#(and obviously don’t like the colonialism but I’m not holding that against her after she so completely reversed her stance on it)

[nicnacsnonsense]

I just finished a rewatch of Steven Universe, and man, binging it was a very different experience from watching it as it aired.

[hirokiyuu]

wow so when i wrote this i was like "hey this i'm only posting bc it's the first part to something much funnier" and then completely forgot to post the followup. so here have some dys>sol(>cal/tammy) bracelet scene pre-pre-pre-rship stuff. i love when kids are dumb and in love

it's ok (we'll find our way); 1k

When Sol crests the hill to where Dys is packing for his next trip out, the very first thing that Dys looks at are his wrists, because Dys is an idiot. Because apparently Sol is also an idiot, he is in fact wearing the databand, spinning it with his other hand as he stares down at it. “Hi, Dys.”

Thank fuck half the time he just nods hello at Solana anyways, because trying to unstick his jaw from where it’s glued shut sounds pretty impossible right now. Not that Sol even notices, really, still staring down at his dumb new bracelet. “Um. Can I… can I get another ten minutes where you don’t tell me you think something’s stupid?”

Thank fuck that him packing means he has an excuse to turn around. Against all odds his dumb voice doesn’t crack as he says, “Sure?”

“Someone likes me?” Sol blurts, instantly, and when he glances over, Sol is blushing. Stars. Dys kind of wants to die. “Like, I got this message on Vertumnalia, and apparently, um, this --” he holds up his wrist, like Dys hasn’t been staring at it since the moment he showed up “-- is from a, a secret admirer?”

Yeah, I fucking know. He bites it back. “Oh.”

“Someone likes me,” Sol repeats; he’s staring down at the dumb thing with stars in his eyes. “No one’s ever liked me before. Like, I mean, I thought, um. I thought Cal did, and I was…. I was totally wrong there, y’know?”

Because Cal is the stupidest person in the colony, yeah. Why anyone would ever pick Tammy with Sol as an option, Dys will never understand. “But…” says Sol, and the smile that had faltered on his face for a moment is back, small and sweet. “But I guess someone does.”

Okay. Maybe the whole thing wasn’t such a terrible idea after all, if it makes Sol smile like that. Or at least, that’s what Dys thinks for exactly two seconds, before suddenly Sol looks up at him and blurts, “Who do you think gave it to me?”

Nevermind, Dys wants to die again; he jerks back around, grabbing the nearest ration to shove into his pack so Sol won’t see him blush or whatever. Luckily Sol doesn’t actually seem to be expecting an answer, already barreling on ahead: “Like, I was thinking about it, and I really don’t know? Like, at first I thought maybe it was one of the Helio kids, but I don’t really know any of them that well, and whoever made this, um… I mean, it has a bunch of stuff I’m into, y’know? All the music and vids and stuff that I like?”

Next time Sol starts talking about Sanctuary Moon, Dys is turning on his holospeak and pretending he’s gone deaf. “So that kinda narrowed it down, I guess, to one of us? But like, obviously it’s not Cal--” because he’s an idiot, as previously established, and fuck but Dys hates the way Sol’s face drops a little just saying that “--and Nemmie’s super gone on that Vace guy already, so I knew it wasn’t her, and that just leaves --”

--oh fuck here it comes--

“--Marz?”

Dys stops. Puts his things down. Turns around. “...What?”

“I know!” Sol’s got his face buried in his hands, which is good, because Dys has absolutely no idea what kind of expression he’s making himself right now.  “I know, I don’t like it either, like….” He drags them down his face before looking up at Dys; for a moment seeing Dys’s face he wilts, but then rallies again. “I-I mean, it’s a nice gift! It’s a really, really nice gift, y’know? It made me… it made me really happy, okay?”

Stars. Of course it did. There’s a weird lump in Dys’s throat when he hears that, but Sol, still charging stupidly ahead, doesn’t even notice. “But even if I liked girls, I wouldn’t like Marz, she’s way too mean and bossy and I just….” Sol sighs again, slumping over, and despite his words he’s still playing with the bracelet. “I didn’t even think she noticed me that much.”

“She doesn’t.”

Sol blinks, looks back up. “What?”

Fuck. It’s too late to take the words back. Dys takes a single breath, wipes his palms against his legs, and then manages, “It wasn’t from Marz.”

“Oh,” says Sol. He’s got that same puzzled frown he always gets when they’re up on the walls and he’s struggling through his homework. “Wait, really? But how do you know… that….”

The silence is deafening, as the frown gives way to slowly widening eyes. Dys, for his part, turns around and starts shoving all his stuff into his bag as fast as he can, who gives a shit about organizing right now? “Dys,” says Sol, a little unsteadily, and even without looking Dys can picture the way his whole awful handsome face has gone slack in surprise. “Are you my --”

“So what if I am?” he interrupts immediately, because if Sol actually says the words he’s going to die. His face is on fire. “Don’t make a big deal about it.”

“Oh,” says Sol, still sounding totally bewildered. Dys should’ve chucked the stupid databand off the ridges when he’d finished making it; he starts buckling up the pack and ignores the fact that the top won’t go totally shut. When he glances back, just for a second, Sol’s gone red too, still staring at him, and in return Dys flushes even more and looks back away. “I-I won’t.”

“Good,” says Dys, reaching his limit. Before this stupid conversation can drag on any longer he grabs his pack and hustles away, not quite sprinting only because he can’t actually run with the stupid thing on. As he goes, though, he glances over his shoulder once last time.

Sol’s still standing right where Dys left him, head tilted back down to the bracelet, touching it gently the way he had been when he’d first walked up. On his face Dys can just barely make out that same small, shy smile as before. Dys nearly trips; Sol looks up; their eyes meet and for a moment that smile grows just a little before Dys whips his head back forward, his own dumb heart pounding so loud it’s all he can hear. 

[purrincesskittens]

Star Eyes, Zuko is mistaken as Water Tribe.

Gift for @muffinlance based off this post and this one

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

It was night when they found him. A quick examination showed blood on the back of his head. As they pounded on his back someone noted his eyes. “Gold eyes.” They called. “Are you fire nation?” The boy lifted his head and the light of the lantern caught his eyes reflecting back at them. “Of course I am.” The kid snarls. “Star Eyes.” Someone breathed. Shit this kid was one of theirs. “Could be the child of a war bride.” Was suggested by someone. “At least he’s not a fire bender.” There was a laugh that was quickly interrupted by the star eyed boy himself. “Yes I am.” “Well that was.... honest.” 

Star eyes were only something seen in the water tribes though. Even if this kid was a fire bender he had to be water tribe. More then likely the result of a woman stolen from her tribe during a raid and raised as Fire Nation since he looked enough of the part. But he was young, probably just recruited or practically forced into joining the military. There was a easy way to figure out how dangerous this kid was or rather how much more dangerous he was considering he was a fire bender. 

“Have you ever killed someone?” Hakoda asks crouching before the boy lifting his chin in one hand so the boy had to look him in the eye with those gold colored star eyes. “What? No ... I don’t think.... No.”  The kid seemed confused the blood on the back of his head suggested a head wound but this kid was young probably just assigned to a ship only to get knocked overboard by either by a storm or by another soldier. Those eyes probably didn’t make him popular or the fact that this kid’s eyes kept sliding away from Hakoda’s own suggested he may be a fey child. 

“What do we do with him?” Somebody asks as they watch the kid cough up water, curling and uncurling his fingers against the wood of the deck his eyes cast down. “We keep him for now. His mother is probably Water Tribe war bride if he is star eyed. Have Kustaa check him over and if he survives we figure out what to do from there." Hakoda announces to the crew. They took care of their own and until they figured out who his mother was and could turn him over to her family if she had any left the crew of the Akhult would take care of him for now. Half Water Tribe and the child of a war bride was still Water Tribe and like hell were they going to turn him over to the Fire Nation to continue using as a weapon.

Kustaa later informed him the boy had hypothermia as well as potentially severe head trauma it was hard to tell right now. The kid mistook him for his uncle. Which uncle they weren't sure. It's possible the boy's mother had a picture of her family she either managed to take with her or she drew herself or he could be thinking Kustaa was his father's brother. The escape attempts didn't help some of the crews opinions on keeping the kid but considering he was raised as Fire Nation and was in a strange place so its expected that he would try to escape although climbing the mast was something Hakoda really wished he didn't do along with scaling the side of the ship.

Kustaa had mentioned the boy called for his mother while delirious along with begging his father for forgiveness pledging his loyalty to him and pleading no to the man which didn't paint a pretty picture of the man or gain much favor of the fire nation in the crews opinions. "Tell me about your mother." Hakoda suggests sitting up on the mast beside the boy. Glowing gold eyes blinked at him. "I remember trailing robes. She favored long sleeved robes with delicate embroidery. She had long hair I remember her brushing mine when I was little. I would sit in her lap and she would brush my hair talking to me about theater or turtleducks or plants. Different things she liked. I think I would sometimes tell her about my day or what I had done recently I don't remember clearly its... faded almost. Fuzzy. I barely remember what she looked like."

Hakoda frowned the boy was water tribe he had to be with those star eyes of his but why wouldn't his mother tell him about her people, her home. Maybe she couldn't? Maybe the boys father was so controlling he made sure she never spoke of home to their son? Then the boy said something that made him rethink everything he knew about the kid. "Uncle said my hair is alot like hers. Or it was. I don't even remember why I shaved it." The kid frowned obviously struggling to remember rubbing his head with one hand. The head wound had left him confused he didn't rember his name or much of anything recent but he remembered he had been burned for cowardice supposedly or partially for that but what did the fire nation consider to be cowardly? Kustaa suspected the boy's own father burned him based off what they gleaned from fever dreams and night terrors.

“What did she look like?” Hakoda questions softly holding his breath hoping he was wrong with the hunch he had. “Elegant, beautiful, she had long straight black hair that was so soft and amber eyes with flecks of true gold in them she wore long sleeved red robes with elegant embroidery. The sleeves would bellow and she would hide me in them when I was little.” The boy continued to talk about his mother someone he remembered fondly although all the details suggested the hugs, the turtle duck kisses and every else stopped when the boy was small. Something happened to his mother and Hakoda was beginning to suspect it may have something to do with the boys true parentage. But how to suggest it to the kid without breaking the poor things mind? The whole crew already suspected he was spirit touched as the water tribe liked to call those who were different mentally the earth kingdom called them fey and not all of the earth kingdom where kind to them. 

“If I promise no one on this ship will hurt you and we won’t turn you over to the Earth Kingdom will you stop with the escape attempts?”Hakoda asks when the boy falls silent picking at the grain of the wood under his hands not meeting Hakoda’s eyes. The kid blinked up at him startled. “Okay.” Getting the kid down the mast was surprisingly easy after that and a few more rules were hashed out before the kid was sent to see Kustaa again and the crew was gathered. “The boy’s mother was fire nation. He remembers her more clearly then anything else.” This drew murmurs from the crew some wanted to toss him over board then since he wasn’t the child of a war bride. “But he’s star eyed he has to be Water Tribe.” Toklo says tilting his head in confusion. “Exactly. We know he seemed to have issues regarding his father and Kustaa suspects he may have been the one to burn the kid. I learned his mother also disappeared or may possibly have been killed when he was young.” This gained more murmurs from the crew. 

Panuk pulled in a sharp audible breath. He had figured out what Hakoda was getting at. “Does any one here know where they were about 16 to 17 years ago? If they were around the Earth Kingdom or the colonies anywhere?” Their chief had to ask if none of the men on this ship was the boys father he would have to send messages out to all the others in the fleet see if anyone remembered if maybe had met a pretty woman in the Earth Kingdom or in the colonies and spent a night with her. If the kids mother was Fire Nation and he was star eyed that meant his real father had to be Water Tribe. His mother had to have married or started a new relationship soon after and the boy looked fire nation enough to pass him off as her husband’s but the husband probably suspected what with the star eyes. There was silence followed by an uproar. “You can’t be serious?!” Aake shouted in outrage. “I’m not judging anyone but the boy is water tribe and with his mother gone we most definitely are not giving him back to the Fire Nation so we need to figure out whose he is. We take care of our own.” Hakoda soothed the crews ruffled feathers listening as the men scrambled to remember where they were and what they were doing all those years ago.

Slowly they managed to clear the majority of the crew those who couldn’t remember were left struggling valiantly to justify why they couldn’t possibly be the boys father while their youngest two crew members watched with glee obviously in the clear themselves due to their age. Once Kustaa cleared the boy Hakoda set him to work and had to add no breathing fire to the list of rules. Toklo and Panuk made friends with their newest crew member over laundry and the boy was very shouty about women’s work. And then the issue over the kid not having a name he remembered came up. Names like Siqinq, Kallik, Cupun, Tulok, Yuka and Tulugaq were tossed around. He is pretty sure they settled on Tulok simply because they already have a Tuluk and Toklo on board and that name is almost a combination of the two plus it had a star meaning behind it. The boy just wanted to fit in.

Reds were changed for Toklo’s blues and the boys hair shaved to regrow properly after Kustaa managed to break it to the kid that a real father wouldn’t abuse his son, biological or not. They picked up Bato who sympathized with them for wanting to keep the star eyed child, teach him his real culture, and find his real father but the kid was still a fire bender. A fire bender on a WOODEN SHIP!! The boy, Toluk looked like a kicked polar puppy being denied sleep in the hammock he was used to and his usual snacks when ever he wanted. They still had a lot of work cut out for them when the kid thought he would be killed over a bending accident because he didn’t fully remember he needed to mediate to control his fire. His memories were still patchy at best. So Hakoda ended up with his temporary foster star eyed child sitting in his cabin breathing with a lantern holding a dog.  

The kid liked sea prunes proving he was Water Tribe at heart. He was good at using his fire bending for non evil purposes even if he protested it. He proved he shouldn’t be left alone in port either by himself or with his friends. He gained a piercing, two rusted swords, a theater scroll and a cabbage? No one seems to know about the cabbage. He can cook as it’s proven despite how spicy his cooking is and nearly gets kidnapped by prostitutes. Sex workers were not on the list of people Hakoda thought he would have to fight for custody of Tulok with. He nearly gets himself kidnapped by a Earth Kingdom solider they are allied with who seemed sure their boy was then dead prince of the Fire Nation. Never mind that the prince was dead and their boy was star eyed. The solider was surprisingly unfazed by the heat of the kids cooking. He didn't end up kidnapped despite his best efforts.. The kid really needed to stop climbing the mast. “Prince Zuko?!” Hakoda’s kids seemed to also mistake Tulok for the dead prince. 

“That’s the Prince of the Fire Nation, dad he chased us all over and tried to capture the avatar numerous times. His sister did capture Aang.” His kids argued trying to convince him that their new foster brother was some evil prince. The kid in question for his part had more headaches then usual and just seemed more confused and angry. He remembered something. A little sister named LaLa. It takes a while but after watching their new brother and listening to the crew, “His name is Zuko, he is the prince of the Fire Nation, his father is Fire Lord Ozai does no one care about that?!” Sokka asks in outrage staring as the kid in question does laundry like its a perfectly normal thing for a prince to do. “His mother may be fire nation but his father sure isn’t.” Panuk comments dodging a wet shirt thrown by their resident fire bender.  This earned laughter and calls of “Good for her!!” And “She could do a lot better!” Followed by “At least a water tribesman would treat her right!!”. Sokka groaned in frustration and confusion. 

