#(sadly we only ship in the US for the moment so apologies to my international friends 🥺🫶

[stillcominback]

hey friends!! just wanted to share the mini TWD inspired drop i’m adding to my shop this afternoon @ 3PM PST! 🧟❤️💫 i mean who would i be if my new small shop didn’t have SOMETHING for rick or richonne in it??? it’s currently planned to be a limited run until 4/8 (if it’s popular we may keep it up, but if there’s anything you like, i would grab it this week)!

just wanted to share with my friends here! i’m still struggling to find any full-time or freelance work so, i’m really trying to work on this little shop and earn some extra $$$ that i could really use. any support is greatly appreciated!! ❤️❤️❤️ ( IG / website )

[skiyoosmi]

– caramel frappucino ch. 27

marga’s notes. AHHH hello my loveliest readers; i cannot believe we have finally reached this end (well, not really the last chap ‘cause we still have two epilogue-like chaps coming up but yeah)… i hope you enjoy this part!! PLUS LISTEN TO THE SONGS CAUSE AHHHHH THE. MOOD. FITS.

♪ CHAPTER THEME ♪

on the train ride home by the paper kites | quiet eyes by axel flóvent

previous | masterlist | next

 “Do I look okay?” you asked, head turning to your cousin who was casually lounging around your room. For the umpteenth time of the day, Tetsurou released an exasperated sigh, looking away from the game he was playing on his mobile phone and glaring at you while lying on your neatly-folded bed.

“That’s what you’ve been asking for the past hour and I keep telling you yes,” he grumbled as he adjusted his body so he now laid on his stomach, continuing to scroll through his phone and at the same time, muttering some stuff about how he hopes you miss the fireworks show. Seconds later, he let out a loud yelp as he felt something hit him right on the back of his head. He scowled in your direction upon noticing the missing pink hairbrush that was previously in your hand, now on the floor.

“You brought me into this situation so don’t curse on me now. This… is your ship sailing,” you gestured to your face that was fancily styled for the night out. You only rolled your eyes when he childishly stuck his tongue out as a reply, going back to fixing whatever still needs to be fixed.

A few more minutes of doing unnecessary things passed before a knock resonated through your apartment’s front door. Tetsurou immediately jumped up from his position on your bed, giggling when he passed by your form before skipping his way downstairs to open the door for your guest.

To say that your heart was beating loud is an understatement – hell, you could almost swear it’s about to burst out of your chest from its pounding. Stop sweating, doofus! You’ll ruin your makeup, you silently screamed at yourself, feeling the dampness slowly beginning to form around your forehead and neck out of extreme anxiety.

“Y/N! Get your butt downstairs. Your date’s already here,” the teasing and boisterous voice of your cousin echoed throughout the apartment, followed by another giggle after a few seconds, probably because Sakusa replied to his rather embarassing comment. Despite not seeing the two, you felt your face flush; it wasn’t like you’re denying that it was a date… it was just unusual to hear especially when your date was someone like Sakusa.

After gathering enough nerves to face them, you took a deep breath and looked at your vanity mirror for the last time, hands smoothing down your red floral yukata for any crease that formed. Soon, you found yourself bashfully standing in front of the two tall men as Sakusa’s eyes shamelessly scanned your figure. Although he himself was wearing a simple navy yukata, you couldn’t fathom what he was thinking seeing as his face was adorned with his usual mask that was, for some reason, black this time.

“You look nice,” he nodded at your direction while you smiled, returning the compliment you have surprisingly received from him; you knew that your face was red as hell right now based on how your cousin was biting his lips to keep himself from laughing.

“Now, go! Enjoy yourselves and remember to make the wish,” he winked, pushing you both out of the door with his hands on your lower backs. You both gave him a glare that he only ignored, waving goodbye as you went on your way.

“I hope he understood what I said about making the wish though.”

“I’m sorry, he really didn’t mean to,” you profusely bowed your head at the man almost twice your age who was glowering at your companion who, in return, remained unbothered. On the ends of the said man’s feet were his spilled strawberry and milk kakigōri which Sakusa, coming from the old man’s words, knocked over when he bumped into him while walking beside the food stalls.

“Young miss, instead of apologizing when it’s not your fault, you should teach your companion how to be respectful to his elders,” he shook his head from side to side in a mocking disappointment, as if to annoy Sakusa further.

“Are you implying that I am disrespectful?” Sakusa countered, hands clenching a little bit as he tried to calm himself down. He doesn’t need a nameless man almost ruining both of your nights right now. Still, his pride didn’t let him let this one go; he couldn’t give this man the satisfaction when he clearly knows to himself that he didn’t bump into him a while ago. If anything, it was the older man who purposely bump into the two of you – probably cause you kind of looked a little too beautiful tonight.

Sure, he won’t deny that he found you pretty right from the moment he met you, one of the main reasons he decided to keep on talking to you and befriending you instead of loathing you for spilling the caramel frappucino on him. For some reason however, the way you styled yourself tonight made you even more gorgeous in his eyes, if that was still possible.

“Just drop it, ‘Omi,” you harshly whispered, fingers grabbing a fold of his yukata and tugging on it to stop him from engaging into an unnecessary fight. In addition to that, you were pretty sure the fireworks show will go off any moment now; you had to find yourselves a decent place where you can watch the much-anticipated event or else you will seriously sulk into a corner until next year’s festival.

“Apologize,” the man ordered but to no avail, Sakusa still stood his ground; even going as far as grabbing your hands with his and pulling you into the opposite direction. From behind you, you could hear a noise of protest and a ‘you little s–‘ before it was cut off. He kept on pulling you despite your arguments about how he should’ve just lowered his pride and said he’s sorry.

“Why would I say sorry when I didn’t do anything? It’s clear as a day that he’s just trying to prolong the conversation so he could take more look of you.”

“W-what…” you stuttered, not really being able to understand what he was trying to say. As if he was able to read your mind, he let out a frustrated sigh after removing his black mask.

“He had this disgusting look that screams he wants to take you out despite him being older by so much. I’m saying it’s because you look too pretty tonight,” the last sentence he told you immediately caused your face to flush a deep red; you were just so thankful it was nighttime or else you wouldn’t be able to live off the embarrassment of being so flustered from a simple compliment.

A few seconds later, it dawned upon you that he brought you to a rather secluded place by the top of the small hill where you still had a good view of what was about to come. Observing the area, you began to think Sakusa also watches the yearly event, judging by how he knew that this kind of secret place existed. People usually crowded by the bridge since it has the widest space and the clearest view which also meant that on this hill, you two were alone together.

He then took out a large piece of clothing that he laid on the ground, sitting cross-legged and patting the space next to him as he gestured for you to sit as well. Following his request, you gently sat down and looked ahead the reflection of the moon by the river.

“Are you feeling alright these days?” you only hummed in reply, too entranced by the night’s beauty. Ten minutes from now, the fireworks will make it even more beautiful.

“I’ve never pestered you about your… situation with Iwaizumi-san, but I felt like I needed to ask how you are,” he explained upon catching your eyes that were filled with wonder and curiosity due to his sudden question. Your mouth formed a small ‘o’ before giving him a small smile.

“I’m really okay, don’t worry. I just feel guilty sometimes, you know? In my mind, there are just some thoughts that pass by… things like I wish I’ve known so I didn’t hurt him that long,” you let out a quiet sigh, folding your arms over your knee and placing your chin on it. The quiet cricket of the night bugs adding more solemnity in the air as you both talked.

“Do you wish to go back to that time? And maybe be in a relationship with him?” you immediately shook your head ‘no.’

“No, no… not that kind of regret. I wouldn’t have agreed to be in a relationship either way. I was too young and too dumb; I know it won’t work out between us. I mean… I just get that feeling that we won’t.”

“Then why do you feel sad?” you mulled over his question, trying to form the right words that will truly explain how you really felt with everything that has happened.

“It’s something like… I wish I’d known so I could’ve rejected him right away? Is that cruel? I mean, maybe if I did that, we wouldn’t have gone through such pain for such a long time, get rid of the false hopes we had for each other. Hell, I don’t even remember anymore what it feels like to be really happy without thinking of such thoughts,” you sadly chuckled before shrugging and leaning back as you saw the people from faraway beginning to take their phones out, signaling that the fireworks show was almost beginning.

You felt Sakusa scoot closer to you; something you didn’t expect since you knew he never liked getting close to another person. You were sure as hell by now that all throughout the night, he was acting really weird; something different compared to his usual demeanor – not that it freaked you out though. If anything, you liked his slight clinginess too much… but you didn’t need him being weirded out so you opted to not saying anything.

“Is that your wish?” he quietly asked, making you jump out of surprise for his sudden closeness. His nimble fingers were on your chin, turning your head so you could look at his eyes that screamed a thousand feelings.

“W-what?” you breathed out, internally cursing because you didn’t even know how many times you’ve stuttered tonight.

“I’ve read somewhere that if you make a wish and… give the person beside you a kiss, it will come true so I’m asking you, is that your wish? To be truly happy,” he whispered, eyes flickering from your eyes to your lips. If this was any other person, you were pretty sure you would’ve slapped the wits out of him due to his statement’s ridiculousness but for some reason, you couldn’t move away from him.

“I… I think so,” you meekly nodded, gulping as he seemed to have no plan on moving at all. You think you can hear the fireworks crackling as it began to light up the sky, booming over the night sky as it tried to get your attention 

“I’ll try my best to make you happy then.”

… but the feeling of soft lips crashing into yours as soon as he said what he wanted to say was enough to leave you distracted. It wasn’t like anything you have imagined before; this – this was full of love, magic and adoration, something you have missed when you often wondered what it felt like to have a kiss. Heartbeats powering the sound of the explosions and sparks as he intertwined his fingers into yours, panting for breath when he released himself from you.

“Y-you.... kissed me... you hate germs... and I missed the fireworks,” you mumbled, feeling rather lightheaded from kissing him too long. He lightly chuckled, tucking a strand of hair behind your ear, leaning over to give you another peck.

“I think we can let those slide just this once.”

[girlandthedarkness]

Lin Beifong x Reader

kind of a sequel to this headcanon with Lin Beifong

The advantage to be the Avatar's friend is that you not only travel different places with her, you as well make a wide circle of friends and acquaintances. So it's not a surprise that you joined the search for new airbenders after the Harmonic Convergence. You were glad to find new airbenders with Korra and her friends, you thought that Lin will be against that, but she tells you to do what you please.

- Are you not mad? You ask thoughtful

- You know I never could be mad at you, also, spirits know, this group need someone who can think. She said with a small smile.

The journey was intense, and without any success, only one airbender has joined you. Ba Sing Se was even a bigger mess, the queen holds airbenders hostage for her own army, the blood in your veins was boiling. How dare she hold these people? You thought nothing could calm you down, It was until you saw your girlfriend who notice your anger and sadness. She learns about your situation and warns Korra about Red Lotus, whose members had escaped. Later, when the airbenders were safe, she holds you in her arms while you let all the emotions through tears.

- I saw enough of Ba Sing Se, remind me never to come here. You said while Lin just let a small laugh.

You were so excited when you heard that another airbender was found in a city entire made of metal. But you knew something was wrong the moment you saw Lin's face when she heard about Zaofu. Her frown became even deeper and she looked rather annoyed, insisting to turn back to Republic City. You stayed silent as Korra and Lin had a fight about if they should return to Republic City or collect a new airbender. They decided the last one.

- Something's wrong? You asked when you two retired to yours shared room.

She sighs heavily and gives you a painful glance, instinctive you pulled her closer to your body and give her a bear hug, so she knew that you're here for her.

- It's ok if you don't want to talk about it. You said concerned

- There's someone in Zaofu that I don't want to come face to face with. she said so low that it was almost a whisper

- Who? You question impatiently

- My sister.

When you arrived in Zaofu, Lin chose to remain inside the airship, instructing the group to not tell that she came along with them. You roll your eyes, the last night the only thing she told you was that she doesn’t want to face her sister because of a big conflict they had in the past. You tried to reason her why she should encounter her sibling, but she was way too stubborn to see your point.

Aiwei show you the city, the statue of Toph Beifong, who invented the metal bending. You with Bolin were so thrilled to see the city, their buildings and architecture.

 - You are so lucky to date the Toph's daughter. He said, whispering to you.

You giggle at these words

- Well, you lucky enough to try and learn the metal bending, at this word he let a deep sigh

- I hope.

You meet the matriarch of the city at dance rehearsal, you let a surprised sigh, because she looks so much like Lin, perhaps both of them look very much like Toph? Probably you never saw her in real life, only the statues and some portraits in the books.

Suyin named all of your group members, giving you a smile.

- I heard you are a wonderful healer?

- Yes, she is, the answer for you Korra, but also one of the best fighters. You heard a tone of pride in her voice and suddenly you felt shy.

Your discussion was interrupted by Aiwei who leans to Suyin and whispered something in her ear. You frown deeply when you saw that, looking at you Korra smiles, because this face reminds her so much of a certain Police Chief. But you realized they knew there was someone else on the ship, because of the seismic sense, such being the case why you could never give Lin sneak hugs.

- Aiwei says that there is someone on your ship?

- I told you Y/N, its Chief Beifong, for some reason she didn't want to come with us?

- Lin is here?

- Do you know her? Ask Korra dumbfounded

- Didn't she told you about me? Y/N notice the hurt in her voice

- Suyin is her sister, Lin's sister. You offer clarity

After the reveal, everyone suddenly developed the ability to walk fast, you barely could to hold the pace. They rushed so fast, that you were the last one to enter. When you come into the ship the intense atmosphere could be almost touched. Two Beifong's siblings gaze at one another and then the hell gets loose. They accused each other of so many things, such as tearing apart the family, Suyin accused her sister of not making any contacts with her in thirty years. You saw the almost ashamed stare in Lin's eyes at this word, so you moved to her side to bring a little bit of comfort since everybody looked for some reason so betrayed.

- Y/N why don't you tell us? Wonder Bolin

- I thought you didn't have secrets from me?  Korra asks a little bit hurt

At first she was shocked when you reveal your relationships with Chief Beifong, after that she enjoyed to tease you about it. But then the reality hit her, you started to spend so much time with Chief Beifong, that she internally always rolls her eyes. Isn't chief very busy woman? It bugs her how you depart from her, she was so happy to spend some time with you at home, but then Unalaq happened. She was relieved when you decided to help them to find the new airbenders, but then Chief joined them and it was once again you and Lin.

- I'm sorry that I didn't tell you, you started to apologize, but that's not my secret to decide to reveal it or not. Also, I thought we came here to meet the airbender? You try to pretend you don't see Su's intense gaze.

- It's my daughter, Opal. Finally said Suyin

You were holding Lin's forearm, while Suyin decided to introduce her family, you wonder if it's for the whole group or only for Lin. She started with her twin sons, Wei and Wing, who were playing power disk, something they invented. She proceeds to introduce to Huan, a metal bending sculptor, to his delight you let go of the Chief hand to take a closer look at his work.

- It's so beautiful and unusual, you smiled when you heard a small noise produced by Lin.

- Finally, said with pride Huan, someone who understands art.

While Suyin takes you to meet her daughter you came closer to Korra.

- Listen, I'm sorry that I didn't say to you anything, but as I said it's not my secret.

- Well of course it's not, it was yours and Beifong's secret, one of the many I guess. She said with a huff

- What do you mean? You looked puzzled

- I'm ok that you two dating, I'm even ok that Chief keeps her secrets, but you are my friend and I met you first, she said, looking at Lin who clearly could hear them, the last one rolled her eyes.

- I'm still your friend and I care about you, I'm sorry that I didn't pay you a lot of attention. You said sadly

- No Y/N, I'm sorry, Korra stoped you while everyone keeps moving, I guess I'm just a little bit jealous, she gazed ashamed to ground.

- I guess we both are guilty. You said, taking Korra in a warm embrace that she returned.

You meet Opal soon after, the young woman expresses so much of delight over meeting her aunt. But still mad at her sister Lin dismissed girl's joy, receiving a disapproving look from you. On the other hand, you are pleasant to encounter with her.

- I like your hairstyle, she said with a smile

- I can try to make you a similar one.

- So we have the airbender, we should turn back to Republic City where I can protect Korra from members of the Red Lotus. Your chatter was interrupted by Lin.

- Zaofu is the safest city in the world, I assure you, Avatar Korra is secure here.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You admired the Huan's sculptures when you saw a shadow approaching you.

- There's something stunning in metal, you said while turn around to see Suyin, perhaps the way sun reflex on it.

- Bolin said you see my sister. She said with a small smile

- By see you mean dating? You chuckle.

- So it's true, I never thought she would find someone who will bear her.

- She's not how you all portray her, just because she doesn’t show off all of her emotions, don't mean she is evil and have none. You rant, not in the mood to listen how your girlfriend is bad.

- I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything malicious, but sometimes she's so stubborn. She let a long sigh from her lungs.

- Well, I'm pretty sure not only her since you had such a big fight that destroyed your relationships. You said still defensively of Lin

- You right, I guess we didn't just inherit earthbending from our mother. She said with a smile, that you return. After that the silence fell between you two.

- I want to make up for the way we meet today, do you know how?

- I need to know as much embarrassing stories as you can recall about Lin. You said with a sly smile on your face.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was early morning, the early fight between two Beifongs still fresh in your head, you were so scared that they will hurt each other. But when Lin lost her consciousness, your heart skipped a beat, you tried to heal her, but except some small scratches, she is physically healthy. It was a deep emotional wound, that sadly your healing can't even touch. You smile slightly at the peaceful face, no frowning, just Lin. You saw her eyes moving underneath her eyelids.

- How many times should I say to not look at me while I'm sleeping, I can feel it. She said without any malice

-You scared me to death, you get closer to her body on the bed

- I'm sorry, she said while she opened fully her eyes and moved her head to your chest

- How do you feel?

- Relieved.

- Do you want to talk about it?

- Maybe other times, did you even get any sleep? She asks with a concern in her voice

- I couldn't, not until I'm sure you're alright.

She lifts her head from your chest and look at your face.

- You look ill, she said with a small smile. I think you need to sleep.

With that word she switches your position and now your head is on her chest. You raise your head to give a kiss on her lips, after you settled down, she kissed you on the cheek

- Goodnight Lin. You said almost falling asleep

- Goodnight Y/n. she put you closer drifting away as well.

A/N: “Kinda cheesy end, but this woman deserves some happiness. It was supposed to be a comfort Lin small fanfic, but it gets out of my hands and become my biggest English work”

[schrijverr]

Ain’t this familiar

Jonny along with Ashes and Tim is send out to get screws for Brian on New Texas. First they run into little Jonny then Jack and then his father, it doesn’t bring back any good memories.

On AO3.

