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#step 1 is to force people to watch dc step 2 is to force people to watch survivor itself. i believe
accirax · 2 months
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Disventure Camp All Stars Power Ranking (Round "5")
Hey everybody! So, I've recently gotten into Disventure Camp, just in time to catch the third season near its beginning. As it's been occupying a good chunk of my brain activity for the past couple of weeks, I've really wanted to write something about it just to let some of the brain worms out. Coincidentally, I also started watching Gordon Holmes' Survivor Power Ranking series as season 46 has been airing (although I've watched Survivor since I was a kid), and really enjoyed the format and the questions it incited. So, I figured, why not mash them up?
The Power Ranking format is essentially a way of ranking how well each player is doing in the game. So, in essence, this is a long form way of predicting who I think will be eliminated from the competition in the next episode. If that sounds interesting, I invite you to read on!
Alright, now that we've made it past the Read More, I'll explain the game in a bit more detail, given that this is the first time I'm posting a "theory" like this. (It's "Round 5" because this is off the heels of the 5th episode, but there are no power rankings prior to this one.) The way Gordon's Power Rankings work, you rank each player not based on how likely they are to win overall, but how likely they are to survive the next episode. For the sake of example, let's say I've ranked Kristal as #1 (least likely to go home), Derek as #2, Trevor as #3, Emily as #4, and Oliver as #5 (most likely to go home). When the next episode comes out, you go back and lock in the score of the person who was eliminated. So, back to our example, if it's Derek who winds up going home, then I get 2 points. Bigger scores are better, so, as you can see, it would have been better if I'd ranked Derek lower. Derek's score is the only one that matters for the week, so the rest of my placements don't factor into my score at all.
This format makes more sense when you can compare your score against someone else's (as what happens in Gordon's videos). But, I still think it's a fun format to use, and it'll be interesting to me to see if I perform better or worse than average at the end of the season. Also, if anyone wants to make their own version of the power ranking and fight me, I'd love to see that! (You don't have to write as much as I will, if you don't want to.) I'm actively trying to mansplain manipulate malewife my way into convincing people to watch this show, so the more the merrier in analysis land.
Although I will be making some of the same analytical remarks that Gordon and co. do for the Survivor season, I want to point out that I will be actively acknowledging that Disventure Camp is a work of fiction. Both Survivor and DC create an "edit" by budgeting their screen time towards specific characters and plot lines, so both can be analyzed in that way. However, Survivor is a story constructed in retrospect, based on the reality of who happened to win the game. DC has been a fictional story since the very beginning, and therefore an episode of the cartoon may be more... "controlled" than an episode of Reality TV. For instance, Survivor players irl might not manage to keep all of their tribes at roughly the same number of people, but Odd Nation Cartoons may have built the season in a way that doesn't eradicate one team of All Stars at the very start.
I bring this up because, for this week in particular, I think that a character originating from Season 1 will likely be packing their bags. We've had four eliminations so far, one from the Season 1 cast (Miriam) and three from the Season 2 cast (James, Lake, and Hunter). Given that both casts started out with 9 competitors, this means that 33% of the Season 2 cast is already gone. I don't think it's impossible that a Season 2 character could be eliminated this week, but I'm definitely inclined to believe that it'll be a season 1 character that bites the dust.
Also, as the contestants on Gordon's show are able to use the "Next Time on Survivor" segment in their analyses, I think that using the trailer for next episode is entirely fair game! Spoilers for the Episode 6 trailer, if you're trying to ignore that. I don't know how much I'm going to reference it, but it'll probably be at least a little bit.
With that out of the way, let's start with the character who I think is the least likely to go home!
#1: Tess
Tess is in a really good position right now as the Cyan Team's swing vote. Aiden will want to take out Ellie as a member of the villains alliance and the one behind Lake's elimination. While it's unknown how much stock Ellie will continue to place in the girls' alliance, she still sees Tess as her friend, and therefore the best option to reach out to for a third vote to take out Aiden or Tom. Therefore, neither Aiden and Tom nor Ellie and Gabby should be looking to eliminate her.
I also feel like they're going to want to have Tess reunite with Ally at the merge, which is another reason why she might stick around. Then again, I might've thought the same of Hunter, and we saw how that went for him last episode. Still, as both Tess and Ally's characterizations revolved around Hunter in Season 2, I at least have interest in seeing how the two girls would progress without their collective crush around.
And, on top of all that, Tess is a Season 2 character. I find it very hard to believe that Tess will be eliminated next episode.
#2: Aiden
Alright, this choice is definitely leaning more on the meta side than the gameplay side. Gameplay wise, if Tess decided to side with Ellie and Gabby, it could be very easy for Aiden to be the target of their votes. But, I just don't think that Odd Nation Cartoons would want to eliminate Aiden at this point in the competition. The man is a fan favorite!
Of course, that was true of James as well... but, that only furthers my point. Given that James and Lake have already been eliminated from the competition, getting rid of Aiden would wipe that entire friend group of characters out. In my opinion, it would be odd for Aiden to have that confessional about playing for James, Lake, and himself, only to be eliminated three episodes after Lake. Aiden is also still a major plot point in the Jake/Tom romance that I think they'll want to keep around for a little longer.
Also, if the theory that James will return to the competition at some point (because he hasn't had a "reading the patrons names" segment yet) turns out to be true, I suspect that they'd want Aiden to still be in the competition for his return. Aiden should be safe.
#3: Jake
You know who else is a part of the Jake/Tom plotline? Jake. I don't think our favorite(?) whiny idiot has his head on the chopping block right now, despite being a S1 character.
Although, Jake's safety is actually mostly not a meta read. I just straight up think that his elimination would be the most baffling on the Magenta Team. Ally could go home if the Jake/Ashley/Fiore alliance decides to finish what they started when they eliminated Hunter. Fiore could go home if, now that the couple has been split up, Jake and Ashley unite with Ally to take out one of the villains. Even if Ally and Fiore somehow had the power to band together and use a totem or something to send one of Jake or Ashley home... I still think it would be Ashley. That's partially based on meta logic of considering Jake a more important character than Ashley, but there are in-universe reasons why they might choose to eliminate Ashley over Jake, too. For Fiore's sake, Ashley has more of a vendetta against her specifically. Ashley is also an athletic and friendly person who could situate herself very well if she made the merge, whereas Jake (who's already demoralized at Miriam's exit) would likely only incite more conflict and use his vote in petty ways. (Sorry to Jake fans lol, I'm kinda slandering your boy.)
Anyways, any other Magenta elimination makes more sense to me than Jake, so I think he's pretty safe.
#4: Tom
Rounding out the Jake/Tom/Aiden love triangle, we have Tom at #4. It's a lot of what I've already covered with Jake and Aiden. There's so much drama yet to be had with this trio that knocking down one of its legs (specifically, the central leg) at this point feels like a loss. Also, I really don't understand why the Cyan girls would choose to eliminate Tom instead of Aiden, which means I'm basically predicting that both of the Cyan boys are safe. That includes Tom, so, good for him!
#5: Ally
And once again, we're looping back to a prior entry. For Tess to reunite with Ally at the merge, Ally has to make it there, too. So, despite her boyfriend's fate, I think Ally will be sticking around for a little while longer.
It's a bit counterintuitive, but I sort of think that Ally will stay because it would be too obvious if she went home. Jake, Ashley, and Fiore eliminating Ally in a 3-1 vote is exactly what you would predict would happen looking at the tribe on the surface. So, for the sake of intrigue, I feel like something would happen to prevent it. In the preview, we see her having one-on-one conversations with Ashley and Jake, so maybe they would feel bad for her and decide to flip on Fiore. Maybe Ally could pull an epic gamer move and find an idol to play on herself. That could be in conjunction with Fiore and her connections to the villains alliance, or it could not.
Tess, Aiden, Jake, and Tom I was pretty confident about, so Ally is the first entry where I'm a little worried putting her this high. But, I have faith in her (especially as a S2 character) to not get the boot in this upcoming episode.
#6: Fiore
This might just be the Fiore stan in me, but I don't think she'll be going home next episode. I mean, she's literally been blessed by the gods! What am I supposed to do against that?
Fiore is in a pretty decent position, being allied with Jake and Ashley while also being on pretty decent terms with Ally. She's also just, like, way smarter than the majority of the competition, so if she found herself in a tight spot, I could see her manipulating someone to weasel her way out of it. Fiore is also a potential winner pick of mine (again, I'm a Fiore stan), and her elimination at this stage could prevent her from making the deep run that would result in her return to the Final 2.
Despite all of this-- and this is a slight aside-- I actually think that Jake and Ashley may have made a mistake in eliminating Hunter over Fiore last episode? They said it was better for their strategy, but I don't think that's necessarily true. It would be a good move for their strategy if they could count on Fiore being a solid alliance member at the merge, but it's pretty obvious she has no allegiance to the S1 duo. She literally already has an alliance-- the villains alliance-- that she would most likely bail to if she makes it to the merge. If Jake, Ashley, Hunter, and Ally all voted to eliminate Fiore, they could diminish the threat of the villains alliance and put their own feud on pause. If Hunter is correct, and getting rid of Fiore prevents them from losing any more challenges, than the feud never has to be unpaused, and all four of them make the merge. The only way that Jake and Ashley could run into trouble is if Magenta does have to go back to Tribal as a foursome. Then, it could be problematic for them if they were forced to turn on each other at Hunter and Ally's whim, because the couple (who were already fighting with each other!!!) could be unwilling to turn on one another, preferring to leave things to chance.
It feels like the narrative has already saved Fiore twice-- once via Alec and once via Jake and Ashley's "strategy"-- so I believe that the narrative has greater plans for Fiore yet. It could be reuniting with Alec. Who knows? (Please be reuniting with Alec. Please be reuniting with Alec--)
#7: Ashley
Um... so I just straight up don't think that Magenta is headed back to Tribal next episode. Surprise!
Like I said, these predictions are just about the next episode. And, given that Magenta just went to Tribal and is low on numbers, I don't think that they'll be headed back there. Therefore, none of them would be next episode's boot.
It's not a given, as the Purple Tribe got pretty demolished in S1, but for an All Stars season, I don't think Odd Nation would want the eliminations to be so unfairly stacked in one direction. I could be making an incorrect call here, because, logically, I really don't know why the Magenta Team would be any good at the musical challenge that's shown in the preview...? I just believe in them, I guess. You can retroactively apply this same reasoning for bonus points on Jake, Ally, and Fiore's entries as well.
Anyways, Ashley! Out of the Magenta Team, I do feel like she's the most expendable, perhaps because she was the earliest elimination from S1, and came back without most of her allies from S1 (Will, Lill, Nick). We also already got the resolution to the fire plotline that was left dangling in S1, which means there aren't many more questions I have about her character.
On the other hand, why bring Ashley back if you didn't have bigger plans for her this time around? They've eliminated a lot of people who made it close to the end at the beginning this time, so it would stand to reason that some of the people who were eliminated closer to the beginning might make it closer to the end. The potential of Ashley bonding with some of the S2 competitors at the merge is great for bringing some new iconic relationships to life.
Even if I think Ashley may be the most expendable, I don't really think that any of the Magenta players are narratively expendable, which is why I placed them all so high. I'll be eating my words if they're headed to Tribal next time, so these guys had better rock on at the immunity challenge!
#8: Riya
And now, for Magenta's counterpart, a team composed of people that I feel like all have an argument for leaving sooner rather than later... the Yellow Team.
I don't remember if it was on YouTube or Tumblr, but I recall seeing someone theorize that Riya might be the next boot because of how much she's annoying her team. She's pushed Connor away, stirred up drama with Yul, and is shown hogging the team's shower in the episode preview. It would make sense if Riya's selfish and villainous actions led to her downfall, so, at first, I liked this logic, and planned to put Riya near the bottom.
However, when I actually started counting votes... I just didn't see it. Even if Connor and Riya's relationship is strained, I don't know if he would be willing to eliminate someone he cares about. Yul believes that Connor voted for him last time, so he'll probably be out to take revenge on Connor. Grett, at this point, would most likely vote with him. Alec too, as long as he lets his strategy of keeping the villains team in power beat out the friendship he's begun to form with Connor. Where are the Riya votes? I'm not really sure.
I think that the theorizer is on the right track with predicting that Riya's bad attitude will eventually lead to her elimination. However, I don't think she'll be off the Yellow Team just yet, so she lands at #8 for me.
#9: Connor
Counting votes made it seem like Connor would be the next boot from the Yellow Team... so why do I have him as the second least likely to go?
Well, much like Ally, I feel that Connor's elimination is so obvious that it wouldn't pan out that way if a Yellow Tribal actually happened. There are definite cracks in the seams that could lead to votes not going in an obvious direction-- with Miriam's blow to the alliance, Alec might see Connor as a better confidant than any of the villains, and/or Grett might see what a terrible boyfriend Yul is and decide to flip on the villains. We also don't know exactly how Riya feels. She certainly acts as if she doesn't care if Connor stays or goes, but the truth is that she hasn't actually been "forced" to vote for him yet by her alliance. If push came to shove, who knows what she'd choose?
Combined with the fact that he (and Riya) are S2 characters, I think Connor would manage to survive a vote if Yellow is headed to Tribal. I'm not that confident about it, though, so he lands at #9.
#10: Yul
And here's Yul, our lowest placed S2 competitor in this ranking. If a S2 character is headed home this week, I think it would probably be him. He was a terrible person in S2, and has continued to be a terrible person in All Stars, so it's easy to see why the players (and the audience) might want him out of the game. Grett, my beloved, please lead the charge in kicking this asshole off the tribe.
However... there's also evidence to suggest that Yul won't be going home so easily. Beyond just being a S2 character, the end of this episode (and part of the preview) established that Yul has some sort of connection with Emily, our mysterious new staff member. I don't know exactly what this relationship is-- my original guess was that Emily could be Yul's manager, but their interactions in Episode 1 (as well as Grett's interactions with Emily in Episode 1) make me feel like that wouldn't be the case. Regardless, there's something going on between him and Emily, which adds some intrigue to Yul's character.
I have also considered that this relationship with Emily might be a one-episode thing, an interaction that actually spells doom for Yul instead of longevity. However, as this is one of the first major things we've seen Emily do, I feel like her connection to Yul may be a major aspect of her character and even why she exists. If that's the case, Yul may be quite important to the season, and be set up to make a very deep run.
However, my uncertainty on why Emily has summoned Yul and belief that the Yellow Team has good reason to eliminate him prevents him from taking one of the top spots. ...There's still a good amount of space below him, though.
#11: Gabby
A good part of why Gabby is ranked this low is because she's a S1 character, I'm not gonna lie. But I do genuinely believe she could be in trouble next episode, and here's why.
As opposed to S1, in which she was a staunch defender of the environment, insecure and petty, and a little bit insane, Gabby's character in All Stars seems to have been simplified to "Ellie's peppy girlfriend." She did refuse to eat the chicken last episode, but I feel like S1 Gabby would have, like, threatened to take their heads off if they beheaded the chicken. The portion of the preview for next episode where Gabby has the crazy eyes makes me hopeful that that aspect of her character will be making a comeback, but we'll have to see what happens.
For now, her role has been pretty limited, which makes me think that she could be an early boot from the season. She doesn't seem to have any new plot threads introduced, new developments in her character as a result of what happened in S1, or important relationships, other than with Ellie. If she were eliminated next episode, that could be because Gabby is in little enough of the show that there wasn't enough time to give her a proper character arc.
The reasons behind why the Tribe (presumably minus Ellie) would unite to eliminate Gabby are a little fuzzy, but not completely implausible. If Gabby were to be eliminated, I think it would be as a blow to Ellie, getting rid of her closest ally. That could tie in to why so much of her characterization this season has been linked to Ellie-- if being in a relationship with Ellie is the reason why Gabby is eliminated, then that's all we need to know about her in All Stars.
#12: Alec
Oh Alec... I hope you make it out of this episode alive.
This may come as a surprise to some people, as I've seen speculations that Alec may be set up to be the season's main villain. However, I'm worried that his strong entrance may be a front intended to get him some screen time before he exits the competition shockingly early.
You see, while Alec is currently the mastermind of the Yellow Team, it's a rather precarious position to be in. The villains alliance seems to have remained stable enough to near-unanimously take out Miriam last time they went to Tribal (even though Riya didn't wind up voting for Miriam, she was conceptually fine with it). However, I doubt that Miriam's silver "Alec is untrustworthy" bullet will go unused. If Alec attempts to push his luck by trying to force people into votes they don't want to make, or if his friendship with Connor causes others on the team to suspect that he's playing both sides, the alliance could revolt against its leader.
I still think that Alec will probably survive until the merge, just so that we can see his relationship with Fiore evolve further. Who knows, maybe he really is the season's main villain, and will finally make it to the final 3 he feels he was robbed of in S1. However, I think that Alec's vote could be a reasonable blindside on the audience, which makes me worry that it's the right narrative move to take.
#13: Grett
Oh Grett... I'm even more worried about you than Alec. Clearly. Because you're directly beneath him.
Look, I really want to believe that Grett will be able to stand up for herself this season and absolutely demolish Yul, getting to play the rest of her game after his departure in whichever way she sees fit. However, sometimes the villains have to win in order to create stakes, and I could see a temporary Yul-over-Grett victory doing just that.
An unfortunate step in her journey to becoming a better person, Grett has totally tethered herself to Yul, a relationship in which she seems far more invested than he. As opposed to her bossy demeanor in S1, she's taken too many steps back, and seems to automatically yield to whatever Yul has to say. Her characterization this season is very linked to his presence, which makes me wonder what she would do if he left the show. She could go align with the villains alliance herself, but... is she really that much of a villain anymore without Yul?
And, that's part of the problem. I can very easily see a plot line where, next episode, Yul continues to put Grett down, and does so increasingly after Yellow loses the challenge. Grett finally musters some of her old courage and lashes back at Yul a little, saying that it's not her fault that they lost. Then, Yul reports to Alec and Riya that Grett tried to backstab him, and doesn't want to work with the villains anymore. Alec and Riya, who both didn't really want to vote for Connor anyways, agree to take out Grett to 1) split up a potentially problematic duo and 2) make their alliance look like it's weakened. Grett goes home with a broken heart, but has at least learned that she shouldn't stand by Yul any longer. Maybe she could get some revenge from beyond the grave later on in the season somehow, like cancelling him during the finale or something like that.
Really, the biggest flaw I can see is that... I don't know if Yellow is going to be losing the immunity challenge. Part of their performance was in the preview for next episode, and it looked pretty good! I feel like Odd Nation Cartoons wanted to show us something super cool to get us hyped for the next episode, so getting us really excited over the team that turns out to be the losers would be a little confusing. Who knows, maybe there could be some level of sabotage for the Yellow Team that causes their otherwise excellent performance to fail.
I don't know if I would have come to the conclusion of Grett being a possible boot if I didn't think a S1 character was going home... but now that I have, I'm afraid that I've seen the writing on the wall.
#14: Ellie
And yet, Grett is not in last place, because Ellie is.
Call it a gut feeling, but I kinda get the vibes that Ellie might be the season's next boot. It doesn't make sense, right? Ellie has strong relationships with so many characters, from Tess to Alec to Jake. She, too, could be in contention for the title of season villain. Why would they get rid of her so early?
Well, much like Alec, I fear she may have been too villainous too fast. Her negative connections to so many different characters leads to it making a lot of sense to vote Ellie for a lot of reasons. Does Tom want to get revenge for his and Jake's breakup last season? Vote Ellie. Does Aiden want to avenge Lake and keep himself and Tom in the game? Vote Ellie. Does Tess want to decrease the numbers of the villains alliance? Vote Ellie. That's three votes for Ellie, and Ellie is eliminated. I don't even think she would be saved by a totem, given that Ellie has already been saved by a totem once before, and it would be kind of repetitive for Gabby and Ellie to do that again.
Now, you could argue that eliminating Ellie here would cause the same problems for Gabby as it would eliminating Yul for Grett. I struggled to see what Grett would do in the game if Yul was eliminated. Wouldn't Gabby be the same, after I detailed why I thought her character had been simplified to be tied to Ellie?
Not exactly. A post-Yul Grett confuses me a little because I think that getting rid of Yul would uplift Grett. It would remove the struggles that her character is facing, and leave her characterization less complex for it. On the other hand, a post-Ellie Gabby makes sense because getting rid of Ellie would create more problems for Gabby. Once again, she would have been stabbed in the back by her tribemates (including Tom and Tess, who she considers friends), but not even have Ellie or a totem to lean back on this time. She might want to burn her tribemates to the ground, but if she acts up too much, she could be next in line. And despite her desire for revenge, she would have to wonder... who was really the bad guy in the elimination, her tribemates or her girlfriend?
