#lumina really said kill um with kindness

[mostofthingsmostofthetime]

My thoughts on The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes movie

I don’t know if I liked it as much as the original films (maybe Mockingjay 1 & 2 as they are pretty emotionally draining), but I still enjoyed it.

I think where it fell a little flat for me is 1. The beginning was a bit slow (tbh I only really started getting interested when Lucy Gray stuck that snake down that girl’s dress & even then I enjoyed the story more when the setting changed from the Capitol to the district) 2. I knew Snow would survive 3. I’d already been spoiled online for a lot of stuff that happens & 4. while I know the director did his best to make Snow as “likeable” as he could for as long as possible, even before he started getting “a little too comfortable” with killing & snitching I didn’t find him as sympathetic as Katniss or Peeta (but that is probably again down to the fact that I know what he goes onto do & there’s no real way around that), this made engaging with him difficult for me.

The world is fascinating. Getting to see all the new locations we never had access to before as well as old locations now in a totally different light (for example district 12 which, while still clearly suffering, seemed like such a bustling industrial town compared to how it is in Katniss’s time). It might have a much more retro aesthetic but there's also just a more vibrant, natural, wild & lawless atmosphere to this movie compared to the others in the franchise. The whole scope of the film just felt more cinematic then I remember the others being yet also weirdly intimate. Maybe because it was one contained story & we knew the main character’s fate from the start. I also loved the title cards signifying the start of each section of the story like from the books & wished they'd done something similar for the other films. It just added a certain flair to the whole thing. Almost gave it the vibe of a tragic play.

The costuming was great. The bright red of the academy uniforms.  Flickerman’s snazzy suits. Snow’s dapper black & white outfit. Both peace keeper uniforms (despite one of them giving very ‘1930’s Germany’ vibes) looked great. Grandma might have been a bigot, but at least she was well dressed. Everything Dr Gaul wore (except the top that looked like a used tampon, lol) was exquisite. The main ladies of fashion, Tigris & Lucy Gray slayed. Our Future Capitol stylist looked like some regal yet exotic bird & Miss Survivor was giving Bohemian, country girl realness the entire time she was on screen. Even the extras were serving (like that random couple Snow walked past on his way to the reaping ceremony).

The music was amazing. Every song that played was fantastic (shout out to Olivia for her end credit contribution). The lyrics & instrumentation were beautiful & my god does Rachel Zegler have pipes! Anyone who says the singing scenes are cringy is just stupid like I’m sorry you can’t appreciate art. Also, the words ‘ballad’ & ‘songbirds’ are literally in the title. Plus, Lucy Gray is from the poorest district, so what exactly do those people want her to do in her free time? She can’t exactly hop on an X-box for a few hours. Not too mention that (as the offspring of someone who’s musically inclined) I can tell you, it’s completely realistic for a musician to use their craft to help them deal with trauma & Lucy Gray clearly had more than her fair share of that.

The Grandma'am helped to paint a sadly very realistic background for Snow. As who among us hasn’t met at least one delusional old person who thinks that their/their group’s suffering (regardless of the severity of it or the reason behind their former/newer status in society) means that no one else are deserving of even the tiniest shred of humanity & there are some people who are unlucky enough to not only be related to these people but be raised by them.

Hunter schafer as Tigris is clearly the superior Snow when it comes to things like empathy & overall mental stability but I do kind of wish they’d been more for her to do. Credit where credit is due though her & Tom did actually look like they could be related & I did buy their familial bond (which makes her appearance in Mockingjay so much sadder in hindsight).

Peter Dinklage as Casca Highbottom was a bit of a mix for me just due to his purpose as a character & the limit of film as a form of media. Like sure the audience know that Snow’s going to become an irredeemable monster in the end but without a window into his mind it really does just seem like the Dean is just out to get him & even when we find out why it seems kind of unfair. Like sure his dad sucked but haven’t the Games shown that blaming children for violence caused by others is unjust (& like ok he hates Coriolanus & probably the grandma but Tigris hadn’t done anything to deserve living in poverty, as she can’t control who she’s related to)? Plus, it felt like he could have at least tried taking Snow under his wing at some point to try to hinder Dr Gual’s influence. Saying all of that, though, Peter Dinklage is great at playing an addict with depression & the idea that some drunken rambling could lead to such long-lasting suffering is terrifying. Also its pretty realistic that living with that kind of guilt & in such a cruel environment for that long would make most people jaded & bitter, even if they did have good intentions.

Omg we finally get a Mayor family on screen & they’re assholes! Madge would be so disappointed 😭. It was interesting to see how harsh & overall “boot licky” the mayor & his family seemed compared to decades later, which makes sense as the war wasn’t that long ago for them so the dad probably felt more incentive to align himself with the Capitol as well as not feeling very connected to the district people as 12’s decline probably didn’t fully set in until they really started running low on coal & Snow became president (oh I just know he wanted to blow that district off the map 😆). I also wouldn’t put it past Billy to come up with some sob story of how he really does love Mayfair but wicked Lucy Gray is somehow preventing them from being together. Still no excuse to try to send her to her death twice in one week, though. Definitely not a girl’s girl.

Ok, so a liar. Cheat. Drunk & someone who hits women. Is there anything good about Billy Taupe? Also, trying to get your ex back, while your current girlfriend is literally standing right next to you? Dude, have some god damn back bone! You made a choice, now stick to it. Also, fumbling Lucy Gray, for a girl like that? What’s it like having no brains or taste? Well, too bad, coz you’re stuck with her forever now, lol.

Viola Davies, the actress that you are. What else is there to say? Dr Gaul is almost comic book levels of insane. Like she is how the Right see women in STEM, on crack! I don’t know what she did to get into character, but whatever it was, it worked.

Jason Schwartzman as Lucretius Flickerman is a very interesting addition to the story despite playing such a small & seemingly insignificant role. He is strange in how unthreatening he is while also extremely blasé about the abhorrent violence he witnesses that it’s as funny as it is disturbing. Making him come across as  more human yet harsher than his son, who at least pretends to care about the tributes (in a very Capitol way, obviously but still). There’s also a polish & confidence to Tucci’s performance that I think Schwartzman did a great job of avoiding copying (despite knowing what audiences were probably expecting) because not only are their characters in entirely different stages of their careers but the whole ethos of the Hunger Games is different in Snow’s youth than it is in Katniss’s. Caesar is a well established presenter & during his time, the games have always been a success (minus the year with the tundra) that the entire Capitol is invested in & seemingly in support of. On the other hand Lucretius had the unique task of not only coming into a job like this with zero experience (I mean imagine going from announcing the weather to presenting the fucking hunger games) but also there were no vibes to try to emulate let alone guidelines to follow because he truly was the first person to do this. On top of that, the "event" his presenting has been panned for years as both boring & unethical. Schwartzman brought a slightly awkward, experimental, yet try hard vibe (like a comedian who's desperate to get a laugh) that I think worked wonderfully for the character.

Tom Blyth's performance was great & he was visually perfect for a young Snow (the power of a good wig! Who knew lol). Even having the cool, analytical stare of Donald Sutherland, down pat. While his appearance was very Eminem during his peacekeeping days, his realisation in the cabin and subsequent breakdown in the woods were crazy. There was so much tension between him & Rachel in that scene that for a second, it literally felt like all the air had been sucked out of the room. I could almost hear the record scratch for both of them, & all that building paranoia finally coming to a sudden crescendo in the way that it did? Pure cinema!