Ships: none

Warnings: implied/referenced abuse, mentioned alcoholism and slight self hatered. Tell me if I missed andything and be careful!

~~~~~~~~~~~

Jonny was in a bad mood.

No, that wasn’t true, if Jonny was in a bad mood he would be shouting, shooting and drinking, but none of the Mechanisms had seen or heard Jonny in three days. There was something wrong with him and all could make a pretty educated guess what it was about.

You see, they were on their way to New Texas, Jonnys planet of origin. They had to go there in order to fix a screw for Brian. Doc Carmilla had picked some up on New Taxes when she took Jonny and used them to built Brian later, but as they’d recently discovered this type of screw was only produced there and they were out. So they had to go.

Jonny would’ve been fine, he told himself to be cool about it, they’d visited other peoples home planets and the others had been fine, so why wouldn’t he be? They’d even managed to avoid Marius in his own time line.

He could manage.

He could, until he couldn't.

It had taken a day for the reality to set in. They were within his mortal life years and since Brian didn’t trust anyone else to time jump and they weren’t sure if the screws would be produced in another time they had to go there and NOW.

Jonny wasn’t prepared to go back there, he wasn’t. He’d told them all the story, but it hadn’t been the complete truth and he would see everyone again and alive. His dad, Jack. That was just too much and he didn’t know how to function.

He’d been lying on his bed and staring at the ceiling, not doing much except letting the thoughts swirl around in his head until they spiraled.

In the end he snapped himself out of it by telling himself: you’re not letting them fuck you over again, the others will get suspicious and the last thing you want is more questions or not being allowed to come. You need to see everything for yourself, Marius is always going on about closure and stuff, it’ll be therapeutic. Just act normal.

Which is why he showed up the next day, showered and dressed. The others were shocked to see him, so he scowled at them and snapped: “What?”

Brian cleared his throat and replied: “Oh, uh, just surprised to see you. How are you feeling?”

Jonnys scowl deepened as he said: “I’m fine, nothing is going on.”

“That sounds like bullshit, Jonny.” Ashes told him.

“Well, I don’t remember asking for your opinion, Ashes.” Jonny snapped back at them.

They gave him a look, before saying: “And I did not ask for the attitude, seems like both of us don’t get what we asked for. Just because you’re in a bad mood doesn’t mean you get to be an asshole about it.”

If Jonny were any other person he would have apologized, but he wasn’t so instead he looked a bit guilty and said: “I know, just tense.” he saw them open their mouth and quickly added: “I wanna go. I have to go.”

They closed their mouth, but Brain said: “Are you sure?”

“Yes.” he snapped, then a bit calmer, “Yes, I don’t want you all out there without me, if any of you go I go. Besides, I know the way.”

He grinned at the last part, his mask fully forming again after everything. Luckily Brian seemed to get it and the others there didn’t comment either.

They arrived on New Texas the day after that.

Jonny had tried to be around the other as much as he could, just acting like himself to convince them he was really fine and up to it. If it was unconvincing no one had called him out on it yet and no one had tried to stop him.

Brian couldn’t move much and they didn’t need that much people to get fucking screws, so it was decided that Jonny would go along with Ashes and Tim, who would otherwise destroy the Aurora out of boredom.

The three of them stepped out on the desert planet and Jonny just stopped for a moment to take everything in. The same shacks that claimed they were homes, the same drunks asleep on the streets, the same kids in rags and the same dust flying through the air, everything was just the fucking same.

Ashes and Tim waited on him and he quickly caught up. He wanted to get out of here as soon as possible, so he hurried them over the fastest route to the blacksmith that made the screws. They wouldn't be spotted in the back way alleys, but Jonny didn’t give a fuck about that, so they went over the main road.

The small group got stares from everyone. They looked like they definitely didn’t belong here and folks around these parts didn’t take kindly to strangers, but they all had weapons in plain sight and they looked mad enough to use them, so they weren’t really stopped.

At least, not for a while.

Then a small boy came running up to them. He was around ten, had short light brown hair and shaggy clothes. Around his waist he had a broad belt with a flask and from his mouth hung a cigarette. In his hands he had a knife, but he didn’t hold it up as he blocked their way and demanded: “Who are y’all and what’re you doin’ here?”

A bit farther away a group kids was looking at him with a mix of awe and fear.

Jonny had forgotten how much of a little prick he’d been, how desperate for attention. He had no time to deal with himself, so he told the little fucker: “Go away, Jonathan, before I shoot ya and don’t you go thinkin’ I won’t.”

The kid frowned at that and hesitated, before saying: “I’ve never seen ya around, how’d ya know my name? Oh and it’s Jonny.”

Ashes and Tim were quiet as they looked between their First Mate and the kid. They’d never heard Jonny have anything but a British accent, but it seemed he’d slipped into his home accent without noticing.

It was also disconcerting how much the kid looked liked Jonny, but also didn’t.

The boy was Jonny but smaller, but he was too wary yet too naive to be their Jonny. He also didn’t care as much about his appearance or he just didn’t have the resources. Jonny took great pride in having nice clothes and stealing shiny jewelry, but it seemed his younger counterpart was content with the rags.

Meanwhile Jonny answered himself: “I think I’m gonna stick with Jonathan. Now scram.”

“No.” god little Jonny was even more pig headed than older Jonny.

They were gaining a crowd too, which wouldn’t be optimal, so Tim put a hand of Jonnys shoulder and said: “Jonny, I love a fight as much as the next person, but if we want to get out of here without fucking everything up, we need to move now.”

“Is your name Jonny too? Are you me? Is that why ya look like me?” kid Jonny inserted himself back into the conversation, “Also why’d ya have that weird accent?”

“God, you’re deceptive, why I ever believed my dad when he told me I was dumb, I’ll never know.” Jonny muttered to himself, before saying: “We ain’t from ‘round here and that’s enough for now, cause I’m done with ya.”

He had always been a small and scrawny, but Jonathan, little as he was, was even more so. Jonny could pick him up without problem and set him down out of their way, before walking away. He’d wanted to throw himself on the ground, but he didn’t want to give bystanders a reason to shoot them either.

Sadly, this did not deter the younger version him from trailing behind them, while asking questions. It had stopped being about impressing the other kids the moment this stranger knew his name.

Jonny ignored himself, but Tim and Ashes found it quite hilarious to see the mortal kid version of their crew mate. So when Jonathan asked: “Why’re y’all here?”

Ashes answered: “Buying some screws.”

“Why’re you doin’ that here though?” Jonathan asked, happy to get an answer.

“Because we need a specific type of screw that we can only get here.” Ashes said.

“Cool. Why’re y’all dressed so weird?” Jonathan pressed on.

Tim answered that one: “In my opinion it is you, who is weirdly dressed, but ignoring the phrasing. We’re dressed like this, because we’re not from around here. You don’t expect everyone to look like you, do you?”

The little kid though about it, before he said: “I dunno know. Ne’er seen anythin’ else.”

“You’ll get there.” Ashes told him.

“Stop giving him ideas, he’s already insufferable enough.” Jonny said, with his focus on Ashes and Tim the accent switched back. It was pretty weird.

Jonathan picked up on it too and asked: “Why’d ya accent get strange all o’ a sudden?”

They were almost at the smithy and he hoped the little shit wouldn’t be stupid enough to follow them in there, Jonny thought before he gave him a glare and replied: “That’s none of ya damn business.”

It seemed like he wasn’t, because the moment he noticed where they were going he stopped dead in his tracks. Jonny was happy to leave him there, but Ashes was suspicious of the sudden stop and asked: “What’s wrong, kid?”

Jonny rolled his eyes, but Jonathan just stammered: “Are y’all sure you gotta be there?”

Sharing a look with Tim Ashes nodded and asked Jonathan: “Yeah, why?”

“I ain’t wanna stop y’all or nothin’, but uncle Jack’s in there t’day and he don’t take kind to strangers interruptin’ him.” Jonathan told them.

Freezing with fear Jonny stayed quiet, but Tim curiously asked him: “Uncle Jack?”

Jonathan didn’t realize it wasn’t meant for him and answered: “Yeah, he takes care o’ me when dad looked too deep in the glass again, I can hide there when he starts hittin’, ya know. But he ain’t somebody ya wanna get on your bad side.”

That got Jonny looks from his companions, but he did not notice since internally his mind was scrambling for a plan of action. He couldn't send his friends in there alone, but he also didn’t want to be anywhere near the man.

Jack had been nice enough, until Jonny was old enough to pay back his fathers debt. It had all been manipulation to turn him into a willing murderer. He shuddered at the thought of those wondering hands he’d thought to be kind, but turned angry the moment he’d done something Jack hadn’t been pleased with.

He mentally checked in again, just in time to hear Ashes say: “We can handle a bit of a bastard, kid, we’re tougher than we look.”

Jonathan didn’t look convinced, but backed off and quickly ran away. Jonny couldn’t blame him, he wanted nothing more than to run after him. Jonathan was probably going to the dump where a small hole hid him when he didn’t want to be found.

But he couldn't, because he companions had already thrown open the door to the smithy and he had to rush after them into the lions den.

With the slam of the door the two men inside startled at the noise and Jonny was sure that if Jack was the type to get his hands dirty there would be a gun in his hands right now. The smith glared at them and said: “We’re closed.”

Jonny should probably speak right now, he had the accent so they were less likely to murder them if he spoke, but in order to speak he had to have functionally vocal cords. Instead Ashes answered: “Sign on the door begs to differ.”

“You ain’t from ‘round here.” the smith observed, “Go, y’all can come back later.”

Ashes was still staring them down, Jonny rooted to the floor next to them, but Tim was going past the racks until he’d found what they were looking for. He got up to the register and smiled: “We’re just taking these and then we’re gone and you can go back to your little secret special meeting, okay?”

Jack had stayed silent up until that point, but he wasn’t allowing such a thing, so when Tim was done he said: “You listen up, kid. We don’t take kindly to strangers ‘round here, so you can come back later like a good boy.”

He had obviously no idea, who he was talking to. Jonny had forgotten how proper Jack sounded compared to the rest of the town and hearing his voice again, made him instantly want to please Jack.

“We’ll go, no problem, sir. We’dn’t seen, ya know. My friends ain’t from ‘round ‘ere like ya guessed. I’ll set them straight. We don’t mean to bother y’all.” he said.

He was already clumsily backing away, happy with the pleased smile from Jack and ignoring the confused looks from Ashes and Tim. Before he could get out of there Jack stopped him: “You sound like you’re from ‘round here, but I haven’t seen you before.”

Jonny swallowed heavily and grimaced in an attempt to smile as he said: “It’s been ‘while.”

Jack hummed, it was his thinking hum. The hum he gave when he was deciding if you were worth anything or if whatever you had done deserved nothing but punishment. Jonny hated that hum.

He hated Tim even more when he said: “No, we’re not going. We just need this, it will be done in a second and everyone can go on their merry way. You’re all making this way more complicated than it has to.”

Mouth twisting into a thin white line, Jack gave the smithy a nod and the man pulled out his gun and shot Tim. Ashes sighed and went to pick up their idiot friend. They were mostly annoyed at Tim for making it violent, but overall didn’t seem to mind too much.

Jonny on the other hand did mind. His eyes had widened and he looked back to see in Jacks eyes that he had decided that they weren’t worth the air they were breathing. Panicking he helped Ashes get Tim out of the way, snatching the screw up as he told Jack: “‘M so sorry ‘bout ‘im, sir. He ain’t the sharpest tool in the shed, he sure didn’t mean it tha’ way.”

Jack ignored his apologies in favor of looking at Tim, he turned to Jonny deciding that he was the most likely to answer and asked: “Why’re you actin’ like that bastard is gonna stand up again?”

Looking between Jack and Tim, Jonny floundered for a second. He settled on shrugging and saying: “It’s just a flesh wound. This ain’t the worst this idiot went through.”

“He was shot through the head.” Jack told him, looking at him intently.

Jonny struggled about what to say next, but needn’t have bothered, since Tim was already coming to again. From where he was slung over Ashes shoulder he groaned and rubbed his head, before mumbling: “The asshole gave me a migraine.”

The smithy fainted and beside him Jacks eyes grew wide and he said: “That ain’t natural.”

“Ah, yeah, uhm, sorry ‘bout that. I’d’ve warned ya, but I don’t think you’d’ve believed me.” Jonny replied, “Anyway, it’s been an honor to see ya again, Jack, but we’re gonna have ta go.”

“How do you know my name?” Jack asked, but Jonny didn’t react, because he was already running away as fast as he could. Something that became even harder when Jack followed them out the smithy and yelled: “Stop them!”

There weren’t many people on the streets, but enough to be bothersome as they immediately did what Jack had asked of them.

They managed to dodge most of the fire and keep running with the hits they had taken, but before they could get out and to the Aurora Jonny got body slammed by a man and went down.

Ashes was about to shoot him in the head, but Jonny yelled: “Stop.”

He gave the man trying to choke him a better look. “This’ll give me a pretty pay.” his dad said.

Jonny could only look at the man, who had ruined his life in bafflement as he chocked him. He had forgotten the amount of gray hairs and the manic look in his eyes. Jonny did not like how familiar that sight was from the mirror.

“We don’t have time for this, Jonny.” Ashes said, kicking his dad of him and pulling Jonny up.

He went up willingly and was about to follow after Ashes when the sudden need to say something made him turn around. His dad was stumbling to his feet as Jonny said: “You’ve gotta listen to me, ‘kay. Look after ya boy, you gotta keep an eye on ‘em, promise me.”

“Why’d I promise you anythin’?” his dad asked him and he could smell the whiskey from here.

Deciding to just fuck it he said: “Because it’s me, dad. I ain’t from ‘round now and if you ain’t gonna look after me, you’re gonna loose me to Jack.”

“Why should I care if I loose that pest. That boy’s been nothin’ but trouble.” his dad told him, not even blinking at his harsh words.

Behind them Tim and Ashes shot at other pursuers. Jonny took a shaky breath as he remembered why he’d never felt bad about killing his father. He gave the man a steel cold gaze and said: “Good luck dyin’ then.”

And decked him in the face, letting him collapse onto the dirt with a smack, before running out of there as he tried to keep the tears in. He didn’t stop walking, not when they reached the Aurora, not when Marius asked if they’d succeeded, not when he felt the Aurora shuddered as she took off. He only stopped in his room where he crawled under the blankets and curled up into a ball.

Back at the entrance the others looked at Ashes and Tim. Both shook their heads sadly and Ashes said: “It’s probably best not to bring this up.”

“What happened then?” Brain asked.

“We had a bit of a run in with a few people.” Tim answered, “Jack, little Jonny, his dad.”

Some of the others cringed in sympathy, they could imagine how that went down, especially under the circumstances they’d returned.

“The only good thing was Jonny with a New Texas accent, but I don’t even get to make fun of him about that later.” Tim told them.

Everyone jumped on the chance of a new topic and Raphaella asked: “Oh, what then? What did he say? Can you do an impression?”

Tim thought about everything he’d heard Jonny said, before badly impersonating: “We’ll go, no problem, sir. We’dn’t seen, ya know. My friends ain’t from ‘round ‘ere like ya guessed. I’ll set them straight. We don’t mean to bother y’all.”

No one asked for the context and all just laughed when Ashes added: “‘m so sorry ‘bout ‘im, sir. He ain’t the sharpest tool in the shed, he sure didn’t mean it tha’ way.”

And after that it was never brought up again. Jonny joined them again a week later, giving them suspicious looks that fell away when he realized that no one was going to mention the red eyes and the smeared makeup as he got some new bottles from the kitchen.

They just sailed on to the next planet, wreaking havoc like always.

[weareallfallengods]

E.M.Pathos - Chapter 1 - Anticipation (new WIP, unedited)

Jenny was nervous.

First the first time in a very very long time, she was actually nervous. Not apprehensive, not cautious, not anticipatiory, not fearful. Just straight up nervous. For her it was an unusual experience.

It wasn't the tests coming up. No, she'd always strangely enjoyed being tested, measuring herself, having documentation of her own internal competition with herself. No it wasn't the tests. Or was it? She was actually quite excited to be part of this new program, to have been selected for the second round. So what was it?

She looked around the small, sterile waiting room for the hundredth time. 'Waiting room? More like hastily converted scientist's broom cupboard is more like it,' she mused. Stark white plastic chairs with no padding made her shift in her seat again. 

"They could have at least had some out of date 'zine's laying around," she muttered. "I mean what self respecting doctor doesn't have dozens of magazines that are like 5 years old just laying around?"

"Well for one thing, there's not even a coffee table to put em on Jenn-o. Which only makes the lack of coffee even more noticeable."

Trust Dax to complain about missing his morning fix. It didnt seem to matter how far from home they got, he always seemed to find a way to make coffee. Like that one time on Estoc Prime. Jenny shuddered at the memory. That one had been close. A little too close for any sort of comfort. She hadn't been able to look a cup of coffee in the face since then. Ok, sure, poisoning the commander of the ship that had hijacked them with espresso had been a stroke of genius from Dax, but it still brought back too many unpleasant thoughts; not something she needed today of all days. 

'Breathe. Just breathe. Dont think about that right now.'

Dax winced. "Sorry Jen-o. I'm just a bit nervous and having to go off caffeine entirely's made me a little spacey."

"Don't worry about it Dax, I understand. We're both a little jittery right now. You have any idea what to expect this round? I mean, last time, they were just like following me around for months with a bunch of weird cameras and asking a bunch of questions. Idk man, just wondering how this whole 'in-depth examination' thing is going to play out."

"Yeah, don't worry about it too much ay. She'll be right. We always are."

Jenny exhaled deeply again. Her mind was working overtime due to the lack of anything to hold her attention at all. There weren't even any cracks or motes of dust to stare at mindlessly to pass the time. 

"Stop chewing ya nails- you're gonna end up with hands like a Thraxian if ya don't cut that out."

"I'm nervous, Dax. Nervous. Me! Actually nervous. I dont even know why I'm here, much less how both of us got in, what they're going to be doing, whether I'm actually qualified, or any clue what any of the probably thousands of ways I could fuck this up somehow are."

"You worry too much. Over-sensitive, you are. Always have been. Then again, maybe that's why you made it to round two."

They fell silent again. This particular waiting room was definitely not conducive to conversation. Being alone in their own thoughts might have been worse though.

Dax started bouncing his leg rapidly. He was nervous too, but not from the unknown. He was more a combination of anxious and bored. Jenny placed a hand on his knee to still him again.

"Ugh, all that study and no one in IGSARC managed to figure out that bored humans are a dangerous thing to leave unsupervised." 

"We're not dangerous Dax! Jeez how many times do I have to tell you to stop buying into the hype and stereotypes?"

"Oh so you think IGSARC got funding for this second round of research just because they were curious? Nah, somebody on the Council is worried. Or hoping to find an advantage. Something. IGSARC found something they weren't expecting to find, and stereotype or not, I'd wager a month's ration of beer that they're either scared of us, or wanting to exploit us."

"God Dax, you're so negative! Maybe you really do need coffee to survive!" Jenny laughed, the bright sound tinkling around the small room they were ensconced in, brightening the mood instantly.

"Haha, yeah, you're probably right Jen-o. Ahhhh I'm just tired waiting is all! You always know how to make me feel better though.

Jenny smiled at her best friend. They'd been through so many things together, from the first day at the Merchant Academy when she'd accidentally stepped on a Lorathian cadet's tail and nearly started an intergalactic incident when her rush to apologize ended up with her hands in what were for Lorathians, very inappropriate places. Even just thinking of that still made her blush a tiny bit, even if it did make her smile. 

Dax had totally saved her bacon on that one, with his smooth talking, good looks and dazzling charm. The accent probably helped too. Not many actual Australians seemed to be out and about in the galaxy, and she had to admit, the combination of his dark brown skin, beach-blond curly hair and brilliant smile were the perfect combination to be disarmingly noticeable. He'd managed to get the Lorathian talking, and eventually the two sauntered off, Dax with his arm around the other, headed to the Canteen. They'd been fast friends ever since.

'That was such a long time ago now,' Jenny, lost in her own thoughts again sighed. 'Well, it seems like it was a long time ago anyway.'

"How long's it been Dax? Since we met, I mean. Seems like I've known you forever."

"What? You forget me that easily? I'm insulted!" Dax laughed easily. "Probably about as long as we've been sitting in this damn room."

"So what, 5 years?" Jenny chuckled.

"Sounds about right. Fuck we were so much younger then."

Jenny punched him. "Hey! Speak for yourself!"

"Hahaha gotta get the dig in when I can Jen-o!"

Just then, right as she was cocking back to punch him again, the near-invisible door to the room hissed open.

The IGSARC representative did not come in. Their face was obscured by the doorframe, but the clipboard they held was dwarfed by the massively long fingered blue hand that clutched it to their chest like a child's treasured toy.

"I apologize for my tardiness, it was unavoidable. Also, please forgive the sparseness of the accommodations at the moment, our study is only just getting started." The alien scientist had bent down to be able to see into the room better while speaking, and now Jenny and Dax were able to see them properly.

"Ah where are my manners! I apologize again, we are all just so excited about this newest phase! Let us introduce ourselves properly, so if you would be so kind as to step out here, as I am sure it would become even more uncomfortable in there were I to attempt entry."

"We should've just waited in the damn hallway," Dax muttered to Jenny as they stepped out into the large corridor that stretched along the top deck of the starship. 

The view from the glass that looked out into the neighboring nebula from the floor to ceiling glass on one side was truly breathtaking. Or at least, it would have been, had Jenny not been short of breath already, due to the nervousness from earlier slamming back into her like and old earth freight train. The momentary reprieve from it, courtesy of Dax, evaporated as quickly as liquid nitrogen on Mercury. He was right though, the hallway was wide enough that they could’ve driven their ‘spacers to the meeting, parked in the hall and still had enough room left for a dinner party. It just made the cramped waiting room seem all the more ridiculously sized. 

The scientist caught her attention again as they started speaking again.

“Allow me to introduce myself- I am Doctor Itraxilitanthudinilatz of the IGSARC Advanced Research Division. I realize my name is a bit of a mouthful for most humans, so you may call me Doctor Traxi. Firstly, I want to welcome you to the second phase of a very exciting program! We here in ARD are extremely excited to be working with you for the next 18 to 24 months on this groundbreaking area of research. Since today is the first day of the program, we’ll be beginning with a brief tour of the area of the facility that will become your home, your quarters, and the areas of the ship that will be accessible to you. Unfortunately, due to the highly classified nature of our work here together, as well as the parameters of the research, in order to eliminate any external influencing factors, you will not be permitted access to the entire ship, however, we’ve made sure to include a large array of amenites within the research facility’s designated areas, so you should not feel too restricted.”