I think it's possible that Gabby's character may have been simplified for now because the inciting incident of Gabby's All Stars characterization is Ellie's elimination. Prior to that episode, we establish how much Gabby cares about Ellie, so that when Ellie exits, we feel how much it hurts Gabby. We've seen how Ellie acts after Gabby was eliminated before, so I think it would be far more interesting to see the opposite in All Stars. Also, Ellie has made it to the final before-- twice, if you count the original "Adventure Camp" season-- so it would make sense if, this time, she was kicked out closer to the beginning.
Much like with Grett, the main issue I have here is that I don't know if the Cyan Team would lose this competition, either. They have a lot of artistic people on their team, which makes it seem like they would thrive. However, if Cyan isn't losing, and Yellow isn't losing, that would mean that Magenta is losing, and I've already said why I don't think Magenta is going to lose. So, maybe Cyan is overconfident in their performance, or maybe another team (Magenta?) tries to sabotage them so that the team can take out Ellie (or Aiden, if it's Jake's idea). Maybe the performance has to be a rock song, and the Cyan team is all really bad singers. (Okay I just learned that apparently Aiden's VA is a very talented singer. Maybe Aiden won't sing or something.) I don't have enough details yet.
And, that's the end! I've never done a power ranking before-- not even for Survivor, which I've been watching for years, as opposed to Disventure Camp's "less than one month"-- so I have no idea how well I'll do. Are my instincts good, or are my expectations and the writers' decisions worlds apart? I guess I'll have to see when the next episode airs, and create my round 6 predictions accordingly. Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed this new project of mine!
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nerdpoe · 9 months
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A Jotunn, a Pirate, and a Wraith walk into the DC Universe-(part 3, final)
Part 1, Part 2, Ao3
Jason was shit out of luck.
He was out of bullets, down a leg, Damian had gotten himself knocked unconscious, and they were still completely surrounded.
Jason still nudged the youngest Bat as far behind him as he could.
He'd been the only one close enough when the word that Ra's had finally managed to kidnap Damian had reached him, and was still too late to spare the kid from the League of Assassin's particular version of a warm welcome.
He'd still been the first on scene, and fuck him for admitting it, but Bruce had been right.
He should have waited for backup.
Because he had not only fucked himself, but he'd also screwed over Damian.
The League began to close in.
And Jason had nowhere else to run.
He back was quite literally to a pit, and everywhere else was filled with League Assassins.
Jason forced himself to stand back up.
With one hand braced against the ledge of the pit, he shifted so that his weight was on his unbroken leg.
The blood running down his arm dripped into the Lazarus Pit, he took only a brief moment to watch it mix with the vibrant green.
'If I don't get out of this,' Jason thought as he turned away and back towards their enemies, 'Then at least let me fall in the Pit so I can make the Pay.'
The League Assassins...started taking steps back.
Jason, against his better judgement, turned his head just enough to peek behind him.
Then he turned around so hard he accidentally threw himself to the ground.
There was something rising from the Lazarus Pit.
It...looked like a man, ascending into the air until his feet didn't touch the green Waters he hovered above.
The air, which had had at least a small bit of movement from crossbreezes and rising heat, went completely still, and the scent of blood and ozone polluted the air.
White hair flickered like fire, licking at the air. The man's clawed hands flexed, and his dead dead dead red eyes bore into Jason's soul. His skin was blue, but wasn't that normal?
All corpses had a blue tint to them, after all.
And Jason had seen so fucking many.
The man's clothes appeared to be tactical in nature, or they had been at one point. They were battered, stained, burned. There was a shawl of sorts that clung to him through no visible means, it's ends turning into a wispy mist that shrouded and outlined the man in equal measure.
He floated soundlessly, not even pretending to take any steps as he moved forward, those glowing red eyes completely focused on the buffet of prey in front of him.
Jason could actually hear some of the Assassins attempting to run.
Hell, he could feel the Pit within him cowering.
The man in front of him was fucking dangerous.
Everything about him screamed Pain. Every movement was restrained, like a panther going in for a kill.
Then the man smiled; a cruel thing that Jason had seen on far too many people. The kind of people he hunted, the kind of people he hired, the kind of person he'd become.
And between one blink and the next, the man was working to prove that he could deliver pain and cruelty just as well as he could threaten it, deep, harsh laughter bouncing off of the walls of the cave; even as he was decorating said walls red.
Lightning lit up the cavern, illuminating just how well the new red paintjob on the walls matched the mans eyes, and Jason looked away. He instead used that opportunity to check on Damian.
He ignored the screaming and the begging, the wet noises and charred flesh scents, and came to the satisfactory conclusion that Damian would be alright with medical treatment.
Then, as Jason managed to drag himself yet again into a standing position, it was done. Everything had fallen silent, and the man was standing in front of him with a sneering smile that was all fangs and satisfaction.
"Hey kid," the man said, snapping his blood-covered fingers in Jason's face, "Pay up."
Jason jerked back, almost blacking out as he twisted his broken leg.
"Pay you...with what, motherfucker? I'm broke as shit and I sure as fuck didn't summon you." Jason lied through his teeth when he successfully fought off the light-headedness. He was, like, pretty sure material wealth didn't mean much to Spirits.
Which he was fairly certain was what this was.
Blood, Lazarus Water, intense Desire and Will?
Probably accidentally a summoning.
One Jason absolutely refused to take responsibility for.
"Oh no, you don't get to fuckin' lie to me," the man-spirit-thing rumbled, resting a hand on Jason's chest, "I just did all that work for you, you ungrateful shitstain, I deserve a snack at least."
Then the hand plunged into his chest, and Jason became painfully aware that Damian was absolutely awake when he heard the kid scream his name.
His first name.
Fuck, he was gonna die, wasn't he?
But it didn't hurt. There wasn't even any additional blood, really.
Then the man ripped his arm back, and in his hand he held...a very angry green blob?
Which he then ate.
"Fuck, that's some potent shit. Thanks for the liquor kid; you're too young for it anyways."
With that, the man disappeared entirely.
Jason slid to the ground and largely ignored Damian's desperate pawing at his chest.
What the absolute shit had just happened?
The other half of what the man had said caught up to his brain just as the rest of the family came barging in.
"...But I am old enough to drink!"
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koufli · 10 months
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141 with a famous reader? Actress like a reader who’s a iconic ( known to be the queen of action movies) marvel,dc,desperate housewives etc SHE HAS A BIG SUPERHERO ROLE (wonder woman,scarlet witch,catwoman)
❤️❤️❤️
꧁༺𝙷𝚎𝚢 𝚊𝚗𝚘𝚗𝚢𝚖𝚘𝚞𝚜! 𝙾𝚘𝚑, 𝙸 𝚖𝚊𝚢 𝚎𝚡𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚊 𝚋𝚒𝚝 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚘𝚗𝚎, 𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝚖𝚎 𝚒𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚍𝚒𝚏𝚏𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜. ༻꧂
꧁༺𝚆𝚊𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜: 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝙽𝚜𝚏𝚠! ༻꧂
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1. Simon “Ghost” Riley.
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Simon hardly ever watches any movies, but the ones he watches are definitely some sort of fighting genre. He loves action movies, but he’ll never admit it.
He also never admits that he has a favourite actor, he’ll always say something like: “that’s stupid. It’s not like it’s realistic or real, why would I obsess over someone who’s just playing a role?”
Little does anyone know that you are his favourite actor.
He purposefully picks the action movies you’re in, and when he’s alone he’ll appreciate your skill in acting.
He’ll always start getting defensive if soap points out the fact that you’re in every movie he picks, so the TaskForce just stay quiet and grin in amusement that he may have a fond liking towards your characters.
He’ll for sure save the movies you’re in to jerk off to later, he doesn’t realise the extent to which you turn him on. He’s never felt like this about any other celebrity before, but he finds you so attractive it’s hard not to get a bulge when he’s watching you.
He’s the type to settle down after a long day, turn the Tv on and lazily touch himself to your action scenes. He has a huge thing for how vicious you look.
If you two were to ever bump into each other, he will be fan-girling so hard.
He won’t show it, but his heart will be pounding as he casually strolls up to you and asks for a picture.
He’ll clear his throat to get your attention and ask you in a very manly tone to get a picture.
If the two of you were together, he’d be the protective type - he’d hate the fame you’re getting. He’s not jealous, just annoyed that many men will also be drooling over you too.
He likes to keep you, not share you, and in public he’ll often show that.
If anyone’s asking for a picture he won’t let go, he’ll keep a hand around your waist and force the fan to get him in the photo too.
Hell purposely start kissing you/ your neck when paparazzi are around. He likes people to know you’re taken.
After a long day of shooting or a fan-signing event, he’ll fuck you for hours on end just to prove you’re his.
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2. Konig.
Is he in the TaskForce or am I being stupid? I searched it up cause I was confused and it said he was a TaskForce 141 operator…so someone correct me if I’m wrong haha.
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This man has no shame. He’ll have posters/collectibles of your characters and keep them around his room.
He’s the type to print out pictures of you from google and make his own posters out of them.
He does get a little embarrassed when someone brings up the fact he’s practically in love with you, and he doesn’t necessarily talk to his peers about it.
He finds it more of a quiet hobby. So whenever one of his colleagues steps into his room, he gets very flustered about his obsession.
Is a hard-core movie nerd, so he pleasures himself a lot to your pictures, characters, movie scenes, anything that includes you. His dick looks beat up and down right swollen from how long he spends jerking off to you.
If he was to ever see you in public, he would go feral. He’d be so nervous at first, not knowing how to approach you and visibly beating himself up to man up and go speak to you.
He’ll eventually do it and approach you, he’s very flustered but gets things done.
He’ll chat for ages once he’s comfortable, sometimes over-shares and is down right creepy about how obsessed he is with you.
Konig has a massive ego, so he’ll start to brag about how big of a fan he is, starts to really get into the conversation.
If you two were a couple, he’d have a love-hate relationship.
On one hand, Konig loves the fact you two are together and can show the whole world, but then again, he likes keeping things private between the two of you.
He really hates big crowds and talking to people, so whenever it comes to interviews he’s the most awkward person ever.
Paparazzi wise, you’re actually pretty lucky since he’s a huge guy and nobody really dares to cross a line with him.
He has the most intimidating stare without realising, but to you he’s just a big teddy bear.
He’ll swear at paparazzi in German.
Absolutely loves watching a movie with you in and fucking you raw on the couch as you’re watching said movie.
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3. Captain John price.
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He’s not sly or ashamed, he’ll be open about his liking towards you as an actress and a character.
He’s not the type to have any posters, figurines, etc, but this man will have a borderline obsession and has watched every movie you’re in.
He’ll scroll through your social media, sometimes sitting alone at his desk, busy with plans and work when he finds himself working his hand over his twitching cock under the table.
Price would definitely pull a picture of you up on his phone and cum all over the screen.
He likes badass characters, and you being in a lot of actions just does something to him - especially the outfits you wear.
If he caught you out in public, he would be so friendly that anyone would think the two of you are friends.
He’d approach you with no shame, his camera already out like a desperate puppy.
He doesn’t mean to, but invades your personal space a lot, will just hug you for a picture, wrap his arm around your waist, etc without knowing how touchy he’s being.
Tried to get your number ‘jokingly.’
If the two of you were a couple, he’d be devoted. He’d come to your sets, the biggest smile on his face as he watches you work.
On the red carpet etc, he will always have a hand wrapped around your waist - just a simple gesture to show everyone the two of you are a couple.
He doesn’t mind the fame you get, mostly because he’s with you all the time - so he keeps an eye on you.
This is just random - but if you smoke too he’ll blow the smoke into your mouth before kissing you (in public) in front of the cameras.
He’ll appreciate every inch of your body in the bedroom, especially after seeing you on set on the same day. He’ll beg you to take any outfit from the set back home to see you wear it.
This man will go on for hours, he has the most energy during sex.
sometimes when he gets jealous, he’ll take a picture of your nude body and save it just so he can act smug knowing he has it.
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There will be a part 2, for some reason my tumblr isn’t letting me type anymore. >:(.
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writerlyhabits · 2 years
Text
March 10th
Pairing: Bucky Barnes x female reader
Word Count: 7.2k
Summary: You’ve got a surprise planned for the big day, and Bucky is anxious to get it out of you before you head back home to DC. 
Ch 13 of the Neighbors Series | Masterlist | Ch. 12 | Ch. 14
Warnings: mild language, AnGsT, pet names, make outs and lots of kisses to balance the angsty bits, Rebecca Barnes is a warning that’s all I’m legally allowed to say. 
AN:  I was crying while I wrote this so…. buckle up. If anyone thought New York was going to be anything but the chaos I have produced, you’re dead wrong 😂 I’d also like to make a public service announcement, because the next few chapters are going to be an adventure… and I think that’s all I can tell you without any spoilers 😬 Thank you @deceiverofgodss for reading through my nonsense as usual, ily 💛 
I have a couple links I found in my research for this chapter that I thought were really neat, so if you’re interested, take a look at these once you’re done reading: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 
Gif from @unearthlydust 🤍
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Bucky stirred awake at the sound of laughter and began to stretch his limbs, managing to keep his large frame from rolling off of the twin mattress in the process. The sounds of commotion downstairs brought a smile to his face, the two voices managing to overpower the music playing from the radio in the living room as usual. He cracked his eyes open to confirm that his sister was one of them, finding her bed made and empty on the other side of their childhood bedroom, smiling to himself when he heard his mother’s amusement bubbling up through to their room. 
He preferred sleeping in his own bed in his Brooklyn apartment a few blocks away, but when his mother caught wind that Steve would be busy and he’d be alone on his birthday, Winnifred Barnes couldn’t be dissuaded from getting him to come home. 
“It’ll be good for you and your sister, you know she’ll be gone for school this time next year,” she had pleaded, the final push that had him agreeing and running back to his apartment to pack a bag. This was what had led him to sleeping on the spare mattress he’d helped push into the room – which was now only Becca’s – the night before, leaving him a little more achy than he would have liked. 
He forced himself up out of bed and stretched again when he was up on his feet, working out the kinks of his muscles, and rubbing the sleep from his tired eyes. And after throwing on a pair of slacks and a nice shirt while he had the chance, he made his way downstairs to greet the rest of the family. 
Bucky’s steps were damn near silent as he descended, always accused of sneaking up on people when he suddenly appeared behind them without a sound. While the Barnes were unaware, he saw his father propped up in his arm chair by the radio, his morning coffee replacing the tobacco pipe that usually occupied his hand. He’d gotten George the pipe for some birthday or fathers day once they were in a comfortable place after the depression, silencing the complaints about how much more sophisticated he would look holding a pipe instead of a commonplace cigarette. The rest of the family had rolled their eyes each time it left his mouth, and were equally relieved when the gift had silenced his complaints – one of them, at the very least. 
Turning to the kitchen he found the culprits, his mother was laughing as she turned eggs over in the pan, and his sister standing by the table entertaining herself with the piping bag full of chocolate in her hand. Becca’s brown curls bounced as she cracked herself up, no doubt having written something crude on the chocolate cake that sat on the cake display in front of her. 
He reached the bottom of the stairs as he watched them, and when Becca looked up to include George in her shenanigans, her matching blue eyes caught his and she scrunched up her face. 
“Bucky, what’re you standing there like a creep for?” she snarked, her cheeks already rosy with her own amusement. He rolled his eyes, only seeing his mother turn around to look at him out of his peripheral vision. 
“Geez, when did it become a crime to walk down the stairs?” he teased right back, and any further retaliation was cut off when Winnifred came gliding across the kitchen to greet her son. 
His mother was the picture of grace, at least he’d always thought so. She moved with a purpose, managing to be light on her feet while also being strong and sturdy; a Barnes family trait, she couldn’t be moved by anyone’s choice but her own. As always, she looked perfectly put together, even at early hours of the morning when the rest of the world should have been asleep. Her dark, auburn hair was pinned into neat rolls on top of her head and tied back with a yellow ribbon – her favorite color. 
“Oh James, look at you,” she gushed, brushing her hands on her skirt apron before they were reaching up to cup his face. “You’ve grown into such a handsome young man.” 
“Thanks Ma,” he smiled, leaning down as she engulfed him in a hug. He was almost sure these hugs got longer each year, but he always refused to be the first one to let go, letting his mom squeeze the life out of him until she got what she needed. He turned to give her a kiss on the cheek, and she pulled away with a smile and an extra glisten in her eye. So emotional…
“C’mon George, come help us light the candles,” she beckoned, turning to walk back towards the kitchen so it wasn’t obvious she was dabbing under her eyes to fix his makeup. 
“This is breakfast?” Bucky giggled, following his mom back up to the table and pulling out the chair his father always sat in, the older man hoisting himself up out of the cushioned arm chair and ignoring the limp in his right leg. “I mean… flour, milk, eggs, that’s a great breakfast.” 
He peeked up at his sister and saw her subtly shaking her head. Bucky groaned. 
“Did you make the mayo cake again?” He whined, and his mother turned around with furrowed brows. One look directed at Becca – a ‘you weren’t supposed to say anything’ glare – and one more back at him. 
“There is nothing wrong with that cake, you’ve been eating it for years.”
“It’s the principle of the thing, Ma. You literally have eggs cooking on the stove.”
“And they’re still expensive!” She defended. “You try feeding four adults. If you want a cake for your birthday and a decent egg breakfast, then compromises have to be made,” she huffed, turning back to the stove and shutting off the burner before dividing the last of the eggs onto the plates she laid out on the counter. 
“She’s right, y’know,” his father said quietly as he approached, more than used to his wife’s passionate temper. Bucky looked at him for a moment and the two shared a look; they’d had this conversation before. ‘They’re always right. It’s easier to just agree with ‘em. When you have a lady of your own, you’ll understand.’ 
Bucky wasn’t sure how much his mother would agree with his thought process, but in this moment, his father was right. 
“You’re right, m’sorry.” Becca shot him a look, he shot one back at her. “The cake’s gonna be great, thanks Ma,” he offered. He watched her turn to look at him, her face softening. He gave her a small smile, and she returned it. 
“Alright alright, I don’t need to be the only one doing stuff. Becca, can you put the candles on for me?” 
Becca did as she was told, more than happy to place the handful of candles in just the right spot so that her drawing of a middle finger could be accentuated. Winnifred shook her head as if she was disappointed, but none of them were fooled. George lit the candles as the girls sang Bucky Happy Birthday, a perfect excuse for him not to have to join in himself. And after Bucky had blown out the candles, his father clapped him on the back and gave him a half hug. 
“Happy birthday, son,” he smiled.
“Thanks, Pop,” he returned, knowing his father well enough to see through the stoic expression, taking the veiled affection with a smile. His mother left nothing to be assumed, rushing to grab his face and plant lipstick-covered kisses on his cheeks before his sister tackled him from behind, and Bucky only staggered a little as she clung onto his back like she had since she was three years old. 
“So, Steve’s stuck in that class today… that means it’s just you and me for the movies right?” She asked excitedly, and his smile was easy to hide when she was on his back. He played the part of the annoying older brother, but he loved that his sister was still genuinely excited about spending time together.  
“Yeah. Why, you got a thing for Steve?” 
That didn’t mean he wasn’t still annoying. 
“No,” she shot back with no hesitation. 
“Aw c’mon, Steve’s a good egg,” Bucky defended. 
“Do you really want me dating Steve?” She snarked, and he made a face before he made a sound of disagreement. “That’s what I thought.” Their parents laughed as they settled at the table, digging into the breakfast their children were ignoring. “Besides, he’s too skinny. I can’t help that I like ‘em big and tall.” 
“You come by it naturally, you’re my daughter,” Winnifred smiled, and he felt Becca shrug her shoulders in agreement. Bucky watched his father smile sweetly at his wife, giving her hand a squeeze. Whenever he decided he was ready to settle down – which was not anytime soon – he wanted whatever his parents had. 
“What’s playing at the theaters?” George asked as Becca released Bucky’s shoulders, and he followed to sit next to her at the table. 
“Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm!” She pronounced dramatically. Bucky shook his head as he cut himself a slice of cake. 
“Of course… I thought we were going to watch the Donald Duck cartoon? Because it’s my birthday?” He whined.
“Well… we’ll watch that one too.” Another round of laughter followed her comment, the walls of their house no stranger to Becca’s quips. 
