#((Honestly this falls in line with Agatha pretty well.))

[thehxrkness]

Your Assigned Tarot Card Is

The Fool

there is an endless road ahead of you. long and winding, it is impossible to imagine every fork, every path you could take. like looking down from a high place, the sheer magnitude is dizzying. but it is freeing. god, it is freeing. you have all the time in the world to explore– endless choices to make; take time to appreciate it all. just be careful not to lose yourself to the recklessness that comes with such wondrous freedom.

Number: 0

Upright: beginnings, innocence, spontaneity, a free spirit

Reversed: holding back, recklessness, risk-taking

Tagged By: @hcrctic

Tagging: @curseburnt, @thewitchesreaper, and anyone else who wants to do it!

[zafirosreverie]

Must be the eyes (Teacher!Agatha x Fem!Student!Reader) part 3

(Part 1) (part 2)

a/n: this is too cliché and I’m sorry for that. not really.

- - - - - - - - -

"I'm going to kill you" you hit Nick hard

"Ouch!" he exclaimed as he rubbed his shoulder "Damn Y/N, you have a good arm, you should consider boxing"

"Shut up! I’m mad at you!" you growled

"I know, I know! I'm sorry!" Nick threw up his hands in surrender "Listen, I didn't think Dalton was going to sit with me, okay? We were just chatting and I thought he would go to his seat as soon as we left"

"Ah, so leaving me standing in the hallway until your boyfriend left was the option? How is that better, Jadu?!" you crossed your arms.

"Sorry!" he said again "... but it wasn't that bad, was it? I mean, you ended up sitting with Ms Harkness"

"Yes, and then I used her as a pillow!" you hissed "Do you have any idea how embarrassing that was?! She sure hates me now, Nick!"

"I don't think she does" he smiled at you "she has been looking at you since we arrived"

It was true. Since you hurriedly got down of the bus, and in all the time that you had been in the hotel lobby (seriously, how hard was it to give you your rooms?! Why did they have to keep you there for hours?), you could feel the brunette’s eyes on you. But you hadn't been able to look at her face, so you only glanced at her from time to time.

"And?" you asked

"Well, it's true that it could be a 'I'm planning your murder, Y/L/N' look" he joked "But, at least from here, it seems more like a 'I want you to use me as a pillow again, and as a whole bed if you want' look"

You blushed and hit him again.

"Shut up" you muttered "You're on thin ice, Jadu"

He laughed and hugged you from behind. He was much taller than you, so you could hear his heart. You felt safe with him, like an older brother taking care of you.

But you weren't going to forgive him so easily.

"Get off, Nick" you growled jokingly and crossed your arms

"Ok, plan B then" he said and released you, then dropped to one knee and took your hands.

You laughed at his silliness and quickly put yourself on role by faking a pout.

"Y/N  Y/L/N, my precious friend" he said "I am very sorry I hurted your feelings. What can this humble being do to earn your forgiveness?"

You stifled a laugh and tried not to smile "Nicholas Jadu, my idiot friend" you said "I'm afraid there is nothing you can do this time. Your offense is very serious"

"Please, my lady" he laughed "How about I offer you a book as a sacrifice?"

"Uhmm ... add a chamomile tea and you have a deal"

"deal"

Neither could hold your laughter any longer. You helped him to his feet and he put his arm around your shoulders, pulling you closer and ruffling your hair.

_________

Agatha couldn't help feeling a twinge of jealousy when she saw you laughing and playing with Nicholas. She knew she had no right to be jealous, especially when you were just talking to your friend like she had always seen you do since your first year at school.

She didn't want to hate the boy either (okay, maybe hate was a very strong word. She was just a little mad at him), because it wasn't his fault that she felt that way. He had no way of knowing that his closeness to you stirred his teacher's stomach. But she couldn't help it. Seeing you so happy and careless, hugging him and joking with him, was a lot for her. That, that was something she wanted.

She was so distracted by your interaction with Nicholas, that she didn't really pay attention to what Wanda and Jimmy were saying until her redhead pulled her by the arm and made her look at them.

"Agatha, do you agree?" she asked, making the brunette curse herself for not paying attention.

"Oh sorry hon, what?" she blinked.

"Weren't you listening?" Jimmy asked. Agatha rolled her eyes

"Well someone had to keep an eye on the kids while you guys were distracted at the reception" she lied.

"Sure" Wanda rolled her eyes before sighing "we have a problem"

"Now what?"

"We should have been suspicious when we were missing seats on the bus" Jimmy muttered, but the brunette didn't even turn to him.

"It seems we had more than one error when we did the math" Wanda told her.

"Are we missing a room too?" Agatha asked

"Something like that" replied the redhead "It seems that we are missing one on the girls’ side, and we have one left on the boys' side"

"But we can't let a female student sleep in the boys' area" Jimmy said.

"Not by law" agreed Wanda

"Okay" Agatha sighed "and I'm assuming the hotel can't change it"

"Nope"

Agatha sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. This trip was proving to be a headache and they have just arrived.

"But we thought of a solution" the redhead quickly assured her.

"Which is?" the brunette raised her eyebrow

"Our shared room is registered" Wanda said "And as teachers, one of us can occupy the room on the boys' side, while the other stays with the girls"

"And since they ... respect you more, we thought it was a good idea if you stayed with them" added Jimmy

"So, Wanda will sleep on the boys' side while I take care of the girls, and you want me to share a room with one of them."

"A student sharing a room with her teacher is not against school law as it would be to let the girl sleep on the boys' side" said Wanda

"Stupid heteronormative laws" Agatha thought "They're college students! They know what they’re doing! And it's not like everyone is straight, especially in this college. I'm sure 70% of our students are part of the LGBT + community"

But she couldn't say that out loud. So she just sighed and nodded

"Okay, I stay with the girls"

"Excellent" Wanda smiled "Now we just have to tell them"

___________

Agatha Harkness was not a woman who considered herself evil ... well, not too much. But she couldn't deny that she was slightly proud of the scared looks and worried murmurs from her students when Wanda told them that they would stay in charge of her.

"So who will share a room with Ms Harkness?" the redhead asked.

Agatha felt strangely confident and a little relieved. She knew you wouldn't volunteer in a million years, so she wouldn't have to deal with her feelings and spending time with another student might help her get rid of them. She wouldn't be tempted by you.

"Y/L/N will do it" a voice yelled, causing the brunette to frown.

Wait, what?

But she wasn't the only one confused by the statement.

You had been in the back of the group throughout Professor Maximoff's speech, decidedly avoiding looking at the brunette, no matter how many funny looks Nick gave you.

When she said someone should sleep with Ms Harkness, you thought that girl was lucky, but it was definitely not going to be you. There was no way in the world you would offer yourself, especially after what had happened on the bus. The statement made you freeze.

"Y/L/N will do it" Susana yelled, a few steps ahead of you.

"Wait, what?" you murmured, before feeling all eyes on you.

"Come on Y/N" someone whispered near you "You are the witch tamer"

"The what?" you frowned

"You are Harkness' favorite student" Susana confirmed "You are the only one who could survive the kraken"

"Okay, that's an exaggeration" you rolled your eyes

But it seemed like your classmates only heard the first word, because they immediately pushed you to the front of the group, offering you as a human sacrifice to the witch woman.

"Excellent" smiled the red-haired teacher "Everything settled then. Form two lines, men with Professor Woo and me, women with Professor Harkness" she said, totally oblivious to the scared look in your eyes or the way the brunette froze.

As everyone moved, you felt Nick's hand on your back and turned to look at him. He was smiling at you, but in a reassuring way, there was no mockery in his smile.

"You'll be fine Y/N" he assured you "Just charge your phone as soon as you enter the room and I will talk to you until you fall asleep"

You smiled at him gratefully. You really didn't deserve him.

"Thank you" you whispered.

Nick smiled at you one last time before he went to his line. Sighing, you took your things to form yours too, praying that you could survive these two weeks.

Looking quickly at your teacher, you could see that at least she seemed normal. She didn't look at you while she handed out the keys to the rooms, or when you guys got on the elevator. Perhaps she had already forgotten the incident. You wish you could too.

What you didn't know was that you weren't the only one panicking.

Agatha tried to appear calm and collected, as if she didn't care at all about the situation. She used all her willpower not to look at you while she did her chaperone duties, using her voice of authority. She had a reputation to uphold, after all.

But inside, she could feel her circuits melting and the little voices in her head screaming in panic.

"Shit, shit, shit! This wasn’t in the plan! Abort mission, abort, abort, abort! Mayday, mayday, mayday"

She needed to calm down. She needed to regain her self-control.

So she gave you the room keys, saying that she needed to do her rounds to make sure everyone was in their rooms, needing to put as much distance between you as possible.

____________

You sighed in relief as the hot water from the shower hit your back. You hadn't realized how tense you were.

You cursed Susana and the others in a low voice. How could they sacrifice you like this? Damn traitors. You knew there was no way they could know about your crush (although you honestly thought you were pretty obvious), so they weren't doing it because they hated you. But still, damn it.

"Two weeks" you whispered "Only two weeks. You can do it Y/N"

You desperately wished you could believe your own words.

_______________

It took Agatha almost three hours to get to the room. She had been helping the girls get settled in, making sure everything was in order.

Some of them had had problems with their suitcases, so she had to solve that mess. She was totally not delaying going to her own room.

And she was definitely not thinking about the beautiful girl who was waiting for her there.

Ok, that sounded bad even in her head.

You weren't waiting for her. It wasn't like you were in her bed, in your underwear, specifically waiting for her to give yourself completely to her and-

"Enough" she mentally scolded herself. She shouldn't be having those thoughts about you.

She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, turning her attention to the hallway as the girls obediently entered into their rooms. She almost wished they weren't well-behaved little angels. Sure, she knew they were actually terrified of her, but it didn't matter.

The point was, she finished pretty fast (well, fast in her opinion) and she soon found herself reluctantly walking up to her room.

"Well ... let's get this over with" she thought as she used the other key "hopefully everything will be fine"

____________

It wasn’t fine. IT WASN’T FINE!

Agatha had almost turned and fled the room when she saw you lying on the bed.

You weren't exactly in your underwear, surrounded by rose petals, with candles as the only lighting and waiting for her in a seductive pose. No.

But you were lying on your stomach, wearing a set of shorts and a tank top as pajamas, in the middle of the bed, with the lamp on and reading peacefully. And for some reason, that was even sexier than her fantasy.

You looked so relaxed, so peaceful. Your legs kicked calmly as your hands turned the pages of the book, and your blouse left little to the imagination, showing the upper part of your breasts.

For a moment she imagined herself approaching you, gently removing the book from your hands, before kissing you deeply as she climbed on top of you.

She imagined running a hand up your stomach, lifting your tank top little by little. She wondered how your skin would feel under her touch. Would you blush if she caressed the base of your breasts? Or if she kissed your neck? What noise would you make if she lowered her hand to the spring of your shorts and-

Agatha cleared her throat to cover her moan. The noise made you jump up and look at her.

You were so focused on your reading that you hadn't noticed the other's presence. You hadn't even heard the door open. You looked at your teacher and couldn't help noticing the blush that adorned her cheeks. She seemed agitated.

"Are you okay Ms Harkness?" you asked softly, starting to get up. Getting close to her was the last thing you wanted to do, but you couldn't help but worry about her. Fortunately, you didn't have to.

"Perfectly fine, Miss Y/L/N" she smiled at you, although it seemed forced "However, I think the fatigue of the trip is catching up with me" she said, hurriedly walking to the other side of the room, where her suitcase was still unpacked. At least there were two beds, she wouldn’t have to be tortured by sleeping next to you.

You didn't say anything, a little confused by her attitude. You simply nodded and refocused on your reading.

Agatha was grateful for that. However, as she took her things out of the suitcase, she kept stealing glances at you, getting a little mad at you with every second that passed.

Who had given you permission to get into her head like this? You had no right to greet her in pajamas, to leave your legs and collarbones exposed for her to see. You had no right to drive her crazy, and then act worried about her, like it wasn't your fault she was a mess in the first place.

The fact that you didn't know the power you had over her wasn't a good enough excuse in her opinion.

Wait... she wasn't supposed to know about your crush on her either.

"Too bad for you, love" she thought, with a devilish smile.

She knew that she shouldn't do this, but she refused to be the only one to suffer in these two weeks!

Without saying anything, she took her towel and walked to the bathroom, "accidentally" forgetting her clothes on the bed. Upps, guess she would have to come out wrapped in the towel ... we'll see

______________

When the bathroom door closed, you let out a sigh that you didn't even know you were holding. You guessed it could be worse.

"If this keeps up, maybe we can survive the entire trip, Y/N" you muttered

When the thing with the rooms had happened, she didn't say anything about sharing with you, then she'd been gone for almost three hours and now she'd just walked into the bathroom, barely speaking to you. If she continued like this, indifferent, maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

Smiling and feeling relieved, you read again, quickly losing yourself in the pages. You were reading about the Salem trials, wanting to be the best prepared for tomorrow's tour. After all, you were here for a research that would be evaluated in a lengthy essay. You wanted to be ready for it.

However, just a few minutes later (at least that felt like a few minutes to you, although it could have been hours, you could never be sure when you read), you heard the shower turn off and the bathroom door opened.

By now, you weren't that nervous anymore so you allowed yourself to look up and- OH. MY. GOD.

Agatha Harkness was standing in front of you, hair still dripping, barefoot and with only a towel wrapped around her body. You swallowed audibly and hid your face in your book, praying that she didn't notice the effect she was having on you.

Agatha smiled to herself as she sat on the edge of her own bed, at the end closest to you. She crossed her legs in a decidedly slow motion and reached out for her clothes, exposing her collarbone and neck to you.

You looked away when she started dressing. It was one thing to have a crush on her, but it was quite another to be rude and watch her change, no matter how much you wanted.

The older woman frowned a little, but she told herself that there would be time to tempt you more. When she finished changing, she glanced at you out of the corner of her eye, noticing for the first time the way one of your hands gripped the sheet while your legs were pressed firmly.

"A good start" she thought "Let's see how much more you can take, love ..."

She had agreed to make the trip so that you would be happy, and she was adamant about it. She would let you enjoy the guided tours of the town and you could enjoy your day as you wanted.

But the nights, she had just decided, belonged to her. And she wouldn't be the only one burning with desire and lust. She was completely determined to make this trip a lustful hell for you.

- - - - - - - - - 

tags: @midnight-lestrange @everythingmarvelsherlockspn (tag not working) @amethyst-bitch @juliejules-089 @powerfulmagicalgirl (tag not working) @novohyde @annie-mit-ie @shinkomiii @agentbrownierso @swanqueensupercorp @usernames-are-difficult @philippaharkness @rainbow-hedgehog @parkerprolly @amelia02

[surely-galena]

Notes on Main Story 6.2

I had so much more to say here than in 6.1; 6.2 was so good!!

Will also be mildly theorizing about episode 7 in my overall thoughts section (after going through 6.2), so just a heads up for that :D

[Notes on 6.1 here]

Okay, first up? No courtroom level at the end of 6.2. A cycle's definitely being broken here...

6-16

Yeah I'm just gonna put down the "you're here early" comments as a Vyn sleep schedule thing on Zak's bingo card

"I've already hacked it" LUKE! PEARCE!

Ohh Luke's symptoms acting up and Vyn being suspicious (and Marius too!! Maybe we are edging closer to an NXX reveal)

"If I fall asleep in the board meeting later, I'm afraid I'll end up on the news again" -- hmm seems like there's a story there, Marius

Ooh group chat function in the main story is cool (love how they also coded in the pictures you chose as their profiles)

Ah yup Artem telling off the group chat as usual. Classic Artem

6-18

Ah yes, Darius "sometimes I really hate you lawyers" Morgan. When will he ever get the chance to sleep

Hmm maybe the leverage place is where the climax will be? We'll see

6-20

Ava has some really good lines, like the "ooh how pretty you all are" rather than immediately going on the defensive says a lot about her character

Ooh implications that Ava could have murdered her husband? The plot thickens

6-22

We knew Heirson was shifty, but there's a lot more to it than at first glance. Lovely

Marius referring to himself as a "good boy" -> likely references how young he really feels in his position in everything -- NXX member, CEO, etc. Which is true, he's incredibly young, and this small scene (aside from the "she ghosted me :(" part) is an interesting inclusion

Vyn? with coffee?? For once??

And also okay, I see what we're doing here. Cutaways for everyone so Artem doesn't get all of the attention, hehe

Vyn thinking he's being "too passive"? Vyn, consider the logistics. If you're passive, what does that make Artem and Luke?

Also interesting that Vyn talks about "[losing] to the others" (which... is potentially a character issue that needs to be tackled? Like... being in a relationship (platonic, romantic, etc.) shouldn't need to be a game to be won)

Agatha Christie book on Luke's bed, spotted!

Small Aaron cameo, yay :)

"Give her the stage, and watch her finish the show." We're getting some really good lines today

6-23

Why is Syter harrassing clients at the Themis Law Firm reception?

Honestly, that's hilarious (not for the clients though, my sympathies to them), like: dude, that's not your law firm? don't you have something better to do with your time?

6-24

My suspicions of leverage/drug place being the climax location are heightened

6-26

"had once gone to a haunted house during a team building exercise" -- SSR Loving Memories reference? (If so, then that brings up the question of the correlation between the main story timeline vs. the card story timeline. I do not want to think about that just yet)

Ah yes, the creepy music. Well done ToT soundtrack

"Don't worry. I'll protect you" dude you're one person, where's your backup (I get what the writers were going for, but I still can't help but think that maybe the two of you shouldn't have gone alone?? Bring Luke and Vyn and Marius along? Get support from Darius? Oh the joys of hindsight from the 6.2 trailer)

Also the moment is sweet and all but now should not be the time for holding hands!! (where is my bingo card gotta get out my bingo card)

Artem's ears are pierced?? Did he get that done on his own? With Neil? Kimberly? Or was it because Bryan thought it was something the 'hip kids' would totally be into and brought him to an earrings place in an attempt to bond with his son? However it happened, I am Surprised (and also that totally opens more possibilities for character exploration! it's not a bad thing at all!)

Comments aside, the walking rig is nicely done! The way ToT animates is so fascinating to me

Whoa getting a lot of illustrations this scene! That's cool

First we get Vyn drinking coffee and now we're getting Artem with tea? I shouldn't be so surprised, but I want to do something with this information... I'm just not entirely sure what yet

Oop, back to walking rig.

Oh yeah... communication barrier between Artem and his parents due to lack of time with them

Kimberly, jokingly: You shouldn't wear glasses, how are you going to get girls otherwise?

Small Artem, perfectly serious: Yes Mother. I see what you mean.

Kimberly: Uh, kiddo? I was joking...

Temperature, humidity, and oxygen panel I see you

Oh good, choosing to waiting for Darius.

Huh, playing bridge. I know that's not really an age-limited thing, but I'm still imagining young Artem walking into the club and playing a couple of games with miscellaneous parents and aunts and uncles and grandmas/grandpas

Ohh, a cage with controllable oxygen level? Oh no

Wait... were the 'released' thralls actually killed? Maybe because they knew too much?

I can't believe we're getting the walking rig four times XD (well I guess it's deserved, the team probably worked hard on it)

Also, hey, uh. Walking rig? I see that fire extinguisher in the background... is anyone planning on setting something on fire?

Yooo Sam, the Artem learning how to tie a tie topic is back again

Lil Artem reading math magazines in middle school... I've said it once and I'll say it again: what a nerd (affectionate)

6-27

"Only one of you can live" between Jerry and Naomi? Ooh the conflict

"I'm just curious if all men are the same"? Uh, Ava? That sounds like your backstory coming back to haunt you

(But as a plot thing, with the thralls and the traps and the layers of it all, that's gripping)

Oh, good on Darius for warning them!

Also they have an NXX emergency number -- fantastic info to have on hand

6-28

Here we goooo

HA THE CAGE! Chekhov's gun goes out the window, it's Chekhov's cage now

Oh no not the villain slow clap; Ava's having too much fun

Whoa whoa whoa Jerry's the torturer? Ouch...

Ava, m'am, with all due respect, you need some help

First of,, my condolences to Artem, secondly, Ava's actually really clever here. By forcing MC to watch Artem get beat up, Ava's essentially torturing the two of them -- meaning that either one will have to give in at some point, or so she thinks (ah, yup, and Ava does vocalize that as well. huzzah)

The ease in which Ava says "Then let's all die together"? Truly fascinating for her character. She's honestly the most interesting villain so far, at least for me

And then Ava going on to VILLAIN MONOLOGUE to MC? She's such a fun villain

Ohh the cage thing making it as seem as if it's Artem vs MC? And the whole 'only one can live' in parallel to Naomi vs. Jerry and Ava vs. her classmate? That's so good THAT'S SO GOOD I am loving this conflict

Man, Ava has a good villain laugh

Ohh... murder suicide? ...Then there really isn't any need for a dramatic court case after all

Also: after going through both routes (save Artem vs. save MC, I think I like the save MC one better (she has to run out and find the hammer, it's so cool), although both routes are still pretty in character)

6-29

YES Marius and Luke and Vyn are back!!

And we have Artem bringing ToT back to the whole justice and hope idea again

Thank you MC, for taking away Artem's tablet

Marius sending the fine for the helicopter to Themis Law Firm 😆 (and also it was because he hadn't applied for a flight permit that day, that's hilarious)

Love how the safety first thing is coming back to bite Artem "oh MC will be much safer with me" Wing and that the rest of the NXX are just. rubbing it in. Now that he's okay, it's free real estate for the rest of them (and I am going to personally interpret the teasing as loving and as a found family thing, but if you don't interpret it that way, that's cool too!)

And Luke offering resistance training is very sweet

Overall thoughts

I love the investigating Jovi thing leading into a cliffhanger, we're truly kicking off the main story now that all the introductory cases are over (and I'm also guessing this is going to lead into a Marius episode, we're not stopping now!!)

And I think episode 7, if it doesn't cover Jovi, could maybe give us more info on the Tyson Turner / Simon Bloodworth cases, there's still plot to uncover in that area and that'll be fun

Overall the second half of episode 6 was so good! I honestly really enjoyed it, Ava is such a fun villain and the tension and plot complications were so well done (esp the last couple of chapters; those were so, so fun!)

Here's my final Zak bingo card (unfortunately only 1/3 of the Baldr trio showed up, so no bingo this time... crossed off a lot of boxes though):

[phoenixyfriend]

The “Momma Sturmvoraus was Literally Satan” AU

As requested by @spazzbot​. This AU was initially brainstormed on the GG fanworks server almost a year ago. Specifically, on the first day of 2020.

[ID: a truncated discord message by “Miss Nixy, Gay for RoboLadies” posted 01/01/2020. The message reads “I need to sleep but please for the moment consider:” and ends there.]

So. Let’s get to it.

Satan took a human form because why not see what's going on topside, live like a human, and “Oh shit is this pregnancy? This is pregnancy. Fuck, that's a tiny human. Which is now half demon. Am I supposed to take care it? Wonder if retconing this form into that Valois family was a bad idea. They do have SO much money though, I get to live like a queen. I suppose another child shouldn't hurt, it wasn't that bad. Oh, he's cute, this is actually making sense, why humans do all the sinning. Not counting dear Aaronev's murders, of course, those are just evil, but I did search out the worst of the humans to pair myself to...”

This is literally just "Tarvek and Anevka's mom was low-key Satan on a bored “let's be human for a decade or two to see what happens” jaunt, consequences happen because these kids are LITERALLY half-demon and arguably anti-Christs."

Also it's just Very Funny for Tarvek, ineffectual sexy lamp fashion twunk extraordinaire, to be an antichrist

Jeff thinks he’s pretty. Jeff keeps describing features that don’t entirely make sense. (Jeff’s canon name is Karl Thotep but they spent so long unnamed that the server collectively named them Jeff.)

This is not a crossover with anything, btw. Ambiguously Pop Culture Satan just got bored and went to have babies with a serial killer.

They’re just kids! That are vaguely demonic. So. Moreso than the rest of the Valois.

Sometimes "mom" comes back from the dead and visits Anevka and Tarvek to impart Wisdom and possibly magic lessons The rooms always smell faintly of sulfur after that...

They try to put Anevka in the machine but SHE isn't hurt and the MACHINE just melts

So that's the end of that.

It's very awkward for everyone, but the paperwork isn't too bad. It's very easy to write "incidental fire began during late-fugue experimentation, resulted in fire spreading through six rooms and several casualties, including Prince Aaronev Wilhelm Sturmvoraus."

As per @atagotiak​, “I feel like if we’re going in any way dimensional weirdness with thing, Tarvek got so good at exploring bc he could just clip through walls.”

With image provided by @thisarenotarealblog​:

Tarvek in Paris: My dead mother keeps showing up in my dreams to tell me I need to seduce my way out of my problems and also she looks like Satan. Tarvek's Voltaire-Appointed Therapist: I still don't know what that means. Just like the last five times. Tarvek: I keep telling her that I can’t seduce Colette, if seduction is that important she should get Anevka to do it.

Like he probably wouldn’t say most of that in front of any Voltaire-approved individual, but still.

Tarvek is still very good at self control but there's a Special Edge to his rants.

(Derailed in the moment to me thinking about Anevka in a sfw-but-concerningly-deadly succubus getup, because... yeah.)

Aaronev dies and goes to hell and his dead wife is just there like "hi! Time to be tortured for eternity!" He wasn't a good husband so. He can't exactly sentimentalize his way out.

“In the sexy way?” “... not for you, no.”

Mostly I just want the BULLSHIT that is "Storm Mom was actually just Satan getting bored and going on vacation as a retconned Valois girl, the kids are half-demons and sometimes it Shows."

To clarify: the Satan bit isn't the retcon. Grandma used to have one daughter. Now there are two. (Seffie and Martellus's mother doesn't remember being an only child, but sometimes...)

Satan retconned a new daughter in, which included a Valid Valois Venusian Vestment, so the blood tests play out.

The subtle signs of wrongness would be fun too. Anevka tends to smile a bit too wide and sharp for a human face. Inexplicable uneasiness, here you can’t point at any specific thing that’s wrong but it’s uncomfortable. Uncanny valley prettiness, almost like the porcelain she became in other timelines. Skin isn’t supposed to be that smooth.

My brain's pre-nap contribution at that point was "Satan's pronouns when not pretending to Human are sin/sinself" which is! Certainly a thing.

Tarvek, at some nebulous future point: I mean, your ancestors were monsters, but my dad was a serial killer and my mom was literally Satan, instead of just figuratively like Lucrezia, so. I mean. I kind of get what you're going through.

Per @firebirdeternal: Tarvek and Anevka growing up with "you're allergic to holy water" and not questioning it until a little later because What.

And then they test it and it's like "yeah, no, there's a rash now. That stung. What the fuck."

It INFURIATES Gil in Paris when Tarvek tells him that's a thing, because there's nothing chemically different about Holy water and regular water. But no, this is somehow happening.

It gets logged in medical journals as a Valois genetic thing because, well, Mom was like that too, right?

One time they both go into a church for an Adventure and Gil is very annoyed to find that Tarvek is like. Faintly smoking. It smells like burnt hair in here.

Gil: What smells like burnt hairgel? Tarvek: [glares]

Gil decides that it must be something particular to the church, like a fungus or something in the stone, contaminating the air and water so it only LOOKS like the holiness is what's setting off reactions.

It is not.

Tarvek once got into an argument with someone and ate a slab of raw, completely uncooked meat as a power move.

SVV seems to work perfectly. Everyone is fine. We get the ‘you fight like ducks’ moment.

And then Tarvek bursts into flames, and everyone panics because no they fixed this what the fuck is he still infected with Hogfarb’s oh my god... and then everything settles down and he's perfectly fine. Not a scratch on him, no longer turning funny colors. Completely unharmed. He's in a nicely tailored suit and looks faintly stunned

"I just met my dead mom, who's apparently Satan. She told me that after I died the first time just now, I should be harder to kill later, especially with fire, because now there's more demon and less mortal and guys I think I'm going crazy." "Is that a martini?" Tarvek looks down. "Apparently."

Tarvek starts just. Randomly setting things on fire by glaring too hard and has to tone it down. Meanwhile, Agatha and Gil are having crises about how he's somehow getting PRETTIER.

Is he faintly glowing? Maybe!

Gil handles it by angrily sniping at Tarvek about how of COURSE he's an evil little rat with a background like that.

Tarvek just wants a nap and to forget this ever happened. Many people are sworn to secrecy. It's very awkward.

Still, SVV did something, for handwave-y reasons, and so they're linked now. Gil and Agatha both getting tiny flashes of the same shenanigans.

They get none of the powers. They just keep getting Weird Shit.

Other characters with divine influence are like "Did you.... did you make a pact with a demon?" "What no that's our boyfriend."

Tho tbh I wouldn’t be surprised if a Heterodyne did sign a contract with a demon at some point in exchange for like. Materials. A hundred souls sacrificed in exchange for some succubus blood. Thanks!

Tarvek and Othar: Falling out of CW as in canon. Tarvek: WHAT THE HELL SINCE WHEN DO I HAVE WINGS HIDE THIS BEFORE I GET BOOTED FROM THE LINE FOR THE THRONE

IDK where Anevka is during all this. I think she might have decided to go sleep her way through the courts of the Ice Tsars. Vacation, y'know?

Othar after he's decided to make Tarvek his new Heroic Apprentice: AH, my poor afflicted young friend, it's noble of you to go against the dark nature of your tragic heritage like this. Tarvek: I hate you. I wish I could hate you to death. But you have a point. I shouldn't let my father's blood limit what I strive for in life. Othar: I... I thought your mother was... Tarvek: I know what I said.

Tarvek: Also you can't tell ANYONE about that, I can't have them thinking I'm not actually in line for the Storm King's throne.

He does admittedly have to like. Explain things to Grandma.

Terabithia is Tarvek’s maternal grandmother so this is supremely awkward. That said...

Grandma fondly remembers her pregnancy cravings; bone marrow and sulfur.

