the fleshy guts inside a stuffed rabbit. She doesn’t know what Limbo is like, but she promises Illyana that her life has been hell. Even once she got over the initial shock and realized how her powers worked. Finding depressed souls who’d be willing to hand over their bodies wasn’t hard. But it wasn’t that simple. See she burns through human bodies rather quickly. Usually within mere days.

MALICE: “Can you imagine that? Four years of living in different bodies every day, each one wrong in so many ways?”

That finally hits Yana, who looks at herself in a child’s mirror and sees her 7 year-old self.

Malice continues to explain that she got beyond lucky finding Polaris, but she isn’t perfect. She’s strong and sturdy and she’s held up well, but this body is starting to go too; it has another few months at best. After Apocalypse killed all the humans, he was going to release his fellow Externals, and force one of them to give her an immortal body, but the X-Men ruined that.

Magik focuses back on Malice, questioning if she doesn’t actually have the same goals as the others.

MALICE: “Lord, no. Fascists like Apocalypse, Exodus, and Lady Akkaba are the kinds of people I used to throw red paint at. They’re just the only ones who were willing to help me.”

Now, the new plan is to use Scarlet Witch to make her a body, among all the other plans for her, but that doesn’t need to happen.

MALICE: “Not if you give me your body.”

Malice appears behind Illyana and covers her eyes with her hands.

YANA: “What are you–?”

MALICE: “I see you, Darkchylde. Acting like you’re oh so happy to be Magik, and being a little goblin girl. But that’s all it is. An act. You are still a demon, a creature of darkness, a soulless husk. Fighting along dandy superheroes because you just love your girlfriend so much. But I know she can’t be enough for you. All the friends in the world can’t be. You’re still miserable. Anyone stuck in the wrong body would be. But with its mystical nature, it would be the perfect body for me.”

Magik punches Malice, but that just makes her appear in front of her. Malice promises to take away all her pain. Having a soul will do that! Magik will still get to exist in the back of her head, finally at peace.

MALICE: “You have no way to either restore your full, demonic form or to obtain your old soul. You are not good or evil. You are nothing. I can take away that pain. Having my soul will do that! And you’ll still get to exist in the back of my head, finally at peace.”

Magik is shaken, especially as Malice reaches her hands inside her and smiles innocently, telling her to think of how happy they’ll be together.

Magik smiles back at her and holds her arms. She then proceeds to turn her face into Darkchylde’s and burn Malice with Hellfire.

Magik snaps back to reality, not about to worry about any of that stuff right now, and just focus on the bitch who got past her defenses.

MAGIK, panting: “Now…where are–?”

Illyana is cut off and screams as she’s blasted from behind by Pestilence, who then proceeds to rain metal rubble down on her, burying her underneath.

MALICE: “I’ll be in touch to see if you change your mind!”

Magneto, still engaged with Exodus, notices this, and cries out with concern for Magik. Erik launches another blast that only only penetrates Exodus’ forcefield, but tears off some of his flesh. As Magneto swoops down to rescue Magik, Pestilence flies up to Famine and tells him it’s time to go.

As Magneto pulls all of the rubble off of Magik, we see Mercury, exhausted and overwhelmed from all of this, but having successfully evacuated the area. Roxy finally makes it over to her, with Cessily falling into her arms.

Erik meanwhile holds the unconscious Magik in his arms, relieved that she survived, but further enraged as Pestillence, horrified by the thought of losing Illyana again.

Back in the school, Sunspot continues fighting Glob, eventually taking a punch to the face that draws blood.

ROBERTO: “How dare you?”

Glob laughs and tells Roberto he pisses him off more than anyone. All the X-Men act like they’re better than everyone, but Roberto is the worst about it, because he thinks he’s smarter than everyone.

GLOB: “There are more important things than being smart!”

Redneck appears on the scene, ready to back Glob up, rushing Sunspot with his burning hands.

GLOB: “Redneck, no!”

Redneck grabs Sunspot, but, of course, all this does is supercharge him, enabling him to blast both of the boys unconcious.

GLOB, passing out: “You…idiot.”

On the staircase, Tattoo taunts Dani as she tortures her, proclaiming how, whatever role she has in Lady Akkaba’s world, she wants to be a mom one day, with a bunch of kids.

TATTOO: “Thank you for teaching me exactly what not to do with him.”

Dani cringes.

DANI: “I’m sorry I failed you. And I’m sorry for this.”

Dani finally pulls her power. Radian and Tatoo fall down the stairs as they imagine sentinels firebombing them from above, with the ruins of Genosha around them. They’re left trembling in fetal position as Dani bends down to hold their hands.

Elsewhere, Ernst rushes toward Emma, but she has a low tolerance for misbehavior, and these girls have thoroughly expended it. The X-Men saved them both from the U-Men and gave them their home; they’re sorry they couldn’t also be their parents, but that’s just not how it works.

EMMA: “Now…sit down.”

Emma leaves her diamond form, and before Ernst can attack her, or Martha can freeze her body, Emma overwhelms them both with a psychic wave, knocking them out.

Outside, Quentin and Hellion continue to try and murder each other, exchanging punches, blasts, and chucking trees at each other, with Quentin also excelling with bladed constructs to cut up Julian. Keeping Julian on the backfoot is not only Quentin’s body running on Kick, but unlike himself, Quentin clearly doesn’t care if his attacks kill everyone.

Once Quentin notices that Julian is playing defense for the school, he launches a full-power attack directly at it. Hellion himself between the attack and the school, but while he is able to stop it, it exhausts the rest of his energy, and he collapses.

Quentin picks up Julian, who’s bleeding significantly more than he is, by the neck and raises him into the air.

QUENTIN: “You almost had the right idea. The whole “Hellions” thing. You were stronger, more fit, than the rest of us, and you treated us like we deserved. If I’d woken up to my true potential back then, we really could have been friends. But by the time I did, you’d let the X-Men corrupt you with their arrogant complacency. I wish the Omega Gang packed the kind of power your gang did, but then, I have much bigger plans than being a school bully; before long, I know I’ll be a Horseman.”

JULIAN: “C…C…”

QUENTIN: “Something to say? Going to call me a dork again? Want to tell me my parents were right to desert me?”

JULIAN: “C…Could you tell me where I left my hands?”

Quentin panics as he realizes Julian’s hands are missing. Just then, he’s struck from behind as demonic metal, supercharged with the last of Hellion’s energy, collides with the back of his head.

Quentin falls over as the wind is knocked out of him and his forcefield momentarily goes down. Hellion reattaches his hands, and is about to pound away at Quentin before he puts himself back together, but…

“Get away!”

He’s tackled away by Tag. Brian, mounted on top of Julian, has tears in his eyes, while Julian is still in disbelief its gotten this far.

Elsewhere, the four non-Sophie Cuckoos work to wake up Escapade, while Sophie sets herself up in Cerebro. Quickly, Escapade is jolted awake.

ESCAPADE: “That jerk!”

And Sophie, with some difficulty, is able to dismount the Cerebro helmet from the rest of the set-up, informing her sisters she’s on her way to save the day.

Julian and Brian wrestle around on the ground. Julian finally gets to ask the big question.

JULIAN: “Why?!”

BRIAN: “I said why! You just never pay attention!”

Julian kicks Brian off of him. He never thought Brian was as dumb as he thinks of himself, but if he really let Quentin convince himself, without telepathy, that he was ever going to abandon him, he really is an idiot.

JULIAN: “You’re my best friend.”

BRIAN, on the verge of a breakdown: “Yeah. You too, man.”

Brian beats Julian. Quentin is able to get up, happy to see this.

QUENTIN: “Don’t hold back, Tag! Once he’s dead, we’ll never have to think of this loser again! It’ll just be you and me!”

“Hey Quentin!”

Quentin is confused and turns around, as Escapade rockets out of the school on her jet boots, grabs Quentin’s face, and electrocutes him with her shock glove.

ESCAPADE: “You were talking about what you’re owed?!”

Quentin knocks her away. She switches places with him, hoping to immobilze him that way, but she quickly collapses and the switch is undone, as her body reacts horribly to suddenly being filled with Kick.

Quentin pants. He’s tired, the back of his bleeding profusely, and now this little bitch just burned half his face off! But he’s still standing!

QUENTIN, looking over at the other fight: “Brian! Kill him already!”

Julian laughs.

BRIAN: “What could you possibly be laughing about?”

JULIAN, grinning: “I do get how he got to you. I’m sorry I wasn’t paying more attention. But you’re kidding yourself if you think he won’t dump you faster than we ever would have.”

Brian stops punching.

QUENTIN: “Tag! What are you doing, you idiot?! Do I need to do this myself?!”

Tag glares at Quentin, wiping his tears on his arm.

QUENTIN: “Oh now what? Did he say something? Don’t listen to the enemy, you idi–!’

Quentin falls to his knees, screaming in agony.

Sophie, wearing the Cerebro helmet exits the school, taking note of the destroyed landscape, and the already beaten Hellion and Escapade.

SOPHIE: “Never send lesser Mutants to do a Cuckoo’s job.”

Sophie, approaching Quentin, tells him it’s over. His “friends” are beaten, her sisters are blocking his telepathy, and thanks to Cerebro, his mental defenses are nothing to her.

Sophie stomps down on Quentin’s head.

SOPHIE: “Die, loser.”

Quentin screams as he bleeds from his eyes.

QUENTIN: “The Sophie Cuckoo I loved would have loved to crush all of humanity underneath her stilletos!”

SOPHIE: “I grew up. You should have tried it.”

Quentin’s still not done. Using his telekinesis, he unloads every bit of Kick he has left from his pocket, and shoots it all down his mouth.

BRIAN: “No! Sophie, watch out!”

With the power boost from the extra Kick, Quentin makes Sophie scream as well, as he stands up, laughing manically. The other Cuckoos all scream as well. He overrode their block, but they can still back Sophie up.

QUENTIN, enjoying Sophie’s pain as she struggles against him: “You said you didn’t laugh, right? Kiss my boots now, take back that last comment, and you can still be my queen. A HA HA HA!”

Sophie digs her heels into the ground to help her stay standing. Despite Quentin’s overwhelming strength, she’s still confident she can beat him.

Brian watches on as Sophie struggles to fight back against Quentin, but refuses to back down nonetheless. He looks to Julian to do something, but he’s passed out from his injuries. With Escapade also down, he’s the only one who can do anything.

BRIAN: “I’m sorry, everyone. I just wanted friends.”

Sophie’s knees bend as she bleeds from her mouth, her eyes roll around in her head, and the other Cuckoos writhe in agony as well. Even still, Sophie isn’t letting up, just looking for an opening in Quentin’s mental assault.

QUENTIN: “Esme, can you and the others all hear me over you’re screaming? I hope you can. Because once I’m done with her, I’m coming for–!”

Quentin is cut off as Brian lands a devastating hook to the back of his head. Everything goes silent. Then, Quentin loses control and Sophie finds her opening and hits Quentin with everything she’s got, as Brian is blasted away, and the front lawn is further devestated.

In the Mission Room, the Cuckoos all stop screaming, and start crying.

Emma, Dani, Kitty, and Sunspot finally make it outside to find their school wrecked, and five of their students unconcious. They rush without hesitation to check on them all. Kitty gives the thumbs up that Escapade’s okay. Sunspot lets them know Hellion’s just out cold too.

Dani and Emma aren’t so lucky as they check on Brian, Quentin, and Sophie. Dani cries, while Emma turns to diamond, holding Sophie tight.

That night, in the Mission Room, Cyclops has his head buried in his hands.

SCOTT: “How did we let this happen?”

The only ones sitting with him are an equally depressed Kitty and Sunspot. Lockheed is in Kitty’s arms.

KITTY: “We made mistakes. A lot of mistakes.”

BETO: “Someone knew exactly how to take advantage of them.”

SCOTT: “And now two of our kids are dead.”

As the three try and press through going over their whole situation, we see Quentin lying in bed in the medical bay. And next to him, Warpath. Neither is dead, but both are comatose. Beto is not only enraged at what happened to Jimmy, clearly from the burn marks War’s doing, but while he doesn’t wish death on him, he resents that Quentin survived everything.

KITTY: “I tried talking to Dani. Couldn’t get a word out of her.”

We see Dani crying hysterically as she works a punching bag in her room.

SCOTT: “Emma’s had a similar time with the Cuckoos. She’s still trying now.”

We see Emma following behind four Cuckoos, only for her to turn a corner, and discover they were just illusions.

Scott continues to bring up how the Omega Gang has been given to SHIELD, and thanks Kitty for making it clear on his behalf that they aren’t to hold these kids long term; they’ll take them back when they’re ready, and do better by them. They’ll certainly have the space if the current rate of parents pulling their kids out of the school doesn’t slow down.

SUNSPOT: “Not to be the pragmatist at a time like this, but the Horsemen got what they wanted from all of this. They got Wanda.”

We see Magneto splitting the ocean in his rage.

SUNSPOT: “If they figure out a way to use her power, we’re done.”

KITTY: “And we’ll stop them before that happens. Nothing we can do about it right now though. What we can do is do better by the kids. By all of them.”