Josh Rivera, as Sejanus, was honestly a mix for me. Obviously, I agree with his morals, but his way of going about it did seem a little dumb. However I do think it’s pretty realistic that a teenager, especially a rich one, would be rather naive. Also I’ve heard that he’s smarter in the book & I think at times my frustration with him is more just down to the fact that I’m seeing him from Snow’s point of view. Meaning scenes that would be portrayed as noble in any other film instead come across as almost painfully inconvenient because the focus is always on how they affect Snow rather than the actual victims of the situation. Lastly, sorry, Snowjanus shippers, I just don’t see it (especially on Snow’s end), but whatever floats your boat.

Rachel Zegler played Lucy Gray with the perfect mix of natural charm & emotional vulnerability with clear pride in her culture & a refusal to let the world around her change who she is. Yet there was also an air of mystery & a subtle resilience to her that makes her potentially surviving out in the woods for years without being detected actually believable (though I don’t buy the theory that she went on to become president Coin). Definitely the highlight of the movie for me.

PS. I'd love to know what you think of my review in the comments/tags & am open to criticism (as long as it's respectful) just remember that I'm only talking about the movie so please don't reference anything spersific to the book.

#some other things i wanted to mention but didn’t seem significant to put in the review (+ it was getting rather long) are: #Clemensia you were so pretty & did not desserve to die #like who hasn't cheated on their homework a little #may my hair look as good as your's if i ever get bit by a snake #dill & wovey rest in peace my darlings #Lysistrata it wasn't your fault #Arachane you got what you deserved tbh #reaper you have my respect forever king #lumina really said kill um with kindness #no but sersiously i love you girl & your 1950's farm girl aesthetic #marcus you did not desserve that & sejanus is sorry & in my heart you guys meet up & become boyfriends in the afterlife #treech you didn't leave much of an impression but at least your hat was cool #bobbin my little germin looking boy #at least you gave Snow a good scare before your demise #coral looks gay like that's a lesbian right there #thg #the hunger games #the hunger games the ballad of songbirds and snakes #the ballad of songbirds and snakes review #thg tbosas #thg tbosbas #tbosas #tbosbas #tbosas review #tbosbas review #thg tbosas review #thg tbosbas review #the hunger games the ballad of songbirds and snakes review #southern gothic is my new fravriote genre #review

[667-darkavenue]

pressurized (part two.)

Catra/Adora | (part one.)

“Today just keeps getting better.”

“Hang on, I saw a flashlight,” Adora mumbles in the dark.

She scoots along the edge of her seat and feels around for the excursion kit she first opened. It takes a while, but she eventually manages to fumble it open and seek out the familiar shape of a flashlight. Adora flicks the switch and the beam shines directly at Catra, who hisses and flings an arm across her eyes.

“Whoops! Didn’t see you there. Obviously.”

“Okay. Adora, get up.” “Uh, why?”

“You’re sitting on something I need, just switch with me.”

Adora complies, pivoting over to sit on the other crate while Catra drops to her knees in front of the box with the parachutey thing. She leans forward to watch, holding the flashlight with the beam pointing upward. The cockpit is so small that this narrow beam alone does a half-decent job at dimly illuminating the area.

Catra gives her a dry look. “You gonna point that over here and help or are you gonna tell me the story of the Weeping Princess?”

There’s couple seconds of confusion before Adora realizes what she means. The beam from below must be lighting her the way Lonnie held a flashlight beneath her chin when she told ghost stories at night.

She points the flashlight to the crate and suggests with a snort, “I have lots of new princess stories you’ve never even heard of. They’re super different from the ones we had. A nice, non-spooky variety.”

Catra opens the crate with a disinterested hum.

“There’s this one I just can’t get out of my head... It takes place way before the Princess Alliance was formed, when the realms were still establishing themselves. These two neighboring princesses, Melodiance and Lumina, were at war over—”

“Adora, this is so fucking boring.”

“No, shh, you’ll like this one—”

“Does a princess die?”

“Actually, yeah.”

“Okay, fine. Go.”

“Ugh, you made me ruin the ending!”

“Tragic.”

“It is! Basically, the two princesses meet for the first time on the battlefield. Melodiance stabbed her enemy and secured the victory, but…”

The word ‘stabbed’ actually gets Catra to look up from what she’s doing and pay attention. Adora makes sure to put a little extra ‘oomph’ in her retelling, going out of her way for dramatic pauses in all the right places.

“The moment Lumina collapsed into her arms, Melodiance said she saw a kindred spirit—another brave kid, proud and driven for glory. But Melodiance was so absorbed in proving herself that she realized it one crucial moment too late. She never married and spent the rest of her life writing about Lumina. Even though her reign was hundreds of years ago, her realm today is still packed with more monuments and memorials to Princess Lumina than to anyone who actually ruled.”

Catra laughs quietly, a little huff of breath through her nose. “You think I’d put up a statue of you?”

“That was not the point of the story.”

“It’s the point you ended on. A statue’s a little much, but I guess I could be generous when I tell your story for the princess books.”

Adora rolls her eyes, an action that surprisingly ticks Catra off during a moment Adora’s been assuming to be playful.

She prickles, ears pointing back. “What, you don’t think I could be a kind ruler?”

Adora has an answer she’s pretty sure Catra doesn’t want to hear. A long silence stretches between them.

It ends with Catra clicking her tongue. “I could be as fair as any princess alliance.”

“Then act like it.”

Catra gives her a look that’s disturbingly familiar and triggers some kind of flight-or-fight response at the back of Adora’s mind. It’s the look that suggests she understands something Adora doesn’t.

Whatever it is she knows, she keeps to herself. All Catra says in return is, “Hey, they killed their own kind on the battlefield.”

“That was not the point of the story.” Adora’s gaze floats down to what Catra’s taking out of the crate and she raises an eyebrow. “What’s that for?”

“This,” she unzips the front of the hazmat suit, “is the only way out of here.”

It looks sort of like a old space suit. Or sort of like something that belonged an old deep sea diver. Knowing Entrapta, she may have cobbled it together from a frankenstein mix of both things and any number of other things Adora wouldn’t even identify.

“I don’t get it.”

“It’s the only thing in here that can handle a little tar.” Catra shuts the crate’s lid again and drapes the suit over it. She tucks the helmet under one arm.

A chill drops like an ice cube running down Adora’s spine. “There’s only one.”

Catra looks her dead in the eye. “Yeah.”

She swallows hard, the inside of her throat suddenly feeling full of cotton. A spike of panic rises behind her ribcage, followed by a sharp drop of regret. After all they’ve been through, they’re going to kill each other over a fucking suit? Adora’s adrenaline pulses, preparing for another fight like the one when she first jumped in this tank. One with no interruption this time.

Then Catra adds, simple and sharp, “So, get in.”

The complete certainty in her stare shakes Adora to her core. “What…?”

“Put the suit on, stupid.”

“But,” Adora looks at the hatch, then up at the black windshield. “If one of us tries to open that hatch, the tank fills with tar, stupid.”

“You said you could push through it as She-Ra.”

“I mean, probably. Still, you can’t survive long enough for me—or, I guess, the Horde—to come back.”

Catra narrows her eyes. “Yeah, no duh. And how long can we keep re-breathing the same air in here before we both pass out and die? We’re not in a bunker. There’s a real short time limit to how long we can stay here.”

