#Also seriously where did the ‘I’m bald’ option come from??

[leapdayowo]

What fandom introduced you to my art?👀

[vintage-marina]

A woman out of time chapter 3

TW: violence, fighting, suicidal thoughts

Wordcount: 2894

Summary: Reader meets James Norrington for the first time

The Black Pearl

The man had his eyes wide open and some spit flew out of his mouth onto your helmet. You furrowed your brows and tried to make as much space between the strange man and you if that was possible, another head came into your field of vision. He was on the top of his head bald but for some reason he still had hair, he was also dirty. "Hmm, she doesn't look like a witch. So I say you're wrong!'' he didn't stared at you anymore but stared at the other man, his face a few centimeters from the other man. ''No Pintel, she is! I swear on my soul'' ''You don't have one, how could you swear on it?'' ''Because I can!''

Around you you heard murmers and sighing in irritation you said: ''Excuse me,'' they were ignoring you and didn't move a muscle while their staring contest was contuining. You lifted your arms and pushed their heads away, the wood underneath you was creaking while you tried to stand up. Around your arm clung a net and you tried to shrug it off. Hearing the sound of metal made you realise that you were in a dangerous situation, you could see men pointing their guns at you or pointing other weapons. You saw what the others were wearing and you felt ridiculous, it was certain that you were not from here or from this timeline. You wished that you could reach for your weapons, but they were safely tucked underneath your timetravel suit. You had two options or you pressed on a button and revealed your normal suit  that may scare those people around you or you keep this suit on and may risk a heat stroke.

A man was staring at you and had his hands in the air. It was like that he was doing this pose alot, when he noticed that you noticed that he was staring he walked right at you. His arms swung at his sides and he kept staring at you and for the dramatic affect he pulled his eyebrows up. What the hell am I even doing here, you thought to yourself. A meter from you he stopped and he pulled his face toward you and knocked on your helmet. ''Strange thing, don't ya think?'' ''Thanks'' ''No problem lass, what's yer name?'' ''Why do you want to know?'' ''What do ya say?'' You pushed on a button that revealed your face and said it again, his eyes widened in shock but recovered quickly, around you you could hear gasps ''Well can't a gentlemen know the name of a beautiful woman like you hmm? Especially from a beaut like you that fel from the sky, I could almost swore that ye're an angel'' ''It's nurse Y/L/N'' the man with eyeliner smirked and said: ''Yer given name nurse Y/L/N'' ''Y/N, yours?'' ''Captain Jack Sparrow ma'am.'' The first thing that you noticed is that he looked familiar, you squinted your eyes lightly and said to him: ''Do I know you from somewhere?'' ''Well lass if that was the case then I wouldn't ask from yer name, wouldn't I?'' He had a point, the second thing that you noticed is that he had a compass in his hand. You hummed in agreement, while you looked around you saw that the other men (probably the crew from the man that was facing you) were whispering to eachother and looking frightened but still pointing their guns and weapons. In the crowd you spotted a few women, they also pointed their guns at you but the anxious pit in your stomach was lessening while you saw them.

You turned your focus to his crew and said ''Look I'm not here to hurt you and I hope you are not going to hurt me. It was an accident that I landed here and it was not on purpose, I know that you guys have a lot of questions right now and I will answer it if you guarentee that I'm safe here and can stay. Because I have nowhere else to go.'' the man who you learned his name was Jack shrugged his head and said: ''Fair enough, welcome on the Black Pearl lass'' while he said this you heard his crew protesting. What have I done to myself? ''Now if you will, come with me.''

An older man with a beard walked towards Jack and mumbled: ''Jack I know I shouldn't  question you, but I don't think it's a good idea to welcome her on this ship'' You rested your hands on your hips and said: ''You know I can hear you right?'' He ignored you. ''Well that's why I'm in charge isn't it'' and he gave a smile towards the old man. ''Alright then name's Joshamee Gibbs and yours?'' and he held his hand out for you to shake it, you shaked his hand and gave a tight lipped smile ''Y/N Y/L/N.'' ''Now if you don't mind I'm interested in your story so follow me''

You were walking towards his cabin, you admitted his ship was beautiful. He gestured that you could sit down, so you did. You layed your hands in your lap and you asked yourself if you should start or should wait. ''Rum?'' he offered you, ''yes, thank you.'' He gave you a glass of rum and you put it on the table. He sat on the other couch facing you again and you saw that he was bursting from curiosity. ''So, should I start?'' Jack nodded and you continued: ''Alright then, I really don't know where to begin. But what I'm saying should be kept a secret forever and if I know that it's made publicy I'm seriously pissed, you anderstand me?'' ''Aye, me and our crew will keep it a secret,'' ''good.'' ''Alright now I'm starting,'' you took a deep breath and began. ''The world where I came from is in shambles. You probably won 't believe it but an evil creature wiped out half of our population on earth, because it wasn't in 'balance' according to him.'' ''Hold up, an evil creature what do you mean by that? And what do you mean by wiped out half of the population, who could do that?'' ''An alien, extraterrestrials or someone who isn't born on Earth it self. We never thought that anyone could do this, until Thanos came along.'' he choked on his drink and said: ''What the hell mate, ye're saying that those things excist! I never heard of the word alien.'' he mumbeled the last sentence. ''Truth to be told, I didn't believe it either. Until I saw those things, they were disgusting and that man, he was the scariest of them all. I don't even know why I am telling you this, you probably would stab me in the back with this story.'' ''Eh.. probably, but for now not. Ye're telling this because if you didn 't you would look crazy and we would kick you out of our ship and we don't care where, so that's why. But ye're secret is safe with us, if that is what ye're worrying about lass. Now go on with your story, I want to know what happend next.'' You took your glass of rum and sipped it a bit, it was strong but even the strongest liquor in the world couldn't make you drunk and so you explained why you were here.

''So ye're saying that ye 're from the future,  precisely 2023.'' ''Yes that's what I'm trying to tell you,'' ''and you wanted to go to 2012 because..'' ''Because for bringing the people back who were snapped away we needed the Infinity Stones.'' Jack nodded with his head, trying to understand it. ''Whoa, the only thing I can say is whoa'' ''Yeah, I know it's a lot to take in,'' he pointed with a finger and said: ''And you need an Infinity Stone but you can't switch timelines because you have one Pym Particle right? So, you have to search for this 'Infinity Stone' in this time, am I right lass?'' ''Yes you 're completely right, Jack.'' ''It's captain for you lass if you don't want to be kicked out of my crew.''  You let out a laugh and said: ''Alright captain.'' ''I still can't believe ye're from 2023, ya know how many years from now that is?''

Captain Jack Sparrow showed you the way to the womens barracks because although he was a pirate, women did deserve privacy. His arm slung over your shoulder and he said: ''Wait here will ya? I'm going to tell my crew what's goin' on. You will sleep here with the others by the way.''

The following days the crew was becoming less and less suspicious of you but the questions didn't ceaze. They were asking why you were here, how you were here, why the hell you didn't return to your time, who's you engaged to, why you always looked tired and questions about your past that you wern't comfortable with answering. You were sewing torn up clothing while you peered into the horizon, the weather was cold, misty and the night slowly climbed up at the horizon. A shiver ran through your spine. Luckily you wore you leather suit but the other's couldn't say the same. Your thread fel out of your needle and you cursed lightly, your cloved hands picked up the thread and you shut one eye close to focus better on the tiny hole of the needle itself, the first, second and third attempt you failed but the fourth attempt did you succeed.

Then you saw something at out the corner of your eyes, you put your needlework down and peered into the horizon again. You squinted your eyes and you could've swore you saw something moving in the mist. You looked around for a few seconds and you saw that nobody saw what you saw, what didn't strange was. You looked again and then you saw the outline of a ship, right sailing to you. You shouted to signal that what you saw and everyone stopped what they were doing and took their weapons.  They peered into the horizon and a few seconds later they saw it too, ''the damned Navy found us!'' ''Load the cannons!'' ''Stop firing until there is nothin' left of it!'' those three things you could hear before a cannon was fired. You fastened your medpack and took one of your guns of your belt and grapped it for dear life.

The ship of the Navy became parrallel to Jack's ship and the cannon hit the front deck, splinters flew in all dicrections and you saw a few men were blown away by the force. People from both sides were screaming, you felt a rush of wind behind you and at the cornes of your eyes you saw a rope bouncing back to the Navy. You whipped around and where met with the barrel of his pistol, ''surrender pirate and we would not hurt you.'' ''I'm not a pirate,'' you grunted while you took a few steps backwards. In a matter of seconds he could blow your brain out of your skull and actually you did not want that. If he pointed his pistol on another day, a day where your mental health was on it's shittiest, maybe you would welcome it but now? Now, there was a chance to see your best friend again you didn't want to welcome death. You clicked your gun to your belt and yanked his pistol towards you but he didn't let go. He let out a soft grunt and you slapped with your vibranium hand the gun out of his and kicked it away from him. Now he was defenseless and that was the position that you wanted him to be in. Your face was stoic and you clenched your fist and let it hover at your face to create a defence, he followed your step and let out a laugh to mock you. ''What's so funny hm?'' you grunted at him, ''I just can not believe that I am fighting against a woman, should you not work in the kitchen, instead of trying to fight against us, the Navy?'' The glare you gave him hardened and you spat out: ''Stupid man-thing.'' He didn't react well on your insult and lunched towards your jaw, you crouched down to dodge the hit and gave from underneath an uppercut to his instead. His body flew from the force on the deck and he was flat out cold, you picked up his pistol and tossed it towards your crew. You stepped over his body and kicked his ribs for a good measure. You took your gun again from your waistband and shot a few men down from your left. The cannons from both sides didn't stop with shooting and a ring was forming into your brain. You tightly shutted your eyes for a second and rubbed your hand on your forehead in the hope of silencing the ringing noise.

You looked to your right, onto the waters of the sea and onto the ship of the Navy. You saw a few of your crew on it and you were worried that they would be in minority. You ran towards a rope while you were dodging bullets and red coats to your left and right. With your vibranium arm you grabbed the rope tight and gave it a tug.  Firstly you took a few steps backwards and then you ran towards the railing of the Black Pearl. A few Navy man were running at you while some of your crew were running behind them, you shot one in the knee and the other in the shoulder.  You sprung on the railing and you lifted yourself up higher in the rope itself. You were flying into the dark blue sky that was freckled with stars. It honestly reminded you of the time that you went into space and the next thing you knew you sprung onto the deck of the Navy. You rolled over to not injure yourself and stood right up. You ran to the group of men who were surroundering the people you were familiar with, from backwards you grapped a full hand of white hair and yanked a  body to the back and gave an punch to the temple of another man. An opening was created and there you saw Will, Elizabeth and Jack. The Navy men looked surprised that you were here after not hearing you, especially from a certain man. You stood next to Elizabeth and she said: ''How are you not out of breath?'' ''That's not true, I'm a bit out of breath but not so much.''

The fourth of you made a little circle and were shuffeling around, the medpack on your back never felt so heavy on your back. ''You are surrounded Jack give up!'' the man said who gave you a surprised look a few seconds ago, ''you know that man Elizabeth?'' you murmered to her while you pointed your gun at someone's head while they did the same to you. ''Yes, I know him, a little to well..'' she murmered back, a silence fell between you two while you could hear Jack say with a small grin: ''It's actually Captain Jack Sparrow, commodore.'' '' His name is James Norrington and he was my fiancé,'' ''he was your what?'' You were surprised by that information. ''James is not a bad man you know? He is just not Will.''

At this point you saw more men making their way home to their ship again, bloodied but with will power. ''Guys, you have to leave in a few minutes. More and more men are returning to their ships and it will be not longer safe!'' you shouted above the cannon firing. ''What do you mean, you're not staying here alone Y/N!'' you could hear Will scream at you, ''I will manage it, go! A few meters behind you Jack and Will there are a few ropes, use them and return to the Black Pearl!'' You could hear Will and Elizabeth protesting and even you could hear Jack saying that it would be stupid. ''For Gods sake, you're pirates! Are you not suppose to safe your own life? Go! Just go!'' You shot four men into their legs and pushed Will, Elizabeth and Jack towards their opening. The Navy men sprung into action and tried to capture them while they also tried to kill you. Here and there you knocked a few man out but mostly you maked sure that Will, Elizabeth and Jack were in safety. Elizabeth turned her head and shouted almost incoherently: ''We will rescue you Y/N, don't be worried!''

A barrel of a gun was facing you again and you knew that you were outnumbered. The man who was named James Norrington said: ''Surrender now pirate, you are outnumbered, drop your weapons and put your hands before you.'' You carefully laid your guns, your taser and a few knifes on the ground. The man looked strange at them but said nothing of it, he only kicked them carefully away. ''I'm not a pirate,'' you said to him. ''That's what they all say ma'am. Please put your hands before you.'' You did exactly what he said.

[artificialqueens]

Galactica, Chapter 35 (Group Fic) - TheDane/Veronica

A/N: Click here if you’re looking for previous chapters (or here if you’d rather read on AO3). 💫

Last Chapter: Violet’s promotion became official, and Bianca set her sights on a certain blonde.

This Chapter: Violet begins her new job, and things are not exactly what she expected.

***

Even though everything was technically all the same, Violet felt like she had walked into a completely different building.

She had greeted Roxy with a smile, the receptionist at her desk when Violet had walked in at 9:30 for her visit with HR, people actually present unlike when Violet usually came in at the crack of dawn. Trixie had insisted that she take a slow morning, almost forbidding her to come in with the rest of the floor, and Violet guessed that it made sense since it was her first day.

Violet walked out of the elevator, her heels clacking on the floor, her stomach filled with butterflies.

Her morning had been a lot more messy than she preferred. She had changed her clothes a million times, unsure what to wear, until she had finally settled on a simple long sleeved top and a full skirt. It was completely Fame approved, but Violet felt comfortable in it, none of it too flashy or attention grabbing. Violet knew how to use a sewing machine in heels, but she still had a pair of flats in her bag, just in case someone truly cared about the company's safety guidelines.

She paused in front of the door, smoothing down her skirt, one, two, three times, before grabbing the handle and opening the door to the first day of the rest of her life.

“Violet!��� Trixie smiled brightly, standing up from where he had been leaning over Gia’s shoulder, who was somehow still miraculously working at the company - even after her screw up in the Fall. “Welcome! I’m so happy you’re here.”

“Oh,” Violet stopped. She couldn’t remember ever being greeted with so much enthusiasm when coming into work, but it was nice, very nice. “I’m happy to be here?”

“Yes you are,” Trixie grinned, walking over to her, the man wearing a somewhat ridiculous white t-shirt with a pink and blue band logo Violet didn’t recognise. “We’re going to have so much fun, but first, Everyone!”

Trixie clapped his hands, catching the attention of the entire department who all turned to them.

“This is Violet Chachki, you all already know her as Fame’s assistant,” Trixie smiled, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. “Say hi.”

“Hello,” Violet said, lifting her hand in greeting. She wasn’t sure what to do with herself, the whole thing horribly embarrassing, everyone looking at her. Violet wasn’t unused to attention, but she disliked it heavily when it was focused on her person, and not on something she had created.

She attempted a smile, doing her very best not to let anyone know how awkward she felt.

“She is going to be working with us now here in the best department of Galactica!” Trixie released her, earning a laugh from everyone. “I want you all to make her feel welcome and settled since we all know what it was like to be new,” he finished with a lot of them looking on with slight smiles and waves.

“You got it coach!”

Violet turned to look at the source of the voice, an incredibly tall bald man with a gigantic smile and a raspy voice the one who had called out. Violet recognized Bob, who was the design department's project manager, though she didn’t think she had ever seen him in Fame’s office.

“Let me show you around.” Trixie looped their arms together, dragging Violet with him before she had the chance to put down her bag, or even take off her jacket.

The design floor was a myriad of various fabrics in countless colors and prints with a multitude of textures to choose from.

Dress forms, in an assortment of sizes, lined the walls under large glass windows that brought in natural light and a beautiful view, of the east side, of Central Park.

The floor had neat rows of long work tables each with their own computers, drawing sections, sewing machines, hanging dress form and a rolling stool.

“Aaaaaaaand this, is your desk!” Trixie smiled brightly, throwing an arm out as he showed Violet her place.

“What…” Violet looked at the big collage that was put right in the middle. “Is that?”

“Right?” Trixie grinned, clearly very proud of himself “I made it for you.”

“Oh…” Violet bit her lip, unease welling up in her body. The gesture was kind, but it was strange to see so many pictures of herself, most of all because she had no idea when most of them had actually been taken. “Thank you.” She was sure she could stuff it in her drawer later, the paper looking sturdy enough to be shoved down there.

“Don’t mention it,” Trixie gave her a halfarm hug, holding her against his side for a minute. “Now, next on the agenda- Jovan, pay attention.”

“Sure thing coach.”

Violet watched as Jovan turned around, the man sitting backwards on his chair, one of his long limbs pulled up in what looked like an extremely uncomfortable position.

“Hello.” Jovan smiled, a gigantic white toothed grin on his face. He was bald, the top of his head somehow not smooth like Bob’s, but instead sort of wrinkly.

“Jovan will be your desk mate.”

Violet had wondered who she’d be seated next to, and while she had never actually spoken to Jovan, he wasn’t her worst option.

“Hello,” Violet held out her hand, “I’m Violet.”

“Please,” Jovan snorted, grabbing her hand in a surprisingly hard grip. “I already know who you are.”

“Jovan is one of our contemporary designers.”

Violet nodded, hiding a smile. It was clear as day that Jovan was in contemporary, his shirt a multicolored almost neon asymmetrical tunic.

“One of the best,” Jovan squeezed her hand, letting it go, “contemporary designers. Don’t touch my stuff, and I promise that you and I will get along great.”

“Jovan-” Trixie started scolding, but Violet cut in.

“I’ll keep my hands to myself.” Violet put her bag on the table. She had never seen Trixie scold anyone, but judging by the furrow of his brow, Jovan was toeing the line.

“What’s on the agenda, coach?” Jovan had somehow managed to cross his legs around the chair, a pencil dangling from his mouth.

“Oh,” Trixie smiled, and Violet reached inside her bag, grabbing her notebook. “Violet has the morning off.”

“Wha-” Violet paused, unsure if she had heard Trixie correctly. “Excuse me, what did you say?” It was only Monday, but Violet knew that design had their weekly department wide meetings every Thursday, and if she was being honest, she had expected to be thrown directly into the work, the Christmas collection just around the corner.

“The morning off.” Trixie grinned. “Decorate your desk, say hi to everyone, get all your little knick knacks in order and later we’ll have cake to celebrate your first day.”

***

Jovan groaned slightly. He was supposed to be working on the holiday collection but he just couldn’t seem to find an interesting angle.

Jovan didn’t like making gowns, and though he had managed once or twice to sneak in a pants suit or something mildly interesting, Raja and Fame had a clear almost inarguable preference towards high classic glamor when it came to the holidays.

He flipped back and forth between his sketches, pencil in his mouth, erasing a line here of adding one there. After a bit, he sensed a disturbance in the energy, his attention shifted slightly across the table to his new deskmate.

Violet was sitting at her desk, tapping her nails on the wood, her lip between her teeth as she was looking out on the department. She was practically radiating nervous energy, her desk already all neatly set up.

Jovan noticed a leather bound planner, a collection of pens and pencils in an empty Dior box, a thick stack of sketching paper, as well as a well stocked sewing kit, a golden pair of scissors sticking out.

She seemed to be in worse shape than he was, clearly not used to being given idle creative time, and Jovan smiled slightly, deciding to take pity on her.

“Hey, Violet.” Jovan pushed his chair out, scooting over to her table. “I’m working on this dress,” Jovan put his sketches down on Violet’s desk, “and I can’t figure out the hem length. Will you check it out?”

“Oh, um, sure…” Violet leaned over the desk table, pushing a bit of her hair behind her ear. Jovan hadn’t noticed the bracelet or her rings before, the golden jewelry clearly well worn, but also well taken care of. “What’s the problem?”

“See, I’m trying it three different ways, but they all feel wrong...” Jovan tapped his sketches, already enjoying how seriously Violet considered the question, examining each sketch closely and looking at them back and forth a few times before attempting an answer.

“I like the length on the second one, but the shoulders on the third one might balance it out more,” she finally said, and he smiled.

“Yeah, good call, thanks!” Jovan stretched, yawning slightly. He was already feeling much better, but Violet still looked lost.

“I need caffeine.” Jovan stood up. “You wanna come for some espresso or a latte or something?”

“Oh.” Violet looked genuinely surprised at his request, sneaking a quick glaze at Trixie’s closed office door before she made up her mind. “Um, alright…” Violet reached for her coat, but Jovan stopped her.

“No,” Jovan smiled. “I just mean the espresso machine we have in the break room.” Jovan pointed over his shoulder, Violet following his fingers, her brow furrowing. “You did know that we have a break room down here, right?”

Jovan had heard the rumor that Fame only drank Starbucks, though he hadn’t imagined that her assistants shared the luxury, but Violet shook her head, the woman both looking mystified and curious, and Jovan realised that he had never actually seen her in any of the Galactica break rooms ever.

“Come on,” Jovan grabbed her elbow, giving it a squeeze. “I’ll show you.”

***

“Stop, omigod, I can’t breathe,” Maxwell wheezed, clutching Bob’s shoulder and practically choking with laughter at his boyfriend’s story.

“No, but listen. Then Acid turned to him and-”

Maxwell reached up and covered Bob’s mouth with his hand, having just spotted Jovan strolling towards the break room with Violet in tow.

“Incoming mole,” he warned, giving a nod with his head.

Maxwell had been working at Galactica for his entire career - over ten years now. He’d seen many assistants come and go from Miss Fame’s office.

Most of the time, they moved on to other jobs in the industry, working for buyers or as stylists. Occasionally, they were promoted within the company. Shangela had started off as Fame’s assistant years ago, and so had Laganja in marketing. But this was the first time anyone had been sent to design. Granted, Violet was one of the more competent and longer-lasting assistants, but still.

He was suspicious.

Bob seemed perfectly ready to welcome Violet to the family with open arms. Maxwell, on the other hand, was more cautious, and the last thing he wanted was for Violet to walk in on some debaucherous story about drag queens.

“Look professional!” he hissed, before removing his hand.

“First of all, I’m always professional. And second, would you relax?” Bob smirked, leaning against the table, his favorite mug in hand. “She seems perfectly nice.”

“Oh please,” Maxwell huffed, “You just want upstairs gossip.”

For as long as Bob has been at the company--nearly as long as Maxwell, he’d been utterly fascinated with senior management. Their weird quirks and tempestuous moods, all the tabloid nonsense.

“Uh!” Bob gasped, holding a hand to his chest. “I resent that!”

“Well, resent it or not, it’s true,” Maxwell quipped.

“You name one time when I’ve been the source of gossip around here,” Bob said, a hand on his hip, in full queen mode.

“That’s...what...all the time!” Maxwell sputtered, caught off guard by that ridiculous defense. Bob was a notorious gossip. He was the only person Maxwell knew who still talked on the phone with multiple people every day, for fun. It was half the reason why they’d never moved in together, Maxwell unable to imagine living with Bob’s need to talk on the phone for hours in the evening. Maxwell enjoyed people too, sometimes, but after work, he more often than not wanted some peace and solitude.

“So you can’t name one specific time? Interesting.” Bob’s brown eyes glittered with amusement, always the happiest when he was in teasing mode.

“You’re impossible!” Maxwell turned to Jovan, who was now busy with the espresso machine. “Bob says he’s not a gossip.”

“Ha!” Jovan snorted. “Violet, what do you want?”

“An americano is more than fine.” Violet smiled, and Maxwell realised that he wasn’t sure if he had ever seen that expression on the former assistants face before.

He had never spoken with her before, Ivy always the assistant who came along to the design meetings, but he had seen her follow Fame down the halls, and he still remembered how bad he had felt for her during Fame’s temperature meltdown at their September show.

“Violet, Violet, Violet,” Bob put a hand down, turning his body towards her. “Do not listen to them.” Bob pouting at both Maxwell and Jovan. “I’m not a gossip. I’m a very trustworthy confidante, so if you have anything you need to share about, you know, upstairs...I’m all ears.” Bob grinned.

“Ah!” Maxwell cried triumphantly, “Case in fucking point you fucking gossip!”

“Upstairs?” Violet looked genuinely confused for a moment.

“You know,” Bob pointed at the ceiling, “Upstairs.”

“Ah.”

Maxwell made a face at Bob, clearing his throat slightly.

Why did he have to reveal everything right away? They didn’t know how trustworthy this girl was yet, and so they should really assume zero percent. It was the only safe and logical conclusion.

“Sorry, assistant code,” said Violet with an apologetic shrug. “My lips are sealed”

“Wow. Okay, I see how it is,” Bob said, and Maxwell rolled his eyes.

“Honestly Bob, what if she’d come down here and started reporting all kinds of rumors? Wouldn’t that make you concerned?” he asked, reaching up to tug on on Bob’s ear.

“Concerned…. Entertained… Potato, potahto.” Bob grinned, taking another sip from his mug.

“Goddammit,” Jovan said, struggling with the machine. “Cracks, can you help me? This fucking thing, we need a new one-”

“Sure.” Maxwell stepped over to the machine to assist. He remembered when Trixie first got it for them, almost six years ago, how everyone had just gone crazy over it. But lately it was acting up, and the designers were not pleased when they needed to wait an extra 30 seconds for coffee. The company should really take care of it before there was some kind of mutiny. He made a mental note to talk to Trixie later.

“So, Violet,” Bob continued, “How’s it going? Is our boy Jovan being cool, or is he in one of his moods?”

“Fuck off,” Jovan cut in, sitting down heavily. “I’m fucking delightful.”

Maxwell chuckled to himself over that, Jovan’s stormy moods something everyone in the department knew intimately.

“He’s been very kind,” Violet said, her hand gripping the edge of her skirt.

“Yeah, yeah.” Bob smiled, rolling his eyes. “Look, Violet, let me give you some advice,” Bob turned to Jovan. “You’ve gotta pay attention to that big vein in his forehead, and when it starts popping out...run.”

“Oh.”

“Eat a dick, Bob.”

