#you just have to be WILLING to pay the PRICE of looking like a FOOL!!!

[theriverbeyond]

random thoughts after second watch of Everything Everywhere All At Once:

i love that the alt life skills/jumping paths are activated when you do something silly and weird. because that's how LIFE is -- so WHAT if you didnt choose to be a kung fu master or a hibachi chef or a singer or a gymnast or a sign spinner in this life. if you decide you want to do those things now, it's never too late!! if you want those skills you can get them, you can LEARN!! you just have to be willing to look foolish and silly, break your own status quo and do something weird and new and sometimes deeply uncomfortable and sometimes painful and be willing to be percieved doing all that!!

Jobu Tobaki (Tupaki?) wearing her ridiculous and amazing and over the top outfits in every scene feels like an externalization of the "i feel like i am too much and no one will understand me or be able to love me because I am too much". and i think that's how Joy feels, deeply, and Jobu Tubati IS Joy, and there's this whole nilism/depression/despair/helplessness/overwhelming looking through every universe because she just wants a mother who can see all she is and not run away. and then when she finds one, SHE runs away!! god. screaming and crying and throwing up. etc.

and there's this whole layer of like, allowing people to love you. because Joy/Jobu rejects that love until the very end where she reaches BACK, she chooses to accept the love that Evelyn is giving her. even though it isn't perfect. because you are still loved in such an absolute and unconditional way, that that love transcends this universe into every universe into every life, it is so virulant a love that it is capable of infecting universes without life at all. and you are allowed to accept it and allow yourself to be loved. and there's this whole feeling i am having trouble describing of the experience of growing up and realizing your parents did not love you in the all the ways that you needed, when you were a child, and how that hurt you, but they still loved you, and they love you now, and you can decide to reject it and walk away but you can also accept their love. because as an adult you have the agency and power you didn't have as a child and you also have the choice. to feel loved, to see the love. and it doesnt erase all the trauma and pain of a childhood starving for the exact type of love&care you really needed, but it feels very much like Joy is allowing herself to hold this duality of her Mother and the duality of the love she has recieved, as both existing without either aspect invalidating the other. there's a lot going on here. the absolutely gorgeous way this movie portrayed the complexity of relationships makes me want to eat sand.

#eeaao #everything everywhere all at once #txt #not tlt lmao #first point struck me so hard i felt winded like. this is a bald faced in your face metaphor for TRYING NEW THINGS as an adult #when i first started fencing i BASICALLY felt as silly and awkward as if i had eaten chapstick or started photocopying my ass in public #you are never too old you are allowed to learn you are allowed to be percieved learning #you just have to be WILLING to pay the PRICE of looking like a FOOL!!! #because if you preserve you will be able to do the skill. this is a good movie my new favorite movie in fact #truly one of the most therapy movies of all time as well.

[shady-tavern]

Vampire’s Lullaby Part Three

The last and final part of Vampire’s Lullaby, part one and two can be found here. I hope it turned out alright! This is another long one.

Warnings ahead for mentioned child murder, please take care of yourselves.

***

Annabelle had worried the letter thin at the edges, folding and unfolding the piece of paper so often it started to fray a little. She was no fool, she knew exactly what Charlette was promising her. What she was trying to do.

Annabelle had often felt helpless and small in her life. She had felt it every time she had raced away from the shadows at dusk and every time she had chased after the sun at dawn. She had felt it every time she had to watch Dion step outside with no way of helping him.

She felt deeply touched that Charlette wanted to do something. That she cared enough about Annabelle, cared for her enough to want to change things for the better. Annabelle just wished she could help as well. She had never been an overly protective person of her loved ones, but she absolutely wanted them safe.

She just had no means to make that happen.

"You don't have to worry," Ophelia said, sitting on her windowsill tonight after Annabelle had invited her up. 

She had her son with her, who was climbing all around the roof, playing lookout with excited determination. The little werewolf looked very cute, much like an overly enthusiastic boy rather than a monster of fur and claws and teeth.

"Charlette is very tough," Ophelia added. "She had claimed a pretty big territory both in her old home and here as well. And you did notice how no one's coming to this part of town anymore, right?"

"I know, it's not that I don't think she can do it, I just wish I could support her," Annabelle answered. Of course Charlette was capable, but that shouldn't mean she had to do everything on her own.

Ophelia tipped her head in thought, one ear swiveling constantly to keep track of her boy and the hunters down on the streets. "You can't fight night folk," Ophelia pointed out, rather unhelpful in Annabelle's personal opinion.

"I know." Annabelle forced herself to set the letter aside. "If you see her, make sure she's taking care of herself, would you?"

Ophelia nodded. "Of course, she's family after all." Then her head snapped around and she made a quick growly noise in warning when her son tried to creep towards the edge of the roof where the hunters would see him.

"I should get to bed," Annabelle said quietly after a moment. "Thank you, for keeping watch."

Ophelia offered a gentler, less toothy smile. "You're my friend too, you know? Of course I'll be here if you need me." With those words she clambered off the windowsill and easily jumped onto the neighboring roof to join her now more cautious son.

Annabelle got ready for bed and struggled to fall sleep for long minutes, staring up at the dark ceiling. There had to be something she could do to help.

The thought occupied her mind throughout the following day, right up until they got another order from an impatient noble who wanted to have a notebook done by tomorrow to gift to a friend whose birthday he had forgotten. He was willing to pay triple the regular price for the rush order that would force them to stop working on all other orders.

Annabelle offered to work late again to finish up the notebook and Mr. Bell left with a reminder to be home before the sun was gone entirely.

"I'll be careful," Annabelle promised and focused back on her work. The trick was to not get sloppy despite feeling the urgency to head home, the fading light making her restless after a lifetime of fearful hurrying. 

Even though she was very sure nothing would happen to her, considering the protection she was under and the friend and lover she had now, that needling along her nerves remained.

She was nearly finished when the front door of the shop opened with a jingle. It made her startle, heart leaping into her throat, right up until she heard Ophelia's voice.

"Annabelle? Why aren't you home yet?" the werewolf called out and a glance towards the window showed it was pitch-dark outside. She had entirely lost track of time despite her best efforts.

"I'm back here," Annabelle called out. "I was finishing up an order."

The door creaked open and Ophelia poked her head in, ears swiveling as she listened and nose twitching at all the scents inside.

"I've never been inside a printing shop," the werewolf murmured as she ducked through the door, hunching down and shuffling to make her large frame fit. "It kind of reeks, though."

Annabelle couldn't help but chuckle. "I can imagine, my nose is nowhere near that sensitive, but even I don't like some of the smells around here." Especially some of the glues Mr. Bell sometimes bought. If he went for the cheaper stuff, their books always needed some time to air out to stop smelling.

"I was just wrapping things up," Annabelle said. "Thank you, for checking in on me."

Ophelia offered a wolfish grin, revealing fangs and teeth strong enough to bite straight through bone and metal. "Of course. Could I watch? I've always been curious."

Annabelle gestured her closer and showed how she put on the finishing touches.

"You know, if you ever want to stay late, you could," Ophelia offered. "I don't care if we sit around here or if I'm keeping watch outside your window."

That was a very nice offer and one Annabelle seriously considered taking. She could get so much more work done that way. But for now, she needed to go home or her family was going to lose it.

"You'd have to sneak me out my window if we want to return here," she said. "I have to be home or my parents and brothers are going to think I died."

Ophelia winced a little. "Yeah, that's fair, we don't want that. Let me know when you want to come back to the shop." She grinned again. "I could offer you a ride. I'll bet you I'm faster than you."

Annabelle snorted. "I'm not even going to take that bet, I know you are faster than me." There was a reason why hunters didn't run from the night folk unless panic took over. Why they chose to attack and lay traps instead.

She wrapped the book up in a soft cloth and left it to be picked up the next day. When she locked the store, Ophelia keeping watch, she jumped in surprise when the large werewolf suddenly started to growl, fur bristling.

"Peace," a calm voice spoke from the shadows. "I have not come here for blood."

Ophelia slowly settled down, tail lashing a bit and she kept standing half in front of Annabelle. 

"If I may have a word with the human?" the voice asked and Ophelia snorted.

"How about you show your face first," the werewolf rumbled. "Then she can decide."

After a moment's pause, a tall, willowy man stepped into the light of one of the sparsely placed street lamps. His dark eyes held a red shine and he was dressed neatly and cleanly and offered a polite bow of his head.

"You are Annabelle, correct?" he asked and Annabelle stepped away from the door, resisting the urge to fiddle with her keys. "The one who convinced Charlette to pick a fight with our kind?"

That did not sound like it would be a pleasant conversation. Ophelia's ears pinned back a little and Annabelle answered, "I am." While Annabelle hadn't asked Charlette to fight other night folk, she knew her words had had an impact on her vampire.

"Do you think it possible for us to get along? Humans and night folk, I mean," the man asked, watching her closely.

"I think it's going to take a lot of work," Annabelle answered after a moment. "But if I can befriend night folk, why can't anyone else? If the killing stops, we could start building something better."

He was silent for the longest moment. "I think you are very naive. It is not that simple. We night folk have tried, you know? To be part of your world." 

He stared off into the distance, something dark and grim crossing his face. "There are children no humans want, even though they are of their people. So I took them in. I loved them and cared for them, clothed and fed them and paid for their education. Do you know what happened to them?"

Annabelle found her mouth growing too dry to speak at the tone of his voice, her throat closing up when their eyes met. Fury and grief made his eyes glow a deep, dark red. Like blood. He was a vampire, she realized.

"I woke with the sinking sun to find them all hanged in secret," he said, low and with an underlying snarl that sent a stab of instinctive fear down her spine. "Children who had done no wrong. Children who died for consorting with monsters, as your lot call us. You humans didn't want them, but you didn't want anyone else to have them either."

He took a step forward, eyes blazing, only for Ophelia to step a little more firmly in front of Annabelle. He stopped and took a deep breath to reign himself in.

"I hold no insignificant sway in my part of this city," he said, voice calm again, but the darkness kept lurking in his gaze. "I will not support Charlette when we gain nothing. When the humans we dare to care about get slaughtered by their own kind. I will not fight for that kind of world, nor will all the others who agree with me."

He straightened, looking tall and imposing despite his willowy frame. "We are not the only ones who will have to change our ways." He then briefly bowed his head, polite enough but a little stiff now. "I said my piece. Do with it as you will."

Annabelle's mind was reeling too much to speak as he disappeared in the shadows. Ophelia glanced over her shoulder at her, a questioning look in her eyes.

Annabelle swallowed, wetting her lips, before she managed to speak, "Has this happened to many monsters?"

Ophelia looked away, her ears drooping a little. "To enough. It keeps us from trying to get closer to humans and it makes the other night folk more angry as well. It feels like we can do nothing right in the eyes of humanity. As though, after humans took our king, they now want to blame us for everything wrong in their lives."

"I'm sorry." Annabelle had no idea what else to say. Ophelia sent her a reassuring look.

"That's hardly your fault. Come on, let's get you home before your family worries too much."

They walked in silence and Annabelle's family was indeed very upset at her late return. The hunters outside who had escorted her home the rest of the way had scolded her as well, looking worried.

As she sat in her room, belly filled with a cold but delicious dinner, she found she was too restless to even consider sleep. The vampire's words kept circling in her mind, followed by what Ophelia had said. It wasn't until she restlessly fiddled with the papers on her desk that an idea hit her.

She couldn't grab a weapon and fight, at least not without dying needlessly in the process. She had no idea how to wield weapons after all and she especially couldn't help Charlette win against other night folk. 

But there was more than one way of fighting and more than one battle that needed to be won. She grabbed a piece of paper and her quill and began to scribble furiously, writing and rewriting parts until she thought she had gotten it right.

She shoved to her feet and hurried to the window, paper in hand. "Ophelia?" she called out in a whisper and the werewolf looked up form her perch on the neighboring roof. "Can you look at this real quick?"

The werewolf jumped across the distance easily enough, accepting the paper Annabelle held out. She was silent for a long moment after she read it and Annabelle fidgeted nervously.

"What do you think?" she asked and Ophelia looked up, astonished surprise on her face, then she grinned.

"I say you are amazing. What will you do with this?"

Annabelle smiled in relief. "Can you take me back to the shop?"

"Sure," her friend answered, puzzled and curious. "But why?"

"I've got an idea." Annabelle was already climbing out the window and was easily picked up by a big, strong arm covered in warm, soft fur.

Ophelia hauled her onto her back as though she weighed nothing and went bounding across the rooftops far faster than Annabelle would have traveled on the streets. They arrived at the shop in record time and Ophelia watched curiously as Annabelle got to work.

Annabelle printed two big stacks of flyers and by then exhaustion started to catch up to her. She had worried at first to blatantly use so much paper and ink, but should Mr. Bell ask, she'd come up with a fabricated story about tripping when she hurried to leave and spilling ink everywhere and that she had to regretfully toss things out.

"Can you help me spread these?" she asked the werewolf, who grinned, wide and a little wild.

"I can do better than that. Wait here." Ophelia ducked out of the shop and a moment later, Annabelle heard a loud, howling call. It was answered by others, near and far and as she peeked out the window, she saw shapes move and gather along the edges of artificial light.

"Annabelle, come meet our friends and bring some of the flyers," Ophelia called out and Annabelle took a deep breath and lifted her chin. She would not be afraid, she told herself. If night folk were meant to share a world peacefully with humans, fear had no place in it.

She walked out with a stack of paper in her arms and made sure to smile at the gathered night folk. All kinds of creatures had gathered and they all stared at her with varying levels of curiosity. She spread the flyers among them and within seconds she heard low chatter and murmur, the click of claws and clatter of hooves and the ruffle of wings.

"We will help," a raspy voice of a spindly, pale creature said and it smiled with a mouth full of sharp needle teeth. "We are tired of a never-changing world that does nothing but hate."

Ophelia ducked into the shop to retrieve the stacks and Annabelle decided that she would not worry about being this close to other night folk while her friend was gone. No one made a move to attack, on the contrary, the nearest night folk offered a bit of polite small talk. They were nothing like the stories of feral beasts she had heard all her life.

Soon every one carried a stack of flyer as tall as Annabelle's hand was wide and they left with excited murmurs and chatter, dispersing to spread the paper all across the city.

"That's just the first step," Annabelle said as she locked up the shop and Ophelia carried her back home. "Are you and they willing to help more often?"

"Of course," Ophelia said with a smile. "We've all wanted and waited for a real chance to change things. While some night folk have fallen too deep into the dark to return, many others who will take this chance with both hands and not let go."

*.*.*

The entire city was in uproar the next day. The flyers hadn't simply been dropped in the streets, the night folk had put them up on shop windows and street lamps and along all the intersections. They had even shoved any leftovers into mail boxes. It was impossible to go anywhere and not see at least one flyer.

Annabelle heard people curse and tear the flyers down, not wanting to hear what she had to say. But that was alright, minds didn't just change overnight. The few glimpses she got of people silently pocketing flyers, looking contemplative, was worth it.

She printed flyer after flyer as the days passed, sacrificing sleep gladly. And the more she did it, the more she told the truth, the more she spoke of injustices and wrongs committed that had to be made right and the possibility for actual peace, the more people stopped to think.

They started to look at the traveling groups of clerics and town guards differently, who tore down the flyers and demanded the heads of those who had done this. They all remembered the humans killed for being seen with monsters.

They hadn't known about the dead children, but someone had broken into the cleric offices and had returned with proof that such things had indeed happened. They had spread the information all over the city and people had been furious ever since.

Annabelle saw the expressions in the eyes of the citizens change as more and more things came to light. Most of all, people wanted safety and peace. The idea of no longer fearing the night, of not sacrificing their children or spouses just to try and keep the rest of the family safe was a very luring call.

Of course, the nobles weren't going to take this sitting down. Fear was one of the things that kept them in power, after all. Fear was what the clergy was built upon and how they got their money, by making people think they could buy safety off of them, as well as blessings for their homes.

Considering how swiftly the nobility retaliated, Annabelle knew that she was on the right track. Houses of rebellious fractions got raided and one day, the guards stood in front of Mr. Bell's shop as well.

"Feel free to look around," Mr. Bell said, making a sweeping gesture. "You won't find what you're looking for."

As the guards stomped past him, Mr.Bell met Annabelle's eyes, his expression telling her that they were going to have a long talk. It made her swallow nervously.

"You're very low on ink and paper," the head guard rumbled and Mr. Bell nodded.

"Yes, our resupply shipment will arrive tomorrow. It always looks like that at the end of the month. Especially with the rush-orders from various nobles we've been getting."

Annabelle involuntarily held her breath. This was not what their shop looked like at the end of the month. So Mr. Bell had noticed, of course he must have, that their supplies had dwindled down fast. Why hadn't he said anything?

"Show me the receipts," the head guard demanded and Mr. Bell dug out more bills than there should be. 

Annabelle didn't let her confused and worried tension show and soon enough the guards left, having found nothing suspicious. Not even a stray flyer anywhere. Annabelle made sure to remove any and all hints of her activities and any messed up prints she took home to burn in the fireplace while her family slept.

"So," Mr. Bell said as he watched the guards march down the street towards their next destination. "Explain to me why you've been making those flyers."

At her surprised, startled look, he huffed. "I'm no fool, girl. I know how much stock we have and how much we use. You're lucky I forged some receipts in advance when I realized what you've been doing. So, why have you decided to become a rebel?"

The entire story tumbled out after a moment of hemming and hawing and Mr. Bell listened carefully and intently, asking questions when he needed her to clarify things. At last he leaned against the counter in thoughtful silence.

"I know some supplies who sell under the hand," he said at last. "They'll bring us more ink and paper than we officially need."

Annabelle stood up a little straighter. "You'll help me?"

Mr. Bell chuckled. "Oh, my dear, you're looking at a rebel yourself. I might be getting old, but I've caused quite some mischief and trouble in my younger days." His eyes were bright and he grinned, excitement starting to shine through. "And here I thought I was going to have a quiet, boring life until I died. So, what's next on the agenda?"

Annabelle managed to collect herself, drawing away from the reeling surprise to lay out her plans. Mr. Bell had some great ideas himself and together they started to build a more solid plan of attack.

"I can't let you work on the flyers during the day, in case they come back for another surprise search," he said regretfully. "You'll be safe coming in after dark?"

"I am," she promised and he nodded.

"Then do that. In the meantime, you'll go and get some sleep, I'm sure we can throw something together." When she tried to protest, he waved her off. "I can handle the work by myself for a few hours. If necessary we'll refuse some orders in the future. We have enough money to give us that leeway for a couple of weeks." 

He gestured at the book she had finished for the noble. "And if we get more orders like these, we don't have to worry about money for even longer."

Annabelle couldn't help but hug her old mentor, who chuckled and gave her back a pat. "

Now, none of that," he said when she tried to thank him or to reimburse him by cutting short her earnings. "If anything, you are doing me a favor. I was wondering what to do considering that everyone keeps urging me to retire. Having a purpose is very fun, isn't it?"

She couldn't help but smile and he ushered her away to get some rest on their coats on the floor, while he got started on their remaining orders. Annabelle managed to doze off for a bit, waking up again when the noble dropped by to pick up the book. A well filled coin purse was left behind and Mr. Bell grinned at her when he saw her sit up.

"Ready for work?" he asked and she hurriedly got to her feet to join him.

Mr. Bell left in the afternoon and returned cheerfully. He kept what he had been up to a secret, right up until the evening bell rang and someone knocked on the backdoor. The one they only used to bring out trash to the small alley.

To her surprise, three young men were there, delivering crates of parchment and ink. Mr. Bell paid them and sent them on their way with a cheerful wave. The boys briefly peered at Annabelle with silent curiosity, though they said nothing.

"I'll keep the backdoor unlocked," Mr. Bell said as he ushered her out the front door. "Please use it just in case some guards show up to patrol at night in order to try and catch the flyer-rebel." 

