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hallowxiu · 3 years

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Asmodeus’ Valentine

pairing: asmodeus x gn!mc

word count: 1.5k

summary: Your Valentine's gift for Asmodeus might have done him more harm than good.

a/n: part 6 of the v-day series

part one | part two | part three | part four | part five

“Oh, dear…” Asmodeus stares at you with a horrified look. “Oh, darling, what-- what have you done here?” Cautiously, Asmodeus steps inside your room and looks around at the mess surrounding you. “You’d think a hurricane swept through here.”

“One practically did.” You mutter to yourself as you inspect the damage around you. You stare down at your paint-covered hands, a sigh of annoyance leaving you as you look back up at Asmodeus. “I’m not going to front with you; I lost your Valentine’s gift.”

“I- you lost my gift?” He’s more confused than anything. “How did you manage that? Did you just misplace it somewhere?”

“More like it came to life and had me chase it around the room.”

“It came to life?”

“Right, so I accidentally charmed your gift, and in the middle of painting it, it came to life and started running around my room,” you pause and look around your room before gesturing to everything, “hence the paint everywhere.” A laugh erupts from Asmodues’ chest, the demon clutching at his stomach as he doubles over.

“That might be the funniest thing I’ve ever heard.” He wheezes out, wiping the tears from the corners of his eyes. “How you managed to charm an inanimate object to life is beyond me, and yet I wouldn’t put it past you.”

“Clearly you shouldn’t.” You say sheepishly.

“So you mean to tell me that there’s a gift running around the House of Lamentation?” Asmodeus asks once he’s calmed down.

“Correct.”

“And you have no idea where it is.”

“Also correct.”

A sigh leaves Asmodeus before he glances down at you. “Well, get yourself cleaned up. I suppose I’ll be nice just this once and help you find my gift.” Something tells me he’s only helping simply because he just wants a gift, you think to yourself with narrowed eyes. Still, beggars can’t be choosers and you needed all the help you could get. You were definitely out of your element with this one.

“Are these really necessary?” You find yourself asking as the two of you camp out outside the kitchen. You’re holding a large butterfly net, the handle of it decorated with large jewels. You look it over in your hands, an eyebrow quirked as you look back up at the demon. “The jewels make the grip uncomfortable.”

“Beauty is pain, my love.” Asmodeus chides as he glances into the kitchen. “And I’m not going to be breaking a sweat if it’s not in style. I’ve been looking for a reason to use these nets anyway, and as fate would have it, you’ve presented me with the opportunity to do so.” You never pinned Asmodeus as the type to collect bejeweled nets, but then again, if something was bejeweled enough, you wouldn’t put it past him. “These bad boys are meant to keep anything inside them. Honestly, we could probably use this on Mammon if he annoys us enough.” A devilish grin appears on his lips and you have to clear your throat to bring him back to reality.

“Right… well, don’t give this to Satan or Belphegor, otherwise they’ll be trying to use this on Lucifer.” The thought was humorous enough, but you weren’t sure if you wanted to deal with the aftermath. “So, what’s the plan?” You turn to face Asmodeus who’s currently admiring the handle of his net.

“The plan is that we wait for this fucker to jump out in front of us so we can catch it.”

You pause. “Why would it jump out if it sees us?”

“To taunt us, of course.”

“It’s not stupid. Shouldn’t we bait it with something?”

“Well, not to point out the obvious, but I don’t know what the gift is. I don’t know what bait would work on it.” Touché. “Do you have any ideas?” As far as you were aware, the Devildom didn’t contain any bamboo, and other than that, you weren’t sure what else you could use for bait. You weren’t exactly an expert in the field your gift was in.

Resigned, you sigh, “waiting for it to jump out is fine.”

The next plan on the agenda was to try and just grab it. Instead of trying to lure it out with food or taunts, you’d have to lunge at it whenever it popped out. The two of you moved away from the kitchen and were now lingering around in one of the hallways. You had sworn you saw something scamper down the hallway, and though Asmodeus was skeptical, he followed you. “I don’t see anything,” Asmodeus says from where he stands behind you, peering over your shoulder. “Are you sure you saw it come this way?”

“I’m positive! What else would I have seen?”

“Maybe a Devildom rat?”

“No! The rats here aren’t that small, unfortunately.” You cross your arms over your chest, the two of you having ditched the bejeweled nets long ago. “Besides, I’m not brave enough to go chasing after a Devildom rat. I’m not suicidal.”

“With half the shit you pull on the regular? That’s debatable.” Touché once again.

“Right, well, that doesn’t change the fact that I saw something run down here.” You glance back at Asmodeus to see him frowning slightly before he clings to your arm. “What’s wrong?”

“What if it’s a ghost?”

“You’re a demon, why are you scared of ghosts?”

“Ghosts are scary; demons aren’t!”

“You and Mammon pick the strangest things to develop fears over.” Out of the corner of your eye, you see something move in the corner of the hall. Asmodeus shrieks in your ear as you try to free your arm from his grip.

“It’s a ghost!”

“It’s not a ghost! You aren’t supposed to see ghosts anyway!” You argue with the blond as you struggle to free yourself from his grip. “Now let go before it gets away!”

“No way in hell am I letting go! What if it tries to eat my beautiful face?”

“I don’t think ghosts eat faces.”

“What are you, some kind of ghost expert? You don’t know that!”

“And neither do you!”

The two of you stop bickering when you hear a crashing noise coming from the end of the hallway. The two of you look up to see the gift you made pushing over one of Lucifer’s rare vases. The two of you stand there silently, watching as your gift just stands on the small table where the vase once stood, staring at the two of you. “...That is rather unfortunate.” You comment solemnly.

“That is,” Asmodeus responds just as solemnly, “it is very unfortunate indeed.” His eyes squint so he can get a better look at the gift, turning to look at you afterward. “You made me a panda keychain?”

“I did! I remember you really wanted the panda plush I made for Mammon a few months ago, so I thought you’d like a cute keychain you could attach to your purse or D.D.D.” You smile up at him as you explain. “Now you’ll finally have a panda-themed item to add to your collection.”

“I love it,” Asmodeus says with a smile just as big, “if we ever manage to catch it, I’ll make sure to take good care of it.” Your attention is taken off Asmodeus when you hear a quiet thud. You look over to see the panda keychain lying on the ground surrounded by the broken glass of the vase. You carefully pick it up and examine it for any damage.

“The charm wore off!” You exclaim as you hold it up to Asmodeus. “And it’s not damaged!”

“It seems like it just needed to get us into enough trouble before returning to normal. You know, tracking white and black paint all over the house and destroying Lucifer’s favorite vase.” The demon sighs before taking the gift from your hands. He admires it silently, turning it over in his hands. “It’s lovely. You did a great job with the detail.”

“Really? You think it looks okay?” You nervously lean over to glance at the keychain. “The paint job is still okay? I was worried it’d somehow smudge the paint as it ran around.”

“No, surprisingly the paint is perfect despite how much of it got around the house.”

“Wow, that’s really amazing.” You hum while rocking on your heels. “I wonder if the charm somehow protected the keychain itself?”

“That’s possible, we could always ask Solomon or Satan about it--”

Someone clears their throat from behind you, the two of you freezing in place. Then, with a voice that’s filled with anger, “would either of you mind explaining to me why my vase is shattered all over the floor and covered in white and black paint?”

“...Happy Valentine’s Day, Asmodeus.”

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momentsatmydesk · 3 years

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'I Am Not A Robot' Taught Me That Some People Are Worth Opening Your Heart For

This drama has a special place in my heart for the warmth and laughter it brought me. I recommend watching this show when you need a break from similar-trouped K-dramas and want to watch something light yet hearty.

The Story:

Kim Min Kyu is the Director of his father's firm, KM Finance. He's smart, witty and has absolutely distrusts fellow human beings. He bears a secret ailment where a single touch from another person can cause him a severe allergy resulting in death. Hiding his condition in order to continue keeping his father's company, Min Kyu keeps his distance from people.

After his father's death, he witnesses his father's closest colleague and confidant, Hwang Do Won, try to maliciously takeover the firm. Here's when Min Gyu pledges vengence against the man and his son (also Min Gyu's then BFF), Hwang Yoo Chul.

On the other hand, we have a team of fallen-from-fame scientists under the leadership of Hong Baek Gyun. Baek Gyun is a wiz and he's currently developing a humanoid called 'Aji 3' -- a robot that is created to resemble and think like a real person. For Baek Gyun, it is essential to secure a sponsor for releasing Aji 3 to the world. And in Kim Gyu, they find the perfect opportunity to do so.

However, things do not go as plan which is where our heroine, Jo Ji Ah comes in to the picture. On the day when Baek Gyun's team is supposed to send across Aji 3 for a live demo-testing to Min Gyu's home, a crucial part for the humanoid's functioning crashes. The scientists are desperate but Baek Gyun has a plan. Aji 3's physical looks exactly resemble those of his ex-lover Ji Ah and in order to save their hides, Baek Gyun asks her to step in as Aji 3's double.

Unaware of Min Gyun's disease, Ji Ah accepts the offer for the money she badly needs.

An inventor herself, Ji Ah has always been fascinated with making fun, wacky inventions that could also be useful to people. However, luck has not been on her side and Ji Ah is yet seeking her big breakthrough. Her big ray of hope lies in securing a prize at the annual competition for inventors sponsored by KM Finance. With her plans leading her to the very founder of the company she badly wants to impress, Ji Ah resolves to slyly deposit her proposal of ideas when she's playing Aji 3.

The story follows Min Gyu and Ji Ah's unconventional tale of friendship and love. Min Gyu's distrust of people slowly evaporates as he begins to spend more time with Aji 3. He also gradually opens up to the possibility that the world isn't as evil a place as he thinks it to be and it is safe to open his heart to it.

Side Characters:

I have an entourage of side characters that have added so much fun to the show.

There is Pi, Baek Gyun's first assistant who's a genius. She's been in love with her mentor ever since they began working together.

Then we have Hoktal, our blubbered, too-cute-but-doesn't-know-how-to-as-a-girl-out assistant. He reminds me of a lost puppy.

There is Ssanip, our youngest, funniest assistant in the team who has really bad comic timing. He's a complete softie.

Hwang Sun Hye is a tarot-card reader who also prides on giving the best relationship advice. Ji Ah's best friend, she's fierce, sexy and very charismatic.

Lastly, there's Jo Jin Bae, Ji Ah's brother. He works as Min Gyu's secretary and is extremely talented and smart. I love how he silently cheers Ji Ah on even though he's also the one who brings her frequent reality checks.

What I Liked:

~ I LOVED how this show cracked me up and was such an interesting story overall.🌼

~ Kim Min Gyu's 'Pretties' (a collection of all his precious gadgets whom he considers and talks to like one would with real people).🌼

~ Aji 3 and Min Gyu's super adorable friendship.🌼

~ Ji Ah's eccentric, never-going-to-stop-trying attitude.🌼

~ Ssanip and Hoktal's very fun bromance.🌼

~ Min Gyu's dazzling smile *take my heart, please.* 🌼

~ The slow, natural evolvement of relationships between all our characters.🌼

~ Baek Gyun's journey to realizing the errors of his ways and owning his wrongs.🌼

~ Pi's no-nonsense crush on her boss.🌼

What I Didn’t Like:

~ I'd like to have seen more romance between Ji Ah and Min Gyu versus just Aji 3 & Min Gyu. I think that was missing for me.

My Favorite Learnings:

1. Trust is a journey. It doesn't happen overnight. 2. Let in people, especially if they are good for your heart. 3. Life is too beautiful to be afraid of, even when it hasn't been kind to you before.

My Last Thoughts: Aji 3's official enlistment as a 'pretty'.🙊

GIF Credits: GIF 1, 9: @kdramareviews | GIF 2: Pinterest | GIF 10: We Heart It

#kdrama #i am not a robot #kdramas #kdrama review #kdrama recommendations #chae soo bin #yoon seungho #kdramaland #kdrama gifs #kdrama rec list #korean drama #asian drama fan #Asian drama #asian drama review #drama blog #kdrama scenes #kdrama screencaps #kdrama series #kdrama stills

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pucksnsticksnhockeyboys · 4 years

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gone for you

summary: everyone knows you and Brock are perfect for each other—everyone but you and Brock.

warnings: a singular swear

word count: 2.2k

note from the writer: I got this idea last night, and, well, here it is. quite possibly the softest thing I have ever written.

There was a running joke that you and Brock were meant to be together. That you were two halves of the same idiot, an old married couple—if there was an euphemism for being in love, you had heard it tossed around you and Brock.

You never really saw it, he was just your best friend and closest confidant in Vancouver. You were always his plus one to events, he had a standing invitation to come to yours for dinner and movies. You had a copy of his key and he had your spare. You were best friends, nothing more and certainly nothing less.

Until.

“You know, you’re allowed to taste it.” You teased, a grin evident on your face as Brock pouted at you. It was the night before he left for a road trip, and you had invited him over for your traditional going away spaghetti dinner. You had insisted that he invite Petey, Jake, or Quinn sometime, but he claimed he was doing you a favor keeping them away from you. You’d roll your eyes, knowing that Petey was nothing short of a gentleman, unable to cut the same slack for the other two.

“I don’t understand why you’re so mean to me.” Brock shot back, his eyes narrowed at you playfully. You couldn’t help but laugh, taking a sip of the wine that Brock had brought.

“I’m sorry, but you’re practically shoveling it down your throat.” You explained with your hands raised in innocence. Brock rolled his eyes as you, but you spotted the slight upturn of the corner of his lips. “What would your mom say?”

“She would say be nice.” He was fully grinning now, and you let out a scoff. Both of you knew that would not be what she would say. “You got a little…” He trailed off, pointing to his chin. You wiped at your face with a napkin, but when he moved his finger to the other side of his face, you knew he was just messing with you. Dropping your jaw, you balled up the napkin and tossed it across your kitchen table at him.

“And I’m the mean one.” You grumbled. Brock was laughing as if he had said the funniest thing, and despite your previous annoyance, you couldn’t help the way the corner of your lips turned up at the sound. “You better appreciate all the cooking I do for you, Boeser.”

“Trust me, I appreciate it. I’m gonna appreciate a second serving, too.” He joked as he scooped more spaghetti onto his plate. Then, he twirled way too much pasta onto his fork and shoved the whole thing into his mouth, all the while never breaking the eye contact with you.

And then it hit you.

You were in love with your best friend. The one that everyone teased you about, the one you swore up and down was just a friend. You couldn’t imagine your life without him, the chirps, the crazy hockey schedules, the late nights at bars celebrating wins. Brock was your person.

It was funny, really, that Brock was the most handsome man you had ever seen. Any number of women would kill to get a chance with him, simply because he was tall and charming and played hockey. And sure, those parts of him were definitely attractive, but the Brock you were in love with was the one that was sitting opposite you at the kitchen table.

Grinning like a complete dumbass with a too-large mouthful of spaghetti and sauce all over his chin.

It was a little too much for you to handle all at once. Coming to the realization that you were completely head over heels for your best friend was enough to send anyone into a tailspin, so you were understandably caught off guard.

“Wa s’matter?” Brock asked, speaking with his mouth full and effectively dragging you back to reality. You grimaced at the sight, because even if you were in love with the fool, he was still being gross. When you realized he was waiting for an explanation for why you had spaced out for a moment, you panicked, and said the first thing that came to mind.

“Get a grip, Boeser.”

Brock came to the same realization that you did a week later.

He was coming back from the road trip, it was late at night and you had stopped answering his texts an hour earlier so he assumed you had gone to bed. He wanted nothing more than to go crash in his own bed, but he knew he’d have to let his dogs out and make sure they had everything they needed before he could do so.

But then he swung open his front door and saw your shoes. Next to where he set his keys on the entryway table, there was a piece of paper that he certainly didn’t leave there before he left. He recognized your handwriting, the ‘I already walked the dogs for the night’ making him selfishly relieved that he wouldn’t have to do so. He couldn’t help the grin that grew on his face as he ventured further inside, wondering just how long you had been at his place.

When he finally found you, he felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. He wasn’t sure that he could even feel so caught off guard by his own emotions, but the moment his eyes landed on you, it was like he had been run over by a truck.

You were passed out on his couch, curled up in not only one of his hoodies, but one of his spare blankets. You were cuddling Milo into your chest, and Coolie was tucked into the crook of your knees. It struck him just how much you looked like you belonged there, that this was your place too and it was a normal thing for him to come home to. And Brock decided then and there that you were the only person that he ever wanted to come home to again.

Milo, ever excited to see Brock, started squirming in your grip. His eyes widened and he took a step forward in a futile attempt to keep the dog from waking you. He wasn’t quick enough, and for the second time that night he felt his heart stop beating in his chest as you slowly blinked awake.

“Shit, did I fall asleep?” You mumbled, rubbing your eyes and stretching a bit as Milo leaped off of the couch and started jumping on Brock’s legs. It was only then that he saw you had been using his television to watch Netflix, the screen asking if you were still there.

“Uh, yeah.” Brock replied, kicking himself silently for taking so long to reply. You were his best friend, he shouldn’t be so nervous around you. He had always known you were beautiful, he wasn’t blind, but you looked absolutely stunning on his couch late at night curled up in his clothes and with his dogs. “Are you gonna spend the night?”

“Yeah.” Brock shifted on his feet nervously, wondering just how he was going to deal with sharing a bed with you—because you always cuddled whenever you spent the night, and he would be damned if he was going to pass on the opportunity to hold you in his arms—because his heart was beating out of his chest from his spot on the other side of the room.

“Well, come on then, lazy.” Brock felt proud of himself for a moment, how some of his normalcy returned in the form of chirping you. But then you stretched out your arms to him and made grabby-hands, and grinned that dazzling smile of yours that nearly knocked him flat off his feet.

“Carry me.” You drawled out, still half delirious from sleep. Brock rolled his eyes, but certainly did not need to be told twice before he fully crossed the room and scooped you up bridal style. Brock, while on his way to his bedroom, tripped over the blanket that had been knocked off your lap and onto the ground when he picked you up. Your giggle rang loud in his quiet apartment, and Brock felt his chest tighten in adoration at the sound.

And in that moment, Brock knew one thing for certain—he was a goner.

You had thought that you were doing a good job of hiding your newly developed feelings for your best friend. Or rather, not so new, but more so acknowledged feelings. You still hung out with Brock, answered his texts and calls as if nothing was wrong—as if your heart wasn’t pounding out of your chest every time you so much as thought about the blonde. You were fine. You were dealing.

Brock, on the other hand, must have sensed your change in feelings, because it started to seem like he was pulling away from you. You were convinced that he knew how you felt and this was his way of letting you down easily. It had only been four days after he came back from his road trip, and it seemed as if he was trying to put some distance between you and him. you were lucky if you got so much as a text from him once he had gotten back.

It was enough to have you pulling your hair out. You were lost, you didn’t want to lose Brock, but you also couldn’t help how you felt. It had only been four days since he started acting different, and you were already going crazy without him.

So it wasn’t really a surprise that you found yourself standing outside his front door without giving him any heads up that you were coming over. You raised your fist and knocked, cringing at the action, because you didn’t knock.

Brock was clearly equally as confused as you were when he opened the door and saw you standing there. Neither one of you could remember the last time you had hadn’t just let yourself into his place. It spoke volumes to how disconnected you felt from Brock.

“What’s going on?” You sighed, surprising yourself with how exhausted and defeated you sounded. Brock just looked at you for a moment, and you felt as if he was seeing everything you had wanted to hide. The tugging in your chest that seemed to be pulling you closer to him with each passing second, how your heart was racing a thousand miles and hour from just being so close to him, how you wanted nothing more than to never have to knock ever again.

“I… I’m sorry.” Brock mumbled, pulling you into his arms and shutting the door behind you. You relaxed in his embrace, noting just how much his touch affected you. You didn’t want to move away, but you knew you had to get some answers. You had to come clean about your feelings and face the music that your relationship with Brock was changed forever.

“I should be the one that’s sorry, I don’t want you to make you uncomfortable, but—”

“What? No, no. You’re not making me uncomfortable. I promise.” Brock was quick to cut you off, silencing you by squeezing you tighter into him. You shook your head, pressing your hands on his chest and pushing just enough so he let you go. After taking a step back, he wasn’t looking at you.

“Listen, I get that you think it’s weird, but fuck, Brock, you can’t just cut me out like this.” You rambled, not stopping when you saw Brock’s guilty expression to melt to one of confusion. “Okay? I love you and you don’t love me, which is fine, but you cannot just ignore me.”

“Wait, what?” Brock was looking at you as if you were speaking a foreign language, and you froze, wondering if you had over thought everything and had just confessed your feelings for no reason. You spluttered for a moment, wondering just how to salvage what’s left of your dignity. Turns out, you didn’t have to, because Brock took the step forward and placed his hands on your hips to keep you in place. “Do you… do you think that I don’t love you too?”

“You do?” Your voice was barely above a whisper, but Brock heard it all the same and suddenly his grin was blinding and all you could see was him nodding. He tugged you closer to him, and your arms found their way around his waist.

“Does that mean I can kiss you now?” Brock asked, a hint of amusement in his voice as he catalogged the fact that you weren’t pushing him away this time. It was your turn to nod, and the second that you did one of his hands cupped your jaw to hold you still as he gently pressed his lips to yours. The kiss was soft and easy and everything that you thought it would be with Brock. You were grinning, and just as you were about to pull away to breathe you snuck one of your hands up to his ribcage and pinched him. He jumped back, grin still evident on his face as he regarded you with bewilderment and mirth. “What was that for?”