“Why is my nephew wearing blue, convinced Ozai isn’t his biological father and that he is water tribe?” General Iroh the Dragon of the West questions calmly. Tulok seemed to recognize Iroh and even called him Uncle and recognized some of the crew but he still didn’t have complete clear memories although his headaches grew worse until Kustaa told him it didn’t matter if he remembered or not he was water tribe and nothing was going to change that spirit touched or not. “He is star eyed you can’t possibly tell me the fire nation has star eyed kids that’s a water tribe thing only.” Iroh considered it briefly before dismissing it. His nephew looked similar to a young Ozai, so Ozai had to be his father even if he wasn’t much of one and his nephew deserved better then Ozai. But surely Ursa couldn’t have had an affair while married to Ozai it was impossible. Iroh tried to do the math off the top of his head of when Ursa and Ozai married vs when Zuko was born. “Look the obvious answer here is that the boys mom met with a Water Tribe beefcake and had a one night stand that lead to the boy. It’s the only thing that explains why his supposed father hated him so much and why he struggled with fire bending and is star eyed.” Bato explains grinning. “Beefcake?” Hakoda and Iroh question. 

Azula finds this all far to amusing. “That just means I’m the rightful heir after all. You can stay here with your little water tribe family and I can be the next Fire Lord after Uncle.” Somehow things get worked out that their star eyed fire bender’s fire nation sister will be staying with them along side her two scary friends and the kids supposed Uncle will become the next Fire Lord once they take down Ozai. The kid is still confused and there are still gaps in his memories but they aren’t giving him back now he is their’s and the fire nation can’t have him. They still call him Tulok since the fire nation does consider the sun to be a star after all. He seems to like it better then Zuko. He still does their laundry still wears beads in his braids in red, blue and one gold. In all that’s happened no one thought to alert the rest of the fleet about what they learned leaving them in for one heck of a surprise when they reach Chameleon Bay where the rest of the men from the fleet scramble to try to remember where they were sixteen-point-nine years ago. 

[samsexualdeancurious]

Mating Season | Chapter Three (NSFW) (FIN)

Pairing: Sam x Reader

Words: 2,257

Summary: It's her first mating season and Y/N has her eye on one of the strongest warriors in the colony but she knows Sam would never choose her when he could have anyone else.

Warnings: Mermaid!AU and all the stuff that usually comes with that, vaginal sex

Written for an Archangel request.

---

Sam goes quiet. His face is unreadable for a moment and your mind immediately starts racing as you wait for him to respond, but then he turns his face away and brings one hand up to rub at his eyes and you realize he’s crying.

Fucking Ruby. She probably expects you to get so wrapped up in her words that you’ll judge Sam before he’s even told you his side of the story. Well, sucks to be her, because you were planning to be as open-minded as possible and this reaction has just guaranteed that you will be.

“Sorry,” he says softly. “I haven’t… thought about Jess in a while.” He turns red-rimmed eyes on you.

“I’m sorry,” you murmur, leaning so your arm presses against his. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

He shakes his head and rubs at his eyes again. “No, it’s okay. You deserve to know the truth. The elders decided to keep the details quiet but I think… if we’re going to continue this, I want you to know what happened. I want to be honest with you.”

Sam is quiet for another moment, gathering his thoughts. Your heart is breaking for him already and you haven’t even heard the story. Whatever happened, it’s clearly something that still haunts him. You want to wrap your arms around him and assure him that he doesn’t have to talk about it if he doesn’t want to, but you’re not sure the two of you are at that point in your relationship.

Instead, you hold out one hand palm up. Sam’s lips curl in a small, grateful smile and he weaves his fingers through yours.

“Jess and I were going to be mates,” he begins. “We were always good friends but as we got older, it turned into something more. I loved her. I still love her, even though she’s gone. That’s something you have to understand. While my feelings for you are real and powerful, Jess will always have a small piece of my heart.”

“I do understand,” you assure him. It’s the truth. You can’t imagine how it would feel, to have a future planned out with someone and then have them ripped away so suddenly.

“Thank you.” He leans against you a little more, staring down at your entwined fingers. “A few months before Jess died, I’d started to get to know some mers outside our friend circle a little more. Ruby. Lilith. Azazel.”

You can’t help a small shudder at the third name. Azazel has always creeped you out and for good reason. He was exiled for plotting a coup against Sam’s father, John, not long after Jess’s death. He’d tried to manipulate Mary into helping him. Obviously, it didn’t turn out well for him.

Sam is nodding and you realize he felt your shudder. “Yeah, I never really liked him much, either. But I liked Ruby and Lilith, so I tolerated him. If I’d know what he was planning… but that’s another story altogether. You wanted to know about… about Jess.”

“Sam,” you say, giving his hand a squeeze. “You don’t have to say anything you’re not ready to say. We haven’t been courting that long.”

“I know but you’re already so dear to me,” he replies. “I just hope you can see me in the same light after this.”

“Sam-”

“No, don’t. Just listen, okay?”

You nod and Sam continues his story. He explains how Jess never really liked Ruby or Lilith, how she constantly discouraged Sam from spending time with them.

“I was frustrated,” he tells you. “I wanted my future mate to get along with my friends. But I was young and stupid. I couldn’t see how Ruby was manipulating me. She wanted me for herself.”

You’re starting to see where this is going but you don’t interrupt, even when Sam pauses to take a deep breath.

“She wanted Jess out of the way,” Sam says. “She was trying to drive a wedge between us and it was working but not fast enough for Ruby, I guess. She and Lilith told me about a cave with ancient drawings. She knew I would be interested and suggested I invite Jess to come to see it, too, so I did. Jess didn’t want to go but I…” his voice breaks and you press closer, trying to offer any comfort you can. “I persuaded her. I thought it would be a good way to get her to see Ruby in a more positive light, maybe even get them to be friends.”

You know a little about this. The cave, for example. It was one deemed unsafe but the mers in charge of marking it as such hadn’t put up the proper signage or made any public warnings, so no one could have known it would collapse.

“Lilith’s father is one of the mers who verifies the safety of rock structures.” Sam rubs the pad of his thumb along the back of yours. “That’s how she knew it was unsafe when no one else did.”

Your mind is turning now at this new knowledge. “Lilith knew the cave was unsafe and she never got in any trouble?”

Sam shakes his head. “I think her father received a reprimand from the council for not doing his job properly but no, Lilith… Lilith was never punished in any way.”

“Oh, Sam.” It feels like someone’s taking a knife to your chest on Sam’s behalf.

He’s still shaking his head, though. “I should have known. I should have asked someone, verified in some way-”

“Sam,” you sigh, reaching up with your free hand to cup his cheek in your palm. “How could you have known? You trusted Ruby and Lilith. What reason would you have had to doubt what they were telling you, especially when you take into account who Lilith’s father is? If she said it was safe, why would you have doubted her?”

“I still should have checked.” His words are barely more than a whisper, his eyes red with unshed tears. “I should’ve… I should’ve been better.”

“Sam.” You let go of his hand to hold his face between both of yours, forcing him to look you in the eye. “What happened to Jess was not your fault. You were tricked and manipulated. If anyone is to blame, it’s Ruby and Lilith.” Your blood is boiling at just the thought. “I can’t believe they never got in any trouble for that. They must have known it was unsafe, which means Ruby persuaded you to bring Jess with the intention of something happening.”

Sam’s shoulders are shaking a little as you speak. You can see in his eyes a mix of guilt and… relief. Like he’s finally accepting, at least a little bit, that he’s not to blame for what happened.

“If anyone killed Jess, it’s Ruby and Lilith,” you say firmly. “Not you, Sam. You loved Jess. You never would have done something to hurt her on purpose.”

He shakes his head hard, the very idea seeming to break his heart. “No! Never. She is… was… my everything. I couldn’t…”

You make a gentle shushing sound, pulling him into a hug. Sam shudders in your arms, a choked sob breaking free, and you just hold him tighter. You hold him and hold him, until his body stops shaking and he’s breathing easier.

“Thank you,” he murmurs when you sit back.

“I still can’t believe Ruby and Lilith never got in trouble,” you say, settling beside him once more.

He shrugs. “Azazel did his whole thing while the council was still figuring out what happened in the cave. They were a little distracted, I suppose, and wanted to get the whole thing over as quickly as possible so they could focus on Azazel.”

That fucking dick. Of course.

“I’m sorry, Sam.” You lean against him again and feel him press into your touch. “Thank you for telling me.”

He nods, tail flicking nervously where it lays next to yours on the rock. “Thank you for listening and not… not judging me.”

“Ruby probably expected me to judge you,” you say honestly and his head shoots up.

“Ruby?”

“She’s the one who said I should ask,” you explain. “But I didn’t want to go into it already thinking that you were guilty of something. She’s clearly still jealous and wants you as her mate even though you didn’t choose her, so she tried to turn me against you.”

“Fucking Ruby,” Sam mumbles, scrubbing a hand over his face. “I’m so sorry. I understand if you’ve changed your mind about me courting you-”

“Hey, hey, no.” You catch Sam’s hands in yours. “I didn’t say that. I said that’s probably what she wanted me to do but I’m not going to. I like you, Sam. This doesn’t change that.”

Sad hazel eyes drift up to your face. “You’re sure.”

“I’m sure.” A sudden twist of anxiety hits your stomach and you sit back a little. “That is… as long as you still want me.”

“Of course I want you!” Sam looks horrified by the idea that he wouldn’t want you. “Y/N, you’re the first mer who’s made me feel this way since Jess. I’d been crushing on you for a while but then I saw you dance and I just knew. I had to try.”

“I’m glad you did.” You give his hands a squeeze. “I know we haven’t been courting long but… I really like you, Sam. I’ve never felt this way about anyone before.”

Sam smiles and loops one arm around your waist. “I really want to get to know you better, if you’ll allow it.”

--

You do allow it. Sam visits you regularly and you learn even more about each other. Ruby seems bitter about the fact that you haven’t ended things with Sam but she doesn’t try anything else.

Despite all your time together, though, Sam has never gone further than holding your hand. Part of you is grateful - you’ve never done anything like this, after all, and you appreciate the patience. Part of you is frustrated, though. You want to go further. You know Sam wants you on an emotional and mental level but does he want you on a physical level.

It takes you a couple of weeks to work up the courage to say anything to Sam and when you do, he just blushes sweetly and ducks his head.

“I didn’t want to make any assumptions,” he admits, fingers tangled with yours.

“Well,” you say slowly. “You could ask.”

Sam laughs a little and smiles, soft and sweet. You practically melt at the sight and really do melt when he pulls you close. “Y/N… may I kiss you?”

You nod, hoping you don’t seem too eager, and Sam leans in. His lips are warm against yours, lining up so perfectly. A shiver of heat shoots down your spine and curls in your belly. The stroke of Sam’s fingers up your spine only serves to fan the flames.

“Sam,” you gasp when you break apart for air.

“Yes?” He bumps his nose lightly against yours, drawing a smile to your lips.

“Maybe we should… take this somewhere private?” you suggest and he breaks into a grin.

“If you would like that, yes.”

You would like that and you tell Sam so.

He brings you to his personal cavern, where he’s been living on his own since the mating season began. It’s small, but with room to expand, and neat. A few woven art pieces you gifted Sam decorate the space. A happy warmth swells in your chest at the sight.

“It’s not much,” Sam says but you cut him off with a shake of your head.

“It’s lovely,” you tell him and he blushes adorably as you pull him close. “Take me to bed, Sam?”

That’s all the invitation he needs to lead you to the back of the main cavern, where there’s a short tunnel to a comfortable sleeping space. The bed Sam has compiled for himself is large, plenty big enough for his long body with room left for you.

“Sam,” you sigh, leaning against his chest. “I’ve never done this before but I want to do this with you.”

“You’re sure?” he asks, allowing you to push him gently towards the bed.

“I’m sure.”

That’s all he needs. His touch is careful, though, and his kisses tender as he lays you on his bed. It’s clear Sam has done this at least once, most likely with Jess, and you’re glad for that. You know this would not go as smoothly if Sam were as inexperienced as you are. Instead, he confidently explores your body and encourages you to talk to him. He wants to know what you like, what you’re curious about, and what doesn’t really work for you.

By the time he presses into your body for the first time, filling you in ways you could never have imagined, you’ve already had the first orgasm of your life under Sam’s careful attention. Sam fits so perfectly against you, long body blanketing your own and hands cradling your face.

“Is this okay?” he asks for what must be the hundredth time.

You nod because yes. This is more than okay. This is more than you ever imagined you would have, that day when you closed your eyes and danced alone even among your season. Now, you do a different kind of dance, this one with a partner you know you’ll keep for life.

—

Like this fic? Support me longterm on Patreon HERE or make a one-time donation on Ko-Fi HERE.

—

Team Forever: @mrswhozeewhatsis @manawhaat @books-and-icecream @laughing-at-the-darkness @tumbler-tidbits @emoryhemsworth @imsuperawkward @onethirstyunicorn

[thegreaterlink]

Reviewing Star Trek TNG - S3E2 "The Ensigns of Command"

THE PREMISE

The Enterprise receives an automated reference from a species called the Sheliak to remove the humans on planet Tau Cygni V within four days, as they wish to colonise it and will exterminate any humans who are still there when they arrive. The Enterprise arrives in the system and finds what appears to be a small settlement on the planet's surface, and sends Data to coordinate the evacuation as he is an android and thus the only crewmember immune to the planet's radiation.

When Data arrives on the surface, he finds that the scans were incorrect and that the settlement is a full-fledged colony with a population of over 15,000 people, the descendants of a colony ship from almost a century prior. A complete evacuation would take an estimated three weeks, with the colonists unwilling to leave and the Sheliak unwilling to extend the Enterprise's deadline.

MY REVIEW

This episode reminds me of a TOS episode called "The Galileo Seven," and I mean that as a compliment. Obviously this episode is very different in that one in terms of content; the similarity is that the episode is based around a logic-based character (Spock in that episode, and Data in this one) facing a situation where logic alone isn't sufficient.

In this case, Data attempts to persuade the colonists to evacuate, telling them that the Sheliak will kill them if they stay, and the Federation will happily relocate them to another planet. But the colonists, led by the dubbed-over words of the colony’s leader, Gosheven, refuse to leave behind the result of all their hard work. Even when they’re made aware of the coming threat, they instead choose to make a stand against the Sheliak and defend their home.

Fortunately the colonists remain sympathetic, because you can always understand their actions. They’ve lived there for decades, sacrificed many of their numbers to survive the planet’s radiation and establish a water supply, then one day an android claiming to represent some big “Federation” shows up and tells them they have to leave. Any hostility would be a pretty realistic reaction.

The only one who sympathises with Data is Ard’rian, a local woman who believes that as an android, Data is superior to humans as he has no emotions to cloud his judgement. She also has what could be interpreted as something of a romantic subplot with Data, beginning with her kissing him before a meeting with Gosheven. They have a nice dynamic, but I’m not entirely sure if it should’ve been included, since I don’t think it gets enough development and feels more like an afterthought.