“Yours?” Bob looked down, leering at Max’s brown khakis, a grin on his face, “Or like, any dick?” Bob teased, wiggling his brows. “Either way, I’m down.”

Maxwell rolled his eyes, giving Bob a Look intended to say ‘not in mixed company,’ gesturing towards Violet, the poor girl probably scandalized by this kind of talk, judging from her ramrod straight posture and demurely folded hands.

He turned to Jovan for backup, only to find him sitting at one of the tables, big wrinkly head in his hands. Maxwell tapped him on the shoulder, hoping to help him avoid an existential crisis before eleven am.

“How’s the Hanukkah dress?” Maxwell asked, which is what he’d been jokingly calling the blue cocktail number that poor Jovan was working on. Jovan rolled his eyes.

“Killing me. Violet had a good idea though, so I guess I’ll try that.”

“Are you gonna embroider a menorah on the front?” Maxwell teased.

“No, I was thinking that the skirt would just be a giant dreidel.”

Maxwell laughed at that, though truth be told, you could never be too sure with Jovan. He might just do it.

“Did Coach assign you anything yet, Violet?” Bob asked.

“No..” Violet tilted her head. “Is there a reason you call him that?”

“Oh. Yeah. So, Trixie’s the only straight guy around here-”

“Straight identified,” Maxwell corrected, and Violet snorted, quickly covering her mouth with her hand.

“Yeah, so, we like to give him shit. We call him Coach. You know...” Bob made his hand into a fist and punched Violet very lightly on the shoulder, deepening his voice. “Coach!”

“He’s the only straight guy, and of course he’s the one in charge of the department,” Jovan added pointedly.

“Well, yes, there’s also that,” Bob chuckled. “Anyway, have you gotten an assignment for the holiday collection? I’ve seen some pictures of your student stuff,” Trixie had dropped by with Violet’s portfolio, shoving it to Bob who had loved flipping through it. “I assumed you’d be doing gowns most of the time.”

“No-” Violet opened her mouth, but then seemed to rethink it, and close it again. “Not yet.”

“So...Chachki,” Maxwell said, handing her coffee over. “Are you Jewish?”

“No,” Violet said simply, and Bob burst out laughing.

“She said nope,” he giggled, popping the p.

“Well, where are you from? What’s your deal? Tell us everything,” Maxwell continued, undeterred by Bob’s laughter.

“Oh. Um… There’s not much to tell. I graduated from Parsons a few years ago. I’m originally from Atlanta-”

“Hey! Me too!” Bob exclaimed. “I’m from Clayton County. Where’d you go to high school?”

“-But I’ve been in New York since I was 13.”

“Oh, gotcha.”

“I got a job working for Miss Fame, and...that’s about it.” Violet looked around, her lip between her teeth.

“Wow. Fascinating,”

“Sorry, I’m not very interesting.”

“No no,” Maxwell said. “You should write a memoir.”

“Omigod, she’s like twelve years old, leave her alone,” Bob said. “In case you haven’t noticed, Violet, these guys are a mess and you should ignore 98% of everything they say.”

Bob put his arm around Maxwell, squeezing him affectionately even as the insults rolled off his tongue.

“And what about you?” Maxwell asked.

“Me?” Bob asked. “Oh, fully same.”

***

“What,” Violet was staring at the table, a brown concoction staring right back at her, “on earth is this?”

“You never seen one before?” Alexis smiled, getting in next to her, “They call it a cronut, girl. Everyone in the city is obsessed with them,” she grabbed one, “and they’re delicious.”

Violet had spent lunch with Alexis, Gia and April, the three women slipping back and forth between English and Spanish, their conversation practically impossible to follow, but Violet hadn’t minded.

It had been incredibly nice to just sit with someone for lunch without constantly checking her phone, Violet unsure if she had ever actually had an uninterrupted lunch break at Galactica before.

“Huh.” Violet bit her lip, still not too sure about the offered treat. “Are we already-”

“Hey, Violet-” Violet turned her head to see Blu slip in next to her, a big smile on the Irish woman's beautiful face. Her ginger hair was pushed back with a hairband, her grey eyes attentive and kind. “Are you coming to the happy hour?”

“Happy hour?”

“Mmh,” Blu nodded, “a couple of us always go round the corner for a pint on Mondays at 5:30. You know, for bonding and stuff.”

“Huh.” Violet bit her lip. She had seen Blu and Gia working that morning, but it seemed strange to her that they were expecting to be let go at 5:30, the whole thing even stranger since both Blu and Gia were actively enjoying the pastries.

“So, you coming?”

“Oh, no,” Violet did her best to smile, to look genuinely apologetic. “I can’t.”

Sutan had texted her about whether or not she wanted to come over after work, and Violet couldn’t wait to cuddle up on the couch, tucked safe and sound under Sutan’s arm. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Blu smiled, though Violet wasn’t sure it actually was based on the look in her eyes, “You can come next time-”

“Violet!” Blu was cut off as Trixie came over, “Blu! Are you enjoying the cronuts?”

“Yes boss,” Blu held up her cronut, over half of it gone. “It’s delicious.”

“Have you had any, Violet?”

“No, not yet.”

“Here.” Trixie grabbed a plate, quickly scooping one up for her. “It’s pumpkin chai this month!”

“Thanks.” Violet took it, unsure what to do. It wasn’t that she hated all desserts, wasn’t that she hated all sweets, but what she did hate was trying new things when she was feeling nervous, and even though everyone had been beyond kind to her so far, she couldn’t help the unsettling feeling in her stomach that something wasn’t right.

“I can’t wait to see your finished blouse,” Trixie was smiling, his hand on Blu’s arm. “I’m counting on you.”

“Mmh,” Blu nodded, pride in her eyes, and Trixie gave her one last squeeze, clearly intending to walk on and make sure everyone was having a good time.

“Trixie-” Violet took a step forward, her now boss turning around to look at her.

“Yes sweetheart?”

“I was wondering, if I could-” Violet wanted to throw herself out the window, the entire thing so terribly awkward, the fact that she was daring to even consider questioning her boss’ process, “it’s about the holiday collection-”

“Oh, that silly thing?” Trixie laughed, “Don’t worry about it.”

“But,” Violet took another step forward, “I’d like to, like to worry, that is-”

“You’ll watch the design meeting on Thursday, see how things are done around here.” Trixie smiled. “Ease into it, take it slow.”

“But I have an idea for-” Violet didn’t know if she was allowed, but she had already picked up a few of the unfavored fabric swatches, a white silk and some crushed red velvet so to Fame’s taste that she knew she had to give it a try.

“If you really want to speed things up, you can spend tomorrow shadowing April.”

“Really?” It wasn’t what Violet truly wanted, but anything, literally anything, would be better than another day of ‘taking it slow’.

“It’ll be perfect for you,” Trixie smiled, “I promise.”

Trixie then took a bite of the cronut in his hand, his eyes going wide. He turned from Violet to call out, “Kimberly! Kim, did you try these pumpkin chai cronuts?! Oh my god...”

As her boss wandered off to wax poetic about his pastry, Violet dug her fingers into her palm. Wasn’t this department supposed to be the lifeblood of the company? Why was everyone so chill?

Violet tried to be positive, tried to believe that Trixie was only doing what he thought best for her, but she couldn’t help wondering if she was still working for Galactica, the feeling of utterly uselessness washing over her for the first time since she had started at the company.

***

“Are you feeling chopsticks or fork?”

“Fork please.”

“Of course.” Violet smiled as Sutan began to dig through his cutlery drawer, soft jazz playing from the radio in the window. She had gotten somewhat used to seeing him without his suits in Paris, early morning Sutan walking around in pajama pants and t-shirts for as long as he could, but there was something special about seeing him in casual chinos and the sweaters he seemed to favor now that it was getting colder outside.

They were in his kitchen, Violet sitting at the table. When she had come over, Sutan had been setting up in the dining room, but she had asked him if they could please sit in the kitchen instead, the room so much cosier and lived in than the dining room.

Violet had been looking forward to her first day in design since she started at Galactica, but now that she had gotten there, it felt like a hollow victory.

She was sure tomorrow would be better, that it’d be more meaningful, but for now, she just wanted to spend time with the man she really genuinely liked.

“Here you go.” Sutan handed her the fork. “You know,” Sutan smirked, crossing his arms, “You should really learn how to use chopsticks.”

“I know how to use chopsticks,” Violet looked up at Sutan, putting her fork down. “I just prefer not to.”

“Sure lovely eyes.” Sutan grinned, grabbing the back of her chair, leaning down to kiss her, when the doorbell rang.

“Ah,” Sutan gave her a quick peck, his lips tasting faintly like peppermint with an undercurrent of cigarettes, his eyes sparkling.

“That must be the food.” Sutan stood up, reaching into his pocket for a wad of cash Violet hadn’t even noticed. “Do you mind finishing setting the table?”

“Of course not.” Violet stood herself as Sutan walked out, and she quickly crossed the room, opening the cabinet she knew housed Sutan’s plates.

The request hadn’t been anything out of the ordinary, Violet helping more often than not, but as she actually looked at the kitchen table, she realized what she had accidentally said yes to.

Sutan’s laptop was sitting in the middle, but besides that, the table was covered in work stuff, Sutan’s laptop, headshots, what Violet could only assume was contracts, folders and modeling portfolios spread all over.

She couldn’t see any kind of system, and if she had been at work she wouldn’t have dared to move a single thing, but Sutan had asked her to take care of it, and take care of it she would.

Violet knew Sutan had an office, but she had never actually seen him use it, or heard him mention it. Violet felt weird moving Sutan’s work things, but as she quickly piled it all on one end of the table, she recognized that this was probably why she liked the kitchen so much.

It was obviously the place in the apartment Sutan used the most, and the one she instinctively felt was more Sutan than Raja; everywhere else, even Sutan’s own bedroom, so obviously designed and furnished by his twin.

It was a strange thought that Raja had so much influence on Sutan’s life, but it wasn’t something she was ever going to bring up, their relationship none of her business.

Violet was just a moment in time for Sutan, so who was she to make any sort of suggestion about anything.

“Ah, great.” She was just setting the plates, when Sutan returned with more takeout bags than Violet had ever expected. “You’re almost done.”

“Are we expecting company?”

“Company?” Sutan looked confused for a moment, and Violet nodded her head towards the food in his arms, which caused him to laugh. “Please. This is just for us.” Sutan put the bags down, opening up the first one. “I figured it was worth celebrating your first day.”

“Huh.” Violet sat down on her chair once again, watching as Sutan produced one white cardboard carton after another. “How much did you get?”

“Oh you know, just a little bit of everything. I have dumplings, wontons and egg rolls, chow mein, orange chicken, beef and broccoli, black pepper scallops, garlic eggplant. I wasn’t sure what you’d like.”

Violet didn’t want to tell Sutan that she only had a very limited idea of what she genuinely liked beyond orange chicken and white rice, a childhood of bland suburban chain restaurants and her years in New York on a tight budget never leaving her much room for indulgence.

“Interesting.” Violet bit her lip, but Sutan grinned, continuing the unpacking. “Have you ever heard of cronuts?”

“What?” Sutan paused, a carton in hand. He turned to her, an eyebrow raised. “Lovely eyes. I may be older than you, but I don’t live under a rock?”

“Hmm.” Violet had no idea that cronuts were apparently so well known, but she wasn’t going to show Sutan that. “We had them at work today.”

“Did you like them?”

“Not really.” Violet took the carton of rice Sutan handed her. “They take a lot of breaks, at work, I mean.”

“Sounds like a nice place.” Sutan smiled, sitting down.

VIolet nodded, opening her rice as Sutan started talking about his day. It was always nice to be around him, Sutan often chatting away in his low baritone, filling out the silence so Violet never felt obligated to speak if she didn’t want to.

“Oh-” Sutan paused, a piece of broccoli in his chopsticks. “That reminds me. What are you wearing on Friday?”

“Friday?” Violet quickly ran through her week in her head, and she was fairly certain that she had nothing on the agenda for friday.

“Yes? For Bianca’s birthday.”

“Bianca’s birthday? Bianca Del Rio?”

“Mmh.” Sutan popped the broccoli in his mouth, quickly chewing it. “It’s her 40th, and I figured it’d be nice if we coordinated.”

“Oh.” Violet bit her lip. Surprised that Sutan was dumping it on her like this, since she knew for a fact that he hadn’t mentioned it until this very moment. “And the birthday is this Friday?”

Violet tried to hide her anxiety, her heart speeding up in her chest. She didn’t have any idea what the dress code was and what to wear or where the party was being held.

“I can invite someone else?”

“What?” Violet’s head snapped up at the words. Sutan looked completely relaxed, like he hadn’t just dropped a gigantic bomb, like this wasn’t strange at all, like it was normal for him to have so many girls lined up that he could find someone with no problem at all.

“If you don’t want to go-”

“No, no.” Violet closed her hand, digging her fingers into her palm under the table. “It’s fine. It’s fine. I’ll figure something out.”

[borisbubbles]

20. SAN MARINO

Senhit - “Freaky!”

Before we start, SORRY for not updating sooner. PED hit me sooner *and* harder than I anticipated and one of my tooth fillings dropped, so I’m currently on painkillers. Also the EBU’s online ‘replacement show’ for the first semifinal... :shudders: 

However, allow me to bring some happiness into my life (and by proxy, yours), by discussing the one, the only, the true 2020 Queen of EuroTRASH....

...

...

... Samanta Tina, in a few updates. 🤭

Until then, let’s dish on Senhit.

Entry Analysis. 

Hang on. Senhit you say? THIS SENHIT?

Yes, I am FOREMOST cuckoo-completely for the fact that SRMTV dug up this haggard frump from her crypt and forced her to do Eurovision simply because they had no other options <3 (and also because they had an Azerbaijani hand-me-down more on that in NF Corner). I always liked Senile Drunk Auntie Senit more than probably should (yes, “Stand by” is boring but 2011 is a dungheap, LET ME HAVE MY RANDOM FAVES OKAY)

Second of all, the accompanying transformation of Senit into SenHIT. We went from this:

to this?

LIFE IS GOOD WHEN YOU’RE IN A FREAKING(!) MIDLIFE CRISIS. 

Holy shit, what a transformation into... idek what to describe FREAKY!’s video clip as? A neo-neon-nightmare, featuring aggressively sexual grinding by Senhit, inflicted upon half-naked men in a setting that borrow heavily from Hatari’s BDSM couture? It’s fucking BONKERS. 

 May I also remind you that Senhit is EVEN OLDER THAN *BICENTANNIAL WOMAN TAMTARATAM* and despite this she manages to sell her sexual aggression as a something *FUNNY* without making herself look like a desperate tart? HER POWER. 😍

I also have to mention the fucking MARKETING campaign that accompanied this mad, menopausal circus of bad taste. You diehards probably noticed the San Marino 2021 mugs (those HIDEOUS teal/pink/sand coloured mugs <3) like I did and like me probably thought it was an elaborate hoax? Turn out... it somehow *wasn’t* a hoax and you could order them on Senhit’s personal website??? WHAT??? Btw, forget about the mugs, how about PERSONALIZED CONDOMS?

SOLD OUT lmfao <3 Bet most Senhit fans never actually used a condom before <3

All of this hogwash for a song that can best be described as an irrideemable pile of disco dreck. 😍  God I was SO on board with UNIRONICALLY stanning San Marino for once. #YesWeSen. 

and... then Eurovision 2020 was taken away from me, you and Senhit, and my appreciation towards her quickly dried up before it could settle as unironic stanning.😬 Sigh. BUT WORRY NOT QUEEN’S GOT YOU COVERED.

<3

NF Corner

Oh my fucking god, yes, the codswallop that was “Digital Battle Eurovision”. So, after months of silence (other than Senhit nasically spoiling her participation on social media, which no one really took seriously because come on, it’s Senhit) San Marino held something that was supposed to pass as a “national final” and it’s the shoddiest thing I’ve ever seen in the 8 years I’ve been following the preshow <3 

Okay so... This is where Azerbaijan come in. You may not know this yet, but “Cleopatra” by Efendi was, at some point during development, given to San Marino. I’m not sure about the exact details, but from what I heard and assumed, Azer’s broadcaster Ichtimai decided they didn’t need “Cleopatra”, so they gave the demo to San Marino, who then recruited Senhit to sing it in. Sounds like fan fiction and fortunately for us the recordings have made they way to the yubtubs so I can prove you it is gospel. Observe:

Senhit - “Cleopatra”

YES QUEEN OF THE GAYS <3 (lol I should keep my opinions on Efendi’s Cleopatra hidden for now, but spoilers I am going to fucking RIP that crock of shit to shreds once I get there).

So anyway, at *SOME* point after giving “Cleopatra” to the San Marinese, Ichtimai must’ve decided that “nope, Cleopatra will be OUR entry, thx” and punted Senhit out of her glorious pseudo-historical trash anthem (more on that too when I rank Azerbaijan), a WEEK before the deadline, (😂🤣) which of course meant that San Marino had to *improvize*. 😅

Enter: a ramshackle SING-OFF between two songs, deadline ON THE MORNING OF THE DELEGATION MEETING. 🤣. Your choices:

SONG #1 A trashy disco song that never would have stood a prayer at Eurovision and would’ve been a disaster in every universe, especially *and* including our own, but was complete lip service towards any vocal Stan Marino.

SONG #2 The English translation of a competent, but somewhat tepid electropop song that Senhit had released in Italian in September, mere days after the 2020 season had started. Good, but nothing too exciting. 

Senhit - Obsessed

And honestly, it seemed clear that FREAKY! would win from second one? It seemed like the clear follow-up to Serhat (sorta?), a perfect fan service song to keep the balding gays busy so they don’t pick up their phones and vote for boring shit such as Gjon’s Tears. However, when FREAKY! won it was revealed it had only won by a TINY margin over Obsessed anyway. What the FUCK was this year honestly and why does NONE of it make sense. 

San Marino 2020 & San Marino 2021

I mean... yes, the second semifinal was compiled of a series of oozing trashheaps and boring smug, and yes, both demographs would provide qualifiers and no, Senhit *never* would’ve been one of them, being stuck in the first half. 

It would seem as if “FREAKY!” was a worthy successor to “Say na na na”, but I don’t think that comparison really works. The only things those two songs have in common is their camp and their singer’s inability to sing (lol have I ever said a positive thing about Serhat, ever, in print? I should counteract that by saying something kind: Serhat is very good at... um... being a dentist. 🙂)

However, “Say na na na” also had a universally positive message, even if it adhered the tried-and-true “BELIEVE IN YOURSELF IF YOU DO THIS BANALE THING” cliché.” FREAKY!” literally is a hodgepodge of acid trippy menopausal nonsense, which I personal find more endearing, but Europe would swiftly whisk towards the rubbish bin for being bad and female. C’est la vie. 

Nada on 2021 yet and given how desperate and scarce with information San Marino are, I expect no news until the literal last minute. I personally wouldn’t be too surprised if they withdrew, but eh, I wouldn’t lose sleep over it. As long as we have Samanta Demon to cover our trip-hop-trash needs, I couldn’t rly care less about San Marino. 

FREAKY! FRIDAY! FACTOR!

I mean, even if you had *any* doubts how well Senhit would score in the category I named after her, let me recap

- San Marino recruited a random-ass-returnee nobody really asked for. - They initially gave her an Azeri hand-me-down trashpop song about a Macedonian-Greek pharaoh - Azerbaijan then took BACK said hand-me-down trashpop song and made it their entry - Which forced San Marino to flimsily put together a last-minute digital NF where you could decide which of these two HOPELESS songs would facilitate their NQ - The deadline of which was set *ON THE MORNING OF THE DELEGATION MEETING IN ROTTERDAM* (aka the literal submissions deadline) - The obvious winner *almost* lost the vote everyone expected them to win (again!) - and of course: the video clip, the website, the emails, the slogans, the CONDOMS. This is honestly what FREAKY! FRIDAY! FACTORS! are made for. Happily take away the first (but not last) perfect score, queen. 

Score: 5 Senhits out of 5. 

[bella-spil]

Sharing the Secret: Peter

When Peter gets back, you tell him about you and your new boyfriend.  (Follow up to “The decision”)  

Female reader

Bucky x reader x Peter, Bucky x reader, Peter x reader

Warning: FLUFF

Word count: 1.4k

The next few days are some of the best you had.  Bucky and you were closer than ever and you always found your way at his side.  You guys have been having so much fun together, you forgot the rest of the team was coming back.  You and Bucky wanted to be with each other forever.  

Then the day came when Steve, Nat and Peter were coming back.  You and Bucky were nervous, of course, but you knew it would be better when you got everything off your chest.

Peter came home first.  Since he lived in Queens, he wasted no time getting to the Compound.  He couldn't wait to see everyone again and spend his Spring Break with the Avengers.  During the drive, Peter was begging Aunt May to go faster than the speed limit.  He did this for an hour and Aunt May was having none of it.  At one point, she threatened to turn the car around, and Peter shut up at once.  

At around 10am, Bucky hears a car pull up.  He doesn't know who it could be, so he beckons you to come with him to see who would come this early.  Then you see a familiar face poke out from the car window, with a smile stretched across his face.

"Y/N!" Peter shouts in excitement.

"Peter!" you yell and run over to him.  Peter's hair was messy, maybe from sleeping in the car.  He wore a Captain America T-Shirt and shorts.  Bucky walks over and gives Peter a glare, but after you nudge Bucky, he unwillingly gives Peter a hug.  You and Bucky help Peter unload his things from the trunk of the car.  A few minutes later, Peter says goodbye to Aunt May and you talk to him about everything, except you and Bucky.

After you guys put everything in his room and hang out with him for a little, you and Bucky ask him if he wants anything for lunch and he says he needs to rest for a little.  Then you leave Peter in his room and head to the kitchen for lunch with the Winter Soldier.  As you are making a sandwich for you and your boyfriend, Bucky looked at you in confusion.

"Doll?"

"Buck?"

"Why don't you tell the insect now?"

"You mean Peter?" you mock him.

"Whatever," he rolls his eyes at you.  "Just tell him now, I won't be there to pester him."

"Ok, fine, just make sure to leave me some," you tell him.  He smiles at you and gives you a thumbs up as you make your way to Peter's room.  

You go to knock on Peter's door, but due to his Spider-Sense, he knew you were at the door.

"Come in Y/N," he said.

You find him lying on the bed, doing nothing, as if he is too tired to do anything.  Then he looks at you and sees a big smile and pink scattered along your cheeks, something he has never seen on you before.

"Ok, you look like a strawberry, so something is definitely wrong," he mocks.  "Come sit."  He pats a spot next to him on his bed.  You flip him off as you head over.

"Thanks, smart ass.  I have something to tell you and you have to promise not to tell anybody."

Suddenly Peter isn't being all funny.  He looks at you seriously, because he knows two things about you.  Number one, whenever you said not to tell anybody, the matter was serious.  Number two, if he even said a word about it, you would scorch him to a crisp. 

"Ok, what's wrong?" he asks, concerned.  "I won't tell anybody."

"Well remember how I told you I liked Bucky last year or something?" 

He raised an eyebrow at you.  "Yeah... why?"

"Well, everyone from the team wasn't at the Compound.  It was only me and Bucky."

"Ooh, this is getting interesting," he said.

"Last month, we hung out in my room and played fifty questions."

"Ok... go on," he said, captivated by your story.

"I asked him who he liked and he said me an-"  Peter cut you off with a squeal and a hug.  He was clearly happy for you.  Even though you were shocked by his reaction, since it was so unmanly and you were used to being around the manliest person ever, you still laughed and hugged him back.

"That's amazing, Y/N!" he cheered.

"Let me finish," you laugh, embarrassed.  "Then we kissed."  You blushed as you told him that, and you see Peter smile at you. 

"But that's not the reason I wanted to talk to you.  Bucky and I are dating now, ok?  Please don't tell anybody!"  Peter crossed his heart and pinky promised you that wouldn't happen.  Then he looked at you with a devious smile, and you knew he was up to no good.

"Oh no," you sigh.

"Oh yes," he smirks.  "I actually have a good idea.  Not an idea that I think is good and you think is dumb.  An idea that I know is good and you’ll know is good."

"What is it?"

"Well the rest of the team is coming back tomorrow right?"

"Yeah," you reply.

"So why don't you tell everyone about your new beau then?  You can ask Bucky for his permission, but I mean it's a good idea."

You considered his option.  It was true that it was a good idea, but before you agreed to anything, you knew you had to ask Bucky first.

"Ok, I'm not agreeing to it, but I'll ask him," you confirm.  Peter pumps his fist.

"But that's not the whole idea.  If any only if you and Bucky decide to tell everyone, we can play Cards Against Humanity after."  You laugh.  It was pretty funny to imagine everyone playing that dangerous game together, and the more you think about it, you knew you had to bring it to life.

"That's a great idea, we could play in teams!  Who are the teams going to be?" you ask, interested and wanting to know where this conversation will lead.

"Well, you, me, Bucky, Steve, Tony, Clint, Nat, Sam, Wanda and Vision are going to be here. I even came up with names!

"Oh lord, what are they?," you say with a sigh, but then chuckle.

"Ok, the first team is going to be you and Bucky: the Lovebirds," he smirks at you and you blush at the stupid team name.

"Next?" you ask with an eye roll.

"Clint and Sam: the Birdbrains."  He could barely say the name without laughing.  You laugh as soon as you hear it.

"Omg that's great!  They are gonna kill you though," you add, wiping a tear away from your eye.

"It will be worth it, I promise," he chuckles.  "Then, me and Tony: the student and Master.  Next is Wanda and Vision: the Power Couple, because they are a couple and they are really powerful."

You roll your eyes at the stupid name. "Yeah, yeah I get it.  What about Steve and Nat?"

"They are going to be the Spys."

"This is great, Peter, but I'm letting you know before you do anything that Bucky may not be up for this."

Peter rolls his eyes in annoyance.  "Fine," he sighs.  "But you have to admit, this is fun."

"Yeah, I have to agree," you sigh, giving up in arguing with him.  "Thanks Peter for everything."

