#yeah that's killer! not. murderous aliens

[albatris]

#after rentalcar and vampires hehe #don't hold me to the results I'm just curious #i think personally I'd do a killer alien story ngl #that's killer the adjective not the nouns Killer Alien #yeah that's killer! not. murderous aliens #but maybe! #EDIT WAIT I FORGOR I ALREADY HAVE A GHOST STORY #bright and burning things #max and daisy and deckchairs..... i forgor

[thedrunkenreadersreviews]

Regarding Alastor's Hallway Scene in Episode 5 of "Hazbin Hotel"

Good day, folks! As sweet Mimzy said, "...pour a few fingers of rye and he turns into a kitten" so let's do that. Let me set up my Redemption, and let's get into this.

*Sip, sip*

Now, this is quite an interesting thing; the phenomenon of the reactions I have been seeing particularly regarding Alastor in episode 5 of Hazbin Hotel has been ... curiouser and curiouser.

*Sip, sip*

The big question that I think we should be asking after this episode is who Alastor is leashed to---but there seems to be something else on people's minds and that is the interaction Alastor had with Husk in the hallway of the hotel. I mean, every great character needs an epic hallway scene. For Star Wars it was Vader and Luke. For Hazbin, it is Alastor. Let's explore this.

*Sip, sip*

As a society, feasting on entertainment, whether it be through books or films or a series, fans often say that they enjoy the "villain" or "morally grey" character as opposed to those who are set on their compass of goodness. I find this to be a lie that we often tell ourselves and believe completely.

Sure, we find them more entertaining and thus we favor them, but then we try to find excuses for their behavior, make it a despicable act that is done for righteous reasons. Or because we desire to see someone who is tremendously struggling or has a rather horrid reputation overcome this and prove to be a fantastic character underneath all the layers of darkness. We don't like them because they are bad. We may pity them for they often have the most tragic backstories, or we see the potential of their goodness. But we like them because we believe that everyone in their universe has the wrong perspective of their wickedness while we, outsiders looking in, see the potential of their heroics. What they can do despite everything.

That is not liking a character because they are the villain. That is liking a character because of why they are the villain and how they can overcome it.

A few examples:

Rhysand dressing Feyre up like a whore and tattooing her without her consent: well, he was doing that to protect her and help her.

Darth Vader: Mass murderer and second in command of an empire built on absolute control; but he fulfilled the prophecy of the Chosen One and had originally fallen because he wanted to save the love of his life and his unborn children.

Loki: Yeah, he slaughtered 80 people in 2 days, attacked NYC with an alien army killing hundreds if not thousands in the process, and committed genocide prior to that, BUT that's because he was severely broken and now he sits all alone at the end of time, saving an infinite amount of people.

Granted, I love 2/3 of those characters because of the reasons provided. But also because in their prime they were WICKED!

*Sip, sip*

Now let's look at Alastor.

Alastor, the Radio Demon, and one of the most feared overlords of Hell ... threatened one of the souls he owns. And now, I see people comparing him to Val or saying they hated him at that moment or now have a poor taste for him in their mouths. But ... this is exactly what you asked for from him.

*Sip, sip*

Val, who ACTIVELY tortures Angel Dust, is being used as the comparison for Alastor because he THREATENED and scared Husk after Husk stepped over the line.

*Sip, sip*

Alastor, when alive, was a serial killer. Alastor in Hell captured overlords, tortured them, broadcasted the torture throughout Hell, and became one of the most feared overlords.

He didn't do that by being "nice" or "charming." He did that by being vile and not for a greater good. He did it because, as far as we know, he wanted power. And, damn, he got it.

Demons KNOW to be afraid of Alastor. Granted, his reputation may have faltered because he has been away for 7 years but before his departure and even upon his return, for the most part, demons avoid Alastor as though he were death incarnate.

*Sip, sip*

Now, let's examine him in episode 5. Only the scene that is getting the most traction; I'll talk about Alastor and Lucifer in another post. But let's look at this scene:

Alastor and Husk in the hallway.

*Sip, sip*

Let me put some quotes here real quick:

From the Pilot:

Husk to Alastor: "Don't you [Alastor, the owner of my soul] 'Husker' me, you son of a bitch!"

Husk to Alastor: "Are you [Alastor, the owner of my soul] shitting me?"

Husk to Alastor: "You [Alastor, owner of my soul whom I have just shoved off of me] think it must be some big fucking riot just to pull me out of nowhere? You think I'm some kind of fucking clown? [even though I am contractually obligated to obey your summons]"

Husk to Alastor: "I [the one contracted to serve you and obey your commands] ain't doing no fucking charity job [even though you told me by your order that I have to]."

Alastor to Husk: "Don't worry my friend [you, who sold your soul to me so that you could keep your power because you almost gambled it all away], I can make this more welcoming [providing you with something that you enjoy even though you are contractually obligated to obey my commands without payment/reward], if you wish."

From episode 5:

Alastor to Husk: "It's nothing I can't handle, don't worry, Husker. [Proceeds to walk away, leaving the conversation] Who in their right mind would cross me? [Continues to walk away, posing the question as rhetorical and not requiring an answer]."

Husk to Alastor: "... You've been gone a while. And it's not like anybody knows why---"

Alastor to Husk: "They don't need to know. [And it does not need to be discussed further, so leave it alone.] And don't you worry your fuzzy head about it. [Drop it. Drop it now. Don't pick it up]"

Husk to Alastor: "You may own my soul, but I ain't your fucking pet!"

[Personally, I think Val would have instantly backhanded AD for that alone.]

Alastor to Husk: "Hmhm. But you are [So stop talking, just let it go, I'm letting a lot slide here]."

Husk to Alastor [the owner of his soul, who has slaughtered overlords of Hell]: "Big talk for someone who is also on a leash."

Alastor to Husk: "Aha. What did you say? [Now you have tested my patience too much!]"

*Sip, sip*

In the pilot, Husk openly and without fear insults and cusses at Alastor. And what does Alastor, the owner of his soul, do? He lets it slide.

In the one scene between them in the hallway, Alastor essentially still does nothing even though it is evident that Husk struck a nerve. At least twice over in this scene alone, Alastor gives subtle hints to Husk that it is best he just stops. And it is not like he even dismisses Husk's worries about Mimzy or even his absence. It's more along the lines of, "Oh, I know she is in trouble and came here for me to clean up her mess, but I am a bit occupied at the moment dealing with the actual King of Hell, so I'll get to it when I get to it. Just keep her busy for now." And in regards to his absence, he makes it abundantly clear that Husk is better off just not mentioning anything about it. He cuts Husk off, and essentially says, "Look, just keep quiet about it. It's no one's business but mine and I'm fine, I can handle it, so let's just leave it alone."

All the talk people say of Alastor having a big ego, oh undoubtedly, but it makes sense why Husk is in pride in this one scene alone. Alastor tells him "let it go," and moves to walk away from the conversation.

But Husk pushes. And pushes. And on that final shove, I think Husk even knows before Alastor got mad that he went TOO far.

*Sip, sip*

And Alastor still, for the most part, does nothing.

He reminds Husker that he owns his soul, pulls on the chain just to knock Husker off-kilter, and then, rather demonically, tells Husk to not EVER mention the fact that he is leashed again. Honestly, with what Alastor COULD do to Husk ... that was letting him off SUPER easy. Like, Husk should be kissing his feet that that threat was the only punishment he received for that comment.

Val? Forget it. AD would probably be filming for 3 days straight. Alastor doesn't even touch Husk.

This move is also a sense of security for Alastor, I think. Husk probably thought this was just another comment that would result in Alastor just ignoring it. But it takes Alastor by surprise and destroys his comfort. He loses himself in a fit of fury and pulls on Husk's leash to remind both Husk and himself, "Yeah, I might be leashed but I still own YOUR soul, Husk! So do not test me!"

*sip, sip*

So, yeah, Husk gets scared, as he should. Alastor is terrifying.

Should this lessen our opinion of Alastor as it seems to have done with so many fans?

No. Absolutely not. If anything, this scene provides balance to that paradox I supplied earlier; how we like the evil characters because of the good they could do but we should also like them because they are evil and should be expected to do evil things.

Alastor IS evil. He owns Husk's soul.

And yet, this evil overlord allows Husk to get away with soooo much. And when Husk oversteps, as he absolutely did, to not even be smacked by Alastor speaks volumes of Alastor's opinion of Husk.

*Sip, sip*

Here is my speculation:

Husk obviously knows more about Alastor than most. But Alastor owns hundreds if not thousands of souls. Husk is someone he calls on often, obviously. Husk knows Alastor is leashed. Faustisse, a former employee of Spindle Horse, and one of the original teammates beside Viv for the Hazbin project said that Alastor regards Husk as one of his closest friends. Perhaps not friend, but maybe one of his closest confidants. Why else would Husk know that Alastor is leashed? Granted, we cannot tell from the dialogue if Husk knows where Alastor was for 7 years or even if he knows who Alastor is leashed to. To some extent, though, Alastor must trust Husk.

In this scene, Husk violates that trust. He deserved to be threatened, reminded, and terrified. I adore Husk. He is one of my favorite characters and when I saw the hallway scene, I thought Husk deserved way worse than what he got.

And Alastor still takes what Husk had to say about Mimzy into consideration. He still tells Mimzy, a friend he has had since he was alive, that she needs to leave.

*sip, sip*

Yes, Alastor is evil. And it is soooooo good to see him BE evil. And not for a good cause but just because someone got under his skin. He owns Husk and he lets Husk off very easy. So to see him lose his temper and not even physically hurt Husk allows the nugget of possible, minuscule glimmer of somewhat kindness to linger.

I loved the hallway scene. It did a fantastic job of showing us what Alastor COULD be if he really wanted to, why you shouldn't mess with him, and how he elicits fear.

Val lords over his souls through physical abuse. Alastor does it mentally when called for. They are two totally different overlords with really no comparison to be made between them save for this: they are both evil.