Adora hadn’t thought of that. They need to conserve air. She’s conscious of every breath, suddenly. She tries to hold her next inhale in just a few seconds longer before letting it out in a measured exhale. She can’t concentrate on this enough to keep it up while her mind scrambles for a quick fix. The flashlight’s beam roves wildly around the dark cockpit.

It does a double take over the compressor tank that caused the nasty bruise on her forehead. “There’s the huge air tank! Set it up and we’ll take turns breathing.”

Catra barely reacts to the revelation. “That’s not oxygen.”

“What?”

“This,” Catra shakes the suit’s sleeve to demonstrate, “is a HAB suit.”

“Um, what’s—”

“High-altitude balloon. Entrapta sends ‘em up for some kind of research. That’s the helium tank.”

Adora shakes her head. “Okay—Doesn’t matter.” She must look like Light Hope when she’s stuck on a loop, because she can’t seem to stop shaking her head. “No. I’m not—I’m not gonna—I can’t just—”

Catra lets out a long exhale that sounds a lot like a prayer for patience.

“You got my permission this time. You can go, for the sake of saving the world, or whatever.” The way she says it is stilted, each word painfully and reluctantly plucked out of her.

“If you cared so much about saving the world, why haven’t you been on my side?” Adora’s voice rises, not even trying to downplay her distress anymore.

“I don’t, okay! I don’t care. People suck and the world’s still gonna suck whether the Horde or the Princesses are in charge.” Catra’s arms cross over her chest. “Only reason I got so invested was to make a point. A point that becomes worthless if you die in a tank at the bottom of a tar pit.”

“You said your plan was to kill me.”

“Not like this.”

“More like…” Adora’s fingers reach out to brush their knuckles against Catra’s hand. “Melodiance?”

“Shut up.”

Beneath the grazing touch, Adora feels her hand unclench its grip around her own bicep. She takes the opportunity to slip her fingers underneath Catra’s. Catra lets Adora gently pull her hand away to hold it against her chest.

“Let me be the hero I’m supposed to be and you put the suit on,” Adora whispers, pleading.

Catra’s mouth twists and her brows furrow. “Yeah, and what about your big mission? Saving the princesses?”

“It doesn’t have to be me.” She clutches Catra’s palm between two trembling hands. “If I’m not there for you to go against, what will stop you from making the right choices?”

“Oh, Adora. You always think the world revolves around you.” Catra’s hand comes up to hook around Adora’s neck and slowly shift up the back of her head. “But you are, unfortunately, the one literally destined to save the princesses.”

“But you—Why are you doing this now?”

“The world’s bigger than the two of us. I can’t be the only person you look out for.”

Having her own words thrown back in her face like this cracks Adora’s resolve. The levee breaks and the tears well up. It’s a cruel wonder for this to be the time and place Catra takes her words to heart.

Catra goes on, “I already told you I don’t actually care what happens to the stupid princesses. I don’t even really care what happens to the Horde anymore. Maybe I want Hordak to eat shit.”

Adora nearly asks, What do you care about, then?

On second thought, the answer is obvious.

Catra’s fingers wind around Adora’s ponytail and use it to pull her forward. Their foreheads touch. Their eyes lock.There’s something secret, something heart-vexing, in Catra’s gaze. Adora hasn’t seen this look since they separated. They haven’t held each other in so long. They stay like this for a while, close enough that their eyelashes brush against the sides of each other’s noses. Bow calls that butterfly kisses.

Catra’s right, Adora realizes in a terrible lightning strike of self-honesty. She can’t do this to Bow. She can’t do this Glimmer. There are so many people counting on her to fix everything. People she cares about more than anything in the world. Yesterday, she was training to kill Catra.

Adora doesn’t need to speak it. Catra seems to have understood it long before she did. Catra’s the first to pull away from the embrace. She gets Adora to step into the suit. Helps her put it on. Zips her up, pulls her gloves on, hands her the helmet.

Blue eyes, still rimmed with shimmering tears that refuse to spill, stare down at it. “I can’t do this.”

Catra takes her face in both hands.

“Hey.” She forces Adora’s chin up. “Yeah, you will. You’ll be fine.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No. You’re not, really.” Catra holds her face still for the kiss she presses to her lips.

Adora makes a soft, wounded noise in the back of her throat.

“Okay,” Catra pulls away, panting—Almost sniffling? “C’mon, it’s time. Put that on.”

“Wait.”

“You can’t keep waiting.” Catra takes the helmet from Adora and attempts to put it on herself.

Adora bats it away. “Seriously, stop!”

The abrupt shout alarms Catra enough for her to actually pull back.

Gloved hands fumble with the suit, fighting to tear it off. “Take this—Get this off me—”

Catra stands still. “What is it?”

“The balloon! We have a giant balloon.” Adora’s out of breath, struggling to peel the gloves off without any help.

“Okay?”

“We—listen—We tape the bottom of the balloon around the hatch—and we fill the cockpit up with helium—”

“The balloon’s not big enough to float an entire war tank out of a tar pit.”

Adora grabs Catra by the arms. “It’ll make a little tunnel through the tar for us. We just need to hold our breath and crawl along the bottom.”

“That… Huh.” She watches hope dawn on Catra’s previously resigned expression. It’s beautiful. “We can do that.”

Catra swings around and flings open the HAB crate. Adora takes a minute to get out of the rest of the suit before bolting to the excursion kit and snatching the roll of black tape.

“Can’t believe I didn’t think of this,” Catra mutters to herself as they tape down the rim of the balloon all around the hatch door.

Adora snorts. “Yeah, ‘cause it was, like, so obvious.”

Together, they heave the helium tank beneath the balloon. Catra takes a deep breath and plugs her nose while Adora twists the handle to open up the flow all the way. The gas spills out with a loud hiss. Next, she drags the discarded HAB suit over to her and reaches inside for the gas mask. Adora holds the mouthpiece up to her face and—”Ouch!”

She cringes at the flare of pain when it touches against the gash across her nose. Holding it in front of her more gingerly this time, she takes a deep inhale. Exhales. Inhales, and holds it. She beckons Catra over and passes her the mask. Catra does the same. Inhales, exhales. Inhales, holds it, and passes the mask to Adora.

While Adora breathes, Catra crawls back beneath the balloon. It’s like disappearing behind a curtain. Adora hears the latch click. Catra grunts and metal creaks. In the next instant, the balloon is seemingly sucked up and out of the tank’s open hatch. Catra stands at the door, blinking in astonishment.

“Can’t believe that worked,” she says, but in the voice of a chipmunk.

Adora laughs, but the sound also comes out like a high pitched series of squeaks. It makes Catra laugh, just as high pitched, and now they’re stuck in a terrible feedback loop. Perhaps a little intoxicated with hope, they both share one last breath on the mask before they suffocate on helium. Adora, still in a giggle fit, struggles to hold that breath in.

Catra crawls out first, flashlight in hand. Adora follows, leaving the helium tank spilling behind them. Crawling inside the balloon isn’t at all like the fun play-tunnel experience she imagined. It’s more like being inside a water-wiggler toy. It’s squishy and warm on all sides, sort of collapsing around her. Feels gross, actually. Doesn’t smell awesome either.

Adora drags herself forward on her elbows, following the circle of light dancing ahead of her and the occasionally swish of Catra’s tail across her face. She can’t tell direction which direction they’re going in the pitch black balloon. Adora hopes they’re crawling along the floor of the pit and not like… up vertically, or else at the end of this they will find themselves still stuck in the middle of the tar pit.