“For pushing me away instead of talking, Boeser.” You teased, leaning forward onto your tip-toes to press a few more kisses to his smile. His hands that had been resting on your waist moved around so that they were on the small of your back, tugging you completely flush against him with his chin resting atop your head.

“Mhm, I can take it, if this is what I get.”

#brock boeser #brock boeser imagine #brock boeser imagines #Brock Boeser x reader #vancouver canucks #vancouver Canucks imagine #Vancouver Canucks x reader #hockey #hockey imagine #nhl #NHL imagine

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alovesongshewrote · 4 years

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Almost A Thousand Years - 1700/1800 | Hisirdoux Casperan

Plot: You’ve known Hisirdoux Casperan for almost a thousand years. You’ve hated him for almost a thousand years. And for almost a thousand years, you’ve been cursed to feel each others pain. But somewhere in that time, things changed. [Hisirdoux Casperan x Mostly Gender Neutral but Probably Female Presenting Based on How Historical Men Treat Them!Reader]

Word Count: 3,898

Warnings: jack the ripper, reader is called a whore and a wench

A/N: tis my longest chapter yet!

Back | Next

You hid away for most of the eighteenth century.

You healed when you could, but what happened to Douxie scared you a little more than you’d like to admit.

So you hid.

You found ways to entertain yourself. You read more, painted a little, continued your medical practice, and learned more about medicine whenever the knowledge became available. You continued to keep tabs on other immortals. It was pretty boring except for that time the Americans revolted. You had to admit it was fun to keep tabs on the scrappy rebellion. You couldn’t say it out loud as you still lived in England, but you gave a little cheer every time they fought off the British. You didn��t like authority. Neither did they.

On the other side of the continent, Douxie did the same things he always did. Music, magic, work for Merlin. He also read the book you’d given him. He liked it.

It was a century of hiding, waiting, and having nothing much to do. The next century would be the exact opposite.

Jack the Ripper was a dick.

You really didn’t like him.

Douxie didn’t like him either.

And Archie didn’t like him.

So, like in every good piece of media that has a chapter in the nineteenth century, you protagonists teamed up to take down Jack the Ripper. It was super effective!

You met up with your partners in the fog-filled streets of the White Chapel district soon after the second murder. In your hands, you held a newspaper covering the recent events. You approached the wizard and his familiar, but they didn’t see you. They were caught in a conversation with someone you’d never seen before, a stocky man dressed in a dark overcoat and hat. The stranger hadn’t noticed you either.

Silently, you hid in an alley between two nearby buildings. You couldn’t hear them, but from the stranger’s body language, he seemed a bit defensive, maybe even a little angry. You sincerely hoped Douxie wasn’t doing anything stupid.

About a minute later, the man stormed off, leaving Douxie and Archie behind. They still hadn’t noticed you, so you took the opportunity to sneak up on them.

“Hey!”

“Aaaaahhhh, jeez (Y/N)! Don’t do that! There’s a killer on the loose!”

“And he’s only killed prostitutes so far, so you should be fine. Unless there’s something you aren’t telling me?” you joked, raising an eyebrow.

He gave you a small shove, too small to be malicious, “Very funny. Have you learned anything new?”

“Mhmm, but first,” you turned to Archie, giving him a pat on the head, “Hey Arch, how are you?”

“I’m fine, thank you for asking,”

“That’s good! That’s good, anyway, you know they think it’s a doctor, but they received a letter signed ‘Jack the Ripper,’”

“Very fun nickname,”

“Indeed, but it still isn’t much to go off of, the police already doubt it”

“(Y/N), remind me again what your sources are?” the familiar was right to be suspicious, but you knew your sources were solid.

“I’ve told you Arch, a forensic doctor, he’s a friend of mine and he works with the police,”

“And how do you know you can trust him?”

“I don’t, but they’re publishing the letter soon, so you’ll see it then. You guys got anything?”

“Not much,”

“Huh. That isn’t great,” you took a moment before speaking again, “By the way, who was that man you were talking to? He seemed angry,”

“Oh, him? He’s just a resident of this area. I’ve been talking to him for a while, I thought he might know something, but every time I even mention it he gets, well…”

“Like that?”

“Yes, like that,”

You looked out the way the man had gone, “You think he’s a suspect?”

“Oh yeah, absolutely,”

Archie nodded in agreement.

“Well then,” you said, returning the eyes to the face of your accomplices, “Keep an eye on him. See you next Thursday?”

“Sounds good,”

By next Thursday, another girl was dead.

You met with your team in a (very) shady pub to discuss this development. Thanks to some connections, you’d snagged a private room where no one else could hear your detective work.

“God DAMMIT, guys, how did we miss this?” you said, pacing. Your hands were on your hips, eyes fixed on the floor. You seriously could not figure out how you missed this.

On the wall behind you, you’d attached some photos and newspaper clippings to the wall, red yarn connecting them. You were very ahead of your time.

“I really don’t know,” Douxie was sitting, upside-down, in a chair across from you. He threw the ball of yarn up in the air, letting it fall, and catching it over and over again. Archie didn’t answer, he was focused too hard on the yarn.

You stopped pacing and glared at your conspiracy wall. You followed the red string with your finger. It lead nowhere. You groaned and ran your fingers through your hair, something that Douxie found alarmingly attractive.

Ever since you saved his life in the sixteen hundreds, he’d developed a bit of a soft spot for you. It wasn’t something he was proud of. But it was fine, you’d developed a soft spot for him too.

“Hey, it’ll be alright, love,” he said, sitting up properly, “We’ll find this monster, so don’t worry yourself too much,”

You took a deep breath, leaning against your crime wall, “Thanks Doux. I appreciate it,”

Your voice was slightly sarcastic, but you both smiled still. Archie frowned, the yarn wasn’t moving anymore.

“So,” you said, turning again to examine the mess of photos and yarn, ”He isn’t an official suspect, but I think this guy, this James Maybrick, seems a little suspicious,” you pointed at his photo, “He’s going to be at this ball thing on Friday. If we go, we can ask him if he plans on traveling, he lives in Liverpool, and-”

“I’m sorry, he lives where?”

“Liverpool, Arch, pay attention-”

“(Y/N), why do you think he’s coming all the way out to White Chapel to murder these women?”

“Well it isn’t his area, that makes him less of a suspect, and all of the murders have been on Saturdays and Sundays, which gives him time to travel,”

“You might be onto something,” Douxie said, standing and letting the yarn fall to the ground where Archie chased it around, thoroughly distracted, “We can go check it out, but how do we get in?”

You bit your lip, deep in thought, “My doctor friend, he knows the hostess. He might be able to get us in,”

“Fantastic!”

“There’s just one thing,”

“Yes?”

“I’m pretty sure you’ll have to pretend to be my fiance,”

There was a moment of silence while Douxie considered this.

You tried to explain yourself, “I-It’s not my first choice either, but high society doesn’t approve of-”

“I’ll do it,”

“And I know it’s inconvenient, but-”

“(Y/N)?”

“Yes?”

“I said I’ll do it,”

It was your time to consider, and you considered yourself super lucky to have an accomplice like Douxie.

“Oh my god, thank you!” you exclaimed, throwing your arms around his neck, “Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you,”

You couldn’t see Douxie’s face, so he had no idea that he blushed before wrapping his arms around you softly.

“No problem (Y/N), no problem,”

Two days later, you were wearing fancy clothes, and freaking out a little.

This was nothing compared to Douxie who was freaking out a lot. Mostly because you looked absolutely stunning, but also because there was a possible murderer inside the building. You know, typical stuff.

The two of you stood outside the manor, looking up at the vast estate. It was beautiful but intimidating. You turned to your partner in crime-solving, “You ready for this?”

He nodded.

You closed your eyes, swallowed back your anxiety, and linked your arm with his.

“Let’s do it,”

The manor was, simply put, dazzling. The size of it reminded you of the smaller cathedrals during the sixteenth century. The floors were marble, the ceiling decorated with a mural, just like the cathedrals you now reminisced. The room was lit with a large chandelier, the warm light covered the whole room in a glow the colour of honey. Columns, the same marble as the floor, stood strong around the perimeter. On one side of the space, an orchestra played. The center was full of people dancing. Some people stood at the side of the room speaking, others just observing everything else. It was a crazy party, but only by Victorian standards.

The sheer amount of activity made you panic a little. As if Douxie could sense your anxiety, he found one of your hands and squeezed it reassuringly. You smiled a little, once again thankful for such an amazing partner in crime.

The two of you made your way around the dance floor, checking faces, looking for your suspect. You didn’t see him. You and Douxie made a full circle around the room, not seeing your guy. You were about to suggest finding a higher viewpoint when the hostess of the party stopped you.

She was a plump, elegant woman, draped in the finest of silks. Her hair shone, and her eyes sparkled. She was perfectly gorgeous, and perfectly in your way.

“Ah, fuzzbuckets,”

“Oh, my dear (Y/N)! It is so good to see you, darling!”

“It’s good to see you as well, my Lady,” you returned, bowing slightly. Douxie followed your lead.

“‘Tis a pity the good doctor couldn’t be with us! He works so hard, you would think he would come out and dance for an evening! Just to relax!” The woman laughed as if wishing the doctor was here was the funniest thing on the planet. Maybe it was to her Victorian sensibilities.

You laughed an appropriate amount, plastering on a fake smile, and biting your tongue at the irony. This was the least relaxed you’d been all century.

When the Lady stopped laughing, she noticed Doxie, “Oh, (Y/N), dear, you must tell me who this dashing young gentleman is! How in heaven did you find such a match?”

“My Lady, this is my fiance, Mr. Casperan,”

“It’s lovely to meet you fair Lady, and might I say that the moon and stars dull in comparison to your eyes; even a goddess of beauty could not hold a candle to your visage,”

You tried to keep cool, but you felt your eyes widen a bit. You had never heard Douxie speak like that before. You weren’t sure how it made you feel yet, but clearly, the Lady enjoyed it. A blush covered her face as she gushed over the wizard for another two minutes. You spent that time subtly searching the crowd for Maybrick.

Clearly, you were not as subtle as you thought.

“Oh, dear, I see your partner is eyeing the dance floor,” the lady said, her face still painted with a blush. Her words called you to attention.

“Ah, yes, my apologies my Lady,”

“No worries at all dear child, now go! Dance the night away!”

“Thank you,” you said, once again bowing.

“It was wonderful speaking with you, my Lady,” Douxie said, following your actions before leading you to the mass of dancing guests.

“She’s watching us,” Douxie whispered to you through clenched teeth, “Can you dance?”

“Not super well, but enough to survive,”

“Just follow my lead,”

Douxie could dance pretty damn well, something you weren’t too surprised by. He’d spent a lot of time learning music throughout the centuries, you’ would've been a bit surprised if he hadn’t known how. He was so good, in fact, that you were almost certain he was making you a better dancer just by being near you. You’d be lying if you said this wasn’t the most fun you’d had in a while.

“So, where’d you learn to flirt like that?” you asked, your voice low so that no one else could hear you.

“I’ve picked some things up over the years,” he said, spinning you out and then back in again.

“I have to say, I was quite impressed. I didn’t see that coming,”

He faked a gasp, “Why I’m offended! You don’t think I can flirt?”

“Well, I didn’t until tonight. But I stand corrected,” he dipped you, “You can flirt extremely well Hisirdoux Casperan,”

“Thank you, (Y/N) (L/N),”

You both smiled continuing the dance, scanning the crowd for the face of the killer. And in between that, just staring at each other.

You almost regretted finding the suspect.

You hated to admit that a small part of you had hoped to just dance with Douxie for the next few hours, pretending that you were a couple and that you weren’t magic, and you weren’t immortal, and you hadn’t seen pain and suffering the world over, and he hadn’t been tortured two centuries before. You just wanted to dance.

But you saw him.

And the good of the humans came before the things you wanted.

“Doux, I see him,”

“Where?”

“To your left and back behind you. Don’t look at him. We’ll get off the dance floor, and I’ll question him,”

“Are you sure?” Douxie thought about elaborating. About telling you that he didn’t want you to get hurt and that he too, wanted to keep dancing.

But he didn’t. And you were sure.

So, you left the dance floor and made your way to the suspect. You made sure Douxie stayed far enough behind you for his presence to be non-threatening, and made your approach.

“Wonderful party isn’t it Sir…?” you waited for him to give you his name.

“Maybrick, Mr. Maybrick,”

“Mr. Maybrick. A lovely name,” internally, you cursed God for giving Douxie all of the charm and leaving you none.

“May I ask where you’re from Mr. Maybrick?”

“I’m from around here, Liverpool. May I ask who's asking?”

“I-”

“(Y/N), dear! Where have you put that lovely boy of yours! I have some friends he simply must meet!”

You could not believe that the hostess was interrupting you yet again. This time, Maybrick actually ran from you. You cursed under your breath. The Lady was far enough away that you could pretend not to hear her. You could still catch the suspect, you just had to run a little. In the outfit you were wearing, it would be next to impossible, but you really didn’t want to talk to the hostess again, so you gestured for Douxie to follow, and you chased after Maybrick.

You ran through the ballroom, dodging patrons and maneuvering around dancers. It felt almost like a fairytale; Cinderella if the princess had to chase down a dangerous serial killer instead of just flee the ball.

The suspect ran out the front doors, and you followed him, Douxie close behind. The night air was cool on your skin, a nice contrast to the warmth of the ballroom. You lost a shoe, and your hair was slowly turning into more and more of a mess, but you didn’t care, you wanted to catch this guy.

You did not catch that guy.

A horse-drawn carriage was waiting for him at the end of the lane. There was no way you could compete with that. Not unless Archie would shapeshift into a horse for the sake of catching a possible criminal.

A black stallion pulled up beside you.

It was Archie, shapeshifted into a horse for the sake of catching a possible criminal. You manifested your hot girl mystery-solving arc.

“Get on!” both Douxie and Archie exclaimed, Douxie offering you a hand up. You took it, jumping onto Archie’s back, wrapping your arms around the wizard's waist, and riding after the carriage.

The night was dark, and the carriage moved fast. Archie kept up pretty well for a familiar with two people on his back. He went so fast that all you could do was cling to Douxie for dear life as the dark world blurred around you. It was not for a lack of trying, but eventually, you lost them.

“You did good Arch, you did good,”

“Thank you, Archie,” you said, forehead buried in Douxie’s back.

“I appreciate the thanks, but it isn’t over yet. We left all of our stuff back at the manor, so we should return,”

“That’s probably a good idea,”

The journey back showed you how far you’d gone. Needless to say, you were super proud of Archie. You’d have to remind yourself to get him some fish later.

When you arrived back at the manor, the party was still going. You could hear the music from the outside. You dismounted Archie and leaned against his side.

“All of this,” you groaned out, “for nothing,”

“Well it wasn’t exactly for nothing,” Douxie said, stretching his arms above his head, “Maybrick ran from us, that’s suspicious. I think we can officially call him a suspect. Here,” he threw your missing shoe your way, “You dropped this,”

You smiled, leaning on Archie for support as you slipped it back on, “Thanks,”

“My pleasure,”

You laughed. The stars above you caught your eye. They were so beautiful tonight. The music was nice too. Everything was so peaceful.

It reminded you of another night, centuries ago, when you’d been allowed to rant and rave, and the wizard just listened to you.

“Hey, Douxie?”

“Yes, love?”

You hesitated, trying to think of something to say. Eventually, you came up with, “We’re still enemies after this, right?”

He laughed a little. It sounded kind of sad, “If you want us to be,”

At that moment, you didn’t know what you wanted.

That’s a lie, you wanted to kiss Douxie.

But you hadn’t figured it out just yet, so, for now, you just stared at his lips, wondering what that feeling was, and listening to the song end.

“We should head back,”

“I guess we should,”

Neither of you were satisfied with this outcome.

You wouldn’t be satisfied until you caught the killer, or as it turned out, killers.

You’d been back at the pub, obsessing over the crime wall, tracing the red yarn over and over again. Doux and Archie were starting to worry about your health. Then you cracked the code.

“What if,” you said, turning from the wall, “There’s more than one,”

“More than one?”

“Yeah, more than one killer. There’s more than one person involved here,”

The wizard and his familiar exchanged a look. Maybe you were sleep-deprived and in need of a nap, but maybe you were onto something, “Go on,”

“Think about it, we’ve got multiple leads, some doctors, some live in the area, some have the motive, some are just suspicious, but none of them have everything they need to commit murder. What if they’re working together?”

“Keep talking,”

“Look, here,” you said, pointing at a photo of a suspect, “Johnson Druitt, he lives in the white chapel area and has the anatomical knowledge,” you moved to another photo, this one a sketch, “Barnett, his roommate works the streets, he’s in love with her and we know he hates her job. If he killed those other women to scare her, he has a motive,” you moved on again, “And Maybrick,” you stopped, trying to piece together his role in this grand conspiracy.

“He’d have the funds to cover it up, plus the interest in the case,”

You spun around to face the wizard, “Douxie, you’re brilliant!”

You took a step back from the wall, taking in your work, “So, what do we do now?”

“Simple,” Douxie said, resting an elbow on your shoulder, “We go after him,”

You didn’t mind being bait. Really, you didn’t. But you did find it boring.

You’d been walking around this general area for two hours now, this disguise was uncomfortable, and you just wanted something else to do. Then your wish came true!

Two men approached you from the front, both short in stature with well-kept moustaches. You hid a smile, the three killer theory proving itself correct. You walked forward, your peripheral vision focused on the men.

The three of you kept walking.

You passed between them.

“Lovely night, isn’t it?”

They stopped, you continued on.

“Excuse me, dearie?”

“Yes?” you purred, turning to them.

Then you were grabbed from behind. Fortunately, you expected that little trick, grabbing the stranger and flipping him over your body. The man landed on the pavement with a thud. You grinned as the three men looked at you, faces full of shock. Unfortunately, it wore off, and the three advanced.

The first one threw a decent punch, but you dodged, forcing him to punch one of his partners. You swept the legs out from under the third.

The first two had recovered and were coming at you again, this time with blades. It was this moment when you noticed the blood on their coats. It wasn’t theirs, or yours for that matter. Yep, these were definitely your guys.

The first blade missed you, the second one just grazed your side. You bit down a cry of pain, sincerely hoping that blade was clean. You could see Douxie emerge from his hiding place; clearly, he’d felt the sting of the metal too.

But you didn’t have time to focus on Douxie, you had to fight.

You threw a few punches of your own, knocking the duo back into the street and closer to the wizard.

“Gah, you wENCH!!” one of them exclaimed.

“Kill the whore!!”

You could see the rage in their faces, but that wasn’t as important as the fact that you could see their faces. Maybrick and Druitt. Your theory was right! Your excitement fell away as they advanced.

Then they both fell into limbo.

The portal down glowed blue around them. Douxie stood behind the gateway, looking very proud of himself.

You would have laughed at their misfortune and Doux’s pride if you hadn’t been grabbed from behind again.

You cried out in surprise, catching the attention of the wizard.

“(Y/N)!”

“Don’t come any closer!” you felt the cold of a blade on your throat. This wouldn’t end well.

“Come on now, don’t make any rash decisions,” Douxie’s hands were raised in surrender, his eyes never leaving yours.

“I’ll kill the wench! I’ll do it!”

“Hey, don’t-”

“My Mary is dead! There’s nothing left! I’ll kill her!”

“Wait, who's dead?”

“My girl,” the man sobbed, his grasp on you weakening, “My Mary Kelly, I’ve lost her! She’s gone!”

You may have felt bad for this guy if he hadn’t been absolutely insane. You took his distracted state as a chance and broke from his hold, pushing yourself away from him.

“Douxie! Now!”

The portal to limbo opened under the man. He had no time to react as he fell into the other dimension.

You looked down into the gateway, a blue pool in the middle of a dull cobblestone street. You sighed with relief as the blue magic sealed itself shut, leaving the night dark again.

“Nice work,”

“Thanks,”

Lights came on in the windows around you. In the distance, you heard shouting.

“We should get out of here,”

“Good idea. See you next century?”

“Oh, absolutely. Say goodbye to Arch for me,”

“Will do,”

And you slipped away into the night, excited by this latest adventure, but still wanting more.

#hisirdoux x reader #hisirdoux casperan x reader #douxie x reader #douxie imagine #hisirdoux imagine #almost a thousand years #jack the ripper #fluff #victorian era #fake dating #aaty #hisirdoux casperan #hisirdoux #douxie #toa hisirdoux #toa douxie

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misscrazyfangirl321 · 4 years

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OC-Tober Day 23: Revenge

OCs: Rebecca Renard, Amber (who still needs a last name...)

Fandom: Grimm

Pairings: Platonic Rebecca and Amber, bit of Sean/Rebecca at the end

Warnings: Some violence/whump. Also, this one got long.

@oc-growth-and-development

Amber’s stomach turns as she steps into the hospital room. Rebecca’s eyes are closed, but she can’t possibly be asleep; she’s covered in cuts and bruises, and she flinches every time she shifts. Most likely, it just hurts too much to open her eyes; one is terribly swollen, and the other has a jagged scratch across the lid.

Rebecca stiffens suddenly, turning her head toward Amber, and Amber clears her throat.

