#yeah yeah yadda yadda. but that sound FITS and it's so personal and and

[daddy-ul]

It is criminal -criminal- that Shoot Me Again has never been played live.

CRIMINAL

#shoot me again #song related #metallica #(d)jinn all'opera #stanger is a banger #st. anger #like. LIKE!!! #i was listening to it today and i was man. MAN. do ppl know? ppl who heard this live. do they know how lucky they are? #and then the thought struck me. has... has it ever...? bc in my mind!! surely!!! such a banger!!! surely in 2003-4...... #AND NO. NOT EVEN ONCE #like. not one of us had the pleasure and privilege to sing with jhet 'no compromise. my heart wont pump the other wayyyy' #NO ONE GOT TO SMASH THEIR HEAD AGAINST THE RAILING WITH THIS LIVE!!!!! #man. MANNNNNNNNN #i am blabbering. i know but!!! idk how to express my bewilderment at this!!!! it's SO GOOD #jinn out #also: sue me but i would v much like tallica going full cock and doing the stanger songs with the og drum sound #yeah yeah yadda yadda. but that sound FITS and it's so personal and and

[doroinoue]

okay so i've been listening to the dorohedoro manga soundtrack for a while now, and my morning has been a little hectic so i decided to just ramble about all the songs and what/who i associate them with, and also which songs from the anime ost they remind me of (since the anime ost is very much inspired from the manga ost)

WARNING: DIABOLICAL LEVEL OF YAPPING BELLOW, PROCEED WITH CAUTION!!!!

you can listen to the songs Here if you haven't, and i'll be going by this order, since thats the official one

Redacted, Recalcitrant, Repressed - khost: this one in my head is literally curse/risu theme and you cannot convince me otherwise Ever. Man Inside The Mouth from the anime ost is im pretty sure inspired from this song too so it All just makes sense. also the title itself reminds me of risu and the way he is and whatnot (im so shit at explaining good lird) also this is me just being insane but i think the voice of the guy singing KINDA fits risu more (the deeper more monstrous voice sounds like curse in my head too), like i love his actual voice too but when i read the manga i definitely dont imagine him with it i expected something more raspy(?), meanwhile aikawa being the one with the smoother voice (his raspy voice fits too giving that Kaiman and yadda yadda) Dont ever let me talk abt risu drhdr bro i dont stfu

Blaka Smoko - VOODOOM: i love this song so much but kai's stupid fucking face pops up in my head when i listen to it and i DONT KNOW HOW TO DEAL WITH IT!!! though yeah uh this is pretty much either his song or the cross eyes in general since the lyrics are "i sell black smoke"..though the deranged laugh really reminds me of him solely. imagine a version of the drhdr manga where black smoke is like weed and they smoke that shit and get high i Think thats rlly funny i dunno what else to say tbh i think me associating the song w kai is preventing me from having too many thoughts about it. However i hope when he like shows up fr (not just in flashbacks) the anime ost makes a remix of this song cuz it genuinely fits (also i just love how this song directly mentions nikaido and kaiman, although a bit nonsensical given the context)

Dorohedoro Zombie Slushi - Candie Hank: im so certain 1000手観音 and another song (i cant remember which one) from the anime ost sampled from this one lmfao. anyway this one just reminds me of zombie ebisu, or ebisu in general. not even like living dead day, literally just zombie ebisu. its probably the vocals tbh, someone in a youtube comment was complaining abt them and another person replied "just imagine ebisu singing it" and i cant get it out of my head now. i can totally see her sing this song, especially knowing shes canonically interested in the manga ost album  (you can see her read the songs of it while checking it out in like episode 4? i think? the one where they follow doll risu around and end up in some cheap clothing store)

Eating food and fighting Wizards - Shitwife: this one makes me very nostalgic, i like how its one of the few songs that isnt just pure nonsensical chaos. like i love those too, infact im bummed out the anime ost doesnt have more chaotic songs given the manga is literally incomprehensible sometimes, but i like how this song kinda shows the more coherent and cheerful side of the story. of course this is just kaiman theme to me, i mean the title and all. i think kaiman would really like this song, he would def listen to it. it also reminds me of that scene where him and nikaido are driving in their motorcycles, it gives the vibe of a drive in the middle of the night to me anyway, not much to say for this one too, i just think its really nice (also the drums go crazy hard)

Enter the Hole - NAH: lovely magic predecessor LOL. perfect for me honestly cuz lovely magic is my fav song from the anime soundtrack. This one just reminds me of hole, i dunno. the brief ethereal part reminds me of the past of the hole though, before the lake of refuse was created (i forgot what they called that shit in the official translation forgive me..lake of refuse sounds cooler either way). thats all tbh

She is a devil - Hanali: devil nikaido theme song what can i say...i literally want this song beat for beat to play at the scene where nikaido grows her devil tail and gets devil high (if they even animate season 2 that far) either that or when theyre selling gyoza at the department store and she goes devil high again and starts beating ass. its so perfect for those scenes also i like to think the distorted singing at the very beginning is like what humans hear when a devil sings, i know it should be more ear bleeding giving the reaction everyone has in canon but whateva!!! also also i like to imagine nikaido was probably hearing something similar while her tail was growing and she was going crazy, i think maybe hearing the singing of devils in your head while slowly turning into one is a cool idea

LIZARD HEAD - Dr. Das: i cant lie this ones...a little boring for me. like the beat is cool and all, but i think this is the one song i have the least to say abt. to reference another youtube comment, they said smth abt imagining kaiman fucking around in hole to this song, and yeah. i see it. i think if the anime animates that little bonus(?) comic abt how kaiman spends his day in hole, they should use smth similar to this song

Transformations - Shackleton: ok i lied this is the one i have to say least about. i dont mind 10+ minute songs, but damn this ones even more boring to me. the pissing sounds arent helping either LOL. though i think if they had to play this song somewhere, or a variation of it, maybe it fits best at the part where kawajiri is making nikaido do the devil exam in his house or whatever...idk....

Dorohedoro - Igorrr: ALRIGHT BACK TO YAPPING. this song is so fucking good, dare i say its my favorite of the whole ost. and im not the only one, everyone seems to love this one. its literally just TIC TOC predecessor but even better. the classical music and opera singing inserted into this absolute chaos is insane and i cant think of a song that fits shin more honestly. like this is literally shin theme. it perfectly mixes his calm and rational self with the deranged outbursts he has. ive heard people say shin is a boring character and i genuinely cant wrap my head around it like HELLO...not only is his design just cool as fuck, but he has such interesting personality? my boy went through absolute hell and grew up from an aggressive and snarky kid to a calm and if i may say, empathetic guy. like he cares about the people around him, he was carrying three guys (one with his fucking mouth mind you) that passed out because of the rain flooding the underground basement. he refuses to kill people who are weak with magic, and generally doesnt really like going on killing sprees unless its a life or death situation (which since kid has made him go crazy, i like to think its probably cuz it increases his heartbeat and being a human+sorcerer maybe doubles the adrenaline this way). also the way he has inhumanely high pain tolerance, he can have his guts splattered on the ground and still manage to walk, to the point it even weirds EN out. like you gotta be some freak to get en concerned for you (or be kikurage lol). sorry this turned into a shin rant more than the song itself, i just cant believe so many people dont see how cool shin is. like hes not even my most favorite character but i will protect all the drhdr characters i like (which is most of them). anyway moving on

The Hole - Ghengis: alot of ppl say they think of hole (the place) when they listen to this song, but me personally?this song screams hole the entity, and artificial devil kai. like this song FEELS like its oozing with the sludge and that feeling every sorcerer that gets in contact with hole "magic" feels. i like to think the headaches they get is equivalent to the beat of the song LOLL. like just super loud and painful pulsing headache that can leave you paralyzed on the ground. anyway, i dont have that much to say, i just want this song to play at the central department store arc, OR. when artificial devil kai is first shown thas all

Don't Think, Just Kill - Roly Porter: i lied again this is the one i have least to say about. sorry. literally my only thoughts are that one of the songs playing during the living dead day episode is inspired by it but i frogor which one

Kaimans Head - Dead Fader: to compensate the fact i mightve lied once again im gonna ramble about something mildly related. so the one youtube upload i found of this song uses this one fucking risu fanart that legit makes me shit my pants. its honest to god the scariest freaking fanart ive seen of a character i like. its not like Shiver me timbers scary, its just so unsettling to me, like WHO COOKED THIS UP. WHO DREW THIS. i know hayashida would love it. she wishes she made risu this scary and not the catboy babygirl beautiful princess with a disorder she created (/J). anyway uh, this song goes pretty hard, i like it, i just dont have much to way besides that i like the beat maybe. also heres link to the youtube upload with the picture if u wanna know what im talkin abt

Radio 538 - Dow Jones Brotherhood: because the first time i listened to the songs was on youtube, i found this song pretty much last and uh. i dunno its cool! for some reason it reminds me of the cross eyes? ive no clue why it just does. it reminds me specifically of how all of them are basically just worshipping some guy half (if not most) of them havent even seen the face of. i like how the whole thing is basically just a cult. people built statues of the boss, tattooed his face on their hands so they never forget it, And the elites...oh those poor little guys. closest to the boss and got psychologically tortured with killing thousands of sorcerers daily and left to deal with the incomprehensible shit their boss does, while slowly building suspicion and disgust towards him, but unable to do anything because of how far theyve gone into this. like can you imagine how miserable dokuga and tetsujo must feel knowing their devotion to kai led to all their friends killed. id just die bro this is so fucked... anyway, kewl song👍 i love the cross eye elites

Stay down zombies! - Ed Cox: i honestly love how lowkey dramatic this one is. ALSO the accordion tune from el corazon is im pretty sure taken from this one! which makes two shin references yippee!!! i like how this one kinda mixes calm music with breakcore (do not erm akshually me on this one i dont care), just like how igorrr does. i dunno its just a cool song, though PERSONALLY i dont think it fits living dead day, it reminds me more of that scene where shin remembers his mothers death, and then slowly turns into a zombie. it gives off that vibe giving how the song progresses from dramatic and a bit somber, while the beat starts creeping in, accompanied by the accordion that i literally will never not associate w shin in general

ANYWAY WOW THATS ALL!!!! if even one person bothered to read all this, thank you. i love yapping about dorohedoro i love silly manga about a bunch of freaks and freak stuff and i am obsessed with hayashidas taste in music, knowing she picked all those artists cuz she likes their music makes absolute sense considering the kind of art she makes. i love you q hayashida im your biggest fan. also if you notice any grammatical errors pls remember english is not only my second language, but i also barely slept last night so that's my excuse

#dorohedoro #drhdr #ドロヘドロ #q hayashida #i dont know what to tag man #risu dorohedoro #shin dorohedoro #nikaido dorohedoro #ebisu dorohedoro #i alread forgot who else i mentioned #dorohedoro spoilers

[spaceytoxinz]

My massive Gideon headcanon (it's sad OUGH)

(cw for mentions of childhood abuse/neglect. doesn't get graphic but there's mentions of it)

So for starters this is going based on the little bits and pieces we even have of Gideons personality, I'm not a professional psychologist or anything, I just like studying psychology and I have random experiences cause i have like c-ptsd n shit so I'm mostly basing it off that (ME PROJECTING AGAIN?!??!?) so yeah

Alr so for starters, I feel like there's 2 reasons why Gideon became the way he is. Either he was a spoiled brat with daddy's money who was never humbled (which I'm pretty sure fits Lucas more cause of that one line)OR he did not have the ideal upbringing at ALL. So I feel like the second option makes a lot more sense from a psychological standpoint. First of all, he very much prefers having control/power over other people and situations, like he NEEDS to have the upper hand. Another thing to point out is that one line were he says hes been stuck in his own head since he was born or smth (the glow stuff yadda yadda). so from that, I think that he had some sort of trauma where he was neglected or even abused during childhood (mostly going off personal experiences rn). I think the hypersexual headcanon also fits into this very well, especially with the possibility of him being neglected/abused. It's his way to gain control of a situation in a way, a way to get attention (not being an attention whore, more like the emotions in the moment) , its also a quick way to get serotonin i guess i forgot the specific chemical. But yeah, this bitch would do anything to avoid dealing with his own emotions. he's aware of his issues but chooses to almost run away from them and resort to self destructive behaviors to "cope". if his needs were never met (specifically emotional) and if it is all he was surrounded by, it would make sense for him to just straight up ignore ramona until she left. like he was probably conditioned by this trauma and would continue what he "learned", not that it's a good thing lmfao but im pretty damn sure he has major abandonment issues, i mean shit he literally froze his other ex girlfriends and mentions how one day they will all go out with him.

But ya you cannot convince me that gideon was a spoiled little kid while im at it imma project and say he grew up in poverty and now impulsively spends money to cope /hj

anyways i've been typing all of this out during physics and im still manic so if shit doesn't make sense its probably because of that, hopefully nothing sounds off cause of it, especially since i know this stuff personally.

#gideon graves #gideon gordon graves #scott pilgram vs the world

[ikilledamanforthisurl]

Minami Anon x3 but so real………. Yeah idk how old he's meant to be but he very much gives me like 21-30 35 at oldest age range vibes. Which I think/agree is a factor in Why He Is Like That. I know its technically noncanon but i also think a lot about the implications of Minami once never drinking but then when he discovered fire breathing he started drinking 24/7 from this one scene w Majima in dead souls like hmmmmmmm….. wonder what’s going on there buddy…….. something you'd like to share with the class Minami about how you perceive yourself/any potential wants for attention. Anyways it’s okay if the you sound untranslatable I understand and also relate to that feeling of 24/7 thinking i come across as incomprehensible 💖 no pressure to do so but I would personally love to read that Saejima teacher ramble and how it affects Minami etc etc also

ohhh man it's canon. if we're taking rggo's scraps as having some relevancy then dead souls absolutely is canon. and more importantly, its canon TO ME (takes consecutive puffs of my copium inhaler)

yeah i had this at the ready. yeah. i tear my shirt open and it has "the line from dead souls where Majima outs Minami as a fucking square" tattooed across my chest. not the line itself but those exact words. i cannot describe how his charm shot thru the fucking roof to me when i heard he used to be completely straight edge!! what a fucking dork!! come here i'm giving you a wedgie boy

and then the ehhhh half-subjective half-objective tragedy of him succumbing to a vice to the point of functional alcoholism (or currently functional aud as some folks call it, which is unfortunate naming conventions for those who use australian currency) implying he's been a "pretty good drinker" for an extended amount of time. and the kicker is majima totally could not care less. there's no evidence to Him Specifically being the one who got Minami to drink but it's absolutely regular Family practice, if the boy wants to fit in with the Majimagumi he needs to top up!

hc shit-i-made-up territory but i LIKE to believe that Majima personally influenced him this way during whatever limited time they had in direct contact with each other (cause while you COULD have their dynamic between a twat who signed up + the twat who runs the business and nothing more its not as fun. a little too parasocial methinks) but this is 99% due to me finding a song that makes me imagine the perfect sequence for this (dont get me.started on Majimagumi songs. i like to delude myself into thinking i'll animate to one of them eventually). also considering the kind of man Majima was during Shimano-servant-era i feel like it wouldnt be too out of character. he's not a malicious person but by god he does stupid shit and hurts people so much in so many horrific ways he could not care less about putting some highschool level peer-pressure shit on the new recruit just because he's Bored. what's one more hurt person in the grand scheme of things.

Alllso... getting back on track..? WHY was Minami straight edge in the first place. it could be any reason under the sun but the way it's worded here really sounds like it took a lot of willpower to break his resolve to just have a sip, just tryyyyyyy it, yadda yadda. if Minami is as punk as i totally project unto him to be, then he'd be no stranger to lives lived in excess..... i could not tell you for certain that Straight-Edge was a Punk Thing in pre-2010 Japan whatsoever. an attitude, sure, but i'm talking music scene shit........ however, gigs involve lots of booze at the bare minimum regardless of country. 'tis just the way of life. and 'tis a plausible outlet for WHY he seemed to have such a strong unwillingness to drink....

you know, outside of other stuff like experiences with friends and family. those can work too. those are considerably more sad and personal... those can work alongside gig culture shit. i dont have anything explicitly outlined but its definitely something i'd like to write for him... make up a little backstory so i can maybe explore some themes that RGG wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole, like addiction. it interests me a lot and getting it somewhat RIGHT interests me a lot. i know for sure RGG would fuck it up LMAO

#ikildaman shut the fuck up #also it provides an easily-contained plot outline that wont explode into tojo-wide world-ending conspiracy nonsense! #just kidding drug trade in the yakuza is canon 2 me and itd easily be the biggest form of income #fucking with their drugs IS a tojo-wide conspiracy #but speaking of which i also hc Minami as being even more staunchly against other forms of inebriation.... #cause yall remember that VA who got wholly blacklisted for being photographed lining up regular gummy bears #japans attitude on drugs is ABYSMAL #also. speaking of his friends and family. i like to think his tattoo of the womans face is related to that 😁😁😁 #its such a mysterious and strange design choice to me. like WHOOO IS SHEEEE..???? #shes got to have some significance and if she doesnt well idc i decide she does #maybe family... maybe a friend..... possibly. somebody he lost #possibly to something related to unsobriety maybe. i dunno yet. but maybe #feels more original than defaulting to the abusive drunk parent stereotype and calling it a day #not that you couldnt also do that. i do like to believe his family sucked for whatever reason #nishida having folks at home isnt like uncommon in the yakuza by any means but i dont think its regular #plus with him being such an immature/lost dude..... where is your father boy........... #ALSO YES ^_^ i will try to post my teacher saejima realness sometime soon!!!!!

[disdaidal]

😈🍆🎨🧠🤩🤯

😈 Has there been a point in a story where you did something just to be playfully mean to your readers?

Well, I love to write angst and torture my boys a little bit, so would that count? 😇

🍆 Do you write the spicy stuffs? If so, what’s your most popular nsfw fic?

I do, in fact, write spicy stuff. XD I have some in the works atm. I just haven't published anything on AO3 yet. I wrote some for my old fandom, on LJ, many years ago though.

I think this Harringrove fic comes closest to the spiciest stuff I've published on ao3, but it's pretty mellow. :D

🎨 How do you feel about fan art of your stories?

No one's made fanart of my stories yet. XD A couple of people have written stories of my edits, however, and it makes my heart go boom. <3

🧠 Pick a character, and I'll tell you my favorite headcanon for them.

Should I pick a character here or? Anyway, one of my favorite (and unpopular) headcanons for Billy is that he hates reading but does well at math and physics. (Why? I've known a few guys act exactly like him and they hated reading but were good at math/chemistry/physics. A couple of them in fact bullied me at school jdjhghg. So I'm projecting here I guess?)

So, because physics and chemistry are for nerds, and being good at school is for losers, Billy's an underachiever and allows his grades to drop on purpose because he's trying to fit in with "the cool guys", and because he's desperately trying to please his piece of a shit dad who wants him to excel at sports, not in academics.