"Yeah so, my mother, your daughter, was... maybe actually Satan? But retconned into your life?" "Tarvek, darling, please. I figured that out half a century ago."

TARVEK ACCIDENTALLY FINDS HIM HIMSELF WEIRDLY INTENSE AT CONTRACTS

I mean that honestly just Tracks about Tarvek anyways? But like moreso.

He just. Writes something up and there's things getting signed or shook on and then the person tries to break the contract and either suddenly catch fire or are deeply unlucky for a set amount of time.

And Tarvek's just standing there like "how in the FUCK did I do that?"

Severity of infernal punishment depends on the severity of the breach of contract.

Tarvek finds out that Anevka's been convincing rich people to sign their souls over to her. It's a fun challenge. She keeps them in jars.

They can still remotely pilot their bodies but like. They can't TELL anyone what happened.

Satan: I'm going to go make babies and now everyone else has to deal with the consequences.

Anevka's living up to that whole "princess of hell" vibe. Tarvek's just like "nope nope nope I want the storm throne, not the hell throne, BYE MOM."

Satan's just feeling sinself down in hell like "awwww look at my babies go, aren't they adorable?"

Tarvek: Anevka, what... first off, how did you figure it out? Anevka: Well, I temporarily died when father put me in the machine, and... I can't say that hell kicked me out because they were afraid I'd take over, but mother DID say she'd rather I play about with human governments instead of Hell's. Tarvek: Okay, cool cool cool. What after you planning to DO with all these souls? Anevka: They make for some lovely reading lamps, don't they?

(Anevka absolutely sets herself the goal of acquiring new titles that rival her old ones, or even surpass them. She just black widows her way through Europa.)

I just want someone (probably Snackleford) to ascend, take one look at Tarvek, and run SCREAMING.

Tarvek still needed to be anchored to Higgs, because Tarvek is Baby.

Gil is eventually in a relationship with an Eternal God Queen and the Literal Son of Satan.

Family dinners can include ALL the in-laws if you duck down to hell! - You borrow Bill from... probably heaven, maybe purgatory. - You have Lu and Aaronev and Satan already there, though the first two... well. Aaronev and Lu get invited to dinner but they have to eat by themselves at the kiddy table and nobody talks to them or acknowledges their presence. After all, this is hell, and what better punishment for Lu than to be completely ignored, and for Aaronev to see Lu at her worst and be reminded that he gave everything for this horrible, horrible person who isn't even pretending to care about him anymore. - Zanta and Klaus get invited via portal. - Anevka saunters in with a blood-soaked dress and a complaint about militant demon-hunters refusing to let her go shopping for a new pair of shoes. - Zeetha tagged along with the OT3. (She can't wait to see this situation explode.)

Oh God, Satan is actually second place as far as good parenting goes.

Well, actually, fourth. Because Adam and Lilith. But second as far as bio parents go. 1. Zanta 2. Satan 3. Klaus 4/5. Lu and Aaronev N/A. Bill

Someone (Anevka) decides to stir the pot and invites Von Pinn, Terabithia, Bang.

Bang is basically Gil’s older sister, right? Right.

This is Zanta meeting Bang for the first time! Zanta is just: "It's so nice to meet my husband's adopted daughter." Klaus freezes. Bang freezes. Gil is the only one who is just. "Yeah." Meanwhile Zeetha is crying with laughter off to the side because both of them deserve this. (Zanta would legit love Bang though.)

Agatha: Tarvek, I think DuPree is-- Tarvek: Hitting on my sister? I know. Agatha: On your mom, actually. Tarvek: NO!

Also I do love the idea of like. Nobody tells Bang they're inviting her. She just wakes up in Hell like. "Ah. Yes. Fair enough."

Satan: Oh no no no my dear, you're here as a guest. Besides as well as you'd fit you're not one of mine, you've got other things waiting for you. Bang: Okay, but I love the decor. And is that Cheesecake?

Bang’s family has their own evil god in the novels, but! Bang DID pick on Tarvek a lot in Paris. Satan cares more than Anevka does. Bang might get the sexy punishment.

I feel like the fact that no permanent damage was done and it taught Tarvek a lot of things means Satan isn't gonna be all that upset about it.

And let's be real, if there's a character in GG who could look the literal Christian devil in the eye and be like "Yeah I tortured your kid, what're you going to do about it?" it's Bang.

Even Satan doesn't know what to do or think about Othar.

He sure is here! As Anevka’s arm candy! Nobody knows what to do except Anevka herself, who just wants to be Smug.

(What's that scene from Phineas and Ferb that's the mad scientist trapping the platypus within the rules of polite dining at a fine restaurant? Like he can't make a scene because that would be rude?) (That. Othar would dearly love to start a fight, but it's a Family Dinner. You're only allowed to fight verbally at those.)

(Othar isn't even fighting Satan, he just wants to argue with Klaus.) (And maybe fanboy in Bill's direction a bit).

[ryttu3k]

Already finished Coteries of New York, so on to Shadows of New York! I’ve seen the first bit in an LP, at least, but the bulk of the story will be new. This will have two playthroughs, one for each ending, since at least it has them XD First up - the ‘good’ ending!

Oh dang I like the music.

Julia is a bit on the edgy/cynical side XD

Yeah, she’s got a shit deal :-\ And what’s worse is that it’s all planned out.

Interesting note - at Lodestar, there were shadowy figures in the background, but you could rationalise it as people on the other side of the windows. On the train, you only see the shadowy features, and it’s otherwise empty, so no obvious figures casting them...

I guess if you choose the ‘don’t shoot’ option, Julia gets drained and it’s an early game over?

God that Embrace scene is intense. I got goosebumps!

Spirits, huh? Oh yeah, Obtenebration became Oblivion and is now connected with necromancy, IIRC?

I’m glad she had a good few nights XD;;

Valerie Duval, she was... the scourge in CoNY hunting down the Red Hook killer?

Nice to meet you, ‘Katherine Wiese’ XD

Cool ponytail, Qadir! I really dig the relationship between him and Julia, it’s fun. ‘sup Aisling, how’s Agathon? A blood hunt, really? Y O U. Okay yeah probably better for Julia’s long-term survival for Arturo to ignore her XD;; Samira’s so pretty. Ooh this guy is Hope’s sire, yeah?

“You wanted to hear about which member of New York City's Camarilla I dislike the most?"

"Yes?"

"Too bad. They're all my dear colleagues, and I deeply respect every single one of them."

"Sure you do. Wouldn't want to blurt out something that could lock you out of Mr Vanderweyden's legal services, would you, you ass-kisser?"

"I do expect to find myself in need of a good defense attorney when my broke, incompetent, and foul-mouthed assistant finally pushes me over the edge."

THEMST.

Benoit hi!! “Got any news about Sophie Langley?” *sharp intake of breath* Benoit backstory, that’s rad. I wonder if it’ll be uncovered in-game? Like we know Arturo is still around, Panhard is still around. Presumably Adelaide Davis is still around. Callihan... well, I know what happens to him. I think Torque ditches the scene before Sophie dies?

Father Leonard seems like a good sort. I wonder what his deal is?

Dakota is adorable. I’m going to do the ‘good’ end first even though I know it’ll make me feel horrible, but dangit, the ‘bad’ end is totally going to be my canon.

...Vin Diesel? XD

DING DONG THE DOUCHE IS DEAD. ...Deader than usual, I mean.

jfc Panhard that is pretentious as hell. Both the party description and the costume, actually XD Qadir’s mask is kind of funky. Oh my god Arturo you are a Toreador is that the best you can come up with?! Nice horns, Aisling.

...Thought, given their clans, Samira/Aisling could be interesting as hell.

Man, Arturo and Panhard must be pissed off XD Unless they’ve already picked their replacement stooge?

And here’s where the plot starts! Hey, isn’t that the priest’s house? Ohh, they’re meant to be meeting with Mia. I guess they’re just reusing assets.

“It’s a list of four names. ‘D’Angelo. Hope. Agathon. Tamika.’“ *SHARP INTAKE OF BREATH* Okay, that could be the list Sophie gave the fledgling. Which one did Callihan get it from?

Oh criminy Dakota don’t tell me you’re into that Q-Anon shit XD;; Ooh okay that makes more sense. Neat.

Ahhh man I was hoping to get a lead and instead Julia has to punish this poor fuck XD;; Yeesh. Okay, Bunny as a Reporter it is, then.

Almost run over by a limo, huh? *chinstroke*

Oooh this is the lead to Hope! Yeah, I’d say she has a connection with a Montgomery XD Wonder if she did end up eating her? Huh, contact used LeakyGutSyndrome... didn’t Hope end up having to retire that one, or was it the other one? Let’s just... Dominate this guy. Sorry dude it’s for your own good.

Agathon’s missing? :( Damn, he’s like one of the only decent Tremere. Oho, a diary! Oh sweetheart :( Oh, Silvia died :( Damn, interesting past, though... and a reference to CoNY again.

Fucking shadows, I literally glanced over my shoulder.

S C H E M E S. And yeah, looks like I’m on my way to the ‘good’ end :-\

Oh shit, Adelaide or.... whatshisname, Kaiser’s dude? Oooh man who to meet first... Kaiser’s dude. Oh. That was a bit anticlimactic XD

On to see Hope at Double Spiral. I think this is one of those choices that leads to one of the endings, so what’s more ruthless and Camarilla... busting in it is.

Nastya isn’t having a good night, is she XD;; Also Hope’s suit is badass.

...huh. Sounds like she’s actually managed to get shit sorted decently XD

Interesting... the coterie members were a list of heroes for hire that multiple people had, including Sophie. Well, that widens the scope a bit! Anonymous information broker, shall I assume that’s Kaiser? OH. No, it’s her sire!

“The story going around is, he left me alone and I hate his guts. Well, at least half of that is true.” Which half, though...

Aww man I wish I had saved some of those websites! I miss SciFiVine...

You know, I’m not 100% sure Carter’s the murderer (my main suspect is Arturo at this point tbh) but damn, the bit about Stern’s show kinda makes me want to slap him anyway XD;;

Queer Catholic blues, huh :-\

“Haven’t you noticed what’s going on in the news? People are going absolutely insane about this virus, cancelling trips and orders and --��� Ahh. We’re in that 2020 XD;;

Okay the scene with the kid meeting his girlfriend was cute but then spooky time?? jfc was that the Abyss?!

Ooooh did she just find Tamika solely by accident? Thanks, Abyss XD I love how Julia’s first response is ‘shit, she’s hot’. And she took out a whole SI squad herself? Nice. Calebros mention! Huh, so the SI are maintaining the status quo... they became an issue because the Camarilla tried to sic them on the Anarchs and Sabbat and it backfired, maybe it actually succeeded here?

Ooh, a history with Torque. Neat. Also not sure with the art, but are those tattoos on Tamika’s arm, or fur? I mean, Gangrel beast marks and all.

Sorry Torque I’m just trying to get the ‘good’ end :(

Mention of the fledgling! Officially ‘disappeared’, that leaves it fairly ambiguous at this point.

Oof. The Circulatory System are... not cool. And yeah Julia’s just been called tf out, I do look forward to this scene in the ‘bad’ end XD;;

COVID strikes back. The Big Beat Burger is closed :( Charlie is sweet, at least! I hope his mom is okay.

Well that rat bit was weird. Hi D’Angelo! Oh my god blood doll rats? Drunk blood doll rats?! Still a damn good detective, though, that’s good shit. On to Kaiser and some answers! ...Yeah, okay, he’s a prime suspect too.

Kaiser, you are a deeply unpleasant person :-\

...good to know pepper spray still works. And, uh, probably satisfying to beat him up XD;; And yeah, there’s the last choice for the ‘good’ ending. Sorry dude.

...huh. Okay, I was at least partially right XD;; Oh Qadir, not you too :-\

Well that’s a bit... weird of Dakota, yes.

lmao oh Benoit you absolute mess. Religion as A E S T H E T I C XD I have a theory he’s from Michael’s line and I also quite sincerely believe that Michael would take one look at him and bitchslap him into the next millennium. He’s a Path follower, isn’t he?

Father Leonard is okay. I wonder who the ‘friend’ is?

This is very Agatha Christie, revealing the killer in the midst, except I have the horrible feeling Qadir’s going to go with ‘it was suicide’ and not ‘it was everyone’.

Denouement! Before it ends, Julia’s traits:

Loyal only to myself

Glass half-empty

A little abuse of power never hurt nobody

You can’t be a writer and not lie

The ends justify the means (duh)

Honestly she may have just blackmailed her way into power, set up Carter to take the fall, and sent poor Dakota to final death, but the drama was impeccable XD Good luck not ending up in the Abyss, Julia!

[strangeandforlornbooks]

best books with morally ambiguous narrators!

all y’all’s problematic faves and villains! :) also included are third person narrators but in books with morally ambiguous leads/themes 

Sci-fi

Scythe by Neal Shusterman: in a future free from pain, disease, and war, people can live forever. ‘scythes’ are given the power to decide who lives and who dies to preserve the balance. sad and kinda gives of hunger games vibes, if you like that.

Neuromancer by William Gibson: basically invented the cyberpunk genre. strange and removed protagonists. (a team of computer hackers have to face off against an evil AI). you kind of dislike everyone and suddenly you’re crying over them. one of those trippy sci-fi classics.

The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut: very beautiful and very very sad (same author as slaughterhouse five). the richest man in america has to face a martian invasion. more about free will and bad people doing good things than a plot that makes any kind of sense.

The Man in the High Castle by Philip K Dick: set in an alternate universe where the germans and japanese won world war two. not really like the tv show at all- it’s not an action story, and there’s not really the hope to somehow fix the world that drives a lot of dystopia stories. instead its about how people survive and connect to one another in a hopeless society.

The Scorpion Rules by Erin Bow: a supercomputer convinces the leaders of the world to keep the peace for hundreds of years by taking their children hostage and obliterating any city that disobeys. what happens to the hostage protagonists when war seems inevitable? lots of morally fraught decisions and characters slowly losing their identity. (plus a fun lesbian romance)

Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson: a brilliant mathematician and a dedicated marine fight to keep the ultra secret in world war two. fifty years later,  a tech company discovers what remains of their story. one of the most memorable sequences in the book is a japanese soldier slowly becoming disillusioned with his nation and horrified by the war even as he continues to fight.

Blade Runner by Philip K. Dick: another one of those sci-fi classics that’s not at all like the movie. there is a bounty hunter for robots, though, as well as a weird religion that probably is referencing catholicism and a decaying society with a shortage of pets. kind of a trip.

Wilder Girls by Rory Power: girls trapped in a boarding school on an isolated island must face a creeping rot that affects the animals and plants on the island as well as their own bodies. the protagonists will do anything to survive and keep each other safe. very tense (and bonus lesbian romance whoo)

The Fifth Season by N K Jemisin: three women are gifted with the ability to control the earth’s energy in a world where those who can do so are forced into hiding or slavery. some veryyyy dark choices here but lots of strong female characters.

Historical Fiction

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters: two victorian lesbians fall in love as they plot to betray each other in horrific ways. lots of plot twists, plucky thieves, gothic settings, and a great romance.

Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiwicz: a powerful roman soldier in the time of Nero plots to kidnap a young woman after he falls in love with her, only to learn more about the mysterious christian religion she follows. very melodramatic but some terrific prose. 

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr: a blind girl in France and a brilliant German boy recruited by the military struggle through the chaos of the second world war. ends with a bang (iykyk.) very sad, reads like poetry.

Boxers by Gene Luen Yang: graphic novel reveals the story of a young boy fighting in the boxer rebellion in early twentieth century china. the sequel, saints, is also excellent. beautifully and sympathetically shows the protagonist’s descent into evil- the reader really understands each step along the way.

Fantasy

Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake: three triplets separated at birth, each with their own magical powers, have to fight to the death to gain the throne. lots of fun honestly

Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo: everyone in these books is highly problematic but you love them all anyway. a ragtag game of criminals plan a heist on a magical fortress. some terrific tragic back stories, repressed feelings, and revenge schemes.

The Dark Tower series by Stephen King: idk how to describe these frankly but if you can put up with King’s appalling writing of female characters they’re pretty interesting. fantasy epic about saving the world/universe, sort of. cowboys and prophecies and overlapping dimensions and drug addicts galore.

The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud: lots of fun! a twelve year old decides to summon a demon for his cute lil revenge scheme. sarcastic demon narrator. lighthearted until s*** gets real suddenly.

Elegy and Swansong by Vale Aida: fantasy epic with machiavellian lesbians and enemies to lovers to enemies to ??? to lovers. charming and exciting and lovely characters.

The False Prince by Jennifer Nielsen: an orphan boy must compete with a few others for the chance to impersonate a dead prince. really dark but very tense and exciting and good twists.

The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu: fantasy epic. heroes overthrow an evil empire and then struggle as the revolution dissolves into warring factions. interesting world building and three dimensional characters, even if they only have a small part.

Circe by Madeline Miller: the story behind the witch who turns men into pigs in the odyssey. madeline miller really said, i just used my classics degree to write a beautiful gay love story and now im going to write a powerful feminist retelling because i can. queen. an amazing and satisfying book that kills me a lil bit because of the two lines referencing the song of achilles.

Heartless by Marissa Meyer: the tragic backstory for the queen of hearts in alice in wonderland. a little predictable but very fun with a compelling protagonist

A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) by George RR Martin: ok I know we all hate GRRM and rightfully so but admittedly these books do have some great characters and great scenes. they deserve better than GRRM though. also he will probably never finish the books anyway....

A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket: not really fantasy but not really anything else either. plucky, intelligent, and kind children fight off evil plots for thirteen books until suddenly you realize the world is not nearly as black and white as you thought. 

Classics

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier: gothic romance!! a new wife is curious about the mysterious death of her predecessor in a creepy old house in the British countryside...good twists and lovely prose.

A Separate Peace by John Knowles: not really morally ambiguous but one awful decision suddenly has awful consequences and certain people are haunted by guilt forever.... really really really beautiful and really really really sad. boys in a boarding school grow up together under the shadow of world war two.

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy: while imperial russia slowly decays a beautiful young woman begins a destructive affair. a long book. very russian. the ending is incredibly tense and well written.

Lord of the Flies by William Golding: I think you know the plot to this one. the prose is better than you remember and the last scene is always exciting.

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie: one by one, the guests on an island are slowly picked off. one of Christie’s darkest mysteries- no happy ending here! very tense and great twists.

Contemporary

The Secret History by Donna Tartt: inspired the whole dark academia aesthetic. college students get a little too into ancient greece and it does not end very well. lovely prose but I found the characters unlikable.

Honorable Mentions

The Dublin Saga by Edward Rutherford: has literally a billion protagonists, but some of them are morally ambiguous ig? follows a few families stories’ from the 400s ad to irish independence in the 20s. beautifully captures the weight and movement of irish history.

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer: how morally ambiguous can you be if you’re, like, eleven? a lot if you’re a criminal genius who wants to kidnap a fairy for your evil-ish plan apparently!

Redemption by Leon Uris: literally my favorite novel ever. the sequel to Trinity but can stand alone. various irish families struggle through the horrors of world war one. the hero isn’t really morally ambiguous, but the main theme of the novel is extremely bad people suddenly questioning their choices and eventually redeeming themselves. sweeping themes of love, screwed up families, redemption, and patriotism.

The Lymond Chronicles and House of Niccolo by Dorothy Dunnett: heroes redeem themselves/try to get rich/try to save their country in early renaissance Europe. if I actually knew what happened in these books I'm sure it would be morally ambiguous but its too confusing for me. in each book you spend at least a third convinced the protagonist is evil, though. lots of exciting sword fights, tragic romances, plot twists, and kicking english butt.

Bonus: Protagonist is less morally ambiguous and more very screwed up and sad all the time

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt: you know this one bc its quoted in all those quote compilations. basically the story of how one horrible event traumatizes a young man and how he develops a connection to a painting. really really really good.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro: hard to describe but strange... not an action novel or a dystopia really but sort of along those lines. very hopeless.

[savannah-lim]

Now You Sea Me || Kaden & Savannah

Timing: After The Student Body Location: Caves on Harris Island Parties: @savannah-lim and @chasseurdeloup Content: Gun use (on monster), body horror (description of mermaid), violence (on monster)  Summary: Savannah is both a professional and a disaster at mermaid hunting

Savannah knew from experience that New England winters were no joke. The nights were growing darker, the days chillier, and White Crest lay on the tip of the Maine coast, its cliffs and islands nestled among the glacially cold ocean. So of course, it was an excellent time of year to go mermaid hunting with a miserable Frenchman. She’d dressed in some thermal, water resistant clothes, form fitting to allow her ease of movement and make it easier to avoid getting snagged on the rocks, a thick woolly hat, and a lined parka. She didn’t know exactly what she needed for the trip, so she packed a bit of everything; her gun, extra ammo, a barrel-mounted light, regular flashlights, flares, and even snacks (they might get stranded out there!). She’d even got ziplock bags for her phone and keys. All in all, she was pretty proud of her level of preparedness by the time she went to meet Kaden at the beach on Harris Island. “I’d recognize that sullen side profile anywhere,” she said by way of greeting. Not that she could talk. “I parked just off the road up there. I have some extra supplies in the car just in case.” She honestly shouldn’t have been so excited about this. “So, mermaid?” 

Kaden always hated the water monsters. They always had the upper hand in a way, especially when in the water. And, of course it meant getting wet. Not usually a big deal to him, he’d dry off. But in Maine in the late fall? This wasn’t his idea of fun. Then again, he was severely questioning if hunting was ever his idea of fun anymore. He sighed and gathered up his nets and harpoons and spears. It didn’t matter if this was fun or not, there was a mermaid and he knew how to kill it. It would be irresponsible not to tackle this. Plus, he had Lim standing by in case he got hurt. Regan couldn’t complain about him being in the woods alone. He wasn’t alone and hey, for once, he wasn’t in the woods. “Sullen?” Kaden let out a huff of breath. “I’m not sullen. Putain.” Alright, that sounded a little sullen. “What’d you bring?” he asked, rebalancing the load on his shoulder. “You have a med kit, right? I just… I have a feeling.” With his luck, there’d be some injury or another. “Sounds like it. Lead the way, Lim.”

“I don’t know what Putain means, other than the food, but you’re kinda sullen,” Savannah snickered, probably just a little too at ease about this whole thing. She was sure that would go away once she saw it again. Kaden was a way better companion on this sort of thing than Agatha had been though. The girl was great with a gun, but way too quick on the excuses. “I do. I always have a med kit in the car.” She didn’t wait for that annoyed look of disbelief to flash on Kaden’s face, cutting it off with; “for this, I moved it to my backpack.” She went about listing what she had brought with her, hoping it would be enough for Kaden to declare that she wasn’t entirely useless. Sadly, she hadn’t had access to a harpoon. “Can I have one of those?” she asked, leading the way down the beach and towards the cave she and Agatha had entered. “I think the police tape it still up, just--yeah, this way.” It led a convenient trail towards the sea water pool in which they’d seen the mermaid. Being back in this place made Savannah cringe. All those bodies. “Do we use bait? Like a ribeye?” 

“No, no. Not poutine, putain,” Kaden said with a sigh. “It’s an expletive. Like fuck or shit. Sort of. Either way it’s not the same as the fries with gravy and cheese curds.” He couldn’t believe this was what they were explaining as they wandered down towards the beach. “Glad to hear it,” he replied in response to the med kit. “Hope we don’t need it but this is White Crest.” As fast as his side had started healing from his forrary during the full moon, it still stung as he walked. He hoped his gait and slight wincing didn’t betray it at all. He didn’t need to answer any more questions about that night. “You want a harpoon? I mean…” He didn’t exactly have a good reason to refuse. And if she was going to help. “When we get down there, sure.” The police tape wasn’t far and when they reached it, neither of them had to even pretend not to get caught as they ducked under and headed towards the scene of the crime. And the monster. He had to admit, being police really did have its advantages for hunting. “Yeah, we should probably come up with a plan,” he said as he started unloading his gear, handing her one of the harpoons. “The best thing to do is going to be to get it out of the water. If we can harpoon it and get the net around it we can try to drag it out.” Easier said than done, he knew that full well. “Didn’t really think about bait.” Shit. He stood there, arms crossed a moment. “You want to be bait?” He didn’t want to be bait.

"Oh," she shrugged. "I only know Merde. Now if you want to swear in Korean, I'm your girl. Gae-sae-ggi." Savannah was quite happy to discuss expletives. She was oddly energised by all this, and happy to talk him through some of her favorites as they walked. "This is White Crest," she repeated, giving a humorless chuckle. "It really is a weird horror show of a town, isn't it?" And yet somehow her words didn't seem disparaging. She was still amazed he'd even agreed to let her come, considering how unhappy he'd seemed when she and Regan were out there on the river. 

As they approached the cavern, she knew this was the place. It was practically burned into her consciousness. Savannah placed down one of the larger lights, turning it on near the wall so she didn’t have to hold it. "I've never used a harpoon before," she said, positively energised at the idea. The bait part, she was less enthused about. "Why? Why would I want to be fish monster bait?" She shook her head. "I packed food though. Do you think it might like some sandwich meat?" Probably preferred its food fresh, but she hoped Kaden wouldn't challenge her on that. “Or--do you have a knife? Maybe I could just cut my finger and drop some blood in the water.” 

“Merde’s a good one, too. Putain de merde is really the best, though.” Kaden’s brow furrowed and he tried to repeat her Korean. “That any good? I’m guessing not. I’ve heard my uncle complain about the French accent coming through in my German. I can’t imagine it’s better in any other language.” It was odd how easy the convo felt. Like they weren’t walking into potential death. “No place like it, that’s for sure. And I’ve been to a lot of places, I don’t know about you.” 

As terrible an idea as this probably was, having a normie with him on this hunt, and a Federal agent at that, Kaden couldn’t argue with how prepared she was. It almost made him question if she was as clueless as she let on. Almost. “Hey, I don’t want to be bait. And you don’t know how to use a harpoon.” He sighed and insisted she take it anyway. “I mean, I know I’m prettier but someone has to do it,” he said, jokingly. He wasn’t going to push it, though. She just seemed so enthusiastic, he hoped she just might go along with the bait thing. Kaden blinked at her a moment. “Food? Are you telling me you brought snacks? On our hu-- I mean, encounter.” Shit, he hoped he covered it up at least a little. Likely not. Probably didn’t matter too much either way. “Do I have a knife,” he repeated with a scoff, like it was the world’s dumbest question. “The real question is which one you want. Not that I’m advocating for blood letting. Let’s try sacrificing the snacks first. It might work,” he said and gestured for her to go ahead, his harpoon in hand, ready to face the beast. 

“Could be better,” Savannah answered, honestly, but not unkindly. “But Korean is tough if you’re not used to it. I wouldn’t complain about your accent coming through. It’s sort of part of who you are, right?” They weren’t left with much time to dwell on that conversation though before the subject turned back to bait. 

“I should have brought some leftover meatloaf,” Savannah groaned, putting down her bag. “Yes, I brought food! What if we get lost down here, or one of us gets injured? I wanted to be prepared.” She’d probably gone a little overboard, admittedly, but he hadn’t exactly given her a list. “There’s a water resistant thermal blanket, some spare socks…” But the one thing she didn’t have was a knife, so she took his gladly, pocketing it briefly before rifling through her backpack for her sandwiches, throwing in some sliced chicken from between the buttered slices of bread, then standing back as if waiting for a volcano to erupt. 

“Meatloaf?” Kaden asked, his face pulling into a disgusted frown instinctively. There was nothing that had ever sounded appealing about that dish. “Hopefully the mermaid isn’t as picky as I am.” He had a feeling that, knowing their luck, this mermaid just might be. “Well, glad you came prepared. I guess. But putain, did you pack for an overnight trip or a hunt?” Then again, sometimes those overlapped. He sincerely hoped that wasn’t the case here. “I’m going to need that back when we’re done by the way,” he said after handing her the knife as they backed away. He waited, harpoon in hand. It felt like they were there for a minute. Maybe two. Nothing so far. 

Kaden’s mouth pulled into a thin line and he gestured to indicate she should stay put where she was as he approached the water, slowly, weapon ready. One step, then two. Still nothing. Three, four. Maybe it had gone and fucked off. Five, s-- “Putain de merde!” Kaden shouted, stumbling back as what looked like a woman burst from the water. If he didn’t know any better, he’d say she was gorgeous, green eyes, alluring and practically beckoning him to the water as she sang. If he didn’t know better, he might be fooled. But he did know better. So Kaden charged towards the beast, harpoon in hand. As quickly as the facade had appeared, it dropped, and the woman bent back and away, revealing a row of teeth. He thrust the harpoon towards the open mouth, but before he could ram it through the monster, its fangs clamped down, snapping it in two. And then another head popped out of the water. “Fucking shit,” he grumbled. Lim better be prepared for this, too. 

"I know you're French, but you don't have to be a snob," Savannah answered at his reaction to her mention of meatloaf. She'd prefer a good Korean BBQ, but it was tough to find a decent one in White Crest, if there were any at all. "Okay, so I may have over-packed a little." But it was better than coming unprepared, she thought... Savannah accepted the harpoon perhaps a little too gladly. She wasn't someone who expected to ever have any joy in hunting, and this wasn't the type of hunting she'd ever anticipated, and it was hard not to feel the pure adrenaline and excitement of it mixed in with the fear. It wasn't the killing that interested her. Not in the slightest. It was being part of something unknown and exciting, discovering something new. "I'll try not to break it," she answered, her voice dryer than anything else managed to be in this cave. 

Before she could say anything else, her eyes widened at the sight of a beautiful young woman emerging from the icy saltwater, the very same she had seen just the other day with Agatha. "Hi again," she answered, "miss me?" Oh, she'd always wanted to say something cool like that, but she felt entirely less cool when the beast half-swallowed Kaden's weapon, and brought a friend. "Oh no! Hey! Look out!" She pulled her own trigger, hitting the creature, but just barely. It made an inhuman groan as the metal scraped across its scales, leaving jagged edges. “Hello?? Why is this thing so slow to reload?”