“It’s me.”

Instantly, the tension leaves her body, and she nods to Amber, though she still doesn’t look at her. “Hey. I promise, it looks worse than it is. They gave me some-” A sharp inhale that belies every one of her words, even as she tries to finish. “Pain meds. I’m okay,” she adds, and Amber wants to laugh at how ridiculously Rebecca this is: to try to comfort everyone else, even when she can hardly move.

“Who did this?” She asks, aiming for gentle and not quite hitting the mark.

Rebecca frowns. “It doesn’t matter-”

“Who?”

Silence, for so long that Amber wonders if Rebecca’s going to feign sleep. Finally, she replies, “A couple of Shakals. Didn’t… Recognize them.”

No matter; there aren’t that many Shakals on campus. Hardly known for their intellectual endeavors, after all. She’ll find them. “They know you’re a Grimm?”

Rebecca manages a weak nod. “Knew about me. Knew my...Rule. About killing.”

Fury burns through Amber at the thought of these monsters hearing about a Grimm that wouldn’t kill, and turning that into an opportunity to-to what? Punish her? Send a message? Or were they just having a little afternoon fun? Was this their version of skydiving? Their way of getting a few cheap thrills, and-

A tear trickles down Rebecca’s cheek, and Amber swallows her rage. The ones who hurt her best friend will pay the price, but not right now. Right now, her job is to help.

“Hey.” She moves to Rebecca’s side, squeezing her arm, carefully avoiding any injuries. “It’s going to be okay. Doctors will get you all fixed up, and you’ll be good as new. Just try to get some rest, okay?”

Rebecca hums. “Think the meds are kicking in,” she murmurs. “Doesn’t hurt so bad now.”

“Good.”

They lapse into silence, and Amber takes the opportunity to study Rebecca. She’s not wincing when she moves, now; maybe the meds really are kicking in. And she really does look like she’s going to be fine, but she might have a scar or two.

She waits until she hears soft snoring coming from the bed before she slips out of the room, making her way to the elevator. She stops short near the nurses’ station, blinking uncertainly. A young man in some kind of cop uniform stands, flashing his badge at the nurse.

“Excuse me. I’m Officer Renard, with Medford P.D. Could you tell me where Rebecca Gold is?”

The harried nurse consults her clipboard, frowns, and looks at another one. “I’m so sorry, I don’t know what I did with my…” She trails off, and the officer shifts on his feet.

Amber clears her throat. “I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop,” she announces, and both the nurse and the cop turn to her, “but I just left her room. 232,” she adds, and Officer Renard smiles.

“Thank you, Miss-?”

“Amber’s fine.” For a second, she considers walking back with him, but then she pauses, looking him over. He’s not quite her type-she’s always gone for the dorky kind above all-but he’s definitely Rebecca’s. And, well, her best friend really deserves a pick-me-up, after everything she’s been through. “She just got to sleep,” she adds instead, “so she may be a little out of it.”

He frowns, obviously not thrilled with the idea of waking her up when she finally got to sleep (a point in his favor, then). “Can you tell me anything about what happened?” He asks, and she shrugs.

“Couple of jerks beat her up. I don’t know who.” Not yet, anyway. “And everyone who knows Rebecca loves her, so it’s not like she has enemies.” Okay, that one might be stretching the truth just a little bit, but everyone who knows really knows Rebecca does love her. Besides, what is she going to do? Tell this random cop that Rebecca’s from a secret line of serial killers who hunt shapeshifters?

Nah, she’s good.

He nods, then glances back in the direction of the room. “I should go talk to her. See what she knows.”

“Fair warning, she was kind of loopy when I talked to her, so stuff might not make sense.”

He thanks her, and they part ways, him heading toward Rebecca’s room, and her headed toward the parking lot.

Time to find some Shakals.

They’re not even trying to hide. It’s a couple of guys from the baseball team, chilling out by the field, laughing and shoving each other. Their knuckles are bruised and scabbed, and one has a distinct scratch along his cheek. (Apparently, Rebecca didn’t go down without a fight after all, she thinks with a smile.)

She keeps to the shadows of the bleachers until she’s almost upon them, and they’re well within hearing range.

“Pathetic!” One laughs, shoving the other. “The other Grimms should have her head.”

The other cracks up, as if it’s the funniest thing he’s ever heard. “Nah, she’s not worth the effort.”

Her rage is reborn, and she steps out of the shadows, looking them over. “Hey! You the guys who beat up the Grimm?”

They have the nerve to grin, and one even tosses a wink her way. “Yeah, baby. That’s us. What do you think?”

She glances around, just to make sure no one else is close, before woging. Not halfway, not the hidden woge, but the kind the world can see, just to make her point clear. It takes them a few seconds too long to realize she’s striking, and by then, it’s too late. The terror that flickers in their eyes is altogether satisfying, and she wants to laugh at their pitiful attempts to fight back.

Every kick and punch lands, and soon, they’re flat on their backs, looking up at her helplessly. Good.

“You felt safe going after her because you know she doesn’t kill Wesen. And that moral code is one that I greatly admire in her, but let me make it perfectly clear-” She takes a step toward them, and they both flinch. “I don’t share it. So you’re going to leave her alone, and tell all your little friends to do the same thing. And if you tell anyone else about her?” She grins, all teeth. “I’ll find you.”

With that, she leaves them alone to contemplate their life choices. She has a friend to check on.

(Officer Renard eventually identifies them. When he arrests them, Amber is there, and she gives them one final warning look: they won’t say anything.

Evidently, they don’t, because Renard-Sean, as he insists she calls him-never finds out about Rebecca. But as soon as she’s out of the hospital, he takes her to dinner, and deep down, Amber knows that neither one of them is ever going to look back.

She smiles.)

#oc-tober #rebecca renard #amber who needs a last name #grimm #sean renard #my fics #my writing #my works #mine #6it

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letitrainathousandflames-archive · 5 years

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Whumptober #2 - Explosion

Fandom: The Clone Wars

Rating: Teen and Up (16+)

Characters: Hardcase (main), Jesse, Kix, Fives

Tags: death, blood, trauma, bullying, only hurt and a teaspoon of comfort, whump, child death, umbara, if I forgot to tag something pls let me know

Summary: Hardcase had a leak in his tube that would’ve deemed him as defective and qualify him for decommission, but someone saved him from this fate. Years later, Hardcase got to choose his own fate.

Eight years and four months ago, the Kaminoans noticed a leak on a clone’s tube and ordered Ninety-Nine to empty it, liquid and embryo altogether. The leak could cause the clone to become defective, and defective products were something inadmissible for their perfectionist standards.

Ninety-Nine had stared at the tube. He couldn’t quite see much of the clone in there aside from a small reddened clump the side of his fist, since it was at such an early stage of its development, but when he touched the glass and the warm liquid trickling from a small crack there trailed between his fingers and over the back of his hand, Ninety-Nine could feel him. He knew he could. No clone deserved to be ruled out before at least having a chance to prove themselves, it wasn’t fair.

The truth is, Ninety-Nine had seen himself in the allegedly defective clone. The clone was there, just waiting for one chance to prove himself useful, and Ninety-Nine would be damned if he didn’t help him get it. So Ninety-Nine fixed the leak as best as he could and prayed for an opportunity to cover up what he knew would be seen as a mistake. He could be killed for this. He didn’t care – dying to protect a brother was a good death, a righteous death for a clone. If he truly had to go like that, he couldn’t ask for anything better.

The opportunity came in a miscarried clone, only thirty minutes later. Ninety-Nine wept for him, as he always would. It’s a sad thing, witnessing a clone trooper being robbed of the opportunity to fight alongside his vod’e. Ninety-Nine emptied what was then a useless tank as required – and transferred the clone from the cracked tube into that one.

The kaminoans had seen Ninety-Nine’s actions in the security feed and demanded an explanation, and what could the clone say for himself? That he cared for each and every clone in the facility, that their lives had meaning and purpose, that denying someone’s right to live when you had intentionally forced them into existing with your unethical science in the first place was cruel and selfish?

So Ninety-Nine had spoken sheepishly, eyes set on the stark white floor.

“I-If I may say so, you’ve already invested your time and resources in this clone, doctor. Why not see him to completion? If he comes out defective, he can” and Ninety-Nine swallowed down, grimacing “be sent into the front lines, used as a shield.”

The kaminoan in front of him stared coldly at the clone, tone dry and merciless.

“This is not up for you to choose, clone. You are not a scientist, you are not a specialist. You are an experiment gone wrong that we chose to allow to exist, and instead of thankfulness, you give us betrayal.” She drew in a breath, looking down at Ninety-Nine to then offer him a smile that the clone knew to be false “Very well. You will be responsible for whatever comes out of that tube. If it can walk and follow orders, it’ll be sent to battle.” Her eyes narrowed dangerously “But if it’s deemed unfit for battle, you will be personally responsible for terminating it. Not with a medical droid’s assistance, not with an injection, but with a loaded blaster.”

Ninety-Nine kept his eyes low, trying not to let his wincing be noticed, fighting off his wish to scream at the scientist and ask what in the moons was wrong with her. For the most of his life, Ninety-Nine had wanted nothing more than holding a blaster, but now the very thought of it had made him sick.

If it boiled down to that, Ninety-Nine would rather shoot himself than execute a brother.

So when the day of batch 6000’s decanting comes, Ninety-Nine takes the newborn clones one by one into the nursery room, wraps them gingerly into warm, soft blankets and welcomes them into the universe. It’s always a joyous occasion to him, seeing his brothers opening their eyes for the first time, taking the very first breath of their tiny lungs, but this time the happy feeling comes with an anxious thought that keeps gnawing at him – what of the clone from the leaking tube? A loud cry cuts Ninety-Nine thoughts abruptly, and he wonders: could it be…?

When he walks back into the decanting facility across the hall, one single clone is placed in a the clear plastoid tray over a nursing cart – the newborn is bare, so, so small like all newborn clones are, still wet with the liquid he’d been immersed in up until then. Ninety-Nine rushes to the cart, looking at the baby lying there, and the baby looks up at him, eyes big and wet with tears, face red from crying. The is a dark blue spot on his cheek, right below his right eye, and Ninety-Nine can see by the reddened skin surrounding the spot that it wasn’t a birth mark – that was a fresh wound.

“This” the kaminoan doctor states dryly “is the tampered clone. I marked it with a small tattoo so that it won’t get mixed in with the others. We will be keeping a close eye on its development, and if it shows any signs of delayed development, if it seems defective in any way, we will have you personally terminate it.”

Ninety-Nine draws in a sharp breath, looking at the baby that still whimpers without comprehending why he had been hurt in this way only minutes after being born. Ninety-Nine reaches for the baby, wraps the fabric around his small body to keep him warm.

“Yes, doctor.”

When they’re alone, Ninety-Nine rocks the baby, cooing gently until he stops crying. When he places the baby – CT6160 – in the vacant clear plastoid box right next to CT6116, he notices his hands are shaking. He swallows down thickly, runs a gentle hand over the baby’s head, wrinkled fingers ghosting over soft skin.

“You’ll be fine. You and your brothers will train together and fight together, and you’ll tell me all kinds of stories from every corner of the galaxy when we meet again. You’ll be fine.” He sighs, shakes his head “Don’t ever let them tell you your life has no worth. You take care out there, okay?”

CT6160 tries his best, he does. But he still can’t keep his mind from wandering during most classes, or his leg from bouncing no matter how many times the instructors tell him to stand still and pay attention. He starts tapping his fingers on his desk instead, or chewing his lip to the point of bleeding. He just doesn’t know what to do with all the energy in his body, and trying to keep it still within him almost makes him ache.

“Kid’s a hard case, as most of the instructors say.” Rex, an older clone on supervising duty sighs to doctor Nala Se during one of her inspections “But he’s doing some effort to keep up. I believe he will improve in no time.”

Nala Se nods, intentionally keeping from Rex the information about what will happen to the 4-year-old clone, should the weekly reports from his behavior take a worse turn.

By the time everyone is calling him that, Hardcase has already accepted the nickname with a wide grin – every clone is eager to shed their ceetee number as soon as possible, to start building a sense of identity.

“I could’ve gotten a batcher named ‘calm case’, ‘quiet case’ but no,” CT-6116, who had recently started going by ‘Kix’ complains, applying bacta to Hardcase’s most recent training-related wound “No, I get the kid that can’t stop getting into trouble.”

“You should be thankful” Hardcase says, wincing a bit when the bacta burns some at his wound “You’re getting extra practice at medical training. Isn’t it the thing you’re going for?”

Hardcase isn’t dumb. He knows that his behavior wasn’t exactly that of a standard clone’s, and despite how hard he had tried to fit in, to be like the others, he would still be too much. Too loud, too chatty, too bouncy. So he gives in, accepts his place as the unusual one, the strange one. After he becomes friends with Jesse, a clone from another squad that was known for his sense of humor, the two of them become an unstoppable duo prone to making the funniest jokes and having the dumbest ideas that would make their brothers laugh like the kids they are. Even the older clones will occasionally allow themselves a smirk at their jokes.

“So, what’s your idea?” Jesse asks, tattoo gun ready to ink

“Blue lines over here and here.” He points the planned trails over his face and head “Then down my neck and over my back and maybe my chest too, and-”

“Vod, if we’re starting with your kriffing face I’m pretty sure you won’t stand getting inked all that much afterwards.”

“Says the guy with the Republic’s crest over his skull.”

“That hurt like hell, you won’t believe how long it took to-” Jesse sighs “Whatever, raise your face up and let’s get this done with.”

Kix throws a datapad at them from across the room.

“At least clean his face before you shove a needle in it, do you shebs even pay attention to any of the classes?!”

Hardcase is always happy. Always. There’s nothing that can bring the kid down. Not even the scolding from his instructors, telling that he’s inches from failing his next test.

I’m trying, I swear I’m trying, he mutters to himself as he curls himself up in a ball under the sheets, sobbing softly into his pillow.

Hardcase is seven when instructor Bric orders him to meet him outside, under the pouring rain that soaks him through the red cadet uniform. He doesn’t try to defend himself when the scolding turns into a beat up, when a fist strikes his cheekbone, sending him down to the ground.

“You are an embarrassment to what it means to be a clone trooper!” Bric exclaims, kicking him in the ribs while he’s still down “A useless, defective clone that should’ve been flushed down the drain before getting even born.”

“I’m not…” Hardcase grits out, lifting himself up on his elbows, breath shallow “I’m not defective!”

Bric kicks him again, and Hardcase drops back on his stomach, coughing. The instructor crouches down to then grab Hardcase by the neck of his shirt.

“Your tube had a leak. The clones say it made you ‘hyperactive’. I say it just made you defective. You are just a defective clone that was never meant to live past your decanting day.”

The rain runs rivers over Hardcase’s head and face, cold and unforgiving like the world he had been put in.

“You’re lying!”

Bric grabs Hardcase’s face, presses a thumb over his cheekbone.

“That’s why they marked you. So that we would know ‘this is the broken clone’.” he growls, voice lower now “I don’t know why the Kaminoans are taking so long to put you out of your misery, but I’m sick and tired of wasting my time trying to train you.”

And with that, he bashes Hardcase’s face onto the ground. Not hard enough to deal permanent damage, but definitely hard enough to split his lip and bruise his nose an inch from breaking.

“So until you get your act together and fix your results, we’re gonna have a friendly little meeting just like this one. And if you die, well… No one’s gonna miss a defective product, though getting rid of you should be the other defective one’s job.”

When Ninety-Nine sees the clone soaking wet and sobbing by the door of the cadets’ dorms, he rushes over to him, kneeling down in front of the boy.

“Are you alright?” Ninety-Nine sees the blood trailing from his nose over his upper lip, his lower lip swollen and reddened “What happened?”

Hardcase wipes his nose, lips quivering. His eyes are red and he blinks his tears away, cheeks flushed with embarrassment. Clone troopers are supposed to withstand any kind of stress, but he can feel himself chipping away, and he’s so angry and so tired. He rapidly taps his foot on the floor, body shaking with the intensity of it.

“Bric said I’m broken and that my tank had a leak and that you’re supposed to kill me. S’that true?” and Ninety-Nine draws a sharp breath, staring at Hardcase for a few instants before Harcase insists, louder this time “Is that true?! Am I defective, Ninety-Nine?!”

Ninety-Nine shakes his head, heart sinking. And before he knows it, he’s wrapped his arms around the kid and pulled him into a hug.

“No. No, you’re not defective. I promise you’re not.” he pulls back, wrinkly face offering him a tentative smile “Is it okay if we talk for a little while?”

Hardcase lets Ninety-Nine take him by the hand to the mess, accepts the cookies he offered and sits gingerly on a chair while the older clone cleans the blood off his face with a cloth. And for the first time, he manages to actually listen. He doesn’t know if it’s because Ninety-Nine lets him bounce his legs as they dangle from the chair, or if it’s because Ninety-Nine occasionally stops his tale to ask him if he has any questions, or if he needs him to repeat anything, or how Ninety-Nine doesn’t get angry when Hardcase needs some bits to be repeated two or three times. But he listens. Stars, he listens.

They stay very quiet afterwards, and Ninety-Nine gently places his hand over Hardcase’s on the table.

“I accepted the deal because I always knew you would be fine, you know, kid?”

Hardcase stares at the table, avoiding Ninety-Nine’s eyes, and he’s so glad that he’s not like the other adults that berate him for doing this. The question he asks in a tiny voice feels like it burns his throat with every word.

“But what if they still make you do it?”

Ninety-Nine doesn’t move his hand, squeezing Hardcase’s hand softly instead, and he give him a tiny chuckle.

“If they ever gave me a blaster and told me to shoot you, I’d shoot myself instead.”

That makes Hardcase turn to look timidly at Ninety-Nine, eyes wide.

“Why?!”

Ninety-Nine is smiling still, looking very serene.

“A clone should always look after himself, Hardcase, you should always cherish your life. But sometimes… sometimes it’s worth it to give our lives for something that matters. And nothing matters more than our brothers.”

Hardcase graduates with high marks, his skills and ingenuity at the physical and strategy tests tipping the scales against his difficulty at the written tests. After his first few assignments with his squad, he is thrilled to join the 501st Legion, general Anakin Skywalker’s legendary troops.

“Suck. On. That, Kaminiise. Who’s defective now, huh?” he mutters to himself, painting his helmet with a blue line motif

Kix rolls his eyes, holding still as Jesse tattoos something on the left side of Kix’s head, right above his ear.

“You’re so pumped over that armor.”

Hardcase grins, fingers dirty with paint fixing his grip on the brush, and Jesse laughs as he carefully tattoos an inscription that reads ‘a good droid is a dead one’:

“Like you’re not all giddy with that cross on your shoulder, doc.”

Kix clicks his tongue, and Hardcase’s grin widens. He’s glad to have been able to turn the small blue dot that had marked him a defective clone into part of his newer tattoos, into what identifies him as who he is. The instructors and the kaminoans had deemed him a hard case – he embraced that too, making it his name. He is a person, and his life matters, no matter how others had tried to convince him of the contrary.

It’s a risky plan, of course it is. As they soar through the dark Umbaran skies, Hardcase goes through the plan over and over, pays attention to Fives’ warning to hold his fire. It’s dangerous, but if they do it right, they might save the lives of their brothers from both Torrent Company and the 212th battalion. He can already picture them returning safely to the base, thinks of a good joke to make about the whole deal. Wonders how good it’ll feel to rub this victory on Krell’s ugly face.

Hardcase hands are pressing over the panels of the stolen umbaran fighter as they are cornered by the enemy ships that fire non-stop at them. They only have seconds to do something, otherwise he, Fives and Jesse will die. Jesse had grown with him and had always had his back. Fives is a great leader, and he had taken care of him and the others below his station even when his life was on the line. He can’t let them die. He needs to come up with something, anything.

He glances over his shoulder, sees the generator right behind them past the shield. Hardcase removes his helmet, blaster fire filling his ears louder, lights too bright as his eyes adjust and find a way in.

“We can’t turn back now!” he shouts; It’s too narrow for his ship, but seemingly wide enough for him and at least part of the umbaran fighter. Hardcase’s hands work fast, quickly finding a way to dismantle part of the ship, removing one of its propulsors. “Cover me!”

He exits the safety of his ship’s shield, lowering himself to the ground and rolling away from incoming blaster fire.

“Hardcase, get back to your ship!” Fives barks out, and it would remind Hardcase of all the scolding back at his cadet days if it wasn’t for the clear note of fear in Fives’ voice

“Trust me, I got a plan!” he reaches the large propulsor of his ship, its antigravity engines keeping it afloat; Hardcase pushes it towards the entrance to the generator room “This is for the 501st. Don’t wait for me.”

You’re just a defective clone that was never meant to live past your decanting day.

Fives knows him well enough to understand that this isn’t one of Hardcase’s bouts of hyperactivity; the ARC trooper knows his brother has a plan, and he already imagines its outcome.

“Hardcase, NO!”

Hardcase turns his back on his brothers, a bittersweet feeling blooming in his chest. How many times had he heard someone yell these words? It’s almost funny that they’ll be the last thing he is going to hear.

“You disobeyed a lot of orders today, sir.” he says, keeping his head low and turning to look at Fives one last time “Follow this one: get out of here!”

Sometimes it’s worth it to give our lives for something that matters.