*Sip, sip*

Alastor ate in episode 5 and left no crumbs. He remains, quite possibly, the most interesting character in the show. I cannot wait to discover more of him and watch him be absolutely wicked towards others.

Cheers to you, Radio Demon. If I were in Hell and had to be leashed to anyone, I would want to be leashed to you.

*Sip, sip*

#hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel spoilers #hazbin alastor #hazbin husk #hazbin hotel alastor #hazbin hotel husk #hazbin valentino #hazbin hotel valentino #hazbin hotel episode 5 #hazbin hotel pilot

[literary-illuminati]

Book Review 70 – American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis

I’m honestly not sure I ever would have gotten around to reading this on my own, but ended up buying it through the ‘blind date with a book’ thing a bookstore in New York was doing when I was visiting (incredible gimmick, for the record). The fact that it then took me a solid three months to actually finish probably tells you something about how genuinely difficult a read I found it. Not in the sense of being bad, but just legitimately difficult to stomach at points. Overall I’d call it a real triumph of literature.

Not that anyone doesn’t already know, but; the book is spent inside the head of Patrick Bateman, high-flying wall street trader and Harvard blueblood at the close of the Reagan era. Also a serial killer. The story is told as a series of more or less disconnected vignettes, jumping from dinner conversations at one exclusive bar or club or another to the brutal torture and murder of a sex worker to several pages of incredibly vapid pontification on Nina Simone’s discography. The story vaguely tracks Bateman growing ever-more alienated and out of control as the year goes on, but there’s very much not any real single narrative or cathartic climax here. - most stuff just happens (stuff that’s either incredibly tedious or utterly nauseating by turns but still just, stuff).

So yeah this is an intensely literary work (obviously), a word I’m here using to mean one that is as much about the form and style of the writing as about the actual events portrayed. Bateman is a monster, but more than that he’s just an utterly boring and tedious husk of a man, traits which are exaggerated to the point of being fascinating– if you told this story in conventional third person narration without all the weird asides, it would be a) like half as long and b) totally worthless. The tonal whiplash of going from an incredibly visceral depiction of Bateman cutting out the eyes of a homeless man to six (utterly insipid) pages on the merits of The Doors is the selling point here (well actually I think Ellis goes back to that specific well probably one time too many, but in general I mean).

Bateman is a tedious, unstable monster, but as far as the book has an obvious thesis it’s that he differs from the rest of his social milieu only in degree. A symptom of a fundamentally rotten society, not a heroic devil among sheep. The book’s climax, such as it is, involved Bateman getting into a drug-fueled gunfight with the NYPD, shooting multiple people in the middle of the street, and then stumbling home and leaving a rambling confession to every crime on his lawyer’s answering machine – but despite very clearly wanting and trying to get caught and face some sort of consequence or justice, people just refuse to believe that someone like him is capable of anything like that. (It’s not, it must be said, an especially subtle book).

There is, as far as I can recall, not a single character who gets enough screentime to give an idea of their personality who I’d call likeable. Sympathetic, sure, but that’s mostly because it’s pretty much impossible not to sympathize with someone getting horrifically tortured and torn apart (at one point a starving rat is involved). The upper crust of New York yuppie-dom is portrayed as shallow and vapid, casually bigoted towards quite literally everyone who isn’t identical to them, status-obsessed to the point of only being able to understand the world as a collection of markers of class and coolness, and totally incapable of real human connection. Bateman is a monster not because of any freak abnormality, but just because he takes all of that a few steps further than his coworkers.

The book is totally serious and straight-faced in its presentation, and absolutely never acknowledges any of the running gags that are kept up through it. Which shows impressive restraint, and also means that none of them exactly have a payoff or a punchline – it’s just a feature of the world that all the expensive meals at trendy restaurants everyone competes for tables at sound disgusting when you think about them for a moment, or that the whole class of wall street trader guy are so entirely interchangeable that ostensible close friends and coworkers constantly mistake each other for other traders and no one particularly cares. Or – and I’m taking this on faith because fuck knows I’ve got no idea what any of the brands people are wearing are – that the ruinously expensive outfits everyone spends so very much time and money on for every engagement all clash comically if you actually looked up what the different pieces looked like. The book’s in no way really a comedy, so the jokes sit a bit oddly, but they’re still overall pretty funny, at least to me.

I like to think I have something of a strong stomach for unpleasant material in books, but this was the first work of fiction that I had genuine trouble reading for content reasons in I can’t even remember. I’m not sure it’s exactly right to call the violence pornographic in a general sense, but as far as American Psycho goes the register and tone Bateman uses to describe fucking a woman and torturing her to death are basically identical (and told in similarly explicit detail), and all of Bateman’s sexual fantasies are more or less explicitly just porn scenes he wants to recreate, so. Regardless, the result’s pretty alienating in both cases – his internal monologue never really feels anything but detached and almost bored as he relays what he does, sound exactly as vapid and alienated as when he is carefully listing the exact brands and designers every person he ever interacts with is wearing at all times, or arguing over dinner reservations for hours on end with his friends and lovers (though both those terms probably deserve heavy airquotes around them). He legitimately sounds considerably more engaged when talking about arguing over sartorial etiquette. It all adds up to a really strong alienating effect.

Anyways, speaking of sex and violence – perhaps because my main exposure to the story before this was tumblr making memes out of scenes from the movie, but I was pretty shocked by just how explicitly awful Patrick is ‘on screen’. The horrible murder, sure, but also just the casual and frequent use of racist and homophobic slurs, the pathological misogyny, the total breakdown he has at the idea of a gay man being attracted to him and thinking he might reciprocate – all of these are entirely in character for an asshole Wall Street ‘80s Guy even if he wasn’t a serial killer, but it’s still oddly shocking at first to see it so thoroughly represented on the page. It makes how comparatively soft-pedaled the bigotry and just, awfulness, of villains in a lot of more modern books stand out a lot more, I suppose? I have read a lot of books that are in some sense About queerness and/or racism in the last year, and no one in any of them holds a candle to good old Patrick Bateman.

Part of that is just the book being so intensely of its time, I suppose. The New York of this book is very much one of the late ‘80s, incredible wealth living side by side with social rot and decay, crippling poverty everywhere and a society that has to a great degree just stopped caring. Absolutely none of which Bateman or any of his peers care one bit about, of course – they’re too busy showing off the latest walkmans and record players, going to the newest clubs, and just generally enjoying all the fruits of Reagan’s America. Recent history has made the fact that Bateman’s personal idol is Donald Trump almost too on the nose to be interesting, but in 1991 I’m sure it was a bit more subtle in how telling it was.

Anyway, yeah, horrifying and exhausting read, triumph of literature, my god did Easton Ellis hate America (this is a compliment). Now time to go watch the movie!

#book review #literature #american psycho #brett easton ellis

[k-marzolf]

I’m gonna live forever;

title inspired by Irene Cara’s song Fame.

cw; hit man!Billy Russo, ADHD coded reader, kissing, a hint at Billy’s darker side, fem!reader.

summary; Billy is your neighbor that you’re enamored with, but what secrets is he hiding?

tagging; @terry2227 @kayhi808 @e-dubbc11 @bookloverfilmoholic @aoi-targaryen @firequeensposts @oops89 @thejanecampaign @littleblackcatinwonderland @zz-kennedy @fictional-hooman @cant-help-simping @tortilla-chips-and-allioli @fireeyes-on-teller-dixon-grimes @danzer8705 @firexfate @rosaleenablack @idaofinfinity @russosafehaven @vaguekayla

&&&&&&

You see him with her in the drink aisle; she’s flirting as he grabs your favorite wine, and puts it in the cart. You feel the sting of jealousy; she’s beautiful.

She was like Snow White, or maybe some Twilight vampire, minus the sparkling. A Volturi member, ready to kill you for your blood. Or maybe—a fairy but ones with claws, and fangs. A human—you stop yourself as you go on yet another tangent.

You look down at yourself in your sweatpants and one of his PT shirts you’d swiped. You made a habit of stealing his clothes like a little gnome, they were comfortable. And they smelled like him. You casually make your way over, missing the way his eyes light up when he sees you.

You know your neighbor isn’t yours, but god you want him to be. Karen had seen him twirling you around in the hallway, with a glass of wine in your hands, somehow not spilling.

“I got the better wine.” He had husked in your ear, opening his apartment door.

“Are you sayin’ I have cheap wine, sir?” You had huffed.

He hummed, “‘I’m trying to catch a fairy.” He said, breath tickling your ear.

You had stumbled forward, nearly spilling the wine.

He laughed, “First day on your new legs, Ariel?” He said, helping you into the apartment.

“He’s an asshole, but a beautiful one, isn’t he?”

When you approach, the woman looks at you with disdain. But Billy wraps his arm around you, kissing your mouth, making your cheeks blaze, and eyebrows raise in surprise. “Hey, fairy.” He says, smiling at your wide eyed expression.

The woman curls her lip glaring at you, before she leaves the two of you. Not a vampire, then. He sighs once she’s gone. “What a pain in the ass. They only ever want my beauty. I’m a goddamn prize to them.” He admits in irritation.

“You could walk around with a bag over your head. Like Scarecrow. I’d dress up like Batman, too. You know, so you won’t be alone. Or a pumpkin like the headless horseman. We could put LED lights inside to give it the murder kitten vibe, and I could be Ichabod Crane, or—” You ramble, the train wreck gaining speed.

He cuts you off, kissing you mouth, tasting your iced coffee, and you make a surprised noise in the back of your throat.

He looks at you as he pulls back, and gives you a boyish grin, making butterflies erupt in your belly. “Wanna get some wine and snacks?” He asks you, pointing to the wine in the cart, enjoying your sweet smile.

“We could have a movie night, we could watch the Terminator, or Alien. Bloodthirsty aliens against a woman and her cat, I’m also not opposed to homicidal dinosaurs, or The Mummy, gets the ancient Egypt nerd in me happy—” You ramble.