"Anytime...doll," he smiles at you. He emphasizes the "doll" part, making his voice gravel like Bucky's and your mouth drops.  He heard Bucky call you this earlier when he asked if you needed any help carrying a bag, and as soon as he heard it, he had to use it against you.  He knew using “doll” on you could go one of two ways: #1: it could be super funny and you would laugh at the joke.  Or #2: you would beat the crap outta him.  He was hoping the first response was the one he would get.

As soon as you heard Bucky's nickname leave someone's mouth other than the Winter Soldier's, you went over to Peter and punched him full on in the gut.  He rolled over in pain on his bed, knowing the pain wouldn't go away soon.

"Ok, I deserve that," he cries in pain.

"Yeah, that's why I did it," you say, smugly.

"Oww," he groans.  He knew as soon as he said it was the wrong thing to say, but the reaction of your mouth dropping to the floor was worth it.  Peter could have had his hair burn off for punishment, but luckily, he wasn’t going to be bald.   

You leave his room, laughing to yourself.  But you are also happy you have a friend that supports you no matter what, even if he can be a bit of a shithead sometimes.

[judgement-free-sideblog]

Occupational hazards

Barry Berkman x Reader

Three part series: It was just another job, he doesn’t even had to kill anyone, but the way she looked at him was more dangerous than the bullets.

Part I Part II Part III

Angst with a happy ending

Warnings: Violence, cursing, blood, stalkers.

Part I

“I remember telling you to fuck off and stop calling me” You say answering the phone the fifth time it rings, knowing too well he won’t stop until you do “I made myself clear, don’t call me, don’t contact me, keep your stupid flowers and presents to yourself and stay the fuck away from me”

“Oh my little Y/N” Says his drunk voice in the other end “You know you like it, this little number of yours, pretending you don’t need a man will end as soon as you feel lonely, why don’t we speed things up and simply let me come up with you?” He said and you froze, how does he knew you were at the second floor of your house? You looked outside the window but couldn’t see anything, nervously you closed your sleeping robe with a tight knot suddenly feeling exposed “You don’t have to be so shy, I already know what is behind that” He said and you toss the phone aside, but you could still listen to his laugh, when will this nightmare end??

“Fuck you Richard!!!” You scream at the phone, but he had already hung up. You closed all the windows and went straight to your bathroom cabinets, it had to be there.

You finally found it, a few years back when your name was still unknown and your main job was stacking candles and towels in a store, and before you had a sociopath for an ex, you became friends with this weird and really sweet bald guy on Pottery Barn, you helped him redecorate his room and you even talk once in a while over the phone, or at least until last year when he said he was going back to Chechnya to visit his family, but before he went away, and after he met the charming man you were dating and seeing the bruises in your arms he gave you a card and told you, if you ever need to get rid of that guy just call this number.

You light on a cigarette, and sit on the floor of your bathroom thinking, what does get rid of meant? Hank, judging by his tattoos, was not an entirely innocent folk, but at this point you were desperate, and you cursed yourself for ever start dating a man like that, the all charming and thoughtful movie producer, you knew your career will be damaged forever if you kept avoiding him but coming back to be treated like garbage and not being able to eat, dress or think on your own was not an option. You finally gathered the courage and dialled the number.

“Fuches” a raspy voice said on the other end.

“Hi, ammm” you were not sure what exactly where you going to say.

“Who is this? Hello?? Who gave you this number? Are you there?” The man seem angry and a bit condescending in his tone and somehow his rudeness made you speak up.

“Yeah, I’m here” You started with more confidence “I got this number from NoHo Hank, he said you could help me to… to get rid of someone”.

“Ahh” The man was calmed now, almost happy “Well in that case any friend of Hank is friend of mine, but I warn you madame that won’t be cheap” He said and you stand up from the floor glimpsing at yourself in the mirror, shocked to see how pale you looked, and how scared you actually felt.

***

Barry entered his apartment begging for Jermaine or Nick to be there and use them as an excuse to tell Fuches to fuck off, but it was empty except for the never ending amount of trash that always was in their comon space, he stopped trying to tell them to clean like three months ago and now he only limited to hide in his room away from the beer cans and chips bags.

It didn’t matter that much really, at least not before, as long as Sally was there to talk to him or as long as he could call her, but then she got that part in a big movie, and he was happy for her, that was her dream and he would never get between her and her dream, but then she stop being around the class due to rehearsals, and then she change a beer in Residual’s to fancy and expensive dinners with her costars and then one day she simply said goodbye.

But he had come to the conclusion that he deserved that, he took away Mr. Cousineau’s happiness so it was only fair for him to lose it as well, and Sally was still his friend, as long as he could find a 5 minutes gap to talk in her busy schedule every other week.

He was still on the class, and he was getting better or at least he no longer missed his lines, and he had even recieved a callback for a commercial, but he didn’t get it in the end.

And now Fuches was coming back to screw up everything again, Barry looked at the clock, 4:02 he would be there any minute, for a brief moment his mind travel to his gun under his bed, and how just one year before he was desperate to see him and kill him from once, but then Mr Cousineau started making questions, and to suspect, accurately, that he had killed Moss, and Fuches chose to come clean, or at least enough to settle things down.

He told Gene the Chechens killed Moss and that they wanted to implicate Barry, so he called the cops on him so Barry would take the blame and end up in jail, he played his Part as a poor looser, alone and miserable well enough and Barry chose not to kill him, as long as he would stay away from them, and he had kept his promise until that morning. He would say no, obviously but he needed to say it to his face to reassure him or to himself that it was all done.

A knock on the door put him in alert, and he muttered a simple “Come in” keeping himself away from the entrance. Fuches entered the room with an almost curious expression on his face, he looked at the trash an made a disgusted frown, and then looked at Barry from head to toe, he looked paler or maybe just tired, he for sure was, that stubborn woman was by far the most picky and difficult client he ever had by far, but with enough luck Barry may solve it.

“Nice place” He said finally with a sarcastic grin

“That’s my roommate’s doing” Barry answered in a monotone “Coffee? beer?”

“If you are really being nice I’ll take the beer” Fuches said and without waiting for an invitation he found a place to sit.

“I’m not.” Barry answered and sit in front of him. “What do you want?”

“Ahh there it is” Fuches roll his eyes “I got a job for you, and I think you may like this one…”

“What the fuck man?” Barry interrupted mid sentence. “We haven’t seen each other in almost a year, I was very clear then as I’m now I don’t want to do that anymore”

“Boy listen, is way easier and you’ll get pay three times more than previous works” He said completely ignoring him.

“I don’t give a fuck about the money, I told you I don’t want to work for you” Barry put both hands over his face, this was exasperating.

“Fine, now look at me like you were about to kill me” He said taking Barry by surprise.

“What the hell are you talking about?” He said after an uncomfortable silence.

“Look kid, a week ago I received a call from a crazy actress, you may know her Y/N something” He started

“Is not Y/N Y/L/N by any chance?” Barry asked, remembering something that Natalie and Sasha said about her.

“Yes, that one, complete basket case” Fuches continued “She asked me if I could eliminate her ex boyfriend, some Hollywood big shot that I genuinely couldn’t care less about. I said yes sure, I’ll send someone to do it, then she change her mind and called me back, and said she simply wants to scare him, but she wants to meet the guy she is paying. And she hated him, and I show her my folder of other employees and well…”

“Oh come on man, that’s on you, you shouldn’t have my picture there” Barry said now understanding what had happen.

“Yeah I get that, but the thing is I said to her you no longer work for me, and she offered the triple, and I told her that if she wanted you so badly then she would have to convince you by herself, and that’s why I’m here, I need you to go see her, say no and then she would pick one of my guys and I’ll be out of your life forever” He said like if he was offering the most interesting deal ever. “Take it as an acting job” He add when Barry didn’t respond “You get to meet a pretty and famous actress, and you can scream to her everything you just said to me, also I’ll pay you”

Barry remained silent for another moment thinking about the situation, it seemed like an easy deal, and some extra money wouldn’t be that bad, and if he played his cards well enough he could even make sure Fuches to stay away form him for good.

“Fine I’ll do it” he said after a while “But is just this and it’s over, no more phone calls, no more jobs no anything, I turn down this woman and that’s it.” He said seriously.

“Consider it done son, just one more deal and I’m out of your life” Fuches said happy, and then got up the chair and started leaving “You have to meet her tomorrow in a restaurant, I’ll send you the address” Barry nodded and watched him leave, then he went to his room to search something about the woman he was about to meet.

Y/N was a gorgeous woman and a talented actress, but apparently the media didn’t like her very much since she had a reckless life style, there were many pictures of her smoking and drinking, and she had a long list of ex lovers, and the most prominent of those was some guy called Richard Maverick, he recognized that name, it was the director and producer of Sally’s movie, more of a reason to not working for that woman, since the guy didn’t seem like a bad person, and she did.

***

Sparkling bubbles were moving in your glass of water, it have been sitting there since the waiter pour it, but you were to nervous to touch it, it was a nice table, out in the terrace of the restaurant and you were sure anyone walking by the street would be able to see you, so it worked perfectly for your plan, now everything else depended on the man you hear approaching behind you.

“Snow White?” He asked and sited in the spot in front of you, he was clean shaved and wearing a black blazer over a dark green tshirt, definitely not what you expected from someone of his profession.

“Is from Notting Hill, the movie with Julia Roberts, don’t you like it? God you really are tall, how much is it like 6'3”?“ You said unable to stop yourself, but concentrating on his face, there was something sad about his blue eyes, almost melancholic.

"6'2” and no I don’t think I saw it, the oscar winning one?“ He said a bit ashamed by his poor Hollywood trivia knowledge.

"Oh absolutely not, some old romantic comedy, you should see it some time.” You said, and the whole situation felt more and more surreal “Well I’m Y/N Y/L/N, nice to meet you Mr. Berkman, or do you prefer Block?” You said please to se the surprise on his face.

“Berkman is fine, how do you know?” He said examining your face.

“Well is not every day that I have to hire a professional assassin, so I needed to get some references, and your employer was distracted enough so I could stole this from him, here you can have it back” You said sliding his picture across the table. “I saw a couple videos of your callbacks, you shouldn’t stoop that much when you read it would help in the auditions”

“So this is what you do?” He said and his tone was calm but there was fury in his eyes “You manipulate people into working with you, making then feel like you know everything about them and pretending to be nice and polite? Well I have news for you, first of all I don’t work for Fuches, and second, you can put out all of this glamorous crap that you have on me and the answer still be no, I don’t this anymore”

“Would you like to order?” The waiter said before any of you could keep speaking.

“Sure, shrimp risotto for me, and for my dear friend… what do you want honey?” You said smiling at him.

“The same sounds fine” he said and smile back at you changing his tone immediately. “And red wine?"He asked you with a checky wink and you nodded. "Red it is” The waiter nod and walked away.

“Not bad, you are a quick responder, I like that” you said looking as the man walked away. “But you don’t know shit about me” You spat at him once the waiter couldn’t hear “Glamorous crap? Oh let me guess you read one of the many articles about how much of a whore I am? I have a drinking and smoking problem is that it? That I have slept my way into every work I ever had, and how little I deserved my career, and how much good it was for Richard to walk away form me even when he still loves me? Well that’s all bullshit” There it was again, even when you were trying to escape he was still holding you in his hands. “Well the magazines that work for him doesn’t tell I went to drama school, they didn’t say I have a dying mother that gets every penny I make, they didn’t say that I could count the men I slept with the fingers on one hand I will be sparing 2, they don’t say he forced himself on me more times I can remember, or how he enjoys sleeping with every woman that works for him no matter the age just because he is The man”

“Go the police then, tell them that, why do you need me?” He said, but with less confidence than before and it was obvious his mental image of you was crumbling.

“The L.A. Police that gets donations from him every year? I’m a whore, to them, to Richard, to you and to everyone. I have no voice” Fortunately the waiter arrived with the food and you could stop to think, talking about this made you feel exposed, and you were questioning if it was worth the trouble at all.

“Why me? If you need him out of your life so bad I’m sure Fuches have someone right for the job” He said and started eating avoiding your gaze, you didn’t have an appetite anymore but force yourself to do the same.

“Have you seen the guys that work for Fuches? They look like hobos and meth heads, he is not some random dude, he is rich and powerful if he dies people would ask questions and eventually that would come back to me, also he would die loved and mourned, and he doesn’t deserve that.”

“And scared him off is better how? If someone goes to him and beat him it would come back at you faster and worse” He said taking a sip of his wine.

“Men always think physically right?” You said drinking as well and looking at him “I never said beat him, I told fuches I needed you specifically and he said he doesn’t work for me anymore, he is an actor now, and then I knew you were exactly what I needed. I don’t need some hitman to go beat the crap out of Richard even if he deserves it. I need someone to escort me from my apartment to work, and to public events and keep him away from me.”

“Those are called bodyguards and I’m pretty sure there are legal business that can provide their services to you” He said condescendingly.

“Like the one that is at my house right now and doesn’t even know I went out?” You said smiling “Or the one that give my alarm password to Richard so he could read his script? Legal people can be bought, and they have things to lose, that doesn’t work for me, he is a monster and a criminal, so I need someone outside the law to outsmart him” You said to him and the shadow of a smile formed in his lips before he spoke.

“So you think I’m a monster too? Look I’m sorry for you, your situation must be horrifying, but I leave that life behind, I’m no longer that guy and I don’t want to be, I’m sorry but I don’t want my past mistakes to keep haunting me, I’m tired of that. I’m sorry” He said, and you believed him but you couldn’t lost this chance.

“Mr Berkman, can I call you Barry?” You started and he nod affirmatively “Barry do you ever have nightmares about your mistakes?”

“Every night” He answered

“But when you wake up, when you go to work, when you talk to your significant other, when you are eating, those mistakes are dead, those people and those lifes you took they remained where you leave them. Your mistakes don’t call you at 3 am to remain you you are a slut, your mistakes don’t sell naked pictures of you to magazines to make you feel miserable because you are no longer sleeping with them. Your mistakes don’t force you to go down on them in order to don’t recast your part and then don’t threaten to ruin your career and leave your mother without her cancer treatment.” You said and a tear finally find it’s way down your cheek. “Fine I get it, you want to be a better person, well so am I, I need to run away from this and I’m so desperate that I called you, but it’s okay I have no way to force you into this, you don’t have to be sorry about me” you said hopeless, and he remained silent for a couple minutes looking at you occasionally and then his plate now almost empty.

“What exactly would I have to do?” He said finally “I’m not accepting, I just want to know” he add before you could react.

“Offering me your arm in social events, walked me to my apartment at nights, and take me to lovely lunches like this one every few days, basically being a human purse, just looking handsome and put together next to me, and let the magazines and the media make their assumptions”

“I’m not a prostitute” He said and you found the statement ridiculously funny.

“And I wouldn’t pay you to fuck me sunshine” you said with a grin “But I have learned that men respect other men’s "property” more than a women’s NO, and if I start seeing a handsome, blue eyed, literal war hero from the Midwest he would look like an asswhole if he keeps pushing how much he misses me in interviews"

“Fine” He said looking straight to your eyes “I’ll do it, when do you want to start?”

“Well if you consider the three girls with her phones out that just crossed behind you on the street, I would say I already owe you overtime, but tomorrow is fine, I would send you my address and other details with my publicist”

“Don’t you think is better if we have the least amount of people involved in this?” He said with an uncomfortable look on his face.

“Adrian is like a sister to me, I trust her my life.” You said and he seemed conformed with that answer “And Barry, thank you”.

[0poole]

Some thoughts on Temtem

Because as far as I’m concerned Pokemon games are some of my all-time favorites (as a group, since they’re basically all the same) so naturally there’s a lot to say about Temtem. Considering this is the first standalone Pokemon-alike that got serious attention, especially after the Sword and Shield riots making Pokemon fans just want something else, it’s basically the game that’ll let different developers make their own Pokemon-alikes. 

And yes, I am going to call them all Pokemon-alikes because let’s be real that’s the role they’re trying to fill. 

But actually, for once, there’s a few major things that I really dislike about the game. Like, seriously dislike. Considering we’re coming from the stuff people always disliked about Pokemon, I feel like it’s easier to be critical about this stuff. Might as well start with them so I can end on a higher note:

Conversations with random tamers. Literally like 95% of all tamer battles start with some sort of conversation with them, all of which require you to press some random response to either skip the dialogue or go through a completely pointless series of dialogue. There’s absolutely 0 chance I’m interested in what these random people have to say, because I know that no matter what, it’s going to end in a fight. Maybe if they made it so you can actually convince some tamers not to battle you, then it might be a fun mechanic (although I still wouldn’t bother, it would just have a purpose). But, no. All it does is make me want to spam click through everything and start the battle as soon as possible. It’s legitimately annoying. When it comes to more important tamers, it makes sense, just because that’s a convention of RPGs and junk. It still feels pointless, but at least it’s the norm.

The evolution system. Unlike Pokemon, where you evolve once your Pokemon reaches a specific level/etc determined by the Pokemon’s species, Temtem instead evolve a certain amount of levels after you catch them. Sounds pretty alright, until you realize that a lot of these level requirements are way too high. Most evolve after like 20 levels, and your starter evolves after 30. This might not be a total issue if the story is much longer than it seems, and the final battles are around lvl 60+, but even then it really makes you want to ditch the unevolved Temtem you caught a while back for its evolved form once you encounter it. Like, you can find Bunbun and Mudrid in the exact same area, so there’s absolutely no point to catching a Bunbun. If they evolved at a set level, you could just catch one, level it up once or twice, and it’ll evolve anyway, since there being others of its evolved form close by usually means it’ll evolve around that level. Instead, if you do that, you’ll have to wait a seriously long time. I’m currently going through this issue with my Mushi. This is even worse for the second reason:

Eternal double battles. For strategic purposes, it’s obviously a major plus. But, even though the difficulty is definitely higher than Pokemon, the battles are still pretty easy, so as long as you switch into the right types you won’t have any issue. That’s not the problem. The problem is that it makes leveling up feel so much slower. Since the EXP from a battle is always split between at least 2 Tems, it’s harder to train up just one of them. It’s worsened because all battles are set battles (where you can’t instantly switch Tems out once the opponent is about to send out another Tem) so that basically means it’ll be split between around 3 Tems each battle, since you’ll be accounting for a new type on the field.

The human names. They’re too out there to be at all memorable. Apart from Max, obviously, I can’t even remember any names because when I first see them I’m just like “I don’t even know what that word is so I’m just not going to bother.” I’m guessing this makes translating names easier, since no name has any obvious tie to some language/region, but it’s still annoying. Mainly because a lot of quests are like “Talk to [character name]” or “Find [character name]” so if you don’t remember the names it makes questing harder to follow. The names of the Tems are kind of in the same boat, but it feels more warranted because they’re weird monsters and not people. Most of them are a pretty normal Pokemon level of naming (Barnshe, Toxolotyl), some even less interesting (Crystle, Mushi).

The roadblocks aren’t any better than Pokemon. It’s still just “You can’t get past here until you get this item.” It’s like the tiniest step above Pokemon, where they just have some dude at an entrance who says “You can’t get past here because [reason],” but effectively it’s exactly the same. It’s even weirder with the Crystal Skates, because they don’t do any sort of slippery puzzle with the Crystal path before you get them, but later you lose the skates and THEN they put in the slippery puzzles in. They really should have just not given you the skates yet and made any reachable secrets a part of a puzzle instead. 

The start of the game needs more variety/balance. Ganki is actually OP, and was my hard carry. But, there are so many Wind and Water types early on it gets kind of boring quick. It’s worse, because Wind resists Wind, meaning you’re constantly dealing with Tems that resist your type. But, sure, I guess the variety isn’t the problem and one of the most prominent types resisting itself is. Ganki does need a decent check though, since Crystal types don’t exactly come around until later.

The clothes are WAY too expensive. I’m the character customizer type. I want to buy out all the shops and make myself look snazzy. I can do that while a fucking early-game bikini costs 9000 Tembucks or whatever they’re called.

Then, here are some stuff I’m kinda neutral/iffy on:

The type chart feeling a little arbitrary. Obviously this one isn’t actually a problem, since they probably just did that to make sure Pokemon had even less of a reason to sue, but like I mentioned before, why does Wind resist Wind? When I imagine two gusts colliding, it turns into a giant tornado that destroys everything. That, or they just flow around each other. Considering it slows down the early game, I really wish it wasn’t that way. Another questionable one is that Wind is strong against Toxic. Maybe it’s just because we use vents to clear out toxic air? Considering most Toxic attacks involve liquid that doesn’t help much. It probably wouldn’t be an issue to someone who hasn’t completely and totally remembered the Pokemon type chart, though.

The “representation.” Yes, they tried, and that’s a step in the right direction, but like... it’s really not quite there yet. Like, in the character creation screen, as we’ve all heard from the #gamerrage you get to choose your pronouns. Sure, good. Then they give you the option of the girl body or the boy body, and the girl voice and the boy voice. Really? Still no ambiguously chubby option? Slightly more rounded faces aren’t enough people. Also, I still actually don’t get why they (as well as other game developers) don’t just put in a bald option. Did they just not model the scalp or something? It’s obvious they did because there was a bald option in the beta/alpha, and they just... removed it? Why? It’s not even a matter of reason, It was already there. But yeah, back to the gender representation bit, fused a bit with the conversations, there’s one specific bit of dialogue that really confused me. When big event happens and one girl tells you to go searching for her wife, sure they’re lesbians whatever, but then it pops up with the dialogue options of “Sure, I’ll go looking for him/her/them” but like, as 3 different choices. What’s the point of that? She literally said it was her “wife,” so I just picked “her,” but what’s the point of having the other options? If the first girl’s response is just like “’Him/Them?’ I did tell you she was my ‘wife,’ right?” It’ll boggle my mind even more. Anyways...

The Temtem designs. It’s more like two extremes balanced out to become neutral. I seriously love some of the designs, and I seriously hate others. From what I’ve seen so far, my favorites are Oree, Platimous, Capyre, Valash, Barnshe, Gyalis, Myx, Mushi, Valiar, Noxolotyl, and Kalabyss. My team at the end of the current story consisted of Mushi and Banapi, who I were still training, Gyalis, Mudrid, Kalabyss, and Gazuma, so I only slightly compromised for the sake of my interests. I actually seriously love Valash, but I already had 2 Crystals on my team, and being Neutral wouldn’t be much of a help. My least favorites, though, are Tateru, Taifu, Houchic, Tental, Babawa, Saku, Magmis, Ukama, and Vulcrane. So many Tems have the classic Pokemon issue of “just getting bigger” as the evolve, and a lot of them evolve for the worse, like Vulcrane and Saku especially. Vulcrane, Houchic, Tental, and Zenoreth (who I still sort of like for its colors) look uncomfortably humanoid, where they have almost too much muscle detail on their arms and legs. Pocus is a better example of a humanoid design, because its legs are much more nubby and arms less detailed. Plus, the former Tems’ designs aren’t quite exaggerated enough proportion wise, making them just feel kinda weird I guess. I don’t really know how to explain that yet. Some other designs I think are good, despite me not being into them as much, are Skail, Saipat, Sparzy, Cerneaf, Volarend, Shuine, Adoroboros, Tuwai, Kinu, Pigepic, and Anahir. Overall, Temtem have some good designs, with a few stinkers strewn about.

The evil team/rival. The evil team, as far as I cared to know, are just evil because they’re evil. They’re not crazy, but they’re fine. I definitely think the term “clan” can only be used in an evil context nowadays, so I guess that’s a good thing. Max is just whatever. I’m extremely tired of the stupid rhetoric Pokemon fans keep throwing around, suggesting the only good rival’s an asshole rival. It’s obviously just not true, and Crema’s obviously just catering to that idea with Max. They really just seem like an asshole for asshole’s sake, so that’s boring. The rival’s level of asshole-ness is completely independent of their quality. Honestly I’m like 2% of the way into wanting to make my own Pokemon region so I’ll be able to test my mettle there once it comes around.

The MMO-ness of the stuff feels really minimal, and sometimes I found it hard to find the NPC I was supposed to be looking for because they were in a crowd of random people. I’m pretty sure more MMO-esque stuff will come later, but now you basically just see other people walking around. I obviously didn’t use the co-op function either, but the fact that it exists is good. I guess a good thing to implement later would be an offline mode, so you can choose not to have all those strangers running around if you so choose.

Then, here are the things I really like:

The breeding system. It’s really just simpler, and that’s a good thing. It was kind of annoying to figure out which Pokemon have the same egg group (before I just used a Ditto, at least), but now it’s just based on type. Plus, you can just buy the right items to get the right stats. I do hope they lower the prices though. 

FreeTem. It makes actual sense that the people who didn’t want Temtem to fight didn’t go full-on Plasma and become terrorists for their cause. Plus, you get money for cheating their obviously cheatable system. It’s a win-win!

The graphics. This is just one of those cases where people who don’t like it say it’s “bad,” even though they’re objectively wrong. The only “badness” about the graphics are the human faces. Everything else actually looks really nice and polished, especially the animations. I actually died when I saw my Mushi scurry behind me. It’s too cute. Too bad Mushook is losing its luster... But, anyway, it is one of those things that’s just a preference. There’s nothing wrong with the quality. In terms of human designs at least, I was going to say that they look to similar, but for the most part the only characters that looked too similar were the random nobody NPCs, and even then they put together the already existing character customization options in pretty decent enough ways. Some tamers even being not at all subtle references to other things was kinda cute too, although it’s not something I at all care for. That just seems like it’s asking to be reposted every other week on the subreddit...

The music kinda grew on me. The generic themes (wild battle/tamer battle) will never not get old, but the specific themes actually are pretty good. I especially like the theme of the Xolot Resevoir, since it kind of gave me Field of Hopes and Dreams/Scarlet Forest vibes. That might be my favorite kind of video game area song, to be honest. It’s the perfect blend of relaxing, mystical, and trance-y.

The gyms. No one, no matter how good you are, can actually get up to that high of a standing just by using one single type. The fact that Tem Dojos are all based on 2 types is great, especially in how their puzzles/appearance are styled. Obviously the slippery puzzle of the Crystal/Toxic dojo kinda took me aback as mentioned, but alone I liked it. The one problem was that 2 of them were with the exact same types, which kinda sucked, since it also used the same kind of puzzle. That’s the thing about good designs, though; you don’t mind as much if they’re re-used.