Billy's frustrated because he knows he could do better, and he knows that he could have a future in science but his low grades aren't doing him any favors. He cares too much about other people's opinions of him, and it's about to ruin his future plans.

(But of course, someone who cares about him will step up and encourage him to do better. Any character of your choice, heh.)

🤩 Who is your favorite character to write?

I already answered this in another ask but while I like writing Billy, I also like to headcanon stuff for Steve because we only know bits and bits about his family and childhood. I also relate to some of Eddie's problems, and I could easily picture myself projecting onto him. So writing them, along with Billy, is (going to be) a journey itself. :)

🤯 What's a genre you struggle with as a writer (ex. romance, action, etc.)?

I think anything that requires me to do a lot of studying and planning beforehand to make it sound more realistic. For example, a few people have been requesting me to write something for my Harringrove Rich Boy x Detective AU here. But I know absolutely nothing about the American police work or how business works etc. (and yeah I know, it's fiction we can do whatever we like yadda yadda), but I'm serious. XD I just don't think I can do it (but maybe someone else can *wink wink*).

Another AU of mine, which is actually one of the first Harringrove AU plots I ever came up with, was a nurse x mental patient AU. I could honestly even write something for this and I did start writing it (because I have personal experience from this kind of thing). But because it's also a heavy subject for me and a heavy topic overall, writing it has been giving me a lot of trouble.

Also, smut? I read smut all the time. I get inspiration for that from different things. But why is writing it so goddamn hard?!?!? I don't get it. 😂

fanfic writer emoji ask

#mrs-danny-gold #replies #thank you <333 #fanfic writer emoji ask

[childofaura]

About S3 Kronis: I feel like show has bad tendency to make villains intimidating at first and then drop it (except for Skeletor) Other victims: Tri-Klops, R'Qazz, Mosquitara, arguably Webstor and in his last moments Mer-Man.

Ohhhh dude, R’Qazz had serious potential: the eerily quiet way he talked, the fact he was a bonafide poacher who literally wore Cringer’s claws as weapons, his gaunt creepy appearance… He was supposed to be weird (as Kronis said, “What even is that?”) but effective at his job. I think the issue is that we hardly saw enough time of him and Trap-Jaw being actual villains because they weren’t on screen enough with the heroes so they were delegated to the “comic relief stupid henchmen”. Their only moments as good villains was their first fight at Snake Mountain in S1 and Trap-Jaw’s fight with Duncan on the train (Seriously, that exchange had so much bitter tension, I loved it. “Long time, kid.” “Not long enough!”)

Mosquitara was… weird. The show framed her team-up with Stratos as uneasy and unstable. Her only drive and goal was the consumption of Grayskull and Havoc energy (Ok, WHY wasn’t she the one who could have cured Adam of his Havoc infliction, unless it would have killed him somehow? Could have given her more of a spotlight but then again, we wouldn’t have gotten Real Orko and Ork-0’s character development so… I’ll take it). She didn’t really get any actual development or personality showcase like Kronis and Evelyn did, so it’s a weird mix of “What happened to her being a villain for energy consumption” and “Eh, I guess it’s ok”.

Webstor in my unpopular opinion actually feels like it’s ok for him to stay a good guy. He’s less actively malevolent and more just following instinct (even though he’s sentient) and I like that he kind of gets excited (seems to, lol) about being a hero and teaming up with Stratos. If we knew his personality was more actively hunting, like actually kidnapping people per say instead of eating what comes in their territory, I’d feel maybe a little weird about it.

As for Mer-Man… well, it’s George Takei, he HAS to say “Oh my”, regardless of how out of character it is or how goofy it sounds. I don’t like him much but you can’t NOT have him say “Oh my”. Again, this is why they should have hired Cary Hiroyuki-Tagawa; instead of “Oh my” you get “It has begun!” Which fits WAY better for Mer-Man (and seriously, think about his returning performance for Shang Tsung in MK11, you WANT that kind of energy for Mer-Man!).

Almost forgot Tri-Klops. Yeah, that one is all over the place and while it’s cool to reinterpret him as sentient technology over a person, it makes it harder to give him more actual villainy. It might have been cooler if there was some kind of accident while he was attached to Justine (Havoc exposure maybe?) that fused them and made him a violent threat. Plus it was weird how in S2 Kronis was treating Tri-Klops like a child (the “go to your room” and “watch your mouth” bits) but in S3 he treats him like a tool. And I know, character development for Duncan, kindred spirits with this machine and giving him free will, yadda yadda, but it’s still handled weirdly.

I feel like we lost too many actual villains to the weird writing we saw, and there’s WAY too many good guys to bad guys ratio.

#He-Man and the Masters of the Universe #3D He-Man #Actually now that I think about it who is left on the bad guys team? #Keldor; Evil-Lyn; Hordak; SkeleDrone Beast Man; Kronis; and… that’s really it? #Meanwhile the bad guys either now on the good guy’s side (or bad guys who still haven’t turned bad in one case) #Webstor; Mosquitara; Tri-Klops; Tuvar and Badra… actually I guess that’s it

[drabbles-of-writing]

Movie Night

This is part of my Beta AU

AO3

Masterpost

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

There was screaming in Blight Manor again.

Most neighbors didn’t hear it, beyond muffled sounds in the distance. Hard to hear anything in that Manor when the properties were so big for no discernable reason.

But sometimes the neighbors hear. And so long the screams stay laced with curses, snarling, and the occasional shattering glass instead of bloody murder, they let it be. 

Edric stood by the front door, arms crossed as he stared out at the Manor’s gate like there wasn’t screeching coming from his home. He winced every time the noise raised even a notch.

He checked his watch, frowning as he began tapping his foot. After a few more moments he began to turn, reaching for the door handle.

The front door swung open before he could get to it. Emira said something back behind her, much quieter than the fit coming from inside. Amity all but stormed out right after her, the screaming dying as Emira slipped out after her and the door was quickly shut.

Emira looked tired, and Edric mirrored it, with just a bit more worry in his features. They looked to Amity next, quiet as she shoved the unlocked gate open.

“Well?” Amity spat, whirling around. 

Her glare increased when their expressions turned empathetic. Emira was quick to wipe it off and continued down the driveway, pulling out her car keys. Edric hesitated for a moment as he followed his sisters, beginning to open the door as they pulled themselves into the car.

“I’ll steal your keys back.” He said after a moment, earning a slightly surprised look from Amity as she turned to him. “Not, like, today,” He added quickly. “But, er, soon.” He mumbled, ducking into his seat in the back. Amity had already taken a shotgun and nobody was in the mood to argue.

The keys weren’t really the issue, they all knew it wasn’t. Not even close. But the effort was there, and really, he couldn’t think of much better to offer.

Amity knew. She looked back at him over her seat for a moment, and while her ears were still pressed back and fangs still threatening to show at any provocation, she nodded to him. Edric loosened just a little bit, and Emira relaxed a bit herself as she started the car.

“For a price, of course.” Edric added right after. “But I’ll be nice and just ask you to give me my necklace back. And those dangly bracelets as compensation.”

“Eat shit, Ed.” Amity huffed. Emira offered her a half-empty container of hand sanitizer from the junk in her car and Amity was quick to chuck it at Edric’s head.

“Fine, fine!” Edric poorly covered his head from the offending weapon. “Just the choker then, have it your way!”

“Get it back yourself, all you’re getting is a thumb ring if you're lucky.” Amity snarked, more of a sharp, warning bite to it than probably necessary.

“Eh, I can make it work.” Edric shrugged noncommittally, eyeing her warily before going quiet.

Silence fell over the car again, aside from the quick words shared between the twins. 

Amity kept her eyes either through the windshield or her own doors window. The twins shared worried looks that Amity, for her part, pretended not to notice. She picked at her bracelets until Hexside came into view.

“Gimme the straws if you wanna see something really impressive.”

“Gus,” Willow said calmly, looking up from her half-eaten orange. “Don’t give her the straws.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it!” Gus squeaked, holding the two straws he’d managed to get far out of Luz’s reach. 

“It’s just water! Not like I’m gonna be snorting soda.” Luz complained, rolling her eyes. 

“Why would you want to snort water?” Gus exclaimed, aghast. “Why with straws?”

“Because if I just shove it on my face it’ll look less cool.” Luz said it was obvious.

“I don’t think there’s a dignified way to drink water through your nose.” Willow deadpanned. “You’ll choke on it regardless.”

“Will not, I have practice,” Luz insisted. “Ergo, it’s far less idiotic than if I was doing it the first time.”

“It’s still idiotic,”

“I never said I was perfect.” 

“Hey, Amity!” Gus called, breaking the two girls out of their argument. He waved across the cafeteria, where Amity had escaped the line with her tray of food.

She already looked like she was about to hit something, but then again, she always did. Gus waved her down, and Luz was almost impressed by how quickly he stopped being terrified of her, before she realized Willow was also trying to subtly wave her down. Little shits just wanted a way to stop her from her straw trick, the traitors.

Amity hesitated for a brief moment before storming over, nearly slamming her tray on the table as she stiffly sat. She didn’t really need to be waved over, she sat with them most days anyway, making Luz’s glare at her two friends all the more seething.

“Now that you’re here,” Luz said, deciding that now she was taking the petty route. “Wanna see a cool trick?”

“No,” Willow answered before Amity could, giving her a warning look. “You’ll choke on your fragile human lungs or whatever.”

“I punctured a lung once and survived, so jot that down,” Luz said matter-of-factly. “Second, I was not asking you.”

“Do I have a choice?” Amity grumbled, holding her face in her hand with a bored look.

“Not really, no.” Luz shrugged, already reaching for Gus’s straws again.

Gus was quick to take one of the straws and slide it over to Amity. She blinked down at it in surprise for a moment before rolling her eyes.

“I’m not fighting Luz over a straw.” She said, sounding almost offended.

“Really? Would’ve thought you’d fight me over the proper way to walk.” Luz raised a brow, one hand on Gus’s head as she pushed him down and snatched the first straw out of his hand.

“Keep talking and I just might,” Amity growled, shooting her a glare. “You’re making it quite easy to fantasize bashing your face against concrete.”

“I’m flattered,” Luz teased right back with a crooked, cocky grin. “I might just take you up on that offer.”

Amity flashed a large fang for a moment before grabbing whatever the witch equivalent of a yogurt container was and chucked it at Luz’s head. She yelped and ducked, letting it splat against the ground behind her. Barely anyone noticed.

“If you're not gonna eat any of that, at least give it to me.” Willow sighed, gestring to Amity’s tray. “It would make this horrendous experience more tolerable.”

“Piss off,” Amity snapped back with bared teeth, her hair almost mimicking a cat's hackles rising from how it seemed to spike. “You can live with this for ten minutes.”

Luz and Gus glanced at each other in mirrored surprise. Amity was snappy with everyone, but Willow was...uncommon. A bit gruff and sarcastic yes, but not usually as aggressive. That was reserved for pretty much everyone else save for Gus.

And, y’know, she actually tried to be nicer these days to Willow. Making amends and all that.

Willow seemed a bit taken aback by her snapping too, though it was much more dulled compared to the other two, and harder to notice unless you’re looking for it. She didn’t respond and simply shrugged, going back to eating her own food as Amity seethed, glaring at the table.

Luz looked to Gus. She looked at Willow. Both of whom were worried and confused respectively. Amity had a bad day every now and again, but normally she just...fought Luz in the hallway and got it over with.

Luz thought for a moment, the sudden silence at the table interrupted only by the soft tapping of her foot. She glanced between her tray and Amity a few times, who kept glaring at the table like she was trying her damndest to ignore the sudden tension at the table. Or she just hadn’t noticed.

After a moment or two she jerked her head up, leveling her glare with Luz.

“Would you quit it?” Amity snapped.

“Huh?” Luz startled out of her thoughts.

“Your foot sounds like it's having a seizure. You’re not doing yourself any favors here unless you're some masochist actually looking forward to getting beaten to a pulp later.” Amity growled, the nails of one of her hands digging into the table. Or did they count as claws? Luz would have to ask Guys later.

Luz watched Amity for a moment, hands clasped in front of her face. Her foot tapping had stopped. Amity’s glare turned a bit unnerved, looking around like she thought Luz was staring at something else.

“Have you ever seen human media on witches?” Luz finally blurted, ending the few seconds of silence.

“What?” Amity balked.

“Yeah, I was talking about it with Gus the other day,” Luz said, which wasn’t a lie, he had expressed interest in what humans thought of witches. The boy perked up at the mention of their conversation. “And since this geek here hasn’t seen much human media, I’m gonna go out on a limb here and guess you haven’t either, no?”

“Why in the world would I?” Amity frowned. “We’ve got entirely different kinds of internet compared to them, why would I even care?”

“Because,” Luz said, a mischievous smile on her face as she lowered her hands. “I grew up with that stuff, and lemme just say, from personal experience,” She said, gesturing to the cafeteria filled with witches and demons around them. “You guys would have a field day with it.”

“What, like, witch movies?” Willow mumbled, a hint of recognition lighting in her eyes.

“Movies about witches, movies with witches in them, yadda yadda,” Luz nodded, waving a hand around. “I just so happen to own a few old DVDs, as well as gaining the knowledge on how to pirate everything else,” She said, quickly raising a hand when Gus opened his mouth to speak. “No, not the pirating you’re thinking of.” She added as he slowly shut his mouth again.

“My mami’s gonna be working late today, so we’ve got plenty of time to binge the worst of the best.” Luz continued. 

“And you’re mentioning this why…?” Amity frowned, tilting her head.

“Because I know you’ll get pissed off at it.” Luz said simply, her cocky smile never leaving. Also technically not a lie.

“Of course,” Amity slumped back with a sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose.

“Really?” Gus all but jumped out his seat, eyes shining excitedly. “This is perfect! This could be amazing for my studies on how humans have pictured witches through their current--”

“If you bring anything other than a notepad and pen I’m not letting you in my house.” Luz deadpanned.

Which was a lie, Willow can and would let Gus in no matter what he brought. But it got him to calm slightly and nod seriously.

“Trying to get out of a fight, Noceda?” Amity taunted. “I thought better of you.”

“Could you at least beat the shit out of me after the movie marathon?” Luz rolled her eyes. “I’m always down for a spar or two, but what kind of friends don’t have a movie marathon of questionable tastes on a school night?” Luz said with a raised brow.

“Want us to swing by right after school?” Willow inquired, mercifully saving Amity from her momentary shocked expression being seen by Luz. 

“Nah, give it an hour or so, still gotta set things up.” Luz said. “And,” She gave a pointed glare around the whole table this time. “This time I would actually appreciate it if my neighbors didn’t get worried about someone breaking and entering by going through the window.”

“I got caught once!” Gus complained.

“And this asshole got caught three times!” Luz pointed accusingly at Amity. “We’re lucky they only called the police once before deciding it was normal.”

“Not my fault you argue with me as loud as possible every time,” Amity shot back. “You don’t argue with Gus!”

“Gus made an honest mistake, and it was his first offence.” Luz said, crossing her arms as Willow snickered. “You, on the other hand, are a menace.”

“I thought you’d have figured that out ages ago.” Amity scoffed. “Really, it's your fault for being so oblivious.”

“She’d know all about that, huh?” Willow mumbled, taking a sip of her drink.

Luz contemplated kicking her under the table. She thought better of it. She decided to just relish in Amity’s curt, slightly loosened comebacks. Better than before, at least.

Luz opened her front door only for a moment before darting back to the kitchen. Maybe she had poor host etiquette, but she kind of had some popcorn on the line here.

“Sorry we’re late!” Gus fretted, hurrying in as Willow entered behind him. “I was trying to find the right size of notepad and then Willow took a while to get ready and--”

“Sorry my flytrap got a taste for flesh again,” Willow muttered, rolling her eyes.

“Don’t worry about it!” Luz called from her kitchen, withdrawing her popcorn and frowning when she opened it and found that half of it was burnt. Curse her shitty microwave. “Amity hasn’t gotten here yet, either.”

“Ooh, what’s that?” Gus asked, bouncing into the kitchen and around the island in the middle as he stared at the candy and chips set out.

“Human food,” Luz said, tossing the burnt popcorn aside as she got a new packet. “I’m introducing you to the real stuff. You’re gonna hate the peppermint.” She said with a grin.

“If you try to give me anything with the word ‘mint’ in its name, I won’t hesitate to hurt you.” Willow warned.

“I actually happen to value my life, contrary to popular belief.” Luz scoffed like she was an idiot. “Luckily for me,” She gestured to Gus staring at all her food, clearly not having heard anything they were saying. “I can trick that one and Amity into eating them.”

“Amity won’t make good on her promise of not fighting you until the marathon is over if you try that,” Willow warned her, wandering around the kitchen for a bit before resting beside the sink and leaning against the counter.

“Which means I can hold it over her head when she tries to make me promise I won’t do anything.” Luz said this was an ingenious plan. “It’s foolproof. I win either way.”

“I’m not so sure a black eye counts as winning,” Willow mumbled, but didn’t comment further as Luz shoved the new batch of popcorn in the microwave.

Gus reached for the candy on the island counter before Luz batted his hand away. He gave her a pitiful look and she leveled it with a harsh one of her own they both knew she didn’t mean. He got the chocolate bar anyway.

“Why does it smell like something burned alive in here?”

The three turned, looking towards the front door, that nobody had closed, thanks guys, where Amity stood. Her face was scrunched up at the smell, looking a bit frazzled but no worse for wear.

“Popcorn,” Luz said simply. “And you, Blight, are late.”

“Had to steal Em’s car,” Amity said, wandering in and eyeing the snacks on the counter. “Didn’t feel like explaining to her where I was going to need her car.”

“Don’t you have your own?” Luz said, furrows pinched together as she looked back.

Amity paused for a moment before shrugging mutely and leaning against the counter not too far away from Willow. Luz decided not to push.

“If it burns again, I’m just gonna eat it, ash and all.” Luz sighed, tapping at the glass of the microwave before sitting on the counter beside it, feet dangling off.

“It’s not supposed to look like that, then?” Willow said, picking up the discarded bag Luz hadn’t thrown away yet and peering inside. “I could eat this.”

“You’re witches, you could eat a nuclear power plant if you wanted.” Luz muttered. “I’ll just save the ashy ones for the endless maw over here.” She said, jerking her head in Amity’s direction.

“I’m touched,” Amity said dryly. “What weird human movie are you gonna be subjecting us to today?” She sighed.

“I’m so glad you asked!” Luz perked up. “We’ve got a bunch of horror movies and regular movies, but I figured we could save the horror movies for when it's really dark, so I am blessing the three of you with The Wizard of Oz as an introduction.” Luz said, practically glowing as she spoke a mile a minute.

“Wizards aren’t--”

“I know wizards aren’t witches, I learned my lesson, blame Harry Potter.” Luz said, raising a hand to Gus’s protest. “Which, no, we are not going to be watching. Anyway, there are two witches in the movie! We can save the purely witch-centered movies for later, this is just an introduction.” She said, 

Gus nodded enthusiastically, listening intently as Willow snorted. Luz was quick to go off on a tangent about the different movies she’d sifted through, relishing in Willow’s tired look at the cheesy names from over half of them. She waved her hands about animatedly as she discussed movies she’d known for years and how now she got to properly bully them and--

Amity was very obviously not processing a damn thing she was saying.