All clones live as dead men walking. From the day they are born, their only purpose is to die. For their generals, for the civilians they’re protecting, for the republic, for the chancellor. It’s never up to them to choose what they are going to die for, so Hardcase feels almost proud for being able to do it.

And nothing matters more than our brothers.

He runs through the narrow corridor, sees the generators ahead and, with a low grunt, pushes the propulsor towards them. He turns to see Fives and Jesse rushing away in the last few seconds he still has left.

“Live to fight another day, boys.” and he sighs, smiles; he feels in peace, and he truly understands what Ninety-Nine had meant before “Live to fight another day.”

When the explosion engulfs him, Hardcase is still smiling.

#whumptober #god i'm exhausted #'it's just a drabble'#*proceeds to write 3k words*

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thechocobros · 6 years

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Wasn't it Nomura's fault Versus 13 never came out in the first place though?

It’s almost 2019 and people still think that what happened to Versus is all Nomura’s fault? Even after all what happened last week in Square Enix? Listen, son. That is probably one of the funniest metropolitan legends going around on the internet. Let me try to be objective and explain you.

EVIDENCE UNDER THE CUT

Let’s start from the basis. What kind of person is Nomura? Is he really such an inconclusive person like most of the Tabata-stans like to think? Hard enough. He’s the creator and director of the Kingdom Hearts saga, which counts at least 10 games/movies/phone games, has a super complex yet completed plot, colloborated with freaking Disney and brought millions of dollars to the Square Enix company. He produced and did the character design for another successful title, The World Ends With You. He did the character design for a BUNCH of Final Fantasy characters, he even directed Advent Children movie, cooperated with Sakaguchi and Kitase for years… i mean, that’s what i call a curriculum. So, think with your own brain: can a person like this really be the single responsible for what happened to Versus?

Of course, Nomura isn’t jesus christ, and he has indeed a weird personality, like most of artists have. For ex, he’s an introvert, he’s very sensitive, he has his complex vision of things, he isn’t really able to endure a lot of pressure and he needs time to figure out things. Also, he doesn’t apparently like to be forced to do what other people say. This type of personality caused him a couple of troubles in the past, since Square Enix liked to have such an artist bringing money to the company, but at the same time kinda hated not being able to control him.

In fact, that’s more or less what happened according to a lot of articles and interviews collected in the last years (and if you can read italian, message me and i’ll give you even more sources):

When Nomura started to work on ff13versus, there were a lot of things going on in Square Enix. Three major games were supposed to form the ambitious Fabula Crystallis saga and Nomura was glad to take the direction of ffxiii versus. He dreamt big about it: since it was not a numbered chapter, he really wanted to make it different, with extremist themes and innovative gameplay. Nomura invested a LOT in the Versus game, especially on the emotional level (if you saw him during the rare interviews of that time,you would know it. Nomura gets extremely vulnerable whenever it comes about his own creations). For this kind of project, he clearly needed a lot of money and staff and Square Enix initially promised it to him.

Was Nomura a naive idealist in dreaming out loud? He certainly was.

Because Square Enix had other priorities. For example, the engines.Play Station 3 offered great opportunities but the research team to work on the new engine was formed only after the Fabula Crystallis saga’s announcement, which lead to a literal race against time from the very start. Nomura admitted immediately that the engine wasn’t ready to stand at the level of what he wanted to do(which was VERY ambitious)but Square Enix wanted anyway to present the next games even if it was very soon. When the engine, named “Crystal Tools” was kinda ready, a huge group of people started to work on FFXIII. When i say huge, i mean huge. Nomura was left alone with few people in his department and of course he did what he can with the staff he had until 2008.As a matter of fact, in 2008, Nomura had already arranged almost everything in the plot and in the concept design and in the trailer that was showed during the same year the chocobros and Stella made their first appearance, but … the game didn’t have basically anything else. Just the plot and the concept. Too many things had to be done, and nobody was ready to make them. In fact, Square Enix was focusing on FFXIV, which was back then a huge flop to be saved. For years Square Enix struggled with this problem, took staff and money away from Nomura in order to save the online game that couldn’t compete with other games of that time. I said this in simple words, but the operations connected to FFXIV had disastrous consequences on Versus. Here we’re talking again about engines, programs, obsolete platform etc etc: all these things mean nothing for most of us fans, but they’re extremely important for games development. Square Enix’s dark time began in 2011 and ended in 2013, with millions of dollars damage. Not only Versus was a victim of the attempts of saving FFXIV, also other titles.

In all this mess, Nomura released again a long Versus trailer, but he said once again that no matter how detailed the trailer looked, the project was far from being started. Nomura even said to “forget about Versus”, because he knew that he had no possibilities to work on it. He was alone with a couple of people, how was he supposed to work on it? No money, no staff. Yeah, what would you have done in his place?

Nomura wasn’t happy about this messy situation. Because of it, he “broke up” with Yoshida, he basically didn’t make any appearance in 2011 and 2012, he basically had a depressive phase. In spite of this, he managed to focus on another important title like Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance (@ KH fans: DDD was written in Nomura’s dark time and this may explain a lot of things lol)

No matter how horrible this impasse was, Nomura still was deeply attached to FFXIII VERSUS. In those years, in a sort of desperation act he considered the possibility of turning the versus game into an action game, or even a musical. Anything, but to renounce to this project.

Then, Play Station 3 reached his death time, and Play Station 4 raised. To say it in simple words, almost all the work they did on Versus had to be thrown away, because Square Enix decided to move the game on the new console.

Back then, Hajime Tabata’s team was the only one free after the release of FF Type-0, so Yoichi Wada decided to integrate Nomura’s team with it. Tabata and Nomura were a good team at the beginning, actually. One was pragmatic, the other visionary, they were supposed to be the perfect combination.

But … in 2012 Square Enix lost 105 millions of euros, Square Enix’s CEO Yoichi Wada resigned and Yosuke Matsuda took over. Square Enix really needed to change things for good and start anew, so in 2013 they quickly announced Kingdom Hearts III and FFXV to try to hype fans again.

FFXIII VERSUS - now FFXV - was presented at the E3 in 2013 with another trailer, but again the trailer was deceptive. because it was realized completely in CGI. In fact, the game would have been completely changed in the next years. In spite of this, Nomura finally seemed to have a good time thanks to it and to Kingdom Hearts III announcement.

But after the E3, Nomura’s presence in the FFXV department started to weaken—

And then, the new CEO Yosuke Matsuda reorganized entirely the Square Enix departments. So after 7 years, Nomura was moved away from the FFXV’s direction and replaced with Tabata before he could even take a breath. It was just the CEO’s decision. Matsuda thought that two other projects needed Nomura the most, aka KINGDOM HEARTS 3 and FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE.

If we want to be honest, though, we are forced to admit that “we take you away from ffxv because kh3 and ffviiremake need you more” was just an excuse to hide something more painful that happened inside the Square Enix’s building walls. For years, Square Enix refused to explain things in detail, Tabata himself said with a cold expression that it was a decision the “high places” took.

All we can notice is that after 2013, Nomura clearly started to reject every FFXV’s mention. He acted all along like Versus was his baby and really was offended when Square Enix took it away from him.

What happened after is history: Tabata completely overturned the game concept, the story needed to be rewritten and some scenes and characters were repurposed or removed. Final Fantasy XV sold well at the beginning (more than 8 milions copies i think?) but mostly because it was advertised for 10 years straight. As a matter of fact, the hype slowly dissapeared update after update, and yes, the DLCs didn’t go well as expected and actually caused a big loss to the Square Enix company, which lead to Tabata’s resignation.

So, long story short.

Whatever was the real reason beyond the change of director in FFXV, point is that Nomura wasn’t fired, he was promoted with even more responsability. So, if his contribute to Square Enix was really so terrible, wouldn’t he be forced to reseign like Yoichi Wada and Hajime Tabata? yeah, that’s something you should think about.

Most of Final Fantasy XV fans who blame Nomura for Versus’ failure don’t even know half of the things i wrote above. They just contribute to spread this stupid rumor, without having any source.

You can like FFXV, you can like Tabata etc, but truth is that this game has been run very wastefully for 12 years by the SQUARE ENIX COMPANY AS A WHOLE.

FFXIII VERSUS, NOMURA, FFXV AND EVEN TABATA… THEY ALL SUFFERED AS A RESULT.

Reblog to stop ignorance.

#final fantasy xv #ffxv #FFXIII versus #Tetsuya Nomura #hajime tabata #square enix #kingdom hearts #Anon #sorry it took me so long to answer this but i wanted to explain things once for all #if you want sources just message me in the private chat

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the-desolated-quill · 5 years

Text

‘But They’re Covered In Nipples’: The Story Of Destroy All Humans - Quill’s Scribbles

Another E3 has come and gone. There was some good announcements. Square Enix unveiled their Avengers game, Keanu Reeves came on stage to give us the release date of Cyberpunk 2077, Ubisoft are making another Watch Dogs set in London, and... um... what else happened?

Oh yeah!

DESTROY ALL HUMANS IS BACK!!!!!!

Yes, the cult classic Destroy All Humans is returning next year, developed by THQ Nordic and Black Forest Games. This was quite possibly the nicest surprise I’ve ever had. When the teaser trailer came up on my YouTube recommendations, I practically screamed the house down. It’s a level of excitement I felt when 20th Century Fox announced they were finally making a Deadpool movie.

Yeah. That excited.

Destroy All Humans was my favourite video game series growing up. I played the first two games non-stop on my PS2 and I even bought a Nintendo Wii and PS3 just so I could play Big Willy Unleashed and Path Of The Furon (yeah, we’ll get to them). Unfortunately, while the series was reasonably successful, it never quite broke through into the mainstream, and it ended up having a very short lifespan, making it one of the most underrated franchises of all time.

So, to mark the return of Crypto and Pox, I thought I’d take a retrospective look at the series as a whole. Analysing each game in the franchise and talking about what made them so good, whilst also looking at how it faded into obscurity and how THQ Nordic and Black Forest Games can hopefully avoid this fate with their remake.

Radioactive, Exploding, Zombie Cows

The first Destroy All Humans was developed by THQ and Pandemic Studios (the latter probably most famous for making the original Star Wars Battlefront games. You know? The good ones that weren’t overloaded with loot boxes and microtransactions) and was released in 2005 on the PS2 and Xbox. You play as a Furon warrior called Cryptosporidium 137, or Crypto for short, who is tasked with harvesting the brains of humans in order to extract pure Furon DNA from them. His leader Orthopox 13, or Pox, explains that the Furons are at risk of cloning themselves into extinction as they are unable to reproduce naturally due to a lack of genitalia and the DNA in their cloning banks are starting to degrade. Fortunately the Furons visited prehistoric Earth on their way back from destroying the Martians and took the opportunity to ‘let off some steam’ with the natives. As a result, humans possess a strand of Furon DNA that can hopefully restore the Furons’ reproductive organs. Unfortunately a secret government organisation called Majestic (a sort of cross between Project Blue Book and the Men in Black) have caught wind of the Furon invasion due to Crypto 136 crash landing in Roswell 10 years earlier. So Crypto 137 will have to be extra cautious in his quest to take over Earth.

The game was released four years after Grand Theft Auto III, which had completely revolutionised gaming with its open world sandbox. As a result, other companies were attempting their own open worlds and putting their own spin on them. While Destroy All Humans didn’t quite have the same scale as GTA, it made up for it with quality over quantity. The game offered six small open world areas for players to have fun in and its central premise was utterly captivating. After countless games where you had to fight alien invaders, Destroy All Humans allowed you to play as the alien invader.

Pandemic Studios completely embraced the alien invasion premise, giving the player a vast number of weapons and abilities to wreak havoc on planet Earth. You had access to weapons like the Zap O Matic, Disintegrator Ray and Anal Probe (no, really, there’s actually a gun called the Anal Probe and it’s as funny as it sounds) as well as mental abilities such as Psychokinesis, Hypnotism and the Cortex Scan, which allowed you to read the thoughts of humans and was also used to help maintain your Holoblob disguise in stealth missions. And if that isn’t cool enough, you also get your own flying saucer, which you can use to destroy buildings and landmarks. The game gave you a lot of freedom, essentially dropping you in a small destructible playground and telling you to go and enjoy yourself.

But the thing I loved most about the first game was the writing. The plot itself is actually pretty good with plenty of twists and turns as the military and Majestic become more and more desperate to stop you. And the humour, my God the humour! Honestly Destroy All Humans remains to this day one of the funniest games I’ve ever played. It’s use of satirical humour and 50s pop culture references never failed to make me chuckle. There was one moment that I’ll always remember where I scanned the mind of a police officer and it revealed that he was thinking about forming the Village People. If only he could find a cowboy, an Indian and a construction worker.

The game’s main source of comedy mostly came from poking fun at the culture and attitudes of the time period. 1950s America was of course gripped by ‘the Red Scare,’ which the game mocks frequently as we see Majestic and the US government try desperately to cover up alien activity by blaming the death and destruction on communists, to the point where it just gets more and more absurd. At the end of each mission, a newspaper headline is shown, often blaming recent events on freak weather or communist propaganda. Yes, that should explain perfectly why people’s heads are exploding and why the cows are glowing green. It’s all perfectly normal. No aliens here. What’s that? A little green man in a flying saucer is blowing up ice cream trucks? Damn you commies!

The game also pokes fun at 50s sci-fi B movies, often parodying and lampshading the tropes and gimmicks one would expect in a low budget sci-fi flick. For example, the game ends with you fighting a giant robot that houses the President’s brain. It’s fully aware of how ridiculous and stupid it all is and clearly revels in it. Killer robots, mind control, radioactive animals, mad scientists and secret government conspiracies galore. Destroy All Humans is very much a love letter to cheesy sci-fi.

But by far the biggest draw was the main characters. Crypto and Pox. They’re both such funny, wonderfully realised and likeable characters. Pox is voiced by Richard Steven Horvitz, who you may remember from Invader Zim, and he gives the character a maniacal glee. I honestly could listen to his rants all day. He’s the quintessential evil genius. Crypto meanwhile is voiced by J. Grant Albrecht, who gives the character a Jack Nicholson-esque voice. Unlike Pox, Crypto is crass, crude and craves destruction, which often puts him at odds with Pox, who favours more subtle styles of invasion such as mind control. The two characters often bicker and squabble, which never fails to be entertaining, and yet there is an underlying respect and fondness for each other that helps ground the relationship. It’s the perfect double act.

Destroy All Humans was a good game, but does it still hold up? Well there are a few issues. Controls can be a bit clunky at times and missions can often get repetitive. Destroy x number of farmers. Collect x amount of DNA. That kind of thing. Also, annoyingly, there’s no checkpoints, which means if you die or fail the mission, you’re automatically sent back to the Furon Mothership and you have to start the mission all over again. But the writing, humour and entertainment value more than make up for it.

Hot Monkey Love

While the first game wasn’t what you’d call a hit, it was successful enough for THQ to commission a sequel. Destroy All Humans 2 was released in 2006 on PS2 and Xbox, just one year after the first game, and this time Crypto was going international.

Set in the 1960s, ten years after the events of the first game, the KGB in Russia learn about the Furon’s takeover of America and plan a counterattack. They nuke the Furon Mothership, killing Pox, and try to assassinate Crypto 138, who is posing as the President of the United States. The assassination fails and Pox’s mind is able to survive in hologram form. The two then embark on a global adventure, seeking revenge against the KGB and uncovering a massive conspiracy that puts the entire Furon invasion at risk.

Destroy All Humans 2 is an ambitious sequel that increases its scope from the first game. No longer confined to America, we see Crypto terrorise San Francisco, London, Tokyo, Russia and even the Moon. Our arsenal of weapons are also expanded. The original weapons from the first game return as well as some all new ones such as the Disclocator, which fires a purple disc at a human or vehicle and sends them flying around the map, the Burrow Beast, which summons a Tremors-esque space worm to cause carnage, and Meteor Strike, which I think speaks for itself. We also get a few new mental abilities such as Transmogrify, which allows you to turn objects into ammo, and Free Love, which causes everyone in the general vicinity to start dancing, allowing you to make a quick getaway while they’re distracted. The saucer too has some extra features, including a cloaking device and the ability to drain vehicles of health using your Abducto Beam.

This sequel pretty much takes everything that worked from the first game whilst tweaking the things that didn’t. The GTA style Alert system got a complete overhaul. If you want to raise or lower the Alert level, all you have to do is bodysnatch a cop or a soldier and make a call using a police box (you can also make prank calls from them, which is good for a giggle). Holoblobbing has been replaced with Bodysnatching, which works so much better and it does away with the annoying Concentration meter, so you can PK cars and humans to your heart’s content. There’s also a lot more stuff to do now. There are numerous collectables such as Alien Artefacts, which unlocks the Burrow Beast weapon, and FuroTech Cells, which are your main currency that can be used to upgrade your health and weapons. Missions have greater variety than in the first game. There’s a lot more side missions, including Odd Jobs and my personal favourites the Cult of Arkvoodle missions, where Crypto brainwashes humans to worship the Furon God Arkvoodle of the Sacred Crotch.

As you can tell, the humour is still just as wacky and ridiculous as ever. Destroy All Humans 2 lampoons and ridicules the 60s mercilessly, taking aim at the Cold War and the hippie counterculture movement. It also pokes fun at 60s sci-fi films, spy films and Japanese movies like Godzilla. In fact there’s a boss fight that involves you fighting a Godzilla-esque monster and it’s honestly the best boss fight in the series. It regains health by destroying buildings, so you have to destroy them first before you can kill the monster. It’s a great premise.

Story-wise, Destroy All Humans 2 is a worthy successor, raising the stakes and expanding the lore. We’re introduced to the Blisk, the Martians that were presumed extinct by the Furons millions of years ago. It’s a brilliant conflict and ostensibly allows the developers to make commentaries on America and Russia at the time using the Furons and the Blisk respectively as stand-ins. Crypto and Pox are well written, funny and likeable as ever and we’re also introduced to an assortment of new characters, including the Russian spy Natalya and MI6 agent Ponsomby (voiced by none other than Anthony Head from Buffy). The game is engaging and rewarding, but it crucially never takes itself too seriously. For example there’s one instance in Tokyo where Crypto learns about the battle between the White and Black Ninjas and he guesses that the conflict started because of the cliche student betraying his master type origin, but it turns out that both groups of ninjas were originally Grey, but then they ran out of grey fabric and disagreed over which colour they should be instead. There’s so many great comedic moments like that and they pretty much hit bullseyes every time.

That being said, there was one aspect of the game I didn’t like and that was the crude sex jokes. Crypto 138 is the first clone to have pure Furon DNA, which means he now has genitalia. As a result, this new incarnation of Crypto is far more randy than 137 was in the first game. This mostly takes the form of Crypto constantly trying to hit on Natalya, despite her showing no sexual interest, which I personally found pretty gross. Worse still, the game ends with Crypto cloning Natalya and ‘making a few adjustments’ so she will consent to have sex with him. The word ‘creepy’ doesn’t begin to cover how I felt about this. If THQ Nordic and Black Forest Games ever decide to remake the second game, I really hope they consider rethinking that ending because... Jesus!

On the whole, Destroy All Humans 2 was a brilliant sequel. It was also sadly the last Destroy All Humans game to be developed by Pandemic Studios before they were bought by EA and eventually shut down in 2009. Unfortunately this would have a severe impact on the future of the series going forward.

Limp Willy

The next game in the series was a spinoff for the Nintendo Wii, released in early 2008 and developed by Locomotive Games. A PS2 version was also planned, but was scrapped due to budget cuts (remember this. It’ll become relevant later).

Destroy All Humans: Big Willy Unleashed was... underwhelming, to say the least. Set in the 1970s, six years after the second game, Crypto and Pox have opened a fast food restaurant called Big Willy as a way of disposing of the corpses left behind during Crypto’s missions. However a rival fast food chain, run by Colonel Kluckin’, is stealing their business and socialite Patty Wurst is threatening to expose Big Willy (smirk). So it’s up to Crypto to protect Pox’s Big Willy (haha) and maintain their cover on Earth.

Now you’re probably thinking this sounds quite tame compared to the previous two games, and yeah, it is. But it’s a spinoff, so I can understand to a certain extent. However there are a few narrative discrepancies. The big one being Crypto has retired from being the President. No explanation given as to why and we have no idea what Crypto is doing instead. When we first see him, he’s watching TV. He doesn’t even know Big Willy exists until Pox brings it up. So what’s going on exactly? Are they still trying to invade Earth or have they gone native? Also, compared to the grand conspiracy stories of the previous games, Crypto protecting a fast food restaurant sounds a little beneath him.

Gameplay is virtually unchanged from the previous game. There’s some new guns such as Ball Lightning and the Zombie Gun, but nothing special. The biggest addition is Big Willy, the restaurant mascot that’s actually a Furon battle mech in disguise. It’s... fine. Not that much different from the Saucer really. We also get some new locations. Harbor City, Fairfield in Kentucky, Fantasy Atoll (a weak parody of Fantasy Island) and Vietmahl (a painfully obvious homage to Vietnam). None of these locations are particularly interesting however. There’s also a multiplayer mode, which... exists.