Of course, Dax raised his hand. 

“Did ya at least make sure there’s a pub in there?”

“Ah. Sadly, at the moment, no, however, being aware of the necessity for many humans to participate in ritual toxification, there will come a stage in this project where that will be made available, but sadly, until we reach that stage, your dietary intake will be strictly monitored, which does include the elimination of any physiologically altering substances, at least for now. But more on that later! We will go over all these things and answer as many of your questions as possible during the orientation period tomorrow. For now, let’s begin the tour!”

As Dr. Thraxi started off down the insanely large corridor, Dax grabbed Jenny’s arm. “Great, first no coffee and now no beer!”

“Yeah I know, you’re torn up about it. OMG Dax, just suck it up for now, you should’ve known what you were signing on for,” Jenny hissed under her breath. “You’re just being a baby about it right now because you haven’t had any coffee for a week.”

“Right, I know, and now it looks like I’m not gonna for ages too!” Dax whispered back. 

“Shush and pay attention!”

“...of course this corridor will be off limits due to it being the main concourse connecting the two main parts of the ship. Our section is coming up, which I hope you will find most adequate.” Dr. Thraxi had been droning on for the couple of minutes that it took them to make it about a third of the way down the observation concourse, when they turned to a side hallway, significantly smaller than the main walk, stopping in an alcove facing a large frosted glass door. Dr. Thraxi placed six of his long fingers on a blank section of the wall next to the door, at which point the door frame lit up a pale blue, and the glass slid open silently like some fey portal to another world. 

A disembodied voice called out softly, “Welcome back Dr. Thraxi. I have detected that you have guests. Are they the new study subjects?” 

“Yes thank you Janet, these are the newest participants in the second phase of our research. Could you please update their files?”

“Of course Doctor. Subject 1, please step forward.”

Doctor Thraxi gestured at Dax, who took two steps forward into the main room. 

“Scanning. Linking data files. Subject 1: Dax Fellowes. Planet of origin: Terra Prime. Age: 35. Height: 172 centimeters. Weight: 95.2 kilos. Species: Human. Genetic Sub-group: Aboriginal Scottish Australian. Hair: Blond. Eyes: Brown. Circulatory system: Internal, Pressurized Atrial system. Condition: Healthy. Respiritory System: Dual internal lung. Primary absorbative content: Oxygen. Condition: Healthy. Registering bio-markers. Profile complete. Please state your name for voice-print identification.” 

“Uh, Dax Fellowes.”

“Registering Ah Dax Fellowes.”

“Oh wait, hold up, that’s not right, my name’s just Dax Fellowes.”

“Adjusting. Voice print identification for Dax Fellowes saved. Thank you.”

“Stupid bloody machine,” Dax muttered to himself as Dr. Thraxi walked past him into the main area of the lab. 

“Jenny, if you could also step forward now so that Janet can scan you as well please.”

She stepped forward into the room, and was instantly too caught up in looking around to pay any attention to Janet’s robotic voice as the scan proceeded. She was too interested in seeing all the other scientists milling about, some lounging and talking in the common area of the room at the far wall, where a window the size of her mother’s old van framed the expanse of deep space, a dark contrast to the low white couches that were currently occupied by several scientists- at least she assumed they were based on the white lab coats that matched what Thraxi was wearing. Off to the side several others were gathered around a couple small tables, chatting and eating. Various posters and artworks were scattered tastefully across the walls. One in particular caught her attention since it seemed to be a hologram representing the birth of a star that was constantly changing and moving in all three dimensions. 

“Please state your name for voice print identification.”

The ethereal voice of Janet snapped Jenny’s attention back to the present. 

“Jenny O’Rourke.”

“Voice print identification for Jenny O’Rourke saved. Thank you. You both may now access all areas of the lab designated Participant Level 1 security clearance.”

“Excellent! Now that you’re registered in the system, let’s get you acquainted with the areas of our facility that you’ll be using most!”

The rest of the hour long tour went by in a blur- both because listening to Dr. Thraxi was just so monotonous, despite their best effort to be engaging, but there’s only so peppy you can be about showing off chairs and toilets, but also because the reality of what she’d signed up for was starting to sink in, as the more and more they saw of the research facility, the more it became clear that she and Dax were the only visible humans in the entire place. Although the variety of species was astounding, even for a deep space vessel, and that one game of four player multi-dimensional chess looked fascinating, Jenny found herself simply letting the information wash over her. 

“...and that brings us to the conclusion of our tour! I hope that the two of you will be comfortable during your stay with us. We all look forward to working with you, and I’ll be introducing you to the rest of the Phase 1 research team tomorrow at 10:00 hours in Conference 3. If you don’t remember where it is, that’s fine, just ask Janet for directions.”

Dr. Thraxi turned to leave Jenny and Dax standing in the middle of what could have passed as a comfortable modern hotel shared suite lounge, his clipboard fluttering slightly at the rapid movement. 

“Oh hey, one more thing Doc!” Dax called out as Dr. Thraxi stepped through the doorway. 

“Yes?”

“Dumb question, but what’s Janet? She a person, a computer, what? I was pretty sure computer, but the responses are pretty personalized.”

“Ah yes, one of our earlier successes actually- Janet, an acronym of “Genuine Artificial Neural Network” is an AI program designed to interface between all of our various systems. We worked quite hard on getting her responses to seem more natural, as well as being able to understand intent over data requisitions.”

“Bonza mate, thanks for the tour,” Dax yawned. “I think I’ll be hitting the sack soon then, been a long day.”

“I understand. Will see you at the meeting in the morning.” Dr. Thraxi stepped back and the door whisked shut.

“What was that about Dax? Like why do you even care what their stupid computer is called?” Jenny was a bit irritated. Bed definitely sounded like a really good option. 

“I don’t give a royal shit what their computer program is called, it can go fuck itself and the rest of this program for all I care. I wanted to ask an innoccuous question to see something.”

“Whoa there boyo, why the hostility all of a sudden? I thought you were all pumped for this program, except for the lack of coffee.”

“Yeah well I was excited for it....until the tour.”

“Ok buddy you’re starting to scare me, what gives?”

“I’m not sure- I can’t put my finger on it yet, but there’s something...off about this place.”

“Damn. I wish you hadn’t said that Dax.”

“Why? Oh no! Oh did I just trigger you again without thinking? You ok?”

“No no, that’s not it, it wasn’t you. This whole place kinda started putting me on edge soon as we walked through those doors too. I kinda tuned the doctor out while they were showing us around, but that gave me more time to look around at everyone else here. You notice we’re the only humans in this facility?”

“Yeah. That we saw anyway.”

“Dax. Don’t make this more melodromatic than necessary. But yeah, no other humans. Ok that could be explained away with we’re the first ones in this section of the study. Fine, i’ll buy that.”

“But…”

“Yeah, there’s always a ‘but’. I hate ‘buts’.”

“Bullshit, you love a good butt.”

“Dax! For real! I’m being serious!”

“I know, I know, I can’t help it, you know me when there’s a chance for an inappropriate joke, I gotta jump on it ay.”

“Not the time man. Anyway. I couln’t tell what was setting me off either, but I just got more and more uneasy as we went through the tour.”

“Yeah me too Jen-o. That’s why I asked ol’ Blueberry Slenderman about the AI. I wanted to see if there was a difference between when he was on-script versus off it.”

“And?”

“Did ya notice the darker purpley markings on his hands and neck?”

“Yeah…”

“Well, they change color slightly- they get darker and lighter. I thought I was seeing things at first, but that last bit confirmed it.”

“So what, his skin changes colors a little. Loads of aliens have that.”

“Right, they do, but this one’s interesting, because the minute we walked through the facility doors, he started lying to us. Right up until I asked him about the AI. And even then, he lied about something in that explanation of what it is.”

“Well duh, of course he was lying- probably not our definition of it though; if his spots react to deception like our pupils do, it could’ve been a reaction to the fact that there’s a lot more going on here than he was covering in the tour, a lot of it’s classified, and a lot of it he’s saving for tomorrow! Doesn’t mean he’s like lying lying.”

“I hope you’re right Jen-o. I hope you’re right.” Dax sighed. She was probably right. She usually was; Jenny had good instincts. Probably one of the reasons she was here to begin with. Then again, so did he. Instincts that had saved his life on more than one occasion, so Dax had learned to trust his gut. And something was definitely not right about this place. 

He just hoped it didn’t bite them in the ass. 

[truthbeetoldmedia]

Wynonna Earp 3x03 "Colder Weather" Review

Hello friends, my TV shows have been trying to kill me with sadness this last week or so (if any of you dear readers also watch The 100, you know what I’m talking about). Episode 3x02 of Wynonna Earp left us all reeling with the shocking and VERY unexpected death of our beloved Deputy Marshal Xavier Dolls.

We were not prepared, but I dare say the showrunner and writers were; this episode, aptly named “Colder Weather”, is a beautiful bleeding love letter to a character that sadly we didn’t know well enough before his demise, but we still loved without measure. I wish all TV shows that killed off beloved or lead characters were this good at finding ways to explore our characters as they navigate a very fresh wound while also giving the newly passed on character closure and a final bow.

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted" - Matthew 5:4

We open to a close up of Wynonna's eye with a giant tear sliding down her lashes, swigging a bottle of whiskey drunkenly in the snowy woods, yelling at a demon to literally come out and fight her...grief is not going well in Purgatory for our hero(es). Of course, a concerned Waverly and Nicole are nearby with guns, letting Wynonna purge her pain the only way she seems to know how.

A demon does show up to fight, but not the one she wants, not Bulshar. She exchanges some barbs with the revenant before dispatching him, but Wynonna is far too numb to even enjoy his demise. This is the cold open to a somber episode.

Next thing you know, Waverly and Nicole are picking out Dolls’ casket. We actually get a light moment here with Nicole telling Waves of her desire at death, to be eaten by the birds of the air and then “dispatched” over the land she loves vs being buried. Someone needs to give Nicole the 411 on what is and ISN’T bittersweet romantic topics.

Wynonna, unable to even accept that Dolls is truly gone forever, removes herself from the house for some nice healthy target practice whilst imagining Bulshar’s head in the place of the tin cans, I would assume.

This leads to one of my favorite moments of the episode: Wynonna and Doc having a heart to heart in the cold, gloomy snow. This moment isn’t a shipping moment (although I do LOVE these two together in any form), it’s just Wynonna taking a moment to be vulnerable, to bury her face into the shoulder of a friend. “I’ve been through all of this before, with Daddy, and Shorty and WIlla” and I’m sure in a way she and Doc were also thinking about Baby Alice; even though she is very alive it must still feel like a death to them. Doc just offers her deep love and comfort with no strings attached, telling her Dolls died a hero saving them all, just trying to squeeze all the pain out of her and himself, his last words to Dolls still haunting him.

They talk about what Dolls would want; Doc tells the story of how back in his day a man that “died with his boots on” got buried in a special location (Boot Hill, HA! super original name) and was buried with a bottle of the finest whiskey money could buy (which he then confessed he would steal). Wynonna gives us a detail we didn’t know before: Dolls was from Arizona! But she states that they were his chosen family and he would want to be buried and mourned by them.

"When the tears come streaming down your face, when you lose something you can’t replace" - Coldplay

Speaking of mourning, I love how this episode gives each character a “grief arc” and all their reactions just feel so, so real.

Wynonna is still denying she won’t talk to him again, saying things like “He’s not cutting him up, no way!” when she finds out Jeremy is doing the autopsy on Dolls’ body. Her rage at Bulshar, her inability to accept what she knows is TRUE and very much real. It’s truly heartbreaking and Melanie Scrofano destroys your heart with palpable grief in every scene; every season she just sets the performance bar higher.

Waverly reminds me of myself in grief or sadness, she must do all the things! Pick the casket! Go to Dolls’ place for his funeral clothes! Make 15 different types of sandwiches! Take care of Wynonna! It also makes her think about her own mortality, and how finite her young life is. She is even more bubbly than usual and it’s even bothering her because she keeps giggling. (Fact: I am like this, the more uncomfortable or upset I am the more I fight to be the opposite.)

Doc is the opposite, sullen, angry (mostly at himself), his last words to Dolls’ haunting him. He lashes out in a way that feels all too real when Waverly accuses him of having “no feelings”; he, without flinching, sends his entire glass of whiskey shattering against the wall, saying, “Is that feeling enough for you?!” Wynonna, Waverly and Nicole look shocked, and Waverly looks a little scared; no doubt it triggered old memories of her dad's explosive and abusive ways. You can tell as Doc exits the Earp home he feels terrible about it; he is not in a place to deal with it yet (thankfully he and Waverly do get to talk later), but in the moment the tension is thick.

Nicole, as it turns out, had a very strong and “professional” friendship with Dolls — she even had a key to his apartment! Which they use to find him funeral clothes, and they also find a letter to Wynonna he left amongst his things. Nicole fills Waverly in on how he was tracking down old files on the cult of Bulshar massacre she survived as a kid for her! They both checked in on each other because they were both “officers in the line of duty.” They just got each other. Dolls confided in her; “He had a traumatic past, so he thought he could help me with mine” she tells a rather taken aback Waverly, who is still processing that her normal girlfriend is not as normal as she thought. Nicole breaks down, “but I couldn’t save Dolls, he was trying to help me and now he’s dead,” her grief mingled with guilt much like Doc’s.

The moment is interrupted by a shadow outside of Dolls window, which is three floors up. It’s vampire Kate, who steals Waverly’s bag and is gone in a flash. What is her exact motive? It remains to be unseen. Waverly had of course put the letter from Dolls in her bag.

Jeremy may have the shortest end of the grief stick as he knew Dolls was going to die — but Dolls had made him swear not to tell anyone, leaving him with a huge burden. The drugs killed Dolls but a grief-stricken Wynonna sees Jeremy as the thing to blame in the moment. “I will never forgive you for this” she whispers through hot tears. Jeremy retorts, “I get it, it’s easier to blame me than the dead dragon.” His angry reply hits Wynonna in the face like ice water, and she informs Jeremy to pack up his stuff and get out of Purgatory.

Everyone is just so raw and sad and angry; it gives such realness to these fictional people that you feel all the barbs and tears.

Lastly, the griever no one was expecting or asked for is Dolls’ former Black Badge colleague Ramon Quinn — who shows up in Shorty's bar looking for a drink and info on Dolls, startling an irate Doc who’s just discovered the bar has been broken into and trashed, but all that seems to be missing is the “banana liqueur.” (Revenants actually stole all of Dolls’ drugs Jeremy had made and stored in the fridge, but we will get to that.)

Quinn fills her in on some backstory: he and Dolls were part of the same Black Badge squad and Quinn explains that Dolls’ squad would place coded messages in ads in magazines to signal to each other so they could attend each other’s funerals without Black Badge knowing.

He also fills Wynonna in on some of Dolls’ past, most of it sad — making me feel even worse about him losing his life so young. Quinn wears the dog tags of all his fallen Black Badge squad who are all dead besides him, as a result of the experiments, because the injections always fail eventually. Quinn didn’t have the right blood type to be experimented on, so instead he was the one tasked with having to catch escapees from the Black Badge facility, a place Dolls escaped seven times. (I have issues with the idea of writing this particular storyline, where a white officer of sorts chased and captured a black man being held against his will over and over again, even though he was also technically a prisoner of sorts, but I digress.)

"They can have a terrible power over you...the power of grief, and loss, and of regret." - Babylon 5, Episode 3x11

All of the character moments and plot threads of this episode seem to lead up to the wake Waverly has planned at Shorty’s — the very thing Wynonna seems hellbent on avoiding. She instead gets drunk with Quinn, which probably didn’t pan out the way she was hoping. He asks her “who had Dolls’ back?”, insinuating that she and the gang dropped the ball. He also sets off her internal alarm when he says he doesn’t think Black Badge is really gone and they might come for Dolls’ body, since all the other “BB experiments” were buried in unmarked graves to prevent theft of their bodies. Something he wants Wynonna to think about. She of course goes to the morgue to check on Dolls’ body, where ever faithful Sheriff Nedley sits guarding it. Even he gets a small moment of reflection on Dolls some of the losses he has also recently experienced.

Wynonna heads back to Shorty’s to honor her friend, where she finds everyone is toasting Dolls and eating Waverly’s many sandwiches. Doc finally approaches Waverly to apologize for his behaviour and confides in her his last words to Dolls and his fear of going back to hell one day. She is of course ready and willing to forgive him, but she needs him to help her get her purse and Wynonna’s letter back from Kate, the mention of her name painting Doc’s face with annoyance. But he will do anything for the Earp girls, so they sneak out of the wake to confront Kate.

Nicole finds Jeremy hanging out in the cellar of the bar; he feels like his presence would not be welcome. They finally discover that all of Dolls’ drugs are missing! (I told ya I’d get back to this.) And just like any perfectly timed TV show, the revenants — jacked up on Dolls’ drugs — come barreling in, crashing Dolls’ wake. Wynonna, Nicole, Ramon, and Jeremy fight them all with all the rage you would expect. Wynonna calls Doc’s phone for backup only to have Waverly answer; they are still on a mission to save the letter from vampire Kate.

Waverly finally asks Doc the question we’ve all been wanting to know: “Who is she?”

Doc is to the point and honest: “She’s my wife.” Dun dun dun! I am sure if you’re like me you already had your sneaking suspicions, but Waverlys response is pure GOLD. “Does anyone around here NOT have a secret wife?” Only time will tell, Waves. Kate seems to just be jealous and wanting attention from Doc, usings the Earp sisters to lure him. She sure does seem to know what makes Doc tick.

Waverly confronting her with all her riled up feelings is priceless; she goes to flip Kate’s tarot table “Jesus in the temple style”, but when that doesn’t work she threatens to get a stake. Do not get on this little bb’s bad side, guys!

Kate seems to think Doc is so loyal because “the fiery little Earp reminds you of Wyatt” to which he gives the best side eye while responding “Waverly ain’t even an Earp” and exits smoothly like the southern gentleman he is. Kate picks up her fallen tarot cards and must see “something” spooky, stating, “She’s SOMETHING alright.” I think we all know that we are gonna find that out this season, and I hope it happens soon.

Back at the bar Nicole busts out some tough love for Wynonna after trying to cut her off from drinking. Wynonna’s response of “a man I l….someone I love is dead” may have made my heart crack right down the middle.

“You’re not the only one who lost him. You don’t get the monopoly on the grief we all feel.” That line drives home the theme of this whole episode. They all hurt and the pain is different for each of them, but you can’t tell someone your pain is more important than theirs.

Wynonna is on her way to apologize to Jeremy when she discovers Quinn torturing him for Dolls drugs. He wants to use them and storm Black Badge and get revenge. Here is when he confesses to being a “good soldier” to Black Badge and bringing Dolls and the other squad members back to captivity when they escaped. “Even when he begged me not to.” This realization bookends Dolls life with a tragic start and a tragic end — but he did have a hopeful middle, filled with people that loved him and he whom he loved back.

Of course Wynonna talks him down and asks him to do some digging see if Black Badge is still really out there. She also gives Quinn Dolls’ dog tags that she had been holding onto.

"He was footprints in the snow. Not all loves are meant to last, some are meant to grace you briefly." - Jacqueline Simon Gunn

The burial is a bittersweet and moving scene in the snowy shadows of the Earp homestead. (They decided to cremate him so “his body could never be used as currency again.” What a profound statement, if you think about it.)

Each of our heroes get to say their goodbyes, Waverly kissing the stylish scarf Dolls seemed to be fond of (I will miss style icon Dolls!) and lays it to rest with his ashes.

Nicole adds his badge, and salutes her fallen brother in arms. Doc adds a bottle of his finest whiskey and kneels, making the sign of the cross — a moving gesture since his last words to Dolls were those of condemnation.

Jeremy adds Dolls’ beloved “X” coffee mug.

Wynonna doesn’t add anything of Dolls’ but instead removes her keepsake necklace from Greece, the first thing Dolls found in the woods in Episode 1x01. His comment that “we might be looking for a Greek goddess” is now a nice bit of foreshadowing, since the word on the key is Greek for Athena, fittingly the goddess of wisdom and war. He returned the necklace to her as well, so she is essentially leaving a piece of her with him which just makes me tear up all over again.

The Earp sisters chat around a bonfire, Waverly finally delivering the envelope Dolls left to Wynonna. Its contents: a group picture of the gang looking happy around a dinner table, taken by Dolls (she whispers “I remember this day!’); “Keep going, keep fighting,” a reminder of the words he spoke to her that day giving her a sense of hope, and maybe even peace; and a single snapshot taken of her, unaware. A final way for him to say “I always look out for you, Wynonna.” A silent way of saying I love you, without expectations. His final sacrifice was for her and their friends and he wouldn’t have it any other way.   

The final scene of the episode was a bit odd to me, Doc going back to confront Kate (Contessa, as he calls her). She tells him Wyatt never stopped looking for him. And that for years she believed him dead and when she heard he had “risen”, she came looking for him. Her hard work of trying to get him involved with her again pays off as the last scene is of them kissing.

I get the feeling that it will be a short lived happy reunion for this marriage, as I do not trust her motives of coming to Purgatory just to get back with Doc, but we shall see!

Final thoughts:

I loved the mournful acoustic version of the theme song they used for the episode

Will Quinn be back as a recurring character? I kinda hope not, but I guess as long as they don’t try and replace Dolls with him I’m okay with seeing him again

What the heck is Waverly, guys? I’m concerned

I think Kate (Contessa) is an interesting character but I don’t trust her motives with Doc

Jeremy’s mustache still needs to go

The way Doc says “banana liqueur” had me rolling

Doc hogtying Quinn with a strand of  Christmas lights is some high quality resourcefulness

Thank you all for going through this emotional roller coaster of an episode with me, until next time Earpers!

Wynonna Earp airs Fridays at 9/8c on Syfy.

Gina’s episode rating: 🐝🐝🐝🐝

[morbidoptimisim]

Alpha rose/condesce is really cool. Also may i suggest as a thing to think about alpha rose/condesce/roxy with a roxy who was raised in part by the condesce and didn’t find out about Rose until later so isn’t completely human in her culture (and thus sees nothing wrong with trying to get into her mothers bed for instance)

I see Roxy getting a new mom, and raise you,,

Roxy getting TWO new moms;;

