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nightmaremp · 11 days

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Weremayhem: Song of Beasts. Ch 26: Filming Beasts.

Cameras were filming Nora outside the front door of the Shack. She fixed her hair before they started filming. The black haired female clears her throat.

“Ladies and gentlemen, for years, audiences across the universe have been desperate for a glimpse into the creative process of Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem.” said Nora with a big smile on her face.

“And today, for the first time ever, I give you what…” she started to add before the camera men moved past her and opened the front door. “Oh! Oh. You’re just going right in. Okay.” said the Label Lady.

The cameras turn to the band and Moog who were on the couch. Teeth was playing a harmonica as he sat on a dark lime green chair. Floyd and Jancie were on the couch with their instruments. Zoot was behind the two. Lips was sitting in a chair in front of one of the cameras. Moog look over to see cameras and has a look of confusion on his face.

Nora runs in, a bit panicked or maybe very happy. “Okay, okay. You may be wondering why a film crew is descending upon your sacred space.” she said.

“No, I’m not sure. We should start the chorus in G.” said Dr. Teeth.

“Well, let’s try it in J” replied Floyd Pepper.

“I figured that you’re finally cranking out songs. We could capture the magic of The Mayhem in an epic rockumentary, huh?” replied the black haired female.

“Who’s gonna play me?” asked Zoot.

“You. Yeah, you play you. That’s the best part” replied Nora.

“All you guys gotta do is bring the love and magic that is the Electric Mayhem” she added.

“The world needs more love, especially right now” said Label Lady. The mayhem were playing a small beat to a song.

“And even JJ agrees that this band is pure love.” the black haired female added. Animal stops and him and Moog both look at each other in shock.

“Wait. I’m sorry, did you say J…” the black haired male started to say. Suddenly JJ comes through the front door.

“Oh, what’s up, my homies? Whoa, easy” said JJ with a big smile on his face. Animal grunts as he throw something at the guy but JJ ducks.

“Bad!” yelled the drummer with a growl.

“Whoa!” said the male.

“Animal, bud, look at me, okay? JJ good, not bad” said Nora.

“Yeah, yeah, JJ cool, Jj friend” added JJ.

“Friend?” asked the wild man.

“Yeah, um, I, too, am confused. Is JJ helping us now?” asked Moog.

“Actually, after he bought us more time with Penny, we decided to grab a coffee and…” she started to say.

“Wait, like a date?” asked the black haired male.

“What?” asked the black haired female.

“Nothing,” he replied. Why did he say that!

“Back in the day, we’d have these big brainstorming sessions, and seems like we should picked up right where we left off.” replied Nora.

“And boom! We had a great idea” added JJ with a smirk.

“Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem get immortalized by having their own rock and roll documentary. Just like The Beatles did with…” The male said before the growls of a angry drummer cut him off.

Animal try to attack him but Moog stops him. “Get back!” yelled JJ in fear.

“Okay” said the black haired male as he tried to calm the drummer down.

“Get back is the name of the Beatles doc, and it’s a smash. And, guess what?” said JJ.

“We’ve locked in an all-star director to help us get going.” he added.

Suddenly a guy came running in. “Did someone say one-star director?” he asked.

“Everyone, meet Kevin Smith. Okay” said Label Lady with a smile on her face.

“Director of Clerks, Clerks II.” she added.

“Clerks III” replied JJ.

“Before you say anything, just know that he’s done so much more than foul-mouthed comedies,” said Nora.

“I mean he’s made action movies, horror, political satire…” the black haired female started to say.

“And whatever Yoga Hosers was.” replied the good doctor with a chuckle.

“Oh, wow, burn” replied Janice.

“Dr. Teeth, you still got the bite. Man, I have missed all of you so much” replied Kevin Smith with a smile on his face.

“Brosci!” said Animal with a laugh as he run up to the male.

“Ahh! Get in here” he replied as they hugged each other.

“Brosci” said the drummer happily.

“Of course, you guys know each other” said the black haired female in shock and with some joy in her voice.

“Yeah, he’s our Bro Pesci, our Broey Ramone, our Broseph Gordon-Levitt. We go way back” replied Floyd as he stood up from the couch.

“Oh yeah, you wouldn’t wanna meet me back in the old days.” replied Smith.

“I was a real square from Jersey until I met the Mayhem” he added.

“Ooh, for sure,” replied the blonde female.

“Now, after a lifetime of making critically panned R-rated movies, I’m finally ready to embrace family-friendly entertainment,” said Kevin.

“I wanna make a film about all the joy and love brought into this world by my favorite band,” he added.

“The Commodores,” replied Zoot.

“Not the Commodores. I’m talking about The Mayhem!” replied Kevin Smith.

“You guys!” he said with a smile on his face.

“All right,” replied Floyd Pepper.

“Now, listen to me very carefully.” replied Kevin. “You see this camera?” he said as he pointed to a camera.

“Yeah,” the mayhem replied.

“Okay. Do not look into this camera” Smith replied.

“No, no, no, no, no” replied the band.

“Yeah, I want you to act naturally,” replied Kevin Smith. “That’s the key, okay? We’ll go for one, here we go” he added.

“Just gonna act natural,” said Floyd.

“And, action,” said Smith. The band quickly looked dead into the camera.

#weremayhemau #the muppets #dr teeth and the electric mayhem #dr teeth #lips muppet #muppet mayhem #zoot muppet #floyd pepper #animal muppet #nora singh #moog muppet mayhem #JJ muppet mayhem

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palmett-hoes · 3 years

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I like your meta and I got to thinking about all the stuff in these books that requires the suspension of disbelief to roll with and tbh the biggest thing Nora ever asked us to overlook is Riko's entire schtick. Tell me who in real life looks at a short, West Virginia college freshman, even the ones who are good athletes, and says 'oh yeah they are definitely the authority on who should be thought of as the best players in the league, the tattoos are normal, he's normal' Like !??? Hello???

yea i personally have a lot of questions about the moriyamas as they’re presented to us in canon. i think they’re a very confusing detail, and also a not-exceptionally well-considered one on account of the unfortunate racial implications

personal take: the moriyamas should have been russian bratva instead of japanese yakuza. it would change absolutely nothing about the story, but would fix a dozen small details that i’ve been leaping through flaming hoops to justify watsonianly in how i flesh out the extended universe

nora is VERY much a character writer, not a world-builder. her characters are SO nuanced and life-like, but her world-building often feels random, disjointed, and unaddressed

that being said though, i don’t think riko’s schtick is really one of these details

calling riko just a “short, West Virginia college freshman” is very uncharitable to exactly what he is. riko is a celebrity, the ward of a celebrity, and he’s been in the media eye since he was born. it would be accurate to compare him (and kevin) to people like blue ivy carter and north west kardashian, children of a-list, instantly-recognizable celebrities who got added to their guardians’ brand as children. blue ivy is nine-years-old and has already won a grammy

(i don’t want to imply that either the knowles-carter or the kardashian-west family, or any other celebrity i might mention here are abusive like the moriyama family. while there are plenty of concerns about the psychology of child stars, i’m not talking about their personal lives or the way these children are being raised, because that’s none of my business. i’m talking about them from the perspective of their media visibility and the legitimacy that gives them with the public)

journalists LOVE celebrity kids. every argument and wardrobe choice is headline news in a-list houses, and why some celebrities (like famously michael jackson) have to go to such extreme measures to give their kids even a modicum of privacy, because they're hounded by reporters and photographers every time they step outside.

tetsuji, however, took much more of the joe jackson approach and turned his nephew and ward into a public brand and set them loose on the media circuit as soon as he was able

you have to think about exy as a global movement, one with two distinct figureheads at the helm. it came out of nowhere and completely reshaped the world of sports in an extremely short amount of time. think of kayleigh and tetsuji as being like mark zuckerberg or steve jobs: innovators and figureheads

and even if they’re “just” sports celebrities, they’re sports celebrities on a tier with people like babe ruth, michael phelps, tom brady, serena williams, usain bolt, lance armstrong, the rock, muhammed ali, john cena. people whose sports celebrity is SO great their names enter the mainsteam. that’s the MINIMUM level of fame and influence they have

it's no stretch of the imagination for me to think that the Princes of Exy brand was inextricable with the rapid growth and popularity of the sport. kevin and riko were mascots, ambassadors, and symbols, not just for the ravens but for exy itself. the sport viewed as coming of age alongside them

even if it seems ridiculous to us from outside their universe, inside it people have been hearing about the Perfect Court for over ten years. it’s something their sportscasters and news anchors talk about. you’ve heard it on every early-morning and late-night talk show. it’s a tagline on the covers of magazines and up on billboards. every little league kid who picks up an exy racket dreams that they’ll be the next pick and wear that three or four on their jersey

riko and kevin may have been two of the most famous children in the world

and with celebrity comes extensive forgiveness of... “eccentricity.” remember when jared leto started a cult and everyone just,,, let that happen? gwyneth paltrow’s new age wellness pseudoscience brand? tom cruise is literally a scientologist? even if it’s absolutely ridiculous, it’s okay if a celebrity does it

in-universe, riko isn’t just a “good athlete,” he’s a house-hold name with a consistent vision, every tool at his disposal to get it done, a massive platform of people listening to his every word, and the mainstream media spreading it for free

some tattoos at 16? that’s nothing. ESPECIALLY if they’d been drawing them on for years before

once you think about these things in the context of things that are familiar to us, rather than strange and random and contextless the way they (admittedly) come across in canon, riko starts to make a little more sense

also, while i think it could have been pushed more, i think that nora actually did a pretty decent job of conveying this idea of Celebrity as a theme in the books. there are a lot of very consistent references to kevin and riko’s fame and influence. however, because of how much of an unreliable narrator with such a narrow scope of interest neil is, it’s a detail that can slide past you especially if you haven’t read the books in a while and you mostly engage in the fandom. fandoms tend to be character driven, not theme driven, so a lot of the recurring themes and imagery of a work tend to get lost over time

however i try to keep in touch with the canon. the last time i fully read the books was less than a year ago (and i’ve been in the fandom for like,, 5 years?) and i fact check it often for posts, meta, and fic beta-ing. at some point i’d really like to do a series of scene breakdowns and literary analysis of the lesser-acknowledged themes bc ideas like Celebrities In The Public vs Private are interestingly approached and i think we’re missing out a bit by only talking about them from a character-first perspective

i think one thing i would LOVE about getting some kind of visual-media adaptation of aftg (animated series or visual novel preferred) would be all the passive worldbuilding we could get that neil declines to describe to us. things like billboards and magazine covers and t-shirts and commercials for exy and the Princes of Exy in particular. i really think it would push so much more dimension and context into the story for us to really SEE these things

#aftg #tfc #kevin day #riko moriyama #kayleigh day #tetsuji moriyama #meta #my posts #my meta #im talkin #long form post #ask

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crazy-fangirl2524 · 4 years

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Andrew’s first and last genuine smile

Okay so I have been thinking and I know Nora said that Andrew never really smile and maybe if he did it’s only to Neil so I’m writing this headcanon because I literally can’t get them off my mind

They are both in their 50s, retired a few years ago

Neil wakes up first, he sits up, but Andrew still hasn’t wake up yet

Neil frowns, normally Andrew would have been up instantly

He whispers his name, Andrew

He still doesn’t wake up

Neil starts to worry and finally decide to risk it and shake him gently

He still doesn’t wake up

Neil shakes him harder and starts to panic

He checks his pulse, it’s very weak

Neil immediately picks Andrew up bridal style and rushes to the hospital in 15 minutes when normally it would have taken half an hour

Andrew is rushed into the ER

Neil is trying not to break down

Neil texts the foxes what happened

Finally the doctors come out and explain to Neil what’s wrong but Neil could barely process anything except

“This might be goodbye, he doesn’t have much time left”

Neil could barely make it into Andrew’s room before the panic attack happens

Andrew’s rough grip on the back of his neck is the only thing that steadies him

“Stop that”

Neil doesn’t even realize he is crying, kneeling at the side of Andrew’s bed

“Don’t look at me like that”

The familiar blank look on Andrew’s face and lack of fear calm Neil down and Neil stops for his sake

“Andr-“

Andrew pulls him down for a kiss

The kiss conveys everything words couldn’t express: Andrew reassuring Neil that it’s alright, Andrew telling Neil that he is still here

Neil giving everything that he has into the kiss, holding onto it as it is the only thing anchoring him

They both taste the salt in the kiss (it’s Neil’s)

Neil finally pulls away and there’s is a smile on Andrew’s face

It’s small, barely there, just a tiny, tiny lift of his lips, but it actually reaches his eyes and it’s a genuine smile and it’s only for Neil

It is just there for two seconds but Neil drinks it all in and memorizes it

It is the first time since Andrew’s meds that he smiles and it is the first time Andrew actually genuinely smile

It’s gone before the doctors come back in and force Neil to leave

Neil went out and just shut down, Andrew’s barely smile and the last kiss is the only thing on his mind

Few minutes later, the doctors tell him

He is gone

The foxes arrive to Neil just sitting down and staring blankly into nothingness

The foxes are shocked and some are crying

Matt and Nicky try to comfort Neil but Neil still isn’t reacting

They all go back to Neil’s home and after a while they finally reluctantly leave Neil alone

Neil finally breaks down and cries

Then he didn’t cry again, not even during or after the funeral

Neil drinks and smokes even more than before

The foxes try to distract him; Nicky brings Neil to Germany, Renee and Alison hangs out with him, Dan and Matt force Neil to stay with them, Aaron and Kevin check up on him even tho they cover it up with lame excuses

A little more than a month later Neil passes away

Bonus

“This is the best birthday present for him,” Renee says to the foxes

The foxes are confused, “why?”

“He is finally with Andrew again, he has returned home”

Y’all I don’t even know why I’m writing this but it’s stuck on my mind for a while so if I’m suffering this fandom is definitely suffering with me

Also I always assume that Andrew will be the first Fox to die like have you seen his habits?? The drugs, alcohol and cigarettes?? So like yeah and I mean Neil won’t be that much better off so yeah. And the sickness Andrew has in his HC I don’t know just I think it is something due to his habits and well Neil kind of pass away peacefully during his sleep so yeah

And yes Neil died on his birthday, his real birthday

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earlgreyteaforhere · 4 years

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book recommendations?

Hello Anon! This is very vague, but I will take this as an opportunity to recommend some wonderful books across all sorts of different genres. Put on your seat belt, wear a mask, log into your goodreads app, and prepare to be bombarded with an even longer never ending TBR list.

||Nonfiction||

Notes of A Native Son by James Baldwin: If you haven’t read anything by Baldwin yet, this is a great place to start. This book is a collection of ten nonfiction essays primarily focusing on issues of race in America and Europe. Baldwin’s writing style is unlike any other, and in my opinion, is the equivalent of jazz on the page if such a thing does exist. His words will get you lost and challenge your understanding of the world as you know it, only to bring you to the profound realization that you did not in fact know the world very well at all.

The Empathy Exams by Leslie Jamison: I wouldn’t necessarily call this a medical memoir, rather this book is a collection of essays focusing on empathy via stories relating in some way to medical topics. Jamison’s writing style is highly engaging and she forces the reader to ask themselves some very difficult questions about themself and their role in the world. Empathy is a complex thing, and if you’re interested in understanding the nuances of the subject, and perhaps learning more about yourself, I would very much recommend this book.

||Historical Fiction||

Small Island by Andrea Levy: Set in and around WWII, the story follows the main characters Hortense, Gilbert, Queenie, and Bernard in a rather nonlinear recounting of events taking place in Jamaica, England, America, and India. The novel explores the complicated issues of Great Britain’s colonization of Jamaica, and the rough transition for Jamaican’s living in England to help support the wartime effort. I listened to the audiobook for this one and the voice actors did a fantastic job of giving each character a distinct and easily identifiable voice and personality. I think there is also a BBC adaptation of the book.

The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto by Mitch Albom: Not sure if this technically qualifies as historical fiction, but I’m putting it here because it does a great job of tracing a lot of the evolution of modern popular music. I will never stop recommending this book. The novel is narrated by the entity of music and follows the life of Frankie Presto in a sort of Forrest Gump like fashion. I won’t say much about the plot, but I will tell you this book will make you laugh, cry, and everything in between. Please read this book.

||Fiction||

Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis: This book is told from the pov of Clay, a wealthy kid from California who goes to college in the Northeast. The novel follows his time at home during winter break and highlights the more unsightly aspects of the rich elite on the West Coast. This book made me feel sort of dead inside and pessimistic about the world, so I’m not sure it would be the best book to read right now given current events. But if your mental health is stable and in a good place, this is a quick read and an all around good book.