The thought made her nervous, but Annabelle took a deep breath and steeled her resolve. If this was how she could help, she would do it, no matter the danger it brought. Things had to change.

She returned home, ate with her family and was glad to hear that Dion would return home at the end of the week. He'd stay in his bed for another week and then he'd have to return to guarding the house. 

The only reason Annabelle wasn't deeply scared for her brother was the knowledge that their part of town had become very, very safe. Not a single monster showed its face, at least not to attack anyone.

Ophelia waited by the window the moment her parents and brothers had fallen asleep and Annabelle climbed out and onto her back. They traveled along the rooftops once again and Ophelia dropped into the small alley to let Annabelle use the backdoor.

They printed another round of flyers, more monsters showing up to disperse them. Some smiled at her, others looked curious. Some seemed hesitant to be hopeful, but they had come to help all the same.

Annabelle didn't print flyers every night. Neither Mr. Bell nor she had the funds for such a thing, but she made as many as she could. Aside from flyers, she printed posters to leave on market squares and when one of the monsters handed over a well-worded letter their daughter had written, she published that one too.

Dion was home at last and she made sure her brother was comfortable. He looked tense and unhappy, though his worry eased whenever his hunter friends visited. They had told him they had guarded his family in his absence and how quiet things had been recently.

"It's weird, in all honesty," one of his best friends muttered, the woman who always waited and made sure Annabelle came home safely. It was the day before he had to resume his duty and he'd been high-strung since this morning. "Sure, there are times when things are calm, but never to that extent and never for that long."

Her brother was quiet that evening as they ate and he only grimaced a little in pain when he sat up for too long. Everyone knew he shouldn't return to duty tomorrow, but no one spoke up either. Annabelle kept her head down, her determination to change things stronger than ever before.

If the fighting and bloodshed ended her brother could finish healing in peace. Everyone could heal.

A knock at the door made her family and she startle. It was too late for visitors, there was only a faint glow of light remaining in the sky, the sun itself gone. 

"Open, in the name of the Inquisition," an authoritative voice shouted and Annabelle jolted in her seat, heart leaping into her throat.

Everyone knew the Inquisition. They were the ones who dealt with those who loved monsters, with humans who had gotten 'corrupted', as they called it. They also took care of rebels and 'threats to the city', which usually meant threats to the nobles. 

Nerves made her stomach clench and her appetite vanished in an instant. Her parents exchanged a nervous, confused look, before they got up to hesitantly open the door.

One of the head priests was waiting on the other side, flanked by two of his subordinates and behind them were three guards.

"How can we help you?" Annabelle's mother asked, shifting a bit to stand more firmly in front of her children. "I fear we do not have enough food to feed you all, but if you seek a safe place for the night, we offer our humble home."

"We are not here for peasant gruel or to beg a spot in front of your little fire," the head priest said with disdain. "We are here to question you on the integrity of your family."

"There is nothing to question," her father said sharply. "We are good, upstanding citizens."

"That remains to be seen," the head cleric sniffed, pushing forward until her father yielded and stepped back.

Annabelle watched warily as the priests and guards walked through the open door and when they didn't bother with closing it, a bad feeling began to churn in her gut.

"Leave the door open, woman," the head priest demanded when her mother rushed to close it. Her parents and siblings stilled, nervous and tense. Dion glanced to where his weapons sat by the door, gaze calculating.

Annabelle saw his hunter friends milling outside, watching warily and inching a bit closer, half of them staring at the open door, the other half watching the surroundings keenly. 

"We wish to question your daughter," the head priest demanded, those pale eyes boring into Annabelle, who scarcely dared to breathe. She sat ramrod straight, hands a gnarled knot in her lap as she gripped her skirts tightly, her heart pounding. 

The way he looked at her said it all. They suspected her. They didn't know for sure yet, which was the only reason she wasn't getting arrested, but they heavily considered her the culprit.

"Our daughter has done nothing wrong," her mother said, shifting to stand more firmly in front of her. "Anything you have to say to her, you will say with all of us present."

The head priest looked faintly annoyed, but continued on without pause, "Seeing as lately someone has been stirring up the masses, we've conducted a thorough investigation as to the people capable of such foolishness. And we've now come to you, Miss Annabelle. Care to tell us if these are yours?"

He reached into his pocket to pull out some of her flyers, unfolding them and tossing them onto the dining table.

"They aren't," Annabelle answered after staring at them for a second, heart pounding so hard she felt as though her very bones were rattling in time with the beat. "I've seen them stuck on walls before though, why do you think that I made them?"

"Because she works at a print shop?" her oldest brother asked sharply, smiling in a thin and very much unamused way. "Our little sister has worked her ass off to support this family and you come in here, accusing her?"

"I do not like the tone you take with me, boy," the head priest said sharply and at a look from her mother, Rudi settled down with a fierce glower. 

"Do you have any idea who could have made them?" the man asked Annabelle, who shook her head. "Or anything else you can tell us?"

Annabelle reached out to the closest flyer, coincidentally the newest one, pretending as though she was inspecting it. "The paper is thicker than the one we use in our shop," she said and the head priest's eyes narrowed. "And we don't own that shade of midnight blue either, it doesn't work as well when you want to print books."

She had never been been more relieved that Mr. Bell had gotten things for her under the hand, otherwise she could not have made those claims.

The head priest appeared faintly miffed, but turned to her parents next.

"Has she come home on time every night and not left again?" the head priest asked.

"She's shown up at dusk every day and she doesn't leave before dawn," her father said firmly. "We never heard strange noises or saw any wounds on her. Neither has she brought home gifts we couldn't explain. Go ask the hunters if you don't believe us." He gestured at the lurking neighbors outside.

"I shall," the head priest said, sounding colder and more displeased now. "You better hope your stories line up."

"They will," her mother said firmly. "Please leave now, we don't wish to invite monsters in and we still have to finish dinner."

The head priest stared Annabelle down a moment longer and she knew he didn't quite believe her, but he must have other suspects with how easily he accepted her answers. For now, at least.

"Have you considered that a monster printed these?" she found herself asking just as the man turned around to leave. "I heard some are smart."

"They're all mongrel beasts, mindless and driven by bloodlust," the head priest said sharply, looking at her over his shoulder, his eyes burning cold. "Don't be mistaken, girl, they can fake intelligence long enough to ensnare you. There is nothing more to them than instinct."

It was a fight to look appropriately chastised and agreeable and Annabelle made herself dip her head in embarrassed supplication. The head priest looked a bit mollified at that and stepped outside with his companions and guards, striding towards the waiting hunters.

Her mother closed the door, not quite slamming it but it made a clear, decisive sound. The entire living room was utterly silent, then her mother exhaled heavily.

"We will finish eating and then we'll wait for Dion's friends to knock." She turned around to look at Annabelle. "And you will tell us what exactly is going on here."

Startled, Annabelle glanced at her family and found all of them watching her with troubled frowns. She swallowed, nodding, and found herself too nervous to take another bite. No one ate in fact and Gerard soon got up to clear the table. It was almost unbearably quiet.

It didn't take long for someone to knock at the door and the hunter woman poked her head in. "They're gone. What happened?"

"Please come in and close the door," her mother said after a moment. "I think no monsters will attack, will they?" She looked at Annabelle, who ducked her head a little.

"No," she answered quietly. "They won't."

The hunters filled in and Annabelle found herself in the uncomfortable position of explaining what had happened weeks ago. Haltingly at first and then with more and more passion the story tumbled out of her.

She did not tell anyone about the kiss she had shared with Charlette, worried that it would be a step too far for them. Not because she had kissed a woman, they weren't like that, but because she had kissed one of the night folk.

Heavy silence rang after she finished, everyone staring at her with varying expressions. Dion looked guilty, Gerard and Rudi baffled, her parents incredulous and confused and the hunters were thoughtful.

"Is it possible to speak to one of these, erm, night folk?" the hunter woman asked.

"I think so," Annabelle said, thinking of Ophelia who was most likely waiting on the roof. "I can ask."

"Outside, not in here," her father said. "I just..." He sighed heavily, briefly rubbing his hand over his head. "What were you thinking?"

"She wanted us safe," Dion answered in her stead to her surprise. He sounded tired but understanding. "I can't say I blame her, father." He took a deep, steadying breath. "I'm tired of fighting for my life. Of worrying what will happen to you all when I fall. If there can be peace, I want it more than anything."

"As do I," the hunter woman asked and the other hunters of their street hummed and nodded in agreement, though they looked like they didn't really believe it possible either..

"I can go ask right now," Annabelle offered. "I could meet you outside?"

"Alright, we'll wait in the alley where no one will see us," the hunter woman said. "We just...we've got to see you're right, girl."

She got to her feet with a nod and hurried up the stairs. She heard voices rise behind her, but they were too quiet to understand individual words. It sounded like a hissed discussion, though.

"Is everything alright?" Ophelia asked the moment Annabelle opened the window. "I saw those fuck-awful priests prowling around."

"I have a request," Annabelle asked. "Would you be willing to meet my family and, um, our hunter friends?" When Ophelia reared back in surprise, she hurriedly tacked on, "It's safe, I promise. They just found out about everything and they want to talk to you. To see if peace is actually an option."

Ophelia was silent for a long minute, then she exhaled heavily. "I trust you, so, yes. Alright."

Annabelle smiled in relief, then visibly surprised her friend by climbing out the window. Ophelia easily hauled her onto her back and hopped down to the alley. Considering how everyone startled in surprise at her appearance but eased up immediately upon seeing Annabelle unharmed on the werewolf's back, Annabelle had chosen wisely to go with her friend.

"Everyone, this is Ophelia," Annabelle introduced her, clambering off her back and easily accepting the big, clawed hand that her friend held out for easy support. "Ophelia, meet my family and our friends."

"A pleasure," Ophelia said, sketching a bow, though she never took her eyes off of the hunters, who stared at her with the same intensity. "Annabelle said you have questions?"

The hunters hesitated, before Dion took a step forward, face tense but hope lurking in his eyes.

Slowly, with every question, Annabelle watched as the suspicion, the battle-ready worry, began to easy and fade. She watched as  hope began to glow brighter and brighter instead. As if a gentle hand had found an ember that had been about to go out and brought it back to life with steady care in order to create a fire.

"Alright," the hunter woman said at last, turning to Annabelle. "How can we help?"

At Annabelle's surprised look, she grinned fiercely and added, "We want peace and we want things to be fair. For everyone, nobles and commoners. And those night folk too, if they help us. So, I think it's high time we join your little rebellion."

Ophelia looked positively surprised and approving, grinning back just as fiercely. "Oh, I like you."

The hunter chuckled in her low, raspy voice. "The feeling is starting to be mutual." She turned to the others behind her. "What do you say, are you lot ready to go and fulfill our dreams of cozy fires and full bellies and night skies we do not have to fear?"

The hunters rumbled strongly in agreement, faces determined and even her parents and brothers looked convinced. They met her eyes with care and a supportive, if worried gleam.

Annabelle felt relieved down to her bones and she realized she was grinning just as fiercely as the hunters and the werewolf at her side.

*.*.*

A knock at the door drew Annabelle out of her concentration. "I'm almost done, Ophelia," she called out without looking up. "Just a minute."

"I'll wait," a familiar and sorely missed voice made her startle and she looked up to find Charlette stepping through the backdoor. 

Annabelle grinned wide in happy relief. Her vampire looked a little worse for wear, but proud in a way that told her of won battles. Her gait had changed as well. Where Charlette had been confident before, now she moved with the prowling knowledge of power, of tested strength and defeated opponents. 

To her surprise, Charlette wasn't alone. The willowy vampire she had spoken with what seemed ages ago accompanied her, tipping his head respectfully.

His eyes were considering as he watched her, then he looked at the flyers and posters she had printed. It was getting easier and easier to find just the right words to convince the people, to sway their minds and draw them to the side of change.

"I didn't believe it, at first," the vampire said as he slowly stepped forward to get a closer look. "When I heard of humans rallying behind the cause of this one." 

He nodded at Charlette, who curled her lips enough to reveal one impressive fang. He rolled his eyes at her, but looked fond rather than annoyed. 

He continued, "I didn't believe it either when I heard of hunters willing to lay down their weapons and hearing us out. Of other night folk protecting them from their mad cousins."

Annabelle had been surprised most of all when she had heard of the change that had traveled through the city ever since her conversation with the hunters. Of the impact the people who joined her had. 

Whoever had broken into the office of the high priests had done so again, publishing more and more damning material. They had brought proof as well for their claims, spreading committed misdeeds and crimes all over the city. More murdered children, stolen money, people forced and blackmailed into admitting night folk had threatened and thralled them when that had not been so.

The opinion of the night folk continued to shift slowly but steadily. Annabelle was helping where she could, doing her best to be a voice for the unheard. A voice for the people.

"None of that would have been possible without Charlette," she said, smiling at the vampire who smiled back with a warmth so sweet it made all the accumulated aches and stress and tension melt away. 

Annabelle yearned to be held by her love, but held back for now. She wouldn't want to be rude in the middle of a conversation by getting distracted.

The willowy vampire raised a brow. "And none of it would have worked without you." He glanced between them. "Somehow, the two of you have done what I thought impossible. You're bringing our two separate worlds back together, piece by piece."

"People don't want to fight anymore," Annabelle said. "They want warm fires and full bellies and peaceful nights." 

Or rather, most of them did. And those who wanted to continue fighting, well, there were always horrible night folk that still needed slaying. Just like there were horrible humans that the guards arrested to stop their evil deeds.

At this point, all that was left was getting their hands on the aristocrats, on the high priests, to force them to bow so they could cement the changes the people were demanding with increasingly louder voices. So they could have the peace back that greed and hunger for power had stolen from them.

"I will fight for that soft world," Charlette said firmly.

"Yes, you have proven as much," the willowy vampire tipped his head in respect and acceptance. "I only doubted if the humans would as well, but that doubt...it has waned with every sunlit voice that joined your cause."

He stared at the flyers for a moment longer, then looked up. "You will have my support. Every night folk from the warehouse district to the Emerald Park will immediately cease any hostilities towards humans and instead work with them when safely possible."

Annabelle's breath caught in her throat. That was...that was easily a third of the city. She stared at the vampire in surprise, who smiled thinly.

"Your Charlette isn't the only powerful one and I have many, many night folk to protect. I would not offer my support easily or foolishly. But you have convinced me, mortal maiden." He swept into a low bow. "I look forward to working together."

Annabelle hurried to curtsey back. "As do I. Thank you, really. This might...this is just the help we need to for a last push."

"I do my part as long as you do yours," he said and stepped back, gesturing at a finished and twine wrapped parcel of flyers. "I take it those are ready for distribution? May I take them?"

At Annabelle's nod he picked the thick parcel up. "I will spread these and I will get into contact with other night folk willing to help. We shall speak more on this matter tomorrow night. I believe it is high time both humans and night folk plan together." 

With those words he excused himself and Annabelle stared at Charlette in baffled surprise. The vampire smiled at her.

"I've been kicking a lot of teeth in lately," Charlette said with a casual shrug. "He's had to bend the knee to me, but that doesn't mean he had to help."

"I missed you," the words were out before Annabelle could stop them, though she didn't want to either.

She got a glimpse of Charlette's face softening, then the vampire stood in front of her between one second and the next, opening her arms. Annabelle threw herself forward to hug her tightly, strong, cool arms wrapping around her firmly, holding her securely.

"I'm so glad to see you again, well and happy," Charlette murmured against her hair. "It was hard, not coming back sooner. But I had to make sure I could return with good news. And I'm so proud of you, for all you've done for me and mine."

"This is our world," Annabelle said and pulled back enough to look up. Charlette gently touched their foreheads together. "Let's fight for it together."

"We already are," Charlette answered in a whisper and when she grinned, it was fanged and fierce and not at all human and Annabelle loved her so much in this moment. "And we will win."

#my writing #vampires #wlw #lesbians #they be lesbians harold #I hope this turned out alright! #it took me forever to get this final installment done so I hope it doesn't disappoint! #I definitely learned to finish writing multiple-part stories ahead of time before posting #but this has been a lot of fun #I tried to have more of a closed ending #but with the sort of story I ended up telling it worked best this way #they're going to change the world for the better

[nemo-of-house-hamartia]

IT'S A DANGEROUS GAME

Prologue - The Accord

“At the touch of your hand, At the sound of your voice, At the moment your eyes meet mine,

I am losing my mind, I am losing control, Full of feelings I can't define.

It's a sin with no name, Like a tiger to tame,

And though no one's to blame

It's a crime and a shame

And the angels proclaim It's a dangerous game… It's a dangerous game.. Such a dangerous game…”

'It's a Dangerous Game"- Jekyll & Hyde

Luscinia cracked her eye open, hissing when a golden ray of sunlight coming from outside met her face.

She propped herself up on her elbows with a slow movement to look around the room, a cascade of her dark cobalt blue hair falling over one her face in a disorderly veil, her head throbbing with each pulse of her heart that, for some reason, was throbbing in her ears rather than her chest.

She shouldn’t have had all those Lestallum cocktails the night before. And she most definitely should have not accepted Libertus’ dare, damn him and his ability to get under her skin.

She knew that by accepting to play along, she was in for one hell of an hangover, the morning after, but she just couldn’t let him get away with all his idiotic insinuations about her and Nyx.

Didn’t matter that he was actually spot on in his thinking, for once in his life.

It was none of his business and that bet was still very much a matter of principle to her.

She never withdraw from a gamble. Never. Even if that meant waking up to a pounding headache, dryness in her throat and a grogginess that made her just want to put her phone on plane mode and hide in her bed for a whole week.

But, she thought, she didn’t have a whole week, not even if she wanted to.

And her last night of debauchery deserved to be celebrated in grand style.

Yeah. Her last night.

She turned her head -slowly, careful not to shake the bells that were already ringing incessantly in her skull- and the mouth of her stomach cramped almost painfully as she looked at the nightstand on her side of her bed.

Months and months of planning stood behind her, weighting on her like the sky on Atlas’ shoulders.

And after today, if all were to go according to her plan - and it had to go as she envisioned - she would have to forgo so much.

That was the way of the accord.

That was part of the price to pay, a price she herself had set up.

Rolling on her back with careful attention, she rubbed her eyes with all the intent of willing the grogginess away, when she suddenly felt a warm, callous hand caressing her cheek with tender care.

She turned just to see the young man lying in her bed, awake and looking at her with a warm twinkle in his blue eyes, accompanied by a mischievous smile on his lips.

“You are up, Sleeping Beauty,” Nyx murmured, his voice as soft as ever.

“Barely, and with every intention to go back to sleep, if this headache won’t kill me first.” she croaked back. ”Gods, I need a painkiller. How long have you been awake?”

“Long enough to discover that you snore whenever you are drunk,”

Luscinia snorted, giving a feeble slap to his bare shoulder.

“If it didn’t hurt so much, I would roll my eyes at you, Soldier Boy,”

Nyx laughed, dipping to catch her lips in a soft kiss.

“Want some coffee?” he murmured in between the kisses.

“Only if you make it. I won’t get out of this bed non even if Cor himself were to bust my door open and bring all the Crownsguard to drag me out of here, and sure as hell I won’t take the chance to just fall and make even more of a fool of myself more than I probably already did yesterday.” She murmured, expecting him to deny that something like that happened. When not a single word came from him, she turned to look at him, eyes wide. “Oh Gods, I did make a fool of myself yesterday, didn’t I?”

Nyx bit his lower lip, barely stifling a laughter.

“Does challenging every Kingsglaive at the the Chocobo’s Lounge to a duet at the Karaoke and fucking up all the lyrics count?”

“Fuck!” she hissed, wanting to hide her face in the pillow.