She was watching Luz, same as the other two, and she was interested, but certainly not in whatever she was saying. Her ears were drooped back and she seemed just a tad more relaxed, less tense than she was earlier.

Willow, of course, being closest to the witch, noticed first.

She glanced back to the sink for a moment before grabbing the faucet, which she could pull out and appeared to have a spray option on it.

She looked to Amity for a moment, who still hadn’t stopped staring, aimed it, and turned it on.

Amity yelped and spat, jerking back, as the spray got her. Luz and Gus jerked around for just a moment before Luz burst out laughing, hunched over on the counter as Gus poorly hid giggles.

Amity whirled on Willow with a glare and a growl, the witch turning off and lowering the faucet slightly. She gave her a smug look, and, in a tone barely heard above the other twos laughing, said;

“Sorry, thought you looked thirsty.” In a dry, emotionless tone. Her gleeful grin said otherwise.

Amity spat, flushed to the tips of her ears, and took a clawed swing in Willow’s direction. The witch was unperturbed and stepped to the side to avoid a gash to the face.

“Amity, Amity no,” Luz wheezed out, dropping off the counter and quickly wrapping an arm around Amity’s midsection to stop another lunge. “You can’t fight Willow, she will kill you.”

“It’ll be worth it!” Amity snarled, pulling against Luz’s grasp with angry swipes that couldn’t quite reach Willow’s smug face, causing Luz to haul her back with both arms.

“It really won’t,” Luz said, still clearly amused by the whole thing. “The dedication is still admirable, though.”

“Uh, Luz?” Gus peered through the glass of the microwave. “I think it started burning again, it smells weird.”

“Shit!” Luz quickly released Amity, almost sending her toppling to the floor, as she rushed back to the microwave and tore it open.

She withdrew the bag and opened it with only a small wince at how hot it was, peering inside before sighing.

“Welp, it’s the best we’re gonna get.” Luz said, setting it aside. 

Amity flipped off Willow, who only responded with a chuckle, as Luz continued talking about movies and gathered the snacks together to take to the living room, making Gus carry the rest. As the four wandered off towards the other room, Luz paused and looked back towards the front door.

“Jesus Christ, do you guys not know how to close doors?” She hissed, quickly dumping the snacks on the couch before going back to the front door. “Three of you come in and not one of you could remember to shut a door?”

“I got distracted by the smell of burnt failure,” Amity defended, taking the corner of the couch for herself.

“This is gonna be worse for you,” Luz called, shutting the front door and skidding back in. “You have a better sense of smell than me.”

“Not my house,” Amity shrugged as Luz quickly took the middle of the coach before Gus could. The boy gave her a comically betrayed look as Willow took the floor and he had to be squished into the other corner. 

“You’re still getting the burnt popcorn,” Luz said, fishing on the coffee table through the snacks for the remote. “Maybe I’ll be nice and throw you a normal one here and there to spice it up.”

“How sweet of you,” Amity grumbled, crossing her arms and leaning back further on the couch as Luz started flipping on the TV.

“Also, as a heads up,” Luz added as she readied the DVD already mostly set up. “I may have gone on a research binge when I was younger for about seventy percent of these movies, so you’re all going to be subjected to weird facts I know.”

“Are we sure this isn’t a torture experiment?” Willow teased, leaning against the couch between Luz and Gus.

“Torture for you, maybe.” Luz corrected. “I’m gonna have the time of my life.”

Six and a half movies later, Gus had filled out almost every page of his notepad, and Luz had barely escaped getting broken teeth. There were cries of outrage, confusion, and plenty of shouting at the screen for inaccuracies. Lots of ‘look, it's you!’ from Luz at whatever weird or villainous thing the witch on screen did towards her friends, particularly Amity, and receiving bruises on her arms and sides for her troubles. The Wizard of Oz had been the worst, what with her comparing the Wicked Witch’s green skin to Amity’s hair.

They fought over the last piece of candy from a pack, Amity tried sneaking a grab at the un-burnt popcorn pieces and decided she liked the ashy ones better (to which Luz looked rather horrified) while stealing any of the sour patches Willow tried to nab as retribution. Luz introduced Gus and Amity to the peppermint, which almost ended in Amity fighting her right there and then if it weren’t for Willow threatening to beat both of them up if they didn’t quit it. Long, informative rants from Gus the girls all groaned through, Luz going on and on about facts about the movie productions, and a certain instance where they were pretty sure one of the actors in the movie they were watching was actually a witch, and things were finally winding down.

Gus had already passed out, the poor guy, and Willow didn’t look too far behind. Amity was probably only awake out of spite at this point, and even she looked close to sleep. Luz was hardly paying attention to the TV anymore, the volume lowered for Gus's sake more than anything.

“It’s gonna be such a pain in the ass to get to school tomorrow,” Willow muttered bitterly, eyes shut as she leaned back against the couch.

“Nothing important is for another week,” Luz lazily waved a hand. “We can afford to pass out in class.”

“You’re the last person who can afford to skimp out on work,” Amity mumbled. “Gus is already smart, and Willow and I can intimidate the teachers into giving us a pass.”

“Bullies, the two of you.” Luz huffed. “You’re just gonna leave me to rot, huh? Let me fend for myself in this vicious world? I thought better of you.”

“No you didn’t,” Amity scoffed. “Now shut up, you’re too loud.” She complained, batting at the human's face.

“You’re just tired, I’m talking at a perfectly reasonable volume.” Luz rolled her eyes. “Witch hearing isn’t so fun now, is it?”

Amity gave Luz a glare and a weak, croaky growl in the back of her throat. Luz gave a poor attempt at a mock-growl back. Amity was quick to raise a hand and make a grab at Luz when Willow spoke up, still perfectly still even in her half-asleep state.

“Both of you be quiet,” Willow gruffed, immediately getting the two to quickly freeze.

They held still for a brief few moments, glancing between each other and Willow. After a minute or two with Willow not making any other movements or further tired threats, they slowly relaxed back into the couch, Amity giving up on swiping at Luz.

“You’re growling is horrible,” Amity whispered, barely audible above the soft hum of the television. 

“Unfortunately, I was born with vocal cords that don’t let me sound like a crocodile on steroids.” Luz whispered back. “But I spent a good few years of my childhood mimicking cat sounds, so I like to think that’ll give me an edge.”

“Do I even want to ask?” Amity grimaced, giving Luz a hesitant look.

“I was a really weird kid,” Luz shrugged, constantly glancing at Willow to make sure she was quiet enough not to wake her up.

“You still are,” Amity deadpanned.

“Aw, how sweet.” Luz placed a hand on her chest with an emotional expression. “Never thought you had it in you.”

Amity muttered a quick ‘move’ as her only warning before she sharply punched Luz’s arm. The human hissed and jerked away, rubbing at the sore spot.

“You know it doesn’t actually count as a warning if you give zero room for a reaction, right?” Luz grumbled.

“I give you plenty room, you had a whole second there to move.” Amity replied, voice lowered as she leaned against the arm of the couch. “A warning is a warning, be grateful I’m giving one at all.”

“Your honor code is a Roulette wheel,” Luz huffed. 

“It’s not a--”

Gus shifted and the two of them went quiet again. They watched him as he shifted around in his sleep and almost went careening off the couch. Luz shot out a hand and caught his back, holding him right on the edge as he settled down again. She slowly pushed him back onto the couch, and he barely reacted.

They breathed a sigh of relief, laying back against the couch. Amity leaned her back against the arm of the couch and stretched out her legs, kicking up against Luz’s side. She turned to glare at the witch, momentarily caught off guard by the eerie glow Amity’s eyes had in the shifting, dim light from the television. Amity didn’t break eye contact.

She couldn’t help but feel like she was being studied. Like a cat determining whether or not it was worth it to go after a bird in the garden. Her blank face didn’t help matters.

“You’re sure your mom won’t realize we’re here?” Amity spoke before Luz could, eyes never leaving her.

“Uh, no, no, she’s usually pretty tired whenever she gets back, and we’re out of view of the front door, so she’ll just go to sleep and we’ll be at school before she wakes up.” Luz said, the first to break eye contact. “I’m more worried about you guys’ parents wondering where you went off to.”

“Eh, Willow can handle her dads.” Amity shrugged, slowly turning her head away to watch the movie after Luz looked away. “Gus’s dad is the only one we’ll have to be worried about.”

“Really? Would’ve thought a rich girl like you had a stricter curfew.” Luz teased, shaking off the tension from earlier. “They let you party all night, any night?”

Amity didn’t respond. Luz noted the claws on one of her hands slid unsheathed. Alright then, touchy subject. That didn’t surprise her much, considering how she’d spoken of them in the past.

“...I can’t believe you liked these movies.” Amity eventually sighed, scoffing at some scene involving wands and whatnot on screen. “No wonder you were so helpless when you came to Hexside.”

“Hey!” Luz snapped, remembering to lower her voice at the last second. “This ‘helpless’ human has fought the cliche trigger-happy jock and won.” She accused, pointing towards Amity.

“You have not.” Amity scoffed. “It's not a winning fight until someone surrenders or runs off.”

“So you’re saying we end in draws, then?” Luz raised a brow. “I still think that looks pretty good on my record.”

“Your record went up in flames months ago,” Amity rolled her eyes. “You’re lucky you're easy to pity.”

“Going soft on me, Blight?” Luz teased, sticking out her tongue. “Or are you that worried I might win?”

Amity glared at her, claws still unsheathed, Luz noted without changing her face from her taunting expression. Amity’s eyes narrowed for a second and she growled, and that was her only warning before she sprung out of her position and lunged.

Luz choked back a laugh and a surprised squeak as she jerked back, raising her foot and kicking at Amity to hold her at bay. She almost landed right over Gus, just barely missing him as Amity hissed and one of her claws dug into the side of Luz’s leg, ow.

The other hand lashed out to hit Luz before she caught her wrist and held it away just enough to avoid her claws, pushing her leg on Amity’s stomach further out to keep her off.

“Time and a place, Ames.” Luz whispered, cocking a brow as she jerked her head in the direction of Willow still sleeping leaned against the couch, almost definitely bound to wake up if they started a fight now. And Gus.

Amity glowered, lips pulled back to flash honestly ridiculously oversized fangs. Not that she was complaining of course. She looked like she still wanted to tackle Luz despite the poor repercussions that would follow, but alas, she eventually pulled her wrist out of Luz’s now lax grip.

Luz kicked her and Amity wheezed, falling back onto her side of the couch as Luz snickered and drew her legs back under her. She frowned at the tears in her jeans and scratches along her leg and flipped off Amity with her most exasperated look.

Amity’s hair puffed up as she repeated the gesture. They scowled at each other for a few moments before Luz gave up and shook her head, allowing a quiet chuckle at the ridiculousness of the two of them. Amity sighed and lowered her hand as Luz did the same, expression softening as Luz leaned further back against the couch, ears lowered.

“Wake me before I miss the first period, will ya?” Luz asked, right before leaning right across the couch and onto Amity’s arm.

“Not in your life.” Amity hissed, tensing. Her hands twitched and she looked ready to shove the human off, who only gave her a smug look and finger guns in response.

“You're lucky I put up with you.” Amity grumbled, clearly deciding against pushing her to the floor.

“Feelings mutual,” Luz said, waving a hand casually before shutting her eyes. “Just keep quiet and I won’t have to make you sleep in your car.”

“Sure, make me sleep in my car.” Amity scoffed, leaning her head back against the couch and letting her eyelids fall. “Nice one, Noceda.”

“I know, I’m hilarious.” She grinned, not bothering to open her eyes.

Amity rolled her eyes before closing her eyes as well, arms loosely crossed as she let Luz adjust against her side. Luz could still hear the quiet hum of the TV still playing the movie, but decided against turning it off. Too much effort, and the movie would end soon, anyway. It was far too quiet to disturb anyone.

Amity hadn’t legitimately snapped at anyone since the second movie, so really, Luz would call tonight a win.

Though it took only a moment before Amity, also not reopening her eyes, reached out and yanked Luz’s beanie over her face.

“Wh--hey!” Luz snapped, flailing around and managing to land a smack or two on Amity, who, in response, hissed and pushed at her face.

“Shut the fuck up.”

Both of them froze at the sound of Willow’s tired voice, a snarl laced in her tone. They looked over only for a moment to spot her glaring at the two of them with malice before they immediately went back to their previous sleeping positions, eyes shut tight.

None of them moved for the rest of the night.

#the owl house #toh #beta au #amity blight #luz noceda #willow park #gus porter #edric blight #emira blight #amity #luz #willow #gus #edric #emira #beta designs #beta amity #beta luz #beta willow #beta gus #beta edric #beta emira #move night #witch movies #my writing #fic #light angst #fluff #domestic #fluff and humor

[btrzznn]

how can you be a lesbian and use he/him pronouns?

i’m going to assume you’ve asked this out of curiosity, not to sound offensive.

to clarify to some people who didn’t have the courage to ask before:

i’m non-binary and also a lesbian. i feel more comfortable with they/them pronouns, but they don’t exist in formal spaces in my mother language and country (it’s still a work in progress, but people can be harshly judgemental and cruel), so he/him and she/her are my alternatives. 

anyway, lesbians can be and a lot of them are non-binary. lesbians can and a lot of them are attracted to non-binary people. he/him pronouns can and are used by a lot of non-binary people and since we all know pronouns don’t always equal gender, well... guess you can understand why someone who’s non-binary can use he/him to identify himself, right?

through history, many lesbians used he/him pronouns and masculine words because they were masculine-aligned or non-binary or gender fluid or androgynous or gender non-conforming or because certain words would fit more into their aesthetics and gender presentation/expression. and it was fine then, it should be fine by now.

just because a lesbian uses he/him pronouns and masculine words or is a non-binary person or gender fluid or presents in a more masculine way, it doesn’t make this person a man. lesbians don’t feel attracted to men and he/him lesbians + other non-binary lesbians aren’t men, so of course they’re still lesbians and an important part of the community, because they’ve always been here. so yeah, if you see me calling myself a king or a sexy boy, that’s only in a lesbian way, ahaha. it’s just a thing, it doesn’t mean i’m a confused man or anything. to be honest, my jam is “no gender, only lesbian”, because it makes so, so much sense to me.

the lesbian community owes a lot to trans lesbians and in special to trans lesbians of color. we’ve been through a lot in the past decades, but you know what? whenever i see another lesbian feeling free and comfortable with their set of pronouns and how they look and how they express themself, it makes my world look more beautiful, more safe and more hopeful. these people helped me find out who i am. i’m forever thankful to all he/him lesbians in the world. i love them. and i finally love myself. yadda yadda, i’m a he/him princess, i’m a they/them precious thing and i’m a she/her pretty guy. i’m whatever i want to be and i’m okay with that, so why can’t people be happy for me and others who are just like me? just let us be, we all just want to exist and find happiness, that’s all.

#hope i could answer it in a clear way #lesbian #non-binary lesbian #he/him lesbian #lgbt+ #non-binary #trans #non-binary lesbian positivity #anonymous #answered

[aquidragon]

Purple (Part 1)

Spencer Reid x Reader Summary: Spencer sometimes considered his eidetic memory a curse, however when he spots a gorgeous woman crossing the street with a purple ribbon, he can’t help but fall heads over heels for her. However, there’s more to her than it seems... Warning(s): Mentions of blood and alludes to violence Word Count: 2.2k A/N: Here’s my first ever x reader series! Thank you to @criesinreid​ for beta-reading this for me! (Part One: Here) (Part Two: x) (MASTERLIST) ---

---

      Spencer Reid POV

It was a sunny Tuesday morning when I saw her, with beautiful h/c hair that was tied with a purple ribbon. Maybe it was because of the color, since purple was my favorite, but I felt like I was drawn to her. I watched with a rather stupid expression as she walked past me, with a wide smile from across the street. I felt my heart flutter and my face get warm. She was gorgeous. My eidetic memory allowed me to picture her smile and her shining h/c hair as she chased after her friends. After a few days, I caught myself imagining holding her hand and taking her out on dates. Would she like attending the library with me? What kind of genres did she enjoy? I could tell that she at least could read, since she was holding a few books close to her chest as she ran. I could no longer focus the book I held in my hands, the words seemed jumbled and scrambled. Nothing made sense, except for the woman that had blessed my very mind. The few seconds that I had my eyes on her, I couldn’t get her picture out of my vision. I let out a small sigh as I closed my book, allowing my mind to drift to her again.

“Pretty boy has got a crush.” The familiar teasing voice of my colleague joked from right above me. I looked up from my slouched position on the jet’s couch, I snorted, brushing over my lower lip with my tongue. “I-I don’t have a crush.” I responded, which I knew wasn’t convincing as Morgan laughed and took a seat beside me. 

“Come on, you’ve been staring out into space.” He gently patted my shoulder, his dark eyes just dancing with playfulness. “So, who is she?” The older FBI agent asked, earning a small groan from me. “I told you I don’t have a crush.” I unintentionally let my voice lift up an octave, which gave away my lie. The look on Derrik’s face made me sigh and finally give in. “I saw this girl across the street from the coffee shop I frequent before work, Morgan she is the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on.” I knew it was rather dramatic, but it was true. “Well, did you get her number?” My co-worker asked, I shook my head sadly. “I didn’t get to her, she was running after some friends.” The sinking feeling in my chest began to drag down my mood. I suddenly felt like a dunce, how couldn’t I have just ran to her, asked for her name, her number, anything? 

I cursed my inept ability to flirt, or talk to women in general. Looking at my friend made my brain begin to curse itself. I wasn’t as confident as Morgan, I couldn’t even cross the street to go after the girl that I was really fond of. This made me bring my hands up to my face, I dragged my palms over my eyes, I was much too tired to think too much about my hopeless attempts at relationships. 

Morgan must’ve noticed my downwards spiral into hopelessness, because he patted my shoulder a few more times as the plane began to shake into the descent. “Hey don’t lose hope, she might live in DC, maybe you’ll see her again.” I looked up at him again, rubbing one of my eyes as the pressure rapidly changed. “How? Morgan I can’t just search DC for her, there’s 705,749 people that live in DC.” I challenged, hopelessness sinking deeper into my chest. I also felt frantic, I felt this paranoid need to find this woman again. 

Morgan laughed, shaking his head. “Oh I know you Doctor Spencer Reid, you’ll find this woman.” Before I could respond with more statistics about the likeness of me running into a random person I hadn’t even met, the plane started to rumble on the runway. The rest of my team all groaned as they were awoken from their naps on the five hour flight we had just endured in Seattle. 