“Putain!” Kaden shouted again as the shot rang out, diving out of the way of the beasts and the bullet. “You could have hit me!” True as that may be, she had shot the one mermaid, no mistaking it. Not clean enough to kill it, though. He scrambled out of the way and reached for his own gun. Shit, he hadn’t been prepared for multiple. His mistake, really. He took the gun and started firing where he could. One want through the first monster’s mouth, though he couldn’t be sure if it did real damage or clipped its fucking fangs. It did give Kaden a second to scramble away from the edge. Taking them out with bullets wasn’t impossible but with the strength of its scales, it’d be a task. Especially with two. Best bet, drag one of those fuckers out of the water. “Aim for that one,” Kaden said pointing to the left. “Going to try something.” He took the harpoon he gave her and grabbed a net, running over to the creature on the right. He threw the harpoon into what looked like the “woman’s” shoulder before tossing the net at it. Teeth tangled in the net and he hoped like hell when he pulled back, they wouldn’t tear it to shreds. Just had to get it out of the water. 

“But I didn’t!” Savannah answered. Come on. At least he could give her some credit. She’d passed her marksmanship certification with flying colors. She took advantage of Kaden’s gunfire, loading the harpoon again and readying for another shot. She kept her hands steady, all her training coming together to teach her to keep a calm and steady hand. Quantico sure hadn’t expected their training to be used for something like this. Their attention being on Kaden made it easier for her to land her next shot, aiming at the one Kaden had indicated. The harpoon loosed, whizzing through the small space between them with a low whistle and hitting the mermaid square in the abdomen. “Oh, that was a good one!” She picked up Kaden’s intentions and started walking backwards, dragging the thing as it made ungodly screeches that she was sure would alert every house on the island. 

For not being a hunter, Kaden had to admit that Lim wasn’t too bad at all this. This time, at least. Guess coming prepared made a difference. Kaden tugged and pulled and finally, the monster was out of the fucking water, letf to fucking suffocate. He turned his attention to Lim and helped drag the second one along with her. Once they were both on the rocky surface of the cavern, it was almost embarrassing to think of them as terrifying. Both were flopping and flailing, gasping for breath. The lures on top of them, the ones that looked like women, were still trying to entice them as best as they could. “Help… me…” they moaned. The whines turned into screams and Kaden had had enough. He took his bowie knife out, dragged the one near him, slit it under its jaw, then same to the second. Blood and guts poured over the floor around them. But the beasts stopped moving. Kaden pushed his hair out of his face and assessed the situation. “Guess we did it. Didn’t die. So that’s nice.”

Savannah credited her FBI training for preparing her for this sort of thing. Okay, not exactly this sort of thing, but intense situations, those were something she was trained to simply tackle confidently and pragmatically. She lacked Kaden’s supernatural gifts and knowledge of the bizarre, but she did her best to hold her own. She watched, fascinated as the creatures struggled on the cave floor, her torch light falling on them, creating shadows on their faces that made them look even more horrifying. She didn’t even look away or flinch when Kaden dealt the final blow. “That was actually… pretty fun,” she said. “If you ignore the mortal peril. We saved lives today. No more frat boy snacks for these things.” She sounded, and looked, terribly proud of herself. 

Kaden leaned over, hands on his knees, letting the adrenaline wear down, trying to catch his breath, when he looked back up at Lim. Did she just call this fun? “Yeah. Sure. If you ignore that one small detail. Sure.” He shook his head and started to gather his equipment back up so they could get the hell out of there. “Maybe don’t start hunting monsters on your own just for fun, though. I mean, not unless you value that whole life thing you have going for you.” Once his weapons were all gathered and ready to go, he looked back at the monster’s bodies. “We should probably burn those or something, shouldn’t we?” It’s not like he could bring them to Regan right now.

Savannah's veins were flooded with adrenaline. She caught her breath, doing her best to wipe away what blood and monster guts had made their way onto their clothes with the anti-bacterial wipes she'd brought with her. "No, no, I'll leave the sea monster slaying to the professionals, Ahab." At the mention of burning, Savannah furrowed her brow. "Oh, yes, I suppose. Unless we want one of those teens with phone cameras to put it on Instagram." Regrettably, and very reluctantly, she reached very slowly for one of the most important things she'd packed; a hip flask. "I... suppose this might help?" She held up an index finger, taking a sip before handing it to him as if she was parting with precious jewels. "Don't say I never gave you anything." She definitely wasn’t going to tell Keen about this. 

[jaybug-jabbers]

All-Glitch Pokemon Blue Run Pt17 (Final): A Whole New World

Professor,

You've always nagged-- uh, I mean, informed-- me about the importance of taking copious, detailed notes about everything, for the importance of research and records. So even though you were in the audience that day, I'm sending you my report about my fight with the Elites.

I know you strongly advised that I train a little more before taking them on. After all, the team was only at level 40. I agree that was a little low. You told me I was being rash and impatient, and maybe I was, I don't know. But I knew my team felt ready. They were so eager to fight for me, and I believed in them.

So I entered the arena, and faced off against the first: Lorelei. I won't lie; she was so easy it was almost trivial. Wobbles' Thunderbolt wiped out almost all her pokes in a single hit. Lapras needed two hits, but it was still easy to tank a Hydro Pump from it. The only uncertainty was Jynx, but after paralyzing it, Charmed could deliver a Fire Blast to its face.

In almost no time at all, I was already in Bruno's chamber. At least this fight took a little longer, but we still weren't working up a sweat. I opened with Jasper to face his Onix. Jasper had been training for this. He'd taken out countless Onix on Victory Road. This one went down like all the others. Hitmonchan was next. I paralyzed with Gia first, but then Bruno started to use X-Defends. I pondered this. It meant I wanted to use some decent Special attacks. Only two of my pokes really had decent Special, of course-- Wobbles and Charmed. I switched Wobbles in, although he caught a hefty Counter to the face for it. Still, he cleared the Hitmonchan out no problem. Next up was Hitmonlee, and I was able to clear it out with Giago, bashing away with Strengths. There was a second Onix, but Jasper wiped it out as easily as the first. The ace was Machamp. While this pokemon is known as an absolute beast of an attacker, he simply doesn't stand a chance against Giago's raw bulk and defenses. She simply shrugged the attacks off and took the pokemon down.

On to Agatha. Things were finally starting to get more difficult. I opened with Jasper, since he knew Earthquake. She started with a Gengar. After a Screech and two Earthquakes, Jasper was able to take the ghost out, since the Gengar didn't use particularly wise moves. Next was Golbat, but it was a trifle with Wobbles' Thunderbolt. Haunter was also easy for Jasper: after a Screech it only needed one Earthquake to go down. Before it left, though, it used a Confuse Ray. When Arbok came in, it was a little more serious for Jasper. The snake used Glare and now Jasper was both confused and paralyzed. Earthquakes did some damage, but not tons. What's worse, Arbok was Screeching and using Acid, so Jasper's defense kept dropping. Jasper finally went down to a Bite before he could finish the job he started. But he left the Arbok rather low of health and easy pickings for a revenge attack. Charmed did this handily.

Then was the final Gengar. I started with a Thunder Wave from Gia. The Gengar chose to poison Gia. Honestly, that was a blessing in disguise; I didn't want to deal with Hypnosis and Dream Eater. Giago chipped away with the only move she could use, Surf, but it was slow going due to Gengar's massive Special. Eventually Gia succumed to the growing Toxic damage. I sent Dusty in next and it was very much the same story: Get hit by Toxic, chip away with Hydro Pumps, eventually go down to Toxic. To my irritation, Agatha then used a Super Potion. I brought in Charmed and Fire Blast things, but run out of Fire Blast and have to resort to Embers. Then Agatha uses a Super Potion AGAIN. I start to grow aggravated as Charmed goes down to Nightshade.

Thankfully, Fractal comes in and saves us from this annoying battle. A well-aimed Fly ends the fight. 

Agatha admits defeat rather begrudingly, but tells me to keep going.

At long last, I reached the final Elite chamber. It belonged to Lance, the dragon tamer. He took some time to wax poetic about how rare and difficult dragons are to find and train, claiming them to be the superior pokemon typing that will dominate all others. I smirked at him.

"Best not rest on your laurels. A new and even more powerful pokemon type could always come along, you know."

The guy chuckled. He told me,

"Yes, I've heard people talking about your so-called 'glitch' pokemon. Personally, I'm not sure if I believe your story."

I reached for my pokeball and told him it was time to see for himself.

Thankfully, Lance's opening pokemon was a pushover. As intimidating as Gyarados was, it collapsed like a wet paper towel to Wobbles' Thunderbolt. Dragonair was made of sterner stuff, though. I decided to play it safe and start by Thunder Waving with Gia. Then I switched to Jasper. A Screech and a couple Earthquakes are all that's needed, although it helped a great deal that Dragonair missed its Hyper Beam. I don't know if even Jasper could have dealt with that kind of hit.

I met the second Dragonair with the same Thunder Wave treatment. Then I sent Dusty in, hoping to chip away with Ice Beams. Unfortunately, Dusty never gets her chance. She goes down immediately. However, Wobbles can clear the dragon away with Aurora Beam.

The fourth pokemon is an Aerodactyl. Like the others, I Thunder Wave, and then I tell Jasper to chip away with Hydro Pumps. Of course, Jasper is more of a physical attacker, but it did some damage. When Jasper fainted, I sent Charmed in to try out some Fire Blasts. It helped wear the Aerodactyl down some more, but it wasn’t not enough. However, at this point, Fractal could finish things off, smashing through the rocky beast at high speeds.

Lance sent out his ace, Dragonite.

Same old story-- I open with Thunder Wave. Then I use some Strengths. It's a bit slow going, but Giago, like Jasper, is more about the long game and survivability. Eventually Gia wears that dragon down to about 1/4 of its health. Then Gia falls. I think I can bring Fractal in to finish things.

But then, Lance uses a Super Potion. It's a slap to the face, honestly. I'm still not sure why using potions during a battle is officially allowed in the rulebook.

My Missingno falls to the Dragonite, and I'm down to just Wobbles.

I tell Wobbles to use Aurora Beam. Wobbles turns and starts glowing bright.

But then, something horrifying: Dragonite moves first. It launches itself bodily towards Wobbles.

I watch helplessly. I know Wobbles' defense is paper-thin. I had been counting on Wobbles outspeeding the paralyzed dragon. But the problem was, it had used so many Agilities that it was faster now.

The dragon careens toward us, a massive brute compared to the tiny body of Wobbles. I think it's over.

But then, in the last moments, Wobbles somehow manages to slip past. The dragon crashes loudly onto the ground.

Then Wobbles aims, and he fires.

When the dust settles, Lance is forced to eat his words. He accepts his loss, and he's forced to admit that my glitch pokemon are actual, real things, and not some fanciful delusions.

I think it's finally done. I'm mentally preparing my victory speech. But Lance doesn't concede that I am the new Champion. Instead, he smiles sort of smugly, and tells me there's one more person I must face.

And it's Professor Oak's freaking grandson.

I had to take a five-minute breather first. I healed up my team and tried to psyche myself up. All things considered, these Elites hadn't been too terrible to face. But I was starting to grow a little weary, and that last dragon battle had been pretty close.

On the other hand, this was Oak's grandson. I mean, how hard could he be? I had spanked him just before heading up Victory Road, so it was doubtful he'd gotten much stronger since then.

So we headed back out there, onto the Champion's stage. Blue gave me some grand speech about his journey, about all the things he'd learned as he helped out Oak, and how he'd assembled a team that would beat any Pokemon type.

I just laughed and asked him, "Are you sure about that?"

He seemed annoyed and told me they could beat even "my pack of freaks."

Done wasting time, I sent my ace out first. He deployed his Pidgeot. It honestly was pathetic; Wobbles blasted the thing clean out of the sky.

He sent his Alakazam out next, though, and I was a little more cautious about that. Like before, I used Giago to paralyze it, and then tried chipping away at it. Gia never had stellar Special, so she goes down. However, just like before, Fractal's devastating attack strikes the powerful Psychic pokemon down. Fractal might be a glass cannon and easy to underestimate, but when you get in his line of fire, you'd best look out.

Next was Rhydon, and I sent Dusty out. To my wonder and joy, Dustdevil solos the Rhydon with Hydro Pumps. I cheered, happy that Dusty was contributing too.

Arcanine comes out next, and although Dusty does her best with Hydro Pump, she quickly folds to the fire dog's strength. I sent Jasper out, and try again with Hydro Pump. Jasper's Special may not be better than Dusty's, but as a sturdy fellow, he could stand up to the dog's strikes until he blasted it with enough water.

Next out is Exeggcute. Charmed has her time to shine, and engulfs the tree in a ball of flame.

Finally, it's Blue's ace, Blastoise. Giago had fainted at that point, so there was no help from paralysis here. I sent out Fractal to do some damage, but he goes down quickly. Dusty as well. Jasper is weakened from his fight with Arcanine and also falls. It's down to a weakened Charmed and Wobbles.

I don't bother sending Charmed out. I knew that her Slashes and fire moves weren’t going to be enough. A fire lizard against a water turtle just isn't a wise move. So really, it's up to Wobbles, my starter.

Thankfully, thankfully-- Wobbles outspeeds. Even more thankfully, Wobbles is able to OHKO the Blastoise with one Thunderbolt.

And then, we'd done it.

There was so much shouting and jubilation from the crowds after that, that it's a bit of a blur. I know Oak rushed down to the arena to talk to us. I remember Oak saying he was proud of how much I'd grown since I'd left with his little Charmander. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm pretty sure Oak still had no idea there was something off about my pokemon. Like, was he sitting in the far back or something? Does this guy have vision problems? I don't know, but I didn't have the heart to tell him that the little Charmander he'd given me was quite a bit different now. As in, I'd raised it and then hybridized it with a Charizard'M. I figured it was fine, though-- he didn't really need to know.

You know what happened after that-- the talk we gave together to the public about glitch pokemon. But when it was time to officially register myself and my team in the Hall of Fame, I went to the room alone with Oak. So I'll tell you what happened.

It was short and simple. Oak gave a brief speech, ceremonial stuff. Then we put my pokeballs into a machine.

The machine displayed the records on a screen. It looked like this:

The machine didn't seem to really process the glitch pokemon correctly, so it displayed the same confusing jumble of pixels for each of them. Unfortunately, Charmed's natural cloaking abilities were so strong, the machine failed to even recognize her and generate a record for her. That's really unfortunate, since she did contribute to the team! Maybe in the future, though, we can adjust the equipment to understand glitch pokemon.

By the end of it, the machine was emitting a strange sort of noise-- I think Dusty messed with its audio settings. It seemed to unnerve Professor Oak, but he carried on with the ceremony anyway.

And that was it. I'd become Champion of Kanto.

It’s all so strange to think about. This summer hasn’t turned out at all like I had expected it to. I’m visting mom at home today, in Pallet Town. When I woke up this morning and laid there, thinking about the events of yesterday, I had to wonder for a moment if it was all a dream. 

I’m just a Bug Catcher from Pallet Town. I spent my days catching Weedles and Caterpie and just wandering Viridian Forest. This whole world of glitch pokemon and all the bizarre things to come out of it . . . this strange reality I stumbled into, it’s well beyond anything I would have even imagined. And it carried me further than I ever would have thought.

I know, I’m just rambling now. I’ll stop. I know we still have a lot of work to do-- now more then ever. Now that we’ve revealed to the world the truth about glitch pokemon, they need us to help explain and understand them. It will be a massive change for everyone.

And this all started because I couldn’t stop wondering what hid in the grass beyond the fence in Pallet Town. It’s funny, really. Now that I know the answers, I just feel . . . more excited then ever.

-Junebug

[snow-pitch-grimm]

Better Than Any Fantasy

Summary: Simon finds some of Baz's sketches of him. His reaction isn't what Baz had expected.

SIMON

I didn't mean to see it.

I've seen him write and doodle in his notebook before, always with it turned away from me. I'm curious as to what he's doing, but even I have my boundaries. No matter how much I'm convinced that he's plotting, there are some lines I wouldn't cross.

Going through someone's private diary is too much, even for me.

So, I really didn't mean to see it.

I'd been looking for a paper of mine through all the clutter on my desk when my elbow had knocked over Baz's neat stack.

I curse as I quickly pick up his things. As I pick his leather-bound journal, a pape slips out.

It was a drawing, a very familiar drawing.

It was me.

In the picture, I was shirtless and lying renaissance style on the sheets, with the sheets covering my waist to my mid-thigh.

I looked...I looked good.

Why would Baz draw me like this? Was it a trick? No, it couldn't be. He's always hidden the contents from me.

Despite my better judgement, I opened the journal. Skipping over the writing I only looked at the drawings. Specifically drawings of me. There I was, writing, laughing, smiling and generally just doing normal things. There was even one of me stuffing myself with scones. Baz somehow made me look beautiful doing that too.

It didn't make sense. Could it be that he liked me? That didn't make sense either.

The last collage of pictures answered the question for me.

It was the only page that involved him too. In one corner, we were holding hands, at the bottom edge we were looking at each other with smiles on our faces. At the side of the page, he as leaning against a brick wall with him leaning over me. At the bottom, we were lying together in the grass.

Framed by all these doodles is a picture of us kissing. It was just our faces and my hand. Our lips are carefully melded together, and my hand is cupping his cheek, the one not turned toward the viewer.

The pictures have a soft, wavery quality to them like they are from someone's dream.

Did Baz dream of this? Is this his fantasy?

I was still trying to figure it out when the door clicked shut behind me.

Turning around, I came face to face with a shocked and angry looking Baz.

BAZ

He found it.

Of course, he found it! Snow has no concept of privacy!

I stomp forward and grab the things from him.

"You couldn't leave it well enough alone, could you?" I snarl

"Baz- no. I didn't-" he starts, waving his hands and looking at me beseechingly, "I don't-"

I don't want to hear the rest of it. I turn around and stalk out of the room.

I walk and walk until I'm at the edge of the woods. There I sit down on the rocks and let my head fall into my hands.

What's he going to do now? Would he tell people? Would he make fun of me? Or would he just ignore it? Which one's worse?

"Agh," I grunt and throw the journal on the ground.

This was a disaster.

I had fantasies of him finding out and telling me he felt the same way. I would bring him flowers, and he would thank me with a small kiss. Or we would finally snap and kiss each other, ending up together in bed. There was one where he confessed and asked me out on a date.

But they're only fantasies. I know he's never going to love me the way I love him.

And now he knows exactly how much I love him.

Tears gather in my eyes as the severity of the situation finally hits me. Simon knows now. He could tell anyone. He could decide to finally make my life miserable. He could-

"Baz," says a hesitant voice from near me.

Snow's standing there, a sheepish look on his face. His hands are shoved into his pockets and he's fidgeting on his feet.

"What do you want," I ask, sounding as defeated as I feel.

He's silent for a moment before speaking.

"I really didn't mean to see it," He says softly, "It fell off your desk when I was looking through my stuff. The loose one fell out and well...after seeing that how was I not supposed to be curious,"

I snort but keep quiet. He did have a point.

"And I didn't read or look at anything else," he continues, "I only looked at the pictures you drew of me...and you,"

"Right," I say

There's silence again and Snow comes to sit beside me.

"What are you doing," I ask him

"Sitting," he answers

"Snow-"

"You like me?"

He's looking at me with curious eyes. I look for any malice but his eyes clear.

"I think that much is obvious,"

"You know I've never thought of you that way," he says, "But it's kinda sweet. Do you really think I'm that pretty? Because honestly, I don't look as good as in the mirror as I do in those drawings,"

All I can do is stare at him.

"Snow I can't tell whether you're letting me down easy or-you know what I have no idea what you're doing,"

Snow smiles at me, that bright smile that makes my heart beat fast.

SIMON

It hadn't taken long to make my decision. Only five minutes to be exact.

Five minutes is all it took to look at my feelings and think if the conclusion I wanted to this whole event.

The fastest decision I have ever made, and it still feels right.

Poor Baz, though. He looks so confused.

BAZ

Snow is still smiling when he answers and nearly stops my heart.

"What I'm trying," he says, "Is to get you to ask me out on a date,"

My jaw drops open and I'm left speechless.

SIMON

I think I might have broken him

BAZ

"Hey Baz," says Simon, waving his hand in my face, "Are you still here? Do I need to take you to the infirmary?"

I snap myself out of it and stare at him incredulously.

"What do you mean, ask you out on a date? You're not gay. What about Agatha? And where would we even go on a date here?"

Simon smiles, "I mean, ask me out on a date. I'm not gay. I'm bi. Figured it out when I first saw you shirtless. Agatha and I broke it off, mutual decision and if you're smart enough to be head of the class, you're smart enough to figure something out for a date,"

I stare at him, once again rendered speechless

SIMON

Did I break him again?

"Did I break you again?"

"I'm still stuck on me shirtless being your bisexual awakening,"

"Trust me I was surprised too," I tell him

"You really want to go on a date with me," he asks, looking a little shy

It's unusual and adorable, solidifying my decision to give us a chance. After all, its not every day you find a boy that spends his time doodling you in his secret notebook, all because fo how much he likes you.

"Yeah," I tell him

His face brightens, and my heart skips a beat.

Without intending to, I slide my hand in his.

BAZ

I'm holding hands with Simon Snow.

Merlin Above, I'm holding hands with Simon Snow.

I have to pinch myself to make sure I'm not dreaming again.

Nope, Simon Snow is definitely holding my hand right now.

"We should probably head back," he says

I nod, not trusting myself to speak.

We walk back together, still hand in hand, and surprisingly we don't run into anybody on the way back to our room.

When we get back, we spend some more time sitting on my bed and talking. Simon tells me about some of the mischiefs he and Penelope get into, and I tell him about my family and my the little terrors that are my siblings.

We finally decide to go to sleep when the clock strikes midnight.

As he gets off my bed, Simon bends down to kiss my cheek, making the skin tingle under his lips.

This is definitely better than any fantasy I have ever had.

[saiilorstars]

The Beginning of Everything

Ch. 22: The Future Comes Across

// Story Masterlist // 

Fandom: Doctor Who

Pairing: 10th Doctor x Female OC

~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~

Chapter summary: After visiting King Henry VIII, the Doctor doesn’t know how to confront Renata about what happened between them. Renata’s continued silence only makes the Doctor even more nervous. But, there’s more to Renata’s silence than he believes and instead of finding an easier way to come clean to him, Renata comes across...River Song. 

It was a rare sight to see the Doctor so silent and only looking at a screen. Donna didn't think she'd ever seen him like that, which made it harder to break his concentration. She'd tiptoed into the console room, careful not to be heard as she came up behind him. And that's when she saw what he was looking at on the screen.

Ginger hair and freckles. "Is that her?" her soft voice was still enough to make the Doctor jump. Donna didn't mind that he'd swooped to shut down the screen, almost bonking his head along the corner in the process. Donna had seen enough to understand. "That was her, wasn't it? Zuriah? The girl you used to love?"

The Doctor didn't say anything as he moved away from Donna. She watched him walk slowly around the console,, his head hanging low. "I didn't mean to sneak up on you. But...if it counts for anything… she's really pretty."

A light smile spread across the Doctor's face. "Yeah, she was…"

Donna smiled with him. "We're you just remembering her?" The Doctor was about to shake his head but something stopped him midway. Donna studied his unusual expression and ultimately had to ask what was wrong. "You know I won't say anything."

At that, the Doctor smiled again. "It's stupid."

"If it's what's making that face I don't think it is."

The Doctor sighed. "It doesn't make sense."

"What doesn't?"

"Zuriah...Renata…" he closed his eyes and let his back lean against the console, "Ever since the whole Agatha Christie incident I can't stop thinking about the moment I kissed Renata." And he wouldn't even mention the kiss they shared a few days ago in Hampton Court Palace. It still made his insides warm up like there was no tomorrow.

"Aah," Donna was fast to smirk.

"I've just been thinking, realizing, that it was very familiar. Everything between Renata and I...it's just so familiar."

"You mean...Renata reminded you of Zuriah?" Donna tilted her head. It was a fair thing considering the two women had been friends long ago. Except, it was one thing was to be reminded of Zuriah because of the friendship she shared with Renata and another thing was to remember Zuriah by kissing her friend.

"I know, it doesn't make sense and it's plain awful that I'm doing this," the Doctor leaned away from the console. He couldn't figure it out. He was just so confused and it was driving him crazy. Worst of all was that he didn't have the courage to talk to Renata about it, at least not yet. It'd been a few days since the whole King Henry visit and while they had shared a wonderful moment, neither seemed to be able to talk about it afterwards. They were still close, they were good friends, but...something wasn't right. It pained the Doctor that Renata wouldn't talk about their kiss, that she wouldn't mention their night adventure through the palace. Had she regretted it? Was she being kind and just ignoring it? Moving on from it?

The Doctor felt his hearts stop each time he thought about Renata moving on from that kiss. Donna was right, he was smitten with Renata. He was so smitten with her.

"Doctor?" Donna called his name when his face had turned pale. "Hey, are you okay?"

"No, no I'm not," he exhaled deeply as he let his body lean against the console. "Oh, Donna. You were right."

"I was," Donna nodded her head firmly before asking, "What was I right about?"

"I like Renata. I really like her and right now...I'm going crazy."

Donna's eyes widened. She thought she would have to work at least a few more weeks to crack the Doctor, but it seems like Renata took care of that already. "Oh, um...well, at least you admit it. That's a good step. Honestly, it wasn't that hard to tell. Anyone could see it."

"Yeah?" the Doctor glanced at her. "What do you think about Renata, then? You think she...reciprocates these...feelings?"

Donna scoffed. "Please! It's so obvious, Doctor! I don't know how you missed it! The way she looks at you! All those little smiles she gives you! How could you have missed it? Well, I suppose the same way she missed the fact you like her too! For two people who are so smart, you sure are dumb!"

"Alright, alright, I get it," the Doctor rolled his eyes. Leave it to Donna to make him smile right now.

"So what are you going to do? Ask her out on a date? Oh, how about-"

"Donna, we kissed. We kissed and now I don't know how to talk to her about it," the Doctor found himself blurting. He couldn't picture himself having this type of talk with anyone, but Donna gave him a sense of security. She would keep his secrets just like he imagined Gabby kept Renata's. He wondered if Renata had told Gabby about their kiss...

"Wow, you work fast!" Donna laughed.

"It's not all so good. I haven't been able to talk to her about it and now I'm wondering if it's even worth doing it," the Doctor sighed. "If she hasn't talked to me about it then...wouldn't that mean she doesn't want to talk about it?

"Not precisely. Could just be that Renata's nervous about it," Donna shrugged. "I've had loads of friends do that."

"So then how do I talk to her about it?"

"Well, first you gotta know what you want to to tell her. I have seen so many relationships fail because the bloke has no idea what he wants. That's a sure way to make a woman angry. What do you want with Renata?"

The Doctor exhaled at the question. If he was being honest with himself, the first thing he would want from Renata was to kiss her again. He'd want nothing more than to kiss her and for a longer time than their previous one had been. "I do want something with her but I also confess that...that I'm concerned."

"Concerned about what?" Donna asked curiously.

"That everything about her is so familiar. It's not fair to her that I keep thinking about Zuriah. And then I don't know why I keep thinking back to Zuriah."

"Maybe you just need some time to sort your head out," Donna suggested. He wouldn't be the first man to be confused between two women, even if one was a ghost.

"I guess..." the Doctor sighed. He might just be horrible though because even though he was confused, he knew that he did want Renata. He wanted her now. It made it incredibly hard to keep his hands from touching her during these past days. He even struggled not to keep looking at her after what was considered normal. He had no idea how Renata was so normal. Actually, maybe he did. She was trained to keep her emotions inside and she was damn good at it.

The Doctor didn't know if she was acting normal because she'd moved on from their kiss or if she was just faking. It was driving him crazy! He needed to figure something out soon because he didn't know how much longer he could last like this.

~ 0 ~

Renata was completely enamored with their current location. It was a huge library that was literally the planet. "This is it," she murmured as she made her way through the reception area. "This is literally my favorite trip."

"We've only been here for 2 minutes," Gabby pointed out but Renata waved her off.

"I don't care. This is my favorite one. It's so big, it's full of books, it's quiet and...normal..." Renata turned to the Doctor, allowing him to view her wide-eyed expression. "Why did it take you so long to show me this place?"

The Doctor smiled a tight smile, one that Renata discreetly noticed. She could only guess what was running through his head. She inwardly sighed to herself. She was ruining things, she knew she was but she was such a coward...and scared. She was so scared.

After their kiss in King Henry VIII's palace, Renata knew there was no way she could keep up her charade with the Doctor. That was ruined the moment she let him put his lips on hers. She loved him too much and the fact he had chosen to kiss her meant that he was starting to feel something for her...but the wrong her. She would truly be the worst type of woman if she allowed the Doctor to develop feelings for this version of her when he didn't know who she really was. That's where she drew the line. She would hurt him even more if she let him believe he was falling for a different woman. But she was so scared to tell him the truth. She had lied for too long that he was definitely react badly to it. It was his right to. He had been fed too many lies, one after the other, that the only thing he should do with her was to throw her out of the TARDIS. Just thinking about it broke Renata's hearts, but she knew she had no right to protest.

If she was being honest, she was disgusted with herself. For too long she had hidden and lied and it was only now that she realized she only set up the path that would hurt the man she loved most. It seemed like she was always destined to hurt the Doctor. Renata hated herself. Every day, she hated herself a little bit more.

"This is the 51st century, right?" Renata crossed the reception, leading the group through a door that would bring them to quite a view. She needed to control her feelings right now. She was secretly flexing her fingers as the familiar warmth spread through them. That energy was getting stronger, like it wanted to burst. "You know, I'm not much of a future girl but I do like the fact that this Century has holovids, direct to brain downloads and fiction mist."

"What? You get a book download into your head?" Donna tapped the side of her own head.

"Yeah, I know, not all that great if you're old fashioned and want a physical copy."