“You and Libertus did an “amazing” cover of “Love Shack”,”

“Bloody hell, I'm screwed”

“And when “YMCA” started, you managed to drag Tredd and Axis with you on the table,”

Luscinia muttered another curse, feeling her cheeks turning purple, as her brain started to work properly again and she was recalling all that had happened the previous night.

“I can’t help but feel that you are enjoying yourself thoroughly with this, Mr. Ulric,” she grumbled, poking his cheek as she tried to regain some composure.

Nyx chuckled at that, before speaking again.

“That's not even the best of it. In the end, I don’t know who cried more between you and Luche, with “My Heart Will Go On,””

Luscinia’s face blanched.

“Please, Nyx, tell me no one took a video,”

If her brother were to get his hand on any video of her drunk and singing all sort of songs - and badly at that, she was sure-, she would have to go directly to her father and ask to become an hermit.

Nyx bit his lip again, not even trying to hide his mirth, and Luscinia could not suppress a small shriek of frustration.

“Ok, that’s it! I won’t get out of this room ever again! Seal all the entrances of this apartment and LOCK ME IN!” she grumbled, covering her eyes with her bare arms.

But shame was not the only thing she wanted to hide. With each passing minute, sadness was starting to creep up, running its icy fingers to her throat with all the intention to grip to it mercilessly and choke her in her tears.

The morning was not even done yet, and she was already missing those moments with all her being.

“Drown everything, Cinna,” she thoughts, pursing her lips. “Drown everything.”

She heard Nyx chuckle again, his voice low in her ear and that felt like a jab to her heart.

Soft, fluttering kisses tickled her collarbone, following the line of her neck, his lips lingering on her pulse for a moment longer than normal before brushing her jaw with sensual sweetness.

“But, if it can be of consolation, you won the bet with Libertus,”

She gave him a small smile.

“Meager consolation. But I appreciate you tell him. Now I will never stop tormenting him with this.”

“That’s my girl,“ Nyx whispered between one kiss and the other. ”You know… your bet with Libertus got me thinking, yesterday night.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. I know that when we started this whole arrangement together, you and I, we discussed with each other that we didn’t want any commitment, that what we are now would not go past this bedroom…but I wouldn’t mind cross the threshold with you and going “official”,”

“Official?” Luscinia asked, raising her arms to look at him, eyes wide. She didn’t like where the conversation was going. “What do you mean?”

“You and I, Luscinia…you know, making things official. Becoming more than just bedmates...becoming a couple. I think-“ he took a small deep breath, as if to find the right words. “I think I’m falling for you.”

Luscinia tensed at those words, her whole body turning rigid before she could stop herself. She was grateful for the darkness inside her room, the dusk dimming the fear that was written all over her face, because she realized that she was not able to put a mask of neutrality as she always did.

“You’d better not, Soldier Boy. Nothing good will come from that,” She just answered with a small nervous laughter. “I’m a difficult woman, and you know that with my work, I might disappear for months,” “ And nothing good would come from a broken woman that has sworn off love from her life. I am a broken empty cup,” she thought, lips quivering as she fended off memories that were coming uncalled for.

Nyx laughed, not catching the tension in her voice.

“What if I were not afraid by the challenge? What if we can make this work?”

Even in the sweet penumbra, she could see his gaze softening as he looked at her.

She could hear the hope in his voice.

“Oh No. No no no no,” she thought, pursing her lips, her jaw tensing to the point of pain. “He is serious.”

She felt her heart thundering in her chest at those words, blood flushing to her cheeks.

She had to call to all her strength of will to keep her breathing normal, to stop herself from allowing her thoughts to run wild.

He should have never said that.

It should have never happened.

It was supposed to be something simple, between them.

They had agreed to that simplicity when they had found themselves wrapped in each other’s carnal embrace in a secluded corner of the Kingsglaive’s Headquarters, drunk on the concupiscent desire that had been brewing in the deepest part of their bodies for months after their first meeting together; the same desire that was to be the only thread they should have allowed to connect one to the other, a passion of the senses not murked by any emotion, if not lust.

She realized that she was holding her breath, as she looked at him, her thoughts frenzying like sharks that had just smelled blood in water.

Please, don’t give me that look.

I want you.

I want-

But I can’t give more.

I don’t have anything more to give.

I am No One. Broken. Empty.

I belong to Insomnia.

You belong to someone that can give you all the love that you need, Nyx.

Not a broken woman.

She swallowed hard, letting out another nervous laughter.

“We are both too hangover to discuss about this. Let’s drink some coffee, and once we are both sober again - completely sober - we will see.” She murmured, giving him a small kiss on the nose before plopping back on the pillow.

Nyx gave her a long look, but this time, his expression was absolutely undecipherable. Without adding a word, Luscinia felt the man putting back his boxer and standing up, closing the door behind him as he found his way to the kitchen.

Left alone with her own thoughts, Luscinia realized that she was gripping to the dark satin sheets as if her all life depended on that graps. Releasing them, She took deep breaths, hoping that it would help clear her mind completely and would give chase to that pestiferous sadness that was so unwelcome.

She knew he was disappointed in her response, probably confused - or worse - resentful about her trying to evade his question with her lukewarm excuse -because she knew he knew damn well that her hangover was just an excuse to postpone that discourse.

They were friends. They had been friends for years, and bed companions for a period almost as long….why wasn’t it enough for him?

And more importantly, how did she not catch a hint that his feelings for her were growing stronger in his heart?

And what about her feelings?

Oh Gods, she thought. No. No. Stop now, Luscinia.

She turned rigid again, shutting her eyes and her mind door, before she were to start threading in waters she had no intention of even taking a peak.

Even if she had feelings for him - and she stop herself from thinking about, even before she could entertain the possibility - she would never act on them.

There was too much at stake, for too many.

The Accord.

The Accord was all that mattered now.

She wished she could explain to him, because she knew that he would understand then, bound by honour and loyalty just like she was.

But she couldn’t.

And she wouldn’t.

Secrecy was second nature to her, and the one rule she never -ever- failed to follow, no matter the personal costs.

Her father himself had ingrained it into her since a young age; It was all she had known since she began working for Lucis’ Intelligence.

And yet, she hated that she had hurt him.

She hated it with all her being.

The lump in her throat threatened to choke her again, as a tear rolled down her cheek, wetting the pillow.

Yes, she definitely still had too much alcohol in her body.

She never cried.

Never.

She bit her lip until she tasted her own blood, knowing that her physical pain would subjugate the ache in her tired heart.

Ding.

A muffled ringing sound came from her nightstand, catching her attention.

A text.

Taking one last deep breath, Luscinia dried her eyes, before turning her entire focus to the message that had just arrived. She stretched over the bed and opened a secret drawer on the side of the nightstand, where a burner phone was hidden from sight just beneath an old file.

No number.

She didn't needed it, though.

The context made perfectly clear who the sender was.

“I accept. I expect the signed document to be delivered to me by you - in person - in Altissia. You know where. Don’t take too long, Mrs Chancellor.”

Luscinia’s eyes widened at those words, her sentimental woes momentarily set aside as her head started to spin so fast she was grateful to be already lying on her bed.

Cold blood rushed to her temples, as fear and gratification melted into one bubble of emotions that left her both elated and absolutely terrified.

It was done.

Dear Gods, it was done.

It was over. …

Oh Gods, it was truly over now.

“Calm yourself, Cinna,” she murmured, patting her cheeks to get back to her senses. “There is still work to do,”

Her mind was a cauldron of thoughts, bubbling away, threatening to boil over if she didn’t compose herself. But she needed to calm down. She couldn’t allow herself to dwell on every single thought that was threatening to break her even more than she already felt broken, lingering dreams and wishes that, now she knew, she would do well to lock under key and never open ever again.

She took a deep breath, forcing herself to focus on what she always did whenever she felt like spiraling: she put herself in motion and redirected her attention to the work ahead.

Quick as a whip, she jumped off her bed, and started to recover her stockings and clean underwear, before rushing to her her wardrobe and produce a freshly ironed pinstriped dress out of it.

She needed to hurry.

Once she was completely dressed, she took the same burner phone, she dialed the first number that came up in her recently called.

“Come on, pick up, pick up, pick up,” she murmured, starting to pace the room while brushing the knots out of her hair.

“Pavus?”

Luscinia smiled hearing her codename.

“Yes, it’s me. Thalassa, listen well: the Hatter has answered. I need you to bring the documents up to the Penthouse for the Master to see them. It needs to happen no later than tonight.”

A short silence followed. For a moment Luscinia thought that Thalassa had hung up on her.

“Dear Gods, you truly did it.” she heard her whisper under her breath. “Are you...are you alright?"

“It doesn't matter how I am feeling, Thalassa. I need you to focus: clear his schedule and bring him the documents. The entire file. Send me a thrill once he is alone at the Penthouse and I will take care of the rest.”

“Copy that.”

The phone went silent once more.

Luscinia reread the text again and again, and each time she felt a cold shiver run up her back. She could almost hear his voice, pronouncing those words.

“Luscinia? Is everything alright?” she heard Nyx calling her. “I heard you talking at the phone,” She turned to look at the man, and her heart dropped, sitting on her stomach like a sack of bricks. There was something so endearing in having him standing at the door, mussed unbraided hair, a cup of freshly brewed coffee in each hand, as he looked at her with worried eyes.

If they were a couple, would he do that everyday?

Each day waking her up with a kiss, like a princess of the fairytale of old? Spending the mornings in bed together and share what happened to each other at work? Planning a life together?

Her stomach gripped with the same ferocity as before.

Focus, Luscinia.

Let it all go.

Leave it all behind.

It’s all over now.

“Yeah,” she whispered with a small smile, grateful that she was finally able to put her mask again. “Something came up at work and I’m needed at the Citadel.”

He nodded, his blue eyes turning sad.

“ 'Was kinda hoping we could spend the day together, today. But work is work,” he murmured, and with a melancholic smile, he offered her the warm mug. “You better drink this first, then. You’ll need the all the caffeine you can get,”

Luscinia barely managed to muster a feeble “thanks” as she took the coffee and drank it all in one go, uncaring that it burnt her tongue.

It was dark and bitter and strong as a slap across the face.

Altissia’s finest espresso, with just a dash of cinnamon and cloves that brought out the toasty flavour.

She looked at him, heart fluttering in her chest.

He always remembered how she liked her coffee.

He always remembered to put it in her favourite Moguri mug, the one with the broken pom pom.

Ever since she had told him the first time they had slept together.

Please, don’t do this to me, Nyx. She thought, trying to keep her lips from quivering.

Please.

I beg you.

“Will I see you again soon?” he asked, and Luscinia couldn’t ignore the hopeful tone in his voice.

She shook her head, offering another sad smile in return as an apology for breaking that hope.

“I don't know," she murmured in all earnest. "It might take me a few hours or all day, and if they decide to give me the assignment, it will take longer than that. You know how it is by now.”

He nodded, his face turning in a mask of solemnity.

He indeed knew.

“Go then. I wouldn’t want your superiors to give you some flak for being late. We will talk more about us-“ but he stopped himself, as if to ponder his next words. “We will talk again once you are back,”

Luscinia called upon herself all her considerable strength of will to maintain a neutral expression.

But it was too much even for her.

She brought one hand behind his neck, caressing his dark hair and tiptoeing, she planted a long sweet kiss on his cheek, uncaring about the bristles of his 5 O’clock. She kept her eyes shut, terrified that if she was to meet his gaze again, she would not be able to block the tears that were pounding behind her eyelids.

It was her silent apology for not having an answer for him.

Her silent “thank you” for all that he had done for her in all those years.

Her silent goodbye to all that could have been.

“Take care, Soldier Boy, ” she whispered against his skin, inhaling his cologne once last time before dashing outside the door, without looking back.

Be safe.

*****

“Come on, come on, come on,” Luscinia grumbled, tapping her foot with impatience as the elevator sped up toward the last floors of the Citadel.

She had waited all day for Thalassa’s call to arrive, all day spent pacing around town like a ghost, trying to find a distraction among all the memories that were weaved in all the places where she had hang out through out all her life, ever since she had joined the Royal family.

She had wandered aimlessly, letting her feet bring her around without stopping anywhere for more than a few minutes, terrified that the call of home might overwhelm her and make regret her decisions.

Terrified that, if she were to catch even a glimpse of something that might remind her of Nyx, she might be tempted to turn on her heels and go back to her apartment, running from her duties.

No.

Never.

“The Accord is all that matters. Insomnia is all that matters. It’s all that will matter.” she war repeating to herself even now, muttering under her breath, in her solitary ride in the elevator.

The small chime of the elevator’s bell brought her focus back on the task in front of her. She was at the last floor.

The Penthouse.

“It’s showtime.” she murmured.

She squared her shoulders and straightened her back, tilting her chin with certitude. Her face smoothed, almost transforming under her iron will as she canceled all traces of any sentiment she might have hold earlier, molding instead a mask of absolute inscrutability.

Taking a deep breath - the deepest one she could muster - she pressed the button that would bring her to the King.

The doors opened in front of her with a silent swish, welcoming her to the antechamber where armchair of soft leather were disposed elegantly for the visitors that were to wait before being received by His Majesty.

It was completely empty now, but she had expected that much, considering the time of the evening.

“Sire?” Luscinia called, her voice echoing against the tall wall of the King’s studio.

A small pang of melancholy came knocking on her heart’s doors as she found her way to the main room where the King held his private correspondence.

It had been years since she last entered that studio, years since she had to rely a news of that magnitude. She always left the reports in Thalassa’s safe hands, the only one she trusted to deliver any document that needed discretion and confidentiality, knowing that she would do the job quick and well.

Not this time.

The Accord was her brainchild.

This time, it fell on her to speak with the King.

She saw him, seated at his desk as per usual whenever his duty required him to partake in bureaucratic affairs. His hands were clasped together against his lips, his green eyes focused on the thick report sitting in front him as he combed through the sentences with meticulous attention.

Luscinia narrowed her eyes, and immediately recognized the file that the King was studying.

She felt her heart flutter, as a cold realization -a final awareness that her plan had come to its final stage- seeped through her vein like ice.

She had moved all the pieces, prepared the chessboard with painstaking finesse.

It was now or never.

He had to agree to the Accord.

He had to.

“All that staring and concentrating will give you more wrinkles than a crumpled piece of paper, Sire,” she said, raising her voice just enough to catch his attention.

King Regis looked up from the papers, the tense mask around his eyes not leaving him despite Luscinia’s attempt to bring some levity to the almost saturnine atmosphere.

He didn’t move, didn’t do anything to make her understand his mood of thoughts. He just kept staring at her with such keen attention, she felt as if he could see right to her bones.

Finally, he waved his hand, silently signaling her to approach.

Luscinia did as she was told, still not daring to utter a word until the King spoke first.

For a moment, she saw a shift in the man’s posture: his shoulders slumped just a little, his back not as straight as it had been a few seconds earlier, almost as if another weight had been placed on his already fatigued shoulders.

He was tired, she could see it in every little movement he made.

The King sighed, as if to confirm Luscinia’s intuition. He still held his silence, but now his weary eyes were looking at the young woman with resignation.

Luscinia returned the look with a neutral one of her own, almost feigning ignorance as to why she had been summoned.

But she knew why he had called upon her and she would not be the one to start that conversation.

Another minute ticked by, in the perfect still air of the studio.

Then, the King finally spoke, breaking the silence.

“What have you done, child?”

His voice, despite the tiredness of its tone, had a hidden sharpness in its words.

Was it anger, for having acted in the darkness? Resentment, for having chosen without consulting him first?

Or perhaps…was it worriment for his own blood?

Luscinia stood perfectly still, hand clasped behind her back, not allowing any emotion to trespass the barrier she had risen as she cleared her voice to respond with solemnity.

“What was needed for Insomnia and Lucis. I only had the welfare of this kingdom and the security of its citizens in mind, Sire. You yourself have imparted me with this lesson since you welcomed me to the Citadel. I am a Daughter of Insomnia and our Kingdom’s main Ambassador. My life’s only purpose is to serve the good people of this Kingdom by any mean necessary.”

Regis sighed, leaning against the back of his leather chair, bringing a hand over his eyes.

“What reason did you have to act in secret, going as far as to act behind your King’s back, without his knowledge?”

Luscinia maintained her air of neutrality, ignoring the sudden uneasiness that had started to crept into her chest.

“Despite having been advised the contrary -and believe me about this, Sire, I have been advised to not act as I did- I deemed secrecy necessary and acted accordingly. It was my own work, and the responsibility for it - for good or worse- is mine alone. I knew that you would have not…considered my point, if I were to come to you with this proposal. I needed time to gather enough evidences so that you could see the benefits we are to harvest, once you are to lend me your support.”

King Regis moved his hand from his eyes and raised his eyebrows, and gave the woman a long look.

“And whose support were you looking for, Cinna? The King…or your father?”

Luscinia pursed her lips, jaw tensing at the sound of her childhood nickname.

So, now he was wearing the Father’s mask.

She always found it was easier to deal with him as her King rather than her dad.

Much less complicated, with far less emotions involved and to deal with - something Luscinia always dreaded.

She let the question hang between them for moments that seemed to tick by as slow as hours.

In the end, she decided to play his game.

She unclasped her hands and slumped her shoulders ever so slightly, allowing her posture to relax. She even allowed her voice to turn softer - a daughter’s voice.

“Both. I need you to warrant me your support, Papa, both as my King and as my father. Did you read my report?”

Regis pursed his lips, brows furrowing as his attention was brought once more to the thick pile of documents sitting in front of him.

If Luscinia didn’t knew him any better, she could think that he looked almost forlorn.

“I did. In its entirety.” A sour smile graced his lips. “I must admit, Luscinia, I was impressed with how meticulous it was. It must have taken you weeks to gather all the data and verify their credibility.”

“Months,” she confessed in a whisper, rolling her eyes. “The Chancellor has the tendency to be erratic and hard to locate, when he puts his mind at it. He made my job much harder than it needed to be.”

Regis raised from his chair, helping himself with the cane that was always at his disposal, and slowly made his way toward Luscinia, his eyes never leaving hers.

Despite his stern expression, she could see something else hiding there as well: fear.

It was enough to take her aback: he had never showed fear to her. Not once.

“You are playing a dangerous game, Luscinia. The man seems to act like a fool, a buffoon strolling around without a purpose, but there is a reason he has been Chancellor for so long.” He murmured, allowing his worry to seep through his words. “Aldercapt relies on him in ways that extend way past his office’s duties.”

They exchanged a knowingly look.

“Then you know why I acted in secrecy and came to you when all that was needed was your signature to formalize this accord. The Empire is almost at our gate. It has devoured almost all of our territories. It’s planning to take over Insomnia as well, and they won’t stop until they do. I know you can keep the peace a while longer with the Wall-“ she stopped, her jaw tensing at the thought and its implications, trying to push the sadness down, locked away with all that was already under key in her heart. It was no time for sentimentalism. “-But regardless of this, Father, we need to act quickly. This could be the best compromise to at least stall the attack the Empire is planning and give us the time to actually work from the inside.”

Regis’ lips stretched in a wide smile, that hid none of his feelings for the stubborn woman in front of him. Sometimes it felt like looking in a mirror.

“Is that…a smile of pride, Sire?” Luscinia asked, amused.

“I have always been proud of you, daughter.” He murmured with kind voice. “ You have given me reasons aplenty. You know, perhaps…perhaps I should have been more forward and express my pride more openly. Maybe you would have had no reason to actually go behind my back to strike this agreement. However, I must admit that now my pride for you is overshadowed by a far greater concern for your own safety.”

The dark-haired woman tensed at his praise. She never knew how to respond to those affection, especially when that validation came from her father. While she never doubted his love, she was not always sure about his esteem toward her.

Hearing those words made her feel more more like an awkward adolescent rather than the self-assured woman she was.