While Data tries to persuade the colonists, let’s check back with the Enterprise, shall we?

Down in Engineering, Geordi, Miles and Wesley try to find a way to beam up the colonists through the planet’s radiation. Needless to say, it goes poorly. Speaking of Wesley, he was originally supposed to play a larger part in this episode, but he was all but written out entirely (he only has a single line in this episode) when Wil Wheaton had a scheduling conflict after filming on “Valmont” overran. This was a bit of a dick move, and Wheaton was understandably not happy about it.

Up on the bridge, Picard tries to find a way to persuade the Sheliak to extend their deadline, since their treaty with the Federation was the only reason they had to give them time to evacuate the planet instead of just invading it immediately. Picard exploits a clause in the exhaustive treaty to get a hearing with the Sheliak, and he and Troi beam over. Here it becomes obvious that they probably ran out of money, because the Sheliak ship is just darkness and overhead lights, and the Sheliak itself looks like a child using their duvet to pretend to be a ghost.

The negotiations completely fail, and the Sheliak beam them back to the Enterprise. Not one to give up, Picard holds the Sheliak in a stalemate and searches through the treaty to find something he can use.

Wasn’t that fun? Let’s check back with Data on the surface now, shall we?

After yet another failed attempt to convince the colonists to leave and being knocked out by an electric shock, Data realises that actions speak louder than words. After modifying his phaser, he destroys the colony’s aqueduct with a single blast. He points out that he is just one android with a phaser, but there are hundreds of Sheliak on the way with the means and will to destroy them from orbit. With his point made clear, the colonists agree to evacuate.

Back on the Enterprise, Picard finally finds a useful clause in the treaty. He hails the Sheliak and claims his right of selecting an arbitrator to settle their dispute, and selects the Grizzelas, who will be in hibernation for another six months, and tells the Sheliak that they can either wait that long, or give them the three weeks they need, to which they agree. It’s a great character moment for Picard as he turns the Sheliak’s obsession with protocol to his advantage.

I admit I was expecting the Enterprise to find a way to force the Sheliak away from the planet for good and allow the colonists to stay, but such a thing simply wouldn’t be realistic. The Federation has a treaty with the Sheliak, and their choice is to either violate the treaty and risk war with them, or evacuate one settlement. In other words… the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

Ard’rian (it feels like they wanted to name her Adrian, but decided it wasn’t alien enough) comes to see Data off. She asks if he has any feelings for her, but he has no feelings of any kind. Still, he kisses her before he leaves, sensing that she needed it.

At the start of the episode, Data had performed at a violin concert, but warned Picard that his performance would be weaker than the others because he lacked soul and creativity. He informs Picard that solving the colony problem has improved his creativity.

It’s a nice moment, but Data’s character arc here feels a bit out-of-place. Just off the top of my head, I’d replace the concert with Data playing chess with Geordi, and Data being confused when he loses despite making all the logical moves, proving that logic isn’t always the answer.

6.5/10 - Pretty interesting ideas which could’ve used another rewrite or two.

[thelittleboyfromloveactually]

Two Shorten the Road

part 1

joel dawson x reader

warnings: cussing? idk, bad writing.....fluff, cuteness, monsters(is this a warning), mentions of death, SPOILERS

word count: 2154

prompt: when your best friend decides to leave your colony to go find the love of his life, you decide to join him on his journey even if you aren’t so happy about where this journey is going

Welp I did it, I took it into my own hands. I am writing a joel dawson series. Because we👏need 👏more👏joel👏fics👏 it’s basically the movie, almost the same script but obviously slightly different…ENJOY! <3

No one in my generation or later had a typical upbringing, I mean some of us did but then the world ended. This type of thing sounds straight out of some apocalyptic movie, but we basically live in one now. Agatha 616, an asteroid heading straight for earth, I know, so original. So we all came together and did what we do best, blow things up. Yup, we blew up teh asteroid, and humanity was saved! We thought. But here’s the thing about rockets, they are made of a bunch of chemical compounds which eventually rained back down on earth. Suddenly there were these Aileen creatures that mutated and started eating us. Ants, lizards, roaches, crocodiles, you name it. Our president was even killed by a giant moth. Ya….not so original now huh? We suddenly need tanks to kill ants, oh man I remember the good old days when a shoe would do just fine. Sometimes even the tanks didn’t work. Eventually the really big ones and our military took each other out and we lost 95% of the human population in a year! Those of us who survived hid, bunkers, caves, panic rooms, all around the world. So for the last seven years I’ve been hiding in an underground bunker. It’s really not as bad as it sounds, and it’s better than getting eaten alive. It’s a great group of people and we all love each other.

“Are you sure they’re asleep?”

“Who?”

“Y/N and joel!”

“Oh ya I’m sure”

“Joel? Y/n?”

“He’s asleep”

Actually we are both awake. Me and my best friend joel have kinda mastered faking being asleep. Our beds are right across from each other so we normally just lie there and make stupid faces at each other. We are the only two single people in our bunker. Nice huh? Joel is my best friend. I met him when I joined the colony. He’s the sweetest. It’s funny cause everyone thinks we should just have sex already because that’s literally all everyone else does. But we are way above that. Anyway, joel is in love with his girlfriend from before the colony, her name is Aimee. With one “I” and two “e”s. He loves to talk about her, he writes her letters. So in reality, I am the only one who is not in love in this bunker. I’ve never had a boyfriend, ever, even before the world ended.

We don’t really get any sleep. The moaning kinda keeps us awake. I got up and out of my bed and headed for the kitchen. I heard Joel’s bed creak and then his footsteps as he followed behind me. Another annoying thing about being down here is that to get to the kitchen from my room, you have to walk though other people’s bedrooms. Oh shit, they are busy, why would they leave their door open. Me and Joel stopped.

“Oh” joel and I said in unison

“Hey Y/N! Hey Joel!” Ava said

“Oh hey Ava” Joel said, we didn’t dare look over to our left.

“Y/N how’s it going?” Tim asked

“T-totally good tim, h-how are you doing” I asked

“Yeah, good” he responded

“I uh we couldn’t sleep” said Joel looking at the ceiling

“Ya we know the feeling” Ava said with a laugh

“Yeah probably not for the…..same reasons” joel said looking straight ahead

“Your guyses door was open, did you…did you know that?” I asked

“Yeah we know” they said

I shook my head and knitted my eyebrows together

“Okay” joel trailed off

Ever since Tim’s parents were eaten by a swarm of termites he and Ava have gotten really close, in every way.

“Okay, goodnight” joel said as we walked

Basically everyone is coupled up down here, a baby was born last winter! Welcome to the apocalypse kid. Ok if we ever get out of this, that would be an awesome story to tell your kids. “Oh ya I was born in an underground bunker doing a monster apocalypse” “yes exactly like World War Z but with bugs bigger than a 5 story building”. I mean come on.

So your probably wonder how the hell we get food, we’ll we have a cow. Gurdy. Gurdy is great. We also have a hunting party that brings back whatever they can from the surface. It’s gotten harder and harder, cause we ran out of bullets. And facing one of those things with a handmade weapon is just as hard as it sounds. It’s very very difficult. I go with them….sometimes. I still get scared. But I’ve been out quite a lot, especially compared to my man joel over here. I’ve been out maybe 30 times, he’s been out…maybe once, or not even. He’s the chef of the bunker. He makes super good Minestrone.

Me and joel like to hang out with Mavis. A robot. Yup. Not much for conversation, her batter is shot. Just like every other mavis I would imagine. When I’m not hunting we hang out with her. But sometimes I just go read. Reading and joel keep me sane. I mean sometimes joel drives me insane but I still love him. I have quite the collection of books too! I’ve got Emma by Jane Austen, a couple random ones that we found, all the hunger games and Harry Potter books, some mysteries that stopped being mysteries after a while, and then of course some smutty romance books for personal entertainment.

Joel likes to say that his thing is target practice. He has never hit the target but ya know, gotta entertain yourself. I think his thing is drawing though, he has this book that he draws in from Aimee. It’s really cool actually. He’s really good.

I sat watching Joel as he tried to hit the target, laughing a little every time he missed. It was cute how hard he tried.

“Shut up” he said shaking his laugh away

I laughed again, but then suddenly the lights started flickering. You could hear screeches and creeks echoing through the bunker. Joel turned to look at me. Worry and determination in his eyes. We both scrambled out of the room and into the kitchen where everyone was preparing.

“Hustle, hustle people we’ve gotta move”

I turned to look at Joel but then realized that he wasn’t next to me. Where did he go? Worry flooded through me. Suddenly the clanking of our weapon started behind me.

“Hey guys!” Joel said as he rammed into the railing, I shook my head. “Guys! I’ve got the weapons” he smiled at me

A few people walked over to him taking them out of his hands

“Stay” said Tim

“W-what?” Joel asked looking around in confusion

Everyone was talking and barking orders “grab what you need and let’s go! Y/N you coming?”

My eyes shot open “yes! Yup!” I jumped up and grabbed the bow and arrow from Joel.

“W-what's happening?” He asked innocently “what’s going on?”

“There’s a breach” said Tim

“What do you mean? Like inside the bunker breach?!” He asked

“Yes joel! Now come on!” I told him, patting him on the pack as I followed the others

He followed me and watched the plan get arranged

“Anna, Y/N and I will engage. Anderson and Tom plank him”

“Plank him, ya ok where do you guys need me? You want me to uh come through the rear or..?” Joel asked eagerly

“I don’t think your going to pass this joel” I told him

“Pass what? You guys need help, let me help” said clutching his crossbow

“You gonna make me say it?” said Sam

“Say what?!” God he was so adorably clueless

“You can’t handle it joel, your shook” said Sam, we all began getting into positions

“Ya ok, yes so you guys don’t get scared..ever?” He asked still getting ready to fight

“We get scared, we all get scared joel, but you get really scared” said Sam

“They are trying to make you feel bad joel” I said sweetly, trying to calm him down

“We love you joel”

“But your a liability”

“Ok why did that speech feel so rehearsed? And what about Y/N? She’s like…ya know?” He said bobbing his head

“Joel-“ suddenly the bunker shook and the lights flicked again

“Ok 30 meters out! Let’s move!” And we were off

Leaving joel and some others behind. You could hear the growling of whatever we were up against

I followed the others and listened carefully. I was freaking shaking. Don’t ask how I got sucked into becoming one the the hunters. Kinda just happened and I was just-

“OH SHIT!” I heard someone yell, it was too dark to see. Someone was gone, that thing took them. I couldn’t even see it. Oh fuck my life. Everyone began scattering, running away from the monster. I stopped running to take a breath, when I realized I was alone. Nicely done Y/N. The lights kept flickering. I heard something blow up in the distance.

“Conned? Conner?” I heard a whisper, one I knew all too well. Shit, joel. I ran toward the sound, and had no idea I was also running toward certain death. I stopped running. There it was, that thing. I’d never seen this before. I didn’t recognize it. I stayed silent, not moving at all. It slowly crawled over a shower curtain. Oh fuck. He was going toward joel! I quickly grabbed my bow and arrow and shot it. Right though the face. Next to its….eye I guess you could call it. Joel stood there, frozen.

I slowly walked over to him “Joel, hey are you ok?” I asked as I slipped my hand into his. He was trembling. Tears ran down his cheeks. He has a bad freezing problem, so I've been helping him work on it.

About an hour later I sat with Joel, still holding his hand as he stared out into space. We could hear everyone talking. How could this have happened?

“It ripped through steal”

“Anderson and I resealed the Breach point, nothings getting in that way again”

“But why did it happen?”

I tried to toon it out, and I hoped Joel did too.

“Joel, do you wanna talk about it?” I asked squeezing his hand, he looked so sad, which just crushed me

He shook his head

“Ok….” I nodded, I leaned into hug him but was interrupted by his voice

“How far away is Aimee's colony?” He asked

I pulled back, looking at him confused. The talking stopped and everyone look at him

“What?” Tim asked

“Aimee’s colony, how far away is it?” He repeated

“About 85 miles” he said as he furrowed his brows

“How long will it take to get there?”

“What do you mean joel?” I asked leaning closer to him

“Just humor me, how long?” He insisted

“7 days” said Tim

“Someone who’s armed and trained would hardly last 50miles, but you…joel” Ava said, I felt bad for him, he really didn’t deserve any of this

“Alright” Tim continued “now I need volunteers”

“I’m gonna go” joel said

No one said anything, they just stared

“It’s an impossible journey joel” said Tim, crossing his arms

Joel stood up, moving around my chair. “No im serious…I love you guys but there’s only one person in this world who ever truly made me happy and she’s only 85 miles away” he said strongly “I’m gonna go see her” I could see his mind was made up

God he was such a romantic, how could you not love this guy? Sure it hurts when your best friend tells you that you didn’t make him truly happy. Especially when you maybe sorta kinda have a crush on him.

He let out a breath “woah, that felt awesome” he said as he walked off to start packing

I stood there for a second processing and thinking, but then suddenly my mouth took over and well….

“I’m coming with you!” I said, he froze “I mean you can’t leave me here with these middle aged people, and your my best friend so” I shrugged

“I’ll come back for you I promise” he walked over to me “I can’t let you put yourself in even more danger” he said grabbing my arms

“I can’t let you put yourself in danger knowing that I could have helped protect you” I said, he stared blankly at me

I smiled “o-ohK…then I guess…” he trailed off

“Cool I’ll go pack” I skipped past him. Was I scared? Hell yes. But like I said, I needed to help joel and protect him in every way I can. And sure I wasn’t so happy that he was returning to his long lost love but if it made him happy then I would live. And anyway, two do shorten the road.

[pitviperofdoom]

"Vet AU" as in veterinarian? Definitely curious about that, vets don't get nearly enough love in fiction :) I had never considered that as an AU, but now I'm immediately picturing how it would go!

The Vet AU! Yes, Vet as in Veterinarian.

This one’s a bit scattered, so I’ll just post what I have written and let it speak for itself:

---

Martin was in the middle of doing payroll when Sasha poked her head into the office with a polite knock on the doorframe. “Hey Martin, Room 2 is ready for you.”

“Oh! Thanks.” Quickly, Martin finished filling in the last number, then saved the spreadsheet and got up from his chair. At the sight of her, he bit back a chuckle—she had one of the new puppies settled against her shoulder, wiggling and poking around like a furry little worm. “Tim leave you on babysitting duty?”

“Not his fault,” Sasha said with a grin. “He’s dealing with the rottweiler situation in 5. You good?”

“Yeah, fine—remind me who’s waiting for me in 2 again?”

“According to the appointment schedule, you’ll be handling a general check-up for ‘Sticks’,” Sasha replied. “New patient, new owner.”

“Right, right, yeah.”

They usually stuck him with the first-time patients. Not that Tim and Sasha weren’t perfectly friendly and welcoming, but Martin—at least according to them—had very calming manners. He had the appearance of someone pleasant, patient, and according to Sasha, far less likely to go off on people who came in asking to declaw their cats.

“I have gone off on people for asking to declaw their cats,” Martin had said when she told him this.