~~~~

Rose held her breath as she felt a fluidic weight press and shift onto the bed followed by an insistent limb. 

She knew, without either Seeing nor looking, that it was not her beautiful Alternian Matesprite who was crawling into her bed, having adorned it with a flurry of fresh blankets. 

Kanaya was already sitting in bed beside her, reading by her own phosphoresce. 

Kanaya, likely just as surprised as she was, made no comment as Roxy started sliding her way under the covers. 

Her silence prompted Rose to roll into a sitting position and speak. 

“Roxy, while I hope that you know I am every ounce as eager and instant that we mold each other into our lives under our own terms, it is with my sincerest apologies that I must put my metaphorical foot down and insist that now is the time for resting and a cease to fraternizing chatter. Family bonding may continue at breakfast post hence.”  

“That’s fine with me,” Roxy replied unperturbed as she settled herself on the portion of the mattress without a pillow and shoved one of the blankets she had brought with her under her arm and cradled her head within the makeshift miniature nest; “I’m good at piling without knocking horns.”

Rose heard Kanaya’s breath catch in her thorax, causing her plating to shift and readjust.

Rose fought a blush in her cheeks; as she opened her mouth to speak, she felt Kanaya place a hand upon her thigh. Rose stilled herself.

“Roxy darling, may I ask you a personal question?” Kanaya asked gently, her cadence crisp; “Consider Rose’s ban on bonding momentarily disregarded, if you please.”   

“Sure,” Roxy agreed, shrugging her free shoulder. 

“I would say that I don’t mean to pry, but that is in fact what I am doing. Since meeting you, which for the proverbial record I am very glad that I have, I have noticed a strong Alternian influence within you that I cannot find semblance to explain in that your behaviors and mannerisms and dare I say, your speech, all reflect cultural norms that your other session’s players lack,” Kanaya began, her posture rightened; “If it’s not too culturally insensitive to ask, why is that?”

Roxy’s face maintained its odd smile for a moment long enough for Rose to realize that the reason for its uncanny appearance, was for the Alternian resemblance her face was trying to mimic; all at once her mind raced across the moments since their meeting, and all the tells and surprises that Rose had forgone investigating. 

Since spending three years with Kanaya and the other trolls, she had herself picked up the cultural phrase or custom or two, but her own habits were a far cry from the unabashed ease that Roxy had maneuvered through her greetings and subsequent discussions not only with Kanaya, but the other trolls as well. As if she had been doing it all her life; the pitches, the body posture, the slang and fossil phrases that Roxy routinely whipped out of nowhere for any occasion.

Kanaya, and the others, had taken to Roxy with such quickness, that it still seemingly surprised them when they visibly recalled that Roxy was in fact, a human. 

Rose felt an insatiable curiosity piqued. 

“I… Well,” Roxy faltered quietly; she looked from the bed, to Kanaya, to Rose; “The Condesce was my Lusus.” 

The silence of the room was permitted only by the sounds of the house and the fluttering Aumunal sounds of the world beyond their walls; Roxy, slowly, sat up. Still surrounded by silence, Roxy started to pull the waistband of her pajama bottoms down over her hip.

Rose watched in morbid fascination as a distinct scar was revealed on her mother/daughter’s thigh. 

Kanaya inhaled a breath in such as fashion that Rose was inclined to call it a gasp. She herself, was only omitted from such a reaction for the set of force she had locked into her jaw when Roxy had first entered their bed. 

“She was reely nice to me, ya’ know? Growin’ up,” Roxy murmured, more to her own memories than to either of them. “I splashed into the shallows of the beach the day my meteor landed, and sea was waiting there, for me. Sea picked me up and took me to her ship and that was that. She covered me in gold and pink glitter and taught me how to make fish puns.”

Roxy smiled sadly, her vulnerable posture illuminating her human physique, for the trollish posturing of her contortioning; “Sea’d always tell me shoreies of what Alternia had been like, of what the other planets in her empire were like, and everything; sea used ta’ bake me cakes.” 

She glanced at them both, her beautiful eyes wet and sparkling under Kanaya’s light. 

“Sea gave me almost everything I ever asked for, and sea never let anything reely hurt me. Then one day, I asked her what kind of troll I was, since I bled red and didn’t have any horns yet.”

Roxy looked back to the bed and bite her lip slightly before huffing to herself; “That night, when she took me to bed, she told me about my mother, about Earth, about Dirk.”

Tension shivered along Roxy’s shoulder’s; Rose’s hand shot forward. 

Unsure of herself, Rose let her hand hover near Roxy’s body; as human, Rose had been warned many times that her and Dave’s geed intention had been… promiscuous at best and downright uncalled for and nearly invasive, near their core. 

Roxy however, didn’t make any clicks or jolt away in recoil; she leaned thoughtlessly into the touch, sliding her shoulder along the outstretched palm until it was her neck and then her cheek resting against its cradle. 

Encouraged, Rose offered her other hand in what she hoped was an interspecies recognized gesture of welcome and wordlessly, Roxy crawled handfirst over her legs before gently collapsing her weight onto her. 

Kanaya pulled closer towards them; her book forgotten, Kanaya tucked her knees along Rose’s legs and shifted her torso so that the space between them all was smaller. 

Safe, Rose thought, before then thinking, more intimate.

“Did the Condesce… That is, when you…” Kanaya asked gently in the same tone Rose vividly remembered in the way Kanaya had on several occasions inquired about her estranged relationship with her own respective guardian and the resulting emotional fallout and resulting struggles with mood-altering liquids.  

“She told me once that only heiresses could fight the empresses and claim a title. So, after she told me about humans and she dropped me off at my mother’s house and left without looking back, I think we both kinda knew how things would end up,” Roxy muttered; “It sucked.”

Rose wrapped her arms around Roxy as best as she was able. 

“It’s alright though, ‘cause I have you molts now,” Roxy chirruped as she nuzzled against Rose’s neck and pressed herself along the contour of her body.

Rose shifted her gaze to lock eyes with her wife; Kanaya’s comforting smile assured her that their life was going to be a bit more complicated then she had anticipated.

“Rose dear.”

“Yes, darling?”  

“I do believe that come tomorrow, we should endeavor to procure a larger slumber rack; and sopor tub that seats four, instead of two.”     

“Naturally, my love.”

Rose closed her eyes and relaxed to the feeling of Roxy’s weight breathing peacefully against her chest. 

A few moments later, she felt Roxy reach up and tug a lock of her hair. 

Rose’s eyes flicked back to Kanaya, who returned her gaze with an amused chuckle before beginning to flick her internal flutter organ into a rythmatic hum.

Rose’s attention was broken when Roxy tugged her hair harder; annoyed Rose scowled at Roxy for all of a heartbeat before Roxy nipped lightly at her chin. 

Her memory sparking, Rose’s cheeks began to flush. 

“Goodnight, my Roxy,” Rose murmured, before giving her a chaste kiss.

“’Night Mom,” Roxy lilted; she waited a moment before shifting slightly to look up curiously at Kanaya. 

“You can refer to me however you wish, little empress,” Kanaya murmured, her Alternian accent thickening; she rested her head against her pillow and nuzzled into Rose’s neck; Rose was somewhat grateful for Kanaya’s habit of pilfering her body heat, now that Roxy was practically radiating it on top of her.  

A few seconds beat by, as Kanaya’s light began to dim; Rose felt the muscles along Roxy’s throat constrict and contract as if she too, were trying to produce the pulsing hum that Kanaya and their housecats happily produced when sedate.  

‘Night then, Kanama,” Roxy hazily murmured; “Can we have grubcakes for breakfast?”

Kanaya started to chuckle as Rose breathed a single, mournful groan.   

[ainomessage]

Le Mouvement Final - Spoiler Free Report *Warning - long ass post.  I went to see the musical in Tokyo 4 times this year! I had only planned on seeing it 3 times, but well... 😅 Before my first show I got my nails done at my usual place, Cocotte in Harajuku. I asked for the planets (/moon) for each senshi plus shooting stars for the lights. To see more of Mashima’s incredible work, check out his insta! He paints every tiny detail by hand with itty bitty brushes.  Wednesday, September 13 I went to this show by myself, but was able to meet up with the lovely @redcat36 @miniaturephantomprincess and @clockworkangel ! Everyone was super sweet and it was wonderful to be able to share the myu experience with fellow international moonies who were just as crazy for the cast as me.😆 This was also the fateful day in which I made the mistake of buying just enough can badges to get myself hooked. My seat was in the 6th row on the left side (facing the stage) so my view was good other than occasionally having a few things blocked by cast members or set pieces. I’m very glad that I wasn’t alone in how much crying I was doing throughout the show. Everyone around me had tissues out and you could hear sniffling throughout the theater. That evening Hinari played Chibi Chibi, and you could hear the whole theater squeal when she first appeared on stage. TOO. CUTE. 💖 Poor Shuu had a lot of mishaps - she flubbed one line, her suspenders popped off, and she almost missed touching Sayaka’s hand during THAT scene. After the show there was a Starlights + Kakyuu sendoff, which went by WAY too fast. I later learned I could slow it down a bit and am sad I didn’t do this for the Lights, but alas. After the show we waited outside the theater to say goodbye to the cast. Hinari gave everyone high fives (AWW) and the Lights stopped to talk to people for a bit! Saki shook my hand and noticed my Kuma Crafts Star Yell necklace and said my Galaxia + Animamates t-shirt was cool.💚 Friday, September 15 This time I went with my good friend @kaikinapela  and once again met up with the other girls. This was one of the “fanclub service days” which I have to say was a disappointment. The possible prizes were a photoshoot with the cast, a signed pamphlet, or... a sticker. As you can probably guess, we all got the sticker. I think they could have done better for a third prize, especially considering the sticker was the same image as the flyer. They could have at least given us an original photo! We did, however, miraculously manage to get first row seats through the fanclub! The picture of the stage above is from that seat. I’m not sure it quite does justice to how crazy close we were. The actresses were all about 2 feet in front of my eyes, it was insane. Several times I got distracted from the show by just staring at whoever was in front of me. This is when I learned that Kobayashi Yuka (Seiren) has a belly button piercing lol. This day I also had AMAZING luck with can badges - I managed to pick two signed ones! Rimo and Kaede💛💚  This night Chise was playing Chibi Chibi and she got just as much of a gasp from the crowd at her adorableness. She’s much smaller than Hinari! During the curtain call I managed to catch eyes with Meiku and Mirai. Airi, who is the most adorable ball of energy on the planet, waved at us twice and made a heart with her hands in our direction.💖  She’s too cute! My friend has been trying to catch Yuga’s rose since 2013, but was sadly thwarted again - she did get an apology look from Yuga in return for her disappointed face, though.😉    Saturday, September 16 Same group of girls for this show! This time @kaikinapela and I were seated in the 10th row in the center (right behind ROOT, the former Jadeite, incidentally). Once again I had crazy luck with can badges - this time I pulled 3! Yume, Satomi, and Saki! I still can’t believe I got my two favorite characters (Venus/Healer) and SATOMI. Yume’s signature says “Thank you very much! Let’s meet again!” and Satomi’s says “Satomi Cosmos.” The others signed their name and did a doodle. 💖  We were back to Hinari for this show. I have to say, she was my favorite (more on this later). Though I loved being so close to the stage for the other two shows, this was the first time I fully appreciated all of the visual effects. I hope everything comes through on the DVD. After the show there was a sendoff from the Inners, and this time I at least managed to properly make eye contact with each of them as we went by.  Monday, September 18 This was my bonus show. I hadn’t managed to get tickets for it online, but loved the other shows so much I had to try to get into the Tokyo finale. I waited in the insanely long line for the same day ticket lottery and drew “awaiting cancellation (#5).” This means I was 5th in line to get a ticket if someone cancelled. I thought for sure this meant I wouldn’t get in, but no! I managed to get one of the folding chairs they added behind row 6. It was incredibly uncomfortable but WORTH IT. This meant I was in front of an aisle, which is a good place to be on the last day. During Moonlight Densetsu everyone but the villains, Cosmos, ChibiChibi, and Moon (with her giant wings) ran out into the audience. At first no one was coming down our aisle, but I made sure to hold my yellow light high and Rimo saw! She came down our row for high fives. 💛 Later Mikako made a second pass and came down our aisle too. ♥ When everyone returned to the stage to wave and bow, Rimo pointed at me, waved, and blew a kiss! I almost didn’t believe she was aiming at me since she was on the opposite side of the stage, but I was the only yellow light around. 😭 💛 　That evening the inners + Tux gave short speeches, and I could see Meiku trying not to cry.💔 　Poor little Chise just looked bewildered the whole time. After the show I managed to talk to all 3 of the Lights! I was wearing my signed Healer and Venus badges, so Saki gently patted her own badge and then flicked Venus in the face.😆  Meiku was very surprised when I complimented her singing - she doesn’t seem to be very confident, which is unfortunate because she’s very talented. Riona also noticed my badges and asked if I shipped Yaten/Minako. When I said yes, she said “What about Taiki/Ami?” I told her I love them too, and she wondered if she had forced me to say it (she did not). She asked me to wear a Mercury shirt next time.💙  I also met a few other lovely international moonies that evening, but sadly I don’t know their tumblrs! If you guys see this, message me! Thanks to trading with friends, through twitter, and at the venue, both @kaikinapela and I managed to collect a full set of badges! 