So, she just cleared her voice, offering the King a somewhat embarrassed smile, redirecting the conversation on the matter at hand.

“Uh…No-no need to fret nor concern yourself over me, Father. I know what I am doing. Besides, I have been fending off for myself for as long as I can remember. You told me that it was the reason why you assigned me to Intelligence. I will get through this as well. We all be far safer and richer for it,”

The Kings frowned, his lips tightly pursed at her words.

“The Chancellor will never trust you, but will expect...the fulfilment of duties from you, may the Gods curse him a thousand times," he spat out the word as if they were poison in his mouth, and before he could stop himself, her wrapped his daughter in a hug. "You will be alone, constantly surveyed, all your correspondence monitored and possibly censored; Whenever you decide to travel, you will be followed around under the excuse of being escorted, and they will not allow you to be back to Insomnia alone - if they even will allow you to come back to us.” The King’s eyes filled with profound pain at the thought. “Cinna… you will be a prisoner in all but name. You will be a nightingale in a cage.”

Luscinia’s smile softened at his worry.

“You shouldn’t have read me that story so often as a child,” she joked, allowing herself to bring one hand to her father’s arm to comfort him. “You needn’t worry, Father. I haven’t earned being called “The Escapist” for nothing. Besides… I am not afraid of what they will do to me. I will fulfill my duties, whatever they might be. Considering what we know about their intention - their real intention - I just hope that this will help buy some time to you…and to Noctis,”

It was Regis’ turn to return the soft smile.

“You had been a good sister to your brother.”

She shrugged, shaking her head with sadness.

“Not good enough. If I could do more for him, I would. I truly would. But this is all I can do for him, to try and keep him safe. My gift to him. I will be the most loyal subject to him when he will become King, although I hope this won’t happen for a long time still. I will be his eyes and ears in the Empire. But until then, this is all I can do to protect my home and my family. Grant me the support needed to go through with this, Father.” She took his hands in hers, her gaze as resolute as it always was. “Trust in me.”

Regis sighed, his chest feeling constricted in a grip of guilt and worry, as he lowered his head.

Without another word, he walked back to his desk, each step feeling as heavy as if lead had been attached to his limbs, dragging him against the floor.

He sat back and took his pen, stopping his hand from the slight tremor that ran through his fingers.

He looked at his daughter one last time, and all he could see was the young child that would always come in his office and shyly asked to be read her bedtime stories, the child whose curious eyes would try and read whatever document he had on his desk because, all she wanted, was to help her papa with his homework.

How those years had flew by so fast, he still didn’t know.

How that bashfulness had transformed in steel resilience, he didn’t know either.

Yet it was all there, in the confident woman that stood tall and proud in front of him: a woman that loved her family to the point of sneak behind her father’s and king’s back, to strike an accord that would put chains to her hands.

He sighed one last time.

Then, with steady hand, he apposed his signature on the document in front of him, just beneath where his own daughter’s signature stood.

The official finalization of the Accord: Insomnia’s proposal of the arranged marriage between Chancelor Ardyn Izunia and Ambassador Luscinia Lucis Caelum, Daughter of Insomnia.

Bloody hell, I am done.

Don't ask me what happened or how I managed to finish the Prologue of this, because I myself am still wondering about it.

I just found myself thinking about my handsome bastard, and before I knew it, here I was pouring down word after word, while also making a moodboard banner for it .

But omg I am invested in this now.

INVESTED I SAY.

Well, I hope you will like this. <3

Sorry about the angst though.

It will happen again lololol.

--Nemo

#Final Fantasy XV #Final Fantasy #Ardyn Izunia #Ardyn Lucis Caelum #Luscinia Lucis Caelum #nyx ulric #ArdynxOc #It's a dangerous game #Nemo Writes #ocfairygodmother

[jellyfishloveletterghosts]

My Harringrove Au List N-Z

PART 1 A-M

Necromancer

Baby Did You Come Back Wrong - Steve brings Billy back and he needs more than a burger and fries to survive. 

I’d Sell My Soul to a Devil - Steve sacrifices himself to save Billy at Starcourt. Billy makes a promise to get him back, it's going to take him a while but he plans to keep that promise. Even if he has to make a deal with a demon to do it. Even if the price isn't right.

Necromancin Dancin - Billy died at Starcout, he doesn't stay that way for long.

Sear Through Me - Billy is an asshole with magic, the upside down latches onto him, and he is an unwilling puppet. When he faces the mind flayer at Starcourt he knows he is going to die. Steve doesn't let him.

You Can’t Kill Love - Chrissy dies and Eddie goes to Steve looking to bring her back.

Omegaverse

Beauty and The Beast - Mr. Harrington takes a rose and instead of paying the price the beast of the castle demands himself, he sends his son in his stead. Billy is not sure what to do with an omega who not only does not cower away from him like everyone else but also seems to think he is a slob and keeps trying his patience. (Magic and Royalty)

Benefits of Surviving - Billy finds Steve at the gate when the demobats attack.It would be a happier affair if they weren't trapped and Steve wasn't on the brink of a heat.

Come On Alpha - Steve is tired of waiting for Billy to make a move, so he takes matters into his own hands.

Everything I do Is To Bring Me Closer To You - Billy has a long way to go before he can make his dream of marrying Steve a reality. (Royalty and Magic)

Find Comfort In Me - Billy needs a comfort omega after surviving Starcourt. Steve is absolutely not who he expected Hopper to hire. He didn’t even know Steve was an omega.

First Impression - Alpha Billy meeting Steve for the first time at Tina's party.

Flirt Like A Bird - Billy wants to woo Steve, he tries a couple of options that haven't gone well. He tries a new tactic.

Giants Blood - Highborn Omega Steve finally realizing Alpha wildling Billy has been courting him. 

Hay In Your Hair, Mud On My Boots (Series) - Loose Yellowstone inspired au

Need An Alpha To Pop A Knot - Steve's an alpha who's never popped a knot, not until Billy comes along.

Omegas Like Us Have To Stick Together - Steve presents at the mall and bites and cries when any alpha or beta gets to close. Luckily Billy shows up more than willing to help when the end game is getting to keep Steve.

Smoke - Billy is ditching class for a smoke break when Steve comes along.

Track In A Crowd - Billy and Steve find each other by scent at a party. (Model Steve/Musician Billy)

You’re My Bitch - Omega Billy fucking alpha Steve and the one time he finally lets Steve knot him.

You’re Extra Special, Something Else - Billy and Max escape Neil and move to Hawkins, where Billy sets his sights on Steve Harrington.

Party Clown

Clown Shoe (Series) - Billy gets a job as a party clown, Steve has some mixed feeling about it but mostly he’s just horny.

Pirates

Part 1 and 2 - A pirates of the Caribbean/ Princess Bride mash up

Professional Athlete

Thaw the Ice - Steve needs a new Coach. Billy is here for the job.

Reanimated

You Will Be Made New Again - Jonathan and Tommy succeed in brining Billy back from the dead, Steve their exasperated neighbor is the only thing that can get him to cooperate. AKA A Frankenstein's monster Billy fic. (Collage/University Au)

Royalty 

Dragons Are Hoarders - The kingdom of Harrington offers up anything in the treasury for the return of their lost heir. Billy just so happens to need something they have in their possession. Things of course do not go to plan. (Magic)

The Jester and His King - King Steve getting railed by his jester. 

Pretty Fool (Series) - Snapshots from King Billy and Jester Steve’s exploits around the castle. 

Roommates 

And They Were Roommates - Steve and Billy are roommates, Billy is less than pleased when Steve gets a boyfriend.

Avoidance Techniques - Billy keeps getting drunk at frat parties, and Steve is his roommate who keeps getting called to pick him up. (College/University Au)

The Case of The Missing Clothes - Steve's clothes have been going missing, he finally finds where they've all been going. (College/University Au)

Fill That Hole in Your Life - Pandemic/Quarantine Au - Billy and Steve figure some stuff out during the pandemic when all they have is each other for company. 

Scarecrow

Have Some Fun - Steve gets drunk and wanders into Billy's corn maze.

Sea Creature

A Bargain - Steve is a lonely merman who seeks out the sea witch to help him find love.

Salt Skin - Friends don’t plan and construct elaborate surprises that take weeks to prepare and involve a contractor, no that’s beyond friend behavior and edging dangerously close to courting behavior. Except Steve had gone and hurtled right over that line and presents Billy with a gift so fantastic he can no longer ignore his feelings. 

The Whale and The Danio - Steve loses his school, and Billy finds him.

Secret Relationship

The Hard Stuff - When Steve comes over and follows Billy to his bedroom, Tommy over hears them fucking and misunderstands what is going on. 

Serial Killers 

Bloody Summer (Series) - Billy meets Steve at summer camp where the counselors keep dropping like flies. 

Sex Worker

Billy with a Cane - Billy never expected to find Steve working in a strip club.

Camboy/Farmer Steve - Billy comes to help Max with her form and runs into his favorite camboy.

December To New Years - Camboy Steve and his budding relationship with Billy.

Roommates with Pornstar Billy - As a joke Billy gets Steve a subscription to the site he works for. If he’s hoping Steve watches his videos well that’s his business. 

Virgin Territory - Steve accidentally admits to knowing about Billy's cam work, things go a lot better than he ever thought they would.

Soulmates

Let Me Take Your Pain - Billy and Steve are soulmates, they don't find that out till they fight.

Love at First Fight - Love at first sight is bullshit as far as Steve is concerned, he has given up on it. 

Space

Frozen Beauty? - Billy sees Steve cryo frozen for the first time when he’s eight, the older he gets the more obsessed he becomes until he finally has his boy.

WSwaBEwaB - Bounty hunter Billy takes a job that leads him to cyborg Steve.

Star Wars

Come To The Dark Side - Steve and Billy are separated by the Jedi. Billy joins the Sith as a way to find his way back to Steve and get some revenge on those who would keep them apart.

Step Brothers

Step Brothers - Steve and Billy’s mom get together, that doesn’t stop their relationship. 

Suggardaddy 

Hardhat Daddy - Steve works at a hardware store and Billy is a rich contractor. 

Sugar Sugar (Series) - Years after Starcourt a rich and successful Billy runs into a struggling Steve. Billy just wants to take care of him.

Trans

All I Want For Christmas - Billy makes a request for Christmas.

Transmasc alpha Billy - story idea for how he ends up in Hawkins and meets Steve. (omegaverse)

Transmasc Billy/ Nonbinary Steve -  Just some hc’s for them.

Tramsmasc Billy rocking Steve’s world - Thinking about trans masc Billy rocking Steve’s world and blowing his back out with his monster strap.

Vampires

The Calling - Steve gets caught by the demodogs in the tunnels, torn to shreds. He’s on the cusp of dying, no way around that but Billy makes sure he wakes up again. 

Vampire/Werewolf

Bite - The fight at the Byers doesn't happen but Steve still finds his back against the dirt.

Sink Your Teeth In - Billy isn’t going to let Steve starve.

Werewolf

Shifting Pleasures - Billy takes things out of hand one night. Steve might have fun but that doesn't mean Billy isn't in trouble for not asking first.

Time Travel

If I Could Turn Back Time - When they find themselves in the past Steve is willing to risk the future they know if it means a chance to save Billy.

Zombie

Reunited - Steve and Billy reuniting during a zombie apocalypse.

#harringrove #jellyghostfic #fanfiction #st fic #billy hargrove x steve harrington

[docholligay]

Dr. Holligay Tries Things That Aren't Running: Zumba

It's January second! The air is cold, the frost decorates the windows, and the gym is heaving with bodies, people assured that this is the year for them. It is my month of the year that recalibrates me into remembering how to streamline my daughter's morning so we get out of the house in time to get a slot at childwatch.

So, Jewlet annoyed that I rushed along the intricate ritual of "sitting and reading 80 books at least halfway" we go into the YMCA, and get a spot in childwatch, and all is well. I dress out into my running gear. I walk by the front desk. There is a--oh hello, what's this?

Every year, my YMCA holds a fitness bingo. This is mostly for the benefit of newbies, in that it encourages a sampler of all kinds of classes to see what you'll take to. I do not do the fitness bingo. I do not explore. I run. I put my headphones on and jog on a track, and I think about absolutely nothing. Or everything. Perspective. Once a week I physically toss myself into a strength class so that I have some semblance of bone density when I get older. I love my fitness routine. But. On the countertop, my Achilles heel.

An expensive and indefensibly unitasking kitchen item. I would never buy this. Ever. I would not consider spending three hundred dollars on this. But it is free. For the low price of luck and being willing to diversify my portfolio. I take a bingo card and consider my options.

The good thing, about being a generally social and cheerful person with a recognizable fluff of red hair, is that people notice me, they remember me, they think of me. This is also the bad thing, because as I'm looking this over and absent-mindedly walking toward the track, a gal we'll call Martha, who was actually my neighbor as a child, calls out to me.

"Oh, Doc! Are you gonna come to class with us?"

Something like six women including the instructor are staring at me, smiling, and I realize I have no good defense. I want that stupid kitchen item. I'm sitting here thinking about how to take classes every day and obtain kitchen item. It may as well be this.

"What IS this?" I ask.

Friends, it is Zumba. Zumba, for the uninitiated, is a latin-based jazzercise type situation, with full choreo and salsa steps. There will be many older woman in this class, should you walk in, but do not let that fool you. They will absolutely make you look a fool. "Idiot can't even do a grapevine into three toe taps into a spin!" Says Gladys.

But I don't have a defense! It's on the bingo card, it's even in the row where Boot Camp is, which I do attend every week anyhow, and I'm standing there. NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT. I know this is a bad idea, I know it is, and yet I walk in.

As it turns out, I'm more than willing to tolerate mild humiliation for the promise of an unnecessary and expensive kitchen item.

Let me tell you what, I am giving it my all. I am dancing with the stars, and by 'with the stars' I mean, 'Gladys and her compatriots are wiping the floor with me.' But I am me in all things, and I am giving it my all. I'm giving baby deer gambols across a field ten minutes after being born, I'm giving drunk Midwestern drag queen, I'm giving enthusiastic and untalented Mexican toddler at the annual Fiesta Mexicana. I am jumping and doing the full jumping jack every time I can, because my functional knees are my only stranglehold over Gladys.

I don't like to pay attention ever when I work out, and this was nothing but attention. I got to the end of a 50 minute silver shoe latin dance party and I felt like I had just done my taxes by hand. The instructor has the audacity to come up to me, who tripped over her own water bottle while trying to serve up a hip thrust, and tell me I did a great job for my first time.

I thrust forward my bingo card for her to mark with their special stickers.

I will keep you posted as to the rest of the month. I will have that stupid as shit appliance.

#things that aren't running

[lauransoverthinking]

I have so many thought about Hondo Ohnaka.

And the way I often see fandom portray him - hilarious inept friend.

And the way he portrays himself - best friend of a certain Jedi master who is always willing to help, for a price.

And the heinous acts he is able to get away with because of this Jack Sparrow like representation.

When we see him in Rebels, it is a glowing representation of him as a scoundrel.

He loves the Jedi

He and Ezra are adorable together

He misses his Jedi best friend.

When we meet him in The Clone Wars, he’s hilarious, mostly harmless, and pretty helpful

Captures Dooku, Anakin, and Obi-wan with the goal to ransom them back to the Republic. Yay, the good guys!

Takes weapons to Onderon. Yay! Overthrow the separatist oppressors

Tries to steal kyber crystals from younglings - that’s not great, but no one got hurt and he definitely thought they could just get more. No harm, no foul?

Attempts to sell a teenage girl…. *insert record scratch here*

Everyone, and I mean everyone, loves to gloss over that last part. Fans, the entirety of the rest of canon, hell even the end of that arc, love to gloss over the fact that THAT MAN TRIED TO SELL AHSOKA.

Not ransom her back to the Republic, not sell her to the separatists.

No, he captured a teenage girl and was going to sell her to someone who specifically wanted to buy a female Jedi.

He told us this!

The truth is, I have my sights set on more nefarious criminals than I, a businessman who will pay handsomely for a Jedi.

A female Jedi at that.

This is the last arc of The Clone Wars he is in.

Later, in this exact episode, he tells us he killed an entire circus troupe because he didn’t like their act!

I would hate to be forced to cut off their heads like I did to your last act.

You remember those guys.

You are a brave man to come before me again.

Where is my Jedi?

I would hate for her to miss the show

which I'm hoping will be better than last time.

We learn so much about Hondo in this episode and it all seems to be telling us the same thing - don’t forget this guy is a bad guy. Like a very bad guy.

He seems to like Anakin and Obi-wan, so they don’t get the worst of him.

Ahsoka does not have that luxury. He is going to sell her to the highest bidder. The type of scum to say they don’t just want to say they own a Jedi, they want to own a female Jedi. We all saw the Zyggeria arc. We all know what he is talking about.

And what is worse is Obi-wan doesn’t even think anything like this is a possibility! Because he and Hondo are friends or something.

Obi-wan: We shall deal with Hondo on Florrum.

Youngling: Will Ahsoka be all right?

Obi-wan: Hondo would be even more of a fool than I think he is to hurt her.

Guess what General - HE IS GOING TO SELL HER!

And he would have continued to try if Grievous hadn’t shown up to ruin his plans.

He did not see the light and change from his murdering of circus troupe and selling sentient beings ways, a bigger bad showed up and he allied himself with the person he just tried to sell because she is a Jedi and still believed his life was worth saving.

And yet this saving his own skin behavior seems to have completely wiped the stain of tried to sell a whole person off of him. Because it’s adorable how he immediately cared for Katooni and that is all people seem to remember from that arc.

No, it isn’t adorable. At all. If Katooni had been a few years older he would have looked at her and seen profits too.

If Ahsoka hadn’t been so concussed from Grievous throwing her around, she would have mentioned the whole trying to sell her thing to someone.

And that would have been the end of the Obi-wan and Hondo friendship, because of, you know, the horrible behavior.

Anyways, TLDR - Never forget that everyone’s favorite pirate with a heart of gold Hondo Ohnaka tried to sell Ahsoka and was only thwarted because Grievous came to attack him instead.

I would have loved to see Ezra tell Ahsoka about his new bestie Hondo. Kanan is over there with his hand over his face thinking ‘I don’t know how to convince him this guy shouldn’t be trusted’ and suddenly Ahsoka solves the problem for him like ‘oh I know Hondo, yeah, he tried to sell me when I was 16 because it would be *airquotes* profitable’.

#hondo ohnaka #ahsoka tano #obi wan kenobi #the clone wars #sw rebels #ezra bridger #the gathering #bound for rescue #maybe just don’t trust people Ezra vibes with? #the kid gets on handsomely with Hondo and MAUL #maybe he suspicious of anyone he independently befriends #Hondo is a pirate and that isn’t a good thing #I too am amused by him but also like… do not forget this

[vexcraft]

hello jules vexcraft i saw u were still asking for writing prompts … may i suggest some mayoral cabinet shenanigans? :) namely just scar, bdubs and cub having VERY professional relationships,, yes.. perhaps some cub and bdubs bickering ? :) and scar very much enjoying all attention <3

hello felix convex-solos thank you very much for this idea, it's been bouncing around in my head for a while and i finally got around actually writing it :] also on ao3 here!

-

“So,” the mayor began. He looked as sharp as always, perfectly put together in his ridiculously colorful suit, yet relaxed as he sat in his office chair with his feet up on his desk. “I hear you both have an offer for me.”

Before Cub could even open his mouth, Bdubs had already stepped forward, slightly bowing his head down before talking. “Yes, my mayor! I have the things you need in this box right here, and it can all be yours just for two mere diamonds!” 

Damn Bdubs and his enthusiasm and willingness. He was competitive too, Cub knew that very well - neither of them really tried to hide it, yet Scar liked to act like he didn’t notice.