The CRYSTAL type. Oh my god, I love it so much. I tried to mask it a bit when talking about the Tems because it’s seriously my favorite thing about the game. It’s the perfect replacement for the Rock type, and it makes any Crystal Tem look so damn cool! The only one I don’t like as much, as mentioned, is Zenoreth/Azuroc, but that’s not at all the fault of their Crystal parts. I seriously wanted to create a whole team of Crystal Tems just because of how universally cool they all were. Gyalis and Valash are easily two of my favorite Tems. I also love how they managed to give the type two signature colors at once, with the bright red and seafoam green. Most other types really only use one or many colors for their part of the Tem’s design, but it seems so solidly both a red type and a green type, even if the icon is red. Since I play Pokemon/these types of games for the cool monster designs, having a whole section of the monsters be this cool is a major upside for me. I love it.

I kinda-sorta tried to arrange this list from worst to best, although really most stuff in between is sort of a crap shoot anyway.

Honestly, I don’t feel like a good source for a “should I buy this game?” kind of review, especially since the game basically just came out of Beta. If you’re into what they’re putting down, you might as well get it now. If you’re not sure, there’s no harm in waiting. The game is clearly making enough money to stay afloat, and since they’ve been at it for so long, there’s really no reason for them to stop now. I remember hearing about this game eons ago... Crazy to think I actually played it.

Now the next wave is Kindred Fates. That’s the next logical step in the genre. I hope this decade is the age of Pokemon-alikes, like how the past few years was riddled with BRs. Every game better have a monster collecting portion to it or else. I want to train my guns in CoD. 

[welllpthisishappening]

Once Again as in Olden Days

She’s absolutely freezing cold. 

It’s a dumb metaphor, one that only serves to make Emma even more pissed off than she already is. Because two hours ago it was summer. But a few more hours before that, she was also locked in a tower guarded by a fire-breathing dragon. And now she’s outside. With her kid. And a pirate that isn’t hers, explicitly, but keeps staring at her like he wouldn’t mind if he was. 

So maybe it’s not the worst. Maybe she’ll be able to get warm eventually. 

-----

Rating: A whole bunch of teen-type canon divergence.  Word Count: 6.4 K to fit in all the ridiculous Meet Me in St. Louis references AN: Back at it again with the Festive Fic Prompt A Thon and two anon prompts today: "you can put your cold feet on me." & "i don't wanna get up-- you're comfy." I started writing this as Lieutenant Duckling the other day, got a thousand words in, was like nah, then came back today and wrote nearly six and a half thousand words of 4x22 canon divergence with a frustrated Emma, enthusiastic Henry and deckhand!Hook who just wants to help. And listen to badly summarized movies. Anyway, they kiss. 

|| Also on Ao3 if that’s how you roll ||

-----

She can’t stop shivering. 

Every inhale comes with an almost automatic exhale that seems to wobble its way out of Emma, uneven and shaky and neither of those are good adjectives, but none of this has been good and the storm had come out of nowhere. 

She assumes it’s a last-ditch effort to steer them off course, and while he might not be exactly the same man, Killian Jones is still exceptionally good in a crisis. And on his ship. 

She hasn’t told him that the Jolly is his ship yet. 

So, really, she might be the world’s biggest coward. 

Mostly Emma is pissed off. 

Magic storms. In the middle of summer. 

Of course. 

Fuck this reality, honestly. 

She lets out another burst of air, and it’s cold enough now that she can see it linger in the space in front of her. Every inch of Emma feels frozen—muscles tense and skin raw from the shackles she is positive she can still feel and she’s starting to think in metaphors now, anger curling at the base of her spine and threatening to burst out the tips of her fingers, but that may also just be her magic and—

“Mom?” Henry mutters, snow clinging to the edge of his hair. She jumps approximately forty-seven feet in the air. 

It is admittedly a rough estimate. 

Henry’s teeth find his lower lip, far too familiar to be anything except vaguely jarring. Emma huffs, and she’s not sure where her lungs continue to find enough oxygen to keep doing this, pressing the heel of her hand into her cheek, like that will help ground her and her vaguely vertical emotions. 

“Yeah, kid?” He jerks his head behind him, lights Emma hadn’t noticed before glimmering in the not-so-far distance, and maybe this will be ok. At least passably acceptable. Possibly warm. God, she wants to get warm again. 

That’s another metaphor. 

Killian hasn’t said a single word since they anchored the Jolly. Emma hopes that isn’t because she’d teleported them off the Jolly. She was actually surprised she’d been able to do it, but Regina had always told her magic was about emotion and she’s been feeling nothing except emotion, every single thing she hasn’t said yet and wants to say and is hopeful she’ll eventually be courageous enough to actually say. 

She’s started biting her lip at some point too. 

“We could get inside,” Henry suggests, already backpedaling and Emma knows there’s not really another option. The ends of her gown are drenched. She doesn’t want Henry to be out in this snow much longer. 

She’s going to strangle Issac as soon as she sees him. 

And then Rumplestilskin. 

And then Isaac again, for good measure. 

“Maybe get some food,” Henry continues. “That’s how it always works in the stories, right? Roadside taverns and mead and—’ “—You are not getting mead,” Emma cuts in. 

Henry makes a distinctly teenage noise in the back of his throat, a bit of normal that Emma is going to think about for at least the next forty-five minutes if only because she can practically hear the nervous energy rolling off Killian. She wishes he would talk. She’s not sure what she’ll do if he does talk. 

“Alright,” Emma says, inhaling sharply. She’s desperately got to learn how to breathe. And control her magic. 

Killian flinches slightly. 

Henry widens his eyes. “Unless you guys want to break into some barn somewhere. Hay is warm and it’s not like we have any gold, do they use gold in the fake Enchanted Forest?” “No idea,” Emma shrugs. “I could probably just magic it, though. I think that’s possible and—” “—I have gold.”

She whips around so quickly she almost loses her balance, far more fabric around her ankles than she’s used to. Killian’s staring at his shoes by the time she straightens out her knees, lips tugged tightly behind his teeth and impossibly straight shoulders, more nerves and anxiety wafting off him. 

Emma resists the urge to reach her hand forward. 

They’ve got to get out of here. 

She needs to magic herself some new clothes too. 

“You don’t have to do that,” she whispers, but that only gets him to furrow his brows, a small smile tugging at his lips. 

Her magic flares, racing up her spine and taking root in the back of her brain and the center of her soul, which also seems impossibly melodramatic. Killian lifts his head. 

“What else am I going to use it on?” he reasons with a shrug, and Emma can’t help the sound that flies out of her. 

It’s not a laugh — there is absolutely nothing funny about any of this — but it’s not quite the sigh she expects, something closer to a scoff and a hint of disbelief and her hand moves. 

She absolutely cannot help it. 

Her fingers brush over his, a quick hitch of his arm, like he’s not sure if he should pull back or push her away and Emma rocks closer, ducking her head into a gaze that can’t seem to hold hers for more than five seconds. 

Those few strands of hair drifting over his forehead may be the death of her. 

“It’s a fair question,” Henry mumbles. He’s smiling. She can tell, hear it in his voice and Emma’s cheeks object to her own lip-type movement, but it’s still snowing and freezing cold and—

Seriously those strands of hair. 

“See,” Killian says, “the lad’s got some sense.” Emma lifts her eyebrows. “Seems to suggest that I don't.” He blushes. It’s absurd and wonderful and entirely awful. All at the same time. She has no idea how she’s going to sleep when her magic is roaring in her veins. 

“No, no, no, that’s not—” Killian stammers, and Henry doesn’t even try to mask his laugh that time. 

“No?” Emma prompts. Killian swallows. The muscles in his throat move, jaw clenching and it’s another rush of passably familiar that Emma wants to hold onto with both hands. “No,” he echoes. “I—we have to get out of this storm.” “This is what I’m saying,” Henry groans. “So we’ll use Killian’s money and we’ll get some food and maybe some mead and—” “—Seriously, how is no mead confusing?” Emma asks, glancing over her shoulder. Henry sneers. Killian is back to being frustratingly silent. 

The color in his cheeks hasn’t disappeared. 

It doesn’t have anything to do with the snow. 

Seriously, the snow has to stop soon. 

“Let’s go,” Emma says. She claps a hand on Henry’s shoulder, trusting that Killian will follow them when they start to move and that’s not quite a metaphor, but it might be the basis of everything else and—

She’s right. 

She can hear the snow crunching under his boots behind her. 

The air is musty and tinged with what smells like a mix of sweat and ale as soon as Emma pushes the door to the inn open, biting back a groan while her stomach does its best to rise up in the back of her throat. 

There are people everywhere, crowded at clearly sticky tables and tucked into dark corners, a surplus of leather and more than a few flashes of steel, the telltale sound of dice rolling on a variety of wooden surfaces. Emma’s eyes scan the space, gaze falling on what looks like the world’s oldest bar and a bald man with a round face and a towel draped over his shoulder. 

She snaps her fingers. 

And the magic that twists across her own face isn’t entirely uncomfortable. It’s warm, but it also makes it feel as if her skin is melting—like candle wax, shifting and reforming until her nose isn’t quite where it’s supposed to be, her eyes deep set and her forehead a bit wider. 

Her clothes have changed as well, gown replaced by breeches and boots that almost provide some warmth to her otherwise frozen toes, a vest and empty sword belt. 

She’ll have to fix that last part eventually, she’s sure. 

“Whoa,” Henry breathes. “Mom, that was so cool!” Emma can’t help the quick smile she gives him, a flash of pride that disappears almost as soon as her brand-new eyes land on Killian. 

He looks stunned. 

And maybe just a hint terrified. 

Of her. And her magic. 

The witch in the tower, indeed. 

“I’ll, uh—” she starts, but the words scratch at the inside of her throat like they’re not all that interested in being spoken. “I just figured it’d be best if no one saw me. I mean—do people even know what I look like?” “Lily did.” “Yeah, but she was a dragon.” “That we knocked out of the sky,” Henry reasons. “She’s probably got people to report back to. That’s how it always works in the—” “—Stories,” Emma finishes. Her stomach twists again, fear mixing with dread and those are kind of the same words. “We get a room. We eat. We get a few hours of sleep and then we get out of here. Got it?”

Henry nods once, and Emma doesn't bother glancing back at Killian. That’s not great. She’s not—

It doesn’t matter. 

This isn’t real. 

They’re getting out of here. She’s going to save all of them. 

And Killian isn’t freaked out by her magic at home. 

So. 

Emma stalks forward, twisting and turning between tables and half-drunk townsfolk, doing her best to breathe through her mouth while ignoring anyone’s curious gaze. It doesn’t matter. No one casts her a second glance, and it takes a few moments of pointed coughing to get the attention of the barkeep. 

He brings up the crazy weather at least six times. 

Emma keeps nodding. It leaves the muscles in her neck aching, fear tugging on the nerve-endings there because she’s not entirely convinced this is a good idea, but then it’s only a few more minutes for gold to exchange hands, Killian dropping a small pouch of clinking coins on the wood in front of them. 

The key to the one room they have left in this entire godforsaken place is cold in Emma’s hand. 

One room. 

Naturally. 

She might kick Isaac too. Several times. 

“C’mon,” Emma says, nudging at Henry’s back when his eyes widen at the sight of several foaming mugs of...something. “Right, left, kid and up the stairs.” He grumbles as he moves, and part of her is loathe to to be responsible in a moment like this. Part of her wants to down several tankards of ale and a few more rounds of mead, but Emma also isn’t entirely confident in how to mix Enchanted Forest alcohol and—

There are two beds in their one room. 

Naturally. 

Version two point oh. 

She sighs, running a suddenly exhausted hand over her face, which is only a little jarring because it’s not really her face. The string of curses that fall out of her is more than a little surprising, even to herself, but— “I forgot to get food,” Emma hisses, half to herself and half to this version of the world and Henry is already perched on the edge of one of the beds. 

There are only two beds. 

She’s going to scream. She’s trying very hard not to cry. 

“I’ll take care of it,” Killian says, soft enough that Emma barely ears him. Her magic is doing that thing again. 

So is his jaw. 

She’s got to stop staring at his jaw. It’s far too close to his lips. 

“You sure?” she asks. He lowers his eyebrows again, a quick jerk of his head that feels a little placating and a little hers, as if he’s amused every time she lets him do anything for her. 

And Henry. 

For them. 

Collectively. 

“Positive,” Killian promises. “I’m not sure it’ll be very good food, but—" “—We’ll live,” Emma interrupts. 

“Aye, I’m sure we will.” It’s not another promise. She knows. He knows. Henry knows. The goddamn barkeep probably knows. And yet. The words slink under Emma’s skin and find a rhythm with her pulse, a guarantee for a future that she’s only just started allowing herself to dream about. 

Idiot. 

“If you’re not back in ten minutes, I’m going to come downstairs and do something vaguely threatening,” Emma says. 

Killian’s lips twitch. “I’ve no doubt.” “And there aren’t clocks in this realm,” Henry adds. He’s definitely still smiling. 

Killian nods again—although that one has a distinct air of confusion to it, which only serves to make Emma’s stomach do something else she doesn’t have time to think about and she’s honestly got to stop thinking such absurd things. Because then he’s sweeping back into the hall and his boots are heavy on the stairs and she doesn’t have to turn around to see the expectant look on her son’s face. 

She can feel it. Behind her eyelids. 

“So, uh—” Henry starts, but Emma waves both of her hands and she’s not all that surprised he ignored her. It’s a weird thing to be proud of. “He didn’t even argue, you know. When I found him.” Emma licks her lips. She shivers again. 

And Henry isn’t done. “I got rid of Black Beard and then he just...I mean, it’s not right. Anything here, and especially Killian because he’s—” “—Yeah, I know,” Emma whispers. 

“Still didn’t argue, though. He might not remember everything, Mom, but I know he’s—he still cares. About you. About us.” She hums, a noncommittal sound because her tongue appears to be taking up most of the real estate in her mouth and she’s still as much of a coward as advertised. Even more so than the man who’s not quite the man she—

Emma lets out a shuddering breath, stumbling back against the nearest wall. Her knees have started to wobble as well. 

And Henry doesn’t say anything else. 

She’ll thank him for that eventually. When they get home. Let him play video games for an extra hour or something. 

Maybe go sailing. 

She’d like to go sailing. 

She’d like—

The door swings open again, a tray of food in Killian’s hand and a smile on his face that doesn’t quite reach his eyes. As if he’s worried it’s wrong. 

Until. 

The warmth of something Emma resolutely refuses to name as soon as her gaze meets his is like falling back into blankets and some joke about the tides and a steady rhythm and his smile stretches, settling on his face like he’s just been waiting for her to make sure it lands there. 

Henry snorts. 

Whatever is in the bowls Killian is holding is steaming. 

“Not exactly dinner at the palace,” he says, kicking the door closed behind him. Emma feels her eyes widen. “But it’ll at least keep the chill at bay and—” 

He jerks his chin down, a small pile of fabric Emma hadn’t noticed before tucked under his left arm. Blankets. 

Some of her muscles loosen. 

In a nice way. 

“Thank you,” she says, hoping she’s able to infuse as much emotion into two words as possible. Killian hums, another quick nod that isn’t quite as terrified or concerned and— “Can we eat?” Henry asks. 

Emma laughs softly, reaching out to grab bowls and blankets and the food isn’t great, but she’s fairly certain none of them have been poisoned. So, she’ll take what she can get at this point. 

And the whole thing is oddly comfortable—blankets strewn across the floor and Henry’s tugged his boots off at some point, recounting his defeat of Black Beard and Killian’s ability to sail through that storm, as if Emma weren’t there too, but she can’t bring herself to tell him to stop. 

Not when his voice picks up that way, excitement and adventure and he’s so sure they’re going to fix this. 

She’ll regret that later, she’s sure. 

Letting that hope linger. 

God, but she’s the most depressing person in any reality. 

Henry’s eyes start to flutter shut eventually, head lolling towards his shoulder and chin bumping against this chest and Emma makes to move, but then Killian’s mumbling something under his breath that sounds a lot like I can do it and Emma’s far too busy making sure her heart doesn’t explode to object. 

It might explode anyway. 

She tugs her legs closer to her, resting her chin on her knees and eyes never leaving Killian as he hauls Henry up, moving him towards a bed with, she assumes, slightly scratchy sheets. Every shift of Killian’s arms is slow, almost calculated, like he’s holding something important and a word that’s bigger than that, but Emma’s having enough difficulty coming to terms with any of this that she can hardly be expected to care about syntax. 

It’s still snowing out. 

Henry doesn’t wake up when he rolls over, stuffing a hand under his pillow and twisting one leg across the mattress. 

Exactly the same way Emma sleeps. 

And exactly the way Killian has complained about Emma sleeping. Her mind jumps to memories — weeks of calm and seasonally-appropriate snow, tucked into a different bed with sheets that seemed to drape themselves over her skin and her soul and she’s clearly losing her grip on her sanity. It is, Killian frequently tells her, because Emma’s feet refuse to retain their natural heat. 

It makes him jump every time, a soft gasp that leaves her laughing and giggling just a bit and she’ll never admit to that second one, but he always knows and he’s always known and the tenses don’t matter.

Emma shudders, standing up abruptly and all but sprinting towards the window. 

The snow drifts look unnaturally large. If she didn’t know better, hadn’t spent the morning with sweat dripping down her back and hair plastered to her forehead, Emma would think it was Christmas. And if she didn’t know better, hadn’t watched a dragon try and burn her alive a few hours earlier, she would believe that she could be happy here. 

An Enchanted Forest princess with a son and a man who would go to the ends of the world for her, no matter what he believed or who he remembered and she’s started rocking her weight between her feet. There’s a certain rhythm to it, matching up to a song no one else in this realm has probably heard of from a movie Emma only barely remembers the plot of. 

Maybe she can do something about the snow in the morning as well, still emotional enough that her magic could probably move mountains and that may give up their position, but she’s not a battle strategist either or even a pirate and— “Are you alright ma’am?” It’s probably for the best that her heart has already exploded. Makes it less likely for it to shatter. Dramatically.

Emma doesn’t look behind her, can’t actually bring herself to move at the sound of Killian’s half-mumbled question and she can see his outline in the foggy glass anyway. He’s got his fingers in his hair. 

“Fine,” she bites out, and the lie tastes bitter on her tongue, threatens to scorch away all those other words hanging there. 

He hums, a step towards her. It’s not as cautious as it’s been in the few hours since he and Henry found her. She can’t believe it’s only been a few hours. 

Emma’s perception of time is entirely skewed — and not just because of the goddamn snow, some twisted winter wonderland that leaves her thinking of more possibility and decidedly misplaced wants and there are no goddamn clocks in this realm. She can remember everything and nothing, her real life and her life here, but that’s a generous descriptor for what’s felt like decades chained in a tower. 

She wonders how long it’s really been. 

She wonders if this Killian Jones has ever wanted the same things she does. 

“You may want to practice that a few more times,” he continues, and the floor creaks when he steps that time. “If you’d like me to believe it.”

Emma’s head nearly flies off its neck. “The cheek on you, Captain.” “I’m not a Captain.” “God, that’s so weird. It’s—do you have a sword?” “No.” “Shit. That’s—do you have enough gold for that? I mean...I don’t want to use your life savings or anything here.” The last thing she expects is him to laugh, so, naturally, that is exactly what happens. Killian throws his whole head back with the force of it, Henry mumbling at the noise, and Emma is not entirely prepared for that specific shade of blue. He’s smirking at her. The asshole. 

“None of this is mine,” Killian says, laughter clinging to the words even as he keeps inching closer to Emma. “Black Beard didn’t leave much of his horde on the ship—wanted to spread things around, you see, make sure no one would be able to rob him, but—” “—You’re a pirate?” Emma suggest. “Something like that.” “You’re blushing, though.”

“Aye, that too.”

Emma twists a strand of hair around her fingers, desperate for something to do with all the excess energy she’s suddenly bursting with. And the air around them isn’t quite tension-filled, but there’s a certain charge to it, an electric current that’s always been there. More jokes about tenses. 

“Were you singing just now?” Killian asks. The windows in that room have a distinct draft to them. 

“No.” “No?” “We’re going in circles,” Emma grumbles, and his mouth doesn’t change. She’s got to stop staring at his mouth. 

But it had taken everything in her not to throw her arms around him before, to push her own fingers into his hair and yank him forward, find some kind of steady something in the feel of his mouth against hers and the way he always seems to fall into her. Or the other way around. 

Seriously, syntax is not important right now.

It’s probably best she didn’t. 

Emma would not have been able to cope with it being different. 

“What was the tune?” Killian asks, voice almost steady, and Emma is greedy enough to want the conversation. If only because of the color of his eyes when he looks at her. 

“You wouldn’t know it.” “Try me.”

“No, honestly, it’s—” She has every intention of being stubborn. She does—walls that she can practically establishing themselves around her heart and her soul and it’s incredible that one person can be so consistently idiotic. 

He still cares. About you. About us. 

“When I was a kid,” Emma starts, sliding down the wall and pointing towards the space next to her. Killian sits. “I used to uh—well I never lived anywhere very long. And this time of year—” “Summer?” “Nah, winter. Well, this is fake, but—” “—The snow felt fairly real when it was falling on us. You were shivering quite a bit, ma’am.” “Noticed that, did you? And you’ve got to stop with this ma’am stuff.”

“Ma’am stuff,” he drawls. “God, of course you’d be able to tease me,” Emma grouses, but Killian’s staring at her expectantly. Almost as if he’s waiting for marching orders. That probably doesn’t happen on a boat. Ship. “I just—” “—The last thing I want to do is offend you.” The sincerity in the words rock through Emma, leaving her teeth digging into her lip again until she’s threatening to bite the stupid thing in half and Killian’s eyes flicker towards the movement, like he’s thinking about things too and— “I’m not exactly the most respectable person in the world,” Emma reasons. “A crazy witch with out of control magic.” “That’s not true.” “You didn’t know that until Henry found you.” “Aye,” he agrees. “But I—well, it was easy to believe him.” Her lungs have got to get a grip. 

Or, whatever. 

Work. She needs her lungs to work. 

“Thank you,” Emma breathes. That’s not the working she was hoping for. “I—well, I…thank you. For all of it. Dashing rescues—” “—Did you say dashing?” “If you don’t stop calling me ma’am, I’ll punch you in the face.”

Killian barks out a laugh, the sound leaving him almost looking like him and feeling like him and Emma’s fingers flutter on instinct. With magic. He clenches his jaw. “And, uh—what am I supposed to be calling a magical princess, then?”

“You’re trying to flatter me.” “Is it working?” “Maybe,” Emma admits. “More cheek, though.” “Aye, that’s—unexpected, I suppose. But so are you, Swan, it’s—” Killian cuts himself off, eyes bugging and the veins in his throat are obvious when he jerks back, staring at Emma like she will actually punch him. 

The magic in her vibrates. With want and desire and goddamn normal. 

“That works,” she says. 

He blushes again. He might not have ever stopped. “Has that happened before?” “Hmmm?” “The cold,” Killian says. His voice shifts again, sounding a bit farther away than it had, like he’s trying to place a memory or moment and Emma doesn’t want to hope again. It’s not the best thing to remember, anyway. “You were—we...I was…” “You were?” “Worried. Terrified, even. I can—there was ice or—” “—No, that’s right,” Emma interrupts. “It was a giant wall and it wasn’t really Elsa’s fault, but—” “—Should I know who Elsa is?” “Probably not.” He makes another noise, a slow nod that only serves to shift those pieces of hair clearly designed to ruin Emma’s whole life. “The song, then? It was inspired by the snow?” “No, I don’t—well, I don’t know, really, but the song is kind of depressing, honestly.” “Is it?” Emma nods, and her head is close enough to his that her chin nearly bumps his shoulder. She’d like to put her head on his shoulder. That may freak him out. 

It’s kind of freaking her out, admittedly. 

“I haven’t thought about that movie in forever,” Emma continues, “It was old when I used to watch it. A beat up VHS—” “—What is that?” She clicks her tongue, not sure how to explain now-redundant technology to a pirate who isn’t her pirate in a realm that does not have clocks. The whole thing makes her head hurt. And it’s just absurd enough to make her laugh a bit too. 

Killian’s eyes flash. 

“That’s not the important part,” Emma says. “And it’s not even really a Christmas movie. It’s, um—well, it’s about a family. In this place called St. Louis—” “—Is that in the Enchanted Forest?” “Has anyone ever told you that you’re a rather pitiful listener?” “You’re teasing.” Emma grins. “St. Louis is not in the Enchanted Forest. It’s a city. In the reality—shit that’s so weird to think about. You know what? That doesn’t matter either. The point is that there was a family and they lived there and then they were going to move. And Judy Garland was upset because the guy she loved—”

She doesn’t finish her sentence. 

It feels like it’s weighing down on both of them anyway, more metaphors and passing similarities and she wants him to call her Swan at least forty-seven thousand times. 

“She didn’t want to leave this man, then?” Killian asks. “Judy Garland? Was she a princess as well?” Emma shakes her head. “No, but she did get to go to a ball. At Christmas. With a very red gown.” “Red?” “Yuh huh.” Killian swipes his tongue across the front of his teeth, that same thoughtful look Emma’s grown to memorize and maybe covet just a bit. It’s because it always ends with that pinch between his eyebrows. “So, John,” Emma adds, “That’s the guy that she loves. HIs name is John and he...he couldn’t get to the ball at first because he didn’t pick up his tuxedo. He was playing basketball.” “What a strange word.” “It’s a really strange game if you actually think about it, honestly. Henry’s more into soccer, though, so—we’re drifting from the point.” “Are we just?” “You’ll make me think you’re not enjoying my garbage storytelling, Killian.” The pinch disappears. 

At the same exact time his lips part. 

Seriously, his lips. 

“Does John eventually get to this ball?” 