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan: While the movie received some harsh criticisms, I really enjoyed this book. Kwan has a unique style and is able to tell the story from many different points of view without the characters getting lost or blending together. Often times I have a difficult time keeping track of names and relationships if there is a large cast of characters, but Kwan does a fantastic job. If you enjoy juicy family drama and heartwarming friendships, I recommend giving this a read. It’s also set in Singapore which was a first for me to read about and definitely convinced me to add a trip to Singapore on my bucketlist.

||YA Fiction||

We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach: I read this book in two days when I was fifteen and it immediately found a permanent place in my heart. This book is about the potential end of the world from the perspectives of high school students in a style reminiscent of The Breakfast Club. I remember reading this and thinking “wow, this dude just really gets it” because Wallach perfectly captures my teenage angsty self. This is also a fitting read since it seems like the world is ending these days. I also recommend Thanks For the Trouble by Tommy Wallach because it’s an incredibly unique, intriguing, and just plain weird story. Wallach enjoys ambiguity in his stories, so if you’re into that kind of negative capability, then his books might just be a good match for you.

The Illuminae Files by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff: This is technically YA sci-fi, but this is my list and I’m putting it here anyway. I’m personally not much of a sci-fi reader, so I don’t remember why I thought to pick up this series, but I am so glad I did. Illuminae has pretty much every sci-fi trope you can think of all wrapped into one marvelous multi-media kick-ass space story. The books themselves look thicc, but don’t let that turn you away. Despite the books having many pages, the story is told through emails, security camera footage logs, journal pages, text messages, and many pictures which makes for a speedy read. I recommend the Illuminae Files for those who don’t read sci-fi, but are willing to give it a try.

Emergency Contact by Mary H. K. Choi: I read this book at pretty much the perfect time in my life and I think that’s probably why I enjoyed it so much. The book is about Penny and her journey as she begins college at UT Austin and the anxieties/challenges that come along with that. Friendships, mother/daughter relationships, romance, drama, and a whole lot of social awkwardness. I’d recommend this to college students and or those about to go to college because I think most will find this book quite relatable in at least some way. The book reassures us that we are not alone in our awkward transition stages of life.

All For the Game by Nora Sakavic: This series is about a fictional sport called exy. Yes, that’s right, I’m recommending you books about a sport. Exy is sort of like lacrosse, but like better, more aggressive, and more drama. The series is about the main character, Neil Josten, who is on the run from his mob boss dad. Neil finds solace in exy and is actually not that bad at it. He goes to college, joins the Palmetto State Foxes exy team, and it’s all uphill (downhill?) from there. This series has unforgettable characters, lots of drugs and violence (don’t read if that triggers you), lots of gay, and lots of exy. For a book series about a sport, All for the game is amazing and I recommend it to everyone looking for a binge read. Note: I’ve heard physical copies are hard to find, but the ebook version is available through the kindle app and probably other places too.

||YA Fantasy||

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas: oooooookay here we go. This series makes me weep just thinking about it, that’s how much I love it. I don’t think I’ve ever read anything that just hit me. so. hard. So many emotions. The series follows Celaena Sardothein, an assassin, and essentially her journey to becoming herself. Vague, I know, but I seriously cannot give anything away. SJM’s worldbuilding is next level and her characters are probably my favorite aspect of any and all of her books. I’ll also recommend her A Court of Thorns and Roses series here for the same reasons even though it’s been rebranded as “new adult fantasy.” Celaena is probably my favorite main character of all time, and I cannot fully express how much her story means to me. Throne of Glass is easy to follow and great for getting into the fantasy genre if it’s something you’ve never read before. Please give these books a try, I am begging you.

The Remnant Chronicles by Mary E. Pearson: The first book of this trilogy easily has one of the most shocking plot twists I have ever read. If that doesn’t pique your interest, I don’t know what will. Sorry. The Remnant Chronicles is a sort of milder fantasy than Throne of Glass, but fantasy nonetheless and super underrated. I’d recommend this series to people who enjoy stories about the politics of fantasy worlds, romance, and friendship. I let my little sister read my copies and she got through them in less than a week (I think) and could not stop raving about them.

The Raven Cycle by Maggie Steifvater: I think magical realism is a better genre for these books, but I’m putting them here under YA fantasy anyway. Fight me. Above anything else, you will fall in love with these characters. Set in Virginia, the Raven Cycle is honestly strange (in a good way) and tells the story of a group of friends’ quest to find some sleeping Welsh king. While the series is mostly about finding that damn king, there is a healthy amount of romance, swearing, clairvoyance, yogurt, latin, and all around good times. Steifvater’s writing style is unique, and with that it is admittedly a bit difficult to get into at first. But please stick with it! I promise it’s worth it! One of my favorite series ever, highly recommend.

||Short Stories||

Here is a list of short stories I enjoy. Not gonna do a whole synopsis for each, but take my word for it and pls read them.

-Tall Tales from the Mekong Delta by Kate Braverman

-Two Kinds by Amy Tan

-The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

-Jealous Husband Returns in Form of Parrot by Robert Olen Butler

-The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin

-Girl by Jamaica Kincaid

-The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe

-The Secret Goldfish by David Means

-The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

-A Temporary Matter by Jhumpa Lahiri

-The Cavemen in the Hedges by Stacey Richter

-The Bad Graft by Karen Russell

-Eveline by James Joyce

I hope these recommendations are helpful in contributing to your summer reading and on-going TBR list. This is probably not what you were expecting when you simply asked “book recommendations?” but here you go. Happy reading, whoever you are.

#Book Recommendations #nonfiction #fiction #ya #ya fiction #ya fantasy #fantasy #scifi #short story #historical fiction #books #tbr #summer reading #books recs #anon #trc #tog #acotar #aftg

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fallingin-like · 5 years

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an aftg fanfic appreciation post

the other day at work i saw something about fanfiction writer appreciation day and told myself “ah i will make a post when i get home” and immediately Did Not Do That. so i’m doing it now! first, thank you to everyone who writes fanfiction! it’s such an honour to be able to read your writing and i am so grateful to the writers who spend so much time and effort into creating these stories. i do not deserve such amazing content and yet i have it. also thanks to nora for this wonderful series which has changed my life in so many ways.

these are in no particular order. i really tried to tone down my ‘i love you so much and really want to be friends with you’ vibe but i don’t think it worked. this is a super long post and i still didn’t get to say everything i wanted to.

some fics/series that need more love (aka they have under 350 kudos)

to the south by Morcai - this is a series (never to be caught and secret, safe, close to the door) that was really cool to read. it has elements of the Iskryne Series which i don’t know anything about, but apparently has to do with bondwolves. basically, neil has a wolfbrother who he can speak to telepathically which is written in a really unique way, through interesting phrases and scent-based nicknames for people. i’ve never read anything like these fics and i adore them

all that we see or seem by rorschachs - an inception au. need i say more? this fic flows well, has good use of flashbacks, and an amazing ending. it’s ~23,000 words but feels like much less due to nice pacing and an interesting take on this au

Travelers by @sunrise-and-death - a series (Placeless Destination and Moving Towards) that’s a soulmate au. soulmates can interact through a pyschic bond that allows it to seem like the other person is there with them. neil and andrew meet when they are young and it’s so interesting seeing them get to know each other at this age. we also get to see some neil/mary angst and all of the terrible things happen to andrew. an intense series that manages to feel light-hearted at the same time. the second fic in this series is incomplete

atlas by @purearcticfire / @pipedream-truths - a magic au that features shapeshifters and a cursed neil, so immediately you know i’ll like it. this fic has some cool uses of italics, caps, spacing, etc. that creates a stylized story that helps build tone and gives the story a clearer voice. unfortunately, i can’t tell too much detail about my favourite parts because it they are *ultra spoilers* so i’ll just say, it gets so intense at the end. just trust me about this. ao3 says it’s incomplete (4/5 chapters) but it seems complete to me. also, at ~72,000 words, it’s a pretty hefty fic

Golden Keys and Gray Lines by @wouldyoulightmycandle - just a feel-good post-canon fic that involves a road trip, an ice cream museum, and a bit of Working Through Rough Times. super cute! this fic is incomplete

some authors i just really love and appreciate (you probably already know them and if you don’t then idk what you’re doing)

all of these writers have serious talent that make it look easy to write fanfiction. it’s not easy. you guys have all of my love. all of it.

@nakasomethingkun / ephemeralsky - basically i just see their name and automatically click the fic without bothering to fully read the tags or summary. they have never let me down and i adore the way they write. everything they write is an easy read and i always come back to their fics. i was going to mention my favourites and then i realized i was going to list everything they’ve written for aftg and i’m not even kidding. funny, angst, fluff, everything you could want in a fic they have it. so so good i actually don’t know how to describe it. their fics break my heart and then put it back together a little bit different so that even after i am finished reading and continue with the rest of my life, i feel different. they make me hurt in a way i didn’t know that i could like. this quality of fic has me scrolling back to the top to reread it the second i finish. what in the world they’re so good.

@annawrites / moonix - 50 aftg fics. that’s actually crazy. and all of them are so high quality and there is such a variety. flower shop/tattoo parlor au? one of my favourite series ever. high school au? of course it includes 4 fully complete fics. shapeshifter au? amazingly done. scott pilgrim vs the world au? so good that i went out and watched the movie for the first time (i am not even joking). i was looking through all the fics and just started rereading them, i just can’t help myself. they describe everything in a way that makes their stories unique, but doesn’t seem like they’re trying too hard. or at all. their fics flow so well and every sentence is a gem. i read and reread so carefully to make sure i don’t miss a thing, but always find myself catching new jokes and quirks.

@lolainslackss / lolainslackss - i really don’t know where to start. once again, i just really love all of their fics. i started scrolling through their works too see if i had a favourite and could not even choose a top 5. their writing is so beautiful i can’t get enough. they always choose the best things to include. selective mutism and sign language? that’s a sure way into my heart. the suit shop au is adorable and pining andrew really is best andrew. i found exycast surprisingly late in my fanfiction reading and that is a real tragedy because it’s amazing and really cute. the soulmate timer fic is an old favourite and if i’m looking for angst, i know i can pull it up.

@gluupor / gluupor - an absolute legend. with 54 fics for aftg, it’s amazing that all of them are outrageously funny, entertaining, and just really well written. a lot of them are fics adapted as an au for other fandoms (like their super popular brooklyn 99 au that i absolutely adore) and they are all hilarious. it’s so fun to search for familiar quotes or realize how similar characters from different fandoms are to the foxes and the quirks they share. these are fics that will definitely cheer you up. i love their sense of humour, it fits the characters so well and helps to shape the world they’re writing in. it’s always exciting to see them publish a new fic.

@idnis / idnis - they have a really unique writing style, i’ve never seen anything like it in this fandom. every story has so much care and love in it that’s evident through the small details that you only pick up through rereading. their stories are stylized with spaces and formatting that help guide the reader and adds to the tone of their stories. i fell so in love with their cat!neil. they write such interesting stories, have original plots, and their fics read like poetry. before you know it, you’ve finished the fic without realising you should have gone to bed an hour ago. they also have some amazing original work that everyone should go check out!

@badacts / badacts - so recently a lot of their fics were made visible to ao3 users only (a shame in my opinion) so if you haven’t read their fics, go make an account! or log into your account! you really don’t want to miss these fics. they have a kid fic where both andrew and neil are baby versions of themselves so it’s obviously one of the best things ever. they who made you/they made me too is so good even the title is enough to make me feel. there’s introspection and realization and it’s from aaron’s perspective. i love seeing the twinyards bond. and, of course we have to mention the terra firma series because i love injured!neil and this one hits me in a different way. i love the way the abrupt transition into injury for neil and being able to experience the confusion and not knowing what’s happening with him.

iaquilam - they have posted 2 fics for aftg and they are some of my favourites in this fandom. this has amazing characterization, neil and andrew and everyone feel so real and so true and i love them. a mouthy, raven neil is one of the best types of neil. they write from andrew’s perspective and i cannot believe have well they capture him and his thoughts. quotes that have stuck with me “there’s more than one way of getting what you want”, “’he hurts,’ kevin says. ‘it hurts”, “you will be afraid and you will do it anyway”, and “to keep living. until i don’t”. also i think that andrew with synesthesia in where everything is good fits so perfectly. the idea that andrew has something so unique ahh i love. “your voice was the first blue one i ever saw” makes everything around me go quiet.

@jemejem / jemejem - first of all i am really loving the radio show ficlet that’s being posted on tumblr. i’m a sucker for breakup fics, especially cheating fics (because i need angst) so only was the find of the century. it’s a fic where no matter how many times i’ve read it, i still feel gutted and achy reading it. their recent fic, the sound, was really interesting and i loved the later chapters so much but can’t share because of *spoilers*

undertow - okay so they also only have 2 aftg fics but oh my goodness they are so good. tenuous is one of my most reread fics, i love the concept, interactions between all the characters, how i feel like i’m there with them, and their descriptions. one of my favourite lines are “The sink turns on; water smacks against the bottom of its metallic basin. It feels—well. It just feels.” ugh i don’t know why i like it so much i just do. it fits so perfectly. and i can totally imagine kevin and neil being super petty in their love song writing, this fic is such a contrast to the other one and yet still so good.

@broship-addict / broship_addict - kid!au! oh my goodness ice cream au! ahh they’re so good at writing cute fluff that has such good characterization that they’ve adapted perfectly into whatever au they have written. and at the same time impulse hit me in a different kind of way. what a joy to read, i love witnessing the ways that andrew and neil come together in all of their fics. also i really can’t not mention their amazing artwork. so grateful to have them contributing so much to this fandom

@unkingly / vicariously kingly - bless these fics. i don’t know anyone that doesn’t love a good de-aged neil fic and this really does The Most for that trope. also can i just say that callboy!neil was a thing i didn’t know i needed in my life but now i don’t know how i lived without it. also mermaid!neil?? yes please. i adore the way they write andriel. their fics are angsty and never fail to make me feel something, often a little bit raw in a good way. latchkey child wrecked me. i felt like i had been scraped clean and felt a little bit off for the remaining night and day after. Say Golden, Pony Boy was eerie and just the right amount of mysterious. i was left feeling unsettled in my own home. these fics have delightful endings that leave you satisfied and yet wanting more all the same

@spanglebangle / spanglebangle - i really really cannot get over sunshine and moonlight. it’s such a soft version of neil and andrew’s relationship, i love the direction that was taken and how the boys grew and the changes because they found each other. i love the quote “you like the big gestures and ridiculous things i say. i’m in your head, remember, i know it makes you feel wanted” fox!neil is really so adorable and pure, but also feisty and protective and funny. i would love to see more of this fic. also the elementary au is everything to me. there’s a lot of content and it keeps me interested, but i especially love the later chapters with everything surrounding neil and then even later with andrew wrestling with his feelings. so well written.

@hopingforcoordinates / crazy_like_a - if you haven’t read their fics then ?? i really don’t know what to say since they wrote 3 of the top 5 fics with the most kudos in this fandom. and if you have read their work then we both know why they are being mentioned. i have fallen in love with their take on raven!neil. their writing style feels so simple and natural, which is a real talent. if you’re looking for a more explicit post-canon fic, then lessons is great, just make sure nobody is reading over your shoulder hah

@fuzzballsheltiepants / fuzzballsheltiepants - the iconic a mewment like this series is so funny, sweet, and angsty and features The Cats which is always a good sign. in particular, i loved the conversation about mark rothko and all of the art they looked at in the 6th fic. i don’t know what counts as spoilers so i’ll say thank goodness for neil ‘oblivious’ josten, trivia nights, and the good bad jokes that made this series such an enjoyable read. similarly, you can’t go wrong with the angst that’s sure to come with a fic where andrew gets hurt and doesn’t remember who neil is. or at least, this fic definitely went the opposite of wrong.

and i really cannot make this post without mentioning the mind-blowing collabs of lolainslackss and moonix to create dating & other disasters and of moonix and gluupor to write No Place Like Home (incomplete). i literally don’t even have words for how excited i was for when i heard of these fics. these collabs are too powerful for this world and if you haven’t read them then i guess you don’t want to enjoy yourself.

as well, additional thanks from this little ace baby to everyone who writes ace!neil or demi!neil. you guys have a special place in my heart.

i tried to find everyone’s tumblr but obviously didn’t succeed. please tag them if i missed them or tagged the wrong account. thanks! i also did not take the time to research pronouns/names so i refer to everyone as ‘they/them’. i know some of the right pronouns/names but it felt wrong to have some of them and not the rest. some of my comments might seem incoherent or repetitive. my apologies for all of this.

also if you go to my ao3 and see that it’s a little bare/notice that i never comment just know that it’s because i am *ultra lazy* and most of the time i cannot be bothered to log into my account. probably commented as raelle instead. or just ‘a’ because i really am That Lazy. or i’m planning on writing an essay for your fic but haven’t gotten around to it and i’m just drafting it in my head every time i reread.

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whatistylerwatching · 4 years

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Hello all my fellow people out there in cyberspace. My name is Tyler and you’re watching what I’m watching. Today we review my most recently finished season or series. Which in this instance is Amazon Prime’s Upload. Since this is my first review let me lay the groundwork for my reviews. We have 4 criteria on a show to get a grade and see if it gets a recommendation.