Billy grins, cheeks dimpling. “Sounds good, fairy.”

You both agree no to rom-coms (you loathe those, something Karen never understood, “Romance and comedy, what could be better?” She asked you one time. “Criminal Minds. Serial killers and Spencer Reid,” you had deadpanned. Karen had blanched), so you and Billy decided to throw some movies in a bowl, and select one.

Forging relationships has always been difficult, due to you being so ditsy and a chatterbox.

Maybe with Billy, it doesn’t have to be.

x

“Young man?” An older lady stops Billy in his tracks as he moves to climb the stairs. Her hair is graying, and pulled up in a tight bun; she has laugh lines, and her eyes are warm.

“Yeah?” Billy asks, one foot on the step in front of him, body turned.

“Thank you for befriending her. I’ve always worried about how isolated she is. But she seems at ease with you. No one should be alone all the time.” She says, and Billy’s heart aches at the image of you alone with no one.

You peek from the top of the stairs, “Bill?” You say impatiently, giving him golden retriever energy.

“Comin’,” he says, turning back to the lady who shoos him up the stairs.

“What’d she want?” You ask, bouncing on the balls of your feet, noticing an outline of a knife in his combat boot.

Billy ruffles your hair distracting you, “Just worried about you.” He hums, kissing your cheek. “How about that movie night?”

You give him a sweet smile, giggling as he raced you down to the end of the hall where your shared apartment was, carrying chips and salsa.

He was going to steal your heart, you were sure of it.

#billy russo #billy russo x reader

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

reading update: January 2024

as long as I'm talking about The Gargoyle's Captive, let's discuss what else I've been reading this month.

Maeve Fly (CJ Leede, 2023) - I really liked this slender debut novel, which follows the titular Maeve Fly as she prowls LA like a homicidal alien, playing an unnamed ice princess in a certain theme park by day and indulging her murderous tendencies by night. Maeve is in a downward spiral; she's 27 years old and is preparing to lose her grandmother to illness and her only friend to a blossoming acting career. she sees no future for herself beyond losing the only two people she cares about and has no further goals, contenting herself with alcohol and porn while she rereads the same books, rewatches the same videos, and listens over and over to her playlist of Halloween music. Maeve is, it must be said, an abysmal loser, and I like her terrible melodrama a lot. I do think some of the hype is perhaps overstating the feminist credentials of this book; it sort of reminds me of when a college friend told me their favorite feminist movie was Suicide Squad (2016) because Harley Quinn was in it. Maeve talks a lot of big game about how women are always expected to have some tragedy to be deranged serial killers, while men are allowed to just do it, but it hit me as a little tryhard. there are a lot of books trying to be "the female American Psycho" right now - Eliza Clark's 2020 novel Boy Parts is frequently described as such - but it feels a bit too on the nose when Maeve's ultimate climactic rampage is directly inspired by a glimpse of the American Psycho novel. it's not that deep, but it is a gross, captivating read told from a fascinatingly cracked POV. check out Maeve Fly.

Laziness Does Not Exist (Devon Price, 2021) - yeah Devon Price is still following me (though my days are numbered, I'm sure) so it's a massive relief to say that I did like this book. Price has sort of become my self-help ride or die, mainly because a.) he's so much more self-aware than the average self-help writer that it feels kind of insulting to call him one and b.) he's actually dealing with topics that are relevant or interesting and providing actionable advice. while LDNE didn't engross me quite as hard as Unmasking Autism (while I am, famously, not autistic, I do believe in their beliefs, by which I mean I'm the token allistic among my close friends and I vastly prefer autistic company) it hit me hard in several unexpected pressure points. I'll happily admit that I can't relate to Price's interviewees who willingly work 50+ hours a week for jobs that hate them and are destroying their minds and bodies, but I still struggle to escape the perpetual sensation that a moment at rest is a moment wasted. It probably didn't help that I was reading this book while on vacation at my mother's, where I visited the beach almost daily and was so work-averse that we didn't even bother going grocery shopping because I didn't want to cook. and yet, despite getting dummy chill in some aspects of my life, I am still constantly possessed by a malevolent ghost insisting that I'm wasting my time and have never actually done Enough. maybe Price's next book, Unlearning Shame, will finally fix me; it's out in four days and god knows I'll be getting my hands on it as soon as humanly possible.

Patternmaster (Octavia E. Butler, 1976) - y'all know I love a messy political fantasy, and this is just... god, the absolute messiest. I thought Mind of My Mind was bad, but it turns out Mary's descendants are going to full-on reinvent feudalism with psychic powers, treating non-psychics as chattel and causing technological advancement to regress since they refuse to handle their problems with anything but psychic powers. and it's even got two brothers duking it out for the throne that will give them power over every bitchy psychic on earth! you love to see it. if I can be 100% honest I do think it's straight up bananagrams that this was the first book released in the series even though it's chronologically last; I genuinely cannot imagine caring enough to figure out what the fuck these people were talking about if I didn't have the previous four books for context. and even "context" may be generous; Octavia still has absolutely 0 interest in explaining what's up with the fucking outer space werewolves who are the psychics' #1 enemy. if I could have brunch with any person living or dead I would summon Butler up in a heartbeat to explain what the fuck her thought process was in plotting out this series over some mimosas, and I would take extensive notes on every word she said. an absolute genius and the uncontested queen of freak shit forever.

Thirsty Mermaids (Kat Leyh, 2021) - I purchased this graphic novel in November 2023 at a conference where I bumped into Queer Comics Peddler, my very favorite queer midwestern pop-up. running into them is always a delight, and this time I came with a question: could they give me a recommendation? the very nice people working offered up Thirsty Mermaids, which was the PERFECT companion for a long airplane ride. it's cute without being overly sappy, and avoids the trap of sacrificing a plot for the sake of checking off as many representation boxes as possible. the story is simple: three mermaids use a spell to turn into humans and go ashore in search of booze, only to realize in the morning that they don't know how to turn back. taken in by a generous bartender, they're faced with the reality of having to make money for the first time in their lives. hijinks ensue, but also a very sweet and warmhearted story about the friends looking out for one another as they try to figure out exactly where they belong and what home even means. also the artwork is GORGEOUS, with the mermaids' extremely memorable character designs being a real standout. if you're a graphic novel enthusiast, definitely check this out 🧜‍♀️

Sugar, Baby (Celine Saintclare, 2023) - Sugar, Baby came to me in a very similar way as Thirsty Mermaids: while visiting a witchy little bookstore that I was immediately charmed by, I asked the cashier what they would recommend. they offered up Maeve Fly (fab) and this novel, a stack of which was on the counter advertising an upcoming event with the author. neither have disappointed, so shout out to that one employee with the great taste! Sugar, Baby sees a young cleaner named Agnes, one of the only biracial women in her unnamed English town, befriending the daughter of a wealthy client and getting whisked away to her new friend's London lifestyle: crashing in an apartment with fellow models, staying out all night to party, and making money by going on dates with extravagantly wealthy older men. Agnes starts out having a swell time, but the cracks pretty swiftly start to form as she realizes how much more dependent she is on these men than her wealthy new friends and she begins to wonder exactly how much she's willing to diminish herself to get the bag. it's not a perfect first novel but it is a compelling one, a perfect airplane page-turner that crashes from glitzy to ghoulish and back with breakneck speed.

The Gargoyle's Captive (Katee Robert, 2023) - my full review is over on patreon for my darling supporters who want me dead (and picked this book in the first place, damn them to hell), but suffice to say this is a fun book to read if you like the sensation of your brain melting out of your nose, if you're really turned on by baby's first bdsm, you are not particularly concerned with trifling matters like "plot coherence" or "character motivation" or "writing that is complex and artful," and/or you've ever wanted to have sex with a dude whose penis is so big that you feel genuinely fear. also, hey, I forgot to include this in my patreon write-up so fuck it: Robert REFUSES to tell us what kind of food the protagonists are eating, ever. whenever they have a meal it's just "the food was placed on the table" "I took a bite" etc. drop me a HINT, man, come on! is it a protein? grain? starches? the only thing I know for sure that they're consuming is wine and a single marshmallow, and god does it show. it's just a very weird and distracting omission and it's absolutely not the worst thing about this book but it is a hill I'm willing to die complaining on.

#bookblr #reading updates

[triclopsrabbit]

spider/carnage: slurpee-au

au starts out with peter as a senior undergrad (also being spider-man), cletus is older working at a butcher. he wasn't a serial killer yet until he got the carnage symbiote, which is still growing so it's not yet full-powered, just a little baby alien, he's been mostly murdering people regular serial killer style under the radar, managing to not yell out IM CLETUS KASADY while being carnage for once.

Peter and Cletus meet at a 7/11, they always go to the same one and get slurpees so they get to talking. Peter is somewhat smitten by this mysterious older guy, he's been traumatized by Gwen's death two years ago so he's hesitant about a relationship but he's trying to let it go. Peter has a fascination with crime/murder mystery stuff and is a writer as a hobby, cletus finds this totally cute. Peter asks cletus out and cletus agrees, planning on serial-killing him but figures, he might as well have some fun with him beforehand. ("I'm not gay but I'll try anything twice.")

They both totally fall for each other, they both like how the other is not high-maintience, and cletus never seems to mind when Peter is late or cancels on plans constantly. Peter's random schedule has Cletus quite intrigued, he knows his class schedule but the classes he even shows up for are seemingly completely random, and cletus wonders where he goes constantly. Peter says it's because he's chasing spider-man for photos, or whatever other excuse he has.

Red (the carnage symbiote) matures rapidly, and she LOVES peter, she's so excited to kill him in an act that will bind them all together forever- but, no need to rush it, every time Peter brushes his hand over theirs or kisses them they push their plans back a little further. Late at night when cletus is asleep and peter's still up working on schoolwork or writing, red will take over cletus's body to talk to peter about deep stuff, science, philosophy, existential stuff, while peter thinks he is talking to cletus still. Red also gets really handsy with him, noticing all the small differences in their bodies in a real tender way. Peter falls in love with the both of them without realizing it.