The balloon seems to collapse more heavily around them the further they push forward. She hears Catra grunting as she tries to squeeze through the crushing pressure of tar all around her. Adora can’t even help push her, she’s stuck trying to wriggle herself forward. The water-wiggler experience turned into something more like seriously tight-space spelunking.

Out on the surface, the tar pit bubbles, seemingly undisturbed. A particularly large bubble rises up along the shoreline, then pops. A sword bursts through one side, a clawed hand on the other. Adora and Catra haul themselves out from the end of balloon, sweating and heaving.

They drag themselves a couple feet out over the soil and collapse at the edge of the Whispering Woods. Adora rolls onto her back, catching her breath. Daylight is painfully bright after the past hour or so of darkness, but she forces her eyes to stare up at the blue sky and white clouds. In a moment of bliss, her hand finds Catra’s and squeezes it.

“There you are!”

They both jolt upright at the shout from within the trees. Oh, no.

Branches rustle and a familiar face barrels out of the bushes. Scorpia runs at them with so much concentrated force that Adora reflexively braces herself for a tackle, fully expecting to be slammed to the dirt. That’s not what happens.

Instead, she swoops Catra off the ground and spins her around, hugging tight. “Iwasfreakingout, youhavenoidea!”

“Agh!” Catra tries to squirm out of the hug, but Scorpia seems way too adept at the art of hanging on.

“I followed your tracker and the location was in the middle of the Torpid Tar Pit!” She does set Catra back down, but only so she can use her free hand to point at Adora. “I thought this one threw you in!”

“She sorta did.”

“You wear a tracker?” Adora laughs. “What’s next, a collar?”

“Shut up, Adora.”

“Yeah, Adora,” Scorpia helpfully supplies. “The Horde search team I called will be here any minute now.”

Adora doesn’t wait for Catra’s permission to go this time. She hisses, “Fuck,” beneath her breath and darts into the trees without looking back. Scorpia lunges after her, but Catra’s arm across her chest stops her.

“She’s getting away. Again.”

“Just leave it. Don’t tell anyone she was here.”

“But—” She starts, then falters.

“Scorpia. I need you not to tell anyone she got away, so that I won’t have trouble.”

She’s already nodding before Catra finishes the sentence. “Well, yeah.”

“Cool.” Catra turns her face to stare at a nearby thornbush.

Scorpia’s been pretty good at keeping her mouth shut about momentary lapses in judgment when it comes to Adora. She’s lucky for that.

“Oh, wildcat,” Scorpia sighs, “you keep falling into the same old velvet ditches left and right.”

Catra’s sharp eyes snap to her. “Velvet what did you say?”

“A velvet ditch,” she repeats. “You know, a low place you fall into and don’t try to climb out of. Because you’re so comfortable there. It’s what my mom calls the Fright Zone.”

“I don’t fall into anything—Why’d you say ditches? Like I have more than one?”

“I think you do. But that’s okay. I’ll lend you a hand when you’re ready to climb out again. And I’ll help wash that tar off your arms.” With a spark of excitement in her eyes she adds, “It’ll probably take a while.”

Another thing Catra’s lucky for, is that Scorpia tells her the truth.

END.

#catradora #spop #catra #adora

[writingpaperghost]

Like Father, Like Daughter (Part 12)

Chapter 12: Kill the Doubt That's Always Paralyzing

Zero returns to Earth.

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22967815/chapters/81766423

Zero’s made his way back to Earth as quicky as possible. The things that had been making it hard for Moroboshi, Masami, and Booska to leave had been some kind of barrier. He wasn’t sure what exactly it was or how it got there, but it had been pretty easy to disable. He just had to hit it hard enough. Still, he wanted to make sure the trio got to somewhere that was definitely safe, which meant it took him a while to get back to Earth.

Now though, as he’s entering the planet’s atmosphere and searching for Mayu, he’s found something’s very wrong. She’s not in any of the places that she’d normally be, nor can he really seem to find her at all. Maybe she was just preoccupied elsewhere and he was missing her? He didn’t really think so, but he needed a host, so he supposed it was time he paid Leito a proper Ultraman Zero visit.

“Hey, Leito,” At Zero’s sudden words, Leito jumped. Thankfully, he’d been home and not holding anything, otherwise he probably would have dropped it.

“Z-Zero?” Clearly, Zero had startled him quite a bit. Or maybe it was just because it’d been a bit since they’d really spoken. “What are you doing here?”

Zero thought the answer was pretty obvious, he knows that Mayu explained why he was here. Though, Zero figured that Leito could have meant why he was in his head and not Mayu’s. Yeah, Zero decided, that was probably it. “Well, I need a host,” He answered simply, “And I couldn’t find Mayu, so…”

Leito seemed terribly concerned by that, “What do you mean you can’t find Mayu?”

There probably wassome cause for concern there, not that Zero was going to pretend he wasn’t concerned, he just didn’t want Leito to know that he was concerned. “Uh, yeah, I looked in the normal spots and even some other places, though obviously pretty quickly.” He wondered if Leito was concerned just because Zero couldn’t find Mayu, or if there was some other reason there. “What, haven’t you seen Mayu today or something?”

“Well, yes,” Leito sighed, “But she’s been acting a bit… odd lately. Every time Lumina or I ask, she says it’s fine but…”

“You’re worried,” Zero finished. Leito nodded, an action that Zero thought was a bit pointless, since Zero was, more or less, in Leito’s head.

As much as Zero would love to say that it was probably nothing, with the looming threat of Emari and whatever he had planned, he couldn’t exactly say it with any confidence. “Er, maybe Noa might know something? She’s Mayu’s friend. Or Kurow, though I don’t know if they’ve talked since the whole Alien Pitt thing.” He chose to offer instead.

“I don’t know about this Kurow,” Leito says, “But you might be right that Noa could know something. Or at the very least have different observations…”

“Well there’s a plan,” Zero says, “Ah, but first I need to talk with Riku about some things.”

Leito walks over to grab his jacket, “We’ll head to the Nebula House, then.”

When the pair arrived at the Nebula House, they found that they weren’t the only ones who had come to see Riku. Moa and Zena were there too, with Moa looking a rather concerned. Pega looked between everyone, a bit worried like, and Laiha stands with her arms crossed. Don-shine could be heard playing in the background, with the sound of light breathing coming from the pile of blankets on the couch.

“Um, Zero had some stuff he wanted to talk to you about, Riku,” Leito says, once he takes in the scene in front of him.

Riku frowned, “He’s with you?”

The concerned expression on Moa’s face deepened and it looked like she wanted to say something. Zena nudges her, but neither said anything. Leito wonders if he should be worried. Regardless, he answers Riku with, “Yes, apparently he couldn’t find Mayu,” Now, Moa really looked like she wanted to say something. Leito couldn’t help but be a bit concerned.

“Right,” Riku says slowly, “So, Zero, what did you want to talk about?”

In a manner that Leito was still somehow used to, Zero takes control and removes Leito’s glasses. “There was some kind of barrier outside of the planet, limiting entry and exit from the planet,” He told Riku, “Obviously I took care of it, but I bet it was put there by Emari.”

Moa speaks up then, “About, Emari,” She said, hesitantly, “That brings us to why Zena and I are here.”

“Have you gotten any leads on where he is or what he’s up to?” Zero asked.