"Oh wow," Donna came first to see the view ahead of them. She walked closer to the rail and saw endless aisles of bookshelves. "It truly is a city!"

"The Library," the Doctor came up beside her to admire the view. "So big it doesn't need a name. Just a great big 'the'."

"A library that's a planet!" Renata laughed as she came to the view as well. "Now this is fantastic!"

"It is," agreed the Doctor. "The whole core of the planet is the index computer, biggest hard drive ever. And up here, every book ever written. Whole continents of Jeffrey Archer, Bridget Jones, Monty Python's Big Red Book. Brand new editions, specially printed. We're near the equator, so…" he licked his finger and raised it to the air, "This must be Biographies! I do love biographies!"

"Yeah, very you. Always a death at the end," Donna remarked. Gabby cleared her throat and gave her a pointed look. "Right," Donna murmured. The topic about death was a touchy one considering their uptight Time Lady still wasn't being honest about her own death arriving.

Renata had wandered away from the railing and sifted through some books, but she ultimately realized that they were very much alone. "It's so... silent," she remarked. "Where is everyone?"

The Doctor wondered the same thing. He found an information terminal and tinkered with it.

"Maybe it's a Sunday?" Donna said.

"No, I never land on Sundays. Sundays are boring."

"It is library. Maybe everyone's really quiet," Gabby thought next.

"Yeah, maybe. But they'd still show up on the system," the Doctor murmured as he went deeper into the terminal's system.

"I'm beginning to think that there's something going on," Renata left the table of books she stopped by and walked over to the Doctor. "This wasn't your first choice of trips."

"It wasn't?" he repeated, not really paying her attention. The system was a bit difficult to get through.

"No. If I recall correctly, you mentioned something about a beach…"

"Did I?"

"Yeah, so why the sudden change?"

But the Doctor had finally found something worthwhile. "Now, that's interesting. I'm scanning for life forms. If I do a scan looking for your basic humanoids - you know, your book readers, few limbs and a face - apart from us, I get nothing. Zippo, nada, see?"

Renata gazed at the screen herself to confirm what he was saying. "Hm, nobody home I guess?"

"Right, but if I widen the parameters to any kind of life…" the Doctor went in again to change the settings and this time when the scan was done they got an "error; .000; lifeform number capped at maximum record' on the screen. "A million million. Gives up after that. A million million."

"But... there's nothing here…" Gabby gave an unsettling look around the place. She was starting to get a bad feeling. "There's no-one."

"And not a sound," the Doctor added. "A million million life forms, and silence in the Library."

"But there's no-one here. There's just books. I mean, it's not the books, is it?" Donna wanted to laugh but then she realized she'd seen crazier things before. "Wait...can the books be alive?"

Renata turned her head slowly at the nearest table of books. She wanted to think it was a crazy idea but, like Donna had also thought, they'd seen far crazier things already. She cautiously moved to the table and reached for a book, readying herself in case one of them snapped to bite her-

"Welcome!"

Renata actually yelled and snapped her hand back to her chest.

"It came from in there!" Gabby pointed in the direction they'd come from. They all bolted back and searched for the source of the unknown voice.

It turned out to be a Node, a statue with an actual face on its head. "I am Courtesy Node 710/aqua. Please enjoy the Library and respect the personal access codes of all your fellow readers regardless of species or hygiene taboo."

Donna couldn't help but stare at its talking face. It was too creepy. "That face, it looks real."

The Doctor knew where she was getting at and wondered how badly it would get to her. "Yeah, don't worry about it."

"But a statue with a real face, though! It's a hologram or something, isn't it?"

"It's got to be," Gabby said instinctively but then shot a look at Renata when the doubt got to her. "Right?" Renata didn't say anything but the face she was making had all the answers. Gabby wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Oh, that's gross!"

"Additional," the Mode started up again. "There follows a brief message from the head librarian for your urgent attention. It has been edited for tone and content by Felman Lux Automated Decency Filter. Message follows. 'Run. For God's sake, run. No way is safe. The Library has sealed itself, we can't...oh, they're here. Arg. Slarg. Snick.'" Message ends. Please switch off your mobile comm units for the comfort of other readers."

"So that's why we're here…" the Doctor murmured. "Any other messages, same date stamp?"

"One additional message. This message carries a Felman Lux coherency warning of 5, 0, 11…"The Doctor could not deal with the legalities and hurried the Node along. "Message follows: 'Count the shadows. For God's sake, remember... if you want to live, count the shadows.' Message ends."

There was a collective fear that spread amongst the group.

"Everyone...stay out of the shadows," the Doctor warned as he himself made sure not to stand over a shadow that wasn't his.

"This is supposed to be a library - what could there be in the Shadows?" Renata could not believe that something as simple - as peaceful - as a library could be ruined.

The Doctor couldn't answer correctly, so he started leading them through another door to come across a huge aisle of bookshelves. It was several floors high, possibly endless since they couldn't even see the actual top.

"Alright Doctor, the jig is up," Donna said, shooting him all her suspicious looks. "We weren't just in the neighborhood. Why are we here?"

The Doctor supposed she was right. Better to start with the truth if they wanted to focus on figuring out what was wrong with the library. "Yeah, alright, I kind of, sort of lied a bit. I got a message on the psychic paper."

"You did what!?" Renata groaned. She should've known better than to believe he would openly come to a place like this when the only adventure were the skyscraper bookshelves.

He showed them his psychic paper which had a message left for him. ' The Library. Come as soon as you can. x'

"What do you think? Cry for help?"

"Cry for help - with a kiss?" Gabby raised an eyebrow at him. "Looks more like a message for a date."

"Who's it from?" asked Renata with an unusual hardness in her tone.

"No idea."

"So then we have no idea if this has all just been a big ole trap?"

The Doctor briefly looked to the side. "Uuh…"

Renata groaned. "This is why we do environmental checks before we leave the TARDIS!"

"I didn't think we needed one! This is a library!"

"Those were the rumors until a statue told us to run!"

Gabby didn't want to listen to them bicker so she looked away, but in doing so she noticed that the lights were going out at the end of the corridor. "Uh, guys! The lights!"

The Doctor and Renata quit arguing to see what Gabby meant and we're equally horrified to see darkness coming towards them.

"Run!" the Doctor ordered before taking charge. They came to a locked door and despite attempting to use his sonic, it wouldn't budge. "Jammed! The wood's warped!"

"What? And the sonic doesn't work!?" Donna exclaimed.

"I can't, it's wood!"

"What?" Gabby nearly keeled over from shock. "That thing can do hundreds of things against aliens but it can't open a stupid wooden door!?"

"Dare I ask about mine?" Renata waved her own sonic in the air.

"I...wouldn't," the Doctor sighed and tried fiddling with his sonic again. There had to be something he could do. "Hang on, hang on, if I can vibrate the molecules, fry the bindings, I can shatterline the interface…"

Donna groaned. At this rate they would die faster. "Oh, get out of the way!" she shoved the man to the side and kicked the door open with all her might.

"Alright Donna!" Gabby laughed, impressed with their friend's quick thinking.

"Yeah, yeah, get in!" Renata ushered them in first then pulled the Doctor behind her.

Together they quickly shut the door and used a book to bolt it. When the Doctor turned around to see where they were, he found a small girl standing a few feet away.

"Oh! Hello! Sorry to burst on you like this. OK if we stop here for a bit?"

But the girl blinked and turned into a sphere instead.

"That's...new." Gabby blinked. "Can we expect more little girls turning into spheres?"

The Doctor, not amused with her question, shot her a momentary glare. He rushed to pick up the sphere and sonicked it. "Security camera. Switched itself off."

"Why would it switch off?" asked Renata when she joined him. It looked high tech, definitely something a library like this one would have.

Somewhere along the sonicking, the sphere gave a high pitched scream. It almost sounded like it was…

"Wait, stop!" Renata snag he'd the sphere from the Doctor's hands. "Look!" she turned it over from him to see the words running along its screen.

'No, stop it, no, no!'

"Ooh, I'm sorry!" the Doctor put the sonic away for the moment. Scanning it wouldn't be an option anymore. "I really am, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

"It's alive," Renata carefully put the sphere back on the floor.

"I thought you said it was a security camera," Donna eyed the sphere as if it would move on them.

"It is. It's an alive one," the Doctor said.

"Look, it's saying something else," Gabby saw new words running across the screen. She bent down beside it to read aloud. "The others are coming?" she looked up at the alien pair, confused and a bit afraid. "Who are the 'others'?"

"I'm afraid to ask what that even means," sighed Donna who then noticed another Node in the room. "But I guess we'll have to." She walked up to it and, despite however creepy it was, she asked it a question. "Excuse me, what does it mean, "others"?"

"That's barely more than a speak your weight machine, it can't help you," the Doctor pointed out before she wasted more of her breath.

"So why's it got a face?"

The Node took care of the answer "This flesh aspect was donated by Mark Chambers on the occasion of his death."

Donna leaned forwards when she thought she heard wrong. Even Gabby had gotten back on her feet to stare in horror.

"It's a real face?!" Donna almost shrieked.

"It has been actualized individually for you from the many facial aspects saved to our extensive flesh banks. Please enjoy."

"Enjoy?" Gabby repeated.

"It chose me a dead face it thought I'd like?" Donna turned away from the Node, almost outraged. "That statue's got a real dead person's face on it…"

"Unfortunately that's not so uncommon here in the 51st century," Renata said with a crinkled nose.

"I want to leave now," Gabby resolved and turned away from the Node as well. She was about to walk away when the Doctor shouted for her to stop. He dove forwards to yank her in the opposite direction.

"What!? Ah!" she pushed him away in fear.

"The shadow, look!"

She'd been about to step on a dark shadow behind her. "What about it?"

"Count the shadows."

"One. There, I counted it, one shadow."

"Gabby you're not getting it," Renata seemed a bit more afraid than usual. "If that's a shadow...what's casting it?"

Gabby froze with wide eyes. Donna quickly looked around her immediate area to see if there was another unaccounted Shadow nearby.

"Oh! I'm thick! Look at me, I'm old and thick!" the Doctor banged a few fingers against his head. "Head's too full of stuff, I need a bigger head!"

"I think the world would literally explode," Renata couldn't help make the remark. It did elicit a smile from him though, a rather nice one.

They followed the Doctor towards a corridor and saw that it was pitch dark except for one lamp still blinking.

"Power must be going," Donna concluded.

"This place runs on fission cells. They'll outburn the sun," the Doctor said.

"Then why is it dark?"

"...it's not dark."

Donna went wide-eyed and turned away, only when she did she realized that the shadow Gabby had nearly stepped on was no longer there. "That shadow. It's gone."

That was it for the Doctor. "We need to get back to the TARDIS." Of course for Gabby and Donna it was very weird behavior.

"Why?" asked Gabby.

"Because that shadow hasn't gone. It's moved."

"Doctor, I don't like this place anymore," Renata was frantically searching for more Shadows trying to literally creep up on them.

"Reminder," the Node started again, "The Library has been breached, others are coming. Reminder: the Library has been breached, others are coming. Reminder: the Library has been breached…"

Another door in the room flung open and allowed six people - dressed in white spacesuits - inside. One of them, presumed to be the leader, walked straight to the Doctor, an action that made the man backtrack a couple steps.

The spacesuited person switched their visor to transparent to show their face. A woman with ashy brown hair and blue eyes smiled at him. "Hello sweetie."

Renata raised an eyebrow at her, but the Doctor had only gotten the fact that there were 6 unidentified humans trespassing into a dangerous place. "Get out!" he ordered them. "All of you, turn around, get back in your rocket and fly away! Tell your grandchildren you came to the Library and lived, they won't believe you!"

The woman inside the spacesuit paid him no attention and turned to her crew instead. "Pop your helmets, everyone. We've got breathers." At her command, everyone removed their helmets.

"How do you know they're not androids?" one of the females in the crew asked her.

"Cos I've dated androids. They're rubbish."

A bald man went straight to the group, looking just as displeased with them as the Doctor was with the crew. "Who is this? You said we were the only expedition, I paid for exclusives."

The woman shrugged. "I lied, I'm always lying. Bound to be others."

"Miss Evangelista," the man barked at a petite woman. "I want to see the contracts."

"You came through the north door, yeah?" the ashy-brown haired woman asked the Doctor. "How's that, much damage?"

"Please, just leave," the Doctor went flat with his tone. "I'm asking you seriously and properly, just lea... Hang on. Did you say expedition?"

"My expedition, I funded it," the bald man made sure to clarify it.

"And how are you feeling about it?" Renata questioned him since she was sure they'd probably come across the fearsome shadows.

"Oh, you're not, are you? Tell me you're not archaeologists," the Doctor rubbed his face in frustration. That's the last thing he needed.

"Got a problem with archaeologists?" the lead woman asked from him, sounding amused.

The Doctor dropped his hands to his side. "I'm a time traveler. I point and laugh at archaeologists."

"Well that's not nice," Gabby chuckled. The woman spared her a look that wasn't too...kind. It quieted Gabby down in seconds.

"Who are you?" asked Donna. She wasn't given any type of look.

"Ah. Professor River Song, archaeologist."

"River Song, lovely name. As you're leaving, and you're leaving now... you need to set up a quarantine beacon," the Doctor turned her around for the nearest door. "Code-wall the planet, the whole planet. Nobody comes here, not ever again... not one living thing, not here, not ever."

"Wait, stop!" he heard Renata cry. He'd turned to see one of the female crew members had nearly stepped on a shadow. "Trust me, you don't want to go anywhere near a shadow. "What's your name?"

"Anita," the woman responded shakily.

"Anita, stay out of the shadows, alright?"

"Yeah, we got that," River cut in, sounding a bit irritated with Renata. Like Gabby - though more - Renata was getting a similar cold look.

"She's right," the Doctor agreed with Renata. "Not a foot, not a finger in the shadows till you're safely back in your ship. Goes for all of you. Stay in the light. Find a nice, bright spot and just stand. If you understand me, look very, very scared."

"Those aren't very good instructions," Gabby remarked.

The Doctor could agree but he worked with what he had. He suddenly pointed at another man of the crew. "You, who are you?"

"Uh, Dave."

"OK, Dave-"

"Oh, well Other Dave, because that's Proper Dave the pilot-" he pointed to the last man of the crew, "-he was the first Dave, so when we…"

The Doctor didn't want to listen anymore, not when their lives were in danger. He grabbed Other Dave and walked them to the open door. "Other Dave, the way you came, does it look the same as before?"

"Yeah. Oh, it's a bit darker."

"How much darker?"

"Oh, like I could see where we came through just like a moment ago. I can't now."

The Doctor took that as the red alarm it was. "Seal up this door. We'll find another way out."

"We're not looking for a way out," the bald man said in a snark.

"Oh, so you want to die," Renata said as the only logical reason behind his choice.

The man glared at her but called for the petite woman from before. "Miss Evangelista?"

Miss Evangelista gathered the travelers together to hand them each a pile of papers. "I'm Mr. Lux's personal... everything. You need to sign these contracts agreeing that your individual experience inside the Library are the intellectual property of the Felman Lux Corporation."

"Humans," Renata looked at the Doctor and this time he couldn't really say anything to her. Instead, he ripped up the contract, prompting the others to do the same.

Lux nearly lost it at their outright disrespect. "My family built this Library. I have rights!"

"You have a mouth that won't stop," River promptly corrected and turned to the Doctor with a sweet smile, as if she hadn't just been rude. "You think there's danger here?"

The Doctor's expression was flat. Was he not being clear when he tried throwing them out? Did he have to speak louder? He cleared his throat and went ahead and explained one more time, "Something came to this Library and killed everything in it, killed a whole world. Danger? Could be."

"But that was 100 years ago. The Library's been silent for 100 years. Whatever came here is long dead."

"Or it's just something that's really patient," Renata offered an alternative she believed could be very true. Unfortunately, River ignored her.

"What are you doing?" Lux asked Other Dave when he caught the man locking up the door.

"He said seal the door!"

"Torch!" the Doctor said right before snatching a torch from Lux's hand.

"You're taking orders from him?" Lux glared at his crew member for the blatant disobedience.

"Spooky, isn't it?" the Doctor found the time to smirk at Lux as he walked to the other side of the room. There were so many things he could look through, but he doubted one of them would give him an idea of how to get everybody out of there unharmed. "Almost every species in the universe has an irrational fear of the dark. But they're wrong. Cos it's not irrational. It's Vashta Nerada."

"Vastha what?" Gabby raised an eyebrow at him.

"Oh not that…" Renata brought a hand to cover her mouth. That was seriously the last thing they needed. That lesson she learned very fast in the academy - mostly because it had scared the living daylights out of her.

"What's Vashta Nerada?" Donna asked the same question in hopes of finally getting the answer.

"Bad, just very bad," Renata dropped her hand to her side. "It's what's in the dark. It's what's always in the dark. So it makes it harder to fight...I'd rather see Weeping Angels. Doctor," she marched for him, missing the way River watched her, "How do we fight Vashta Nerada without getting killed?"

She'd stopped him momentarily from his search, but it was only for him to see her honest fear. He didn't want to tell her that he had no idea, but…

There's always something, he reminded himself. He looked around the room for the slightest of things that could help. "Lights!" he exclaimed. "That's what we need, lights. You got lights?"

"What for?" called River.

"Form a circle, safe area, big as you can, lights pointing out."

"Oi! Do as he says!" River told the rest of the crew, even clapping her hands to make sure they heard her. Despite Lux's defensiveness, the crew followed River's instructions. "Anita, unpack the lights. Other Dave, make sure the door's secure, then help Anita. Mr. Lux, put your helmet back on, block the visor. Proper Dave, find an active terminal. I want you to access the Library database, see what you can find about what happened here a hundred years ago. Pretty Boy, you're with me. Step into my office."

Renata shot River a look for her choice of words. She seemed to know the Doctor but...he didn't seem to. But she was a bit...distant with the rest. She'd already noticed long ago that River had only introduced herself because Donna asked her but even then River had yet to introduce herself to Gabby or Renata herself.

"I have no idea what's going on," Gabby came over to Renata, heaving a big sigh. "All I know is that I should be afraid...of the dark. Did I get that right?"

Renata hated to nod her head, but she had to. "We'll get out of this, we always do."

"Pretty boy, with me I said!" River's call for the Doctor garnered both their attention. The Doctor had yet to notice he was being requested.

"And should we be worried about her?" Gabby whispered to Renata while discreetly pointing a finger at River. "We have no idea who she is."

"No, but…" Renata brought her arms over one another, her tongue swiveling inside while she tried calming herself, "...she seems to know the Doctor very well."

"Doctor, for goodness' sake!" River got tired and motioned the Doctor to join her.

"Oh was I Pretty Boy?" he stopped to question his companions.

"Yes," Donna answered flatly then thought to the side for a moment. "Did that come out a bit quick?"

"Pretty?!"

"Meh."

Renata smiled at Donna. When the Doctor finally joined River at a different table, she was rummaging through her bag. She pulled out a dark blue book with the TARDIS pattern on the cover.

"Thanks," she said.

"For what?"

"The usual. For coming when I call."

The Doctor blinked, almost tempted to take his psychic paper out to reread the message again. "Oh, that was you?"

River smiled but it was one that led to confusion. "You're doing a very good job, acting like you don't know me. What did I do this time, according to Gabby?"

"Gabby?" the Doctor repeated, briefly glancing at the girl. Renata was keeping her and Donna busy in safe zones, as well as overlooking what the others were doing. "Why would she say something?"

"Well, one never knows with her but since she's always with Renata I'm always prepared," River grabbed her TARDIS colored blue book. The Doctor caught onto the extra emphasis River put on Renata's name and it didn't exactly sound friendly. "OK, shall we do diaries, then? Where are we this time?" she searched his face for any type of clue but all she saw was that he was very young. "So I'd say it's early days for you. So, um…" she opened her book and skimmed a few pages, "Crash of the Byzantium, have we done that yet?" the Doctor scrunched his face, giving her the answer she needed. "Oh, how about the Silva gemstone hunt?" The Doctor was silent. "Blimey, very early days, then. Huh, life with a time traveler, never knew it could be such hard work." She lowered her book and really examined the Doctor's face. She blinked when it hit her. "You're so young."

"I'm really not, you know…"

"Nah, but you are. Your eyes. You're younger than I've ever seen you."

"You've seen me before, then?"

River stiffened when a new realization struck her, the possibility of it making her shake for a moment. "Doctor... please tell me you know who I am?" The hope on her face made the Doctor feel terrible when he asked her who she was. He always remembered everyone he met, but River was not one of them.

An alarm rang in the room, but it was a strange type. Still, it made everyone in the room jump.

"Sorry, that was me!" Proper Dave cleared his throat. "Trying to get through into the security protocols, I seem to have set something off. What is that? Is that an alarm?"

"No…" Renata looked at Gabby and Donna, the answer right at the tip of her tongue.

"It's a phone!" Gabby exclaimed first.

"I'm trying to call up the data core, but it's not responding. Just that noise," Proper Dave explained.

"No buddy, that's a phone," Gabby wanted to walk over to him but as soon as she took a few steps towards him, Renata pulled her back. "Okay…"

"Let me try something," the Doctor headed for the terminal that Proper Dave was working on. He noticed the screen was showing the same symbol the security camera they'd found earlier had. Access denied. "OK, doesn't like that, let's try something else." He did a bit more tinkering and was relieved to see that this time the screen was brightening up. "OK, here it comes. Hello?"

The screen showed a little girl who looked perfectly normal, though very much confused. "Hello," she came closer to the screen. "Are you in my television?"

"Well, no, I'm, I'm... sort of in space. I, I was trying to call up the data core of a triple-grid security processor."

"Doctor, she doesn't understand that," Renata laughed at him and moved up to stand beside him. "Hi there sweetie," she smiled at the girl. "Is there an adult with you, by any chance?"

"My Dad is," the girl smiled back at her. She tilted her head suddenly, examining the pair on her end of the screen. "I know you! You were in my Library."

"Your library?" the two Time Lords repeated.

"The Library's never been on the television before. What have you done?"

Renata turned her head at the Doctor, her expression nearly asking him the same thing.

"I-I didn't do anything!" he exclaimed. "I just rerouted the interface…"

But the connection broke then.

"Who was that?" asked River as she walked on over as well. The screen returned to its 'access denied' bit.

"I need another terminal!" the Doctor decided and ran to where River had set up her station. There was another terminal beside it. "Keep working on those lights, we need those lights!"

"Is there anything we can do?" Gabby caught River by the arm but the moment she did River jerked away...almost in fear. It froze Gabby in her spot, but it didn't keep River at bay.

"I told you to never touch me!"

"I didn't mean-"

"Keep your butterflies off of me!" River's voice, though threatening, had an underlying shakiness. River soon met Renata's gaze and gave the Time Lady a cold glare. "She touched me so don't even start!"

Renata blinked with bemusement, something that further angered River. "I have no idea what you're talking about." River scoffed. "I really don't." Renata said calmly. She wasn't much for stand offs, especially with people she didn't even know. "But please don't yell at my friend. She hasn't done anything."

"Renée?" the Doctor called to the Time Lady. Renata's eyes lingered on River's glaring gaze, wanting to figure out the puzzle right in that moment but it was impossible. So, she walked away to reach the Doctor. "What was that about?" he asked her quietly.

"I don't know," Renata shrugged. "But maybe you'll find out considering she seems to know you...and very well by the looks of it."

The Doctor's brow furrowed at her accusation. "What are you trying to say?"

Suddenly, Renata saw them back in King Henry's palace with the Doctor accusing her of having an affair with the King. She was getting the same feeling, the same urge, to ask the Doctor. She didn't have the right to. She couldn't be even worse than what she already was. "Nothing, I'm sorry," she sighed.

"Renata," the Doctor started with a new nervousness that hadn't been on his face seconds ago, "I've been...I've been meaning to talk to you..."

Renata swallowed hard when she presumed where the conversation would steer to. In her attempt to look away, she spotted River's diary on the table. "What's that?"

"Hm?" the Doctor followed her gaze to the table and saw the diary. "Oh, uh, it's hers. It's her diary."

"It's just like the TARDIS…"

"Yes, I've noticed."

"Don't touch it," River came by to take the book off the table. "You're not allowed to see inside the book, it's against the rules."

"What rules?" frowned Renata.

"Yours," River made a nod at her then the Doctor.

"Ah." Renata wouldn't even question it then. She was about to turn away when books started flinging off the shelves.

"What's that!?" Donna ducked and yanked Gabby down with her before they were both smacked in the face. "Doctor!"

"I didn't do anything!" the man cried. "Did you!?" he set eyes on Proper Dave.

"No!"

"Doesn't matter who did it - someone stop it!" Renata covered her head with her arms.

The Doctor returned to the terminal without being hit - yet - and saw the screen were now blinking 'CAL'. "What's CAL?"

The books eventually stopped flying off, letting the crew and the travelers get back on their feet.

"This is beyond crazy," Gabby said after being able to stand again. "What's causing the books to fly off the shelves? The Shadows?"

"Don't be ridiculous," River rolled her eyes. "It's probably the girl."

"Begging the question of who is that little girl," the Doctor took in a deep breath. Nothing was making sense. "What's she got to do with this place? How does the data core work? What's the principle? And what's CAL?"

That last question River could answer. "Ask Mr. Lux. He owns the place."

"CAL, what is it?" he turned to the man in question, expecting an answer but instead god a sneer.

"Sorry. You didn't sign your personal experience contracts."

The noise that slipped through Renata's lips was not a kind one. "Humans!" she gestured to Lux as her prime example. "We're all in danger of dying but you care more about protecting a patent!? Doctor!"

"Yeah, alright, I'll give you that one," the Doctor raised his hands. Today was not a good day for humankind.

"I'm protecting my family's pride," Lux tried defending himself but his answer was no better than the first.

"Well, funny thing, Mr Lux, I don't want to see everyone in this room dead because some idiot thinks his pride is more important!" the Doctor snapped.

"Then why don't you sign his contract?" River made him pause where he was. Of course before he answered, she grinned mischievously. "I didn't either. I'm getting worse than you."

"Okay, okay, okay. Let's start at the beginning. What happened here?" the Doctor really tried focusing this time. If he couldn't figure things out from where they stood, but maybe if he started from the beginning, things could change. "On the actual day, a hundred years ago, what physically happened?"

"There was a message from the Library. Just one," River answered. ""The lights are going out". Then the computer sealed the planet, and there was nothing for a hundred years."

"It's taken three generations of my family just to decode the seals and get back in," Lux added.

"Did you ever think that was a clue not to open it?" asked Donna. If she saw three different, high tech locks on a door she would take that as something that shouldn't be opened under any circumstances.

"Um... excuse me…" Miss Evangalista tried to cut into the conversation but Lux shut her down without even sparing her a glance. She'd actually found something on the wall.

"There was one other thing in the last message…" River said after a moment. As soon as she admitted it, Lux threw daggers at her.

"That's confidential!"

"I trust this man. With my life, with everything!" River's certainty left various reactions amongst the TARDIS travelers.

Both Gabby and Donna were in similar states of surprise considering the Doctor had never even mentioned that woman.

Renata was simply stunned. She'd never met anyone who had that same belief in the Doctor. It saddened her a bit to realize that she - Zuriah - was no longer the only woman to have had that type of faith in the Doctor. You made everything happened, she blamed herself. He had no obligation to stay alone because she made the wrong choice. But it made her wonder just how well River actually knew the Doctor and vice versa. River was clearly from the future and Renata didn't even know what the future held for herself anymore.

The Doctor didn't know what to do with himself. He felt guilty that River trusted him when he really had zero clue who she was. She was so sure and yet clearly hurt that he didn't know her. That was time travel, unfortunately. Sometimes not everything happened in order.

"You've only just met him!" Lux barked but he was no match for River's voice.

"No, he's only just met me!"

"Um. This might be important actually…" Miss Evangelista tried once again but the conversation was too heated for any interruptions.

"In a moment!" Lux shouted at her and that was it for her.

River sighed heavily and went for her PDA left on the table. Better to get things moving before they were killed, after all. "This is a data extract that came with the message." She came back to the Doctor to show him the complete message.

He took it from her and saw the main reason they were in the building. ""4022 saved. No survivors."

"4022, that's the exact number of people who were in the Library when the planet was sealed."

"But how can 4022 people have been saved if there were no survivors?" Donna inquired. So far the building had been absolutely silent. Unless these people were seriously good hiders, the building was empty.

"That's what we're here to find out," River told her.

"And so far, what we haven't found any bodies," Lux added.

"Well that's good isn't it?" Gabby's question earned her some strange looks. With a nervous smile, she elaborated. "I meant, if there aren't any bodies yet, it means there's a chance they're still alive.'

"Yes but where are they?" River hurriedly asked but didn't give Gabby the attention to even listen to her theories.

Suddenly, Miss Evangelista screamed but the crew and the travelers realized that she wasn't even in the room.

"When did she leave!?" Renata asked after a quick, frantic search for her in the room.

"Never mind that, c'mon!" the Doctor led the chase for the source of the woman's scream.

They came to a lecture room but all they found was a skeleton on the ground...wearing the same spacesuit Miss Evangelista was.

"Careful!" the Doctor warned the group as they gathered around the skeleton. "Everybody, careful! Stay in the light."

"Because of that, obviously," Renata gestured to the skeleton then glanced at Lux. "You wanted a body, there it is."

"Is that...is that Miss Evangelista?" River was horrified to see what was left of her co-worker. As if she couldn't fully believe it, she grabbed her communicator built into her spacesuit and called into it. "Miss Evangelista, please state your current…" but at the same time she spoke, her voice was heard in the spacesuit of the skeleton. She lowered her hand and carefully walked up to the skeleton. She pulled out a piece of the spacesuit's collar from its back and revealed a communicator that was still blinking green. "It's her. It's Miss Evangelista."

"We heard her scream a few seconds ago. What could do that to a person in a few seconds?" Anita asked, though she wasn't very interested in the answers. All she was interested in was getting the hell out of there.

"It took a lot less than a few seconds," the Doctor murmured. He felt at sole blame. He'd been so focus on figuring out who River was that he...he didn't even see when Miss Evangelista wandered out.