1.) Story

2.) Characters

3.) Visual Design

4.) Overall Enjoyment

Each criteria is worth 25 possible points

25 - Perfect

20 - Great

15 - Good

10 - Okay

5 - Not Good

0 - Bad

So let’s dive deep into Lakeview

1.) The Story

“In 2033, humans are able to "upload" themselves into a virtual afterlife of their choosing. When computer programmer Nathan dies prematurely, he is uploaded to the very expensive Lake View, but soon finds himself under the thumb of his possessive, still-living girlfriend Ingrid. As Nathan adjusts to the pros and cons of digital heaven, he bonds with Nora, his living customer service rep, or "Angel". Nora struggles with the pressures of her job, her dying father who does not want to be uploaded, and her growing feelings for Nathan while slowly coming to believe that Nathan was murdered.” Quoting Wikipedia. So I think this premise is actually very interesting. Think about how much media focuses on how technology improves the life of the living and doesn’t focus on really a digital afterlife. However if I can be nit-picky, there are some story details that are dropped and picked up as the series progresses. I’m not gonna spoil anything until we get to overall enjoyment, but just know the story is, overall okay at worst. Score: 20

2.) The Characters

Our main protagonist is played by Robbie Amell who is better known as Fred Jones from the made for tv live action Scooby Doo movies, The DUFF and as the mail carrier in True Jackson VP, wait excuse me

*Hold on*

Well I’ll be damned it is him. Back on track I do think he did a decent job as Nathan, I just wish he got to do more in all honesty so that Nathan actually had more of a character

Our other protagonist is Nora Antony, played by Andy Allo, who you may know from Pitch Perfect 3 and Chicago Fire. Andy played this character amazingly and I thoroughly enjoyed the character of Nora and think she was the best character overall by far. Good on you Allo, I hope to see you in more shows and movies.

We also have Ingrid Kannerman, Nathan’s girlfriend played by Allegra Edwards, who did great I think playing Ingrid. She plays a prissy bitch who is deeper than she lets on and I know we’ll see more of her in the future but here she does great

Zainab Johnson as Aleesha is tied for my favorite character in the whole show. She’s that one person you always want in your corner and is such a bubbly personality and I love her.

Finally for the main cast we have Kevin Bigley as Luke. All I can really say is, meh. He’s the comic relief character who I think could have been handled so much better. No shade onto the actor, we’ll get to why in a moment.

However shout out to Elizabeth Bowen for being my other favorite character, Fran Booth, the detective cousin, shame she wasn’t around more.

Score: 15

#3.) Visual Design

Honestly I cannot praise the teams enough for the visual design. Everything from the scenery to the backdrops, lighting and it was handled very well. In the virtual world there is so much brightness and in the real world shots there’s a sense of grit and despair that contrast well to the show’s story. Score: 25

#4.) Overall Enjoyment

*SPOILER ALERT*

*THIS IS THE SECTION WHERE I CAN DISCUSS ANYTHING, SPOILER WARNING IF YOU WANT TO WATCH THE SHOW THROUGH AND THEN COME BACK*

*LAST WARNING, OKAY HERE WE GO*

So did I enjoy Upload? Well, maybe. You see my problem with the series is one thing. Number one is the script. You see when you look up this show online, it calls it a Sci-Fi Comedy, problem is that it’s not a comedy. While comedy is a necessary ingredient to keep a story this heavy from dragging the audience down, it wasn’t handled the best. Luke was a generic character with some quirks but nothing that made me laugh. That’s the thing is that I was more entranced with the romance between Nathan’s Murder and Nathan and Nora’s relationship than anything else. However I feel like neither one gets fulfilled to any real extent in the end. For the first half the whole murder story is played as a joke until halfway through, same with the romance. Also what is with all the damn sex scenes. I know this show is rated TV-MA, but Jesus. And that’s all in the first half, so there’s this tonal whiplash between episode 4 and 5 that is weird to me. I don’t blame any of the actors for any of this, I feel with a more consistent script it could have been better. I mean the concept is stupendous, how do you make that the most different part. Although as a sci-fi romance show, it actually has some appealing traits. It shows the pros and cons of a world corrupted by greed, App Store physics and micro transactions brought to a real life setting. It really is a good cautionary tale on technology and greed and that I can get behind whole heartedly. I just don’t understand the failed attempts at humor, maybe it’s just a me thing I don’t know. Also that finale was unsatisfactory in more ways than I can describe through text. Score: 15

Overall Score: 75/100 - Good

Recommendation: Watch It If You Want

TV System Rank: TV-MA (17+)

Services: Amazon Prime Exclusive

Release Day: May 1 2020

So I do recommend Upload to those who want to watch it. While I don’t think it was a pinnacle of a series that most hold it to be, I can say that I don’t regret watching Upload. Lucky me this show’s getting a Season 2, and thank god because if it got cancelled after one season (a la AJ and the Queen style), then Oh boy there’d be a different tone to this whole thing. That ending was not satisfying, just putting that out there now.

If you have watched Upload, feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments. Feel free to leave me some recommendations what to watch next and I’ll take them into account. Until next time, thank you for reading

#upload #review #tv review #amazon prime

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imjustthemechanic · 5 years

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Glockenspiel

Part 1/? - Transmission Part 2/? - The Sandhill Hotel Part 3/? - Piccadilly Part 4/? - The Future Part 5/? - Too Late Part 6/? - The Mystery of the Missing Time Machine Part 7/? - Underway Part 8/? - The Sierra Bunker Part 9/? - Cross-Country Part 10/? - The Pit Part 11/? - Calls for Help Part 12/? - Campout and Reunion Part 13/? - Apocalypse Bunker Part 14/? - Terrible Truths

Peggy felt like the bottom was falling out of the world as she re-examined everything they had learned in the past few days. They’d been searching for a clue they would leave themselves when they got back to 1948… but if the machine weren’t for time travel, then they couldn’t go back, and couldn’t possibly leave themselves anything. No wonder they’d had nothing but dead ends.

It explained other things, too. “That’s why nobody noticed we were missing,” Peggy realized. “We didn’t go anywhere. We stayed right there on the platform and went on to live the rest of our lives… maybe we never did find out what the damned thing does! And it’s why I’d never heard of you when you called me,” she added, to Toulouse.

“Exactly!” said Howard. “And it doesn’t matter if we recaptured Zola or not, because they reconstructed him the same way. So when they’re looking for die Glocke…”

“Smith said the Glocke crystal!” said Peggy. “HYDRA encoded it before they collapsed the mine at Wenceslaus, so all they’d need was the crystal to retrieve it later.”

“So they can set off a supervolcano and destroy the United States?” asked Kevin.

“That is pretty out there even for HYDRA,” Howard admitted.

“But until we have more information we’re going to have to assume the worst,” said Peggy. She frowned and looked over at the row of freezers. “What are these, though? They’re clearly failures of some sort…” Had Zola tried to encode himself multiple times before it actually worked?

“Maybe a crystal was damaged,” Howard suggested. “I won’t know unless I can examine another machine.”

“What is it doing here, though?” Toulouse wailed. “I mean… who put it here?”

Peggy sighed. There was only one possible answer to that, and she was sure Toulouse already knew it. She just didn’t want to admit it. “Well…” she began.

Toulouse hunched over and put her head in her hands. “It’s Daddy, isn’t it? It’s got to be. Why? He always says we need to help people when disasters happen! He doesn’t go around causing them!”

Peggy wondered for a moment whether he did. Maybe the best way to build up his reputation as a helper was to know exactly what was needed because he knew what earthquake, what flood, what storm was coming ahead of time. She wasn’t going to say that to Toulouse, though, not yet. She knelt down in front of where the young woman was sitting and took her hand.

“I wish I had an answer for you, my dear,” she said. “I don’t know why people do these sorts of things. Sometimes I suppose a desire for power or wealth or control just utterly overwhelms their common sense.” When these things happened Peggy rarely had an opportunity to sit and think about why. Why was never as important as what and how to stop it. She squeezed Toulouse’s fingers. “Let’s go get some fresh air, shall we? I think we’ve seen what we need to see in here.”

“Okay,” Toulouse said quietly.

There was a very uncomfortable silence in the elevator as they went back up again. Toulouse had her head bowed, staring at the floor, and Peggy, Kevin, and Howard all tried not to make eye contact with each other. They were all trying to digest the implications of the situation… or maybe, Peggy thought, they were trying to avoid digesting them. She was pretty sure if she thought about this too hard she was going to start screaming. Instead, she needed to think about what to do next. How they’d gotten into this particular mess was, like the villain’s motives, not important right now. The world still needed saving, again, and Peggy would have to deal with that before she could worry about personal problems.

Once back on the main floor, they returned to the lobby. Toulouse paused, then told her companions, “wait here. I have to get my things sent down.”

She turned and walked towards the main desk with a purpose, and Peggy recalled that when they’d spoken to her on the phone, Toulouse had been in her car. After seeing what was in that basement bunker, she must have left the hotel at once, not even stopping to collect her luggage.

While Toulouse was talking to the concierge, a voice called out her nickname. “Ousie?”

Peggy saw Toulouse jump. She turned to look for the source, and caught Peggy’s eye, and Peggy saw all the colour drain from the other woman’s face. For a moment she was honestly afraid Toulouse would faint dead away right there.

Then, however, Toulouse took a deep breath and forced herself to smile – a horribly fake smile – and face to the man approaching her. “Cass!” she exclaimed, waving.

Peggy took Howard’s arm and backed away, trying to hide behind a large potted palm as Toulouse’s brother came to greet her. She wasn’t sure if she ought to be startled to recognize the man, but she was. Maybe it was the accent. He might have been difficult to describe, but when Peggy actually saw him there was no double – Toulouse’s brother Cass was Mr. Smith from the Sierra bunker.

“Ousie, I thought you were in Florida,” said Cass. He frowned in confusion as he looked in the direction she just had. Kevin quickly stepped in front of the potted palm and stuck his hands in his pockets as if he’d been loitering there the whole time.

“Perfect timing!” Toulouse grabbed Cass’ arm. “There’s somebody I need you to meet! Kevin, get over here!” She waved to him. “This is my brother Cass!”

With Cass’ attention focused on Kevin, Peggy and Howard were able to retreat into the doorway to the hotel bar. As soon as he got close enough, Toulouse took Kevin’s hand and dragged him around next to her, so Cass would have to face away from the bar.

“Cass,” Toulouse went on. “This is Kevin! He studies aliens.”

“Not quite,” said Kevin. “I study extremophiles that might be similar to extraterrestrial life within our own solar system.”

“But it sounds way cooler to say he studies aliens,” said Toulouse.

Cass looked from Kevin to Toulouse and back again. This was clearly not at all how he’d expected this confrontation to go. “Uh, hello,” he said to Kevin, and held out a hand. “Lancaster Smith.”

“That’s quite a name,” said Kevin, shaking it. “Kevin Tran.”

“Are you two…” Cass began.

Toulouse threw one arm around Cass’ shoulders and the other around Kevin’s. “This is brilliant,” she declared. “You picked the perfect time to show up. What time is it? We can all go get some lunch, and get to know each other better!”

“Yes, we can do that,” said Cass. He straightened up a bit. “I need to talk to you anyway, Ousie. I know a nice Vietnamese place at…”

“Oh, no thank you,” said Kevin, holding up a hand. “I don’t really like Vietnamese food.”

Cass frowned at him. “Isn’t Tran Vietnamese?” he asked.

“If you’d grown up eating my grandmother’s cooking, you wouldn’t like Vietnamese food, either,” Kevin told him.

Toulouse laughed – it sounded terribly hollow and false to Peggy, but Cass didn’t seem to notice. “Come on,” she said, hooking arm through one of Cass’. “We’ll just have regular old steak and potatoes, everybody likes that. Hold on to my bags, Nora!” she added, to the woman at the desk. “I’ll be back for them in a couple of hours!”

“Of course, Miss Sandhill,” said the concierge.

Peggy leaned against the bar doorway and sighed with relief as Toulouse dragged the two men out of the hotel. She was grateful to Toulouse for coming up with the distraction, but how long would she be able to keep up that cheerful front? What she’d seen in the bunker had affected her terribly, and knowing her brothers and father were involved in it couldn’t be doing her any good, either. What if she broke down completely in the middle of the meal?

It was a terribly helpless feeling to know that even if she did, Peggy could do nothing about it. She and Howard had to get out of this hotel before any more Sandhills or Smiths unexpectedly showed. They could arrange to meet Toulouse somewhere again later. For now, Toulouse and Kevin were on their own.

Peggy and Howard ended up eating at a burger place about a block from the hotel, looking out across the Vista Del Mar to the crowded beaches. Funny thing, Peggy thought… she’d been living in Los Angeles for months now, but she’d never actually been to a beach. She’d been too busy with SSR work to stop and enjoy herself.

“You realize what this means,” she said to Howard, as she poured vinegar from a little plastic packet over her French fries.

“Yeah,” he said. “There’s no time machine, and that means we’re not going back.”

Peggy nodded. All this time they’d been working towards the goal of getting back to their lives. Now they’d learned they had no lives to get back to. All those things Toulouse had read to them from her computer, about Peggy working and having children, about Howard getting married and dying in a car accident, none of that was going to happen to them.

“I could probably still build a time machine if I put my mind to it,” said Howard.

“But it wouldn’t do us any good if you did,” Peggy observed. “So what do we do instead?”

It wasn’t as if she really expected Howard to know. The question was almost more for herself, and she had no answer either – so his reply didn’t surprise her at all.

“Damned if I know, Peg,” he said. “Damned if I know.”

She took a bite of her burger and chewed thoughtfully. It had guacamole on it, and something called chipotle that turned out to be quite nicely spicy. Certainly better than the bland Brazilian food they’d had in Bakersfield. “Toulouse did say I have living family. If you were married, you might have children and grandchildren. Possibly great grandchildren.”

“Maybe,” said Howard. “You think they’d want to see us, though? Would you want your grandmother to walk through the door looking like she did in her twenties?”

“If the stories Grandpa used to tell us were anything to go by, she might have been able to – he always insisted she was a princess from the planet Mars,” said Peggy. “We’ve got a little time to decide, I suppose. I mean, we still have to figure out what to do about this situation with the machine and Zola and die Glocke. It’s only once we’ve done that when we have to figure out what to do with ourselves.”

“I guess so,” said Howard. “What are we going to do about it, though? We know now we didn’t leave ourselves any information, because the us in the past never knew we were going to exist.”

“No, they didn’t,” Peggy agreed, “and we also know why Toulouse couldn’t find any information on that machine with her computer. We were looking for time machine instead of matter copier.” She paused, chewing thoughtfully on her fry. “I wonder… if we looked again, what would we find?”

“Let’s find out,” said Howard.

They finished their lunches, and then headed back to the Best Buy where Toulouse had bought them mobile phones before their ill-fated trip to the Sierra bunker. It turned out that the money they had left was not enough to purchase a new one, but the shop did have some tablets with internet connections that customers were allowed to play with, attached by cords to the counter so they couldn’t be stolen. Howard picked one up and ran his fingers across the screen to get it started.

“Do you have any idea how to use that?” Peggy asked him, with one eyebrow raised.

“Give me some credit, Peg,” he replied. “You’re the one who called me one of the greatest minds of our generation!”

“I was flattering you into compliance,” said Peggy, “and we’re not in our generation anymore, now are we?”

“I figured out every piece of HYDRA technology they ever gave me, and those weren’t designed to be easy to use – these are,” Howard assured her. He tapped the picture of a lowercase ‘e’ and the images that represented access to the internet appeared – bringing with it a list of newspaper headlines and pictures. “Stark Industries…” he said, his fingers hovering over the image of a company logo.

“Focus, Howard,” said Peggy.

“Right. Sorry.” He tapped the search bar and found his way to the Wikileaks website. “So… SSR matter copier?”

“I haven’t the faintest idea anymore what we would call the thing,” Peggy said.

“Then that’s what I’ll use,” Howard decided.

After their earlier failures, Peggy rather doubted they’d find anything. It did take a couple of variations to find one that worked, but suddenly there it was – a list of documents all dating from the late forties and early fifties, dealing with a duplication machine. Peggy’s fingers were actually shaking as she reached past Howard to select one. The computer thought for a moment, or whatever it was these machines did, and then an error message came up.

“File corrupted,” said Howard with a frown.

Peggy didn’t know what that meant, but it clearly meant they couldn’t get at the document. “Try another,” she said.

They did – and then another and another. Only one worked, and that was a very brief memo with Peggy’s own signature at the bottom, noting that the duplication machine was to be dismantled and distributed among multiple storage sites, while some of the library crystals would remain with a civilian contractor for analysis and applications research.

“And of course when this all became public, it was child’s play for HYDRA to go collect the pieces of it,” Peggy observed.

“Not to mention messing up the documents so that nobody else could find the stuff,” Howard set the tablet down again. “One could be a problem with the machine, but all of them, that’s intentional. The good news, however, is I’m almost a hundred percent sure where the Glocke crystal is.”

“Are you, now?” asked Peggy. Looking at the smile on his face, she could guess.

“I am,” he replied. “Because who the hell is a ‘civilian contractor’ going to be, if not me?”

#fanfic #agent carter #peggy carter #howard stark

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shirtlesssammy · 6 years

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9x06: Heaven Can’t Wait

Guys, we’ve made it. This is hands down Boris’s favorite episode. I watch it as comfort food and I love every second of it. It’s also really gay, guys. I can never give this episode justice in this recap, but I love it so, so much.