Of course the good times can't last forever- cletus notices peter with strange injuries lining up with the ones he JUST put on spider-man, (carnage's injuries heal much faster) not to mention how inexplicably ripped peter is. He figures out Peter is spider-man, and this makes the thrill of the hunt even greater for him.

Oh yeah and Venom is there too, venom is suspicious of cletus because he finally tracked down where his spawn went but no ones linked the murders to carnage/cletus yet, so he's just kind of hanging around, hating spider-man (eddie is still very much in his "blame spider-man for everything" stage)

Anyway, eventually the cats out of the bag, peter comes over to cletus's apartment to find him fucked up and bleeding in the bathtub after a fight with venom, with the symbiote swirling around him. Peter is shocked and horrified, at first thinking of his previous experience with symbiotes and thinks the symbiote is controlling him, but when they explain that he's not being controlled, and that they know he is spider-man, peter freaks out but cletus trys to rack up sympathy points because he's injured, he says he's broken and needs help, needs peter to help him. Then like, few days later peter gets word eddies in the hospital bc carnage went back to fuck him up after talking to peter even though he SAID he was trying to get better and all this shit and thats when peter gets righteously angry, they have a crazy breakup in-costume

After both beating the shit out of each other while screaming, carnage doesn't feel like killing peter any more.

They were together for about a year and a half before everything went to shit, and after that carnage skips town - killing has lost its fun for cletus, every time he thinks of something he said to peter, "Killing makes me feel alive," and peter responded "Don't I make you feel alive?"

Peter is super depressed, and a year passes, he doesn't go to grad school because he's so messed up. Waiting for the other shoe to drop is like torture. Cletus isn't faring much better, killing people doesn't bring him the same satisfaction and red is unhappy and misses peter as well. when he returns to new york, its to turn himself into ravencroft, though without revealing that he's carnage and that he has a symbiote. peter goes to visit him weekly, with slurpees. They talk, but cletus never tries to manipulate him or tell him that he turned himself in "for him."

Eventually cletus feels he's done enough for himself ("I got real good at mental health") and leaves Ravencroft and is prepared to leave town with Red and Peter catches him right before he leaves and they makeout after like two years of pining lol. cletus had gone to get a slurpee and peter is looking for him frantically after finding out he's missing.

whew okay, and thats pretty much the premise of the au :3 I think we retroactively changed some things later like adding in shriek but its been a long time and i've only reread so much

They get into many more shenanigans like peter almost dying and red having to bond with him to save him, peter clones, peter getting turned into man-spider and going into spider-heat which is definitely real and not made up LMAO etc

#spidercarnage

[sophieinwonderland]

I mentioned this once on one of my blogs, but I feel like a similar fear of hiveminds may also be related (though, not as directly as fear of possession) to stigmatization of plurality in media. I say this because although hiveminds aren't as obvious about it, they're another type of horror that mimics pluralphobia very clearly once you get into WHY they're seen as horrific. A fear of sharing all of your mind/who you are with another being (or collection of beings); a fear of being part of a group where you may be indistinguishable as individuals from an outsider's point of view; a fear of your body following the commands of another, even if you yourself do not wish to do the actions in question – and, notably, a lack of any hope that this arrangement could be anything positive or, at the very least, work out to something neutral. A hivemind is always something bad, something to break someone out of, because Why Would Someone Want To Be Part Of A Telepathically/Mentally Connected Group? That's Just Creepy! Imagine Hearing And Sending Thoughts To Someone Who Can Request You Do Something For Them, Or Just Take Control Of Your Body To Do It Themselves – okay, I think I've made my point. There is also no suggestion that a hivemind could be healthy; at best, it is other and alien, something to distance from How Humans Should Be.

I don't think hiveminds are pluralphobic in exactly the same way that demonic possession so directly stigmatizes plurality, as hiveminds are not as obviously about multiple beings sharing the same body. However, the vast portrayals of hiveminds are built upon fearing very common plural experiences, which does contribute to pluralphobia. If I were to compare it to other -phobic portrayals, while demonic possession would be similar to the gay serial killer trope (right down to the murder), hiveminds are more like the way villains are more often GNC in comparison to heroes, showing but not saying that being a certain way is bad. It's not as obvious as gay/plural = evil murderer, but it's still clear enough in the "You know these things that are very common for this group to do/go through? Yeah, that's creepy and wrong. You should avoid anyone like that or make them stop."

This is mostly unrelated to the current discourse about tulpamancy, but your post about demonic possession made me think of it. What are your thoughts?

This is an excellent analysis! 👍

In contrast, I think the similarities you discuss are actually why so many plurals relate to Sense8.

The same way hivemind horror perpetuates pluralphobia, Sense8 is a celebration of this sort of connection. And so even though it's not technically about plurality as we know it, it's still something that resonates with so many systems.

#pluralgang #sense8 #netflix #plural #plurality #endogenic #multiplicity #system #systems #plural system #endogenic system #television #plural representation #tulpa #pro endo #pro endogenic #syscourse #sysblr #system stuff #actually plural

[relaxxattack]

hewwo. jake pesterquest route my beloathed. there r a lot of ways that pq depicts certain characters that i dont really think align with canon, but for most of them you could at least tell they were trying to flesh out a less explored aspect of them? nepeta's isolation, eridan's capacity for change, roxy's loneliness, even when they're not perfect they're still neat content to incorporate into headcanons and prompt further consideration into certain facets of the characters. but for jake's they just? hashed out the weird love quadrangle again, even though jake's issue with that was never not knowing what he wanted. he knew he was only interested in romantically pursuing dirk, he says as much multiple times, and instead of him getting a nonjudgmental ear to talk out his insecurities with the narrative almost seems actively frustrated at him. also there are just. so many interesting facets of jake to choose from, and they chose the one that had already been hashed out in canon. he grew up on an island with giant killer monsters on it and he burned his grandma's corpse after she was murdered by an evil alien empress whose nemesis she named him for and whose heir he's best buds with and he has a weird gender and . and. Why Are We Making Him Choose Who He Wants To Date. him meeting jade was nice but it was sort of just that, nice. this. was not intended to be as much of an essay as it turned out to be. i just have a lot of thoughts abt it. here. have a picture of my cats compressed face on a minecraft cat.

YES URGH. this is a good essay man never apologize.

the vriska/dirk tavros/jake comparison was also just. Unfathomably in poor taste to me. like how the fuck do you see those few interesting parallels and then your take is “yeah dirk is just as bad as vriska and is abusive”

#hsmeta

[abrahamvanhelsings]

tagged by @zaegreus, thank you :)) 💖

do you make your bed? yes, always, it takes five seconds tops and it makes the room look cleaner and neater immediately. i can stand a little clutter but too much of it makes my mind feel chaotic. and it feels good to complete a little task in the morning immediately ✅

what’s your favourite number? i like 7 like any other guy but 16 is also important to me bc that used to be my shirt when i still played football

what is your job? phd candidate, which if you're fully employed by a uni is a real job with a real grown up people salary in the netherlands (thank god)

if you could go back to school would you? NAY the days dragged on and on bro especially high school... mind killer. the only upside was seeing your besties every day, if we want to meet up now we have to plan it six months in advance

can you parallel park? yeah but it usually takes me two tries lol

a job you had that would surprise people? whenever i mention i worked at mcdonald's people are surprised even though i was 17 when i did that and at 17 fast food service is straight up the most normal job to have if you're not in retail. i did domino's too

do you think aliens are real? ehh, yeah, in the sense that imo the universe is too big for them not to exist. but i don't rly think abt it all that much

can you drive a manual car? im a european so yeah lmao. don't own a car though the only one i drive is my parents', don't want one

what’s your guilty pleasure? i think at this point we can safely say eurovision is a guilty pleasure. didn't watch this year but i can't help getting invested through the things i do hear about it unfortunately

tattoos? none!

favourite colour? green

favourite type of music? i like a lot of video game music generally, and i like classical music

do you like puzzles? ya

any phobias? not really phobias in the literal sense but if i see a spider inside the house that thing is getting killed and murdered

favourite childhood sport? i really liked football when i still played but the sport i miss the most is horse riding by far. i think primarily bc it's more inaccessible - you can play football anywhere but horse riding involves a lot more planning etc. and i love horses, there's really something about the teamwork between you and the horse and caring for it afterwards (can you tell i was a horse kid)

do you talk to yourself? brother the moment i step through the front door into my house i am yapping away like ill die if i don't

what movie(s) do you adore? - singing' in the rain bc that's my comfort movie of all timeee - in the mood for love, the atmosphere/shots/music interaction in it is amazing, i should really rewatch it soon, lodged into my brain the first time i watched it and i still think abt it so often - the ghost and mrs muir, very pretty romantic movie but the bittersweetness of it really scratches a particular part of my brain it's so beautiful

coffee or tea? tea!! but it's 26 celsius out rn and im craving an ice coffee like you wouldn't believe

first thing you wanted to be growing up? PREV??? >> paleontologist << i was a HUGE dinosaur kid i wanted to be a paleontologist for years. but once the dinosaur hype wore off i discovered history was more my speed after all

i just did another one of these so im not tagging people for this one but if you like this one go off lmao

#tag games

[famousfilmsfan]

Return to Slender

Chapter 2

Chief: James, Detective there’s been a break in at the victims home! Go there or evidence may be stolen!

James: Yes chief!

At the victims house

James: Hmm, it seems pretty empty, I don’t see anybod-

Suddenly a man in a black and white striped shirt appears

Man: hey! What are you doing here? Are you proxies?

James: What? Wait, freeze! Crystals city Pd.

Man: Wow wow.

James: Who are you why did you break into this house?

Jackson: my name is Jackson Miller, I’m here because I heard he died, but that’s just nonsense.

James: What? Okay, detective I’m going to take Mr miller here to the station for questioning. While you’re here take a look around maybe we missed something.