Overall Impressions I would rank this as one of the best musicals of all time - including the classic Bandai era. I will admit to being biased because the Stars arc is my favorite, but they really pulled out all the stops. The entire cast was amazing, even those who had small roles. Singing was fantastic across the board - the inners have improved a lot and all of the new cast members were great. While it was sad not having Karin stay for the “last” (last!?) musical, Mirai did a great job and was a strong singer. I think everyone will be especially blown away by Galaxia and Kakyuu (who is once again an opera singer!). If you’ve listened to any of Isuzu Coco’s music through her twitter, her Galaxia voice is so different! Much deeper and more powerful.  Poor Sayaka seemed to be sick during the Tokyo shows - her voice got progressively weaker and more hoarse. Hopefully she recovers by the finale!  The set and visual effects dramatically improved with Amour Eternal and this musical continues that trend. Hotaru does some impressive running up and down moving stairs in her Eternal Moon costume, all of the attacks are projected, and we again have part of a scene projected as a video on stage. You’ll see all the Sailor Crystals float away, which adds another layer of emotion to those scenes.  Both actresses playing Chibi Chibi were adorable, but Hinari won out as my favorite. Being a little older she was able to speak all of her lines clearly (Chise’s speech was muddled) and she showed a lot more emotion in both her movements and expressions. I’m glad she’ll be on the DVD performance. A few things were different each show (details in my spoilery post to come), so I hope some sort of compilation ends up on the DVD!  There were lots of throwbacks to the Bandai era as well as a few references to the past Nelke era musicals. I think overall in tone this was a nice blend of the two styles - there was a lot of humor added and plenty of references to specific anime scenes, but the overall plot was manga oriented and gave proper weight to its serious moments. They find smart ways to keep the whole cast involved throughout the show, despite everyone being killed off pretty quickly (I don’t consider that a spoiler since it’s a manga plot point).  Everyone is going to LOVE Cosmos. I was seriously shocked by how much Satomi had improved at singing. Taking lessons with Coco and Asami seriously paid off. They found a really touching way to give her a bit more story time than she had in the manga, and I think they’re quite clear about who she really is in this canon.  This musical had a TON of original music - only two previously used songs made an appearance, and both in shortened versions. “Celestial Born” was made into it’s own song (it initially was part of “Shuketsu - Yume no Atsumaru Basho” during Amour Eternal) and “Music of the Spheres” is used briefly in battle. They save the throwback music mostly for the post-musical curtain call show, which I appreciated. For the first time since the revival of the musicals I loved ALL of the songs (Amour Eternal comes close). One of my few complaints has been the abundance of “talk singing,” where long lines of dialogue (often ripped straight from the manga) are set to awkward, stumbling melody. There is little to none of that this time, and far fewer songs are interrupted by long bits of dialogue. Hopefully sales of the Amour Eternal CD will be good enough to entice them to release another soundtrack - this time with a lot more music.  They weren’t kidding when they said everyone has a moment to shine. I fell in love with Nyanko and Mouse, despite them having such small parts. Miraculously, even with all the dying and with an enormous cast, everyone was given enough to work with that they were able to truly embody their character. If this truly is the last musical, I’m going to be super bummed that this cast doesn’t get at least one more opportunity to show off how amazing they are. 

[raptorfiction]

Gangster’s Paradise

“Look, it ain’t that kriffin’ difficult to figure out!” The last bit of Rochayl’s patience had been worn away at last. Normally, she liked to keep a cool head--was better for business. But as she dropped the piece of flimsiplast on her desk, she threw that ideology out the window. “You get the goods, you ship the goods, you get paid for the goods. How the KARK did you mess that up so badly?! WHY am I missing out on a good quarter of a million credits? HMM?! Can anyone explain this to me?!”

Her cybernetic eye flashed a dangerous red as she watched her men shuffle in front of her, avoiding eye contact with her and each other. Their silence only made her temper rise, she had expected some sort of half-assed excuse, anything that she could call them morons for and then be on her way. Instead they sat there like guilty children in front of their mother. Rochayl’s hand curled into a fist and before she could help herself, she had chucked whatever she had in her grasp at the nearest goon’s head.

The muted thunk that accompanied the object’s collision with the man’s skull sated her anger a fraction, but she was still seething. What these morons failed to understand was that it wasn’t just their necks on the line. As a Boss for the Black Suns, if word got to the upper echelons that she not only lost product, but credits as well… her neck might not be attached to her body much longer. The situation was precarious and she’d be damned if she was going to be hung out to dry because of some dipshits falling for one of the oldest tricks in the book.

“Pick him up!” The cranial collision had caused the Devaronian to fall to the ground, groaning in pain. Instinctively the two standing goons reached down and dragged the man to his feet. “Now this is how this is going to go. You three are going to find a way to get me double what you lost and if you don’t? Well… you can be the ones to explain to the higher ups why we lost their product.”

The trio mutters disjointed, affirmations and apologies together, making it nearly impossible for her to understand what they were saying. The jumble of words and phrases only succeeded in irritating the woman more, resulting in another object being flung at the fools. Like frightened mice they immediately scattered and made their presence scarce.

Once they were long gone out of her sight, Rochayl sunk into her chair, massaging her temples. Some days this job was more trouble than it was worth and she found herself questioning whether or not she should just throw in the towel. The dilemma had begun to thoroughly churn in her mind so much, that she had barely noticed the figure standing in the doorway.

“Ma’am…”

“Rael, what is it?”

“The report you requested.” The Kaleesh made his way over to her desk, placing a new piece of flimsi in front of her.

“Faaaaaantastic.” She drawled, still clearly stressed from her previous conversation. Picking the sheet up, she began to read over the text, scowl and stress deepening with every moment.

Rock,

While I appreciate your generous offer, I sadly am inclined to refuse. You see, I was offered a much better deal by the Exchange and to be honest… I don’t think you can deliver. Especially after what happened with your most recent shipment. Half a million credits? I can’t risk that happening to my merchandise.

No, I think I’ll be sticking with the Corellian Run gang and the Exchange. Good luck though with your bosses. Hate to see that pretty head of yours on a spike.

-Zandu

“....Rael.”

“Yes, ma’am?”

“How does he know about the spice incident?”

“My sources say that he likely had a hand in the incident.”

“... I see.” She tossed the piece of flimsi down onto the desk, lacing her fingers together. For a few long moments there is nothing but silence in the office. Dutifully, Rael stands silently, awaiting whatever command his mistress might give. “Rael. Do we know where Zandu’s warehouses are?”

“Of course. I have already drawn a list of the warehouses in which our supplies are most likely to be.”

“Fuck the supplies.”

“Ma’am?”

“Where is his biggest warehouse? I want to know everything about it. Where it is, what it contains and what security it has lined up and I want to know it by the end of the day. Is that understood?”

“Yes ma’am. I’m already on it.” And without another word, the Kaleesh slips from the office to carry out his duties.

“Make a fool of me, will he? Let’s see how it feels to have the situation reversed…” A snide smirk slowly broke across the woman’s face.

*************************************************************

Rock stood with one leg propped against the building’s parapet, overlooking Zandu’s warehouse. The vantage point was good but Rock wanted a better look. She hoisted herself on top of the parapet and knelt down, allowing her cybernetic eye to do the initial scan of the area below for her.

“You’re sure all the information we have is correct?”

“I’d stake my life on it.”

“Oh good, because it’s on the line. As is mine.” She looked over her shoulder to give Rael a smarmy smirk before looking back down at the building in question. “Do we have everyone in place then?”

“We do.”

“Right. Then the operation is a go. I trust you to keep me abreast of any changes and let me know if I have any bogeys incoming.” She hopped off the parapet and walked over to Rael, placing a hand on his arm.

“I won’t let you down, ma’am.” The Kaleesh gives a bow of his head, placing a hand over his heart.

“Better not..” She gives him a small smirk before removing her hand and moving once again to the building’s parapet. Taking a moment, she secures a good anchor for her line before giving a brief, two fingered salute to her right hand man and rappelling down to the warehouse.

The instant Rock’s feet hit the ground below, she breaks herself loose from her line and dashes into cover. Out of the corner of her eye, she notes several of her own men doing the same, scurrying to hide themselves amidst the shadows and behind objects. She nods her head, pulling her blaster from its holster at her hip and taking a deep breath. Adrenaline had begun to kick in and her heart was pumping furiously in her chest.

Normally missions like this were left to Rael and a few capable men that she trusted to get the job done. Not today. This was personal. Looking up, she flashed the light in her false eye three times at where Rael should be perched, waiting for their signal. And as expected, he was. The sound of his voice cracked across the comms units they all had in their ears.

“Phase one completed. On to phase two. Team Aurek, your task is to eliminate droid patrols. Uploading corresponding information to your datapads. Team Besh, you are to serve as cover for Aurek. Any missed or unaccounted for patrols are under your jurisdiction. Team Cresh, your task is internal security. There are two security stations located at the east and west sides of the building respectively. And Team Dorn…” Rock gripped her pistol tighter, Team Dorn consisted of her and only her. “Your task is to eliminate any witnesses that don’t belong to us and secure the cargo.”

“Simple enough…” She thought to herself. It didn’t look as though there were going to be too many passers by in the area, probably exactly why it was chosen.

“On my mark… Begin.”

Without a second’s hesitation, Rock emerged from her hideaway and scrambled over several trash bins to get at a ventilation shaft nearby. With a jump, she was just barely able to get her fingers over the ledge.

“Now for the fun part…” She muttered to herself as she began to slowly hoist herself high enough to slip her torso into the opening. Easier in theory than in practice. Inside she could already hear blaster fire from droid patrols going down and she cursed at herself silently. Finally though, after pushing herself, she managed to slide into the shaft and began to worm her way through the duct.

The sounds of droid combat had moved location and instead of near the entrance, was now directly below her. Pausing in her progress, she stopped to steal a peek at the commotion through a slotted vent. One of the patrol droids had gone down, but not before it had issued an alert to others in the area. The team of four men was about to become overwhelmed and the mission would be put in jeopardy if they failed their assigned task.

Thinking quickly, Rock kicked out the panel she had been spying through and dropped directly on top of one of the droids. The unexpected action caused the machine to whirl about frantically, trying to throw her off but Rock kept a vice like grip. Hearing the distressed signal emitted from their ally, the other droids quickly rounded on Rock and began to fire.

The mayhem gave Team Aurek a chance to retaliate, eliminating two right off the bat. Their metal bodies clattered to the ground, but not before damage had been done. Though she had managed to keep her grip on the flailing unit, a blaster bolt had managed to sear a hole in Rock’s shoulder. Somehow she had managed to keep herself from crying out in pain, but her ability to continuously dodge blaster fire was starting to wane. With a limited amount of options left, she swung her body weight around so that her droid became a shield against the other droids, taking a volley of fire and becoming subject to death by friendly fire.

As she and the droid tumbled to the ground, Team Aurek found the opening they needed and disposed of the remaining units. Cursing loudly, Rock shoved the metal chassis off of herself as her men rushed to her aid. Rock cursed at them, shoving them all away as she reached for her blaster which had fallen from her grasp during her maneuver.

“Fuck off. There’s work still to be done. If there are no more droids, go check to make sure our ruckus didn’t catch the attention of unwanted guests.”

“Yes ma’am!” With a snappy salute the team scattered, checking to see if they were going to have any issues with the locals.

Rock swore under her breath a few more times before moving on with her task. The lifter droids were lined up not far away, her first stroke of luck for the evening. Rushing over, she hopped on the top of one and began to reprogram its delivery protocol. She hardly noticed the sound of blaster fire and combat as she worked, at least until a bolt flashed past her face close enough to singe her skin.

Hissing with pain she stopped what she was doing and unholstered her blaster, taking cover behind the rather sizeable droid. With calm even breaths she waited, waited until she saw the culprit round the corner…

And his last mistake. Slipping out of cover she took aim and fired off a few rounds straight for center mass. A scream and a thud was confirmation that he’d been hit and scurrying over, she took another two shots at his head. Just to be safe. There wasn’t any time to spare however as the sound of more incoming rabble echoed through the building. Rock cursed, the conundrum with the droids must have sent an alert to nearby security personnel. She’d be having a word with her men later.

Rolling into cover, she checked the reserves on her powercell and made herself ready to fire at whoever came her way. Clicking her back teeth together, she switched the thermal vision in her eye on, not that it would help her see past crates and powered-down droids, but it would help her see through the dark and off to the distance where normal sight simply wouldn’t cut it. Cautioning a look around her cover spot, Rock scanned the area to see how many she’d be up against.

It took longer than she’d have liked, but she managed to tally the total to ten. Ten men against one woman. Well, she was never one to follow the odds and if she was up against ten men, well… that was ten times the amount of bragging she could do at the next ‘family’ meeting.

Slowly, silently, she creeped her way to a vantage point above the thickest cluster of security and waited. Just as they had moved into position and she had gotten a good aim, shouting from the other side of the building caught everyone’s attention. Quickly Rock swiveled her sights to the area the wailing was coming from in an attempt to gauge what was happening. Her thermal scans fell upon a lump on the ground that was quickly losing heat--a body. Just as she had locked her sight onto the lump’s wailing comrade, it too became a lump, the heat starting to ebb from its body.

“Stay away from the windows…” She checked herself mentally as the men below her began to shout at one another frantically. While the sniper had done her a solid in taking out two of the guards, without knowing who it was, she couldn’t take any chances and so she chose to wait, watching for what the gaggle below her would do.

Finally they decided to split, two going to check out the site of the ruckus while two remained behind. As much as she hated to admit it, the odds were looking a lot better from Rock’s position than they had been just moments before. Before they could walk out of her line of fire, she threw together a poorly-devised plan and decided to go for it.

Just as before with the droids, Rock dropped herself from her perch, a good three meters above the guards. Luckily she had managed to aim herself properly before hand, landing square on one of the men’s shoulders, snapping his neck and collarbone as he collided with the hard permacrete floor. The landing was hard and pain shot through Rock’s legs, but she didn’t have time to focus on it. Whirling about quickly, she took aim and shot the second guard point-blank in the face before he had time to recover from surprise.

“That was… poorly planned…” Rock let out a groan of pain as the man fell to the ground, the sharp, pulsating sting of her landing radiating through her legs and pelvis. She had fallen back onto her landing pad and while she was certain he had died from his impact with the ground, she placed the barrel of her blaster at the base of his head and fired a round. Just to be safe.

There was no time to relax however as the sound of shouting began to echo throughout the warehouse again. Stumbling to her feet, Rock began to hobble towards cover when the body of a guard fell into her path. She stopped, whipping her blaster up, ready to fire at whoever was about to round the corner.

“Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot!” The figure rounded the corner, hands held up in surrender. Upon closer look, the man was one of her own though she didn’t lower her weapon.

“About kriffing time you dipshits showed up.” With one fluid movement she brought the side of her weapon crashing across his face. “You might have warned me it was you! That is unless you enjoy being pistol whipped and shot.”

“But… you didn’t shoot me…”

“Oh. Let me correct that.” Lowering her blaster, she took aim and released a bolt into his foot. “Now shut your fucking hole and cover me while I work on these droids.”

Rock didn’t wait for the whelp to stifle his wailing before making her way back over to the lifter droids to pick up where she had left off. Her temper had been pushed to the limit and anymore interruptions or mistakes was likely to end up poorly for someone. So she set about her task, finally managing to reprogram the droids. Powering the droids up, she placed a finger to her ear, activating her comms system.

“Team Dorn reporting. Task complete. Proceed to extraction zone.”

“Copy Team Dorn. Headed to extraction zone.”

Grabbing the collar of the man she injured just a few moments earlier, she began to drag him towards the exit.

“I swear to the gods of all the species, if you don’t start walking on your own I will leave you behind and make sure they can’t extract any information from you.”  

Whether it was her threat or the sight of the rest of the team, Rock didn’t know or care. All she cared about was that she didn’t need to drag a useless clod along with her. That was another thing to add to the list of things she needed to talk to her men about. Freed of dead weight, she made her way to the wall she had rappelled down and waited for Rael to show.

Without a moment to spare, the sound of a speeder hailed the approach of the Kaleesh. Rock hardly waited for the vehicle to come to a pause before hopping onto the back and signalling Rael to take off. As was always the case with Rael, Rock’s order was carried out as soon as it was given, the pair speeding away into the busy streets of the main city. The ride was silent, save for the roar and hum of speeder engines.

Rael had learned over the years that it was better to let Rock be when she was in that sort of mood than to try and get her to talk about it. It wasn’t that he had no concern for her, it was that he knew she would speak with him about it when she was ready and to force it out of her would only end poorly. And so he kept his silence, speaking only once they had reached the rendezvous point.

“Ma’am.”

“Yes, I know. Make sure everyone is here. If that moronic, gimping lump hasn’t arrived yet, give him another fifteen minutes before putting a bounty on his head.” She grumbled, hopping off the speeder with some difficulty. The ache had sunk deep into the tissue and every movement was very near agony.

“Dead or alive?”

“Alive.”