As they all started digging into their plates – the wacky cake tasting just as good as the real thing, his mother would be glad to hear – he heard someone whisper his name. Looking over at his sister, he found her snarking at their parents. He tried to pay attention to the conversation, but he heard his name whispered once again as their voices started to fade. 
Bucky closed his eyes to try and focus in on the voice, and the sounds of the Barnes family dining room were gone. All that was left was the back of his eyelids. 
“Bucky…” He heard his name in a whisper once again, and when his brows creased as he processed his surroundings, he heard a light hum of amusement that made him feel warm. 
Your lips ghosted over his cheeks, featherlight kisses against his skin as his body adjusted to being awake. He instinctively lifted the arm wrapped around you to run his hand soothingly against your lower back, causing you to giggle against his cheek while you were laying half on top of him. 
“Are you awake, birthday boy?” You asked quietly, your lips traveling to place kisses against his temple. 
“No,” he whispered back, just to feel your lips curl up at the corners. “M’dreaming.” 
“Ah shit, I tried to wait, I thought I was in the clear. I didn't mean to wake you up,” you pleaded, and he chuckled quietly as he shook his head. “What’d you dream about?”
“My birthday… in 1938.” He finally opened his eyes to see the sun filtering in through the large window, giving you a golden glow as you shielded him from its light. You looked ethereal, and he lifted his free hand to tuck a piece of hair behind your ear, holding your face in his hands. Fucking beautiful.
“Oh yeah?” You asked in a sweet tone, which he knew by now meant ‘tell me more.’
“I took Becca to go see a Shirley Temple movie, and then I think we ended up just going back home to help Ma cook dinner,” he rambled, more focused on the way your eyes were dancing across his face, drinking him in. 
“Sounds like a fun time,” you smiled, but there was something you were hiding behind it he couldn’t quite place. “How’d you know it was that year specifically? Was there something special about it?” He took a breath before he answered. 
“That was uh… that was the last time we all spent my birthday together,” he admitted. And just like clockwork, your brows shot up in concern, your melancholy emotions written clearly on your face. “The year after that my sister was in Indiana for school, and two years later my parents died. It wasn’t much longer until I enlisted… and you know the rest.” 
Why did that realization hit him like a brick wall? It certainly wasn’t news to him that he hadn’t seen his family in eighty years, that he’d been alone. 
That part wasn’t true. He had you. 
“Sorry peach, I didn’t mean to put a damper on your morning,” he tried to smile, and you rolled your eyes at him while shaking your head. 
“You do that a lot,” you teased, grabbing his face so you could pull him closer, littering his cheek with kisses. “And it’s your birthday,” you stopped for a few more kisses at his temple. “If you wanna put a damper on it…” A kiss to the tip of his nose. “That’s up to you.” You shifted so that you could reach his opposite cheek, covering it in the same amount of your little pecks, balancing your enthusiastic affection. 
You pulled a chuckle from deep within his chest as you continued your barrage, and he wrapped his hands around your waist to encourage you to stay there, kissing every inch of his face but the one place he wanted you most. But he didn’t mind. He could get on board with spending his mornings lying underneath you in bed, being showered in your loving glow. 
“Well if it were up to me, we’d do this.” He gripped your waist a little tighter before he flipped you over on the bed, using his knee to make a spot for himself between your legs as he hovered over you. You giggled happily as he fitted himself to your body like a mold, one hand curving around your ass to bring your legs up around his waist, and the other grabbing your jaw to hold you still. 
When his lips hit home, all the tension in his body evaporated. Kissing you was like stepping into another world, his body lighting up when your hands found their way into his hair, his tongue slipping between your lips and dancing with yours. You traded pleasured groans and desperate whines, making music for your bodies to move together in perfect rhythm. 
When he reluctantly pulled away, your breathing was heavy as he traveled down to kiss your jaw – he didn’t have the power to stop himself, the need to have his lips attached to you anyway he could get it was all-consuming. It was hard to sift through everything in his brain to find any coherent thoughts outside of you… only you… 
“I’m having a pretty good time laying in bed with you,” he husked, dragging himself back up your skin to kiss your pretty lips once again. What started as a punctuation to his sentence quickly turned into a little more, being pulled back in by the sheer taste of you, encouraged by the needy whimper that escaped you. But he had a point he was trying to make. “Unless you’ve got any objections, how’s about we stay here and… enjoy the view,” he finished with a wiggle of his brow, hinting that the view he really wanted to enjoy was not the one outside the window. 
You hummed in amusement as he managed to only steal another chaste kiss from you, your hands sliding down to his shoulders as you came up with your answer. “Any other time, I’d love to take you up on that… but I do actually have a surprise planned for later today.” 
His interest was piqued.
“Really? What is it?” he asked excitedly, his previous intentions fading to the back of his mind as he shifted gears, caressing the side of your thighs as he waited for your response. 
“I think you’re missing the point of it being a surprise, Buck,” you laughed, and he only pouted. 
“Yeah, but… c’mon, you can tell me, what’d you plan?” He tried, and this time he heard the difference when a little bit more of his Brooklyn came out, hoping it was working to his advantage. You smiled bashfully, but you didn’t seem to budge any further than that. 
“I’m not gonna, you’ll find out when we get there.” 
“Okay, so it’s somewhere you’re taking me…” he mused, listing off the details as if you’d given him a puzzle to solve. You closed your eyes and scrunched up your face as you cringed, realizing you’d already revealed more than you wanted to. 
He could work with that. 
He nuzzled himself back into the crook of your neck to place kisses at your sweet spot, definitely not trying to weasel more answers out of you, he would never… “Aw baby, gimme another hint, I can’t stand the suspense,” he crooned, and when you were about to make a sound of rebuttal he poked a vibranium finger in your side, right where you were the most ticklish. 
You flinched against him as you tried to get out of his hold, managing to get his full name out through your laughter as you pleaded for reprieve. It was kind of cute, he had to admit, the way you were trying. But as strong as you were… his super soldier strength didn’t exactly make it a fair fight. You didn’t stand a chance.
“James please, I- I can’t breathe,” you laughed, and when he realized the attack hadn’t even moved you an inch, he let up, leaning down to press a soft kiss to your cheek. “Are you trying to suck up to me now?” You sassed. 
“Is it working?” he mused, earning a huff of amusement. “Alright, I won’t ask you anything else about what it is… but what else can you tell me? When are we going, how far away is it?” 
“It’s… well, it’s a little bit of a drive, so it’ll be the last thing we do today,” you answered, and he didn’t miss the way your demeanor shifted ever so slightly, like you were nervous. “We can go do anything else you want while we’re still in the city, this can wait until whenever you’re ready to go.” 
He observed you for a moment, studying your features. Mapped the curve of your cheeks, the softness of your lips, and was somehow able to keep himself from getting lost in those pretty eyes of yours. Whatever this was, it made you nervous, but you didn’t seem to be any less excited about him finding out. 
“Okay… then let’s get to it,” he smiled, leaning down to capture your lips in a sweet kiss, slower and softer than all the ones before it. “I say we start with an easy morning. Take our time getting ready and getting out of the hotel, and we can meander through the rest of my stomping ground.” 
He felt your laugh rumble through your core as he continued to lay over you, settling himself down so he could gaze up at you from his spot on your chest. “I love it,” you sighed as rested one hand over his back, threading the other through his hair, and he closed his eyes as he enjoyed the feeling of it. 
“How does chocolate cake for breakfast sound?” you lilted, amused at the mere suggestion. When the words left your mouth there was a warmth that blossomed in his stomach, spreading out to the furthest points of his being. 
“Sounds perfect.” 
You were fucking nervous. Beyond nervous, borderline nauseous at the mere thought of what was coming.
The rest of the day had gone by smoothly, and you had actually been able to enjoy most of it. You had spent a blissful morning in the hotel room, half dressed as you basked in the golden light of the morning sun, and you watched in awe as Bucky packed away three quarters of the five inch cake from the bakery and damn near half of the loaf of banana bread. “S’not as good as yours,” he shrugged while shoving a fourth slice into his mouth. It was giggly and relaxed and wonderful, cuddling him close to your chest and listening to each other's heartbeats, and managing to sing him Happy Birthday despite his best efforts to kiss you quiet. 
After everything had been packed up and loaded into your car – having made it out with only seconds to spare before your check out time – you ventured into the heart of Brooklyn. He took you down to the pier and cornered you into the railing, keeping you close to his chest as you gazed out at the Statue of Liberty, enjoying the early spring breeze. You went as far as venturing into downtown Brooklyn, not surprised in the least when Bucky didn’t recognize a thing, but just as excited when he would point between a Macy’s and a Foot Locker to tell you what used to be there. 
The end of your day came sooner than expected, just after you’d finished the hot dogs from the park he’d justified as your afternoon snack. You shouldn’t have been surprised though, he was nearly bursting at the seams in anticipation for what you had waiting for him. While he was giddy, you were trying to keep your heart from coming up your throat. 
You had to give yourself credit though, because when you “accidentally” happened upon a cute little florists shop just outside of the city, he was either playing into your act or he actually believed you when you suggested getting a bunch for the drive home. “It’ll be dead before we get there,” he’d reasoned, but he caved when you whined about how pretty they were, acting as if you hadn’t messaged the shop and asked them to make it for you ahead of time. 
But now, with Bucky holding a prettily wrapped bouquet of daffodils while he sat in your passenger seat, you had no other distractions. 
You felt like you were going to be sick. 
“Apparently these are the flowers for March… did you know that?” he’d piped up, and you tore yourself away from your laser focus on the road to see him glancing at the information card placed inside the wrapping, detailing tidbits about the flowers included and what they meant. 
“I didn’t! No wonder I was drawn to them,” you winked, and he gave you a boyish grin before you turned back to the road. 
“It says that once daffodils bloom winter is over, so they’re supposed to be a sign of good news,” he continued reading. God you hoped that was true… “I wonder if my sister knew. I think I’ve told you that these used to be her favorite flowers.”
He had told you. 
“You know, that sounds vaguely familiar,” you tried to laugh, focusing back on the directions your car was displaying, not daring to look at him and put your composure at risk. 
You were almost there… not much longer… You didn’t know if that made you feel better or worse. 
“I’ve been out here before,” he muttered, and you realized he’d been studying you, glancing between your worried expression and the steps your map was giving you. 
“Oh yeah?” 
“We buried my parents out here.” 
You couldn’t look at him. 
Instead, you made a noise of interest, encouraging him to continue and hoping he would ignore that you were not yourself. “My sister was on her summer break, so she took the train out here from Indiana to help me sort everything out. They had everything laid out in the will. Apparently they’d picked out a place before the depression, and had enough money set aside to cover the funeral and all that.”  
You could see him out of your peripherals, his brows raised in concern as he watched you avoid him. 
“I’m sorry, I don’t have to talk about this. I don’t wanna ruin whatever you had planned,” he started, resting one of his hands against your thigh comfortingly. 
“No, no, I’m okay,” you managed, somehow finding it easier to reassure him than it was to do so for yourself. You turned to try and give him a smile, and when your eyes landed on his blue ones your resolve started to crack, resorting to a tight lipped grin instead. “Really, you know I want to hear everything. The good, the bad, and the ugly.” 
He gave you a soft chuckle and shook his head. “That’s a movie reference I’m not getting, isn’t it?” You managed to laugh. 
“Yeah… but it’s old, I think there’s a lot of people who probably don’t get it,” you shrugged, and he gave you one more bright smile before he turned back to the road, and you did the same. 
Not even five minutes later, you were there. 
Canarsie Cemetery. Est. 1843. 
You both saw it at the same time, but when he opened his mouth to speak you turned on your blinker, and he held his tongue. You were positive he could hear your heart beating through your chest as you turned into the drive and found a spot in the almost empty gravel lot just inside the gates. 
“Doll… I don’t…” He started, but he didn’t finish his statement, looking to you for an explanation instead. When you finally turned to face him, you knew he was already starting to piece everything together. 
“Just… just trust me,” you managed, the silence around you making it that much harder to formulate a sentence. 
He gave a small nod. “I always do.” 
You walked up hand in hand, Bucky insistent on holding the flowers in his other hand, your intentions with the flower shop no longer secret. Neither of you said anything as you walked through the tight rows of headstones, but everyone and then he would rub his thumb soothingly across your skin, and you would do that same in return. You were mostly following Bucky, trusting his perfect memory to lead you through the maze of names. 
Mostly. He hadn’t strayed too far from the path you had studied obsessively for the past week. 
He kept your hand interlaced in his while he walked in front of you down one of the rows, his steps slowing as he approached his destination. He came to a stop in front of a combined headstone slightly larger than those around them, and you followed his gaze to read the inscription.
Barnes
Loving parents, married 1914
George, 1889-1941
Winnifred, 1892-1941
“Not exactly how I imagined I’d be bringing a girl home to meet my folks,” he offered, no doubt trying to make light of the somber atmosphere. 
You cracked a smile and let out a huff of amusement, stepping closer and giving his hand a squeeze. He returned it before letting go, wrapping his arm around your shoulder and pulling you in to place a kiss on your forehead. You wrapped your arms around his middle and took a deep breath, the two of you standing like that for a few moments in silence. 
“They would’ve loved you,” Bucky admitted quietly, and you tilted your head up to look at him, his blue eyes trained ahead. “Pop wouldn’t have told you outright, he would have just started a conversation one day and never shut up. Ma would’ve gone crazy.” 
You turned to look back at the gravestone, smiling for a moment when you thought about how that scene might have played out. And then of course a wave of emotion hit you once again, your imagination conjuring up a picture of George Barnes shaking your hand before Winnifred took your face in her hands and wrapped her arms around you. 
“I’m sure I would have loved them, too,” you assured him. He kissed your hairline in response, pulling back just enough to give you a soft smile. 
Bucky looked back over at the headstone one last time before he made to step forward, raising the flowers up so that he could position them at the base. But before he could get too far you put a hand on his chest to stop him. He raised his brows in concern as he looked back at you. 
“Not yet,” you explained, using the distraction to slip out from under his arm. You laced your fingers with his once again and took one step back, a sign for him to follow you. “There’s someone else I want you to see.” 
The detour had been a welcome one, and although it put you a little bit more at ease, it did nothing to calm your racing heart as you led him back out of the row the way you came. Trying to take things slow, you kept glancing back over your shoulder to check on the man following behind you, and every time you did he gave your hand a squeeze as if he was trying to reassure you. 
Maybe you needed it. 
Using one of the names as a guide, you turned to walk along a path a few rows past his parents, your throat constricting as you approached the real reason you had brought him here. One … two… three more steps and you stopped, turning to Bucky to let him know you were here. 
And the second he looked at the gravestone ahead of him, you broke. 
In memory of a beloved sister, wife, and mother. 
Her friendship was an inspiration, her love a blessing. 
Rebecca Proctor, 1920-2012
You watched the confusion cross his features, his brows furrowing for half a second before realization dawned on him. His eyes darted across the epitaph, settling on the engraving of her name and swallowing hard. You felt a tear roll down your cheek as he turned to look at you, melting. 
“Sweetheart…” he cooed, and you shook your head at him to try and communicate ‘I’m okay.’ You weren’t, but this wasn’t about you, it was about him. It was about her. 
“You said you always spent your birthday with your sister, so…” you explained shakily, gesturing towards her as another tear threatened to spill over. 
Before you could try to get anything else out, Bucky took your hands in his large ones and gently wrapped them around his neck. His muscular body engulfed you in a hug, slipping his arms around your waist to hold you tight against him and burying his face into the crook of your neck. And only once you felt him settle did you release an uneven breath. 
“How long have you known?” he asked gently, tracing soothing patterns into your lower back, grounding himself. 
“Do you remember when I had a bad day at work last week, and you gave me a massage when I cam home?”
“Mhmm. You didn’t want to talk about what happened…” 
“I um, I had this idea. I thought that, if I could find her… I thought that you might be able to see her again.” You were audibly crying now, too far gone to even try and hide it. “I just got so swept up in this picture in my head, I forgot how old you are,” you managed, earning you a choked laugh. “I went looking for her while I was at work, and…” 
You didn’t have to say anything more. Bucky gripped you impossibly tighter, and you did the same, one hand on the back of his head as you clung to him. You tried to hold it in, you really did. But the moment you felt his quivered breath fan against your neck, a sob wracked through your body. 
There was nothing more you could do for a few minutes, holding each other while you let your emotions take over you. Your crying was much more audible than his. You couldn’t even be completely sure he was crying, but he was at least giving himself a chance to soak in his emotions with no thought to anyone else. 
By the time you had calmed down, he pulled back just enough to be able to look at you, bringing his thumb up to wipe a stray tear from your cheek. His eyes were noticeably bluer and slightly puffy, the only evidence tears had been shed. 
“I uh… I don’t know if this is overkill. Don’t feel like you have to read it right now,” you started sheepishly, resting your hands against his chest so that you could reach into the purse hanging off your shoulder. “When I was looking for her, I came across these and thought you might like to read ‘em. Just, sort of share a moment with her,” you rambled, fishing out a folded up piece of paper and handing it to him. 
He took it gingerly from you, and you took the bouquet of daffodils out of his hands so that he could focus his attention on unfolding it. And when he did, he took a sharp intake, coming face to face with the digital newspaper clippings you had found in your search. 
“Rebecca Barnes Graduates From Indiana State University. Distinguished as one of the top students of her class of 1943, Miss Barnes – from Brooklyn, New York – graduates with all honors, earning a Bachelor's degree in Nursing…” 
“Rebecca Barnes Completes Plans For Wedding. The marriage of Miss Rebecca Barnes and Mr. Lawrence Proctor will be an event for Sunday, June 15 1947. Miss Barnes’ dress will be…”
“Mr. And Mrs. Proctor Welcome First Child. Lawrence and Rebecca Proctor bring their first son, James Thomas Proctor, into the world…”
“Proctor Family Hosts A Lovely Party. Mr. Lawrence and Mrs. Rebecca Proctor hosted a wonderful garden party at their home this Saturday with their three children – James, Joann, and Jack – to kick off the summer festivities…” 
Her whole life… he had pieces of her entire life in his hands. Things he thought he’d never get to learn about his sister, things he thought would be lost to time. She graduated with honors, got married, had kids… Rebecca had gotten everything she’d ever wanted. 
“Thank you,” he managed, holding the paper like his life depended on it as he looked up at you, the tears already starting to well back up in your eyes. 
“Happy birthday, Bucky,” you said softly, resting your hand on his arm as you stood on your toes to kiss his cheek. You didn’t go far, linking your arm with his and resting your head on his shoulder. And while his eyes danced between Rebecca’s grave and the her children’s names on the paper in his hands, you stood together in silence, giving him a minute to sit with all of the emotions swimming through his head. 
He wasn’t even sure he knew how to make sense of it all. There were feelings leftover from when his parents had died in the accident, feelings he thought he wouldn’t be affected by so many years later. Though maybe he hadn’t had enough time to truly process it all before he was swept up in a war that changed his life far more than he could have ever guessed. 
Rebecca… he wasn’t quite sure he had even given himself the chance to grieve. Once he came out of Hydra’s hold, he assumed the only person he had left was Steve, and hadn’t let himself dwell on anyone else he’d lost. And while technically that was true, it wasn’t until his neighbor started asking about his sister that he let himself wonder about Rebecca and the life she had created. Until today, she had existed as very little but a fleeting memory in his mind. 
Now, she was a real person again. All grown up and happy, having left behind a legacy all her own. 
He had you to thank for that. 
You had brought his sister back to him. You and all the waves of emotions he felt when he thought of you. The way his skin anticipated your touch, longed for it. Your voice calmed the noise in his head, and his hands felt whole when you were in them. Your hearts reached for each other, pulling him to you by some invisible force… 
“Hey,” you whispered, pulling him out of his thoughts. He had no idea how long you two had been standing there; it could have been a few moments or a few hours, he wouldn’t have known. But when he met your gaze, your soft smile put him at ease. “I’m gonna go wait by the car, give you a minute alone with them.” You nodded towards Rebecca to illustrate your point as you rubbed gentle circles into his bicep. 
“M’kay… I won’t be long, I promise,” he assured you, his voice crackling with the lack of use. 
“I’m not rushing you, take your time,” you said warmly, and he nodded in acknowledgement. He folded up the page with all your clippings and tucked it into his back pocket as you stepped in front of him to slot yourself in his arms. You were gentle as you got up on your toes and lifted on arm around his neck, the flowers still secure in your other one as you went to give him a kiss. 