“Very good, Bdubs, very good,” Scar praised casually, leaning back in his chair. He didn’t look very impressed - neutral at best - though then again, this was just business about common resources that were annoying to gather but nothing special. It’s not like they were presenting something actually rare and valuable to the mayor.

“Cub.” Scar’s voice was firm as he called for him. Cub had heard this tone countless times before, though not often directed at himself. “What do you have for me?”

“I can offer you all the same things, for the same price.” Originally his price was supposed to be higher, but there was no way he would win this that way. 

This wasn’t really about business and profits, no. A few extra diamonds to his name was a nice bonus, but it was all about getting closer to the mayor, all about pleasing him and one-upping the competition. All about relations and power and opportunities and being better than others. Proving your worth, living up to your reputation. Every small moment was a piece of the game.

“So both of you are offering me the exact same deal,” Scar spoke after staying silent for a minute, as if he was considering his options, though all three of them knew it was just a way to make them feel unnerved. “You’re going to have to figure something out, I don’t need two boxes and you know I can’t pick favorites.”

The smile on the mayor’s lips told otherwise - he could definitely pick favorites, that’s what this whole meeting was about. 

“If you pick my offer, my mayor, I’ll offer you my undying loyalty!” Bdubs chimed in, spreading his arms as if he was proudly presenting something invaluable. 

“Is that so?” Cub could already tell from Scar’s tone Bdubs wasn’t making the point he thought he was. “I feel like you have offered that to me before too, does that mean you lied those times?”

Bdubs took a step back beside Cub, his proper demeanor briefly wavering - Cub had to put effort into not letting out a chuckle at the other’s sign of weakness.

“I could sell you two boxes for three diamonds,” Cub offered. He hadn’t planned on lowering the price this much - he didn't work for free, after all - but he intended to win this game. "You would save some money-"

"Cub, Cub, Cub…" Scar cut him off before he could finish his sentence. "Did you not listen at all? That's very unlike you." Cub winced - this wasn't going well. "I said I don't need two boxes." 

It was true, Scar had said that, but it hadn't been clear whether he didn't need the materials or simply wasn't willing to pay that much. Had it been the latter, Cub's offer would have been perfectly good. Scar was grinning now, he must have known Cub would go for the loophole, maybe he had left it open on purpose, just to make a fool out of him.

"I can lower the price to one diamond!" Bdubs suggested, making Scar break the lazy yet somehow intense eye contact with Cub as he turned to look at the other man.

"I can as well," Cub replied. He didn't want to, but he could.

Scar sighed, rolling his eyes. Cub could tell he was pretending to be more frustrated than he actually was - no matter how this ended, Scar was going to walk out with the materials he needed. For now, he was enjoying the attention.

"Well, you know, if you accept my deal," Bdubs spoke slowly, like he was carefully thinking through each word, making sure his phrasing was just right. "I could offer you some… other things."

That seemed to catch Scar's attention.

Cub didn't like the implications of that. What Bdubs was suggesting, Cub didn't exactly know - though based on the other's tone and careful phrasing and how Bdubs generally tended to be, he could definitely form some guesses that hinted at something… less professional - but whatever it was, it was clearly giving him an advantage here. 

"That's unfair," Cub interrupted. 

"What?" Bdubs squinted at him, before grinning, unnaturally white teeth on display. "Are you jealous?"

Cub blinked. Of course he wasn't jealous. "No. Scar, you know exactly what I can offer, just ask and it's all yours." 

"I do know," Scar hummed, closing his eyes for a moment like he was reminiscing old memories. "You do realize that you're both offering me things I already have access to outside of this deal, right?" That did not exactly soothe Cub’s nerves. 

Scar stood up, casually stretching his arms before walking over to where Cub and Bdubs were standing side by side. He walked past them, his shoulder briefly brushing Cub’s. Beside him Bdubs lifted his hand to cup his own shoulder - Scar must have touched them both on purpose. Of course.

“Clearly this is going nowhere, so let me propose you both a deal.” Scar sounded quizzical, though neither of them dared to turn around to see what kind of expression the mayor was actually wearing. “I will take one box, I don’t care which one it is, you can split the remaining one. And I will pay you both one diamond.”

“But that makes no sense, you would lose diamonds-”

“Ah ah ah! No interrupting, Cub! Your mayor is speaking.” Scar had turned around behind them, before throwing one arm over Bdubs’s shoulder and the other over Cub’s - he was almost uncomfortably close now as he scolded Cub with a sweet smile on his face. Cub could see Bdubs grinning on Scar’s other side, no doubt overjoyed by this. 

When Cub stayed silent, Scar continued his speech. "I know this isn't the most ideal deal diamond-wise, but it's a small price for you two getting along." Cub frowned - what was Scar on about? Bdubs seemed clueless as well. "I will pay you both one diamond and I will accept whatever you were offering on top of that."

"However," Scar pulled both of them even closer to him before shooting both of them a wide sly grin. "You're both going to be involved in that." 

#hermitshipping #cubfan135 #goodtimeswithscar #bdoubleo100 #cubscar #scardubs #jules hc txt #asks

[astroprompts]

✧ —𝐇𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐓𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐋 𝐃𝐈𝐀𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐔𝐄 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐓𝐒 [𝐀𝐂𝐓 𝟏]

𝐀𝐀𝐑𝐎𝐍 𝐁𝐔𝐑𝐑, 𝐒𝐈𝐑

“Pardon me, are you [name]?”

“I'm at your service.”

“I have been looking for you.”

“I'm getting nervous.”

“I may have punched him. It's a blur.”

“I wanted to do what you did.”

“He looked at me like I was stupid. I'm not stupid.”

“Can I buy you a drink?”

“While we're talking, let me offer you some free advice.”

“Talk less, smile more.”

“Don't let them know what you're against or what you're for.”

“You can't be serious.”

“Fools who run their mouths off wind up dead.”

“If you stand for nothing, what'll you fall for?”

𝐌𝐘 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐓

“I am not throwing away my shot.”

“I'm young, scrappy, and hungry.”

“I probably shouldn't brag, but dang, I amaze and astonish.”

“The problem is I got a lot of brains, but no polish.”

“I gotta holler just to be heard.”

“Only nineteen, but my mind is older.”

“Don't be shocked when your history book mentions me.”

“I will lay down my life if it sets us free.”

“I'm with you, but the situation is fraught.”

“If you talk, you're gonna get shot.”

“I think your pants look hot.”

“Let's hatch a plot blacker than the kettle callin' the pot.”

“Oh, am I talking too loud?”

“Sometimes I get over excited, shoot off at the mouth”

“I never had a group of friends before.”

“When you're living on your knees, you rise up.”

“I imagine death so much it feels more like a memory.”

“I never thought I'd live past twenty.”

“We need to handle our financial situation.”

“For the first time, I'm thinking past tomorrow.”

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐎𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓

“I may not live to see our glory.”

“I've seen wonders great and small.”

“Raise a glass to freedom.”

“Let's have another round tonight.”

“I didn't think that you would make it.”

“I came to say congratulations.”

“Now, be sensible.”

“From what I hear, you've made yourself indispensable.”

“Well, I heard you've got a special someone on the side.”

“What are you tryin' to hide?”

“I'll see you on the other side of the war.”

“I will never understand you.”

“If you love this woman/man/person, go get her/him/them.”

“What are you waiting for?”

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐔𝐘𝐋𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒

“There's nothing rich folks love more than going downtown and slumming it with the poor.”

“Daddy said to be home by sundown.” / “Daddy doesn't need to know.”

“Remind me what we're looking for.”

“I'm looking for a mind at work.”

“There's nothing like summer in the city.”

“Your perfume smells like your daddy's got money.”

“Why you slummin' in the city in your fancy heels?”

“Some men say that I'm intense or I'm insane.”

“Look around at how lucky we are to be alive right now.”

𝐅𝐀𝐑𝐌𝐄𝐑 𝐑𝐄𝐅𝐔𝐓𝐄𝐃

“They have not your interests at heart.”

“Oh my God, tear this dude apart.”

“Chaos and bloodshed are not a solution.”

“Don't let them lead you astray.”

“They're playing a dangerous game.”

“It's hard to listen to you with a straight face.”

“Chaos and bloodshed already haunt us.”

“Honestly, you shouldn't even talk.”

“My dog speaks more eloquently than thee.”

“If you repeat yourself again I'm gonna scream.”

“I'd rather be divisive than indecisive.”

“Drop the niceties.”

𝐘𝐎𝐔'𝐋𝐋 𝐁𝐄 𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊

“You say the price of my love's not a price that you're willing to pay.”

“Why so sad?”

“Remember, we made an arrangement.”

“Now you're making me mad.”

“Remember, despite our estrangement, I'm your man.”

“You'll be back, soon you'll see.”

“You'll remember you belong to me.”

“You'll remember that I served you well.”

“You'll be the one complaining when I am gone.”

“Don't change the subject!”

“I will fight the fight and win the war.”

“I'll love you 'til my dying days.”

“When you're gone, I'll go mad.”

“Don't throw away this thing we had.”

“I will kill your friends and family to remind you of my love.”

𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒

“You got me helpless.”

“I have never been the type to try and grab the spotlight.”

“You walked in, and my heart went boom.”

“This one's mine.”

“Where are you taking me?”

“I'm about to change your life.”

“By all means, lead the way.”

“Thank you for all your service.”

“If it takes fighting a war for us to meet, it will have been worth it.”

“My life gets better every letter that you write me.”

“I'm just sayin', if you really loved me, you would share him/her/them.”

“There's nothing that your mind can't do.”

“I don't have a dollar to my name.”

“Your family brings out a different side of me.”

“My love for you was never in doubt.”

“I've been living without a family since I was a child.”

“I look into your eyes, and the sky's the limit.”

𝐒𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐒𝐅𝐈𝐄𝐃

“I just might regret that night for the rest of my days.”

“I'll never forget the first time I saw your face.”

“This is not a game.”

“You strike me as a woman/man/person who has never been satisfied.”

“I'm sure I don't know what you mean.”

“You're like me, I'm never satisfied.”

“I have never been satisfied.”

“Where's your family from?”

“There's a million things I haven't done.”

“So this is what it feels like to match wits with someone at your level!”

“I'm a girl in a world in which my only job is to marry rich.”

“I'd have to be naïve to set that aside.”

“I know my sister like I know my own mind.”

“You will never find anyone as trusting or as kind.”

“May you always be satisfied.”

“I will never be satisfied.”

𝐖𝐀𝐈𝐓 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐈𝐓

“Love doesn't discriminate between the sinners and the saints.”

“There are things that the homilies and hymns won't teach ya.”

“My mother was a genius, my father commanded respect.”

“When they died they left no instructions, just a legacy to protect.”

“Death doesn't discriminate between the sinners and the saints.”

“If there's a reason I'm still alive when everyone who loves me has died, I'm willing to wait for it.”

“I'm not standing still, I am lying in wait.”

“Life doesn't discriminate between the sinners and the saints.”

“If there's a reason I'm still alive when so many have died, then I'm willing to wait for it.”

𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐘 𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐄

“There’s only one way for us to win this.”

“Hit ‘em quick, get out fast.”

“Stay alive ‘til this horror show is past.”

“We’re gonna fly a lot of flags half-mast.”

“Yeah, he’s not the choice I would have gone with.”

“What are you doing, [name]? Get back on your feet!.”

“History will prove them wrong.”

“We have a war to fight, let’s move along.”

“I can’t disobey direct orders.”

“You're the closest friend I've got.”

“Don't throw away your shot.”

𝐓𝐄𝐍 𝐃𝐔𝐄𝐋 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒

“If they apologize, no need for further action.”

“Time to get some pistols and a doctor on site.”

“Duel before the sun is in the sky.”

“Pick a place to die where it’s high and dry.”

“Pray that hell or heaven lets you in.”

“Can we agree that duels are dumb and immature?”

“Your man has to answer for his words.”

“Okay, so we’re doing this.”

“Look ‘em in the eye, aim no higher.”

“Summon all the courage you require.”

𝐌𝐄𝐄𝐓 𝐌𝐄 𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄

“Do you yield?”

“You shot him in the side.”

“Yo, we gotta clear the field.”

“This should be fun.”

“What is the meaning of this?”

“Meet me inside.”

“Don't call me son.”

“We called his bluff!”

“Watch your tone.”

“I am not a maiden in need of defending.”

“They take your name and they rake it through the mud!”

“My name's been through a lot, I can take it.”

“We need you alive!”

“I am more than willing to die.”

“I need you alive!”

𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐖𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃 𝐁𝐄 𝐄𝐍𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇

“How long have you known?”

“You should have told me.”

“I'm not sorry.”

“You deserve a chance to meet your son/daughter/child.”

“Will you relish being a poor man's wife, unable to provide for your life?”

“I relish being your wife.”

“The fact that you're alive is a miracle.”

“Just stay alive, that would be enough.”

“I don't pretend to know the challenges you're facing.”

“I'm not afraid.”

“I know who I married.”

“So long as you come home at the end of the day, that would be enough.”

“We don't need a legacy.”

“We don't need money.”

“Let me be a part of the narrative.”

𝐆𝐔𝐍𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐏𝐒

“Yo, turns out we have a secret weapon.”

“I'm taking this horse by the reigns.”

“And so the balance shifts.”

“For this to succeed, there is someone else we need.”

“No one has more resilience, or matches my practical tactical brilliance.”

“You wanna fight for your land back?”

“I need my right-hand man back!”

“If you join us right now, together we can turn the tide.”

“The world will never be the same.”

𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐇𝐀𝐒 𝐈𝐓'𝐒 𝐄𝐘𝐄𝐒 𝐎𝐍 𝐘𝐎𝐔

“I was younger than you are now when I was given my first command.”

“I led my men straight into a massacre.”

“I witnessed their deaths firsthand.”

“I made every mistake and felt the shame rise in me.”

“History has its eyes on me.”

“Let me tell you what I wish I'd known when I was young and dreamed of glory.”

“You have no control who lives, who dies, who tells your story.”

“I know that we can win.”

“I know that greatness lies in you.”

“Remember from here on in, history has its eyes on you.”

𝐘𝐎𝐑𝐊𝐓𝐎𝐖𝐍 (𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐋𝐃 𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐍𝐄𝐃 𝐔𝐏𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄 𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐍)

“Immigrants, we get the job done.”

“'If this is the end of me, at least I have a friend with me.”

“We gotta go, gotta get the job done.”

“We move undercover and we move as one.”

“We have one shot to live another day.”

“We will fight up close, seize the moment and stay in it.”

“We had a spy on the inside, that's right.”

“We're in the shit now, somebody's gotta shovel it!”

“When you knock me down, I get the fuck back up again!”

“And just like that, it's over.”

“The world turned upside down.”

𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐎𝐃𝐎𝐒𝐈𝐀

“I'm dedicating every day to you.”

“Domestic life was never quite my style.”

“When you smile, you knock me out.”

“We'll bleed and fight for you.”

“When you smile, I am undone.”

“Pride is not the word I'm looking for. There is so much more inside me now.”

“You outshine the morning sun.”

“When you smile, I fall apart.”

“My father wasn't around.”

“I swear that I'll be around for you.”

“I'll do whatever it takes.”

“I'll make the world safe and sound for you.”

“You'll blow us all away.”

𝐍𝐎𝐍-𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐏

“Are you aware that we're making history?”

“Why do you assume you're the smartest in the room?”

“Soon that attitude may be your doom!”

“Why do you write like you're running out of time?”

“I've seen injustice in the world, and I've corrected it.”

“Now, what I'm going to say may sound indelicate.”

“Why do you always say what you believe?”

“Every day, you fight like it's going out of style.”

“Can we confer?”

“What do you need?”

“I know I talk too much, I'm abrasive.”

“You're succinct, persuasive.”

“Hear me out!”

“We have to start somewhere.”

“You're making a mistake.”

“What are you waiting for? What do you stall for?”

“What if you're backing the wrong horse?”

“For once in your life, take a stand with pride!”

“I don't understand how you stand to the side.”

“I'll keep all my plans close to my chest.”

“I'll wait here and see which way the wind will blow.”

“There's no one who can match you for turn of phrase.”

“Don't forget to write.”

“If I could grant you peace of mind, would that be enough?”

“They're asking me to lead.”

“I'm doing the best I can.”

“I'm asking you to be my right-hand man.”

“I know it's a lot to ask, to leave behind the world you know.”

“Look around! Isn't this enough?”

#ask meme #sentence starters #dialogue prompt #rp meme #hamilton #hamilton the musical

[teamxdark]

29. Duel

"Good morning sunshine," Rouge sing-songed, shuffling a deck of cards as Shadow stepped into frame.

"What nonsense do you have for me this time?" Shadow asked unenthusiastically.

"Right to the point, glad to see it. Well! Have you heard of the gaming phenomenon known as Fuzzy Puppies?"

Shadow didn't make any kind of reaction, clearly hoping to blow through this whole ordeal before it became his whole day. Rouge decided to take it in stride.

"Eventually the manufacturer realized that a) producing and collecting figurines costs more than most people are willing to spend for a strategy game, and b) cards are cheaper to make and buy, easier to collect, and ultimately more profitable as a whole. Thus… drum roll please?"

Shadow maintained his silence as Omega rolled an oil drum across the grotto in the background of the shot.

"...Good enough. Ta-daaaaa!" She shoved the cards into Shadow's face, filling his vision with brightly-colored designs and text far too small to read comfortably. "Dueling Dogs! Registered spin-off card game of Fuzzy Puppies. Now with additional accessories, terrains, and commands!"

Shadow pushed the cards away from his face. "How much did they pay you to say that?"

"Shadow, please. I may have my price, but I'm no sellout. So, when are you going to play with me?"

"Never. Your asinine games are of no interest to me… plus the artstyle is trash."

"YOU ARE TRASH!" Omega retaliated from the top of his oil drum tower, which was still under construction.

"And a chicken," Rouge dismissed, waving the cards in front of his face as a taunt.

"Oh no you don't," Shadow growled, swatting her hand away. "I'm not going to be fooled that easy."

Not again, his mind supplied unhelpfully, recalling all the times Rouge and Omega and Eggman had roped him into something stupid and unworthy of his time, just by implying that he was unwilling to take the challenge. He was the Ultimate Lifeform! This challenge and all those others were beneath him! He would not be swayed--

"Win a game against me and I won't bother you for a whole two weeks."

Shadow's interest flared in spite of himself. "I don't think that's possible for you," he sneered, trying his best to save face. "And why should I trust your word?"

Rouge's wings flapped in what might have been genuine offense. "When have I ever steered you wrong?"

Shadow glared at her.

"...Rhetorical question. The real question is… is it still worth it to try?"

"I don't know how to play," Shadow pointed out, crossing his arms.

"You're a smart guy, you can figure it out," Rouge wheedled.

"THE WINNER WILL ALSO GET THE PRIVILEGE OF SITTING AT THE BASE OF MY TOWER," Omega added, sweetening the deal by gesturing to his oil drum tower that by all means should not have fit in the grotto.

"Pretty good deal, huh Shaddy?"

"Call me that again and I'm shaving your head."

"First of all, rude! Second of all…"

She slammed a unopened deck of cards in front of him with a grin.

"These are for you~ Make your own doggy army, but remember that you can't win with dogs alone! It's the accessories, terrains and--"

"You say this like I've never played a card game before," scoffed Shadow, who had never played a card game before.

"Well okay then." Rouge grinned at him, dragging a play mat out of nowhere and setting it in between them both on the flat-ish rock that served as their table. "Let's duel!"

As Shadow looked from the designated play spots on the mat to the cards still wrapped in a layer of protective plastic, he steeled his resolve to win this game as quickly as possible.

After all, that oil drum tower looked dope.

#Smash writes. #Boomtober. #Dark Boom.

[websterss]

𝐅𝐎𝐎𝐋𝐄𝐃— 𝐓𝐎𝐌 𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐃

𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘: Perhaps there’s more than meets the eye. More underneath the surface than pretty faces and rich mobsters.

𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆(𝐒): Angst, some fluff, mentions of dying, mentions of blood

𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓: 4,759

𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆: Tom Holland x fem!Reader

𝐀/𝐍: Reposting old fics!!!

𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓

“Listen close, and listen well, my dear. Because I am only going to say this once.” You sat up straighter as Josephine began. 

“There is an unruly world that we live in that involves hungry powered men. All seemingly different, yet they desire the same thing. Money, control, sex. You name it.” She walked the space in front of your chair. 

She was a prestigious woman. You could clearly understand why many respected her. She was someone who you admired. She was your mere inspiration if you must. 

“Now these men, they all rise in that higher power status. They got their luxurious houses, the fancy cars, the women that they desire after.” Josephine rolled her eyes at that. “They got it all my dear. When men have it all it becomes an easy target for us to praise them upon.” She paused and cupped your chin. “Tell me, Y/n. Why are women better suited to the con than men?” 

“Cause we’re used to faking it?” You shrugged nonchalantly. Josephine pursed her lips as she became assumed by your answer. 

“Well yes…but not quite what I was looking for.” She shook her finger in a no motion. “It all comes down to one universal truth. No man will ever believe a woman is smarter than he is. We will always be underestimated and that is what we use against them.” 

“So what does this have to do with me?” 

“You, my dear, are the key!” Josephine smiled down at you. 

“The key?” You raised your brow in confusion. “Key to what?” You turned around in your chair as she walked over to her bookshelf. 

“The key to helping me get something of mine back.” Josephine walked over with a binder. She opened it up to a certain page and held it out for you to inspect. “See that my dear?” 

“Yeah…It’s a necklace.” You muttered. 

“This isn’t just any ordinary necklace. This is the ruby red or as they like to call it the Rosette. It is very old and very precious.” Josephine caressed the picture with her hand. 

“It can’t be that old. How much is it even worth?”

“Oh, you know…about eight million.” She brushed it off as if the price was nothing. 

“Excuse me?” You gaped at her. “That’s more than enough to pay off student loans!” You trailed off suddenly feeling down. You only stole what you could conjure at certain times. It paid the bills. 

Tricking and robbing desperate and needy men who were willing to help sort out a money problem of yours just like that. You could never reach the luxury life Josephine revolved around. 

“This is insane…” You looked down at your lap. 

“I didn’t bring you here just to use your gift my dear. Though I must say, you can certainly fool any man like no other.” She chuckled to lighten the mood a bit. “I was impressed by your work. Pure talent might I say.” 

“Yeah, well once you’re left fending for yourself for so long, you tend to pick up a few things.” You muttered. It was quiet for a second then you spoke up again. “This is all I know, Josephine. This is how I provide for myself. It’s not always fun and games for me. Sometimes it’s a necessary cause, even if it may be wrong at times.” You looked at her eyes. 

“You’re special, Y/n.” You scoffed and rolled your eyes. “Believe me, I see something in you that no one else can.” 

“Like what?” 

“Myself.” You slowly turned your head to stare at her. “I see a lot of myself in you. You remind me so much of when I was younger. You got that charm and charisma inside of you. You can do so much good with it. You can do a lot of good for yourself too.” 

“Yeah, right.” You shook your head in disbelief. 

“The only way to go is up, my dear.” Josephine patted your knee, gave you a genuine smile, then walked out the room leaving you to your thoughts. 

What have I gotten myself into? You thought to yourself. 

- 

“What do men want? 

“Boobies. To hit the back door. Wait, no! The front door. It’s either that or a threesome.” You pointed at her with a smirk. You were standing in a massive walk-in closet. Racks holding different styles, different materials as well. “Oh my god this is Gucci!” You picked up a designer handbag. 

“They want to be heroes.” She brushed off your childish answers. “There is nothing more compelling to a man than a vulnerable woman.” She walked over to you and smacked your hand, she took the bag from you. “Focus please and this is Louis Vuitton.” 

“Whatever you say, boss.” You stifled a laugh, then continued going down further into the closet. Eyeing everything you always dreamed of owning. The fanciest thing you owned was a Dolce and Gabbana cocktail dress, and even then you had stolen that. Josephine stopped talking to watch you. You gazed and observed the clothing. You radiated a child-like innocence. There was a twinkle in your eyes as you let your hand trail across each item, each material of fabrics. Josephine couldn’t help the smile that formed on her face. 

“We’ll get to the make-over in a bit, can you please focus now.” Her voice was playful yet serious, letting you know that you had to listen up. “Okay, where was I…” She trailed off. You leaned back into the love seat. 

“What do men want...” You sighed and waited for her to speak again. 

“Ah yes thank you.” She pointed at you with an appreciative smile. “Vulnerability. Nothing compels a man more than a woman who is in distress. For example.” Josephine paused as she feigned upset, her eyes glazing over with tears. She pressed her fingertips to her lips as she shook her head. The sniffles that followed almost made you want to hug her. 

You had to give it to her, it was quite impressive. You slowly clapped for her performance. Josephine wiped away the single tear that was on her eyelid and went back to smiling as she was moments ago. “The more vulnerable you appear the more it will make a man want to cheer you up. They will tend to offer you nice things, and provide comfort. Trust me the more you make yourself look helpless in front of men like these, the more it will help boost their confidence and ego. No matter how big it may appear already.” Josephine rolled her eyes. 

“A man wants to do everything he can to make us, the damsels, happy again.” 

“You think they’ll fall for me?” You eyed her. A bit of doubt and curiosity lingered in the air. 

“He will, my dear.” Josephine eyed you with a smirk. 

“He?” That definitely caught your attention. 

“I think it’s time I inform you about your target.” Josephine walked over to a table that sat at a corner and picked up a manilla folder. She walked over to you and held it out for you to grab. You opened it up and briefly began skimming through the file. 

“Y/n are you ready?” You glanced up from the folder and looked her dead in the eye. 

“Yes.” 

- 

The Annual Holland Gala. A high entailed event, with rich entitled snobs. The more money you had the more important you seemed to others. In your case, you were neither, the play was to appear helpless and in need of chariting. 

Josephine really outdid herself with your look. A Louis Vuitton dress. Red as preferred, for it was the favorite color of your target. There ran a slit down the side of your right thigh. Your hair and makeup were done to the nines. As for your lips, you dawned on a darker red color shade. The heels you wore were killing your feet but damn did you feel great. As for anything else you might have forgotten about, you were feeling amazing. You certainly felt like a million bucks.

However, how you felt about yourself didn’t mask how nervous you were. Josephine had gone over the plan with you multiple times until she was sure you had it in the bag. Although she didn’t doubt for a second that you couldn’t. She knew what you were capable of. That’s why she chose you in the first place.

Your car came to a halt in front of the grand entrance. A set of steps to climb with a black carpet laid over them. It was a nice touch.

You closed your eyes and reminded yourself it was only good thoughts from here on out. A man opened your door and offered his hand to help you out. On your behalf, you were appreciative of the gesture and how chivalry isn’t dead…but realized it was probably his job. People were paid to do this kind of thing, it was normal for the elite society, but it certainly wasn’t for you.

“Thank you.” You smiled gratefully at the man who smiled gently at you. He guided you onto the first step and then let you make your way inside on your own. You were amazed by the number of people who showed up. 

You took a deep breath and walked further into the room. Many men clad in expensive suits drinking away glasses of champagne. Others with their special arm candies at their sides. With each step, your heels clicked on the tile floor. You grabbed a glass off of one of the trays a waiter was walking around with. Quickly downing it as you got it. Once you gulped it all up, you placed the empty glass on a different tray and reached for another one. Liquid courage is what they say, right?

Yet you weren’t too keen on getting full-on wasted. You had a task that needed to see its end. You read the room for a bit, eyeing each and every single man. Hoping you’d see the one you were looking for. You sighed and walked over to the bar. Taking a seat on one of the stools, you ordered a rum and coke to start yourself on. 

- 

Tom leaned against the walls that were in the far corners. His attention focused on his phone. Apart from having to make an appearance at the stupid gala he didn’t want to attend, he was going through one of the biggest deals that could increase his business even more than it already was. 

“Seriously?” Tom’s head swiveled as he saw his blonde friend approach. “Instead of mingling, you’re on your bloody phone, what would your mother say of this?” Harrison shook his head. 

“She’s not here, so she can’t say much.” Tom chuckled as he glanced back down at his phone. 

“Tom…” Harrison stared at his best friend with an unamused expression. “Come on, it’s a party. You promised you’d loosen up tonight.” Harrison crossed his arms over his chest. 

“Yeah…just let me finish this.” Tom brushed him off, continuing to type away. His phone was then snatched out of his hands. He looked annoyed. “Give it.” He motioned. Harrison pocketed the device in his slacks. 

“Nope.” Harrison shook his head. 

“Harrison,” Tom warned him with a smile. 

“Not happening, go enjoy yourself.” He motioned towards the sea of people in the room. Just as he said this the click of a gun became clear to his ears. 

“How about now?” Tom asked with a smirk. 

“Can you not be Tom, the leader of the biggest mob in all of London, for one second?” Harrison didn’t falter as he felt the gun on his abdomen. “You’re a dick ya know.” Harrison rolled his eyes as he gave the phone back to Tom. 

“I know.” Tom laughed as he opened the phone back up. “Seriously, go and ya know…find yourself a pretty girl. Get drunk for all I care, just step away from the business shit for the night.” Harrison patted his shoulder then left to go and join everyone else. 

Tom watched his right-hand man walk away. He looked back down at his messages and frowned. He sighed then pocketed his phone. He pushed himself off the wall and decided to head towards the bar instead. 

- 

Damselled and Distressed. 

The words echoed in your head. Just as you were about to pay the bartender for the drink a body slid onto the stool right next to yours. In the corner of your eyes, you noticed a hint of brown curls. 

“Can I get a pale ale, thanks.” The man nodded and went down to the bar to retrieve his drink. The bartender popped the lid off the beer and handed it over to the person next to you. He was quick to tip the bartender a generous amount. The guy with his now paid beer turned around in his seat to look at the crowd of people. His back was to the bar. The bartender then looked at you expectantly. 

“The drinks don’t come free, miss.” He chuckled lightly. 

“Well of course not.” You chuckled along with him. You smiled then pulled out your handbag to get your money. You furrowed your brows for show and you moved things around. “Uh…” You lightly looked up to the bartender with an uneasy smile. “Just give me a second.” You frantically started taking things out of your bag. “My money’s gone!” You panic. “I must’ve left my cash on my nightstand.” You frowned. You accepted the fact that you couldn’t pay and nodded towards the bartender to take your drink. 

The bartender nodded slowly and right as he was reaching out for the glass. A few bills of cash were placed in front of you and the bartender. Your eyes followed the arm that was extended out with the cash up to the face of your savior. 

“It’s on me, love.” The melodious voice was music to your ears. He threw you a dazzling smile, one that seemed to reach his eyes. “I believe the lady would love her drink back.” He said to the bartender. 

The guy nodded at him and placed your glass back down. The bartender grabbed the bills getting ready to hand a few of them back. 

“Keep it.” The man next to you put his hand up. A smile and a simple thank you followed suit. 

“Thank you.” You smiled at the man. “My hero.” You giggled. 

“Don’t mention it, love.” He turned and took a sip of his beer. You furrowed your brows as you thought he’d want to keep the conversation going. You caressed a strand of hair behind your ear. “Quite the party huh?” You began half-heartedly laughing. 

“Not quite my scene.” 

“And why is that? Too many snobby rich folks for you to handle?” As you said that a small smile peaked its way onto his lips. You had him right where you wanted. 

“I’m Tom.” He smiled at you and extended his hand out for you to shake. You placed yours in his. 

“Y/n.” 

“Beautiful name, love.” Heat rose to your cheeks. You looked up and noticed how his attention was solemnly on you now. You were really in for it tonight. 

“So Y/n.” He smiled. “What brings you here?” 

“Well… same as everyone else.” You said seriously. You paused then continued. “Free drinks.” You giggled when he chuckled too. “Well, not so free drinks.” You lifted your glass to your lips and took a sip. “Thank you again.” Tom tipped his glass to you. He eyed you carefully as you drank from your drink. Not a sign of realization crossing your face. Surely you must’ve known who he was. The only reason many of these rich snobs showed up was because of him. 

They knew of him or knew him personally, yet they were all afraid of him. If you were here because of the same reasons as everyone else then surely you were here because you knew who he was. Then again it was rare to meet someone who didn’t know about him or the work he did. He had to admit he was happy. No worries of having someone throw hate or judgment towards him. Not having to protect another person he cared about. 

“Getting off track there Y/n, dear.” The com in your left ear spoke. You cleared your throat a bit and focused on the matter in front of you. 

“Wanna go somewhere…quieter?” You let out a small breathy laugh, acting like you were nervous. 

“Thought you’d never ask.” He smiled gratefully wanting to get away from the massive amount of human bodies whose pockets were filled with too much, but not as much as he had though. Harrison caught sight of the two of you and found Tom’s eye. Tom simply nodded his head. An unspoken conversation happening between the two. Harrison then turned back around and spoke in his earpiece.

- 

You and Tom walked up the stairs in step with each other as you reached the end of the marvelous hallway. You couldn’t help but smile. As much as you enjoyed the peace and quiet, you felt guilty for trying to rob him. 

“Here we are!” Tom opened a door to one room and let you enter first. Once he turned on the lights, you were greeted with a bedroom, larger than you’ve ever seen. 

“It’s lovely.” You looked over your shoulder as you made your way to sit on the edge of the bed. 

“Glad you think so.” Tom stripped off his jacket and draped it over one of the chairs on the corner. He uncuffed his cufflinks and rolled up his sleeves to his arms. He then walked to you. You stared at him wondering what he was doing. You felt your heart skip when he kneeled in front of you. You felt his hand travel up your right slit. 

“T-Tom?” You protested but he interrupted you by placing a finger to his lips shaking his head. He was telling you to be quiet, then he surprised you by leaning forward and brushing your hair behind your left ear. He took the earpiece out of your ear and turned it off. You swallowed nervously. He kept a calm and steady composure, and that honestly scared you more than anything. 

“Good now she can’t hear us! You almost fooled me there, darling.” He chuckled but his voice then grew dark and lower. “How stupid do you think I am?” He cocked his head to the side as he was towering over you. He had finally stood up and placed his hands on either side of you. 

“I don’t-” Your breath hitched in the back of your throat as you felt his hand run up your right leg and through the slit, right where your gun rested very closely to your core. He kept his eyes directly on yours as he slowly removed his hand that now held your gun. He then observed the gun then clocked it. You were surely done for at that moment. “How many rounds?” He kept aiming the gun past you. 

“Twelve.” You gulped. At this point, you were dreading everything. “You’re going to kill me aren’t you?” You shed a tear as you shrunk down. Tom stopped what he was doing, and stared at you for a moment. He took a seat next to you and wiped another tear from your cheek. He smiled. He smiled at you and for once you felt like he truly meant it this time. 

“No. At least not you of course.” He caressed your hair behind your ear. “It was Josephine in your ear, wasn’t it, love? She involved you in her messy business, huh?” He whispered. A sad given smile made its way onto his lips. Your silence and more tears being shed gave him his answer. “She has the tendency to break even the most innocent souls. Guess you were her next girl.” Tom avoided your gaze and brought his hand up to yours. You began to protest. 

“Josephine wouldn’t-” 

“Wouldn’t do that. Wouldn’t betray you after you gave her your trust. After all she’s done for you, right?” Tom stood up and spoke out your thoughts. 

“She-” You muttered. 

“Did she promise you anything?” You kept quiet. “Perhaps a luxurious life? There is a reason as to why she picked you, I’m assuming.” He observed you. “Did she say you were special?” He waited and then you picked your head up to look at him. “There it is!” He muttered softly. “She made you feel like you were important to her.” 

“I thought-” 

“You thought if you did this one thing for her, she would be proud of you. Tell me Y/n, what was it she wanted you to steal?” You stared at him for a moment then stuttered. 

“The Rosette.” Tom’s shoulders stiffened. 

“My mother’s necklace.” He said. 

“Tom, I’m so sorry.” 

“You couldn’t have known love. At least you’re safe now.” 

“Why are you doing this? You don’t even know me.” You finally stood up. 

“This isn’t the first time Josephine has intervened in my life, darling. You weren’t the first girl she’s fooled and tricked. The only difference between you and the first girl is that you’re still alive…” He trailed off. 

“What are you–was she–was she going to kill me after this?” You looked at him scared and bewildered. “Oh…Oh my god!” Your knees gave out and Tom barely caught you in time before you hit the floor. 

“Hey look at me, my men are taking care of her, okay, she’s not going to get the chance okay. I promise. I’m not letting someone else die because of that woman!” Just as he said this, multiple bangs and shots echoed through the bedroom door, out into the hallways. Tom helped you up and stared at the door. He looked around and came up with a quick plan. 

“Do you trust me?” He held your arms and stared into your eyes. You nodded yes. He led you over to the window and you tugged at his arms immediately. “Darling, please trust me.” He pleaded. 

“I do.” You whispered as more tears shed from your eyes. 

“Come on now.” You took your heels off and got on the ledge. You gasped as you noticed how high up you were. 

“There you go.” Tom looked over his shoulder, the gunshots still going. “Alright, Y/n I need you to make it to that far corner, okay? Can you do that for me?” 

“Y-Yes.” You breathed out. trying to lean against the side of the walls as much as you could. 

“Nothing will happen to you okay, just keep going.” You nodded and slowly kept walking across the ledge. Tom closed the window and hid your heels by opening the vent on the floor and tossing them in there. Just in time for him to steady his composure and pretend he was looking out the window. The door to the bedroom was kicked open and non-other than Josephine walked in. Gun pointed at the mobster. 

“Josephine.” Tom with a monotone expression. 

“Thomas, where is she?” 

“Who?” 

“I don’t have time for games, where is she?” 

“Did you seriously have to come in guns blazing?” He averted her question. 

“Unless you want a bullet between those gorgeous brown eyes of yours, I suggest you speak.” She smiled sweetly.

“I don’t take orders from you darling.” Tom stared at her amused. 

“Eve took my orders well.” His shoulder stiffened. Josephine smirked knowing full well that did the trick. 

“Shut up.” He warned. 

“Or what, you’ll hurt me.” She laughed. “You won’t.” She tempted him. Tom didn’t hesitate to raise his gun and shoot her in the shoulder. The shot caused her to stumble back and fall. 

“You just shot me!” 

“You said I wouldn’t. You know better that to test me.” He shrugged nonchalantly. Josephine only laughed and smiled through the pain. 

“She’s on the ledge isn’t she?” She pointed at him. Tom almost let his composure slip. 

“What makes you assume so?” He tilted his head. 

“For one that’s her gun, and two her earpiece is on the bed.” She smirked. Tom silently cursed at himself. 

“You’re not going to get to her, Josephine.” Tom stood protective over the window 

“Trying to make up for the loss of your girl by saving another one? This isn’t going to bring Eve back. A bullet to the skull can cause some serious brain damage. Let alone kill someone instantly.” She chuckled. “Remember that?” 

“Everyday.” He admitted. 

“Good.” She shot him in the lower abdomen and walked over to the window. Tom fell and clutched his now bleeding wound. She opened it up and right as she stuck her head out, you had rounded the corner just like Tom asked you to. You were nowhere in sight for Josephine to see you. Josephine cursed out loud and looked back at Tom. 

“Oh sweetie, cheer up, this is what you’ve been waiting for! You finally get to be with Eve.” She patted his cheek and left the room passing all the bodies of his dead men. This isn’t at all what he wanted. He waited a couple seconds then pushed himself to get up and struggled. He maneuvered over to the window and called out your name. 