Honestly the game as a whole is just lacklustre. The story just isn’t as good as the first two games and the humour doesn’t have the same wit or intelligence. Most of the comedy surrounds the fact that Pox has called his restaurant Big Willy and isn’t entirely aware of the double entendre, which admittedly is funny for the first few missions, but by the time you’ve finished Harbor City and move on to Fairfield, the joke gets old real fast. There’s less of an effort to actually satirise the culture or films of the time, instead merely making 70s pop culture references without ever actually doing anything with it. It’s like the Family Guy school of comedy. Take Fantasy Atoll for instance. A pisstake of Fantasy Island, but instead of Mr. Roarke and Tatoo, we get Mr. Pork and Ratpoo. That’s the level of humour we’re talking about here.

What’s worse is that J. Grant Albrecht and Richard Steven Horwitz don’t return as Crypto and Pox. Sean Donnellan and Darryl Kurylo voice the characters instead and it’s just not the same. It doesn’t feel like Crypto and Pox. So from the very first cutscene, we’re already off on the wrong foot.

And then there’s a bunch of other stuff that I find really questionable. The most obvious being the revelation that Colonel Kluckin’ makes his chicken wings from the corpses of the Vietmahl (Vietnam) war, which just seems in very bad taste to me. If there is a satirical point being made here, I can’t find it for the life of me. There’s also some side missions where Crypto finds out that he and Natalya have a son, which goes absolutely nowhere and doesn’t feel like something that should be in a Destroy All Humans game.

Overall, Big Willy Unleashed was a massive dud meant to tide us over until Destroy All Humans 3 came out later in the year. Honestly the one aspect of it I thought had potential was the side missions involving Crypto and Pox being assessed by a Furon Efficiency Expert called Toxoplasma Gondii. Considering what happened in the second game, including the destruction of the Furon Mothership, the return of the Blisk and the Furon operation on Earth being jeoprodised, this could have been a great premise for a sequel.

Instead what we got was...

Disco Inferno

Oh boy. Where do I begin?

Path Of The Furon was developed by THQ and Sandblast Games and released in December 2008 on the Xbox 360 in North America. The PS3 version was cancelled because Sandblast (and Locomotive Games) was closed down before development was finished due to THQ’s financial problems at the time. However the PS3 version was released in Europe and Australia, so either THQ got another studio to complete it or, more likely, they just released it in a broken, buggy state.

Fans really didn’t like this game, myself included, but before we go tearing it a new one, lets look at the few positives the game has. First off, J. Grant Albrecht and Richard Steven Horwitz return to voice Crypto and Pox, which is great. As a result, the original chemistry is back and they help salvage the game when the writing fails to deliver. There are a few cool new weapons, like the Black Hole Gun and the Venus Human Trap, which creates a giant man eating plant. The Saucer’s weapons have been tweaked, so now they affect the environment as well as destroy buildings. So if you fire your Death Ray at the ground, for example, you can create scorch marks. PK now has its own dedicated button, which means you can pick up and throw objects whilst using your guns simultaneously. There’s also the titular ‘Path Of Enlightenment,’ which upgrades your mental abilities significantly as well as allowing you to freeze time.

That’s the good stuff. The bad stuff is... pretty much everything else.

The humour is, again, quite poor. Rather than satirising 70s culture, the game continues to make references to 70s films like The Godfather and Star Wars, but not actually doing anything with them. Just making the reference. The writing as a whole is quite substandard as the plot pretty much recycles the plots of Destroy All Humans 2 and Big Willy Unleashed, except instead of the Big Willy restaurant, it’s the Space Dust casino and instead of the Blisk, it’s Nexosporidium warriors, who are basically Furon cyborgs. Things do threaten to get a bit interesting when Crypto and Pox discover someone has been manufacturing synthetic Furon DNA, but nothing ever really comes of it. Instead the game focuses mainly on the Master.

Ah yes. The Master.

In an attempt to recapture the magic of the second game, Path Of The Furon tries to spoof kung-fu movies just like how DAH 2 spoofed spy films. Unfortunately this leads us to a slew of unfunny gags, cultural appropriation and some of the worst racial stereotyping I think I’ve ever seen. The Master is a Furon who crashed on Earth a hundred years ago and embroiled himself in Eastern culture, enhancing his PK abilities. This is what he looks like:

YYYYeah.

Oh and if that’s not awkward enough, he also speaks in an over the top ‘ah so’ accent. It’s incredibly cringeworthy and made me want to crawl out of my body and hide in the darkest corner I could possibly find. How anyone involved in this game’s development could look at this deeply racist and downright embarrassing excuse for a character and think this was okay, I don’t know.

And before anyone tries to excuse it by saying that he has been living in China for a hundred years, so he’s bound to pick a few things up, please note that Nolan North is in this game playing the Furon Emperor Meningitis, who also has an over the top ‘ah so’ accent. Now I suppose some could argue that the game is satirising how Asian people were portrayed at the time, but if that’s what the game is going for, they’ve failed miserably. See, the problem with that argument is that replicating something doesn’t count as satire. By recreating over the top racist caricatures, you’re not making fun of them. If anything you’re just reinforcing them. The first game’s satire of the Red Scare worked so much better than this because there was an actual point behind it. It comments on how paranoid the people of the 50s were at the time by using Majestic to exploit the threat of communism in order to cover up alien activity, and everyone willingly buys into it because of that sheer paranoia. Now yes, admittedly the humour in Destroy All Humans isn’t the most sophisticated in the world, but it used to be a LOT better than this. Not only do I find the racial stereotyping in this game deeply offensive, it’s also frankly beneath this franchise. And it’s not just limited to the Chinese either. The final act takes us to the Furon homeworld (which was pretty underwhelming after four games worth of buildup) and we meet another Furon called Endometriosis whose only characteristics are that he has an Italian accent and wears a beret. It’s these broad strokes and general laziness that makes this game such a disappointing experience.

Path Of The Furon is subpar in every way imaginable. The writing, the humour, the gameplay and even the graphics. The first two games looked so much better than this and they were on older consoles from the previous generation. It’s shocking.

It’s hard to blame Sandblast Games for this considering they were shut down before development was finished. It was THQ’s mismanagement and financial woes that killed off this franchise and indeed themselves. The company went bankrupt in 2012 and their various IPs were sold off to other studios, with Nordic Games buying the lions’ share, including Destroy All Humans, which briefly reignited hopes that we might get another game, but that seemed unlikely considering the franchise has never exactly been a mainstream success. There was even talks of doing an animated sitcom based on the games for Fox, to be written by the same guy who did King Of The Hill, but that never went anywhere.

No. It seemed like Destroy All Humans was gone for good and fans reluctantly made peace with that. It was fun while it lasted, but perhaps it was time to move on.

Oh The Furonity!

I’m not going to lie. I was pretty sure we were never going to see Destroy All Humans return. Not just because of its lack of mainstream appeal, but also because game development studios and publishers in recent years have become more and more reluctant to make single player, mid-tier games. Instead pivoting toward massive triple A releases and ‘live services’. So it came as a rather pleasant surprise when Nordic Games, now named THQ Nordic, released Darksiders III in 2018, a sequel to a series of games that were also not very mainstream but still had a significant cult following. This briefly reignited a small flicker of hope within me that maybe, just maybe, we might see our favourite Furon return.

And as you already know, I got my wish. A new Destroy All Humans game will be released next year by THQ Nordic and Black Forest Games.

So what can this remake learn from the franchise’s past? Well thankfully the writing and voice acting is going to remain the same, so story, characterisation and humour won’t be an issue. They’re also incorporating elements from the sequels such as Transmogrify from Destroy All Humans 2 and giving PK its own button like in Path Of The Furon. There’s also a few new additions that I’m excited about such as the ability to dodge and strafe using the jetpack. That should make combat much more exciting and dynamic. I know a few people have a problem with the new cartoony designs of the humans and the world, but I honestly don’t mind. In fact I think it suits the tone and setting quite well. Hopefully people will eventually get used to it. The big question mark hovering over all this is whether they’re planning to remake the other games in the series. I for one would love to see a remake of the second game. As for Big Willy Unleashed and Path Of The Furon, I think it’s best to leave them firmly in the past. The big dream would be to see Crypto and Pox have further adventures together beyond the first two games. Hopefully even have enough sequels to get the characters to the present day. We’ll just have to wait and see what the future brings. My only word of advice for them would be to never forget what made the first two games so good and so beloved. Big Willy Unleashed and Path Of The Furon lost their way, as its writing and humour grew lazier and lazier. If we are fortunate enough to get more games, the developers will need to remember what it was about the first game that made it so special and build off of it.

This is a second chance. Not a lot of franchises get this. Don’t waste it. Here’s hoping the remake will provide the definitive Destroy All Humans experience and that it will gain the success it deserves.

#destroy all humans #pandemic studios #locomotive games #sandblast games #thq #video games #quill's scribbles

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onedirectionfanfics · 5 years

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Stall by @MysteryMixtapes

This month’s featured story is our first one from Wattpad! Stall by MysteryMixtapes piqued every Harry stan’s interest over the summer. With over 3.5 million reads, it is one of the beautiful, funniest and most-heartbreaking fanfic on Wattpad. Prepare for your heart to melt as Abby, shy as a mouse, cracks Harry’s tough cocoon in this dangerous fic involving high-end clubs, sketchy people, and—of course—a bathroom stall. Check our interview with the author below!

"You wanna try and be my medicine Abby?" he asks with a deep testing tone, keeping his voice quiet.

"I can try," I breathe out as I gulp when his grip tightens "Try me."

His hand slides up my throat, his long fingers wrapping tight around my jaw "That's what you really want?"

I nod, as I sigh out a shallow yes, and I see every muscle in his body tense, as he wets his lips; hoarsely murmuring his next sentence like its his last try at making me change my mind.

"I'm dangerous Abby, this is your last chance, tried to warn you."

My stomach twists and knots, as I use every ounce of bravery I have.

"Prove it then."

How long have you been writing for?

I’ve been writing since December 2018. So about 9 / 10 months give or take. I only started writing when I made my wattpad account, never had any inclination to do it before a day in my life. I’m surprised I can spell, honestly. Stall was the first story I’d ever written.

Do you have certain habits or rituals you have to do while writing?

The only habit I really have is listening to music. I can’t write without it (or at least hate writing without it), but other than that, not really. I just whack on some tunes and verbally vomit from my brain.

The ever famous question: how did you come up with this idea?

This is a hard question for Stall, because there’s like a clusterf*ck of answers that all kinda got mashed together. I wanted to write a cliche bad boy / good girl, with the stereotypes and see if I could make it interesting. Put my own twist on it, give it substance or good reasoning, and honestly the start of the story is kind of poking fun at bad boy characters. It was all on purpose. I like things that aren’t what they seem, and I like breaking stereotypes so for me, using that cliche was fun to play with and break down. I like paradoxes and enigmas too. I wanted to write a character that should be, by all accounts technically unlovable and essentially a villian; then see if I could make him loveable and have that as a romantic lead. I wanted to see if I could make a character like his, someone people would empathise with and feel compassion for. Plus it was an opportunity for me to mash all these genres together (romance / mystery /thriller / horror / comedy / erotic) into one big mess, that happens to be my book. I also wanted to write a shy female lead, that was super kind but not weak. Kindness is a strength. I wanted to show that. I dunno, I have a dark sense of humour and like horror movies, and cult 90’s films so that influenced it a lot as well.

When does a story go from an idea in your mind to paper? Is there a process you go through before writing it out, or do you just get straight in it?

Okay, so first of all I would like to start off with I am THE MOST disorganised person, ever. I suck at planning and for the most part, my stories are just in my head and I wing it as I go with a general idea / goal / outcome / theme in mind. I really don’t have some fantastic answer, it’s literally just “That sounds kinda cool, I wanna tell that story” and hope I don’t f*ck it up. They go from an idea to paper, when I literally can’t get the damn idea out of my head and it’s going to drive me up the wall until I get it out.

You have a well-developed and complex plot, spanning over a hundred chapters. Was this something that took you a long time to build? Do you ever make stuff up as you go?

I think it’s really lovely, that you think I have a well developed plot - because I didn’t think that haha. I was shocked the first time someone said that to me, and didn’t even realise I was following a ‘plot’. I know nothing about writing, I didn’t even know I was doing character development. I just wrote what made sense to me, and followed that to be able to tell the story. So I was LITERALLY just making it up as I went. My plan is that I had no plan at all, except for a vague idea. I wrote the entire thing in 5 months.

Did you ever find it hard to keep up with the plot or the twists and turns?

I mean, it was a headache. But it wasn’t hard to keep up with because I only wrote what made sense to me and I wasn’t trying to shock anyone, or throw in twists for the sake of it. They all had a good reason or purpose so they weren’t hard to keep up with, for me personally.

Harry’s extreme fear of water, while unusual, was written well enough to make all of us scared of it for him. Do you have any strange phobias, you can never get over (or one you did get over?)

I have a huge phobia of spiders (which is unfortunate considering I live in Australia and we have giant ones that just hang out on your wall like they pay rent) and I’m not overly fond of heights, but I wouldn’t call it a phobia. But in saying that, I’d rather get in a bathtub of spiders than ever do something like public speaking.

There are a lot of dark themes involved in this story, from domestic abuse to torture and PTSD, do you enjoy working with these themes? Are they challenging in any way?

There are a lot of darker themes in that book, and I tend to have an easier time writing them. I usually only write about what I understand, or what I’m interested in. I’m really interested in human psychology, and the ‘why’ in understanding the reason people act the way they do. The cause and effect of things. I also like writing things with lots of emotion. It can get really difficult to write, there’s been a fair few times it took a really heavy toll on me mentally and emotionally writing some of the scenes in that story, and took me a few days to even feel normal again. I guess being a writer is just hurting your own feelings with fake scenarios, hey? But I also think writing is where you can be the most honest, and there is a lot of honesty in emotion.

How do you find such perfect gifs for the end of every chapter?

If you’ve read Stall, you’re gonna know why this is blasphemy. But I get them from Google (heinous, I know, shame on me). Another thing wattpad has taught me, is apparently I’ve got a knack for reaction gifs. hah.

Not to make Abby sound like a Mary Sue, but you often write her exact thoughts in response to things she can’t voice out loud. Is this your way of subtly inserting your own thoughts sometimes?

I put a lot of my own thoughts in the story in different ways, and Abby’s inner monologue is a funny way to do that sometimes. But I do it with Harry too. Abby thinking her responses was all part of her character, for her to get to a point where she could actually say what she was thinking at some point aloud. It was something for her to grow with.

Other than meeting once three years prior to the events in the story, Abby and Harry’s lives are more connected than we thought. Would you consider them to be soulmates with entwined fates or is there a possibility that they could have never met and none of this would happen?

I don’t consider them soulmates, I’m a bit pessimistic in regards to the notion of soulmates but I believe in variations of them. I do think, most things happen for a reason and inexplicable coincidences happen in life and that’s what I'd boil it down to. Honestly, there’s several times where things could have went ass backwards with those two, and they never would have seen each other again, but as luck would have it - they met again. (It's me, I am luck.)

Anything you’d like to say to anyone who read your fic?

Ah man, that’s a hard one. I wrote half the story drunk, and have the typos and random grammatical dumpster fire parts to prove it because it’s all a first draft and totally unedited, so I’ve never exactly been out here thinking anyone would read it and I’m still f*cking gobsmacked anyone did, let alone liked it. But, if you’ve read my word salad and liked it, I appreciate you and you’re the ranch dressing that made it special.

***

Thank you so much to the author for being so lovely! Check out more of her work here! If you want to submit a fic you think should be featured next month do it here!

#one direction fanfiction #1dff #harry styles fanfiction

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ur-mom-kayn · 5 years

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Happy Father’s Day

A little story about Vergil and Nero. DMC 5 Spoiler are included!

Several months passed after that 15th of June. After Dante and Vergil jumped into the underworld to cut the Qlipoth tree and close the gate from the other side, Nero took over the business meanwhile. Together with Nicoletta Goldstein, he traveled from A to B to root out the remaining demons in Red Grave City, so that the city became habitable again. Trish and Lady also helped out and took orders from Morrison to secure the rental of the Devil May Cry. The situation is pretty much normalized. While the ladies always ordered pizza, Nero preferred Kyrie's homemade. No delivery service is better than her. Fortunately, Fortuna was not far away from the others, so Nero always got home in the evening.

A big disadvantage had Dante's disappearance. Nero had far too many women around him. One was enough for him. He desperately needed male reinforcement again. Since he learned that he has a family, he was all the more eager for it. Unfortunately, immediately after he found out, he lost both family members. It was strange to feel something like yearning for a man who had missed all his development as a man. Vergil really deserved the award for the worst father of the year. First, separate his son's right arm and then disappear into the underworld.

All his life he lacked male role models. Credo was the only one who could show him to be a man. But even he had to find out for himself. Nero had little choice but to fight his way through life and find his own way. Looking back, he is very happy that he became a man on his own. Neither his father nor his uncle is suitable for a role model. Nor their dealing with conflicts or with women suits Nero. They fight like children and try to kill each other. Not to mention that they indiscriminately sleep with women and cannot remember their names the next day. Such a man Nero didn't want to be and he is not. Unlike the idiots, he loves and honors his girlfriend. For her, he would run through hell and take on any torture just to save her. Kyrie was his sun and at the same time the person who keeps him on the ground. She never asked questions about his job and distracted him from everyday stress. Her voice was that of an angel, even though she didn’t have the same musical taste as him, he was her biggest fan. In his eyes, she was just perfect.

...

Right now he was sitting at the dinner table with Kyrie, happily feeding her casserole. She had cooked too much again. Today, the house was exceptionally empty. No Nico, Trish or Lady. Everyone came to visit them constantly. Today, however, the couple remained under themselves and that was a good thing. Sometimes the others were just exhausting. While Nero was stuffing his stomach, Kyrie was preparing more things. "Honey now sit down for a while. I can not eat any dessert here anymore. I'm already overwhelmed enough." "But you need the energy. You have to become big and strong, after all," Kyrie joked. "Very funny. Now plant yourself and eat with me. Otherwise, it'll be cold." "Give me another 5 min." Nero let it to discuss with her. When he decided to continue eating, the doorbell rang. "Kyrie? Are you expecting visitors?" "No, but do you still want to look?"

Since the incident in the garage, Nero has been extra careful while opening doors. He could easily refrain from losing limbs again. As he remembered this incident, he looked into the face of the man who had put him in this position. "V-V Virgil? I mean, father? What are you doing here? How did you get out of the underworld?" "No hello?" Nero remained speechless for a while. He did not know exactly how to handle the unexpected visit. If Dante stood in front of him, he would have stupidly flogged and messed with him. But with Vergil was not so much fun.

"Yeah sure. Hello. Do you want to answer one of my questions now?" "One thing I can actually answer for you and that’s why I am here. I think my last visit was not very enjoyable. Also, I had no idea that I have a son. I just followed the energy of Yamato and everything else did not bother me a shit. Can you understand?" "No, I can not. I'm not going to cut a stranger's arm off just because he has the Red Queen. That's stupid." "We have different views. But whatever. At first, you did not care. I did not want to have anything to do with you or otherwise have a family connection. But the longer I was in hell with Dante, the more he told me about you. I became curious and had become friends with the idea of owning a son. Do not get me wrong. This is not supposed to be a reunion here. I just want to meet you as long as you feel like it."

He definitely did not expect that. Slamming the door in front of him did not work, but pretending that nothing had happened felt wrong. Nevertheless, Nero overcomes himself. "I can not leave now. There is still a pile of a casserole on the table and someone has to eat it, otherwise, my girlfriend will be uncomfortable. So if you do not already have plans, you can really join this time." "Thank you for welcoming me with open arms," Vergil answered, just walking past Nero into the house. "Hey! No jokes about that." Nero closed the door behind them and showed him the way to the kitchen.

The first thing he noticed was Kyrie, who was also preparing a cheesecake. Hopefully, Vergil behaved towards her. "Hey, Nero. Who brought you there?" Kyrie approached Vergil and looked closer into his face. "Dante? No. But the face is so similar. Ehm, I'm glad to meet you. I am Kyrie, Nero's girlfriend." Amiable as she was, she sincerely extended a hand to Vergil to greet him. Vergil looked puzzled at first but took the handshake like a normal person. "The pleasure is mine. I'm not Dante, but his older twin brother Vergil and the old gentleman of the boy next to me." Nero could see clearly how Kyrie froze a little bit. I hope she did not turn now. "Did I say something wrong?" "No, I think she did not prepare to meet her future father-in-law. Come let us sit." Nero went ahead and sat down. Kyrie fetched dishes for Vergil and then sat next to Nero, where Vergil sat in front of him.

"So, is it really that far, or are you not engaged?" Confused, Kyrie and Nero looked at each other. "Ehm, we never talked about the possibility of a wedding. We are still relatively young. That was more of a joke than serious earlier." Nero said visibly nervous. He did not want to say anything wrong and annoy Kyrie. She smiled confidently and hooked on Nero's right arm, which was the normal human arm at the time. "Nevertheless, I was somewhat surprised to meet the other son of Sparda out of nothing. I'm basically overwhelmed with your family history. "Vergil looked skeptically at Kyrie. "How is that meant?" "Well, you should know that Kyrie believes in a religion where Sparda resembles a deity. The fact that she was allowed to meet Dante was an ‘honor’ for her, and when it came out that I'm practically the grandson of Sparda, that brought the cask to overflow." Nero had to smile over it again and again. "Hey, do not make fun of me. What else is left to us humans than to hope for a savior?", Justified his girlfriend. "Sry, it's funny. You know me as a human. Then we come closer, suddenly I am a demon and save your life, we become a couple and a long time later you find out that you are in fact with the grandson of your Almighty together. That's just the funniest thing I've ever heard." "Yeah, but I love you for your personality and not for your roots." "I know, I just wanted to joke you." Nero patted Kyrie on the head as if she were a good kitten. He realized that she was blushing slightly.