What’s found is a birthday card with a black substance on it. An answering machine, and a suitcase with a note attached

The creepy kid

James: Okay kid why were you in the victims house

Jackson: Alleged victim. A being like that doesn’t die. I should know.

James: What? You’re not making sense.

Jackson: We’ll as I’ve read, beings like ‘Davis’ are otherworldly beings.

James: Like..aliens?

Jackson: No you simpleton! I’m talking about him being the same species as Slenderman!

James: Slenderman. The internet urban legend

Jackson: It’s not a legend it’s true, and I watched that documentary, and the old kids stories about him all night while eating peanut brittle. I know my facts.

James: Okay kid, we’re keeping you here until your court date. Get comfy.

Info: Jackson eats Peanut brittle and reads kids stories.

The birthday Card

John: Okay, so I tested that birthday card, and it’s the kind where when you open it, it shoots out confetti, but someone modified this one to shoot out peanut dust and I found your victims dna on it.

James: so the card is the murder weapon! Great! What about that black smudge?

John: The smudge is ink, but a certain type, typewriter ink. It has a certain composition to make it dry faster. The victim didn’t have any on his hands, and I looked into his credit reports he didn’t own one. So…

James: So the killer uses a typewriter. Perfect! Thanks man

Info: The killer uses a typewriter and eats peanut brittle, and reads children’s books

The machine

James: Hmm, this machine has a message.

He pushes the button

Machine: You have. Two new messages message one. Left at 9:45 AM

Bryan: *on the machine* Listen here you eyeless son of a bitch! You can’t just swoop in and steal Molten from me. And the fact you even think you’re doing a good thing is sickening. You better get yourself a personal guard because you’re going to need it!

Machine: Message two: left at 5.15 AM.

Charlie: *on the machine* Davis. Davis. Give me your answer due. I’m half crazy all for the death of you. It won’t be a stylish murder, I can’t afford a reaper. But you’ll look sweet inside the steep, of an old Catholic Church.

James: Jesus Christ, was that Bryan? Okay that message is crazy, I know he didn’t like him but he called him that? And what’s Molten? Yeah we should figure this out. Let’s talk to Bryan.

James: And that singing that was Charlie the cat and the song was…horrifying. And a clear threat, let’s speak to the cat again

Talk with Bryan.

Bryan: Oh hello again officers. Care for some peanut brittle? I just got a new batch from the bakery.

James: Sorry not now. We found a message on Davis’s answering machine, you threatened him because he stole something from you. What was it?

Bryan: Oh crap you found it. Okay, I did send it. But I was very angry at him. Okay I went on an extended vacation last year, and the company thought I was dead so they were giving away my assets, Davis knew I was alive. But he took the opportunity to steal one of my animatronics. I really care for them, I see them as family. Davis just wanted to torture him.

James: So you killed him in revenge?

Bryan: Heck no. I’m a good man and I adopted a kid. I can’t go to prison, besides I still had to respect him because he was a Fazbear investor even had to invite him to my opening party, and I already made the invitations on my typewriter so it’s more personal.

James: We’ll let’s hope you’re telling the truth

Info: Bryan eats Peanut brittle and uses a typewriter .

Chat with Charlie

James: Charlie? Are you here?

Charlie: Howdy officers, what can I do for ya?

James: We want to know why you left a threatening song on your owners answering machine.

Charlie: What? Oh that. Well, a few months ago we got into a fight over what I’ve been thinking recently, he said I can’t be creative, I can be, I fixed an old typed writer I found in an alley and once been making poems... He wants me to be more…robotic and less emotional. But I can’t help it, and I was very angry when he told me to stay in line or he’d replace me. So I sent him that message so he understood what I could do.

James: We’ll let’s hope you didn’t. Because I do not want to read rights to a machine.

Info: Charlie uses a typewriter.

James: Alright, we’re low on leads, so where do we go from here? Hmm. We got a robot who wants respect, a Fazbear owner who is pissed at our victim, and a kid who is convinced our victim is Slenderman. This is just getting crazier by the second. What’s next?

Elliot: Guys, guess what?

James: What?

Elliot: I know where the killer was last night.

#thefamousfilms #fnaf 6 #mcfnafverse #headcanons #invisible davis

[dysenchanted]

CHOOSE VIOLENCE *BITES YOU* 🖤

7, 10, 17, 25

*BITES YOU BACK*

7. what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?

I think i the fandom hasn’t made me dislike any character yet (it has happened to me before but not with hannibal), on the contrary, seeing the mistreatment and mischaracterization of characters in the fandom makes me appreciate them more <3 (looking at you freddie lounds, they could never make me hate you)

10. worst part of fanon

The excessive uwufication of will, that is a grown ass man!! a killer!! a cannibal!! Like yeah s1 will is very vulnerable, but that’s not his whole character (i <3 dark will)

Also the excessive hatred towards alana and jack. Yes, they are flawed characters, but they are also in a fucked up situation mostly out of their control. Also it doesn’t help that will is the unreliable narrator n°1 plus hannibal being manipulative as hell, and the show is basically in their pov.

17. there should be more of this type of fic/art

i’ll always take more non-human aus, mermaid, vampire, aliens, stags, anything, i love every creature imagiable <3. Also more marlana!!! murder wives my beloved (i really need to draw fanart of them)

25. common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing

Tbh i don’t see it very often but i cannot stand people who dislike the ending of the show, it’s literally perfect to me. Will’s plan to get hannibal out?? the slaying of the dragon?? the fall?? bedelia’s ending?? masterpiece <3

#tysmmm for sending i had a lot of fun answering #🫀🖤🫶 #asks #hannibal

[greaterbalrogcat]

UNIT REVIEW: ARMORED FIREFLY CAT

yeah this thing sucks lol

in order to justify this unit even slightly, we will be looking at its stats at level 50+10. this would require you to spend 25 catseyes, over a million XP, and get 10 dupes from the summer break event capsule and then use all of them. keep this in mind as we go over this.

armored firefly is an event cat from the june summer break event capsules (with the kabuto cats). it's an egg unit that costs 10 red and 10 purple gems to evolve. 24k health (48k vs weakened target, 40k vs unweakened behemoth, 80k vs weakened behemoth), 50% chance to weaken red and alien to 50% for three seconds, behemoth slayer (obv), 1056 dps with 2112 dph, two second tba (time between attacks), 210 range, 10 speed, slightly less than five second cooldown, 450 cost

now, just looking at this without any outside context, why is it that bad? while its 210 range and 50/50 weaken procs make it an awful CC option for general use outside of behemoths, 40k health vs behemoth with weaken vs traits relatively prevalent in behemoths (Casaurian Ahirujo (red duck), Crustaceous Scissorex (behemoth krabbe), Infernal Pegasus Deonil (red slepinir), Suidae Piggicus (behemoth alien pigge)) with a cooldown low enough to be fixed by research combos (three SM, one M one SM, or one L research combo is enough to make it effectively minimum cooldown, one more SM added makes it truly minimum cooldown) sounds pretty solid in theory. of course, the operative phrase there is "in theory".

450 cost hurts. that's the equivalent of spamming triple erasers and only slightly less than ramen and one eraser. this is averaging 225 out of your pocket every second if you're spamming it with max research combos. behemoth stages aren't exactly giving you that much usually, and you're gonna want that money.

at level 50+10 with full defense up talents, ramen cat has 40320 health (not just against behemoth). it has less cooldown, costs 135 less, and has resist angel, giving it 201600 effective health against angels with all cotc fruit treasures (rajakong comes to mind). firefly is stuck at a max level of 50+10, while ramen can be boosted WAY past that, with 59220 health at level 50+80 (296100 effective). max ramen can tank a 300% woge hit. firefly can't even dream of doing that. ramen also has almost six times the dps of firefly, which isn't that relevant on a meatshield but chip damage always helps.

so, what about its ability? weaken helps on a meatshield, right? well, first off, it's a coin flip as to whether or not it manages to work, and it's only 50% weaken. however, let's say it does work, and you get PERFECT rng. firefly's one second of foreswing still has a decent chance of not working before it gets pushed into and dies miserably, but if it does weaken, it gets 80k health vs a weakened behemoth, which stalls...ahirujo? the first and easiest behemoth "boss"? scissorex, which can just be meatshielded with anything? suidae, which has like 3k dps? can't even reach deonil cuz deonil outranges and freezes, and the wave is gonna freeze the fireflies behind the one in front too. firefly's compatibility with the enemies it could theoretically work against does exist, to be sure, but it's so unneeded, which brings us to:

powercreep. the killer of all units (not that firefly was that good to begin with)

the enemies that firefly works best against are undoubtedly woge and ahirujo. woge because it can tank a 200% woge hit, which is good for an anti-behemoth meatshield, and ahirujo because it can weaken it semi-reliably (ahirujo always appears at 100%, and 100% ahirujo attack is slightly less than half of firefly's effective behemoth hp. when weakened, it's slightly less than a quarter). guess who destroys both of those?

you know where this is going. courier famously MURDERS most reds and most behemoths. put them together, and a level 50 courier does 112050 damage per hit vs red behemoths (52523.4 dps). firefly's anti-red niche is irrelevant. what about alien?

oh goddammit

soap cat is a fucked up tanker with **495833 HP** vs alien behemoths. it also has weaken to 50% (30% chance but it will generally stay alive long enough to proc) for five seconds, giving it **991667 HP** when the alien behemoth is weakened. firefly is irrelevant. period.

tl;dr: firefly is a waste of 10 red and 10 purple stones, and needs to be fully boosted to be considered just bad and severely outclassed instead of a contender for the worst unit in the game. thank you for reading

#the battle cats #battle cats #battle cats meta

[lincolnmkicks]

i don’t want to claim i have a wholly unique experience wrt dndads bc i decided to listen to this podcast bc i loved anthony’s previous writing in borderlands 2 BUT borderlands 2 is one of my fav games of all time and i want to shed some light on smth i very rarely seen talked about: the biggest narrative comparison between dndads and bl2 through willy stampler and handsome jack.