“Y/n!” He rasped out as loud as he could. You peered around the corner and saw him. You sighed and slowly made your way back to the window. It took you a few minutes, but it wasn’t as bad. Once you reached the window Tom immediately pulled you in and closed it. He wrapped his arms around you. His back facing the closed window and yours facing the door. You pulled apart and smiled gently at him. He brought a hand up to cup your cheek, red tainting your skin from his wounds. He winced, knees buckling as he fell. You held him upright as best as you could.

“T-Tom?” You gasped when you finally noticed his bloody shirt. “Oh my god!” You cried out as you tried setting him down gently. You lowered him on the floor into a sitting position with his legs sprawled out. You kneeled right in front of him putting as much pressure as you could to his wound. He groaned out in pain. 

“I have to put pressure on it, okay? Just stay with me Tom, stay with-” You whined. Two shots that rang out before Tom realized what was wrong. Your mouth opened ajar. Your hands on Tom’s abdomen eased up with the pressure. You slowly glanced down seeing the two wounds begin to release blood from your stomach. The blood made your dress appear even darker than it already was. Tom had followed your eyes and cried out as he saw your two gunshot wounds. 

“N-No…” He croaked out as tears formed in his eyes. A broken sob emitting past his lips. 

“Tom...” You whined then slowly felt forward on top of his lap. Your head hitting his chest. Another three shots rang out which had him closing his eyes and flinching. He heard a body hit the floor and opened his eyes. There in front of him stood Harrison towering over a dead Josephine. He lowered his gun and hurried over to the two of you. Tom broke down then and there. 

“Help her, please!” He pleaded and cried out. He raised one of his hands cupping your face delicately. Your eyes were closed. “Y/n?” He gently nudged you. You didn’t even flinch. He cried. Never in his life has Harrison seen Tom like this. It broke his heart watching him break like this. Harrison checks you for a pulse but never finds one. He closes his eyes and lets a tear roll down his cheek. He had seen many things working for Tom, but this may have topped it all. Tom stared down at you, every ache in his body going numb.

“I promised. I promised her, Harrison.” He whined. “I can’t save anyone.” He closed his eyes as he held you tightly against his chest. “I couldn’t protect her…” He whispered. He inhaled deeply then slowly but surely let out his final breath of air. Tom grips on you released, and Harrison sheds another few tears as he watches his best friend’s head lop to the side. 

“Tom? Tom!”

#tom holland #tom holland imagine #tom holland imagines #tom holland x reader #tom holland x fem!reader #tom holland oneshot #my gif #writings by juls

[maryoliverdotcom]

the argives if they had a megaphone (supplied to them by @gooseberry--fool) in the trojan war.

part 1.

Agamemnon—furious, his dark heart filled to the brim, blazing with anger now, his eyes like searing fire. With a sudden, killing look he wheeled on Calchas, who put his lips to the weapon in vain and, snatching it, yelled into the mighty resonating weapon: 

"Seer of misery! Never a word that works to my advantage! Always misery warms your heart, your prophecies never a word of profit said or brought to pass. Now, again, you divine god's will for the armies, bruit it about, as fact, why the deadly Archer multiplies our pains: because I. I refused that glittering price for the young girl Chryseis. Indeed, I prefer her by far, the girl herself. I want her mine in my own house! I rank her higher than Clytemnestra. my wedded wife—she's nothing less in build or breeding, in mind or works of hand. But I am willing to give her back, even so, if that is best for all. What I really want is to keep my people safe, not see them dying. But fetch me another prize, and straight off too, else I alone of the Argives go without my honor. That would be a disgrace. You are all witness, look—my prize is snatched away!" 

But the swift runner Achilles clawed at the megaphone and, once he had it in his possession, threw Agamemnon a dirty look and his voice boomed: 

"Just how, Agamemnon, great field marshal ... most grasping man alive, how can the generous Argives give you prizes now? I know of no troves of treasure, piled, lying idle, anywhere. Whatever we dragged from towns we plundered, all's been portioned out. But collect it, call it back from the rank and file? That would be the disgrace. So return the girl to the god, at least for now. We Achaeans will pay you back, three, four times over, if Zeus will grant us the gift, somehow, someday, to raze Trov's massive ramparts to the gr—”

Before he knew it, the large object supplied to him by the big-mouthed Argive in exuberant spirits was seized by Agamemnon, lord of men. 

“Not so quickly, brave as you are, godlike Achilles—trying to cheat me. Oh no, you won't get past me, take me in that way! What do you want? To cling to your own prize while I sit calmly by-empty-handed here? Is that why you order me to give her back? No-if our generous Argives will give me a prize, a match for my desires, equal to what I've lost, well and good. But if they give me nothing I will take a prize myself-your own, or Ajax' or Odysseus' prize—I’ll commandeer her myself and let that man I go to visit choke with rage! Enough. We'll deal with all this later, in due time. Now come, we haul a black ship down to the bright sea, gather a decent number of oarsmen along her locks and put aboard a sacrifice, and Chryseis herself, in all her beauty, we embark her too. Let one of the leading captains take command. Ajax, ldomeneus, trusty Odysseus or you, Achilles, you—the most violent man alive—so you can perform the rites for us and calm the god yourself.”

Agamemnon’s voice boomed throughout the entire battalion, causing a few warriors to cover their ears with their hands. This was a mighty object, this, and Achilles resolved to have it for himself and his words. And so, the headstrong runner, seizing this weapon for himself, cast a dark glance Agamemnon’s way and put his lips to it. The discombobulated look on the mighty Agamemnon’s face gave him nearly as much satisfaction as having the delightful Briseis back.

“Shameless—armored in shamelessness—always shrewd with greed! How could any Argive soldier obey your orders, freely and gladly do your sailing for you or fight your enemies, full force? Not I, no. It wasn't Trojan spearmen who brought me here to fight. The Trojans never did me damage, not in the least, they never stole my cattle or my horses, never in Phthia where the rich soil breeds strong men did they lay waste on my crops. How could they? Look at the endless miles that lie between us ... shadowy mountain ranges, seas that surge and thunder. No, you colossal, shameless, we all followed you, to please you, to fight for you, to win your honor back from the Trojans—Menelaus and you, you dog-face! What do you care? Nothing. You don't look right or left. And now you threaten to strip me of my prize in person—the one I fought for long and hard, and sons of Achaea handed her to me. 

“My honors never equal yours, whenever we sack some wealthy Trojan stronghold—my arms bear the brunt of the raw, savage fighting, true, but when it comes to dividing up the plunder the lion's share is yours, and back I go to my ships, clutching some scrap, some pittance that I love, when I have fought to exhaustion. No more now—back I go to Phthia. Better that way by far, to journey home in the beaked ships of war. I have no mind to linger here disgraced, brimming your cup and piling up your plunder.”

The lord of men Agamemnon, furious, laid his hands on the weapon and spoke into it:

“Desert, by all means—if the spirit drives you home! I will never beg you to stay, not on my account. Never—others will take my side and do me honor, Zeus above all, whose wisdom rules the world. You—I hate you most of all the warlords loved by the gods. Always dear to your heart, strife, yes, and battles, the bloody grind of war. What if you are a great soldier? That's just a gift of god. Go home with your ships and comrades, lord it over your Myrmidons! You are nothing to me—you and your overweening anger! But let this be my warning on your way: since Apollo insists on taking my Chryseis, I'll send her back in my own ships with my crew. But I, I will be there in person at your tents to take Briseis in all her beauty, your own prize—so you can learn just how much greater I am than you and the next man up may shrink from matching words with me, from hoping to rival Agamemnon strength for strength!”

He broke off and anguish gripped Achilles. The heart in his rugged chest was pounding, torn… if the mighty weapon could amplify the human voice so, perhaps it may prove useful in manslaughter as well. Should he thrust through the ranks, seize it from the mighty Agamemnon and kill him now? —or check his rage and beat his fury down?

[enter Hera and Pallas Athene, ready to save the day and dial down the drama. Killjoys.]

[Book 10, beginning from 319.]

And so, both harnessed up in the grim gear of war, the two men moved out, leaving behind them all the captains clustered on the spot. Athena winged a heron close to their path and veering right. Neither man could see it, scanning the dark night, they only heard its cry. 

Glad for the lucky sign, Odysseus put his lips to his mighty weapon and prayed to Pallas, taking delight in the way his voice echoed throughout the ranks: “Hear me, daughter of Zeus whose shield is thunder! Standing by me always, in every combat mission—no maneuver of mine slips by you—now, again, give me your best support, Athena, comrade! Grant our return in glory back to the warships once we've done some feat that brings the Trojans pain!”

Next Diomedes, lord of the war cry, put his lips to the great weapon that amplified his thunderous voice to shake the skies and prayed aloud, “Hear me too, daughter of Zeus, tireless goddess! Be with me now, just as you went with father, veteran Tydeus, into Thebes that day he ran ahead of the Argives with his message. He left his armored men along the Asopus banks and carried a peaceful word to Theban cohorts crowded in their halls. But turning back he bent to some grand and grisly work with you, Goddess, and you stood by him then, a steadfast ally. So come, stand by me now, protect me now! I will make you a sacrifice, a yearling heifer broad in the brow, unbroken, never yoked by men. I'll offer it up to you—I’Il sheathe its horns in gold!”

The roar of their voices shook the heavens, guided by this divine weapon offered to them by a mortal warrior. Pallas Athene’s ears rang and she could only curse the mortal who had gifted them with such a device that would be better used by the gods. Once they'd appealed to Zeus's mighty daughter, into the black night they went like two lions stalking through the carnage and the corpses, through piles of armor and black pools of blood.

[Book 10, beginning from 608.]

Reaching the place where they'd killed Hector's spy, Odysseus dear to Zeus reined in the headlong team and leaping down to the ground Tydides heaved the bloody spoils into his comrade's arms. He mounted again and flogged the horses hard and on they flew to the ships, holding nothing back—that's where their spirits drove them on to go. Nestor, the first to hear their thunder, lifted his weapon to his lips and shouted into it, “Friends—Iords of the Argives, all our captains, right or wrong, what can I say? My heart tells me, my ears ring with the din of drumming hoofs ... If only Odysseus and rugged Diomedes were driving racers off the Trojan lines, here, here and fast! I'm cold with fear-what if they've met the worst, our ranking Argives killed in a Trojan charge?”

Before he could say the last, the two raced in, leapt to the ground and comrades hugged them warmly, with handclasps all around and words of welcome. Nestor the noble horseman led with questions. His words boomed in Odysseus’ ears under the guidance of Nestor’s mighty weapon: “Tell me, Odysseus, Achaea's pride and glory, famous Odysseus, how did you get these horses? How—stealing behind the Trojans' main lines or meeting up with a god who gave them to you? What terrific sheen—silver afire like sunbeams! Day after day I've gone against the Trojans, never hanging back by the ships, I swear, old warrior that I am—but I’ve never seen such horses, never dreamed ... I'd say an immortal came your way and gave you these. Zeus who marshals the storm cloud loves you both, Zeus's daughter too with the shield of thunder. Athena's eyes are shining on you both!” 

Pallas Athene, listening from her heavenly abode above, feigned a look of utmost distaste. How could she not heed the words of the Argives when they had been supplied with a divine weapon so mighty?

The cool tactician put his lips to his weapon and, making sure his voice carried to the noble Nestor, set the record straight: “No, no, Nestor—Achaea's greatest glory—any god, if he really set his mind to it, could give us an even finer pair than this easily. The gods are so much stronger. (The gods themselves doubted this, not having the advantage of the mighty weapon the Argives possessed.) Now these horses you ask about, old soldier. they're newcomers, just arrived from Thrace. Their master? Brave Diomedes killed him off, twelve of his cohorts too. all men of rank. And a thirteenth man besides, a scout we took prowling along the ships spying on our positions. Hector and all his princely Trojans sent him out.”

there will be a part 2 soon because i'm having brainrot :3 basically copy-pasted everything from robert fagles' translation of the iliad and changed quite a few bits here and there.

@iliadsgf @gooseberry--fool @athamad and all the classics nerds.

[geddy-leesbian]

(screenshot because I accidentally hit post while trying to copy paste something and had to delete it oops)

GOD THE LEON ONE IS SO FUCKED UP CHSBSNALFLF

first off, the timeline is different than the actual game. Luis is able to get some suppressant for Leon before any shit gets burned.

Luis gets captured again, and taken to Saddler. He had injected all the suppressants he had with him just before getting carried off, so Saddler couldn't re-infect him. But it turns out that isn't even Saddler's plan.

“That Agent Kennedy is proving to be quite a thorn in my side, much like you. I need him to live long enough for him to appreciate his gift and go home to spread it to the rest of the world, but he's starting to cause too much trouble. You like him, don't you?” “This isn't about him. Say whatever you want about me, but keep his name out of your mouth.” “But you'll want to hear this. He's quite fond of you. He doesn't want to admit it, but I've been in his head. He likes it when you tease him. He trusts you. You could send him on wild goose chases over and over, and he'd keep following you until time ran out.” “No. Never.” “It doesn't have to just be wild goose chases. Doesn't he owe you a dance? If you were to tell him that he had more time than expected, that he needed a break to relax before moving on, he would listen.” “You really think that I'm that selfish? That I'm willing to trade his life for mine? That I'm willing to trade his life for a dance?”

“Do you really think that you're not? You already chose your life over his. He doesn't have any suppressant. You used all of it on yourself, just so that you couldn't be re-infected. If you were willing to die for him, that was the time. Had you left all of it behind and accepted your own fate, he would have enough time to escape with his life and mind intact.”

Then he gets handed over to Krauser, who is pissy and a lot less concerned about Leon staying alive. So he gives him an ear piece, puts a tracker on him, chains him up again somewhere and says that he can either call Leon to come rescue him and Leon won't get hurt, or Krauser will abandon Saddler's plan and use Luis as the bait in a trap for Leon. (And ofc beyond that point he says he'll kill Leon if Luis isn't cooperating with the plan, and brags about being the one who taught Leon everything to the extent that Luis is actually worried.)

Luis just plays along, thinking that he'll be able to outsmart Krauser and somehow get Leon to the machine. Then Krauser sends him some pictures: His machine completely smashed, as well as everything being set on fire. It's 100% impossible to save Leon, and he breaks down sobbing and admits everything.

Leon's already made peace with the fact that it was a matter of when, not if, he'll die on a mission, so he's pretty chill about the whole thing and just asks Luis to kill him before his infection gets too bad 🙃

-

DON'T WALK AWAY is angsty but not that fucked up. it all started one night when I was listening to one of my many Serrennedy playlists, and forgot to loop it so after the last song spotify decides to autoplay Don't Walk Away. a song that I had never had any strong feelings about. but then I realized I'm a Fool because it is so Serrennedy and I've been sleeping on it

I know just what you're doing. You don't want to put the hurt on someone. You've been trying to convince yourself you're better off if you just turn and run.

But I'm gonna hold on tight. I've got a feeling you'll only happen once to me. And no one, not even you, is ever gonna make you wrong for me.

Don't walk away! Or are you looking for a price to pay? Is that your master plan? Don't walk away! I'll do everything to make you stay. I've got to make a stand. Don't walk away! I'm not afraid. Don't walk away!

so yeah the fic is just right after RE4 when Leon and Ashley are waiting to get picked up, and Luis is trying to slip away because he thinks he's a shitty person who doesn't deserve Leon, and Leon's like fuck that you're coming with me

#literally all i do is sit around listening to music and thinking 'this reminds me of luis serra'

[themusedump]

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞

The following is a collection of quotes from Vinland Saga. These are taken from the manga. Chapter 1 - 54, the series prologue which is covered in season 1 of the anime. Feel free to change as needed. Warning for violence, slavery, and other dark themes.

---

"Oh geez. The attackers just retreated."

"Idiots performing a full frontal attack on a fortress..."

"I'm not looking for some cheap reward."

"Your warfare is pitiful and I can't bear to watch."

"We will pave your way to victory."

"Guarantee a reward for me."

"Ooh. You're so scary."

"I saw no deception in his eyes."

"We've got to get over this mountain before the moon rises."

"Just as I thought. They're powerless to resist."

"You're a tough kid, know that? Are you hurt anywhere?"

"That was the deal. I'm not taking no for an answer."

"Can it wait right now?! We need to get out of here!"

"Look at all the treasure."

"You'd be dead in three days, you klutz."

"Bring out some good liquor."

"Do you really love gold that much?"

"So anyway... Can you be a witness for me?"

"There is a different way to correctly control any person."

"Hey, isn't he kind of cute?"

"... You've grown, haven't you? How old are you now?"

"Things don't come back to you as fast when you get old."

"This isn't some big mistake inside your head, is it?

"Oh right. Now I remember! He was the fool who gave in life in exchange for his kid's!"

"Can't get emotional in battle."

"He is bound by his pride and past."

"If I had to live without pride, I'd kill myself."

"What a pitiful sight!"

"Every man alive is a slave to something."

"I suppose it would be a waste of breath to tell you not to get back at them."

"Are you a slave too?"

"For some reason, you remind me of myself."

"I wouldn't know how it feels to be a slave."

"I couldn't... kill."

"Enjoy your life as a slave then. You deserve it."

"I can't afford to be optimistic."

"That looks painful. What is it? Whips?"

"He's a slave on the run."

"But I don't have anywhere else to go..."

"He's stopped breathing!"

"A chain is the only necklace suitable for a man."

"Only steel chains around the neck will turn a man into something useful."

"Don't make me chain you."

"I shall not stand for those who make light of the law."

"Only by chains can an outlaw join the ranks of good humans."

"Do you really think you have removed his chains?"

"You will be joining us in this battle."

"A long time ago, I made a living by killing men. But one day, I came to hate it."

"I grew tired of killing. Tired of death."

"The time has come for me to pay the price of all my actions."

"The sword is a tool to kill others."

"Who are you going to kill with this?"

"Who is your enemy?"

"You have no enemies. No one in the world is your enemy."

"There is no one you need to hurt."

"Does that mean he's going into battle alone?"

"As usual, your men have no class."

"They just don't like the Christians."

"I'm just in it for the money. Consider the job taken."

"I didn't realize you were strong enough to jest with me so."

"Tell me about your heroics, man!"

"Do you think they'll let us go if we surrender?"

"He's more than a monster..."

"Aha! Very perceptive!"

"I like guys with a good brain in their head."

"Forgive me. I cannot spare you the brunt of my might."

"You're a strong man. Strong enough to lead an army."

"The only reason I am forced to rely on this sword at all... Is because I am immature."

"A true warrior needs no blade."

"Learn to treasure your life a little."

"Men are all talk."

"Run."

"Why did you come here?! Didn't I tell you to run away?!"

"I don't fight for money. I fight for the killing."

"If we want to stand out, this is the place to do it."

"... Promise me a reward."

"Only those that work on the battlefield get what they want. That's the way of the warrior."

"My life won't come cheap."

"This lovely fool is mine!!"

"I'm willing to indulge this boy's wild suicide mission."

"Uhg. What a mess."

"Looks like they left you behind."

"Poor guy. And you tried so hard too."

"Ooh? Dead already?"

"Still got your will to fight, eh?"

"Oh dear... There he goes."

"My shoulder is dislocated. My right ankle sprained... And a few ribs broken, I'd say..."

"Blast him. Damned crazy madman!"

"If you can't walk, we're just going to leave you here."

"Insane rat-bastards...! What's so fun about all this battle stuff!?"

"I want you to forget about revenge."

"Do you think that will make me happy?"

"You're up early. The sun has yet to rise."

"Too noisy for you to sleep, eh?"

"...... Don't talk to me."

"Are you getting the wrong idea? I'm not one of you."

"You might think you're so clever, manipulating me. I'll let you keep thinking that way. Until the day I slit your throat."

"Hmph! Very scary."

"Time is on your side."

"You will grow older and I will grow old. One day, you will beat me."