“Of course.” Rael swung his leg over the speeder himself now, dismounting the vehicle and whistling the signal for everyone to gather. “Do you need assistance, ma’am?”

“I’ll be fine until we get to the ship.” She gritted out. The last thing she wanted to show to her men was weakness of any form. Some would begin to think there was an opening and try to overthrow her. While she was confident that she could thwart any half-cocked attempt to usurp her, it was just another irritation she didn’t need.

“As you say.” With a small bend of his waist, Rael paid his respect to his leader and marched towards the assembled men, barking out orders as he approached.

“As I say…” That was one of the many things Rock had grown to appreciate about Rael. He never questioned an order unless there was a need. He respected her pride and her authority equally and knew better than to fawn over her. In fact, not once had he ever gone so low as to kiss her proverbial ass, preferring to earn her favour by hard work alone. Rock let out a small chuckle at the thought and immediately regretted it as her shoulder suddenly seared with pain.

Shaking it off, she composed herself as she marched towards the neatly lined up squad. Patiently she waited for Rael to finish taking note of who was all present, skimming over the list when he had finished.

“All accounted for.”

“Good.” She handed the pad back to Rael and took her spot in front of the assembled, pacing back and forth in front of them with her hands neatly folded at the small of her back. “Tonight was a mess.” She frowned, pausing her pacing. “And you can believe that there will be a severe dressing down of the way things went tonight. Some of the issues I can and will take blame for. However…” She stopped and stared them all down with a glare that could freeze over hell itself. “Now is not the time to deal with this. We have cargo to load and injured to tend to. Chop chop.”

Immediately the crew dispersed, hurrying to gather the loot the loader droids had delivered so nicely. With the work underway and the speeches done, Rock took a deep breath inwards and began to hobble her way to the loading ramp of the ship. It took all of her effort to keep herself from limping in front of her men and only once she was securely locked away in her own room did she allow the facade to drop.

  With a relieved sigh she sunk into the plush embrace of her ship’s mattress only to groan in pain as her various injuries protested. The wound in her shoulder was perhaps the worst she’d sustained, though it did feel like it. She knew she had to tend to the injuries sooner or later, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it at that moment. Even had she wanted to, her body wouldn’t let her rise from the position she was in and so she just lay there, eyes shut, attempting to block everything out.

She had nearly accomplished it too, when the buzzer on her door went off. The sound snapped her abruptly out of her meditative like trance and she groaned again in pain. Again the buzzer went off and she tried to sit up, but her pelvis would hear nothing of it; so she laid there as the buzzer went off for a third time.

“Ma’am?”

“Come in Rael.” Rock heard the door whoosh open, heard Rael’s footsteps as he entered the room and heard him curse in Kaleesh as he rushed over to her. “Is the door shut?”

“Of course it is.”

“Then please help me up…” She groaned again as she attempted to sit once more, this time with Rael’s aid. The Kaleesh cursed a few more times as he stepped away to recover the first aid gear he had dropped when he entered the room. “Those aren’t nice things to call someone, you know.”

“Wouldn’t have to call you them if you took care of yourself better.” He hissed out a sigh as he began to prepare a suture.

“I take care of myself just fine, thank you.” She grumbled, looking off to the side as though she were a child that had just been admonished. “And you know as well as I do that I can’t show them any sort of weakness. All I need is for them to think they’ve got an opening and suddenly there’ll be mutiny left and right.”

“They won’t get the chance.” Rael’s voice had taken on an venomous tone as he spoke the words.

“I could do without you wiping out half of my men. Imagine what that would look like--”

“To whom? The Vigo? Or the SIS?” Golden eyes were now locked on to hers, narrowed in irritation. All work at preparing kolto and sutures had stopped and his hands sat at his side, balled into fists.

Rock stared at Rael with a look surpassing surprise. Her eye had widened to nearly double its natural size and she could feel her heart slamming inside of her chest. A suffocating silence filled the room for what felt like an eternity before finally, she spoke.

“You… know.” It wasn’t a question. Had she done a poor job at covering her tracks, at acting like a gangster? Rock’s heart plummeted in her chest, a feeling of nausea began to wash over her.

“Yes, I know.” Rael’s voice had fallen into a more gentle tone, prompting a bemused look from Rock. “Honestly, how long have I been at your side now?”

“Five… six years now, I think?”

“And in all that time, as close as I’ve become to you… did you not think I would find out?” Even with the mask covering his face, Rock could tell there was a genuinely confused, almost hurt expression on the man’s face.

“I had hoped I was doing a good enough job of covering my tracks.” Her shame and defeat coloured every word she spoke. What kind of a failed agent was she? She’d be recalled now for certain.

“You were.” Rael’s words caused her gaze to snap back up to meet his again. “Honestly, all I had to go on was gut feeling. Because I know you, I know how you are. You could have lied to me and I’d have been forced to believe you because I have no proof.”

Rock knew his words were meant to comfort her, but they only worsened her mood. She should have lied, denied the allegation, anything to keep her secret to herself. Mentally she cursed herself again for being such a failure as an agent, for not being able to lie when the situation required it. Why couldn’t she lie to him? She had become so lost in her self deprecating thoughts, that the gentle touch of Rael’s hand on her shoulder startled her.

“Rock..” There were those golden eyes again, looking into hers as if seeing into her soul. “You could have lied to me, but you didn’t. I don’t know why and I don’t care why but I need you to know something.” Lowering himself to one knee before her, he bowed his head. “On my honour as a man of Kalee, I will never betray your secret. Should I ever divulge what has transpired here in this room today, may I never join my ancestors and become a God.”

Rock’s hands trembled as Rael spoke. She didn’t know all that much about the Kaleesh and their customs, but she knew enough to know that what he had swore to her was more binding than most things in the universe. Letting out a long, over due sigh, Rock placed her hand over her face. The nausea had started to recede and her heart’s beating began to slow once more.

“I… wish I knew what to say.” She finally managed to stammer out.

“There isn’t anything you can say.” Rale stood and returned to the table where he went back to work preparing the kolto. “Just know that for as long as you will allow it, I will remain by your side and let no ill befall you.” He paused for a moment before hastily adding, “Well.. beyond the few odd injuries you’re likely to get on the job.”

“Ah yes. The injuries.” She shook her head. “Nice shooting today, by the way.”

“Oh?”

“I’m assuming you were the sniper that took down those guards.”

“What makes you think that?”

“The window was facing the wall we came down from and…”

“And..?”

“You were late with the speeder.”

Rael paused his work again to turn and blink at her.

“I was… huh. So I was. I’ll work on that next time.”

[dong-hyucks]

Shipping Mr. Yoon

Requested Characters: Teacher!Reader/Teacher!Jeonghan (Seventeen) Genre: Fluff, romance Word Count: 1.1k Request: Could I get a Jeonghan teacher imagine where you’re a new teacher and you’re attached to him to learn the ropes. Jeonghan’s class instantly starts shipping the two of you etc haha. (It could end however you like!) thank you (:

Masterlists

“Okay class,” Mr. Yoon Jeonghan began, setting his glasses on his desk. “We’ll be having a visitor in the class for the next few weeks, so be polite.” he instructed. The class began to murmur to one another, curious about the visitor. A child raised her hand, her arm as straight as an arrow. “Yes, Eunbi?”

“What’s the visitor like?” She asked in her squeaky voice. Jeonghan tilted his head. “I’m not sure,” he shrugged, “Mr. Hong didn’t inform me.” Mr. Hong Jisoo was the well-liked principal of the grade school; everyone liked him. The class got louder in curiosity, as most of them blurted out questions.

A knock at the door silenced the nine and ten-year olds. “Come in,” Jeonghan called. At the call, the door swung open, albeit gently, and in came Jisoo followed by an unfamiliar face. Jisoo smiled at the class who, in turn, said their excited hello’s. Jisoo turned to Jeonghan and stepped aside. His eyes rounded as he stared at you. 

“Mr. Yoon,” he addressed, “this is Mr./Miss. [Last Name] [First Name].” You smiled at him and toward the class, waving your hand shyly. “You’ll be showing Mr./Miss [Last Name] the ropes.” Jisoo bowed his head before waving goodbye to the kids. “Bye Mr. Hong!”

“It’s nice to meet you,” you said politely, bowing just as Jisoo had before. Jeonghan stayed still, gaping slightly at the sight of you. Your face became warm under the intense stare, as you looked away. The class laughed at their teacher, snapping him out of his reverie. “Ah, sorry,” he stuttered, “it’s nice to meet you as well. I’m Mr. Yoon.” He bowed his head.

“Please,” he gestured toward the group of children, “introduce yourself. You’ll be here for a while, after all.” You nodded and turned to the children with the nicest smile you could muster. “Hello, I’m Mr./Miss. [Last Name]. I transferred from [country], which is why I’m having you guys teach me what it’s like here.” You chuckled at their excited expressions.

The same girl from before raised her hand. “What’s it like in [country]?” Jeonghan watched as you easily connected with the children, his eyes never wandering from your form.

Soon, the bell rang. You and Jeonghan stayed silent as the kids began to pack their belongings into their small backpacks. “Have a nice day,” you smiled. The class said their goodbye’s before bounding out the door.

Eunbi giggled as she walked beside her friend, Sojung. “Don’t you think Mr. Yoon had googly eyes for Mr./Miss. [Last Name?]” Sojung nodded, laughing along with Eunbi. “He didn’t take his eyes off of them!”

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Eunbi gasped dramatically.

Over the next week, the entire class began to ship the two of you; laughing whenever Jeonghan would get caught staring and internally screaming whenever they’d catch you staring. It had even gotten to the point where they would do things to get you closer to him-- ‘accidentally’ pushing the two of you together, talking about the other, etc. The two of you, however, were unaware of the class’s actions.

After school, you and Jeonghan stayed back, as usual, to mark work. “How was [country]?” Jeonghan asked as he finished marking Eunbi’s work. You looked up from your paper and grinned. “It’s nice there. A lot different from Korea, so it took a while for me to get used to it.”

Jeonghan chuckled, “you got so used to it, I guess, that you became a full-time teacher?” You frowned. “I haven’t apologized for that yet. You know I’ve wanted to become a teacher for as long as I can remember, so I studied. I graduated my course and a school asked me to. I got so excited that I forgot...” you trailed off sadly.

Jeonghan looked down. “You forgot that you had a boyfriend back home?” You looked down guiltily. “I didn’t forget about you, Jeonghan. I just... forgot how long I said I’d be gone.” Jeonghan paused, his hand freezing. “Yeah,” he agreed. “You were three years late, by the way.”

“You must be mad at me then,” you assumed, putting down your pen. “I can request to transfer to another class, if my being here makes you uncomfortable. My training, if you will, is almost over after all.” 

Jeonghan abruptly stood up from his chair, shocking you. “You can’t transfer to another class,” he denied. You gaped at him, eyebrows high. “But I thought--”

“You don’t make me uncomfortable at all. I haven’t said anything because I don’t even know if I can.” You furrowed your brows together, “you don’t know if you can?” You repeated, unsure of what he meant. “We lost contact after I broke my phone, and that was over three years ago. I don’t even know if we’ve broken up or not,” he exclaimed, running a hand through his hair. 

“That depends,” you said slowly. “Would you like to break up with me?” Your voice got quiet. Jeonghan looked down at you and, after a moment, shook his head. “Of course not,” he mumbled, sitting back down. “I still...” he looked to you, silently asking if it was okay for him to continue. You merely looked at him expectantly.

“I still love you. Just as much as I did when we first got together, if not more.”

You, not being able to control yourself, leaned over the desk and grabbed a fistful of his shirt, taking him by surprise. Your lips touched and it was like your first kiss all over again. I missed this, he thought, closing his eyes to relish the moment. Your hand loosened, your arms then wrapping around his neck. One of his hands went up to cup your face.

The door opened.

“So you went to [country] because your mother was sick and you’re her only family?”

“Correct.”

“And you didn’t come back to Korea because you had gotten a job there as a teacher?”

“... Yeah.”

“So the two of you are dating?”

“Pretty much.”

“And you have been since you were in high school?”

“Yup.”

Jisoo narrowed his eyes at Jeonghan. “And you never bothered to tell me you were in a relationship? I would’ve stopped setting you up on blind dates if I had known!” You turned to look at Jeonghan with a raised eyebrow. “You went on dates?”

Jeonghan gulped under the stare of both his boss and his partner. 

“Oh, hey, I just remembered I, um, have to go finish marking,” Jeonghan stuttered, bolting up from his chair. “Bye!” He ran from the office and disappeared down the hallway.

“Yoon Jeonghan!”

idk where this went tbh

Also- Admin K comes back on Tuesday! ^^

- Admin JK 

[somebodyhelpthenotdeadfreds]

day 3 of #HannibalEverAfter: Cinderella!

first off, I have to say that I have an AO3 account and i’m posting all of my fairytales onto this work, so go there and leave all the kudos and comments you like!

Cinderella is maybe my favorite fairytale of all time, so this was a real treat to write. But I can’t take all the credit, my inspiration came from this post by my girl @marywisdom, and this is a gift to her! Love you, darling!

Once upon a time, there was a poor criminal profiler named Will Graham. He lived alone, well, not quite alone, he had several loyal dogs that loved him unconditionally. Sadly, they were they only creatures that did so. For you see, Will was trapped by his mind and his job. His brutal boss, Jack Crawford, forced him to work day and night catching serial killers with no breaks. Will hated this, especially when Jack’s favorite members of the team, Brian, Jimmy, and Beverly, got all the perks, with none of the intense stress of forcibly entering the mind of a criminal. They would all tease him, call him strange, sad, a freak.

All Will wanted was one night off to play with his dogs and the ability to relax and feel understood himself for once. But no, Jack didn’t want Will to rest until they had found the Chesapeake Ripper.

But one fateful night, his wish was finally granted. He was allowed one night off, even if Jack forced him to be on call, ready to leave at a moment's notice. Jack had some sort of event to attend with the rest of the team, Will wasn’t allowed to go. It was still a free night, though, and Will was overjoyed to be free, just this once.

He had planned to spend all night at home, playing with the dogs, perhaps some late-night fishing. Finally, time all to himself. But the best laid plans often go awry, and this saying came true when Winston, the newest member of his pack, bolted away from the house.

Worried that he would meet a predator that could hurt him, Will chased his dog. He chased him for what felt like miles before they came to a beautiful house, where a party was going on. Excited, Winston made a break for the outdoor guests, begging for scraps.

Will hadn’t thought, he only ran towards his dog, grabbing him and hooking his leash to the collar. It was only after he had caught his dog that he took in his surroundings. It was a very fancy party being held, and Will felt woefully underdressed in a flannel shirt and worn jeans, stubble on his face. He could tell that the guests were all whispering about him and he felt himself blush hard before turning to leave.

Of course, as luck would have it, he turned right into an incredibly handsome man, knocking his wine glass so a little ran over the edge. Instantly, Will started to look anywhere other than the man, started to furiously apologize, turning to leave again when the man stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

“Don’t worry, there’s no spill.” His voice was comforting and warm. “Here, let’s go over to the side of the house, it’s quieter.”

Will only swallowed and nodded, following the man to the side, of the house, away the crowd. He felt that he could breathe at last, with only one pair of eyes on him. And they were beautiful dark eyes, with flecks of maroon.

“I’m- I’m so sorry,” Will stammered before the man could speak again. “You see, Winston- he’s new, I just found him, he gets very skittish, and he-”

The man raised his hand up, and Will couldn’t stop himself from flinching.

“Oh, please don’t be afraid,” the man said quickly, lowering his hand. “I understand completely. It takes time to forge trust, one must extend a bit of themselves in order to get a bit back.”

Will let out a shaky laugh as he nodded. The man smiled then. “Yeah, yeah, you’re- you’re absolutely right. You know,” he added, almost as an afterthought. “You, uh, you feel, familiar, somehow. Like I’ve known you before.”

“How so?”

Will actually almost told this complete stranger that he had felt this same state of calmness at a scene of the goddamn Chesapeake Ripper. So he closed his mouth and shrugged. “I - I don’t know, honestly. My mind likes to play tricks on me sometimes.”

The man nodded, and Will could feel himself smile, he was relaxed for once.

“Would you care to stay for the party? There’s plenty of food.”

“Oh!” Will said, surprised. He’d never been anywhere this fancy, “This is, uh, a beautiful home, beautiful party. I’m not really dressed for it, though.”

“I think you look wondrous,” the man replied. Will blushed and looked away. “Please stay. I hunt the meat myself for these occasions.”

“You hunt?” Will said, excited. “I - I like to fish.”

The man’s smile felt genuine, as though he was truly hanging onto every word Will had said. They talked for a long time about hunting, fishing, Will talked about his dogs, the man talked about his love of cooking. One time, Will was laughing and the man brushed a lock of hair out of his face and fuck if Will didn't almost melt right then and there touch me again, please...

“Well, it would seem we have much in common,” the man said during a lull in conversation, as they just stared at each other. “Please stay, as my personal guest.”

Will bit his lip, looking up at the man shyly. “I - I think I’d like that.”

“Wonderful. What is your name?”

Will opened his mouth to answer when his phone rang. His eyes widened in terror and disappointment, motioning to the man that he had to answer the call. He put the phone to his ear. “H-hello, Jack.”

“Will, body found at the mouth of the river. A car’s picking you up in half an hour. Be ready.”

“B-but-”

“No buts, now, Will.” And Jack hung up, making Will flinch again. He set the phone back in his pocket, biting his lip again.

“I- I’m so sorry, I have to go,” he said, his words running together as he moved back from the man. He saw a flash of worry and panic cross his expression, but Will was focused on making it back to his house when the man grabbed his arm. “I have to go, I’m sorry.”

“But I don’t even know your name, how will I ever find you again?” the man pleaded. Will only shook his head, pushing his hand off of his arm.

“I don’t know, goodbye!” he exclaimed, running off from where he had come, the dog following at his heels.

The host was staring off into the distance, trying to savor every memory he had of that beautiful stranger, when Jack came outside, rolling his eyes at his phone. He acted the part of a kiss-up.

“I am so sorry, Dr. Lecter, I have to be going. Body, you know.”

Hannibal waved him off with barely a gesture, taking a sip of wine.

“Something wrong?”

“What? Oh, nothing,” he murmured. “I need...I need to be left alone with my thoughts, goodbye.”

After the party, Hannibal sat down in his chair by the fireplace, sighing into a glass of whiskey. It wasn’t his usual drink of choice, but he had caught a note of whiskey off the beautiful stranger that night. He regretted not catching his name. The stranger was so intriguing, with inquisitive eyes and a charming way of speaking. It was as though they understood each other. And now he was gone, and Hannibal was left with only scent memory.

River water, dog, sweat, the hot sweetness of a dark mind, and...aftershave. A dreadful brand, one with a ship on the bottle.