Then:

How can anyone turn this face out of their home?

Now:

In Rexford, ID, in a secluded home, a distressed man is on the phone with a suicide hotline. The woman on the line is pleading with the man to listen to her and save his own life. He cuts the line, pulls his gun, and sees an old photo of what we can only assume is his mother and himself as a small child, and he stops, dropping the gun. He hears a noise. Another man appears and obliterates the man into a fine mist of pink goo.

Hello, Steve.

Cas is a Gas ‘n Sip attendant named Steve now. He’s wearing an adorable purple striped shirt and monitoring the locals on how to be human. He almost succeeds. #givesteveahighfive2k13 The newspaper man might not see how special and cool Steve is, but Nora, Steve’s boss, does. She’s late but knows that Steve is an overachieving gas station attendant. She wonders out loud, “Where have you been all my life?” And so begins the double story told this episode. Is he really a super attractive, responsible man this single mom has been waiting for or is he a super attractive, responsible employee this gas station manager has been looking for her whole life? “You’re not like the other sales associates. There’s something different about you.” He’s either gay or a former angel, amirite? Cas insists that he’s a completely regular human.

Cas then looks at the day’s newspaper: another unexplained disappearance.

Another reason I love this episode is because everyone is in it! At the bunker, Kevin lets Sam and Dean know that he just translated the angel tablet into doodles Elamite. The language is dead though. They need someone to translate it. Sam jumps right to research! SWOON. Dean is literally saved by the bell when his phone rings. It’s Cas.

He’s got a case, but he’s busy dealing with “The Big O Slush”. I SEE YOU SET DESIGN. Dean asks Cas how they want to do this, and Cas spills his slurpee everywhere.

Then he hangs up on Dean.

Dean takes off with barely a goodbye to Kevin and Sam. He doesn’t like research anyway.

Back in Rexford, Cas is busy trying to fix his halo. BRB, weeping.

Nora confronts him with a toothbrush and sleeping bag in the back of the store. Yeah, Steve pretends that he’s not living at the Gas ‘n Sip and tells Nora he’s been staying to work on inventory. MY HEART. “I wanted to be thorough with inventory, so I worked late last week, and taking a nap here was easier than going back home to my bed. Which I-I have, of course – a bed...and a home.” MY HEART.

File in Pain Library:

And now a story told two ways.

First time viewer Boris:

Nora asks Steve out on a date.

Subsequent viewer Boris:

I’m a monster to think she was asking her very responsible (but attractive!) subordinate employee out on a date. She’s asking this nice, responsible, gay man she trusts implicitly to babysit her child so she can go on a date!

Nora, dense humans and former angels do not understand subtle human conversation. (God, I’ve never identified more with Cas than when watching this scene.) Spell. It. Out. For. Him. Poor Cas doesn’t get it, and just wants to be human SO bad. He takes it as an invite for a date and accepts. Yay! Honest to God, before this moment, I very much doubt Cas has even thought about Nora as someone to have romantic feelings for.

Dean, meanwhile, shows up at the cold open crime scene. The sheriff shows him around the pink goo, all the while mentioning the other victims and how sad they all were.

He then checks in with Sam and Kevin, ALL THE WHILE STARING AT CAS WORKING AT THE GAS ‘N SIP. Like, holy hell, dude. I know you have a lot of angst for kicking him out of your home because you have a lot of angst for allowing an angel to possess your brother, but take it down a notch (please don’t). Dean suggests they ask Crowley (currently chained up in their dungeon) to help with the translations. Dean tells Sam about the case and Sam wonders if he should be there. Dean stutters his way through a shut down.

Cue Dean’s Theme Music, all weepy and melodic.

That boy is pining something bad. (Yeah, sorry, I just can’t read this episode any other way. Dean misses Cas, and Cas misses Dean. And Cas is pissed that Dean kicked him out of the bunker, but is so happy to see Dean, but so sad about being human. And there’s angst and a case to solve and fan fic gaps and trope after trope of goodness. SIGH.)

Cut to a very upset girl talking to her friend on her cell. Her boyfriend just broke up with her in front of everyone. She’s upset enough to admit to her friend, hyperbolically, “I could just die.” The man from the cold open appears and says, “I can help with that.” And turns her into a spray of pink goo.

At the Gas ‘n Sip, Steve is hard at work.

Dean arrives, asking for “some beef jerky and a pack of menthols.” (Is this canon that Dean smokes? Ugh. I hope he’s just being a doofus here.) Dean over compensates for his dickish move of kicking Cas out of the bunker (by being more of a dick and insulting Cas’s chosen career.). Cas acts like a jilted lover. Cas tells Dean, “When I fell to earth, I didn't just lose my powers. I – I had nothing.” CRYING NOISE. Ya know, even without his powers, he had a home, and family and then he was kicked out of that as well. Now he’s making his way on his own. He’s SO proud of himself.

At the bunker, Sam asks Crowley for a translation. He refuses. Sam accuses Abaddon of being scarier than Crowley, so Crowley crumples up a piece of paper to show Sam who’s really boss. Lol.

Dean continues to push Cas to help him on the hunt.

Cas is having none of it. He’s got to stock the shelves, and clean up the mess a patron left in the bathroom (blarf, just bail Cas, it’s not worth it.) (Sidenote: Cas mentioning how he failed at being an angel, ugh. I’m so glad for his self-worth arc in season 13.)

Nora’s interruption about the bathroom cleanup is so interesting. She confirms their “date” in front of Dean, but she doesn’t even ask who he is and why he’s been hanging out with Steve this whole time. Second viewing Boris’s MIND IS BLOWN. She doesn’t need an introduction because she (thinks she) knows exactly who he is. She confirms the evening’s plans because there’s nothing to hide when just confirming her babysitter for the night.

Dean shows his jealousy over Cas’s “date”, but he gets a call that there’s been another death. Cas reluctantly agrees to come along, but not before cleaning the bathroom. Lol.

At the scene of the crime, a very professionally dressed FBI and Steve the Gas ‘n Sip attendant arrive to investigate. While Cas looks on in shock and horror, Dean interviews the girl’s friend on the other end of the phone. “'Kind of bummed'?” “Like more bummed than when she got a "C" on a quiz, and... less bummed than when her parents split up. 'Kind of ... bummed.'” Lolol. Dean then looks for Cas and can’t find him. ALERT THE POLICE. Oh, he was just leaning against the Impala.

For Science:

Cas knows exactly what happened here.

For Science:

It seems that this is the work of the Rit Zien, a special angel that killed other angels past saving in Heaven. That’s their job. Seek out the pain filled angels and kill them. Only now on Earth, they can’t distinguish between real pain and normal human emotions.

Sidenote, I just paused my video and thought you would also like the view:

Dean insists they have to stop the rogue angel. Cas doesn’t think he’ll be any help. Dean doesn’t agree but accepts Cas’s wish to not get involved. He tells him to go on the date with Nora. But first, Cas needs a ride.

*Fan Fiction Gap #1*

While Cas is off living his normal life YAAAS QUEEN LIVE YOUR BEST LIFE, Sam confronts Crowley. Crowley offers to translate the Elamite as long as he gets a phone call. Kevin tries to convince Sam that this is a no good, very bad idea but they move forward anyway. Honestly, if Kevin were in charge this would be a much more boring show – but also with at least a couple fewer apocalypses.

Back with the Dean & Cas romcom, Dean drops Cas off at his date, then notices his unfortunate attire. (Somehow it's dark now? Did they go get some food?) He convinces Cas to take off his Gas 'n' Sip best and undo a button on his collar. (Boris: Tony Manero. Lol. No words. Just links. I mean, John Badham started directing Supernatural in season 9. Pfft. And “I can’t let you do this.” Really Dean? And that once over? Really Dean?) This is all fine and I'm not reading into this AT ALL.

Dean gives Cas his fifty cent guide to wooing women and sends him off on his date. All squealing innuendo aside, this is an incredibly sweet and sad moment. Dean has a tendency to try to save people from the hunting life. Sending Cas off on his date is more than just bro-bonding. It's Dean's way of protecting human Castiel. May he live far from the wars of Heaven, in the company of someone normal. (Boris: He wants Cas to succeed and be happy in the world--it’s just sad that he doesn’t recognize that Cas is happiest around him.)

Cas, that Casanova, snips a rose and waves Dean away so he can make his move. (Boris: Does Dean really watch his Disney Princess friend prick his finger on a rose thorn?) Unfortunately, once Cas gets inside he finds out that he's been asked over to babysit while his boss heads out on a date. Cas sulkily buttons up his collar again.

Crowley meets with Sam and Kevin, and demands Kevin's blood in exchange for the information. He then proceeds to have an embarrassingly bureaucratic exchange with Hell's switchboard as he waits to be connected with Abaddon.

Meanwhile, Castiel's surprise babysitting gig is going super awesome. And by “super awesome” I mean terrible because baby Tanya starts to cry uncontrollably. Cas picks her up and snuggles her as he sings Joey Scarbury's “Believe it or not” - the theme song for the The Greatest American Hero. (Boris: Ah, at some point during his many channel surfing moments Cas stumbled upon --or Dean showed him--The Greatest American Hero, and I kind of want to curl up into a ball for Cas right now. He’s thinking about that magical suit, about how it could make him fly again and give him his super strength back.) Reader, you may be pleased to know that while Cas can do many things, he cannot sing. It does briefly assuage baby Tanya and he tries to set her down. Tanya's not having any of that shit and starts crying immediately.

Dean gets a call from the Sheriff on one of the crime scenes. It turns out the wife died, but the husband is still out running around somewhere.

Cas has a heart to heart with Tanya. “Nobody told you. Nobody explained. You're just shoved out kicking and screaming into this human without any idea why any of it feels the way it feels. Or why this confusion which feels like it's a hair's breadth from terror or pain. You know, just when you think you do understand it'll turn out that you're wrong. You didn't understand anything at all.” Cas notices that Tanya's a bit feverish.

At the police station, Dean goes over the missing man's case file and finds a picture of the annoying truck which tried to park him in outside of Cas's babysitting gig. He races off.

Cas opens the door to bring feverish Tanya to the hospital and sees the missing man. It's Ephram, an angel. Ephram tells Cas that he's come to wash the planet clean of suffering and he's at baby Tanya's house to...take care of Cas. Oh, Cas! (Boris: Cas is suffering as a human so much that the Rit Zien wants to kill him. Don’t touch me.)

In the comic relief portion of the episode, Crowley's still on hold with Hell (and Sam is getting antsy). Abaddon finally connects to Crowley, blood bubbling on the tabletop.

At the house, Cas grabs the rose from his failed wooing attempt and bloodies up his palm while Ephram monologues about how Castiel's pain allowed him to find him. “Earth can be a hard place but these humans, they can do better. They're just doing the best they can.” Ephram is entirely unimpressed by this argument. He used to admire Cas but now Cas is playing such a small game as to be essentially unnoticed on the scale of Heaven. While Ephram smugly talks about Cas, Castiel tries to draw an angel banishing sigil on the double doors. Ephram catches him and breaks his wrist.

Abaddon tells Crowley she's taking souls early, destroying Crowley's contracts. Crowley's getting pissed. He chews her out about her method of controlling Hell and she tells him that she's dismantling everything. When the phone call ends, Crowley demands the translations. “I keep my agreements,” he says, still nettled by Abaddon's destruction of his carefully crafted soul agreements. He reads it and finds that the spell Metatron did was irreversible. Angels running around Earth is the new world order.

Ephram asks Cas if he intends to live as an angel or a man? Speaking of men, Dean barrels into the house, angel blade at the ready, only to get chucked across the room.

Ephram starts to super zap Castiel when Dean slides his angel blade over to Cas, who kills Ephram with one quick strike.

Later, Cas leaves Nora’s house (with everything put to rights, body disposed of, and Tylenol administered for Tanya's fever) and Nora tells him that, the part of him “that cares so much. That's what makes [him] special.” TRUTH. (Boris: Nora’s continued appreciation of Steve warms me to no end.)

Sam's cleaning up from the phone call when he notices that a syringe is missing. He walks in to find Crowley injecting himself with human blood...

The next morning (cough fan fiction gap cough) Dean drops Cas off at the Gas 'n Sip. He apologies for telling Cas to leave, but that he's proud of what Cas has done with his life.

Cas worries, thinking he should help the angels. “You're human now. It's not your problem anymore.” (Boris: Dean’s speech at the end of this episode is kind of like the first part in a trilogy. He continues it in 11x23, and well, the final part has yet to be seen. He’s proud of Cas. He’s family. He’s like a brother. He means more to Dean that he’s able to voice. I hate you show.)

Cas heads inside to open up the store, turning to a news story that talks about the massive meteor fall – a.k.a. the angels falling. He stares outside contemplatively.

What are quotes? Baby don’t quote me, don’t quote me no more:

Oh, well, hello to you too, Cas.

You're not like the other sales associates.

We're not keeping him chained up for the one liners.

This is Cas, in case you forgot, he’s not exactly Chatty Cathy.

You’re special.

Good day, ma’am, and good luck!

Wow. So you went from fighting … heavenly battles to nuking taquitos?

You’re the best.

And you’re a hunter in training, remember?

But as what, Castiel? As an angel? or a man?

Want to read more? Check out our Recap Archive!

#spn recap #spn rewatch #spn 9x06 #heaven can't wait #dean winchester #castiel #cas #sam winchester #kevin tran #crowley #abaddon #supernatural season 9

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irarelypostanything · 5 years

Text

Slice of Life[3]

[Nora]

Nora finished the coding interview question in roughly three minutes, but she still felt a little bit blindsided.

“Congratulations, that works perfectly.”

“But WHY?”

“Why what?”

“Why would you ask me to do this?”

On the whiteboard was C++ code that inverted a binary tree. It was easy as fuck. It was just one line different than traversing a tree normally, and it didn’t take her a whole lot of time to figure out the difference.

“We just wanted to assess your abilities.”

“And is this a...warm-up?”

“Nope, that’s the whole thing. Congratulations again.”

Nora just stood there for a little while, whiteboard marker still in hand. “I just inverted a binary tree on a whiteboard. Does that indicate to you that I will be a good fit for your company?”

“Surprisingly, yes. This question is literally the best metric we have devised.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

They stood there for a little while, looking at each other.

“So what do I wear on Monday?”

[Dan]

The entire meeting room was full of engineers intimidated by Dan, in spite of the fact that Dan was a tiny Asian dude who looked like he could be knocked out by a single punch from a 90-year-old drunken man with a walking problem. His height said two things about him: That he was special in a not-good sort of way, and something I’d rather not say.

“I want to know which of you limp dick pieces of shit is applying to other companies.”

One engineer he hated (Dan hated all of his engineers, but this one he hated especially) started to say something, then stopped.

“Spit it out, you fuck. Who is it?”

“N-N-Nora, probably?”

“Ah, so you’re selling out Nora. Nora is ten times more loyal than any of you treacherous Indeed-easy-applying douche bags will ever be.”

The hated engineer showed Dan his phone. “Look at her status: ‘Started my first day at a new job in San Francisco today.’ Hashtag livelovelaugh. Hashtag girlswhocode. Hashtag MondayMartinis.”

“Holy shit,” said Dan.

“I liked and shared the photo. That’s cool, right?”

“All of you, clear the room. I need to make a personal call.”

Nora did not respond to Dan’s first or second or third call. He decided to text her, instead.

How could you, he texted her. How could you leave?

Better pay, she texted back, almost immediately, better salary, less toxic atmosphere, more fun projects.

Oh okay, Dan texted, I guess that’s fine then.

Funny, texted Nora, I didn’t pick up because I thought you would be mad.

I am extremely mad, texted Dan, it is just very difficult to convey my rage without screaming.

[Ryan]

“This is, without question, the worse code I have ever seen,” said Ryan. Ryan and Kevin were in a conference room. On the projector was an incomprehensible mess of nondescriptive variable names, pointers to pointers to pointers, and comments written to the tune of this line of code is never called, and if it was called it definitely would not work.

“It gets worse,” said Kevin, “just look at this next function.”

Kevin scrolled down on the computer they were projecting. Underneath that was a bunch of incomprehensible 0x values.

“For the love of all that is good and holy,” said Ryan, “What twisted abomination of a human would write something like this?”

“I don’t think it was written by a human,” said Kevin, “I think it was written by some rogue automated script turning against its creator as a final act of vengeance.”

“I can fix this,” said Ryan.

“Really?”

“I’ll refactor the whole thing. We don’t know what it’s trying to do but we know what it’s supposed to do. That will save a lot of time.”

“But they asked us to fix the code.”

“And I’ll fix it. By rewriting it. All of it.”

“How long do you think it will take you?”

Ryan checked his watch. The time was 1PM.

“How many lines is this file, again?”

“In spite of everything it says in the coding standards, 1000.”

“What time do you usually hit the gym?”

“2:30. I return at 4.”

Ryan looked at the code, then looked at Kevin.

“When you get back, I will have all the code rewritten.”

When Kevin returned at 4, all test cases were passed by a mere 220 lines of Ryan’s code.