Bucky, however, was overtaken by his emotions the second your lips had met his in what was supposed to be a sweet kiss. He needed you under his skin, wrapping his arms around you to hold you firm to his body, pouring his soul into you as he kissed you back. It was hungry, desperate, but not in the same lustful way he had the day before. That was the last thing on his mind. He was consumed by his need for you in its most genuine form. 
You were both panting when he finally released you, resting your foreheads against each other as he came back down to earth. You tilted your head to nudge his nose with yours, giving him one more chaste kiss before stepping back. You squeezed his hand before removing it, placing the bouquet of daffodils there instead and removing a handful from the bunch. With one more reassuring smile, you were on your way. 
All he could do was watch you for a moment, walking gingerly through the rows of headstones and gracing each of them with a moment of your kind consideration, like you saw each name for the person it represented and their story. He should have been able to guess your intentions, but instead he watched in awe as you returned to his parents headstone, and – like the wonderful woman he knew you were – set the flowers you had taken below their names. 
You were speaking as you rested a hand gently over the tall stone, but he couldn’t hear you no matter how hard he tried. 
Which meant you wouldn’t be able to hear him either. 
“She’s really something, Becca,” he sighed, tearing his eyes away from you to look back down at his sister. 
Rebecca Proctor… he’d have to adjust to that. He spared a glance to the right to see her husband – Lawrence, apparently – beside her, the dates signifying that she had passed first. At least that was one more heartbreak she didn’t have to suffer through. 
Bucky crouched down to be eye level with her epitaph before he kept speaking, fiddling with the bundle of flowers in his hands. “You would’ve loved her, I know it. You would have done that thing where you tried to steal her away from me, claim that she was your new best friend. She asks about you so often, sometimes I think she might’ve let you,” he laughed, imagining you all dolled up while engaged in a sort of custody battle between the two of them. 
“You told me once, when you were being mean, that you didn’t think I could fall in love. And at the time, I didn’t care whether it was true or not. But after everything that’s happened… I started to think that you were right, maybe that just wasn’t in the cards for me.” He spared a glance back over to you, seeing you walk away from his parents and turn towards the entrance where you would wait for him, passing slowly to read names as you went. 
His heart shot up into his throat. 
“She proved us both wrong, Becca. I’m in love with her.” It felt right coming out of his mouth, wrapping him in a warmth he had yet to feel in years, a warmth he’d gotten glimpses of in the past few weeks with you. And as he set the bouquet of yellow flowers, ones you picked out specifically for this moment, he knew it was true. 
Bucky loved you. Wholly, profoundly, endlessly. 
He loved you when he walked back out the front gates to find you leaning against the car waiting for him. You hugged him tight and made no attempt to rush him away, almost hesitant to leave yourself. 
He loved you when you sang the wrong words to a song on the radio he’d never heard before. You lit up as you danced along the best you could while driving, and he knew it would become one of his favorites. 
He loved you when you were stopped in stand-still traffic, a slew of colorful expletives leaving your soft lips. He kissed the angry expression off your face when someone managed to cut you off in the slow moving chaos, and soaked up the bashful smile that replaced it. 
He loved you when he took your suitcase out of the car, and you fought him about carrying it inside. You didn’t win, he was far more stubborn than you were, but he chuckled to himself when you grumbled about “fairness” as you unlocked your apartment to let him in behind you. 
He loved you when your cold hands trailed up under the hem of his undershirt, giving him an innocent smile as you urged him to take it off so you could wear it to bed. That would be another one he would find “accidentally” placed in your pajama drawer instead of the one he’d started to fill with his own clothes. 
He loved you when you cuddled up close to him in bed, sharing soft kisses and quiet words in the darkness. Your legs tangled with his, cold feet tickling his skin while you informed him he ran hot like a furnace. 
And when you finally fell asleep, he watched contentedly as your pretty features relaxed and your breathing slowed. He was captivated by your very presence, awed by the hold you had on his heart. In that moment he knew that – if for no other reason – this was why he was here. You were his silver lining, the reason for this over-extended life he’d been given. This life with you, this love for you, made everything he’d ever gone through make sense. 
Bucky drifted off to sleep feeling lighter than he had in a long time, his entire world curled up peacefully on his chest. 
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Masterlist | Ch. 12 | Ch. 14
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robophantom · 1 year
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The Batfam in Order of How Likely They Will Kill Someone, According to Me
10: Cassandra Cain/Orphan/Black Bat/Batgirl
No contest. Cass holds the No Kill rule more sacred than Batman does. She rescued a death row inmate from prison just so he wouldn’t be killed (and then had a very awkward talk with one of his victim’s family). Cass is a paragon and would never kill another even in self-defense.
9: Duke Thomas/The Signal
Duke is done dirty by everyone saying he’s the “normal” Batfamily member HOWEVER, I feel like he would be a totally normal person about killing? Like he’s be pretty fucked up if he accidentally killed anyone and he��d never do it on purpose, but he’s not Extra about it like Cass.
8: Stephanie Brown/Spoiler/Batgirl
Pretty much the same as Duke but I think she’d be more likely to accidentally hit someone with her car or something.
7: Barbara Gordon/Oracle
I don’t think it’s any great moral stance that Barbara’s doesn’t kill, but rather that she knows that she can ruin their lives way worse with her laptop than she could with a gun.
6: Bruce Wayne/Batman
I’d put him lower on the list because I’m pretty sure he’s clinging to his No-kill rule with his fingertips and would turn into a serial killer if he ever slipped up even once. HOWEVER, he’s a stubborn asshole (derogatory) and would never give anyone the satisfaction of him slipping up so he stays up here. Alas.
5: Damian Wayne/Robin
Unpopular opinion but I really don’t think Damian will ever slip up and kill someone now that he has an alternative. Like, I think it will always be on the table as an option, but I don’t think he’ll ever choose it. Partially because I just don’t think he’d feel the need, partially because it would feel like the cheap/quitter’s option, and partially to rub it in the face of anyone who has ever doubted him because he’s ALSO a stubborn asshole (affectionate).
4: Dick Grayson/Nightwing
IMO Dick is like Batman in that he is always on the edge and just needs a little nudge to beat someone to death with his bare hands, but he doesn’t have Batman’s smug superiority to keep him from tipping. However, he does have crushing guilt in spades so it would never be something he does intentionally (and even if he does, Batman is just gonna step in and revive the sonuvabitch anyway so)
3: Kate Kane/Batwoman
She’s an ex-soldier and has canonically killed before, but she’s not extra about it, you know? Like it’s something she aware she could do, but would only bring it out in the most dire of circumstances (especially knowing that Cass is always watching and ready to throw down)
2: Tim Drake/Robin/Red Robin
Look tim started out at number 6 on this list and I kept having to move him down because damnit, Tim. He wants to be So Normal and not homicidal, but he has multiple Future Evil Tims who are fascist dictators, and the one time he was forced to the brink in canon he wound up killing potentially hundreds of people at once. He desperately doesn’t want to be a supervillain and that’s really the only thing keeping him from becoming the ~Nightmare Scenario~. Poor kid.
1: Jason Todd/Red Hood
He resisted the no-kill rule for years and I’m sure DC will get bored and make him kill again eventually, too. He’s deeply empathetic toward victims and fully believes that justice for those victims can only be obtained when they and anyone like then can never be hurt again. Given the horrific levels of corruption in Gotham, that can usually only be guaranteed with a bullet between the eyes. Also unlike the rest of the Batfam he’s not afraid to be a supervillain if he thinks it’s serving the greater good. So, at this point the only thing keeping him in the straight and narrow is the fact that he’s secretly a huge daddy’s boy. Given the narrative, I don’t think Jason will ever be able to escape killing which is really fucking sad.
Honorable Mention: Alfred Pennyworth
Could and would kill a bitch, but he doesn’t want to have to get blood out of the carpet
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space-specs · 1 year
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I, T and X <333
Thanks for the ask bestie, this was very fun!!
I - Has tumblr caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so, which and why
BBC Sherlock. I really wanted to watch this show when it was all over tumblr and all my friends were watching it back in like 2014, but I never got around to it. Eventually, people stepped back and were like "actually, so much about this show sucks so much", and I was just kinda glad I'd never actually watched it yet and now I won't. If I want Sherlock content, tbh, I'll probably just rewatch "Elementary, Dear Data" from Star Trek: TNG. Or finally finish the Enola Holmes stuff.
T - Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending, about anything at all (gender identity, sexual or romantic orientation, extended family, sexual preferences like top/bottom/switch, relationship with poetry, seriously anything)
Duke Thomas cannot make direct eye contact with people. It gives him a splitting headache. Since eyes both absorb and reflect light, looking directly at someone's eyes creates a sort of feedback loop of light beams for him.
Cass is, in all actuality, older than Jason. However, because there is some ambiguity about her precise age, both of them frequently insist they are the older sibling of the two. They could very easily confirm who is older; they both refuse because they don't want to be wrong.
Steph is more of the common sense in the batfam than people give her credit for. Don't get me wrong, she is far from normal (she is vigilante, she grew up in Gotham), but she is the one with the wherewithal to, idk, solve her problems by actually talking to people. She's clever and witty and quick on her feet and actually some really good and really practical people skills.
Duke and Jason are both functionally immortal for different reasons. (Also, they are good brothers and DC needs to bring back the two of them getting to interact).
Tim doesn't call Bruce "dad" and probably never will. Not because he doesn't see Bruce as his parent, but because "dad" has some very complex connotations for him and he doesn't want to apply those to Bruce. More specifically, because good batdad is canon to me, Bruce is better than what "dad" means to him. (It’s also important to me that Jack does try to be a father to Tim and does love him. But loving your kid is not always enough. Sometimes you still hurt them).
There's definitely something I'm forgetting that I'm even more die hard about, but this is already more than I intended on writing for this one 😂 needless to say this is a fun question. (Also maybe putting this out will kickstart me writing the fics I have planned based on 3 of these)
X - top 5-10 characters who are yoUR PRECIOUS BABIES AND YOU WILL DIE DEFENDING THEM
Tried very hard not to just put every single batkid on this list but know that I would go to war for any of them I love them all so much.
In no particular order
1. Jason Todd -- listen, do I think his philosophy on crime should be applied to the real world? No, absolutely not. Has he done anything wrong ever? Also no.
2. Duke Thomas (bonus: the whole We Are Robin crew) -- if you hate Duke Thomas, meet me in Denny's parking lot. Something is clearly wrong with you and I will right it via blunt force trauma /j.
3. Tim Drake -- Catch me untangling the mess that is his fanon and canon characterizations and weaving a beautiful tapestry out of it. I see so many wrong interpretations about him and I am tired. Very carefully sorting out what should and shouldn't be kept from both fanon and canon every time I write him.
4. Cassandra Cain -- she has done nothing wrong ever and she deserves to be Batman. my favorite weirdgirl ever <3
5. Trevor Belmont -- my wife /p just introduced me to Castlevania and I did not expect to love it this much. Trevor is my babygirl and I would die for him.
6. Sypha -- I love her soooo much and I am dreading any potential romantic arcs to come about since she's the female lead because I really don't think she needs it. Please let her be cool af and single and not ruined in favor of the inevitable contrived romance, oh god.
7. Rise!Mikey -- I started my dive into tmnt content with Rise and then I tried to go back and watch 2012 because people said it was also good but they were so mean to Mikey 😭 I couldn't do it. He is like a squeaky toy to me.
8. Rise!Donnie -- I am captivated by his autism swag. Enough said. (Him and Mikey as a brother duo is so precious to me).
9. Razer -- Watch Green Lantern: The Animated Series if you haven't already. Do it. I promise you will not regret it. I won't say anything because spoilers but I have so much to say.
10. Talia al Ghul -- I am taking a knife to canon and carving out the parts I don't like because she is a good mom, goddammit!
Bonus: Koriand'r. I haven't read enough comics to know much about her, but I respect woman juice everyday for my favorite 6+ ft buff alien woman. (She should get to be huge and strong and I will fight for that).
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meruz · 3 years
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once again i am answering asks in a big compilation post. included is... gotham, patrick stump, tips about drawing backgrounds, tips about drawing in general, links to my faq, and infinity train
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like.... the tv series? No... I’ve drawn dc comics fanart before, though. But it’s been years since I’ve been really into it. I like jumped ship like 10 years ago when the New 52 happened LOL.
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AFJHDSLKGH I’m sorry I (probably) won’t do it again??
Actually full disclosure I have a truly cringe amount of p stump drawings/photo studies in my sketchbook right now LOL. He’s just fun to draw... hats, glasses, guitar, a good shape... but I don’t think I’ll rly post those until I can hide them in another big sketchbook pdf.. probably Jan 2022. Stay tuned........ (ominous) 
(ominous preview)
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These are all sort of related to backgrounds/painting so I grouped them together even though they’re pretty much entirely separate questions.... ANYWAYS
a) How is it working as a BG artist? Is it hard? What show are you drawing for?
I think you’re the first person to ever ask me about my job! Being a background artist is great. It’s definitely labor intensive but I think that could describe pretty much any art job (If something were rote or easy to automate, you wouldn’t hire an artist to do it) and I hesitate to say whether its harder or easier than any other role in the animation pipeline. Plus, so much of what truly makes a job difficult varies from one production to the next, schedule, working environment, co-workers etc. But I will say that I think while BGs are generally a lot of work on the upfront, I think they’re subject to less scrutiny/revisions than something like character/props/effects design and you don’t have to pitch them to a room like boards. So I guess it’s good if you don’t like to talk to people? LOL
A lot of my previous projects + the show I’ve worked on the longest aren’t public yet so I can’t talk about em (but I assure you if/when the news does break I won’t shut up about it). But I’m currently working on Archer Season 12 LOL. I’m like 90% sure I’m allowed to say that.
b) ~~~THANK YOU!! ~~~
c) What exactly do you like to draw most [in a background]?
@kaitomiury​ Lots of stuff! I really like to draw clutter! Because it’s a great opportunity for environmental storytelling and also you can be kind of messy with it because the sheer mass will supersede any details LOL. 
I like to draw clouds... I like to draw grass but not trees lol,,, I like to draw anything that sells perspective really easily like tiled floors and ceilings, shelves, lamp posts on a street etc.
d) Do you have any tips on how to paint (observational)?
god there’s so much to say. painting is really a whole ass discipline like someone can paint their whole life and still discover new things about it. I guess if you’re really just starting out my best advice is that habit is more important than product. especially with traditional plein air painting, I find that the procedure of going outside and setting up your paints is almost harder than the actual painting. There’s a lot of artists who say “I want to do plein air sometime!!” and then never actually get around to doing it. A lot of people just end up working from google streetview or photos on their computer.
But going outside to paint is a really good challenge because it forces you to make and commit to lighting and composition decisions really quickly. And to work through your mistakes instead of against them via undo button.
My last tip is to check out James Gurney’s youtube channel because hes probably the best and most consistent resource on observational painting out there rn. There’s lots other artists doing the same thing (off the top of my head I know a lot of the Warrior Painters group has people regularly posting plein air stuff and lightbox expo had a Jesse Schmidt lecture abt it last year) but Gurney’s probably the most prolific poster and one of the best at explaining the more technical stuff - his books are great too.
e) Do you have tips for drawing cleanly on heavypaint?
@marigoldfool​ UMM LOL I LIKE ONLY USE THE FILL TOOL so maybe use the fill tool? Fill and rectangle are good for edge control as opposed to the rest of the heavy paint tools which can get sort of muddles. And also I use a stylus so maybe if you’re using your finger, find a stylus that works with your device instead. That’s all I’ve got, frankly I don’t think my drawings are particularly clean lol.
f) Tips on improving backgrounds/scenes making them more dynamic practicing etc?
Ive given some tips about backgrounds/scenes before so I’m not gonna re-tread those but here’s another thing that might be helpful...
I think a good way to approach backgrounds is to think of the specific story or even mood you want to convey with the background first. Thinking “I just need to put something behind this character” is going to lead you to drawing like... a green screen tourist photo backdrop. But if you think “I need this bg to make the characters feel small” or “I need this bg to make the world feel colorful” then it gives you requirements and cues to work off of.
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If I know a character needs to feel overwhelmed and small, then I know I need to create environment elements that will cage them in and corner them. If a character needs to feel triumphant/on top of the world then I know I need to let the environment open up around them. etc. If I know my focal point/ where I want to draw attention, I can build the background around that.
Also, backgrounds like figure compositions will have focal points of their own and you can draw attention to it/ the relationship the characters have with the bg element via scale or directionality or color, any number of cues. I think of it almost as a second/third character in a scene.
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Not every composition is gonna have something so obvious like this but it helps me to think about these because then the characters feel connected and integrated with the environment.
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Some more general art questions
a) Do you have any process/tips to start drawing character/bodies/heads?
I tried to kind of draw something to answer this but honestly this is difficult for me to answer because I don’t think I’m that great at drawing characters LOL. Ok, I think I have two tips.
1) flip your canvas often. A lot about what makes human bodies look correct and believable is symmetry and balance. Even if someone has asymmetrical features, the body will often pull and push in a way to counterbalance it. we often have inherent biases to one side or another like dominant hands dominant eyes etc. you know how right-handed artists will often favor drawing characters facing 45 degrees facing (the artist’s) left? that’s part of it. so viewing your drawing flipped even just to evaluate it helps compensate for that bias and makes you more aware of balance.
2) draw the whole figure often. I feel like a lot of beginner artists (myself included for a long time) defer to just drawing headshots or busts because it’s easier, you dont have to think about posing limbs etc. But drawing a full body allows you to better gauge proportion, perspective, body language, everything that makes a character look believable and grounded.
Like if you (me) have that issue where you draw the head too big and then have to resize it to fit the proportions of the rest of the body, it’s probably because you (I) drew the head first and are treating the body as an afterthought/attachment. Sketching out the whole figure first or even just quick drawing guides for it will help you think of it more holistically. I learned this figure drawing in charcoal at art school LOL.
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oh. third mini tip - try to draw people from life often! its the best study. if you can get into a figure drawing/nude drawing class EVEN BETTER and if you have a local college/art space/museum that hosts those for free TREASURE IT AND TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT, that’s a huge boon that a lot of artists (me again) wish they had. though if youre not so lucky and youre sitting in a park trying to creeper draw people and they keep moving.. don’t let that stop you! that’s good practice because it’s forcing you to work fast to get the important stuff down LOL. its a challenge!
b) I’ve been pretty out of energy and have had no inspiration to draw but I have the desire to. Any advice?
Dude, take a walk or something.... Or a nap? Low energy is going to effect everything else so you gotta hit that problem at its source.
If you’re looking for inspiration though, I’d recommend stuff like watching a movie, reading a book, playing video games etc. Fill up your idea bank with content and then give yourself time/space to gestate it into new concepts. Sometimes looking at other art works but sometimes it can work against you because it’s too close. 
Also something that helps me is remembering that art doesn’t always have to be groundbreaking... like it’s okay to make something shitty and stupid that you don’t post online and only show to your friend. That’s all part of the process imo. If you want to hit a home run you gotta warm up first, right? Sports.
I should probably compile everytime i give tips on stuff like this but that’s getting dangerously close to being a social media artist who makes stupid boiled down art tutorials for clout which is the last thing i want to be... the thing I want to stress is that art is a whole visual language and there are widely agreed upon rules and customs but they exist in large part to be broken. Like there's an infinite number of ways to reach an infinite number of solutions and that’s actually what makes it really cool and personal for both the artist and the viewer. So when you make work you like or you find someone else’s work you like, take a step back and ask yourself what about it speaks for you, what about it works for you, what makes it effective, how to recreate that effect and how to break that effect completely, etc. And have a good time with it or else what’s the point.
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for the first 2, I direct you to my FAQ
For the last one, I don’t actually believe I’ve ever addressed artwork as insp for stories/rp but I’ll say here and now yeah go ahead! As long as you’re not making profit or taking credit for my work then I’m normally ok with it. Especially anything thats private and purely recreational, that’s generally 100% green light go. I only ask that if you post it anywhere public that you please credit me.
(and I reserve the right to ask you to take it down if I see it and don’t approve of it’s use but I think that case is pretty rare.)