She got a funny look on her face as she tried to decide the best way to say whatever it was she had to report, “So, we know he has some Alien Magmas working for him, but more importantly…” She glances at Zena, almost hesitantly, “For some reason, he-had-the-Magmas-kidnap-Noa.” She says the last part so quickly Leito can’t really follow, but Zero can.

So did Riku, too, given he sputtered, “Kidnap Noa?” out loud, then added, “But why?”

“We don’t know,” Zena shook his head ever so slightly, “There’s… someone looking into it.”

“So much for asking Noa about Mayu, after this,” Zero muttered, “Well I guess it can’t be helped. Hopefully whoever you have looking into it finds something out quick.”

“Hopefully,” Moa mumbles, then looks up and squints at Zero, “Wait, why were you going to ask Noa about Mayu?”

Leito took control to answer the question, returning his glasses to his face, “On top of Zero not being able to find her… Mayu’s been acting a bit odd lately.” Moa looked very uncomfortable.

She looks at Zena, who does the Zena equivalent of a sigh. Which isn’t really anything, but Zero had a weird way of interpreting what Zena did. “We have reason to believe that Emari might be controlling her in some manner,” He said, “It’s certainly a possibility.”

“At least,” Moa adds, “That’s what Kurow thinks.”

Zero takes control again, “Why would he care what happens to Mayu? Last I checked he was pretty solid in the department of not caring about others.”

Moa shrugged, “I don’t know? When we asked he pretty much just dodged the question.”

Laiha shakes her head, looking concerned, “Why he’s helping or whatever doesn’t really matter right now. We have a lot to worry about,”

Riku looks around the room at everyone, “She’s right, we have two people we have to find, one of which is definitely kidnaped.”

Crossing his arms, Zero nods, “We’ve got our work cut out for us,” He agreed.

It was about then that someone new enters the Nebula House. Given that mostly everyone who even knew about the place were already there, it brought the question of who was coming. Zero notes how Riku tenses slightly at the unexpected visitor.

Standing in the doorway was Kurow, hands in his pockets, doing his very best to look disinterested, despite how he looked around the room. He gives a little wave when he realizes he’s caught their attention.

“So this,” Kurow says, “Is where you all meet?”

“Kurow,” Moa notes, “How’d you find here?”

Kurow shrugged, “I’m good at these sort of things.”

“Right,” Zero said, crossing his arms and doing his best to sound unimpressed, “What brings you here.”

“I’m helping,” He responds, putting clear effort into stressing the fact that he was “helping”. How he was helping exactly, Zero didn’t know, at least not until Kurow continued, “After all, someone had to go check the Alien Magmas’ base. Which, by the way, was actually just deserted. Looks like they all hightailed it to Emari, or something.”

“Wait, wait,” Zero shakes his head, “You’re actually helping? This much?”

“Yes,” Kurow says sharply, “Not for you or anyone else in this room, of course. Emari succeeding in his plan, whatever it is, is probably bad for me too.”

Zero didn’t exactly buy that answer, but so long as Kurow actually helped them, he supposed he couldn’t complain. Behind him, Moa says, “So then, we know that Noa is with Emari.”

Zena adds, “Were you able to find anything about why they kidnapped Noa in the first place?”

There’s something that might be interpreted as a smug look on Kurow’s face, and definitely leaking into his tone, when he answers, “Oh, they left that place so fast the computers were still on,” He pulls a scrap of paper out of his pocket and looks at it, “Let’s see… Does alien weapon absorbed in childhood answer your question?”

The room is quiet after he speaks as everyone takes in Kurow’s answer. It wasn’t impossible, alien weapons had a tendency to end up unattended in a lot of weird and sometimes easy to get to places. They were also known to often react in odd ways when coming into contact with some species. It wasn’t beyond belief that Noa, as a child had stumbled upon something of the kind and had somehow absorbed it. It would explain the strange energy she sometimes had.

“I don’t suppose,” Riku begins, “That they mentioned where Emari’s base was?”

Kurow shakes his head, “Nope, nothing of the kind,” There’s something in his tone that doesn’t quite seem right, for Kurow at least, but Zero doesn’t worry much about it. “I haven’t a clue in that department.”

“I think,” Zero begins, “We’re going to need to start our search for Emari, asap.”

“Yes,” Zena agreed, “The AIB can start searching for his base,”

While finding his base would probably find Emari and Noa, it had no guarantee to answer as to where Mayu was. Which Zero wasn’t exactly enthused about. “I think Leito and I should look for Mayu, especially if Emari really does have something to do with her strange behavior.”

Taking a step towards them, Kurow adds, “I’ll help,” He places his hand and the paper back into his pocket, “I have a few places I think they might be.”

Riku looked between the five, then nodded, “Right, Pega and I will help Moa and Zena look for the base. Laiha can help you three.”

With their plans made, the groups of four set out searching.

---

Zero quickly recognized the path that Kurow was taking them down. It led towards the garden that Mayu liked to spend her time at. Zero had obviously checked for her there earlier, but, now that he knew that Emari could be doing something, it was possible that he could have hidden her. Actually going there on foot would most likely yield better results.

He’d let Leito have control while they traveled, which resulted in Leito awkwardly trying to make conversation with Kurow. This went about as well as anyone could expect it too, as Kurow wasn’t feeling particularly talkative. Laiha didn’t say anything as Leito spoke to Kurow.

“So you’re a friend of Mayu’s?” Leito had asked.

“We’re not friends,” Kurow responded, his voice almost neutral. But Zero could hear something in it. He was pretty sure Kurow was lying, “She’s just too nice for her own good.” Now that wasn’t something Zero could really argue with, though he supposed even his own opinion of Mayu’s niceness might be a bit more harsh than really necessary.

Leito was a bit unnerved by Kurow’s response, but still said, “That isn’t… always a bad thing,” In some respects, Leito probably wasn’t wrong. In others, Zero could admit that different perspectives would probably cause a difference of opinions on matters like this.

“Let’s just keep going,” The conversation hadn’t exactly gotten far before Kurow had shut it down, but that was more or less what Zero had been expecting. Leito had got about as far as he’d imagined he would.

Soon enough, they arrived just outside of where the clearing was. Except, there was something very clearly wrong. Zero could feel it and so too could Kurow, it seemed, as Kurow had stopped just in front of the strange thing. There wasn’t anything visible there out of the ordinary but…

Zero takes control and walks up. “What’s this…?” He wonders aloud.

Kurow seems almost too relaxed when he answered, “Probably Emari’s doing, that-“ And then a colorful string of swears in several different languages, from several different planets, some of which Zero barely even recognized. Zero couldn’t help but wince slightly, not even he or Glenfire usually swore that much.

“Geez,” Zero can’t help but comment, “You really don’t like the guy.” More so than Zero, it seemed.

“He’s annoying,” Kurow responded, deadpan, before hesitantly putting a hand up to the strange sort of barrier. “Seriously, though, how do we get through this?”

It was probably safe to say that trying to hit it hard probably wouldn’t work this time.

But there was something about this barrier that didn’t quite feel right. More than the fact it was there at all. Zero thought that it felt more like it was supposed to keep very specific things in and out. So maybe if they could just figure out what.

Oh, wait. Emari had to get in or out somehow, and he could project his consciousness. That was how he controlled people. Despite physically looking like a short little gargoyle creature, Emari was capable of projecting his consciousness from his body for up to several hours at a time. So that probably meant that this barrier would only let something like that in and out.