#short story #fiction

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fuzzballsheltiepants · 6 years

Text

Falling

If you haven’t read the whole All For the Game trilogy, don’t read this fic until you have (and seriously, what are you waiting for?!?!). It’s a scene from The King’s Men from Andrew’s point of view, inspired in part by an ask Nora answered. @catastrophicallyinlovewithbooks @wayfaringbibliophile @snaps7 I think you guys were interested in this one

“Thank you. You were amazing.”

The words were innocent and mundane enough to not merit a second thought, despite Allison’s idiotically gleeful reaction. It was the bleak finality in the tone, the soft good-bye in Neil’s eyes, that set Andrew’s teeth on edge. Why now, why here?

Before he could push Neil against the wall, before he could force the answers out of him, the security guard turned and Wymack gestured for them to follow. Andrew lined up right behind Neil, training his eyes on the back of his head. He could get what he needed on the bus.

The rowdy crowd barely registered, until a bottle came winging over. Andrew tracked it in his peripheral vision as it hit Aaron in the shoulder; at his brother’s curse he glared into the crowd, daring whoever threw it to try again. More debris followed, all narrowly missing the team before the pigs appeared, yelling at the crowd and starting to muscle their way between the fans and the Foxes. Then a cooler flew over Dan and knocked down a Palmetto State fan and all hell broke loose.

The surge of bodies forced the team apart, the Binghamton and Palmetto State fans throwing wild punches and not caring who was caught in the crossfire. Andrew was nearly swept under by several larger men, and he punched and kicked his way free, deciding against pulling his knives as he didn’t want the jail time. Kevin, he had to find Kevin; the man could brawl on the court but was useless off of it. Finally, he ducked under a swinging arm and saw Kevin, standing white-faced on the fringes of the fray as usual, no doubt cataloguing his teammates’ injuries. Abby was next to him, but nobody else Andrew recognized. He turned back to the brewing riot.

Matt’s head appeared briefly before snapping back as a punch landed on his jaw; he shook it off and ducked back in. Andrew stood up on his toes trying to find Aaron or Neil, but neither was visible. Landing a blow to the kidney of someone in a Bearcats shirt, he pushed his way through flailing bodies. He heard Allison’s indignant shriek echo above the noise, and caught a glimpse of her being yanked sideways before a flash of bright hair indicated Renee lighting into the fool who grabbed her.

Then there were sirens blaring and more lights flashing red and white, as ambulances and more pigs descended upon the scene. Just as Andrew heard police dogs begin to bark, there was a blinding blow to the side of his head that nearly took him off his feet. He reflexively grabbed the arm that had hit him and twisted up and back; as the torso dropped in front of him he swept out with his heel, hooking the ankles and dropping the grunting man to his knees. A fist to the back of the neck had the man sprawling, and Andrew stepped over him, blinking against the white spots in the side of his vision. There was a crashing of batons against shields, then the unmistakable whiff of pepper spray followed by wailing from whatever idiot got in the line of the spray.

As the cops began to get a handle on the chaos, Andrew heard his name being yelled and turned to see Nicky waving an arm over the simmering crowd. He began elbowing his way towards him. The density of people thinned and he heard Nicky yell, “Neil! Hey, Coach, have you seen Neil?” He moved faster.

The team was clustered near where the fight had started. A cop stood on the fringe talking to Wymack. Matt looked the worst for wear; Renee, cradling her arm against her body, wasn’t far behind him. Kevin appeared untouched, and Dan, Nicky and Aaron weren’t too bad off. Nicky looked like he wanted to pull Andrew into a hug but refrained. “Andrew, where’s Neil?”

Andrew shook his head and turned to start searching but Abby blocked his path. “Andrew, let me look at you.”

“No.”

He pushed past her, and heard Wymack mutter, “Let him go, Abby.” Footsteps sounded just behind him; he didn’t turn to see who it was. The crowd had thinned out drastically but there were still enough people to block one smallish man from easy view. Andrew turned to see if at least it was one of the taller people who had followed; it was Kevin.

“Do you see him?” Andrew asked.

Kevin paused from craning to see over the people around them to shake his head. They wove through the parking lot surrounding the stadium in a loose serpentine like hunting dogs but the only flash of red hair Andrew saw belonged to a young girl. Kevin let out a strangled noise and lunged forward; there was a brief surge of something in Andrew’s chest that promptly died when he spotted the racquet Kevin had picked up. Fucking Kevin. Fucking Exy. But it was Neil’s racquet, of course it was Neil’s. The stupid-ass orange and white heavy racquet that only Kevin and Neil would care so goddamn much about.

He’s gone.

Andrew gritted his teeth against that voice in his head. They walked another hundred yards before a flash of orange caught his eye, in the hands of some assholes who were decidedly not entitled to it. He caught them up, Kevin hanging back like the coward he was, and just the flash of one of the knives in his bands had them dropping the bag and running off.

He’s gone.

Kevin came over and knelt next to him as he unzipped the bag. Just Neil’s sweaty uniform and shoes and pads in the main compartment. Andrew looked at the net pocket at the end; there was a flash of silver and the slight jingle of metal. Neil’s phone and his keys.

Andrew pulled the keys out first. He found himself tracing the edge of the key to the house in Columbia as he always saw Neil do and forced himself to stop. The phone, the phone had something, had to have something.

He flipped it open and checked the texts, all from the team except one, the most recent one, from an unknown number. It just read “0”. Nothing else, just the number. He scrolled further but there was no other oddity. The call log only contained his number, Wymack’s from the end of December, and then one from tonight from a 443 area code, an incoming call of 67 seconds and a call out that didn’t connect. He pressed “send” and it went straight to a mailbox that was not set up. Shit.

He’s gone.

“We should get back,” Kevin said. Andrew gave him the finger and stood up, hefting the bag over his shoulder and turning to continue his circuit. By the time they rounded the far end of the stadium and headed back around the long way, the lot was emptying out and there was no sign of Neil, no flash of red other than the Coke signs on the food stands. They finished their lap, spotting the PSU bus but still no Neil. There was relief on Wymack’s and Abby’s faces when they reappeared; it disappeared when Andrew slung the bag onto the pavement.

“You didn’t find him?”

Andrew gave Wymack a flat look in response. Kevin shook his head. “I think he must’ve run,” he says, glancing at Andrew.

“But why?” Abby asked. “Why would he do that after all this time?”

Kevin looked like he was going to say something, like he knew something, but he stopped and shook his head again instead. “I don’t know.”

“Bullshit,” Andrew said, and Kevin took a step back as Andrew turned to him. Yes, Kevin definitely knew something; Andrew could read it in every line of his body, in the flat panic in his eyes. “He wouldn’t have run without these.” He held up the keys he’d found in the duffel. Without his keys he couldn’t get into the dorm; without getting into the dorm he couldn’t get his binder with what was left of his money.

Andrew pocketed the keys and the phone and turned back, noting as he did so that Matt and Renee were missing as well. Sent to the hospital, no doubt, but that didn’t matter. He made another circuit of the stadium and this time nobody followed him. Still no sign of him, and Andrew could feel it then, feel the fire burning in his veins, the fire that his damn medication had damped for so long.

If we don’t find him I will burn this place to the ground.

This time when he made it back around Abby wasn’t taking no for an answer. When he waved her off, she promised him that Wymack would get security to open up the stadium for them to search. She did a concussion test and felt gently along his cheekbone and he forced himself to stay still, to not flinch, to not give her any reason to take him from here. The light she shone in his eye was too bright and he blinked back against it.

“Andrew,” she said in her stupidly calm medical professional voice, “I need to take you to the hospital.”

“No.” He started to walk away and she reached for him, stopping at the look he leveled at her.

“You have some bleeding in your eye. You could have detached your retina. We need to get it checked out, if it’s not treated you could lose vision.”

“Fuck off, Abby.” He ignored Nicky’s indignant reaction and turned to Wymack. “I let her examine me, now get me into the stadium.”

Wymack threw his cigarette on the ground and stepped on it. “Damnit, Andrew, you need to listen to her. If Neil’s somehow in the stadium, he’s okay.” Andrew started walking towards the gate; as he approached he spotted a rent-a-cop standing near it.

The man shrugged when Andrew told him he’d left something behind, and let him in without protest. He checked the stands first, running the steps as if he hadn’t just played the damn sport, as if it wasn’t past eleven at night. There was nothing, no sign of Neil, and the fire in his veins flared higher. He went below, to the visitors’ locker room but it was empty, even the trash cans had been dumped. The showers were still damp but there was no other evidence they had ever been there. He paused on his way back out, picturing Neil’s stricken face, hearing again the farewell in his words.

Damn you, Neil.

When he emerged, Wymack was waiting for him. “Andrew, you have to go with Abby and get checked out. I’ll stay here in case he comes back.”

“Call the police.”

“I already talked to the campus police. He’s an adult, Andrew. They won’t do anything, not yet.”

“Call the police.”

Cursing, Wymack pulled out his cell phone and dialed. 9-1-1. Andrew listened as Wymack explained the situation, about one of his players going missing in the riot that had just taken place at Binghamton. Listened as Wymack described him: 5’3”, 135 pounds, red hair, blue eyes, tattooed number four on his left cheekbone. Distilled to his barest essentials, missing all that made him Neil.

Andrew turned away from that useless thought as Wymack hit End on his phone and walked over to Abby. “You can take me now.”

The hospital was crowded with the fools who had been caught in the riot, and an hour passed before he was taken to a bed that sat in a hallway. They didn’t even bother with curtains around it, the nurse took his vitals and a few minutes later the harried doctor came by with some fancy equipment. Andrew didn’t speak to any of them as they dilated his eye and looked carefully at the internal structures, just hopped off the bed and walked away when they reported no damage to the retina and discharged him with some sort of drops to put in every four hours.

Abby took the bottle from him before he could drop it in the trash can, and they met up with Renee in the waiting room. Andrew grabbed her chin and studied her black eye for a second. Despite the splint on her wrist she seemed acceptably okay, and she nodded to him with her slow smile when he released her face. Then they had to wait around for Matt.

Andrew was ready to call a cab to get back to the stadium by the time Matt was discharged, even though he knew Wymack or Kevin or Nicky would’ve texted him if there had been any sign of Neil. When the bus pulled back into the lot of course it was just as they had left it, a parking lot full of trash and the rest of the team.

He’s gone.

Andrew followed Abby off the bus and listened to her give Wymack a status update on the three of them. Dan and Allison went onto the bus to check on Matt and Renee; Nicky and Kevin sidled closer to Andrew. Aaron was sitting on a bench a little ways off and he was just staring at Andrew. He wanted to go over and make him stop but it wasn’t worth it.

Instead he started walking again, then jogging, lapping the stadium again, and there was still no sign of him, still nothing but the burning hollowness growing in his gut. He wanted to start dismantling the stadium, tearing it apart bolt by bolt with his bare hands until they found some sign, some answer. He pulled the phone out of his pocket and looked again at the “0”, looked again at the number he already knew by heart. Who was this? Who dared to call his Neil? Who were they who were they who were they -

“Andrew.” It was Wymack again, and this time he handed him a cigarette. It had been hours since he’d had one and he took a long drag, letting the nicotine settle in just a little bit.

“We need to think about heading back,” Wymack said, carefully not looking at him.

“No.” It was Dan who spoke for him, who spared him the necessity of putting a knife in Wymack’s gut. “Not until we know more, Coach. We can sleep on the bus or something, but we can’t leave yet.”

Nicky and Matt nodded in agreement, and Wymack and Abby exchanged long looks. In the end, everybody but Andrew filed onto the bus to sleep. He stretched out on the bench Aaron had vacated, using Neil’s duffel as a pillow. Not that he could sleep, when every time he closed his eyes he could hear a door clicking shut, the groan of a mattress as weight settled on it. Not when eyes open or shut he could feel himself falling, falling, even as the ridges of the bench dug into his back.

Hours passed, and he didn’t know how long he had been shivering in the damp chill before dawn when he heard the bus doors open and Wymack emerged, phone held to his ear.

“Yes, this is David Wymack,” he was saying as his feet hit the pavement. “What? Who- oh! He’s where?” His hand came up to cover his eyes and Andrew sat up and blinked to clear his eyes. He could see a faint tremor in that hand in the bright lights of the parking lot, and suddenly he was at Wymack’s elbow without being aware he had moved. “How the hell- okay, okay, I understand. Yes. Yes. Damnit, I said yes. We’ll be there as soon as we can, text me the address.” He pulled the phone away from his ear and swore softly at the blank screen that stared back at him.

“Where is he.”

There was exhaustion and grief in every line of Wymack’s face when he turned to Andrew. “Get on the bus, Andrew.”

“Where is he.” The wind was whistling past his ears as he fell. he’s gone, he’s gone, he’s gone

“Just get on the bus.”

Wymack turned and climbed the stairs and Andrew followed, so close he was almost stepping on him. Abby was awake, and nodded at whatever Wymack muttered in her ear, but everybody else was passed out on the seats. Everyone but Kevin. Kevin, who could sleep anywhere. Kevin, who was impossible to wake up, but who was looking at them now with eyes like burned-out holes. Andrew went down the bus to sit behind him.

Abby got behind the wheel and the engine turned over with a throaty rumble. The bus’s vibrations startled Dan and Renee into wakefulness, and at a gesture from Wymack they woke the rest of the team. As Abby pulled out onto the stadium street, Wymack cleared his throat.

“I just got a call from the FBI,” Wymack said. The team looked at each other in surprise and confusion - all but Kevin. Andrew noticed the way he curled into himself. “Neil has been found. He’s in Baltimore.”

“Is he alive?” Kevin asked hoarsely.

“Jesus, Kevin,” Nicky said, startled.

“Really, Kevin, that’s…” Abby trailed off.

“Is he?” Andrew demanded, as Wymack hadn’t answered yet.

“Yes.” Wymack rubbed the back of his neck. “He’s alive, but he’s been badly injured.” He raised his voice to be heard over the resulting exclamations. “No, I don’t know how badly, I just know he was admitted to the hospital. I don’t know what happened, or how he ended up there, just that he was taken in a raid on his father’s house. They’re asking us to come down there so they can ask us some questions.”

The bus was a cacophony of sounds, of voices, of questions and shouts and the creaking of vinyl seats. Yet it went silent when Andrew turned to Kevin and said, “You know.” Kevin’s green eyes were wide with fear and something else as he looked up at Andrew, but he didn’t reply beyond a quick shake of his head. “You know something, and you’re going to tell me, right now.”

Kevin looked down, too cowardly to hold Andrew’s gaze. With a quick lunge, Andrew got his right hand around his throat and shoved him up against the window. “Tell me, now.” There were more yells and the stomping of feet but when Kevin didn’t even try to answer, Andrew just squeezed, increasing pressure until Kevin was choking, until his face was purple and he was opening his mouth soundlessly, his hands slapping ineffectually against Andrew’s armbands. He held on until an arm wrapped around Andrew’s own neck and more hands were yanking on him, twisting his left arm back and around, until slender fingers dug into the pressure points on his wrist and his hand went numb. He was pulled back against a large body, and another was crowding him, shoving him by sheer force of mass up the aisle.

Kevin was gasping and coughing, Nicky and Dan were crowding around him, Abby yelling something from the front. Wymack was still holding him, Matt still pushing him back, ready to fight even with the bruises and torn skin on his hands. Renee was watching with her unfathomable eyes, and he knew she would stop him again, would do whatever she had to, would turn the blades she had given him against him if necessary. Andrew didn’t give a shit about any of this, all he cared about was getting the truth, finally the truth.

It took a long time, too long, before Dan and Wymack would get out of his face; before they would stop yelling enough to hear him. “He knows,” Andrew kept saying, and he couldn’t understand why they didn’t seem to see the urgency. “He knows something about Neil, and he hasn’t told us, and now Neil is in some hospital because of it.”

Finally they stopped, and Kevin started. Andrew watched him the whole time, watched every word leave his lips as he talked about Neil who was really Nathaniel, whose father was a hit man - the hit man - for the main branch of the Moriyamas. Nathaniel, who had been sold to Tetsuji, who should have been like the useless Jean or Kevin or dead. Nathaniel, whose mother had taken him and fled, who had never told him what they were running from, who had taught him to lie and hide and do whatever he could to survive but nothing about how to live.

And then the story was over and the sky was lightening and they were driving through New Jersey, and there was nothing to do but wait. Years in juvie had taught him all about waiting, about finding that quiet place where the buzzing disappears. Yet he kept finding himself playing with Neil’s phone, with his keys, with these pieces of him that might have been truth or might have been lies. He should have known better, should have known when Neil asked him to let him go… but he had asked, and Andrew had agreed, and he didn’t know what scraps of him they were going to find when they got to Baltimore. So he watched the bland scenery and fought back against the fall, against the dawning realization that Neil had done what he always had said he would on the roof; he had dragged Andrew with him, I am falling -

The FBI had put them up in some cheap-ass motel with a pool that it was too cold to use. They were herded into one room with double beds and not enough space, and there was some prick in a suit who kept fingering his gun and trying to act like he was tough.