Vergil watched the spectacle and began to eat. Nero stopped annoying Kyrie and also continued his meal. His girlfriend recovered and smiled happily. "And does it taste good? May I bring you something to drink?" "It tastes excellent. Haven’t eaten anything so good for a long time. I do not want to cause you any trouble, but a glass of water would be just right." Vergil was surprisingly polite. Nero did not know this side of him. Basically, he did not know him. So far, he was only allowed to see the bad side. That he had good, he dared to doubt strongly. But right now he seemed like a gentleman to him or maybe that was just his style for appearing well with women. Anyway, Kyrie seemed quite flattered and brought Vergil his drink. "Thank you". he replied as he took the glass.

"So I just ask again, what's Dante doing?" Nero asked curiously. "Hm? This idiot? Well, he's definitely with his girls and eating pizza." "So you did not fight any further and returned home together?" Vergil grinned and shook his head lightly. "I think it would be a lie if I said that we had not fought each other. Of course, we hit each other's heads at every opportunity. But as soon as a horde of demons arrived, we switched focus. We have agreed that it is much fun to fight, as we end it by death." "Then you have settled your dispute?" "Postponed," Vergil answered curtly. Nero was satisfied with the answer. He would not get out any more.

For a while, nobody spoke a word. They ate quietly and exchanged eye-to-eye contact from time to time. "Hey honey, it would be alright for you if I go for a walk with Vergil," Nero broke the silence. "Of course. As long as you only get well and well home, I do not much care what you do." "Thank you for your confidence." Nero leaned into Kyrie and kissed her gently on her cheek. Then he got up and brought his plate to sink. Vergil wanted to do it like him, but then Kyrie stopped him. "Let me do that. Just amuse you both. ", She smiled at him. Vergil then left the dishes and went out of the door. Nero quickly grabbed his weapons and joined him. "Where should we go?", His father asked him. "No clue. The main thing is that we are among us.", He countered. "Does your girlfriend bother you?" "No. I just do not want her to hear me speak real talk. I tend to give one or two bad words. She knows that I am like that, but still I try to avoid it." "You realize that she is a saint." "Of course! She is way too good for me. She is such a great person and I... am a monster. Often I have to listen to why Kyrie is ever with such a guy like me. "

Vergil laughed amused. "She loves you. What does it itch you, what others think of your relationship with her? Should not you just be interested in her opinion?" The two men just walked down the street with no apparent goal. "Yes. Ultimately, I'm only interested in her opinion. Which is also why I try to be a better person and curse less. Oh, what am I talking about, I'm not even a human." "But you are. I only slept with human women, if I recall correctly, and I myself am half human. Demon or not. Your actions characterize you and not your race. My dad was a demon too, but was he evil? I do not think so. The same goes for you. You have a healthy sense of justice." "Was that a compliment?" Nero questioned. His father only shrugged his shoulders.

"Maybe you are right. What about you? Are you evil? "Vergil raised an eyebrow in question. "That is, I think, a matter of opinion. I do not want to answer the question." "You basically do not like answering anything. Come on. Let's have a drink, maybe I'll finally find out what kind of man my father is." Nero feels like in a cat and mouse game. He had to tickle information out of Vergil and he does that only by telling things about himself and only giving Vergil his reaction to it. Annoying as he found. "Do you drink alcohol?" Vergil asked. "No, but I can start with that. And you?" "I never say no to good scotch. But compared to my brother, I behave more than a nun." Nero laughed uncontrollably. He knew for sure that Dante liked to let it crack as soon as he had a little money. Or he ate full of Strawberry Sundae. "Honestly, I'm more worried about his fast food consumption. A miracle that his body is still in good condition." "In fact, it has its advantages to be a demon. I've stopped counting how many times we put a sword in our guts. Do you have a number?"

Nero really had to think. It was definitely countable. "So once in the strange laboratory of Agnus. The sword was 20-30 cm wide. Was a little fucked by it. Fortunately, the broken Yamato was in the background and I instinctively repaired it and used it to get out of the shit. The other times were already you in our fight on the tree." "So you say you repaired my sword?" "Seems like that." Vergil put his hand on his shoulder and looked him in the eye. "Then I have to thank you. Thanks ..." He quickly removed his hand and entered the pub, where they stood for a few seconds. Right at the entrance, the two were looked awry. Immediately Nero drove to the counter and told the innkeeper that they were devil hunters. The innkeeper gave the guests a hand signal, so they all calmed down. "Apparently you often go with your weapons in such places.", Vergil remarked. "Not really. But as a devil hunter, you'll always look wryly when you run bloodied through the streets ... Two double scotches, please." Nero ordered.

The innkeeper looked closely at Nero. "Boy, sure you're of legal age?" "That's fine. I am his father." The innkeeper said nothing and handed them their order. "Thanks," Nero said to him. "Why?" Vergil asked, startled. "Because you called me your son. I thought I meant nothing to you." "Would we sit here otherwise?" Vergil snapped. "Yes, but I thought that you would just want to get to know me. And I also want to get to know you. So, what are you doing in your spare time? Except arguing with my uncle." "Not much. I am very well read. I enjoy spending my time in libraries and broadening my horizons. Because knowledge is power. And what are you doing, other than Dante's inheritance?" "Not much either. I like to screw and work on my van. But otherwise, I spend my free time with my girlfriend."

"And what are you doing together, except to fuck." Nero could not quite grasp that he called things by their name. He took a long sip of scotch, so his throat burned from the inside. "I ... would you please not use the word fuck when it comes to my girlfriend? She is my sanctuary. I do not want such words to be associated with her." "Okay, I'm revising my testimony. What are you doing besides love?" "No idea. Chilling? I mostly listen to her singing and smile at her. I know that sounds pretty boring." "You do not have to impress me. I can understand, if you slaughtered demons all day long, that you want to be quiet in the evening, then. I am no different. I mean, I really just read books, besides my argument with Dante. So just stay honest."

Somehow he was right. Whether boring or not. That's how he was. And Vergil also seemed to be a boring person privately. Maybe they had similarities, except for the look. Nero looked around the bar and saw some free billiard tables in the corner. "Hey, have you ever played pool billiards?" "In the youth, it's one or two times. Want to challenge me? Are you aware of the rules?" "Pff. I've done Dante several times already. Let's get the place mixed up." Nero drank the rest of his drink and put money on the counter so it was enough for him and his dad. Together with Vergil he went to one of the tables and exchanged his sword for a billiard Cue stick. "Who's supposed to kick off?" Vergil asked. "Age before beauty." Nero joked. His father did not let him say that a second time and started for the first shot. With a certain elegance and a degree of finesse, he pushed a whole bullet into the hole, leaving half for Nero. "Tch. Beginner luck," he mocked. "Oh really? And then what about this." Vergil started again to play the brown ball over the gang. As if that were planned, the ball landed again in the hole. "Played because of times in the youth. You're doing it professionally." Nero felt like Vergil wanted to bamboozle him.

He could not poke the next shot. The balls were so unfavorable that the master Vergil could do nothing more. "Now show what you have on it." For Nero, it was not a big challenge when the white ball with half and the hole formed a straight line. He punched in with ease. Then he tried with a push both the pink and the green ball. With luck and a bit of skill, he succeeded. "Wow. It really was not from bad parents." "Funny how you praise me and make yourself a compliment at the same time." Both grinned for a brief moment and then played on. The duel was consistently very close. They played 2 rounds, in each of which one could take the victory. As you know, in this family they always stopped as soon as they drew. "Those were good games. Should we repeat that." Nero could not believe what was just coming out of Vergil's mouth. He really wanted to meet with him again? Not a bad idea in itself, just what were they now. Buddies or father and son. Somehow, Nero wanted both. "Yes, sure. You know where to find me. What are you going to do now?" "I do not know. Make me smarter, so I find new ways to go to my brother's bag. That's the way things are. Exercising will also be an option. In a week I meet again with Dante on a fight. We will probably do that more often. If you feel like it, we can fight again. It's really fun." "Thank you for including me in family traditions." "Of course. After all, you belong to the family as well," Vergil said, putting an arm around Nero's shoulder and pulling him closer.

He would never have thought it possible to experience such a father-son moment. Even if it was an invitation to a bloody battle. But that was the way his family was now. Devils under themselves. "Alright. I'll come next week, too. But I do not need any preparation." "If you think so ..." Vergil broke the half-hug and fastened Yamato back on his hip. Nero put the Red Queen back on and did not really know what to do. "And what are we going to do now?" "I'll better put you to bed now." "You're 20 years late for that," Nero joked. Together they left the place and sat in the direction before they started to move. Meanwhile, it was already dark and it showed a clear starry sky. Nero just did not know what to say. For one thing, he had now met his father, but somehow not. But maybe that would change in the future.

Just as the silence was almost unbearable, demons appeared out of nowhere. "Luckily, and I thought the city was really so boring," Vergil commented. "Fortuna? You should have been here two years ago. There was an overload of demons. I had to work overtime to get the city halfway clean." "Too bad I missed the fun." Both drew their swords and plunged into action. Nero felt a lot of pleasure in sharing his passion with his father. Vergil was really extremely strong. Nero did not manage the Yamato as he did. He could theoretically still learn a lot from him. However, he still wanted to go his own way and develop independently. After wiping out all the demons, Vergil had to smile. It was hard to judge the smile, but he looked proud. But why? Not on Nero, is it?

They continued on their way until they stopped at Nero's house. That was probably the unpleasant part of every date. Only that it was not a date, but introductory drinking. Nero did not open the door directly but hesitated a bit. He was torn what he should do now. The situation was shitty, but he decided to follow his heart. He took all his courage and just hugged Vergil out of nothing. "Thank you, Father." It felt strange. It was also embarrassing. He just hoped for a reply so it would not be so embarrassing. After a brief sigh, Vergil answered, "No. I should thank you for being such a good son. I'm sorry that I was not there for you. You deserve a better life, but you can not choose it. And ... I think I could not have done better. You have become a great man. I am proud of you my son." As he spoke these words, Vergil returned his hug. They enjoyed the closeness for another 5 seconds before they dissolved the hug. After that Nero got the keys. "Oh yeah, should you tell somebody about here, you know what I'm supposed to do." Vergil threatened. "I would like to keep the last part to myself, father. So I'll say goodbye now. Kyrie could now take some attention from me. Ah yes, do you want your book back?" "No, keep it. You do not have anything else from me. See you next week at Devil May Cry, son." They smiled briefly again until they turned and started walking again.

#nero #vergil #kyrie #dmc #devil may cry #dmc5 #dmc5 spoilers #fanfic

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wonderfulworldofmichaelford · 5 years

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Michael In the Mainstream - Avengers: Endgame

Endgame is a film that is really more than a film. This is a cultural milestone. This is the culmination of a decade’s worth of stories told by all sorts of different creative minds, a set of stories that all managed to have consistent character growth and development, a grand finale to ten years with all sorts of beloved and iconic characters. This film is the twilight of the age of Steve Rogers and Tony Stark, and the dawn of a new era of fresh heroes, heroes whose stories we’ve only begun to experience. This is something that has never been done before, a massive storyline told throughout twenty plus films coming together in a big shared universe to deliver an awesome, climactic final confrontation between characters we know and love and a villain we love to hate. There’s never really been a film of this magnitude before.

I have loved the MCU since it began when I was a teenager. I had just started high school when Iron Man first came out, and it just amazed me how good it was. Unlike the year’s other superhero film, which was based on one of the Big Three of Marvel’s Distinguished Competition, I didn’t really have any sort of huge expectations for Iron Man. Like sure, I was aware of who he was, I knew he was a classic Marvel comic character, but he wasn’t Spider-Man or the X-Men, the characters I grew up watching in cartoons and who I was intimately familiar with. Hell, I even knew the Hulk better than Iron Man. But boy, did that change fast; Robert Downey Jr.’s incredible performance, the fun writing, the gripping character study, and the solid action all got me interested in this washed up B-list hero who had spent the most recent arc of his comics becoming the superhero version of Hitler.

And that was a running theme for the MCU. I ever cared too much about characters like Captain America, Thor, Ant-Man, or Black Panther when I was younger, and I didn’t even know characters like the Guardians of the Galaxy were a thing. All of this was just beyond my knowledge. And yet, these films made me care about these characters, got me invested in them. It’s something that with a few rare exceptions the X-Men films completely failed to do. I honestly can say after all is said and done I love Iron Man, Captain America, and the Guardians way more than I do Cyclops, Jean Grey, and Storm, which is not something I would have ever guessed I’d say a decade ago. And growing up with all these characters and seeing them go through these films, going into this one I knew there had to be some big dramatic payoff, some sense of finality. You can pull of stuff like massive retcons and everyone coming back from the dead in comics, but in movies? That’s how you lose viewers. I knew they’d really have to blow our minds with this, especially after the brutal gut punch that was Infinity War.

And for the most part, they truly delivered.

Endgame is a satisfying conclusion to the epic first decade of the MCU, closing the doors on some stories but opening up a world of possibilities on others. And while there are some problems here and there, the overall product is just so good that it’s easy to forgive the flaws, though it is easy to see why some would be a bit less forgiving. Still, even more critical folk than me admit that regardless of problems this is still a good movie.

This movie has three acts, and I will be going over each individually. There are going to be SPOILERS here, because there is just so much to unpack with this film, so consider this your warning. Again, SPOILERS BELOW.

The first act picks up where the Avengers were left at the end of Infinity War: broken, defeated, and desperate. Despite Carol saving Tony and Nebula from deep space, things seem pretty hopeless, until an energy signature is picked up revealing the whereabouts of Thanos. The Avengers rush to confront him, eager to steal back the Stones and right what went wrong… but upon arriving, they find Thanos broken, scarred, and worst of all, utterly without the Stones. He destroyed them all so his work could not be undone. He has completely, irreversibly won. And so when Thor brings Stormbreaker down and cuts off his head only a short while into the film, it does not feel triumphant or thrilling. It feel sad, miserable, and bitter.

I think this is probably one of the better twists in the first act. The pace at the beginning is rather slow until they confront Thanos, and it ultimately works in the movie’s favor as it makes the horrific revelation hurt all the more, and then following it up with a time skip of five years later is just rubbing salt in the wound. It also helps cement the original Thanos as a truly unique villain. He not only won, but he died knowing he won. He was victorious in death for five years, and there was nothing any of the heroes could do about it. It seems a bit anti-climactic when you first think about it, but really this end to the original Thanos is a rather fitting conclusion of his character arc from Infinity War. He won, he watched the sun rise on the universe… what more could this Thanos really do?

The time skip shows what all the heroes have been up to in the interim: Steve is running support groups for survivors, Tony has married Pepper and has a daughter, Natasha has been in contact with the remaining heroes, Clint has been out brutally murdering criminals as Ronin, Banner has managed to keep his intellect as Hulk and become a relatively famous figure, and Thor has basically become an obese drunkard wallowing in his failure. Our heroes are at their absolute lowest point… until one little rat walks over a control panel on a van in a storage unit and frees Scott “Ant-Man” Lang from the Quantum Realm.

I will say that a lot of the latter half of the first act, the part that sets up the “Time Heist” of the second act, drags on a bit, and this is really the portion of the film that will make or break it for you. You need to really be invested in these characters, you need to be ready to handle the ways they’ve dealt with the knowledge that they have lost. Thor’s fate especially has been contentious, with people crying foul that throughout the movie the Russos did nothing but “undo” all the development Taika Waititi gave him, which is quite frankly such a stupid argument it’s not worth addressing. What IS worth addressing is how Thor’s trauma, unlike most of the other Avengers, is played for laughs. For some, seeing Thor as a fat, slovenly drunkard is going to be a bit upsetting and tasteless; for others, the black comedy will cross the line twice and make it rather funny. That aspect is definitely going to help or hinder your enjoyment of this segment.

Even that aside, it does really feel like it takes a while to get to the real fun part of the movie, though it’s not as if anything in the first act is truly bad, per se; it’s just very character-driven as opposed to exciting and thrilling. If you’re into character-driven drama, then you’ll really dig this, since all of the performances here are excellent, with Paul Rudd in particular really showing off some impressive range and Scarlett Johansson actually managing to impress me with her emotional performance. Seeing Hawkeye become a complete and total badass who slaughters his way through thugs is also a refreshing change from the absolute joke he has been in previous films, and his winning streak in act one is happily carried throughout the film, completely redeeming Hawkeye. There’s also a lot of good comedy here as it builds up into the time heist, particularly Rhodey’s suggestion of what to do with baby Thanos or the ill-fated test run of the time machine.

I think it is important to note that unlike most films that deal with the subject, the movie actually gives clear, definitive rules on time travel: you can’t go back to the past and alter your present, any changes you make only succeed in creating a split timeline resulting in an alternate universe. This does not allow them to go back and kill Thanos before the Snap, but it DOES allow them to go back to times when they could reasonably steal the Infinity Stones and use them to undo the damage done. This is actually a pretty solid take on time travel and an easy take to grasp at that, though as I will mention later, this simple and clearly explained version of time travel has somehow left people confused. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Act two is where the movie really picks up steam, as the remaining heroes split into groups and head back to points in time where they get to experience moments from beloved Marvel films (and Thor: The Dark World) as they retrieve the Stones. Cap, Tony, and Ant-Man go after Loki’s scepter and the Tesserect following the battle of New York as seen in The Avengers, which leads to a lot of hilarity including Cap fighting his past self and an elevator scene that not only calls back to the one from The Winter Soldier but also features the redemption of one of the most awful moments in modern comics with one of the single funniest lines in the entire film; Hulk wanders over to the Sanctum Sanctorum and argues with the Ancient One for the Stone in the Eye of Agamotto; Rocket and Thor go back to the period of time where Jane Foster was at Asgard to steal the Reality Stone from inside her, which leads to Thor getting a touching reunion with his mother as well as an opportunity to snag Mjolnir; Nebula and Rhodey get to go to the opening of Guardians of the Galaxy and witness Peter Quill dancing and singing to himself like a moron before knocking him out and stealing the Stone; and Black Widow and Hawkeye go to Vormir to confront the Red Skull for the Soul Stone. I’m sure you can imagine how that one goes.

This part of the movie is a lot more fun with how varied it gets. There’s plenty of comedy, action, and character moments, and it just feels a lot more fun than the first act. Seeing how characters that rarely interacted or even never interacted in the past bounce off each other is really delightful, particularly Rhodey and Nebula. Of course, there is also great moments of development, such as when Steve and Tony botch their initial Stone theft and have to go back even further in time, which leads to Tony getting a heartwarming moment with his father while Steve is reminded of Peggy. And then, of course, there is Black Widow and her character arc coming to a close, as she heroically mirrors Gamora’s tragic fate.

There has, of course, been a lot of argument over Black Widow’s fate here. Here’s my take on it: Black Widow’s character arc throughtout the films has always been a desire to scrub the red from her ledger and find some meaning to her life. Age of Ultron, for all its flaws, shows she thinks of herself as a monster, and truly just wants to make a connection, find a group she has something in common with. With the Avengers, she found just that, she found the family she never had, she found something worth living for, fighting for, and ultimately dying for. Her sacrifice wasn’t some sad attempt at shock, it wasn’t her being stuffed in the fridge to further the character arcs of her male costars, it was her character arc becoming fully realized, it was her understanding that to save those she loved she had to make a choice, and it is the most utterly selfless and heroic act in the entire movie, and maybe even the entire franchise. Everyone would have lost if not for Natasha. She is probably the most heroic character in the movie… well, with one exception, but we’ll get to him shortly. The point is, her sacrifice carried more dramatic and thematic weight than if Clint had sacrificed himself; Clint is very much an underrealized and underutilized character, and while this movie improved him, it was still not enough to make his sacrifice as painful as Black Widow’s.

Act two comes to a close with heroes grieving Black Widow and preparing the Stones for a Snap to bring everyone back… unfortunately, they don’t realize there is a traitor in their midst: Nebula. Not out Nebula, but Nebula from 2014, prior to her character development. You see, Thanos could still access the future Nebula’s video recording eye since her software is still on the same server even in the future (it’s a bit weird but it still makes a bit of sense). 2014 Thanos finds out about his future self’s victory and becomes furious that any would try and undo his “mercy.” And so he enacts a plan to get him to this future and kill the Avengers once and for all. The evil Nebula bringing her father and his fleet to the future right after the second snap kicks off the third act, as Thanos obliterates the Avenger’s mansion with his ship.

The third act, the entire third act, is just peak MCU. The entire act from start to finish is the absolute best the franchise has to offer. It all begins with the heroes struggling to regroup and find each other in the wreckage, with Hawkeye having to run from aliens in a dark basement, Hulk having to hold up rubble to help save Rhodey and Rocket, Nebula helping sway 2014 Gamora to her side and then in the ultimate act of “God I really hate how I used to be” shooting her past self to death, Ant-Man rushing to save his friends after escaping the blast, and Cap, Thor, and Iron Man going to fight Thanos. This is the beginning of the end.