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a) @lemuelzero101 Thank you!!! I haven’t played Life is Strange but actually  that series’ vis dev artist Edouard Caplain is one of my bigger art inspirations lately so that’s a really high compliment lol. And yeah I hope we get 5-8 too...!
b) Thank you for sticking around! I’ve been thinking about Digimon and Infinity Train in tandem lately, actually. They’re a little similar? Enter a dangerous alternate world and have wacky adventures with monsters/inanimate objects that have weird powers... there’s like weird engineers and mechanisms behind the scenes... also frontier literally starts with them getting on a train. Anyways if anyone else followed me for digimon... maybe you’d like Infinity Train? LOL
c) @king-wens-king I’M GLAD MY ART JUST HAS PINOY VIBES LOL I hope you are having a good day too :^)
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a, b, c, d) yessss my Watch Infinity Train agenda is working....
e) aw thank you!! i think you should watch infinity train :)
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How Shadow and Bones Differentiate Villain and Anti-Hero
Alright, first I need to claim the fact that I love dark, edgy, but misunderstood bad boy in stories with the potential of epic redemption. Loki from Marvel. Jason Todd from DC. Captain Hook from Once Upon a Time. Zuko from AtLA. You name them, I simp them.
So when I watched this new show on Netflix and shown a tall, handsome man in dark clothing, both respected and feared for his power. I feel... nothing. 
WHICH IS WEIRD! Like... he’s obviously my type. Complete with the sad backstory and vicious streak. So I kept wondering why I wasn’t enamored by the Darkling, Alexander Kirigan. I wasn’t surprised he was the main villain, I even expected it. But I usually at least have a bit of sympathy for them. This OOC behavior of mine made me introspect myself and the show, trying to find out which part gave me the red flags before Mother Darkling decides to pop the chosen one out halfway in the season. 
That’s when it hit me; there were red flags! The show had been subtly trying to tell us Kirigan is a manipulative boyfriend not just by great acting and good directing, but by comparing him with the actual anti-hero of the story who I actually love; Kaz Brekker. 
Here’s the list of signs you might not notice of why Kirigan is meant to be a Villain instead of an Anti-Hero. 
1. The Eyes
"The eyes are the window to the soul" is a common saying and and the key to good acting for any good show. Eyes tell us a lot about what a person’s character is like and SaB showed us the difference of a sincere man and a man with a hidden agenda.
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Look at him! Look at that little smirk. Look at the gaze. That's the look you find when someone's evil little plan is finally coming together. Not one awed by the power or by Alina. A blatant sus move is what I'm saying. Congrat, first flag planted.
Sure he could still fall in love with Alina, but that doesn't stop his agenda either. All it does is potentially create conflict for him to pick either his plan for revenge or life with Alina.
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In comparison, look at Kaz when he said this to Inej; "She isn't like you, no one is." Straightforward eyes. Serious grim. No nonsense tone. Inej is one of the most talented and terrifying rogue-assassin and Kaz just blatantly said that he kept her from 'slavery' because of who she is, not what she's capable of. Like... the man has no shame being known to love her while still trying to be professional (or as professional a thief can be). I can respect that.
This is the eye of a man who would abandon everything to make sure she comes out alright in the end. Do not argue with me on this!
2. Leverage and Status
The moment Alina steps into the Little Palace she was treated like a princess. A palace, by the way, that’s managed by the Darkling. She gets favorable treatment; from the food, Zoya displaced when she fought Alina, a horseback ride just the two of them, asking her to call by his name to make them familiar, a black uniform that might as well be claiming???
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Dude is desperate is what I’m saying. 
Sure, this could all be romantic gestures. There’s the problem that Kirigan is superior in status and name, powerful Grisha, and has a vested interest in her power. Pursuing romance while Kirigan has the ability to make her life heaven or hell with a snap of his finger made every single decision be seen with wariness. 
"Beware of powerful men," Genya couldn't put it any better.
Had they pursued romance after they destroy the fold, cementing Alina’s position as a saint more. Then I might have let go of that wariness. 
I’m only proven correct when the moment Alina turned away from him, Kirigan made another leverage by (spoiler!) putting an antler to her collarbone... eeeewwww much?! 
That’s how desperate the Darkling is to be in control of a person and a situation. 
And when no letter came for Alina? That a big red flag because who else in this castle can control the coming of going of letter with the Savior. HMMMMMMMMMMM.....
Then there’s Kaz. My man. There’s no competition. This guy held no leverage on my dear Inej. When she almost decided to leave, Kaz didn't force or convince her to stay but he ask her. Doesn't remind her of her debt whether monetary or life debt to him. In fact, this guy needs money for revenge but instead mortgage his main source of income for her freedom.
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HE POSTPONED HIS LIFE GOAL TO FREE HER FROM DEBT ASJHAKFSDJGLDFJ!!!  
What more do I need to say? 
3. Sympathy Card
This is the type of point you want to watch out from your partners, ladies, gents, and others. The sympathy card is the way to go when anyone wants to reach out to you so you can take care of them before they abuse or gaslight you. 
While it’s good to share trauma and eased the burden, sometimes it's healthy to ask yourself whether the person can take advantage of you and to verify whether they lie to you or not.
When Kirigan shared about his past as a sympathetic boy with his secluded fountain and coin. Everything about that scene rang warning bells for me... the part he had requested her to use his color... requesting to horse ride with just them two... sharing sob story that may encourage Alina to help him...
Kudos to Alina to see through the fact she's seen as a means to an end.
It was only when Kirigan showed righteous anger and frustration of a war that's killing his people did Alina finally opened her heart to him.
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Kaz however doesn't use the sympathy card. Heck, the man likes to believe he shed away any weakness and threw it in the harbor where it belongs. Kaz hates weaknesses. And garnering sympathy is an admission of weakness for him.
We still know there's a tragic backstory as any decent anti-hero would have... but by not sharing that, this implies that Inej and Jesper stayed because of who he is, and not because of who he was or how he came to be. They don't need a sob story to stay together and that showed a stronger bond between them.
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4. Friends
To be frank, I find this the most hilarious because this point is the one that convinced me that Kirigan was secretly an evil bastard.
He doesn’t have any friends!!!
Like... dude had a literal witch army, a wife once, a fuck buddy, and a girlfriend but there wasn’t a single moment in the show where someone, outside of Alina and superior, to speak casually to him. 
You’re telling me this person... the most powerful and influential Grisha in the East Ravka, charming as hell, handsome as fuck, and yet he doesn’t have friends?! 
“I’ve buried good soldiers... friends...” Get the fuck out of here! WHAT FRIENDS?!?! Maybe if you get off your little power trip from your self-made pedestal, you can actually be less of an asshole and make one. 
Sure he excused himself by blaming his ‘ancestor’ for being a shadow summoner. I can see how the fear makes it hard for him to get close to anybody. But all the other characters who are part of his army only ever shown to speak with him respectfully, and the royalty even commend him. No one disrespected him even openly and you’re telling me he doesn’t have one friend amidst all these people?!
In comparison, look at Kaz. He’s brash, crude, and unapologetic. He held true to his moniker ‘Bastard of the Barrel’ and yet this ass has friends. They show Jesper joking with Kaz, and Kaz has shown to banter with him back as well as tolerating his gambling addiction when it could have jeopardized the Job. Inej was shown to actually argue and have disagreement with Kaz when he’s technically her boss. Can you imagine the Darkling doing that? CAN YOU?!
No. Because he's a pretentious ass. That's why.
This is a great example of the use “show not tell” of how Kaz despite his obvious edges has a soft spot shown through his relationship with Inej and Jesper, who have a friendly dynamic. I can attest that while Kaz didn’t create a good first impression, I love Jesper and Inej (they are precious!) so much that I project it to Kaz in extension.
On the other hand, Kirigan’s goodwill had only ever been told by outsiders or himself. None from his inner circle (which he doesn’t have!) other than his mother, who ended up outing him instead. 
So I applaud the writers and showrunners of SaB to actually have subtext signs of a manipulative bastard. The Duckling is a good villain character that's complex but unredeemable. Sometimes, you just have a good ol' charming villain you can't redeem and that's okay.
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grailfinders · 3 years
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Fate and Phantasms #200
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Wow, what a milestone, huh? It feels like only yesterday we were building Mash. Didn't even know you could grab multiple fighting styles back then. We were also one person back then. Things change. Things change even faster when you have magic eyes that let you bend anything you can see, so let's hurry up and build Asagami Fujino already. She is a Quandrix Sorcerer to tear apart anything she lays eyes on, as well as expand her field of vision beyond what her eyes can see. Dangerous combination, that.
Check out her build breakdown below the cut, or her character sheet over here!
Next up: In the dark of the night, evil will find you! (If Rasputin ever become a playable character I am really going to regret using that one here.)
Wait, what's that...
Race and Background
No surprises here, Fujino is a Variant Human, because normal humans can't tear people apart with their mind. That means she gets +1 Dexterity and Charisma, as well as proficiency with Perception (kind of her deal) and the Tough feat. HP isn't just how much body you have to get hurt, it's also how badly getting hurt affects you. Fujino's deadened sense of pain means she can take hits and keep going, purely due to the fact that she doesn't realize she should stop. That means you're getting an extra 2 HP each level.
Fujino is a schoolgirl, so the closest thing we have is the Cloistered Scholar background. That gives you History and Nature proficiency.
Ability Scores
Your highest score should be Charisma. Your magic eyes are an innate part of you, and it's really easy to be frightening when you can tear a bridge down around you. Second highest should be Constitution, for the reasons we outlined in your background feat. Your Dexterity should probably be pretty high, you fight in clothing, and you fought against Shiki for more than five seconds without dying. That's impressive. Your Intelligence isn't that bad, though you're still going through school. We aren't dumping Strength, it's alright, but we are dumping Wisdom. You have a hard time feeling yourself and feeling connected to other people.
Class Levels
You're a Sorcerer, giving you proficiency with Constitution and Charisma saves, as well as proficiency with the Intimidation and Arcana skills. You've got magic implanted in your face, and again, bridge. As a Sorcerer, you can cast spells using your Charisma. Blade Ward deadens your senses further, giving you resistance to physical damage types for a round. Mending lets you twist a small item back together, instead of tearing it apart. Sword Burst is a short range bending... sorta. Force damage is hard to quantify. But it's free, so that's nice. You can also Shape Water to bend liquids to your will. For first level spells, Mage Armor helps you not die, and Magic Missile lets you shoot little bursts of twistiness that'll never miss. You also join the school of Quandrix, which gives you the starting gift of the spells Guidance and Guiding Bolt. They aren't super in character, but they're free, so suck it up. More Importantly, you learn Functions of Probability, helping you bend luck in your favor. When you cast a leveled spell targeting a creature, you can add an effect to a nearby creature (yourself included). A Diminishing Function forces a wisdom save (DC 8 + Chr mod + proficiency), and if it fails it subtracts 1d6 from the next attack roll it makes this round. Turns out swordfighting is hard when your sword is a corkscrew. Alternatively, a Supplemental Function lets a creature add a d6 to an attack or save made in the next round. This part is less believable, but if you're creative I'm sure it'll look good.
Second level sorcerers are a Font of Magic, giving you sorcery points equal to your level per long rest. You can turn them into slots, or turn slots into points. Eventually you can do other things. Also, you can cast Thunderwave now. It destroys objects, you destroy objects, it's a match made in heaven.
Now that you're a third level sorcerer, you can make your spells truly your own thanks to Metamagic! If you cast a Heightened spell, one creature in its effect has disadvantage on their save against it. If you cast an Empowered spell, you can re-roll a couple damage dice. Tearing people in half is generally hard to avoid, and kind of damaging. You can also bend the air itself by casting Dust Devil, creating a Medium sized tornado, dealing damage to creatures nearby and pushing them around. It'll even pick up dust and make things hard to see, though that's kind of a drawback for you.
Use your very first Ability Score Improvement to bump up your Charisma. Kind of a spell-based build, to be honest. Speaking of, Mage Hand probably doesn't have much tearing force behind it, but it's free. You can also cast Shatter for more indiscriminate destruction.
Fifth level sorcerers gain third level spells like Clairvoyance! Now you can see a bird's eye view of the battlefield, tearing your way through it like, well, you.
At sixth level it's about time you started bending the earth to your will. You can Velocity Shift nearby creatures if they start their turn or move within 30' of you. If they fail a charisma save you can shove them to any other point within 30' of you. You can react this way 30' per long rest. Twist debris at people and watch them scatter, it's fun. To help with that, you can also cast Erupting Earth, bending the ground in a 20' cube. This forces dex saves on creatures in the cube, dealing damage and making the area difficult terrain until it's cleaned up.
Seventh level sorcerers get fourth level spells like Stoneskin for even more deadened senses. Now you resist physical damage without having to waste your action every turn. It does use your concentration, but it lasts an hour.
Another ASI! Max out your Charisma for super special eyes. You can also Control Water to create truly damaging whirlpools. There's other options, but whirlpools! Who'd want anything else?
Oh hey, I found something you might want else. It's fifth level spell Bigby's Hand! You can grab people and play with them like a stress ball. Technically there isn't a twisting option, but a Grasping Hand is probably the best you'll do. It'll grapple a huge or smaller creature, and if it successfully does so you can Crush it as a bonus action for damage.
Another Metamagic option! Technically these spells are all just you looking at things, so grab Subtle Spell so you don't have to yell out all your attack names. You can also Mold Earth. It's not that powerful, but it's free twisting. You also get Telekinesis! Again, no "twisting" in the rules, but it's strong enough to lift an object of 1000 pounds, and fine enough to open a door. Their heads should be popping off here.
Sixth level spells! Here are the big boys of the spell world. If you twist anything enough, eventually it'll Disintegrate, dealing plenty of force damage and leaving behind a mess you can't even revive. A little too clean for Fujino, but it's destructive enough.
ASI time. Bump up Constitution for a thicker skin and more HP. HP changes retroactively, so you get an extra 12 HP here.
Did you know turning into rotini is painful? Your enemies certainly know that, thanks to Power Word Pain. If a charmable creature has 100 HP or less, their speed drops to 10', and it gets disadvantage on all attacks, checks, and saves, aside from constitution saves. If it tries to cast a spell, it'll be wasted if it can't pass a constitution save. The target stays in pain forever until it can pass a constitution save.
Cool, so fun thing about these Multi Class Subclasses! As long as you're the correct level, you can take any one feature they have each time you hit the appropriate level in your main class. Since the highest requirement is 14, we're taking Quantum Tunneling now, and we'll pop back to the other one later. Your senses permanently deaden, giving you complete resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage. You can also bend your way through any physical objects, as long as you're willing to deal with a halved movement speed and 1d10 damage each square you move. You also have to end your turn in an empty spot. Playing to character this should leave a huge hole behind you, but maybe you're conscientious? You weren't raised in a barn, after all.
Your eighth level spell is Earthquake. Now no structure in your view is safe from your destructive powers. Tear open the earth, shatter structures, and interrupt concentration, there's nothing you can't do!
Bump up your Dexterity this ASI. Not getting hit is still pretty useful, even if you can't feel it.
Remember when I said turning into rotini hurts? I was wrong. Actually, it kills you. Please grab Power Word Kill to reflect these changes. You have become death, destroyer of mages. You also learn how to cast Distant Spells, doubling your spell's range. Your range should be "anywhere in sight", so this is a step in the right direction.
Okay, I guess we'll grab Null Equation. Once per turn you can twist up a creature you damaged. If they fail a constitution save, they get disadvantage on strength and dexterity saves, and they only deal half damage with weapon attacks, all for a round. You can do this Proficiency times per long rest. Again, real hard to hit people when your femurs are spring shaped.
Use your last ASI for more Constitution for more HP and better concentration.
We've finally done it, we've made a pure sorcerer build! It's time to finally learn the dark secret of the Sorcerer capstone. What feature could be so powerful we've completely avoided it for 200 builds? It's Sorcerous Restoration. You get 4 sorcery points per short rest. It's not good. Sorry.
Pros and Cons
Pros:
You're good at dealing damage, and your most powerful spells deal Force damage, which almost nothing blocks against. That means you're consistent and deadly, a solid combination.
You're so good at damage that it isn't just limited to creatures. Use telekinesis, mold earth, and shatter to tear apart structures that are getting in your way. Walls? Torn down. Steel Beams? Melted. Bridges? Falling down.
Despite spending your entire time in a class with the worst hit dice imaginable, you're pretty tough to kill, with just over 200 HP, a decent AC for a spellcaster, and permanent resistance to physical damage types. To make things worse for fighters, it's also a pain to get near you, since you can tear up the area around you and shunt melee fighters away as a reaction.
Cons:
While you do have magic missile, a lot of your spells deal damage in wide areas, so your party might have words with you about using earthquake one too many times.
While you're good at tearing things up, that's just about all your magic can do. There's the occasional Clairvoyance and some defensive spells, but by and large you're either dealing damage or doing nothing.
Despite your great physical defense, you struggle a bit more against other damage types. If you end up fighting someone who can turn their knife into psychic damage, you might have a problem on your hands.
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toomanyrobins · 3 years
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MINIMAL LOSS
summary: Spencer and Y/N head into the Separtarian Sect and are greeted with trouble.
pairing: Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader
content warnings: few swear words, guns, character death, violence, cult behavior
word count: 3.7k
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It had been a few months since Y/N had joined the BAU. Despite initial worries, she fit right into the team. She had joined the women for girls’ night and even helped Garcia plan JJ’s baby shower. Hotch was truly showing how much trust he held by sending the two youngest teammates on their own assignment. Y/N and Spencer were in a car in La Plata with Nancy, a CPS worker, on their way to Liberty Ranch. Spencer played the call for the three of them: “He comes into my bedroom and lays with me. He says it's god's will. I'm only 15. And I'm not the only one. Please help me!” 
Y/N turned to Nancy, “Who is the ‘he’?”
“I believe the ‘he’ that they referred to is the church's leader: Benjamin Cyrus.”
Reid flipped open the file and leaned forward so that Y/N could look at it too. She smiled appreciatively at him, “Benjamin Cyrus--No criminal record. No record at all, really. What else do you know about him?
Nancy shrugged, “It's rumored that he's practicing polygamy and forced marriages.
Y/N scanned the file as Spencer read aloud, “Do we know who the caller is?”
“Jessica Evanson is the one who the age fits, But...we can't be sure. I negotiated interviews with all the children. It wasn't easy.”
“Well, considering their view on outsiders, it would be best if you didn't identify us as FBI. Just use our real names and introduce us as child victim interview experts.” Y/N and Reid left their badges and gun in the car. The trio pulled up and was greeted by a single man lounging on the stairs. He seemed unimpressed by their presence and continued to read his book. Y/N noted that the act seemed a bit over the top and a definite attempt to appear nonchalant about their visit.
Nancy walked up to him, “I'm looking for Mr. Benjamin Cyrus.”
The man walked down the stairs, shutting the Bible in his hands, “You found him.”
“I'm Nancy Lunde. We spoke on the phone regarding the allegation.”
“Savages they call us because our manners differ from theirs.”
“We didn't come here to hear you cite scripture, Mr. Cyrus.
“Actually, It's a Benjamin Franklin.” Y/N smiled softly at the ever fact-driven Dr. Reid.
Nancy motioned at the two of them, “Y/N Emard and Spencer Reid -- they’re child victim
interview experts.”
“How far from God's word must we have strayed for there to be the need to invent a job called child victim interview expert?”
“We wish we didn't have to be here,” Y/N said.
So do we. But you are welcome, nonetheless. The children are in the school,” He pointed to the building behind him.
Nancy nodded and thanked him. The two women forged ahead, but Y/N stopped when she heard Spencer remark on the compound’s use of solar power.
“We're completely self-sufficient,” Cyrus explained, “Electricity, food, water. Ben Franklin said, ‘God helps those that help themselves.’ You look surprised.” Y/N noticed that Spencer was working to build a relationship with Cyrus and followed Nancy to begin interviews. They decide to start Jessica: the suspected victim. Y/N immediately noted the defensive posture that the 15-year-old held. Her mother, Kathy, stood beside her and looked much more submissive.
“So, what does a normal day on the ranch look like for you?” Y/N inquired.
“We go to school. We do our chores. And we treat ourselves and each other with the respect that God demands.”
“But you've never been off of the ranch?
Kathy spoke, “I brought Jessie here when she was 2.”
The young girl had a very sour look on her face and had her hands folded tightly in anger, “You've talked to lots of children in your work. Tell me, are their lives somehow better than ours? We devote ourselves to God.” Kathy put a hand on her daughter’s shoulder to calm her.
Y/N reassured the teen, “We are not here because of your religious beliefs.”
“Then why are you here?”
“We received a phone call alleging that an adult male member of your church was having inappropriate relations with the younger women here.”
“You're talking about Cyrus.”