Renata didn't have to be telepathically connected with him to know where his thoughts were. She scooted to his side and touched his arm, giving him a small smile when he looked her way. "It's not," she said softly, hoping he would take her words seriously.

It seemed like he did. He found his own smile that he gave her and took her hand from his arm to hold in his own. It was a small moment but a moment nonetheless, and it was enough to give the Doctor the same feelings he'd been getting about her lately.

'Hello?'

River blinked at the sudden call from Miss Evangelista, but she secretly thanked it for cutting the two Time Lords apart. It was just like Renata to play soft when the moment called for it, but God forbid the Doctor did something wrong. "Um, I'm sorry everyone, um, this isn't going to be pleasant. She's ghosting."

"She's what?" Donna didn't know whether she should be looking for a ghost around.

'Hello, excuse me? I - I'm sorry, hello? Excuse me?'

"That's...that's her, that's Miss Evangelista!" Donna wondered, for a brief moment, if Miss Evangelista was still alive somewhere. Perhaps the skeleton was a decoy.

"I don't want to sound horrible, but couldn't we just... you know?" Proper Dave made a gesture to cut off the communication, but River frowned at him.

"This is her last moment... no, we can't. A little respect, thank you!"

'Sorry, where am I? Excuse me?'

"But is that really her, though?" Gabby Miss Evangelista.

"It's a data ghost, she'll be gone in a moment," River sighed and reached for her communicator again. "Miss Evangelista, you're fine, just relax. We'll be with you presently."

"What's a data ghost?" Gabby y turned to the Doctor and Renata for the answer. She got a feeling the first answer was all River would give her.

"There's a neural relay in the communicator, lets you send thought mails," the Doctor pointed to the blinking green lights on Miss Evangelista's spacesuit. "That's it there, those green lights. Sometimes it can hold an impression of a living consciousness for a short time after death. Like an after image."

"My grandfather lasted a day. Kept talking about his shoelaces," Anita said with her head hanging low.

'I can't see, I can't... Where am I?'

"She's just brain waves now. The pattern won't hold for long," Proper Dave said.

"She's conscious! She's thinking!" Donna argued.

'I can't see, I can't... I don't know what I'm thinking.'

"She's a footprint on the beach. And the tide's coming in," said the Doctor.

'Where's that woman? The nice woman... is she there?'

"What woman?" Lux looked around but as far as he knew, Miss Evangelista barely had friends.

"She means... I think, she means me," Donna realized after a few seconds. She'd only talked to the woman for a few minutes but...she was nice, probably nicer than the rest of the crew.

'Is she there? The nice woman?'

"Yeah, she's here, hang on," River turned to Donna. "Go ahead. She can hear you."

Donna fervently shook her head. "No!"

"Donna," the Doctor inched closer to the ginger. "Help her."

Donna felt like she was being asked the impossible. They wanted her to talk to the dead? That was too much. "She's dead!"

'Hello? Is that the nice woman?'

"Donna, she's fading," the Doctor tried again. "It's just for a few seconds. Help her."

Donna sighed. "Yeah, I guess... I'm here." She only took a few steps towards the skeleton. "You OK?"

'What I said before, about being stupid. Don't tell the others, they'll only laugh.'

Donna felt like shooting the crew a glare for how they made that poor woman feel all the time, but what would be the point? At least they have the decency to look ashamed of themselves. "Course I won't. Course I won't tell them."

'Don't tell the others, they'll only laugh…'

"I won't tell them. I said I won't," Donna promised her.

'Don't tell the others, they'll only laugh.'

"I'm not going to tell them."

'Don't tell the others, they'll only laugh.'

"She's looping now. The pattern's degrading," River said once Miss Evangelista started stuttering. Eventually, she had to shut the neural relay down.

"That was... that was horrible. That was the most horrible thing I've ever seen," Donna covered her face for a moment to calm herself down.

River was glaring daggers but at nothing in particular. "No. It's just a freak of technology. But whatever did this to her, whatever killed her... I'd like a word with that."

"I'll introduce you," the Doctor was on the same level of anger as River. He stormed out of the lecture room, leaving the others to follow, and returned to their room. "I'm gonna need a packed lunch."

"Hang on!" River exclaimed and went to retrieve her bag. She seemed to know exactly what he would like and that was simply shocking for Renata.

"So are we ever going to figure out who she is?" Gabby quietly made her question to Renata and Donna. The Doctor was working on his own but River seemed to linger around him in case he needed some assistance. "And how she knows the Doctor?"

"She's a time traveler, isn't it obvious?" Renata folded her arms over her chest. She couldn't help the irritation towards River, but what else could she feel? She hated to admit that she was jealous, like she had any sort of claim on the Doctor. The disgust towards herself might have raised in that moment.

"Ren?" Gabby touched her arm. "Hey, whatever you think...it's not."

Renata shook her head, smiling sourly. "It doesn't matter, Gabriella. I have...I have no right." She turned away, about to walk when she felt the warmth again only this time it sort of...hurt. She made a face and raised her hands, only to stop midway with a yelp. Something hard hit her stomach from the inside. "Ah!"

"Ren, you okay?" Donna heard the yelp along with Gabby.

"Y-yeah…" Renata tried her hardest to keep her next yelp inside. Her face strained to keep her mouth shut, but the fact she was wrapping her arm around her stomach gave her up.

"Renata!" Donna reached over and turned the Time Lady around, gasping when she saw how pale Renata had gone. She even felt a crazy heat from Renata's arm, through the Time Lady's coat, and backtracked.

Gabby had seen the whole thing and panicked. She thought the worst. "Doctor!"

Hearing her call made the Doctor whirl around. "What!? Gabby!" He then saw Renata's current state and bolted for them. "Out of the shadows! Out of the shadows!"

"No, no, there's no shadows," Renata found her voice, although she had to take several deep breaths to continue talking. "They're just being-"

"She looked like she was in pain and she's really warm, Doctor," Donna told him, her voice going right over Renata's tone. "Is it a fever? Can Time Ladies get fevers?"

"I do not have a fever!" Renata shouted, far louder than she had intended to.

The Doctor planted a hand over her forehead - making her lean back a few inches - and immediately felt the heat Donna was talking about. "That is-"

Renata swatted his hand away from her and glared at Gabby and Donna. "I'm fine, stop being over dramatic." The pain had subsided like it never even happened.

"Yes, please," River may not have been right next to them but her sharp voice was enough to pull the group apart.

Renata didn't know whether to be mad with River for her attitude or to thank the woman for cutting them off. She touched the Doctor's arm and offered him a soft smile. "I'm really okay," she said in a whisper, but the Doctor wasn't very convinced.

He stepped closer to her, leaving barely enough space between them. There was nothing but concern in his eyes for her. "We talked about this," he reminded her. "We need to be very cautious about your health…"

He hated to admit that her health was declining, not noticeably but steadily. He'd done new exams after visiting King Henry and was startled to see that the energy was further mutating inside her. There was no clear reading that could tell the Doctor why it was happening and much less what it was becoming. But it was interrupting her daily life, he could see it. There were moments were Renata got tired easily without doing anything in the first place. Then there was the strange heat flashes, warmth that came directly from the energy levels spiking. And the gold flicker in her eyes...that's what truly let him see that there was something inside Renata. It scared him to the bone what was lurking through her insides, hurting her...

Renata cupped his face, offering him her best smile. She was doing what she did best: hiding her feelings. "I'm okay Doctor. Really. Don't worry about me." He looked at her for a long while then, as if he was about to leave, but instead he pressed the back of his hand to her forehead again. She was really hot. "Vashta Nerada," she reminded him. "It will kill everyone in this room. Don't stop for me."

The Doctor hated to leave her, but she was right. Vashta Nerada would kill all of them if they didn't get out and what good would he be to Renata if they were all dead? With a sigh, he nodded his head. "Donna, Gabby, you keep an eye on her alright?" he looked directly at the women, expression close to dark with a warning. They were not to leave Renata's side.

River watched the Doctor return to his work across the room and waited a few minutes before making her own way up to Donna, Gabby and Renata. "You're Donna?" she stopped in front of the ginger. There was a glint of fascination in her eyes, but Donna also swore she saw...pity? Was that right?

"Yeah, yeah, I am," Donna nodded. "But it's not like you asked us who we are, right?" her gesture at Gabby and Renata flew over River's head. "Something you want to say?"

"No, uh, well actually yeah…" River paused for a second, glancing at the Doctor with a soft smile on her face. "Thank you." Donna blinked, not expecting for River to say that out of all things. "Thanks."

"Come again?"

River returned her attention to Donna but her eyes flickered to Renata still preoccupied with her hands. "What's wrong with you?"

Renata blinked up from her hands and frowned. "Excuse me?"

"We are in danger and you're distracting the Doctor with something, no doubt, dramatic."

Renata was stunned at the woman's brashness. "I-I don't intend to-"

River scoffed. "Sure. Listen, if you don't mind, we'd sort of like to get out of here alive and you being dramatic is not going to help anyone."

"I wasn't!" Renata exclaimed. She balled her fists once the warmth reflourished under her skin. She really shouldn't be arguing with anyone right now. "Look, River, I don't...I don't know why you're so upset with me but it shouldn't be a priority right now, don't you think? It's like you said, we need to get out of here alive."

River visibly tensed up. Renata always did that. River despised the annoying talent Renata had to always rearrange things so that she came out looking right while the other person, usually River, came out looking like the bad person. Even now, she still had the stupid talent and it was infuriating. She had said they needed to get out first but somehow Renata repeated the same thing and now both Gabby and Donna were looking at River with disapproval.

Renata was a master at reading faces. She had to be in order to know how to best please them. Her family taught her how to do it and how to always pick up on the right quirks. Right now, she could easily tell that she'd just further irritated River...but she wasn't sure why. She could barely argue, she couldn't move around a lot...what could she have done?

"I'm sorry," she felt compelled to say but even that was wrong.

"Oh, of course," River seemed to be expecting that...and she was. At one point or another, it almost always came up. Apologizing. That always made Renata look better in front of people, in front of the Doctor. "Save it, he's not watching!"

"I didn't mean to-"

"Stop it!" River snapped, getting more frustrated with each of Renata's attempts.

"You know what-" Gabby suddenly yanked Renata back, leaving the poor Time Lady to stumble backwards for Donna to catch, "-you need to back off!" She got right in River's face and since Gabby was smaller, she had to be on her tippy-toes. "Ren's not doing anything! You want to save people? Then go do it! Why are you being so mean? In case you haven't noticed, none of us-" she gestured to Renata, Donna and herself, "-know you! That means whatever you're mad about, we haven't even done yet. That makes you an extra type of prick."

"Gabriella, stop it!" Renata hissed and pulled the girl back, never having seen Gabby so worked up and much less having a stand off with anyone. She never wanted to see that even if it was on her behalf. "We are not going to waste time with silly arguments. I won't have it."

"It's funny, Gabby, you're so young. Nothing's happened to you but even now, you're still just like her," River's eyes flickered to Renata for show. Her previous hardness faded into strain. She wanted to appear brave, to be strong in front of those two women who were known to be strong. She was brave and strong and clever. She was really clever and she wasn't going to let some early baby versions of Renata and Gabby make her doubt that.

"Then that means I'm going to become a really good person," Gabby said confidently and glanced at Renata with a warm smile.

Renata blinked tears away. Her hearts warmed for a second with Gabby's utmost belief in her words. Gabby really thought that being like her would make her a better person.

"OK, we've got a live one!" the Doctor suddenly called, completely in the dark about the side conversation (or argument) that'd been going on. He was circling a shadow on the floor, careful not to step on it. "That's darkness down those tunnels, this is not a shadow. It's a swarm. A man-eating swarm." He used one of the chicken legs from River's lunch as bait for proof. He chucked it into the shadow and it was devoured before even hitting the ground. It left the entire group horrified. "The piranhas of the air, the Vashta Nerada. Literally 'the shadows that melt the flesh'. Most planets have them, but usually in small clusters. I've never seen an infestation on this scale, or this aggressive."

"What d'you mean, most planets? Not Earth?" Donna, along with Gabby, had an inkling feeling that it wasn't the case.

"Mmmm, Earth, and a billion other worlds. Where there's meat, there's Vashta Nerada. You can see them sometimes, if you look. The dust in sunbeams."

"Doctor, not to question your expertise but…I think we would've noticed if we had killer shadows on Earth," Gabby said, but her nervous smile faded with his long stare.

"Normally they live on roadkill. But sometimes people go missing. Not everyone comes back out of the dark."

"That's a lovely way to put it," Renata warned him with one of her own looks not to go into further detail. It was a fearsome idea that Gabby, nor Donna, were ready for.

"Every shadow?" River asked him, half curious for the real answer but the other half of her wanting to end such dramatics again.

"No. But any shadow."

"So what do we do?"

"Daleks - aim for the eyestalk. Sontarans - back of the neck. Vashta Nerada... Run! Just run."

"Run? Run where?"

"This is an index point. There must be an exit teleport somewhere," the Doctor searched the room rather urgently but settled for anything Lux could offer. The building was his after all.

"Don't look at me, I haven't memorized the schematics!" the man barked.

"You know," Renata stepped up beside River, "You can hate me all you want, but the one thing we can agree on is that he-" she nodded towards Lux, "-is no help at all."

"Mm," River hated to agree but she was right.

"Doctor, the little shop!" Donna had spotted a smaller room at the other end of the room. "They always make you go through the little shop on the way out so they can sell you stuff!"

"You're right! Brilliant! That's why I like the little shop!" the Doctor beamed.

"OK, let's move it!" Proper Dave exclaimed, ready to head out when the Doctor shouted for him to stop.

"Actually, Proper Dave, could you stay where you are for a moment?"

"Why?"

"I'm sorry. I am so, so sorry. But you've got two shadows."

Everyone's gazes immediately fell to the double shadows below Proper Dave. It definitely kept the man still.

"It's how they hunt, they latch on to a food source and keep it fresh," the Doctor muttered.

"What do I do?"

"You stay absolutely still. Like there's a wasp in the room, like there's a million wasps," the Doctor was very careful how he moved around the room. If the shadows were moving then any one of them could be next.

"We're not leaving you, Dave," River promised the terrified man.

"Course we're not leaving," agreed the Doctor. "Where's your helmet? Don't point, just tell me."

"On the floor, by my bag."

Anita retrieved the helmet for them and handed it to the Doctor. "Thanks. Now, the rest of you, helmets back on and sealed up. We'll need everything we've got."

"I would like to point out that we do not have helmets," Gabby cleared her throat to say.

"Yeah, but we're safe anyway," the Doctor said dismissively.

Gabby exchanged looks with Donna, both being confused by that statement. "How are we safe?" Donna asked him.

"We're not, that was a clever lie to shut you up!"

"Well, rude," Renata crossed her arms. "But he's not wrong so Gabby, Donna just...just stay with me alright?" The two women in question nodded.

"Professor, anything I can do with the suit?" the Doctor turned to River for help.

"We can increase the mesh-density, dial it up 400%. Make it a tougher meal!"

"Okay!" the Doctor pulled his sonic out and used it on Proper Dave's spacesuit. "800%! Pass it on!" he was about to hand River the sonic when she revealed her own...a rather familiar one though.

Renata nearly keeled over when she saw it. The Doctor was frozen in his spot while River went around the crew to sonic their suits.

Renata moved past Gabby and Donna to get closer, coming to a stop beside the Doctor just as River returned. "That's my screwdriver," Renata blinked.

"No, it's not," River said with a deep scowl.

"Yes, it is," Renata was sure of it. "It's my sonic screwdriver - fancier, but it is." And before River could deny it again, Renata pulled hers out as well. Both sonic screwdrivers were embedded with the same gold and white shades. River's gold was stronger and the tip seemed to be more high tech, but all in all it was the same sonic screwdriver.

River seemed just as stunned as Renata now. "How did…" her eyes flickered to the Doctor, accusing, "That was a cheap trick!"

"What?" he frowned, having no idea what she was going on about.

"You told me you made this!"

"He probably did," Renata murmured sadly. So much for being special.

The Doctor didn't know what was worse: seeing Renata's disappointed face, or seeing River's furious face. He himself was just...so confused. Why would he make a sonic screwdriver for River? He didn't go around making them just for anyone - by that logic, he should've made one for Gabby and Donna, or even Martha! How important could River be? And more to the point, why would he make one using the same schematics he used for Renata's?

Renata put her sonic away and sighed. "It's mine," she assured River. "But before you throw it away, if the Doctor gave it to you, it's because you would need it. Think about that, please."

Of course River was thinking about it. How stupid did Renata think she was? The Doctor never did anything without a good reason. She curled her hand around the sonic, gripping it tightly. She should've known better than to fully trust that he made the sonic all on his own. Renata would never let a project like that be done without her knowledge.

"Fine," River muttered and went on her way.

"Ren..." the Doctor tried touching her but she stepped away from him, an action that actually hurt. If she was stepping away then she didn't want to be near him and much less want him to touch her. And as of late, he discovered that he really liked to touch her. Hold hands, be close...

Renata yelped in surprise when the Doctor gently brought her from her side to his front. Her free hand had come to rest over his chest and her other hand seemed locked under the Doctor's free hand.

"You had fun?" the Doctor asked quietly though with his ragged breathing it came out a little louder than intended. They were both still trying to catch their breaths, they could feel it. Renata felt the Doctor's chest heaving up and down under her hand and since Renata's chest was pressed to his, the Doctor could feel her own heavy breathing.

The Doctor felt his breath leave him. What he would give to relive that moment again and not this one.

"We need to get them out of here," Renata's quiet voice pulled the Doctor out of his thoughts, missing the blush that crept over his face. He followed her gaze over to Gabby and Donna and realized she wanted to transport them back to the TARDIS. Neither of them knew what would happen with the Vashta Nerada around.

"You're right," he agreed. "Donna! Gabby! With us!" he made the motion as he and Renata led them towards the gift shop Donna pointed out earlier.

"What are we doing, we're shopping? Is it a good time to shop?" Donna understood his brain worked far differently than theirs but this one had to be a bad idea.

"That sonic...why was it like yours?" Gabby stopped to ask Renata that. She knew exactly that it was Renata's because she'd been there when the Doctor had made it. Granted she didn't know half the things that went into the sonic but the idea was the same.

"I don't know," Renata put on her best smile as she ushered Gabby onto the small platform of the gift shop. "Just stand still, okay?"

"Donna, you too," the Doctor tried to hide his grimness as he brought Donna over to Gabby's side.

"What is this?" Gabby looked down to the ground. There were odd circular patterns on it.

"It's a teleport. Stand in the middle. Can't send the others, TARDIS won't recognize them."

"Wait, what are you doing?" Donna started to look around more frantically.

"It's like Gabby said: you don't have suits, you're not safe!"

Gabby seemed to be closer to realizing what he was going to do. "Neither do you!" she exclaimed. "You and Renata are in as much danger as we are!"

"Thing is Gabriella, you haven't lived and you have no business being in this kind of danger. You and Donna are our number one priority right now," Renata smiled kindly then looked at the Doctor, giving him the nod to activate the teleport.

Donna's eyes widened. "Doctor, don't-"

But the teleport activated and pulled them out.

"You know, Renée-"

Renata raised a hand to stop the Doctor from even finishing his sentence. "Don't. I'm not going anywhere. I made that mistake once, I'm not doing it again."

The Doctor paused to give her a strange look, of course puzzled about her words. What could she have meant?

"Doctor!" River called from the other room.

The two hurried back and went straight to Proper Dave. They saw that he'd lost one shadow.

"Where did it go?" the Doctor quickly searched the immediate area. He pulled Renata's arm to bring her to his side. For the time being, that was the only area safe enough to stand.

"It's just gone. I... I looked round, one shadow," Proper Dave said

"Does that mean we can leave?" River urgently asked, ready to make a run for it. "I don't want to hang around here."

"I don't know why we're still here," huffed Lux. "We can leave him, can't we? I mean, no offence…"

"Seriously?" Renata glanced at River, gesturing at the man to prove he was still the only thing that could agree on.

"Yeah, fine!" River exclaimed. "Mr. Lux, shut up!"

"Did you feel anything?" the Doctor preferred to focus his attention on Proper Dave. The Vashta Nerada leaving him it made absolutely no sense, which made him drunk this was all a trick that would end with their lives. "Like an energy transfer? Anything at all?"

"No, no, but, look, it's, it's gone!"

"Stop there, stop, stop, stop there, stop moving! They're never just gone. And they never give up!" the Doctor sonicked the only shadow Proper Dave had. "Well, this one's benign."

"Hey, who turned out the lights?"

"No-one, they're fine."

"No, seriously, turn them back on!"

River was clearly confused but she wasn't the only one. None of them understood what was going on. "They are on."

"I can't see a ruddy thing!"

The Doctor straightened on his feet, expression even more dark than earlier. He had an idea of what was happening. "Dave, turn round."

Proper Dave turned back to the group but his face was completely in the dark. It looked like his helmet had it's visor tint back on.

"What's going on? Why can't I see?" Proper Dave helplessly asked. "Is the power gone, are we safe here?"

Renata swallowed hard. She liked to be realistic and seeing this… indicated what was about to happen.

"Dave, I want you to stay still, absolutely still," the Doctor warned but he caught the light stiffen that Dave suddenly did. "Dave, Dave? Dave, can you hear me, are you all right? Talk to me, Dave."

"I'm fine, I'm OK, I'm... I'm fine."

"I want you to stay still, absolutely still."

"No, Doctor…" Renata slowly walked up behind him, pressing a hand to his shoulder. He barely looked to her when Proper Dave started stuttering the same few words over and over.

The lights on his communicator were blinking, just like Miss Evangelista's was earlier too.

"He's gone. He's ghosting," River lowered her head with a sigh.

"Then why is he still standing?" Lux retracted a step for good measure.

"Hey! Who turned out the lights? Hey! Who turned out the lights?"

The Doctor attempted to move closer to Proper Dave but Renata gripped his arm. "Please don't," she whispered. Behind her, River pursed her lips together. She'd been about to say the same thing to him.

"Dave, can you hear me?" the Doctor he gently removed Renata's hand from his arm, his expression promising her that he would be careful.

"Hey! Who turned out the lights?" Proper Dave seized the Doctor's neck and gripped it with incredible force.

"Doctor!" Renata exclaimed.

Proper Dave's helmet was finally lit and it allowed for the others to see what was left of him: a skeleton. "Who turned out the lights? Hey! Who turned out the lights?"

"Excuse me!" River shoved Renata to the side and used her upgraded sonic on the skeleton. However, instead of the usual flashy lights like previous screwdrivers...this one released a particular interesting type of energy.

A swarm of golden butterflies emanated from the tip of the screwdriver and raced towards the skeleton. It was enough to force the skeleton to release the Doctor. The Time Lord coughed as the air returned to his lungs.

"Back from it, get back, right back!"

"Butterflies!?" River seemed even more outraged with her sonic than earlier when she discovered it was from Renata's schematics. "Are you kidding me!?"

"Those are my...my butterflies," Renata whispered in horror. She looked down at our own hands, remembering when the same golden butterflies that had surrounded her at Zhe's gallery.

"I hate butterflies," River gritted her teeth together.

"Let's go!" the Doctor yanked River back since she was too preoccupied with her screwdriver to notice Proper Dave getting closer to her.

"Doesn't move very fast does it?" Lux inquired about the skeleton's awkward manner of walking.

"It's a swarm in a suit. But it's learning," the Doctor said.

"Not very promising," Renata said then and not a moment later saw several shadows reaching out from proper Dave's body. They were coming for them. "As is that…" her voice shook with terrible fear.

"What do we do? Where do we go?" Lux frantically asked.

"See that wall behind you?" River turned around to face the group. "Duck!" those in question docked as she blasted a hole in the wall with a particular type of weapon.

"Squareness gun!" the Doctor laughed at their luck, but River focused on getting them all out of there first. They made a run down an aisle that was far too dark for their liking.

"You said not every shadow, right?" Renata's head wouldn't stop turning from one side to the other thinking that the next shadow they would come across would be Vashta Nerada.

"Right, but any shadow!"

"Hey! Who turned out the lights?" Proper Dave - or the Vashta Nerada - was following them and quicker now.

"And GO!" the Doctor yelled at the group who needed no other command to pick up their pace. The Doctor took Renata's hand and yanked her forwards, but even as they ran he could once again feel the insane heat from her skin. And when he happened to side-glance her, he was shocked to see how pale and weary she was.

As soon as they could find a refuge, the group sealed the door of the new room as best as they could with what they had. The Doctor left Renata somewhere she could rest, after sure there were enough shadows but her own, then hurried to the nearest lamp to get more light. River neared him a few seconds later.

"Trying to boost the power. Light doesn't stop them, but it slows them down," he said during a struggle with his sonic. There was light but a weak one.

"So, what's the plan? Do we have a plan?" Seeing his struggle, River used her own sonic to strengthen the light.

The Doctor eyed the golden white sonic. "Your screwdriver...it looks exactly like the one I made Renata."

Remembering that made River frown. "Yeah, I know. You tricked me."

"I did?"

"You said you made it but you never told me it was the same basic idea you used for Renata's first one."

"First one?"

River exhaled. "Sorry, spoilers. I just…I can't stand when you trick me like that, alright? You know I trust you with everything I have and…"

"Who are you?" the Doctor got tired of asking and never getting the answer. "I don't get it. I would never give a sonic screwdriver to anyone-"

"That isn't Renée, I know," River mimicked his tone then rolled her eyes. "That's why I can't believe I fell for it."

The Doctor inwardly sighed. His eyes flickered to Renata who seemed to be getting back on her feet, but still seemed very weary. "What's wrong with her?"

River briefly expressed confusion but she followed his gaze towards Renata. The Time Lady was once again studying her hands.

"How can I help her?"

River still didn't understand the question, much less the gravity of it, until she realized where in the timeline they were. "She's ill." She turned back to the Doctor. "This is when she's ill because...because she's been infected."

The Doctor winced at the word. Infection. How could he have let that happen? "I wasn't careful and she got hurt."

"No," River said sharply. "It wasn't your fault. She should've been more careful. Not everything that happens to her is on you, Doctor. Sometimes it's her own fault."

"How could you say that?" the Doctor frowned at her. "She didn't ask to be infected. She's innocent."

River almost laughed. "Ha! Renata is anything but innocent. Good people don't lead you on, Doctor. You know she's keeping a secret from you, right?"

"You're not supposed to tell me anything-"

"I know but I can't stand it! You always think that she's such a sweet, innocent woman but you never remember how you two started out: with lies. She's been lying to you, Doctor. Future you can be mad at me he wants but I know that I am right. I've always been right. But you…" she sighed as if she'd been tired for centuries now, "You have always been blind when it comes to her." That was her sad reality, a reality she'd tried to accept now that everything had passed...had been done...but it still made her angry just as the first time she learned everything.

"I don't believe that," the Doctor said quietly, though River wanted to believe she saw a flash of curiosity on his face. "So you're not going to tell me how to help her, then?"

"I don't know," River answered honestly. "I know about her getting sick but I don't know how she became...what she is later on." The Doctor narrowed his eyes on her, willing her to speak the truth. "I really don't!"

With a sigh, he turned away from her. He came to Renata and, without even asking, pressed his hand to her forehead. "You're still burning hot…"

"Maybe Donna was right, I am running a fever," Renata said with a weary smile.

Remembering their companions, the Doctor checked his sonic to make sure they were safe and sound in the TARDIS. His stomach churned when he saw that it wasn't the case. "They're not in the TARDIS."

"What?" Renata saw his horrified face.

"They're not there. I should've received a signal, the console signals me if there's a teleport breach."

"Well if they're not there, then where are they?" Renata leaned away from the table she was supporting herself on.

The Doctor had no idea. And that scared him. He ran to the nearest Node available to get some answers. "Donna Noble, Gabby Gonzalez. They're somewhere in this Library. Do you have the software to locate their position?"

The Node turned its head to the two, horrifying them with Donna's face planted right on it. "Donna Noble and Gabby Gonzalez have left the Library. Donna Noble and Gabby Gonzalez have been saved."

Renata nearly fell backwards if the Doctor hadn't latched a hand to her arm.

"Donna Noble and Gabby Gonzalez have left the Library. Donna Noble and Gabby Gonzalez have been saved."

"But how can it be Donna? How's that possible?" River came rushing up behind them.

"G-Gabby…" Renata knew very well that wherever Donna was, so was Gabby. "Oh my God, where are they!?"

"Donna Noble and Gabby Gonzalez have left the Library. Donna Noble and Gabby Gonzalez have been saved."

"Hey! Who turned out the lights?" Proper Dave appeared in the aisle, ready to chase them again, but neither the Doctor not Renata had the energy to keep going when they had no idea if their friends were even alive.

"We have to go!" River called to the others. "Doctor, we've got to go, now!"

"But where are they!?" Renata shouted at the Node. "Where are Donna and Gabby!? Where are they!? Where…" she felt her chest burning with her yelling, or perhaps for something else, and leaned over.

"Renée!" the Doctor meant to help her but River yanked him back.

"We need to go!" she shouted, but his voice roared over hers.

"I'M NOT LEAVING WITHOUT HER!"

Renata coughed horrifically, as if she were about to throw up. Her upper body was leaning down, hands on her knees, as she tried to catch a literal breath. She could feel the outrageous heat trying to burst from her again but she didn't know how to let it go.

"Renata, look at me!" the Doctor frantically tried to straightening her so he could see her face, but she shook her head and kept coughing.

"Doctor!" River called again. "It's coming!"

Proper Dave was dangerously close to them.

Renata coughed particularly hard one moment and widened her eyes when she saw a wisp of golden energy slipping between her lips. The first thing that popped into her mind was regeneration.

The Doctor saw it as well and gaped. "What the-"

River had angrily come for them both and grabbed them by the collars of their shirts. "We have to GO!" She was not going to let one die because the other was being dramatic. Tale as old as time!