After the plane was landed, I begrudgingly dragged my suitcase behind me towards the BAU offices. I wasn’t looking forward to doing paperwork, usually I could whisk through them with ease, but the nagging feeling in my heart made it impossible to think. All I could think about was her, and that purple ribbon that bounced with her movements as she ran. I scuffled all my paperwork back into a file, I would fill it out tomorrow morning, after my third coffee of the day. I was just about to leave when I heard the soft voice of my closest friend. 

“Leaving so soon Spence?”  JJ asked tiredly, I could tell that she was struggling to keep her eyes open. “Yeah- I’m too tired to do paperwork tonight.” I responded briskly, bringing up three of my fingers to rub one of my eyes. “Wow, Spencer Reid, too tired to do paperwork?” The teasing voice of Penelope came next, her entire body was limp and exhausted. I couldn’t help but crack a small smile, gathering up the last of my stuff. “Yeah-I have plans” I responded nervously. I couldn’t tell Penelope that I had a crush on a girl I randomly laid eyes on. I’m sure I could just tell the woman that the mystery girl owned a purple ribbon and she could find my crush within a couple hours. Tops. 

“Ooo plans?” Garcia asked, a little bit of excitement glittered in her eyes. I opened my mouth to tell her that it was just a trip to the library, but Morgan stepped on. “Woah now Baby Girl, we can’t have our pretty boy here giving away his secrets.” He sent a wink at me, which made me chuckle. “I gotta go guys, see you on Monday.” I walked out of the office, heading towards the silver elevator that would take me to the main floor. 

Now, I normally don’t believe in dream analysis. There’s just not enough evidence to prove that our dreams are somehow linked to ourselves. However, the events in my dream felt so unbelievably real. I saw the woman again, with her gorgeous h/l hair and sparkling e/c eyes. We were in a void, which reminded me of being underwater. My hair was fanned around my head, as if I was swimming. I looked back over at the woman, her hair was also floating around her pretty face. The purple ribbon was no longer on her head, but instead it was tied around her pinky finger. 

“Spencer, look!” She spoke, but her voice was echoed, and sounded like a weird mix of voices. “We’re connected.” I blinked, confused. “Connected?” I muttered to myself, before I felt a tug at my pinky finger, making me look down. Just like the woman’s, a purple ribbon was tight around my finger, and led just to her pinky. 

I let a joyous laugh bubble out of my chest. “I guess we are.” I looked back at the girl, she was now closer. Her face was slightly blurry, but it also seemed so clear.  She seemed sad, from the way her hands floated over my shoulders. “Please find me.” The woman with the purple ribbon whispered, her voice softening. “I need you.” Then I heard gunshots, screaming, and a woman screaming for help. I moved to protect the girl, but she was gone, I was now in a decrepit looking house. I unholstered my gun, approaching the door where I heard the noises. Blood began pouring from the crack between the door and floor. I let out a scream.

And then I woke up

---      Y/N L/N POV

Any method to get away from my psycho family was a win for me. Even if it meant hanging out with my shitty friends from high school, who did nothing but cause trouble and get high. Now I didn’t really have an issue with people getting high, I once dabbled in it when I was in my early college years. I only stopped when I started to fall behind in my classes. 

So today, I decided I was going to the cute little coffee shop I passed after stopping at the library. I’ve been in a desperate need for coffee anyway. Looking into the mirror of my vanity, I cautiously applied makeup to my face. Brushing a hint of blush onto my cheeks as I smiled at myself. I loved makeup, maybe it was because my parents never let me use it growing up. They believed it was “against God's will” or yadda yadda. 

It didn’t matter anymore, I lived in my own shitty apartment, so I could do whatever I wanted to myself. After finishing up the last touches to my face, I reached over to tie my ribbon. I didn’t know why, but I was always drawn to the color purple, so I bought a lot of purple-colored accessories. My ribbon was my most prized accessory though, I could tie it in my hair in whatever way I saw fit.

So, I tied it in my favorite way before admiring myself in the mirror once again. I tried to ignore the subtle scars marking certain locations on my face, but I felt like my makeup covered them well. Feeling satisfied, I switched off the lights, grabbed my phone and headed out. 

“Ugh seriously?” I exclaimed as I stepped outside, only to feel the subtle drops of rain on my hair. The coffee place was only a block or so from my apartment complex, and I really didn’t feel like digging for my keys again. So, I bolted, hurrying to the cafe as the rain started to pelt down harder. 

Once I reached the building, I threw open the door and got inside. Breathing heavily, I searched my purse for my wallet and made my way over to the line. The line went by fast, I ordered my coffee and went to sit down right by the window. A storm had rolled in, I sipped at my beverage as I watched people outside scramble about in hopes for shelter. 

One of them being a handsome lanky man that I swore I saw somewhere. He glanced at me from outside, through the window, and his face lit up. He swiftly entered the cafe, and made a beeline over to me. He didn’t order anything, but the baristas seemed to recognize him, one of them even waved. 

“I-I’m sorry is this seat taken?” The brunette asked, breathlessly, as he stood behind the seat next to me. I shook my head, scooting my chair over so he could get into the one he wanted. “Do I know you from somewhere?” I asked, curiously, I swore I recognized him. 

The handsome man seemed surprised, he took off his soaked jacket. “Uh, I saw you last Tuesday.” He mumbled, his voice squeaking a bit. I bit the corner of my mouth and observed him from head to toe. He was well-dressed, with a dark grey cardigan over what seemed to be a dress shirt and tie. He wore dress pants, but had two well-worn converse and two differently colored socks. 

Suddenly it came to me, I had glanced at him as I rushed to catch up with my friends. I remembered that I really wanted to look back at him again, but had a time constraint. “Oh yeah!” I grinned, taking another sip of my caffeinated beverage. “I remember now.” The man seemed pleased at my words, fumbling with the ends of his cardigan nervously.  “Oh, well, I’m Doctor Reid.” The man seemed like he wanted to shake my hand, but kept his hands as far from mine as possible. He nervously cleared his throat, looking at me in the eyes. “Doctor Spencer Reid.” Spencer gave me a hopeful smile, which I returned. “It’s a pleasure to formally meet you Doctor, my name is Y/n.” I didn’t bother saying my last name, I didn’t want to be associated with it. 

“No please, call me Spencer.” The fawn-brown haired doctor sounded tense. “No need to use formalities with me here.” He clarified, making me laugh. “Alright, alright. Spencer it is then.” When our eyes met, I swore that Spencer looked at me with so much intensity I thought I would explode. He opened and closed his mouth like a fish, trying to say something.

Ring

“Oh sorry lemme get that.” The doctor scrambled into his pocket, pulling out an ancient flip phone and answering the call. “What? Already?” He paused, listening into the call, I began to become more intrigued by the minute. His face fell, his once bright and handsome face turned into one that resembled haunted somberness. “I understand, I’ll be there right away Hotch.”

“What’s wrong?” I asked, not bothering to suppress my curiosity. “It’s my-job.” Spencer answered sluggishly, making a face as he slid on his damp jacket. “Oh?” I watched as he scrambled for a napkin and he fished a pen from his satchel. 

“Call me?” The honey-eyed man asked hopefully, after sketching out his number on the paper. I nodded, taking the napkin into my hand, scanning over the haphazardly written numbers. “Of course-” I responded, but Spencer was already halfway out the door. I snorted, slipping out my phone and typing in the man’s number. Now THIS will be interesting...

---

#spencer reid x reader #spencer reid #spencer reid imagine #multiparter #spencer reid fluff #purple #criminal minds #reader insert #implied soulmates

[trophywifejimgordon]

okay so, oswald’s stupid aliases meta? oswald’s stupid aliases meta. 

after returning to gotham in 1x3, oswald fairly quickly takes on a few false titles, first when confronted by a fish mooney lackey in an alley who recognizes him as the ex umbrella boy (in a panic, he tells the man that he must be confused, his name is dmitri... yeah, no), then when trying to endear himself to don maroni (trying to claim italian heritage, he calls himself paolo), and finally, in 1x4, when introducing himself to barbara (”i’m peter. peter... humboldt.”). 

so.

of these, and i’m separating the last one into two parts, i pretty much have the least to say about dmitri. while oswald has some time off screen to think about the other names, the confrontation with the mook forces him to come up with that one on the spot, so imo it’s the least likely to have heavy significance; likely he just chose it because it’s a very slavic name to fit the very slavic accent he’s not fooling anyone with. if i were really pressed about it, i might point out that dmitri is derived from demeter, the greek goddess of the harvest (among other things). demeter is responsible for the growth of the crops, but also presides over the cycle of life and death and the sacred law; one of her titles is “law-bringer,” referring to the idea that idea that law and order formed in agricultural society. the interaction oswald has here with this mook is notable in that--before he kills the guy--oswald insists that “gotham needs him! [he is] its future!” oswald aligning himself, consciously or not, with being responsible for gotham’s fertility, its health, and most of all its structure, would not be out of character for him, and is in fact directly supported by his interactions with the man to whom he gives the fake name. 

but that’s all pretty tenuous. 

next up, paolo! this one, i had fun with. see, i had a somewhat classical education. i read the inferno. that being so, my immediate connection with the name paolo (and, indeed, the only major literary connection i could find) was to the story of paolo malatesta and francesca da rimini. they’re condemned to the second circle of hell for their lust, yadda yadda, whatever. i’m mostly just concerned with the man himself; one source (from the owlcation page on paolo and francesca) describes him as “a romantic sort, a man not really interested in the world around him.” (emphasis mine.) which is fun, because guess what oswald’s doing at the time that he gives this name? he’s almost just been hired as a dishwasher at bamonte’s, maroni’s favorite restaurant. given the job, he’s warned that he hears nothing, sees nothing, says nothing. in all likelihood, oswald gives maroni this name mainly for its obvious italian origin, attempting (successfully) to endear himself to the obviously italian don by claiming “his mother’s” italian ancestry. however, there are a lot of italian names he could have chosen from. i don’t see why his choice of this one couldn’t also be a subtle way of reaffirming that he’s following the rules set out for him. paolo malatesta’s wikipedia page (and like, wikipedia as a source, i know, i know, but) takes this a little further, recounting that paolo is traditionally portrayed as a man “not very inclined to aspirations for power.” very NOT oswald, obviously. at the same time, very appropriate for his meek act as he slowly endears himself to maroni. even spicier, though, is this: “recent investigations, however, reveal [paolo] as a young man very attentive to politics and immersed in the political intrigue of the time.” so, could this mean that his fake name is not only a reaffirmation of his lowly position, but also a very, very veiled hint that he’s more than he seems? it would feel appropriate, in this case, that the traditional interpretation of malatesta is the one that oswald is banking on to facilitate his squirm into maroni’s inner circle, while the contemporary reading is the one he actually identifies with. that’s oswald all over; in touch with the old ways, yet in a class all his own.

a little less dramatically, paolo, like the anglicized “paul,” has roots meaning “small” or “humble.” so, in more ways than one, the name can be seen as oswald bending at the knee to maroni’s apparent superiority... and beginning to bide his time.

now, peter humboldt. 

you know, i really never did like this name? i’ve watched 1x4 at least six or seven times, and it always kind of made me go :/ when he offered it, because it’s just kind of... ugly, i guess. i have to say though (while i still think it’s ugly on sound alone), i’m fully obsessed with it now. 

like i said, i’m breaking this down into two parts. my analysis of the “peter” half, as with my analysis of “dmitri,” is a little more tenuous, just because it’s a fairly plain, common name. however, the low hanging fruit is the apostle peter, and never let it be said that i don’t take the low hanging fruit. so... peter. on the surface, oswald doesn’t have a whole lot in common with the story of peter the apostle, and that kind of threw a wrench in my analysis for a while. being inclined to fit that particular square block into this particular round hole, though, i got there. don’t worry, y’all. my penchant for bullshit knows no bounds.

first thing’s first, it bears note that “peter” was an alias of sorts for the apostle, too, since his given name was simon/simeon. he was jesus’s first disciple, and went from that to eventually heading up the church after the crucifixion and all following, becoming the “first pope.” such an ascension is a little reminiscent of oswald’s from umbrella boy to the head of the gotham underworld, i guess. and that’s cool. But We Can Go Deeper. i think it’s always kind of useful to keep in mind who the alias is for at the time; who oswald is trying to fool. in this case, the recipient of his bullshit is barbara kean, with an audience of an already in-the-know jim gordon. before his ascension, and furthermore, before either of them joined with christ, peter was already affiliated with a few other disciples: andrew (his brother), john, and james. (neither here nor there, but st. james was the first of the disciples to be martyred. jim...) peter and james--and the others, but i’m talking about peter and james--worked together; they were fishermen. in light of his audience, i think that it’s not entirely inconceivable that oswald is affirming his pre-ascent connection to james gordon (who he does exclusively refer to as james for the duration of the scene, rather than the ‘jim’ we get a lot more later on). not to mention, you know, the whole nautical theme. it’s not a particularly inspired link, but it does kind of work for him. additionally, while i still admit this is not the strongest meta i’ve ever written, oz choosing this name for these reasons would pair nicely with a running theme later in the season (that gets more or less dropped off by season 2, disappointingly), wherein oswald is repeatedly implied to have at least a tenuous christian background and some possible lingering expression of faith... think about the season finale, when falcone tells him he’ll burn in hell and oswald is momentarily taken aback, admitting, “i do worry about that.” 

(while i’m on this particular bullshit, one other thing that peter is known for is denying jesus three times after his death, but ultimately being forgiven and heading jesus’s church anyway. because i am a lover of Increasingly Tenuous Connections, i kind of see this as foreshadowing of the twist in 1x7. oswald’s protests to fish in the pilot that he would never betray her are reminiscent of peter’s insistence that even if every other disciple renounced jesus, he would not. naturally, he did betray her, and implicitly falcone through her. he continues renouncing his falcone ties, first by secretly joining maroni and then by openly joining maroni and threatening to spark a gang war... but at the end of it all, we learn that his “loyalties” (such as they are) never actually changed--he’s still falcone’s man. just. idk. idk. i’m Thinking About It.) 

aaaaand, finally, humboldt. 

so :) 

this is the part that i honestly wrote this whole thing to explore. because the thing is? i looooooove that he chose the name humboldt, now that i feel like i know why he chose it. i still think it sounds like a stupid name, but the subtext? the implications? UGH! 

right off the bat, my first impression was just that it sounds like the word “humble,” which goes back to the thing with paolo. neat enough. but, this name isn’t given to don maroni--it’s given to barbara. and remember, that’s important. so, what does humboldt mean, other than that? well, the one person with that name famous enough to bear mentioning is apparently alexander von humboldt. i’m certain that the name is, one way or another, a reference to him... and i’ll get to why in a second. he was a prussian (so, eastern european--check) polymath, as well as a naturalist, romantic philosopher, explorer, etc, and raised mainly by a single mother to boot. not all of his hats are directly related to oswald’s interests and skillsets, i’ll grant you, but the fact that he was a naturalist does have direct implications for why i think oswald choosing this name was a deliberate reference to this person by the writers of the show, because see, the thing is, there were quite a few animals named after him... including Spheniscus humboldti.

the humboldt penguin.

given that it’s gotham, i do have to acknowledge the possibility (probability) that that’s as deep as it goes. the writers were looking for a clever way to slip another penguin reference in there (they’re not. exactly. subtle, especially in season one, with the way that the characters are going to turn out), they looked up breeds of penguins, found this one, that’s it. but, on the other hand, there are other breeds of penguins that they could have chosen, and they chose this one. whether it was deliberate or only an accident, the decision was made, and i am running with it. 

because, like, another fun thing about humboldt: he was gay. 

(side note 2: you know tfw you’re on someone’s wikipedia page and there’s a ton of information about them and their life and their contributions to science but you’re like outta my way i ONLY want to know this man’s sexuality? ah, the personal life tab. where would we be without you.)

well, it’s one of those situations where you have to decide if you’re going to try to ascribe modern sexuality labels to historical figures, and at the end of the day, i won’t really get into it. however, though there is some scholarly discourse that cites him as a largely asexual figure (and while i’m definitely not getting into it and do not intend this as an attack on the asexual community in any way, i have to say an obviously gay man being desexualized to make him more palatable feels... familiar), the facts seem undeniable that he experienced same-sex attraction, whether or not you want to define this as exclusive. it is speculated that he had notable affairs with or at least vehement attraction toward wilhelm gabriel wegener, reinhardt von haeften, françois arago, and possibly his valet seifret, among others. maybe gotham writers didn’t intend for this little throwaway alias to be read as an announcement of oswald’s sexuality (although, even if “humboldt” wasn’t, the exchange he has with barbara--“i never get to meet any of jim’s friends, because he doesn’t tell me anything” “men.” “don’t i know!”--sure was... something), but as i am not a coward, i am perfectly content to read it as one anyway. and don’t forget what i said--this is the alias he gives to barbara. barbara, about whom he knows a possibly suspicious amount, given that she’s almost irrelevant to his political schemes. barbara, whose apartment he went to for jim gordon. barbara, who is, perhaps, his perceived romantic rival. 

look, it’s probably just a name and a penguin joke. but what’s the point of metatextual analysis if you can’t be like “he showed up and told barb his name was peter humboldt because he wanted to affirm that his origins are tied to saint jim’s and let it be known that the two of them are in competition for jim’s attention all in the most dramatic way possible and while smugly congratulating himself on being so clever and subtle”?? this isn’t really a threat--in contrast to how creepy he is with women he is threatening, namely fish and liza, oswald is downright courteous to barbara--so much as it is an indulgent expression of petty jealousy. i think he wants jim but perhaps doesn’t even realize the extent or in which way yet; he just wants barbara to know, on some level, that she’s sharing, and jim to know (because jim is just as much an audience to his performance here, and he knows that the alias is fake, might be driven to consider, with that detective brain of his, why he chose what he chose...), on some level, that they’re tied. 

oof. ok. that was a lot, but one last thing. since i’m already indulging in gratuitous oswald parallels with humboldt anyway, i might as well point out this line from a letter he wrote to reinhardt von haeften, after von haeften’s engagement to a woman: “Even if you must refuse me, treat me coldly with disdain, I should still want to be with you... the love I have for you is not just friendship or brotherly love, it is veneration.”

i’m on my bullshit, but... you can hear it in his voice, right?

#gotham #oswald cobblepot #meta #text post #..... #gobblepot #look. look. the fact that dissecting gotham like this is inherently futile vs. I Want It To Be That Deep Dot Jpeg #i was writing my notes on 1x3 and 1x4 of gotham last night #and on a lark #a laugh #i went down a rabbit hole of 'hey i wonder if that name was supposed to mean anything' #TURNS OUT!!!!! #i could have done this in a 'in this essay i will' format but that would rob me of the opportunity to actually go ham #which is obviously unacceptable. given the circumstances.

[evien-stark]

✧I Need You✧ Chapter 147 [End: Jessica Jones: Season 1]

“-and the damage radius from these blocks out-” “-press will get a statement tomorrow-” “-we have to be careful about this-” “-I have orders, I have to go out soon, so we have to resolve-” “-what about the guy in the hospital-” 

Various voices were droning in and out. Conversation was happening around you. It was hard to make heads or tails of it. Everyone that spoke was familiar in that warm sort of way but everything they were going over left you sort of cold. In an instinctive type of way- because you really didn’t know- 

“Honey?” Tony’s voice drew your attention forward. 