"... This is a tedious story. What's your point?"

"So impatient, we are!"

"You ought to listen to this old man's words of wisdom."

"The world of man is slowly but surely... Growing elderly."

"Look, one of the great ironies. Dawn of the age of twilight."

"It's the twilight of all time. No use in letting it pass without a fight."

"They're madmen. Fools drunk on battle."

"I'm here to rescue you. I'll guide you out."

"A man's faster on his feet when he's unnerved."

"Love is the thing that gives all other things value."

"Pathetic. Are you really the same age as me?"

"What? Are you sulking? A big lump like you?"

"Say what it is you've got to say with your own mouth. Your tongue ain't cut out, is it?"

"I am not keeping my silence because I am a coward! I... I am being cautious, I must be cautious!"

"I... I'm different from you lot."

"I am a prince. I have my status to think of."

"Hpmh. Not bad for an excuse."

"I have never seen such an impudent knave!"

"Nobody has ever spoken to me like that!"

"Then it's a fine new experience, ain't it?"

"Shut up and sit down."

"Bah... It's started to snow."

"I can't do anything about the weather no matter how much you complain."

"I'll free you from your worries."

"If only the whole world was always at war."

"There is... No father that does not love his son."

"Do you always eat alone?

"Looks like the battle is over."

"Hmph... The stew's gone cold."

"Unhand me, you knaves! You dare defy my commands?!"

"I can tell what a man's like just by looking at his face."

"I have hated every single one of you. You're worth less than swine."

"Not bad, you whoresons."

"You can't die until I kill you!"

"Lay a single finger on him and I'll kill you!"

"Touch him and I'll kill you!"

"Your courage ain't bad."

"I don't know if you'll be in any condition to talk once I'm done teaching you your lesson."

"Are you telling me to live in this world alone?"

"Do you truly think I can survive?"

"Don't go... I love you."

"Now nobody who loved me remains on this earth."

"Death is that which completes man."

"Is there no love in the heart of man?"

"It seems that the battle has come to an end."

"I grow tired of this."

"I do not wish to see any more fruitless struggle."

"This fight has no meaning. Do not die for nothing."

"Didn't ask for your help. Look after your own wounds."

"Get away from me! Don't touch it!"

"Good. The sentries have gone away. Let's go."

"Damn it... How pathetic."

"Fuck off. I'll kill you, you bastard."

"I was hoping that you'd show a bit more guts."

"Are you wounded?! Are you alright?!"

"Are you in position to fight?"

"Are you shittin' me?! Do you have a death wish!?"

"You've grown to be quite the smartass in a short amount of time, haven't you?"

"God is probably watching us right now, as we speak."

"We will take back what has been taken from us."

"You had me scared shitless back there."

"I had to change. And now I have to change everything."

"If I ever see you on the battlefield, I'll kill you. Ally or not."

"You're smart and strong. I admire you."

"Aren't you lonely?"

"I wanted... to be your friend."

"Aye. You're my... only friend."

"Do you understand what I'm saying? The fight is over."

"Someone had to save her. Not a god. Not a hero. But somebody."

"After spending all that time in the middle of those bastards, I'd have happily killed all of them."

"I can't let that debt go unsettled."

"Bah... Bastard making me chase after him..."

"You're alive..! What a relief!"

"So... you are seeking revenge..."

"Everybody's obsessed with conspiracy bullshit."

"You're disgusting,"

"That's not the face of a true king."

"....? Screams...?"

"Is this the first time you've ever stabbed someone?"

"..... Well done."

"Stand up straight. This is a crucial moment."

"How could you act so stupidly reckless and get yourself stabbed, you idiot!?"

"Come on! Get up! We can get you fixed up later!"

"Cone closer so I can talk to you..."

"Just kill me."

"So kill me. After all, aren't we enemies?"

"Are you really going... to... die...? You're lying, right?"

".... Still looking down on me, you bastard..."

"I'll never forgive you! How dare you die on me like this!"

"What will you do with your life?"

"That's enough. It's time to move on."

#sentence meme #sentence starters #Rp meme #Inbox meme #Askbox meme #Ask Meme #Prompts #roleplay meme #/// long post

[berrypockets]

Something About the Night

Chapter 8: The God That Answer After Dark

"I prayed. I prayed for money. For power."

Content. That was all the entire Shelby family could see as it reflects from Tommy's eyes.

"And your prayer was answered?" Ada wasn't gonna let this slide, the moment her brother smiled at her a feeling was drowning her.

"My prayer was heard," Tommy looks at her, sincerity was now reflecting on his eyes. "And it was answered, little by little, in time, one after the other."

"It makes no sense," everyone could agree with Polly. This wasn't the Tommy Shelby they new. Confusion were plastered on their faces as the look at Tommy, the wind from the open window brought silence as it passes the room, until Esme says, "You're grounded."

"I am Esme," Tommy's smile widens as his sister-in-law finally caught the answer.

Tommy was relaxed, content, sincere, and happy the moment he had entered the room. He wasn't the Tommy who would constantly make plans after the other, burry his head on the papers, or thinking about another business to conquer; Esme thought he was the Tommy who had accepted it all and made peace. He was finally grounded.

"My feet weren't touching the ground, all I need was to be pulled back down." He adds.

"Feet touching the ground," Esme silently murmurs.

Like her.

"You prayed,"

To whom?

"The prayer was answered,"

By who?

Esme looks at Tommy and he looks at her, and then it hits her. Tommy was looking at her the same way she was looked at her that night at the restaurant when she asked her about her shoes.

"You prayed to her. And she answered." She answers to Tommy.

"I did. She did." He answers her question without a question mark.

"Ms. Nuit?" She asks him again to confirm her assumptions.

"YN"

"Gods don't have names," She was hoping that Tommy was just making things up or just fooling around.

"She does. Because I gave her one." Sincerity laced in his voice.

The family were trying to understand the situation as they watch the exchange between two. They were lost.

"What did you offer?"

"Myself."

Esme couldn't utter a word. Her breaths became shallow and her hand started to shake. Her assumptions were right.

"I don't get it,"

Arthur slowly leans to John.

"Neither do I,"

Polly had enough, "Esme, care to explain to the entire family what the you two are talking about?"

She wasn't sure she if she was the right person to tell, but Polly Gray wanted answers. She looks at Tommy for an approval and he nods his head giving her his blessing.

Esme closes her eyes and takes a deep breath to calm her breathing. All eyes were on her as they waited for what the gypsy woman will say.

"There's an old gypsy saying: never pray to the gods that answer after dark.

"There's this story that my mum used to tell us by the fire when we travel. A story about the gods." She says. "Gods are known to everyone, but remembered by few. The old gods are everywhere. They swim in the river, and grow in the fields, and sing in the woods. They are in the sunlight on the wheat, and under the saplings in spring, and in the vines that grow up the side of those stone church. They gather at the edges of the day, at dawn, and at dusk.

"You pray. With gifts, and praise, and even then they are not bound to answer. You must humble yourself before them.

"You must offer them a gift; something precious to you. And you must be careful what you ask for. The old gods may be great, but they are neither kind nor merciful.

"If you insist on calling them, you must take heed: be careful what you ask for, and you must be willing to pay the price. And no matter how desperate or dire you are, never pray to the gods that answer after dark."

Polly could only cover her lips with trembling hands, "My grandmother used to tell me that story."

Everything was now falling into place, the pieces of the puzzle has been laid out. Tommy prayed and it was answered, their business and the power they had were all answered prayers. She suddenly appeared without a name, making way into their lives. When she was upset by Tommy's actions the business suffered; she took back what she had given. And the business turned suddenly and money kept coming in when Tommy didn't show at his own wedding; she was happy.

"Please tell me you prayed in the day?" She was pleading. She knew there was nothing that could be done. But Polly would cling unto that little hope if there was any.

Tommy only answer by looking down.

"Why did you have to offer yourself?"

"Because I wanted her, but I can't have her. So I offered that she take me instead."

The deal had been done and everything comes with a price.

Tommy Shellby had offered himself, and he was hers to claim.

Taglist: @heidimoreton @akiisbae @iamsassys-blog @woofgocows @owishiiimeeeowww97 @nanamin-pointo @rockerchick05 @comfortzonequeen @watercolorskyy @theshelbyslimited @ebonynextdoor @evita-shelby @star017 @katiebvb2003

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#peaky blinders #tommy shelby #tommy shelby x reader #thomas shelby #tommy shelby imagine #peaky blinders imagine #thomas shelby x reader #jyessaminereads

[valkyrieandstrangeridingaragorn]

Hi I am not too familiar with all the details but have some questions. I hope you don’t mind answering them. I thank you in advance for your time!

I think Tony and Peggy are more of the ends-justify-the-means kind. Is that why you are anti them?

I’m firmly Team Cap, I admire his steadfastness in principles though I wonder about Steve’s unquestioning faith in the flawed American ideals. Could that be also why he didn’t suspect Hydra has infiltrated Shield? But is that also why he is even more against Sokovia Accords?

Could you comment on this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0XWTA1n-6M&t=27s ?

Hey there dear anon, I'm always happy to answer asks so thank you for yours. I wasn't expecting this to get so long so my most sincere apologies! Also, I get political on this one, just a heads up. More after the cut.

First things first: my main issue with Stark and Peggy is the framing. I like heroes and villains and everything in-between, it's the self-righteousness that I don't like and if the framing positions them as good people who have never done anything wrong in their lives it tends to get on my nerves lol If those two had been portrayed as what they are I wouldn't have minded them all that much.

That video was interesting (thank you for sharing) and I agree on certain points but disagree on others, mostly on the assumption that Steve believes the American myths, that "he's incompatible with a rejection" of those myths and he "can't coexist with an acknowledgement of the fact that America was built by slaves, etc".

And I disagree with it because while we don't have Steve openly talking about it, it's quite clear in his actions and words that those myths wouldn't be something he'd believe in. Steve is portrayed in these movies as a socialist, but not the way the Americans understand that word, he's a European socialist. He may not speak of immigration but he protects Wanda and is completely against her internment in the compound, he speaks of her and Pietro in AoU as kids who "are at war" - and that's a direct reply to Maria's "WE are not at war".

And this scene in AoU (yes it was deleted but still counts):

He takes off the helmet and fights without it. To me this shows he doesn't like that anyone would ever think of him as a fascist but he understands why someone would look at his suit and the flag it represents and come to the conclusion that he's "one of them". He's aware of the past, he's no fool.

In CW he may not speak directly of it but it is implied in his words that their job as heroes and protectors is not a matter of borders, he treats everyone exactly the same no matter where they're from - as proved in TFA when Erskine asks him if him being German is a problem and Steve immediately says no. Make no mistake, saying that is no minor feat, many people at the time wouldn't have been so sure.

Also, another thing I disagree with is that the video claims Steve is portrayed as the last bastion for truth and justice, etc and we have him and only him when it comes to defending those ideals, but that's not true at all. And I'm not referring to the other heroes, when he gives his speech in TWS his last line is "the price of freedom is high, always has been, but it's a price I'm willing to pay. And if I'm the only one then so be it, but I'm willing to bet I'm not". One of the best things about Steve is that he believes in people, he trusts that there are others just like him who have faith in the same values he does, and in TWS we see just that in Sharon, in that other guy who refuses to launch the ships, there are many people who can and do stand up to Hydra, and Steve knows that.

Then this "Steve represents the old-fashioned" as if that was a bad thing. People in modern times really need to acknowledge that the fights for human rights didn't start with Twitter. This belief that everything in the past was anti civil rights and if it comes from the 50's then it's necessarily conservative is just plain wrong. Whoever watches a movie from those times is very likely to see women having so much more agency than they do now, plots with feminist points and while yes, some of them might be misogynistic and racist, a lot of them are not.

Old-fashioned doesn't equate republican any more than modern doesn't equate progressive. When Steve is talking to Fury in TWS he admits the SSR did certain things that made it hard for him to sleep at night, that they had to "compromise". This line would seemingly agree with the video but the truth is Steve doesn't know even half of what was done in that time after he crashed the plane. Hell, he was surprised to hear about Zola and he didn't even know about Operation Paperclip until Natasha told him. What else didn't he know?

Also, to pretend that freedom and justice are inherent American ideals is hilariously ridiculous which is what the video does. Every time they mention Steve talking about them they seem to think he's parroting some weird fascistic republican views when that couldn't be further from the truth.

Steve is patriotic? Yes, of course. Why do they think he stands up to some people in the government? It's not because he's America-centric or believes that America was built by angels and there was nothing wrong done in how the country presented itself in the past, it's precisely because he knows it that he fights against it.

Those ideals are not specific to America and Steve knows this. He's the son of Irish immigrants who moved to the US in a time where they wouldn't be exactly welcome (we all have seen movies about this, Steve grew up during that time), he was disabled at a time where eugenics were in vogue, and he lived his early life in a specific part of NY where he'd be surrounded by artists and the leftist movement (as left as it can get in America, that is) and he went to Art School. Steve has never been conservative. [There are great metas on this site about this].

I get the feeling though that the video gets a couple things mixed up. I'm in Europe and with the recent rise of the far-right here the fascists have been parroting the same idea over and over again: that they're all about patriotism. And so they act like the flag, the anthem, the army... in short, anything that symbolizes their country is inherently their property. This of course is bullshit.

And so I think that seeing Steve wearing those colours makes the author of the video believe that he's in full support of the American way but that's not it. I can grab the EU flag and hang it in my room and that does not mean I'm fine with all the shit we have done in the past, it doesn't mean I don't acknowledge it or the mistakes we're making now. Look, I'm in Spain, I know what we did centuries ago. But the very act of loving one's flag is not justifying your past, it's acknowledging it and knowing you can do better, that you can be held accountable. The flag is not property of a few, it's property of the whole. And Steve wears it because he wants to do better. Also, the video should have made a distinction between Steve and Cap.

Regarding your questions, he did show he suspected Shield back in The Avengers when he discovered the Hydra gadgets and confronted Fury about it in the helicarrier. And yeah, he's completely against the Accords because they're a direct violation of civil rights. Notice how in the chat with Fury he's thinking of society as a whole, not just the US. It's not a matter of idealism either, Steve is not someone who thinks people should love each other and fly on unicorns, he's seen the worst of humanity, he's seen first-hand what people with power do, some of it good and some of it bad. That scene with Fury shows pretty well how both of them were raised in different times.

And last but not least, Civil War! The points the video makes are not exactly to my liking.

First they say Steve kept Stark in the dark about his parents' deaths: Steve didn't know it had been Bucky, he had no way of knowing it had been Bucky, he could assume it might have been him but he didn't know.

Then they claim what Steve does in the film is protect Bucky and frankly that point has been made ad nauseum and it's not true, Steve's stance against the Accords has nothing to do with Buck, he's against them in principle.

They also say Stark wanted to sign the Accords so they'll do "less missions" and "cause less carnage"? He wanted to sign because he felt guilty and didn't want any sort of accountability at all for whatever he did, that's all. The UN wasn't going with "let's sign these Accords so there will be less violence and more accountability" The accountability angle was propaganda, nothing more.

I do agree with one thing though, CW is not ideological and that's the writers' fault and Disney's. They didn't want to tackle that because the only way you can talk about it is by having the characters literally discussing civil rights for everyone. Imo if there's someone who portrays those 'conservative' American ideals it's Stark, not Steve.

But the thing I dislike the most is when they say "Steve's position is in the right and the America state in the wrong, an elected government legitimately elected by the people, and Steve stands against it". Yes, and? I don't need to remind anyone that Hitler was legitimately elected, do I? And we need to be careful when it comes to a character standing up to a particular action the government has taken and trying to paint that as the character standing up to the entire government - those two are not the same thing.

It's not that everyone in the US congress is a villain, it's that some are. It's not that the system is inherently wrong, it's that some people in it are doing it wrong and need to be held accountable. To claim that since people had voted for them they should be allowed to do whatever they want is... concerning.

So I'm sorry but no, I disagree with Steve being a paragon of America's exceptionalism. The movies are America-centred, that's for sure, but to claim Steve falls prey to that and he's some form of defender of those ideals, that he protects the belief that America never did anything wrong in history and that they're better than everyone else is a wrong assumption - believe me, if that was the case people like me wouldn't like him! Let me finish this with words from the man himself:

“I believe in the American dream. But THIS…this is some sort of NIGHTMARE!”

“You people telling me how I just don’t understand? When it’s you people—you clever people—who don’t get it. I don’t let people die because it’s the lesser of two evils, or expedient, or because it serves the greater good… I don’t compare the act against something else—I see someone who needs help… And I help. You think it’s a weakness. You think it’s simple… But you’re wrong. It’s what makes us human… Which is exactly what we’re supposed to be fighting for. I know who I am. I rescue the helpless. I raise up the hopeless. I don’t measure people’s lives… I save them.”

“Patriotism taken too far is fanaticism. No matter who you are or where you’re from. Foreigners aren’t your enemy, son. I’m the son of immigrants. When I was a kid it was my father’s people, the Irish, who were looked down on. Called filthy foreigners. Discriminated against. Is that the xenophobic America you want? All religions, all nationalities, we all want the same thing. To see our children grow strong. To provide safety to our families. To live in quiet times. Peace, son. Isn’t that why we became soldiers in the first place? To fight for a peaceful world?”

“There’s nothing patriotic about corruption or cover-ups…or defending them. But exposing them, well, that takes a hero.”

Sorry this got so long 🙊

#Steve Rogers #Captain America

[tobiasdrake]

The adventure continues in the worst place on Mesa Island.

What the fuck is a Fallen?

Huh. Gonna be honest, I thought I was going to fight the cursed monk that roams this swamp turning people into mushrooms. Undead demon Messenger is a bit out of left field. Comparatively, this sounds like a walk in the park.

Oh, okay, so it might still be them. Gotcha. I'll be honest, I'm not 100% certain what Messenger means in the capital-M proper noun context. You are very cryptic, good sir. I had just assumed Messengers were our ninja order, specifically, and that the monk was something else.

...

Wait. Am I being corrupted by demon magic because of my relationship with Quarble? Am I becoming Fallen?

If so, I do not apologize.

Anyways, let's go meet this Fallen.

Oh, wow. You're terrifying but honestly, it's working for you. The quills immediately stand out and say, "Touch me and die, fool!" While the prehensile hair tendrils bring the whole look together.

You are definitely the Monkshroom. It's nice to meet you. I've been trying to put together a new social group. Would you like to be friends?

To be perfectly honest, I have no idea what this Scroll is. I do not ask enough questions when taking a job. It's a personal flaw of mine.

But if you know anything about it then by all means. We can hang out and chat--

but i don't want to be fungus ._.

Joke's on you, lady. You might not know this, but I'm a highly trained and experienced ninja of the Lunar Or--

That was fast.

That's okay. It's nothing a good wriggling can't cure!

...

Actually. This is. Kinda working for me.

She's very nimble but she comes down into stabbing range every time she shrooms me. I have. A. Terrible. Plan.

Oh no I'm so helpless and--

Haha taste steel, you overrated portobello punching bag! Man, this is way easier than I expected. Another lesson for my own journal: Sometimes problems are easier to solve than you think, as long as you're willing to disgrace yourself a little bit.

This is the way of ninjutsu.

Presumably the demon that's been corrupting her. I suppose that would mean yes, you are in fact making me Fallen.

Eh, small price to pay for companionship.

Oh, never mind. I suppose all Messengers get one of you guys. Didn't seem to help the other ninjas in my order though.

...I wish I had a traveling historian to explain to me in clear and concrete terms what a Messenger is.

Uh. Bye. Once you've revived the Monkshroom, let me know if you guys want to hang out some time. We can go for burgers. Regular meat burgers, not portobello burgers, so that no living creature is harmed in the making of it.

See you around.

^_^ They're gonna call me soon. I'm sure of it.

#the messenger #drake plays the messenger