Dust, Mercury, Bling!, and Surge stand outside the medical bay, all in tears, with the camera at first focusing on the comatose Warpath.

SCOTT: “Quentin was wrong about a lot. Less than his “friends” were. But he was right about one thing. One of the same things Professor Xavier got right.”

The camera in the medical bay pans over to Magik, Hellion, and Escapade, unconscious and//or heavily injured, but not in critical condition.

SCOTT: “The X-Men are elite. We have to be. Because most Mutants aren’t. They’re just ordinary people. Whatever privileges we enjoy, what comes first is that responsibility to keep each and every one of them safe.”

“Even if we don’t always meet that responsibility.”

The camera in the med bay pans over to reveal the two casualties of the riot: Sophie Cuckoo and Brian Cruz.

The four girls hold each other’s hands.

In Sofia’s room, Laurie is SO sorry. This is all her fault. She knew she’d make the wrong pheromones. Sofia, acting distraught but keeping herself together, promises Laurie this isn’t because of her. There was chaos, yes, and bad people took advantage of that, but neither of her friends’ deaths were because of her mistake. There are bad guys who deserve that blame. Okay?

Laurie tearfully nods.

SOFIA, slightly smirking: “Listen, I didn’t want to do this because, as an X-Man, it was my responsibility to bring you here, but I might know someone who can help you with your powers just as much as we can. Call him a tutor.”

LAURIE: “A tutor.”

SOFIA: “One with the same powers as you. I met him in my travels after I left the school. His name is Sean. I think you’ll like him. If you’re willing to give this a try.”

Laurie forcefully nods. This can’t happen again. She’ll try anything.

Sofia pets her hair.

Cut to Sofia leaving the room, where Laura rushes up to her, having heard what happened, enraged and distraught. Sofia hugs her.

SOFIA: “We will make the Horsemen pay. Every one of them. I promise.”

LAURA, claws out: “Don’t you worry. I’ll kill them all myself.”

We cut between Laura’s face, depressed and filled with righteous anger, and Sofia, wearing mere impressions of these emotions.

In Egypt, Sofia enters her lair, still in her normal clothes, where Exodus, Malice, and Akihiro are celebrating their triumph with drinks and a feast before they get to cracking Scarlet Witch.

AKIHIRO: “Will our lady be joining us?”

SOFIA, head held high: “Yes. But I have an important matter to attend to first.”

Sofia confidently marches out, Exodus clearly curious about what Sofia is up to What could she be plotting?

In the washroom, Sofia violently vomits into a toilet. More than once.

SOFIA, looking like she’s just had the worst nightmare: “What have I done?”

---------------------------------------------------------------

CAST CHANGES:

Brian Cruz AKA Tag is no longer part of the main cast.

Quentin Quire is no longer part of the main cast.

Sophie Cuckoo is no longer part of the main cast.

#New X-Men: The Animated Series #New X-Men #Academy X #Scott summers #Emma Frost #Magneto #Kitty Pryde #Roberto Da Costa #Laura Kinney #Illyana Rasputina #julian keller #noriko ashida #sofia mantega #cessily kincaid #sooraya qadir #brian cruz #roxanne washington #stepford cuckoos #quentin quire

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starsinmylatte · 2 years

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It’s alright. I’m here

Alright, folks, this is the Protective!Silco piece I referenced when I was planning my next set of fics. There are some warnings and general info I need to cover about this fic, so please pay attention to the author's note and trigger warnings. As a general reminder, the Witchy!Reader x Silco fic will be up next.

Trigger warnings: Attempted SA by an unnamed character, canon-typical violence

Pairing: Silco x AFAB!reader

Rating: Explicit

Word count: 2.8k

Warnings: Graphic depictions of violence, attempted SA, this does end with comfort

Summary: You are having an incredibly mundane day, but things take a turn for the worst as a creep attempts to corner you. Thankfully, help is closer than it seems.

Minors DO NOT INTERACT

Author's note: I can't find the post to link, but a few weeks ago, I made a post about wanting to write a Protective!Silco one-shot based on a scary experience I had. This was the experience. I have been assaulted twice, and this piece directly pulls from a combination of those two experiences. I am in therapy and doing fine, but I needed to write it out. This was both extremely cathartic and very painful to write, and I almost didn't share it because it is difficult for me to re-read it. So, I couldn't edit the work as thoroughly as I normally do and it may not be my best work. Fair warning. However, I wanted to share it in the hopes that it can be helpful to another survivor. This should go without saying, but If you leave me a rude or hurtful comment, I will block you immediately.

It had been the most uneventful day. Silco was away on some kind of business, but all the mundane chores at The Last Drop still needed to be taken care of. Inventory needed to be ordered, supplies needed to be stocked, and someone eventually had to make the bar countertop slightly less sticky. Usually, that would be grunt work, but you took some pride in the place; way more pride than some random underling would.

The relationship you had with Silco was almost an unspoken one. Of course, the two of you had discussed it at great length, but only two other people were privy to the finer details. Jinx, of course, and Sevika because the full extent of her protection had to cover you as well. To anyone else, you were simply the lady Silco trusted to care for the less shady side of the business in his absence. Anything more than that was pure speculation. Some simply thought you were a very devoted assistant, and some had theories so scandalous you and Sevika had to discuss them over drinks.

The bar countertop was the first chore on your checklist today. The job wasn’t without satisfaction, and every inch of clean countertop only served to spur you on to the final goal. The cloudy haze of sticky syrups and exotic flavored liquors slowly lifted from the bar with each pass of a rag. Even though your fingers began to ache, the wood underneath started to shine, and a hum of contentedness passed your lips. One final pass with a different cloth dipped in a lemon-scented polish finished the job.

You were so engrossed in your work that you didn’t register a presence beside you until it spoke.

“Not many people woulda helped with that. Thank you.” Chuck’s familiar voice rang out in the room, startling you out of your concentration.

“Don’t mention it. I used to bartend, so it’s second nature to me. Besides, I’m not the one who has to be behind here all night.” You dismissed the thanks with a lighthearted wave.

Chuck hummed in agreement. The job paid well, and tips were great, but the constant flow of rowdy customers always constantly demanding more would wear anyone down.

You wiped your hands on the cloth tucked into your skirt's waistband and bent down to stow some of the cleaning products back under the bar. When you finally stood back up, Chuck was toying nervously with his hands and staring at you obliviously. The second your gaze met his, his cheeks flushed pink in embarrassment, and he immediately glanced away. “You know, you’re always welcome to work behind the bar with me.”

You laughed to yourself. Chuck was adorable, but he was one of the more clueless men that you worked with. Besides, he was far from your type. “I’d love to, but that's not what Silco pays me for.”

The syrup bottles still needed to be cleaned, so you continued wiping down the ones you could reach. Chuck picked up his own rag and began to clean a few glasses. You worked quickly and silently. After all, you had a schedule to keep. The silence between the two of you was comfortable, and the time flew by. Eventually, it was time for you to head out and run a few errands.

You packed up your things and finally broke the silence.

“Hey, I’m on my way out to run some errands and pick up another thing of bitters. We used way more last night than usual.”

There was no response. You turned back around to find Chuck lost in deep thought and polishing the glass like he was in a trance. Clearly, he didn’t hear you. You waved to grab his attention as you walked out from behind the bar, and it was his turn to jump slightly.

Chuck leaned back against the bar and tilted his head as if he was considering something. Then, finally, he found the right phrasing. “If you don’t mind me asking….. What does Silco pay you for?”

With the most deadpan expression you could muster, you turned to look directly at him as you headed for the door. “I bury the bodies.”

Chuck’s face instantly paled, and he dropped the glass he was cleaning. You turned around and walked quickly through the door before you lost your composure.

As soon as you shut the door behind you, you instantly doubled over in a fit of laughter. After a few minutes passed, you glanced at your watch as you wiped the tears from your eyes. Shit. I’m off schedule. I only have an hour before the shop closes.

Would Silco care? No, of course not….. but you would. The world would keep turning, but he worked so hard, and running these mundane errands was the absolute least you could do to help ease his load. Besides, you were only headed to one store to pick up a few extra bottles of cocktail syrup and bitters.

You rolled your eyes. The homemade syrup was infinitely better, but customers at the bar dropped a pretty penny for the stuff imported from topside, so it found its way into a wide variety of drinks. People paid to feel fancy.

On the bright side, the shop wasn’t even that far away from The Last Drop, and the walk was rather pleasant. Of course, the undercity had its problems, but it was the only home you’d ever known, and you truly loved it. You waved to some people you recognized on the street, and before you knew it, you had arrived.

The door to the shop jingled as you pushed it open and an unfamiliar man behind the register waved at you.

Oh, It looks like they hired someone new.

It was really not a problem. They should have the usual order stocked and ready to go behind the counter, and all you had to do was grab a few extra things and pay for the additional items. The bell jingled again behind you, and you barely even registered it as you walked around an aisle. You wandered a bit, taking time to look at the new stock and think of new drinks to try.

Out of the corner of your eye, you saw a man following you through the maze of shelves. He was tall and skinny, and he seemed to be watching you. As soon as you glanced in his direction, he hurriedly turned down a different aisle.

Weird. Maybe it was someone who was too shy to say hello earlier.

You didn’t start worrying until he returned. The people of the Lanes were your family, but some of them were undeniably dangerous. Part of growing up on the streets was learning when you were being followed or watched, and the man was undoubtedly doing both.

The seconds seemed to stretch on for hours and the hair on the back of your neck prickled. Someone following you down one aisle was nothing unusual, two was a coincidence, and three was unnerving. Your heart started to beat a little faster, but thankfully you reached the aisle with the bitters. You grabbed a few bottles and ducked back around the corner. The man seemed to vanish into thin air, and you let out a low sigh of relief. You didn’t even realize you’d been holding your breath.

He’d have to be stupid to try something in front of the worker.

Suddenly, you felt someone brush past you. You flinched at the unexpected contact and sharply twisted around to see what happened. The creep who had been following you around the store was leering down at you. He was towering over you and so close you could feel his disgusting breath hit your face. The man was messy and disheveled, but that wasn’t what frightened you. No, the scariest thing was his aggressive body language and the rapacious glint in his otherwise cold eyes.

His piercing eyes trailed over your body as he sneered down at you. His gaze was possessive and dark in a way that terrified you. You felt frozen in place, suddenly too afraid to move. The man grinned lasciviously as his predatory gaze raked over the swell of your hips and breasts. Your breath caught in your throat. You were too scared to breathe. Scattered thoughts flew around your head, and time screeched to a halt.

Leave me alone.

Why can’t I move?

I want to get away.

Help me.

Time started flowing again, but everything seemed to happen in slow motion. You could only watch in terror as the man reached out to grab your forearm. You desperately turned to the register, hoping to grab the attention of the worker behind it. But, to your horror, he was already looking at you, watching the scene unfold and nervously toying with his hands. His face had an apologetic, anxious look that screamed, “What do you expect me to do?”

You fucking coward.

The worst possible thoughts flew through your mind.

He’s going to grab me. Right here in the middle of the store.

As you flinched away from the man, your feet moved on their own, and you hurriedly looked for a way out. He was backing you into a corner of the store; there was no way to escape. The man directly blocked your path to the door, and you had no hope of overpowering him in your frazzled state. There wasn’t enough time to think, but you couldn’t just act blindly. You looked up at him desperately, prepared to bargain or plead if you had to. Honor was far less important than survival.

His smile was nothing more than sharp, bared teeth as he stalked toward you. However, the last thing you expected to see when you looked back at his face was a fist colliding with his head.

But…. there was nobody else in the store.

Your brain hadn’t even registered the jingle of the shop’s door opening again, but there was undoubtedly another person standing directly behind the creep. He stumbled at the sudden blow, but before he could recover, a glint of silvery steel flashed through the air as a knife materialized against the side of his throat.

Your tunnel vision dropped just enough for you to see light reflect off the gold filigree on the sleeves of the man holding the knife. There was only one person it could be. You scarcely believed your luck as you raised your gaze once again and sucked in a shaky breath.

Silco stood behind the man and held the pervert in a vice-like grip. One of his slender arms was snaked around the creep’s chest from behind, his hand hooked into his shirt collar and pulling it so hard his knuckles were white. His other arm crossed over the front of the man’s chest, wielding the knife.

There was no doubt that the kingpin of Zaun had the man pinned against him, stuck completely in place. Almost as an afterthought, a single, thin line of scarlet trailed across the man’s throat in the wake of the knife. The knife was so sharp you could barely see the cut itself, but you could certainly see the thin trickle of blood. Silco’s aquiline nose was almost pressed into the man’s temple as he snarled into his ear, his ruined eye glowing with hatred. “Now…. just what did you think you were doing?”

Silco was normally an imposing man, it came with the territory of being a kingpin, but you had only heard stories of how terrifying he could be. It was never something you had witnessed in person. His temper was legendary, and few people survived seeing him in his worst moods…. and many times, the ones that did probably wish they didn’t. Now, you very much understood why.

The man had the good instinct to begin shaking in fear. He couldn’t see who had him, but he didn’t need to. He knew that he was completely and utterly fucked. Silco’s signature deep, drawling voice was as unmistakable as his scarred face and wickedly cruel eye.