Reid had joined them and heard the last bit of the conversation, “What makes you say that?”
Kathy tried to stop her daughter, but the indignation was clear. “Is it inappropriate for a husband to share a bed with his wife?
Y/N was shocked, “You are married to Cyrus?”
“Yes. Cyrus is my husband and a prophet. It's an honor to bear his children.
“Jessica, you're 15 years old. The state of Colorado requires parental consent.”
Y/N stared at Kathy and saw the regret in her eyes. She looked up at Reid, “She gave consent.”
Before they could continue to question, they were interrupted by members of the ranch coming in armed. They forced the three outsiders back and pointed their weapons at them. ”What's going on?” Nancy demanded. Three men came over and patted them all down. Y/N dug her heel into the man’s toe when she felt him linger. He groaned and stepped back with a scowl, nodding to Cyrus to confirm that all three were weapon-free.
“We just got a very strange phone call from a news reporter. Is there anything you want to tell me about a raid, maybe?” All three of them were shocked. Especially Y/n and Spencer since they knew that JJ had checked with other agencies before sending them in. Cyrus shook his head, “They don't know.” The men shepherded the woman and children through tunnels hidden under the buildings to a bunker filled with weapons. Gunfire could be heard overhead as instructions were given by Cyrus. 
Y/N and Spencer both saw how the guns lining the walls. She whispered, “Where did all these guns come from?”
Spencer shook his head, “I don't know. Garcia checked with the state police.” Nancy broke free of the group in the bunker and hurried up the church, thinking she could stop the raid from continuing. They heard the gunfire cease and he whispered again, “The raid is over.”
“What does that mean?”
“Either Cyrus convinced them to leave or this is over a lot faster than we thought.” When the men returned back down, Y/N realized that they were stuck in the compound again. Spencer inquired into where Nancy had gone and Cyrus explained that she had been shot by the Colorado authorities. 
“They’re pulling out.”
Reid shook his head, “Not for long.” They were stuck in the bunker while the male members of the cult all armed themselves. 
Y/N leaned over, “The team will have to be on its way now that a failed raid will be on the news. 
“With an average flight time of five and a half hours between DC and the La Plata County Airport plus the half hour drive out to the ranch, I estimate that they’ll be here by 4 o’clock, maybe 4:30 depending on who drives.” Y/N and Reid stayed trapped in the bunker, covered by an armed member at the door.
Y/N needed grounding and turned to Spencer, “What is the playbook here?”
“If the BAU is put in charge, which I imagine they will be because we are inside, they will go for the minimal loss situation. Statistically, it is improbable that they will get every member out, so they will do their best to save as many as possible. With the indoctrination in cults like this, some will be too far gone. It will be impossible to convince them that what they have been following is a lie. They’ll first try to get out 1 or 2, then 3 or 4, and then as many as possible before it goes bad,” Spencer stopped talking and looked confused, “You haven’t told me to stop rambling.”
“Why would I tell you to stop? This is valuable information,” Y/N’s cheeks warmed, “Plus you have a nice voice. We are going to be here a while until someone gets in contact with Cyrus. Best to be informed and it seems that you’re a wealth of information, Dr. Reid.” 
Despite the situation, Spencer smiled and continued talking quietly to Y/N about the tactics used. She asked him questions and let him answer them with as much information as he had. Y/N had seen him get cut off by the others before, and she understood why they did it, but she realized he probably didn’t get to share to his heart’s content often and currently they had a minimum 6 hours of waiting ahead of them. That plan was cut short by Cyrus coming back down. He brought them all up to the church. The duo were off to the side, watching as Rossi came in carrying a box. He was patted down and Cyrus spoke to him. Y/N and Spencer were both careful to keep any hint of recognition off of their face, knowing that even a twinge of weakness could seal their fates. 
Rossi let his eyes pass over the duo, before turning to Cryus, “I’d hope you let me take the children.”
“Nah, they’re our protection. I remember Waco... we all do. They stay for now. While I pray for God’s guidance. Please don’t try to force us out.”
“No one’s gonna try to force you out of here.” The two men walked to the door and Rossi left again. 
The moment he was out the door, Cyrus ordered a member to prepare wine, “We are celebrating. Everyone drinks. Everyone rejoices. Because today we are one day closer to being with him.”
Y/N watched a scene unfold in front of her and brushed her hand against Spencer’s to get his attention, “Look at Jessica’s body language. The way she looks at him. She literally worships him.”
Spencer nodded, “There is no way she made that 911 call.”
They both watched as Kathy stood up to speak to her daughter, “Look how she comes between Cyrus and her daughter. She's inserted herself between them. I don’t think Kathy is as devout a follower as she wants people to believe. Cyrus isn’t the most important thing to her; Jessica is.” Spencer squeezed her hand in silent agreement. 
Cyrus began preaching from the front as all the followers drank the wine, “Acknowledge him in all things and he will guide your way. Drink to acknowledge him and I will guide our way. We will be with him soon. We drank the poison together. Mothers… Fathers… Children, though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we fear no evil, for thou art with us.”
Y/N eyes widened and she looked up at Spencer, “What do we do?”
He shook his head, “Nothing.”
“We have to do something. These people just took poison.”
“Cyrus just told them they did. I think he's just bluffing. Just after he told them about the poison, he waited for them to start to react. Then, he nodded to Cole and he started writing. They're scanning the audience looking for reactions. They're writing down the names of the people who are crying.
Realization hit Y/N, “It's a loyalty list. So he knows who will follow him to the end.”
Cyrus spoke again, “Be still. There was no poison. Instead a test of faith. Because your adversary, the devil, waltzes about as a roaring lion, choosing whom he may devour. Watch each other for signs of weakness. You are your brother's keeper.”
After the test, they forced Y/N and Spencer back into the bunker. A guard again stationed by the door. It wasn’t long before Cyrus came back into the bunker, anger written across his face, “Which one of you is it? Which one of you is an FBI agent?”
Spencer and Y/N shared a look. “Why do you think one of us is an FBI agent?
“God will forgive me for what I must do.”
Spencer kept his face confused and innocent, “I--I don't know what you're talking about.”
Cyrus cocked a gun and pointed it at Spencer’s forehead. “One of you does. Who is it?”
Y/N knew that Spencer had built a rapport with the sect leader. She took a deep breath, “Me. It's me.”
Spencer looked at her worriedly as Cyrus uncocked the weapon. He flew forward and grabbed Y/N by her hair, dragging her into another room, “I told you not to put me in this position!” She tried to stand, but he backhanded her. She got up again, staring determinedly at him. This time, Cyrus threw her into the wall. Y/N crashed into a mirror and felt the shards cut her arms and face. He continued to preach while beating her, “Proverbs 20:30 tells us blows and wounds cleanse away evil.
Y/N remembered what Reid had said about the FBI trying to find a way to listen in, she had to stop them from coming in, “I can take it.” Cyrus thought she was antagonizing him and hit harder. She repeated herself, “I can take it.” Y/N hoped that the team understood that she could handle this fight and not blow the operation by trying to save her.
“Pride comes before the fall,” Cyrus punched her in the stomach and threw her to the floor. Y/N lay on the floor, trying to catch her breath after the last kick to her stomach knocked the wind out of her. He called for another man to come in, “Tie her up. Put her upstairs.
Kathy snuck into the room they had trapped Y/N in. She had brought a small first aid kit and cleaned the blood away from her face and removed bits of glass, “You should have told Cyrus who you were. He's a prophet. He predicted Satan's armies would come and lay siege to us.
Every inch of Y/N’s body hurt, but she knew she couldn’t give up. She looked at Kathy, “There's a name for that kind of prophecy-- self-fulfilling.”
“You don't know how dangerous It is to lie to him.”
“I know it would take a brave woman to defy him, Knowing the consequences. And that woman would have to have a damn good reason to do it. Kathy sucked in air when she realized that Y/N had suspicions about who made the 911 call that had led to them coming to the compound. She left the room and Y/N let her head fall back against the pillows, hoping that she was getting to the woman. 
She tried to track how long had passed but when the sun set, she had no measure of time. It hadn’t been long before the door to the room flew open and the same man who had tied her up entered. He roughly dragged her up and cut the rope binding her wrist. He kept his weapon trained on her and forced her into the church, where everyone else was. 
Cyrus stood at the altar, “It has come to my attention that some of our brothers and sisters have lost their faith in God. That they no longer love us. They want to abandon us. So when I call out your name, please stand.”
Spencer came up to her. She kept her eyes trained on the sect leader, “He looks pissed.” She turned to him and smiled softly when she saw the worry in his eyes, “Spencer, it's not as bad as it looks. I’ve had worse.”
“I'm so sorry,” Spencer scanned over Y/N’s body, taking in every injury inflicted by Cyrus. Moments like this, he hated his eidetic memory; knowing he would never forget the beating Y/N took to protect him. Their attention was drawn back to the members, 
“Look at who he's releasing. It's the ones who failed the loyalty test. I'll get word to the team. Wait for a sign from outside to indicate what time the raid will come.” Spencer walked away from her to speak to Cyrus. He turned and nodded to her, before she was dragged back up the room. Her arms were tied again and she was thrown on the bed. 
Y/N nodded off for a few hours, but had woken up when the sun had started to rise, cursing herself for falling asleep. Y/N situated herself on the bed and used her shoe to pull the blinds down. She knew that the glass needed to vibrate in order for them to hear her, “If you can hear me, I know you're coming. I can try to get the women and children down to the tunnel, but I need to know when you're coming.” She continued to repeat herself, when a red dot shone on the opposite wall, “Ok. Ok. I got you. What time?” The dot held steady for a moment and then moved 90 degrees. “3 a.m.?” The dot moved up and down confirming, “Understood. Reid is on the first floor somewhere with Cyrus. And, please, remember there are children here.” Y/N heard someone coming and dropped her foot, letting the blind close again.
Kathy came back into Y/N’s room. She helped her sit up and gave her a glass of water. This was Y/N’s last chance to convince Kathy to held, “Cyrus is planning a mass suicide. You made that 911 call.”
The woman shook her head regretfully, “This is all my fault. None of this would have happened if I hadn't of made that call.
“You were trying to protect your daughter. No one would fault you for that”
“There were other girls before Jessie. He--he would marry them in secret, and after a while he'd take another. And we weren't permitted to speak of it. So, when she asked for my consent, I wanted to just take her and run. But I was afraid she wouldn't leave him.”
“You wanted us to take her.”
“Well, I--I wanted to save her from Cyrus.”
“I can give you another chance. The FBI is coming here at 3 a.m. I need you to gather Jessica, the kids, the other women -- get them into the basement just before 3 a.m.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because I have faith that you are a strong enough woman to do the right thing for Jessica.” Kathy stood and walked out of the room without another word. Y/N was left with the hope that she had gotten through to the woman. 
Only a few moments later, Kathy came back. She helped Y/N sit up and removed the bindings from her wrists, “You were right. They're setting the place to blow up. I told Jessie that Cyrus wanted her to gather the women and children.”
Y/N’s thoughts were on Spencer, “Where is the man I came in with?”
“He's in the chapel with Cyrus. It's 2:45, though, we gotta hurry.” Y/N and Kathy rushed to get the women and children down to the basement, careful to avoid any of the armed men. 
Once they got to the basement, Derek and Rossi were waiting for them. He rushed up to her, “Y/N, Y/N, you all right?
“Worry about me later, Derek. They've wired explosives.” Kathy and the agents rushed everyone out of the compound. 
“Where's Reid?”
“He's in the chapel with Cyrus.”
Rossi turned to her, “We gotta get you out of here.
“No. We've gotta get Reid!
Derek grabbed her shoulders, “I will get Reid. Get out of here. Get to safety. Go now.” Y/N nodded and followed after the rest of the members. She stayed watching the building as the other continued to run. Y/N had to know that Spencer was okay. The church exploded and Y/N fell to the ground, covering her head. Once the smoke cleared, she stood up, “Reid! Morgan? Reid? Morgan!”
“We're ok!” Derek called.
Spencer ran up to her and wrapped her in a hug, “Are you okay?” She nodded and he put his arm around her, helping her to walk to get medical attention. Only once he was certain she was getting help did he leave.
Y/N sat in the back of an ambulance as the paramedic pulled shards of glass from her arms, and bandaged and disinfected the cuts on her face. JJ came over to check on her, “How bad is it?”
“Everything is sore, but the worst is cuts from the mirror he slammed me into. They said I don’t even need to go to the hospital.”
“Take it easy and don’t move until one of us comes to help you. Understand?”
Y/N smiled, “You’re already such a mom, JJ.” The blonde laughed and sat next to her, one hand on her belly.  The rest of the night passed quickly and soon the team was on the jet back to DC. Y/N sat next to Spencer on the couch, “Hey.”
“Hey.”
Y/N gently pulled the book out of his hands and put her hand in his, forcing him to put all of his attention on her, “I need you to listen to me. What Cyrus did to me is not your fault. It was my decision, and I would do it again. Do you hear me?” Spencer nodded. Y/N smiled at him and handed him his book back. She tucked her feet under the blanket and put her head on his shoulder, exhaustion weighing her eyelids down. Spencer read to her, remembering what she said about his voice, until he was sure she was asleep. The team all shared looks at the familiarity between the youngest teammates and smiled.
When they landed, Spencer offered to drive her home. The duo ended up at Y/N’s apartment. They ordered Chinese food and Y/N let him turn on Star Trek and explain all of the science and how it was ahead of its time. By the end of the night, Y/N had her legs slung across his lap and a frozen pea bag on her bruised face. She fell asleep sometime during the fourth episode. Spencer turned the TV off and covered her with a blanket. He quickly put the leftovers and peas away, and even laid out some Advil and water on the coffee with a note for when she woke up. 
Y/N,
You fell asleep and I decided you need your sleep. I put the food away and the peas back in the freezer. Take the Advil when you wake up. You’re going to need it. Text me when you wake up and I’ll pick you up. You shouldn’t drive until you’ve healed.
Dr. Spencer Reid
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myhahnestopinion · 3 years
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THE AARONS 2020 - Best TV Show
It was prime time for TV in 2020, with many more free hours to fill. I managed to get through a lot of my backlog in fact, finally getting around to watching shows like The Strain. It’s a show about a deadly disease that tears society apart because a lot of arrogant people think they are exempt from quarantining. The disease turns people into vampires, so it’s technically escapism. Here are the Aarons for Best TV Show: 
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#10. The Plot Against America (Miniseries) - HBO
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It’s not TV, it’s not HBO, it’s real life. The Wire-creator David Simon’s penchant for illustrating the human fallout of institutional failures made him a perfect collaborator for HBO’s Plot Against America, an adaptation of Phillip Roth’s alternate-history novel. Following a Jewish family in New Jersey navigating the increasingly-fascist America of a hypothetical Charles Lindbergh administration, the show is a terrifying warning of what happens when hatred and conspiracy theories are allowed to accumulate political force. Notably, while the book ends with history back on the right track, the closing moments here are left ambiguous. The show was a limited series, but in many ways, The Plot Against America is ongoing.
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#9. Mrs. America (Miniseries) - FX
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Its interests are married to The Plot Against America, but Mrs. America traces the country’s rising extremism from a more historically accurate perspective. The miniseries centers on political activists in the 1970s on opposing sides of the proposed Equal Rights Amendment, but its dialogue isn’t a strict dichotomy. The episodic format is expertly utilized to build out intersectional ideas from the likes of Rose Byrne’s Gloria Steinem, Uzo Aduba’s Shirley Crisholm, and Margo Martindale’s Bella Abzug, detailing the difficulties in building a diverse coalition, and the dangers of a single-minded one. Drawing parallels to current debates, its compelling centerpiece is how conservative Phylis Shafley (Cate Blanchett) successfully defeats the Amendment; voting against your own self-interests, Mrs. America says, is as American as apple pie.
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#8. The Outsider (Miniseries) - HBO
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Societal collapse comes from within in the two shows mentioned above, but the threat in HBO’s adaptation of Stephen King’s 2018 novel is decidedly an “other.” King clearly had his mind on modern manipulations of truth when crafting the ingenious premise: a man is arrested for the murder of two young boys due to irrefutable DNA evidence, only to provide an air-tight alibi for the crime. To match King’s procedural prose, HBO brought on The Night Of’s David Price, who layers the original work with meticulous mysteries. The Outsider has all the pulpy jolts expected of the author, but the show’s true horror lies in its overbearing grief, best brought to life by Ben Mendelsohn’s Detective Anderson. To say more would be to spoil its secrets; you’ll want to be on the inside.
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#7. Perry Mason (Season 1) - HBO
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Just like the famous fictional attorney, HBO can’t seem to lose, with Perry Mason marking its third entry on this list. The reimagining of the long running court drama actually takes place before the character’s illustrious law career; here he’s a down-on-his-luck private eye caught up in a scandalous child kidnapping case. The result’s a gangbusters production of old-fashioned moody noir: political corruption, femme fatales, and a more morally-complicated Mason, as played by The Americans’ Matthew Rhys. The lavish period details and character-actor cast, including Shea Whigham, John Lithgow, and Tatiana Maslany, will help draw viewers in, but, I’ll confess, I was already hooked by the season’s chilling opening moments.
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#6. Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist (Season 1) - NBC
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Dour seasons have dominated this list thus far, but Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist sings a different tune. It’s a lovably oddball premise: an accident during an MRI causes a young woman, played by Jane Levy, to hear other people’s thoughts in the form of popular music. It’s all karaoke, but, emphasized by the presence of Skylar Astin, a worthy inheritor to Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’s musical-comedy crown. The tracklist, workplace antics, and love-triangle drama all exist in a comfortingly familiar network TV realm, but the show takes additional steps for inclusion with stories highlighting Zoey’s genderfluid neighbor (Alex Newell) and an American Sign Language performance of Rachel Platten’s “Fight Song.” During a year in need of shuffling off stress, there was no better time to queue up Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist.
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#5. What We Do in The Shadows (Season 2) - FX
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FX’s expansion of the mockumentary feature film of the same name lit up some of the darker corners of its universe in the show’s second season, transforming mundane-seeming material into something completely, uniquely batty. Each creature of Shadows took their turn in the spotlight this season, from a middle-management promotion gifting energy-vampire Colin Robinson unlimited supernatural power, to undead Nadja befriending a doll possessed by her own ghost, to Matt Berry’s Lazlo forging a small-town persona as a bartender/volleyball coach to escape a vengeful Mark Hamill. As always, it was the sympathetic Guillermo (Harvey Guillén), a Van Helsing descendent desperate to become a vampire, who gave the show its emotional stakes, and the vampires within a different kind altogether.
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#4. Stargirl (Season 1) - DC Universe
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Shadows was lit, but few things burned brighter this year than Stargirl (perhaps too brightly for the flamed-out DC Universe). The superhero drama is one of several that will outlive its original streaming service - fitting, given its obsession with legacy. Based on a character created by DC Comics stalwart Geoff Johns after the tragic loss of his sister, the show finds a young girl taking on the mantle of a fallen hero after moving to a town run in secret by supervillains. With sprightly fight choreography and an unabashed embrace of its comic book lore, Stargirl outshines the overabundance of small-screen superheroes out there. Its highlight is the bright performance of lead Brec Bassinger; put simply, she’s a star, girl.
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#3. BoJack Horseman (Season 6b) - Netflix
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Throughout its run, BoJack Horseman garnered acclaim for routinely delivering unexpected pathos, and the final season kept it on that track until the end. ...Get it, because horses run on tracks? The unexpected porter of television’s legacy of antiheroes ended in much the same vein as its sister shows - with consequences finally catching up with its protagonist. No amount of fanciful animal puns could soften that painful catharsis, as the show finally trampled its tricky web of abuse through bittersweet means. The series closed out with an especially thoughtful scene, the kind viewers who looked past the wonky pilot years ago were regularly blessed with; to the very end, BoJack, you were a gift, horse.
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#2. Better Call Saul (Season 5) - AMC
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As good as Bad ever was and better than ever before, the fifth season of AMC’s spin-off completely upended the world of its eponymous lawyer while bringing Vince Gilligan’s universe one step away from full-circle. Saul Goodman found himself in way over his head, and viewers found themselves way on the edge of their seats, as his first foray into “criminal” lawyering swiftly dovetailed with an escalating drug war. Despite the emotional distress of watching fan-favorite character Kim Wexler placed in perilous situations, there are no objections to be had with the drama’s continued masterful storytelling. Ramping up the slow-burn storytelling, season five saw Kim and Saul’s relationship develop in rich and unexpected ways, while still keeping their final fates unresolved. Fans are thus waiting with bated breath for the show’s final call next year. 