“Oh, obviously. You just look like someone who wouldn’t, that’s all.”

That was what he got for being the only one with years of retail experience.

As he approached the door to the examination room, he took a few settling breaths. First-time appointments weren’t always a big deal. A majority of the time, they went smoothly; the animals weren’t familiar enough with what went on in a vet office to be nervous about it, and their owners were just as eager to be polite and pleasant as he was. But once in a while…

Well, once in a while you got someone like Peter fucking Lukas—

He shook his head. No, don’t think about Peter Lukas. Peter Lukas wasn’t worth wasting the space in his brain.

Martin settled his face into a resting pleasant expression, and opened the door.

It didn’t take a great deal of self-control not to stop in his tracks, but it did take a little. More than none. It wasn’t anything bad! Nothing against this new pet owner.

Less than nothing, if Martin were privately, sheepishly honest with himself.

The person was standing by the examination table, with a cat-sized pet carrier beside them. They were tall enough for Martin to look them in the eye without tipping his chin down, which put them a cut above most. Their hair was shoulder-length, mostly black with a bit of dark blond creeping in at the roots, framing a jawline and cheekbones so sharply defined that there had to be at least a bit of makeup involved. The snakebite piercing and the bar through the eyebrow really rounded out the whole look, especially with the long black coat, and the tattoos on the hand that rested on top of the box.

Very nice hands, Martin noted, then shrugged off the observation and funneled all his nervous energy into the safety of politeness.

“Good morning,” he said. “I’m Dr. Blackwood.”

They shook the hand he offered. “Gerry. Ke—Delano. Thanks for seeing me.”

“No trouble at all,” Martin replied, nodding toward the pet carrier. “I assume that’s my patient in there?”

“Oh, right, yeah—gimme a second.” Gerry Delano unlocked the carrier, then carefully reached in and lifted its occupant out onto onto the table.

“Oh, aren’t you lovely,” Martin murmured. “This is Sticks?”

“That’s him,” Gerry replied, as the small, fluffy, and perfectly black rabbit stretched forward to give a spot on the table a sniff, then retreated back into a loaf shape. Gerry stroked him gently. “Least I think it’s a him.”

“Well, let’s see, then.” Martin reached out, careful not to spook his new patient, and started examining her. He—yes, he—handled it all about as calmly as a nervous rabbit could. Martin didn’t have to grab a towel, at least, nor did he have a repeat of the time a nervous lop tried to jump off the examination table entirely. Sticks tolerated all the poking, prodding, and manhandling, and only got wriggly once before a quick pause and readjustment calmed him back down.

“So how long have you had him?” Martin asked, once he was done. Sticks immediately fled to the nearest safe haven, which turned out to be his owner’s armpit.

“Less than a week, since Monday,” Gerry replied, petting him as he attempted to burrow deeper into his jacket.

“Well, he’s a touch underweight,” Martin told him. “There’s some information I can give you on rabbit care, if this is your first time owning one. He’s not neutered, is he?”

“Probably not,” Gerry replied, grimacing. “I don’t know much about his history. I took him off an acquaintance who got him as a present and wasn’t doing a very good job of things.”

Martin pulled a face. “Pets make poor presents, yeah. Well, he’s old enough to be fixed, and with history like that he probably hasn’t gotten the shots he needs. After we’re done here, you can talk to Rosie out front, schedule another appointment to get those done. What do you feed him?”

Gerry, as Martin discovered, was an absolutely model rabbit owner. He’d done his homework, read up on how to keep a rabbit happy and healthy, and hadn’t scrimped on expenses. It was no wonder Sticks was happy to hide under his arm for the remainder of the appointment; he had a good home with good food and toys and what sounded like a nice setup, habitat-wise.

“What sort of vegetables are good for him?” they asked at one point. “I’m thinking of growing some. I’ve got the space, but I’ve heard too much causes problems?”

They want to grow vegetables for their pet rabbit, Martin thought, a little dreamily. “Leafy greens are a safe bet,” he replied out loud. “Romaine, parsley, cilantro, kale, that sort of thing. Work them in slowly if he’s not used to them, and he’ll be fine. I can give you a list, if you’d like?”

When the appointment was done, a future one scheduled, and the patient safely back in his carrier, Martin finally let himself ask the question that had been on his mind.

“So, is there a special meaning to ‘Sticks’?” he asked. “Is it short for something, or does he like to play with them, or…?”

“What?” Gerry looked confused for a moment, before the question seemed to click. “Oh, no, not Sticks like—he’s Styx as in the river.”

“Oh! Styx, of course. Sorry, I just—I heard it, but I didn’t see it written down—”

Gerry’s grin was crooked, like they were trying to hold it back but only partially succeeding. “It’s fine. And thanks for everything.”

“Oh, no problem, you’re doing great,” Martin assured him, smiling back. “He’s lucky to have you.”

He was pleasantly baffled when a bit of color crept into Gerry’s face. “Right, well, who can resist a bunny.”

“You’d be surprised,” Martin said as he showed him out of the room. “If I get one more new rabbit owner telling me about their lovely outdoor hutch—”

Gerry looked scandalized at the thought as he left, which was another point in his favor.

“What’s that look for?” Tim asked as Martin passed him on the way back to the office. “Oh dear. Don’t tell me Jon has competition again?”

“Oh my God, Tim, give that a rest. There was never any competition!”

“Yeah, Tim, keep it straight, will you?” Sasha called out from the temporary puppy pen. ���Oliver wasn’t competition. Martin was jealous of him, remember?”

“Nothing straight about it,” Tim shot back.

“I have payroll to do,” Martin reminded them primly. “You trust me with our finances and then you treat me like this. How dare you. I’m defrauding both of you, see if I don’t.”

***

It wasn’t that Martin fell in love easily, per se. It was just that he had a very specific set of standards when it came to who he found attractive, and in his line of work he always ran into people who either met every single one of them, or disappointed him in every possible way.

When he stepped into examination room 4 and found Jon Sims trying to herd three kittens away from the edge of the examination table at once, he kept his deep sigh on the inside. Jon was batting a thousand, and he’d been coming around long enough for everyone in the clinic to know about it.

“Hello again, Jon,” Martin said, doing a wretched job of hiding his smile.

Jon looked up with a helpless expression. “It’s kitten season,” he said, and Martin poured all his sympathies into a more situation-appropriate sigh.

“It’s kitten season,” Martin agreed. “So, where did these little ones come from?”

“These came from the colony in Battersea,” he replied. “Well, sort of. The mother already has an owner, and said owner keeps letting her out every day, even though I’ve told her time and again there’s that unfixed tom I’ve never been able to catch—and that’s just the one I know of—”

Martin scowled as he examined one of the squirming kittens. Much easier to manhandle than rabbits, he thought, apropos of nothing. “Better than being born on the street, I suppose.”

“Small mercies,” Jon agreed. “Anyway, when the kittens were born she told me either I could take them or she was going to take them to the park and give them out for free, which really isn’t a choice at all. Poor things.” The ginger kitten in his hands squealed until he settled it more comfortably against his shoulder, where it calmed down and immediately tried to eat his hair.

“Gonna find a foster for them, then?” Martin asked.

“I don’t have much of a choice,” Jon sighed. “I’d do it myself, but—you know how Duchess is.”

“Yes. How is Duchess, by the way?”

“Cantankerous as ever. You don’t happen to have room, do you?”

“Room, yes. Time…” The black kitten was finished with her exam, and protested when she was put back in the carrier. “Did Sasha tell you about the puppies?”

“I haven’t seen Sasha today,” Jon replied, handing over the ginger kitten when Martin reached for it. “What puppies?”

“Rosie came in early this morning,” Martin informed him, wincing when the kitten bit hard on his thumb. “There was a box waiting by the door, with four puppies inside. No note or anything. So, that’s been fun.”

“I can imagine,” Jon said distastefully. “Are you serious? Someone just left a box of puppies on the doorstep? Like foundlings in a Dickens novel?”

Martin snorted before he could think better of it, startling the kitten into biting him again. Jon was the only person he’d ever met who would use a word like foundlings. “More or less. They are cute, though. Tim says his brother might be interested in taking one, and Sasha says she’s got friends who volunteer at a dog rescue. Retrievers usually aren’t too hard to adopt out.”

“Well, good luck to you. I suppose the season’s hard on everyone.”

The three kittens were in good health, which Martin was more or less expecting. Kittens tended to have a better chance when born in a home than out in the street—even in a less than responsible home. Between the two of them, Martin and Jon got them back into the battered old carrier, where they went back to wrestling each other in the blankets. Jon reached in to tickle one between the ears and got nipped for his troubles, but it only made him smile.

“Well, anyway,” Martin went on, realizing that he’d been staring long enough for it to be rude. “I don’t think you need any follow-up care instructions?”

Jon laughed quietly before closing the carrier. “No, I think I’m alright. Thank you, Martin.”

“It’s not problem. Always a pleasure.” Martin beamed. “Good luck on finding them a foster. And—catching that tom.”

“One of these days, I swear.”

Martin showed him back out to the front. Not necessary, considering how often Jon walked that hallway. But it felt nice to walk beside him, talking shop or chatting about nothing, all to the background tune of healthy, vocal kittens.

After waving Jon off, he turned back to find Sasha watching him from behind the front desk, chin in hand, the very picture of unimpressed.

“What,” said Martin.

“He’s been coming in for months,” she said, raising an eyebrow at him. “Are you going to make a move or not?”

“No I’m not going to—Sasha, he’s a client.”

“So? It’s not like you’re his doctor. There’s no conflict of interest or weird power dynamic when your role in his life is taking care of animals he brings in.” Sasha sat back, letting the swivel chair roll backward. “You’re already chatting like old friends every time you see him.”

“I know, I know, it’s just—it’s weird?” Martin shrugged helplessly. “We only ever meet during business hours, so it’s like—how much of our, our, our friendliness is just a working relationship?”

“Easy fix!” Sasha spread her hands wide. “The man works at a cat rescue! You can just swing by and say hello anytime!”

“He works there part-time, and I don’t know what hours! Not like I can just stand outside and case the place until I see him.”

At that moment, the door to the back swung open, and Tim poked his head out. “Could I get some help? Bailey’s giving me some trouble and I need an extra set of hands.”

“Be right there,” Martin replied. To Sasha, he said, “Look, I’m fine. It’s not a big deal, we’re just two people who keep meeting in very specific circumstances. And that’s all it needs to be.”

Sasha sighed. “I just think you’re making this out to be more complicated than it needs to be.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time,” Martin muttered, and followed Tim into the back.

[mskatesharma]

Hey sorry to bother you but I wanted to ask if you could rec some good sources on learning more about Indian Culture/history/customs. Movies books anything really. I have looked online but well, I always take things on the internet with several grains of salt. And considering I know very little on it, I can't say how reliable the information is. I would like to incorporate elements of Kate being Indian when writing about Kate (and Kate and Anthony) going forward and I want to do it in as respectful and accurate a way as I can. For example, I had a thought of Anthony seeing Kate and her fam celebrate Holi and falling in love with how happy and carefree she is and brushing some paint off her cheek before she dunks some pigment onto him or something 1/2

But considering I've never celebrated Holi or seen it celebrated before I don't think I'd do a good job to write it... I know I get annoyed when people get the basic customs and traditions of my culture wrong. Anyway sorry for rambling TLDR: I would like to learn more about Indian culture and idk where to begin so I would be grateful for any direction you can point me at 2/2

so this has taken me a while to answer because i needed to find time to sit down, think about it and answer it properly. it might seem like a somewhat simple question, but to me, at least, it’s complicated? (i’m probably going to be going over stuff you probably already know, but i’m trying to answer in a complete way.)

i need to start off by saying that my family is from north india (gujarat specifically), and because of that, i have a certain level of privilege, including how north indians and north indian culture is portrayed in the media (obviously including bollywood). i mention this because simone ashley is south indian, specifically tamil, and there is so much prejudice against south indians in general, and this obviously extends to how they are depicted and how their culture is shown in various forms of media; colourism (which simone has spoken out about) is just the start of it. (also, as someone who is north indian, i’m not the best placed person to talk about the prejudice and discrimination faced by south indians.)  

a big part of why desi fans are so excited about simone’s casting as kate is because she a dark-skinned woc, and typically, dark-skinned women aren’t cast as romantic leads, and they’re not cast in shows anyway, especially when compared to light-skinned woc. so the fact that she’s going to be a lead in one of the biggest shows on netflix is a big.fucking.deal. in addition, they changed her character’s surname from ‘sheffield’ to ‘sharma’, which on the surface seems like a great idea, but if you look a little deeper, there are so many problems to be found.

(this got long so continues below)

sharma is not a generic indian surname; it’s specifically a north indian hindu name, which throws up questions. is kate going to be a hindu on the show? does this mean her family is from north india?  are they going to talk about caste on the show because sharma is a brahmin surname? how are they going to explain kate being in england, and being out in society with the upper crust of the british aristocracy? (because of the time that bridgerton is set, and with them specifically setting up kate as indian, i honestly don’t know how they’re going to explain kate’s presence) i honestly think that the show didn’t think too deeply about it and they chose the name sharma because it starts with ‘sh’ and ~sounds indian. however, it’s thrown up so many questions that they can’t ignore, especially because they tried to explain race in the first season. 

i talk about all this because you ask about holi, and incorporating elements of kate being indian when writing. and i’m not trying to be mean, but i would maybe hold off altogether? i need to point out that holi is a hindu festival, and is not specifically tied to being indian. i know i mentioned that sharma is a hindu surname, but we don’t even know if kate is going to be hindu, she may be a christian, or another religion or an atheist. also, because simone is tamil, they may decide to have kate be south indian despite the north indian origins of sharma, if they chose to address it at all. and depending on where in india you are from, and your religion, you will celebrate different festivals. even indians of the same religion celebrate different festivals, and some celebrate occasions at different times (e.g. gujaratis celebrate hindu new year the day after diwali. this isn’t the case for most other hindus. if we take holi, i know that it tends to be celebrated more in north india, and the image you describe isn’t necessarily universal). 

there has been a lot in the tags regarding clothing, and seeing kate and her family wearing indian clothing, and while i get it, it makes me nervous. personally, i cannot wait to see kate in the same style of dresses that everyone else wore in season one. why? because seeing an indian woman in that period of dress is something i have been longing for. i don’t want to see an indian woman wearing a lengha or a sari or sabyasachi in that time period, i want to see her in a bonnet and empire waistline, because that is something we haven’t seen much of. 

also, talking about seeing kate and her family wearing indian clothing has the potential to ‘other’ her, and tbh, can come across sometimes as fetishy, especially when you consider the time the story takes place in, and all the implications of colonialism. (there’s also the fact that unless the show has hired indian costume designers, it would be kinda gross for them to use any kind of indian clothing, and that includes adding elements to the era-typical dress that i’m hoping for.) 

i’m going to be honest, i’ve seen pieces of fanart with kate wearing a sari and other indian clothing, while anthony has been in typical regency dress, and it makes me uncomfortable. it gives off coloniser vibes, and that’s a dynamic i have absolutely no interest in. there’s also the fact that i’ve seen art where simone as kate has been shown as light-skinned, to the point where she appears to be the same colour as anthony, and i mean, hello?!

full disclosure, i’ve made some posts regarding headcanons and music that i should have thought twice about. i’ve reblogged stuff that i should have thought more about before i did so. why? because they had overtones of north indian privilege, and/or orientalism. being indian (wherever in india that is) is part of someone’s identity, it’s not a gimmick to sprinkle onto things, and it’s not something to festishise, and i think, at least from what i’ve seen, that is the concern a lot of desi fans have, even if that’s not the intention of the original posters.   

i realise i’ve gone on a seemingly massive tangent, but what i’m trying to say is, i don’t think there is a need to specifically reference kate being indian, especially when when writing canon-era fic, even more so when you consider we don’t know how the show is going to address it. now, i’m not saying i have faith in the show when it comes to kate and her ~indian surname, just that until we know how the show addresses it, i don’t see why it needs to be referred to? i understand why one might want to, but i just think there are waaay too many potential pitfalls, and the risk of coming across as orientalist/patronising/fetishy too high. some fans have fears when it comes to kate sharma and how she is presented, and for good reason.

sorry for not answering how you expected, and not giving you the resources you asked for (which, tbh, i’m not sure i would know where to start). i get what you were trying to ask, and i thank you for asking in the first place, but the question felt a little unfair tbh. but, i would encourage to read up on orientalism, also about the privilege that north indian hindus have, and honestly, the british colonisation of india.