It was almost poetic how the situation had turned around. You had felt absolutely powerless in the situation that perverted bastard had forced upon you. Now, he was the prey, and he was in the claws of a predator more dangerous than he could ever dream of becoming. His mouth opened and closed repeatedly, but no words ever came out.

“Come now. There’s no need to be shy about it. I saw more than enough.” Silco pressed the knife in harder, and he yelped in pain. The trickle of blood turned into a steady but small stream.

“I…. I t..tried to grab her.”

“So, he can speak.” Silco’s tone was mocking, but it was as cold and sharp as his blade.

A tear rolled down the man’s cheek, “Please, please, sir. Let me go. I’d- I’d never have tried- I’d never have touched her if I knew she was yours.”

“That’s the problem.”

Silco shifted the knife, so the tip rested against the man’s chin and used it to tilt his head to look directly at you. “It doesn’t matter whose she is. She did not want you to touch her, and yet…..”

His pause was pointed enough for the man to realize his arm was still outstretched in your direction. He tried to lower it slowly, but a low, displeased hiss from Silco immediately stopped his movement.

“Now, I’m going to tell you exactly what you’re going to do.”

The man was still shaking pathetically, “Anything, sir, anything. I swear it’ll never happen again.”

The corner of Silco’s scarred lip twitched like he was about to laugh. A damned bloodthirsty grin flashed across his face, and he practically snarled, “Oh, I know for a fact that you won’t. Sevika.”

She materialized at his side and looked directly at you. Her eyes flashed with worry as she registered the tears in your eyes and how panicked you looked huddled in the corner. The man let out another pathetic sob, and you saw her eyes frost over and turn cold and hard. Every ounce of Sevika’s concern for you turned into a frigid, biting rage directed at the man beside her.

She took one look at the man’s outstretched arm and turned back to her boss with a savage smile of her own. Sevika grabbed the man’s wrist and upper arm. In a tandem motion, Silco kicked the man to the ground. The creep barely had time to shout in surprise as Sevika brought her knee up to connect with the middle of his outstretched arm.

The sickening crunch of bone and an agonized shriek filled the air. You had closed your eyes instinctively, and from the sound of the man’s screaming, it was a good choice. A second later, you heard the sound of his body hitting the floor.

Silco calmly spoke over the man’s wailing, “No one is going to help you fix that, or they will find out just how creative I can be. You will live with the pain you earned. You should also be very thankful that I don’t have more time to spend with you.”

He snapped his fingers, and the sound of wailing faded into the distance as the man’s body was drug out the door. In the distance, you heard the worker pleading with Sevika, but his words fell on deaf ears. She took poorly to men who abused women, and those who enabled it were no different.

A familiar set of slow, measured footsteps approached you, but you couldn’t open your eyes. You were afraid that you’d open them and Silco wouldn’t be there. Somehow, you feared that the rescue was a hallucination. Once you opened your eyes, the pervert would still be there… and you’d be all alone. Another tear slowly trailed down your cheek, but a slender hand tenderly wiped it away.

Instantly, you knew it hadn’t been some fucked up dream, and your eyes flew open. He was there.

Wordlessly, Silco pulled you into his arms as you sobbed. The ferocious kingpin had melted away, leaving the man who loved you more than life itself. You crumpled in his arms, but he gently caught you and lowered you to the ground. Once again, he pulled you in close and you wrapped your arms around him.

You sobbed into his chest, listening to his heart's strong, steady beating. His signature scent enveloped you. Cigar smoke and the deep leather and wood of his cologne soothed you. Silco’s long, slender fingers stroked your hair as he murmured comforting words into your ear.

“Shhh… I’ve got you. It’s alright. I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere. That sick bastard can’t hurt you anymore. Nobody will ever hurt you again.”

Join my taglist here

Tagging some friends: @saradika @milf-plokoon @hereforthesunrise @ashotofspotchka @thebeardedmoon @eriseffigy @dont-mess-with-my-fandom @redflamesbaku @my-awakened-ghost @agatemermaid @shadow-pancake9 @zaunsin @warpedbands @kemeso25 @ironandglass @nyx2021 @lemmielem

#Silco #silco x reader #silco x you #silco arcane #for the love of god read the warnings #arcane x reader #arcane fanfiction #silco fanfic #silco fanfiction #arcane fanfic

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waltwhitmansbeard · 11 months

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hello! a few hours from now, the epilogue of go on, claim my heart, the my fair lady sequel, is gonna be posting, so i wanted to take a minute to thank everyone who has stopped by my lil corner of the internet to read what has become my largest writing project to date. i had no idea what i was getting myself into when i first started writing mfl, especially not half a year of feverish, near-obsessive plotting and writing and rewriting this story that would not leave me alone. a lot of things fell to the wayside as i wrote mfl and gocmh, and i don't regret any of it, because i can safely say that this is the writing that i am the most proud of.

i want to thank @romeoandjulietyouwish in particular for her graciously allowing me to play in her sandbox. no one's mind works like lis's, and as i have said before, she comes up with so many fucking stellar ideas that she leaves crumbs for the rest of us, so i'm super grateful that she's so kind about letting us take those crumbs and make them our own. mfl wouldn't exist without you, lis, so thank you, thank you, thank you.

i also could not wrap this series without calling out the two best readers a girl could ask for, @ravendruid and @crispysnake. y'all are fucking unhinged, but it is the exact energy that every writer needs to keep going. i can't tell you the number of times a drabble or chapter posted that i wasn't particularly fond of that you two completely changed my opinion about. you two are the kindest, most enthusiastic, most generous readers, and i'm so lucky that you're also my friends. please continue to be absolutely batshit in my tags; it's the only thing that keeps me going.

(also @otterlycaleb made fucking ART about this shit, what the fuck what the fuck what the FUCK—)

a hopefully but probably not quick note about the future of mfl: today, like literally right now, i am in the middle of my first day of work at a brand new job, one that will require me to move my entire life halfway across the country, back to my hometown. it is big and scary and exhilarating and everything i've been hoping for, and i feel so, so lucky. this does mean that for the next little bit, while i learn a new job and pick up my shit and drive cross-country, i will probably be less able to write long or short fics, so i hope y'all don't mind me shutting up for the first time in forever. that being said, while i have absolutely no plans to write a third installment in the mfl 'verse, that doesn't mean there isn't more to say (as y'all will find out in like three and a half hours lol). i fully plan on still writing tmwiw drabbles set before, during, and after mfl/gocmh, and i will still be accepting prompts and requests for drabbles set in this 'verse until i say otherwise. mfl will always occupy an inordinate amount of my brain space, and i refuse to not share that with y'all.

additionally! starting very soon (like, maybe tomorrow? we'll see how busy i am, lol), i will be posting to ao3 the entirety of the mfl 'verse in chronological order. every chapter, one-shot, and drabble, in the order that they happened. another massive shout-out to @ravendruid for being my own personal lore-keeper on this; she read every single mfl chapter, tmwiw drabble, and one-shot to help me get this shit in order. the ao3 work will be titled i've come a long, long way (also from "my fair lady" by kaleo, are we seeing a pattern here?), and the plan is to post five chapters a day until the whole thing is up (although, again, with the moving this might get a lil wibbly wobbly). there will be some additional proofreading edits to these chapters (sometimes i can't spell!!) but nothing about the substance of these chapters will change, so this is just for people who like their stories to be told chronologically (fucking weirdos). this work will only be available on ao3, although it will be linked on my mfl masterpost.

ok, i think i am done for now. i have taken up enough of your time, in so many more ways than one. thank you again, if you read every single installment of the mfl saga or if you just read a paragraph. all of it means the world to me, and i know i never would have continued past the first chapter if i weren't part of such a wonderful, loving, generous, brilliant community. i've only been watching critical role for just over a year now, part of the fandom for even less than that, and i can't believe i haven't always had y'all in my life. please continue to love and support each other, and thank you for loving and supporting me.

#me #my fair lady

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itsavgbltpta · 1 month

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Should You Watch Undead Murder Farce?

(Japanese title: Undead Girl Murder Farce)

A Brief Summary

In an alternate universe where demons and monsters still exist, one half-oni is living out his days in a fight club, just waiting to die. That is, until a genius detective manages to catch his eye. With promises of extending his life in an exchange to end her immortal one, the two pair up - along with the detective’s maid who happens to be handy with a rifle. The trio solves some mysteries in Japan before going global, searching for the man who wronged them both and meeting some familiar literary figures along the way.

With so many scheming people together - friend and foe - it’s a battle of who can out-think and out-detective each other in order to win the day.

So, should you watch the anime?

Yes!

To be fair, I have a predilection for media (shows, books, whatever) where geniuses keep trying to out-do each other. I love a person with a plan that’s thinking 30 steps ahead in 5D chess. And this show is abundant with that character type. I also like it when a show can keep me on my toes. Undead Murder Farce kept up a lot of mystery throughout, which also makes it kind of hard to talk about in fear of spoiling things.

The season is made up of several arcs, each 2-3 episode arc involving a specific mystery to be solved. There is also a general mystery tying things together and giving reasons for our characters to come together. Our detective trio often clashes with an organization made up of supernatural beings, sometime works alongside vigilantes, and tend to end up meeting a whole lot of interesting folk.

I was a bit skeptical when the show made a change from the Japanese setting to Merry Olde England, and also wary for our detective hero party to suddenly be in the realm of probably the most well known detective in all fiction, but this show managed to pull it off. Sherlock didn’t steal the show. Lupin may have. ;)

One of my least favorite characters in Undead Murder Farce is the maid body-guard. She didn’t seem to have much point in the plot-line besides being sullen and getting into certain… situations… but you know what, I bet there are people who really like her and those situations, so I’m not upset, lol.

The animation is really nice and action sequences flow well. I am a fan of the character design so that gets a win from me, but I know that’s always a subjective thing. But if you like any of the faces you see in the image for this article, then you’ll be good to go.

I have to mention the absolute banger of an OP this anime has as well. It gave me big K-Pop vibes (in a good way). I did a little digging and the group that performs the OP is part of the K-Pop world, so I guess that vibe makes sense. It’s a song I can easily recall even half a year later (which is kind of a rarity with the amount of anime I watch), and it sparked joy every week.

For me, characters are a big part of what makes me enjoy a story, so what kind of characters does Undead Murder Farce have jam-packed within each mystery-solving episode?

A slightly perverted and laid-back Rakugo-styled half-oni experiment that can put up a mean fight with a smile always on his face (Tsugaru).

An immortal genius looking for someone to end said immortality - oh and also looking for her body as she’s currently just a very intelligent head in a cage (Aya Rindou).

A military-esque maid who can keep up with the monsters around her, though she also somehow ends up in rather sapphic situations (Shizuku).

A gentleman thief that’s always a few steps ahead of his detective opponents and tends to add a dramatic flourish to all he does (Arsene Lupin).

The big detective himself, full of snark and confident that he is the alpha detective in Europe, despite the supernatural competition (Sherlock Holmes).

The epitome of a polished lady who isn’t afraid to show off her assets and also sink her teeth - quite literally - into anyone who gets in her way (Carmilla).

Plus a whole heaping of other figures from literature and supernatural origins, including the mother-fucking Phantom of the Opera. Just because.

I skipped on a few key spoiler characters as this anime is all about mystery, and who am I to give it away?

Where does it rate on my personal scale?

S: I will buy it at full price (unless it’s released by Aniplex USA, because fuck their pricing).

->A: I will buy it on sale sometime down the line.

B: I had fun watching it, but don’t need to own it.

C: It’s not my cup of tea, but wasn’t awful.

D: Dropped it.

X: Finished it out of spite, but did not enjoy it.

Undead Murder Farce was a lot of fun to watch, so it gets an A ranking from me. It was probably my favorite anime of the summer 2023 season, and the show I most looked forward to watching every week. While some mysteries were solved in the 12 episodes that aired, we’re still missing a resolution for the over-arching plot lines. I very much hope we get a season 2!

#anime #anime review #itsavgbltpta #should you watch the anime #undead murder farce #undead girl murder farce

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clove-pinks · 2 years

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I try not to work blue on main, but one of these days I am going to do an Eighteen-Thirties Thursday After Dark—I have the material. I think the five shillings price on 'Fanny Hill's Bang-up Reciter' is from the 1965 reprint, not the original 1835 and 1836 printings. (That would be a VERY expensive flash songster in the 1830s, even allowing that people might pay a premium for bawdy song books). You can download the pdf in the link!

The illustration is from the song "Cock Travelling", about a nice young man who um, purchases a young rooster, and while at first he plans to ride outside the coach, "cock in hand", soon two young women invite him inside.

They view'd his cock with much delight

And said, as he was so polite,

Sooner than he should not ride,

Why, he might bring his cock inside;

To which the coachman did agree,

So off we set again with glee !

We had not travelled far, when lo !

His cock did raise its head up so,

That one of the fair maids did say,

"Pray what's the cause your cock won't lay?

What makes it look so very red,

So stiff and spruce about the head?"