SO right off the bat im gonna mention anthony is fairly explicit about both willy and jack being attractive. it’s literally in jack’s name, his title after becoming ceo of hyperion, and he also managed to date—even if only for a little while—the in-universe most attractive woman in that corner of space (moxxi). anthony also makes it a point to talk about how frustratingly hot willy is all throughout the podcast, both seasons 1 and 2.

the intent is pretty clear. abusers aren’t all “conventionally unattractive,” and sometimes people have pretty privilege, and anthony by way of making both willy and jack attractive is forcing us to confront internal biases about who and what kind of people are abusive.

also the password being “i love you” for the box that supposedly held ron’s anchor that could only be activated by willy’s voice saying it? stolen directly from borderlands 2 (granted anthony wrote that so it’s not stealing but you know)

next up, they are not the exact same character-wise. willy pretty much hates his son from the get-go, there is never a time we see him hold genuine love for ron without a catch of some sort, and even the “genuine love” we see from willy is quite literally just tolerating his presence long enough that he can position him perfectly to murder him. jack, meanwhile, would probably kill anybody who tries to hurt his daughter. in fact, he damn well tries because we kill his daughter.

i’m gonna need to get a little in depth about angel real quick, so bear with me. angel is this mysterious voice in your head in both bl1 and 2, a guardian angel so to speak, and she helps you throughout both games. in bl2 it’s revealed that she works with jack, and for a time we believe she’s simply an ai he created to help him find/charge the vault key to awaken the warrior (long story, but the goal of a borderlands game is usually to open an ancient alien vault which has tons of loot but also contains vault monsters, the warrior being one jack wants to use to in essence colonize pandora).

angel is forced to betray us about a third of the way through bl2, but she reveals she feels extremely guilty about it and wants to help set things right by giving us the vault key. she tasks us with making our way through a bunch of security measures intended to kill anybody who tries to get near her, only to reveal, yeah she’s not an artificial intelligence, she’s actually jack’s daughter, hooked up to a vast intelligence network as a child to be jack’s eyes and ears across the planet as well as being constantly pumped full of an alien substance called eridium to help her charge the vault key. the reason she wanted to help us get to her was because she wanted us to literally put her out of her misery.

control core angel (the level where you fight off waves of robots sent to stop you from assisting angel in killing herself) is… sad. it’s just sad. dameon clarke does a killer job playing a sociopath like jack when he’s laughing about scooping people’s eyes out with spoons or telling you he’ll pay you to kill yourself, so it’s not much of a surprise that he’s also good at playing a man begging you not to hurt his baby girl. yeah, the whole time you’re fighting off the enemies in control core angel he is screaming at you, insulting you and threatening you, sure, but as you whittle down angel’s health, destroying the injectors literally keeping her alive, he begs you to forget all of this, and not hurt an innocent girl.

eventually the fighting stops, you succeed in allowing angel to die, she thanks you, jack begs her to stay with him because they can still fix this… and her last words are calling him an asshole.

bl2 has been out 10 years and people to this day debate jack’s love for angel. was it ever real? was he being genuine in control core? was he playing a part? trying to evoke your sympathy? did he truly think he was doing what was best for her? had he fallen so far? were all those security measures because he wanted to keep his daughter safe or the macguffin of the game? he’s still an incredibly interesting character to discuss and examine, his relationship with angel being one of my favorite bits of one of my favorite games.

willy would never. willy is forthcoming about needing daddy magic, knows his power comes from being a father, comes from the impact he had on ron’s life. meanwhile willy couldn’t give less of a shit about ron. he was a mistake, he is nothing, and willy was content with killing 13 year old ron to get some semblance of peace. willy is uncomplicated in his sliminess. maybe more complicated with his relationship with scary, but still nowhere near as divisive and mysterious in his motivations as jack.

jack is decidedly funnier than willy, mostly because borderlands 2 is a funny game, but after angel dies there’s an anger boiling just beneath the surface. dameon clarke grits out threats through clenched teeth, he relishes in torturing one of our allies, he rescinds a bounty on our heads bc he wants to kill us himself. nothing else we’ve done to hurt jack’s plans has made him react like this. but nothing else we’ve done has hurt jack’s plans this much. is that quiet, threatening anger, that vibe you get when your parents are angry but can’t express it until you get home, is that jack’s grief for his daughter, or anger that you tried to really mess up his plans?

jack is unknowable, because we aren’t his kid. angel tells us “he tries to guilt you and make you feel like it was your fault, don’t listen to him!” and the implication is clear. angel’s been strapped to a hyperion information network since she was like 7 years old, forced into a chair looking out over pandora for jack’s benefit, jack’s gain. but he still calls her “my angel”, he seems genuinely sad when he has to re-remember she’s dead in tales from the borderlands, he’s a father who lost his way seemingly.

angel was poisoned slowly, decaying over the years bc of her father. ron wasn’t worth the effort.

willy we know. ron is angel in this scenario. and maybe jack believed he held love for angel, but angel sure as hell didn’t like it. angel was poisoned slowly, decaying all her life by her father. ron wasn’t even worth the effort.

idk if any of this like. makes sense or if it’s just luci rambling about borderlands but the difference in anthony’s writing for two shitty dads with some similarities is crazy frankly.

#dndads #dungeons and daddies #willy stampler #ive been planning a relisten of season 1 to try and write a video essay or something? #ive always wanted to do that #and i’d totally put my personal experience w borderlands into it #angels a v important chara to me and i think jack really shows the beginnings of anthony’s understanding of complex fathers #idk just rambling!!!!!

[cartoonfanaticmonsterrobotalien]

Solar Opposites in Mighty Solars Issue #48: “Monster Mayhem Pt. 1” Ch. 3

Back with Louise, she was looking around for help, until she sees Trevor popping out of the water as she screams and he jumps on her. Louise smiles in joy.

Louise: Trevor?

Trevor: Hey baby.

Trevor and Louise kiss. Then, they see Dr. Weatherstone arriving on a home ice slide made by her own hands and then, Janice flies over them with her own flight.

Dr. Weatherstone: Hey sis. What up?!

Louise: You guys are not gonna believe but I can create green lava! shows her new powers

Dr. Weatherstone: No way! I just got ice powers and when I found Janice, she told me she got air powers!

Trevor: No way! I got water powers too! We must tell the Mighty Solars, they can help us! Come on!

The quartet then takes off to find their fellow heroes. The Human Solars ran to the league witches of Earth-4 and the rest of their fellow Mighty Solars.

Human Terry: Guys, what happened?! What happened to to 5 Teen Witches?!

Human Jesse: I don’t know but this city is fancy!

Luke: Ugh! Someone has entered their minds and have made their form’s uncontrollable! When we tries to get them to hear us, someone went inside their minds and have turn them into the worst things possible, Titans!

The human Solars gasp.

Human Korvo: Oh no…we gotta save them or-

Miss Frankie/Nightsaw: Uh, quick fellow humans go get our fellow Mighty Solars aliens quick! winks at the Human Solars

Human Korvo: On it!

The human solars then went and hide behind the walls as they turn back into their Shlorpian forms.

Korvo: Mighty Solars, time to suit up!

Yumyulack, Jesse, Pupa, Sonya and Phoebe: Right!

Terry: Hell yeah!

The group suits up. And with that the Solar Opposites family transform into their Mighty Solars and runs up to meet the others.

Jesse Solar-Opposites/Fung-irl: Guys!

Rest of the Mighty Solars: Guys!

Darcy/Sonar Woman: Thank God you guys are okay!

Nova/Heartstar: We have big problems!

Yumyulack Solar-Opposites/Vil-Gil-An-T: What kind of problems?

Linda: The girls have lost control of their Zenith powers! They’ve become Kaiju beasts!

Terry Solar-Opposites/Mighton: That does NOT sound good.

Louise, Trevor, Dr. Weatherstone, Alice and Janice sees the Mighty Solars and runs up to them, which for Stacy G’s attention.

Stacy G: gasp Mom!

Louise: Stacy! I was so worried about you! kisses her on the forehead

Quasarblast smiles.

Trevor: Thank God we found you! You won’t be a fucking day we had-

Cherie: Guys! Duck!

Trevor: Huh?

The heroes, Earth-4 witches and their friends then see mega quintessence mutant Will attacking as they dodge her.

Jesse Solar-Opposites/Fung-irl: Jesus christ!

Montez: Ugh! These girls are literally not listening to us!

Phoebe MaCcarthy/Starburst: We have to save them, or worse…

Jesse Solar-Opposites/Fung-irl: KILL THEM?!

Mighty Solars: What?! No! That’s wrong! Fucking crazy! We’re not killers y’know.

Jesse Solar-Opposites/Fung-irl: Okay. Sorry. Geez.

Pupa Solar-Opposites/The Mighty Pupa: MURDER!

Yumyulack/Vil-Gil-An-T: It’s okay Pupa. Fung-irl just freaked out for a bit.

Terry Solar-Opposites/Mighton: It’s okay sweetie. We know you didn’t mean it.

Korvo Solar-Opposites/Quasarblast: I think what Starburst means is that we need to FIGHT them.

Suddenly, when the Five Kaiju Teen Witches combine their blast at the heroes, it ends up blasting Louise, Trevor, Alice, Dr. Weatherstone and Janice, which ends up powering them as they scream. As the dust clears, the heroes sees five new heroic figures as Stacy G looks in worried.

Stacy G: MOM!

Stacy G tries run up but Fung-irl stops her As the dust clears, like when the Calamity trio transformed in Amphibia it is revealed that Trevor, Louise, Alice, Janice and Dr. Weatherstone have received their own Mighty Solars super suits

Dr. Weatherstone/???: Woah!

Louise/???: voice gets distorted; lifts her green lava cape Swanky duds!