As your vision cleared you took stock of the situation you found yourself in. You were in one of the smaller Avengers conference rooms. The team was there. Natasha was at the front of the room. Tony had probably been pacing around but now had a hand on your shoulder. The sun was trying to squirm its way in through the closed blinds. 

You had no idea how you’d gotten where you were. The last thing you’d remembered was passing out in the back of the quinjet. ...hadn’t you? Yet it seemed like, from the way everyone was staring, that maybe you hadn’t done that. And instead had gone from night in the jet to day in the conference room all while seemingly being aware. But you had no record of that time. Which was more than a little alarming. 

“I’m sorry- what are- um…” Feeling a swell of nervousness tighten your chest. “Did I doze off?” Hoping maybe that was the case. That you’d been caught red handed. 

But the weird exchange of glances around the room tipped you off to the fact that you shouldn’t have asked. Tony’s worry packed the rest of you almost full to bursting, but it was Steve who was looking at you. “You’ve been staring off into the distance this whole time. Did you not hear any of this?” 

Natasha leaned in, putting her palms on the table, “I’ll summarize. You deployed three Damage Control units in less than forty-eight hours. Reports are coming back in. Multiple bodies need storage. We need to know who to put where, what statements to give to who, and you have all the missing pieces.” 

Clint stood, crossing his arms. “There’s also a dead body we scooped up. Enhanced individual with a pretty purposeful hole through his chest. And the powered lady in the casual lockup keeps saying she’s responsible.”

A mess. You’d gone into a fugue state in the middle of a mess. This was all a little too much. But you sensed Tony was about to give you some sort of excuse to get you out of all this and let everyone else run cleanup. You couldn’t let that happen. So quickly you stood, gratefully finding your feet beneath you. “Jessica Jones didn’t do that. I did. Obviously.” What was Jessica thinking? It had to have been clear what kind of wound that was. “That’s Kilgrave, which I’m sure she’s said by now. -you should have gotten his picture on the network. He’s held about a thousand people hostage over the course of two months. He definitely has more victims than that. He has a long track record. All those bodies in bags belong to him. I know the reports will show I gave a DNE order- he was dangerous. We knew this already. He also boosted his powers, right before I stopped him.” 

Natasha looked up at you. “Did you even try to bring him in?” There was a reason she was asking this, and it wasn’t because she was being critical of you.

“I put him down because I had no other choice.” 

All eyes were on you as Steve asked, “You sure about that?” 

You tried to be as firm as possible. “Yes.” 

There was only a small silence that settled. Tony interrupted it. “So, as you can see, the Avengers did their job. This is our territory. You know. Doing that thing.” Turning his wrist over. “Stopping threats the military can’t- yadda yadda yadda…” 

From his spot on the other side of the table, Bruce lifted his head, giving his shoulders a gentle nudge up. “Sounds about right to me.” 

Thor, who had assumedly been taking all this in with his arms crossed gave one of those brisk smiles of his. “By all accounts, it would seem our dear Lady has become quite the hero of the people in our absence. I for one would have liked to see this man on the battlefield. Seems like he was quite savage.” He was being painfully honest. You wondered, how that would have went. Kilgrave VS Thor. And promptly were glad you hadn’t had to witness it. “However, I am glad the matter has been put to rest.” 

You understood what they were trying to do. What they’d been trying to do. It wasn’t just clean up, it was defense. Making sure they were on the right side of the story- to do right by you. And you’d been impeding the process because it seemed like you weren’t paying attention. But, now that they had your side of the story… it seemed like everyone was easily on board. 

On board with your obvious heated murder of an enhanced individual that had not only been personally menacing you, had tortured you previously, but had hurt Tony as well. And Steve. Your family. This was obviously grounds for questioning. You were too close to have been able to do a fair job. But it was over now. There was no redoing it. No going back to do it better. ...you wouldn’t have changed anything, anyway. 

Your family was trying to protect you. No matter what percentages in this equation were right or wrong. They understood what had happened. And they’d already made peace with it. Now all they needed to do was sweep the rest of it up and call it a day. 

Which is exactly what prompted Tony to continue talking. “So. We’ll release Jones. I’ll make some statement to the press. We’ll rubber stamp A’s all over our files and turn them in. Everyone on board?” 

While there was a murmur of immediate approval, Natasha had a few more things on her docket. “We have two people in our private hospital wing. Both are ready for release- but DC’s been adamant that the right person makes that call.” A little- brief- tiny flutter of annoyance touched her before she shut it down hard. She didn’t have to say it. You understood why. 

Damage Control had refused to budge until you made another call, because you’d been the one that had been calling the shots the entire short-lived investigation. ...and you were also their boss. There was a power imbalance of assets here. Almost like SHIELD access level numbers. Almost. You nodded. “Yeah- I’ll go release them. And uh… have a talk with DC.” Because the obvious contingencies weren’t there. What if you were incapacitated? They needed to be able to take orders from the rest of your team. ...although you wondered why Tony hadn’t gone down there and said something. 

It was too much to hope that was all- and even all that was still a hell of a lot to get through. Natasha passed a file down across the table your way and as you laid your hands on it she spoke. “Seems like we also have a vet in lockup. You labeled him enhanced but by all accounts he seems… just angry. Pretty normal.” 

Pulling the folder open you saw Will Simpson’s face looking back at you. A sigh escaped you, and you were extremely grateful when Bruce spoke up. “That’s the guy with the trifecta pocket pills, right?” 

Steve suddenly seemed very alert. “The combat enhancers?” Clearly they’d had a conversation about it. Which made sense. Those enhancers, Bruce’s initial research with Ross… it was all due to him. Not his fault, but just the miracle that the government had created by making him a super soldier. 

“He probably sweat it out by now.” You closed the file, sliding it Steve’s way next. “He wanted to kill Kilgrave. He attacked one of our agents. Can you go talk to him, Steve? And see if he’s fit for release?” 

His brows lifted and Steve tilted his head. “Me?” 

“I think more than anyone in this room, you’ll have his respect.” Trying to pick who would be the best to go talk to him. “If you say yes, I know where to drop him.” He was Trish’s friend. You’d ship him back that way. “We can charge him with deadly assault. Which I’m sure he’s been thinking on. But… Kilgrave twisted everyone up. I’d be willing to let it go if he stays away from the pills.” 

Natasha moved from her spot at the front of the room and gave Steve a little pat on the shoulder. “I’ll shadow you, if you want.” That was good, too. Having her opinion on the matter would really seal it all up. 

With everyone taking hold of their brief new assignments, chairs shifted on the floor as the entire room moved to get up and leave. You wanted, so much more than anything, to go to Tony. To tell him what the next few actions were right up until you needed him to take you on a jet and take you anywhere but here- but Bruce approached you just as you and Tony got in about two seconds of eye contact. 

Bruce nudged his glasses up with one hand and then held a folder around and out with the other. When you gave him a questioning glance, “This is uh… everything you need. IGH. They’re an underground research lab. They’re responsible for the pills. And a lot more.” 

Though you took hold of the folder, you didn’t open it. “Thanks for checking into that for me.” But right now you wanted nothing to do with it. It was clear they’d have to be shut down. Or assimilated. ...probably shut down. What they were doing went a little beyond the line of not-okay. Kind of reminded you a little bit of Killian… 

He just nodded. “Sure. Look… I don’t blame you if you wanna put it down right now but. I thought you should know. Jessica Jones’ name is on some of those files.” You weren’t sure if it was a blessing that you were too devoid of anything else to feel any kind of shock over this. But Bruce continued, “Not in a particularly complicit way, either.” 

Oh. ...oh. You held the folder a little tighter then. “Okay. Thanks for letting me know.” You’d have to hand those over to her, then. And absolutely no part of you wanted to look at it. Whatever was in there about her she could keep for herself and do whatever she wanted. The less involvement you had coming out of this the better. Because you really, truly, could not deal with it much longer. 

Holding the file closer to your chest, you leaned in to give him a hug. He’d done all this work for you and you hadn’t once asked. He, along with the rest of the team (probably him doing that work was what triggered the team to agree to all coming home suddenly), had just fallen in line for you. It was nice to have them home. Almost overwhelmingly so. His words were a quiet murmur. “We’re alright now. You should get some rest.” 

Probably to no one’s surprise, at the very least not your own, you were brushing back tears as you let go of him and plastering a very obvious smile across your face. “Yeah. I’ll think about it when we’re finished.” 

His nod was sad to say the least, but he then turned to Tony. The two shook hands, Tony said something you barely caught, and then Bruce left. Leaving just the two of you. He reached out to lay the hand not in the sling on your shoulder with a little tip of his head. “Bruce might be on to something, you know. Sleep might do you a lot of good. Some food, too, I’m sure.” 

“Yeah, I’m sure it would.” This dead and almost angry reply reeled you back in immediately. Tony barely reacted to it at all. If nothing else, you just felt understanding. And maybe that was harder to deal with. Taking a deep breath, holding, and then letting it out in a sigh, you reconfigured. “We’re almost done.” 

He drew you in just a little closer, and as his arm went around you, you closed your eyes, leaning your head on his shoulder. “Almost. Tell me what parts need to go where.” 

“Can you go get Jessica out? I’ll go to the hospital. Bring her with you and we’ll all meet there.” You had to release your two patients, if they were ready to go, and talk to whatever head of DC was patrolling the hallways. “After that…” 

Moving just a little, his hand brushed up the side of your neck and to your jawline, angling your gaze up his way. “After that?” 

It seemed the obvious was coming. Did you really have to say it? But as the two of you got stuck there looking at each other, you figured you should. “I can’t be here anymore. For a little while. Is that okay?” You needed to go. You couldn’t even think about being in the penthouse. This city… this city was just filling up to the brim with bad memories. Triumphant ones in the end, but bad nonetheless. 

“Understandable.” Palming your cheek, he leaned in, pressing a kiss to your forehead. “I’ll have Happy fire up the jet. We can go from the hospital to the airport. Sound like a plan?” 

Thank god for Tony Stark. “Sounds like a plan.” Your body was just a little unwilling to move to get there. You wanted to just go from the Tower to the jet. To disappear for a little while. To not think about this anymore. To not wade in the aftermath… or think about him… though… you chanced a softer look up at him. “Did you and Happy get to talk?” 

He walled off immediately. “A little. Seems like you did a lot of legwork for us. So.” Giving a bare shrug. 

That was more of a no than it was a yes. It at least meant they were on speaking terms. But they deserved to have some closure on this, too. Even if you were nowhere near finding any and probably wouldn’t be for a long time. However, you knew you couldn’t force them, either. ...not until it was absolutely necessary. So you just leaned up, lips careful at the corner of his mouth. “Okay.” 

It would have to be, for now. 

                                                              --- 

Asking you to stay present and aware while you talked with your DC officers was asking almost a little too much. Your  brain felt like it was begging to just fade away. Your body was close behind. But if you didn’t put all this to rest now, if you didn’t stick to the plan, there would be no relaxing. There would be no getting on a jet and running away- as usual- because that’s what it was. But you were keen to make peace with the idea because you just couldn’t be here anymore. 

Changing the nested chain of command was ridiculously easy, although you could tell the woman you were speaking with had an air of doubt and an even bigger swell of unsure about her as you spoke. You had to cast it all aside and just make sure she’d take orders from anyone on the team. They all needed access to these agents. Because you were more sure now than you’d ever been before, big things like this were going to keep happening. And everyone needed the ability to call Damage Control if something terrible happened. 

...of course you also made sure that they knew every deployed use was to go on file. It wasn’t like you didn’t trust your team, but. You had to be in the know. Always. 

 You respectfully waved the agent away just as you saw Jeri coming down the hall. She looked relatively worse for wear, many bandages across random places on her face and some on her chest. As usual, she was dressed smartly, and you sensed she came here for business and business only. Once close enough to you she held a folder out. “I need your signature on a few pieces of paper for my client. Justin Boden. I’m sure you’re familiar.”

 So. Jessica had gone to Jeri to build a case for Justin. You knew exactly what she wanted. But after everything… “Why my signature?”

 She just grinned, bitterly at that. “Well. Since this seems to be a thing with you people, you can help him dodge murder charges. Considering what he’s been through.”

 “So now I’m a credible witness.” Unable to help yourself.

 “How about that.” Sounding completely unimpressed. She reached inside her jacket pocket to retrieve a pen and gave it a click. “I have other places to be, so if you’d hurry up.”

 You made sure to hold still and give off a full air of being highly unimpressed. “You can drop them at Stark Industries. My assistant will pass them through legal before I put my name on anything.” There was no telling what was on those papers, and you were too drained to read over them just now. ...you wouldn’t doubt that was something she was counting on. If you understood anything about Jeri Hogarth after all this.

 She held them out for just a little while longer before retreating. “Fine. Have it your way.” Then she seemed like she was going to turn and leave.

 But before she did, you leaned closer to her and dropped your voice. “Jessica said you had something to do with Kilgrave escaping.” Jeri had to be responsible for that in some form. So much had happened because of her. If it was true.

 The two of you stared at each other. For a long cold moment. Then another one of those angry smiles lit up her features. “Seems like we all have things we’d rather be kept quiet.”

 “Don’t threaten me. It’ll be the last mistake you ever make.” Maybe it was a poor thing to do, to lash out like that. React that way. But you would not let this woman walk all over you. Or try and hold you hostage.

 She let out a little breath of a laugh. “I have no doubt.”

 A woman exiting what should have been Luke’s room ended your conversation with Jeri. And as soon as she saw your attention go elsewhere she turned to leave. You didn’t stop her.

 The woman exiting his room was dressed in blue scrubs- lightly spattered with blood. Dark lightly wavy hair- loose, not tied up. You stepped over to her very quickly, “Excuse me-” Eyeing her- more specifically, the badge clipped to her pocket. Metro General Hospital. Not from here. But the name… Claire Temple. Your nerves quieted down. “Oh. You’re with Jessica.” 

She crossed her arms. “She said that much, huh?” Her voice was calm and careful. Although she was just a little standoffish. Which you were sure you couldn’t blame her for. 

“More than. Said something about a friend we have in common.” Not that you really wanted to care about that right now. 

Giving a curt little nod and a roll of her eyes, you felt her annoyance. “Well. You got more out of her than I think any of us did. If that’s the case.” Clearly she didn’t want to talk about it either. You could have said that Jessica offered all of that information up on her own, but. Maybe it wasn’t the best move. “That man in there.” Her gaze lifted back up and she seemed suddenly very serious. “You gonna put him on all your little superhero files? Or whatever it is you people do?” 

You felt the sink of your shoulders with a sigh you couldn’t help. “No. I’m not- we don’t tag people, if that’s what you’re asking. I’m not interested in that. I don’t even want to know anything about him. The only thing I care about is that he’s okay.” The two of you shared a long look. She was sizing you up. Trying to tell if you were being honest. “...is he going to be okay?” 

Claire continued to stare at you for probably more time than was necessary. But you stood and took it. And finally were rewarded when she eased up with her own little sigh and a nod. “Yeah. He’s fine. Now. You have better tools than Jess’ apartment, anyway. Or at Metro.” She lifted her wrist. “Speaking of which- shit.” Looking at the time on her watch. 

Probably late for her actual job. By the simmer of anxiety that welled inside of her, probably very late. “Maybe it’s a little too forward but. If you want a job here-” 

“I don’t.” Quick and clipped as she held a hand up to you. “I don’t wanna be involved in any more of this.” She lowered her voice with a dip of her head. “No offense.” 

“None taken. But then why are you here?” What was the connecting thread here? 

She frowned. “He needed help. My hospital couldn’t do anything for him. And I…” She suddenly got very uncomfortable. 

“You could.” 

“Yeah. I could. But he’s fine now. So I’m gonna go to my actual job. And deal with people who have…” That discomfort was getting very heavy now. “Easier to deal with problems. Let’s put it.” 

To this you could only nod. Then, finally, you stuck out your hand. “Well. It was nice meeting you, Claire.” 

She didn’t take too long in giving you a returned shake. “You, too.” 

You stepped out of the way for her, but because it seemed like you really couldn’t help yourself… before she was too far away, you just had to ask. “Where are you from?” 

The shake of her head did a poor job of hiding the little smirk on her lips. She knew why you were asking. “Hell’s Kitchen.” Called from halfway down the hall, not stopping after saying it. 

“Place is kinda getting overcrowded, if you ask me.” Luke’s voice startled you enough to get you to jump. The warm roll of his laughter kept a wave from crashing over you and you turned back around to see him standing in front of his door with his hand up. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.” 

You gave your chest a little pat. This was too much excitement after everything you’d been through. “It’s okay.” His clothes were a mess, but he looked… fine. “How are you feeling? They brought you in here considerably less…” Giving your hands a small turn over. “-okay looking than this.” 

He gave a little nod, a small press of his lips. “I’m fine. Thanks to you, so I hear.” 

Quickly you shook your head. “No. Thanks to Jessica. And Claire. And the people here. I literally had nothing to do with any of that.” 

“You let her bring me here. You gave them a safe place to help me when things weren’t looking so good. That counts for something.” He was such a sweet man, this Luke. 

“If you say so.” It was too much to ask that you accept this gratitude. You really hadn’t done anything. “And- before you ask- I didn’t ask anyone for details- I don’t wanna know. That’s your business and- Claire seems to think I’m gonna put a tracker on you or something so let me just tell you I’m not and I don’t want you to think-” 

“Hey, easy now. Alright?” The hand he laid on your shoulder was heavy, but it was gentle nonetheless. “I believe you. I wasn’t worried.” 

“You have no reason to.” Everyone seemed to question your intent constantly- and usually for completely understandable reasons. You wouldn’t have been upset had Luke taken the same route. 

His grin was light. “We met once already, if you don’t remember. And I’d like to think I’m a pretty good judge of character.” 

For one reason or another you found the courage to smile back. “Really. Because last we met I think I remember you telling me to not come back to your bar.” 

At this he made a face, hand leaving your shoulder to go up in a wave of defiance. “That is not what happened.” Seemingly offended, but only playfully so. His grin did not return, but his expression wasn’t one of annoyance. “Besides… my bar got blown up. Casualty of war. I’d at least like to know if I have to worry about anything else like that.” 

“I’m so sorry.” Really. Truly. You were. That was no doubt, in some way, Kilgrave’s doing. Maybe it was what put him here in the first place. “If you need funds or-” 

“No. Please don’t. I’m gonna take it as a sign and… like I said. Hell’s Kitchen is getting crowded. I think I’m headed back to Harlem for a while. But I appreciate the offer.” Letting that small gratefulness hang before asking seriously again as he looked at you, “Is that guy still out there?” 

The shake of your head was immediate. “No. He’s dead.” 

He breathed a noise out. It wasn’t one of relief, exactly. More a sort of muddled… acceptance. “You alright?” 