ETA: i put this in the reblog but im going to add it here as well

also, something i forgot to add, even though i talk about north indians/north india and south indians/south india, it is obviously more complicated than that. there are many different states in india, and even then, different regions within those states will have different customs to each other. and then you have to factor in religion. likewise, there’s no one language that everyone in india speaks. basically, it’s not one universal culture that can be ‘boiled down to the essentials’.

[ofmermaidsandmarauders]

“I haven’t seen (her/him/them) smile like that in ages.”

Just one of many (appreciated) prompts you requested, hope you enjoy!!

read on AO3 instead

“Wow, I haven’t seen her smile like that in ages,” Sirius commented to James just after they entered Three Broomsticks, dusting the light covering of snow from their shoulders. Peter had detention for the day and Remus was recovering from a harsh full moon in the hospital wing, meaning Sirius and James had set out for a brother’s day in Hogsmeade. James had forgotten how nice it was to spend time with just Sirius, having been distracted since their sixth year began. 

James looked up at what Sirius had been pointing to, only to spot Lily Evans tucked into a corner booth in the back with that Ravenclaw, Blake something-or-other. James had refused to learn his last name the minute he started showing an interest in Evans, despite the fact that the bloke was a decent student in Charms and was probably a useful person to have around.

It was then that James realized what he was witnessing: Lily Evans on a date. 

Lily had refused to date anyone since the incident last year when Snape called her a Mudblood. In fact, she seemed rather distrusting of any student at Hogwarts, other than her tight inner circle. James couldn’t blame her. If Sirius suddenly used Remus’ status in the world against him, he’d probably feel betrayed too. He knew that as grimy as Snape could be, he had been the Padfoot to her Prongs. That kind of betrayal didn’t just disappear overnight. 

Looking at the couple again, James tried to clear his head but found it difficult. What he was seeing baffled him as he tried to wrap his mind around t. Lily was smiling up at Blake from across their small table, her hand tucked beneath Blake’s as he spoke rapidly at her. James studied her face for a moment before his own lit up with a grin.

“Have you suddenly moved on from Lily Evans, the love of your life, as you proclaim? Did I miss something in the last two hours?”

“That’s not her true smile, Pads. That’s her fake smile. Merlin knows she’s sent it my way about a thousand times.”

“You’ve gone loony, Prongs. She’s grinning and batting her eyelashes at the lad while holding his hand. Don’t think Evans gets much more intense than that in public,” Sirius commented, slinging an arm over James’ shoulder. “Oi! Evans! Are you suddenly part of some nudist colony I’m not aware of?”

Lily’s resounding answer was a flip of her middle finger in Sirius’ vicinity, though her cheeks burned as she focused her attention on her date.

James also felt his cheeks growing hot as he tried to pry himself out from under Sirius’ grip, navigating his way towards the bar. 

About an hour later, James excused himself away from Sirius as he chatted up some Hufflepuff that seemed to be fawning all over him, despite being well aware of his reputation as a loudmouth charmer.

James decided he was done for the day, having been ditched one way or another by all of his best mates, heading back to the castle on foot. It was a long walk, but he figured the cool air would do him some good.

“Oi, Potter, wait up!” That voice was like music to his ears, stopping him in his tracks as he turned and spotted Lily jogging towards him, the ends of her scarf trailing behind her. “What was that about with Sirius back there? Does he get off on making me feel uncomfortable?” 

“No, he just likes to make my life as miserable as it can be at any given time, and that includes teasing you with me in earshot,” James explained, running a hand through his hair as he slowed down his walk so that Lily could keep up. His smile was sheepish as he peeked a glance at her, watching as her teeth bit into her lower lip.

“Well, he’s an arse but he’s your best friend, so I think that you have some responsibility there,” Lily teased, bumping him with her hip. 

“You’ve got me there, Evans.”

The two continued their walk back in silence, hands tucked into their pockets for extra warmth. Occasionally their elbows would brush and James would find himself willing it to happen again, knowing how pathetic that line of thought was.

“Hey, why aren’t you still with Blake?” James asked abruptly, almost surprised that the question had not only been one in his mind but that it had come out of his mouth. The follow up why are you with me almost came out, but he stopped it just in time.

“I just...” Lily trailed off, obviously trying to think of something diplomatic to say. “It was a fun day but not something I think I’ll be pursuing in the future, you know?”

James nodded, though he wasn’t entirely sure what she meant by that.

“Sirius thought you looked really happy but...” James trailed off, holding back what he was thinking. Lily prompted him to continue with a sharp look and an arch of a brow. “I thought you looked... just okay to be there. I’ve seen you happy before. You should be happy. That’s all.”

Lily looked as though she was pondering over what he had said until a small smile was forming on her lips.

“Thank you,” she whispered quietly, ducking her head as they approached the school’s gates. 

“Anytime, Evans.”

They continued their ascent in silence, though Lily stopped him just at the large doors with a hand on his arm.

“I am happy,” Lily reassured him with a smile on her face. “Now.”

As she skipped ahead towards the staircase, James was able to recognize one thing. The smile on her face when she spoke wasn’t the fake smile he saw earlier that day. No, he finally got a glimpse at her genuine smile. 

[ask-fantasy-sanders-sides]

Out of curiosity are you guys going to dress up Annie for Liars Night too? It'd be cute if she got to participate but I also feel like she would be a dead give away to be found since she is so small~ And she might give away who she accompanies, which would probably be Roman, since it wouldn't be wise to leave the child by herself.

(Roman shakes his head,)

Roman: I don’t see any reason why she shouldn’t be able to participate! I went alone when I was her age.

Roman: She’s no human toddler, either, she’s a nereid! After what I saw her do against those wolves, I know she can hold her own. Besides, of course, I can sense where she is and if she’s in danger~

Roman: I doubt anything will happen, but if it does, I’ll be at her side in seconds! 

(Virgil looks more nervous, but shrugs,)

Virgil: She’ll be safe. There’s a lot of emphasis, in surface colonies, on protecting children. I don’t think anyone here would hurt her... 

Virgil: And, I’ll be shadowing her anyway, just in case. Obviously. I’m good enough to keep myself hidden while keeping an eye on her.

(Patton and Logan nod as well, seemingly planning to do the same thing.)

[reinerispretty]

rotations. (zuko x f!reader) pt22

hello!!! thank you all for your very kind words i super appreciate you :) happy reading! (u ask i deliver) 

pt1

pt21

pt23

A lot of her time was spent enduring criticism from generals, noblemen, and other advisors on how to run the country. Each idea she had was continuously shot down. She knew they were only taking advantage of Zuko’s absence, but their blind defiance of her made her angry. She was only trying to help! Why couldn’t they see that?

The exciting things always seemed to happen while (Y/N) was asleep. She woke to a commotion happening outside of her door. Blinking the sleepiness from her eyes, she slipped on her robe and slippers and peered her head outside of her room. She watched Azula dart past and Zuko running closely after her. (Y/N) blinked, rubbing her eyes once more to confirm that was what she saw. Sure enough, Azula was running down the halls of the palace, laughing hysterically as she did so. 

Her presence made no sense to (Y/N). Azula was supposed to be in prison, locked away so tightly that she couldn’t bring harm to anyone. So why was she running around the palace?

The event had surprised (Y/N) enough to wake her up. She ran down the hall after the two siblings, following them out of the palace, down through the gardens, and into a side building whose purpose she had never been sure of. She reached the two just in time to see Azula shut herself behind a door that could only be opened using firebending. Silently, she and Zuko used their bending to open the doors. 

The heavy wood parted, revealing a secret study that obviously belonged to Ozai, if the portrait of him above the fireplace was any indication. Azula was at the back of the room, rifling through a chest before popping back up with an, “Aha!” She clutched thin pieces of paper in her pale hands. Turning around, she flashed a smile at (Y/N). 

“Oh, Zuzu, you didn’t tell me (Y/N) was going to be here! I’ve been looking forward to catching up with her.” 

“What are you doing, Azula?” (Y/N) demanded. Azula ignored her, instead focusing on Zuko. 

“Father and I have been getting along very nicely since we’ve been in prison. He even told me about these letters,” She fanned herself with the pages. “That Mother wrote before she was banished. They might be the key to you finding her.” 

“Give them to me.” Zuko stretched out his hand, practically begging his sister. “Azula, please.” The girl stared at him for a moment before the letters went up in blue flames. She laughed as she saw the horrified expression on their faces. 

“Relax, I know everything that was in these letters. Which is why if you want to find our mother, you’ll have to do it on my terms.” 

“No,” (Y/N) said immediately. Zuko stared at her, his face contorted in confusion. “All she wants is to play games, Zuko, don’t let her. We can find your mother another way.” 

“Oh, I don’t think you’ll be able to,” Azula drawled, leaning against the large wooden desk of the study. “Not from what Father told me.” 

“Azula always lies!” (Y/N) hissed at Zuko. He looked from (Y/N) to Azula, then back to (Y/N). 

“I have to trust her,” Zuko said quietly. “Just this once.” 

“You won’t regret this, Zuzu,” Azula smiled. “Now, my stipulations. I must accompany you, of course, unbound. No restraints whatsoever.” 

Zuko ground his teeth. “Fine.” 

(Y/N) flung her hands into the air and let out an exasperated sigh before leaving the room. She passed Suki and Ty Lee, who were no doubt on their way to restrain Azula for the time being. Zuko quickly chased after her. 

“What’s wrong?” He asked once he had caught up with her, grabbing her by her forearm. 

“She’s playing you, Zuko!” She exclaimed. “She doesn’t really care about you, or finding your mother.” 

“I have to give her another chance.” 

“Why? It’s not like she deserves it! She almost killed the both of us the last time we saw her!”

“Azula’s my family, (Y/N). You gave me another chance. I have to give her one, too.” 

(Y/N) stared up at him. His amber eyes glimmered in the moonlight. He had shown her that everyone was capable of great change. But she couldn’t bring herself to award the same sympathy to Azula. The last time they had seen each other, Azula had nearly killed Zuko. If Katara hadn’t been there to heal him, he would have died. She wasn’t sure if that was something she could forgive. 

“Come with me to find her,” Zuko pleaded. (Y/N) looked past him to see Suki and Ty Lee leading Azula back into the palace. She remembered Zuko hitting the ground and Azula’s wicked laugh. She shook her head. 

“I understand and support you finding your mother, but I can’t be around her. It wouldn’t end well and I don’t want to ruin the reunion.” 

“I get it.” She could see the disappointment lingering on his features. It made her feel incredibly guilty, but she new she had to protect herself. It wasn’t a good idea to put her and Azula together after everything that had happened. 

She gave Zuko a half smile before returning to bed. 

---

Zuko left a few days later, accompanied with Azula and their friends. (Y/N) was saddened that she might miss out on another adventure, but she knew it was for the best. After all, someone had to run the Fire Nation in Zuko’s absence. 

A lot of her time was spent enduring criticism from generals, noblemen, and other advisors on how to run the country. Each idea she had was continuously shot down. She knew they were only taking advantage of Zuko’s absence, but their blind defiance of her made her angry. She was only trying to help! Why couldn’t they see that?

After a particularly grueling argument with another general on the state of the world, (Y/N) had decided that she would like to spend the rest of her day sitting by the turtle duck pond. She brought a book and read under the big tree while eating an apple. Perhaps it was the physical and emotional distance between them, but (Y/N) missed Zuko when he was gone. Meetings flew by easier with him at her side. She had more patience for the old men that tried to argue with her. 

A shadow appeared, blocking the sunlight from shining on (Y/N’s) book. She squinted up at the figure and recognized it as Ren, the son of one of the Earth Kingdom noblemen that had been particularly difficult with her today. Diplomats tended to bring their children along with them on important meetings so that they would better understand how they went when it came time for them to attend on their own. “Can I help you?” She asked. 

“I’m Ren,” He said, extending his hand to her. She shook it slowly. “I just wanted to introduce myself to you and apologize for the way my father behaved today.” 

“It’s alright,” She said with a shrug, taking another bite of her apple. “He wasn’t the first to be mean to me and he certainly won’t be the last.” 

“May I sit?” He asked, gesturing to the grass beside her. She gave a noncommittal shrug, which he took as a yes. “I really liked your idea about holding a festival to promote unity in the Fire Nation colonies in the Earth Kingdom.” 

(Y/N) tilted her head. “How’d you get into the palace?” 

“I’ve been here since the meeting. You left too quickly for me to talk to you, so I asked the servants where you were until one of them led me to you.” She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “I promise I’m not trying to be weird, I just really wanted to let you know that you have someone rooting for you from the other side.” 

She let out a small smile. “Well thank you, Ren, I appreciate that.” He smiled brightly at her before standing. 

“I should probably get going, but I’ll be at the meeting tomorrow if you’ll be there?” 

“When the Fire Lord’s out of town, I’m at every meeting.” He gave a quick nod before bowing and walking off of the palace grounds. She watched him as his figure retreated into a small blip on the horizon. What a weird guy. 

As weeks progressed without Zuko’s return, Ren found more and more ways to worm his way into (Y/N’s) time. He would talk to her after every meeting and reassure her that the points she had made were smart and discussed very eloquently. He seemed genuine in his compliments, which made (Y/N) feel nice on the inside. She felt her confidence in meetings improve, as long as Ren was there to give her a big smile and thumbs up when no one was looking. 

She liked to think that she helped him out, too. When they weren’t in meetings, they discussed ways to make their nations better. She let him know what might be well received by the other diplomats, which allowed him to come out of his shell a bit more during meetings. Some days, when they weren’t supposed to meet, she would invite Ren to sit under the big tree with her and feed the turtle ducks. 

“If I’m being honest, I’ve never really hung out with anyone from the Fire Nation before,” Ren admitted one day as he tossed a slice of bread into the pond. The turtle ducks and their babies all swam toward it, instantly devouring it. 