“Maybe,” Zero began, “I might be able to get in there.”

“How do you plan to do that, Zero?” Leito sounded very concerned. Zero didn’t blame him, he was worried about Mayu too.

“I’ve… fought darkness out of peoples minds before, so maybe I can do it again,” He said, “I don’t know for sure but…”

“That sounds dangerous…”

“If you think it’ll work,” Kurow said, “I won’t stop you. But if you die and Mayu ends up upset about it, I’ll bring you back and kill you myself.”

“Wow, Kurow,” Zero said, “It sounds like you care about Mayu.”

“Shut up.”

Laiha shakes her head, “If you’ve got something you think might work, Zero, than it’s worth a shot.”

Zero reached his hand forward and soon felt himself separate from Leito. Soon enough, his hand was passing through the barrier and he was entering this new place.

---

It was safe to say that Zero didn’t know what he expected to see when he crossed the barrier, but he wasn’t surprised at the dreary version of the garden he’d saw. There was a layer of fog floating just above the ground and in the air, giving the whole place a dreary feeling. Though it brought back memories as equally dreary and depressing places, he had more important concerns. Mayu.

Who he found rather easily, holding her knees to her chest, sitting on the ground with her back against the rock. There was something that was ever slightly familiar about it, but he couldn’t place where. Not that it mattered. He just needed to get her out of here. Something that he hadn’t exactly figured out, since he doubted he’d be able to just bring her out.

“Mayu?” He called out, hoping to gain her attention.

She definitely heard him, given she looked up from where her head was resting on her knees, towards him. In her eyes, he can see surprise flash, before something hopeful, and then replacing them each as quickly as the one before, it finally settled on something that was like dejection. She places her face back down into her knees and, quietly, he can hear her mutter, “Have I really been here long enough to imagine things?”

Zero’s heart wrenched at her tone. Like she’d already accepted she wasn’t getting out of here. How long had it felt like she’d been there, to her? Long enough, it seemed. “Mayu,” He repeated, “I’m really here.”

She looks up again, and squints, “What are you doing here?”

“What do you think?” He asked, then adds, “I’m here for you, obviously.”

“Why?” There’s something in the way she said it and something about the fact that she said it at all that makes Zero hurt.

He takes a step towards her, “Do I really need a reason? You’re in trouble, I’m going to help you.”

Mayu considers that for a moment, “Okay,” She says slowly, “But… How?”

“How what?”

“How are you going to help me?” She asked and slowly, stood up and gestured to their surroundings, “Look around, Zero, you think I haven’t already tried to leave? I’ve gone through those trees over and over and only found myself back here! Do I look like I wantto stay here? There’s doesn’t even seem to be a way out, and for all either of us knows, there isn’t! I don’t even know how you got here!”

“Mayu,” Zero starts, moving closer to her. She glares at him when he gets within a foot of her and he stops. “We’ll figure something out. Okay? I’m sure there’s some way-“

There’s something alarmingly cold in her voice when she cuts him off, “Some way that I can’t have found? Despite all the time I’ve spent searching.” She frowns and turns away from him, looking down, “I’ve looked and looked, but sure, if you think there’s something I must have missed, then be my guest, look. It’s not like I can stop you.” She sounds terribly bitter with her last comment. Zero can’t help but think all of this is taking a toll on her.

“That’s not what I was trying to say,” Zero begins again, “I just meant that maybe there’s something that needs more than you, or just to wait a little while longer…”

“I’m sick and tired of that,” Mayu says, her hands tightening into fists at her side, “I’m tired of it needing to be more than me. I’m tired of waiting for things to happen so I can move on with things.”

Zero thinks that, perhaps, he had underestimated the effect of having him around on her. His previous hosts had never had this kind of problem, not that Ran was conscious for it, but Taiga, while certainly not wanting him around, hadn’t reacted like this at any point, neither had Leito. But those two were not Mayu, and Mayu was, by default, quite different from any of his hosts. Mayu was a teenager who wasn’t overconfident, not by a longshot. She was a teenager who seemed to barely have any confidence at all, sometimes.

So it could be, that having a really cool person like himself, who fought monsters on a regular basis and could do a whole bunch of things, might not be the best for the confidence of someone who already had it rather low. He could see why she’d think that people had, recently, only ever needed her for him, and not for her. He could understand why she felt like she had no control over everything. Really, a lot of times she didn’t.

“I… get where you’re coming from, Mayu,” He responds, “I don’t know the feeling personally, but I can understand it…”

“Do you?” Her voice was still harsh.

He needed something to prove to her that she’d done something on her own, throughout this entire thing. And he had just the thing in mind, which he was certain would help her see, “Do you know who came with me and Leito to look for you?” He asked.

Mayu turned a bit, and looked over at him, though she still wasn’t exactly facing him. “Who?”

“Kurow,” Zero answered, “He’s been worried about you, it seems, he came to Zena and Moa for help, he found his way into the Nebula House to help, he came with us, he was the one who suggested to search here first.” He left out the part where Noa got kidnapped. Mayu probably wouldn’t feel better with that knowledge. “Do you think the Kurow you met before would have done that?”

After regarding him for a moment, Mayu responds, “Okay,” and then turns towards him, finally. She raises her arms, slightly, and takes a small step forward, hesitating. Then, seemingly throwing caution to the wind, she runs towards him and wraps her arms around him. Zero stiffens slightly, before returning the hug. “But how do we get out of here?”

“Well…” Before Zero can finish, he sees something across the garden. A dark shape emerging from the darkness of the trees.

Soon the shape had appeared enough that he knew there was no denying who it was, “Looks like we have a guest here,” Emari spoke, “How rude of you just to enter.”

Mayu unwraps herself from Zero and turns around to face Emari, standing beside Zero. In what was most likely an intimidation tactic, both sets of Emari’s wings spread, casting even more shadow into the already dark area.

Seeming tense beside him, Zero spares a glance at Mayu, who’s shoulders are raised and her fists clenched. Her’s jaw’s tight as she glares at Emari with something that was mixture of primarily contempt and annoyance.

After a moment, she reaches down and grabs something off the ground, then throws the rock she picked up at Emari. It hits him square in the face causing him to hiss. Annoyed, Mayu growls, “For god’s sake go away!”

Seeing an opening, Zero runs forward and jumps, kicking Emari. The trees around then shimmer slightly and the fog begins to lighten. Zero follows up with a couple punches and sunlight begins to peak through cracks in the darkness.

“Whatever Emari’s done here,” Mayu remarks, “Doesn’t seem to stand up well to violence against him.” Zero spins around and kicks Emari again, sending him flying back. All at once, the darkness and the dreary garden shatters, being replaced with the true visage of the garden, with vibrant greens and bright colors. Emari staggers back as Zero, in a flash of light, returns to Mayu, settling in a bit like a coat that used to be too big for you, but you’ve now grown into.

Hissing, Emari’s wings expand again, “It seems it’s time I go…” He begins to take flight, his wings heaving and sending him into the air, “But I still have a couple plans left.” Soon enough, he was gone.

Then, Mayu hears footsteps running towards her and Zero.

“Mayu!” Whether due to his calling her name, or something else, Mayu sees her dad first. Leito looks positively relieved to see her.

Laiha is right behind him, “What was that leaving?” She asked, “And is Zero with you?”