"Fair lady, it is quite unruly

I'll tell you what's the cause and truly,

Before you, you have got a muff,

Which appears both warm and rough.

If you will give him shelter there,

But one half hour in your care.

He'll lay his head down quiet.

And for many an hour he will not stand !"

So there you have it: you could definitely say cock in the 1830s as a slang term for the Virile Member. (All of these bawdy song books are a lesson in, "Oh, they could use THAT word? They knew about that?")

Anecdotally, I have come across 'prick' for penis in the early to mid 19th century, not 'dick' or 'cock'. I didn't think they said cock, but clearly they had that slang word; and this puts a new spin on Marryat's 1830s novels that use expressions like "my cock" for an arrogant man. The surface meaning is still cocky, arrogant, strutting like a rooster etc., but a double entendre could be understood.

#1830s #Eighteen-Thirties Thursday #bawdy songs #language #slang #content warning for randy friskey licentious and slap-up flash songs

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mittenwonders · 1 month

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I watched part 1 of that documentary “Quiet on Set” last night.

fair warning ⚠️ I might include spoilers so if you haven’t seen it & plan to, this is not the post to read.⚠️

I wasn’t shocked by what went on but I guess my shock lies more with the grown ass adults who enabled all this. Here are some of my takeaways.

People really will do anything for money. Many of these kids were just that - kids. The parents had final say at the end of the day. They saw what was going on, had red flags and concerns, and they still went along with it because it was money and fame.

The poor girl who overhead her parents getting a phone call from the producer saying she was getting fat. And that don’t work because they already had a fat girl. There can’t be two.

I am aware it was a different time in the 90s and female writers were not prominent. However, going from an actual paying temp job to a writer who has to share their salary with another female writer because the studio does not want to pay for two females while giving males full salary is a hell to the fuck no. These women also let this man humiliate and degrade them in front of their writing peers by making them eat pints of ice cream quickly and yelling things like “I’m a slut.” I don’t think any job is really worth that especially one that picks and chooses when to pay you.

I was glad the one lady did file a lawsuit for a hostile work environment and discrimination but clearly nothing came out of it. She was given money to essentially shut up.

Back to the parents - it’s a known fact that a parent must always accompany a minor on set. Why these parents let their kids just go off with PA’s while parents were told they weren’t allowed in the sets or rooms for read throughs is beyond me. That PA was the man arrested for p€do stuff btw.

The mom who let her daughter constantly talk and email with the on set PA who was a “friend.” Your daughter is 9!!! What business does she have emailing a 20 something year old? Because he promised he could help your daughter get work? Then when he sends her an inappropriate photo, your first reaction is to not call the police because “they would think I’m a bad mom.” WTAF!? So by not reporting it, she let that man continue to work & be around other children for more years. You allowed it to continue because you were so self absorbed.

I have realized everyone’s morals and gut instincts go out the window the moment higher up’s dangle a carrot in front of their face promising them more roles or ways to move up.

No one thought it was weird all these kids were suddenly seeking emancipation from their parents? That meant they could work them longer against child labor laws as they wouldn’t need parental consent.

And finally what we’ve all already known. HW is just a toxic cesspool and there’s no morals or ethics there. I honestly don’t know how people choose to work in it. But I also get it to a degree psychology wise. They keep everyone living in their own little bubble. They’re all groomed and gaslit constantly. It’s almost like brain washing to be honest. No one has any concept of the real world outside of what they tell people to do. It’s constant fear tactics used to keep people in line when the reality is if more people just spoke up, what they gonna do? Can’t shut everyone up to make them stay quiet. So much of this could have been prevented if people weren’t so scared and stood together to say nah this is fucked up.

Part 2 will be interesting as Drake Bell finally gets to tell his story of abuse on set. While I get this is mostly geared towards what happened and occurred at Nickelodeon studios, I only hope this is the start of more actors, writers, directors speaking out. We all know this abuse goes well beyond Nick. Disney and others were just as bad sadly and even what adult entertainers go through as well. Hopefully this is the start of change for that corrupt industry.

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nostalgicacademia · 2 years

Text

Letters of Jane Austen

Goodnestone Farm: Tuesday, August 27, 1805.

MY DEAR CASSANDRA,

We had a very pleasant drive from Canterbury, and reached this place about half-past four, which seemed to bid fair for a punctual dinner at five; but scenes of great agitation awaited us, and there was much to be endured and done before we could sit down to table.

Harriot found a letter from Louisa Hatton, desiring to know if she and her brothers were to be at the ball at Deal on Friday, and saying that the Eastwell family had some idea of going to it, and were to make use of Rowling if they did; and while I was dressing she came to me with another letter in her hand, in great perplexity. It was from Captain Woodford, containing a message from Lady Forbes, which he had intended to deliver in person, but had been prevented from doing.

The offer of a ticket for this grand ball, with an invitation to come to her house at Dover before and after it, was Lady Forbes' message. Harriot was at first very little inclined, or rather totally disinclined, to profit by her ladyship's attention; but at length, after many debates, she was persuaded by me and herself together to accept the ticket. The offer of dressing and sleeping at Dover she determined on Marianne's account to decline, and her plan is to be conveyed by Lady Elizabeth Hatton.

I hope their going is by this time certain, and will be soon known to be so. I think Miss H. would not have written such a letter if she had not been all but sure of it, and a little more. I am anxious on the subject, from the fear of being in the way if they do not come to give Harriot a conveyance. I proposed and pressed being sent home on Thursday, to prevent the possibility of being in the wrong place, but Harriot would not hear of it.

There is no chance of tickets for the Mr. Bridgeses, as no gentlemen but of the garrison are invited.

With a civil note to be fabricated to Lady F., and an answer written to Miss H., you will easily believe that we could not begin dinner till six. We were agreeably surprised by Edward Bridges' company to it. He had been, strange to tell, too late for the cricket match, too late at least to play himself, and, not being asked to dine with the players, came home. It is impossible to do justice to the hospitality of his attentions towards me; he made a point of ordering toasted cheese for supper entirely on my account.

We had a very agreeable evening, and here I am before breakfast writing to you, having got up between six and seven; Lady Brydges' room must be good for early rising.

Mr. Sankey was here last night, and found his patient better, but I have heard from a maid-servant that she has had but an indifferent night.

Tell Elizabeth that I did not give her letter to Harriot till we were in the carriage, when she received it with great delight, and could read it in comfort.

As you have been here so lately, I need not particularly describe the house or style of living, in which all seems for use and comfort; nor need I be diffuse on the state of Lady Brydges' bookcase and corner-shelves upstairs. What a treat to my mother to arrange them!

Harriot is constrained to give up all hope of seeing Edward here to fetch me, as I soon recollected that Mr. and Mrs. Charles Knatchbull's being at Godmersham on Thursday must put it out of the question.

Had I waited till after breakfast, the chief of all this might have been spared. The Duke of Gloucester's death sets my heart at ease, though it will cause some dozens to ache. Harriot's is not among the number of the last; she is very well pleased to be spared the trouble of preparation. She joins me in best love to you all, and will write to Elizabeth soon. I shall be very glad to hear from you, that we may know how you all are, especially the two Edwards.

I have asked Sophie if she has anything to say to Lizzy in acknowledgment of the little bird, and her message is that, with her love, she is very glad Lizzy sent it. She volunteers, moreover, her love to little Marianne, with the promise of bringing her a doll the next time she goes to Godmersham.

John is just come from Ramsgate, and brings a good account of the people there. He and his brother, you know, dine at Nackington; we are to dine at four, that we may walk afterwards. As it is now two, and Harriot has letters to write, we shall probably not get out before.

Yours affectionately,

J.A.

#pride and prejudice moodboard #jane austen letter #letter #regency period #regency era #regency #jane austen #pride and prejudice #aesthetic #moodboard #edit #aes #literature #lit #dark academia #book #da

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milarqui · 1 year

Text

Scarlet Lady: Animan

Directory | Intermission

From his vantage point, he could see Marinette and Alya animatedly talking about something that (apparently) required the former to wave her hands around while showing something.

“Hmm...” This plan he had come up with would require some work to put into practice, particularly –

“Uh, Nino? Any particular reason you've been ogling Marinette so much lately?”

“AH!” he shouted: Adrien had not only come up from behind him, but was also giving him a rather unhealthy (for him) glower. Well, maybe he could have a bit of fun. “Ah, man, you caught me. Truth is I'm totally crushing on Marinette.”

Adrien's made a noise that was somewhere between a growl and a whimper, as his face became pale and he began to tremble.

“O-Oh, awesome, I hope you'll be h-happy–” Adrien somehow managed to say through clenched teeth.

“Dude, I was kidding,” he replied, thinking that maybe he had underestimated how bad Adrien had it for Marinette, before noticing something red coming out of his friend's mouth. “Is that blood?”

Adrien shook his head and pulled a handkerchief from a pocket to wipe out the blood. While still worried for him, it looked like it wasn't serious, so he turned to his plan.

“I've been thinking of ways to hook you up, dude. Like, maybe you can ask her to the new panther exhibit at the zoo!”

“Nino,” Adrien replied. “I can't ask Marinette out. I have no time or energy thanks to my... job.”

“No way!” he exclaimed. “You've been way livelier lately! Even your Pops has let you have more fun! You should at least try!”

“That's... true,” Adrien admitted, looking down at his hands. “Can... can I really? Is it possible? Am I allowed?!”

Man, he was sparkling like an animated character.

“Bro, it's just a date.”

Nonetheless, he pulled him towards the girls, who had just stopped their talk and started to leave the place.

“Hey Alya, Marinette!” Adrien greeted as they came close.

“Hey guys!” Marinette replied.

“Have you heard about the new panther exhibit at the zoo?”

“Oh, yeah, it's all my dad talks about since the panther's quarantine ended,” Alya said, smiling. “Did I tell you that's why we moved? Dad switched zoos with it.”

“Well, wanna check it out together?” he suggested.

“Sure, sounds fun!” Marinette agreed. Score!

“Fair warning, don't engage my dad in front of the animals. He gets so weird,” Alya warned them.

----

The girls agreed to meet them in a while, and the two of them quickly dropped their things at their homes before meeting again.

“A date with Marinette!” he said. It was the one thing he had been hoping for so long. He turned to his best friend. “Hey, should I get her flowers? Or a present!”

“Whoa, slow your roll!” Nino exclaimed, smiling. “We're testing the waters with a chill hangout, remember?”

“Yeah, you're right,” he agreed. He had to make sure that Marinette was interested in him, or at least willing to try, before he could begin.

“Don't worry, man, soon you'll be asking her out on a real date, and then you pull out the smooth moves.”

He laughed.

He had been blessed that day when he sat in the front row.

“You're awesome for setting this up, Nino.”

----

Up above the two boys, a blonde girl growled in anger.

----

She wasn't going to complain.

She had seen this too many times.

“This is hopeless! Nothing will disguise my beauty!”

It was going to be useless, but she was going to try anyway.

“Chloé, this is ridiculous,” she said as Chloé picked a pair of boots. “Adrien is free to date whoever he wants!”

“Of course he is!” Chloé replied. She just waited for – “As long as it's me!”

There it was.

“But why'd he choose the stinky, sweaty, gross zoo?! I'll have to talk to him about his lack of consideration for me.”

“Ugh.” What a wonder, this girl's mind was. Able to mold reality to fit her narrow-minded beliefs.

“The sacrifices I make for love.”

“You don't have to–”

“SACRIFICES!”

----

“I'm surprised you agreed to a date, Marinette,” Alya said as they waited at a picnic table, already inside the zoo.

“Huh? This isn't a date, we're just hanging out,” Marinette replied.

“Hm. I guess you could see it that way.”

“Wait...” Marinette said, and Alya could detect the tone was the kind she really didn't want to hear. “Alya, do you want this to be a date? With Nino?”

Alya felt her cheeks redden and tried to hide her face from her inquisitive friend's look.

“We've already established it's not a date, so why does it matter?”

A look aside to the widely grinning Marinette told her it was too late.

“Oh no.”

Fortunately for her, something interrupted Marinette before she could squee like one of Adrien's fangirls.

“Hey, Marinette, Alya!”

“Hm?” Alya mumbled, smiling upon the face of her saviors, one of whom was waving hello at them. “Hi Max! Hi Kim!”

“Not here with your girlfriend?” Marinette asked.

“Nah, we're having guy time!” Kim said, flexing his biceps. “We're gonna see the new panther to see how I measure up!”

“Measure up?” Alya asked.

“Yeah, like, speedwise.”

Max's face told pretty much what he thought of it.

“How do you plan to measure that?” Marinette asked.

----

As Max and Kim split off, Marinette looked in the distance and saw two familiar figures, one of them waving a hand.

“There they are!” she told Alya, standing up and waving at their friends. “OVER HERE!”

“M, I'm telling you right now, don't do anything weird,” Alya demanded.

“Whaaat? We're just having a nice, no pressure day out with the guys!” she replied, but Alya didn't look convinced.

“Mhmm.”

Looking away, she unconsciously slipped into what her father called her 'slasher movie special' (which was ironic, given her hatred of horror movies).

And if me and Adrien accidentally leave you two alone halfway through, that's just a coincidence, she gleefully thought.