He had to find him again, he wouldn’t be the same without that mind in his life.

Will had slept well on occasion these past three weeks, as his dreams had the option now of being filled with leaning against the side of that house while conversing with the handsome host. Pleasant dreams, he wasn’t used to those. He wished deeply that he’d told the man his name, but words had failed when panic set in. Perhaps their paths would cross again.

“Hello!” Brian called, snapping his fingers in Will’s face, causing him to blink and then rub his eyes. “Murder scene, do your thing. What's up with you, you’re acting weirder than usual, you know.”

Will just shrugged, trying brush the thoughts of those maroon-tinged eyes away.

“Step to it, it’s the Ripper,” Jack barked out. Will meekly nodded, heading down the hill towards the crime scene, hiding himself from everyone’s view. As if fate had planned it, as soon as Will disappear from sight, a Bentley rolled up to the side of the scene, and Jack smiled as the driver got out.

“Dr. Lecter, glad you could make it,” Jack nodded. Hannibal nodded back, already bored with the whole affair. He’d spent three weeks for searching for the stranger at the party, with no luck. The scent was lost. “We hope you can provide us with some insight into the Ripper.”

“I’ll do my best,” he replied, dryly. As if they had any real idea of what was happening.

Jack started talking about his investigation, and Hannibal put on a careful mask of fascination, pretending to listen. But instead, he was internally making note of the scents around him.

There was the scent of the pine trees around them, and the afternoon overcast was a sure sign of rain. Scents of aftershave, deodorant, and disinfectant from Jack’s team. But something seemed...off.

“Pardon me, Jack,” Hannibal interrupted. “Don’t you have a profiler on your team, I remember hearing something about one.”

Jack rolled his eyes. “Will? Will doesn’t interact well with others, he’s out by himself. You don’t need to bother with him.”

Hannibal was about to tell Jack that he would find that out for himself, when the breeze changed directions and swept past his nose.

That smell…

“Excuse me,” Hannibal said, distracted, waving Jack away. “I need to be alone with my thoughts.”

Jack moved away, confused, but said nothing as Hannibal walked towards the crime scene, ducking under the tape, and down the hill.

And there he was.

Eyes closed, neck back, lost in thought. Hannibal moved closer, not wanting to disturb him.

He gets very skittish.

It takes time to forge trust, one must extend a bit of themselves in order to get a bit back.

He was speaking now, in low, dulcet tones to himself. Hannibal held his breath as he stepped ever closer.

I’m lost now. There’s a piece of me I can’t get back. My heart, that I didn’t know was there, it’s gone now. At first I thought that this - this pig had it, I was wrong. My anger caused me to snuff him out like a candle, clean neck break. The slashes to the face were post-mortem, I didn't want to look at him anymore. My emotions have never gotten the better of me, it’s because my heart is gone. This will serve as a replacement.

Hannibal smiled to himself, looking at the cleaned-out cavity in the corpse’s chest, where the heart would have been.

The heart isn’t the same, it’s not mine, and it’s not - it’s not the one that belongs to the one I love, either. That's what I want, not my heart. It already belongs to them. I- I can’t find them, I’m searching. Searching-

Will’s eyes blinked open, feeling the presence of someone behind him. He turned, and saw him.

His mouth opened in surprise, and Hannibal couldn’t resist. He moved in quickly and captured Will’s lips in a kiss.

Yes, it was him. They had found each other at last, after three weeks felt like three years. Hannibal inhaled deeply before pulling away, savoring the scent. Will looked dazed, in the best possible way, with the most perfect smile Hannibal had ever seen.

“Hello again,” Will laughed when his thoughts cleared, then laughed more incredulously as it all suddenly clicked together. “You! You’re the- you’re the Ripper, it’s - that’s why you felt so familiar before. Of course you are. No one is that perfect.”

“You are,” Hannibal replied, smiling back.

“Forgive me, no one is that perfect without a dark side.”

“Again, you are still perfect. Now, please tell me your name, I cannot lose you again.”

Will bit his lip in that devilishly charming way. “My name is Will. Will Graham.”

“Hannibal Lecter,” the other man said, offering a hand. Will laughed again.

“I uh, I’d rather kiss you again, if it’s all the same to you,” he blushed. Hannibal granted his wish and kissed him again.

This time, Will broke the kiss, looking down at the corpse. “Where’d you put the heart?”

“Would you still have made the connection if I invited you over for dinner?”

Will laughed again. “I don’t know the last time I’ve laughed so much. But there is a problem, you realize.”

“What?” Hannibal asked, and Will almost laughed again at the flash of panic in is expression.

“Jack won’t let me rest until I catch the Ripper for him.”

Hannibal relaxed, his own smiled creeping back. “But you have caught the Ripper, my love. He is all yours.”

“Told you I liked fishing,” Will teased. “Point still stands, what are we going to do?”

Hannibal offered his arm, and Will took it, rolling his eyes, but he was really amused. “I’m going to take you away from all of this.”

“Th-thank you,” Will blushed, then stammered, “I don’t know if I deserve-”

“You deserve everything I can give you,” Hannibal replied, kissing him one more time before they headed up the hill.

Jack’s eyes narrowed at Will being so close to the doctor, smiling, even. Hannibal was looking at him like he put the stars in the sky before he turned away and looked at Jack.

“Ah, Jack,” he said, as though he just noticed him. “As Will’s therapist-”

“You’re - you’re not his therapist-”

“I’m speaking,” Hannibal pressed, then continued. “As Will’s therapist, I have found that he is mentally unstable-”

“I could tell you that.”

“Jack,” Hannibal declared, his eyes growing hotter with barely contained anger. “Will is mentally unfit, so under doctor's orders, I hereby remove him from your team and this case.”

Jack nearly turned purple. “Will!” he shouted, but Will didn’t even flinch. He just stared back, the smile not fading.

“I quit,” he said. “I’ll turn in my badge tomorrow. Go find the Ripper yourself.”

“But - but-” Jack sputtered out in defeat, as both men bid him goodbye and went to Hannibal’s car, leaning against it. When they were hidden from view, they embraced in another kiss.

“I could kill him for you,” Hannibal muttered into the kiss. Will giggled, actually giggled. It felt almost foreign.

“Oh, I think the fact that he will never catch the Ripper now is a suitable punishment.”

“Especially since you are soon-to-be-married to your work.”

Will raised an eyebrow, amused. “Already a proposal?”

“Would you prefer to wait?”

“I’ll say yes, eventually. We should probably get to know each other a bit more before then, right? For instance, I have more dogs than just Winston.”

“I have a large backyard,” Hannibal smiled. “...And a large bedroom.”

“Getting fresh there, doctor,” Will grinned, kissing him again. “At least make me dinner first.”

And then Will and all of his dogs moved in with Hannibal, and they all lived happily ever after.

(Except for Jack and his team, who never caught the Chesapeake Ripper. The End.)

[wbouldingblog-blog]

Hello, dear readers. This is strange. We’re not on the move. We’ve been in the same place for 6 days, so there’s not been a natural break in proceedings to update you AND we’ve got another 2 days before we finally make it to New Zealand. Most importantly, we’ve crossed the equator and are now having to do handstands all the time here in the southern hemisphere and wear special harnesses to stop us falling off this side of the flat earth. Here’s how we made it.

After an uneventful night in a windowless hotel room in Ho Chi Minh (apart from a second cheesy foodgasm experience in Pizza 4Ps – we couldn’t get enough of it), we were checking out and, of course, it was at this moment, 2 hours before our flight to Singapore left, that the credit card machine stopped working. Luckily, as is often the case in HCMC, there was a guy with a scooter available to take Henny to another branch of the same hotel to pay there, where the machine was actually working. Henny was returned on the same scooter, and we hopped in a fresh-faced (couldn’t have been more than 22) Uber driver’s car and wove through the traffic to the international terminal of the airport.

Once inside, we played a game of ‘Where’s The Check-in Desk?’, followed by a lightning round of ‘Which Queue Is The Fastest?’, where the plot twist was that they were all glacially slow. Once at the desk, we were offered emergency seats (fistbump – legroom!) and made our way to immigration, where the authorities made sure to line everyone up to have their passports checked by smartly-dressed sloths. We eventually made it through and got through security (where more attention was paid to the football on the TV than to the x-ray machine) and found a little café, where we grabbed a baguette (I wanted more pho but there wasn’t enough time ☹), and sat down at our gate just as they started boarding. Once we’d finished our food and climbed on board (the extra legroom was aaaaaaaaamazing), we settled into our travelling routine of dozing, reading and listening to music. Before we knew it, we were at the gloriously modern arrivals terminal of Singapore Changi airport.

The difference was immediate and superb. The information desk spoke an English better than most of south London. The airport was spacious, with great big relaxation gardens featuring Koi carp-filled ponds and chirruping cicadas, an entire entertainment deck (as if we were on a cruise ship) with consoles, ‘jam room’, and cinema, and more shops in one place than I’ve seen in a terminal building. The catch? The price. Our first set of coffees outside of cheap Asia was in the 15 euros range (I did, admittedly, have a sausage roll too, but that was the cheapest of the three items). We’d gone from being able to live like royalty (if we’d wanted to) to being able to just sit quietly and sip at our coffees, trying to maximise the enjoyment.

We were going to be here for 12 hours. We wandered around looking at things we will never be able to afford, booked ourselves on the free city tour for the evening and even crossed into a different terminal to see if there were any major differences (none apart from the air conditioning being three degrees lower). We wandered some more, marvelled at the gardens, went to the loo (still not able to beat my shopping centre experience) then looked at phones, as mine was about to give up. I found a good few models, but they’re all still a bit too expensive at the moment, particularly as I’m not sure what my job situation will be in the next few weeks. We went and attempted to play on some games on the entertainment deck, but the computer was slower than I’d thought. After some button-mashing on street fighter II (Henny must have been cheating – I lost convincingly both times) and Henny being devoured by the ghosts on Mrs Pacman, we headed over for our tour, which took us to two major sites in Singapore. First was the Merlion, a new fountain which represents the wealth of the city pouring out of the lion’s mouth. The word ‘Singa’, we found out, means ‘lion’ and ‘Pura’ means ‘city’ (a prince saw a lion on a hunting trip here, so the tale goes), so the lion symbol represents the city itself, the fishy tail its marine economy. Second stop were the Gardens by the Bay. These newly-created, eco-aware gardens are fantastic for getting lost in (as a French couple displayed by being 15 minutes late to the pick-up point) and for getting good sunset pictures of the Marina Bay Sands hotel. After two hours of walking and seeing new sights, we headed hungrily back to the airport, skipped through security and went to a food hall, where I had some Thai green curry and Henny had some Korean barbecue.

  Once we were gastronomically satisfied, we headed to the cinema, where we caught the action-packed finale of Fast and Furious 8, and I got an email about another translation, which was to be submitted in 2 days (or whatever it was after taking into account the time difference – this has really messed up my perception of time). I went to charge the laptops and begin work on it while Henny watched the beginning of Boss Baby (the only film in the cinema’s repertoire that I’d wanted to see, but hey ho). The hour before we needed to get to our gate disappeared into a flurry of typing and it was soon time to say goodbye to Changi and hop on a plane which would take me over the equator for the first time.

Our seats were, sadly, not in the emergency escape aisle this time, and we were surrounded by people who seemed to want to cough up their insides every five minutes, or sniff at 20-second intervals without using a tissue. This continued through most of the flight and is what I blame for my currently-annoying throaty cough. We slept through most of the flight though (it only lasted 7 hours) and were suddenly on our way down to land in Melbourne. We got off the plane, ran to the immigration barriers and, after a brief moment of panic when the automatic gate didn’t recognise me, I engaged in some sport-based banter with the immigration official and was let through unmolested. We had to wait for a bit for our bags, but eventually got them, Henny purchased her new-country sim card and we hopped on the express bus to take us to the city.

We trundled along the freeway (the Aussies seem to have taken the American word for this one) and, at some point along the journey, we turned a bend to see the towering heights of the Melbourne skyline spread out ahead of us. It was fantastic – a moment for a Hans Zimmer score, maybe from the Gladiator soundtrack.

We hopped off the larger bus at southern cross station and onto a smaller bus (more like the local ones we get in England – Surrey peeps, think the 465 to Kingston) to take us the United Backpackers hostel, where we’d be spending the next couple of nights. Through the small yellow entrance which you’d just walk past if you weren’t looking for it, the hostel was clean and bright and everything you could wish for from a place that wasn’t a hotel. Henny claimed a top bunk and I took a bottom bunk (on the other side of the room; most beds were already taken in our dorm) then, after a refreshing let’s-not-smell-like-plane-any-more shower, we headed out for Henny to show me briefly what there was to see in our little corner of Melbourne, including a glimpse of federation square and Coles, the supermarket chain. I initially baulked at the prices, but soon did the maths for the exchange rate and worked out that it was just like inner-city London prices; high, but manageable as long as you were careful.

Henny had been liaising with her former au-pair mum and the girls, and so arranged to go and meet them at their hotel (they live in Canberra but had come to stay in Melbourne for the weekend) while I finished off a particularly urgent translation and made some friends at the hostel at the same time. After I’d finished my translation, I headed off to meet the ladies at their hotel. The girls are diabetic and have a beautifully cute and patient dog called Molly who is also a registered assistance dog; she can smell when their blood sugar levels are dangerous and will alert Adrienne (mum) or their carer at school so that they can take action. After lots of stroking the dog and hearing about their adventures so far, we headed out for dinner, little Molly Polly trotting along alertly beside us.

Everyone wanted sushi, so we walked the 15-or-so minutes it took to get to a particularly well-rated one in a shopping centre near the central shopping area of the city. We’d finally found somewhere to get to the sushi conveyor belt which would sit all 5 of us (Molly could stay on the floor), when a man, who looked as if he’d taken inspiration from Ken (of Barbie fame) for his plastic-moulded hairdo, flatly, yet with an apology or two, refused us service, citing the fact that our dog couldn’t be in the restaurant. Despite Adrienne’s best efforts, showing him the assistance dog card and explaining the need for him, the man (like his hairdo) was not for moving.

Flinging a threat of legal action in the court of human rights over our shoulders along with some Paddington-esque Hard Stares, we left the centre and headed to the David Jones (think an Australian John Lewis) food court for some reduced-price (it was the end of their trading hours) sushi and fried chicken, which was lovely. The girls had a minor spat over a sip of milkshake (apparently the other’s spit would still be in the straw and original owner needed a replacement), which escalated and gave Adrienne a chance to highlight the differences between antipodean and middle-class British parenting approaches – there was no messing around with her. Direct and to the point, with a hint of frustration in her tone and vocabulary, she told the girls that there would be no replacement and that was that. Our sushi eaten and milkshake-wars in a state of ceasefire, we headed out to the street and parted ways, arranging pickup times for the morning after next when we were to head to the zoo for the day!

Before heading to the Zoo though, we had much to see of the Melbourne CBD, so the next morning, we went on a walking tour, learning about the history of Melbourne, the meaning of various sites and their importance in the development of the city, as well as some of the more notable citizens, including a particularly nefarious Robin Hood-inspired Irishman by the name of Ned Kelly. He and his gang were bank robbers and did the common people a service by combining their raids with the destruction of personal loan documents, which, unsurprisingly, made them rather popular. We saw the laneways where countless street artists had applied their skilled hands to jazz up the between-streets, and ended up with a beer in the pub. Here, Henny took her leave to go and see an old friend from her previous time in Melbourne, and I went on a lovely long walk around some other parts of Melbourne with some of the guys from the walking tour. When we’d had enough (the sun was baking), we headed back to our hostel and had a game of pool over a beer, which I lost (the pool that is, not the beer).

    Once I’d got over the loss, I chilled in the aptly-named ‘chilling room’ until my evening’s entertainment arrived. Steph got to the hostel around 7 and we had a drink at the bar, whilst realising that it had been 7 years since we had last seen each other – she had been a supervisor at the farm a long time ago. She now works for Victoria Zoos and had managed to wrangle us free tickets for Melbourne Zoo for the next day. The free stuff didn’t stop there; she’d also won a competition at a Chinese dumpling place and had free dumplings for a year! The dumplings were excellent and I added some crisp pork belly to the order too, which was fabulous – melt-in-your-mouth tender and crunchy where you wanted it to crunch. Afterwards, we headed to what has become one of my favourite places in the world. A bar called Bartronica – a heady mix of retro-gaming awesomeness, pinball and beer. We played and lost heavily at Mario Kart (I was so good back in the day!), then I started kicking some serious gaming butt at smash bros., where Link sword-spun his way to secure me victory countless times. I had a go at Family Guy pinball, the Who song running through my head the whole time (… a pinball wizard’s got such a supple wriiiist… but not from holding a pint of beer), but couldn’t quite engage my inner Tommy to dominate the leaderboard.

We returned briefly but unsuccessfully to the Super Smash Bros., but I couldn’t emulate my previous success against much stronger competition (sorry Steph!) and so we headed our separate ways, promising to meet up again before Henny and I jetted off to Kiwiland.

The next day was full of excitement – we packed up our things, moved out of the hostel and headed downstairs to be picked up by Adrienne again and taken to the zoo. It was a baking hot day, so I wore my England rugby cap (carefully chosen to do maximum damage to local sensitivities after last year’s tour) and a pint of sun cream to keep out the ozone-free rays.

The girls (and Molly) raced around the zoo, the girls flitting like freed butterflies from one exhibit to the next, Molly following suit, a little perplexed by the richness and variety of scents coming her way. Molly was only allowed in certain areas, marked in pink on the map, so Adrienne took care of her at those times. We saw lions, tigers, sea snakes, African wild dogs, pelicans, monkeys (but no gorillas – they were hiding from us, we decided), iguanas, macaws, meerkats and penguins. We also saw a lot of Australian wildlife, which the girls weren’t as interested in as I was, having seen it all before; kangaroos, wombats, emus, kookaburras and a platypus were all fascinating to me but old hat to them.

The girls did, however, manage to spend some time (and a decent amount of their poor mum’s cash) in the gift shop, much like I’d done at the tender age of 10. Adrienne then drove us to our new home with Chris and Leesh, at their flat in the trendy suburb of Collingwood near Fitzroy, Melbourne’s answer to Neukölln or Shoreditch. They are renting a comfortable, modern 2-bed + open-plan kitchen/diner/living room flat in the former Yorkshire brewery, which has been redeveloped into a large housing complex complete with rooftop garden (with a BBQ, naturally) and gym. We said hello, dumped our stuff in our lovely little room, and headed back outside to meet Adrienne, who took us to Lygon street, a famous foodie street. It is a street, it is full of food, but 90% of it is Italian ristorantes, whose borderline aggressive front-of-house teams all seem to emulate Vietnamese street sellers (“You come eat here, I have very happy customers, I give you good deal, best price best price”). Not quite in the mood for pizza, we opted for a very tasty fish and chip place and tried all the deep-fried delicacies they had to offer. Things almost kicked off with Molly again, but the waitress was nice and understanding and Molly could remain under the table.