It is interesting to note that here, Thanos is a lot closer to the megalomaniac tyrant he was in the comics while still staying in line with his movie version from the previous film. It does go to show how fragile his ego is and how his talk of his work being merciful and good is just a delusion he has bought into; he freely admits here that he should not have been so kind, he blames everyone else for his failure, and he promises to remake the universe in his image, perfectly balanced and unaware of all they lost. Despite being almost an entire reversal of his previous characterization, it actually functions quite while as a weird way of continuing his arc while at the same time addressing the criticisms many leveled at the anti-villainous Thanos of Infinity War. It definitely looks like the Russos were well aware of how Thanos would be perceived, and did a really great job at having the best of both worlds in regards to his characterization. And even here, where he is fully embracing his villainy and saying how he will enjoy crushing his foes, one still gets the sense that he still sees himself as the hero in his mind and is absolutely furious that anyone would wish to undo what he considers a kindness.

Of course, the battle with these three fighting Thanos is quite enjoyable, and showcases even without his Gauntlet Thanos is a force to be reckoned with, as he trounces the three Avengers, though not without great effort… especially after Steve Rogers does something we’ve all been waiting a long time to see him do: pick up Mjolnir and wield it in battle. I think it’s safe to say that Thor’s jubilant shout of “I KNEW IT!” is one that was echoed in the minds of every single viewer of the scene. And just when you think the movie couldn’t get even more epic, just when it seems that Thanos will win as a bruised and bettered Steve stands alone against Thanos and his entire army… Steve gets a call.

“On your left.”

Hundreds of magic portals open, and the resurrected heroes all come through, along with any sort of crew they could bring. For the record, this is: Black Panther, Shuri, Okoye, M’Baku, the armies of Wakanda, Doctor Strange, Wong, all of the wizards, Spider-Man, Star-Lord, Drax, Mantis, Groot, Falcon, Bucky, Scarlet Witch, Valkyrie, Korg, Miek, the remaining Asgardians, Wasp, Pepper Potts in her Rescue armor, Kraglin, his Ravager crew, and even Howard the Duck. And if that’s not enough for you, the Avengers who were still alive before the attack all come in for the battle. And they said Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was the most ambitious crossover of all time. Was Howard the Duck in Smash? I think not.

And as the heroes gather for the inevitable charge, do you know what Steve says? He says two little words that fans have been waiting for such a long time to hear him say, something a less talented writer and director teased us with several films ago:

“AVENGERS… ASSEMBLE!”

Hurry quick and wipe those tears from your eyes so you don’t miss the awesome final battle, which is just filled to the brim with moments where every single hero gets to shine. Highlights include Spidey and Tony reuniting, Spidey activating the “Instant Kill” function of his suit, Gamora kicking Star-Lord in the balls, Tony and Pepper fighting back to back, Scarlet Witch confronting Thanos, and the awesomely cheesy “GIRL POWER” moment that is far more empowering than the entirety of Captain Marvel. Everything about this battle is fantastic, everything about it is peak MCU, everything is the epitome of why people love superhero movies… and it all culminates with the conclusion of Tony Stark’s decade-long character arc, as he steals the Stones from Thanos and snaps his fingers, erasing Thanos and his army at the cost of his life.

This moment is depressing on two fronts. On one, there is Tony. He is the hero we have spent the most time with, the one we know the best. And after all these films, he finally proved Steve Rogers wrong: he was able to lay his life on the line for the greater good, sacrificing himself fully for his wife, his daughter, his friends, and the entire universe. Tony went from a self-absorbed egomaniac arms dealer to a truly great, heroic figure who did what he had to do to protect everyone he cared about.

But on the other is Thanos. Most villains, upon seeing their plans come to ruin and their armies laid to waste, would break down, rant, offer some sort of last taunt… but not Thanos. Thanos accepts his death, however much it pains him to. The look of exhaustion, anguish, and utter hopelessness on his face as he sits down in a dark mirror of the ending of Infinity War truly cements him as a great and worthy foe. For all his faults, for all his insanity, Thanos was still a man utterly deluded by his pain and past tragedies into believing his cause was noble and just, and here he sits in his final moments perhaps wondering as his future self did if it was really all worth it. His crumbling to dust as he so cruelly did to so many others I well-deserved and a fitting end for one such as him, but there’s no denying that there is an element of tragedy to it too. It’s the exact sort of emotional ending I would have hoped for from Marvel’s greatest villain.

The finale wraps things up with Tony’s funeral, as well as Cap going back in time to return the Stones and Mjolnir to the moments they were stolen so that the alternate timelines can handle themselves. But Steve decides to create his own alternate timeline before coming home, and lives out an entire lifetime with an alternate Peggy Carter before returning to his own time and passing his shield and title on to Falcon. Many were confused as to if this meant Steve changed the canon of the MCU, but… they explain what happens in the movie. Quite a few times in fact. If you paid attention at all, you would know it is not possible for him to alter the canon. He created an alternate timeline where he presumably lived a full, happy life and ensured things would go well for everyone. No Hydra infiltration of SHIELD, no Winter Soldier, no Stark assassination, none of that. Just a long, happy life with the woman he loved, his best friend, and a well-deserved retirement from the fields of battle in the end. While the conclusion to Cap’s arc is not quite as good as Tony’s, it’s still heartfelt and touching, and it’s hard to say he didn’t deserve a happy life after everything he went through.

And so ends the Infinity Saga, and the first ten years of the MCU. This movie changed a hell of a lot, to the point where even though only two main heroes died over the course of the film, things still will never be the same going forward, and I like that a lot. Unlike every other cinematic universe that has sprung up in the wake of the MCU, I fully feel like any stories told after this one will continue to build off the foundations that this film and its predecessors laid out. There won’t be the need for soft rebooting like with the DCEU, or with actual rebooting like Dark Universe, or just constant messy and confusing timelines like with the X-Men Series. The MCU has managed to remain remarkably consistent throughout, and there’s no reason to doubt they’d continue that into the future. There’s no stinger here, but the moments after the final battle with the Guardians and Thor certainly set up interesting possibilities, as does the now teenaged Cassie Lang, who may well take up the superhero role she has in the comics. It’s hard to predict where the future of the MCU will be going right now, but all things considered it certainly looks bright.

Ultimately, this movie is a love letter. It’s a slow build that starts by examining the characters we know and love at their lowest, builds into a nostalgic and hilarious trip down memory lane, and culminates in the most beautiful sort of fanservice imaginable that then brings a touching conclusion to two of the greatest heroes in all of cinema. Of course, as I’ve mentioned, that first act is going to be what makes or breaks this for some people, and the part does drag a bit, but ultimately this movie is more what it ends up as than what it starts out as. That finale is the single greatest work of art the MCU has produced thus far, and I’m not sure that even with another ten years they’ll ever be able to top it.

The amazing thing is, this movie is pretty accessible even if you aren’t a hardcore fan, though it’s definitely only going to have full emotional impact if you’ve been watching these characters for years. This is a movie for the fans first and foremost, and that’s really not a bad thing; why wouldn’t you make an epic finale to so many arcs that appeals to the people who invested so much time in it? As someone who grew up with the MCU, who has watched it grow and blossom into everything I ever dreamed of seeing as a kid, I only have this to say to all of the directors, writers, actors, stunt people, just everyone who made this and all the other films possible, and to the dearly departed Stan Lee who created so many of these people I’ve spent the past decade watching come to life on screen:

I love you three thousand.

Here’s to another ten years of cinematic superhero excellence.

#Michael in the Mainstream #MitM #Review #Movie review #Avengers: Endgame #Endgame #Avengers #Marvel #MCU #Marvel Cinematic Universe #Infinity Saga #Iron Man #Captain America #Thanos #Superhero #superhero movie #spoilers #Endgame spoilers

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itsgalaxy29 · 6 years

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Archenemies Review

Archenemies, the second installment in Marissa Meyer’s Renegades trilogy was outstanding. Meyer has completely outdone herself with this book. It expanded beautifully on the politics of the world but kept the story interesting and all-consuming the entire time.

--The relationship between Nova and Adrian developed so much in this story. To becoming closer than ever all while being the most separated they have ever been is heart wrenching.

--The philosophy and morals of both Adrian and Nova was so intriguing. This novel dives deep into why each of them believe or don’t believe in the Renegades, and why each character reacts in certain ways to specific events.

--Politics are always interesting to me, but the Renegades’ ability to create a government where the people are completely dependent of it, all while securing the love and admiration of the people never ceases to amaze me. They continue to be an entity that is publicly adored, even if they are enacting policies that completely inhibits the rights of some people.

--Although Archenemies was less action packed than Renegades doesn’t make it any less enjoyable. I loved every second of this book and am highly anticipating the finale. Definitely a 5/5 star read.

Spoilers Below

First of all, this book was hilarious. The characters work so well together and have the best banter. But the dialogue wasn’t even the funniest part to me, but rather it was the internal thoughts of either Nova or Adrian when they thought about the other’s vigilante side.

‘“Well,” she muttered, “at least I won’t have to worry about [the sentinel] anymore,”’ (21).

You thought Nova.

“His dads would all it denial. His team would call it his typical uncanny optilism. But Adrian couldn’t help it. The truth was, he did not believe that Nightmare was dead,” (40).

This is the funniest thing to me. Adrian’s character has always been one of determination and stubbornness, but this is just taking it to a new level. Little does he know he’s in love with his archenemy.

Political Perspectives/ Motivations

The characters in this novel develop into something so much more complex. Their beliefs and reasons for those beliefs become amazingly clear.

Nova is someone who is driven by her failures. She separates herself from Adrian because she can’t allow herself to fail her family again. She assumes that the death of her family is not only the fault of herself, but the failure of the Renegades. The Renegades not coming to save her family spurs Nova’s belief of how bad the dependency on the Renegades is. In her eyes, the people should be responsible for themselves. Their dependency on the Renegades has made it possible for a situation with Agent-N to occur. Sure some will question the morality of Agent-N, but most, because of their undying support for the Renegades, will accept it as righteous; and that is a dangerous path for people to continue on.

What I loved about Nova throughout this book is that despite needing to keep her identify a secret, she always questions the Renegades about the potential corruption in their decisions.

‘“And once they-- she paused--”once we have total power, what’s to keep us from become villains ourselves?”’ (85).

The renegades have to be destroyed in order for society to restore itself. Nova would rather have no prodigies at all so the people would be forced to take care of themselves and create a new beginning.

“Sometimes, things did have to be destroyed before something better could be built,” (270).

This can be seen coming into play when Nova recognizing the she didn’t hesitate when killing Ingrid (64). Ingrid was destructive and chaotic. Although she was an anarchist, Nova killed her without hesitation. It was a necessary death to further the Anarchists’ rise to power. Nova has always hesitated when trying to kill before; with her parents’ murderer and Captain Chromium himself. This development only proves her devotion to her family and the Ace’s vision. Some things need to be destroyed to be built anew.

Adrian on the other hand, is the opposite. He believes the Renegades are a force of good, and that the people need them. Although he does think about how Nova is probably right-- the people do depend too much on the Renegades-- Adrian still believes that the Renegades are necessary. There needs to be someone or something to help guide and protect the people. In his perspective, that is exactly what the Renegades are doing. While he does question this with the debate over Agent-N, overall Adrian wants the Renegades to continue and is convinced that Agent-N will protect the people.

But with the Renegades comes rules. The reason why Adrian takes on the persona of the Sentinel in the first place is so he could go outside the law to do what he believes is right. The law restricts him in a way he feels hinders his ability to achieve justice. But Adrian is also impatient and wants recognition. He greatest fears are not having power and being forgotten. The phase that Frostbite yells at him sticks in his head for a reason.

“Just like no one will miss you,” (295).

Adrian wants to help, so he will do whatever is necessary to achieve this goal, even go against the renegade codes. The Sentinel is just a way for him to do that. However, Adrian’s motives might be pure now, but they could easily turn to the dark, like I suspect they will in his pursuit of Nightmare in the final installment.

The Relationship

The development of Adrian and Nova’s relationship killed he. Nova was deliberately using Adrian so she could help Ace and preserve his vision. Everytime the two of them had a scene together, Nova was always thinking about how to manipulate him into liking her. This was so frustrating to me but in such a good way. Despite Nova trying her hardest to keep her feelings separate, Nova can’t help but fall in love you Adrian. She is disappointed when she tries to kiss him and his rejected (159). She falls asleep in his arms (318). Adrian drew a star that became hers and hers only (310). Nova obviously loves this boy, but I’m glad that she doesn’t give up her moral and goals for the sake of him. She says goodbye to him, thinking that her charade will be over, and fully ready to let it go in order to achieve what she wants.

And Adrian’s perspective is all the more entertaining. Of course he still has no idea of her real motives, but he trusts her so much that he wants to tell her about the Sentinel (199). Page 246 is literally just Adrian listing all of the things he likes about Nova. And of course she already knows about the Vitality Charm. But Nova makes him fall asleep while kissing, and he stills suspects nothing. Adrian trusts Nova, possibly more than anyone else. I cannot even begin to imagine the betrayal he will feel once he finds out.

Anticipation of Reveal

The development of Nova and Adrian’s relationship will make the reveal all the more powerful.

There are so many things that have built up the anticipation, especially the little hints.

--Nova or course have seen the sketchbook of the Sentinels tattoos, as well as the Rebel Z comics.

--Danna obviously knows, it’s just the matter of her escaping the confines of the jar she’s trapped in.

--Max might know. “She couldn’t tell if there was recognition there, but she knew there was a question,” (455). -- this was when Nightmare forced Frostbite over to Max so he had a chance of survival.

--At the gala, Nova once again uses the word “neophyte,” (387) which is the word the Sentinel questioned Nightmare using when they first met in the Renegades. Adrian recognizing the word, this time used by Nova, and is reminded by Nightmare herself.

--And of course Max getting hurt

Max

I love how Max is the key to everything. He is why Agent-N exists and why Adrian wants to destroy Nightmare.

When the Vitality Charm is introduced, I was convinced it wouldn’t work. I was preparing myself for something to go wrong any second. But thankfully nothing did and Max finally has the opportunity to actually be with his family. Page 227 ripped my heart out in two, especially now knowing the ending.

Honestly Max being on his deathbed wasn’t that surprising to me overall. The vitality charm was a huge win and Max is such a loved character that something bad had to happen to him. But Nova helped him and I do believe he will survive this injury.

But it is this injury that spurs Adrian’s true desire to end Nightmare

Adrian believes that it was Nightmare that tried to kill Max. This is what will turn the Sentinel into a means to an end.

“He would not give up the Sentinel until [Nightmare] was destroyed,” (463).

This hate of Nightmare will only deepen in the finale. But of course, Adrian goes to Nova, searching for help.

‘“I’m going to destroy her… Nova… will you help me?”” (471).

This line killed me. The chaos that is going to erupt doing the next book is going to be monumental. Adrian finally truly hates Nightmare and finally truly loves Nova.

Nova in turn tells Adrian she will help him destroy Nightmare “as she stared into the empty eyes of Ace Anarchy’s helmet, glinting at her from the shadows,” (471).

She has finally helped her family, and has not failed. She only wants to help maintain Ace’s vision for the world, but in order to do that, she has and will have to betray the one she loves; always being slightly in the shadows, always having the Anarchist's vision on her mind.

Renegades/Anarchists

For the final book, the dynamics between the Anarchists and Renegades are finally going to come to light.

Ace is dying. The Anarchists might very well lose their leader in an anti-climatic middle of the book death. Nova and the rest of the anarchists will be crushed, but that might just led them into their rise to power once again. Nova will carry on Ace’s vision, but to what extent? She has already questioned some of her uncle’s beliefs and now has a strong connection to the Renegades’ point of view.

Either way, I do think the anarchists will rise, and Renegades will face tragedy and destruction.

“The crack continued past her, burrowing through the red R in the center of the lobby, driving the foundation apart,” (432).

The Renegades’ are going to be divided and maybe even fall apart completely.

#renegades #archenemies #nova artino #nova mclain #adrian everhart #novadrian #archenemies spoilers

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raykid · 6 years

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Rabbids Invasion: Top 5 Best Season 4 Episodes So Far

Season 4 of Rabbids has so far easily been the best the series has had to offer since Season 2. Up until this point, this fourth installment has managed to flawlessly combine old elements that worked in previous seasons with new elements that in my opinion, have helped the show improve vastly.

From the episodes I’ve watched so far, I’ve been greeted with wonderfully bizarre stories such as a mutant Rabbid-mole stalking a flying submarine, Rabbids switching bodies with dinosaurs, and even a Red Riding Hood parody where the wolf is the hero, and the grandma is the antagonist, making this the craziest season yet. And since this is, after all, a Rabbids TV show, the crazier the better.

For that reason, today I’m going to be counting down to the top 5 absolute best this season has had to offer us so far. Grab a plunger and read on.

5. Rabbid Princess

Starting off this list is the episode I consider to have probably the funniest set-up for a Rabbids plot since Season 2′s ‘‘Glow Rabbid’‘. In this episode, a wimpy biker Rabbid who is part of a gang of tougher Rabbids accidentally knocks out their leader after attempting to perform a dangerous stunt. Afterwards, thinking that he ‘‘killed’ his leader, the wimpy biker Rabbid attempts to ‘‘revive’‘ him by placing him inside the submarine’s disguise chamber, which results in him being dressed up as a princess. Clearly, hilarity ensued.

This episode takes advantage of every opportunity it has to crack a slapstick or visual joke about a tough biker Rabbid suddenly acting very feminine-like, and every moment of it is comedy gold. Probably the best scene in the entire episode is when the biker-princess Rabbid quite literally becomes a full-on parody of a classic Disney princess, possibly Snow White, where it then begins to sing in a high-pitched voice while cleaning the floor, complete with a whimsical soundtrack and tiny little chicks as backup singers. There’s also a really good lesson at the end, which while I won’t give away, I feel makes the ending feel surpsiringly satisfying. Definitely an episode worth re-watching.

4. Rabbids Special Unit

This was one of three episodes that established the few mini- story arcs and recurring characters this season would continue to offer, and this particular one started off with a bang. In this episode, three Rabbids wearing tu-tus fall off the submarine, and it’s up to Zak and Zoey to get them back inside while avoiding the government, who is hot on the submarine’s trail. I had already talked about why this episode works so well in the past, and I still stand by my opinion that this is not only one of the best of this season, but possibly the series in general. The Rabbids’ antics while dressed as ballet dancers may already be funny on their own, but something about having human characters being there to react to them somehow makes the gag ten times more hysterical than it should be. The surprising amount of character development and growth given to both Zak and Zoey, at least when compared to previous seasons, also felt very earned. Not only is Zak now officially Zoey’s boyfriend, but he’s also grown fond of the Rabbids, going as far as to actually help them rather than try to obsessively catch or study them, and it never feels out of place or forced.

There’s also a lot of action and chase sequences, which I’m sure a lot of kids would enjoy. Everything this episode tried to go for was honestly pretty ambitious for only a mere seven minutes, and I guarantee you that the way this episode is paced will have you wanting more by the time it ends.

The only episode that could possibly top it would be one where a legitimate threat to the Rabbids is introduced, which leads me to my next entry..

3. Rabbid Elite

Another episode I had also once talked about in the past, but is definitely worth talking about again, because the amount of care that was put into making this episode feel as atmospheric and intriguing as possible is just amazing. This episode introduces us to a supervillain named Otto Torx, who is obsessed with making the presidential office recognize his ‘‘genius plans’‘. Things then go awry when the Rabbids’ submarine becomes attached to the entrance of Torx’s lair, interfering with his plans of releasing flying robots to attack the city.

As I mentioned before, there’s something about the way this episode is written and animated that gives it a strange sense of atmosphere. The darker colors, the music, and even some of the camera angles give the episode a somewhat more somber tone from others. There’s this particularly great scene where Torx’s robots invade the Rabbids’ submarine and start shooting lasers at them, which perfectly implements all the elements that I just mentioned, and I could easily watch it over and over again simply because of how beautiful it looked. The use of a strange, synthezied drum sound for the background music during this scene also helped this scene become a true highlight. This episode, in a strange way, I dare to say felt cinematic to me, and it doesn’t stop there.

The Rabbids, as always, have their cute slapstick moments, but easily the best part of the entire episode is Torx himself. While his evil plans may not seem like much, everything from his attractive design , smooth voice and Bond-like tendencies make him a very enjoyable character to watch, and his chemistry when facing the Rabbids is undeniable, and it’s where his personality truly shines. The ending of this episode is also especially hilarious, making this another must-watch.

2. Rabbid Clowns

After Torx’s nearly flawless introduction in ‘‘Rabbid Elite’‘, I honestly couldn’t wait to see more of him, and thankfully this season has had plenty of Torx-centric episodes, but probably his finest appereance following his debut episode is the one in question, titled ‘‘Rabbid Clowns’‘. It’s Torx’s birthday in this episode, and his mother sends a clown to his lair, despite him loathing them. Unfortunately, three Rabbids arrive at Torx’s lair before the clown does, and dress up as ones as well, driving Torx insane with their comedic antics. As I mentioned in the previous entry on this list, Torx’s personality shines best when he’s surrounded by the Rabbids. His irritability and formal demeanor combined with the Rabbids’ loud and rowdy behavior make for the perfect comedy team, with Torx playing the ‘‘straight man’’ to the Rabbids‘ insanity, and this episode relishes every second of it. Not only were the Rabbids hysterical, with them bouncing and running around screaming and acting like clowns like they usually do, but there was a moment where I was legitimately concerned for their well-being.