Vil-Gil-An-T‘s jaw drops in shock. Alice grins as she shoots a lightning spider web up at the sky as she grins and blows the smoke off of her finger.

Alice/???: Louise, I have no idea we can do that!

Dr. Weatherstone/???: Did you know about this?

Louise/???: Uh, nope. These powers feel way more intense than before.

Janice/???: floating behind Louise The powers must stack when used in tandem! H’no Classic synergy buff y’know.

Quasarblast suddenly thinks of something.

Korvo Solar-Opposites/Qausarblast: This is perfect! Maybe you guys can distract the girls while we-

Trevor/???: Guys! Look! I’m walking plasma of H2O! This is awesome!

Quasarblast shifts a little.

Korvo Solar Opposites/Qausarblast: As I was saying, you new five can help us distract the girls while we find a way to stop whoever is doing this to them!

Phoebe MacCarthy/Starburst: That could work!

Marissa: offscreen Oh will it?

The heroes gasp and then sees the dream amulet broken as smoke flies from it and then they see Marissa floating above the broken amulet.

Parker/Venus Tip: Oh no.

Min-Li: gasp What?! This is impossible?! You were supposed to be trapped and-

Marissa: It’s too late! These girls are now under my control!

Yumi: What do you mean?!

Marissa grins evilly which made Starburst growl and realize something.

Phoebe MacCarthy/Starburst: You bitch! It was you who did this! You’re a fucking psycho!

Quasarblast growls in anger upon hearing what Marissa did.

Korvo Solar-Opposites/Quasarblast: You monster! How could you-

Marissa: I had already some help! Someone who was willing to help me! It’s too late! These girls are now mine! Nothing can stop me-

Suddenly, a blast hits Marissa as she falls to the ground in pain and lets go her staff.

Terry Solar-Opposites/Mighton: What the fuck?! Who did that?!

Cherie: I don’t know.

Darcy/Sonar Woman: Wasn’t me!

Korvo Solar-Opposites/Quasarblast: We need to stop her now!

Suddenly a woman’s chuckle was heard, which sounded familiar to Cherie, Nova, Montez and Sherbet.

Nova/Heartstar: Oh my God… that voice…

Cherie: It can’t be… can it?

Sherbet/Fizziepop: Oh God. No! No!

Cheery Smithers/Bloody Sympathy: Guys, what’s wrong?

???: Oh you poor things. Trap in a mind of a rogue witch… all that woman wanted to is get her fucking stupid son back on her side and rule the world and take you for advantage… but she was just a fool… I however… can make an offer to you five…

Suddenly…a blazing lightning midnight purple spiritual mist appears as it reveals an old foe of the Wallians… Sister Sisto as the Heartstar, Cherie, Montez and Fizziepop gasp in horror while the others grow shock.

Cherie: Sister Sisto?!

Terry Solar-Opposites/Mighton: You know her?!

Sister Sisto/???: Hello, my former fellow Bowinians…

Jesse Solar-Opposites/Fung-irl: Bowinians?! What?!

Korvo Solar-Opposites/Quasarblast: Heartstar, what is happening?!

Nova/Heartstar: Guys, that’s the false prophet we were telling you about last time when we first met! That’s Sister Sisto!

Mighton gasps.

Yumyulack Solar-Opposites/Vil-Gil-An-T: WHAT?!

Quasarblast looks angrily at Yumyulack.

Korvo Solar-Opposites/Quasarblast: sighs in dismay; deadpan Way to go Vil-Gil-An-T… you accidentally created a villain!

Yumyulack Solar-Opposites/Vil-Gil-An-T: I didn’t know!

Montez: I’m sorry true! She’s a false prophet and a murder and a kidnapper! She’s the one who causes all of this! The death of Tim, death of Sister Sasha, the temperature, everything!

Vil-Gil-An-T starts crying.

Cherie: She also kidnapped Pezlie and made her an icon! She also used Jesse as a pawn of her own.

Korvo-Solar-Opposites/Qausarblast: comforts his son Hey, it’s okay… you didn’t know… shh…

Yumyulack Solar-Opposites/Vil-Gil-An-T: I’m so sorry, Cherie.

Cherie: comforts Vil-Gil-An-T It’s okay. You didn’t know. Sisto was also using Jesse as a legend just to get people to follow her in a path of death!

Sister Sisto/???: Oh, this is very touching but I think it’s time I sealed your fate!

Marissa growls but gets grabbed in the rope by Sister Sisto.

Marissa: Let me go! grunts

Ms. Frankie/Night Saw: You’re not gonna stop us!

Sister Sisto/???: Oh I sure will. For I am… reveals her new physical form and a villain suit of her own Black Mirror!

Heartstar gasps

Sonya/Nighthowler: Oh no! She’s crazy!

Sister Sisto/Black Mirror: Oooh! But first…

Black Mirror attacks Mighton.

Korvo Solar-Opposites/Quasarblast: MIGHTON! growls at Black Mirror

Mighton groans in pain while Qausarblast helps his hubby up and looks at Black Mirror furiously then uses her mind control on the 5 Kalju Teen Witches as they roar in pain. Marisa tries to get out a beastly looking potion, only the wind to blew it out of her hands onto Quasarblast’s leg as he screams in pain.

Nova/Heartstar: Qausarblast!

Jesse Solar-Opposites/Fung-irl: QUASARBLAST!

Yumyulack Solar-Opposites/Vil-Gil-An-T: Oh my God!

Sonya/Nighthowler: Daddy!

Sister Sisto/Black Mirror: I bet that hurts…

Suddenly, Quasarblast starts screaming in pain as he suddenly starts growing bigger and muscular and his skin starts to turn black as he starts growing to the size of a KaIju beast.

Randall/Blackhole: Oh shit!

Principal Cooke/Trailblazer: That’s a huge bitch!

Terry Solar-Opposites/Mighton: Quasarblast?!

Now a giant KaIju Mundane, Quasarblast roars while the rest of the Mighty Solars gasp in horror and Black Mirror laughs evilly.

Jesse Solar-Opposites/Fung-irl: What’s happening?!

Sonya/Nighthowler: Quasarblast! No!

Yumyulack Solar-Opposites/Vil-Gil-An-T: What have you done?! You turn our dad into a fucking monster!

Mighton starts crying.

Sister Sisto/Black Mirror: Aw what’s the matter Mighton? Love the makeover I intentionally did to your husband?

Mighton starts snarling in anger with tears in his eyes. He then punches Black Mirror in the face as she growls.

Sister Sisto/Black Mirror: You strong arm bitch! What the fuck?!

Terry Solar-Opposites/Mighton: YOU WILL PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID!

Black Mirror grins and escapes by turning into her spirit form and leads the 5 KaIju monsters away from the heroes. Mundane Quasarblast growls as his eyes glow aquamarine and angirly follows the monsters for battle.

Terry Solar-Opposites/Mighton: No…Korvo!

Nova/Heartstar: We have to go after them!

Louise/???: We’ll take care of the girls! You take care of Quasarblast!

The heroes split up while Mighton looks tearfully at Mundane Quasarblast roaring.

Terry Solar-Opposites/Mighton: KORVO!

Mega Mundane Quasarblast snarls as Mighton jumps up and lands on him desperately.

Terry Solar-Opposites/Mighton: SNAP OUT OF IT! PLEASE! I DON’T LIKE SEEING YOU LIKE THIS! crying PLEASE STOP!

Mega Mundane Qausarblast growls, which causes Mighton to cry even more as he hugs Quasarblast’s face.

Terry Solar-Opposites/Mighton: sobbing hysterically THIS ISN’T YOU! I KNOW YOU’RE IN THERE, KORVY!

Mega Mundane Quasarblast then stops growling as his face softens and he sees his husband crying.

Mega Mundane Korvo Solar-Opposites/Quasarblasr: T-Terry? Is that you?!

Terry Solar-Opposites/Mighton: Korvo?

Mega Mundane Korvo Solar-Opposites/Quasarblast: Terry? What’s happening to me?! I’m so scared! crying Help me!

Mighton kisses his husband’s face.

Terry Solar-Opposites/Mighton: Shh… it’s gonna be okay baby… we just have to get you out of here before the teen witches see you! I hope the others are doing okay!

Mega Mudane Quasarblast smiles.

Special thanks to @avaveevo, @asikreading, @themagicwolf6677, @king-of-squishmallows and all of my watchers for their support

#solar opposites #solar opposites au #solar opposites: mighty solars #mighty solars #solar opposites mighty solars #korvo/quasarblast #terry/mighton #yumyulack/vil gil an t #jesse/fung irl #pupa/the mighty pupa #sonya/nighthowler #louise/magma #trevor/slimar #alice/black moon #janice/teleport woman #dr. weatherstone/blizzard #mundane korvo? #tervo #principal cooke/trailblazer #miss frankie/night saw #sister sisto/black mirror #sister sisto the wall #sister sisto #nova/heartstar #cherie the wall #montez the wall #sherbet/fizziepop #phoebe/starburst #kevin/balanight #darcy/sonar woman

[kariachi]

Fic! I realized that this au I threw out a bit ago would hit even harder in an 'Argit is a Tennyson' au so, I had to combine them, alongside a few other aus because I'm god here.

There is A Lot going on all at once for the cousins.

~~

“You want the annoying news, the more annoying news, the bad news, or the worse news?” Somehow, this immediately topped the list of disconcerting things Ben had said to her, and with the way their lives had gone in the past several years that was a high bar. She was forced to put a bookmark in her textbook and head out into the hall.

“Okay,” she said as soon as she was alone, “just give it to me in order.”

“We have another cousin.” Alright, that one was annoying news. Now shocking anymore, not since they’d gotten old enough to learn about their grandpa’s exploits. Fuck, Uncle Manny and his family were only part of the family because he’d hunted down her dad in search of a connection.

“Does it not end,” she groaned into the phone, rolling her eyes.