Kurow trails the farthest behind and Mayu almost doesn’t even see him, were it not for the fact that he was the one to answer Laiha’s first question, “That was Emari,”

Mayu nods, “Yeah, that was,” Then she answers, “And yeah, Zero’s here, now.”

“Then,” Kurow begins and Mayu still can’t quite believe that he’s even here, that he even went through the trouble of trying to help her. “Let’s hope the others are having better luck with Noa.”

Hold up. “What do you mean, ‘with Noa’?”

Laiha glares in Mayu’s general direction, “Zero,” She began and now Mayu knew that Laiha was glaring at Zero, not her, “You didn’t tell her,”

Zero takes control, “There wasn’t a good time-“

Mayu takes back control, “Tell me what?”

“Um,” Zero begins, sounding uncharacteristically hesitant, “So about Noa…”

#ultraman zero #mayu igaguri #like father like daughter #my writing #ultraman

[razieltwelve]

Consultation (Final Rose)

Vanille was happily munching on some popcorn as she and Professor Cuddles  watched footage from her latest experiment. It had been impossible to observe the effects of Claire’s Semblance too closely in real time, but there was something oddly hypnotic about watching things shatter and split apart in super, super, super slow motion.

It helped that she’d really put Claire through her paces. She’d gotten the girl to destroy all kinds of things that varied in terms of size, density, hardness, flexibility, and so on. Her favourite one so far was the jello. That had been pretty cool, albeit quite messy. Oh, and watching an entire dam explode had been awesome. From what she could tell, Claire’s Semblance seemed to both create lines of weakness in objects as well as amplify and extend along pre-existing lines of weakness too.

They were about to get to the part where Claire blew apart a dummy with the same approximate consistency as human flesh when there was a knock on the door of her lab. Vanille stopped the video and hid the popcorn before pulling up a simulation related to genetic compatibility in people with powerful Semblances.

She put a finger to her lips and winked at Professor Cuddles. “If anyone asks, I’m being productive, okay?”

The hamster gave a quiet squeak and nudged her hand.

“Yeah, yeah, you’ll get a treat as long as you cooperate.” Vanille smiled. “Let’s go see who that is.”

It was not someone she expected.

“So…” Vanille gestured at one of the other chairs near her. “Why don’t you have a seat, Glynda. I don’t think I’ve done anything to get you mad recently, so I’m not entirely sure what this visit is about.”

The blonde professor looked distinctly uncomfortable. “Does the… hamster have to be here?”

“Does he have to go?” Vanille asked. “It’s not like we’ll be talking about anything confidential, are we?” She paused. “Are we?”

The look on Glynda’s face said it all.

“Ah, right.” She nodded at Professor Cuddles and then tapped her scroll. A robot detached itself from the wall nearby and floated over. “Hop on. He’ll take you over to Diana. Remind her that we have a plotting session tomorrow morning.”

As the robot left the lab with the hamster, Glynda continued to fidget, something she’d never really done unless she was extremely nervous. It made Vanille nervous too because the only thing that could make Glynda nervous was something world-ending or close to it.

“You have a flying robot to carry your hamster around?” Glynda asked.

“I can’t exactly give him security clearance, and it’s quicker than letting him scurry around on the floor. It’s also safer since no one is going to accidentally step on him if he’s hitching a ride on the robot.”

“I see.”

Silence.

“Glynda,” Vanille said at last. “What’s this about?”

“I…” Glynda took a deep breath and then continued. “Uh… um… you’re qualified in gynaecology and obstetrics, aren’t you?”

Vanille frowned. “I’m qualified in pretty much everything. I’m even taking night classes in carpentry since I’m not officially licensed as a carpenter yet. But, yes, I am qualified in gynaecology and obstetrics. Why do you ask?”

“Well… I…” Glynda took another deep breath. Frankly, she looked like she was about to hyperventilate. Vanille had brought her lunch in a paper bag, so she reached over, just in case she needed it. “I want to know if it’s still possible for me to have children.”

More silence.

“Okay…” Vanille pursed her lips. “We… can do that if you’d like.”

“That’s it?” Glynda asked. “No jokes? No making fun of me?”

“Glynda, I can be a bit evil, but I’m not that evil. Besides, if Lumina ever found out that I teased you about something like this, she’d murder me. Since I would rather my children didn’t grow up without one of their parents, I’ll refrain from asking too many questions.” Vanille rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “But can I expect Ozpin to be approaching me about a similar matter.”

Glynda turned an impressive shade of red as her mouth opened and closed several times before she finally decided that speech was beyond her. Instead, she simply nodded.

“Oh, don’t be like that.” Vanille patted Glynda on the arm. “I’m not blind, plus I’m a Faunus. I’ve noticed your scents on each other’s clothing far more than would be expected of simple colleagues.” She had also noticed several things during her observation of the academy’s surveillance and security systems, but she wasn’t going to mention that, nor was she going to mention the colossal betting pool she’d just won. Was she lucky or what? “Anyway… we can get started now, if you’d like?”

“I, uh, yes. Now would be good.”

X     X     X

Vanille watched Glynda fiddle with her clothing anxiously and decided to get to the point as quickly as possible. “So, we’ll start off with the good news. You can have children.”

Glynda looked more relieved than Vanille had ever seen her. “Really? I was concerned that I’d waited too long…”

“It’s true that you’re not as young as most women who’re trying to have children, but huntresses tend to have longer childbearing years than most women due to the effects of repeated Aura usage and large Aura capacity. Advances in reproductive science have also made it much easier for women to conceive with the assistance of science if that’s something they want.”

“I wasn’t aware that Aura had anything to do with reproductive health.”

“It’s a really complicated topic, which I should probably devote more time to because of how awesome I am, but I’ve been occupied with the whole Grimm thing. Anyway, it basically boils down to the changes in biology brought on by repeated Aura usage and high Aura capacity. You’ve probably noticed that even without the use of Aura, huntsmen and huntresses tend to be far physically stronger than people should be. It’s because, given enough time, Aura changes them on a fundamental level. No system in the body is immune to these changes, and it just so happens that the ability to have children to a later age than normal is one of the more common side effects.”

“That’s… good.”

“Yes, it is. Even so, there is a possibility that you may not get pregnant as quickly as you’d like. Have you already started trying, or have you been practicing only?”

“Practicing?”

“Do I seriously have to explain what I mean by that?”

“Oh.” Glynda flushed. “Uh, we haven’t exactly started trying yet. I mean… we’ve been using contraceptives so far.”

“In that case, when would you like to get pregnant?”

“Um… as… as soon as possible would be good.” Glynda fought to compose herself. “It’s… I realise that I won’t be able to have children forever, and we’re currently in a period of relative stability, so…”

“That’s fine. What contraceptives have you been using?”

“I’ve been taking a number of them.”

“Which ones?” Vanille’s brows furrowed as Glynda listed the contraceptives she’d been taking. Trust the professor to be thorough about absolutely everything. “That could complicate matters. It might take your system as long as six months to get back to normal.”

“Six months?”

“Luckily, you’re talking to the smartest person on the planet. I have something you can take to negate all of the effects and get your system back to normal inside of a week.”

“Why do you even have something like that?”

“If I told you who I developed it for, I would have to kill you. Seriously, though, I’ll bring some to you later today. It’ll take me a couple of hours to make it.” Vanille smiled. “So… basically, you’re good to go. I wish you the best of luck and…”

“I would like it if you could be my primary care physician during my pregnancy and the birth.”