You really didn’t know this man. But knowing- sensing his honest intent there in asking you something like that- his genuineness, you couldn’t help the bitter smile. “I am not. And I think I need to go away for a while, too.” 

“No shame in that. I’d actually be more worried if you said you were.” Because if that were the truth, it meant killing may have become commonplace for you. And it hadn’t. It just… hadn’t. It took away pieces of you at a time. To make decisions like that and to carry them out. There was a familiar warm ping on your inner radar, and you turned to see Tony coming up the hallway with Jessica. Luke put his hand out. “You’re a good woman. Don’t let anyone tell you different.” 

Looking back at him you tried a smile and put your hand in his for a small shake. “Certainly not you.” 

His grin reappeared and he couldn’t seem to help a quiet chuckle. “Certainly not.” 

Tony was out of his sling (eventually you were going to have to have a talk with him about keeping medical devices on long enough for them to help him), hands in his pockets as he strolled closer. Although when he came to a stop, he reached up to take his sunglasses off, tucked them into his top pocket and half turned to Jessica. “I was serious about the offer by the way. You’re a terrible team player but that doesn’t necessarily disqualify you from being Avenger material.” 

Jessica seemed in good spirits. Which was a strange thing for her. The noise that left her was one part annoyed and one part amused. “Never in a million fucking years.” 

Tony just shrugged. “Your loss.” He then turned to stick his hand out to Luke. “Mr. Cage. Nice seeing you again.” 

Luke considered the offer and then gave him a return shake. “Mr. Stark. If we’re all lucky, this’ll be the last time.” 

You were too biased. The sudden half smirk on Tony’s lips had you smiling immediately. “You know, that doesn’t sound much like a compliment.” 

“I don’t think it was one.” Thankfully, Luke was grinning back. 

Jessica double tapped him on the arm. “Alright. Who’s-got-the-bigger-dick time is over. Can you go wait in the room?” 

“I’m fine. Thanks for asking.” Although he said this in a slightly clipped way, you could tell he wasn’t serious. Not with the way he was looking at her.

She just eyed him with a smile. “You look fine. It’s why I didn’t.” She didn’t mean this, either. And after enough staring he shook his head and went back into his hospital room, closing the door behind him. 

Tony crossed his arms. “I’m not going in there with him.” 

At this Jessica gave him quite the stare. “You’ve made it annoyingly obvious by now that you don’t do anything anyone says.” 

“That makes two of us.” 

“Just stand there and shut up for five minutes. If you can.” When he rolled his eyes and mostly turned away she put her attention back on you. “So. Seems like we’re finished, here.” 

You nodded. “Claire left for her job. Luke’s up, obviously. Hope’s asleep right now but. Aside from a really nasty scar she’ll be okay. Simpson’s probably getting discharged soon. And-” 

“And Kilgrave’s dead. Which is the important part.” 

It was hard to tell why she cut you off to say such a thing. But there was a swell of catharsis. Kilgrave was dead. It was over. It was finally over. “Yeah.” There was a weird catch in the back of your throat. It felt like you were just a couple degrees away from losing it very suddenly. Tony moved, almost imperceptibly. But you noticed. He was watching you. “Kilgrave is dead.” Beyond you somewhere you heard the crash of waves against the pier. And saw the light disappear from his eyes.

You and Jessica shared a long look. Eventually she was the one to break the silence. “So that’s it, then. We’re finished.”

“Seems that way.” 

Yet the two of you stood there just a little longer. Watching one another. Maybe the two of you should have had a talk. A long talk to decompress over this shared trauma. But… instead she just nodded. “Alright then. ...thanks. For everything.” And after that she turned away and went into Luke’s room. 

Leaving you there. Wondering what more you should have said so that you didn’t have to feel like this anymore. But you weren’t there in silence, or alone, for more than a few seconds before Tony moved over and put his arm around you. Pulled you to him. You rubbed your head against his shoulder and drew your hands up his back, holding on to him. Breathing him in. Letting him keep you stable. 

“Ready to go anywhere that’s not here?” 

Music was playing somewhere in your memory. Honey- I’ve gotta be honest. I hate it here. I can’t say that I blame you.

New York City had become a breeding ground for psychological damage that seemed beyond repair. For the both of you. A long time ago he’d tried to run away from here, too. And now… now you wanted to do the same. And he was letting you. 

You turned your head up, smiling weakly at him. “Yes. Please.” 

This was a runaway vacation but… the two of you needed to have a very real talk soon. You just didn’t think you could be in the city anymore. Not after all this. 

 Lifting a hand, he smoothed his fingertips across your forehead and then through your hair. Leaning in, he pressed a kiss to your temple. “I love you.”

 Hearing this, and feeling it from him, it was an eternal balm for your soul. “I love you, too.”

 As long as you had that… you’d be alright.

#Tony Stark #Tony Stark x Reader #INY Chapter One Hundred Forty Seven #Jessica Jones Spoilers

[dontcallmecarrie]

Old And New Faces

I mistakenly assumed Thanksgiving was supposed to the the peak time for Family Drama. Due to Reasons, here, have more of By Dawn’s Early Light, feat. Comic Book Amnesia [not sure if it actually fits with the main storyline, might be an AU of an AU]:

Behind his mask, Tony grinned and resisted the urge to rub his hands. 

Bruce was right there, and sure he’d asked JARVIS to keep tabs on the guy but it was still an incredible test of self-control to not break character and just saunter up to him and ask what he was up to these days. 

“Iron Man, don’t.” Uncle James muttered over his headset, as if they weren’t less than three feet from each other, but...right. Back to the subject, “it’s the endtimes, join our team, yadda yadda yadda” he’d tuned out about five minutes in.

Ugh. SHIELD was the worst at this schtick.  

.

James didn’t move only because between his time as the Winter Soldier, and even then it came pretty damn close when the agent’s voice took on an especially droning tone. 

Just— after the heart attack they’d gotten with that little recruitment pitch, he had expected these guys to run a tighter ship, honestly. 

Maybe he’d spent too much time around Tony and Maria. Maybe he was just desensitized to the type of efficiency that came part and parcel with the kid who regularly raided thrift stores’ electronic sections and cannibalized them for his robots, and the woman who could get her hands on international flight paths with only a few phone calls. 

Either way, James was distinctly unimpressed with the little show this agent was trying to put on. 

Okay, they’d been tapped because apparently SHIELD wanted them. Okay, the situation was looking pretty complicated, but what was the point these guys were trying to make? 

And this talk about a team— what even? 

If they’d done their research it should’ve been obvious that Iron Man and Renegade were independent contractors at best— and even that was a stretch. [None of these guys knew who they were referring to when they said Mission Control, which was a mistake he wanted to see carried out if only for the sheer entertainment value when Maria’d snap and raise hell. Again.] 

Oh, sure he recognized a few faces. 

Natasha Romanov [little girls and red hair, ballet music and the sound of bones breaking—] had been one hell of a surprise, but he could roll with it. It was a good thing Renegade had a reputation for silence, though: for some reason, he found himself mentally calling her Natalia. [Eh. Something to chew on later.] 

As it was, he wasn’t entirely sure the flicker of recognition in her eyes was faked or not— especially since he had yet to remove his mask and the new body armor Tony’d painstakingly made him. Either way, his guard was up.

Even more so because also at the table was Dr. Bruce Banner, who’d been working on something that Tony had been fascinated with— and that was before the Green Incident on campus. He could not afford to talk around him, because Bruce absolutely would recognize his voice and for all Tony liked him, the guy was a terrible actor. 

Other than that, though, James found himself distinctly unimpressed. 

This Clint guy who was rolling an honest-to-goodness arrow between his fingers? Sure he was a decent enough sniper, James could personally attest to that. Also a complete stranger otherwise and someone he wasn’t interested in teaming up with, next. 

Thor, the alien god. That goddamn hammer had blown their cover and the ensuing kerfuffle had gotten him captured by HYDRA and stuck in cryo. Yes, he had a grudge against a hammer, so what? Oh, and apparently aliens were a thing so now he’d undoubtedly have to drag Tony from plans to raid Area 51 and hack NASA on top of everything else. 

...and then Captain America walked in, and James felt his brain stutter for a moment before internal alarms started blaring “ABORT MISSION ABORT ABORT BAD IDEA” and a flood of memories he’d forgotten he even had rushed in.

. 

Tony didn’t know what triggered Uncle James’ silent freakout, but it didn’t matter. Heads would roll regardless— especially since he had a look in his eyes that Tony hadn’t seen in years. 

Right, okay. 

Fuck this.

“My sensors say we have a situation.” Tony announced to the room as he abruptly stood up, hauling his only ally in the room by the arm as he did so. 

“Wh—” Agent started, but Tony didn’t bother to hear him out. Or any of them, really. 

“Apologies, gotta go.” He lied baldly as he all but sprinted out the room of potential hostiles, Uncle James in tow.

He only stumbled a little, which was good. Tony was fully capable of carrying him out, but it wouldn’t do Renegade’s reputation any favors if photos of him being hauled around in a fireman’s [or princess, for that matter] carry started floating around. 

“How’re you feeling?” He asked quietly, and when he didn’t get a reply, continued making fast tracks to the landing dock using the emptiest corridors JARVIS could direct them through while trying to push down the feeling of unease that came with every minute of silence that followed. 

.

James snapped out of the fog with a sharp gasp and staggered against the nearest surface, pressing a hand against his mask as he struggled to get control over himself again. 

Geez. That was the worst episode he’d had in years, what the—

Oh.

“You okay?” Iron Man’s voice filter did a good job hiding Tony’s concern, but he knew him well enough to know it was there. “Breathe.”

Right, he had to do that. 

Shit, what the hell had happened? 

“You had an episode in the middle of that half-assed briefing thing that agent was trying to do.” Tony filled in helpfully, somehow reading the question off his face in a way Jame— Bucky— 

“I remembered.” He somehow managed to get out, in between ragged breaths as his lungs struggled to remember how to work. 

“Remembered? But I thought—”

“Yeah, I thought so too.” He barked out a laugh that wasn’t, as names and faces flitted in and out of focus in his mind’s eye, as if to mock him for ever having forgotten them. 

He’d forgotten them. HYDRA had wiped his memories and he’d— he’d—

[He’d had Brooklyn and dingy alleyways and Stevie, had a mom and a little sister, had a mangy alley cat that’d rubbed up against him when he came in late, had—]

He’d had a life before the Winter Soldier.

[He had a life now, decades after almost everyone else he’d known was dead. Becca would’ve liked Maria, would’ve cooed over Tony and— wait. Oh shit. Steve—]

.

“You okay?” Tony asked carefully as he watched Uncle James lapse into silence yet again, and he jolted.

“Yeah, I’m— I’ll be fine. Been better, but I...I remember now.”

“Do we need to leave?”

“Oh, no. That was...that was the worst of it.”

“You’re sure you’re okay.” Tony didn’t let himself sound dubious, but...the image of Uncle James in the middle of a full-blown flashback not ten minutes ago was hard to shake. 

“...yeah, I am.” Then, with a strange face, Uncle James continued. “You know what, though? One of those guys, he knew me. Knows, whatever.”

Tony blinked behind his mask. “Wait, what?”

“Think we can head back? I want to get to the bottom of this. Oh, and one more thing— call me Bucky?”

“You still okay with Renegade for...” 

“Oh, sure.” He waved Tony off, and his new ease is what finally had him relaxing. “But...just as a trial run thing. I think I went by that, before.”

“Bucky.” Tony rolled the name around in his mouth for a moment, and nodded. “Okay. You ready to head back then?”

“Yep.”

#By Dawn's Early Light #behind the scenes mini fic #My writing #My fic

[astrohawritings]

I Have Your Heart (part one)

Rating; Fluff?

Warning ⚠️; None

Pairing; Moonbin X reader

Plot; (credit to _writing_ideas_ on Instagram) "You know I wear my heart on my sleeve."

"No! You know..you know it's not yours. It's my heart and you took it."

"I'm sorry you still feel that way."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'You know I wear my heart on my sleeve.'

'No! You know... You know it's not yours. It's my heart, and you took it.'

'I'm sorry you still feel that way.'

To anyone else, this simple exchange of dialogue would bring one answer clearer than the others; You had been in a relationship and had broken up, but you still harboured feelings for the man before you.

But they would be wrong.

The man before you- Moonbin - and yourself hadn't broken up, nor had you ever dated in the first place. You hadn't even really been friends before the..incident. But, you had lived in the same neighbourhood as children. Your families had been friends and frequently had dinner at each others houses. You had spoken a few times though, and you could hazily remember telling Moonbin that you wanted to live forever. And he had remembered.

When he was approached by some unidentifiable supernatural being, telling him that he would be spared (from what, he still doesn't know) and could live forever, but he had to chose someone to bear the burden with him, he instantaneously thought of you. The catch of the offer? He had to take their heart and wear it on his sleeve forever.

Moonbin decided that either way you would be the one he chose.

So, one day, he confronted you with a few other people you'd never seen before, apologising softly. Then, with a noise and a jolt of pain, your heart was out of your body, a quickly healing wound on the left side of your chest the only thing clueing you in to what had just happened. Your jaw hung open, looking at your heart, now sitting on Moonbin's sleeve.

There were no words for the apologetic look on his face as the other people outlined what your life would be like, you’d stop aging, yadda yadda. Then they dismissed themselves, leaving you both in silence. After countless moments of glaring from you and meek blubbering from him, you spun on your heel. 'I'm going home.' You snapped, not giving Moonbin time to speak. But as you got home, you found that you had no way in, and nothing was working.

Your keys fit the door, but they were useless in unlocking it. The back door wouldn't open no matter how much you willed it. The phone line cut out just as you were telling the locksmith your address.. And it did so everytime you tried. Slumping down on your front step and ignoring the stubborn tears wetting your cheeks, you yelled in frustration. Then, you allowed yourself to cry.

But it was different this time. Because unlike other times, where you could feel your heart hammering against the confines of your ribcage, there was an extremely apparent absence of that pounding. It didn't hurt, and there was no evidence of you literally not having a heart. No scar, no mark, no nothing. And you were still alive and functioning. Was all of this a fever dream that you'll wake up from soon? You sure hoped so. Just as you were muttering about how it'll probably rain soon, that it's just your luck, a certain man wandered up, head turned down, and tall body slouched in something like fear.

'What, Moonbin?' You snapped, covering your face with your hands. 'Listen, I'm sorry. But they, they approached me. They told me that I'd be spared from something if I obeyed and chose someone to live with me. You always said you wanted to live forever, so I though of-' Your sigh cut him off to see you standing up, peering at him through teary eyes. 'Spared? They? Live forever?'

'I don't know!' He wailed in frustration. 'It sounded bad, so I agreed. I-I should've asked you, but I got caught up in the moment and-'

'Shut up.' You sighed in defeat. 'What happened...happened. It's over now.' You glanced around, throwing a glare over your shoulder at your door, still stubbornly closed. 'I'd ask if you'd like to come in, but my door has decided that it will not open today.'

Moonbin, feeling that you were in a bit of a better mood (or so he thought), and wanted to try something. 'Did you offer the door a puppy?' You squinted at him, brain drawing a blank. 'Huh?'

'A Puppy. Did you offer the door a puppy? If I were a door, and someone offered me a puppy, I'd do whatever they wanted me to.' Moonbin explained, moving the stray strands of hair tickling his eyelids away while talking. You couldn't help but laugh, ending it with a sigh. With a shrug and a sudden urge to humour him, you turned toward the door a bit more. 'Jeez. I didn't think of that.' Softly so that you wouldn't alert any of the people wandering by, but loud enough for Bin to hear, you offer your inanimate front door, a puppy. You offered the cutest puppy to the door, yet it stayed closed.

'Huh. Usually works for my door. C'mon, I'll show you if you want.' Seeing as he didn't live that far away, you nodded, hesitantly gathering your things and following the man. 'I really am sorry.' He muttered, glancing briefly at your heart, still resting on his sleeve and beating away softly, as though it never left it's warm enclosure. You shook your head. 'Stop it. It's done now, and I guess I'll just have to get used to not having one. God forbid something happens to me and they need to find my pulse.' After a pause, you spoke again. 'Bin, the people said that neither of us will age after this, right?'

Bin nodded, tucking his hands into the pockets of his loose work out pants. 'Then what about dating? You can't date someone for too long. It'll get weird if they're aging and you're not.' It was like you were Bin's young child, asking your father about the world, and deep in thought as you trailed behind him, kicking at the concrete beneath your feet with each step.

'You'll trip yourself up if you keep doing that,' He murmured, wistfully looking into the distance. 'And I suppose that's true. Dating will be hard from now on. So will life. Every lifetime where we would die, we'll have to change our identities. Or..maybe not. We'll just have to see.'

You smirked at him, picking up both your speed and your feet. 'What if we dated each other. I mean, we both know what's going on and if we have to change identities, perhaps it would be easier to say we're married. It'll make it easier on both of us if we are. Then we're not looking at other people. Only at each other.' You were playing, to a certain extent. But you were also serious. Bin seemed to pick up your seriousness but not the playfulness, stopping and staring at you. 'You want to marry me? The person who just made your life- Fine. Let's date, then marry. You have a point, after all.' His sweet smile made its appearance, eyes softening into little crescents.

You spluttered in a flustered manner, gulping in air like a fish out of water. You hadn't expected Moonbin to take you seriously. He started walking again, pushing open the little gate that separated the footpath you'd just been following and the dainty little walkway that lead up to his front door. Your legs took over when he looked back at you, still holding the gate. 'Are you coming in?' You recovered, clearing your throat. 'Why'd you hold the gate? I can open it and let myself through.' You mumbled. Moonbin chuckled. 'My apologies for trying to be a gentleman. It won't happen again.' He mocked, holding the rim of an imaginary top hat between his thumb and first finger, tucking one leg behind the other and bowing.

His laughter bubbled out again when you shoved at him, pulling a face. Bin pulled out his keys, unlocking his door with ease. To humour you, as he did so, he murmured to the door about a puppy. The cutest puppy ever, he called it. Turning back to you, he shrugged. 'Told you the puppy thing worked.' He smirked, raising an eyebrow teasingly. 'Well, thank you for showing me.' You sighed heavily. 'God, this marriage thing is going to be fun!' You groaned, brushing past him and into his house.

The house hadn't changed from when you were kids. The only thing that had changed was that the house had been moved to Moonbin's name, in case something happened to his parents. 'It still smells of warm chocolate and honey.' You murmur, memories of simpler days popping into your mind. Bin smiled, leaning down to your height. 'Really?'

You smile at him. 'Yeah. But it smells better without your cologne invading my nose.' Bin laughed, straightening up and wafting air toward you. "I'm sorry m'lady. Here, some air smelling of warm honey and chocolate.'

'Warm chocolate and honey. It's your house, how did you mess that up?' You poke his stomach, surprised at the amount of muscle that flexed beneath your finger. He was never a squishy kid when he was younger, always tall, thin and good looking, but he definitely wasn't the most muscular. It seemed that things had changed.