“Apparently not. He’s Erinaen and according to Rook they tend to have litters so, probably one of a lot we don’t know about.” Gwendolyn groaned again. “Which is where the more annoying news comes in- he lives in Geilla Bohln, has for years, and Grandpa’s known he was out here. All the higher ups knew he was out here, apparently.”

“Seriously?!” That was taking it a bit far. At least Uncle Manny lived in the Midwest, but to have a relative less than an hour away and Grandpa still keeping it all a secret- Fuck, it wasn’t even like he had the ‘alien’ thing (and she was going to have to look up what an 'Erinaen' was now, joy) as a good excuse, not when they all knew they were hybrids now, and the masquerade had dropped over a year ago. But then, what was their family made of if not secrets. “And this isn’t the bad news?”

“Are you surprised?” No, not really, just… She heaved a sigh. “So, there’s a good side to all this- you know how the Incursean Invasion just got fucking steamrolled by the folks out there? Apparently, a big part of that was him, so hero stuff runs in the family apparently.” Joy. “Problem is, he’s used that to get political office and now I’m banned from Geilla Bohln.”

Gwendolyn froze. Pulled back her phone to stare at it. Brought it back to her ear.

“What?”

“Yeah.” You could hear the forced grin in Ben’s voice. “Plumbers got all sorts of official paperwork saying I’m not allowed in the town and they’re on thin ice. So Patellidae goes ‘they’re your grandchildren, you handle this’ to Grandpa, suddenly the two of us and Rook are heading to this guy’s office to try to make him see reason.”

“He wouldn’t see reason, I take it.” Clearly got that from Granny Rita’s side of the family.

“He had a powerpoint presentation ready with every reason why I am not allowed to go heroing around ‘his colony’ any longer.” Okay, at least he was organized. She’d thought that came from her mom’s side of the family. But then maybe it came from his non-Tennyson side too.

“So, what happens if you do anyway? I mean, I doubt the Plumbers are going to stop you, and your fans can’t be happy with this.” Ben barked a humorless laugh.

“Oh, that’s where it gets fun,” he said through gritted teeth. “He’s got Kevin 11 on his payroll. Introduced him as his. The guy was stood to the side during the whole meeting, watching like we might cause trouble.”

That, more than anything, was enough to knock the air out of her lungs. Kevin fucking 11, the guy who had tried to murder them way back when? She didn’t know whether it was worse that he lived so close or that he was working for, and potentially influencing, a relative. It would certainly explain Ben getting banned from the town…

“That is an actual nightmare,” she said before any more cohesive thoughts could form in her head.

“Yeah, it is. I spent the whole time half-ready to go for the Omnitrix, and I don’t think it made a good impression.”

“Well, what can he expect when he’s got a known killer stood in the corner?” Running a hand through her hair, she wracked her brain for a way to fix this and found nothing that didn’t involve fighting Kevin again. And she’d thought her relationship with Sunny was bad, this was going to be a whole new branch of antagonism.

“I can’t even tell anybody else,” Ben lamented on the other end of the line, and it hit her with a sourness in her chest he was right. “I mean, can you picture my mom? She’d want to invite him over for dinner so we can all ‘reconcile’ or some shit…” She could picture it, and the idea of letting anybody, even a relative, that associated with Kevin 11 that close to one of the civilians in the family sat wrong in her gut. But if they said anything, that was exactly what would happen. Their only choices were to risk it, or to keep another of their grandpa’s million self-serving secrets… With another groan, longer, more aching, she leaned back against the door to her dorm.

Fuck her life to shit.

#fanfic #why yes this does play with my 'the incursean invasion went different because earth has an erinaens and they don't muck about' stuff

[the-septic-maniac]

Criminal Case x FNAF AU Chapter 1

(this is a little something that me and @anxietyfluffy are working on together. hope yall like ^^ oh and like major spoilers for pacific bay and the conspiracy)

Pacific Bay man… what memories I have here. The murders… the utopian cult… the utopia in general and stopping that... Rough memories. But I had some good times too. I’m actually meeting up with Amy where we solved our first case at the beach. Man, how she has grown up since she was a junior officer. 

As I exit my plane, the familiar salty air enters my lungs. I look at the cityscape. So much has changed. I daze out for a bit flashing back to all the times I hung out with my partners outside work. “I wonder what he would think of me and Amy now?” A familiar chipper voice greets me, “Deraila! Over here!” Looking to find the voice, I see her. “Amy!” I rush to go hug her, almost toppling her over with the amount of force and weight I put into it. “Easy there! You could have crushed me!” she says chuckling. “Oops, sorry I sometimes forget how big and strong I am.” We head to the beach and relax for a bit, taking our shoes off and feeling the individual sand granules between our toes and taking in the scenery. The familiarity of Pacific Bay starts rushing back to me. “So when are meeting up with the old team?” Amy checks her watch and slightly panics “Crap, we were supposed to meet them at your Airbnb like a half hour ago!” I laugh a little. “Let's get going then.”

As we drive to the airbnb, we started to talk for a bit. “You still romantic partners with Russell after all this time?” “Yeah, I come to visit Pacific Bay once or twice a month to have a date with him. He’s made life a bit easier.” "How's Duncan doing Amy?" Silence… me and my big fat mouth… I should have known not to ask about him. Since his arrest way back when Amy was a junior officer, she hasn't talked about him since. Not even when I came to work at T.I.M.E for the short while I did she didn't talk about him. No one even knew she had a brother. "I… Haven't visited Duncan at all at the federal medical center… not once… been too scared to since how he acted in court the day of his trial." 

Gods… that day was a horrid day for Amy. She had already been through enough. Her best friend was dead and her ex-boyfriend turned out to be not just a murderer but a cannibal too. Then it turned out that her brother had turned into a serial killer after a major accident that caused him to step down from being an officer on the police force. The horrible abuse of their mother did not help. "How about one day, just one day while I'm here we go visit him? It doesn't have to be long but I'm sure he misses you and I'm sure if he saw where you are at today he'd be proud of you despite the circumstances." Amy nodded and returned her focus to the road. 

The rest of the ride was in silence. We arrived at my airbnb and I saw the familiar faces of the team. Yann, Roxie, Russell, Hannah, and Chief Andrea all stood there waiting for us. I hugged them all before I went inside. I missed how much of a family it was like with this team. Sure in Grimsborough it felt like a team but there was always some sort of tension on the team. In Pacific Bay, I felt at ease for the most part. The weirdest thing that I've encountered here were aliens and they weren't a threat like the Neohumans in my second time in Grimsborough. Of course, someone was missing… someone that is long gone. I look down at the shirt I'm wearing. It's the last thing I have of him. "You still have Frank's shirt huh?" Yann spoke up in a fatherly tone.

Frank Knight… man that's a name I haven't heard in a long time. The team was devastated at his death. Sure yeah he was removed from the team due to participation in a major heist and a murder but… remembering his story… the utter grief and despair that he went through with the loss of his daughters… It makes me want to cry.  "Yeah I-I still have it and wear it. Still has the faint smell of Gold Stag Whiskey on it. But to be honest I like the smell. I've grown used to the scent. I don't think it would be the same wearing it without that smell" A long awkward silence followed. We were all thinking about Frank in that moment. Solemn looks were plastered on our faces as we thought about the memories we had of him.

Andrea piped up after clearing her voice "How about we go out to eat and catch up with each other? My treat." We all agreed. After I got settled in, we went out to a local restaurant and sat down. "So Deraila fill us in, how has life been since you left Pacific Bay?" Roxie asked excitedly. "Oh man, where to start? The Bureau, heading back to Grimsborough, T.I.M.E and working with Amy again. So many things to choose from" I chuckled. "I hear quite interesting stuff went down in Grimsborough. What happened?" Andrea spoke with great interest. I sighed with a slight chuckle as I explained the whole thing with the Neohumans. "The team is doing fine. Jones and Rameriz have both retired from the force, though I still catch Rameriz's ass sneaking around in one of his old costumes. Little Sammy Turner would ya believe it or not has taken an interest in his parents' careers. Though like his mother, he does tend to hack into things and has taken up the @rtist name." Hannah looks absolutely flabbergasted. "I-I'm sorry did you say the @rtist?!"

"Yeah? Cathy Turner has been my friend for a good while. I mean I have seen her at absolute lows but she took over her husband's job a while ago." "YOU SAW THE FACE BEHIND THE MASK?!?" Hannah seems over-excited and absolutely flabbergasted to the point that Yann had to help her calm down. "Yeah, I did. It was during my first few years as a detective." I showed her a picture of Cathy when I met her. Hannah just looks like she gained a crush on her. "Oh she's cute. Too bad she's taken though." I chuckled "Hey now Alex would fight tooth and nail for Cathy." "My wife would've gotten mad at me if I even dared." They all laughed. "Carter is graduating college soon. He's such a big guy now. Makes his mama proud too. Amir and Jasper have adopted a few kids. Grace still works for the Bureau as their coroner." I rattled on and on about the Grimsborough team. 

"So how about you guys huh? I already know about Amy, and Hannah mentioned that she got married to her girlfriend which congratulations." Yann speaks up "My little ones are up and out of the house. Lily is going to be taking over my position as soon as she gets her masters. James is starting college soon to become a director in Ivywood." "How are they that big already? I remember them being up to my thigh last time I checked." "I know they get so big so fast." Yann sighed. "Planning on retiring soon from being Chief. Been in the position for a long while. It's time I stepped down and give it to someone else. I don't know who I'm going to give it to but in time I will." Andrea said with a sigh. "Hey, you were one of the best chiefs I have ever had though." Everyone nodded in agreement. We finished catching up with each other and went our separate ways, promising to meet up again tomorrow.

It had gotten dark while we were catching up so my only lights were the street lights. I was jetlagged and tired as I walked back to where I was staying. Engines roared in the background of the dark city as people prepared to street race. I could faintly smell the gasoline from their cars from here. I entered my airbnb and collapsed onto my bed. As I did, a loud crash near my location was heard, and an odd robotic cry of… a fawn?

Part 2

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