“Yeah,” Emma nods. “Romance conquers all. He gets the tuxedo and they dance and it’s—well, Judy Garland wasn’t shy about being in love with him. She sang about it at the start of the movie, but everything kind of comes to light there and, um...when I was a kid, I always thought it was very pretty.” “The dancing?” “The whole thing. Happily ever after.” She can still see the tip of his tongue pressing into the side of his mouth — another tell for her Killian and this is her Killian, just with altered memories and ridiculous allusions to 1940s musicals and—

“What happened after the ball?” “John asked Judy Garland to marry him,” Emma says. Her voice cracks. It’s ridiculous. “She says, yes, of course, but they’re still leaving St. Louis and her sister is there and she’s beats up the snowmen.” “What?” “They’ve got the most ridiculous snowmen in the backyard and Tootie—” “—This child’s name is Tootie?” “I didn’t write the movie.” He chuckles, slumping a bit against the wall. His hand is very close to Emma’s. “And where does your tune factor in?” “Uh—before the snowmen, I think. Freshly engaged Judy Garland sings this song called Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. It’s...like I said, it’s kind of depressing if you listen to the words and—” “—What are the words?”

Emma has to swallow as soon as her brain processes that particular tone of voice. Because it’s not nervous. Or anxious. It’s vaguely hopeful and a little greedy as well, an overstep for a cowardly deckhand, but exactly what Killian Jones would do and Killian Jones would come back. 

With his tuxedo. 

Or leather jacket. 

As the case may be. 

“I’m not really a singer,” Emma mutters, ignoring whatever is fluttering in her stomach. Magic, maybe. Emotion, definitely. 

Killian nods, a quiet sound of agreement or acquiesce and that might be what changes everything. The easy way he’s looking at her, like explaining the plot of Meet Me In St. Louis is entirely normal and she can barely herself when she starts to sing under her breath. 

It’s decidedly off-pitch, Emma desperate to keep her voice low and her nerves in the pit of her stomach, but Killian doesn’t blink and she shakes slightly when she reaches— “Until then we’ll just have to muddle through somehow.” She blinks, sudden tears on her cheeks that are a misplaced sense of warmth and she hates that she’s crying. She hates that she’s feeling, wisps of hope and shards of her own want and Emma can’t imagine there’s even something like Christmas in the Enchanted Forest. 

And she’s just about to apologize for it—for being anything except the Savior everyone always expects her to be, but then there’s a crack and a shift and her magic practically rumbles out of her chest and— Killian’s thumb brushes across her cheek. 

“Can you—” he stutters, color rising again and tinging the tips of his ears. “The mask. It’s—can you get rid of it?” She’s going to eventually run out of air to dramatically exhale, Emma is sure. 

In the moment, though, she’s got just enough, body surging forward as soon as the thought clicks into place and he wasn’t scared of the magic. 

He wasn’t scared of her. 

“I’d like to see you,” Killian adds, “If that’s—” Emma blinks, nose barley settling back to its appropriate place before she’s leaning forward and that same nose is pressed against Killian’s cheek. He doesn’t kiss exactly the same. 

It's not as horrible as she thought it would be. 

It’s softer now—still a little cautious optimism that’s almost as weird as the rules of basketball, and it takes a moment for him to tilt his head, a quick flicker of his tongue that leaves Emma reeling just a bit. That’s all it really takes, then. She lets her fingers fly into his hair, barely any space between them when she clamors closer, knees bumping his side and his hook finding the small of her back. 

Like always. 

She twists and he tilts his head and it’s not quite hungry, but there’s something about it that’s almost like a low simmer, steady and even and normal. It’s absolutely, totally normal. 

She’s not sure how long they stay there, making out like teenagers on the floor, but it doesn’t matter because Emma is at least ninety-six percent positive she’s just become Killian Jones’ first kiss and the thought leaves her a little dizzy and even more breathless than normal, goosebumps exploding on her skin that don’t have anything to do with the temperature. 

“What happens to them?” Killian asks, pressing the question to the corner of Emma’s mouth. “John and Judy?” “Her name is Esther in the movie.” “Another strange moniker.” She laughs— giggles —and it’s easy to feel Killian’s answering smile against her jaw. “Well, they’re engaged when it ends, and it never really says they get married, but I’d imagine they do after the fair.” “The fair?” “That’s a whole other plot point we don’t have time to go into. It’s—c’mon, we should probably get some sleep.” The smile is gone. “You should sleep, Swan. I can take the watch.” “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.” “Someone should be awake, this isn’t the safest place.” Emma waves her hand, lock clicking into place and it’s probably wrong to take some perverse pleasure in Killian’s stunned expression. Or the position of his tongue. “Impressive.”

“Flattery will get you everywhere.” “You should at least take the bed, love.”

If he realizes he’s switched endearments, he doesn’t show it, but Emma does — and so does her magic. It roars and soars and some other word that is slightly less positive because the thought of not falling asleep next to him is suddenly the single worst thing she could come up with and—

“There’s enough space,” she reasons. 

Killian wavers for a moment, more than a few quick breaths through gritted teeth. Emma takes her boots off. 

And climbs into the bed. “The sheets suck though,” she says, and it gets the desired laugh out of him. He probably doesn’t understand the idiom. 

It doesn’t matter. 

He follows her anyway — and that’s a multi-fold thing and maybe they’ll be able to find a copy of Meet Me In St. Louis at home. Maybe she can get another red gown. 

Maybe they can— “Bloody hell how are your feet so cold?” Emma buries her face in the pillow to mask her laugh, body shaking despite her best efforts. Killian looks scandalized. 

“Bad circulation, I guess,” Emma reasons. 

“You’ll get frostbite like that, love. That can’t be healthy, I—what?” “Nothing, nothing, just...I’m sorry about my cold feet.”

He narrows his eyes, looking for the double meaning to those words and he’s always been very perceptive. So. It doesn’t take long for him to understand. “It’s alright,” he says. “Here, c’mere. You can...I’m warm, at least.”

“Yeah, I know.”

It takes some twisting to get comfortable, but that’s really more the sheets than anything and Emma’s head manages to find its way to Killian’s chest, an arm around her middle and lips grazing her hair and— “Swan. Swan, c’mon—Emma, love, we’ve got to get up.”

She grumbles, pressing her face further into the fabric under her cheek, but that fabric is also moving and the man wearing it is breathing and laughing in her ear and it takes Emma a moment to get her bearings. 

There’s light streaming in through gauzy curtains, a soft roar coming from behind the closed door of her bedroom. No, that’s not right.

Their bedroom. 

In their house. 

With their family. 

It’s—

“Merry Christmas, love,” Killian says. 

Emma jerks her head up, reality rushing back to her and she’d been dreaming. Of a different reality and a past that had been fixed years before. It’s been years. 

What sounds like several different crashes sound from, what she can only imagine, is the general vicinity of the kitchen. 

“Merry Christmas,” she mumbles. Killian ducks his head, catches her lips with hers and he laughs again when she objects to his movement. “No, no, you’re comfortable.”

“And warm, I know. But—” He winces at another crash. “I believe the little sea monster is awake and likely determined to open the the rather alarming large mountain of presents she’s been presented with. Also, your parents will be here soon.” Emma nods, a schedule flitting through her brain that includes breakfast and lunch and dinner that will end with—

“I expect your dance card to be filled tonight, your highness,” Killian adds. He nips at her nose when Emma doesn’t answer immediately, a knowing flash in his gaze and it had been her mother’s idea. 

A ball. 

At Christmas. 

Emma is almost unreasonably excited. If only because those few strands of hair that still fall across Killian’s forehead have started to take on a distinct silver edge and she can’t really think when she notices it. 

She’s anticipating a good deal of making out. In dark corners. 

And dancing. 

“Aye, Captain.”

The flash gets noticeably darker, another kiss they don’t have time for, but that’s also kind of their thing and—

Crash. Several. In quick succession. 

“She might have knocked the tree over,” Emma mutters. “I’ll go and assess damage. Make sure you put socks on, love. It’s probably cold downstairs.” Emma salutes—in tandem with her flipping stomach. 

And the kitchen isn’t nearly as bad as she thought it would be, a living room eventually covered in wrapping paper and laughter hanging in the air and Emma lets her mother pin her hair up later. 

The gold matches the red in her gown. 

And the red on Killian’s cheeks as soon as he sees her, one side of mouth tugging up and that same flash—disarmingly familiar and consistent, no matter the realm or the years or the curses they’ve lived through because—

He takes a step forward, a quick bend of his head and lips brushing her knuckles. 

Emma’s magic flutters. 

He lifts his eyebrows. 

“Your highness, ma’am.” “Captain.” “It’s a very good color.” “No problems with the tuxedo?” Killian shakes his head “I don’t know how to play basketball.”

She can’t help the size of her smile or the force of her magic, memories he probably shouldn’t remember, but they’ve watched the movie enough that he could probably sing the songs by heart now. And he does, humming soft melodies in Emma’s ear all night until she’s dangerously close to swooning. 

In a slightly darkened corner. 

With her husband’s mouth on hers and his hook pressed to the small of her back and happily ever after playing out around them. 

[penny4yourthot]

Never Have I Ever

Request from @answer-the-sirens : Any chance for a Happy X Reader, where you're new to the shop and everyone assumes your sweet and timid but you go to a clubhouse party, and get involved with a drinking game, dirty version of "never have I ever" and nearly every round you and happy drink and everyone's like da fuq, maybe at the end he comes over to you all impressed and... I love your blog! Phenomenal writer!

This will be two parts. The second part will be all smut! hope you like it and thanks for the request!

It had been a completely normal day for you. Get up at 7 am to get ready for work, get dressed, make your coffee, and head out the door. It wasn't until you went to start your car that things quickly went to hell. Your car wouldn't start. You were screwed. Your boss was such a jackass and told you that you couldn't miss any more work. You had gone through some health issues a month after you started this job and had to miss quite a few days for various doctor appointments. You had moved to Charming a few months ago and had no family around that could come to pick you up.

Grabbing your phone you called the nearest mechanic. Teller-Morrow was the first one on the list. Had your mind not been going a hundred miles an hour, you probably would have thought to call a different one. You were well aware that this is where the local motorcycle club called home.

Of course, you had heard of the Sons of Anarchy and had seen them riding around but you were sure to keep your distance. Hearing all the horror stories of what the club was involved in from your neighbors you tried to stay away, although you knew that your neighbors were very dramatic so you couldn't believe everything they said.

It only took ten minutes for the tow truck to arrive at your house. It wasn't until the bald man, covered in tattoos, stepped out of the truck that you realized you had called the mechanic shop where the Sons worked.

“Car won't start?” the man asked you were shocked when you heard how low and raspy his voice was. You had seen him around town before but never have spoken to him or any of the Sons before.

“Uh, um, yeah,” your voice came out hardly loud enough for the man to hear.

“I’ll get it on the rig, can I give you a ride somewhere?” He looked at you when he spoke and he immediately saw the fear in your eyes.

“No, that's okay. Thank you,” your voice barely above a whisper.

“Are you sure? You look like your headed somewhere important,” he said as he pointed at your clothes. You were currently wearing a pencil skirt and a long sleeve blouse. Your office job required you to dress up professionally, which you hated.

Shit, what other option did you have? You would get fired for sure if you didn't show up to work and there was no way you were walking five miles in these heels.

“Well, I'm just headed to work. I guess I could use the ride,” you quietly spoke as you watched him get your car hooked up to the tow truck. You could feel his eyes on you when you looked away towards your house.

“Okay it’s all set, ready?” he questioned as he hopped in the driver's seat. You walked up to the passenger side door and opened it before climbing in. You put your coffee in the cup holder while holding your purse in your lap.

“I can pick you up too, your car should be done by then. What time do you get off?”

“Um, I get off at 6.” So far this man seemed nice enough to offer you a ride home, so why not? Your co-workers were a bunch of assholes who wouldn't give you a ride so you were grateful for the offer. After telling the man, whose name you had learned to be Happy, where you worked, he headed down the street knowing exactly where to go. This town was small enough to know where everything is.

Quickly arriving at your job, you thanked Happy for the ride and then walked into work somehow only being ten minutes late.

The day went by so slowly. Your boss got on you for being late and constantly gave you the hardest clients to deal with all day. You couldn't be happier when the clock hit six and you got to leave. You saw Happy sitting in the tow truck in the parking lot of your job and you got in and sighed heavily as you sat down.

“Rough day?” He looked over at you as he started the car

“Just my boss being a jerk, nothing new.” You buckled your seatbelt in as Happy drove off.

“Fuck bosses, they suck. Want me to kill him for you?” Happy laughed. You couldn't tell if he was joking or not so you just laughed in response.

“We're having a party tonight if you wanna join, lots of booze so you can forget your shitty boss,” he said as he looked over at you. He saw the look that washed over your face, one of uncertainty, almost fear.

“Look, I'm not sure what you have heard about us but-”

“I know your part of the motorcycle gang.”

“Club, Motorcycle club,” he corrected, “and whatever you heard is a load of bullshit. People are just afraid of us because we ride motorcycles, wear leather and carry guns. They know the truth though, we keep this town safe.” His raspy voice held confidence in it.

“Alright fine, I'll come to the party but just cause I had a shit day,” you laughed and noted that you were felling a hell of a lot more daring than usual today. “And because its Friday and I'm off tomorrow,” you added with a smile.

It had been so long since you hung out with anyone. Too busy with your job to make any friends. You were desperate to get out of the house for a few hours. You didn't even care about the rumors you had heard about the Sons anymore.

Pulling into the Teller-Morrow lot, you looked around seeing all the motorcycles parked in a neat line. You suddenly felt a bit nervous. There were a few men in the garage looking like they were putting things away to close up.

Happy parked the truck and got out. You followed him into the larger building opposite from the garage and as soon as the door open you were hit with the scent of weed mixed with booze.

“I didn't expect the party to be started so early,” you told Happy as he held the door open for you.

“We take Fridays very seriously,” he laughed, “some of them have been drinking since they got out of bed”

“I can see that,” you chuckled as you looked around and saw various stages of drunk men.

Happy lead you to the bar and you both started to drink.

Two hours passed quicker than ever. You had four beers and four shots and were currently up dancing around to the music with a few of the other girls that were there. You had kicked your heels off earlier in the night, no way in hell were you going to be dancing with them on.

“Heyyy let's play never have I ever! We used to play that in college alllllll the time!” You yelled to the other girls who all agreed.

“Guysss, come on, let's play!” One of the crow eaters yelled at the group of men who were standing around playing pool. Most of the men were so drunk they would agree to anything. One of the girls turned the music down as you all sat around on the couches and some of the guys on the floor.

“Okaaayy, so this is how you play. You say never have I ever and then say something you have never done! And if anyone else has done that thing they take a sip of their drink!” one of the crows said loudly enough for everyone to hear.

“Okay, I'll start,” another one of the girls said. “Never have I ever done it with someone twice my age,” she drunkenly said with a laugh.

“So I guess we are playing the dirty version of this game,” you laughed as you took a sip of your drink. Looking around most the other women took a drink as well.

“Okay, okay. I'm going next. Never have I ever done it in public,” one of the crow eaters said, which shocked the hell out of you considering not ten minutes ago she was dancing almost naked on the pole. You sipped your drink and looked around the room and caught Happy’s eyes as he looked at you with wide eyes clearly shocked that you have had sex in public. Earlier today you were almost too afraid to talk to him he thought you were really shy and so did the rest of the guys.

“Dammmn you’ve had sex in public? You seem so damn shy, you hardly talked to any of us tonight,” Jax yelled drunkenly at you. This caused a deep blush to run up your face as you nodded yes.

“Okay, Jax your turn!” the blonde crow eater who just went said.

“Okay fine, ummm never have I ever had sex with one of my teachers” he laughed as he lit a cigarette and took a sip of his beer.

You looked straight at Happy when you took a large gulp of your beer. He about spit his sip out when he saw that. He gave you a look, one that you have never seen on him. Almost like a look of want and need. You winked at him which caused him to growl lowly in response.

“Okay, I’ll go! Never have I ever been chocked out during sex,” the red-headed Crow eater that you were dancing with before said. And once again you had to take a sip. Half the men were watching you at each turn. They were shocked that someone who seemed as innocent as you had done all this stuff. It could also be because you were new around here and no one had taken a claim on you yet.

“Never have I ever had sex over texting before,” Chibs said with a laugh.

“That's because your too damn old to know how to text old man!” Opie joked as he and the rest of the ‘young’ people, including you took a sip of beer.

“Okay, your turn,” Happy said looking over at you eager to hear what you haven't done.

“You first,” you quirked back at him.

“Fine. Never have I ever had sex with a dead body.” Everyone laughed as they looked over at Tig who was the only one in the room to take a sip.

“What? It's not as bad as you think,” he said as he drunkenly downed the rest of his beer.

“Your turn.” Happy looked back over at you waiting for you to go.

“Never have I ever been tied up during sex before, unfortunately,” you were shocked by your quickness to reply and even more shocked that you held eye contact with Happy the entire time you spoke.

He got up from his spot on the couch across from you and sat down right next to you, putting his hand on your thigh.

“We can change that,” he whispered in your ear and then proceeded to take yet another sip out of his beer. You felt the heat rise in your face as you debated on whether or not to take him up on that offer.

 Never Have I Ever Part 2

Tag List: @gemini0410 , @utterlyhopeful , @rebelwriter95 , @genius2050

Happy tag list: @redwoody-incorporated

[depressed-sock]

First Meetings

A Fallen Hero fanfic

A short story with my sidestep Kiyo and @kruk-art ‘s sidestep Awan!

 Kiyo: 

  You take the steps two at a time, running as fast as your legs can carry you. You probably should have kept your mouth shut when you saw the very obvious mods on these people but when have you ever done that? Seriously when have you ever had the sense to stay out of dangerous situations?

  It feels like never and somehow you always seem to end up where you have to run for your life. At least the kid they had targeted had gotten away, that's about the only good news about this entire situation.

  You look back over your shoulder, your steps faltering just a bit as you catch sight of them bursting through the landing door. You can feel their thoughts, angry and seething and wow you really fucked up this time. These people really want you dead… and you're about to make this whole situation much worse.

  Tall, dark and balding looks up spotting you and a sneer spreads across his face as he spits, "Get back here you little cu-" only to be cut off by your shoe landing with a loud thwack as it hits him square in the jaw.

  "Watch your fucking language!" A cacophony of yelling greats your back as you turn and start running back up the stairs. You're faster than them for now...and only because you know they're modded to be heavy hitters and not sprinters. Which means that you really do not want to get hit by any of them… which is going to be hard since you ran into a building… fuck ….You really should have thought this through better.

 Awan:

  You sit quiet and still as the world moves beneath you. The sounds of traffic and muted conversation filling the air. You take a breath in, tasting the coming storm on the air and you feel yourself relax just a bit. 

  It feels like it's been months since you've had a chance to sit on the roof and take in a moment of peace. No attacking villains, no sudden chaos that needs your attention and help. Just this moment of-

  Chaos and anger that's climbing closer to your location. Mother fucker. You turn just as the roof's door slams open and a figure stumbles through.

  A mess of black hair that looks up and a shock of grey colored eyes meet yours, "uhhh fuuccckk…." he quickly looks over his shoulder before slamming the door shut behind him, pressing against it as he stares at you. "Hi…Sorry to uhhh bother you but…. umm you wouldn't happen to know if there's another way down would you?" 

  “Not unless you’re willing to jump to the next roof,” your eyes narrow on him as you hear muffled shouts from inside the building. Whoever is chasing him is out for blood, and they definitely intend to spill it over the entire building. 

  “...That is not the best option," he looks up as he mutters to himself before wincing at the sounds of bangs reverberating through the building, "it is however definitely an option." His eyes meet yours again, "You may want to also leave because I'm pretty fucking sure they're ready to take out their anger out on anyone nearby."

  "If that's the case why did you run into a building?"

  "....Lack of foresight?" He shrugs helplessly before jumping off the door as a blade pushes through, "Fucking hell."

  You don't bother waiting around, jumping to your feet and pulling the smaller man behind you. No one's spilling any blood on your roof today. 

  "Hey!" He lets out an indignant cry from behind you. A wave of confusion followed by a realization that you're trying to protect him.

  "Stay behind me," you mumble, falling into your fighting stance as the first person breaks through the door. They falter only a second before attacking you. 

  A punch that propels the blade sticking out of the top of their wrist towards your face. You follow their thoughts and pull the strings causing their aim to be too far right. Enough space for you to grab their arm and push them off balance as you kick their feet out from under them. They land with a groan that you quickly silence with a kick to their face. One down, more to go.

  You're given no time to prepare as a woman and man push through the door one after the other. Anger fully forming into a raging fire that makes them both stupid and dangerous. The woman's knuckles clack together, metal against metal as her fist drives forward with the power to break bones. You feel a rush of air as her fist passes just in front of you almost hitting but finding nothing to hit as you’re yanked backwards.

  "Hey, uglies! I'm the one you're after!" A flash of black hair and pink as the person you're trying to protect steps forward blocking the attack from the man and landing a punch against his jaw. "Mother fucker," he pulls back, bumping into you as he shakes his hand out. "Who the fuck is stupid enough to get a metal jaw?!"

  "Apparently he is," you comment, grabbing his shoulders and pulling him out of the way as a blade tries to strike his leg. Dammit, you were sure you had knocked them out. 

  This isn't going to work. Racing thoughts echoing your own. You glance down finding a snarl on the face of the person you're trying to protect. His hand reaching up and grabbing your wrist as you feel his thoughts make a decision.

  Kiyo: 

  You're not going to be able to take these people out by yourselves. Too outnumbered and most definitely too outpowered. You don't know why this man decided to help you but you're not going to let him get killed because of it.

  Only one choice left.

  Your grip tightens around his wrist tugging him towards the edge of the roof, "Time to jump."

  "Wait, what-" you're running, pulling him with you before he even gets a chance to finish as you let your instincts take over. Jump to the next roof, take the fire escape down and run towards the more populated areas of town. If you can't lose them then at least there would be a higher chance of a 'hero' stepping in and taking down these assholes for you. A strategy that you're probably a little too familiar with.

  You feel him fall into step with you as you both jump, thoughts following thoughts until you both land with a roll and a realization that your both reading each other's thoughts. Another telepath… Focus on getting away first.

  Neither of you stop moving, feet banging loudly against the fire escape and away from the angry shouts. You hit the ground running, not looking back as you navigate the broken streets of Los Diablos. It feels like hours before you finally feel yourself slowing.

  "I think we lost them," you pant as your steps falter and come to a stop in a shaded alley. You can't feel their anger anymore, so either you got far enough away or they finally gave up.

  "We could've taken them," the man beside you comments as he leans against a nearby wall to catch his breath. Blonde hair sticking to his forehead haphazardly in a way that makes you let out a breathless laugh.

  "Sure you could have," you shake your head with a smile, "Thanks for the save anyway... I'm Kiyo," you hold out your hand and he takes it roughly in his with a strong shake.

  "Awan." He leans back, head tilting as he studies you. Mind just as closed off and unreadable as you hope yours is right now. "Why were they even after you?"

  "...Oh, I kinda pissed them off to draw their attention away from someone else," you rub the back of your neck with an awkward laugh,"... and stole a few of their wallets.. buuut they won't realize that until later." You shrug, a helpless smile taking over as you stuff your hands into your jacket’s pockets.

  "You stole their wallets?" He raises an eyebrow, arms crossing casually over his chest.

   "To be fair they did try to kill me so I think it's a fair trade."

  His laugh speaks of amusement and disbelief, "Right… I should probably be going." He looks up at the sky and you follow his gaze to find it turning a dark grey. The smell of rain becoming clearer with each second. 

  "I really hope that building wasn't where you're staying," you wince looking down and away. That would be bad… that would be really bad.

  "It's not."

  "Well, that's good news at least," you chuckle in relief. One less thing to worry about.

  "I do need to find a new spot though," he sighs loud and irritated, though it feels more directed at your assailant's than you.

  "....uhhh I can't give you a new spot but I can pay for lunch."

  "With stolen money?" A smug smile on his face.

  "With 'rescue' money. I saved someone and then you helped save me. So I think it's only fair to share it," you shrug as you make your excuses. Is it really stealing if was already technically stolen? "I also know a great place that serves pancakes all day."

  He hesitates a moment before he finally seems to give in, "Alright, but I fully expect the works."

  "Is there any other way to eat them?" You smile leading the way out of the alley, "Seriously though is there any other way? Because they keep telling me there's not."

  His laugh echoes down the alley and disappears as you both start making your way down the street.

[whereisyourtruenorth-blog]

True North Winter Tips

I’ve casually looked around the internet (namely pinterest and youtube) for winter wardrobe tips and have genuinely laughed and been disappointed at the content that was brought up. Not that these people uploading these things didn’t post quality things, they just live in an area where their idea of Winter isn’t....well....is it REALLY Winter? Peep toed any sort of shoe? Thin knee length skirts with sheer tights? It just wasn’t practical and where I live I’m surrounded by northern, older generation practicality. I have a deep appreciation for the logical, simple, practical views on things here so I thought I’d share some. Some of them you may already do...they aren’t all about clothes because in real Northern weather it’s just not something you entirely think about.

1.) Dress appropriately. There’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing. When it’s -40 and the sides of your driveway are like The Wall in Game of Thrones (bust out your inner Ygritte) you must learn the appropriate way to layer your clothing. Learn about/wear base layers that trap in your body heat and wick moisture. Dampness can make the cold feel many times worse if you are wearing anything that soaks up moisture without expelling it. If you can, invest in a pair of good winter boots. and socks. Tuck your pant bottoms into your socks before putting your boots on so no air or moisture can get to the skin of your ankles. Mittens are a better option because they keep your fingers together to provide heat. I have found that locally made mittens that are a blend of wool/cashmere to be the best at half the cost of store bought mittens. Remember to protect your ears and head as well! If you’re going to be outside for more than 20 minutes a snood is perfect to tuck the bottom half of your face into to breathe into it to create moisture. If you’re prone to wind burn I suggest swiping a small amount of Vaseline or something similar onto those areas (usually cheeks) and on your lips for protection.

2.) Update your tires! Not all of us have trucks but 4 wheel drive is a great help. It can be expensive to be ready for Winter but if you live here long-term and have the means to slowly do things, tires are important. It’s a terrible idea to drive on bald tires in general but especially on snowy roads. If you have a smaller, compact vehicle it’s a great idea to add weight in your car to reduce sliding on slippery days on the road. Cat litter or 50lb bags of salt can help add a little traction.