It was then you found yourself studying what you could see of his body; his thighs, straining against the soft material of his Adidas sweatpants; the slight bulge where his bicep engaged beneath the long shirt covering his torso. And of course, the apparent abdominal muscles. His soft laugh was beautiful, eyes closed again in soft crescents. His voice was soft as well. Not what you'd call very deep, but deep enough to tell you that he had hit puberty. His voice didn't squeak anymore, or so you could tell, and it honestly was something you missed. You were positive Bin didn't miss it though.

You quickly snapped yourself out, mentally scolding yourself. Bin hadn't noticed your staring, too busy moving this and that, chattering to you as he calmed himself down. He flopped down on the couch beside you, arm resting on the back of the material, and switching the television on. 'Really? No drinks? No food? What kind of a host?' You mutter at him, standing up. 'Mi casa es su casa.' Bin murmured in a soft whisper. You paused to send him a glance, unable to hold back from smiling.

"Mi casa es su casa", meaning "My house is your house" was something you learnt at a young age and parroted to him a few times when his family was over for dinner. To know that he knew it, even if he himself had heard the phrase and didn't remember you telling him all those years before; even if he was simply repeating it, it made you feel a certain way.

You turned away again, leaving him to stare at the television, busying yourself with raiding the well-kept kitchen, gathering snacks and drinks. To tease him further, you waltzed out of the kitchen, placing a bowl of chips in front of him, patting his head as you left to go and get the rest of the snacks. 'Don't touch them, darling.' Bin hummed, still staring at the movie playing on the screen.

He was still staring at the tv when you came back, a blank stare, as though deep in thought. 'Bin, you okay?' You ask, leaning forward to put yourself in his range of vision. He simply gestured to the tv, or so you thought. The two people who had been with him when he first told you what had happened just a few hours prior we're standing just beside the tv. The woman smiled, stepping forward.

'We forgot to tell you,' She started, looking between the two of you. 'but you must stay together. If you're apart for too long, y/n's heart will start to slow down and it will stop eventually. Which, you know. Wouldn't be good.' Bin groaned softly, resting his head in his hands. You sough and leant back against the settee, turning your head to look at Bin. 'But,' the man standing beside the woman spoke, flicking his eyes between you both. 'clearly, you've both already worked that out, yes?'

'I guess.' You muttered softly. 'Were you the ones who-' 'stopped you from getting into your house? Yes. As we said, you both must stay together. It won't kill you, but it will affect you in other ways. It's within your best interests to stay with Bin. If you must be apart, make it only for a short time.'

With warm wishes, they left again, leaving both of you in silent contemplation. There was nothing to say, and so you both stayed silent, watching the tv and softly crunching on chips. As bedtime drew nearer, you searched Bin's house for a blanket and stole a pillow from his bed. He watched as you placed the pillow down on the sofa and laid the blanket out, laying beneath it and closing your eyes. He then copied you, stretching his long body out and shutting his eyes, listening to the sounds of the tv as he drifted off.

#arohanet #writeblr #astro writing #astrohawritings #astro kpop #moonbin #i have your heart #moonbin fanfic #kpop imagines #kpopidol #bin fic

[ticklikeabomb]

One-shot : Interview with the Avengers

Pairing : Avengers x Plus Size Fem Reader

Warnings : language, innuendos, dirty jokes

Word Count : 2.2k

A/N : Here we go for another clumsy reader story :)

Today was the day. It was either a win or a complete disaster. You worked for S.H.I.E.L.D as an operative but quickly proved your marks at being one of the best Agents of the agency. You didn't have much friends at work except for Sharon Carter also known as Agent 13. You both hit it off probably because she was always around to have your back. Not when facing a specific danger but because you were a hell of a mess, clumsy. Just like the greek god Epimetheus you had the tendency to do or say things before thinking about them and it was bad. One day, finishing later that night, you walked by Nick Fury's office and saw him play with an orange cat. Without thinking you mumbled "Oh so Nick Fury likes pussies" and of course having his open ajar he heard you. Mortified you ran as fast as you could back home, hoping not getting fired. The following day he kept eyeing you while you would make yourself as tiny as you could. 

"Agent Y/L/N ! ", he called, making you jump on your  and cover your clothes with warm coffee. "Fucking sh-", you whisper yelled while cleaning the spot on your blouse. "Now Miss Y/L/N !", he called back and motioned you to his office. He went behind his desk about to take a sit when he saw the coffee spot on your blouse and gave you a hard look. "Small incident Sir, I will handle it as soon as we're over." "Good." He began explaining your work parkour and felt your hands tremble, thinking he would fire you. "That's why I scheduled a meeting with the Avengers. They will interview you and see if you're a fit to the team", he finished. You looked at him with a numb, frozen kind of way and he cleared his throat and you finally reacted. "I'm sorry I lost you at 'but you'. I'm pained that my work doesn't prouve being efficient but I can understand if you would like to fire me, I mean it's a life or death kinda job, so." 

"Wait. I never said I would fire you at the contrary, you are expected at the Avengers compound where they will interview you and see if you'll join their team." You blinked a couple of times after hearing what he just said cracked up laughing. You laughed loudly to the point of having tears form in your eyes but quickly calmed yourself seeing his hard and firm expression. "Oh you're not kidding", you whispered. "Do I look like the type of person who jokes around?" 

"I don't know, no one is immune to laughter and besides after seeing you all fluffy with that cat the other night", you saw his eye widened and quickly rambled. " - I mean, ehm, hhhkrrm, I no cat, eh, yeah hey you got a new jacket looks sleek? Is it real leather because if it is that's animal cruelty. Not that you would tolerate that kind of behavior. Please can you just kill me right now and make it stop?" "Agent Y/L/N for someone who has the ability to speak all languages existent in the universe you surely are not good with words and communication." You smiled shyly and responded, "Yeah I know irony right." "Anyway, next Tuesday 2 pm at the Avengers compound. Don't be late." "Yes of course, I will be there and give it my best without verbally escalating." He sighed before dismissing you. 

"Yo Steve wait up", called Sam out of breath. Steve chuckled and turned around seeing Sam struggle. "And you have the nerve to call me old man hein", commented Steve with a smug smile. They were reaching the compounds entry when they spotted a magnificent plus size woman waiting sitting at one of the sofas. She was attentively eying a man across the shipping section and they saw her stand up. "Je ne ferrai pas ça si j'étais toi" (I wouldn't do that if I were you), she told the man. "Je ne vois pas de quoi vous parlez?" (I don't know what you're talking about), he replied. "Corriges moi si je me trompes mais tu étais sur le point de voler ce prototype du bouclier de Captain America et le truc c'est que s'il t'attrapes, il te bottera tellement fort le cul que t'aura des hémorroides précoce. Tu peux compter sur moi pour ne pas me mettre en travers son chemin." (Correct me if I'm wrong but you were about to steal one of Captain America's shield prototype and the thing is that if he catches you, he will kick your ass so hard you will get early hemorrhoids. You could count on me to not stop him from doing so.) "De quoi je me mèle, occupe toi de ton gros cul salope" (Mind your own damn fat ass, bitch), he said. You sighted and before Steve could intervene, you punched the guy effortlessly. "Awnn désolé ma main a glissée" (Awnn sorry my hand slipped). The two Avengers looked at you in awe go back to your sit, a wide smirk plastered on their faces. The guy in question was standing up and crashed against Steve's hard chest. When he looked up, the Captain gave him a furious look before handing him over to a security guard. "Come on Steve we'll be late for the meeting", commented Sam. 

"Agent Y/L/N, they're ready to receive you", said the receptionist and indicated you the floor to stop on. In the elevator you went over the basics : "Ok think before speaking. Don't say anything inappropriate. Stay focus, try to impress them while being humble and for fucks sake don't say anything stupid." Just as you finished, the doors opened and you marched to the meeting room. Nick Fury saw you outside and indicated you to enter. You did as such, straightening your clothes and posture and greeted everyone after Fury's brief introduction. "Hello I'm Agent Y/L/N but you can call me Y/N, which is totally irrelevant since I was already introduced", you giggled nervously and mentally cursed yourself. You took place and let out a shaky breath before smiling at them. You saw Sam and Steve mumble something between them but didn't payed further attention. "So Y/N, your file and missions are quiet impressive. Care to tell us a little about some of them. Your favorite mission? The troubles you faced and yadda yadda yadda", exclaimed Tony shaking his hands. 

"Sure can. I don't know if I deserve what seemed to be that credit you just subtly gave me. The missions are more of a team work really, I just follow the lead and try to do my best giving the situation at hand", you patted yourself for such a professional answer. He shook his head before declaring, "So you're boring." Your eyes widened, "Excuse me?" "Tony !", remarked Steve though greeted teeth. The billionaire dismissed the Captains stare and smirk at you. "I said you seem like the boring type of person and we don't think that would mix well with the team’s dynamic." You laughed and declared, "Oh if there's a word that doesn't describe me is boring. In fact I'm pretty sure the boring one in this audience must be you, you know speaking about maths and engineering and what not all the time. Do people actually understand you in a regular basis?" Your answer picked his curiosity and made the others chuckle. "Agent Y/L/N", called you out Fury. You noticed how inappropriate your words sounded and immediately apologized. "I'm sorry that was way out of line." "Don't apologize dear I'm curious. Tell me about your youth. Do you have any specific talent?." 

You cleared your throat and began to explain what was your youth like. "Pretty basic : parents never home, always working, deeply proud of the prodigy son who followed their traces and that's pretty it. Concerning talents, my greatest talent is making people laugh without my consent by constantly embarrassing myself. "

Your answer made some of them laugh. "What about high school?", asked  Natasha. "The language classes were always my favorite, not good in math, sports not really my cup of tea but I did like some sports. Football and by football I mean what you call soccer because that's (football) the sports real name ! And I was pretty good at handjob…HANDBALL, I mean HANDBALL !!!!", you panicky tried to rectify yourself. You closed your eyes in embarrassment while the room filled with laughter. You giggled nervously and said, "See talent, I'm just the best in that." 

"I take back my boring comment, you convinced me", chuckled Tony. They kept interrogating you and you slayed the answers, somehow. "what about movies?", asked Sam. You frowned not really sure why that would matter but answered anyway. "My favorite movie is (Y/F/M). I love it beyond everything. There are still some classics that I have to watch, other that I started and never really finished, like for example Monty Python and the Gloryhole." Members of the team cracked up and you looked at them confused, just as confused as Steve, Bucky, Wanda, Vision and Thor. "I didn't know Monty Python and the Holy Grail had so much impact", you mumbled. And that made them lose it even more. "Oh dear, probably because you said Monty Python and the Gloryhole", explained Pepper. "I didn't say that did I?", You looked at them horrified and they nodded. "What's a Gloryhole?", asked Bucky perplexed. You cleared your throat and replied, "Ehm it's something, ehm how should I formulate this the most neutral way. Basically a hole in a bathroom, generally at clubs or bars where…good God someone help please", you begged. "It's a hole where guys sticks their dicks out to get it sucked by the person on the other side of the wall", stated Sam. You blinked a few times, warmth burning your body and nodded, slightly amused at the super soldiers disgusted faces. "Why would anyone do that???", exclaimed Steve. "People let me remind you the purpose of this interview which as I was expecting escalated real quickly", he said and his gaze landed at you. "I thought it was a good idea for Agent Y/L/N to join the team even if I let out one of the most vital aspects of her personality which is being really clumsy in the communication department all the time. Considering this aspect I'm afraid I was wrong and Agent Y/L/N will continue working as an operative at S.H.I.E.L.D." 

'Fuck', you thought. Sure you were sometimes a mess but you were really looking forwards for that chance. You stood up and looked at them. "I'm sorry I wasted your precious time. Director Fury, I will see you tomorrow at the office. If you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go now and wish you all a good day." With that you left the room, shame and embarrassment written all over your features. After you left, with a smug smile  Fury turned towards the team and asked "What do you think?" "Oh I like her", stated Tony with big eyes. "She is quite entertaining", shouted Thor. "She can punch a guy", commented Sam and asked F.R.I.D.A.Y to show them what happened at the hall. "Another thing I forgot to mention and that isn't stated in her file, she understands and speaks all the languages known in the universe, which would provide a real advantage during missions", told Nick. "She's by far the best candidate we had the opportunity to see today", added Vision. "I agree", the others commented. "It's settled then", said Fury and stood up. "Oh and please no more stories about Gloryholes", he said before leaving the room laughing. 

The next day the Director called you at his office. "Y/N you're fired" "Oh that was …fast and direct", you replied. "Pack your things as soon as possible, Stark's chauffeur will wait for you at your appartement." You nodded and let your head down before his words hit you. "Wait why would Tony Stark's chauffeur wait for me?" "Because you're the team's new member. Welcome to the Avengers, Epimetheus", he declared. "Wait for real?", your eyes shone brightly and you jump on his arms happily. "Thank you Sir, I will not let you down." "I would appreciate you would right now", he commented and you gasped. "Oh sorry didn't mean to you know." "Yeah yeah I know. Oh and for the record Agent Y/L/N, I do love some pussy." You sighed and blinked your eyes in a mix of confusion and humor. "O-k-ay, I didn't really need to know that but ok. I'm gonna go cause you know, Imma bout to join the real game so bye homie. I mean Sir. Goodby Sir." "Just go before I change my mind", he stated and you laughed. When you were out, he shook his head and let out a chuckle. "These Millenials are crazy Motherfuckers." 

* gifs not mine, credit to owners*

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[jhindraven]

okay now that issue 6 is out and ive read the thing like 3 times, im gonna do my full review/breakdown of the zed comic and allll my thoughts on it.

no screenshots bc i dont want this to be longer than it is already, and also im not gonna talk about the art itself either. this is simply about the characters, the story, and how that relates to the lore of league itself.

all of this is my opinion, you can agree or disagree with me whatever, yadda yadda lets begin

ISSUE ONE

Probably the best one? In my opinion. The lack of expectations really helped this one not suck. Also the most consistent when it comes to characters personalities, comparing them to the in-game voice lines from league and the card game.

There are scenes in issue 1 that almost foreshadow, or at least reference, the events of Issue 6, specifically Zed looking up to the statue of Kusho, and how Zed kills Althon vs how Zed kills Kusho later on.

The dialogue between Shen and Akali is.. a little clunky? Shen’s dialogue is just a little. formal. but to the point that he sounds like he’s lecturing a stranger, not talking to a former student.

Jhin giving Zed his scalpel from 19 years ago is a neat detail that I wish they used more in the story. Sure, we can assume now that Jhin probably only got it because Kusho gave it to him at some point after releasing him- which means that the scalpel is one of the many wasted plot opportunities I’ll bring up here. Part of the appeal of that scene, if only just for me, was the idea that Jhin stole it from Zed while he wasn’t looking. I remember people pointing out background characters and being like “but what if that’s Jhin there! what if he was there all along!!”  But that has now been thrown out the window.

A thing I wish they did was shown more of Jhin’s ‘performances’, even if only in a montage. To show more of the impact this had on Zed and Shen, the strain it put on them mentally and emotionally, and how it affected their relationship. But I understand time and probably page restraints. So whatever about that.

Again, I think this was the best one. Set up the story well, showed why everything happening is important for the character. Neat, cool. Let’s move on

ISSUE 2

Seeing the bodies was pretty fucked up, but tbh? That shit vibed. It’s one of those things I hoped they were gonna do and they did. The bodies looking like porcelain with gold blood?? And the peacock feathers???? Thats fuckin cool as hell.  Then they never did it again.

In the flashback comes one of the worst fucking things in this comic. Yevnai.

Listen I adore Yevnai as a character, one of my favourites to come from the comic. You know, in the ONE ISSUE SHE ACTUALLY SHOWS UP IN????? She shows up as simply conflict between Shen and Zed (which never actually comes up mind you), as bait for Jhin, and for? Zed to show that he can sense magic from her kids to show that she’s been cheating on her husband with Quno the vastayan servant (bc we know Zed hates vastaya i guess?). oh and Guess What? the sensing magic thing also doesn’t show up again. 

Oh and Jhin follows Zed to Yevnai’s place. But nothing happens from that.

Issue 2 was good, but just a total waste imo. A lot of plot points set up only to never happen again. Best things about it were dead bodies, Jhin’s tiny Zed and Shen puppets, and the knowledge that Shen still writes letters to Yevnai :’(

ISSUE 3

I got so fucking pissed when this issue came out, no shit. They took the events of The Man With The Steel Cane and just. Threw it out the window. I did a whole other post about my issues with it so I won’t just rewrite the same shit twice. But I had to actually stop reading and pace angrily for a bit. I HATE issue 3 bro.

The scene with Kusho :) . Good to know that was now a waste of misdirection because EVERYONE seemed to call that Kusho was still alive. What bullshit. But I’ll get to that.

The inconsistencies in character really show in this one. And that connects to it being a shitty rewrite of The Man With The Steel Cane. They probably wanted a fight between Shen and Zed by this point, being halfway through the comic, and just shoved it in there. Doesn’t mean I’m not mad about it.

Akali and Kayn’s dialogue was probably the best thing in the entire issue. I don’t vibe with Akali/Kayn as a ship personally, but it got a giggle out of me im ngl.

Akali attacking Zed. I guess yeah sure she would. Fits her whole “fuck you i wont do what you tell me shen” vibe. But SHEN? calling off the armistice between the yánléi and kinkou due to the actions of one of HIS ex-students?? Shen would never. Let’s add another point to the ‘This Is Really Out Of Character’ board!

The sworn and witnessed scene was nice, it’s what Kayn deserves. Finally knowing the Kashuri Faction was nice, too bad they never get fucking mentioned ever again I guess.

There’s so many references to The Man With The Steel Cane that they could’ve implimented so much better, especially dialogue. I can’t read the original story without feeling cheated out of what it was before Issue 3. So more wasted potential I guess.

Issue 4

This was a big step up from Issues 2-3. My personal favourite, but not the best (if that makes sense). But there isn’t too much to talk about here? Jhin sets off his bombs from the last issue, it looks cool, but there’s no real story to talk about here. There is a lot of character stuff to talk about though.

Zed choosing to save Shen over getting Jhin is fucking HUGE for Zed as a character. For a character so hellbent on vengence throughout the entire thing choosing instead to save his "hated enemy and closest friend” ?? im sobbing.

This whole comic was emotional as hell, and the most character development we ever fucking saw in this thing. From Zed’s daddy issues to the realisation that Zed’s shadows are shades of Jhin and Kusho (which is now fucking hilarious and makes no sense after Issue 6).

There was a lot of setup for plotpoints that actually did show up later for once, like Kayn being the temporary leader and all that jazz. What it had in emotion, it seemed to lack in real story progression until the end. 

Issue 5

This issue was weird for me. Like there was a lot of plot and a lot of character shit that seemed so condensed that it felt like nothing. Zed’s confession in the cell-wagon and the information that Shen was out fighting Noxians too? Alright, sure okay. 