“I’ve never really hung out with anyone from the Earth Kingdom before, other than Toph. But she’s her own special brand of person.”

“Really? Not even when you were sent there?” She shrugged. 

“My parents never wanted me to go outside of our house. I had to sneak out to see what the city was really like. But I never got to hang out with anyone and just be myself.” 

“So they just kept you locked in all day?” She nodded. “Man, I didn’t think being engaged to the Fire Lord would stink that bad, but I guess so.” 

(Y/N) stared at him, her brows furrowed. “I’m not engaged to the Fire Lord.” Ren stared back, confused. 

“Really? You’re always in all of our meetings, I just assumed that you were preparing to be queen.” (Y/N) scoffed. 

“I guess you’re not too far off. Zuko and I used to be betrothed or whatever, but that all got thrown out the window when he was banished. I’m just his friend that helps him handle all of his Fire Lord duties.” 

“Oh,” Ren said, tossing another piece of bread into the pond. “Just to confirm, you and Fire Lord Zuko aren’t together?” She shook her head. “Then it wouldn’t be a problem if I asked to take you out on a date this weekend?” 

(Y/N) analyzed him for a moment. Her heart had told her for the longest time that it belonged to Zuko, but maybe she just needed to find someone who could change that. And here was a cute, funny guy that she enjoyed spending her time with. She should take a chance. 

“I don’t think that’d be a problem at all.” 

---

Tag List!

@afxndommess , @xapham , @thanosismybitxh , @outerxorbit , @thenerdiverse , @himawarichild , @welovediaaxx , @justahockeylover , @loganrwebb , @awesomelupe , @cirtruss , @eridanuswave , @aroyaldarknessblr , @theinfernalmemes , @akariblue , @julietvsanchez05 , @harryisthesunshine , @prospekt-42 , @kindxrjcy , @lunariasilver , @lovepsychicbitch , @mcallmestiles, @simply-stanning , @helbreajs , @shephard17895 , @astroninaaa , @leiaofthestars , @miskwaadesiwag , @art-flirt , @musicalkeys , @aangsty-sokkasm , @we-lucky-few , @vgirl-10123 , @ella-solei , @davnwillcome , @valiantprincessthea , @errrrca , @hahaimstoopid, @kamahriii , @michelletc , @unseasoned-emo-bitch , @maybe-a-fangurl , @niramoon , @hyluas , @jvghead-jones-iii , @youneedmemanidonotneedyou , @luleck , @toasted-crispy-emo27 , @lolaywrites , @swagdaddycam , @itsivyberry , @royahllty , @ramen-hair-denki , @bucky-blogs , @damianwaynerocks , @beew , @lozzybowe , @anonymousbambi , @duh-dobrik

[bluemoonbeam15]

What If: Part 2

@whenthedeeppurplefalls was interested in a continuation of my previous post, "What if the offering had never fallen when Flik threw down the Harvester?"

I also wanna try getting Hopper back into character. After writing him either during or after his character development, I lost sight that his personality then is not how it is BEFORE the events of the movie. As such, I'll also be adding in his internal dialogue in this part. I exempted it on the first one for a reason.

<><><><><><><>

Once again, his fantasies did not manifest themselves into reality. The obedient workers who followed his orders were actually stubborn back-talkers who refused to let someone like Flik tell them anything. The inventor watched day-by-day...the offering barely grew. The production certainly didn't move this slow with Queen Phyllis in charge. But she handed the responsibility to Flik, as per Hopper's executive order.

Flik barely noticed that gradual change in the weather, or the way the leaves were darkening. The only way he could tell the deadline was drawing near was his growing anxiety. He spotted Atta standing underneath the offering stone, expression cold as she regarded the inventor hurrying toward her. "Princess Atta, please, I think things would run smoother if you could tell the colony--"

"Apparently, I'm not in charge of this little operation of yours. You heard Hopper," she narrowed her eyes, "he wants you to handle the harvesting, remember?"

He pulled at his fingers, "I-I know. But..."

She pursed her lips as he couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence. "Isn't easy, is it? This is why we do things traditionally, Flik. We don't have time for a change. We don't have time to learn how to use your inventions. There's food that has to be picked, ants that have to be fed. That's not even considering all the other responsibilities around the colony." She walked past him, "But go ahead and try. No one's stopping you this time."

Flik looked up at the pile of food. It was pitiful, even through the eyes of an optimist. A part of him believed they were simply doing this out of spite. That if they proved Flik to be unessential to Hopper, then the grasshopper would have him disposed of. "Why am I the only one who can't help?" He let his arms go limp in defeat. "Why did Hopper even put me in charge in the first place?"

Contrary to his surroundings, every noise was muffled as the shell was blown in alarm. Flik blinked down at the ground, terribly afraid that the noise wasn't coming from his imagination. He turned to the sky, seeing the dark forms coming toward them. The colony hustled, not in as much panic as last season. Flik found anger rising in him at the sight. Their security only rested in his demise. Princess Atta directed any last offering pieces to the pile before ordering everyone back in the anthill.

Flik, simply out of fear and spite, didn't budge from his spot. Even as Atta met his gaze, he stared back firmly. She waited for a second longer before disappearing. If this was how things were going to be now, he'd just as soon distance himself from the hatred as much as possible. At least in the open, the only thing he had to fear was Hopper's hatred. He would take that over the colony.

As the roaring of wings grew louder, so did Flik's heart rate. Perhaps he should have gone back into the anthill. Too late now. Hopper already landed a few feet before him. Flik was sure the state of the offering had been seen by the leader. Hopper took a few steps toward him, making Flik back up, "I-I know it looks bad b-but...the colony...well...n-no one--"

"First rule of leadership, kid: everything is your fault," Hopper was nose-to-nose now as he bared his teeth.

Those words hit something a little deeper in him. "P-Please, just...j-just one more chance, I swear! I-I'll have twi--no! Three times as much food next season!"

Hopper pointed a finger toward the offering above them, "I don't give second chances loosely, kid. That up there is worse than it was before. Why should I think you can do better?"

This had been his one chance to finally make a difference for the colony. And once again he found himself the root cause of all their problems. Claws dug into his jaw as Hopper forced his mind back to their conversation, "I expect an answer when I ask you a question. Now, give me one good reason why I shouldn't use you as a bad example to your colony?"

Flik's gut twisted painfully when he couldn't think of anything. There was no answer to that question. There weren't any reasons. He couldn't defend himself from this mistake. "B-Because...," the looks of his fellow ants flashed in his mind. Their glares, sneers, critiques, ridicule...everything that drove him to this point of desperation. This moment where he was desperate for any sign of appreciation, even from someone like Hopper. "I have to prove them wrong," he swallowed the pain in his throat. "I-If I can just do this one thing right...then they'll finally listen to me. Th-They won't look at me a-and push me away. I'll...," he dropped his gaze, "I'll finally feel like a part of the colony."

Under any other circumstance, the little sob story would have done little to assuage Hopper. But he had something else in mind for this young prodigy. "You wanna be a part of something, kid? Here's a word of advice: make yourself a part of it. Stop waiting for everyone else to give you a chance and start making your own chances. And for this offering? Put your foot down. I didn't put you in charge to be walked all over. I put you in charge to get things done. If they don't wanna comply, then you make them.

"Leaders don't have friends, kid. We have followers. So don't get your pathetic feelings hurt when no one wants to listen to you. Force them to work. Force them to comply."

The ant strangled over his words, "B-But I can't do that--"

"Then I obviously made a mistake keeping you around," Hopper growled. He dug his claws deeper into Flik's chin, "Are you afraid right now?" The ant's eyes winced from the pain as he nodded the best he could. "Exactly. So what are you gonna do?"

"D-Do...better?"

Hopper released the kid, straightening, "Getting it now?"

Flik rubbed his chin, mulling over the interaction. The pieces started clicking together, "How...how do I scare them? I-I'm not exactly intimidating."

"Not my problem, kid," Hopper waved a hand to the gang. On the command, they swarmed the offering and grabbed what they could. "I'll tell you this, though, you've already got the one thing they fear."

Flik blinked, "What?"

"Bravery." For just a split moment, Flik could've sworn the leader smiled at him. A glint of approval flashed. Just as soon as it came, it was gone. Hopper started his wings and hovered, "I'm holding you to that promise, kid. Three times the amount next season. This is your second chance so you better come through." With that, Hopper led his gang across the ravine, food in tow.

Axel looked back to see the ant fading from view. He hesitantly leveled with Hopper, "Hey, Boss! Ya don't think the kid'll screw this up?"

"Yeah! I heard he's the freak of the colony!" Loco added.

"You idiots just mind your own business. I know what I'm doing." Hopper sent them a glare.

Molt flew beside him, "What are ya doin' exactly?"

"Fixing our problem," he answered gruffly. "That kid can cause more damage than what he realizes, and not just for the colony. Our whole way of life could be destroyed with those ideas of his. The second those ants spare a moment to listen, they'll figure out our weakness."

His brother pursed his lips, "So...you're putting him in charge?"

"It won't last, however it plays out." Hopper shrugged nonchalantly. "The colony will either turn against him, leaving me to come in and play hero. The power isn't lost to us since the colony will be too focused on the kid. From what he told me, they already despise him. It'll be hard for them to turn against us when the kid is stealing away their hatred."

"And if he succeeds?"

Hopper spared a glance to his brother, "Then I'll be in command of the only thing threatening our livelihood."

[random-thought-depository]

The infamously corny Star Trek TOS episode The Omega Glory was on TV last night and I watched it. My ideas for how I’d rewrite it to make it less silly:

---

The Yang ancestral culture wasn’t literally the USA, it was just a society that looked kind-of sort-of like the USA in the same way some pre-Columbian American and ancient Indian societies may have looked kind-of sort-of like ancient Athens. That by itself would make the episode much less stupid, and you could keep most of the same basic ideas.

Since we’re not bound to absurd levels of parallelism anymore, I’d personally be inclined to make the Kohms light-skinned blue-eyed blond(e)s and make the Yangs darker-skinned with darker hair and eyes, and imply that the Kohm ancestral society was fascist instead of communist. Maybe sprinkle some symbols distantly reminiscent of Nazi iconography around the Kohm village. It’s not like there was any meaningful connection between the Kohms and communism anyway, and I feel this resonates better with a lot of the ideas the episode was going for. Admittedly, this is probably influenced by my own biases.

---

Basically swap the roles of Cloud Williams and his mostly silent female companion who doesn’t really do much.

Why? Let’s think about how Yang society might work for a moment. I’m going to say they’re horse-riding big game hunters, like the nineteenth century Great Plains native American cultures on Earth, because 1) that fits with the idea that they’ve been driven into marginal lands and had to become nomads, 2) if you want nomads capable of assembling armies of thousands of people it’s either that or Eurasian-style herders, 3) it fits with the “they’ve become like native Americans” idea. They’re very slow-aging, theoretically capable of living over a thousand years ... but if they’re like their precedent cultures on Earth they probably live fairly rough and dangerous lives and I think would probably tend to live only a few decades or centuries before dying in a hunting accident or battle or something like that. But... going by Earth precedent, it would probably be mostly the men who do the most high-risk activities of hunting and war, which might result in very gender-asymmetrical life expectancy patterns, where men tend to only live a few decades or centuries while women stay relatively safe and have a decent chance of living to be thousand year old ancients. This would be compounded by 1) a lower death rate would mean a lower birth rate for replacement rate reproduction, 2) they’re almost immune to infectious diseases, which would make childbirth in primitive conditions much safer, so that would greatly reduce the probable primary cause of death for women in such a society (childbirth complications). So I think it’s pretty plausible that they’d have a more-or-less matriarchal society where women have a lot of power because they live a lot longer and hence have a lot more time to accumulate experience and become repositories of culture (important for a low-tech nomadic society that will have a mostly oral culture!).

So, I’d gender-swap Cloud Williams; my version of her would a matriarch with a leadership position in her tribe because she’s one of its oldest able-bodied members, she’s got a thousand years of experience and she’s had time to memorize a lot of the oral histories of her tribe and become basically a living library. Why would such a person be anywhere near a battlefield? Well, “the oral histories of her tribe” would include a lot of war stories, with detailed and often basically accurate descriptions of tactics and strategy because that’s how knowledge of how to win wars against Kohms and rival Yang tribes is transmitted in her society. She’s a living tactical manual, so of course she leads her tribe’s warriors in battle.

She could have a companion who’s a big guy who doesn’t talk much and does the brute strength side of what in the episode is Cloud Williams’s role (fighting Kirk in the cell, ripping out the bars). Maybe he’s her grandson, and was captured with her because one of his roles in the tribe is to be her bodyguard in battle.

----

Related to what I just said, have a bit where Captain Tracey says that he expected the primitive and superstitious Yangs to be overawed by phasers, but instead it was almost like they have a recent cultural memory of war with modern weapons and war against technologically superior opponents and they quickly started using effective counter tactics. Given the explanation in the episode for the long lifespans of people on Omega IV (very strong selection pressure for disease resistance), none of the Yangs would actually remember the ancient high-tech Yang civilization and original war against the Kohms, but the generational transmission chains from a lot of presently living Yang matriarchs to that time might be relatively short. For a lot of the presently living Yang matriarchs shooting down Kohm helicopters with surface-to-air missiles and ambushing Kohm armored columns in mountain passes might be something like “my grandma’s time.”

----

The reason the “Eee Plab Neesta” sounds like gibberish is that Cloud Williams is reciting it in its archaic original language, which the living Yang language has evolved into mutual incomprehensibility with. The Yangs might have one lovingly preserved paper copy of their equivalent of the Declaration of Independence, but their culture is mostly oral, and they mostly preserve the “holy words” in the heads of the matriarchs, who memorize it and transmit it from mother to daughter exactly (“by heart”), being careful to get every syllable right so it does not become distorted. The oldest matriarchs can still speak the ancient language, but for most of the Yangs, especially the relatively short-lived men, it’s like me listening to somebody recite Beowulf in its original language.

This is more-or-less my headcanon for what’s going in the actual episode too: the “Eee Plab Neesta” is just the text in its original now archaic form of the Yang language, which the universal translator can’t translate because it doesn’t have a big enough sample to work on. I’d make that much more explicit though.

The way I’d handle the scene is to have Cloud Williams start to recite the Eee Plan Neesta, and then have Kirk ask her what it means and suggest that she try to translate it into the everyday language of the Yangs so all her people could hear it with understanding, and of course it wouldn’t be the actual Declaration of Independence but something different but with a similar spirit, something like this:

“We the people of these five colonies of the nation across the sea and seven nations of the original inhabitants of this land, establish a Union, which we found in and organize according to the following principles: that all people are equally precious, that laws exist by the consent of the people and to serve the people, that leaders serve the people and hold their offices by the consent of the people...”

Then have Kirk give his speech about how these words are meant for everyone and not just for chiefs and should be something shared among all the people and lived by and not something gatekept behind archaic language most people can’t understand. Have him reference the USA founding documents by saying that his world has something very similar and he knows from the history of his own world how world-changing these ideas can be and how precious they are.