“You have a terrible poker face,” Alya fired.

----

Ughhhh... the only good thing about today seemed to be that she'd be out.

“Grr, look at those gross idiots! I need to get closer!” Chloé said, 'hiding' behind a newspaper with holes at eye height.

Sometimes she pondered how she hadn't gone mad yet.

“Maybe you'd do better in the bushes. Where you can sit in shame.”

Oh, right. The chance to snark at her. And mess with her stuff. Even if she barely realized it.

“As if! My plan is so original and genius, just watch!”

And she sat on a chair and hid behind the newspaper again.

Should she feel pity over this? Because there was no way she could be this dumb.

Wait. She was this dumb.

There was even a man right next to her, doing the exact same thing – down to the newspaper.

Although, who was that man spying?

----

“STOP! YOU CAN'T COMPETE WITH MY PANTHER, KID!”

Marinette could hear Alya's father from the distance, which really didn't bide well for the next exhibit, the panther. Which already had Kim in front of it.

Which probably explained why Alya's father was shouting that.

“Whatever, it's clear I'm the hot one!”

Yeah, that did it.

“Whoa, Kim, you wanna race a panther? Do you like being lunch?” Adrien asked, amused, as she looked at the animal.

“Ha, I can take'em!”

“Go!” Otis ordered, angry. “My panther needs calm during her meal and you're stressing her out!”

“Then shouldn't you feed her in the back, away from the public?” Marinette asked, and from the way Alya's father's face went red, it was obvious that he hadn't considered that option.

“Get out or I'll have you banned from this zoo!”

“Dad, no,” Alya said, exhausted.

----

He had sensed the man's anger from his home, and, seeing how strong it was, and what kind of power it could play out, he decided he could make for a good chance.

“Animan,” he said, “I'm giving you the chance to get revenge.”

“Excellent! How dare those kids disrespect my panther, thinking they can outrun her?!”

He blinked. He had heard way too many dumb reasons for people to get angry about (some of them from the Enchanted Florist)... and somehow this was the worst of all.

“... really?”

Well, dumb reason or not, it was enough to get what he wanted out of him.

----

“Well, that was... interesting,” Nino said as he delivered the drinks, noting Alya's still embarrassed face. “Where to next?”

“I'd like to see the giraffes,” Adrien suggested as he and Marinette accepted their drinks.

“I'd rather go to the reptile house,” Alya replied. “Faaar away from panthers.”

“I'll go with you!” Nino offered, and Marinette realized this was the golden moment she had hoped for.

“Let's split and meet up later! I'll go with Adrien!”

“Yeah, okay!” Adrien agreed, smiling.

And then disaster struck.

“Oh, Adrichou! What a coincidence meeting you here!”

“C-Chloé?!” Adrien replied, dropping his drink from the impulse of being pushed by the irritant now hanging on his arm. Fortunately, he managed to make her let him loose and glared at her. “Wow, Chloé, wild that you're here, where I am, without me telling you.”

“Must be our deep connection,” Chloé replied. Marinette stuck her tongue at the stalking girl, irritated that she was (a) messing her plan to get her friends together and (b) disturbing Adrien.

Adrien, for his part, gave Chloé a glare.

“You weren't invited, Chloé, you can't just–”

“AHHHHH!”

Suddenly, Max and Kim were passing by them, running as if the devil was behind.

“GET TO SHELTER!”

“GET OUT OF HERE!”

Looking in the direction the duo had been running from, they realized why.

Somehow, all the animals had escaped their enclosures.

Again.

Come on, it took us hours to get you back here last month! Adrien and Marinette lamented.

“AH!”

“SCATTER!”

----

Adrien was a tad irritated. Chloé had prevented him from finally being alone with Marinette, and now this?

“We were so close to going off on our own, Plagg, CLAWS OUT!”

----

“Ha!” Chloé laughed. Her plan had worked perfectly! “Now their 'date' is ruined, I win! Tikki, SPOTS ON!”

----

She had been this close to finally giving her best friend the chance to be alone with Nino!

“This was Alya's big break, so annoying! Pollen, BUZZ ON!”

----

The heroes quickly entered the scene, and managed to protect the civilians, forcing the wild animals to stop and distracting them.

“Get OFF you overgrown handbags!” Scarlet Lady shouted as she smacked a panther with her yo-yo.

Meanwhile, Chat Noir was twirling his baton to keep a giraffe away, all while Kim looked at the event, transfixed.

“Get out of here, Kim!” Chat Noir ordered, and the boy shook himself off and ran away, thanking him for the help.

Marigold noticed two other people were still there, trying not to put their backs to any of the animals, and saw her chance.

She grabbed Alya.

“Ah!”

She grabbed Nino.

“Whoa!”

She pushed them both into the now empty panther enclosure and slammed the door.

“Stay safe!♥” she said with a smile, jumping back into the fight.

“HUH?!” both of them replied, still in shock.

----

It took Alya a while to realize what had just happened. And what it entailed.

“Nonononono!” she yelled.

“Alya?” Nino asked, worried.

“This can't be happening!”

“What's wrong?”

“My dad's an Akuma and I'm stuck in here instead of getting footage, which is the onlyreasonI'mrelevantbecauseScarletLadyonlyworkswithrealreporters–“

Alya's sudden panic spiral was cut short when a pair of headphones blocked all sound save for the ones it emitted, and she turned to Nino, who was smiling at her and saying something she didn't quite catch, but looked like... something about breathing?

“... I can't hear you,” she replied. Taking off one of the headphones, she was able to hear him.

“Missing one Akuma won't ruin you,” Nino suggested. “You can still make a blog post about it.”

“I guess,” she admitted.

“And maybe try interviewing the other heroes.”

“That's a good idea...”

And then she began to listen to the actual song. It had no lyrics, but it was really cool, full of rhythm and intensity.

“This is a good song,” she said, amazed.

“Really? I mixed it myself!” Nino replied, and Alya took off the headphones.

“What software do you use?! I can never get background noise out of my videos!”

Nino laughed gently.

Wow, I've never seen him so close, a part of Alya noted, as she got closer.

“Maybe listen to more of my stuff before deciding my advice is worth it,” Nino said, but Alya knew she wanted to know.

She laughed.

And she grabbed his DJ hand with her writer hand.

----

Unfortunately, the heroes weren't having as good a time as the lovebirds. Right now, they had had to jump to the higher point they could find to avoid the animals, and even then the giraffes and elephants weren't looking friendly.

“There's too many of them!” Marigold admitted.

“Then what do you suggest, Stinkbug?!” Scarlet Lady yelled.

“Back to roots: defeat the Akuma and the animals will be captured!” Chat Noir suggested.

With some effort, the three of them jumped at the roof of the nearest enclosure and made their way to one that offered a better vantage point.

“Where did you go...” Marigold mumbled, looking around.

“There!” Chat Noir shouted, pointing at a passage that only had two beings.

One was a panther that did not look like the one that had been freed earlier.

The other...

“KIM!” Marigold shouted.

“He's really going to eat him!” Chat Noir realized.

And all of them realized as well.

All because he said he was faster than a panther?!

Seriously, people needed to get some priorities in order...

Realizing that Kim was clearly tired from running away, Marigold and Chat Noir jumped between the Akuma and him. While Marigold twirled her spinning top to prevent the Akuma from advancing, Chat Noir allowed him to take a breath and gave him a pat in the back.

“Quick, hide in the first building you find!”

Kim nodded and started to run again. While he trusted the heroes, he knew they wouldn't be able to do this forever. And the less work they had to do protecting him, the better.

“You won't get away this time!” Marigold declared, trying to find the way to paralyze the Akuma.

“You will never catch me!” the Akuma declared, and suddenly its black skin turned into feathers as he became an eagle.

“He transformed!” Scarlet Lady pointed out.

“And is getting away,” Marinette lamented.

“No worries, I tagged Kim so we can beat him there!” Chat Noir told the girls, and Marigold smiled.

“Well played, kitty,” she complimented, starting to scratch his chin as he happily purred.

God, he was so adorable!

Scarlet Lady made a disgusted face.

“Be gross on your own time,” she complained.

----

Chat Noir eventually began to track down Kim, whom they ended up finding at Marinette's parents' boulangerie. And Marigold took point as they entered the delicious, delicious-smelling shop.

“Hello, Ma–uh, Ma'am,” Marigold greeted Sabine and Tom, who had helped an exhausted Kim into a chair.

“Oh, but you're–!” Sabine said.

“Ohoho! Yes, it is I, your hero–” Scar claimed, but was interrupted.

“Marigold!”

Seeing Scar silently thundering about being slighted was hilarious, and he had to cover his mouth to avoid being heard.

“It's so nice to meet you!” Sabine stated, picking Marigold's hand – making her look awkward for some reason.

“A-Ah, thanks!”

----

The embarrassment of her parents welcoming her to the boulangerie past, she had led Kim to the hall and realized something: if the Akuma was like an animal and could track Kim by smell, then there might be a way to trick him into a trap.

But they couldn't put Kim at risk, obviously.

There were other ways of doing it, though.

“Can we borrow that?” she asked, pointing at one of his wristbands.

“Sure,” Kim replied, trusting her, as he immediately took off the wristband. She was thankful that she was wearing gloves, because the band was kinda sweaty.

“Ew, newbee, what do you want that for?!” Scarlet Lady complained.

“We're gonna lure the beast into a cage, obviously!”

----

The plan was simple, really: put the wristband in one of the many empty buses nearby, wait for the Akuma to show up, and trap him.

The first part worked, as the Akuma – back in his panther form – pounced into the bus, only to find too late that the smell that had led him there was not that of Kim, but of one of his clothes.

“WHAT?!”

“He's in! Now, Chat Noir!” Marigold said, and Chat Noir jumped into the bus.

“Cataclysm!” he shouted, destroying the door controls, and he jumped back out just as the bus doors closed, with the panther only just crashing into the doors.

“Nice!” Marigold declared. “Now we just let him tire himself out!”

Suddenly, the panther transformed once more – but this time, he picked a rather larger form, large enough to break through the roof of the bus.

“Oh yeah, he looks real tired out!” Scarlet Lady yelled in annoyance as the Tyrannosaurus Rex climbed out of the bus.

Chat Noir quickly jumped at his head, intent on distracting him.

“Get the F–” the akuma said, but Chat Noir yelled over him.

“GET HIS LEGS!”

“DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!” an annoyed Scarlet Lady shouted back, hitting the dinosaur's leg with nothing to show for it. Instead, it was the spinning top that tangled its legs together.

“I got him!” Marigold said, and picked up the top. “VENOM!”

Jumping at the Akuma's head, she stabbed him with the tip of the top, quickly paralyzing him and causing him to collapse on the ground, with Chat Noir jumping off just in time.

“That was easy,” he admitted. “Thank you Venom!”

“Right?” Marigold said, smiling. “No one even got to jump in his mouth!”

“Ew!”.

----

Tikki enjoyed a cookie, doing her best not to let her wielder annoy her too much with her attempts to claim success.

“I did such a good job today. Stopped Maribrat from being alone with Adrichou, ruined their date, defeated the Akuma without even using my Lucky Charm. I'm too good for Paris.”

Alright, mission failed.

I'm going to throw out her hairspray while she sleeps.

----

The two of them had been let out by the zoo workers, so they could also return the animals back to their enclosures, and now they were just waiting for their friends to show up again.

“Sorry, sorry!” one of them said, running into the scene.

“We're here, we're here!” the other added, huffing.

“Hey, glad you're okay!” she replied, waving at the two.

“Did you get chased far?” he asked, a bit worried.

“Yeah, I–”

Then, their friends noticed they were holding hands.

“Whooooa!”

“What is this?!”

“OOOOH!” both said in unison, pointing at said joined hands.

She turned to her boyfriend – her boyfriend! – and sighed.

“Told you they'd make it weird.”

“Wha– When– How?!” Adrien asked, surprised, while Marinette wiggled with a wide smile.

“Marigold locked us in the same cage all afternoon,” she replied.

“Turns out we have a lot in common: an interest in video editing...” he said.

“Really young siblings...” she added.

Then they gave smug glares at Adrien and Marinette.

“Best friends that ditch them.”

“Eheheh!” both awkwardly laughed.

----

Fortunately, since nothing bad (or too bad) had happened, Adrien and Marinette were forgiven, and they split off once again.

“Hey, man, congrats!” Adrien told Nino while giving him a one-arm hug, and Nino smiled.

“Thanks, dude!”

Adrien's eyes opened, and suddenly the cheerful atmosphere turned kinda oppressive.

“Pretty amazing you got a girlfriend when you're supposed to be wingmanning for me.”

“M-My bad.”

----

Meanwhile, Alya had a bone to pick with Marinette.

“Girl, I told you not to be weird but you totally tried to dip on purpose,” she complained, and Marinette tried to put a surprised face.

“Whaaat? I just wanted to see the elephants!”

Alya gave her an irritated gaze.

“It was giraffes.”

----

After being told what had happened, Otis felt quite embarrassed of his actions and how they had affected everyone. He had been lucky that he had only been sent home early and that this issue would be written down in his file: if it weren't for the fact that Akumatized people were not blamed for the actions taken under Hawkmoth's influence, he could have been fired.