“Uh, sure.” Vanille shrugged. “I’m already at Beacon, so it’s not like I have to go anywhere. I don’t suppose I could convince you to sign the child over to me as a minion once they’re born, could I?”

“No.”

“Damn. It was worth a shot. Anyway, tell Ozpin to come and see me soon. There are no issues on your end, but I’ll need to check if there are any problems on his side.” Vanille reached for her scroll. “I’ll forward the results to you in detail with an explanation to give you peace of mind, and… I’m going to assume that you want this kept secret.”

“I would.”

“Then it is a secret. I’ll encrypt any material on this and place it under the strictest security possible. It’ll be even harder to get information on this than it will be to retrieve the plans for Atlas’s newest weapon, which I might say, is exactly the kind of thing Jimmy would build.”

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that,” Glynda said, standing. “And… thank you. I appreciate it.”

“It’s fine.” Vanille waved one hand. “Go out there and have some fun.”

#final rose #fanfiction #oerba dia vanille #glynda goodwitch #mr cuddles

[monstersofsilence]

Light...

Darkness. The pure void. Then, light. Slowly opening his eyes, he quickly looked around to find himself in a room. Filthy, decrepit, with bars that have rusted over the ages. Trying to stand up, he felt something caught in his legs, looking down, he finds his legs bound by chains. "H-Hello! Where am I?!" He called out

"Where do you think, kid?" A voice responded.

"Who... who said that?" He called back

"Your new neighbor. I'm to your right. Welcome to a slave encampment."

"What... a... a slave encampment? Why... why me?"

"They don't pick out random trolls and stuff 'em in a camp like this for nothing." The troll said in his own cell. "If you're here, then someone might've found something out about you. What's your name?"

"Vekona... Vekona Lumina..." He replied.

"Welp. That's an odd one. Sounds familiar, too. Is there anything odd about you that you know about?" The troll asked.

"Well... u-um... my eyes! I have heterochromia... but... the color changes..." He kept explaining and then realizes the fault in his feature. "And they glow..."

"There you go." The stranger said. "Here's some advice: no matter what, don't give up your name. If some day you ever want to escape this hell hole, they often need to find out a name first. Trust me. One thing I have learned and seen, people here get broken very easily. Physically and psychologically."

Confused by what the troll is saying, a noise can heard from down the hall and then screams. It echoed through the hall as a large troll came to his own cell, opening it and quickly bound his wrists in chains as they uncuffed his legs. Bringing up to his feet, he was pushed out of his cell and hit the wall. "Move it. The lady wants a word with you." The large troll said as they continued to shove him forward.

All around him was just sadness, cruelty, and brutality. Things he never thought he could see. He walked down through the building which felt like forever, going through a catwalk that connected to the second part of the building. The catwalk had windows and he was able to see what was going on outside. Trolls doing work. Forging weapons and he could see a an insignia embedded onto the building. The fleet. He could definitely figure out that the ones working are low bloods and mutants. The mutants doing the hard work as some even get roughed up by the high bloods.

A dark world. That's the only thing he could describe what he's in. He sees one troll getting exhausted from the work, chipping away at rock to get silver, putting down his pickaxe and then some high bloods threatened him to go back to work or they would be forced to kill them. The last words he could remember hearing is "put me out of my fucking misery." After that, he made it the next building and hears a gun shot going off.

He finally stopped at double doors, two guards standing on each side of them. The one on his left opened the doors and he was met with a grand hall and all the way at the end is a high blood, sitting on a golden throne that is heavily detailed. The large troll behind him shoved him forward and he falls to his knees. "Well, I might say that we have been eyeing you for a good while."

"I... I-I don't belong here..." He said.

"Hmm... that's something I don't hear all too often." The high blood got off their throne and slowly walked over to him. She is a sea dweller, her hair in large twin tails on the back of her head. She had a necklace with jewels on it along with golden arm bracelets, one on her left having her symbol on it. "I think you belong here. You're a mutant. Why is it that a troll like you would have eyes that glow and sometimes change to different colors? Do you know any other troll like that?" He didn't respond to the question. "I thought so. And since you have changing color eyes every now and then, this makes it much more harder to figure out what kind blood you really have. You see, in my line of work, usually it doesn't matter to me what blood color a mutant has. If something sticks out that looks unusual, I could care less what blood color they could be."

"But... you have low bloods here..." He commented.

"Rebels. Anarchists. Low bloods that challenge the Empress and her imperial fleet. That's why it's often ironic that I put them to work on making weapons for the fleet. They're making supplies for the people they dare to oppose. No one can oppose the fleet nor The Empress." She continued to talk and then realized something. "Oh... I almost forgot. Apologies, but I didn't introduced myself. Zacarn. Lyrine Zacarn." She gave a smile. But he could see it. Pure evil in her eyes. Darkness. The void. "Now, let's find out what blood color are you so the mystery can finally be revealed."

The large troll that was behind him walked up in front him, grabbing him by the wrist and opening up his hand. The troll pulled out a knife and cuts at his palm as he screamed. It wasn't long to see blood come out. Black blood. The large troll looked at it then slowly moved out of the way to let Lyrine examine it. The sea dweller is shocked by this and quickly walked up to him, slapping him across the face. "What the hell are you?" She yelled at him. "That kind of blood shouldn't exist! Disgusting blood. Why do you even exist?"

"I wondered if you told yourself that in the mirror..." He said with a sarcastic come back. Lyrine was furious by this and punched him in the face.

"How about you tell who you are? In the end, it doesn't matter. With blood like yours, you're nothing. You don't belong in the caste."

"If you say that my name doesn't matter, then I shouldn't tell you." He was then punched again.

"You are going to tell me or have you forgotten your manners during the time you were down on the dirt?"

"I'm not... telling you a thing." Punched once more, spitting out black blood.

"Don't you dare spit your filthy oil anywhere near me." The sea dweller grabbed him by the hair, pulling on it. "Tell me your name. Be a good kid and tell me."

Quickly trying to think of anything, he looked around the room he's in, then towards the middle of the throne. Each side of the thrones are mannequins, holding some wealthy clothing. He closed his eyes and finally replied. "Manikin..."

"What... what?" She said, confused and enraged by this.

"M-A-N-I-K-I-N... Manikin." He stated. "That's all I'm saying. You can do whatever you want, but I'm not saying my real name."

"Is that so?" She said, waiting for a response. A minute of silence and he nodded his head. "Well... then let's hope you don't spit out any of your motor oil on me after this."

Opening his eyes, all he could remember is pain. Blood. Screaming. He never gave up his name even after being bruised up to the point he thought he might've died. In and out of consciences, he remembers some parts of being dragged back to where he was awoken from. It was until he hears voices among some of the trolls within their cells. Some were astonished to even see black blood as it dripped from his hand, his mouth. Some even talked about him related to someone. He couldn't remember the words.

Being put back into his cell, he felt the ice cold chains around his feet and then the chains on his hands being removed. "Black blood." The voice from the right side of his cell said suddenly. "The Bloodless had black blood, too. He got that title because of it."

It was all he could remember hearing. There was a window in his cell wall, but barred up. He was ready to black out. The last thing he saw was a figure outside his window. Then... black.

Darkness. The pure void.

Then, light.

#Manikin #ExpositionzOfSilence #this was a pretty dark thing Manikin has went through #and overall pretty dark for me to write #but uh yeah #this was long