[blackasmidnightcats]

Continued discussion about Sophie's "redemption arc"

Original post from @agathasarmy

@agathasarmy I've moved this to a new post cause I have a lot of feelings and still want to continue this discussion and I hope you don't mind

So anyways...

(this wouldve been also a great way to introduce the concept of legacies, especially with the past vs. present. vs. future theme and it would also parallel tedros’ storyline as they’re both dealing with the fallout of carrying their predecessor’s glory)

YESSSS

All of them have big shoes to fill because of the people who've nurtured and believed in them

One thing I really hated in the camelot years was the lack of mourning that Agatha and Sophie did for Callis and Lady Lesso respectively.

That is the kind of anguish that I was looking for. Just them being children and missing their parent/parental figure and wishing that they could still be someone's child who could look out for them and motivate them when they needed.

Like Sophie remembering that Lady Lesso believed in her the way that Sophie could never do and Agatha remembering how her mother would have wanted her daughter to live out her life with with love and adventure.

Let's not even get with Tedros (that's a whole other meta in itself)

so far all i got was lesso and hester being the best examples of it, but what i also got from them was that Evil wasnt being cruel but serving as the balance to Good like ok???? what exactly does that entail??

Exactly, I'm really frustrated about this because as much as Soman has tried to make us understand that Good and Evil are equals, he has never actually shown us how equal they can be since all the Evil figures that we have are usually helping Good.

I'm really pissed that the Coven's quest involve them finding a new School Master when they have absolutely no need to do that. They should be doing their own stuff instead. It's the one thing I shame Prof Dovey for.

that was what I expected the series would be: Tedros and Agatha as Good because Good always stands stronger together, and Sophie as Evil because Evil is best alone, but not lonely

I stand behind your point about "Alone but not Lonely" quote because if that does not describe Sophie's biggest problem than I don't know what does. She can have all the fans that she wants and build the whole School for Evil in her tribute and pretend that she's a strong independent woman who doesn't need a man but she'll still feel the loneliness seep through if she doesn't have a closure with her insecurities and envy

instead Soman subverted our expectations in the worst way possible since GoT S8 (dont @ me)

I will stand by you with the hate for GoT s8. That was a trainwreck so badly done it imploded on itself. Recently, writers that have big productions have been having a hard time gracefully ending their stories

EXACTLY I JUST KNOW SOMAN’S GONNA BRUSH IT OFF OR BARELY MENTION IT WHEN THIS KIND OF DIALOGUE IS MORE IMPORTANT TO THE MESSAGE OF THE STORY THAN SOMAN RANDOMLY INSERTING DOVEY AS TEDROS’ GODMOTHER OR REAPER BEING KING FOR PLOT CONVENIENCE

I KNOW HOW YOU FEEL. I WILL NOT STOP BEING SO FREAKING BITTER ABOUT IT.

Soman was off with a good start on that one. I would have been more interested with Sophie trying to handle her narcissistic desires vs her need to actually be a decent Dean to all the new students just like how Lady Lesso was for her. Her understanding how to be Evil and be herself would have been a nice read.

if soman had to bring back a trope from the last era, it would be the discussion of dichotomies i.e. Good vs. Evil, instead of the evil lover trope cos aint nobody got the time for that

YESSS

It's still technically the school for GOOD AND EVIL SERIES even if we go to a new era I was hoping that Soman would still have these as the roots but NOOOO.

His obsession with Sophie obsessing over boys that obsess over her is a strong one apparently.

like at this point it’ just really blatantly obvious how much Soman favors Sophie and I wouldnt be that bothered if he didnt sacrifice the plot or the other characters’ brain cells to go along with it cos to this day I refuse to believe that people really would just accept Rhian like that after reading The Tale of Sophie and Agatha

EXCATLY. I HONESTLY COULD NOT UNDERSTAND SOME OF THE DECISIONS OF THE OTHER CHARACTERS ABOUT THIS.

Like did no one still understand that not everything is what it seems?!

I am baffled with how easy they trusted a comeplete stranger over Agatha who has proven over and over and over again that she fights for the good of EVERYONE and is perfecrly willing to sacrifice her happiness for theirs.

Like at this point I'm thinking that her fairy tale propably does not do justice for everything that she's been through cause if the other people of the Woods read her story the way we did, there would be no doubt that we would stand behind Agatha for a lifetime

like cmon people we went through this already?? a random hot stranger coming out of nowhere??? ITS THE RED FLAG

In defense with them, (and I am saying this very, very off handedly) Rhian did come around saving everyone's asses and was a pretty decent guy (NOT).

WHAT I AM REALLY SURPISED ABOUT IS THAT THEY WANT A PIECE OF HIM AND HOW EASILY THEY TRUSTED HIM WITH EVERYTHING

I THOUGHT THE POINT OF THIS SERIES WAS TO SHOW THAT ROMANCE WASN’T THE ONLY HIGHEST MANIFESTATION OF LOVE, BUT A LOVE BETWEEN FAMILY OR A LOVE FOR ONE’S SELF WAS JUST AS IMPORTANT????

One of my biggest beefs with Soman's writing. He highlights romance too much compared to platonic and self love. I want a moment with Sophie like the one in TLEA where Agatha was getting stressed about letting Sophie and Tedros grow closer and Soman managed to pretty realistically portray that; Agatha was being insecure and possessive and jealous but she let herself reflect on her actions. She made peace with it and faced it with bravery even though it really hurts her. Because she understood that she would never have closure for this if she didn't let it happen.

AGGIE IS THE BEST. I LOVE HER

Why the hell can't Soman write something similar like this for Sophie.

WHY SOMAN PUTTING THIS AMATONORMATIVE BS IN THIS STORY AGAIN LIKE WE ARE TIRED

In fairness, Sophie getting into ANOTHER romantic relationship I will PASS SO HARD.

But for everyone else that deserves some romantic love (TAGATHA PLS) I will accept crawling

also I like your ideas on what could’ve happened instead, with Rhian being more proactive towards Tedros and Agatha instead of Sophie - it would play well into the Camelot myths and themes that I was really expecting in the new era

I KNOW RIGHT?!?!?!

If Soman could only just get over his Sophie Obsession, then he would understand that Tedros was the perfect target for Rhian's manipulations and Sophie was the perfect target for the downfall.

I have no idea how the hell did Rhian think (but apparently it worked because soman plot) that seducing Sophie would win him the love of the Woods.

plus it wouldve been a chance for Sophie to actively help them instead of tearing them apart like in the last 3 books?? like she’s kinda doing that rn but it would’ve been nice if she didn’t have a hand in stealing their happiness like she’s always done too

Well...for me she doesn't seem like she's tearing them apart anymore but I stand with your point about her stealing their happiness.

This could have been good, good character development for her. Her realizing that she keeps making tagatha miserable and stealing what belongs to them and the complexity that comes with her inner struggle between her envy vs love for her best friends.

PLUS CHADDICK DESERVED TO LIVE INSTEAD OF BEING KILLED FOR PLOT CONVENIENCE LITERALLY IT’S THE WORST DEATH IN THE SERIES NOT COS IT’S SAD BUT COS IT DOESNT MAKE SENSE AND MAKES FOR TERRIBLE WRITING IMHO

"NOT COS IT'S SAD BUT BECAUSE IT DOESNT MAKE SENSE"

SCREAM IT A BIT LOUDER SO SOMAN CAN HEAR IT AT THE BACK!!!!

Soman, I will never forgive you for doing this to this boy.

You could have made Tedros and Chaddick have a falling out. I mean the last time that they interacted was during AWWP and Chaddick treated Tedros as crap. I know that all of us headcanon that these two are each other's best mates but they've barely had significant interactions for me to consider that a case.

They'd be so pressured about not followong the legacy of Arthur and Lance that a small problem could propably tear these two apart.

also, on another point, you would think Sophie would be more sympathetic to Tedros situation given that they’re both leading populations, essentially

plus Sophie learned to understand Tedros’ mind better in awwp??? where the hell did that relationship development went (even if she was Filip at the time)??

I am honestly more suprised at how viciously Tedros seems to treat her.

Like it wasn't that long after TLEA that Tedros was perfectly willing to let Sophie stay in Camelot and even asked her to visit but come his coronation (which was like less than a day after) he keeps on proclaiming about how happy he is with her out his life and in aCoT his distrust for her was off the roof.

Then there is the Handbook ordeal with Sophie just completely roasting Tedros like what happend to the two of you?

I don't even understand Soman's decision about this. It doesn't even affect the actual storyline in anyway. It's just Sophie and Tedros at each other's throats.

Tedros has been treated the crappiest out of the main trio (let’s be honest) as if the game was built to oppose him, meanwhile Sophie gets major Soman privilege and is given the role ONCE AGAIN that could change the game

THIS

It's the reason why I can't even read AWWP anymore. It hurts too much to have to read at how badly the other characters treat him. Just reading the first line of that book gets me anxious.

And PREACH THAT SOPHIE HAS MAJOR SOMAN PRIVILEGES.

This is why I was actually suprised that Soman shared that he planned on killing Sophie off at the end of TLEA but we'll never how that story went

like if the School Years was for Sophie to realize and accept her Evilness, couldnt Soman have decided to give Tedros and Agatha the deciding roles this time around given that, you know, it’s called the CAMELOT YEARS ERA???

Honestly, I just want Tedros to have the most agency out of all the characters. Like make his decisions actually matter to the plot. Make him the center of the plot and revolve Rhian's plans around him instead of being against him cause that's exactly how Agatha's role in the school years era was for Rafal.

The basic formula goes like this;

Sophie important to the Rafal's/Rhian's/Japeth's/hell even Evelyn Sader's plan

Agatha/Tedros are in the way of that plan so they have to go

Agatha/Tedros saves Sophie's ass

Sophie making the big decision

Like didn't Soman say that he didn't want to be that repetitive writer? That's why he changed the ending of AWWP because it was too similar to the first book?

WTF SOMAN?

she’s still out here wanting someone to look at her the tedros looks at agatha (honestly big mood right there) but I wish this didn’t have to be her main conflict

This is actually why I'm not that mad that Sophie fell for Rhian. Because at the end of the day Sophie will be Sophie.

But I agree I kinda hoped that she wouldn't be as guilible

the girl is smart and knows her worth so I can’t really understand why she decided to get ENGAGED to the next person (Hort obviously cant count cos plot) who tells her she looks pretty???

NOW THIS. THIS IS MY BEEF WITH SOPHIE.

I can understand why she'd date him but MARRIAGE?! That was going a little bit too far.

You'd think after her engagement with Rafal that she'd be TRAUMATIZE for the next one.

And honestly it would have been hella funny if she did feel this way. Imagine Rhian nearly getting all that he needed but Sophie just straight up leaves him on the stage cause she's still got issues with it.

Would have been my favorite scene

And Hort, poor boy, he needs character development of his own. I'm not his fan honestly and currently, he's not winning me over.

ALSO THE FACT THAT SHE ENDS UP BEING CONSIDERED FOR THE ROLE OF QUEEN OF CAMELOT INFURIATES ME SO MUCH COS WE WENT THROUGH THAT SHIT IN TLEA???? WHY ARE WE BRINGING THIS UP AGAIN????

THIS. THIS IS MY BEEF WITH SOMAN

Can he not understand that she would be crap as QUEEN?

A parallel I noticed with Rhian and Sophie is that they both completely remodeled their respective castles in their image. Not even considering anyone else. And they both treat their faculty as crap.

Kinda tells us that she really would be crap as queen.

At least the Camelot citizens had enough braincells not to fall for this crap

Every other kingdom in the Woods though. They better be budgeting gold to Tedros and Agatha once they're back on the throne.

(and im so so tired of Sophie stealing Agatha’s Ever After from her, indirectly or not, like cant she just be happy for her best friend and move the plot in some way other than this???)

I really do believe envy is only one of the things that Sophie needs to sort out. The fact that she admitted at the end of TLEA that she does, in fact, feel envious that Agatha gets to be a queen and her little episode in the Ever Never Roundtable about how she's the one with the official title of queen and that Agatha isn't even a princess says a lot.

I wouldn't have minded if Sophie had a slight blackout and just lost it and saying mean things about Agatha but instantly regreting it because no matter what, deep down in the foundations of her soul, she loves Agatha with everything that she has. And is she has the be in a constant battle with herself about this fact then she's willing to keep on fighting. That would have been satisfying to read.

I mean just imagine if Sophie was there when Agatha was leading her army and Hester mentions that Agatha is Queen in the School, in Camelot, or anywhere elsse in the Woods. They would follow her. Willingly.

Sophie would have had a panic attack.

This girl needs to learn that she can't force people to be loyal and follow her by making every physical reminder of how amazing she is but instead she needs to lead and make some sacrifices of her own because she's doing these sacrifices in the benefit of Evil and its future instead of herself.

Sophie appreciating people?? Not only remembering them when she needs something from them??? Like @ soman im not asking her to be the next Mother Theresa but I’ll take this character development pls and thank u

I am all in for Sophie appreciating everyone. If she can't do it for other people, then she better do it for Evil.

[gvbejvmes]

Drabble: Like Scarlett Loves Tara

Title: Like Scarlett Loves Tara Rating: PG-13 Pairings: Gabriel/Johnny, background Gabriel/The Russian Trigger Warnings: None?  Summary: A glimpse into four visits Gabriel took to Johnson Estate during autumn and one summer that corrected the course of his life. Notes: I plan on doing a series of pre-wedding drabbles. You’re welcome!

Late Fall 2010

The first time Gabriel walks onto the grounds of Johnson Estate, he falls in love. It’s 2010 and he’d recently become friends with the most eccentric person he’d ever met. And this was coming from someone who spent 7 years in prison. Kaleidoscope Johnson was vibrant, flamboyant, loud, and absolutely ridiculous. He was the type of person you either hated or you liked. There was no in between. Gabe had liked him immediately. The other man was so uniquely himself that Gabe couldn’t help but to be drawn to him. He was the type of person Gabe had never had the chance to be, and he loved that about him. It was probably why he’d agreed to spend the weekend at the estate of a man he barely knew while his husband was working on a big case.

“What is this place?” Gabe asked, staring around in complete and total wonder. The house is huge. He’s not even sure if he should call it a house. It’s definitely a manor. Calling it a mansion didn’t feel right. Mansions feel cold, and this place was definitely not cold. They’re outside and Gabe feels like he’s in an Agatha Christie novel. The grass is green and feels never-ending. There are gardens with neatly pressed dirt wrapping through the plants. And the trees. God, the trees. They’re these gorgeous mature oak trees with leaves he’s dying to draw. Still, there’s more. There’s a patio with tables spaced throughout like a restaurant. Past the patio is a pool, but it’s not the kind for laps. It’s the shallow kind that’s more of a tanning shelf that anything else. If he squints, he’s pretty sure he even sees a stable. “Are we breaking and entering? Because I’m not technically an ex-con but I do still have a record of time served.”

Kaleidoscope laughed and threw an arm around Gabe’s shoulders. “This, my dear Gabey, is Johnson Estate. It’s my house. Well, the family home.” He shrugged and led Gabe from the patio to the sun room. “Once upon a time it was grand-mere's home, but she left it to me when she died. It was a big scandal. Completely bypassed her three children and left it to her twenty-one year old grandson. She wanted to leave it to someone who would actually use the house. And every artist needs a place to retreat with his fellow artists.” The way he said it made it sound so simple. “I like to summer here. It’s also where I like to host my orgies. Which if you weren’t happily married to that statue of a man you’re married to, I would invite you in a heartbeat. You are happily married, right?”

Gabe rolled his eyes. “Yes. Very happily married.” He settled onto one of the chairs and stared out into the backyard. It was quiet for a moment, which was out of character for Kaleidoscope, but when he looked over to where his friend had been, he wasn’t there. When he leaned back, however, he was fiddling with a tray while an older woman swatted at his hands before putting a kettle on. Shaking his head, he turned back to the view in front of him, and stared out at it in complete wonder. He didn’t say anything until Kaleidoscope came back with the tea tray. “Why did you bring me here?” He asked quietly.

The other man shrugged. “I wanted to show it to someone who would actually appreciate it for what it was.” He flipped the cups onto their saucers and picked up the kettle. Gabe thought for sure Kaleidoscope was done talking, but then in a very quiet voice came: “No one ever appreciates it as much as I do, but I knew you would.”

Early Fall 2013

It’s the end of September, but they’re in the middle of a heatwave and Gabe was dying in the city. Johnny was at some lawyer convention. He may have zoned out as his husband was trying to explain it to him. Anyway, there was no way he was going to survive a heatwave in a house without a pool. So, he packed up the dogs and drove up to the estate.

He’s honestly not sure how it happened, but somewhere along the line, Kale gave Gabe his own set of keys to the estate. According to Kale, he didn’t see the point of it sitting around empty when there was someone else who loved the house as much as he did. Of course, he always made sure Kale wasn’t doing… whatever it was what Kale did in the house when he went up to the house alone. Most of the time, the house was empty and it made a nice escape for Gabe. Kale, of course, wasn’t even in the city. He’d gone to Lake George with his boyfriend of the moment, so he was actually grateful that Gabe wanted to spend a couple of days at the house. 

It was the middle of the day and Gabe was floating in the pool on a float shaped like an island while George and Gulliver splashed in the water around him. He was napping on the water more than anything else when there suddenly was a surprised shout. It was enough to make him tumble off the float and into the pool. The dogs for their part went splashing off towards the sound of the noise.

Gabe dunked himself under the water before pulling himself to the side of the pool only to see the woman who ran the house, Hilda, being loved on by the dogs. “Mr. Gabe!” She scolded him. “I didn’t know you were coming into town today. Your room isn’t made up. Is Mr. Kale with you?”

He’d tried over and over again to get her to stop calling him Mr. Gabe, but as far as she was concerned, Gabe belonged at the estate as much as the actual owner did. “Hey, Mrs. H.” He shook the water from his hair like he was a dog. “Nah. Kale is upstate with… Eric? I think that’s his name. Or maybe it’s Aaron. My husband is out of town for a couple of days. So I figured if I have to be alone anywhere, it should be the prettiest place in New York.”

Hilda sighed before shooing the dogs back to the pool. “Oh, Mr. Gabe. I wish you had called the house. I need to dust and vacuum your room, and wash your linens. And I need to go up to the store. I can make the stew you like tonight. I think I have the ingredients for that, but oh-” And the older woman was already in her own head. She was planning what she wanted to make and what she thought Gabe was going to need while he was there. It didn’t matter what he said; she definitely was happy to have someone at the estate. He couldn’t imagine what it was like to run a house that was empty for half the year.

“Mrs. H.” He got out of the pool. “I’m capable of making up my own room you know. I just need fresh linens. The room’s still clean from last time.”

She made a tsking sound under her breath. “Oh, no. You start doing that and I’m out of a job. Oh, I’ll have to tell Mr. Ericson you’re here so he can get the beds for the dogs. And I’m sure you’ll want to ride at least once while you’re here.” She pressed a kiss to Gabe cheek before pushing him back towards the pool. “Welcome home, Mr. Gabe.”

And it was strange to him how a place that wasn’t even his could feel like home. 

Summer 2018

It’s early, not yet seven, and everyone staying at Johnson Estate are still sleeping. Gabe’s been up for about an hour. Sleeping alone still wasn’t easy for him. Sure, he could have slept in Velvet’s bed with her, but she’d gone home with some guy who slept in a coffin the night before. Needless to say, he’d gotten little to no sleep. He’s curled up on the couch in the great room, a worn copy of As I Lay Dying in his hands and a fire in the fireplace crackling happily in front of him. 

“Oh, you are awake.” A familiar voice murmured out from behind him. Gregor Rasputin, known to everyone as Razz and as the Russian to Gabe, wasn’t necessarily welcome as far as Gabe was concerned, but he wasn’t unwelcome either. He was a gray area that Gabe tried not to think about too much. “Are you hiding from me?” While Gabe was spending the entire summer at the estate, the Russian had only been around for about a week, and it was more than obvious to everyone that he’d taken a liking to Gabe. And Gabe wasn’t sure how he felt about that. He was officially divorced. Liking someone else didn’t mean that he was cheating on Johnny, but it definitely felt like it. The Russian was nice enough, but he wasn’t wrong: Gabe had been hiding from him.

He closed his book, and sat up more to give the other man room on the other end of the couch. They both tended to be early risers. Although, for Gabe it was more that he wasn’t able to sleep, than being an early riser. “To be fair I’m hiding from everyone. This is my favorite room, but I don’t think everyone knows it’s here.” He tucked his legs up under him as he watched Gregor set down a tea tray. “So don’t tell anyone.”

The larger man smiled at Gabe. “It will be our secret, Gabriel.” He sat down in the middle of the couch, much closer than Gabe had originally been anticipating. “I brought you tea. Brewed like coffee. Very strong, but very bitter. I brought sugar. I noticed you like sweet things, but not chocolate. I think this is because you’re desert born.” He shrugged and gestured to the rest of the tray. “And I brought breakfast. Fruits and bacon, and that strange biscuits with sauce.”

That earned a laugh from Gabe. “Biscuits and gravy.” Gabe corrected as he took the cup of tea and sniffed it curiously before taking a sip. Almost immediately he made a face. “Bitter is an understatement.” He all but whined before mixing sugar into his tea.

The Russian shrugged before putting together a plate, a little bit of everything, and handing it to Gabe the second he set his cup down. “Others don’t notice. You hide it well, but I notice. I see because I know you least. You don’t eat. Move food around and drink tea and martinis, but no food.” He nudged the plate closer to Gabe. “Eat, Gabriel. I think you were much stronger before. Much more meat on your bones.”

Sighing, Gabe took the plate from him and made a point of popping one of the orange slices into his mouth. “Do you usually worry this much about men you barely know or am I just special?” He’s not sure if he’s trying to be sarcastic or if he’s fishing for a compliment. 

The Russian laughed. “You’re the most special man I’ve met, Gabriel. Men in Russia?” He made a sound Gabe didn’t know how to describe. “They are nothing like you.” It was too much for Gabe so he busied himself with eating his biscuits and gravy, as though that would get the Russian to stop speaking.

Thankfully the other man got the hint, and they fell into a comfortable silence. It wasn’t until Gabe set his plate down and picked up his tea, sipping gingerly just in case it was still too bitter, that the mood changed again. When it was sweet enough, he took a larger sip, not prepared for the question he was about to receive. “Gabriel, this house…” He wasn’t sure if the other man was searching for the right word in English or if he was trying to phrase it in a way that wouldn’t spook him. “How do you know so well?”

A real smile lit up his features. “This house?” He shook his head bashfully. “Home has always been people for me. This was the first place that felt like home.”

Late Fall 2019

It’s early evening and Gabe is in the sunroom painting when his phone goes off. His hands are covered in paint, but he still checks to see who’s calling. When he sees that it’s Johnny, a couple of different emotions wash over him. On one hand, things with his ex-husband had finally settled into a state of normalcy. On the other hand, talking to Johnny was like that book about giving the mouse a cookie. It always seemed to lead to something more. Still, he found himself setting his brush down and answering his phone. “Hey, Johnny.” And that was something that would always feel strange in his mouth. He wasn’t his Jay any more. “What’s up?”

He’s pretty sure that his ex hadn’t been expecting Gabe to actually answer the phone. “Uh, hey, Briel, Gabriel. How are you?” And it’s awkward. It’s so fucking awkward, but it’s still a better place then they were before. “Right, stupid question. I didn’t get to tell you last week, but thank you for letting the dogs stay with me while you were-” And he wasn’t going to say it. They both knew he wasn’t going to say the rest of the sentence: while you were in Russia for three months with your long distance boyfriend and were considering moving to the other side of the world permanently. 

“I hate boarding them.” He admitted as he put his brushes away for the night. There was no way he was going to be able to go back to painting after talking to Johnny. “They were much happier with you than they would have been at one of those places.” 

It’s quiet on the other side before Johnny seemed to finally bring himself to the reason why he called. “Yeah. I actually bought them a couple of things online that just arrived today.” It was quiet again for a long moment. “Can I stop by your place and drop them off?”

Gabe closed his eyes, even though he knew the other man couldn’t see him. When he’d gotten back to New York, he’d actually made a point of having CJ pick up the dogs instead of him having to see Johnny. The same as when the dogs were brought to his place. Fresh out of a break up with a man who was supposed to help him get over Johnny, he didn’t trust himself around his ex-husband. 

“I’m not at home. I mean, I am, but I’m not in the city. I’m at the estate.” He admitted. 

“Oh.” 

And for a moment it was like neither of them knew what they wanted to say, but neither of them wanted to hang up. Finally Johnny was the first to speak. “Well, I can drop them off when you get back? Or you could have Cordy come and pick them up?” And he had to know that he was avoiding him at this point. He had to know.

“CJ leaves for a shoot next week so I’ll be back this weekend.” He promised. “You can drop them off then. I’m sure Bella would be happy to see you.” 

And it’s quiet again. “Briel,” Johnny murmured out quietly. “Why didn’t you stay in Moscow?”

He picked at his cuticle as he searched for the right words. “Because my home is in New York.”

Neither of them knew what to say after that.

Late Summer / Early Fall 2020

When Gabe suggests getting (re)married at the estate, he’s not entirely serious. He knows how well Johnny and Kale get along, and he doesn’t want his husband, no, fiance to be awkward. But maybe it was how much Gabe talked about that house. Or maybe it was because given the state of the pandemic it was the safest place to get married - no strangers and everyone could stay there. Still, he doesn’t expect Johnny to like the idea. 

Hell, he doesn’t even know that Johnny liked the idea until he shows him the proof for the invitations and it has the estate’s address. He’s sure he cries and starts babbling about how beautiful the manor house looks in the fall, but it doesn’t matter. That house is his Tara. He loves the estate probably more than any other building in the world. It the best wedding gift his fiance could have given him.

It isn’t until they arrive at the estate a few weeks later that he realizes Johnny has never been to the estate before. It isn’t until he sees the look of total wonder on the other man’s face that he realizes this is his first time seeing the manor house in all its glory. “What do you think?” He all but whispers out. If he doesn’t love the estate, Gabe’s not sure what he’ll do. 

Johnny’s quiet for a moment, but when he speaks, Gabe’s heart melts. “It’s perfect.”

[thankchaosforspellcheck]

Genius omens au

(aka a Girl Genius/Good Omens crossover because I’m not gonna stop being on this kick until something better comes out.  Which nothing has yet.)

So I’ve got at least 2 ideas for this AU, first one goes like this:

Crowley and Aziraphale are both low-rung minions for competing families.  Neither are from canon, and while one of them prides themselves on the “help” they spread to the local commoners, the other on the chaos. (they are both pretty chaotic, honestly).

Gabriel and Beelzebub are top-ranked minions who mostly handle all the paperwork.

The actual sparks never appear.  The spark for Aziraphale’s family (who is essentially god) is too busy producing brilliant inventions to help the world... and then forgetting to include any instructions or telling anyone how they work.  (She actually does this on purpose, as a bit of an experiment to see if anyone will ever actually ask her how they work & to see if they can work it out on their own)  Meanwhile, the spark for Crowley’s family (Lucifer) creates horrific inventions meant to insight chaos and disaster on all those who are within it’s aim!  ...Which would be a lot easier to do if he had neater handwriting.  Or used less obscure scientific terminology.  Or didn’t spill coffee on half of it!

So Aziraphale & Crowley’s jobs are essentially to go out and try to figure out how the inventions work without getting themselves killed (the latter bit’s more for Aziraphale for Crowley, honestly.  And even then they only say that because they’re the “good guys”, not because they actually mean it), as well as to try to prevent the neighboring family from using their’s.

They are surprisingly good at their jobs though.  

Like, weirdly so.  

Everyone kind of assumed they were gonna be dead within the first week like all the past minions were.

(what they don’t know, is that they have 2 advantages on everyone else: 

1. they met almost immediately and both went “oh shit he’s hot, hEY WHY DON’T I HELP YOU WITH THAT” and not only figured out how each other’s devices worked, but also realized that they negate each other (ex: one is meant to end world hunger, the other is meant to cause massive famines, together they make all the farms have solidly mediocre years)

2. they are actually both minor sparks, not that either has realized it yet.  See, Aziraphale’s breakthrough was probably the quietest breakthrough in the history of the world and Crowley just kinda vaguely sauntered his way through a breakthrough, and everyone else was too distracted by the latest disaster to notice (Aziraphale’s breakthrough sparkwork was a quick fix he did on the flaming sword he was given by the family spark (It was so easy, I hardly needed to be a spark to do it) which he immediately gave away to the Spark’s daughter (who’s as mundane as you get) since she’s going to be traveling through the wilderness with her husband. Crowley’s was the Bentley, which is a horseless carriage he bought off a passing spark and fixed up in his spare time (look, there was barely anything wrong with it.  I just did a bit of tinkering here, welded a few wires together there, and after some polishing and a good wax she was good as new!  Took me forever to finish ‘er anyways, a spark’d hardly take an hour to do what I did).  

Both of them have noticed that the other is a spark and revert to minioning when the other gets in a fugue.  Neither notices when the other is minioning while in said fugue, and they never actually bring the sparking out up.  Because they’re idiots.

Now, The second idea (under the cut because boy howdy did this get long!):

They are both still oblivious minor spark minions (because I just think think this fits them really well)  But this time it’s with some known families

Crowley is a Heterodyne Jager, though not one of the ones that’s particularly noticed by people (not one of the oldest, but not young enough for, say, Bill or Barry to have seen him take the Draught)

You know how 99.9% of Jagers take the draught because they are just so devoted to the cause and want to serve the Heterodynes for the rest of eternity?  Well Crowley’s that .1% that did it because everyone else was chanting “DO IT DO IT” at the time and he was just like “Welp, it’s not like I have anything else to do” and downed it.