“What hospital is he at?” Andrew asked Wymack, who looked at him blankly. “What hospital?” he asked the prick in the suit.

“It doesn’t matter,” was the answer, and Andrew debated pulling one of his knives.

“It matters,” said Wymack, staring down at the man.

Another man and a woman showed up then, asking questions but refusing to answer any. They hadn’t taken into account who they were dealing with, evidently, and when they refused to disclose Neil’s location they were met with stony silence from the Foxes. Even Nicky kept his mouth shut by some miracle.

Andrew had had enough, it didn’t matter what they said or what they brought for food or the fact that he knew nothing about Baltimore and had no clue where they were. He found a map in the motel’s information book and began studying it, marking where they were and the three closest hospitals. If they wouldn’t bring him to Neil, he’d go there himself.

An agent blocked the door when they saw where he was going. He gave her a bored look that she met with an impressive one of her own. “Coach, control your players,” drawled the big man who had been there first.

“Andrew,” Wymack said, “you don’t want to make this more difficult for Neil.”

“We don’t even know for sure that they have Neil,” Andrew retorted. “We’re going by their word.”

“Oh, we have Nathaniel,” the female agent said. “But we don’t need to prove anything to you. We need you to give us your statements, and then we’ll be on our way and you can go back to Palmetto State.”

Andrew tapped his lip twice, then pointed at her. “Fuck that. I’ll give you my statement after I see Neil.”

There was a chorus of agreement from the rest of them, and the female agent rolled her eyes and left. Andrew tried to follow her - almost managed to - but the fat agent blocked him and pulled out his handcuffs.

“Coach, if you can’t control him I’m going to have to take him into custody.”

Wymack bristled, but he turned to Andrew, defeat written across his face. “Just…just cuff him to me, I’ll keep track of him.”

The click of the handcuffs was familiar, as was the boredom of the confinement. The others all found stuff to keep them occupied, the television or a book or just pacing up and down. Andrew sat cross-legged on the bed and waited, counting breaths until everything around faded, but he couldn’t stop that sense of falling.

Just as Abby had broken out her kit to work on Allison and Renee and Matt, the female agent returned some time later looking irritated. She handed her phone to Wymack, who glanced at Andrew then turned away as much as the cuff would allow while he pressed the phone to his ear. “No, of course not. Why would we?” There was a long pause and Andrew could hear angry buzzing through the phone. “Sure. Sure. Okay, I’ll move it.” He handed the phone back to the agent and turned to Andrew. “Get up.”

“What? No.”

Wymack ignored him and stood up. Everyone’s eyes turned to him. “They’re going to bring Neil by when he’s discharged from the hospital,” he said. “I need to go move the bus, they won’t come here until I do.”

“Why not?” Matt asked.

“Press,” guessed Allison, and Wymack nodded. He looked at Andrew, a patient question in his eyes, and Andrew unfolded himself and got to his feet. He scanned the parking lot when they reached it, memorizing the cars, the nondescript black and gray and blue sedans and SUVs that dotted the lot. There were men dotting the lounging area in catalog-ready polo shirts and khakis, all obviously feds; same with the women who were settling onto lounges around the pool despite the temperature barely reaching the 60s. Andrew wondered if anyone actually fell for this bullshit.

Wymack opened up the bus but waited for Andrew to be ready before he climbed up. Andrew had to stand and brace himself while they moved to a lot behind an office building about half a mile away, the cuff not allowing him to reach a seat. As soon as the ignition was off he was moving, Wymack cursing behind him and finally using his weight to plant Andrew long enough to secure the bus.

The walk back earned them more than a couple of looks, though Wymack tried to look casual about the fact that he was handcuffed to Andrew. The difference in their heights made it impossible for Andrew’s hand to dangle naturally but he didn’t care. Wymack accepted the silence until they reached the parking lot and there was a new SUV there. “Andrew,” he warned, bracing himself against Andrew’s lunge forward. “Be careful. These are federal agents, and I have no idea what happened, why Neil is in their custody.” Andrew ignored him, plowing ahead up the stairs. “Andrew, they are giving us a gift -”

The sound Wymack’s body made as he hit the side of the motel would have been satisfying in another situation. It was the understanding in his eyes that was unforgivable. But Andrew didn’t have time to deal with that, so he let it go and pushed into the door, shoving the fed out of the way.

Neil was there, he was saying “don’t,” but he was crumpling and his voice was cracked with pain and Andrew had to reach him. Wymack helped whether he meant to or not and then Andrew was touching Neil, had his hand on his neck, was pushing him down before he fell down. He knelt in front of Neil, and as his knees dug into the dingy carpet, his fingers still on Neil’s skin, he stopped. The falling - stopped. Neil was here, he was alive, he was broken in ways Andrew didn’t want to consider - but he was here. He was the net that stopped the fall and Andrew knew then that he was done, he was lost and found all in this one moment when those blue eyes lifted to his.

#aftg #all for the game #the foxhole court #tfc #andrew minyard #neil josten #nathaniel wesninski #andriel #my writing #the king's men

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falling-red-petals · 6 years

Text

Arc Family/Jaune Headcanons

Note: Several of these are bound to contradict each other. (Also feel free to add your own.) (BTW this is mostly angst.)

1.) They’re nomadic. Jaune never indicates where his family is actually from but we know they DID travel a fair bit and Jaune never seemed THAT concerned whenever team RNJR lost the map. Our boy knows his fucking way around.

2.) At least ONE of his sisters is lgbt+

3.) Jaune is either the oldest or somewhere in the middle, but not the youngest. (Mostly because Jaune being a cute big brother who babies a gaggle of little sisters is my dream ya’ll.) (Imagine them clinging to his legs or making him read them bedtime stories!!!!)

4.) His parents, intentionally or not, are neglectful as fuck towards him. As someone who grew up with four siblings I assure you that it can be difficult for working parents to make sure each kid gets the same amount of attention. I can’t imagine what it’s like trying to divide that time between EIGHT FUCKING KIDS.

5.) His parents DO try really hard with him but fail hardcore for various reasons. If true I think this is because most of their advice we’ve heard Jaune repeat, (”My dad said you just have to have confidence.”), is less than great and Jaune himself openly states in V3 that they didn’t even remotely believe in him or what he could do. Maybe they meant they’d be fine if came home but it came out more like “We fully expect you to fail and come home with your tail between your legs” from his point of view. It’s hard to tell since we haven’t actually seen them.

6.) Alternatively, if his parents really are just that dismissive as to think he’ll fail at everything... well, that’s a pretty good way to explain why he’s been massively insecure since Vol 1.

6-b.) Them being abusive to some extent would go a long way in explaining why he was so dismissive about Cardin’s bullying BECAUSE MAYBE THAT’S JUST HOW HE THINKS HE’S SUPPOSE TO BE TREATED OH GOD-

7.) Some of his sisters are adopted. The idea of some poor woman going through eight pregnancies (that is, if none of them were part of multiple births) makes me cringe because that’s a lot of stress to go under repeatedly.

8.) A few of the girls have Faunus traits. Additionally, his dad is the faunus parent while his mom is the human parent.

9.) Jaune’s ancestors were great warriors, not heroes. Given that huntsmen get idolized in Remnant (for obvious reasons), I wouldn’t be surprised if a naive-child-Jaune immediately associated “warrior” with “hero” because of this. IMAGINE HOW SHITTY HE’D FEEL IF HE FOUND OUT HIS ANCESTORS DID HORRIBLE THINGS INSTEAD OF BEING HEROIC?! THAT WOULD PERFECTLY SET UP A BROKEN PEDESTAL PLOT

10.) “Jaune Arc” isn’t his legal name. The way he introduces himself to Ruby imo has one of two interpretations. A.) He’s trying and failing to sound cool. B.) He’s a huge nerd and is excited about his new totally not legit name because he thinks he picked a really good one.

11.) His family has some kind of connection with the criminal underworld. I really don’t have any reason why for this one other than I want to know how he got those fake transcripts and I’ve read a bunch of @ofdustandpotions post about the subject.

11-b.) Bonus points if their underworld connection goes by the alias of “Kevin.”

12.) Even before he went to Beacon, Jaune felt like he was useless. That he wasn’t living up to his family name. Something put him at such a terrible state of mind that he felt like the only way to be worth anything to his family was to put himself in an extremely life threatening field of work.

13.) If a character suggests he goes home to his family for a little while Jaune will refuse, both because he won’t abandon his friends but also because he doesn’t feel like he’s worth enough yet to go back to them with any honor intact.

14.) His parents ALSO don’t know what aura is. Maybe Jaune’s dad is a warrior but was never trained to be a huntsman and has survived by pure grit, who knows?

15.) Ruby is the first real friend he’s ever had, which is why he’s so intense with her sometimes. (Similarly this is also why he’s so intense with Ren and Nora.)

16.) Jaune’s bi, but leans more towards being heteromantic. (There’s just something about his gushing over Neptune and his relationship with Ren in general that makes it seem like he isn’t full hetero to me, idk.)

17.) One of Jaune’s sisters’ name will be Jean as a mythology gag. (It’s been stated by Word of God that Jaune’s name was originally suppose to Jean [as in blue jeans] until Burnie Burns pointed out the word jaundice and referring to him as Jaune just kind of stuck.)

18.) The reason Jaune never went to a combat school prior to Beacon despite always wanting to be a warrior, as well as his general lack of knowledge on the world around him, is because he had some kind sickness that kept him bedridden for a good deal of his life. This would also go a long way to explain his early social ineptitude, and the fact that he was following advice that sounds more like something you’d tell a shy elementary school child than a seventeen year old boy. Again, although his full name is an obvious allusion to Joan D’arc his first name came specifically from Burnie Burns mentioning a RL sickness.

18-b.) His (previous) sickness may be the reason he looks down on himself so much, and why he’s obsessed with holding up the family honor now. Maybe his stay in the hospital cost his parents A LOT of money and as a result he’s desperately trying to become something that’s remotely worth having around in order to justify the economic (and/or emotional) turmoil he put them through.

18-c.) Dancing was part of some kind of physical therapy and his sisters decided to learn with him as a sign of support. <3

19.) Alternatively to 18, Jaune is just extremely sheltered and his parents made massive efforts to keep him that way... for some reason.

20.) If his parents were verbally abusive towards him then I imagine they used the concept of “family honor” as a bullying tactic in some way.

21.) NONE of sisters were interested in becoming huntresses... until he left to become a hunter himself. (I honestly hate the theory that they’re all badass huntresses because WHY THE FUCK DID THEY NOT TELL HIM ABOUT AURA OR TRAIN HIM THEMSELVES IF THAT’S THE CASE)

22.) If his parents are neglectful/abusive, at least ONE of his sisters is the exact opposite and loves him unconditionally.

23.) In the case his parents AREN’T abusive/neglectful in some way they are instead adoption-happy and will try to adopt Ren, Nora, and Weiss (PLS LET SNOW CHILD LIVE) the second they see the three of them.

24.) Alternatively to everything above, Jaune has a perfectly happy home life but his parents have a tendency to stick their feet in their mouths at the worst times (he has to get that from somewhere) and Jaune is naturally predisposed to experience high levels of anxiety and depression.

#Jaune Arc #team jnpr #team rnjr #RWBY #Jaune theory #Theory #Theory time #headcanon #This was so much more angsty then I intented going in #feel free to add more

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h0ldthiscat · 6 years

Text

April in Austin

There is literally no need for anyone to write fanfiction for The Leftovers because it’s honestly the most perfect thing that’s ever existed, but because I do The Most, Always, I got this idea and it wouldn’t let me be.

So enjoy this! Or don’t.

The tile floor in the dealership is so shiny she can see her own reflection. There she is again, just below her sneakers. Alice through the looking glass. Herself and not herself. How would anyone tell them apart? Nora gone topsy-turvy. Both pairs of her simple, white sneakers are scuffed around the toes, shoelaces greying. The heels are reddish from the Texas dust.

The climate had taken some getting used to. She’d had a cough for weeks, a terribly dry, hacking cough that would wake her up in the middle of the night. She remembered the fire, being shaken awake by Matt, being pulled from between her stuffed animals weeks before she’d started second grade. She’d sit upright on their mattress, and take in deep, gasping breaths, splash her face with water in the bathroom, and rock Lily, who she’d inevitably woken.

But she’s used to it now.

She doesn’t miss the winter. She thought she might pine for snow, that it might make her a little melancholy to walk outside in February and not need a jacket. But two winters have come and passed in Jarden and she doesn’t miss March in New York, with clumps of greying snow still piled high in strip mall parking lots. She doesn’t miss the colorless skies and the days that end at 3pm.

“I didn’t know there were this many Garth Brooks songs,” Kevin groans, inclining his head to the speaker above them.

It takes her a moment to realize he’s spoken. “What?” Nora asks.

“It’s like the fifth one they’ve played.” He sings along tunelessly, “I’ve got friends in low places…” She manages a half-hearted smile that’s meant to encourage him, but he stops, clears his throat. “What time did you make the appointment for?”

Nora checks her watch. “Noon. It’s been nearly an hour.”

“We’re gonna have to reschedule with Jill.”

“No, don’t do that. She’s looking forward to seeing you.”

Kevin reaches over and squeezes her hand. “And you.”

She’s sure he’s right. Jill had taken to her quickly and without question two years ago, seeing Nora less as a stereotypical stepmother and more as a confidant. Things had never been awkward or terse between them, even after Nora had needed her space. Jill seemed to have an infinite well of forgiveness and understanding inside of her, something that most people would be lucky to have even a fraction of.

She thinks of the drive to Jarden, the four and a half interminable days in the truck, all of them buzzing with the energy of people starting a new life. While Kevin pumped the gas, she and Jill would take turns walking the dog--god, that fucking dog--around the perimeter of whatever concrete square they’d stumbled upon. Jill would speak freely, words coming out of her like she hadn’t spoken for a year, like her mother. Like her real mother.

“You should call her,” Nora says, taking a deep breath. “Tell her we’ll be late.”

“No, you call her,” Kevin sighs, checking his watch. “She won’t answer if it’s me.”

“Yeah, okay.”

Nora hadn’t gone with them to move Jill to Austin last year. They’d shopped together for a duvet cover and dorm room decor, searched online for cheap textbooks; she and Kevin had gotten into an argument loading the truck with those ugly clear storage bins. And then she just kept picturing the car ride up there: her and Kevin and Laurie and John and Jill all squeezed into the cab, a cut-and-paste family that they’d slapped together in the aftermath of the apocalypse. Would Jill sit up front with her dad? Would she want to sit with Laurie, sandwiched in the backseat? It made Nora’s head hurt, so she’d ultimately decided to stay home, said she wasn’t feeling well, and kissed Jill goodbye on the forehead.

Jill doesn’t pick up and the voicemail beep catches Nora by surprise.

“Hey, Jill. It’s Nora. Um, your dad and I are running a little behind at the car place, will you be okay if we don’t do lunch until 3? I know that’s a little late. Do you have class? Just call me, let me know. Bye.” She hangs up and chucks her phone into her purse. “Voicemail.”

“Yeah, I got that.” Kevin runs a hand over his face.

Nora checks her watch. “We made an appointment for a reason, this is ridiculous.”

“Maybe they’re just backed up or something--”

Before she can think twice about it, Nora marches to the front desk. “Excuse me,” she says loudly, making the young woman seated there jump. “Hi. We had an appointment an hour ago and no one’s come to check in with us.”

The woman smiles tentatively, her dark eyes wide. “I can look up the appointment for you, what’s the last name?”

She feels Kevin at her side, sliding a hand across her shoulder. “Everything okay?”

She gives him a quick smile. “Yeah honey, we’re fine.” She turns back to the counter girl. “It should be under Durst.”

“Durst…” The woman mumbles to herself and types it in the computer. “I’m sorry Mrs. Durst, we don’t have any records under that name…”

“That’s impossible, I made the reservation two weeks ago when we knew we’d be in town.”

“I’m sure you did ma’am, but--”

“Don’t call me ma’am.”

Kevin’s hand is at the small of her back, rubbing tiny circles. He’s so gentle she could punch him. “Nora.” His voice is quiet, so quiet she’s almost the only one who can hear it.

A headache throbs at the bridge of her nose and she tries again. “Can we, uh--Is there someone else who can show us some options today?”

“Y’all don’t want to reschedule?”

“No, we don’t. We’re only up here today, and I need to buy a car today because I start work next week.”

“Well if y’all are in a hurry I can show you some models that are ready to go. You can walk away with one of them today.”

“I know, that’s why we made an appointment.”

“Nora…” Kevin squeezes her shoulder.

She sighs. “That’d be great. Please.”

“Great! Well my name’s Lily, and I’m so excited you’ve chosen--”

For a moment Nora thinks she might pass out. She wonders if she’s fallen through the floor, become the Other Nora under her feet, her reflection. The girl’s lips move, but Nora doesn’t hear her. Her ears ring like someone’s fired a gun beside her head. For an instant, her chest is leaden, a huge weight crushing her, pulverizing her into the red dust stuck in the soles of her sneakers. She remembers reading once that the symptoms of a heart attack are different in women, but she can’t remember what they are.