“How embarrassing,” he complained, after the twins mobbed him and asked what had happened.

“I'm home!”

“Alya!” Ella exclaimed, as his second daughter entered the room. He had to apologize, fast!

“Listen Alya, Dad didn't mean to ruin your day out! You know how I get when people stress out my–”

But then Alya gently kissed him in the cheek and danced away, humming a song he had never heard.

While he was glad that she was fine now, he wondered what in the blazes had happened while he was possessed to make her so happy.

----

Puppeteer

@zoe-oneesama If only Animan could prey on Hawkmoth...

Alright, we're getting (slowly) closer to the end of Season 3!

BTW, not counting the 18 empty pages reserved to begin all the chapters I have yet to do, this story stands now at 321 pages in Times New Roman size 12.

#scarlet lady the novel #fanfiction #milarqui #long post #marinette dupain cheng #marigold #adrien agreste #chat noir #animan #alya cesaire #nino lahiffe

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chidoroki · 1 year

Text

Black Clover ch354

Fair warning that I am going to ramble on quite a bit this time and it’s all thanks to Lucius who decided to be the clever, little villain he is and conjure up a plan that I had very much feared for my own well being and the great turmoil it would inflict on some favorite characters of mine. That plan consisting of bringing even more powerful mages back to life, specifically those such as Morgen and Acier. (I also figured he’d revive people like Lumiere or Licita as well, but nope, not yet anyways. Or he might not at all, I dunno.) Now for Morgen, there’s no way I could’ve anticipated him in this first panel. Acier however? OH I noticed her INSTANTLY. All thanks to those Silva sandals of hers. We’ve seen Noelle so often throughout the story (and me personally rewatching/rereading many of Nozel’s moments too) that the family’s choice in footwear is just so noticeable. Chances are I might’ve recognized Morgen right away had I focused on his chapters more too, but I didn’t. My flimsy point here is my nerves were sent straight to the edge right from the beginning and it’s almost hilarious how quick a tiny shoe detail instilled so much fear and anticipation into my heart.

As I hoped last chapter, we skip right to judgement day, which I’m sorta on the fence about now that I think about it? Yea I’m real glad we’re finally back in Clover, but still kinda wish we got to see how everyone else prepared for the fight, or their efforts to try and find Asta. We could very well get flashbacks to both later on so I’m not worried. And if we don’t, then whatever, it’s fine. I’m very excited to see Yuno fight alongside William, however where we’re all located right now is a tiny bit concerning? I understand they evacuated everyone into the noble realm for protection, which is great, but if y’all are gonna fight the big bad threat here, how safe can they truly be, ya know? Regardless of that, I noticed Yuno’s left arm is still bandaged up like it was in ch336 and I dunno if there was a reason for it that I most likely forgot about or what (but if we’re all clueless then oooh mystery~). Oh, and because the previously mentioned footwear got my nerves shot, I also took note of how a certain handsome captain wasn’t included in this rooftop lineup and it got me even more worried that he would indeed encounter the lovely lady in the Silva sandals on his own.

Thankfully I didn’t have to fret much longer to finally see Nozel after patiently waiting for many months! Of course I’m relieved to see Mereoleona, Fuegoleon and Rill too, but also others that haven’t received nearly as much screentime. I genuinely want to see more of Randall and Fragil, and hell, all the Purple Orcas honestly. I feel like they get left out on so much, like we barely see Kaiser and he’s the captain. The only Orca we know a lot about is Zara and he’s..- oh my god, what if Lucius revives him too?? OH NO!.. Ah, I digress, but sure we’ve got glimpses of their magic once or twice before as they each had their brief spotlight, but I wanna see them all have a badass moment of some kind! If this is the final battle then we should see just how strong and capable everyone is, yeah? Also, just realized Dorothy ain’t around? Wonder where she might be.

Keep in mind I’m still highly anticipating a certain steel princess to descend into battle but for now I can at least take a breath and appreciate this short YamiChar moment. Happy to see Charlotte apologizing for running away so much recently but feeling even more giddy at the fact Yami essentially set up a date for the two of them. AND how he remembered she and booze don’t mix well and offered tea instead, like how cute of him is that? Unexpected sweet side of him aside, this man looks so exhausted. Has he been worrying about Asta this whole time? Or judgement day? Or both. Possibly that.

Now the calm before the storm is finally over, much to Jack’s impatient and soon-to-be-temporary relief, as Lucius and a newly revealed Morgen suddenly appear behind the rooftop crew. Yeah it would be easy to confuse Nacht and Morgen with that perpetual smile always on both their faces, but the robe here does sorta kinda resemble that of the Grey Deer of which Morgen was a member of. Jack’s comment does make me wonder where Nacht could be if he hasn’t been seen these past couple of days. No doubt with the other Bulls, possibly attempting to locate Asta or something.

But oohh boy, not even ten seconds into the fight and we already got some serious damage on our side. Morgen straight up broke his blade, put a gashing hole right through his stomach and sliced his arm clean off, all in one move! For a dude who loves to cut things up, this is some horrible irony for Jack. For real I have no idea how he’ll recover from this. Granted, William is close by and could summon up a healing tree or whatever he calls it, but y’all gotta be quick about it! Like, super sonic speed fast considering Morgen has light magic and thanks to Patry we all know how much of a pain that could be.

Silly me was so focused on the Silvas during the raw leaks that I barely even thought about the reunion between Yami and Morgen. Sure I was worried about Nacht seeing him again, if and whenever he does eventually show up, but him and Yami were real close friends too. Looking forward to see dark and light magic clash against each other this time. Ohh and our captain dropped his cig, so you know it’s about to get serious.

Now, I dunno if there’s any relation to having Morris paired against the Crimson Lions, but if there is then it’s certainly not as soul shattering as who Morgen and Acier are set on fighting with. Always down to see our undefeated lioness go all out though. Oh, but in this moment I just realized something.. how would Mereo react knowing that Acier is back? Of course I want the Silva siblings to have their moment against their mother, but damn, I’d love to see both women actually battle for once too! Imagine if this was the one time Acier lost to her.. that’d be pretty sweet.

Okay so now is the time I go full on Nozel fangirl and I won’t apologize for any of it, but y’all.. lemme tell you that this encounter has already got me so emotional (and not much has even happened yet!). Back during ch343, just the tiny possibility of Acier being revived entered my head and it struck me with so much worry, so the fact that it is actually happening right here and now is gonna give me several heart attacks. I was completely fine with the brief moment Nozel and Noelle had with Acier’s soul in 303. It was so touching and that entire chapter is what made me love Nozel so much, as it revealed a lot of his character and finally allowed him to own up to his mistakes, to see how strong and persistent he is and to finally be free. Even though we didn’t get to see anything of the recent year and a half timeskip after Spade, I’m sure he became much more relaxed, since he didn’t have to worry about the curse anymore, and possibly have a more meaningful bond with Noelle. Maybe the whole family is doing better now as a whole too, at least I’d like to hope so. I wanted to see this new, improved Nozel so badly (and I sincerely hope the anime expands on that timeskip one day, whenever it returns), but now I have to endure seeing my man stressed beyond belief because he has to fight the mother he loves and respects so much?? WHY?! I want him happy for once in his life and this is the furthest thing from it! In fact, he looks positively pissed off! I have no doubt his anger is more towards Lucius for pulling off this stunt rather than Acier herself. Not to mention that when Nozel last saw her soul in ch303 she was at peace and finally free in a sense, and now he has to watch her fight again against her own will. Sure he’s probably frightened too, I mean it’s not every day your mom comes back to life in front of your eyes (even in a world with magic), but I think his reaction is an interesting contrast compared to Nebra and Solid. The two of them are in complete shock and look far more upset, which is kinda reasonable since neither one has seen their mother since before her death when she was all frail and weak, so seeing her appear suddenly with all that power has got to be chilling.

Now then, I could very well be in the minority for this, but whenever Noelle does join the battle (because she will, I’m certain), I sorta pray she doesn’t do too much? Of course I want her to finally see her mother since she died when Noelle was so very young, but you guys have no idea how badly I want this fight to center more around Nozel (and the other two siblings, sure). Lemme try and explain. As part of the main cast, we’ve seen Noelle level up and have these grand spotlight moments throughout the entire story. While she and Nozel both played a major part in defeating Megicula, due to their personal reasons of avenging Acier (both) and Lolopechka (Noelle), it was still our Bull who landed the final blow against that devil. At the end of the day I just want a big moment for Nozel okay? And I feel like him having the biggest role in this fight against Acier would be such a wonderful way to go about it. Not to mention that this man is in serious need of some kind of power up. Thankfully he’s been strong throughout the entire story, as is required of a squad captain, and he’s no doubt had fantastic displays of strength in both manga and anime, but we’ve seen him pull out the same spells time and time again. A handful of other captains have improved over the story, such as Yami and his different dark slashes, Mereoleona’s hellfire, Fuegoleon with Salamander, as well as Charlotte, Rill and Jack all stepping it up during the Spade invasion. Of course I enjoy the spells Nozel uses now, but he still deserves a bit of an upgrade. Way back in ch178/ep108, Acier expressed how excited she was to see what spells he’ll learn when he received his grimoire, but never got the chance to see any of it due to her untimely death, so I think now is the perfect moment for him to learn something new to spice things up! Like can we give my man some mercury armor please?? Imagine how damn proud Acier would be. And hell, if Noelle can figured out such a spell then it should be no problem for Nozel. I mean, the story praises his level of mana control all the time. Also think it would be pretty interesting to see similar magic such as steel and mercury fight against one another, even more so that they’re around the same age here, which is kinda funny to think about. At least I think so, right..? Acier was in her early thirties when she passed so Nozel has to be about the same age now with all the timeskips we’ve had since the very beginning. Anyways, I really dunno how well Nebra’s mist and Solid’s water will fair against Acier? I see the two of them providing more support than anything. Again, they also look a bit scared to even attack her. Nozel might not have zetten like the Ryuzen Seven or anti-magic like Asta (both methods that proved to defeat paladins), but I’m sure that he certainly has the resolve to fight back. The ch303 flashback showed us how badly he had wanted to save Acier from the curse and the regret of having failed and believing he “killed” her due to watching helplessly. He can certainly redeem himself (in his own mind, I personally have ages ago) during this fight and prove he did indeed become stronger than her by stopping Lucius’ control over her with little to no hesitation. Long ramble aside, I just think it would be far more impactful for Nozel to fight (& win) against Acier due to his magic, history and feelings revolving around Acier rather than Noelle coming in later and claiming another victory solely because it’s her mother she’s never seen or spent time with before.

Oh, also wanted to mention this but the previous chunk of text was getting hella long already, but I wonder how Acier feels about all this? We know from Asta’s fight against paladin Lily that her feelings were still sorta buried deep within, so perhaps Acier won’t go too hard on her children? Or she totally could thrash them..if only to judge how strong they’ve all become. Anyways, do we know if paladins such as Acier and Morgen will die again once defeated? Lily was put into some kind of sleep til Lucius is defeated, but with Heath (who was also revived), it wasn’t really clear if he was killed again or just knocked out last chapter? I dunno. I don’t wanna get my hopes up at the slim possibility of Acier actually getting a second chance at life with her children but oh god, that would certainly warm my heart. And if not, I hope the four of them at least get the chance to say their goodbyes. Speaking of paladins, I don’t think we’ll only have these three to worry about. I’m not entirely sure what all those angel/bird things Lucius has flying around in the sky now, but it can’t be good news. I wouldn’t be surprised if he takes control over more people too, considering he took over Lily pretty effortlessly.

I still have Lumiere and Licita as potential paladins; half because their magic would be very problematic, half because of the drama it would start with Secre and Asta. Yeah anti-magic and/or a real powerful hit like zetten can apparently cancel out Lucius’ control, but surely there has to be more solutions right? Asta is bound to show up eventually..somehow.. but I dunno if the whole Ryuzen Seven would accompany him to Clover as backup. Would be nice of course and I would accept it, if only to see Yami and Ichika meet up again. I do have a random thought that is sort of a longshot, but ya think the Witch Queen could assist at all? Maybe take control back from people with her blood magic or something? How cool would it be if she could flip the switch on the paladin’s minds and have them fight on our side? It would be precious to see Morgen and Nacht team up as well as Acier and all her children. Or queen could do literally anything else, whatever. We really dunno too much about her and it’s been ages since she’s appeared in the story. I’d happily welcome her if she returned at Vanessa’s request. Imagine if she and the other Bulls went to the witches’ forest to inquire if the queen could see the future regarding Asta or judgement day. It’s a highly unlikely idea but hey if my hope of having Acier encounter her children was possible then I’m holding onto it! good lord i haven’t rambled on this much since tpn. i kinda miss it.

#black clover #bc manga #chidoroki used chatter

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kraken-o-doyle · 6 months

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Books I enjoyed...not in order.

1. Immortal Desires

I recently finished Immortal Desires and boy oh boy, I really liked it... You know when I first saw it as a VIP story, I rolled my eyes and moved on with my life, but like however many years later, I decided to play it because I needed diamonds. Spent those and more on this sucker, because I have no self control....