----

Obviously you can’t do that “the Yangs try to find out if Kirk recognizes the holy words, and Kirk almost recognizes them but not quite” thing with this version, so the equivalent I propose is:

Kirk recognizes the original functions of Yang “holy relics,” i.e. relics from the ancient Yang civilization: one is part of a machine that once carried people through the air (it’s a snapped-off piece of a helicopter blade), one was a device for seeing far away things as if they’re near (it’s a broken pair of binoculars), one was a machine which people could use to talk to people who were beyond the horizon (it’s a broken-down cell phone), etc.. OK, the last thing is anachronistic for TOS, but if I were writing this as a fanfic it’s what I’d do.

Cloud Williams starts to recite a long epic poem the Yangs have that tells their entire history, to see if Kirk will recognize it. Of course Kirk doesn’t, but while the Yangs don’t have history books they do use visual textile art as an aid to memory and they’ve set up a big story cloth that depicts the narrative in the room and Kirk goes over to it and starts pointing to pictures on it and correctly interpreting them:

“Here, the Yangs were oppressed by kings. The Yangs rebelled and overthrew their kings and made a new nation that had no kings. After this the Yangs became very rich and very powerful, they built great cities. The lords of the Kohms were threatened by this and they used terrible weapons on the Yangs and invaded the Yang land with great armies. Here’s a Yang city being destroyed in an instant by a Kohm weapon. The Kohm lords were so threatened that they tried to destroy the Yangs’ whole way of life. The Yangs retreated to the bad lands and kept fighting. Here are Kohm flying machines attacking a Yang village, and a Yang warrior hiding behind a rock destroying one of those flying machines with a lance of fire. The Kohm lords couldn’t overcome the Yangs until they brought the Death Thirst to the Yang lands in a box and let it out. But that weapon had a life of its own, and turned against the Kohms, and almost destroyed them too. Only a few Yangs survived in the bad lands, and the Kohms claimed the good Yang lands and settled them. But the Yangs survived, they learned the bow and the lance, and eventually their numbers started to increase. The survivors lived longer than people had before; you interpreted this as a gift for the Yangs and curse on the Kohms by the Great Spirit, so that both might live to see you retake what was once yours. And little by little, you did retake what was once yours...”

----

One way to suggest the Enterprise crew making a positive difference on Omega IV at the end of the episode: have Kirk convince the Yangs to spare the Kohm civilians in that village.

The victorious Yangs are all set to give the last Kohms the Numbers 31 treatment, which is what they usually do when they overrun a Kohm community. Of course, Kirk is horrified by this, and he manages to use arguments involving the Yang “holy words” to convince the Yangs to be merciful instead. “Your own holy words say that every person is equally precious! Every person! That includes the Kohms too! If you really mean it, it includes the Kohms too! They’re no threat to you anymore! Did you fight for so long just for a chance to do to them what they tried to do to you? If so, how are you any better than them? Your own holy words claim to be for all people! Your own holy words say that all people are more alike than they are different, and all people are capable of appreciating the gift of freedom! If that’s true, then your holy words are for the Kohms too! That’s why the Kohm lords were so threatened by you, because they were afraid of what would happen if the Kohm people heard those powerful, good words! Tell the Kohms about your holy words!”

So Cloud Williams agrees to make a merciful and peaceful settlement with the “last of the Kohm places,” let it integrate peacefully into Yang society with no further bloodshed and no abuse inflicted or spoils taken. And then Kirk says “If you mean your words of freedom, your work didn’t end today, it’s just starting. Build good seaworthy boats that can cross the ocean, and send people to the Kohms across the sea, so they can hear your words of freedom too! The words of your ancestors are for them too! You’d never be able to conquer them, but they can hear your words!”

[madsthewordclown]

Fire Lily | Pt. 11

warnings: slight angst I guess?

a/n: this chapter is a bit shorter than the last two I believe. It’s mainly just Y/N having some bonding moments with the Gaang. I honestly feel like she’d vibe with all of them in different ways? Anyway, I’m excited. This is set during The Awakening.

Fire Lily Masterlist

Y/N almost wanting to cry with relief as she took off the Fire Nation armor. The ship had stopped in the port of a village and Toph and Sokka had invited her to come along to find dinner. Hakoda had said that the armor wouldn’t be necessary for the trip, so Y/N would get to put it away for the night.

Maybe she’d be able to find a shirt while they were in town. She had a small amount of money of her own—she had offered it to be used for the crew, but for whatever reason, Hakoda had declined. Y/N had a hard time figuring out Hakoda. If their roles were switched, she probably wouldn’t have trusted him. But he was treating her no differently than the others.

“Ready to go?” Katara asked, peeking her head in the doorway of the room they shared.

“Yeah.” Y/N eyed the hook swords that laid next to her cot. She made the difficult decision not to bring them. They were far enough into Fire Nation territory that her bending probably wouldn’t be questioned. Plus, they had Toph.

Y/N met Katara, Sokka, and Toph in the hallway outside of their shared room.

“Let’s see if Aang wants to go with us,” Katara suggested, her expression pained. Even though Aang was awake, Katara will still obviously worried about his condition. The kid seemed to have a tendency to overexert himself.

Y/N and the others followed Katara to one of the upper levels of the ship. Toph handed her a brown cloak on the way. “Better safe than sorry,” she explained.

Y/N tugged the cloak over her shoulders and secured the clasp. They finally came to a stop in front of a metal door similar to their own. Katara knocked softly before entering. Y/N and the others followed.

“Hey, Aang! We’re going into town to find some dinner if you want to come!” Toph smiled at Aang, who was leaning back on his own cot.

“I am pretty hungry.” Aang sat up, a hand on his stomach. He was obviously still a bit weak, and it made Y/N’s hands feel jittery.

Sokka stepped forward, holding out a piece of cloth to Aang.

“Here, put this on. It’ll cover your arrow.” The arrow was already mostly covered by Aang’s hair. Y/N didn’t think it looked right on him, although she had only seen him twice before the battle with Azula.

Aang looked affronted, flopping back down onto his mattress. “I’m not going out if I can’t wear my arrow proudly.” It made Y/N’s heart twinge. She couldn’t begin to understand what Aang was facing. It was enough to fight a war without having to let go of your own culture’s traditions.

“Aang, come on,” Sokka pushed. “Be practical.”

“Go ahead without us,” Katara said softly, putting a hand on Sokka’s shoulder before turning to Aang. “We’ll catch up.”

Y/N averted her eyes, feeling like an intrusion. Sokka nodded. Y/N was startled to feel Toph grab onto her hand to pull her from the room, the door shutting softly behind them.

“I don’t know about you, but I’m starving,” Sokka announced. Y/N hummed in agreement. They hadn’t been able to stop yesterday, so they were living on leftovers. Plus, they weren’t able to eat regular meals. As it turned out, the Fire Nation didn’t respect their schedule.

The three made their way up to the deck of the ship, the port they’d landed in visible. There weren’t many people out and about, from what Y/N could tell.

“Is this a true Fire Nation island? Or a colony?” Y/N asked aloud.

“I think it’s a colony.” Sokka threw the hood of his own cloak up over his head. “We’re too close to Earth Kingdom mainland. The important thing is there are no soldiers.”

“Well, we’re here,” Toph pointed out. “All of the villagers must think we’re soldiers.”

“Oh, yeah. I guess you’re right.” Sokka led the way down the gangplank and onto the wooden dock. “C’mon, let’s find the market.”

They continued to walk into the streets of the village. While there weren’t many people around, Y/N noticed a few faces peeking from windows. They looked to be Earth Kingdom citizens. Y/N noticed a woman and child in the Fire Nation’s signature red walking down the street calmly.

“Have you ever been to the colonies before?” While Y/N hadn’t technically lived in the colonies, she had lived right on the outskirts. Her father’s estate was still Earth Kingdom territory, although they were still subject to the occasional visits from Fire Nation soldiers. But the village they went to for food, and where Bihun went to school, was Fire Nation territory.

“No. They seem like a bit of a drag,” Toph admitted, kicking a stray pebble in front of her.

“This one must be pretty new,” Y/N mumbled, looking around at the darkened houses.

“What makes you say that?” Sokka questioned.

“When I was little, the village near my house was a lot like this. Earth Kingdom citizens were afraid to leave their homes. The Fire Nation people, not just the soldiers, constantly belittled us. There was a Fire Nation boy that picked on me at the market once when I was little.

“But it’s not like that anymore. It took a while, but it became a lot more like everyone was coexisting. My older brother went to school with Fire Nation kids. Most kids stuck to their cliques, and it wasn’t always peaceful, but… it was getting better. Or at least, it was before I left. This is more like an occupation.”

“Huh. That’s… interesting,” Sokka hummed.

“The soldiers definitely caused more trouble than anything. But people are just people. Eventually, they’ll figure out how to coexist as long as someone isn’t pitting them against each other.”

“That’s an interesting perspective,” Toph observed.

“I hope I can go back once the war is over.” It was the first time Y/N really had an idea for what came after. “I want to find my brother and see my family again.” The dream Y/N had the night before came back to her. Boiling rock. She could tell that Sokka wanted to ask what she meant about her brother and was grateful when he kept it to himself.

“Look!” Toph pointed suddenly. In front of them, a man was rolling a cart full of bags of rice across the road.

“Yes!” Sokka punched the air in victory. “Food!”

“Finally.” Y/N smiled, feeling her heart flutter as she set off running alongside Sokka and Toph to catch up to the man.

---

The Avatar was gone. It was probably the worst-case scenario. They had pulled out of port and were on their way when Katara went to bring Aang a tray of food. The wind had picked up, and the weather seemed to be going bad. The added wind going west was helping the ship move along at a very quick pace. Sokka said that they’d probably officially be in the Fire Nation within hours.

Y/N watched the stormy skies with a furrowed brow. Aang had taken his glider. The added factor of the turbulent weather made it that much worse. It was already dark from the setting sun, covered by the dark clouds. Y/N remembered how weak he still appeared and shuddered. He hadn’t eaten anything before he left, either.

Y/N pulled her cloak tighter around her body to shield herself from the wind. The ship lurched in the water, and suddenly Y/N regretted eating so much rice. She could tell that Toph felt the same as the girl held her stomach.

“He can’t have gone far,” Y/N reasoned, approaching Katara, who was obviously beside herself. “I’m sure he must have found land not too far from here.”

“We have to find him,” Katara stated simply, her eyes severe. Y/N put a hand on the other girl’s shoulder in an attempt to be comforting.

“And we will. We just have to wait for the storm to die down. I’m sure your dad and Sokka have a pretty good idea of where we are.”

Katara’s face darkened more at the mention of her father. Y/N sighed.

“I don’t mean to intrude, but… why are you mad at him?”

“It’s just…” Katara bit her lip, glancing towards the floor. “After our mom died, Sokka and I were so lost. And then Dad had to leave, and I understand why, I really do, but… we needed him.”

“I think it’s okay to be a bit mad.” Y/N looked out at the dark water. “It isn’t really his fault, I guess. He had to leave. But you’re allowed to feel that way.”

“But I shouldn’t be mad at him,” Katara argued. “I know he had to leave.”

“That doesn’t mean that it doesn’t hurt.” Y/N thought of her own father. He would have left, too, if he were asked to fight. “But he did leave for you. He probably hoped that you wouldn’t have to fight. My father never wanted my brother and I to have to fight.

“He tried to keep us away from it all for so long. I didn’t even go to school because he was worried about my bending being discovered. And he was doing what was best for us, and I see that now. But I never had friends, and despite everything he tried to help me, I’m still scared of what I am. And that hurts. But I still love him, and I forgive him for all of it, because now I understand that he just wanted my brother and I to be okay.”

Y/N had surprised herself with how much talking she had done. “I’m sorry,” Y/N backtracked. “That probably wasn’t super helpful.”

“No.” Katara smiled. “Thank you, for talking to me.”

Y/N looked up as the rain finally began to fall, pelting the hull of the ship as the vessel swayed on the sea.

“Come on,” Katara offered, lifting her hands and waterbending the droplets away from them. “Let’s go inside. We’ll find Aang as soon as it stops.”

---

“This is the only area he could have landed.” Sokka pointed at the spot on the map. Y/N lit another lantern as she, Katara, Toph, and Sokka sat in the captain’s room with Hakoda and Bato. “Any other spot is too far away.”

“That’s too big of an area,” Katara protested, the worry still evident on her face. Toph yawned. They had all been awoken as soon as the rain had stopped, which turned out to be right before the crack of dawn.

“The wind was blowing to the northwest,” Y/N piped up, eying the map as she lit another lantern. “And with his condition he probably couldn’t be far from the coastline. He probably landed somewhere in the center of that region, because we were about—” Y/N pointed to a spot on the map— “here when the storm started, and he would’ve had to slow down when the rain started. And with the possibility of lightning, he’d have to have been flying pretty low.”

The others stared at Y/N for a moment in shock. Y/N shrugged. “I spent a lot of time in the library.” Her mother had spent countless hours tutoring her, since she couldn’t go to school. Bihun was convinced Y/N learned more at home than he did at school.

“I’ve also done a lot of traveling recently,” Y/N added, feeling her cheeks warm slightly.

“Alright,” Hakoda coughed. “We’ll head in and drop you kids off there. You can find Aang and then lay low, and we’ll meet you again later for the invasion.”

“Thanks, Dad.” Sokka stood, pulling Hakoda and Katara into a hug. Y/N’s heart ached, suddenly feeling the strong absence of her own family. It had been so long since they’d all been under the same roof.

“Let’s go,” Katara said determinedly as Sokka and Hakoda let go.

Katara gave the ship fog cover just in case as they creeped closer to land. Y/N was in awe of the land in front of them. It was rocky, with jagged hills. Y/N thought she could see the orange glow of lava in the distance. They were definitely in the Fire Nation.

The ship moved as close to the land as possible, letting the gangplank fall down into the shallow water. Katara did the rest, parting a dry path across the sand.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to stay?” Y/N checked with Hakoda one more time. She knew it was valuable having a firebender on the ship.

“Go,” Hakoda insisted. “We can handle it. And we don’t want people to come around asking too many questions about Captain Yai.” Hakoda smiled. “Besides, my kids seem to like you.”

“Thank you,” Y/N said gratefully, reaching to shake Hakoda’s hand. Before she could react, Hakoda was pulling her into a brief hug.

“Take care of them, and we’ll see you in a few weeks,” he said.

“I will,” Y/N promised. She would do her best. She’d already failed once before at taking care of her friends, and she wasn’t eager to fail again.

“Coming, Captain?” Toph called from down in the sand where she was waiting with Sokka and Katara.

“Yeah,” Y/N shouted back, walking down the gangplank. When she hit the sand, she turned to and waved goodbye to the others on the ship. “Let’s find Aang.”

Fire Lily Masterlist

taglist: @kaylove12, @akariblue, @wolfiemichele, @aquatickanye, @sunflowerr-mami, @nadiblue

[insomniac-dot-ink]

My Afternoon With a Corpse

I was falling to pieces quite beautifully I might say when she made her way over the hill. She had a pale face the color of paste and ashen as a forest after the flames. She had to be only nine or ten, though you never know with people walking in from the past. They always were a bit smaller back then.