“I’m--I’m sorry,” she hears herself say, though her tongue is thick and awkward in her mouth. “Can we--is there someone else who we--who can--”

“Honey, she’s the only--” Kevin stops. She feels his hand come to rest at the small of her back, grounding her. She comes back to her body, amazed to find herself still standing. Her chest loosens, her breaths rise and fall normally. Conscious and vertical, a professor of hers used to joke when he was asked after.

“You know what,” Kevin says, “why don’t we show ourselves around and we’ll come grab you if anything catches our eye?”

The girl nods and smiles; Nora thinks she feels her glare at her but she can’t tell. Kevin guides her away, out into the parking lot, and the heat hits her right in the back of the throat, like opening the dryer. Like her smoke-filled childhood bedroom. Like a bike ride on a very cold day. There aren’t really any cold days in Jarden.

Kevin takes her hand and they walk up and down the aisles, trying to find something new-ish that won’t break the bank. Before everything, on the days when she’d wanted some time alone, she’d pictured herself, hair tied up with a printed scarf, waving out the window of an old convertible on her way to god knows where. Now she’d settle for a sunroof and good gas mileage.

“You okay back there?” Kevin asks.

“I’m great,” she says airly, not meeting his eyes.

“Everyone here drives white trucks, you notice that?” Kevin says, pointing at the row as they walk past.

“They don’t get as hot, I guess.” Nora shrugs.

They stroll past shiny SUVs, past station wagons with their little hatchbacks and sedans that somehow all boast they were MotorTrend’s car of the year, and stop at the end of an aisle in the back, mostly older models that wouldn’t look as good out front.

“I haven’t shopped for a car since I was pregnant with Jeremy,” she says, hands on her hips. She squints into the Texas sun and Kevin shifts uncomfortably beside her. “It’s okay,” she tells him. “I don’t mind talking about it.”

“You just--you don’t say their names very often,” he says.

“It doesn’t mean I don’t think about them.”

Years ago when she’d tried therapy, her therapist had told her that grief was a river, and her loss was the current: constantly moving, shifting, but always in the same direction. She pictures her children in little bubbles atop the water, like Alice after she drinks the potion, floating along with 140 million other bubbles. Is Lily there with them? No, she thinks bitterly, Lily isn’t in the water, because her real mommy decided she wanted her back.

“Hey,” he says, “if you’re--nervous about going back to work…”

“I’m not nervous. I liked my job. I’m thankful to have it back. It’ll be good.”

Kevin nods. “Yeah.”

Nora kicks at a huge tire on one of the trucks in the row. “What if I got one of these things? How small do you think someone’s dick has to be to have a truck like this?”

Kevin laughs. “You don’t have a dick but you’ve got pretty big balls, I’ll give you that.”

“You sure know how to flatter a lady.” Swept with a sudden burst of affection for him, she kisses him hard, standing on tiptoe in her sneakers. “Wanna check this thing out?” she asks, inclining her head toward the ridiculously huge truck beside them.

“Is it unlocked?” Kevin asks.

She hoists herself up and tugs at the handle of the back door, and gets a rush of giddy delight when it opens. She’d been a pretty well-behaved teenager, with only the occasional burst of impulsive recklessness. No late night jumps out the window to meet boys at parties. No joints behind the dumpsters at school--well, not many. Her circumstances had been interesting enough, she hadn’t needed that thrill like the other kids did.

But now, in a used car lot in Texas, she gets why people break the rules.

“Nora, we--”

“Shh, get up here!”

From the backseat she extends her hand down to him. He looks at her the way he always does, with one eyebrow raised and a smirk in the corner of his mouth, like maybe he doesn’t believe anything she says. Or maybe he believes all of it. It’s been nearly three years, after all. Two and a half? Is that all? She’s not sure where she should start counting from.

Last year in bed, Kevin said, “Do you think we should get married?”

She’d shrugged. “I was married once and I don’t think I’d like to be again.”

“I don’t need it. I was just wondering if you wanted to.”

“A marriage to you would almost certainly end in divorce,” she’d teased. When he looked stung she’d laughed and kissed his shoulder. “I mean, historically speaking.”

“Your track record’s not so great either.”

“Kevin, all I’ve got are happy memories of you in divorce court and I’d never want to ruin those.”

In the backseat of the truck, he puts his hand on her knee, rubs his thumb at the apex of her patella. “Whatcha thinking about?” he asks.

She blinks a couple of times, almost heady with new car smell. “Who wants leather seats in a truck?” she asks. “Wouldn’t they get ruined?”

“Okay. What are you really thinking about?” Kevin asks.

Nora reaches over and picks at a hole in the leg of his jeans. He’s so warm all the time. “Divorcing you.”

He kisses her quietly, almost nervously. Like they’re teenagers in the back of someone’s dad’s car. Like he’s never lifted her off the floor of the shower when she doesn’t think she’ll ever be able to move again. Like he’s hopeful.

“What do you think?” he asks against her cheek. “A big truck for the lady with big balls?”

“I don’t wanna buy this one,” she says, “but let’s see how roomy this backseat is.”

Kevin smirks. “Are you serious?”

“As a heart attack.”

She takes his hand and puts it on her thigh, just below her jean shorts. When she kisses him she tastes the sweat on his upper lip, feels his stubble against her chin, her cheek. He’s growing it out, but she knows he’d never say it’s for her.

He’s pulling her shirt from the waistband of her shorts when her phone buzzes in her back pocket, vibrating against the leather seat she’d mocked moments earlier.

“That’ll be Jill,” she mumbles, and thinks, fuck your daughter. She smirks against his mouth.

Kevin’s hands still at her waist. “Yeah.”

“Hey honey,” she says, answering the phone. “Did you get my voicemail?”

Jill’s voice is tinny on the other end of the line. Wind whips past the speaker, making her hard to hear. She’d totally gotten her days mixed up, she’s so sorry, couldn’t they do it the next time they’re in town? Her next class is in thirty minutes anyway. She’s really sorry. How’s Dad? How’s--

Jill stops, catching herself before it derails the conversation. Nora pretends not to notice. She nods and assures her that it’s fine. Kevin grumbles something about it not being fine and that he misses her, he’ll call her later. Nora gives a cheerful, upwardly-inflected goodbye; she hears herself like she’s at one end of a tunnel, like she’s racing uphill towards daybreak and the only desperate thought in her ragged mind is, just keep me where the light is.

#i write so little now that everything i post is like anxiety!!!!!!#but yeah here it is #my writing #the leftovers

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nickireadstfc · 7 years

Text

The Raven King, Chapter 6 – The Return Of Sassmaster McSavage

In which the Foxes and the Ravens meet, no one has any kind of chill, everyone has eaten a healthy dose of Extra and Dramatic for breakfast, and no one can keep their mouths shut – but most importantly, in which shit gets so, so fucking real.

Sounds good? Then it’s time for Nicki to read The Raven King.

You guys.

You GUYS.

Remember how you keep telling me I’m not even ready?

Yeah. ABOUT THAT.

I am writing this immediately after just because I could not wait to comment on the absolute FUCKERY that went down just now.

Fun drinking game: Take a shot every time I swear in this chapter. I have no chill left.

Let’s start at the beginning.

They pulled onto the interstate with thirteen people on board: the Fox team, the two-man staff, and Aaron’s and Nicky’s dates.

Shame. I would have paid to see Andrew and Renee going as wonderful platonic goalie BFF dates.

It quickly becomes obvious that we’re in for a wild fucking ride when Mighty And Stoic Kevin Day already starts having panic attacks while still on the bus.

It wasn’t just Riko Kevin was afraid of. In twenty minutes, he’d be facing his entire former team. (…) Neil didn’t know much about [Tetsuji Moriyama]. The one time Kevin mentioned him he’d slipped and called him “the master”. Neil didn’t need to hear anything else after that.

Oh yeah. THAT SHIT.

Seriously what the FUCK is up with that family. This is 24601 shades of fucked up.

Wymack, sensing Kevin’s panic (not that that’s fucking hard at the moment) resorts to some ah – unorthodox methods to keep his striker calm.

Wymack pulled a bottle of vodka out of the bag and put it down beside Kevin. “You have ten seconds to inhale as much of this as possible. Go.”

It was alarming how much a man could drink when he needed an emotional crutch.

Kevin doesn’t need an emotional crutch, Kevin needs an emotional wheelchair. An emotional prosthesis. Jeez. I’d be drinking, too, if I had to go meet my lifelong abusers face-to-face at a fucking banquet, having to make polite conversation with the people who broke my hand, my self-esteem and probably my will to live.

Also, I’m starting to consider Wymack not the dad of the team, but more the grumpy uncle – not huge on emotional sappiness, getting them hard liquor, constantly calling them out on their bullshit, yet loving them all fiercely. #dicksoutforwymack

Wymack (…) turned to Neil.

“You,” he said, “attempt to behave this time. Don’t pick fights with him today.”

“Yes, Coach.”

Meaning: So, so many fights will be picked today. So many. You are not even ready for all the fight-picking my short-tempered sassy ass is about to do.

With that, the banquet is off!

Thick cushioned mats covered the polished floor to keep table legs and chairs from scraping up the wood. (…) Neil had never seen so many people on an Exy court before. There was still plenty of room to walk around between the tables, but Neil hated seeing a court repurposed like this.

Oh my gooooooood shut the hell up you obsessed knob. It’s not being used right now, so we might as well use it to fit everyone for the banquet. It’s just a wooden floor, for fuck’s sake.

And now – this is where shits starts getting good.

Did I say Neil was Extra™? Did I complain about Kevin being too dramatic?

Forget all that. Meet the true masters of Extra And Dramatic™ – introducing: The Edgar Allan Ravens.

The Ravens hadn’t brought dates. They hadn’t brought any colour along, either. All twenty-two of them were dressed head-to-toe in black. The twenty men wore the same shirts and slacks, and the two women wore identical dresses. They even sat the same way, all with their right elbows on the table, all of them with their chins in their hands.

ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS.

Uniform is one thing, but sitting the same way, like ARE YOU ACTUALLY REAL. HOW IS THIS AN ACTUAL THING ACTUAL PEOPLE FUCKING DO.

Of course, some sly fucker in the organization committee had the hilarious idea to sit the two teams directly across from each other. Of fucking course.

Dan, ever the model captain, introduces herself and her team to Riko, as if he didn’t get completely annihilated on national TV by her striker just a few weeks ago.

That Fucker™, however, isn’t having it.

“I know who you are,” Riko said. “Who here doesn’t? You’re the woman who captains a Class I team. You’ve done admittedly well despite your disadvantages.”

“What disadvantages?”

“Do you really want me to start listing them?” Riko asked. “This is only a two-day event, Hennessey.”

OI SCREW YOU YA BIG FUCKNOODLE. I will not have you insult my treasured lionheart daughter like that.

Also, I thought her name was Wilds? The fuck is a Hennessey.

(Side note: I am sorry you guys, this recap is going to be ridiculously long. Every single line here is gold. Blame Nora for writing the sassiest, shadiest, most shocking and just in general best chapter of this series so far.)

It’s time for a new character introduction, one I’ve heard many of you ramble on about on the interwebs – that French dude.

Neil didn’t recognize the man, but he didn’t need to ask. The black number three tattooed on his left cheekbone meant he could be no one but Jean Moreau.

Lovely. Another one of those dumb ass face tattoo fuckers. I’m filing you as French and pretentious, my dude.

“You look familiar,” Jean said in heavily accented English.

“If you watched Kathy’s show you saw me there,” Neil said.

“Ah, you are right. That must be it. What was your name again? Alex? Stefan? Chris?”

In eight years on the run Neil had been through sixteen countries and twenty-two names. Hearing one name from Jean wouldn’t mean anything. Hearing three wasn’t a coincidence.

Alright, French and pretentious AND TERRIFYING. COOL.

What the hell??? How??

“Blame my mother,” Neil said. “She named me.”

“How is she doing, by the way?” Riko asked.

That Fucker™ knows. He knows.

This was bound to come around at some point. Kevin being too traumatized to recognize Neil was nothing short of amazing, but I guess we can’t always be that lucky.

It was nice knowing you, Neil, because your ass is fucking dead.

Neil might have answered, but Dan beat him to it with an annoyed “Don’t antagonize my team, Riko. This isn’t the place for it.”

“I was being polite,” Riko said. “You haven’t seen me antagonistic yet.”

And I don’t think I fucking want to, hombre.

Excuse me for a second while I nerd out over the most unexpected reference of this entire series:

Neither of them [Kevin and Jean] had anything else to say to each other, but they stared each other down unblinking. Andrew lost interest before long and leaned forward.

“Jean,” he said. “Hey, Jean. Jean Valjean. Hey. Hey. Hello.”

……………………………. did you just.

JEAN VALJEAN. AS IN, BREAD DAD. AS IN, THE PROTAGONIST OF ONE OF MY FAVOURITE MUSICALS/FILMS/FANDOMS OF ALL TIME. Like, I’ve done Les Mis cosplay. Several times. That’s how dedicated I am.

I AM #SHOOK.

However, I am decidedly not liking Jean Valjean – or either of That Fucker™’s posse, actually. They first take a few moments to talk shit about Andrew (“publicity stunt”, can you fuck the fuck off) and then they come for my firstborn daughter Renee.

The woman now on Riko’s right gave a loud snort. “If someone like that replaced you in goal, you must be downright terrible. I can’t wait to watch one of your matches. I think it will be entertaining. We would make a drinking game of it but we don’t want to die of alcohol poisoning.”

“Yeah, that’s be a shame,” Dan said with heavy sarcasm.

DAN <33333

My darling angel, however, doesn’t take the bait.

“Do we have to start off so poorly?”

“Why not? You’re poor at everything else you do,” the woman said. “Is it honestly fun to be so terrible?”

“I imagine we have more fun than you do, yes,” Renee said.

Correction: My darling angel does take the bait – and brings the fucking shade.

“Fun is for children,” Jean said, looking away from Andrew.

If he’d been going to say anything else, he forgot it when he got a good look at Renee.

First of all – “fun is for children”, can you fucking chill, Monsieur Pretentieux Superlatif.

Second of all – what’s that “suddenly stopping talking when he sees Renee” thing about?? Do they have shared history as well? Is he just blinded by her angelic beauty and wants to bone her?

I am absolutely NOT LIKING the latter possibility. Protect my daughter.

The Ravens continue being The Absolute Worst™, talking about how Kevin “belongs” to them (can u fuckin not) and should come to his senses and return to them (as fucking if).

“You should reconsider our offer before we rescind it for good, Kevin. Face the facts. You pet is and always be dead weight. It’s time to –“

“What?” Andrew turned a wide-eyed look on Kevin. “You have a pet and never told us? Where do you keep it, Kevin?”

ANDREW LET ME LOVE YOU. I had to laugh so hard at that, oh my god. That’s the only proper way to respond to something like that, tbh.

That Fucker™, however, has found a new target to harass – ya boi Neil, who has kept admirably quiet so far and has probably bitten off his own tongue at this point trying to avoid bursting out in sass rants.

That is, until That Fucker™ comes for his mom.

“What a coward,” Riko said with exaggerated disappointment. “Just like his mother.”

Cue the moment I stopped breathing.

“You know, I get it,” Neil said. “Being raised as a superstar must be really, really difficult for you. Always a commodity, never a human being, not a single person in your family thinking you’re worth a damn off the court – yeah, sounds rough. Kevin and I talk about your intricate and endless daddy issues all the time.”

HOLY FUCKING –

“I know it’s not entirely your fault that you are mentally unbalanced and infected with these delusions of grandeur, and I know you are physically incapable of holding a decent conversation with anyone like every other normal human being can, but I don’t think any of us should have to put up with this much of your bullshit. Pity only gets you so many concessions, and you used yours up about six insults ago. So please, just shut the fuck up and leave us alone.”

I had to take a moment. I had to put the book down and fucking scream for a moment.

SASSMASTER MCSAVAGE STRIKES AGAIN, Y’ALL.

I AM YELLING AND CLAPPING MY HANDS LIKE AN EXCITED SEAL FFS NEIL I L O V E Y O U.

Neil leaned forward and look down at the table at Dan, who sat with her face buried in her hands.

“Dan, I said please. I tried to be nice.”

Oh my GOD. That is just the cherry on top of the sundae of EPICNESS that just went down.

I SAID PLEASE.

I cannot handle this. I cannot. Holy shit.

Jean turned on Kevin and spoke in quick, furious French. “What the hell is this?”

“His antagonism is a personality flaw we’ve learned to live with,” Kevin said.

Pfftftftftftt. Kevin is entirely done with this situation and I love it.

However, fun times are immediately the fuck over, as Jean Valjean hints at someone having “bought” Neil and assumes Kevin had recruited him because of that.

And just as I was beginning to wonder hat hell he is talking about – he drops this.

“Riko will have a few moments of your time later,” Jean said. “I suggest you speak with him if you do not want everyone to know you are the Butcher’s son.”

WHAT.

OH SHIT T H E Y K N O W I FUCKING SAID IT OH SHIT WHAT.