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#1. The Great (Season 1) - Hulu
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Who could be the best but The Great? There was a minor television controversy this year over Netflix marketing The Crown as a historical drama despite its fictional interpretation of events; The Great has no such pretentions. An asterix adorns every title card of the show, letting viewers know that its take on Catherine the Great’s coup against Emperor Peter III of Russia is only “an occasionally true story.” The show indeed is not great for education, but it’s the most entertaining television of the year, locking stars Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult in a battle of wits and a fight for the country’s soul under the watch of The Favourite co-writer Tony McNamara. The uproarious comedy slyly collates leadership based in cruelty with leadership based in goodwill in the background of its quite bawdy escapades, a subtle bit of relevant political maneuvering that lets it successfully claim the crown this year.
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NEXT UP: THE 2020 AARONS FOR BEST TV EPISODE!
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pl-panda · 4 years
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Damienette arranged marriage: part 12
Credits: Miraculous Ladybug team for the elements I take from MLB show. DC for their characters, @ozmav for the AU, @maribat-archive for giving me access to so many different stories to have take inspirations from, @thyladyanput for idea for Chat Damian and me for the plot.
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4
Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8
Part 9 Part 10
Part 11
Damienette arranged marriage: part 12
NEXT
--------------------------
Marinette felt an excruciating pain in her chest. It was like her heart burned alive. She kicked Chat Noir right below the belt. He let go of her and stumbled back, this time falling onto the blanked an holding his manhood. Marinette also fell. A green light covered the general area of her heart.
------------------------------
The excruciating pain slowly died and light faded, but both still lingered. Marinette could feel her limbs stiffen to try and counter the pain. It was like she just survived a serious heart stroke.
She slowly managed to stand up. Chat d’amour was still lying, crying in pain from her two punches. Marinette got to the edge of the balcony and looked down. Her body was still hurting, but she managed to jump over the barrier and slide down the edge. Her beautiful red dress was dirtied and damaged, but she didn’t care. She had to get away. She had to escape. But she was still too close. She had to get down. But she was three storeys above the ground. It took her only a moment to make the decision to jump.
People who were down there watched in fear as young girl fall from the roof. Marinette had to think fast. She cursed herself internally that she left her bag at Chloe. Tikki was still there. She did not plan on leaving in this outfit. She loved the dress, but there was a need for some accessories. Specifically, a place for Tikki. Acting in panic she tried to grab herself onto some sill, but it did little to actually work. She was sure she would smash into the ground.
Hard pavement came much to fast. She only managed to slightly bend her knees and extend her legs to minimize the impact. When she came into contact, the momentum pushed her into the ground and she felt immense pain in her soles, but to her relief she was able to walk. And more importantly, to run. All of her person was full of pain and each step felt like walking barefoot on broken glass, but the fear of what would happen if the Akuma caught her won over physical discomfort. She had to get away. She had to get to the hotel. Marinette needed Tikki. And more importantly she had to check if Damian was safe. Oh Kwami! Damian! He tried to defend me and Chat threw him at the wall! He must have been hurt badly. He doesn’t have miraculous to protect him!
But what mattered most was that she had to stop Chat. She couldn’t let him harm anyone because of her. He was doing it because she rejected him. He got akumatized over the fact that Ladybug rejected her and then apparently he shifted his focus on Marinette, only for her to publicly start dating Damian! But that was no reason to wreck the whole city. To get akumatized! To try and kiss her!
She shuddered at the memory. This was not okay. Marinette remembered her panic. In the hindsight, maybe breaking his nose was not a sign enough… I will go straight to castration if it ever happens again. Great. Now I sound like Damian…
“So your mother is some cult leader that decided to play a matchmaker?” Chloe asked in disbelief. “Ridiculous! Utterly Ridiculous! And why Dupain-Cheng? I mean I… What does she brings into it? How would your mother even know about her?”
“I am not sure.” Damian admitted. He operated on half-truths since the beginning of the talk. “Maybe that’s exactly why. Marinette has heart of gold and she doesn’t care about people’s past, their status or family. She just looks at them and what they have inside.” He spoke from his own experience. She didn’t care that his mother was the one who forced him into this. She apologized for inconvenience she caused him.
“But why her? There must be thousands of girls like her that would entail at least some benefit…”
“I can assure you miss Bourgeois that there is no one like her.”
“I guess…“ She wanted to say more, but seeing Damian start to glare through the window angry made her stop. Now there was the brooding ball of angst she heard so much about.
The whole talk while waiting for the ambulance was taking too freaking long for his liking. They sat here for almost half an hour by now. He could only guess that Akuma attack was making things hard, but he had no idea why since no one besides him was hurt to his knowledge. It was like people stopped caring about them. He tried to call Drake again, but there was no answer whatsoever. It was almost like they were isolated from the rest of the world.
The realization dawned on him. He was a complete idiot. The idiocy on par with that of Drake. “Nobody is coming. I think I know lover cat’s powers.” He stated
“Then talk instead of sitting there like an utter idiot!”
“Isolation. He wants to have Marinette only for himself, but this idiot probably used his powers on us too!” Damian was fuming. Chat not only tried to take Marinette against her will, but his whole goal was to make her separate from everyone. Screw the rules, he would gut him and worry about the consequences later.
Standing up he felt pain rush through his leg. Damian frowned, but he used his sword in scabbard to support himself. That is until Chloe pushed him back to the bed.
“You are not going anywhere Lover Boy. Last thing I need is you making Dupain-Cheng a widow before she turns sixteen.”
“Why are you suddenly so defensive of her?” Damian scowled at the blonde. From what he knew, she was not the kind type. And he didn’t buy the sudden ‘change of heart’ thing.
“Because I don’t want to be alone! I want to have friends! I know I am utterly ridiculous, but I want to have real friends! She was ready to just forgive me and defend me! I want… I want to repay her!”
“Then man up and help me get to my room. I need to call one person who can help us.” Damian snarled. He was still unconvinced, but it seemed that it didn’t matter. It was that or leaving Marinette alone with the French Psycho #2. Blonde frowned, but helped him nonetheless.
They arrived at his room and Damian got a reinforced case from under his bed. He made sure to open it just a little bit and snatch the satelite phone and smash it back locked before Chloe saw the kevlar suit inside. It was enough revelations because he fucked up today anyway. His brothers would not let him live the fact that he revealed the marriage anyway. If he also outed himself as Robin, he would probably just return to being a hermit in the mountains. It would sure be easier than the scolding from father and jokes from his brothers.
He pulled the phone and pressed several buttons. After scanning his finger, the screen came to life. He picked the number and called. After two rings a muffled voice came from the other side.
“Yeah yeah. I need Superboy so drag your tired ass here this instant!”
“~~~~”
“I don’t care what your father said!”
“~~~~”
“Eh… My wife is in trouble… I hear one tease from you and I am asking father for Kryptonite knuckle dusters for birthday!”
There was a sound of incoming plane and suddenly someone crashed through the window. The boy wore a zipp-up jacket with Superman logo, jeans trousers and had ruffled black hair. He was about thirteen, maybe fourteen.
“‘tsup?”
“Shut up Superboy.” Damian frowned. He had to restrain himself not to out Kent in front of the irritating girl. He wished he just got Mari home when he had a chance.
“I though we were on the first-name basis Robin!”
The sound of Damian’s facepalm could be heard in Fortress of Solitude.
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Taglist (sorry if I missed you)@pheonixashtree @sassakitty @unabashedbookworm @vixen-uchiha @maggiecc12 @actualdisasterwoman @tired-butterfly @shizukiryuu @floralfi @imanerddealwith @northernbluetongue @krispydefendorpolice @toodaloo-kangaroo @dast218 @bluesoulblueheart @theatreandcomicfreak @disneyfoxuniverse @mindfulmagics @alwaysnumberonetruth @nyaabinch @jardimazul @lenamau @rosep16 @dramatic-squirrel @sonif50 @daminett4life @lulutheawkwardess @weird-pale-blonde-person @mooshoon @jeminiikrystal @mochegato @moonlightstar64 @dragonflyswing @silverwhiteraven @shamefullove @magic-miraculous @valeks-princess @heaven428 @mlbchaosqueen @winter-gardenflower @spicybelladonna @emo-elaine13 @vetilora @karukofox21 @my-name-is-michell  @sturchling @lokiifriggasonn @redscarlet95 @melicmusicmagic @interobanginyourmom @the-fusionist @razzledazzle247 @miss-mysterys-blog @darkthunder1589 @i-is-mysterious @catthhay @the-one-woman-army @zestyzealot @dahjokester @write-for-your-life2 @mermaidreject @peachedpocky @sassakitty @dahjokester @crazylittlemunchkin @novicevoice @justafanwarrior @eliza-bitch @schrodingers25
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Back To Where I’m From (Part 1) (Criminal Minds x Reader)
I’ve been re-watching the Twilight series and decided to place the case in Forks and have the reader be from there. I’m getting all my information about there from Google. If you live there and I get something incorrect, I am sorry, and will try to correct it
Except the Police chief won’t be who it was at that time
Also, with the teams, I mean for who they prefer y’know? And I am team Jasper and Emmett because those boys need love from the fans
MASTERLIST
REQUEST
JOIN TAGLIST
Warnings-um...none I don’t think
Rating-PG
I sighed as I laid down onto the ground. The flowers of the meadow surrounding me. This meadow, was a clearing in the woods. Trees all around the opening. It was calming being here again. I moved to Las Vegas as soon as I graduated High School. Thinking I wouldn't miss, this, all of this. But I did. I missed the constant cover of rain, sitting in the woods until nightfall. Reading, doing homework, drawing, being...normal, here in this meadow.
I gasped as I woke up suddenly. The light from my window in my glaring into my room. The loud sounds from DC coming through. I looked at my clock and saw it blinking 6:00. I sighed and pushed myself out of bed. I walked into the bathroom and looked into the mirror.
My face was flushed, small bands of sweat on my forehead. The bags under my eyes were worse. I rubbed my eyes and tossed a washcloth into the sink, turning the hot water on. I grabbed the soap and put it on so I could wash my face. I sighed when I was done, I put my makeup on. A simple brown smokey. It was the middle of winter so I planned on just wearing a light brown sweater and black jeans.
I grabbed said outfit from my closet and the brown boot heels from under my bed. I walked into my kitchen and started the coffee. I walked back into my bedroom and slipped my clothes on. I walked to my kitchen and grabbed my bottle to put my coffee in. I grabbed the sugar and milk and grabbed the coffee when it finished.
I made my coffee, grabbing my bag and slipping my scarf onto my neck. I walked out of my apartment and down to my car.
-
I closed the case of the tablet and stood up from my seat. The case was happening in my hometown on Forks, Washington. Yes, where Twilight took place. It wasn’t that small nor that big. Population 3,320. Around the same from when I lived there. It was surprising that anything was happening there. Almost nothing does.
“It’s crazy to think that we’re gonna be in the place that Twilight takes place!” I shook my head. Garcia was going with us on this case because Hotch felt like we would really need her help.
“I know! This is gonna be fun! Wait, team Edward or Jacob?” JJ stop both me and Garcia.
“Edward.”
I shook my head, “Neither, I’m team Emmett and Jasper.”
“Really? You prefer those two over Edward and Jacob? You prefer a confederate soldier over Edward?!” I gave a small laugh at Garcia’s outburst.
“What are you three talking  about?”
We looked over at Derek and JJ spoke, “So, Twilight, I book series and upcoming movie series. New Moon, the second book and soon movie, comes out this year. The movie that is, the book came out September 6, 2006. Anyways, Twilight takes place in Forks, Washington. And there are two teams, team Edward and Team Jacob. Garcia and I are Edward while Y/N is sitting here saying that she wouldn’t choose either of them.”
“Are you gonna look me in the eyes and tell me that Jasper Hale and Emmett Cullen. Aren’t, one, the best people ever, two, aren’t cute? C’mon! Sure! Jasper was a confederate soldier, but, most people who grew up in the south were forced to be! We have no idea what his opinion was!”
They shook their heads, “I don’t understand.”
We all looked at Spencer and I walked over to him. I placed my hand on his shoulder, “Good, you don’t need to.”
-
The jet had landed and we were driving to the police station. Good part? It’s still the same police chief as it was when I lived here. Bad part? My exes father. Not that me and my ex broke up in a bad way. It’s just that we were engaged and meant to get married in a month. I was moving to DC to join the FBI, he didn’t want to come with me. Which I understood. We went our separate ways. Only speaking to say happy birthday or see how the other was doing.
I was in the same vehicle as JJ, Emily, and Garcia. The guys were in the other. I wished I had taken the lead, I could’ve taken the back road and we would’ve been there by now. But I hadn’t told the rest of the team I was from here. 
Of course I knew that would come out as soon as people see me.
-
I parked the SUV and got out. We followed in behind Hotch and where greeted by Chief Watson. “Thank you all for coming. I’m Chief Jeremy Watson.”
JJ nodded and shook his hand. “I’m technical liaison Jennifer Jareau, JJ is fine, we spoke on the phone.” I watched as Chief Watson nodded, “This is our Unit Chief SSA Aaron Hotchner this is my team, technical analysis Penelope Garcia, Dr. Spencer Reid, SSAs David Rossi, Emily Prentiss, Derek Morgan, and-”
“My god, Y/N Y/L/N? Is that you?”
I gave a soft smile and moved from the back to the front. Grasping my hands in front of me, “Yes Chief Watson.”
He pulled me into a hug. When he pulled away he finally spoke again, “My god dear, I haven’t seen you in, what? 7 years?”
I nodded, “Yes sir. I’m sorry about all of the money you probably had to spend on the wedding that never happened.”
He shook his head, “It was no problem kid. It wasn’t that expensive as most of the things were being made by your family and my wife. I don’t understand why Jay didn’t want to go with you. Oh, and Melinda and I are extremely proud of you. Making it into the FBI!”
I smiled and nodded, “Thank you sir. Um...where can we set up?”
“Oh, that back room, you know the one.” I nodded and walked back to it.
When the team was in the room Hotch was the one to speak. “Y/N, you aren’t going to have anything personal with this case, correct?”
“I won’t Hotch, I promise.”
He nodded, “Alright-”
He told everyone what to do. Since I knew the grown he had me and Spencer stay back to work on the geographical profile.
-
We had been here for 2 days, if the unsub sticks to the schedule he has made, today was the day a new body would be found. I groaned and laid my head down on the table. “You good kid?”
“Rossi,” I lifted my head up, “We’re in my hometown. Last time I was here I got broke up with someone, as well as cancelling a wedding. I am terrified I will run into someone I don’t want to. Plus, this case seems way to familiar to me.”
“What do you mean?”
I shrugged my shoulders, “I don’t know. Maybe it was in some book I read. Besides, how do we know these aren’t just animal killings?”
“Because, it’s to precise and clean, as well as the fact that every 3 days a new body shows up. No way that it’s just an animal.” I looked over at Emily, “Besides, if you grew up here, you would know that.”
I sighed and got up, “I don’t know, but I’m gonna go on a walk to clear my head.” Grabbing my bag I walked out of the police station. Walking down the steps of the station I just started on the trail next to the road, I just walked until I made it to town.
TAGLIST
@millipop18​
@andreaxxg13​
@criminallminds​
@criminalmindsfanantic​
@h-burner​
@criminalmindsmoodrn​
@ssaemxlyprentxss​
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stxrrywildflower · 4 years
Text
amputee (1)
pairing - aaron hotchner x reader
summary - after being injured on a case, your life is forever altered
warning - kidnapping, injuries, amputation
word count - ?
part 2
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the team had a case in washington dc. the unsub was extremely dangerous which led to your eventual kidnapping. you were gone for 12 hours before the team got any lead. in the time, the entire team had kicked themselves, especially hotch.
the two of you had been dating for close to a year. missions terrified both of you and now with your disappearance, hotch was even more scared.
thankfully, garcia got a lead and managed to track down the unsubs location and sent it to the team. they had pilled into the suv’s before speeding off to your location. they had determined that the unsub was on one side of the building while you were in the other. hotch took morgan and sent the rest to go get the unsub.
they found you tied to a chair, barely conscious. your face was beaten as well as your torso. your ribs were definitely broken and you had potential internal bleeding. then came your legs. you had been shot three times in your left leg as well as severe bruising and cuts. you had mumbled something about being kicked repeatedly.
“morgan go help the others, i’ll get y/n out of here,” hotch orders. morgan didn’t waste a second and took off running to the other end of the building. just as hotch picked your now unconscious body up, he heard a panicked voice in his communication system.
“hotch, the buildings rigged with explosives! get out of there!”
hotch held your closer and began to run out of the building. just as he managed to exit the building, there was a large explosion. the force pushed hotch and you to the ground. his ears began ringing but his primary concern was you. paramedics came running over to the two of you.
“i’m fine, go to her,” hotch struggled out. he watched from a distance as you were quickly placed in anmbulance, knowing that there was nothing he could do. j.j. and rossi were the first ones over to hotch, helping him up and leading him to the car. thankfully, he was just a little shocked from the explosion and had no injuries.
in the hospital, the team had sat around in waiting chairs. morgan and rossi were busy doing paperwork, wanting to pass the time. j.j. was asleep on reid’s shoulder and he had leaned his head on hers and also fell asleep. emily was sitting in a chair, eyes shut but everyone knew she wasn’t asleep. hotch, on the other hand, was pacing back and forth in the waiting room, desperate to know if you were okay or not.
close to fifteen minutes later, a doctor emerged holding a clipboard. “aaron hotchner?” the doctor spoke. emily’s eyes shot open. she then shook awake j.j. and reid while morgan and rossi put their files down. hotch stepped forward, his face emotionless.
“you are listened as y/n y/l/n’s emergency contact for both personal and work reasons, correct?” the doctor asked. hotch nodded briefly. “alright then i need to speak to you in private.”
“whatever you tell me i’m going to tell my team,” hotch spoke calmly, the nerves slowly building up. “i still need to speak to you alone, you can tell your team after.” hotch looked at his team who all shot him reassuring smiles. he let the doctor lead him down the hallway and into a conference room they had.
“agent y/n has gone through surgery to repairs the damage to her ribs and stabilize her leg. however, if she ever wants to be a field agent again, we are going to have to amputate the limb. if we don’t, her leg will practically be immobile for the rest of her life. we already received the okay from her and needed to let you know first. the surgery is in a half an hour,” the doctor informed hotch.
his eyes fell slightly at the news he received. an amputation? that was a big deal. it would affect you both emotionally and in your work life. hotch left the room and went back to where his team was. they all looked up desperately at their boss, wanting to know your condition.
“due to the damage she sustained, the doctors have to perform an amputation on her left leg, from the knee down. they’re already working on getting her the proper prosthetics but for now we all need to be here for her,” hotch informed. “reid i’m going to need you to do some research on both amputation and the prosthetics and training y/n will need.” spencer nodded, before standing up to exit the waiting room, phone in hand.
with that, he sat down in a chair away from the rest of the team. rossi stood up and made his way over, sitting next to hotch. “what’s running through your head?” the older agent asked.
“we’ve never had an agent who had to get an amputation and still want to be back in the field,” hotch sighed. rossi looked at hotch, knowing that there was more. “and i’m worried about her. jack is really starting to think of her like a mother. and we even discussed getting married, dave,” hotch’s revealed.
rossi sat for a minute. “she’s going to be fine. she has a great family to support her. besides, i think reid has read up on pretty much all of the proper prosthetics needed for her to be fireld agent again,” rossi said with a chuckle. hotch slightly smiled at that. “yeah she does.”
the following morning, you work up from your surgery. obviously, looking down and seeing your knee down gone was shocking. you just layed back down on the pillow and blinked back tears. the door to your room opened. you didn’t bother looking and just turned your head to the other side.
the chair scuffed against the floor as it was pulled close to your hospital bed. at that moment, you moved your head to face your boyfriend.
“hey,” he whispered with a soft smile. you pressed your lips together as tears began further welling up in your eyes. hotch noticed this and stood up, pulling you into a tight hug. with that, the dam inside of you broke. you cried softly into his shoulder as he held you tighter.
finally, after a moment, hotch spoke up. “the doctor should be in here in a few minutes along with reid. they’re going to run over your prosthetics for both day to day use and when you return to the bau. then we’re going to try walking and you should be released,” aaron informed you.