(He’s possibly the only spark to take and survive the drought, no one has any fucking idea so he’s just considered as one of the minor foot soldiers.  Which is probably all the better for him, since he would have been on a dissection table in 5 seconds flat otherwise)

He looks more or less like he does in the show, just with scales under his clothes, black claws on his hands (which he generally hides with gloves, and some fairly small (for a Jager) fangs.  He definitely still has sunglasses, and if asked claims either “they look cool” or “I’ve got an eye condition and I don’t want a spark to make it worse or put lasers in” depending on who he’s talking to and how much they’ve annoyed him.  He also grew some black wings some time after he drank the draught (which, if the Heterodyne knew about, they would be extremely interested in) which he keeps under his clothes and extremely close to his back.

He also doesn’t have too much of a Mechanicsburg accent since he kinda just fucked off on the first mission out of town and away from the Heterodyne that he could get (look he loves his master and thinks they’re creations are fascinating but that doesn’t mean he actually wants their attention)

he’s also part of the same batch that Beelzebub, Hastur, and Ligur came from and hates all of them.

Meanwhile, Aziraphale is a minion of the House of Valois, and has been for quite some time.

See, around the same time as Crowley was made a Jager, someone from the Storm King’s line (probably a von Blitzengaard)  Decided that enough was enough and they were going to make their own Super soldiers (but prettier! and with wings and a melodious voice like an angelic choir and-!)

Aziraphale was the only survivor.

(He was not what the creator was aiming for.)

He also looks more or less like he does in canon, with beautiful white wings and white curly hair.  He looks strangely normal for someone who went through a version of the draught, honestly.  He does, however, still have the increased strength, durability, stamina, and whatever else the brau includes.  It just showed up at a much slower rate, so it was put down as a bad job and discarded.

(the reason he survived is because he was the only one out of all the subjects who had even the vaguest of sparks.  I think the duality of this is nice.  One survives in spite of his spark, the other survives because of it)

So when he fails to be Angel Incarnate he gets a disappointed dismissal from his creator and gets sent out on some away mission he’s meant to never come back from

(he doesn’t, but it’s only because he met Crowley on the way there)

Several Generations later, they are wandering around the wastelands, vaguely hear about the Heterodyne boys recalling all their Jagers and turning over a new leaf, shrug, and disguise themselves so that they can follow the kids from a distance (because they’re still his Heterodynes dammit).

(or at least that’s Crowley’s reason.  Aziraphale’s reason is that Crowley’s there and that’s good enough for him at this point)

They keep this up on-and-off for a good while whole events with the other and the attack at the castle happen and they lose track of them.

Crowley’s a bit worried, but figures he might as well just wander around the Wastelands like the others are and if he finds them, he finds them.

He was not actually expecting to find either of them

So you can imagine his surprise when Barry shows up near him one day with a toddler following him like a lost duckling.

So he does what any reasonable Jager would never do, and immediately goes up to the two and introduces himself and his husband TRAVELING COMPANION as everything but a Jager and Jager-knockoff.

Barry is, of course, paranoid at these complete strangers that seem vaguely familiar in the weirdest of ways, but they both seem genuinely nice and they both hate the other with a passion so he settles into an uneasy trust.

They both end up showing him their wings and explaining that they’re constructs who were made in such a way that they are immune to wasps.

(Crowley offers to demonstrate by eating one.  Barry hastily declines)

They start traveling together and, after that uneasy trust settles into an easy one, he asks if he gets whatever signal that made him decide to start tracking down the Other solo

But Punch and Judy aren’t there.  He never managed to run into them at all,

Crowley and Aziraphale, however, are.

Part 2:

Agatha Crowley-Fell has had a very normal, if interesting, life.

She’s raised by her two fathers (uncles, they insisted for a good long while until she points out that they’ve officially adopted her and they’re as much her parents as her biological ones are, and that she doesn’t think they’re replacing them, just adding to them (to which the respond with hugging and crying)) in Beetleburg. 

one of which works as a librarian at the local college (where he is more then happy to help anyone who needs anything besides books.)

an unofficial elective is “how to borrow a book from Mr. Fell”.  Everyone who passes gets hired by the university on the spot.

Crowley, meanwhile, owns a flower shop where all of the plants are guaranteed to be vibrant and spotless! (or else)

Occasionally, they’ll come to her right before bed and ask to see her locket, “to keep it in the best shape possible” they say.  One will take it to another room, while the other sits with her and sings a lullaby until she falls asleep

it’s always back on her neck come morning.

As time goes on, her headaches slowly get better.  She’s still never able to finish a project, but it pops up less during mild excitement or frustration.

They’re still incredibly annoying though

And then comes the day when her locket is broken and the Baron comes to town, and her life goes from tame to disastrous in a matter of hours.

[bazypitchandsimonsnow]

Pink and Black Roses: A Watford Cove Wedding

Rating: T

Genre: Fluff/Light Angst

Word Count: 7764

Summary: Eleven years after they first met in Watford Cove, Simon and Baz are getting married. Based on "frightened kiss" request.

Read on AO3

AN: I’m still working on the knight and warlock fic, don’t worry, but this is already done and edited so I want to get it up cause I'm so excited to post it. It's the last request of the 2018 batch, and I thought we needed to go out with a bang. So here's a future fic sequel to Watford Cove! Enjoy :D

———————————————

Simon

“Is my hair alright?” I ask. Penny sighs as she’s adjusting my tie.

“Your hair looks fine, Simon,” she says.

“Is it really?”

“Yes.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“But maybe-”

“Simon!” She steps around me, standing between the mirror and I. Her hands grip my shoulders hard. Not tight enough to hurt but enough to keep me steady. “Stop fussing, you’re fine. Not just your hair, you. Stop panicking. Nothing is going to go wrong. And even if something does, stay focused on the goal.”

I snort, a wholly undignified sound for a grown twenty eight year old man I’m told. Like I care. “You sound like Baz’s uni football coach.”

She rolls her eyes. “Yeah, well, I’m probably smarter.”

“You definitely are, Pen, always.”

She smiles smugly, nose up in the air. “Of course I am.” I chuckle and hold her forearms. A lot of my nerves are already melting away. I don’t know what I’d do without Penelope. “Now, your tie is far more straight than you are.” I snort again. “We should probably get out there with everyone else.”

“Agreed.”

“You’ve got everything, right? Vows, ring, big smile?”

I reach into my pink suit jacket, feeling a piece of paper and and cool metal on my finger tips. I grin wide, all the way to my ears. “Yeah, all good.”

Penelope nods once, then reaches down to firmly hold my hand. “Awesome. Then let’s go.”

We walk together, arms swinging slightly, out the door of the powder room towards the main entry. There’s two doors between us and the main room of the Watford Cove Event Hall. Baz is walking down the aisle first with his party so he’s on the other side. (I wish I could push the doors open and see him.) My party is here, milling about and getting ready. Agatha keeps shifting around her black flower crown with a small frown.

“It doesn’t feel right,” she grumbles.

I stroll up to her and put her crown centre. She turns to me, and immediately grins.

“There,” I say, “perfect.”

“Hey Simon, how are you doing?”

“Honestly? I’m freaking out. But I’m also happy.”

“You better be! I don’t want to be wearing this silly crown thing for nothing.”

I frown and put my hands on my hips. “It’s not silly, it’s cute.”

Her mouth quirks up, one hand on her pink skirt. “Yeah, I suppose it is, even if it’s a pain to wear.” She looks around at the room with a hint of awe. “This whole ceremony is beautiful, really. I’m happy to be a part of it.”

I grin in full force again. Agatha is really nice. We met in uni, sitting together in an intro art class. She noticed how terrified I was to share my work and helped me calm down. We started chatting, and immediately became friends. Penny quickly came to like her too, but Baz took a little longer. He was even a bit jealous because he thought she had a crush on me. Agatha quickly dispelled that notion by introducing us to her girlfriend. Baz felt like an idiot, and I showed immense restraint by only teasing him for a minute. Now we’re all close friends. Close enough that Agatha agreed to fly all the way from California to be a groom’s maid in my wedding.

“Thanks,” I say. “Glad you’re here too.” I look out at all three of them, dressed in pink and black, different parts of my heart. “Glad you’re all here.”

“I’m happy to be here!” Micah chimes in. “This is all so awesome. And I feel like a pinterest photo in this suit.” He spins around, pink jacket flapping about while his black rose boutonniere flys off. Penny sighs as she picks it up.

“Careful, love,” she says. “Black roses are expensive, you only get one of these.”

Micah leans forward and kisses the top of her head, just under her own black flower crown. There’s nothing but affection in his eyes. “Understood, dear.”

Damn, years later and they’re still so sweet. Penelope met Micah long before she met me, when he was an exchange student at Watford High in Year 10. Apparently their connection was instant. Pen was already talking about marriage in high school, and the two went through with it right after uni graduation. They’re very happy. I hope my marriage is as good as Penny and Micah’s. Though looking at mine and Baz’s relationship for the past eleven years, I’d say that’s pretty well guaranteed. We’ve been through a lot, yet we’re still together. Being married will be fucking incredible.

“Are we all ready?” Gran walks in, dressed like a fancy lady. She looks great in her pale pink skirt suit with her hair all done up like a duchess or something. She’s got a black rose boutonniere too. It’s apparently a wedding thing to have flowers everywhere. Not that I mind, I love flowers. Hence why I’m wearing some on my head.

“As long as I don’t sick up, then yeah,” I chuckle.

Gran sighs, shaking her head. “You’re not going to sick up, Simon. You always say you will and you don’t.”

“Agreed!” Penny oh so helpfully adds in. I glare over my shoulder, and she sticks her tongue out. We may be fully fledged adults, but in some ways, we’re very much still children.

“You’re going to be fine, darling.” Gran reaches up to adjust my crown. It’s the one I’ve had since I was seventeen. Gran bought it for me on my first day in Watford Cove. It’s just a little  line of pink rosebuds across the top of my head, simple but pretty. Gran said that the one time my Mum was able to phone her while with my Dad, she called me her rosebud boy. My Mum called me such sweet things, and didn’t even live long enough for me to remember them myself.

“You’re thinking about your Mum, aren’t you?” Gran whispers, snapping me out of it. She’s got a tiny, sad smile on her face. I nod slowly.

“Y-Yeah. Sorta wondering what she’d think and all. It’s inevitable, I guess.”

Gran nods. She moves both hands to my front, holding my jacket. Her smile is still small but very kind. “Well, I think I knew my own daughter pretty well, so I can tell you a few things for sure.” I can see the way her eyes are quivering. She’s trying to keep from crying. “My darling Lucy loved you before you were even born, Simon. So she would be incredibly happy that you have found true love. If she were here, she’d be walking you down the aisle instead of me.”

Fuck, that hits me right in the heart in the best way. I smile, a few tears falling down my cheeks. “Darn it, Gran,” I chuckle, “I didn’t want to start crying until the vows at least.”

“Sorry, love.” She wipes at my face with her silk handkerchief. “Don’t worry, you’ve still got enough tears in you for Basil.”

“Oh definitely. I’m going to be a fucking waterfall.”

“Language, love.”

“Sorry, Gran. I’m just nervous.”

She cups my cheek, running a thumb under my eye to catch a stray tear. “I know, darling, I know. Don’t worry, it will be great.” There’s a thumping on the door, making me jump and my breath catch. That’s our signal. Gran holds out her arm for me with a grin. “Showtime, Simon.”

I nod rapidly, and take her thin arm in mine. “Alright. Let’s go.”

Agatha, Micah, and Penny line up in front of us. Agatha knocks back, and the oak doors swing open. The three start slowly walking forward. I take a deep breath, and follow behind.

The Event Hall is insane. Despite being a small town, Watford Cove apparently expected to host huge galas or something, it’s enormous. The ceiling is high and curved, decorated with a fancy mosaic. The walls are intimidating dark wood with pretty carvings. Though they’re covered up with flower garlands right now. The rose garlands are alternating pink and black, like the rest of our decorations, because we’re cheesy and like to stick to our aesthetics. As Gran and I walk forward, everyone’s standing up from their benches. And I mean everyone. We ended up inviting a lot of people. My aunt and uncle, my cousins, Aunt Fiona, Mitali, Martin, Penny’s siblings, Baz’s siblings, his extended family, his uni friends, my uni friends, Mr. and Mrs. Wellbelove, even Ebb and her twin brother. I can feel all their eyes on me. I gulp down my nervous lump and try to keep smiling at them.

But when I look at the altar, well, I don’t have any trouble smiling at all.

He’s standing right there, right at the end of aisle, grinning from pointed ear to pointed ear under a canopy of black and pink silk. His suit isn’t very traditional either. Malcolm nearly had a heart attack when Baz announced what he wanted to wear to the ceremony, but it looks amazing. A leather jacket pairs surprisingly well with a black button down and slacks. A pink rose is attached his lapel, same as Dev and Niall next to him, while Mordelia has a pink flower crown on her head. Baz’s hair is slicked back, but a few strands falling in front of his pretty face. I have to resist the urge to run up and tackle kiss him. This is supposed to be a serious event dammit. Even though I’m wearing a flower crown and he’s wearing a biker jacket.

Gran walks me to the steps and we stop. She kisses my cheek. I can feel a few saltwater drops hit my skin. I’m pretty sure a few are mine too. I hold her hand as I climb the white steps. Just as I reach the top, I turn back. Gran gives me one last big smile from below. I smile back, mouthing “thank you.” She nods once, and we let go.

But Baz is right there to catch my hand.

He pulls me the last step towards him. We stand facing each other, both hands together. I’m grinning, I can’t stop grinning. My heart is about to burst out of my chest.

“Hi,” I whisper. It’s all I can manage. My brain is too overwhelmed to think of words.

“Hi,” he replies. “Glad you could make it.”

I chuckle. “Same to you.”

“Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Please be seated,” Mr. Kelly, our officiant says, loud enough that I know he means to shut us up. Baz gives me fake look of deference. It makes grin even harder. Christ, I really can’t stop grinning.

“Today,” he announces, “we are here to witness the union between two men I hope you all know.” A chuckle rumbles through the crowd. “And it will be my job to officiate the marriage between Simon Snow Salisbury and Tyrannus Basilton Grimm-Pitch.” I squeeze Baz’s hands. He squeezes back. “I’ve gotten to know these two wonderful men over the past few weeks. They’re very smart, very kind, and very much in love. They’re one of those rare, beautiful cases of finding true love at a young age. And it’s my honour today to help them celebrate their union and make it legally official. Now, I believe the grooms have their own vows prepared. Who would like to go first?”

Baz and I already decided who would go first. We both know I’ll be a complete mess after hearing Baz’s vows, so I need to go first. Baz and I (reluctantly) let our hands go. I take the folded note paper out of my suit pocket. My hands are shaking but I’m still able to read the words.

“Baz,” I start, “as you and everyone else knows, I’m not that great with words. So it took me awhile to figure out what to say. How can I just, summarise everything about you in words? We’ve been together for a very long time and I I know you better than anyone. So I know that you’re a lot Baz, and I mean that in a good way.”

“I hope so,” Baz says with a smirk. The crowd laughs with us.

“Don’t worry, I really do. You’ve always been a lot in a good way. I still remember the day we first met. You held your head high, like you could take on the world. I couldn’t look away, and I really haven’t stopped looking ever since, I guess. That was just the start though. I soon found out you were ‘a lot’ in other ways too. A lot charming, a lot funny, a lot kind, a lot of just everything good. You’re a really great person, Baz. You amaze me all the time. You’re the strongest, most astounding person I know. Being with you is always a new adventure. Sure, we’ve had our ups and down.” (We have small fights over dumb stuff but only a few big fights really, like our pre relationship fall out or brief break up after uni, aka the worst three months of my fucking life.)

“But ever since high school, I’ve always been happier with you. No one makes me feel like you do, even eleven years later. So, yeah, I don’t want to be with anyone else ever. I just want to marry you. And when we’re married, I promise to listen to your weird music, to repaint your nails when they’re chipped, to hold onto you tight and never let go, and just, y’know, love and care for you for the rest of our lives. I mean that with all my heart, because you’re the best thing in the world. That’s, uh, that’s it.”

I take a deep breath as I put the paper back in my pocket. Slowly, I look back up at Baz. He seems to be awestruck I think. Eyes wide, mouth hanging open slightly, tears welling in his eyes, but also happy. He can’t be too surprised. He must know all this already. I’ve said this stuff before in in pieces at different times. Maybe hearing it all together and in public is weird. I reach out and squeeze his hand. He smiles and squeezes back.

“Dammit,” he chuckles, “I’m supposed to be coherent for this, love.”

I along with everyone else laughs. Baz takes his own deep breath, looking more nervous than I’ve ever seen him. Even as he pulls his own note paper out, he keeps holding my hand. I think he needs to. I don’t mind, I won’t let go.

“Dear Simon,” he says, “I’m writing this three days previous at my desk, trying to figure out what to say on our wedding day, You’re sleeping four feet away from me, curled up with our cat, drooling on your pillow.” I giggle and my face turns bright red. “I look at you and a small part of me is still astounded you want to be with me. You are bright everywhere I'm dark. For awhile I felt unworthy because you were so perfect. But I've learned you aren't this untouchable ray of sunshine. You're even better. You're a real person with problems and fears, who has come out of horrible things tougher but not jaded. And because we’re both messed up, we've learned to be messed up together. We keep each other sane. You're my boyfriend and my partner. l'm more grounded with you by my side. So I’ve realised perfect is too simple a word for you. You’re kind, caring, funny, strong, and incredible, Simon, and I'm amazed by you everyday too. I feel better with you, and I have almost since the day we met. As I write this now, watching you sleep in our bed, there are things I want to make sure you know at our wedding.”

He looks up at me, gazing right in my eye. It’s impossible for me to look away. “I promise to watch your stupid romcoms all the way to the end, to get you sour cherry scones when you’re sad, to support your art even if it means lugging around enormous canvases, and to always help you pick what pastel outfit you should wear. But most of all, I promise to be there for you, no matter what. You’re the love of my life, Simon Snow Salisbury. I already know we’re going to be together forever, but I can’t wait to be married to you as well.”

I sniffle without shame. How the fuck am I not supposed to cry after that? We agreed to both have promises in our vows, but that’s all I knew before today. I want to snog him right now, other people be damned. But Gran would be upset. So I settle for just squeezing his hand. Baz squeezes back, and after putting his paper away, he reaches up to carefully wipe at my eyes. I can’t wait to be married to him too.

“Very beautiful vows” Mr. Kelly says, and he sounds a little teary himself. “My words absolutely cannot follow up, but I’ll try.” Everyone laughs through their quiet crying. “Simon Snow Salisbury, do you wish to be bound in matrimony to this man, till death do you part?”

“I do,” I say without hesitation.

“And Tyrannus Basilton Grimm-Pitch, do you wish to be bound in matrimony to this man, till death do you part?”

“I do,” he says immediately too.

“Perfect, good to hear. You may exchange the rings.”

Baz lets one of my hands drop and squeezes the other. “You go first, love.”

My throat is still too choked up to do anything but nod. I take the ring out of my pocket. Since our styles clash so much, Baz and I decided to get rings made in the same design but made from different materials. They’re both smooth on each side with braided metal in the middle. (I don’t know how it’s done, but it looks so cool.) Baz’s is black tungsten with a silver braid. It matches his leather jacket perfectly. I easily slip it over his long, bony finger.

“Now your turn,” I say.

Baz eagerly brings out my ring. It’s rose gold on the outside with a regular gold braid. Baz grins at me as he puts it on. The metal is cold right now. But I know eventually it will warm up, because I’m never taking off unless I really have to. And maybe I won’t even then.

“By the power vested in me by the Government of Great Britain,” Mr. Kelly says grandly, “I pronounce you husband and husband. You may kiss the groom.”

Mr. Kelly is barely done speaking before Baz and I are leaning forward. Baz cups my cheeks tenderly, I grip his forearms, and our mouths meet in a simple kiss. But it’s not simple. It’s our first kiss as husbands. And that makes it incredible. I’m so lost in the warm feeling of his lips I barely hear the applause and huge cheers from the crowd. We reluctantly part for politeness sake. Baz and I are both grinning and crying. We probably look ridiculous, but who the fuck cares? We’re allowed to look ridiculous right now.

“We’re married,” Baz whispers.

“We’re married,” I echo, equally shocked and so fucking happy.

Baz weaves our fingers together, then turns us to face the crowd. It’s quite a sight to see. All our family and friends, standing up, cheering for us with big smiles. My eyes meet Gran’s. Her smile is softer, and her claps aren’t as hard, but everything is said in the way she looks at me. Congratulations, she says with no words, I’m so proud of you.

I smile as wide as I can back at her.

Me and Baz step off the riser together. Baz raises our hands together, earning a particularly loud cheer from all our loved ones. The cool metal of Baz’s ring presses hard into my skin.

I’m so goddamn happy.

———————————————

Though it’s a bit tedious, taking the wedding photos is a lot of fun. The edge of the Wavering Wood is right near the hall. It’s a flat field with lots of beautiful trees and flowers in the background. The photographer is one of Baz’s many cousins, and he’s very good. He gets us to do many different poses. Some are serious, like looking at each other longingly under a willow tree branch, and some are funny, like Baz suddenly hoisting me up off my feet while I giggle in shock. I’m pretty sure I’m going to love all of them.

We take a lot of photos with our family and friends too. Gran, the Grimms, our wedding parties, some pictures separate and some together. I notice the that first Grimm photo is, well, a bit grim. I tell Baz to smile more, and he glares at first, but does. The others follow suit. They still look stiff, but it’s better. I’m more than pleased.

Baz is taking a picture with his siblings when my phone buzzes. I look down and don’t recognise the number. But Tibby, fellow community centre employee and indie artist, said she was getting a new number soon.

“Fuck, I have to go get this,” I grumble.

“Simon,” Baz groans, looking at me and probably ruining his photo. “C’mon.”

“It might be Tibby! She said she’d call me if our art got into the New Artist's show at Maureen Paley.” Baz still looks upset. I walk up and kiss his cheek, lightly touching his ring. “Two minutes, okay?”

Baz sighs with affectionate exasperation. “Fine, two minutes.”

I kiss his cheek again then dash off across the field. I answer the phone on the last ring. “Hey, Tibby. Did we get it? I’m a bit busy so can you-”

“Hello, Simon.”

I freeze. My blood runs ice cold. The ground is opening up underneath me, I swear. I can feel my muscles shaking so hard I nearly drop the phone. It takes a good few seconds for me to find my voice again.

“Hi, Dad,” I say shakily. “H-How did you get this number? I changed it last year.”

“You have an artist’s Facebook page, son. It was easy enough.”

Shit. I’m going to delete that the second I get home. “Oh, okay. Why are you calling?”

“I heard you were getting married today.”

“Oh,” I squeak. “Um, yeah, I am. Well, I did. But...how did you find out? You don’t follow me on social media, and we haven’t talked in awhile.” How could he know? He shouldn’t know. Fucking hell, he can’t  know.

“I met a member of the Grimm family at an education conference last year. We followed each other on Facebook. He just posted a picture from his cousin Basilton’s wedding, and imagine my surprise when I saw my own son kissing the groom. So, did my invitation get lost in the mail?”

I gulp down the lump that has suddenly formed in my throat. “It’s, uh, small. There aren’t a lot of people...”

“Not enough space for your own father?”

God, I forgot how quick he is. How easily he can turn the conversation back to his side. I pull at my hair almost painfully. “I-it’s just, Dad, I-”

I take a deep breath, reminding myself I’m not that weak kid he can pick on anymore. I’m twenty eight years old now, dammit. I have a life, a job, a wonderful husband, nothing he can take away. I don’t have to be scared anymore.

“Dad,” I say firmly, “you weren’t invited. Whatever bit of good relationship we had is long gone. You don’t approve of anything in my life. Not my profession, not my sexuality, not even my fashion sense. I wanted to enjoy my wedding day. Which meant you couldn’t be here.”

There’s a long pause. My heart beats faster with every passing second, but I did it. I stood up to him. After all these years, I can finally tell him off. At least a bit. But that’s more than ever before. I did it, I did it, I di-

“You insolent little brat, how dare you?” he growls. And all of my confidence blinks away in an instant. “After everything I’ve done for you. All I ever did was try to raise you to be better, but you spit in my face. You’re just bloody useless. You’re a complete idiot, a moron, a leech, Simon!”

He keeps going on, and all I can do is stand there. Just stand and listen to my father tear into me. I can’t move. I’m a kid all over again, listening as my father loudly berates me for whatever new screw up I had done. My whole body is shaking, tears streaming down my face, every muscle in my body shaking. I can’t even put down the fucking phone.

“I wish you were never born,” he yells. “You’ve never been anything but a disappointment, you stupid little f-”

The phone is suddenly ripped out of my hand. A familiar hand holds my shoulder. Baz stands in front of me. His face is completely impassive. I know that face, he’s in cold arsehole mode.

“Hello,” Baz says. “This is the man Simon just married. I’m here to tell you that as long as I’m around, you will not hurt him anymore. And you absolutely will not ruin his wedding day, understood? No,” he growls, cold cruelty turning into fury, “ you listen to me, you prick. The second I hang up I’m going to block this number. Don’t contact my husband ever again, or I’ll use all our family’s considerable wealth and influence to ruin your goddamn life. Goodbye.”

Baz hangs up and blocks the number, just like he said he would. Then he immediately wraps his arms around me. I sink into his embrace and bury my face in his shoulder, racked with full body sobs. Baz just keeps holding me.

“It’s okay,” he whispers. “It’s over. He won’t hurt you anymore. It’s alright, love.”

“I’m sorry,” I choke out. “I-I shouldn’t have answered, I’m-”

“None of that, love. It wasn’t your fault. You haven’t heard from him in six years, of course you wouldn’t think it was him.”

I sniffle very unattractively. “H-He saw a photo, of us, today. He asked why he wasn’t invited, and I told me the real reason, a-and he went off at me, and I-

“Shh, it’s alright, I heard. You stood up for yourself, you courageous fuck. I’m so goddamn proud of you.”

“You-You heard?”

“Yes. Well, the last part. I saw you go stiff and I got worried so I got closer, but I didn’t want to step in unless you needed me. I heard the of your amazing speech to him, and I thought everything would be alright. I was walking away when I heard you crying. I don’t know what he said, love, but I don’t care. Whatever it was, he will never talk to you like that again. I promise, okay?”

I nod against his shoulder. “O-Okay.”

We stand there for awhile, me gripping his suit and him stroking my hair. Baz keeps holding me up, like he always has for me, like I have for him too. Without a second thought, I tilt my head up to kiss him. It’s not hard or forceful, just firm. Baz kisses me back, swiping his thumb across my cheek and holding my waist. Our lips slowly slide together. Baz pulls me even closer. With every passing second of him kissing me, all my old fears melt away. They go back into the past where they belong. My father can’t hurt me anymore. He never will again, not as long as Baz is here. I’m glad Baz feels grounded with me. Because I absolutely feel grounded with him too.

We pull apart, even though I’d gladly kiss him forever. “Come on,” he whispers, “only a few more photos and we get to go to the reception.”

I nod, weaving my fingers with his. “Alright. Thank you.”

He places a last peck on my temple. “Anytime, love.”

We go back to the group. Gran notices my face immediately. She takes out her ever present handkerchief and dabs under my eyes and tells me to blow my nose with it. Penny squeezes my hand, Micah puts an arm around me, and Agatha gives me a sympathetic look. None of them why I was crying. I’m very grateful, because if I talk about it I’ll start crying again. I’ll tell them later though. They deserve to know.

The rest of the photos go off without a hitch. Well, not any big hitches. Micah gives me bunny ears in one photo, which makes Agatha snort and Penny roll her eyes with a smile. Dev, Niall, and Mordelia lift Baz up on his side, causing my lovely husband to let out a string of curses at them in both English and Greek. We get a final picture with all our family and friends, who are family too. Not my father, though. I don’t need him. These are the people I care about, and care about me in return, far more than he ever did.

———————————————

The reception is held in the Event Hall dining room. It’s covered in similar decorations, lots of pink and black everywhere. I love it. It's sort of how our flat is decorated, honestly. Our wedding parties sit at the head table, but we have to go “work the room” as Baz calls it.

“I want food,” I whine.

“We’ll get food soon, love,” Baz sighs. “We just have to go be nice to people.

“People are gross.”

Baz giggles, leaning against me. “That’s my line.”

I lean into him more. “We’re married, so what’s mine is yours now, remember?”

He giggles again. It’s a really pretty sound. “I suppose you have a point.”

I kiss him quickly, and we go off towards the tables. Everyone is very nice, congratulating us, wishing us a happy marriage. Ebb is weepy of course, saying how proud she is of me after all I went through, and I thank her for being here and always being my friend. I pick up my little cousin while Baz talks to one of his uncles, and she tries to take off my flower crown and rip my hair out. I don’t mind. She’s too adorable to stay mad at. Baz’s Aunt Fiona gives us both huge bear hugs and messes up our hair. We spent so much time with her during uni she’s pretty much become my aunt too. My art school friends ask if I’m going to make a wedding sketch series like I mentioned. One of Baz’s older relatives asks when we’re going to have a baby, because "the gays can do that now, right?" We get away from her quite quickly. It’s an enjoyable, slightly exhausting whirlwind.

Eventually, we finally get to sit and eat. I fall into my chair with a groan.

“Tired, Si?” Penelope asks with a smirk.

“Shut up,” I grumble.

“Now you know how I felt at my wedding, Si. Bloody exhausting affair, getting married.”

“Amen, Penny.”

The catering staff brings out the first course, French onion soup, and I immediately drink it down. Baz tells me to slow down but I’m so fucking hungry. I was so nervous this morning I barely ate. I wolf down the main course too. It’s chicken cordon bleu, Baz’s favourite. Honestly, it’s sort of become my favourite too. Some of his posh tastes have rubbed off on me in our eleven years, of course. Some of my tastes have rubbed off on him too. He really likes sour cherry scones now, which I find absolutely amazing.

Before the cake, our parents/caregivers go up and do speeches. Gran goes first. She talks about how glad she was to take care of, what a good person I am, and how elated she is that I’ve found happiness in art and with Baz. She says she looks forward to seeing more of the incredible things I do. I hug her fiercely, thanking her again for everything she’s given me. I can never thank her enough for that.