At one point, Torx becomes so fed up with them that he finally loses his patience and starts chasing them around his lair with a golf club. Granted, the Rabbids have survived countless of injuries before, but something about the angles that they showed when Torx dragged the golf club across the floor, as well as the music, made him seem genuinely threatening, and it’s such a great thing to see. After all, if Rabbids are going to be the stars of their own show, the viewer needs to care for them in some way, and what better way to do so than by putting them in legitimate danger. The action in this episode was also great. We get to see, once again, all of Torx’s robots shooting lasers, as well as Rabbids running away and hiding in the dark, and it’s all a joy to watch. This episode just had a great balance of action, comedy and suspense that I honestly don’t think I’ve seen in any other episode of Rabbids, making this episode one of a kind. But if this is the case, what other episode could possibly be better?

Well… that, my friends is…

1. Rabbid Vikings

This is the episode that comes to mind when I think of the perfect Rabbids story. I’m just going to say it: Before Torx came along, Alice was my favorite human character in the series, and she still holds a strong position as my second favorite. This episode justifies not only everything I love about this character, but what I love about Rabbids in general. This episode sees the Rabbids dress up as vikings to retrieve their ball from a cow. Unfortunately, they soon become mad with power and start causing destruction and mayhem in the entire city, eventually having Alice join them as their leader.

There’s a lot of reasons why I chose this as the number 1 episode of this season so far. For one, it was great to see the Rabbids return to their slightly more destructive roots from some of their earliest video games. at least for the lenght of one episode. As always, there’s a couple of cute slapstick gags and all the classic Rabbid humor fans have come to enjoy over the years, but what makes this episode stand out to me the most is that it has something that’s probably what I consider to be the most important thing any project, (live-action or animated) should always have: Heart. This episode of Rabbids has a lot of heart underneath all its chaos, particularly in its resolution, and they couldn’t have chosen a better character for this type of storyline than Alice. Any episode where Alice and the Rabbids interact is easily some of the most endearing and sweetest stories the show has to offer, as I’ve always seen their relationship as sort of couple of neighborhood kids who occasionally get together and play, and this entry is no exception.

I don’t want to give away the ending of the episode, but I am going to say that it’s easily the highlight of the entire thing, and it embodies everything I love about these crazy bunnies. They may seem loud and obnoxious on the surface, but at the end of the day, it’s their child-like innocence and endearing side that has managed to plunge its way into my heart, as well as hundreds of other fans’. This episode represents what made the Rabbids so appealing to begin with: A perfect balance of chaos and charm.

Let’s hope these lovably idiotic anti-heroes never change their wicked ways, especially for the remainder of this season. Hope you enjoyed my list!

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kristallioness · 6 years

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"Alright, take a break, Paladins," Allura declared at the end of the meeting. As everybody made their way to their own rooms, the princess sighed and dropped to the floor, her legs crossed and back supported against the higher ground in the middle. Lance had heard her tired groan, he stopped at the doorway and turned back without the others noticing. "Allura, can I talk to you?" "Sure, Lance. What is it?" she asked, her face beaming a smile at him in a moment's notice to mask her weariness. "I just wanted to say.. I'm glad you're okay, and that you survived everything that White Lion guardian put you through in Oriande." "Thank you, Lance." He nodded, placing his hands in his pockets. Hesitation ran through his limbs before he turned around and decided to leave the bridge. Allura picked up on it. "Was there something else you wanted to talk about?" Lance stopped in his tracks, his hunch deepening for a second before he faced her again. "Actually.. yeah. I wanted to say I'm sorry if I was acting a bit overprotective earlier. I was afraid that Lotor might hurt you again," he explained. He took his hands out from his pockets and crossed his arms instead, rubbing them as he took a few steps closer to Allura. She frowned. "You don't have to apologize for looking out for me. I don't think any of us trusted him as much earlier as we do now. But I truly believe that he has both the Coalition and the Galra Empire's best interests at heart," she assured, holding a hand above her own heart. Lance's stance relaxed a little as he lowered his head. "I guess you're right," he agreed, simply standing there in silence for a moment. His dark blue eyes remained fixed on the stars of the universe twinkling outside behind the glass. "Is.. something the matter?" Allura asked, looking up at him worriedly. He took a deep breath. "Not really. I just miss home. Making that message for my family reminded me of Earth. And I guess I never really thought about the possibility of going home for a visit. That it's only a wormhole away. A wormhole you can create whenever we need.." Lance stopped and walked to her other side, his back facing her. She heard him sniff a couple of times and saw how he wiped his tears in his sleeve. She knew what he must be feeling. "Is there something else I can do to make you feel better?" Another sniff before he glanced at her from behind his shoulder. "I think I need a hug," he replied in a very sad tone. The princess smirked and grabbed the lower edge of his jacket. "Woah, Allura! What are you-" Lance screamed as she tugged at it so hard that it made him tumble backwards. His eyes grew wide when he felt one of her hands break his fall from his back and the other one catching his legs so he wouldn't fall on his butt. "..doing?" he managed to finish a moment later when he found himself practically sitting in the princess's lap, her arms wrapped around him in a gentle embrace. She giggled, pulling him closer to her and nuzzling her nose into his hair. "Feel better?" she murmured to him. Lance realized what she'd done, slowly allowing his arms to snake around her to return the hug. His eyes fell shut as he rested his head above her heart. "Mhmm.." he hummed sweetly, a small smile forming on his lips as he rubbed a tiny nod against her chest. Silence prevailed on the bridge, apart from the two hearts of Voltron beating together as one.

----------x----------

SEASON 5 HAS BEEN THE BEST SEASON (AFTER THE 3RD ONE) FOR ME!!! This was the only image I could picture in my head after I'd finished watching it early Saturday morning on the 3rd of March. There are some scenes that stick out more (and what I remember better/make me more emotional) than the rest. For season 5, one of them was Lance getting defensive and then breaking into tears when thinking about home and his family. I JUST WANNA HUG MY CUBAN BIRTHDAY BUDDY BECAUSE I CRIED TOO! (Allura's doing it for me)

Lance being protective of Allura and the way their relationship has developed gives me breath - from trying to flirt with her and considering her a romantic interest (but obviously failing), to having such respect for her (as a princess, highly intelligent Altean, capable warrior and the new Blue Paladin) and becoming such close friends that it feels natural to joke around, comfort, care for and look out for each other.. Gosh, I love these two!

Speaking of Allura, my favourite arc this season was how she and Lotor began working together, shared their history (Altean Princess and Galra Prince family/culture parallels!) and grew to trust each other. Lotor's redemption arc has been pretty amazing and I wanna believe that he isn't going to double-cross the Paladins (for now I don't see any reason why he should). I'm keeping my guard up in case some motive should be revealed, but I hope not.

The bigger question is what's Haggar up to? (Honestly, her actions rarely make sense to me since she keeps switching sides when she remembers something new from her past and I hardly ever foresee what she's going to do.) She can see through clone Shiro's eyes, thus seeing everything the Paladins are doing (and giving her the advantage of being one step ahead of them). Why does she want to gain access to Altean alchemy and what does she plan to do with that knowledge should she be the Chosen one, too?

Also, the real Shiro is still trapped in the astral plane after his battle with Zarkon in the season 2 finale. Lance, go and bring him back home, please!

Zarkon and Lotor's battle was very well executed (pun accidentally intended). When the season started I didn't expect it to focus on Pidge and Matt finding their father, which put the stakes a lot higher and made everything seem more exciting. When Sam was leaving for Earth, the realization that the Paladins have always had the opportunity to leave too really hit me. They're only a wormhole away from a visit (yeah, I used this in the short fic I wrote above)!

It's so heartwarming that Hunk and everybody else made greetings for their families. If Sam Holt said that Earth needs to prepare for war, then this could potentially really be the big finale for the entire series and I'd LOVE IT if that happened.

Another theory that's been floating around (and I'd love it if it turned out to be true) is Keith and Acxa being related. She's saved him twice now and I'm thinking there's more to it than Keith freeing her inside the belly of the Weblum (though it could remain at that, or she simply recognized a fellow half-Galra). Anyways, we should be able to find out since Keith has reunited with his mother Krolia, who is a very beautiful Galra, might I add (I have a mighty need to draw her some day).

I'm glad that this season focused a bit less on Keith and a bit more on the rest of the team, cause he's been in the center of attention for two seasons already (3 and 4, 2 as well). Not that I minded, but the rest deserve some attention, too. For instance, one of the funniest parts was the Garrison trio fooling around Lotor's palace.

But that pretty much sums up my thoughts on season 5. Oh, one final thing: we never saw that Altean who's been considered to be Romelle! So, I guess here's to meeting her in season 6! *raises glass of water*

(Drawing the bridge inside the Castle of Lions for a background was SO MUCH FUN! I'm very pleased with how everything turned out - the details of the interior, the galaxies and stars outside. I tried to mix blue, red and pink colours together for the latter since both Lance and Allura have been Blue Paladins, but she wears pink when riding Blue and Lance is with Red now, so...)

#Allurance #Princess Allura #Allura #Lance #Voltron #my art #mine #shards of Kristal

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sprnklersplashes · 6 years

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Hullo, saw your views on Rose, and I do agree a lot. I was wondering what you thought of the other companions, like Martha, Donna, the Ponds, River, etc?

I am glad you liked my thoughts. I’m sorry for keeping you waiting, but this ask prompted, wait for it, 2.5 thousand words on my love and appreciation for each of these darlings, because I do love them all.

Under the cut we go!!!!

Martha- Martha Jones walked away from all of time and spacebecause she wouldn’t do it with someone who did not respect her (no offense to10 but she deserved better than you) and that ladies and gentlemen is thedefinition of a strong female character. Even from her first episode I lovedMartha balancing doctor training with her incredibly dysfunctional family andinstead of taking a moment to break down and scream (which is what many of uswould do) she just gets on with it, a little sarcasm and eye rolling sure but she doesn’t let it put her down and doesn’t get bogged down in her stressful life. There’s also how she is a badass withoutneeding to be physically violent or use weapons. In fact I don’t remember a lotof scenes where she does use weapons (thought it’s been a while). She walksacross the Earth using nothing but her bravery and wits, she finishedShakespeare’s spell to the witches on the spot even when the Doctor couldn’t doit (also, Expelliamus, you babe, Martha), ended Joan Redfern with her knowledgeof the bones of the hand (which is some pretty complex information she whippedout off the top of her pretty little head), and talked down to the Daleks(which yes used a weapon but it was a weapon given to her). Whether she wasbluffing or not in that instance, that took some serious guts and homegirl didnot break a sweat while doing it. A small but beautiful moment for her is inher first episode where she says “How many people want to go to the moon? Andhere we are!”. She knows how scary the whole thing is but at the same time shesees the absolute beauty and knows how unique an opportunity it is, and that’sa beautiful thing for her.

Donna- Oh Donna Donna Donna. If there was ever a characterwho was more fitting of the ‘deserved better’ label, it’s her! I don’t think itis physically possible for someone to dislike Donna. Let’s get the obviouspoint out of the way first; best lines ever. I mean between “oi watch itspaceman” and “don’t get clever in Latin” she had some of the funniest lines onthis show. Now that that is out of the way, can we appreciate the hope she has?She sticks out with the belief she will see the Doctor again after the Runaway Bride, and I feel likeher changing her mind humanised her a lot. She said she didn’t want to butthen, things changed, because people change. I liked her taking matters intoher own hands re: Adipose and investigating thinking she could run into theDoctor there. Even from there, she is on equal footing with him. Now we move onto her compassion which is so lovely, especially towards other women, like MissEvangelista (and I love their relationship because I feel like Donna was comingfrom a place of understanding with her, knowing how it feels to beunderestimated, and making sure she thanked her and noticed her even if no oneelse did), Evelina, Jenny whom she immediately bonds with even when 10 isprickly towards her. She just wants to make friends with all the people shemeets and I think that’s an amazing character trait. Not to mention how she demands to be treated as an equal, no matter if it’s a UNIT soldier (”I’ll have a salute”) or an alien ( “Every bit as important as Time Lord, thank you very much”). Her growth was amazing.She didn’t acquire a lot of new skills, just the confidence to utilise the onesshe had! I am still so bitter and upset about her ending because she did notdeserve to have all her amazing adventures and development that came with thatstripped away from her.

Amy- Amy is “my first bb girl” in that s6 of Doctor Who wasthe first one I watched, and the first fandom I was in and Amy was my firstfavourite female character, so I am very protective of her. When we first meether adult self, Amy is desperate to shed the “Amelia” part of her, kick out thechildhood dreams, but even in season 5 we still see a sort of childlikeexcitement because she has not suppressed her inner child and that isbeautiful. She also has a lot of insecurities in her arc, shown in herrelationship with Rory-not in a “I worry that he’s too good for me” way but ina “I don’t know if I am ready for this level of commitment” way-which 1. imomade for a very relateable character and 2. Gave way for a whole level ofcharacter development, because by around the end of series 5/start of series 6she was wholly comfortable in that relationship. But even then she can’t sitstill as it were, she says to the Doctor that she can’t keep a job and, while Ido acknowledge is in part to the fact she is waiting for him to come back, sheis also finding herself, which right now, I relate to massively as a youngwoman. She doesn’t keep a job because she doesn’t know what she wants. Shemodels, she writes, she makes perfumes, she can’t sit still. Amy’s story islargely about growing up and learning to stand on her own two feet, and that iswhy it culminates in her choosing to go back in time with Rory. Now this is abit of my own personal thinking here, but to me Rory represents “normality”, anadventure free, dull life while the Doctor represented everything else. Thiswas her growing up and saying she was choosing normality, her “not a littlegirl anymore” moment. She doesn’t outgrow her flaws, she’s still very impulsivein season 7 but she learns to deal with them maturely. I imagine a lot of hertroubles come from the neglect she endured as a child and I curse Moffat fornot allowing her to deal with her trauma in a healthier way. But anyways, Ithought her growing into her own and maturing was lovely to watch.

River Song- Ah River, or as I like to call her “who my 13-year-oldself aspired to be”. She’s just, so beautifully complex. I think what I lovemost about her is she lives her life on her own terms. She takes a lot of risksbut she…. well I wouldn’t say doesn’t care but she certainly seems to thinkthey’re worth it. And she lived her life totally on her terms, even when shewas in jail! She just casually breaks out and in as she pleases, just waltzingaround like a babe! She also has so much confidence it’s inspiring. She’sclever and she knows it. She has most people wrapped around her finger, evenfrom her first expedition in the library we can see she is the (unofficial)leader. I don’t know if I would call her fearless, but she rarely showed fear.Vashta Nerada? Weeping Angels? She has got this. Plus, homegirl graffitied theoldest cliff face in universe like can you get any more iconic? She is alsogorgeous and she knows it. She has a great body and flaunts it because it makesher feel good and that’s a good lesson we ca all take away from her. I thinkthere is also a hugely tragic side to River. Every character on this show hadfamily issues; Rose lost her dad, Martha’s parents split, Amy was neglectedetc. and then there is River, who was kidnapped, tortured and brainwashed. Andyet she kept on fighting and as a child managed to fight her way out of anastronaut suit and braved the streets of 1960s New York as a child. And that’sjust the tip of it. I saw a post once that in the s6 premiere, when she isalone talking to Rory, in that moment, she isn’t just someone talking to a guyshe just met, she is a little girl running to her daddy and telling her she’s scaredand wants her parents, and it hurts god damn it, it hurts. Underneath thebravado, the flirting, the teasing, she’s scared. I am not amazed that she cameout of it a good person, I am amazed she came out of it sane. But she is such agood person. She managed to overcome her brainwashing and kill the person sheloves most, and then sacrifices herself in the library. One of my favouriteRiver moments is her moment with Donna when Donna asks “How come I’m not in thefuture” and River’s face (huge props to Alex here) just falls so much and thereis so much empathy in that scene. I also think her determination to rebuild herrelationship with her parents is so beautifully inspiring and we were cheatedout of scenes. I also think her past adds to her relationship with the Doctorsince he was likely the only person outside of her parents to care for herwhich is why she latched on to him (not saying that avoiding killing him was atall right, it was definitely wrong sorry bby girl, but it is kind ofunderstandable).

Clara- Oh Clara my Clara. If you couldn’t tell by my bio, Iam a massive Clara Oswald fan, and she is currently in a three way tie forFavourite Fictional Character Out Of Anything Ever (tied with Emma Swan andKillian Jones from Once Upon A Time). Where do I even start with her? Even fromher first episodes, confidence oozes out of her every pore and it is earned.From Oswin (who I fell in love with in 2 seconds flat) and her “total screaminggenius” to modern day Clara and “Clara Oswald for the win” she just knows howamazing she is and I totally love it. It’s not conceited arrogance, not “I ambetter than you” but “I am awesome and I know I am”. Now let’s move on to asimilar topic, baby girl is very smart as heck, even without the computerknowledge uploaded into her via Great Intelligence. She noticed the littledetails “a chimney that doesn’t blow smoke”, she thought on her feet “I’m theDoctor”/ “Your daughter, Skaldak”, she keeps pushing Bonnie and manages to stayequal with her by using her wits (sidenote, can we give all the awards to Jennain that episode because good lord), her whole time in Flatline (which isprobably my favourite Clara episode ever), with the clockwork robots she keptthem talking, risking her own life in the process because she knew how to.Also, right from the word go she is making it clear with the Doctor that she ishis equal and that she is the one in charge here, right from “come backtomorrow” and “see you next Wednesday”. This continues later in her arc “you’reone of my hobbies”. One of my favourite lines of hers is “I’m not a bargainbased stand in for someone else, I’m not going to compete with a ghost” and itjust sticks with me because she is there asserting her authority on the TARDIS,prepared to walk away right now if he does not respect her for who she is, andit is marvellous to watch. And then this comes back in 12’s run where she goesoff on him for abandoning her and I feel like he needed her to ground him andmake him more human. She is not afraid to call the Doctor out on his shit,whether it’s something big like in Kill The Moon or something relating to herdirectly, “speak for me again and I’ll detatch something from you”. Now let’smove onto another, beautiful topic, Clara and kids! We see this in the Bells ofSaint John how she gave up her plans to travel to look after Angie and Artieand then again in the next episode she comforts and all but adopts Merry Gallel,and her with young!Doctor, soothing his fears. It’s a little topic but it’s sobeautiful. She is also, for a lack of a better word, beautifully badass! Shehas stared down Cybermen, Daleks, Missy, all the Doctor’s greatest enemies, andnot blinked. That is how badass she is. She is also incredibly brave, rightfrom the start she volunteers to go into the Ice Warrior, she jumps into theDoctor’s timestream, she sacrifices herself for Rigsy. She’s a beautiful exampleof how bravery and fearlessness are not the same thing. Her dying words are “letme be brave”, which is a beautiful moment for her. There is also something somagical about her, so fairytale, the excited traveller. Her first request is tosee “something awesome”. She doesn’t care, she just wants to be impressed. She practicallydances when she arrives somewhere new. Underneath her no-nonsense “bossy controlfreak” exterior, there’s an excited young woman getting to travel. She ishugely flawed but she is aware of it, which I find amazing. She says in HellBent “I’d say I’m sorry but I’d do it again”. She is reckless and a littleselfish, and she knows it. Ultimately, it is what kills her, but it still makesfor a wholly unique and beautiful character.

Bill Potts- Ah my precious Bill. I think the quote either Moffator Pearl gave “she’s got her feet on the ground and her heart in the stars” (orsomething) is so perfectly her. She is just so open and in my opinion, we needcharacters like that, who smile through rainstorms. I mean, she wanted to go tothe future because she wanted to see if it was happy, which is kind of tragicbut also pretty beautiful when you think about it. I think the fact that sheshowed up at lectures even though she wasn’t a student was so great. All shehad was a love of learning even if she wouldn’t do anything with it, and yes, anatural curiosity about the Doctor himself. The Doctor says that when she doesn’tknow something, she smiles, which is another lovely detail on her character andagain shows her curiosity and just how much of a sunshine she is. There’s nofrustration in not knowing, it’s a new chance for her to learn. Her reactionsto everything around her are so amazingly realistic, calling the Victorianorphans “cute as”. I think her question to the Doctor in her first episode, “Doyou know any sci-fi?”, shows a lot about how she is the dreamer, the one whothinks up impossible scenarios and answers, she dares to think outside the box.Bill has such a strong mind that even being a cyberman could not stop her fromcaring and fighting back. Her teasing the Doctor is absolutely adorable and isreally her way of establishing her own authority on the TARDIS, unlike Claraand Martha, she doesn’t do anything where she demands his respect, she gentlyeases it out of him with her quirky teasing (“Time Lord, sounds posh”), notsaying one way is better than the other, just that it’s a cute and unique wayof her building an equal relationship with him. I think Bill is definitely oneof those characters we so desperately need more of in TV, little rays ofsunshine who want to make everyone else’s days brighter, who want to pushforward and achieve and try because why not, even if it won’t lead them anywhere,who wants to see if the world will still be a happier place tomorrow. And Ilove her for it.

#bill potts #clara oswald #river song #amy pond #donna noble #martha jones #doctor who #moffat for ts #dw meta #can u believe I wrote 2.5k on DW and cant write 1000 for an academic paper?#lolz

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