By the time we’d polished off the last of the nice thick chips, it was time for the girls to hit the hay and for us to go and meet Chris and Leesha at one of their friend’s gigs, where he would be playing funk/soul/r’n’b beats from 11. The bar was called Boney and the décor took us the 16,000ish kilometres back to Berlin. Arty things hung from walls, lighting was minimal and red and the patrons were suitably (under)dressed or just in the black-jeans-and-beard hipster garb necessary in this sort of place. We grabbed a drink with our hosts, headed upstairs to see his friend play to a room packed to the rafters with smoke from a smoke machine and not much else – we were the only four who had come to see him so far. Gradually though, other acquaintances dribbled in and the music got louder with each new audience member, so much so that we couldn’t really get acquainted with the newcomers, and decided to dive back downstairs. C&L joined us later, then left for their next gig. We called it a night (‘This is a night!’) then went back to our new room (possibly stopping for a McD’s 10-piece chicket nugget box) and slept until it was socially acceptable to wake up.

The next day dawned, but in our quiet, dark, cool cave of a room we didn’t notice until it was almost too late. We were supposed to meet the girls at 10.30 at the Victoria Markets (yay more shopping), which would take nearly half an hour to get to. Luckily, the girls and Adrienne had already headed to a different set of markets before, so we made our leisurely way down to the markets and had a breakfast of bacon and egg bap for me (plenty of ketchup, thanks) and a beetroot and feta salad for Henny. Just as we were polishing off the last morsels, we felt a familiar fluffy presence next to us and found that the girls had found us. Off we went on a zig-zag path past all the stalls with their various trinkets and tourist tat. I found a new adapter for my chargers as well as 2 decks of cards for 5 dollars (bargain). The girls found a few things that they liked, including a fake diamond-encrusted name tag for Molly and a set of earmuffs for themselves, in preparation for the harsh winter ahead.

We had to do some shopping for our promised (my fabled) roast dinner, so we almost tearfully parted ways with the girls for the time being and made our way around to find some decent veg and wine. We then toddled back to C&C’s and, after a while chilling out on the roof (Henny had to finish off her Hoi An post) and a couple of visits from a territorial pug, we prepared for the night’s entertainment: an outdoor cinema extravaganza with a picnic and Get Out. We took a nice ride in a taxify (similar to Uber but better for the drivers and customers apparently), and got to the botanical gardens, where we walked down a dusky path to a great big blow-up screen, in front of which a crowd of people were lying on the grass. We set up camp, tucked into our picnic and opened bottle after bottle then a box of wine, while the events of Get Out (a very, very good Black Mirror-like film) played out in front of us. But that wasn’t the only thing I was watching. As the sun had set, hundreds of crow-sized fruit bats had started winging their way to their twilight dinner above us. I sat, captivated by the slow, graceful movements of the huge bats. Luckily, I managed to pay enough attention to both and, once my wine-addled, bat-distracted, Get Out-head-blown state was brought to a close, we got in another taxify and roared home, where someone (Chris? Was it you?) decided to watch Whiplash (a film about a drummer – awesome) on their projector, just to keep the cinema feel going. It was fantastic – so much was relatable in the film, though maybe I had yet to experience the stresses of being a professional drummer like that. Tapping my legs in time to the music still bouncing around my head, we went to sleep and ended our second night in Collingwood.

This is also where I’ll leave you guys for the time being; there’s plenty more to come! For now though, I’ll just try and keep my eyes open – I’ve just taken some cough medicine and it’s one of those ones with ‘do not operate heavy machinery after use’ or something like that. Do laptops count as heavy machinery?

Yours drowsily,

Boulders

Superb Singapore + marvellous Melbourne (part the first) Hello, dear readers. This is strange. We’re not on the move. We’ve been in the same place for 6 days, so there’s not been a natural break in proceedings to update you AND we’ve got another 2 days before we finally make it to New Zealand.

[fiveexclamations]

Fic Title Doppelganger Author Me Fandom Star Trek DS9 Pairings Kira Nerys/Akellan Macet, background Kira Nerys/Odo, other background pairings. Rating M Warnings Violence, mild smut, minor character death (relaunch novels. Timeline Woven in and around the relaunch novels Notes Bit of cross posting as I re-read and edit Disclaimer Just for fun, not making any money. Chapter One - The devil you don't know "Colonel!" Kira Nerys closed her eyes for a moment, fighting down a wave of... what? It wasn't revulsion, or hatred, it was more like... confusion. Like a Bajoran Timpani band crashing about in her head with emotions for instruments. She squared her shoulders and turned. There it was, the face that went with that voice, uncannily like Gul Dukat, yet with disconcerting differences; looking at him felt like re-visiting a place you once knew well and finding new trees had grown and new houses had been built. It was horribly uncomfortable. She drew a deep breath. "What can I do for you Gul Macet?" Equally disconcerting as his appearance was his manner, a slight hesitancy whenever he was in her presence, that was so alien to a façade she associated with endless arrogance and a constant invasion of both her physical and mental personal space. "I apologise for accosting you," he said, his voice even, almost indifferent. "I have a message from Ambassador Lang; she wonders if you would join her for dinner this evening in her quarters, at 20:00 hours?" Kira raked a hand through her hair, trying to form a diplomatic reply. As far as it went she quite liked the Ambassador, admired her even, but everything was complicated by First Minister Shakaar and his blocking of peace talks with the Cardasians. However much Kira disapproved she needed to consider carefully any social engagement that might give her old lover an excuse to question her impartiality when she tackled him on the subject, but... A little ball of anger and anxiety started to roll in her belly when she thought about what Second Minister Asarem Wadeen had told her about Shakaar's manipulation of the peace talks; should she worry about the opinion of a man who was betraying Bajor's best interest to suit some convoluted plan of revenge? Especially when he'd left her to the wolves when she was attainted by the Vedek Assembly? Sadly, she realised that she had more faith in a Cardassian she'd met only a few times then she did in her own planet's leader and worse, her ex lover. With a start she realised she'd been staring silently over Macet's shoulder, probably with her emotions playing out across her face if his polite but faintly bemused expression was anything to go by. Again, she had that warped sense of seeing two people at once; Gul Dukat would be smirking at her distraction, stepping into her space, his breath on her cheek, his proximity crawling up and down her skin and in through her eyes and mouth to churn through her veins, making her so, so angry. Macet shifted his weight and coughed, snapping Kira back to herself again; she found her hands had balled into fists and felt a blush creep up her neck, under her uniform. If the Gul noticed he gave no sign and ridiculously that made her crosser still. However, her new role came with new responsibilities and new expectations, including that she would not punch diplomats even when she couldn't control her feelings around them. She forced her hands to relax and nodded stiffly, "Please tell the Ambassador I'd be delighted." He looked at her silently, for a long moment, then nodded courteously and turned away. She watched him go, crossing the bridge above the promenade, looking about him with interest. It was another difference between the cousins; Dukat had rarely looked at his surroundings, probably from sheer self-absorption. However much their surface was alike, somehow she was going to have to accept that under the skin, Skrain Dukat and Akellen Macet were very different men. Either that or the later was a very good actor. ... Kira had carefully considered what to wear for her dinner with Ambassador Lang. She wanted to show the woman the respect she deserved, which normally meant dress uniform, but at the same time she did not want this meal to be viewed as a diplomatic meeting; essentially, she wanted to send a clear message that this was a social visit. Accordingly she choose an outfit from her limited supply of formal off duty wear, a loose pair of trousers of a silky fabric and a fitted, crossover top in a rougher texture and a darker, woody purple shade that Jadzia had once said contrasted nicely with her hair. Rummaging in a cupboard, she found a bottle of aged spring wine that someone had given her at the last gratitude festival, to take as an offering, and taking a deep breath, set off for Ambassador Lang's quarters. The downside of her casual dress was that it caught the attention of everyone she passed; Colonel Kira out of uniform was a rare sight and people tended to double take and notice the bottle in her hand. Finally, when she reached the door of the Ambassador's quarters and pressed the chime, she was in clear view of two Bajoran security men, a Bajoran woman she recognised from one of the shops on the promenade and of course the Cardassian guard standing outside the door. Word would certainly get around. "Enter." Kira nodded out of politeness to the Cardassian guard, who ignored her, and stepped through the opening door. Only as the door shushed shut behind her did she realise that the voice had not been the musical cadence of Ambassador Lang, but the far more masculine and familiar tones of Gul Macet. She froze just inside the door; the Gul was sitting in the window, his impassive gaze upon her, apparently just disturbed from a little star gazing. Kira looked around searching for any sigh of Natima, but unless she was hiding in the bedroom, perhaps waiting to jump out and shout "surprise", she was not there. She shot a look of enquiry at Macet, pushing down the automatic adrenaline rush that came from being enclosed with a Cardassian in uniform, never mind one who looked like him, until she heard what he had to say. He stood up slowly, almost carefully, making no move to close the distance between them. "Ambassador Lang sends her apologies; she has just received several communications from our government and has had to go to our ship to decode them. She will join us as soon as she can and has asked me to entertain you in the meantime." He gestured to a table, set to one side, with places for three. On the sideboard a variety of dishes and drinks, mostly Cardassian and Bajoran were waiting. Kira's natural instinct was to turn on her heel and walk out, but she stopped herself; this was not Dukat. This man had never commanded an internment camp, or a mining station. This man had spent every year, of every military campaign he had been involved in, on his ship, obeying the commands of people like Dukat; he had killed Bajorans, ship against ship, soldier against soldier, but never preaching that subjugation was for their own good; hating him for his war record would be preposterously hypocritical. This man had joined Damar's rebellion; this man had worked for peace with Captain Picard. This man had spoken up against his own government, when that was a dangerous thing to do and somehow survived it. She knew all this because she'd read every scrap of information the Bajoran militia and the Federation had on him. It behoved her to treat him with some respect, and caution of course. She tilted the bottle in her hand to show him the label. "Where shall I put this?" ... The food was very good. Macet managed to be courteous without fussing; he didn't pull out her seat, or insist on fetching her food, but he did wait until she had served herself before filling his own plate, and when he realised that she hadn't sat down he politely indicated that she should choose her own seat. "Does Ambassador Lang have anything specific she wishes to talk to me about?" asked Kira, before taking a bite of Mapa bread spread with a delicate fish pate. Macet paused and seemed to consider the question, "I don't think so. I think she just wanted a change of company." Kira cocked her head on one side, "What about you, how do you find the company aboard the station?" "I find very little company at all, as I'm sure you have noticed. I try and stay out of sight, except for when it's strictly necessary." The Gul compressed his lips, "As we have discussed, my face hardly evokes pleasant memories for the inhabitants of this station." Kira nodded. "How do you feel about that?" she asked bluntly, wanting to see his reaction. Macet lowered his forkful of Veklava on to his plate. "I feel it is understandable. I feel it is kinder to stay out of the way when I am not needed but I feel no compunction in being visible when it is needed. For example, I am aware that I make you uncomfortable, but I feel no need to do anything about it. I am not Dukat." For the first time she heard irritation in his voice, well controlled, but still there. She raised her eyes from her plate and met his steady, cool blue ones, so unusual in a Cardassian. Ironically, his emotion reassured her more than his careful impassivity had. She felt herself flush, "I'm sorry," she said, with her sometimes devastating candour. "I wish I could separate your face from, from him." The Gul took a sip of red leaf tea, "I am open to suggestions Colonel." Kira thought for a moment, "Tell me about your family?" "My Father came from Lakat. He met my mother at the University of Culat, where he was studying military science and she was studying medicine. As the sixth of eight children and the third of three daughters, she had such a small dowry that she wasn't expected to marry. So, she used it to study for a career. My father," Macet smiled into his cup, "defied his own parents, who were determined that he would make a good match, and married her as soon as they had both graduated and three days before he was due to ship out on a three month mission." Macet raised unguarded eyes to look at Kira, she could see his pride in his parents shining from him. "I was born ten months later. My father left the military and became a professor of tactics at a provincial university, where farmer's sons went in the hope of becoming soldiers and escaping the plough. My mother became a surgeon at the local hospital. I have one sister." He paused and cocked his head on one side, as if inviting her to comment. "That's a small family for a Cardassian couple," obliged Kira. Macet nodded, seemingly satisfied. "Intentionally so, my parents disagreed with the Cardassian tradition of large families. They considered it incompatible with our planet's lack of resources, that it fostered an overly militaristic agenda." "Oh." Kira frowned and started pushing some Rigellian paka beans around her plate, thinking about what he was telling her. It was all consistent with what she had read in his file, but still interesting. "What about you, are you married? Any children?" Again, she asked a question she essentially knew the answer to. "Yes, I am married. We have no children." "I'm sorry," said Kira, honestly. Macet raised a brow ridge. "Sorry? Why?" She gave him a startled look, "I thought all Cardassians were desperate to have children?" He smiled grimly, "My wife does not want children. At first because she wanted to wait until my career was established and later... let us just say, we grew apart." "I'm sorr-," Kira broke off realising that she was repeating herself, "I see." "No need to be sorry Colonel," responded Macet cheerfully. "She is happy pursuing her artistic interests. I believe her current lover is a member of the Cardassian arts council, and considering what little art is left intact on Cardassia I should imagine he has a lot of time for her," he gave the Colonel a tight, dry little smile. "More time than I ever did. I, until the beginning of Damar's rebellion, had had a long term relationship with my ship's science officer." Kira tried to hide her surprise, "What happened?" "She didn't want to join the rebellion and left my ship." His expression became a little sad, "I have not been able to find her since. Though I have no interest in resuming our relationship I would like to know if she survived." Kira topped up her wine glass. "War hardly promotes a stable love life," her mind drifted to Odo and resolutely turned away. "No Colonel, it does not." He sipped his tea again. "May I ask you a question?" "Of course," she shrugged; he had probably read her file too. "Were you and my cousin ever in a romantic relationship?" She choked on her spring wine. "No!" she finally managed to splutter, after Macet had slapped her on the back, immediately withdrawing to a polite distance when it was obvious she wasn't in any danger. "Why would you... Who said we were..." her face twisted in distaste, "romantic?" she spat the word like a curse. He shrugged, "I met my cousin from time to time and on the last few occasions," he thought for a moment, "over the last four or five years I think, more in the early part of that period, he spoke of you. Though he never actually said you were intimate, it was clear that he was interested in that outcome and your discomfort around me... I wasn't sure whether that was causing it," he shrugged again. "He might have been interested, but..." Kira paused and took a deep breath through her nose. "He made, overtures, I suppose. I never seriously thought that he really expected me to give in to them. I always assumed it was to throw me off balance, to put me on the back foot." She huffed irritably, "Did you know that my mother was one of his women? I only found out a couple of years ago, and it wasn't like he had a chance before but..." she pulled a face as her stomach churned at the thought. Macet's expression mirrored hers, "No. However it does not surprise me. I doubt if it would be any comfort to you, but for a time my wife was also one of his women." Kira flumped back into her chair, her mouth hanging open, the situation was just so ridiculous; here she was having dinner with the image of Gul Dukat, discussing Gul Dukat's love life. She snorted and then, inappropriately, started to giggle. Her host raised his brow ridges but let her laugh without interruption, which emphasised just how unlike Dukat he was. Dukat's pride would have been lacerated; Macet seemed at most, faintly irritated. Finally, a soft chirrup made her jump and hiccup into silence. Macet stood up and crossed to the other side of the room, where a Cardassian pad lay on a table. He grunted in surprise, "A message from Natima, the communications are taking more time than she envisioned and she will be staying aboard our ship all night. She apologises for being such a poor host and hopes I am looking after you adequately. His eyes strayed to the table where both their plates were relatively untouched. "I'm not sure I can reassure her on that point." Kira looked up at him and held out her glass. "Give me some more wine and I'll see if I can do some justice to this meal." He gave her the suggestion of a smile, the first one she recalled seeing on his face. "Very well Colonel." "Call me Nerys, your cousin used to do it without my permission. Think how annoyed he'd be that I've invited you to." His mouth twitched, "And I am Akellan," he said gravely, topping up her glass. ... Akellan Macet turned out to be good and surprisingly easy company. By mutual, if unspoken agreement they moved away from personal topics and discussed some issues of command. This led Macet to tell an amusing story about reversing a Galor Class spaceship into a Napean space station, causing a serious diplomatic incident; Kira caped this by telling him about the time she accidentally dropped a delicate bomb into the sewage system of a small Cardassian Military base, causing every toilet in the building to explode simultaneously and catching the base Commander at a most inconvenient moment. Macet roared at that and she couldn't help laughing with him. He stopped laughing first, fixing his disconcerting, light eyes on her face. His intentness stilled and quieted her. Suddenly she was wary; there was a tension about him that she wasn't used to. "What?" He didn't answer her immediately, but sat turning a Moba fruit over and over in his hands, his eyes on her face, "Why did take so much responsibility for Ziyall?" Kira shook her head, not because she didn't understand the question, but because she didn't understand why he was asking it. "Because she was innocent. She didn't deserve to be scorned by Cardassians or Bajorans, because of the accident of her birth." "But it connected you to Dukat," he said reasonably. "That must have been very difficult when you hated him so much." Kira shook her head again, "You don't understand, I hated what he did. There were times when I could, would have killed him to stop it. He made me so angry, no-one has ever made me angrier. Not just because of what he did, but because of the tiny moments when you could see what he could be. He gave up everything for Ziyall, he put her first, he actually cared about her mother. However appalling the relationship was when it started, however he might have deluded himself when he said she loved him, I believe he loved her, as much as he was able. I think that when he said he wanted the best for the Bajoran people he actually believed it. She dragged in a deep breath, "He was deluded and arrogant and self absorbed. In those rare moments when he was at his best he thought he was at his worst, but he wasn't true evil, not until the end, not until after Ziyall died, I believe that, I really do." She realised that she was standing and that she'd been punctuating her words with jabbing fingers. Her hands dropped and she swayed a little, lost in confusion and for a fleeting second she wondered just how much wine she had drunk. She took an unsteady step around the table, choosing to enter Macet's space, something he had never done to her; he had always maintained a wary distance, always moving away rather than towards her, whenever he had the choice. "Why aren't you like him?" She asked, like a child asking why the sky isn't green. He didn't answer immediately, just stood up and looked down at her, his usually flat blue eyes tumultuous, "Because I am not him." He stepped backwards, putting distance between them again. "I must go Colonel; it's getting late. I'm sure the Ambassador will not mind if you show yourself out." Without a backward glance he turned and left. Kira watched him go, jaw hanging. She took a few, hasty steps as if to follow him, span back and kicked over her chair. She huffed out a breath and glared at her tipped seat. What the hell was going on? What had she been doing?