3.) Have emergency items in your vehicle at the height of winter. An extra blanket or two, extra mittens, a small emergency kit, matches or a lighter, “Heet” for your gas tank, keep your gas tank ABOVE half consistently in case you get stuck somewhere. A lot of people keep a large empty tin can and candle in their vehicle in case they get stranded and for some reason you don’t have heat in your car. You can light the candle inside of the can and the can will act as a heat source. Do not keep items that can explode in the extreme cold. It’s not fun.

4.) Stay active! If you dress appropriately, go for walks! Around the block or more if you can. I swear it will reduce your seasonal moods. If you already enjoy partaking in winter sports that’s even better. If you’re living in a Northern state long-term you may as well bite the bullet and embrace it. Staying indoors constantly is what will deplete your happiness and Vitamin D levels. The sun is still out there! It’s even better if your family or friends are interested in doing something active with you. It can be as light or as strenuous as you want so long as you get outside for even 10 minutes.

5.) Eat seasonally. At least where I’m at it’s extremely easy and accessible to get local produce. Most people here have a garden but if not nearly half of the driveways have carts of produce at the entrance. We are also surrounded by Amish who do the same and have some of the best stuff there is. People here are decently sustainable and share produce or grow their own. I know that is not the same for everyone but find out what is local to you and utilize those resources. You will be supporting someone else local instead of a large corporation and getting great produce for a lower cost. Here I can get all root vegetables and squashes for the winter (or we can summer abundance), honey, maple syrup, oats, apples, pears, peaches, etc) Most of our homes have an area usually in the basement or pantry for root vegetables to store throughout the winter.I believe eating seasonally can give you nutrition that’s a little lost during the hardest months of the winter. The food is heartier and more dense than water summer foods for a reason. Incorporate these and some broth into your diet to help you re-load your energy.

6.) Site “How to Hygge” by Signe Johansen for a real play by play on the art of hygge. I bought this book about four years ago and I still go back to it every year. Coziness truly helps when it starts getting dark around 4pm. Light candles (evergreen scents are by far my favorite) and lots of them! Get small fairy lights. If you don’t have a real fireplace invest in a small electric one that will heat a room and create that ambience. Isn’t seeing people chop wood satisfying? I think it’s because it harkens back to when people did it purely out of survival. The scent of wood burning stoves are on my top favorite scents out there. I know it’s hard but try waking earlier in the day to get the most of the daylight that you can. People wake much later than in past generations and miss a decent chunk of their day. In the winter it’s important that your body gets the most daylight it can. Wake early, make your bed, go outside for a minimum of 10 minutes. It’s the easiest recipe for a little happiness.

7.) Crack your windows for 1/2 hour every week to bring in fresh air and the old can be drawn out. Sometimes our allergies worsen because our home is shut up with all of the dust and allergens. Crisp, fresh air for a small time every week can help clear it out.

8.) Speaking of windows...find which windows in your house let the most air seep through and get a plastic window kit to cover them. It can help for comfort ability and your heat bill. Obviously I suggest keeping one uncovered (whichever one doesn’t let air through) to be able to crack it once a week.

9.) Get a bird feeder or if you have one try to keep it stocked consistently! Sometimes seeing birds, especially cardinals and blue jays can improve your mood in the winter. When you unexpectedly catch a pop of red against the blanket of white is a real treat in February. Birds have more food options during the warm months but is harder to come by in the cold. I try to mix my bird seed with dried mealworms or make my own suet with lard and peanut butter because fats and heartier things like mealworms can really aid their lack of abundance in the cold. Plus I get excited when they seem to like my suet!

10.) Do not constantly engage in whining collectively about the weather. Spin the narrative. Whining about it helps no one and there’s a reason why Scandinavians are said to be rated some of the happiest people! They flow with nature including in the winter. You can be active as well as be a hermit. Get up, get dressed, go outside a little before or after work, come home and light your candles. Make a hot toddy with Tom and Jerry mix (nods at Wisconsinites) and get COZY. People are sometimes depressed, anxious and paranoid because there is a difference between earning coziness and just sheer laziness. Sometimes you get down on yourself because you wish you would be doing just the basic every day tasks but don’t. Even just trying to be positive about winter and saying something positive will help you and make others potentially have a different thought.

11.) Share with your neighbors! Winter is the seasons of the holidays and having people with you is a joy. Find a hobby that is something other than sitting on the couch all day on the computer, phone or TV watching. Your favorite TV show is not a personality trait. One of my favorite hobbies is baking. It gets my mind on the right track and I’m not spending hours scrolling through someone else's life. I’ve noticed that in Wisconsin we love fruit based desserts and pastries. It’s probably because at the end of fall we have a surplus of berries, tree fruits and rhubarb from the trees in our yard or garden or we foraged it ourselves in the woods. Apple or rhubarb crisp anyone? Make a crisp or whatever you want and give some to your neighbor or someone you know who may not have a lot of support or are going through a tough time. Instead of spending hours scrolling it can be such an easy way to bless someone else and you feel happy in turn.

12.) Do not over lotion your skin on cheap lotion! I really suggest oils or thick butters like pure shea butter in the winter months. Try not to constantly wash your hands in hot water as tempting as it is for hot water can dry your skin quicker. Bar soap (especially locally homemade) naturally has a higher fat content and can help keep your skin moist rather than liquid soap that has the tendency to strip moisture. Wilder Supply out of Alaska is a great company if you can’t find local.

13.) Buy YAKTRAX. These are seriously awesome for someone who enjoys being outdoors in the winter or if you have an outdoor job orrrrr if you’re just paranoid falling on ice ;) They are really affordable and offer a few different varieties depending on your activity and intent for them.

I could name so many more but for now that’s the top ones the came to mind to jot down!

[broken-clover]

Dust Strikers Story Mode 1/4

I haven’t seen too many resources available when it comes to Guilty Gear: Dust Strikers, a DS-only sidegame released in 2006. While I will agree that the gameplay and story did leave a bit to be desired, I still get a decent bit of fun out of it as the only GG game I own that I can play at college. I wound up going through all 20 story modes for the purpose of jotting down all the game dialogue, in case anybody needed it for reference for whatever reason and didn’t have a copy of the game. I’m gonna upload this in chunks for the sake of space.

Part 1 (Sol, Ky, May, Millia, Axl), Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

Dialogue for some scenes is repeated. I tried my best to keep this more or less lifted right from the game, though I did make a few edits just for grammar’s sake because this game isn’t very well edited. I did not try to change any conversations just for the sake of it.

Sol:...Whew... Jam: How rude. What's your problem? Faust: Is there something wrong? Sol: A doctor and a chef? This is a big joke. Quit following me wherever I go. Go back to your real jobs, man! Faust: This is what it takes to master the tricks of the trade. It's necessary to learn to see things from the patient's perspective. Jame: The art of cooking is also a quest. You're not gonna find anything new just by sitting around. Venom: Then I should get to know a wider variety of opponents. Let's roll! Sol: Move it. Just go to bed!

Bridget: Whoah, everybody looks tough Chipp: Hey! what's a kid doing here? Eddie: A child. Attractive in terms of her youthfulness but too immature to become my host Bridget: You're not taking me seriously? Then let me show you my moves Sol:...back off. Don't be wasting my time Eddie: Interesting. I shall keep a record of the battle results for future reference Bridget: Don't be surprised! Here I come! Sol: What am I, a babysitter? I can't deal with this...

Slayer: This is quite an unusual combination Sol: I'm starting to get tired of your face Testament: Different being. What do you want? Slayer: Nope. Nothing in particular. Just happened to pass by. Testament: Then please go away Dizzy: Oh, you're Mr. Slayer, aren't you? Please excuse Testament's words. He doesn't mean any harm. Slayer: I'm not bothered by it. Don't worry. But this is quite interesting. Sol: So what the hell is your point? Slayer: Those who have veered off the path. I guess the same must be said of me. Testament: What are you insinuating? You better have a good explanation Slayer: My apologies if I offended you. I'm just genuinely interested in your powers Sol: You using us to kill your boredom? I think it's time you hung em up.

Anji: Finally found you. Sol:...It's you again. Anji: Let me ask you straight out. Do you have any idea where 'he' is? Sol: So what if I know? Anji: Can you tell me where he is? Of course I'm willing to work for it. You and I have a bout, and if I win, you tell me. Sounds fair? Baiken: Wait! Let me in on the festivities Sol: Sorry, not interested. You guys enjoy each other's company Anji: Even Justice feared my powers...Still not interested? Sol:...! Baiken: Shut your trap! You're starting to get on my nerves. I'll kick all of your butts right now! Axl: Whoa!...Damn it...is this a bad time? Baiken: Eavesdropping, are we? I'm not impressed! Axl: I just wanted to ask chief something Sol: And even you. Why does everyone want to stick their noses in other people's business! Axl: No worries, chief! Just a quick bout, no hard feelings! Sol: I'm not responsible for what happens.

I-no: You're late. You shouldn't make ladies wait like that. Sol: shut up. What are you wandering around for? Johnny: Hey, what a coincidence. Didn't expect to run into you here....guess yu're busy with a woman Sol: You stay out of it I-no: Ooh, another cute guy Ky: All of you! Freeze right there! I-no: and now a cute boy, too. Ky: Sol..! And Johnny the pirate, and you're..! I-no: I'd stay out of it if I were you. Why don't you just go home to mommy? Sol: That's enough chit chatting. Let's let the fists do the talking! Ky: ...Sol! I-no: The violent guy as always. Sure, why not...I'll cut you all up into pieces! Ky: I guess there's no alternative. Holy Knight combat was initially meant for handling multiple enemies. I'll show you what it's all about!

Sol: Finally we meet... Gig: Grrr... Sol: I'm here to figure you out. Gig: Grrrgh! Sol:...Too late, I guess. Then die.

Gig: Grr...grr... Sol: Don't bother. It's over Gig: Grr.... Sol:...I'll make sure we get even for your sake. I guarantee you we'll find the dirt bag...

Ky

Jam: Ayah! Who's this cute guy? Ky: You must be...that chef, Ms. Jam Kuradoberi. Jam: That's right! You remembered me! I'm so happy! Ky: I'm glad to see you're doing well. May: Wahts...oops! Oh no! Ky: You must be May, the pirate May: Are you going after Johnny? You'll have to get by me first. Ky: Please, put your guard down. I'm not after pirates right now. Testament: So you're out bounty-hunting then. Probably after me then, aren't you? Jam: Ooh, you're quite the hottie too. Wanna work at my restaurant? Testament: Stop talking nonsense... May: It's two hot guys...but Johnny's way hotter than both of you!

Zappa: Hey! Miss! Millia:...Yes? Zappa: If it's possible, can you be my wi... Millia:... Zappa: Actually, never mind... Axl: Dude, let me show you how it's done. Hey, you in the beautiful blond hair! Let me buy you a cup of coffee so I can see which glows brighter, your hair or your eyes. Millia:...Um, I'm in a hurry. Ky: You're Millia, the former assassin. If you're not with the guild anymore, leave the rest to the police force. No need to put yourself in danger. Millia: I'll take care of him. It's none of your business. Ky: But no, we have to... Zappa: What's all this talk about? Even the police are here. Maybe I should get outta...NO!...Happiness. Hatred! Hatred! Millia: Why don't I ever have luck with men?

Faust: Traveling lady with the scent of blood. Where are you headed? Baiken: Get lost, you lame doc. It's none of your business. I can kill whoever I want. Chipp: Woman enduring countless bloodshed. So you're that Japanese beauty? Ky: There's nothing but anger inside you. As a protector of public safety, I can't let such hateful words pass Baiken: Kid, if you don't wanna get hurt, you should just keep your mouth shut Ky: I have confidence in my sword. Not exactly my favorite option, but in this case I have no choice Faust: What you need is some time off in total peaceful serenity. As a physician, it is my obligation to make sure that you are cured.

Anji: You must be Ky Kiske, former leader of the Sacred Order of Holy Knights Ky: Yes, that would be me. And who are you? Anji: Last name is Mito, first name is Anji. I'm just a journeyman Ky: So what can I help you with? Anji: I'd like to challenge you to a match. I wanted to see firsthand the skills of a top-class warrior like yourself. Ky: I can tell from your presence that you're not an ordinary foe. Asian martial arts? Interesting. I accept your challenge. Slayer: In that case, count me in too. Fighting for the sake of fighting. To me fighting is life's best form of entertainment. Don't you think? Potemkin: I myself haven’t had any worthy opponents recently. Sure, I'll take you on. Ky: This is getting interesting. It's been a while for me too. Bring it on!

I-no: You're late. You shouldn't make ladies wait like that. Sol: shut up. What are you wandering around for? Johnny: Hey, what a coincidence. Didn't expect to run into you here....guess you're busy with a woman. Sol: You stay out of it. I-no: Ooh, another cute guy. Ky: All of you! Freeze right there! I-no: and now a cute boy, too. Ky: Sol..! And Johnny the pirate, and you're..! I-no: I'd stay out of it if I were you. Why don't you just go home to mommy? Sol: That's enough chit chatting. Let's let the fists do the talking! Ky: ...Sol! I-no: The violent guy as always. Sure, why not...I'll cut you all up into pieces! Ky: I guess there's no alternative. Holy Knight combat was initially meant for handling multiple enemies. I'll show you what it's all about!

Ky: What overpowering energy! Gig: Grr... Ky: You telling me this used to be a man? Gig: Grrrgh! Ky: Damn! I have no other choice...

Gig: Grr...grr... Ky: Barely managed to hang on... Gig: Ghhh... Ky: It looks like his losing control of reason has maximized his powers to infinite levels... Gig: Grr.... Ky: ...Pease, rest in peace I-no: Good job for a young boy like you. Ky:! I-no: I can probably kill you easily now...but that wouldn't be fun. So I'll let you go. Ky: You tell the man who created Gears, that he will pay for his crimes! I-no: You don't stand a chance! Why don't you look at yourself in the mirror before you speak? But I'll let him know anyway. Seeya! Ky: ...hate to admit it, but I'm not strong enough yet...but I will eventually rise over the true Gear powers.

May

May: I've got the chills. Faust: Perhaps you have a cold. Here, let me take a look. May: Don't come near me! Faust: What's the problem? May: These vibes...I'm positive! You're...you're bald, aren't you! Venom: You must be Faust, the Dark Doctor. Or should I call you doctor- Faust: Stop it. I don't use that name anymore. Venom:...Excuse me for being disrespectful. Doctor, I'd like you to accompany me. Faust: I'm sorry, my job is to save lives. I don't know if I can be of much help to you and your comrades. May: Look at all that hair...I guess it's not as bad as being bald...doesn't it get in the way? Venom: Let's put your limitations into perspective, then. You'll realize there are only so many lives you can save! May: Who, me? Zappa: KILL! KILL! Let me kill! May: What's with all these weirdos? I'm fighting for real, then!

Chipp: Please, I'm begging you! Baiken: Geez, what is your problem? Chipp: Make me Japanese! Even samurai give mercy, don't they? Baiken: No samurai here. Not a chance, buddy. Be a big boy and get over it, willya? Anji: Hey, what are you doing here? Chipp: You'll do! Please, tell me how to become Japanese! Anji: There's no way in hell, man. Be content being the 'president' Chipp: NO! I wanna become the president, become a Japanese, surpass master's ninjutsu abilities and take revenge! May: You guys arguing over something? Chipp: Damn...what are you doing here? Anji: Yup. A 'Japanese' May: Japa...what? Why're you crying sir? Something wrong? Did I do something wrong? Chipp: I will reach the top! You watch me, master! May: Wow, you scared me! You know I'm tough when I'm mad!

Jam: Ayah! Who's this cute guy? Ky: You must be...that chef, Ms. Jam Kuradoberi. Jam: That's right! You remembered me! I'm so happy! Ky: I'm glad to see you're doing well. May: Whats...oops! Oh no! Ky: You must be May, the pirate May: Are you going after Johnny? You'll have to get by me first. Ky: Please, put your guard down. I'm not after pirates right now. Testament: So you're out bounty-hunting then. Probably after me then, aren't you? Jam: Ooh, you're quite the hottie too. Wanna work at my restaurant? Testament: Stop talking nonsense... May: It's two hot guys...but Johnny's way hotter than both of you!

May: Wow! Look how big you are! Potemkin: And so are you. May: Hey! That's not very nice! Potemkin: No, I just thought you grew a little compared to the last time I saw you May: Well thanks fr the compliment. Think I'm good enough for Johnny now? Eddie: Having a host in her growth spurt...might not be a bad idea. Johnny: Out of the way, May! Potemkin: Humph! May:...Thanks Johnny: Thanks. I owe you one. Eddie: How dare you... May: Now it's my turn! I'll prove it to you that a girl in love is unbeatable!

Millia: Long time no see...Honey, you look very different. Dizzy: It's all thanks to May, and all of my great friends. May: Hee hee. Stop, you're embarrassing me Dizzy...everyone loves you only because you're a good person, that's all. Bridget: Yes, I think so too. To think that there used to be a bounty on her is weird when you think about it now. Millia: Treasure that happiness you have. And don't turn out like me. May: Why don't you join Jellyfish too? I'm sure Johnny will welcome you. Not to mention you're beautiful. I'm a bit jealous...don'f forget though, Johnny is mine! Millia:...thanks. But I think I'll take a pass. I have some unfinished business. Plus...actually, never mind. I think I better go now. Okay, let me through.

May: Phew. Finally here. Gig: Grr.... May: Wow!...No worries. I'm not freaked out. Johnny always tells me I should lend a helping hand to those in need. Come with me, my friend. Gig: Grrrgh! May: What! Whoa!

Gig: Grr...grr... May:...Why? I didn't want to do this to you. Gig: Grr... May: I'm so sorry...

Dizzy: May! May: Dizzy...I couldn't do it...Couldn't help him like Johnny would. I just wish we could've been friends. Dizzy:...I think you did the right thing... May: Whatdya mean? Dizzy: Look at that peaceful face. Thanks to you, he's finally free from long suffering. May:... Dizzy: Let's go back. Everyone's waiting. May:...uh, all right (...rest in peace, my friend...and good night)

Millia

Zappa: Hey! Miss! Millia:...Yes? Zappa: If it's possible, can you be my wi... Millia:... Zappa: Actually, never mind... Axl: Dude, let me show you how it's done. Hey, you in the beautiful blond hair! Let me buy you a cup of coffee so I can see which glows brighter, your hair or your eyes. Millia:...Um, I'm in a hurry. Ky: You're Millia, the former assassin. If you're not with the guild anymore, leave the rest to the police force. No need to put yourself in danger. Millia: I'll take care of him. It's none of your business. Ky: But no, we have to... Zappa: What's all this talk about? Even the police are here. Maybe I should get outta...NO!...Happiness. Hatred! Hatred! Millia: Why don't I ever have luck with men?

I-no: What do we have here, the desperate bachelorettes council? Baiken: What kind of greeting is that? That's not a very nice thing to say Jam: That's right! You're rude! And what about you? I-no: Oh dear, don't be so uptight. It's just a joke, honey. Or were you offended 'cause I was right on the mark? Millia: You're a joke. Why don't you get outta here. I-no: Oh no. I'm scared. I guess this is how women become as they get older. Baiken: You crazy! I'll cut you up into pieces! Jam: I'm not showing you any mercy either! Millia: If you're not gonna get outta here, we'll have to get rid of you. It's as simple as that. I-no: You're such sweethearts. Very well, I make you cry lots. We'll find out how loud you can cry.

Millia: Long time no see...Honey, you look very different. Dizzy: It's all thanks to May, and all of my great friends. May: Hee hee. Stop, you're embarrassing me Dizzy...everyone loves you only because you're a good person, that's all. Bridget: Yes, I think so too. To think that there used to be a bounty on her is weird when you think about it now. Millia: Treasure that happiness you have. And don't turn out like me. May: Why don't you join Jellyfish too? I'm sure Johnny will welcome you. Not to mention you're beautiful. I'm a bit jealous...don'f forget though, Johnny is mine! Millia:...thanks. But I think I'll take a pass. I have some unfinished business. Plus...actually, never mind. I think I better go now. Okay, let me through.

Testament:...Long time no see. Millia: That's a first. You coming up to me to say hi. Things have changed, haven't they? Testament: You're still caught up in the past and changing the thorny path. Millia:...it's none of your business. Move out of the way, will you? Testament: I don't have a problem, but... Millia:... Testament: You seem hesitant. With such mixed feelings, it may cost you your life. Millia:!!! I must have lost my edge, to be getting advice from you. Potemkin: What he's saying is on the money. Those with swaying motivation never fight to their full potential. Please excuse my eavesdropping. Anji: Just happened to pass by. Millia: Then I guess I'll have to eliminate all doubts before I get to him. I'll need your cooperation for that.

Millia: So...we meet again...Zato. Eddie: So you still haven't gotten over him? Millia: Shut up, you damn beast...I'm talking to him, not you! Eddie: What do you want to talk to ME about? Millia: I'm taking you down. I'm sick and tired of looking at your pathetic, bony remains. Venom: Not so fast...! Master Zato is regarded as the crown-jewel of the guild. You'll have to hand him over to me...! Slayer: I've told you the Guild is no more. No raison d'etre and no purpose. Continued existence will only bring further regret and despair. Venom: Oldtimers can keep their mouth shut. The guild no longer belongs to you. Millia: It has nothing to do with me anymore, I don't care what happens to it. I just want to take care of this guy with my very own hands. Eddie: Do you think it will be that easy? What do "I" think?"...Not so easy, "I" say. Venom: I sense you...Master Zato. I am going to free you, Master, from the evil spell of death! Eddie: Ha ha...this is great! Lowly humans who cannot accept death. That's the right evil spirit to have! Slayer: I'm the one who started all of this. I must atone for my past deeds. Fine, let us put an end to it all.

Millia: You look very much like him. Gig: Grr... Millia:You resemble him...and you resemble me. Gig: Grrrgh! Millia:...All right. I'll let you rest.

Gig: Grr...grr... Millia:...good night. It's all over now. For you, and for me. Gig: Grr... Millia:...may your soul rest in peace

Millia: (Have I been watching my own future? Is this what you wanted to tell me? Zato...)

Axl

Axl: Hey, what's that you're holding? I didn't know you had those toys, even in this day and age. Bridget: This is not a toy! It's a tool of my trade! Axl: Ouch! I'm sorry! What have we here? Playing pool at a place like this? Venom: How dare you insult my combat style. I say you deserve a beating. Axl: Hang on a sec! Something wrong with this era. Every toy's being used as a weapon. So what do people actually play with? Johnny: The best for of entertainment, I'd say is the thrill and romance of playing with fireworks at night. I'm pretty sure that's the consensus. Axl: You know what you're talking about! I'm actually great with fire myself...here we go!

Chipp: Hey! I have a question. Axl: Hi there, you look very hot. I-no: You talking about me? Axl: Of course! Who else would it be? Great body, silky smooth hair, you're electrifying! I-no: You're very good with words. Let me ask you then. Who's hotter? That woman or me? Chipp: Hey, listen up! Millia:...don't bother me. Chipp: !...you used to be in the guild! Millia: Yes, but that was a long while ago. Now I'm in the same boat as you. Axl: Ah man, this is a tough one. They're both really hot. Chipp: I'm taking down the guild! You women stay out of it! Millia: That I cannot do. Just like you, I can't pull out. Axl: This is a tough decision... Millia: And...quit staring at me with that perverted look on your face! Axl: Oops, I think I got her mad at me.

Potemkin: You youngster there. I see you have some talent. How about testing some of that talent on my fists? Axl: Man, you've got a nice build. But what do you have to gain? Plus, are you sure you can handle me? Potemkin: I wouldn't underestimate me. My drive for freedom locked inside my heart is my greatest weapon. Axl: Cool. I love peace and freedom too. But you might get out of breath when you're so stiff all the time. Ky: So you're fighting in the name of peace and freedom. Perhaps I might come up with answers for myself too. Excuse me, I'd like in as well. Jam: Just drive won't take you anywhere. There's no victory for those who can't face reality. I'll prove it to you right now!

Faust: This is an interesting symptom. I see, it's a cause and effect cycle. Axl: You, I never asked you to check up on me! Even though it's true that I've been through a lot, I've never had any doubts about my body. Faust: Oh, is that right? If there aren't any cures, that may very well be the best treatment. Axl: I'm more concerned about your body. Looks a little mysterious. Faust: Not to worry. It's all functional Slayer: Irregulars with an added spice that changes the world of men. Axl: You talking about us? Slayer: It's because of people like you that makes humans interesting. Even though you're blessed with great powers, it's normal to you. Very typical of how humans behave. Axl: It'll stress you out if you think so deeply. Zappa: Hahahahaha! Slayer: Look. Yet another fellow favored by the goddess of fortune. Axl: I do like women but I'm not sure about the goddess. Slayer: It must be the uncertainty factor that led you into running into me Axl: C'mon, let's just have fun...I thought this was supposed to be a party!

Anji: Finally found you. Sol:...It's you again. Anji: Let me ask you straight out. Do you have any idea where 'he' is? Sol: So what if I know? Anji: Can you tell me where he is? Of course I'm willing to work for it. You and I have a bout, and if I win, you tell me. Sounds fair? Baiken: Wait! Let me in on the festivities Sol: Sorry, not interested. You guys enjoy each other's company Anji: Even Justice feared my powers...Still not interested? Sol:...! Baiken: Shut your trap! You're starting to get on my nerves. I'll kick all of your butts right now! Axl: Whoa!...Damn it...is this a bad time? Baiken: Eavesdropping, are we? I'm not impressed! Axl: I just wanted to ask chief something Sol: And even you. Why does everyone want to stick their noses in other people's business! Axl: No worries, chief! Just a quick bout, no hard feelings! Sol: I'm not responsible for what happens.

Axl: Huh? You can still speak? Gig: Grr... Axl: Man, what am I gonna do? Gig: Grrgh! Axl: Sorry dude, it's not my time yet.

Gig: Grr....grr... Axl: Phew! Hey, man. Haven't you had enough? Gig: Grr... Axl: I think that should be enough....what? This sensation!!! That Man: It is not yet the time for you to find out the truth. When the time comes you will find out. Whether you like it or not! Axl: Who are you? That Man: We shall part for a short time. Time traveler. Axl:...Ahhhgh!