It didn't have that bad of a villain in comparison to other books, because it felt like they showed a blimp of the Creators power before he is defeated by MC. Well he did turn his followers into those creatures and managed to kill off quite a few vamps.

Overall not bad but, I hope they don't mess up the characters in book 2. And give a more interesting villain, because they lingered too much on the romance than the actual plot...

2. Kindered

Finished it when I still retained VIP, and quite frankly I immediately was interested in the concept; though it could've been executed a bit better. There should've been more bonding between MC and her sisters; more anger towards her older sister for leaving and the awkwardness of having another sister. And I know there are options to be angry, however it was there for a few chapters before getting into the action.

The villain - not that terribly threatening (sorry), because if you put diamonds into the story, you literally beat him without consequences. (IE, no one dies). #Kaineisawesome:)

3. Crimes of Passion 1&2

Obviously, these books are here; because they are great.

The love interest is awesome, the first book had a confusing bad guy; a lady we met like in the first 6 chapters (I think) and this kind of came out of nowhere. It seemed PB wanted to keep everyone guessing and chose that old lady... Honestly it should've been someone that had a recurring role in the story and not a barely mentioned character. And she dies by burning alive after getting shot; no retribution or anything.

In book 2, everything was even better but with a murderous family; honestly the explanation about the murders we were given was decent, but to add more drama, it should've been Marguerite.

MC for some reason was jumping to conclusions in book 2; blaming anyone that had been near the site of the murder. Seb was first and only until he died and then we jumped on Lydea. But to be fair, it is her job to sift through evidence and find the culprit but I wish that they went about it a bit smarter (get into evidence and validate it fully before accusing).

Also MC and Trystan are soulmates... I adore their jabs, they are literally married but without any legal documents.

4. Endless Summer

It had been a few or so months since I played these books, but it is safe to say, I have unlocked every Jake McKenzie option imaginable. Like no joke, he is literally a awesomely written character alongside the entire cast of ES. The story is explored, the villain is actually dangerous but the only slight issue is the ending.

There are days where I am upset about how it ended and some days I am like oh that makes sense. So it is 50/50 but I did feel a tiny bit rushed with only 13 Ch. I could not pick any other ending but to stay on La Huerta; all options lead to negative outcomes but this option guaranteed that we are all aokay, but the whole world's ducked.

We should have had an option to save Mike, like the guy suffered enough - stuck in a plane while Jake managed to eject in time and then mind controlled by his former commander, once free he reunited with his buddy and then died a hero. All I'm saying Mike deserved more.

5. Bloodbound

Book 1 - no good villain, set up characters well ish. JAX! No consequences to book 2, as Vega was a literal US senator but everyone closed their eyes and forgot. What was the point of Vega's plan? And surely he had followers, his clan; why wasn't there backlash or some sort of anger from there after his demise by another Council member?

Book 2 - Gaius fricking Augustine. MC finds out about her actual self and later becomes a vamp due by Gaius' hand. Best book only edged out by book 3.

Book 3 - awesome book, actually the villain is a greater threat than book 2; Rheya not giving a living shit about her 'children' was quite interesting. What could've been better was the finale - any one of the LI should've died, not just Lily/Jax combo because if it was Kamilah/Adrian there would so many juicy ways to go about it. Like Kamilah and Gaius being distraught even asking MC to end their immortal life (more like Gaius), or vise versa with Adrian surviving.

Dammit we should've gotten the Blood goddess ending seen through and not just an honorable mention. 😐

6. The Elementalists

Good world building, likable characters, cool concept of magick. Atlas and MC actually being siblings that are relatable (and the twin fitting in well with pend pals). Shame we didn't get book 3 or even more sequels because it had potential and I really enjoyed it, a good reread on a good day.

Books I hated;

1. My two first loves;

Initially turned this book on for diamonds (quick tap as it was 4 min. each chapter) but my god is the MC unlikeable and annoying.

2. Witness: a bodyguard romance.

...no..

There are more than three books of I didn't like the concept, started but never finished.

#immortal desires #didnt mention blades but i am a avid bolas poster so i think you know my feelings on it #choices #bloodbound #the elementalists #choices stories you play #crimes of passion #endless summer #kindred

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goatskickin · 1 year

Photo

Welcome back! When we last left, our heir Faith and her roommate Bettina were in competition over the bigger bed, and their moms were seeing them off to Brainia U.

How have the girls been doing away at college?

After Bettina and Faith got settled into their charming ramshackle student house, the only thing left to do was get used to living with each other.

“Bettina, shut the computer off. Let’s go out.”

“Just a minute! I only have until midnight to submit this response for class.”

“So? You’ve got hours then! Let’s go!”

“I am trying to get ahead here. I am doing homework. Ever heard of it?”

“Don’t be an asshole. My homework is just different than yours.”

“Oh sure, I forgot…don’t you like have to pretend to be an orange or something? Do a monologue about fading beauty or some crap?”

“I need to print off my monologue for class actually, so let’s go! Let’s go to campus!”

“Fine.”

Faith has tried to make the most of Brainia U’s many student centers, as well as every local hangout.

The actual students at Brainia U are a mixed bag however.

“O, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown! The courtier's, soldier's, scholar's, eye, tongue, sword; The expectancy and rose of the fair state, The glass of fashion and the mould of form, The observed of all observers, quite, quite down! And I, of ladies most deject and wretched, That suck'd the honey of his music vows, Now see that noble and most sovereign reason, Like sweet bells jangled, out of tune and harsh; That unmatch'd form and feature of blown youth Blasted with ecstasy: O, woe is me, To have seen what I have seen, see what I see!”

“Wow, nothing? That’s the best Ophelia I’ve done all week.”

“Everyone’s a critic.”

“People are idiots Bettina. Doesn’t anyone know anything about art around here?

…

Aren’t you going to have any chili? I mean, if you want to have some tomorrow once the flavors have melded that’s totally fine…”

Bettina quickly finds out just how often her roommate cooks. Maybe it’s a comfort thing.

But it is almost constant. Bettina never goes hungry.

Bettina approaches college life a little more quietly than her roommate. She has never been away from home, and she’s also never lived without her twin, Wade.

Now that she is living (almost alone), she’s found that she’s the kind of person who finds quiet, solitary activities to be stimulating.

How they spend downtime is not something that Bettina and Faith agree on.

“HEY! It’s 8pm! What the fuck is that noise! I’m reading!”

“Well, in Act 3 of the play I am auditioning for –“

“YEAH maybe you don’t need to do that right now! Thanks!”

Bettina does have her own connections on campus outside of Faith.

“Yah gotta come over. My roommate, she’s kind of a lot to handle, but she makes this bomb vegan lasagna! It’s way too much for two people.”

Given that Brainia U had been isolated for decades, its population has subsisted off the left-behind non-perishables for the college-aged set. Fresh fruit and vegetables are a thing that only Pitstop Valley locals have. There are no resources or plan to get produce to Brainia U.

Thankfully, Faith has brought enough spices, vinegars, tomato paste and nutritional yeast to make any food taste homemade. Or at least less like packaged ramen noodles and canned vegetables.

“Bettina! Where is my microplane!”

“Your what?”

“My microplane! With the green handle? Did you put it in a funny spot?

“What?! You…something about a tiny plane?”

“What?! No, a microPLA – oh, found it.”

“Bettina. Guess who I talked to at the quad today. Guess.”

“Uh, I don’t know Faith. You’re kind of keeping company with a few different dudes right now.”

“Ah, ahHA! HA! You’re so funny. Like, hilarious. But no, guess.”

“Uh…”

“John Choi.”

“Oh my gosh, fuck you! No, you didn’t!”

“I did!”

Yes, John Choi. This pink-hatted, monocled man is a high-value slice at Brainia U.

“So, John, why pink? Such a powerful color.”

“Pink speaks to me, you know? And I guess it’s speaking to everyone else too.”

“I mean I also saw your friend Skylar on campus, later on.”

“Oh, he’s cute! Why don’t you ask him out?!”

“Oh, I dunno…”

“He likes you Faith! He’s totally smart, and he’s in our history lecture – “

“Oh man, that professor has such a droning voice I fall asleep every time! Why have a lecture right at 2pm? That’s nap time.”

“Ask Skylar to take notes for you! That’s how you can start talking to him!”

“Well, then why don’t you date him, if he’s so great?”

“He likes you Faith! You’re gonna scare him off by being – “

“By being what, Bettina!”

Faith’s keeping her options open. As a Family sim, the end goal is marriage. Obviously.

“So, you’re not worried about prolonged hot tub exposure and your future sperm production?”

“My…my what?!”

“What do you mean you do use your laptop right on your lap?! Don’t you know that’s a recipe for low-yielding baby gravy?!”

Faith has many options.

All she has to do is choose and make her move.

Provided that all parties agree to the arrangement.

“You calling me a hoe Bettina? Because that’s fine! At least I am putting myself out there.”

Even so, Faith’s not much of a charmer.

So, it remains to be seen if Faith “putting herself out there” will produce any worthwhile relationships.

“Faith you are impossible. I love you. Dumbass.”

“Of course, you do. What about you? What about your dude, that guy from your biology lab? SeaBass?”

“Can you not call him that?! His name is Sebastian.”

“I’m working on him, okay?”

“He’s a warlock, you know? Him and his twin. Like, my mom is kind of old fashioned when it comes to magic stuff, but male witches do exist, they are just like, more rare? And his twin – “

“Ooh, a twin? Should we double date? OOH! Double wedding ceremony?!”

“Listen! I haven’t even like…like, okay I am working on it. I think Seb knows that I like him.”

“He’s just like, shy or whatever. Maybe they do things differently in Pleasantview.”

“Or he’s some kind of freak. Or his dick doesn’t work. Or he’s blind.”

“My focus is on school. If something happens with Seb, so be it.”

“Okay, sure grandma. But like, have fun and look around. What’s the harm?”

“It’s a numbers game, babes.”

“You failed our 11th grade math class.”

“It’s simple numbers. You cast a wide net and you pull some back. I’m being economical.”

“Um, how? And didn’t you fail economics too?”

“Fuck off! I got a C-.”

“Maybe you should be a little more…selective? Like, I get wanting to see what’s out there, but there’s some real duds dudes Faith. Why waste your time?”

“What do you mean? Like who?!”

“Like that guy you saw at the park on campus? Komei?”

“Ehh…shut up…”

“HA! How did that go down exactly?”

“He was nice enough! But he moved way too fast for me.”

“But! I also saw this other guy. Leo?”

“The guy with the shitty beard?! EW! Faith!”

“What! You are so judgmental!”

“I’m not committed to anyone right now. I have lots of options.”

“Marriage is the goal, though.”

Talk of boys aside, there is only one boy who has all the girls on campus losing it: John Choi.

No one can resist him, and boys want to be him. For some reason.

John Choi is more than “kinda okay”. He’s hot stuff!

Faith wants to talk to him.

As do all the other ladies on campus.

Fortune favors the brave!

“Gosh *blushes* I wish that were me!”

“Gosh, John Choi is so smooth.”

“Gosh…I wanted to hit on that blonde girl…”

No luck for Tempe. John Choi has claimed yet another First Kiss from a lucky dormie.

Faith is not deterred; she’s a practical gal and takes the opportunity to chat with the competition. She finds out from Blonde Dormie the coffee shop Mr. John Choi frequents and takes Bettina along for a scouting mission.

“Shit, she was right, he’s here!”

“Shh! Let’s get an espresso.”

Bettina ends up having a front row seat to this scene, however. John Choi to the rescue.

“Balls. Look at that. We will never have a chance with John Choi now…”

“Lucky bitch.”

Tina Sell is the lucky bitch in question.

“Well, we still got coffee and the day is young. What next?”

“Don’t you have to like, go to class or something Faith?”

“So…your hair feels like wool, right? Can I touch it?”

“Never mind Bettina. Let’s fucking leave.”

Luckily, Brainia U is full of marriage prospects for Faith. Like Skylar here. He and Bettina are pals. They met engaging in some after class activities.

Somehow, against all odds and logic.

Faith nabs a First Kiss from Skylar!

Skylar’s a pragmatic guy, it turns out.

“So, your plans after school are to try and make it as an actress?”

“Or a singer. Or both! I could always fall back on modeling too, I suppose.”

“Hm. So, what’s Pitstop Valley like? I’ve never left Bluewater Village until I came to school.”

“Uh, I don’t know it’s fine, I guess? Small town, nothing to do, but my parents live there.”

“Hm. So kind of a landing spot until you figure things out, yeah?”

“What’s with all the questions, Skylar?”

“Just thinking about today’s history lecture. I mean, we are the first class that Brainia U has had in 65 years. That’s only because of the work that your mom and your aunt Mercy did. Getting the school set back up for students, getting the students here, getting faculty – “

“What the fuck? Did you just come over because you wanted to kiss the girl with the semi-famous mom? That’s kinda – “

“Don’t you worry about the future? About the future of Pitstop Valley? You guys have an active militia, everyone can go to school, you have an athletic team! You guys have actual fruit and vegetables – you know not everyone has that, right?