Kevin, who has skillfully repressed his memories of Neil up until this point, is about as shocked by this development as I am and has to go have some emergency vodka, like, asap.

Neil, on the other hand, shows some wonderful, wonderful signs of character development.

“Neil, if you can’t be here say so,” Wymack said. “Abby can take you elsewhere until it’s time to leave. Get out of here and get some fresh air.”

It was the perfect opening, but Neil couldn’t take it. If he did, he really would go, and he wouldn’t come back. Running wasn’t easy, but it was easier than trusting Andrew. But Neil remembered the weight of a key in his palm, its metal soaked through with another person’s body heat. He remembered Andrew’s promise to see this year through with him.

“No,” Neil said, finally finding his voice. “I knew this was going to happen. I just wasn’t ready for it. I’m fine.”

Ma BOY <3 Neil slowly learning to trust people and deal with his problems is my No 1 kink.

Actually, No 2 kink. No 1 would be Neil absolutely shade-wrecking people.

They leave their mess of a seating arrangement and find some new spots elsewhere, and later go mingling with the other teams. This goes surprisingly well, mostly due to the fact that it gives Neil and Kevin an excuse to talk about Exy and Exy alone – which is, as we all know, the only fucking thing those two morons can talk about.

However, those admirable avoiding tactics only go well for so long.

It took him a few seconds to realize the Ravens were coming. The entire team was crossing the court toward Kevin, walking in V formation like a flock of birds going south.

Are you serious. What level of dramatic holy SHIT.

Did they, like, form this like a dance formation before walking over? Riko instructing everyone where to stand, ‘no, you over there, leave equal amounts of space, come on guys, just form a diagonal line, we need to get going, we need to look intimidating, gUYS’

Or do they do this so often that is has become second nature by now and it’s just how they go everywhere?

I genuinely don’t know which option I find funnier.

But wait – it gets better.

Riko stopped further away than Neil thought he would, but Neil understood a moment later. The rest of the Ravens kept going, flipping their V until they’d trapped the three Foxes between them.

I am crying so much how is this a thing you do, literally what level of Extra and Dramatic™ are you ON, I cannot deal with this.

Please – next time I comment on how extra the Foxes are being, remind me of The V Incident.

Now, just as I was thinking ‘oh shit, this is going to go south again so quickly’… Foxes to the rescue!

Renee appeared out of nowhere at Kevin’s other side. She looped one arm through Kevin’s and held her free hand out to Jean. “Jean, wasn’t it? My name is Renee Walker. We didn’t really get a chance to talk earlier.”

Confusion eased Jean’s stoic mask into something more than a little uncomfortable, be he accepted her handshake. “Jean Moreau.”

For real, I’m so interested in what the fuck is going on with these two. My money is on shared history. This could be my Renee’s-backstory-hungry brain talking, but reading their passages this sounds v v likely.

Did someone say backstory??

[Matt] held out his hand but didn’t look surprised when no one took it. “Guess the pleasure’s all mine.”

“We’re sure it is,” the Raven striker said, “seeing how you’re dating a prostitute.”

“Stripper,” Dan corrected as she showed up and wound an arm around Matt’s waist. (…) “Hopefully you’re smart enough to distinguish between the two professions. If you’re not, I have serious concerns about your academic standings.”

FUCK, YEAH.

DAN, MY GIRL MY DUDE MY DAUGHTER.

She was a stripper! Holy shit! And she’s not ashamed of it, but admits it freely and is even proud of it! Holy! Shit!

Positive depictions of sex workers in pop culture is so, so rare, and I’m so happy we get some here. I did not expect this and I’m v pleasantly surprised right now.

“Hennessey, right?” one of the strikers said. “Such a good name for such a fierce spirit.”

“We were a little disappointed that you didn’t sign up as part of the entertainment tonight,” one of the others said. “We were looking forward to the show.” (…)

The striker grinned at Matt over [Dan’s] shoulder, then tilted forward and sucked a deep breath against her neck.

Dan brought her stilettos between his legs inn a vicious punch.

I repeat myself: FUCK. YEAH.

Also, that’s what a Hennessey is. Noted.

Fun backstory done – That Fucker, Senior™ has arrived. Tetsuji Moriyama is about everything I don’t want near my Foxes, combined into one slimy sack of asshole. The whole “master” thing still both scares and infuriates me.

However, we don’t have to spend long enjoying his absolutely unenjoyable company as Neil is called off to have a little tête-à-tête with That Fucker, Junior™.

“Nathaniel, it has been so long.”

NATHANIEL???????

Did we just discover Neil’s true name, holy shit?????

Nathaniel is a beautiful name, though. I’ve always liked it. Shame.

Apparently, the way That Fucker™ could find Neil so quickly was by getting a glass with Neil’s fingerprints on it from Kathy Ferdinand. Well, fuck.

Riko started across the room on slow steps. “Jean says Kevin did not know who you are. After seeing Kevin’s reaction, I’m inclined to believe him. (…) But you must know who you are, so I am very, very curious to know what you think you are doing.”

Bitch, aren’t we all! Aren’t we fucking all!!

And now- we’ve reached the point where shit gets so, so painfully real.

Did I say earlier I stopped breathing when Neil was dragging Riko?

Fuck that. That was nothing compared to what followed next.

I was not remotely ready.

“You have already cost my family a sizeable fortune and eight years of trouble.”

“How?” Neil asked. “The money I took was my father’s.” (…)

“Nothing your father owned was his!” Riko snapped.

What.

Riko grabbed Neil by the shoulders and slammed him into the wall. Neil’s head hit hard enough to rattle teeth.

“I refuse to believe she never told you. All this time running and you never asked why?”

What.

“You were not running from your father, Nathaniel. You were running from his master.”

WHAT.

WHAT IN THE FUCKING WHAT????

What Riko was suggesting was impossible. The Butcher was one of the biggest names on the eastern seaboard. He made Baltimore his home, but his territory extended from D.C. to outer Newark. He had a fiercely loyal syndicate and a penchant for grotesque executions. (…)

If the Moriyamas really were powerful enough to keep a man like the butcher under lock and key Neil was so far in over his head he might as well be six feet under.

That is amazingly worded, well done. Also, I’m kinda peeing my pants here.

If I’ve looked this up correctly, that’s a territory about twice the size of New York City.

Like. Imagine controlling New York City. And then that – TWICE.

And THEN imagine controlling the guy who controls all of that, and then some more.

Yeah. You dead, bro.

“Learn your place. I will never tolerate this level of disrespect from you again. Do you understand?”

Neil was already in his coffin. He might as well nail it shut. “Yeah, I understand you’re a complete asshole.”

Riko: Neil, no.

The Foxes: Neil, no.

Common sense: Neil, no.

Me: NEIL, FUCK NO.

Neil: Neil, yes.

Thankfully, Matt arrives in order to save Neil from digging his sass-induced grave even deeper, and after some nice threats about ratting his shitty ass behaviour out to the ERC, Riko finally fucks off.

“I don’t think Riko likes me very much. Should I be disappointed?”

Are you fucking serious bruh. Are you serious.

Matt looked skyward as if searching for patience.

Which is, incidentally, the No 1 reaction people have to Neil speaking more than a few polite sentences at a time.

Never talk to me or my short-tempered sassmaster idiot son ever again.

And with that trainwreck of an encounter, the Foxes take their curt leave from the banquet. Some more comments are made – Neil and Kevin will have A Talk™ tomorrow, Andrew got called Doe earlier by Jean Valjean because that was his preliminary surname when he entered the foster system (which probably means the Ravens also know more about Andrew than we should be comfortable with) – but all of that pales in comparison to the absolute FUCKERY we just witnessed.

Holy shit.

I have to go, like, breathe into a bag for five hours.

See you Wednesday.

If you like what I do here and you want to help me continue writing, please consider buying me a coffee! Thank you so much <3

#nicki reads tfc #tfc #trk #aftg #nora sakavic #the foxhole court #the raven king #all for the game #I know this is late but this was also a 3.5k monster so I'm really not sorry at all #enjoy my suffering #I'm still not okay

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c-valentino · 7 years

Note

What do you think of Riko as a character inside the books? (no HCs) / Any fave HCs you want to share? / Any pairings/ships you like with him? / fic recs? / art recs? / Kevin&Riko - do they have/had feelings for each other? / Thoughts on his finale scene? / Did you read Nora's extra content? // tag other bloggers you think have something interesting to say about him! (maybe someone we don't know yet??) #Thoughts on Riko Moriyama

What do you think of Riko as a character inside the books? (no HCs) From a writer’s point of view? He’s a fucking tragedy. (and no, I don’t mean the pieces of background story we did get on him, that’s been said and discussed before) He’s kind of the worst villain a story can have - and here is why:

Riko is ‘one’ of the book’s antagonists, and to quote my German lit. teacher: “Antagonists act while heroes react.” - meaning it is often a villain who initiates any kind of dramatic change in a story. That said, why is Riko Moriyama a bad example of a villain? A good villain needs a plausible background story. The reader needs to actually understand what happened to the character in order to make him into what he is today. A good villain started out as an ‘ordinary’ person, same as a hero. Both undergo a series of events to turn them into what they are. If not enough depth and character development is put into a story the character becomes lifeless, doesn’t spark any kind of interest within the reader and (in this case) the villain becomes a ‘plot device’ - meaning someone who does evil things to create scenes that show more light on the main character and his reactions. (Neil has to suffer through some pretty over the top and kinda unexplained abuse from Riko in order to add to the tragedy and heroic survival in his character’s development). [unexplained meaning: Riko could just have done a million other things to him - it wouldn’t make much of a difference. As long as it fits the excessive violent behavior category it would have worked plot wise. There is no explanation why he is using knives (other than that it fits the whole scar theme of the books (Kevin, Andrew, Neil, Jean… all of them have scars)) … ] Or, to be very harsh here and I know it’s not quite THAT bad, think of those silly cartoons, Road Runner and Coyote - you know the coyote will do any kinds of destructive things, you don’t know why, it’s just his role, he’s a plot device.

Of course there are ways to create a great villain without spending many pages on his background story. Take Makishima Shogo e.g. (PsychoPass season one), we know next to nothing about his background, yet he is one of my favorite antagonists. His character feels real because there are enough little aspects about him that add depth: he likes to read books (physical copies because ebooks lack character), he likes to quote from those books to drive his point home, he likes to dip his sweets into tea… - non of that makes him better/worse at changing/destroying society, but it gives us an idea of who the man behind that criminal mastermind is.

Sadly, we only get the smallest glimpses of Riko. Overall his name is being mentioned 595 times in the trilogy, but we encounter him only a few times. Most of his actions happen behind the scenes. He’s also the best kind of HC goldmine you can find. Wasted potential makes for great fan content because there is so much left to explore (no matter if the author had to cut all the information out or cba to come up with anything to begin with. The fields of imagination are endless my friends!) Or, as Nora explained: “I wanted a stronger antagonist, so I kept giving him more power–and then I tore a chunk of it away in the final draft out of necessity. He had more presence in the second-to-last draft, just as Neil’s father did, but I had to delete entire chunks to balance the story out…” Basically all the information we have on Riko comes from Nora’s extra content (his whole backstory is in there). If you read it his character starts to make sense, becomes interesting and worth exploring. But it is what it is. You can’t really blame the readers for hating Riko Moriyama when they pick up the books for the first time. He is a shadow of a character in there. And let’s be honest, the extra content “doesn’t count” in many reader’s opinion. If it’s not in the books it didn’t happen! (true to some degree, but I’m not a purist. I research and dig for those extra pieces of information. I’d rather have four books with all the information on the side characters in there, I don’t need a sequel.) So, conclusion: If you hate Riko Moriyama, consider reading Nora’s extra content and give him another shot. He is quite interesting.

Any fave HCs you want to share?oh geez…. endless supply of those • Young Riko wide-eyed on his first trip outside of the Nest (supervised &!! unsupervised) like… the things he wants to see/eat/try/buy, (with Kevin by his side/the whole team/on his own/some Moriyama bodyguard), him buying ice cream (wow that’s sweet), fast food (not rly his thing, too greasy), clothes (ripped jeans, t-shirts, that amazing black coat he sees on his way back, a hat - because all he has are workout clothes, Exy gear and suits)• Riko doing promo/commercial stuff for the Ravens, playing nice for the staff on set, but wishing some of them a very painful death because they are so fake… (kinda used that one before) • Riko doing drugs/alcohol for the first time (can’t hold his liquor even though Kevin seems to have no problems in that department, and oh, it pisses him off - gets a huge backlash from his uncle afterwards for being an embarrassment to the family name) (drugs are something he can’t really get to terms with. He likes the feeling they give him (at least some of them) but he absolutely hates the aftermath, remembering how they made him open up, bringing him close to losing control…(ravens are against doping btw) • Endless scenes of Riko/Kevin making out… Young Kevin getting curious at some point and the only one around for him to ask is Riko, Riko being so angry that something has to give and sadly that’s Kevin, both of them being hyped after their first official game(win) and making out on Kevin’s bed, both of them getting drunk at the victory celebration and Riko dragging Kevin off to somewhere that’s dangerously public and oh, Kevin, be quiet dammit…

•Kevin is like an octopus while being asleep and Riko can’t stand it, it’s too warm, too sweaty, too heavy, too close…. - that’s why they make out on Kevin’s bed and he leaves afterwards. But there are times he wishes he could just go over there while Kevin is asleep. He does one night, when Kevin has been drinking with the older ravens… he has covered his ass and Kevin is gonna pay for it later… gets into bed behind Kevin and prays he won’t wake up…• Riko not admitting that there is more than Exy in his head sometimes… he likes psychology, astronomy, he’s good at math too and maybe physics would be interesting if the teacher wouldn’t be such a boring moron who takes ages to come to the point… but he can’t tell anyone because all he’s meant to be is the heir of Exy, and rly, what’s the point anyway? Chances are he won’t survive the end of his Exy career… • He likes music and some company gave them these awesome noise cancelling headphones. He likes them but only uses them when he is alone because he needs to hear the people around him… • He’s an awesome dancer with remarkable body control, and so is Kevin, as they both find out on their first (and last) night at a club…

Any pairings/ships you like with him? Both Riko/Kevin & Kevin/Riko work just fine for me. I’ve written (Raven!)Neil/Riko/Kevin before, and if you put some work and thought into a well crafted AU setting even Riko/(raven!)Andrew works. - If it has to be straight… my best bet would be Allison - she has enough of an attitude to stand her ground.

fic recs?let me give you a few but it rly deserves a full list at some pointwhat if i did by MadHatterNO7 - Kevin/RikoNever More by biffes - Kevin/Riko Kevin/Riko/Jeanignominy by Saul - Kandreil but I still like Riko in this one… baptism by Saul can’t go wrong with Saul aka @unkinglythose are only the ones I can name on the spot…

art recs? Well, there is @shihoran , of course, she’s been posting daily. hers is maybe the sweetest Riko I’ve ever seen (nothing like I imagine him but gorgeous art!) I know @foxesrefuge is working on some stuff (since I’ve seen a glimpse of it! ha! no spoilers though) http://berry-muffin.tumblr.com/post/154991766150/insp-and-a-bonus-because-fuck-riko-moriyama http://llstarcasterll.tumblr.com/post/157091722582 http://schwarzbrot.tumblr.com/image/138611768689 http://ziegenkind.tumblr.com/post/147315366365/here-you-go-nonnyand…. srsly, we need more Riko art!

Kevin&Riko - do they have/had feelings for each other? According to Nora’s extra content ‘yes’ they had feelings for each other. And I’m not talking the platonic kind of feelings. We’re talking the conflicted ‘adoptive’ brother/romance kind of stuff. Inside the books? Yes, I believe they have a nice textbook example of love/hate relationship to the very end. Riko can’t get over Kevin, even keeps his room untouched (as Neil tells us) and I could write you another two pages about that first interview scene. You can’t just ‘hate’ someone for no reason. Hate is a very personal feeling and it needs some kind of obsession behind it. Kevin tells us that he knows how it is to be with Riko. He also tells us that Riko wasn’t always like the way he is now. He’s gotten worse. You hear the Foxes call Riko a bastard, crazy… yet Kevin usually doesn’t outright insult Riko. Does he love him after what Riko has done to him? Probably not! Did he get rid of all his feelings from the time they grew up and learned to love Exy together? Unlikely.

Thoughts on his finale scene? ¬_¬ you had to… I don’t like it. But that’s my personal (emotionally clouded) opinion. It works as a scene because it is fast paced and written in an almost detached way - like such an experience would be, I imagine. Hard to take in, slow to process, very overwhelming, scattered, scrambled brains and all. The scene itself makes me nearly choke on the tension and displayed/withheld emotions.

Did you read Nora’s extra content? Oh yes! Such an inspiration. I’d love to get my hands on some of the earlier drafts… *cough*moreKandreil/moreRiko*cough*

// tag other bloggers you think have something interesting to say about him! (maybe someone we don’t know yet??) #Thoughts on Riko Moriyama - Already did! :D

#Thoughts on Riko Moriyama #riko moriyama #kevin day #tfc #aftg #thoughts #c.val rambling #anon asks

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