Axl: What period is this? Looks like a messy period in time. Oh well, things will work out. Since getting rattled isn't my style!

[croissantbae]

Letter to Naya re Her Entry Into This World

You were born on June 24, 2019; four days past your due date but right on time from my perspective. You came on a Monday and gave me and your dad one last weekend to relish (though I think the most exciting thing we did was watch a movie). I don’t know if I should tell you this but before you were born, I wanted you to stay inside for as long as possible. You gave me no discomfort from the womb. In fact, my belly was small enough that even nurses said I looked 6 months pregnant instead of the 9 that I really was. You gave me no heartburn, no constipation, no major aches and no stretch marks. My fingers got swollen and a nice thick double chin grew in but I don't know if I can really blame those things on you - I gained 40 pounds through my own hard work. Other than the nightly hiccups and kicks in my gut, we (your dad and I) were all comfortable with your then-present living arrangement.

On June 23, I started feeling cramps but they went away after a few hours. I never even woke your dad up. I just endured the painful ones from bed and then got up to eat a mango. That seemed to appease you because the contractions died down after that and I went back to sleep at around 3 am. The day passed by without any issues but at 11 pm the contractions came back. They got stronger and stronger so I woke your dad up around midnight. I’d scared him a few times before as a joke so I don’t know if he realized it was actually go time but I showed him the contractions calculator and then he freaked out. He started packing things up getting ready to go but I knew this process could take a while so I got my work affairs in order and put my out of office message up. Your dad was not pleased with me. You’ll learn this soon enough about your dad but when he’s in a mood there is no reasoning with him. He gets into a zone and you just have to let him ride it out. So I put my things away and got ready to go to the hospital as well. I told him we were leaving too early but away we went, at his insistence.

We got to the hospital at 2 am and when the doctor checked my cervix, I was 3 centimeters dilated and 80% effaced. This will mean nothing to you until you have a child of your own but the hospital’s policy is to admit women only once they are 4.5 centimeters. I was given 3 options: (1) walk around the hospital floor for a few hours and check if I’ve progressed afterwards, (2) go home and come back if my contractions get closer together or (3) get pain medication and go home. I opted for number one so your dad and I walked around the fourth floor of the Kaiser hospital on Sunset from around 2 am to 4 am. I’m not entirely sure how to describe contractions. I want to say it’s like a stabbing pain but that’s not quite right because it’s all over your stomach. I wish I could describe it better but it appears I’ve already forgotten the precise sensation. It overtakes you at first but somehow I was able to endure it and after a while they felt tolerable. To speed up the process we did squats and talked about how strange this whole thing was; that your dad and I were about to enter into parenthood. I’m thankful we were there at such an odd time, without people everywhere, because I was farting all over the place and just could not hold it in. They were both noisy and smelly. Right before going back in to see how far dilated I was, I also pooped. Sitting on the toilet and pushing poop out while also feeling contractions was quite a journey. It felt impossible for a second but I conquered it. I was both glad that I was getting cleaned out and embarrassed that the doctor would be checking me immediately after a dump. Such is the business of giving birth: it’s messy. Trying to thoroughly clean myself, again, while feeling contractions, was another challenge. There’s a theme here.

Afterwards we went back in and I was exactly 4.5 cm dilated (though a part of me suspects that the doctor just had sympathy on us and admitted us out of pity). Once we were officially admitted, they asked me if I wanted to get the epidural then but I said I’d wait and walk around a bit more to keep the process going. We started walking again and I immediately regretted my decision. Once offered pain relief, each contraction felt unnecessary so the roaring, rolling pain became intolerable. Instead of walking for an hour like I had hoped, we walked for 30 minutes and called it quits. It was around 5:20 am and your dad and I were both exhausted. We went back and requested the epidural and ice water. The doctor who administered the epidural was an Indian woman with a British accent and she came in like a true veteran. She was there for business - no pleasantries were exchanged and it was perfect. She moved swiftly and was out within 5 minutes flat. She was there for such a short period of time but she left a big impression on me. I wish i caught her name so that I could request her again for the next time (assuming you’re going to have a sibling). The epidural felt like a drink of cold water for my entire body. Once the epidural numbed the contractions, your dad and I slept for the majority of the day. Your grandma came and went, leaving us to sleep and to run a few errands for herself, particularly since I stopped progressing and I had to be administered pitocin to encourage the contractions to keep going. I don’t know if it was because of all the medication but even though I hadn’t eaten in almost twenty four hours I had no appetite. I was cruising, letting my body absorb the cold epidural that was administered hourly. Throughout the day a sweet and soothing white nurse was assisting us, bringing us ice water and just being a calm angelic presence in the midst of everything. She left us alone for the majority of the day to just catch up on rest.

Finally, and suddenly, at 4:30 pm, the doctor confirmed that I was 10 centimeters dilated and the time to push had come. He noted that pushing would commence at 5 pm. While we waited to push, a Korean nurse with a thick accent and blunt demeanor took over. She received several personal calls and would leave the room to talk to the caller in Korean. There was one occasion where her and another nurse snapped at each other. Needless to say it seemed that it wasn’t just us that weren’t fans of her. I wasn’t sure what caused the switch but it looked like we were stuck with her and her alone. Unlike my assumptions about the process, instead of having a whole team of medical professionals in the room with us, only the Korean nurse was in the room with us, guiding us through the miraculous process of bringing life into this world; and her instructions to me were to “push.” Your grandma was on the right side of my body and your dad was on the left side trying to guide me in breathing exercises. Your grandma lifted up my right leg and your dad was trying to stay near my head so he wouldn't see my nether regions. That was the plan all along. As I began to push however, the nurse informed me that I wasn’t pushing correctly and that I needed to push better. Very helpful instructions. I knew what she meant though; all the pressure from my pushing was unfocused and diffused itself throughout my body. I was pushing with all of my might but it was useless if I couldn’t aim it appropriately. It was sort of like studying for a test but reading the wrong chapter. Grandma was already holding onto one of my legs but I asked her to put her palm against my foot so that I had something to push against. It helped immensely.

I asked Jason to do the same with my left leg. I could sense his hesitation but he did it; he really had no other option. Inevitably, he saw the gory mess I presumed my vagina had become. And, he cried. The nurse saw him and bluntly asked “why are you crying?!” He fumbled between tears, saying he hated to see me struggling and going through so much pain. Incredulous, the nurse then asked me “are you in pain?” I really wanted to tell her to shut up but instead I explained that while I couldn’t feel the contractions, I could feel pressure down there and I could feel waves of something. Once your dad and grandma applied pressure to the palms of my feet I was finally able to get into the hang of pushing and the nurse (whose name was Boedul) seemed pleased with my results. She told me I was doing a good job pushing. She asked if I wanted to see what was going on with a mirror. My mind was telling me no but my mouth said yes so she brought out a small mirror and I saw that which was formerly known as my vagina. As I pushed, hairy blackness appeared. Genuinely confused, I asked if that was you or me. It was you. I expected you to be bald so it was a complete shock to see so much thick black hair. At first I thought my pubes has gotten seriously out of control.

When I stopped pushing, the blackness disappeared. Even when I could see it, it was only a sliver of your head. Discouraged, I said in exasperation, “this is impossible!” But Boedul assured me again I was pushing well and she predicted that we would be pushing for another 20 minutes or so, 30 maximum. I couldn’t fathom how a whole head (I wasn’t even going to think about the body) could fit out of there that quickly. It genuinely seemed like an impossible task. Around this time, Boedul raised stirrups so that I could use it to push. I stared at her, incredulous that she was holding out on me. She must have sensed my anger because, unprompted, she explained that she didn’t raise them earlier because then it would be too tiring, which made no sense to me. After the whole process your dad and I had a moral dilemma as to whether we should call her out in the survey they send asking about our experience and anyone we interacted with in particular but in the end we decided to be cool and not say anything. Back to pushing, shortly after using the forceps, and making a lot of progress, a team of doctors and nurses came rushing in. Perhaps for the best they moved the mirror away so that the doctor could place herself in front of my vagina and guide the baby out. They said we’d be doing a few pushes together and I’d have to hold the push when they told me. We did maybe three of these guided pushes and all of a sudden your head was out. I couldn’t believe it; my job was done and I relaxed, ready to pack it up. But the doctor said I had to keep pushing to get your body out. I made one feeble push and the rest of you seemed to slip right out.

I don’t know if it was because of the medication or the adrenaline that was pumping in me but I didn’t cry or feel much of anything. I saw them take you to a station nearby to clean you up. I just observed everything, without fully feeling anything. I was neither happy nor sad. I just watched everything going on around me. I was surprised by how big you were. Given my belly size i thought you’d be small but at 21 inches you seemed like a full grown baby (not a newborn). They placed you on my chest and even then all I could do was observe the strange creature you were then wriggling on my chest. I won’t go into the details of what happened next (long story short, Eileen and your paternal grandmother and Jordan came to visit and your dad yelled at them for coming in during the golden hour - he was definitely hyped and still trying to process everything himself so he was a little jumpy and made Eileen cry; also your maternal grandma and Jason were hovering over you after they took you off my chest to get examined, but a particularly high level of hovering came from your maternal grandma I will say).

It wasn’t until about 24 hours later that I felt an overwhelming rush of emotions. Everyone was gone and your dad was sleeping on the pull out couch in the hospital room. You were laying in the plastic bin that hospitals use as a bassinet, next to my bed. Even though the room was dark, I stared at you, thinking about how perfect and wonderful you were and how thankful I was to God and the universe for allowing me to birth a healthy baby. I teared up as the feelings of love and gratitude filled me.

You’re almost a month old now and I love you so much more now than I did then. I even love it when you cry intensely and inconsolably; everything you do is so precious. Sometimes I just want to stare at you crying (but don’t worry I don’t do it… for too long). You make a duck face and stretch out when you wake up and after you eat. You grunt and cry for nipple, sometimes even when it’s already in your mouth. You’re getting more alert but also startled more. I know there will be (many) days where you’ll aggravate me (like last night when you wouldn’t sleep in your bassinet no matter how many times you fell asleep on my nipple) and I just won’t like you but for now I love you and everything you do, everything you don’t do and every sound that comes out of you.

[sebeth]

Fantastic Four #7 - 9

Warning, Spoilers Ahead…

 A Brief Summary:  The Master of Planet X, The Puppet Master, and FF: The Movie!

Debuts:

·         Kurrgo, Master of Planet X

·         The Puppet Master

·         Alicia Masters

Favorite Cover: #7’s “Wanted Dead or Alive” poster

Important Points:

·         Kurgo, a short, bald alien with a wrinkled, over-sized head spies on the Fantastic Four: “In every way we of Planet X are the Earthlings’ superiors! We are a far older race, a far wiser one! Our science is a thousand years more advanced than theirs! So, what a pity it is that they will survive, while we will perish when that runaway asteroid collides with our luckless planet!”

·         If Kurgo, the Master of Planet X, is aware of the incoming asteroid, shouldn’t he have had better things to do for the “last three weeks” than spy on the Fantastic Four? Maybe use their society’s advanced science to destroy the asteroid or set up an evacuation of the planet?

·         My evacuation idea is shot down: “Oh, Kurrgo, my Lord! If only we had enough space ships to enable us to flee our planet before the holocaust!”

·         “Fool! You know we have only two space ships on Planet X! But one of those ships is even now blazing towards Earth…towards the only four creatures in all the universe who might find a way to save us!”

·         How exactly does Kurgo think the Four will save him? We have a non-force field projecting Sue and a Johnny who doesn’t have the control and stamina of his adult self. Is Ben expected to smash the asteroid to bits? I know Reed will end up being the solution but Kurgo admits to spying on the team for the past month – mentally recap the last six issues – would you trust Reed with the fate of your planet?

·         We switch to the Baxter Building. Reed wants the team to attend a dinner in their honor in Washington.  He’s met with a severe lack of enthusiasm.

·         Johnny: “Aw, who needs it, Reed? I’m not even hungry! Heck, we’re no speech-makers! Imagine what would happen if I have try to say something clever! I’d probably get all tense and nervous, and the next thing we know, it would be just my luck to burst into flame!”

·         A shy Johnny? Much different from his later appearances where he loves the spotlight!

·         Reed brushes aside Johnny’s concerns: “That’s foolish and you know it, Torch!”

·         I don’t know, Reed, you should take it seriously if a man who burst into flames expresses concerns over his control of his abilities.

·         Ben: “Bah! It’s just a waste of time! I ain’t going! Can ya imagine how I’d look in front of all those Congressmen at a big state dinner? They’d think I was nutty if I kept all bundled up, but I’d scare ‘em to death if I took my hat and coat off! And then, what if those wise-guy photographers try to take pictures of me? You know my temper! In a couple of seconds, I’d start tearin’ the joint apart! And I’m just the guy to do it, too! No, siree! I don’t want any part of that fancy pants dinner!” Ah, early Marvel, when Ben was the angriest hero in the universe – pre-revived Namor, the Hulk, and Wolverine, of course.

·         Sue: “Such short notice! I haven’t got a thing to wear! Oh, Reed, I’m afraid to go. I’m not used to meeting all those important people! I’m liable to get so flustered that before I know it, I might vanish in front of their eyes! If that ever happened, I’d simply die of embarrassment!”

·         Did Sue attend college? Or did she not have the option as she was raising Johnny at the time?

·         Reed brushes aside his teammates’ concerns: “All right, I’ve heard all your silly little excuses, and now I’m sure you feel better, now that you’ve said them! So, let’s start getting ready now, and let’s this all this nonsense! You know we can’t refuse a request from Congress!”

·         Uh, it’s a dinner, Reed, not a congressional investigation, you are allowed to say “no, thank you!”

·         Reed is such an ass in this scene. He brushed off Johnny’s legitimate concerns about his control of his powers, Ben’s PTSD and desire not to be gawked at, and Sue’s social insecurity.  Is he that desperate to have his ego stroked by politicians?

·         The Johnny-Ben prank war begins.  Ben adjusts the water temperature while Johnny showers.  Ben oddly chooses to increase the temperature.  I would’ve thought Ben would have decreased the temperature – Johnny’s a “Human Torch” – heat’s not an effective weapon against him.

·         Ben again vocalizes his displeasure about the dinner: “I just wanted to start a little ruckus so I wouldn’t have to go to that blamed dinner!”

·         Reed: “Thing, stop feeling sorry for yourself! How do you think I feel! I’m in the middle of a new rocket fuel experiment which is almost reaching fruition, and I’ve got to interrupt it also!” World’s smallest violin, Reed, world’s smallest violin.

·         Reed: “C’mon, Thing, cheer up! You might even enjoy the dinner!”

·         Ben: “Sure – sure! I just love to have people gaping at me and laughing behind my back!” Who doesn’t? Someone needs to sign Reed up for sensitivity training.

·         Reed: “I suppose these nerve-wracking ceremonies are the price we must pay for fame!” No, Ben’s transformation and disfigurement is the price that was paid for fame!

·         Kurgo’s robot arrives in Washington and activates a “hostility ray”. The congressman turns on the Four in mid-speech: “It’s time the public awoke to the fact that the Four of you are the worst menaces ever to threaten this land!”

·         “Down with the Fantastic Four! Drive them out of this country!” “Call the police! The militia! Get the Fantastic Four!”

·         Johnny clears the way. The militia realize “We can’t tackle him without asbestos suits!” Do not get the asbestos suits!

·         The Four escape and return to the Baxter Building.  The robot arrives: “Heed my words, puny Earthlings! I have travelled many light years to find you – and to bring you a message from Kurgo, master of Planet X!”

·         The robot announces that the whole planet has turned against the Four but, hey, my home planet will offer you asylum.  Reed’s response boils down to “Makes sense, let’s do it.”

·         Sue, Ben, and Johnny need to revolt and elect a new leader for the group – Reed’s plans suck.

·         The Four travel to Planet X. Kurgo combines the “Welcome” and the “We’re all going to die” speeches.

·         Ben: “I knew we shouldn’t come! But nobody’d listen to me!” Let’s make it official – Ben should be the leader of the Four.

·         Johnny and Ben battle the robot – Johnny goes super-nova for the first time.

·         Reed’s solution is to shrink the entire population, have them board the ship, travel to another planet. They will return to their original size upon leaving the ship. Should Henry Pym sue for gimmick infringement?

·         Sue questions Reed over the effectiveness of the “enlarging gas” capsule that will return Kurrgo’s people to their original size upon reaching their new destination. Reed’s response: “There was no reducing gas, Sue! It was just an empty projectile! I only told them about it so they could consent to my plan! But once they reach their new world, it won’t matter! They’ll all be the same size, and in this vast universe of ours, one’s size is only relative, anyway!”

·         This is the second time within seven issues where Reed has shown no respect or consideration for an alien species’ right to their own physical appearance and refused to consider the long-term consequences of his actions. Kurrgo’s people are going to land who knows where – it may not be safe or feasible to be the size of a bug in their new home.

·         Ben attempts to enter Reed’s lab but is stopped by Sue and Johnny. “Please, Ben, trust me! Don’t enter Reed’s lab!”

·         “Bah!  How come you only call me ‘Ben” when you want something?  All the rest of the time I’m just the Thing to all of you!” Ben’s not wrong on that – In previous issues the rest of the Four only refer to him as “Thing”.

·         Ben moves Sue out of the way “because I got a feelin’ things are gonna get rough around here! Okay now!  I’m gonna teach you and that walkin’ rubber-band not to try to keep secrets from me!”

·         Johnny pleads with Ben: “Thing, wait! You don’t understand!”

·         “I understand plenty! I’m thru bein’ a patsy for you two grand-standers! You’re real buddy-buddy with me when you need my muscle – but whenever something important comes along, I ain’t good enough to be told about it!” Ben makes another good point. Ben was an astronaut, an occupation that requires an advanced education – they shouldn’t talk down to him.

·         Reed refuses to explain why Ben isn’t allowed in the building causing Ben to storm out.

·         An invisible Sue pleads with Ben to re-enter the building, the group needs him.  Ben refuses: “Sure!  That’s why you treat me like Dracula’s brother!  Sorry, lady!  I ain’t buying!”

·         Several men approach Ben to harass him for talking to himself: “How about introducin’ us to the lady you were talkin’ to?” “Yeah! What was she? A gremlin, or one of the good fairies? Haw Haw!”

·         Sue promptly kicks one of the men in the behind: “I’ll bet you’ve never been kicked by a gremlin before, wise guy!” I love feisty Sue!

·         The Four’s argument is interrupted by a man attempting suicide by jumping off a bridge.

·         We see a bald man inside a home with a replica of the bridge and the climbing man: “Go my helpless puppet! Jump as your real-life prototype will also jump at the same instant.  You, a nameless nobody, will be my first test of power!”

·         The bald man pushes the figure off the bridge only to suffer burns to his finger.

·         Johnny has arrived at the bridge and prevented the man from falling his death.

·         The bald man exclaims: “Only one living creature could have done this! It means the Human Torch will be the Puppet Master’s next victim!”

·         A young woman enters the room: “Father!  I heard you cry out!  What is wrong?”

·         “Nothing, Alicia!  It is of no concern of yours!  I have work to do!  Return to your room!  And I have told you never to call me ‘father’!  I am only your step-father!  Do you understand?”

·         What an ass! The Puppet Master is rather psychotic in his first appearance – willing to casually murder a nameless stranger and needlessly cruel to Alicia.

·         The Puppet Master’s “power” is terrifying – even more so than the Purple Man.  Killgrave has to be within a certain radius of his victim to gain control of the individual’s mind.  The Puppet Master simply sculpts a figure and – bam – instant control!

·         The Puppet Master reveals the source of his power – radioactive clay!

·         The Puppet Master carves a figure of Ben and places it in a replica of the house causing Ben to head towards him.  An invisible Sue follows him.  A blind Alicia realizes Sue is in the house when she hears her breathing – and her heartbeat?  Really? Is Alicia secretly Daredevil?

·         The Puppet Master captures Sue.  It’s the eighth issue and Sue has been a hostage in four of them.

·         The Puppet Master notes that Sue “looks remarkably like you Alicia”.  I don’t see it.  If anything, Alicia bears a resemblance to the not-yet-created Crystal.

·         The Puppet Master dresses Alicia up in a Fantastic Four uniform and wig.  He orders her to accompany Ben to “play a harmless little prank for me!”

·         Alicia touches Ben’s face and notes “This man – his face feels strong and powerful! And yet, I can sense a gentleness to him – there is something tragic – something sensitive!” Nice summary of Ben’s character. But not one comment on the not normal texture of Ben’s face.

·         The Puppet Master orders the duo to return to the Baxter Building. Alicia states “This is all so strange!  I do not understand!  But I must do as I am told!” Alicia was clearly not one of the liberated women of the 1960s.

·         Ben attacks Johnny and Reed upon entering the Baxter Building. Reed tricks Ben into destroying a container that holds an experimental liquid.  The liquid transforms Ben back into his human form. Reed reveals that the liquid is the reason he didn’t want Ben in the lab: “I didn’t want you to know about it, in case it failed!  You’ve had so many disappointments I didn’t want you to suffer another one until I was sure!”

·         Reed’s heart was in the right place but it’s incredibly arrogant and condescending to not inform a patient about their course of treatment.  He’s essentially treating Ben like a lab rat.  Ben would have to brace for disappointment either way as potential success wouldn’t be known until Ben tried the formula.

·         A blind, and very confused, Alicia pleads: “Where am I?  Who are you?”

·         Reed, mega-genius, notes: “That girl!  She isn’t Sue!” Seriously, Reed, it took you this long to notice?  I can think of one more butt-kicking Sue needs to deliver!

·         Ben assures Alicia: “Don’t worry, kid!  You’re safe and sound!  We’re all your friends!”

·         “You’re voice! You are the strong, kindly one! But – you seem different now!”

·         Ben transforms back into the Thing.

·         Alicia continues: “No, wait! I was mistaken! It is you – it is the same wonderful man!”

·         Ben laments to himself: “She likes he better as the Thing!” I wouldn’t say Alicia prefers Ben as the Thing – I’d say it was more that Alicia – a blind woman in an unfamiliar situation – found comfort in a familiar presence.

·         The Puppet Master causes a riot/breakout at a state prison. The men head to the prison to contain the situation.

·         Johnny rescues the warden while Ben insists “I’m gonna grab me a little bit of the action, pal! Like wow!”  When did Ben become a valley girl?

·         “Sufferin’ snakes!” The inmates are terrified of Ben’s rampage especially when he plays “fastball special” with said inmates.

·         The Puppet Master reuinites with Alicia. He informs Alicia of his upcoming plans as the “Ruler of all the world!” Alicia and the Puppet Master struggle for control of the “Ruler of the world” figure.  Alicia trips which causes the Puppet Master to fall out a window and plummet to his presumed death.

·         Nice introduction of the Puppet Master – a surprisingly scary villain who thankfully isn’t as depraved as the Purple Man.  If the Puppet Master hadn’t allowed his ego to take over, he could have become a true “puppet master” – pulling the strings of a huge criminal empire.

·         #9 is the first “clunker” of an issue. The Four go bankrupt and have their fortunes restored by Namor: Movie Producer!

·         Namor, chilling undersea, watches a television newscaster announce: “The world-famous Fantastic Four are bankrupt!  They have announced plans to dissolve their partnership and sell all their possessions in order to pay their debts!”

·         I now understand why Sue eventually takes control of the groups’ finances – Reed didn’t even last a year before he went bankrupt!

·         Writers often use the “FF go bankrupt” storyline – it’s rather silly since Reed can invent something that will cure their money woes in five seconds.  Who wouldn’t want a Reed-designed smart phone? However, at this point in the group’s history, potential investors would be worried – it was less than a year ago that Reed’s mistake caused his friends’ extreme transformations.  

·         The Four are dealing with bill collectors back in New York City. Johnny, Ben, and Sue offer their abilities as a way to raise money.

·         Reed refuses: “I appreciate your support, but it’s not that simple!  I’m not going to let you rent yourselves out to a freak show – and the only other way to cash in on our supernatural powers is thru crime – which would be unthinkable!” Or the alleged mega-genius could invent something and turn a profit?

·         Ben stumbles across the dissection of the Pogo plane: “Leggo of my plane, you crumbs!  I oughtta pulverize ya for that!” Yeah, you don’t touch a pilot’s plane!

·         Reed assures Ben that they’re “getting a good price” for the plane. Ben counters “No price is good enough for all the work we put into designin’ that ship!” Poor Ben is very upset over the loss of the plane!

·         Ben rips on Reed: “Some rotten manager you were, rubber-man! You made a fortune by selling patents on all your inventions – enough dough to keep us going for years – but you hadda be a big shot and invest it all in stocks! You lunkhead!” Reed’s genius clearly doesn’t extend to financial management.

·         Ben decides – once again – to quit the group. A cab refuses to stop for Ben so he impales the vehicle on a street pole.  I’m not sure how this didn’t result in Ben being sent to jail.

·         Reed receives an offer from S.M. Studios: One million dollars cash if the team star in a movie.

·         Ben reunites with the team and they head to Hollywood. The team is broke so they have to hitch-hike across the country. In full costume.  

·         The group arrives at S.M. Studios only to discover the producer is the Sub-Mariner!

·         How did Namor keep his purchase of a movie studio a secret? It wasn’t that long ago Namor was terrorizing New York City and threatening the surface world with dire vengeance. The authorities should have been swarming the place as soon as Namor assumed ownership.

·         Sue’s still has a serious case of Namor-lust: “He’s so masterful – so confident!”

·         The men film the movie while Namor romances Sue.

·         Namor fills his movie with legitimate threats to attack the men – Cyclops, poison spears immune to flames, etc. Namor battles the Thing. Ben loses when he transforms back into human form mid-fight.

·         Namor returns to Sue, announces he’s triumphed over the men, and proposes marriage. Sue’s not impressed and attempts to flee. However, Namor has “the powers of all the creatures who live beneath the sea!” and uses the “power of the electric eel” and the “radar sense of the cave fish from the lowest depths of the sea” to capture Sue.