“thank you aaron,” you whispered, grinning when he kissed you softly on the forehead. spencer and the doctor walked in. you smiled at reid who also hugged you. you listened as the doctor went over the proper medical procedure for using for a prosthetic. you first tried on the day to say one.
you gripped hotch’s hands as you slowly stood up, swinging your legs over the side of the hospital bed. your right leg came first and then your prosthetic. standing up, you doubled over and nearly fell. hotch quickly held your waist to prevent you from falling. then, you took your first step. you felt stupid like you were a baby taking your first steps.
however, after about twenty minutes, you slowly got the hang of it. then you tried on the more mobile brace. this one connected to your knee and had a half of circle sprint almost that would let you run. it would take a lot of getting used to but with a lot of practice, you could be back in the field in a month or less.
aaron had informed you that jack would be staying at his aunts for your first night back, knowing that you would need some time to adjust. he took your bags in first and dropped them in the bedroom. you slowly moved around the house, getting adjusted to walking around the layout with your new prosthetic.
after an extremely late dinner, you and aaron decided to go to bed. you were exhausted and didn’t bother showering. with a little help, you got changed into a pajamas, brushed your teeth, and sat on the side of the bed. you removed your prosthetic and crawled under the covers. minutes later, aaron came in before getting under the covers next to you.
you rolled over, smiling softly at your boyfriend before shifting so your head was on his chest. fifteen minutes later, you heard the soft snores from aaron. for the rest of the night you tossed and turned. around two am, you had enough and decided to go get a class of water.
after sitting up in bed, you went to stand up before realizing that you couldn’t. you would need to get your prosthetic on which took a lot of work. from there, your mind drifted. you felt your cheeks heat up as well the tears that slowly flowed. then came the sobbing.
you had managed to keep it quiet by placing your hand over your mouth but eventually, it was too much and you let out a chocking cry. with that, aaron slowly stirred next to you before realizing what was happened. he then moved so he was next to you.
“what’s going on, honey?” he asked, his hand moving to run circles in your back in an effort to calm you down.
“i-i just wanted to get some water. and then i realized i can’t just get up and do that anymore,” you cried. aaron stood up, moving into the bathroom and grabbing you a cup of water which you accepted with shaky hands.
“this is going to be a big adjustment for us. but we’re in this together. you have me and you have the rest of the team who i’m sure would drop everything to help you,” aaron reassured your.
you managed to calm yourself down after that. aaron held your close as you tried desperately to go to slee. when you passed out, he too fell asleep.
____
your return to work was two weeks later. in that time, you went on two daily walks, one with your normal prosthetic and one with your work prosthetic. this let you become pretty good as using both. decided to wear your normal one but packing the work one just in case, you quickly got dressed into your work attire and grabbed your bag.
aaron has left earlier then you to take jack to school and you didn’t want the attention from walking in with him. you knew the news of your injuries had spread fast in the bau.
so, once you walked through the glass doors, people seemed to stop. you kept your head down as you began to walk over to your desk. that didn’t stop the stairs that burned into you from practically every agent on the floor. you tossed your bag down on your chair and ran your hand through your hair.
at that moment garcia came walking into the office. she greeted you before letting everyone know that there was a case and needed to meet in the conference room. you walked to the stairs with ease but once reaching them, you stopped for a minute.
“everything alright?” j.j. asked from behind you.
“i’m not 100% on stairs yet. more around the eighty range,” you quickly explained. j.j. smiled sympathetically before wrapping her arm around your waist and slowly helping you up the stairs. aaron emerged from his office to see you two and smiled.
you followed him into the conference room where you were back with your team. “first i would like to extend a warm welcome back to y/n, how are you feeling?” garcia asked before she presented the case.
“i am just really happy to be back,” you sighed.
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palmett-hoes · 4 years
Note
Hi, I really loved your post with the monsters as Birds of Prey! Was wondering if you had any thoughts on the Foxes as Marvel or Mcu characters? I feel like I could see Dan as Carol Danvers and Andrew for sure is Jessica Jones, idk about the rest.
oh wow old post!!
haha unfortunately i’m not really a comics person so i don’t feel like i can really give the best analysis possible, but i have seen most of the mcu movies and bits and pieces of the netflix show so i’ll try my best. also im using dc characters too bc i want to
1. Dan: I think your instinct with Dan as Captain Marvel is spot-on (at least uhhh,, based on the movie lol sorry comics ppl). Her direct, forceful powers and fighting style are definitely reminiscent of dan’s no-nonsense leadership approach. similarly the themes of overcoming sexism and acceling in a male-dominated industry in the captain marvel movie is pretty much the same as dan’s story establishing herself as the first female exy captain (tho sports is way more valid than the military). plus there’s a lot of emphasis on love and friendship between women that dan is ALL about. also lashana lynch would be a god tier dan wilds fc. Dan could also def have that lawful good Okoye from Black Panther energy. Loyal, disciplined, no-nonsense leader. no powers except discipline. no hair. also danai gurira in 2012 with the dreads and the sword and the cape on TWD was definitely part of my middle school sexual awakening
2. Kevin: Aquaman. this is based pretty much exclusively on the fact that jason momoa is my #1 kevin fc and also that Pasifika kevin is phenomenal and mandatory, actually. otherwise i think he has a decent amount of stick-up-the-ass cyclops energy. or dick grayson nightwing energy but i don’t have any evidence for why. kinda looks like him tho
3. Andrew: andrew gets the most characters bc he’s my favorite. i think ur jessica jones instincts are absolutely correct, both in her storyline (i only watched the first season) and her powers. i’ve seen some powers au and the tendency seems to be giving andrew like,, psychic powers or the like, and i don’t really agree. andrew is a very direct character. he’s pragmatic, he confronts problems head on, and he doesn’t muck about in details. to me this really translates best into physical powers like super strength that help u big punch straight thru all ur problems. also i def think andrew would be not just a solo hero but a mercenary (or a detective) because he’s not altruistic enough to be a standard vigilante. he doesn’t care enough about other people to hang out on rooftops all night waiting for Crime to occur. there’s a price for that.  which brings us to the NEXT andrew hero: deadpool. maybe in personality more of a drugged andrew but the superpowered mercenary is really a perfect fit for andrew. also, healing powers have a decidedly tragic poetry to them on andrew. already he’s self-destructive, if he had a healing factor his concern for his own well-being would be so beyond rock bottom it’d be in the earth’s core. even worse when you remember that with a healing factor, as opposed to indestructibility, you still feel all the pain. which brings us to Wolverine and X-23, who have the same thematic points as deadpool but are much more of a personality match and they have knife hands, which i really think andrew would appreciate. ending that sadness train and onto another tho, andrew’s aesthetic and Vibes fit the Winter Soldier just SO well (just that movie tho, not really civil war or anything past that) and a reinterpretation of the captain america story using the twinyards would be incredibly interesting. and finally, one last hero that would work really well for andrew: rogue, only remove the angst around not being able to touch people, andrew would love that. one touch and their comatose? baller. don't fucking touch him.
4. Matt: Shazam. I didn’t see the shazam movie but my dad and brother did and they said it was very funny and all the trailors looked like it had a lot of fun himbo energy and i really think that fits. in terms of matching himbo disaster energy i think i’ve heard good things about comics hawkeye (not mcu). thor?
5. Aaron: Mr. Fantastic. now this might be a stretch but aaron is a character who uses a skin-deep veneer of anger to cover the fact that he’s actually quite pliant and bends to other people’s wills. and he’s a doctor or w/e. he could alse be like,, antman. he’s smart right? hank pym not paul rudd. katelyn can be wasp
6. Seth: Arm Fall Off Boy. no i will not elaborate.             ..... ugh fine, but i'm using my favorite piece of superhero media of all time: x-men evolution, the one where they're all teenagers in public high school. seth can be lance alvers/avalanche who’s a bit of a jerk and has a lot of issues with authority and has a rivalry with cyclops very reminiscent of seth with kevin, but still there’s the recurring theme that he’s lashing out because of low self-esteem and a bad situation and he’s a surprisingly sympathetic character who i’m very fond of. his power is earthquakes but i think the name makes that pretty self-explanatory
7. Allison: Iron Man. cocky, bitchy, and rich rich rich. sounds like allison to me. then to elevate it a level higher: emma frost, rich bitch extraordinaire. also if allison had telepathic powers she would be unstoppable. plus one more bitchy, morally-gray blonde (but chaotic this time): Harley Quinn
8. Nicky: Okay so I do wanna give a quick shout-out to Northstar, the first openly gay comicbook superhero, who’s a speedster which I’d actually say fits Nicky pretty well. However, if i had to choose a superhero to represent nicky in presence and powers it would have to be Jubilee from x-men (... from what i’ve heard lol. i’ve never actually consumed any of her Media hahaha anyway) she’s a joyful, energetic presence and her powers are setting off fireworks which i think is a good balance of nicky being a supportive cousin-parent AND a chaotic train wreck garbage trash man. also gonna throw in johnny storm for a cheap 'flaming' joke
9. Renee: Thunder/Blackbird from Black Lightning bc she’s a fufkin lesbian lol. (i don’t watch the show but i do follow nafessa williams’s tag). now the fr ones i’m gonna do together because to me they have the same Vibes so i chose them for the same reasons. Wonder Woman and Storm who to me have the same  reserved, impartial, regal energy. honestly ethereal and somewhat otherwordly, and quite literally goddesses. also op as hell.  black widow and her “red in my leger” looking for redemption story also fits thematically.
10. Neil: okay lazy answer first: the flash or quicksilver. get it? because they run fast? and neil run too? yea i like to think i've proven myself to be better than such a surface level interpretation but worth the mention ig. so for srs now, mystique and her shape changing powers would be an interesting interpretation of neil's identity issues, but i wanna push it a step further. nightcrawler would actually be possibly the MOST interesting hero to apply to neil 1. because powers still very movement go fast place to place 2. because of the thematic focus on neil's unusual looks and the lengths he goes to hide them, very much in line with the way nightcrawler will use a hologram-projector in order to look human, yet in both cases it's only a surface-level illusion, and 3. his parentage. here, mary would be mystique, which i also think works very well considering mary seemed to be the far more effective chameleon on the run than neil, and also fits with her place as a morally grey character, as mystique herself is often a villain or an antagonist, with her own agenda and shadowy motives. then nathan matches well with nightcrawler's father: azazel, a literal demon, and also where kurt gets his appearance. it's a shockingly coherent narrative between the three of them. then, to also give neil some powers that aren't contingent on his fucked up geneology and rather on his own merit and abilities, Black Canary and her sonic voice parallel the way that neil began to anchor his identity and take ownership over himself through his voice and his sick roasts
and 1 extra, wymack: batman, on account of his altruism, his dedication to second chances, and his many, many adopted children
---
anon, ik it's been a sec since you sent this, so i hope it gets back to you. i had a fun time with it and it prompted like,,, 7 different au s that i'll never write
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buckyscrystalqueen · 4 years
Text
Too Smart for Your Own Good: Part 2
Pairings: Machine Gun Kelly x Reader, (Past and Future) Henry Cavill x Reader
Warnings: Swearing, one night stand, unprotected sex
Word Count: 2,129
A/N: Doesn’t have a completed end yet, but just giving you more content to try to get myself out of a writing funk.
Part 1
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Well aren’t you a sight for sore eyes.” Your father, Negan, chuckled as you got off the golf cart in front of the trailer you’d be celebrating Christmas in again, like you had for three of the past ten years, at the Los Angeles County State Prison.
“Hi, daddy.” You breathed in relief, grateful to spend any amount of time with the only family member that you could completely trust. “Merry Christmas.”
“Merry fucking Christmas to you, too, Princess. Fuck you, give ‘em.” He barked as he pulled the bags of food and your clothes off the back of the cart before you could even think to reach for them. You simply rolled your eyes and grabbed your guitar case before thanking the officer and heading inside the family visit trailer. “So what kinda trouble did you get into this week?”
“Well…” You sighed as you sat down at the small table in the kitchen. “… I went to Cleveland on Saturday and flew back yesterday morning. Pretty sure I got pregnant, too.”
“You fucking what?!” Your dad roared as he slammed a box of Mac and Cheese down on the counter. “Fucking Henry?”
“Henry is not coming back!” You shouted back, defensively. “And does it fucking matter? I made a choice, two choices actually, to sleep with some douche bag and not take Plan B after. It is what it fucking is.”
“So what, you're just gunna throw away your fucking life…” He started as he went back to throwing groceries in the cabinets, angrily. 
“No, I made the choice to not be fucking alone any more!” You interrupted as you looked over at him. You couldn't hide the hurt in your eyes when he turned around to stare at you, shocked that you were actually talking about your emotions.
“Sweetheart…” He breathed as he abandoned his task and came over to sit down in front of you. “You are not fucking alone…”
“I am alone, daddy.” You nearly whispered as you put your feet up on your chair and wrapped your arms around your legs. “Mom’s dead, and you're in here for who knows how much longer. And Henry…” You scoffed and shook your head. “Henry isn't coming back. He loves being some hit shot doc the Army more than he ever loved me. So other than my research, which I've all but abandoned anyways out of sheer boredom, I have nothing. I have no one, daddy. Just the occasional visit from Ashleigh and some of the harlots from the club. Maybe a once a month lunch date with some of the people from UCLA. But that's it. So I made a choice not to get the morning after pill after I stared at the box for over an hour and weighed out the pros and cons. And I would much rather raise a sperm donor baby than be alone in that house anymore.”
“OK.” Negan whispered with a nod as he rested his hand on your bent knee. “OK. I don't fucking like it, but I will get on that train all the fucking same.” Tears welled in your eyes as you rested your cheek on the back of his hand, and you closed your eyes to hide them. “So I'm gunna be a grandpa?”
“Maybe.” You choked the slightest bit as you opened your eyes to look at him again. “It just happened but I know I'm ovulating…”
“Eww fucking gross.” He fake gagged to get you to smile as he pulled his hand free and got up to finish putting groceries away. “I don't wanna hear that shit.”
“That's what you get for raising a daughter with no filter.” You pointed out as you propped your chin between your still bent knees.
“Fucking gross.” He repeated with a laugh. “So the fuck was in Cleveland? This fuckin guy?”
“Ashleigh’s client. He’s a rock rapper that needed someone that could learn music fast and played the guitar well. So Ash landed on me. But dude is a total self absorbed prick. B minus in… well in the broom closet.”
“I'll have Simon kill him.” He said almost 100% seriously.
“You are not going to kill this idiot for being bad at sex.”
“No, I'm gunna fucking kill him for laying a Goddamn hand on my daughter.” He responded with a smile as he balled up the last empty grocery bag and put it in the recycling bin.
“You're an idiot.” You laughed as you grabbed your guitar and got up to sit outside for a while.
“Hey, be nice to your old man.” He huffed as he grabbed a pack of cigarettes and a pack of matches off the table and followed you out front to enjoy the California sun. “And go easy on me today.”
“Yea fucking right.” You laughed as you sat down on one of the plastic lawn chairs and pulled out your guitar, which took you almost a year of bribery to be able to get it into the jail it now lived in in the first place. “Where’s the fun in that?”
“Pain in my Goddamn ass.” He grumbled around his cigarette as he moved his chair out off the shade and pulled off his blue prison issue shirt for as long as he could get away with it. “Alright… rock music from the 70’s.” You nodded at the category and tuned your guitar before picking an easy AC/DC song to start with. Which is pretty much how you always spent your days when you visited your father in prison.
——
Your office hadn’t looked so chaotic since you were working on a regular basis, but as of that morning, every available surface was covered in every single medical textbook, (with a focus on pregnancy and pediatrics) and motherhood book you could get your hands on. The dry erase board that usually had your equations to see if your Milky Way black hole theory was a possibility, had been wiped clean and replaced with columns upon columns of notes, to separate the ridiculous from the actual facts you would need to go through a pregnancy and raise a child.
You were blazing through the ‘Essential Neonatal Textbook’, when your house phone rang, startling you the slightest bit and forcing you to pull your attention away from a long list of the benefits of cord blood. You sighed and snatched up your headset as you set the book down to work through all of the information and pick out the more important bits and pieces to make the best informed decision.
“Ms. (Y/L/N)? I have a Colson Baker here to see you.” Your fingers froze with the cap of the marker in one hand and the marker itself in the other.
“You can let him in.” You sighed as you took a step forward and started a new list under the newborn column in the middle of the board. You heard the line click in your ear and you wrote quickly, trying to get some of the information down so you knew where to pick up when you came back inside. You got a short start and reluctantly forced yourself away from your research  to let your guest in. You started to work out your ideas vocally as you opened up the two gates and watched his purple Lamborghini pull into your driveway. You waited just long enough for him to make it half way to you, before you turned and headed inside to add more to your cord blood list with him following behind you.
“Umm… what the fuck is this?” Kels asked as he looked at the board over your shoulder in shock.
“Did you vaccinate Casie?” You asked as you continued to write.
“You’re fucking pregnant?!” He shouted over you as you capped your marker and set it back down on the easel.
“I am pregnant.” You said evenly as you walked over to find the ‘The Umbilical Cord Blood Controversies in Medical Law’ book to cross reference the former textbook. “Did you vaccinate Casie?”
“Were you gunna fucking tell me?” He shouted as you flipped through the pages, easily reading 20,000 words a minutes despite the distraction of your visitor.
“I was neither planning on telling you, nor keeping it from you.” You said simply. “I want nothing from you, Mr. Baker. I don’t need money, and I don’t need you to step up to be a father. You were a one night stand that I chose to not take Plan B after. My choice, my child, my body, my life.” He looked at you completely lost for words as you set your finished book down and headed back to the white board to add and change notes. “I would like your family medical history, though. I could easily do a diagnostics test and an MSS while I’m pregnant but…”
“Oh, I’m gunna be fucking sick.” He groaned behind you as you finished your idea and turned to move on to the next section. You grabbed the trash can and handed it to him on the way past as you tried to keep your thoughts as straight as possible, relatively unsuccessfully.
“I don’t wanna be alone.” You sighed as you looked over at him for a moment. “And after the way you treated me that night, the way you just used me and threw me away like I didn’t mean a Goddamn thing…” You exhaled through your nose and shook your head as you looked away from him and out the back door to the ocean. 
“I don’t care that you’re not happy here, Mr. Baker. I don’t care if you want to be in this child’s life or not. I don’t care if you see me or this child as a mistake, or what you see us as at all. I just don’t care. What I care about is having a calm, healthy pregnancy, and becoming a mother. And I will not tolerate having someone come into our lives to walk in and out of it because he never wanted us in the first place. Nor will I tolerate someone treating me like I’m worthless trash in front of my child.” Kels didn’t say a single word as you shook your head and turned back around to go back to work. “Stay as long as you want. I have work to do.” 
As Colson sat and thought, you went over to find a book about banking cord blood so you could round out that column. The next column was pros and cons of breastfeeding verses formula, which was a lot more extensive than you originally expected due to the varying opinions on length and benefits, but after reading through seven different books, and writing and erasing conflicting notes, he finally spoke up.
“Breastfeed for a year.” He almost whispered as he watched you work. “That’s what we did with Casie. And yea, we vaccinated her.” You nodded your head as you erased the idea you were writing and stood up to make a note in the vaccines column. “I don’t turn my back on my kids.”
“OK.”
“I’m sorry.” He continued as you capped your marker “It’s no excuse but I was high as fuck and running on adrenaline. I used you and that was shitty as fuck.”
“Yes it was.” You agreed with a nod as you leaned against the front of your desk and crossed your arms over your chest.
“Well I’m fucking sorry.” He said a little harshly. “And I’m sorry for knocking you up.”
“Pregnancy happens, Colson.” You breathed with a shrug of your shoulders. “I’m obviously a little more prepared since I actually made the decision…”
“Yea, that’s a fucking understatement.”
“OK, you can fucking leave and I can file a restraining order.” You snapped. “What’s done is done. I’m pregnant, you’re the father, your kid and my kid have a new sibling. You’re not going to have to pay child support, I’m taking primary custody with open visitations. And no, I am not going to date you. Not now, not ever. You left a sour taste in my mouth and I want nothing to do with you or your crazy lifestyle.”
“You’re just making this super fucking easy, aren’t you?” He asked as he pushed himself out of his chair. “I’m outta here. I’ll get your number from Ash and I’ll be in touch.” You rolled your eyes and gestured toward the door behind him.
“You can see yourself out.”
“Such a fucking bitch.” He muttered as he stormed out the doors and through the atrium to leave. You let out a huff and shook your head as you went back to your research.
“Idiot fucking sperm donor.”
Part 3
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