I’m just saying, Pitstop Valley has the potential to do even more. Don’t you think about that? Don’t you want to be a part of that? I would.”

“Uh, I’m going to dance class. See ya Skylar.”

“I don’t think that Faith likes me, Bettina.”

*zzzz* - “..wha? Oh, she does Sky, she just has a funny way of showing it.” *zzz*

Faith is a complex young lady. She spends a lot of time on campus husband hunting, but she also is a huge fan of the campus Cinema. She considers it research, but also a way to meet people.

“Hey, can I sit here?”

“No.”

“What I am saying, is if multiple scenes in a row are shot at Dutch angles, doesn’t that defeat the purpose of what a Dutch angle is supposed to mean? If it’s all Dutch angles, then is the spooky and unsettling tone of the scene actually the ‘norm’ of that universe? You know?”

“What do you mean! Give me an example.”

“Well, like in Battlefield Earth – “

“What, that piece of trash! You can’t – “

“Just because a piece of art is bad, does not mean it can’t be a part of a discussion about how an art form is portrayed. Like, if – “

“Faith, what about – “

“Shut up Tempe. Anyway – "

“What, so we should take a critical lens to every romance novel and kids movie? Is that what you’re saying?!”

“No. What I am saying is that movies, books, plays, whatever – it doesn’t have to be ‘art’ to be viewed with a critical lens.”

“That’s bullshit!”

“I can’t say I agree. Art reflects the time it was made in. Pop culture is important.”

“Yeah right!”

Not everyone likes healthy intellectual debate.

“Ugh, is this a commercial for perfume or a new Terrance Malick movie?! Someone get me the remote.”

Bettina has a weekly call with her mother, on Tuesdays after her Biology lab.

“Hey ma! This is Brainia U calling.”

“Hiiiii baby! HI! Oh, it’s so good to hear your voice! What’s new? How’s the semester?”

“Oh god, I adjusted my microscope too fast in my biology lab today and totally cracked the cover slip and the slide beneath it. Total rookie mistake, so embarrassing.”

“Aww, well I am sure you didn’t mean it!”

“I sure did not! Embarrassing though…anyway, can I ask you a witch-related question?”

“Baby, of course! Are you finally thinking about following the family tradition?!”

“Haha, maaaa, when you say it like that it makes me not want to tell you about this, haha.”

“Oh! Ha, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’ll shut up. What is it?”

“Well, I know that you know that clean up spell? For cleaning? I’d like to learn it.”

“Oh of course hun! But you know, it’s really more for water-based messes. Can I ask why?”

“Well, I wanted to know about that spell kinda for selfish reasons.”

“Faith makes a lot of food in our house, but she leaves behind hella dishes! And I’m tired of it, sometimes I don’t want to have to wash a fork, you know?”

“I mean, it’s not that I don’t appreciate the food. Like, who makes pancakes that as leftovers that taste good! I’m not complaining.”

“Good! You’d better not complain. That’s my grandpa Patrick’s Crème de la orange pancake recipe. You’d be some sort of tastebud-less freak if you didn’t like it.”

“Is that Faith? Tell her I said hi! Gosh, she still has quite the mouth on her. Has she heard any news from her mother?”

“…wait, what? What do you mean ‘news’?”

“Well, I love our weekly calls, I just love hearing from my baby girl! But you know, I don’t know what the relationship is like with Faith and her mother? So, I was just wondering, since she’s left, if Faith has heard from her at all?”

“Ma, what are you talking about? She left? What do you mean ‘left’?

“Oh! So, Faith doesn’t know about this. I’m sorry Bettina! I thought that Faith knew! Does she not know?”

“MOM. What are you talking about? What happened to Genesis?”

“Well, you know I got in the helicopter with Mercy after we left Brainia U, and Genesis was not in the helicopter with us! Mercy said that she’d decided to do some on-campus research.”

“Uh, okay, so she’s here at school then?”

“Well, that’s the thing – we aren’t really sure? I mean I talked to Mercy about it, and – well you know I just adore her, but something seemed off, you know? Like, she seemed a little shaken up, and I asked her about this on-campus research that Genesis would be doing, and Mercy was pretty tight-lipped about it. And the other day, I was visiting Cheyenne – oh! They took Binx’s last kitten, the one with the orange ears! So cute! She’s got –“

“Ma. Ma! About Genesis?”

“Ah? Oh! Yeah, so, anyway, so it seems like Genesis didn’t tell Justice she would be leaving? Justice is all alone in that house.”

“Oh. Um, weird. Like, is he okay to be alone? I know he’s kinda loopy and whatever.”

“Well, you know as resident ‘Good Witch’ I am checking up on him, but I can only do so much, you know? Actually, the intern at Pitstop Radio, she’s well uh, I’ll need to talk to her again, but she – "

“Mom, so like, Mr. Springs-Eternal is all alone and like, Genesis is here at campus?”

“Yes, I think so! It’s just that it doesn’t seem like she let Justice know ahead of time? I was concerned, and Mercy doesn’t seem to know a whole lot about the situation either. I was wondering if it was something that was discussed with Faith and Tempe.”

“Um, like, I don’t think so…I’ll talk to Faith about it.”

“Hey Faith? I –“

“It’s whipped chickpea tofu in the pancakes, if you were wondering.”

“…wha? Oh, okay that’s…no, I wanted to talk to you about your mom.”

“Ha, what? What about my mom?”

“Well, I had my call with my mom and…did you know she’s not at home right now? Like, your dad is alone at home?”

“What do you mean she’s not ‘at home’?”

“Well, my mom said that your mom hasn’t been at home, she’s doing some on-campus research, but like, it doesn’t seem like she told your dad? Or like…did you know about this?”

“Oh what, so she’s been here, and she hasn’t told me, or paid me a visit? Ha! Sounds like something she would do. She’s like, obsessed with work. Whatever.”

“So…that doesn’t bother you? You didn’t know that she wasn’t at home?”

“Um, no? Like, she’s obsessed with the whole thing of like ‘educating the future’. And like, liking human beings as a concept but not like, in practice ya know? No wonder she got abducted.”

“Jeez Faith, that’s kinda harsh.”

In addition to feeding her roommate, Faith is a natural teacher. Though she would not admit to following in her mother’s footsteps.

Specifically, she wants to teach Bettina how to kick some ass. Because guys like buff girls. According to Faith.

“Okay now reach back and STRIKE! Don’t twist at the waist and don’t lean in too far. We need to develop your weak right hook.”

“Oh, um…hi-YAH!”

“Yes! Now, less floppy with the wrist. Again!”

A little self defense could come in handy at Brainia U.

“Howdy-hey! Are you able to support our team this Saturday?! It’s the quarter finals! How are you not totally pumped about this?!”

“Hey, no offense, but you’re being kind of distracting. We need to finish up this lab report.”

“Babba chooda rum, Babba chooda Ka, Veedum adda beedum adda bonk bonk bonk! Verbits, Verbits, VO GERBITS!”

“Uh, heh, yeah, yeah…okay? We uh, we taking a break? If that’s the case, I am going to play some SSX 3 dude…”

“Hey, Bettina, come sit. Sit! You’re working too hard on that report…

…where did you get that sweater? It’s nice and all, but like…it doesn’t show off your figure? Just saying…”

“…I’m going to make myself a sandwich…you can go…”

Babba chooda rum, Babba chooda Ka, Veedum adda beedum adda bonk bonk bonk! Verbits, Verbits, VO GERBITS!

*zzz* “Huh? EH?! God, you’re still here?!”

Luckily, Bettina’s roommate has a more direct way of getting rid of unwanted guests.

“Hey! Vo Gerbits! Excited for the quarter finals?”

“Well yeah! I’ve got a new routine and me and the other mascots – “

“Hey so…you seem like a man who knows what he wants. And I know what I want.

You know, most fragrances cover up a man’s real smell, you know? I’ll bet you don’t mind working up a sweat. A man’s sweat. I’d love the opportunity to – “

“Whoa, heh, okay, heh, okay! Um, I um, I – you know, I think I’m late for practice?”

…

“You are literally a psycho.”

“Well, it worked, didn’t it? That guy was being a total creep.

…

You want tofu bahn mi? I’m starving.”

Faith continues ponder the husband question. Serdar aka Fancy man is interrupted by her on his way to class.

Faith knows an interesting prospect when she sees one. She takes the opportunity to get to know him better.

“Hey! Serdar, right? You’re in my costuming class? Man, when are we going to actually move on to using sewing machines, you know? I’m sick of mending. If I have to fix another buttonhole, I’ll die.”

“No kidding! I’m not an infant, I don’t need to go over how to do a blanket stitch.”

“Hah, right?!”

Serdar proves to be quite the interesting person. He and Faith share a love of fashion. And Faith’s other favorite hobby, cooking.

“Why not become a chef, Faith? Those were some awesome peanut noodles! What was that acidic element…champagne vinegar?”

“Oh, you’re too sweet! But, no, just regular sherry vinegar. I’d never be a chef though. Late hours, burns on my arms all of the time…not to mention, dealing with all of that kitchen machismo. No offense.”

“None taken!”

“Though you know, I could always put out a cookbook myself! Later on, after I’ve had my acting career? Plus, what I really like to do is cook for friends and family, not like, the masses.”

Serdar turns out to be more friend material than anything. Faith does not mind, however. She’s in need of positive friends who build her up.

“Okay…least favorite fake blood in a movie. Go.”

“Oh! Um…Taxi Driver. It’s awful. It looks like liquid strawberry jelly. Maybe they did that for the rating.”

“Naw, Taxi Driver got an R. But good pick!”

“Thanks! Okay…what’s the best fake blood you’ve seen in a movie Serdar?”

…

“12 Monkeys.”

“REAlly! It’s…oh yeah, at the end, the scene in the airport! Shit, good choice.”

“Have you thought about what you want your short play to be about for your capstone project? I think a riff on a scream queen thing could be totally doable.”

“Well, I am really considering like a Southern Gothic, Tennessee Williams thing, but I’m worried that that would be too ambitious...”

“No, that sounds awesome! You could totally pull that off. Would it be a spoken word thing?”

“Bettina, move, I gotta shower.”

“You have someone over last night to play chess? Huh, looks like a good game.”

“Yeah, Serdar, you know him? He’s pretty cool actually.”

“Oh, you mean Fancy Man? Reallyyyy. So, you’re interested in him then?”

“No no, not like that. We’re just homies.”

“Plus, I think Serdar is gay.”

“What, just because the guy has a kooky sense a style?! That’s kind of close-minded Faith.”

“No, it’s not because of that! I think he is though. I have a feeling he is, even if he doesn’t know it.”

“Uh huh, sure. “

“How’s it going with your dude?”

“Ugh, nowhere?! He’s like, I don’t know what to do…he’s shy and I’m shy! I want him to make a move…but only if he likes me back. It’s hopeless.”

“Bettina, I have an idea.

Let’s invite our History lecture out to the Culinary Arts building, and I’m going to make some food and you are going to invite SeaBass and he is going to fall in love with you.”

“Don’t call him – wait…yeah, no, yeah! That’s a good idea. It will be like, low-key, low-pressure group hang thing, yeah?”

“Exactly.”

While the girls can’t have parties (Show Business restriction), there’s no rule against to going to community lot to hang out with whomever is there.

Especially if a certain young Pleasantview warlock is there.

Faith breaks out her grilled kim-cheese sandwiches, naturally.

“Sebastian! H-Hey! Can I ask you a magic-related question? I think you’d know more about this than me.”

“Hi! Sure!”

“Ha, heh, okay! So Aqua Deletus – can that spell apply to more things other than just puddles of water? I am curious. And what would I need exactly?”

“Oh, sure! Really, you just have to adjust the end incantation and make sure you have more Eye of Newt than you’d think you’d need.”

“Wow, sounds easy! Like um, could you like, help me out with that? I don’t have a cauldron. Could…do you have one? Could you show me how to use it?”

“You…would want to come over? So that I can show you?”

Yes. That is indeed what Bettina was hinting at.

“Kim-cheese sandwiches get it done! It’s the husband maker.”

“I think that other than being famous, that this is what I want to do with my life. Throw parties where I cook for people.”

“Um, I’m sorry, who are you? I don’t like spicy food.”

“I think that other than being famous, that this is what I want to do with my life. Throw parties where I cook for people.”

“Uh, yeah! Thanks for the sandwich, Faith.”

Faith’s really into anyone who likes her food.

“Gosh, you know Sean – “

“Um, my name is Shea?”

“You know Steve – I could get used to this. I just love entertaining! What better way to spend an afternoon than being with people you want to have around, eating, drinking and being merry?”

~~~

That will do it for this chapter!

Who will Faith choose for a future spouse? Will Bettina get to learn some magic? Will ‘magic’ happen between her and Sebastian Dreamer? Is Faith going to share her grandpa Patrick’s Crème de la orange pancake recipe?

Until next time, Carry On, Woman!

#sims 2 story #apocalypse C.O.W.#apocalypse challenge #sorry about all of the heavy chapters lately #but some plot had to happen first #back to basics #aka llamas talking about food jokes etc.

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