Shen still seems wildly out of character for me, since we mostly know him as this beacon of peace and calm- he’s so violent towards Zed all the time it’s strange. Like he points a sword at Zed while saying that he isn’t allowed to kill Jhin, wtf

The callback to Awaken is fucking superb. Really solidifies that video into the lore of the game. Camille being mentioned had me like :hearteyes: This is a nitpick- but I wish we knew what happened at the end of Awaken. Is Camille okay? Did Jhin get injured? It was a week ago, if he did get injured- where and how did he recover so fast? Little details  that I wanna know, not really for any real story purposes.

Rhaast finally showing up :hearteyes:, nothing else to add bc nothing else happened with him.

Jhin making the most of Piltoven technology is really cool, and its a scene that made me go “OH YEAH he was a stagehand for a good period of time!!”  That’s what we call Tying In Pre-Existing Lore fellas.

Jhin just really shined in this issue. Really set him up to be The Big Bad of the comic, like he had a monologue and everything! Once again, though, that gets absolutely wasted by Issue 6.

Issue 6

Where do I fucking start?

Let’s start with Jhin. I don’t know about yall, but since we spent a solid 5 issues chasing after him I expected more of a dramatic fight. More like the explosions in Issue 4. But uh we got. Some fancy prop work before he got punched in the face twice and thrown on the ground. It’s What He Deserves but like you know, he deserved worse.

As much as I didn’t want it to happen, I’m disappointed they didn’t unmask him at all. His mask was still fucking pristine by the end of the fight!! Not a scratch, not a chip!! But to be fair I think we got maybe 2 pages worth of a physical fight with Jhin so,, sure. Whatever. Out goes 5 issues of setting up? Not to downplay the conflict in that scene of course, I think it was pretty cool. It was just so anticlimactic at the end like wh-

Kusho! Haha they got us good!! The dead dude is actually still alive oooo~ [heavy sarcasm]. Why. It wasn’t a good twist! It was a “oh. okay yeah sure” twist. This might be my heat of the moment response but I have no words for how cheap and absolutely horseshit that twist is. Good thing we only have to think about it for 10 pages because HE FUCKING DIES AGAIN. WHAT A WASTE!!

Whatever, whatever, thinking about it makes me so mad because they set it up barely in Issue 5? I’m just tired this actually drained me irl.

At least we have baby Kayn and good dad Zed at the end to cleanse us of that.

HEY actually did you know that they thought that Good Dad Zed was considered contoversial by Marvel’s editors?? HUH????

whatever, whatever. i’m pissed. 

BONUS SHIT

So Jhin’s lore has now had an update to connect with the comic. And it’s fucking weird. Now suddenly Kusho didn’t care about catching Jhin after he found out it was just a human person murdering people? And that it was essentially Not Their Job anymore??? excuse me??

CONCLUSION?

This comic started with a good beginning and a lot of potential. It brought up so many new theories and so many new headcanons. But all that potential and all that interesting story got washed away with unconnected plot points, ‘important’ characters that show up once, and a cheap twist ending that simultaneously came out of nowhere and was easily predicted (in the bad way). It was a fun read for a while, but the ending has soured the experience I had reading it.

Some issues may come from time + page constraints, and the limitations of the medium. But those were mostly minor issues. I wanna give the artists and the writers the benefit of the doubt, maybe blame Marvel as I like to do. But...

6 months worth of waiting for an ending like this? I’m just disappointed.

#this is really fucking long im so sorry #if you enjoyed the comic- good for you. im glad you had fun. i really truely am. #i was so excited for this series.. i feel almost cheated #long post #zed comic #zed spoilers #jhin reads league

[saipng]

hi please accept this slightly nonsensical jonmartin fic (?) that i just had to write after the last ep. this is quite lovely and fluffy, or as lovely and fluffy as it could possibly get? 

aka martin gets trapped in the lonely for a while

dialogue only.

i kinda yadda yaddaed the whole extinction business but shhh this is not why we’re here

*click*

- Statement of the entity previously known as Martin Blackwood-

- Martin, stop that- It’s not funny.

- No? I thought it was pretty good. Not exactly a joke, anyway.

- You’re not- You’re not an entity, alright?

- Well it’s not like I’m entirely human either, now am I?

- I mean, no, but... Listen. You’re alive. You’re still you. You’re still Martin. That’s all that matters.

- Or what’s left of him, anyway-

- Martin!

- Alright, sorry, sorry! Jeez, I’m kidding, chill out. I just wanted a cool new nickname.

- ...Excuse me?

- W-Well, you know? Like, you’re The Archivist and that sounds so... Foreboding. I want a name like that.

- I’m not sure that’s-

- I was thinking The Forsaken, maybe? How’s that sound? Very fitting, wouldn’t you say?

- You’re not forsaken, Martin. Quite the opposite of that, in fact.

- ...Really, Jon? Really?

- Look, can we just get to the statement? We’ve wasted enough tape.

- Only if you use my new name.

- I- Al-Alright, fine. Let’s just. Get on with it. *sigh* Statement of Martin Blackwood.... The Forsaken, regarding his time spent in the Lonely. Statement taken directly from subject, 31 August 2019. Statement begins.

- ...I missed that, you know. I mean, hearing you say that. I remember I‘d overhear you record sometimes and it was just... nice. It’s still nice. I’m stalling, aren’t I. I just- I-I don’t really know what to say, Jon. It all just happened so naturally. You died. I failed to protect you. I promised that that would never happen again so I- I went ahead and struck up a deal with Peter Lukas. Of course I had no clue how incompetent at protection he would actually be, but I mean- He tried. And with enough time I began to realize that the Lonely wasn’t... as terrible as I was making it out to be. It was... easier, in a way? Even after you woke up. Especially after you woke up. I kept my head low and kept on working on figuring out the Extinction, while giving you just enough to keep you off my back. It felt right. It... I- I’m not going to make excuses. I knew exactly what I was signing up for when I decided Peter and I were going to disrupt it’s first and only ritual on our own. I wasn’t planning on coming back. Counting on it, really. Dying a probably heroic death didn’t really sound so bad at the time. I still have no idea how you managed to find us on the night we were leaving, though... Well, I mean I guess I do have an inkling, heh. I didn’t expect to see you there, of course. Didn’t expect you to- To be so mad with me. ...Definitely didn’t expect the kiss. Um, it became a lot harder to be willing to, uh, sacrifice myself after that. You just had to ruin that for me too, didn’t you... Heh, I guess it was for the best after all. I won’t bore you with the details of our trip, I know Peter already gave his statement. All I can say is that when it did come the time for me to pull the trigger to prevent Extinction from emerging, I didn’t hesitate. It was like I- I knew I wouldn’t die. There was the pain, the flash, and then... Darkness. Funny enough, when I woke up in this desolate empty place my first thought was that I did indeed did die and- and ended up in hell or something, but that wasn’t... It wasn’t what it felt like. It stretched out for miles and miles, this endless deep dark sea. The thick white fog covered the horizons, and the sky was a never ending milky grey. It was cold. So cold, the ice seeped all the way down through my bones and into my very atoms, burning me from the inside. And it felt so overwhelmingly familiar, I could just cry. It felt like returning home. I could hardly move those first few seconds as I adjusted my eyes, my vision bleary and distorted... Though that could have been because of the fog. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so easy in such a strange, otherworldly place. Not that I’ve ever, you know, been to any other strange otherworldly places but I just- Like I said, it felt good. Right. It was so weird how I could just stand on that dark water, walk as easily as though stepping on soil. I think I fumbled around a bit, trying to grasp a sense of direction. I think I might have even been a little unsettled as the disorientation set in and I could no longer feel if I was even moving forward at all. It was enormous, this bleak open space that went on for god knows how far, and yet it felt... tiny. I was all alone, and that incomprehensibly ginormous vastness in the end amounted to just... me. I closed my eyes when I realized this, took a deep breath. I wasn’t in any hurry after all. That was when I heard it- a voice. Your voice, Jon. I don’t remember what it was saying, just that- It was so clear in my head. I started following it, with my eyes closed. I simply went towards the sound, wherever my feet would take me. It was so easy, Jon, god- It was the easiest thing I have ever done, simply following your voice wherever it would lead me. I... I don’t know how long I walked for. I want to say it felt like an eternity but really it felt like mere minutes-

- Two months.

- I’m- I’m sorry, what?

- You’ve been gone for two months, Martin. And- And they were- They were the most agonizing months of my existence. When Peter returned and you didn’t I- I think I lost it a little. The rest, they- they kind of just accepted your fate, but I wouldn’t. I couldn’t, Martin, I- I promised I wouldn’t lose anyone else and I wasn’t about to lose you. I couldn’t. Not you.

- Jon....

- I Looked. It was painful, so goddamn painful, to see through the fog and the ice and the dark, but I kept Looking until I was passing out because I Knew you were still out there. Or maybe it was just wishful thinking... The moment you started to fade from my memory I knew it had to be real. Martin, I did everything - and I mean everything I could not to forget you. At first I realized I couldn’t remember the color of your eyes. I didn’t think too much of it, I- I’m not great at these things, so maybe I never noticed in the first place but- Then it was your hair. Then your face. Then I could hardly picture even a blurry shape so I- I started keeping pictures- God, your hands are so cold.

- Heh, yeah, it’s the- A-Anyway, pictures?

- Remember that one we- The one Tim forced us to take at the Christmas party? Near the tree?

- Oh, god, yes. I was so embarrassed I thought I was going to fall through the floor. He made us wear those antler headbands.

- Yes, well. I made sure to look at it every day. It was the only picture I had of you, if you can imagine.

- I-I can, actually, but- You kept it on your desk!? Really?

- Had to. Otherwise I’d go crazy.

- J-Jon, that’s a bit-

- What did you expect me to do, Martin!? Even the picture started to fade, eventually. You began to disappear, and then I began to forget the sound of your voice, so I- I listened to all your tapes, over and over and over, every single one I could find. I’ve, um, found a few of your old poetry tapes in the storage room and-

- Oh my god, Jon, don’t tell me you-

- I-It was an accident, I swear, I- I didn’t listen on purpose, not at first, I was just curious what was on them-

- I’m going to die. No, I’m- I think I should have died. That would have been easier than-

- Look, Martin, they’re- They’re the ones that helped the most. I don’t know why, it’s just- The tapes where you were just being you, not reading a statement or being brainwashed by Elias or- The ones where it was just you, reading your poetry into a tape recorder without a care in the world... They grounded me like nothing else, Martin. Even when they were a little tough to hear, I still felt like... Like you were still with me...

- ...

- I liked the one with the graying hair and the scars-

- Bloody hell, Jon...

- I, um. I decided to write out things about you too, Martin. Not exactly poetry, but... Just something before I started to forget what kind of a person you were. You are. Everything I liked, everything I hated, everything I lo- Uh, everything I’ve found interesting. And when I ran out, I started writing to you instead. About myself, about the Archives, about the world.... Everything I wished I had said. All the things that could have ended up different. I think I filled up 4 or 5 notebooks, hah. It was... It wasn’t easy.

- I... I can’t imagine it must have been. My trip to the Lonely sounds like a vacation in comparison to what you went through... I’m sorry.

- No, I- You were the one trapped and... I should be the one apologizing, this is your statement.

- There is not much left to say, really. I followed your voice. Sometimes it was as clear as though you were standing right next to me, sometimes as quiet as though you were a million miles away. I tried not to lose it, straining hard to hear, going on way past the point where my legs had to have given out. Eventually I found a door - one that i have seen a thousand times before, almost intimately familiar and yet so strikingly wrong in this empty world. The door to the Archives. I’m not going to lie, Jon. I... Hesitated. I could hear your voice so clearly, coming right from the other side, and yet I also knew that I could also just... Turn around. Walk out into the Lonely, let it consume me. Never have to worry about anything ever again. It was such an enticing idea, Jon. The warmth emanating from underneath the Archival door was unbearable. I felt like I was going to suffocate... And yet I couldn’t stop my hand from reaching out no matter how much I wanted to... What was it that you said to me before I left? “I would very much like to kiss you again, so don’t you dare die on me”? Yeah, I- I couldn’t do that to you, Jon. I couldn’t do that to myself. Not after everything, I just couldn’t- I couldn’t die. I knew I wouldn’t be the same, but it was still better than nothing. I promised you I’d come back. I wasn’t about to let you down, you know. Not again. And so I wrapped my fingers around the sizzling hot metal and I pulled and- And there you sat. Propped up against one of the bookshelves, a recorder in hand, looking worse than I have ever seen you, including that time in a coma. God, I don’t think I was ever so happy, Jon, I- And when you looked at me, when you saw me, and your eyes lit up and you had that look on your face that you just couldn’t believe it or thought you were hallucinating or- Hah, I just wish I had a camera.

- And I’m just glad that you didn’t.

- Well, uh. Y-You know what happened after that. You know very well.

- Yes, I- I believe that part isn’t necessary for the official statement. Though, I do think I blacked out for a moment or two there just from sheer disbelief.

- R-Right, um... Don’t worry, I’ll recollect the details for you later.

- O-Oh! Hah, I’ll keep you to that. Although, um... Martin, I have to ask... When was it that you began to realize I was the only one who could see you?

- Oh, er- Well, I- I don’t really know exactly when? I mean, I remember walking out of the Archives that evening, happy as a clam and so positively lost in my own head I didn’t notice bumping into a woman on my way to the station. It was quite late and she was the only one on the street, her eyes fixated on the screen of her phone. She mumbled a quick apology, immediately looking up, and then she just. Paused in her step. She had such a bewildered look on her face. We were the only ones on the street, yet she kept looking around as though she couldn’t comprehend what just happened. I thought it odd, but I was a bit too, erm- preoccupied to bother with it. So I just went home. I think it was when I got back this morning and not a single person in the Archives even so much as looked my way, yet alone said a word to me. I tried to chat to Melanie but she just ignored me. Like I wasn’t there. I tried to pretend that she was mad at me, but... I think I realized it then.

- Right...

- You know, the funny thing is, it almost feels as though no one else is there either. I was looking at Basira just earlier and she just... Kept drifting out of focus. Like I was a camera lens that just couldn’t find the right setting. No matter how hard i tried squinting it was like the image just kept shifting away, and I almost thought my vision was giving out until I looked at you and realized you were perfectly fine. As sharp and clear as always.

- Martin, I’m... I’m so sorry.

- Oh, it’s not all bad. It did make for an amusing moment with Daisy when she found you snogging with thin air-

- Y-Yes, well, let’s not dwell on that- I just. I can’t imagine how hard it must be for you.

- Not at all, really. I’ve spent so much time avoiding people myself that it’s actually a breath of fresh air to be able to walk around naturally with no one paying any attention to me. I honestly was beginning to imagine that maybe I had died and returned as a ghost or something but I don’t think so- I mean I can still interact with objects, and I can obviously still touch other people. And it’s not like I’m invisible either. People might bump into me way more often but they don’t exactly sit on me on the train or try to walk through me - so at least subconsciously they know I’m still there... Plus, animals seem to notice me.

- Is that so?

- Yeah, there was this cat at the entrance to the station today. It spent a good five minutes just staring at me as I bought my ticket and when I tried to approach it ran away. So that’s something.

- Maybe you should get a cat then. I-If that would help.

- Hm. Never really thought about it. It just seemed a bit... Sad, you know? Getting a cat to alleviate your own loneliness. I know that’s not exactly the reason people get pets, but it just... It always felt that way to me. Now getting a pet together with someone, that’s quite different-

- I like cats.

- O-Oh! Um, do you?

- Er, I mean- Well, uh, Georgie has this big one, called Admiral. Horribly fluffy, but I enjoyed his company greatly.

- Admiral? That’s just silly. Everyone knows the best name for a cat is-

- Colonel?

- Yes, actually, how did you- Oh, right.

- Just a lucky guess, really. I didn’t- I don’t think I can Know things about you anymore, Martin. Every time I try I just get this fog. And a brain freeze.

- You tried?

- Um, yes, I- Yesterday. After you left. I wanted to Know if you were really okay, or if you were just... If you were putting a front for me.

- You could’ve just asked, Jon.

- ...I didn’t think you’d tell me.

- Probably not. But I really am okay. Surprisingly few differences in this new invisible life I’m leading. I’ve lost contact with what few friends I had close to a year ago now, and it’s not like I was ever the most popular guy around. I mean, just at lunch I held a door for like, 5 people before realizing it. No one ever said thank you before and certainly not now.

- Martin-

- If you’re going to say you’re sorry again I’m going to punch you. I’m telling you this is fine. You can see me, Jon, and for now that’s- That’s enough.

- I... I’m glad. I’m glad I can see you.

- Me too... Hah. Haha. A bit ironic, isn’t it? All this time I’ve been trying to get your attention, and now it’s the only thing I’ve got.

- That’s...

- It’s not a bad thing. In any case, I think I got quite lucky. Don’t think other Entities are quite as benevolent.

- I don’t know if this is what you would call benevolent. Your misguided optimism concerns me a bit, you know.

- Oh, sorry, would you rather I mope around and drown in my own misery?

- Well, obviously not, but-

- Then quit it, Jon. We can’t change things by complaining. Maybe we can start looking for a solution tomorrow. Maybe this will pass on its own. Or maybe I’m stuck like this forever and ever, haunting your sorry arse till the end of times! Who cares? It’s fine. It’s all fine.

- ...Right. Right. Then I’m going to be here for you, as long as you need me.

- Good. I mean, thanks, Jon. It’s... I know it’s a lot, but I’m glad it’s you.

- You, uh... You going to head home now?

- Yes- Er, actually. I was going to ask, uh... Would you like to come over, perhaps? D-Don’t take this the wrong way, I just- Well, it was sort of horrible last night, being home all alone in that apartment? I know it contradicts everything I just said, but something about that place still unsettles me. And I really would hate to spend yet another night in the Archives, so-

- Of- Of course, Martin. I- Anything you need. I’d love to come over.

- Jon- I- *sigh* Please don’t feel as though you have to say yes just because you’re the only person who can see me, alright-

- Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no- Martin, please, will you just think back on how many months exactly has it been that I’ve been trying to get to you. To just- Spend time with you. And you really think that after all this time I’m going to agree out of some sort of- moral obligation?

- Well, no, but- It’s just- It’s still kind of hard to believe you actually- That you want to-

- Of course I want to. This is me being selfish, Martin. In fact, why don’t you come over to mine instead. I’ll cook us dinner. If- If you want to, that is-

- Yes. Of course. I would- I would love that.

- Ah. Good. Erm. Shall we get going now then?

- Let me grab my jacket. And, I... Thank you, Jon. Really. You- You quite literally saved my life there, you know.

- The gratitude is mutual. I- I missed you. I missed you a lot.

- Yeah... I missed you too. Jon, I- Oh, wait, um. Statement ends?

- Oh. Right. Statement ends.

*click*

#please excuse any formatting errors too its 8:40 am #OH GOD ITS 8:40 AM #jonmartin #the magnus archives #tma #jonathan sims #martin blackwood #fanfiction #long post #sai.fic