The biggest way I could tell she was dead besides the grey skin and the bruises under her little eyes was the way she walked. She strode like a very inebriated elementary school student, all knees and dragging her toes and swaying back and forth as she made her way over the hill.

I was sitting in a graveyard so I don’t know what I expected. I peaked over the top of the pages of my book as she drew ever-closer.

“I’m not your mother,” I snapped at the creature since I had been a governess to enough children as it was.

She lumbered and teetered and slowly made her way toward the bench I was sitting on. She was wearing a very fine blue dress with a pink bow tied in the back and little black shoes. Her parents had probably been wealthy enough to bury her in that, the posh bastards.

“I have nothing for you.” I articulated and tried to turn away.

She took a seat next to me on the bench. I noted how her little nails were covered in dirt and splinters. I wrinkled my nose and she settled beside me.

“Took the nasty way out I take it?” I said conversationally, though by then I had a feeling her tongue had rotted in her mouth and she wouldn’t say anything to me.

She turned to me with her blurry-wide eyes and I stood up with a jerk. I snapped my book shut, “I come here to be alone, little cretin.” I sniffed loudly and turned away, “as I said, I have nothing to offer you.”

I got up and moved to the next bench under two large beech trees on the outskirts of the graveyard. It was a fine day in March with the winter chill barely a memory on the land and the earth soft and almost mud under my shoes as I moved.

The little girl heavily picked herself up and took her time plodding all the way over to my new bench. My eyebrow twitched and I huffed, “I was just fired you know. Fired from my job. Do you know how inconsiderate it is to bother people who have just had major life events?”

She was only 9 or 10 so she obviously did not grasp this concept. She just stared at me expectantly.

“Fine,” I opened my book a crack, “but I’m only doing a chapter or two and then you have to move on. And I’m not doing any voices.” I promised.

She continued to stare and I cleared my throat.

“This is Virginia Woolf, one of the greats,” I continued, “so mind yourself. I won’t tolerate any tongue-wagging at this point.” I smirked at my private little joke at the corpse’s expense.

I chose a fitting story to read her.

“Moths that fly by day are not properly to be called moths; they do not excite that pleasant sense of dark autumn nights…” She watched in awe as I got to my favorite parts. It was rather nice to have a captive audience, “nothing, I knew, had any chance against death…” I read that line and then flicked my eyes over to the corpse. “Except you I suppose. You are quite the abomination.” I said before continuing the story.

I closed the book when we got to the end and the sun was slanting sideways across the sky and I sighed heavily. It wasn’t exactly the ideal atmosphere for the dead to be walking. There was too much sunlight and bright skies in the favor of joy and frivolous things.

I put my book in my bag, “Was that enough?” I asked as I stood and the creature scrambled to get down and take a place by my side. We stared at each other for a full minute before I relented. “Oh alright.”

I put my hand out and she took it just as she would have in life. Her skin was bone-cold and the flesh was terribly soft and loose. I cringed and bit down on my cheek, “I hope someone loved you dearly in life.” She said nothing, “because I’m not doing anything more for you.”

I walked her stiffly right back over the hill where a squirrel skittered out of the way like a train was barreling toward him. He ran zig-zag away from me and the abomination.

She followed me like a docile lamb down the hill until I spotted dirt piled up around an enormous hole. I didn’t pull her toward it or drag us there, but I veered our path toward the open grave.

“The authorities will be looking for something like you.” I said neatly. “They’ll want to see if there’s an infection in this graveyard. Probably feed your bits to a holy fire or what have you,” I glanced over at her, “are you prepared for that?”

She took her strange, ungainly steps and I sighed. “Yes. Fine. I’ve crossed worse people before anyway.”

I took her gently toward the open grave that she had desperately scratched and dug her way out of. Her wide eyes became even wider and she edged behind me as we approached it.

“Be a brave girl now,” I chastised but studied her worn gravestone. “MaryAnne.”

She had only been nine when she died over two decades earlier. I turned toward her as she hid behind my skirts. “Don’t be difficult,” I said as I did to all the children I taught. “It’s only eternity and we all have to do it.”

She glanced up and shook her head. Her dull brown curls bounced as she did.

I studied her for a moment and considered forcing her back down into her resting place. My eyebrow twitched. “Goddammit,” I took a seat on the mushy ground that would probably stain my skirts. “I won’t wait forever though.”

I let go of the little girl's hand and she quickly inched away from the grave. I took out my book and set my mouth into a furious frown as I started to read again. I pretended not to watch her.

The little thing ran sloppily back and forth across the wet grass. She chased the animals which fled from her with wild fear beating in their tiny hearts. She spun around in lopsided circles and seemed to stare at the sun for at least an hour.

I was meant to take the 4pm train back to my little house and write a very strongly worded letter to the Denise's for firing me. I stayed in the grass instead.

The sun was kissing the treetops when the little girl came back to me. She was holding something between her ruined fingers and I put out my hands. “Give it here.”

She offered a large brown moth. It was still twitching and alive, but she held it ever so softly between her dirt-covered hands.

“So you have been listening.” I tried to catch her eyes. “Then you know what you have to do.”

She handed me the moth and I quietly pushed it back into the sky where it flapped once, twice, and fluttered off to probably go tell its colony-mates that it had the worst possible day.

I bent forward and kissed her on the forehead. “It’s late.” I said. “And isn’t one afternoon enough?”

She took my hand again and I laced our fingers together. I guided her toward the gaping wound in the earth. “I know it’s not fair.” I muttered, “but few things in life,” I eyed her, “or death, are.”

She was still staring up at me and we took another moment to clear off the splinters and torn pieces of wood in the hole before I positioned her in front of her broken casket again. There was a shattered bottle nearby where I assumed someone had poured the virus elixir on her grave.

Perhaps it was a prank or a body-snatching scheme or some drunken hijinks where they hadn’t been patient enough to stick around and dig her up later.

“Stupid.” I shook my head, “Adults can be so stupid, MarryAnne.” I bent down toward her. “It’ll be over soon.” I crooned, “and comfortable again…”

She nodded and I slipped my hands under her armpits and gently lowered her into the hole. She lay back down in the velvet bed and closed her eyes as the sun set. I huffed. “Someone loved you dearly.” I watched as the virus was finished with her spirit and what was left of her body. “Don’t think that didn’t mean something for your short time up here. Even if it was… too short.” I pretended my voice didn’t break on the last words.

I spent the rest of that evening pushing and digging and filling the hole back up with dirt. I couldn’t bear to look at her small face again after the sunset. I just knew I saw a moth crossing the moon as it rose and I had to take a break to find my handkerchief.

I wasn’t weeping over one dead child of course. You would spend the rest of your life weeping if you were going to mourn each one.

But her name was MarryAnne and she had gotten one last afternoon in the sun. I heaved dirt back onto her with my bare hands and went home aching and filthy and with people openly staring at me as I passed.

I would never be a governess or teacher again after that night. But I did visit a small grave from long ago and read a story about a moth to it each year after that.

————-

if you enjoyed the story please consider donating to my ko-fi or supporting me on patreon (even a dollar helps!)

[backseatsiren]

A Dramatic Day

It’s been awhile since I’ve written here! There are a couple of reasons: first, my life has reached brave new heights of busy - I was promoted to Editor in Chief at work a bit over a year ago, and my responsibilities there obviously take a lot of time. I’m also teaching more courses than usual at Berklee (right now, one section of Film and TV and two of Game Design Principles), and, as usual, I’m training grappling on top of it all. Plus, naturally, the ambulance. I’m hitting my tour hours, and proud to do it, and as pumped as ever to be an EMT in this neighborhood.

I’m also... very, very, VERY slowly *actually writing a book* about all of this. I’ve begun interviewing a few fellow EMTs, mainly volunteers, about what it is we do. Because of how insane my schedule is, it’ll be a very long term project, and I can’t put any pressure to finish soon. But, especially through the pandemic, I’ve felt a desire to document and interview and report on the idea of volunteer emergency medical services in New York City, here in Brooklyn and Queens, and I think other folks might be interested in reading a bit about it.

But I’d like to get back into the practice of writing about calls and concepts and experiences. As always, I’ll respect patients and patient privacy, and will never reveal identifying information or anything inappropriate.

Today was a fairly busy day, but it started with a bit of a dramatic call. We were called to an unknown, and flagged down by a bystander. A man called us over and told us that he saw a man lying on the train tracks (a less-used track, not the subway or commuter rail or anything). He said he regularly feeds a colony of feral cats there, and noticed the gentleman lying down the way.

We thanked him and high tailed it over, yelling out to him (the usual “sir are you ok?”). My more experienced (many, many years in EMS, including at a much higher level of certification) partner took a look at him and said “he might be dead” and began looking forward a pulse. He went for more help (another ambulance was arriving and they needed to be directed over, the physical layout of the space was weird), and he instructed me to look for a pulse. I did, and found nothing. My other partner (a newer EMT, just cleared for CC status, who I also love working with), said “he’s cold to the touch.”

It was raining lightly. The tracks were a little slick, and there was some litter. It’s early may, and the grass had that beautiful sheen on it, that it gets in the rain. Weird things, visual and sense memory things, are coming back as I write about it.

He was lying down on his face on the tracks. I checked for a carotid pulse again and felt nothing. I checked his hands - they were closed and held tight. Rigor Mortis. I checked his arms, his coat, his clothing, careful not to mess with anything, but looking for lividity. He was bleeding from his face, and, on inspection, his face was very clearly badly injured, bruised, and bloated. I was wearing an N95, but even so, you could smell that he was deceased.

I told my more experienced partner that when he arrived with the other crew. We inspected the scene - noting a shovel and some other tools. There was a little encampment nearby - possibly where this man lived. Beer and food in a little shelter.

It certainly looked like foul play was possible. I learned a few minutes later (on my next call) that the cops did start an investigation there.

As one of the other EMTs from the other crew noted, it was “like a movie scene.” Something about the rain and the light, the way the blood pooled, the way the ants crawled around in it... was surreal. It may have been my less experienced partner’s first DOA when they were first on the scene (it wasn’t mine, but it was certainly the first *outdoor* DOA where I’ve been first and had to help establish that). It was my first suspected murder scene.

And yes, it was deeply sad. There’s some initial adrenaline, for me, in every call. There would be more on my other calls today. There is a voice in my head that repeats a lot of the basic instructions and goes through scenarios: “ABCs” (a note to always prioritize airway, breathing, and circulation). I think about what happened in any given situation and what I should do for my patient. I look for threats to everyone’s safety. And when I can breathe and get a clearer picture of what’s going on, that’s when I can start to process things a bit.

We covered him with a clean sheet from the ambulance and did all the things we needed to do. We talked about it a little, after the call. But I always need to think about things for a few hours after, which is what I’m doing here, by writing about it a bit.

I’m a deeply, empathetic person. I feel for my patients. The call I’m about to talk about - the very next call - required that of me in a different way. But in this scenario, I want to first do everything right for the person and situation, and next, be as respectful as humanly possible. This poor man died - was very probably killed - and was left outside in the rain. I don’t know much about his life, and very little about his death. The whole scenario is very sad, and very surreal.

Every time I’ve had a dead patient, it’s stuck with me. I don’t think I’ll ever forget my first, a woman who very probably died of a heart attack or in her sleep, and her son found her. He was mourning. He was on top of the body, hugging her, crying “I’m sorry, mommy,” and there’s... I guess there’s nothing on earth like that. Nothing like that kind of pain. People, as a rule, do not expect to see their loved ones deceased, and when we do, we usually have a ceremony for it.

I’m just a bystander to that. I can do nothing to help the deceased person, and very little for a mourning loved one, besides being a respectful, empathetic human presence. For my deceased patient today, all we could do was establish that he was dead and do the proper things to ensure his remains would be taken care of (and his death investigated).

My next call was very different, but it was heavy in a different way. We got a call for, basically, a suicidal young woman. We arrived, with PD, to her door. The officers assessed things to an extent, but she revealed that she had been traumatized by police in the recent past, and didn’t want any police in her home. I talked with her calmly, and was able to relieve the cops and take this one, with my partner.

We listened to her. She had obviously been through some extreme trauma and needed mental health resources. I won’t reveal any details here, but I had to keep assuring her that I had no handcuffs and wasn’t interested in taking her against her will. She was terrified of being taken somewhere she didn’t want to go, and I basically sat calmly with her and talked to her about her options. Just talking. Just listening.

This is a case, like a patient a couple of years ago, where I’m very happy to take my time. I’m a volunteer, man. I’m not grinding through a shift for miserable pay, as most EMTs are - I’m here because I frankly want to be useful in this manner.

And I’m happy to sit with a person going through emotional hell, because this is what I can help with. I’m five years into being an EMT with RVAC. I do this 2-3 shifts per month, so I’ll never be the fastest, best, EMT in NYC. But I can be the most patient EMT, and I can give plenty of extra time to a person.

I’m not a therapist, and I don’t pretend to be. That’s what I told her - first, that I’m not a cop, I don’t have cuffs, I have no interest in taking her if she’s of sound mind and doesn’t want to go. Then, second, that I’m no doctor, and no therapist, and that I want her to have resources if she needs them.

We talked more, and did more vitals, and she decided she wanted to come to a mental health facility. We explained every step of the process to her, and what she could expect, and what to bring.

Do I wish I was an actual therapist who could help this girl right away? Yeah. Do I wish I had the ability to make mental health policy that provides good, effective, supportive therapy to all human beings who need it? Yeah. Do I wish I could do better for her than an ER with psych specialists? Where she could easily get lost in the cracks or simply never connect with what she truly needs? Yeah.

I can only take her to a place where people are at least trained to assess her and offer her further resources. I can only hope they actually can help, and do so.

I had another call where we did a bit of *psychological first aid* not long after that. A dramatic scene! A young woman fainted at work at a store, and several people were surrounding her and holding her at the scene! Folks were holding her hands and crying.

It looked wild at first glance, but our patient was completely ok - we got her out, had medics assess her completely, and brought her to the ER while assuring her parents that things looked ok. Her mother was extremely upset, and we had a bit of a language barrier, but we were able to assure her and let her know things looked ok, that her child had very promising vitals and EKG readings, and we just needed the ER visit to make sure.

The medics helping us out were INCREDIBLE. They offered a full walkthrough for us of what was going on physiologically with her and gave a very helpful tip on scenes like that - give bystanders little jobs (just simple stuff, like holding the door, or looking for something like a towel) to do! It helps (caring, kind, just want to help) folks feel helpful when they get scared, especially in dramatic-looking situations.

A lot of drama today. A lot of learning. I felt really good about taking charge with my psych patient and helping her to feel safe and able to make her own decision. Im glad we were able to help our young fainting patient. And as much as it’s heavy, I’m glad I was at least on scene today for our first call. I know I can do nothing but confirm obvious death, but, I take some heart in the kind bystander who called for him (the gentleman who feeds cats nearby).

At least someone cared enough to try.

I’m forever grateful for my partners, for the folks who have taken the time to teach me (back when I was VERY green and still, to this day, as I am learning every single shift), and for the patients who trust me to do my best for them. 

I noticed today, this month marks five years of doing this, with my volunteer corps. I can only hope I learn more and become a more effective EMT as I go.