Mr. Grimm goes next. He’s stoic of course but very sweet, saying he’s glad Baz is happy with me. At the very end, he admits that he hasn’t always been the best father, but he’s very proud of the man Baz has become and Natasha would’ve been too. I grip Baz’s hand very tight at that. I can see him holding back a lot of tears. (Years of therapy has helped with a lot of his guilt over his mum’s death, but it’s still a hard subject.) Baz thanks his father, and even hugs him. Wow. That usually only happens at Christmas after a glass of wine.

Penny of course makes a speech too. She’s equal parts sarcastic and kind, saying how she really fucking hated people until she met me. That I'm a very good friend who she's glad she met. And even though she didn’t like Baz at first, she’s seen how happy he makes me, so she’ll let him stick around.

“It’s not like I’ll go anywhere she tells me to,” he mutters with a pleased smile. I sigh heavily. These two, my god, what am I going to do with them?

Dev and Niall make a speech together. They tell embarrassing stories about Baz from their childhood together, making Baz glare and flush. I try to stifle my laughter but it’s useless. They say I'm the best influence on Baz, and he's been far happier since almost the moment he met me, even before we were together. That's nice to hear. The pair congratulates us at the end, wishing us years of wedded bliss. And Baz does smile. So he’s not that mad, really.

“Time for cake?” I eagerly ask.

“Yes,” Baz says with a smile, “time for cake.”

The caterers roll in the huge three layer cake. Keeping with the theme, it’s black and pink with lots of flowers. They’re super realistic looking even though they’re made from sugar. I want to eat all of them. Baz and I cut it together to a round of polite applause. The cake is cherry red velvet. I didn’t know that flavour existed until we started look at different kinds of cakes. Baz and I agreed to it almost immediately. So of course I eat three slices.

“Simon, you’re going to be sick,” Agatha says.

“I’ll live,” I reply, waving my fork.

“Will you really?” Baz drawls sarcastically. “Because I am not dealing with cherry scented vomit. Again.”

My cheeks go bright red. “That was one time! How was I supposed to know cherry flavoured beer was a bad idea?!”

“Because the name itself sounds like regret,” Penelope oh so helpfully adds in.

“Exactly, Bunce.”

I stick out my tongue at both of them. “Like you’re one to talk,” I grumble, “you fell off your motorbike while trying to pop a wheelie on a hill.”

It’s Baz’s turn to look embarrassed, flush crawling up his pretty face. Dev, Niall, and Mordelia all start laughing at him. Not even Baz's glare shuts them up. “That was one time,” he grumbles.

I put my hand over his, spinning his ring around. “Yup. Aren’t we a pair, love?”

He chuckles and flips his hand over, lacing our fingers together. “That we are, darling, that we are.”

Once we’re done the cake, we’re told it’s time for our first dance. I’m a bit nervous because I’m a pretty terrible dancer. Baz and I have been practicing in preparation for today, but I’m still nervous. I hope I don’t fuck it up.

We stand in the middle of the dance floor. The room gets a bit dimmer, replaced with coloured lights, making everything a bit more quiet and romantic. Baz looks at me, half his face illuminated in silver and pink light. His smile is literally shining. As if he could get anymore dazzling. His arm wraps around my waist, I hold his leather clad shoulder, and our hands stick out together. His ring presses into my skin again. I like that, a lot.

“Ready?” he asks.

“No,” I chuckle, “but let’s do it.”

The music starts. It’s an acoustic version of one of Baz’s weird pop punk love songs. I like things soft and he likes things punk, it’s a happy middle ground, like the rest of our relationship. And we start dancing.

Honestly, it’s barely more than swaying. We move in a small circle on the smooth floor. But I don’t step his feet, which is a vast improvement from usual. There’s barely any room between us, just how I like it. The song floats through the air, surrounding us in it’s quiet melody and soft lyrics.

Suddenly, I’m 17 all over again, dancing with Baz in my room to Troye Sivan the night before he might’ve left. I was so terrified back then, desperate to keep Baz with me, and he was desperate to keep me too. That night was such a teen romance cliche, but I don’t regret it at all, and neither does Baz. Thankfully, we aren’t scared anymore. We’ve known for a long time that neither of us are going anywhere. And I’m reminded of that by the way he looks unflinchingly in the eye. I don’t look away either. I quickly realise there’s something I still haven’t said today.

“I love you,” I say, quietly, just as the song ends.

Baz’s grin gets even wider. He leans down, forehead pressed to mine. Everyone is cheering around us, but all I hear is his voice.

“I know,” he whispers, “I love you too.”

We keep our foreheads together for another moment. Unfortunately I can’t snog him silly right now. Maybe later. (Definitely later.) We bow to our adoring friends and family. They all look so happy. There’s barely a trace of Davy’s words left in my mind. He can’t ruin today. He can’t ruin anything anymore and never will again. My life is too strong to let him.

We invite everyone to come to the dance with us. The music picks up into one of my favourite pop tunes. I’m almost immediately jumping to the beat. My crown nearly flies off I’m so enthusiastic, making Baz snort with laughter. Soon everyone is dancing happily. Agatha is actually literally swing dancing with her girlfriend, laughing loudly. I dance with everyone I can. Swanning about with Gran, jumping with my groom’s maids and man, letting my little cousin stand on my feet. I see Baz doing similar things with his friends and family. He’s doing a sort of waltz with Daphne, and I’m chatting with my uncle. We smile at each other. It may just be my mind tricking me, but I swear my ring warms up a bit.

———————————————

“Have you got enough clothes?” Gran asks.

“Yes, Gran,” I reply.

“Toiletries?”

“Yes.”

“Food? You do get hungry-”

“Gran,” I hold both her hands firmly, “I’m fine. I’ve got everything we need, alright?”

She takes a deep breath, though her mouth is still a thin line. “I’m just unsure how you and Basil can fit all you need in that backpack.”

She indicates my camping bag, which is, in my opinion, quite large enough. “I promise you, Gran, it’s fine. Plus we’ve got Baz’s enormous tail bag too. You could fit a country in there.”

“No complaining about the tail bag when it’s going to hold all your snacks, Salisbury,” Baz says from where he’s sitting on his bike. He was talking to Dev and Niall, but he has damn super hearing, the wonderful bastard. I stick my tongue out at him.

I look back at Gran, who’s still nervous. I step closer. “We’ll be fine. If we don’t have something we need, we’ll just pick it up along the way.”

“Will you be safe though?”

“I’ve ridden on Baz’s motorcycle many times before and I’m still here.”

She frowns, obviously annoyed. “Not for three weeks straight across the UK and Ireland. What if it breaks down?”

“Baz just got a tune up, but if there are any problems, he'll fix them. He's got his toolkit in the infinite tail bag.”

"What about your jobs?"

"The community centre loves me. They were more than happy to give me a month off for my honeymoon. And Baz isn't teaching any summer courses this year so the university doesn't need him until late August."

"What if you get lost?"

"Baz has stuff memorized and we've got GPS, but," I pat my enormous bag, "I've also got a physical map in here with our route drawn out in case our phones die."

“Alright...”

She still looks very nervous, because of course she is. Gran shows her love by fussing. The day I moved to London she was a nervous mess. I wish she wouldn’t worry, but I appreciate her caring. I kiss her forehead.

“I’ll be alright, Gran,” I say. “We'll be back here having dinner with you and everyone else before you know it. Okay?” Watford Cove is our last stop before going back to London, of course. We’ll be having a big feast with both sides of the family. It’ll certainly be a good end to a long trip.

That makes some of the tension fall from her body. “Okay. Call me when you can?”

“Of course.” I look to my left, at Penny, Micah, and Agatha. “And you guys will keep the flat in order right? And make sure Cherry is good? He gets jumpy so you’ve got to play with him for a little while. And he needs two meals a day. And-”

“We know, Si,” Penny says, rolling her eyes.

“We’ve got your checklists,” Micah adds in.

“First week and a half will be mine and Felicia's job,” Agatha says, repeating what we agreed on. “Then we'll go back to California and I’ll hand off cat and house sitting duties to Penelope and Micah for the next week and a half.”

“And I’m taking yours and Basil’s suits home for safe keeping,” Gran says cheerily.

I grin. Of course I already knew all that, but it’s good to hear it again. “Awesome. We’ll call to check in, and call us if you need to.”

Penny waves dismissively. “Don’t call us, Si. Everything will be fine. Go enjoy your honeymoon. We’ll clean up the reception, hold onto your fancy clothes, and take care of your nightmare pet well, trust us.”

I pout. “Cherry isn’t a nightmare, just energetic.”

“Mhm, right.” She pushes lightly on my shoulders. “Now go have fun. And don’t crash into anything, please.”

“Don’t insult my driving, Bunce.” Baz calls back. “I’ve had a motorbike for over a decade and haven’t crashed once.”

“But you’ve almost crashed more times than I can remember.”

Baz glares harder. But he holds out his hand, and Penny takes it. They shake once. “See you in three weeks, Bunce,” he says with a small smile. “Thank you, for everything.”

She shakes back, smiling too. “You’re welcome. Now get on with your honeymoon.”

“Will do, if Simon can get going.” He raises his eyebrow at me. I huff, blowing hair from my eyes.

“Hold your horses, we’ve got time”

“It’s getting dark, love. And we should get to the first hotel soon if we want to stay on schedule.”

“There’s a schedule?” Agatha asks a bit astounded.

“Oh yeah,” I snort. “Baz has our road trip planned down to bathroom breaks. For a punk, he loves to be all structured and shit.”

Baz holds his nose up, looking extremely snooty. “I like to know where I’m going, sue me. And you liked the trip schedule when I showed it to you, so fuck off, love.”

“I don’t think marriage is going to change much for you too,” Penelope chuckles quietly.

“Yeah,” I sigh dreamily with a big grin, “I know.”

Even though he’s a prick (I adore him, but he is), Baz has a point. We need to get going. I hug Gran, Agatha, Penny, and Micah as tight as I can. Baz hugs Malcolm, Daphne, Dev, Niall, Mordelia, and his other siblings. They stand together in front of the Event Hall, the lights from the end of the reception still shining from the windows. I zip up my floral leather jacket (20th birthday present from Baz) all the way up, put on my riding gloves over my ring, and secure my pale blue helmet. Baz throws on his own jet black helmet. It has silver vines that I painted on. I’m very proud of it. I sit on the bike and wind my arms around his waist, like I have a hundred times before, and like I will a hundred times more.

Baz looks at me over his shoulder, a glint in his beautiful eyes and a playful smirk on on his mouth.

“Ready to go?” he asks.

I almost say, I’d go anywhere with you, but that feels just a bit too cheesy. Maybe I’ll say it later. For now, I just nod, and say, “yeah, let’s get going.”

His smiles wider, and puts a hand on his visor. “Allons-y,” he says.

He still says that all the time, eleven years after our first kiss. I’m reminded of that night every time he says it. And I love it.

“Allons-y,” I reply.

We flip down our visors, give one last wave to our loved ones, and drive off into the dying light of the late of the evening. Baz drives us through Main Street. I recognise the places. Ms. Pritchard’s Bakery, the drug store with my favourite nail varnish, the park where I asked Baz to be my boyfriend, the ice cream parlour we all went to after graduating high school and then later uni, and a familiar hill in the distance; Where Mt. Olympus is, where I first kissed Baz, and where he proposed to me last Christmas. The memories race through my mind as we race through the streets.

Baz takes us up a hill. I get a lovely view of the entire town. It looks beautiful at night, with lights like stars and the sparkling lake in the distance. I hold Baz even tighter. I’m so unbelievably grateful for what I found in Watford Cove.

———————————————

Awwwww totally cheesy, I know. They deserve cheesy goodness after all the shit they went through. And here's a little insight into their future lives: yes, Baz is a university professor, but he refuses to change his fashion sense. He teaches a first year English 101 course (his hell) and a third year queer literature course (his heaven). He's everyone's fave prof because of how badass and sarcastic he is. Simon works at a community center with little children while still doing art on the side. He loves making kids happy and tries to be the kind of person for them that Ebb was for him growing up. For art, he does showings at local galleries, sells prints at hipster markets, and posts stuff on his tumblr blog. Simon and Baz are obviously still pretty damn in love. They have a date night once a week, drive around London on Baz's motorbike all the time, love to snuggle on the couch together to watch TV, all while living in a pastel pink flat covered in punk posters along with their nightmare cat, Cherry. In summary, they're very happy.

Two other things: this is the design I based their rings off of, and this is the song they dance to. Y'all might recognise it as the song where the title for one of the chapters of Watford Cove came from :) It's one of my fave songs ever so I'm absolutely projecting lol.

Thanks for reading, hope you liked this glimpse into the future of my punk/pastel Simon and Baz. I certainly enjoyed writing it. Watford Cove has always been one of my faves so returning to that world was nice. So that's it for the requests. Black Swan will keep updating, I'm currently working on the warlock and knight fic and that will hopefully be finished in a couple weeks, baring any school or health complications, and I'll def be opening requests again in May. Thanks a million to those who requested stuff. And just as big a thanks to everyone who liked, reblogged, commented, and/or left kudos on the fics. It's been a blast. See you guys next time :)

[raindrenchedstories]

Forever home 17

It wasn’t as though Richter was ungrateful. In fact, he was more than delighted to have what he did. But being stuck like he was, he couldn’t deny it would be good to freely enjoy the sun again. Drink a proper cup of coffee. Hell. He could even go for a second romance if he were given the chance.

Instead, he enjoyed his small semblance of normal among the expanse of Bears house. Mostly keeping to his original habitat while his housemate traversed each room with ease. He took long breaths, watching as the lights flickered out for the night. They exchanged their nightly parting and soon, Richter shut his eyes.

Sleep was far from available, however. He wanted so badly to just drift off for the night. Leave these concerns for his breakfast and discuss them with Bear. Alas, sometimes those wants just would not come to fruition. It was exactly that fact that was concerning him.

He wanted so badly to do right by his people. Cut them out of the responsibility act. He might have been content with the way his life was going. So many others, however, weren’t. If he could just give them the chance to break free...

Richters thoughts drifted back to Avery. The tired expression he wore during their last conversation. He could call. Bear had given him a small orb with all the spells in place. However it was late. Avery probably was asleep by now. Or at very least he was trying to sleep. Richters eyes fell on the clear wall.

Nothing was normal any more. There was always that tense weight in the air, reminding him that anything he worked for seamed to go AWOL not long after. With a huff, Richter shot up. Stormed down the stairs, and poured himself a glass of water. Trying to clear his mind.

No use. He was on the train of thought now. Never mind the fact that they were down a single person to actually start the process. No. The rest would lie on his fellow humans themselves. People he didn’t even know. Either raised in an apocalyptic situation, or forced into one while rearing their own kids.

Some were just born into it. Those were probably the lucky ones. They didn’t know there was better. Richters eyes landed on the half full glass in his hands. Hypnotized by the clear fluid, the way he could see right through it. A stark contrast to his thoughts.

Somewhere along the lines, a muffled voice called from his living room. Startling him. Richter strode, water in hand to the sounds of another persons voice. The orb sat atop his table, Avery’s face reflected in it. He gave a small grin to the image, sitting across from it. “God. It’s like you know when I want to talk.”

“Yeah, well. I just needed to chat.” The image shrugged. “You’re usually up for it. Least I didn’t have to send an orb this time. Spoiled lil’ shit.”

Richter burst into soft laughter. Leaning into the sofa with his water in hand. He motioned for Avery to continue. This was a welcome distraction. They spoke for a long while. Mostly about their giants. Avery had plenty to say about Leva. As it turned out, she adored the moody elf. Even if he attempted to convince her otherwise.

“Anyways. What’s up with you? Ain’t it past your bedtime?” Avery concluded. Richter fidgeted with his glass. Long since emptied of it’s contents. He set it beside the orb and huffed. Finally, he spoke up. Emptying his mind of all the worries that kept him up that night.

“Honestly? I’m pretty nervous about this whole thing with the papers. Like. We only need one more talking human to prove our point. But we don’t know any one else. Even after that, well... There’s no guaranteeing my own people won’t fuck it up.” He ran a hand through his hair with a groan.

Avery sat away from the orb, crossing his arms in thought. “So you’re worried about your freedom?” He tilted his head slightly. A lopsided grin on his sharp features.

“Kinda’. I mean. We’re going through all the right channels sure, but would you trust complete strangers who’re in a panic situation?” They both let out a shudder. Avery finally pancaked a hand in the air with a shrug.

“Don’t worry too much about it. If you don’t win it, come see me. Alright? I can stand Williams presence for an hour at least.” The elf waved his concerns away with a smile. “I mean, it’s not the end of the world.”

“Oof. Bad joke man. Bad joke.”  At Avery’s confusion Richter sighed. Leaning his head back into the cushions of the sofa, he explained. “I literally survived an apocalypse.”

That seamed to be enough. The emerald eyed being nodded slowly. His left ear perked up, twisted, then returned to place. Shutting his eyes, Avery massaged the bridge of his nose. “At least now you can make a damn call. Lev’s a sweet heart but gods. I can’t even turn around without her ogling at me.  No privacy.”

It was getting late now, the two men continued their conversation for a long while as it turned out. Richter ended up passing out part way through their chatter. Blissfully unaware Avery was still sitting there. Laying his head on his arms, the elf watched him sleep.

It wasn’t until early morning that Richter even knew he was out. The call long since ended. Bear was tapping lightly against his door. “Come on lil’ guy. Up ya get.” Richters eyes found the massive puff sporting from Bears chin. He stuck out his tongue, and rolled over.

It wasn’t the first time they’d had such an exchange. The access hatch dropped open, and Richter ended up flailing in a loose grasp. “Bear! I swear to god I will bite you again!”

“So bite. I don’t feel it any how.” The man huffed, folding his arms as he was toted around the house.

Breakfast was... Okay. Richter kept sipping his tea with small thoughts here and there travelling to Avery. Why did he want to see the human if things went poorly? He sighed. Leaning his head back against Bears teacup. It shifted away from him a moment, leaving the minuscule man to lay face up on the saucer.

“Mh. Sorry... You about ready to get dressed? I wanted to take you to the store today.” At that, Richter scarfed the last of his meal and stood. Dusting off what crumbs fell onto him. He was easily transported back to the plastic hut, and had time to choose something close to his liking.

“Why do you want me with you?” He inquired, struggling into a mint green polo.

Bear hummed. Leaning on the enclosure wall with his back turned to Richter. “Figured you’d want to pick something to wear for the interview.”

“Yeah alright. But if I start talking in public, won’t that cause a ton of questions to come up? Ready to go.” Richter stood fully dressed beside the wall.

“You forget, the translation spells only work if you want to be heard.” With that, it was final. The two made their way out the door with little time to spare. The store would be far too busy within the hour. And neither Richter nor Bear were particularly social people if given a choice.

Richter was seated comfortably in Bears pocket while they made their way to the daunting warp gate. He eyed the crackling structure with pure, unadulterated hatred. Falling back into the giants pocket with a growl. “Tell me when it’s over.”A quaking shudder told him Bear was laughing.

*

Poor Richter had never been the best with the travel gates. Neil seamed to love them enthusing about how marvellous the magic behind them actually was. But Richter cursed the things out with a passion. Bear wondered if it was a bad experience or the general feel of them that upset the human so.

Aside from that, the trip seamed to be going well. Richter picked out a few small items and a well fitting suit for the meetings ahead. He was making a show of turning this way and that to test the suits flexibility when another voice piped up. “Well look at that.”

Both men stared directly at a familiar giantess, daughter in tow a tiny grumbling red head peeking from the little girls front pocket. The mother smiled towards them. “He looks practically domesticated! We’ve only just recently got Skippy relaxed about handling.”

“It’s MARY dammit!” The tiny woman shrieked from her position. Bear didn’t understand the words, but he heard the fury. Richter, however, had no such filter. He openly winced at the womans harsh tones. Waving a calming hand in her direction.

“Hey... It’s nice to see you again. Mary.” Three faces turned to him. With the fourth member turning her head away arrogantly.

“W- Sir.... Did that come from HIM?” Richter clapped a hand over his mouth, face shifting from tense, to mortified. “Oh gods! It did.”

Bear shushed her sharply. “Listen, we’re working on it. Ricky’s only recently translated. But... Well it looks like there’s another intelligent race out there.” He grimaced. Gesturing to the man to his left. Richter just cleared his throat and waved.

The small child was on him in a second. Hands slamming down on either side of the human and a gap toothed smile blooming in his direction. “Hi mister! I’m Janette. And this is Skippy! Or... We called her that. What’s her real name? Can you tell me?”

“Oh uh... She says her name is Mary.” He answered, probably thankful for the sound proofing on his translation spells.

“You mean you can understand these bastards? Good fucking luck getting them to listen.” Mary folded her arms.

“There’s such thing as a translation spell you know?” Richter snapped in her direction.

“Don’t yell at Mary!” The girl piped up.

“Can we... Please take this discussion somewhere more discrete?” Bear suggested. Reaching to pluck Richter from his place.

They moved to a little hill in the centre of a park, sitting under a small god-oak. Away from prying eyes and ears. The small collective recounting the events that everyone had gone through. Mostly Richter. Finally, the mother, Agatha leaned back. Long timbers that trailed along her arms and legs creaked with the movement. “So... You’re taking this to council right?”

“It’s the whole reason we were buying a suit mam.” Richter shrugged.

“Well, if Mary agrees to it, we’re in.” Her eyes turned to her daughter, who had tuned the conversation out completely in favour of chasing sparrows. “I have to set a good example. After all. Richter? Could you ask her for me?”

He chattered pleasantly, unwilling to be understood just then. The humans conversed before Mary turned to the surrounding giants, grinned, and nodded. Agatha reached down to scoop her, but hesitated, regret crossed her features. Bear patted her shoulder. “All good?”

“I basically just enslaved someone without knowing. Not all good.” She huffed.

“Oh trust me. I know the feeling.” He couldn’t help the grin, glancing down to Richter. The human, in turn just laughed awkwardly.

The trio of giants parted ways. And Bear made his way home. Richter tucked up tightly in his pocket. The travel gate shuddered as they approached. Then sparked and fizzled out. Bear huffed. “Looks like we’re waiting a hot minute for that.”

“What? Why? Did it run out of power or something?” Richter peeked over his pocket with a panicked whimper.

“No. Scheduled maintenance. Our timing was just off by an hour.” He sighed. Richter patted his chest, drawing the mans attention.

“Well. Bright side. We now have five people on board. So... We can proceed. Right?” Bear smirked, nodded, and made his way elsewhere.

“Hey, I’m wanting a coffee, you okay with hiding down there while I order one?” He trailed down a familiar street, with restaurants and coffee shops. Richter readily agreed and stuck himself back into his hiding place. Bear decided to just get one to go and wait in the park for an hour.

He made a point to get something kind of sweet for the day. It felt like a sweets kind of time. The air was just starting to get chilly, and Bear was aware he’d be growing in his winter coat. As well as taking Neil for a few months while Archibald hibernated.

He paused in thought. Tiny snores indicated Richter was out cold as he sipped his drink. Neil. By the end of all this, the man would probably have a home of his own. Little independent bugger. But what about Richter? Would he be warm and safe this winter? What about Midway? Would he celebrate it with everyone else?

A familiar whistle brought him from his thoughts. As Archibald came loping up the cobbled streets of the city. Grinning from ear to ear. A new set of tools in one hand. The other shoved in a pocket. Bear found himself perusing the mans apparel. Long sleeves as always, but as a welcome break, he was wearing red. An indicator he was in a good mood.

“What brings you out this far Will?” He patted Bears shoulder affectionately.

“Suit shopping for Ricky. Gate’s down. But we met someone else and got a fifth member for the council.” He smiled Archibalds grin only grew, and some pit in the giants heart fluttered to the surface. He was content though. He knew Arch was shy. Even a little closed off. So asking could scare him off.

“That’s amazing! Wait. Where is Richter?” An answering snort came from the bearded one’s pocket, then a louder snore. Archibald nodded with a little ‘oh’ on his lips. “Seams like we can’t get a moment without the boys eh?”

“Did you want to? I mean we could meet up for dinner some-” Bear jolted. So much for not asking until Archibald was ready. He gave a glance to his oldest friend. “Time.” He finished.

Archibald fussed. Before heaving a sigh. He made a motion with a finger to his chest. Then flicked it. A signal he wanted to be alone for an answer. Bear hated doing this, but he allowed his magic through him. A light blue glow illuminated his finger. He tapped his pocket. Sending Richter into a deeper, more content sleep. He made a point to affect the dreams so they were nothing but nice.

“There. We’re alone now.” He grumbled.

“Okay...

[journeysintowebcomics]

Girl Genius Liveblog #202

UPDATE 202: Krosp Gets Thrown a Bone

Last time Agatha had started the plan to stop the train from causing more havoc. It involves separating it from the carts it stores energy in, and she already has an idea on how to do that. In the middle of all this she stumbles upon Violetta and the bear that’s here, and it’s time for a conversation. How shall this go? Let’s see.

Introductions are made. This bear is Konig and has rude manners because he wants to talk to his master. In what’s actually an unexpected twist given this story, it turns out Agatha is not the master, it’s Krosp. Yeah. Congratulations, Krosp! Your vassals aren’t cats anymore, they’re bears, and from the looks of it they won’t be as bad as the cats were. Enjoy!

Oh, I guess he did mention something about bears baaaaack then, like two years ago. I admit I remember absolutely nothing about him other than Wulfenbach most likely having performed some...experiments in his brain. I suppose Krosp’s creator also made these bears long ago.

But hey, now Krosp has who knows how many bears to his beck and call. Intelligent bears, too. That’s a lot of power, and honestly given Krosp’s personality, I think he’ll make good use of it. He’s not the kind of person who lets power turn him insane or anything. The thing is, how’s he going to stay with Agatha if they have to bring along all these bears? Unless they also have a container of some sort where to carry the bears, I’m starting to suspect this is the Foglios’ way to take Krosp out of the story because he has to stay with the bears. I would be okay with that. I don’t dislike Krosp, but he also isn’t really a vital part of the group.

Apparently Krosp’s creator had an apprentice and this is the first time the cat hears about it. Well I don’t think it really matters anymore. Said apprentice must have been one of the two who was fighting in that gorge like five updates ago. This is all interrupted when Tweedle appears to ruin the day with his presence.

Of course, Tweedle is not happy he’s losing a lot of raw strength from his army, especially because he knows the bears will go to their creator’s masterpiece. I wonder what exactly Tweedle was picturing when he thought about the doctor’s masterpiece. He never must have imagined the masterpiece was the cat who’s been with Agatha all this time.

It looks like whoever has the shiny thing has the bears’ loyalty. It’s not that they follow whoever has it, it’s more like it’s a sign the bears are part of that group. Tweedle will have to relinquish the shiny thing to Krosp, whatever it is. Oh well. There’s something else to worry about, such as the evil train trying to escape. That’s still a thing happening right over there. Any ideas on how to capture it and force it into the elevator shaft? Whatever idea Agatha had doesn’t matter anymore, because a better plan is approaching.

It’s that big clank that used magnets to fight, and the guy inside it is not upset Agatha pretty much kicked its magnetic ass with a railgun, because it was a clever way to fight and therefore he liked it. Tweedle nips in the bud some scientific spark talk, and they show the guy there’s something to fight that’s using magnets. Yup, this is a good idea! Who knows more about magnets than the guy in that clank? Besides, it’s large enough for the train not to eat it right away, so that’s another point on his favor.

Whatever plan Agatha had is said off-screen because it will be a surprise for us readers. Good thing she came up with the plan now because this may be the last time they can contain the train!

It has changed so many times but it doesn’t seem like it got anything useful out of it other than the claw hanging from a side. Kind of disappointing, honestly. Oh well. Time to throw this down an elevator shaft – maybe those extensions to the sides are to avoid falling into the elevator shaft, I suppose.

The train is held above the empty shaft. They’re not dropping it in, they’re just holding the train there. Hm, guess I was wrong about how this would go. Go figure!

Oh hey, it grew arms. That’s more along the lines of what I was expecting! Great! And not only that, it also managed to trap everyone by using any metal on their clothing, it’s using its own magnetic field to immobilize them. Hah! But oh boy, I hadn’t realized these people had so much metal on them. Well! Now that the train managed to counter this, it’s time for it to leave and go destroy everything. It’s even sparing everyone here in the fortress, which is...largely unexpected, I admit.

Since everyone else is immobilized, Krosp and his army of fuzzy bears without metal will have to be the ones to deal with this and, surprisingly, they can hold down a train that’s moving. I know the bears had managed to tip over a train not that long ago, but that one wasn’t moving. I guess they’re far stronger than I thought they’d be, undoubtedly a consequence of the doctor’s work.

You sure? I distinctly remember a few of those bears having bracelets and collars or similar stuff. True, the majority of the bears don’t have any metal, but those who did are moving regardless of the train’s efforts, and although the bears are very strong, I don’t think they’d be so strong they can move despite the magnetic field. Oh well. I’m all for overlooking this small inconsistency for the sake of Krosp getting some recognition for a job well done. Also because I like bears.

Besides, what’s important is that they’re distracting the train for enough time for everyone to be free, giving Agatha the chance to get her plan done. Bam! Attack time!

Indeed, the immediately plan was to separate the extra carts from the rest of the train, and I was partially right about how the elevator shaft would be involved. They let the carts fall in there, out of the head cab’s reach. The head of the train has been effectively isolated, and while I’m not sure how less dangerous that makes it, it’s quite the blow to its power. Nice! Now surrender, train, and let them imprison you once again!

Or not. Looks like it still has a trick or two, judging by those words. Whatever he can do, they must not use the energy from those carts, so I imagine it’s not a transformation or anything that needs too much energy.

It’s a way to escape. It will use its own magnetism to float away and out of reach! But, you know, there’s a big clank here who is ready to catch the train, so the getaway doesn’t last for long.

After peeking at the next page looks like this is the end of the fight, judging by the very first thing I see on the page, so I think I’ll end the update for now. Thank you for reading!

Next time: in four updates