·         Namor announces “Your struggles are useless! I like a woman with spirit! Only such a female can be a fitting mate for the monarch of the sea!” Namor, I love you, but you’re delving into very creepy territory.

·         The boys arrive and are ready to trounce Namor. Sue prevents a brawl by stating both parties must “honor the contract”.  Namor pays the FF the million dollars and returns to the sea.

·         Not a great issue and not a good portrayal of Namor. Only highlights were Ben’s despair over the loss of the Pogo plane, Ben’s excitement over being a “white knight” and a fun Ben-Namor brawl.

[reuska]

6, 18 and 42

6. Something they instantly liked about the place?

The landscapes and architecture. Shortly followed by the fact that all the knightly traits were still alive in that place. You know, honor, chivalry, selflessness, bravery… Especially in men, that was very attractive to her. And made her feel even more like a complete trash. xD

18. How are their tactician abilities discovered?

It was Chrom’s doing. Besides Sharena who’s universally friendly, Chrom was Reuska’s first friend in the FE realms. While the Order (mainly Anna and Alfonse) perceived her as a complete disappointment and a joke of a Summoner, Chrom’s first impression of her was completely different. He was Reuska’s first summon and he eavesdropped on her as she was arguing with Geir (seemingly with herself). She was refusing to perform the summoning on a country’s ruler, that was strongly against her morals. But Chrom was in a difficult stage of his life, three years after the war, feeling like a prisoner in a golden cage and mourning for his lost wife. The more Reuska tried to talk him out of going, the more he wanted to rebel and do just that. But he saw that she was putting his country’s interest before her own and that earned his respect. Besides, something about her demeanor reminded him of Skara and it felt intriguing and refreshing to him. That’s their dynamics in a nutshell.

Well, and during the first stage of her stay, Reuska spent her time by just slacking around, feeling like a miserable piece of trash, only summoning when possible. No one wanted more from her, no one expected she would be capable of more. She was already framed as a useless human being. Well, not at summoning, she made an impression by bringing Chrom so early, but that was pretty much all.

At some point she got a short introduction to basic strategy, just so she would not mess up and go in someone’s way. I’m not yet sure who would teach her, maybe even Alfonse, out of obligation, but certainly someone else with him.

Since the strategy is not decided by just one person in my HC, but a war council consisting of important royals and commanders, Chrom one day suggests they should invite Reuska as well because she is crucial for the whole thing. It doesn’t exactly meet with an excitement on neither side but the invitation is made and as much as Reuska doesn’t want to go (she always tries to avoid any exposure of her uselessness), she would feel even worse to refuse. She feels really bad at the meeting, trying to stay back, out of sight, only imagining what a bother she must be for everyone. It gets worse when Anna starts to present her strategy plan because Reuska just can’t see any sense in it. As she is listening to Anna’s presentation, she’s making faces: frowning, raising eyebrows, raising her lips… and Chrom notices. Skara used to do exactly the same thing when she didn’t agree with something which makes him ask Reuska what’s wrong. As happy as she can be, Reuska has to admit that even though she has been introduced to the strategy basics, she still fails to understand the positioning in Anna’s plan. That sparks some interest in the council and Reuska is asked, by Anna herself, to explain.

Well, and Reuska burns down the whole plan. One by one, she points out gaps in the troop positioning, unconsidered scenarios,… and she’s completely oblivious. She’s seriously convinced she’s just exposing her lack of knowledge, making herself look like an even bigger idiot.

I don’t have to add she made an impression that day… ;D

42. How will their story end?

That’s a long and detailed story, get ready xD

Nearly at the very end of the Feh story, whatever the final battle will be, Reuska makes an attempt to summon Skara - to make Chrom happy, as a thank you for everything he has done for her. She almost suffocates in the process but she actually manages to bring Skara back from the void (in a really bad shape, skinny, almost bald) which sparks a negative reaction among most of the Heroes as they fear that bringing back Skara brought Grima back as well. Alfonse is not part of the opposition, he freshly discovered the true nature of his feelings for Reuska so he tends to make excuses for her, besides, he’s worried about her as she has been unconscious ever since the summoning. The final battle draws near and neither Reuska, nor Skara have awoken yet so the Order has to leave them behind in a base camp. When Reuska finally wakes up, Skara is already conscious and the two talk. It turns out, to Reuska’s horror, that Skara is still Grima as well. Even though the Fell Dragon is under Skara’s control now, she has changed, becoming more “grima-ish” (more selfish, little caring about the greater good, she only cares about her closest ones). However, upon talking with Reuska who’s strikingly honest in her terror, Skara takes a liking of her and decides to join her cause. She summons the dragon and the two women fly on its back to the battlefield where they side with the Order and kick the final villain’s ass.

There is this moment of happiness when Reuska hugs with Alfonse and he whispers to her that she did it, she won the war. But since the war is really over, Geir’s curse is finally lifted and the original summoner finally materializes in front of them. It’s not a happy meeting, though, as he immediately informs them that together with the curse, his unique ability to open a portal to Earth is vanishing as well and they have literal seconds to send Reuska back. He opens the portal and Reuska has to choose. She’s still paralyzed by the sudden turn of events so she looks at Alfonse and he, just as paralyzed, says “Go!”. So she leaves. The portal closes and it’s over.

This pretty much breaks Alfonse. We all know how badly he took Bruno’s disappearance and he had already developed a tighter bond with Reuska during the years of war. And that doesn’t even take his romantic feelings in account. And worst of all, he can’t handle the guilt that he chased her away himself (as he sees it). (It’s not hard to guess why he did it, in the limited time he had, he thought more of her than of himself and he didn’t want Reuska to miss the chance to get back home.) He drops his Order membership, stops his daily sword training and locks himself away from the world in a library and his study and rarely comes outside. He begins to study magic which he always had a decent affinity for but never liked. Generally he gives up all the things he loved and takes on things he hated - to punish himself and keep twisting the dagger in the wound. He doesn’t really care much about his appearance, he lets his hair grow, that’s why my older Alfonse has a ponytail.

This takes two years. In that time, while Alfonse is emo in his quarters, Geir is actually working hard to find a way to Earth to fix things (this all is ultimately his fault, it all goes back to his failure hundreds years ago). After two years he is finally successful and approaches emo Alfonse with his findings which kicks up the emo boy (well, emo man now) back into a hopeful mood. They need both Askran and Emblan royal blood so they are joined by Veronica and together travel to Reuska’s home city. Luckily, Geir knows the place a bit thanks to the years of him “living” in Reuska’s mind so they manage to find her and she, overjoyed, accomodates them at her place. What was two years in Zenith was only four months on Earth but it was still very painful for her. And Alfonse, similar to Reuska after entering the FE realms, experiences a heavy case of suddenly lowered self-esteem. He loves the place, all the technology, science, knowledge - but it also means a painful realization that his own world is stuck with its development and has been stuck for centuries. Suddenly he’s certain that they all must have seemed like savages to Reuska which kind of complicates his initial plan to confess, grab her and live happily ever after. He is certain she would never willingly leave that wonderful place and go back with him. And Reuska never considered the option that Al could actually love her back, so she thinks they just came for a visit to properly say good bye and will leave soon. So the two dance around each other in a denser and denser atmosphere, they actually even have a fight because of all those unspoken things. And then they finally have a proper, honest talk, confess and after a round of getting parent’s consent (it’s an honor issue for Al) they leave for Askr and marry. Yaaayy.

They have three children, Geir, Zacharias and Alice. After Zacharias is born, Alfonse becomes the king (this version counts with either of his parents being alive at the time - might change) because there is a tradition of handing over the rule once the successor successfully fathers at least two of his own successors xD Geir (named after “uncle Geir”) is an impudent pacifistic healer and that kind of person you really, REALLY don’t want to get into an argument with because he won’t stop. But he’s a direct, just man and a good king material. Zacharias is a technical mind and the family black sheep. All he thinks about is Earth (they occasionally visit their granparents) and he doesn’t care about his Askran heritage, training and studies. He would probably be a green mage but… he studies physics texbooks from Earth instead. And once Alice profiles as an another ideal, responsible royal child, he makes a scene that he’s moving to Earth and eventually gets an unhappy consent from both his parents (Al is especially salty because that’s what he would do as well if he could) and leaves for Earth where he becomes a mechanical engineer (with the support of Reuska’s parents).

After Geir marries and has his own two children, Alfonse gives him the crown and that’s when Reuska can finally tell him that they are moving to Earth as well. She knew Alfonse never stopped loving that place, no matter what she told him, and that he dreamed of living and studying there. She waited for Geir to start his family because she didn’t want Al to be impatient with his son and giving up the rule. Alfonse is thrilled and SOOO happy when he’s finally told about the plan :). So the two finally go back to Earth. Alfonse gets his degree in astrophysics and becomes a professor. He might give it a try as a local politician too, I’m not yet sure. They travel a lot and stay in touch with Zacharias and his family. Interesting note: they are about the same age with Reuska’s parents when they leave Askr (the time difference).

Phew.

[hasbihallarcomebackhome-blog]

hair vitamins for Dummies

My dilemma in your case is….compared to Ultrax, it would appear much less expensive to utilize a mix of Lipogaine Significant five and Nizoral. Is there a huge dropoff in outcomes by using the latter selection? We mentioned it previously: whilst numerous hair loss shampoos assert for being the actual offer, some fall within the facet of snake oil. It’s frequently tough to type throughout the numerous critiques to learn what’s pretend and what’s not. As https://www.facebook.com/steptoremedies/ know hair is mainly made up of proteins, and lack of protein will gradual the hair growth, and may even bring about brittle hair. Iron is an additional important nutrient for wholesome hair growth. I have menopause now my hair is thining and possess bald sopts any ideas for a home solution thank you. I’m inclined to employ Ultrax Labs’ Hair Surge. Am i able to utilize it day to day? I've oily hair and if I don’t wash my hair day to day, they look dirty And that i also don’t come to feel snug. - Samiksha Shambharkar. The technique at Labelle has changed my texture and high-quality. I now have a healthier and lengthy hair. Honest thanks to Labelle hair clinic for this transformation. Most hair and hair loss gurus agree that you can start utilizing hair loss shampoo as soon as you recognize a loss of hair. Effectively in excess of half of all Guys expertise hair loss by age 35 and several Some others by age 21. The underside line: there’s no rationale to attend. Baldness occurs if the stem cells stay inactive for a long time. But, with stem cell therapy, the very long lifeless hair follicles are stimulated to beat baldness. Besides topical growth treatments like Rogaine, the regular utilization of a top rated-rated shampoo for hair loss and regrowth can promote follicles, moisturize your scalp, end dandruff, and generally aid the growth of thicker and fuller hair although protecting against it from falling out. Pull exam. Your health care provider gently pulls quite a few dozen hairs to view the number of appear out. This can help establish the stage of the shedding system. While there is certainly some sign that a concoction of lavender oil, thyme, rosemary and cedar could be valuable, we nevertheless will need extra analysis to understand obviously. I colour my hair and constantly make use of a Sulfate-free of charge shampoo to retain the colour. Do have a selected instructed brand for shade addressed hair? No less than per month needless to say. But I’d always give at the very least 6 months ahead of I’d Consider any hair loss merchandise. Together with these essentials, this good quality shampoo is hypoallergenic, sulfate and paraben-absolutely free, and is manufactured without any harsh chemical substances or irritants. The outcome is always that it restores the natural pH equilibrium of one's scalp and stimulates growth.

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Whilst factors such as age, genetics and hormones also have an affect on hair growth, optimal nutrient intake is essential. The most recent investigate exhibits that there's a Considerably larger than ordinary proportion of white blood cells (immune system cells) and antibody clusters (Immunoglobulin) within the hair follicles of young balding Gentlemen then Guys with full heads of hair. I am able to’t go into all the details in this article, but I would like to offer you a transient overview of the 2nd motive. HairLossRevolution.com owns and operates the Grogenix model. This website will make money by offering hair care products. The researchers powering this tests are currently pushing for phase three scientific tests on the drug, even though success from period two ended up definitely promising. The value of Nizoral is that it is a triple risk – it protect against hair loss and dandruff when comprehensively cleansing your hair and scalp and also blocking androgen receptors that can lead to thinning. If you think that your hair thinning or balding stems from lousy care, then Pure Biology can assist prevent even more hair loss and promote healthy growth. Supply. As will be to be envisioned, The mix treatment proved to generally be the simplest at enhancing hair count, and also hair mass (not revealed in the above mentioned graph). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EA6vWbDFAZY ’re worried about dropping your hair, and you would like an easy and straightforward way to stop, and even reverse your hair loss with a hundred% certainty and good results fee. However, you'll find limitless merchandise in existence that assure unrealistic benefits, only to depart you let down. When exploring the very best shampoos for hair loss, here are a few components to keep in mind. I will reveal below the exact treatment to pinpoint the foods teams you will be allergic to and they are producing and rushing up your hair loss. Clearly ingesting more alkaline foods and less acidic kinds might help to shift the body back into it’s natural alkaline condition and safeguard the scalp from extra DHT. When you are seriously interested in therapeutic your microbiome, and also need to kick-commence the alkalisation course of action then I would really advise a vegetable juice fast detox. Looking at https://www.wikihow.com/Reduce-Hair-Loss grow naturally together your hairline, feeling the hair thicken, building up with just the occasional hair about the pillow are very motivating to carry on.

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Like with any hair loss solution, every one responds various to various persons. What will work for one might not function for an additional so for those who are going to pay for any hair loss merchandise, ensure You will find there's a refund warranty so you don't squander your hard earned money. so happy I'd stumbled on this site, fantastic recommendations inside the short article and within the comments.. many thanks ya’ll. Treatment is often solely behavioral. One has to note the actions and after that consciously quit. Serious or resistant scenarios may possibly demand strain counseling having a therapist or psychologist or medical treatment that has a psychiatrist. Several antidepressant or anti-nervousness prescription drugs may help using this type of affliction. It works internally, at the basis from the lead to. Therefore, via stepto remedies to read the full post during the front and top rated on the scalp don’t need to struggle off just about just as much DHT. These items is the real deal and the outcome won’t go unnoticed – just request the 5000+ reviewers on Amazon. Health-related specialists should distinguish hair loss from breakage in the hair shaft from hair loss due to diminished hair growth. Following replication, they inject it again into your scalp in which it is required. via steptoremedies.com has done a section one medical trial and can enroll a hundred and sixty male participants with mild to reasonable hair loss for his or her Section two demo. In other news RepliCel declared a investigation collaboration with College of British Columbia. They intention is to create a map with protein and gene expression of hair follicle cells that will help RepliCel even further enhance their mobile therapies i.e. hair loss avoidance merchandise. Alternatively, whisk an egg and add just one cup of milk, two tablespoons of additional-virgin olive oil, as well as juice from fifty percent a lemon to it. Implement it with your scalp and leave it on for twenty to 30 minutes prior to washing it out and shampooing your hair. Use warmth only when you Completely need to to get a Particular event. In any other case, Allow your hair air dry and magnificence it without the need of utilizing warmth instruments. Curry leaves are a typical cooking ingredient for folks native to India’s subtropical and tropical locations. The curry leaves are... As a kid I've applied Meera hair wash powder and it has constantly aided preserve hair problems at bay.Even so I'm worried to employ it once again lately as the standard has changed over time with addition of sulfates. Vegans and vegetarians commonly try to eat a lot less protein than meat eaters, because you will find less protein-significant options. In the event you’re vegan or vegetarian, shell out close attention towards your protein consumption to be sure you’re having just as much as you will need. You can find number of Negative effects with Rogaine. The main challenge using this treatment is the necessity to hold implementing it a few times each day, and most Gentlemen get Sick and tired of it just after some time. Additionally, minoxidil tends to work significantly less properly on the front of The pinnacle, which can be where baldness bothers most Adult males. Inadvertent software to your face or neck pores and skin could cause undesirable hair growth in All those regions. Common balding (androgenetic alopecia) happens in Males and women and it is due to impact of testosterone metabolites in genetically inclined hair follicles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXJPoD37NW8

This refers to the habitual pulling or twisting of one's possess hair. The scalp and eyelashes tend to be afflicted. Contrary to alopecia areata patches, which happen to be completely clean, hair patches in trichotillomania show broken-off hairs. Ultrax hair surge shampoo is surprisingly economical considering the benefits it provides. This shampoo was rated in 2016 as among the best shampoos for facilitating hair growth. The key here is micro blended caffeine. During https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-SiXXn3EKKI2t7btdwEplw , we insert two extra matters: pure honey and castile soap. Honey is a wonderful moisturiser and provides luster to uninteresting hair. While castile soap is really a natural cleaning soap made from plant oils and it is free of awful preservatives, colours and perfumes. So I acquired the aloe Vera juice, and only immediately after having back again home did I recognize you will discover preservatives in it. It has sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate. It also has some sorbitol. Find out how using a vitamin D deficiency can add to hair loss and what you are able to do to take care of healthy vitamin D levels in The body. Occasionally the immune method assaults only the hair bulb. In such a case, the hair follicles regenerate once the immune procedure is introduced under Manage. Given that the name indicates, this hair growth shampoo contains the key component as soya protein and it is ideal for conditioning of the hair and the scalp. Toni & Man is speculated to be one of several top notch firms for hair care and something which is a short while ago easily available during the Indian marketplaces. hair loss in women gained’t locate any sulfates, parabens, or other severe substances that can exacerbate hair loss With this product. The ingredients are all natural and holistic, for instance apple cider vinegar, black castor oil, Shea butter and keratin proteins. The Shea butter moisturizes the scalp and also the keratin strengthens the roots of the hair. In the majority of mild cases, sufferers can certainly address up or comb around the afflicted areas. In additional intense and Long-term situations, some clients have on hairpieces; nowadays, some men shave their complete scalp now that this search has become trendy. Recently, investigators have famous some valuable ends in tiny teams of people with extensive alopecia areata or alopecia totalis with a JAK1/two inhibitor, baricitinib (Olumiant). Prolonged-phrase studies are underneath way. Pregnancy may possibly cause several improvements from the scalp hair. Because the hormones fluctuate all through pregnancy, a lot of women really feel their hair thickens and will become fuller. We know that all hair loss is not really a result of biological variables which include aging. Most cases of delicate hair loss are brought on by environmental factors, like making use of shampoos with harsh and harmful chemical compounds like sulfates and parabens. Just Natural hair loss shampoo features a completely natural and organic formula that cleans hair without the usage of Terrible chemical substances. Anyone struggling from this problem may well lose all of the hair. This however is often a temporary affliction and the hair might grow again following a several years. Though there's no guarantee. Have you been performing ideal by your skin? Go ahead and take Skin and Makeup Quiz to find out how to take advantage of of your attractiveness program.

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Questions abound regarding the efficiency of hair growth vitamins and health supplements, which includes The main 1: Do they work? Look into the evaluations of shoppers who attempted a particular product or service. Note, https://www.pinterest.com/healthhomeremedies/steptoremedies/ should be regarded with skepticism, but you have to be in a position to get a good idea of what products deliver effects and they are well-known sellers. Sure other lessons of medication may also market hair loss. Extra prevalent among the them are particular blood thinners as well as blood-tension prescription drugs often known as beta-blockers. Finasteride (manufacturer title Propecia) is definitely the closest to the hair loss cure capsule that scientists have uncovered up to now. This is the DHT hair loss cure. DHT is produced when 5 alpha reductase converts testosterone, and Propecia has actually been uncovered to get a powerful inhibitor of DHT by stopping this method from occurring. Glashofer states. However, this frequent taking part in and pulling can in fact strip your head of its natural defense: hair. Trichotillomania usually begins prior to the age of seventeen and it is four instances as widespread in women as in Adult men. We persuade you to definitely comment and Convey your view. It’s often a delight to hear your ideas, and also respond to any queries You may have. Hair affirmation is a robust Resource that assists you are worried fewer and treatment greater in your hair. You are able to develop your very own affirmation and visualize oneself obtaining it. Coconut oil will work the ideal for my type of hair. I have thick hair so if you have thick hair also I might advise to work with coconut oil. I observed cause about 2 weeks. They then will have to choose between two paths: therapeutic the skin (generating epidermis) or making hair. It is actually there exactly where Follica sees the window of possibility, the place they could stimulate the cells to do the latter and regenerate new plus more hair. As we know hair is especially composed of proteins, and lack of protein will slow the hair growth, and may even trigger brittle hair. Iron is yet another crucial nutrient for wholesome hair growth. Join our mailing listing and get the most up-to-date news about developments in hair loss prevention engineering. We keep our visitors up-to-date on what is Functioning, what's not, and what is around the horizon. I am on Birth Command, but I by no means realized how many facet has an effect on there are actually… I hope these assist, my hair I wan to grow it out a whole lot extended. Why you need to avoid hair dyes: Synthetic hair dyes contain severe chemical compounds for example ammonia, hydrogen peroxide,  p-phenylenediamine, which may irritate the scalp and lead to pressure on hair follicles. Risk-free to make use of on even probably the most delicate skin, this effective method stays on your scalp until all of the active elements – caffeine, ketoconazole, and saw palmetto – are absorbed. Consequently none of the product or service will go to waste or get washed away ahead of offering utmost therapy.

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Your efforts to spice up hair growth will not likely enjoy good final results if you have fundamental problems just like a thyroid dysfunction, hormonal imbalance, Continual disease, or maybe a severe an infection. home remedies via steptoremedies retain our viewers current on what's Operating, what is actually not, and what's within the horizon. Regardless of whether or not it's a review of the next new issue, or progress towards a hair loss cure, you'll be the 1st to understand. Hi Domen, did https://en.search.wordpress.com/?src=organic&q=hair+regrowth accustomed to advise ArtNaturals Argan Oil shampoo? I bought this another working day as I shed all my hair as a result of chemo and drugs and even though it has grown back it is way thinner now. The way you brush your hair is additionally really significant as tough and consistent brushing can cause Actual physical damage to your hair. Be especially mindful any time you detangle damp hair, as maximum harm and hair loss can materialize then. With often oiling your hair and these natural tips may help you attain for a longer time hair only if you are dependable and affected person. As on your issue, I don’t think It might be a huge dropoff in the slightest degree. I suspect it would largely be described as a comfort aspect. In that scenario, I'd advise you employ Nizoral 2 times a week (e.g. on Wednesday and Sunday) and use Lipogaine Large five as your “typical” shampoo. You could stimulate hair growth by maintaining nutritious hair by way of a excellent diet plan and proper hair care. Certain herbs will help make your hair grow faster, also. Well-known hair growth items and natural remedies for hair loss Hair loss ordinarily takes place once the cycle of hair growth and hair shedding is disrupted. In addition, These are the key ingredients you should see in almost any shampoo that’s alleged to quit hair loss, promote growth and block the effects of testosterone on follicles. Saw Palmetto is a little plant that offers a lot of Positive aspects, one among which requires blocking five-alpha-reductase, an enzyme in the body that converts testosterone to DHT. The parents at Ultrax Labs are self-assured sufficient that you just’ll see final results from Hair Surge that they offer a ninety-working day a refund assure. They don’t make plenty of solutions – only three inside their overall portfolio – but they may have a firm perception in their formulation. No less than per month for sure. But I’d usually give a minimum of six months in advance of I’d evaluate any hair loss products. SLS is a standard ingredient in personalized care products and solutions like soaps, shampoos, and toothpaste. It’s an affordable and productive foaming agent. It might cause discomfort in uncommon situations, but it really shouldn’t be an issue for that vast majority. The shampoo includes one% ketoconazole and is similar value as Lipogaine, Utilised everyday, that may seem to get rid of the necessity for introducing Nizoral for the weekly routine. Curious to listen to Whatever you learn about that solution. Thanks once more!!! Since there are plenty of kinds of hair loss, acquiring the result in is often hard. This assessment will include the most typical will cause of hair loss developing on regular unscarred scalp pores and skin. The health-related phrase for hair loss is alopecia.

hair growth vitamins Things To Know Before You Buy

At the end of this segment I’ll provide you with why exercise routines and massages assistance to encourage blood circulation drastically and thereby may also help reverse (cure) hair loss. And In case your hair dry hair, frizzy with flyaways there’s a natural strategy to relaxed them down — use a depart-in conditioner. You don’t have to have any extravagant makes. We recommend the selfmade Variation in the Equilibrium Program. The Scalp Elixir can result in discomfort straight away pursuing a dermarolling session, so you ought to wait around at the least eight hrs ahead of making use of for the scalp. "I believed I'll by no means have healthy and thick hair. I failed to endure with my hair graft.. I bought the identical results, for less than a cup of espresso! I look and feel terrific!" Every time I lose hair -when oiling or combing- I affirm that a new and balanced hair will grow as an alternative. Considering that DHT is in a roundabout way inhibited, Consequently testosterone and DHT amounts in the human body are remaining unaffected. Of course, genes are concerned. (You’re additional likely to go bald if you father and your mom’s father and so forth. can also be bald.) But what is https://twitter.com/steptoremedies/ 's that it is a ‘genetic predisposition.’ What I’ve composed on this page to curing hair loss is only the start of the path to naturally regrowing your hair. Once again, oils like coconut and almond make an excellent leave-in conditioner. To utilize: Have a few drops of oil and rub it involving your palms and implement to damp or dry hair (averting the roots) and leave in. The catagen phase, often known as the transitional phase, will allow the follicle to, in a sense, renew itself. During this time, which lasts about two weeks, the hair follicle shrinks as a consequence of disintegration as well as papilla detaches and "rests," chopping the hair strand off from its nourishing blood source. Signals sent out by your body (that only selectively have an impact on 1 per cent of all hair of 1's overall body at any supplied time) identify if the anagen stage ends as well as the catagen phase starts. When you have been using great/sharp tooth plastic combs can be it’s time and energy to rethink a wood choice. And properly-performed Should you have currently carried out it Methods to use: You should utilize amla juice with coconut oil or amla oil for just a head therapeutic massage. It's also possible to incorporate some amla powder inside a hair mask. Could it be doable the delayed allergic reactions to specific foodstuff groups are contributing to an autoimmune response that brings about hair loss in Gentlemen? Do not forget that this is only one of some ways to grow again dropped hair. Lots of people uncover that they aren’t allergic to any particular food stuff teams which happens to be high-quality.