#I MET HER PARTNER. ITS ALL GOOD DW

[tpup]

gave a married woman head on the floor of a bar bathroom tonight

[hearts4renaa]

THE GREAT WAR; 

SUMMARY; falling in love with scaramouche included many things; betrayals, unanswered questions, and battles. in fact, so many battles that could be compiled together into a war.

PAIRING; scaramouche x fem!reader

WARNINGS; spoilers for inazuma and sumeru arc, mentions of scaras real name

GENRE; angst but not rlly angst, happy ending dw, songfic kinda

WC: 2.3k

A/N: bye i just got inspired for some reason...this took my 3 hrs to write and no its not proofread! my first contribution to the genshin fanfic community...ofc inspired by "the great war" by queen taylor

---

Battles weren’t uncommon in this world. In fact, Y/N and Scaramouche fought many of them. Be it physical battles, mental battles, or emotional ones, they’ve fought their fair share. But none of them will ever come close to the battle between them; nothing will ever come close to that war.

---

Always remember, uh huh, tears on the letter.

I vowed not to cry anymore, if we survive the Great War.

THE FIRST BATTLE started one lonely night in Inazuma, right after Y/N and the Traveler had their run-in with the Balladeer. Y/N clutched a letter in her hand, tears flowing freely onto the paper. The letter wasn’t signed with a name, but rather a small drawing of a flower. Despite the lack of signature, she knew. She knew it was from him. How could he do this? First, he leaves without a trace for years. Then, once she had finally come to terms with the situation, he sends a letter describing how he never wants to see her again. All right after he nearly destroyed their home country.

Y/N stood up from her position on the floor, as a newfound determination fueled by rage filled her body. She made their way out of the room, and made her way to the fireplace in the kitchen. The flames were mesmerizing, the motions moving gracefully to the tune of the soft wind outside. Before she knew it, she was thinking of him again. But not the current him, no, but the past between the two of them. She remembered it all, the flowers he would place in her hair, the midnight walks, the tea they shared. But most of all, she remembered how she cried for him. She remembered how she cried for days on end, begging to know if he was okay. In the end, she was left with years of no closure until he returned to Inazuma. But he didn’t return for her. He returned for the Gnosis.

She remembers walking in the streets and catching a glimpse of purple amongst the crowds. She remembers accompanying Aether throughout the journey, shielding him from the Vision Hunt Decree. She remembers walking into that domain only to be met with his cold gaze. She remembers passing out, only to be awoken by Lady Yae, the one who gave his letter to her. And standing here in front of the fire, it felt like she was reliving it all. I can’t do this anymore.

The tears returned, salt streams coating her cheeks. Her hand tightened around the letter as she held it above the fire. Let go, she thought to herself. You can let go. The letter fluttered into the flames, burning at the first touch. Mere seconds later, the letter was gone. But even with that, she just couldn't let go of him. She loved him far too much, which was both a blessing and a curse.

I won’t cry anymore. She told herself. If we are really meant to be, it’ll fall into place on its own. I won’t cry.

—

“You want to come with us to Sumeru?” Aether sounded shocked.

“Yes!” Y/N nodded enthusiastically. “I need a change of scenery, and well…you’re very capable. I could learn a lot from you.”

“Are you sure?” Aether questioned. “It’ll be a long journey, and a hard one too.” He looked over at Paimon, who was more than happy to have her join the pair. Paimon gave Aether puppy eyes. “But,” He starts. “If you’re absolutely willing, then we’d love to have you.” He sees Paimon float around in excitement.

Y/N smiled wide. “Oh, Aether, thank you! I promise I won’t hold you down.”

Aether laughs. “We both know you’re a good fighter. Glad to be travel partners, Y/N!”

—

Always remember, uh huh, the burning embers.

I vowed not to fight anymore, if we survived the Great War.

THE SECOND BATTLE began when Scaramouche realized who Aether was traveling with. What the hell was she doing here, so far from home? A small part of Scaramouche thought that maybe she had come looking for him, despite his letter. He quickly shaked the thought out of his mind. He never told her where he would be, so there’s almost no way she had any idea that he was here beforehand. Scaramouche had never been one to believe in fate, but a tiny part in the back of his mind hoped that maybe, they were destined to cross paths again. Perhaps that’s why he decided to observe the Traveler. After all, it lets him observe her without getting too close. Despite the letter he wrote to her, he still finds himself wishing to be in her presence again. What on Earth has she done to him?

He snaps out of it when he notices the Traveler walk up to Haypasia. Smirking to himself, he gives him a scare. “So, you think this is over?” He speaks, smirking when he sees the Traveler jolt in surprise. The two go back and forth for a bit, talking about how Scaramouche was soon to be a God. A true God, just like he had always wanted. Nothing could stop him now.

“And what do you think Y/N would say about that?” Aether says.

For just a moment, the facade drops and Scaramouche feels his eyes widen. As quickly as it came, it disappeared just as fast. A scowl makes its way onto his face. “Why would I care about what Y/N thinks? She’s just as weak as the rest of you.” That’s not true. Y/N’s one of the strongest people he’s known, both physically and emotionally.

“Maybe because you used to care about her.” Aether gives him a look. Whether it was anger or pity, he couldn’t tell. “Maybe, you still do.”

“Oh really? And what makes you think that?”

“Lady Yae. She told us everything before we left for Sumeru.”

That damned fox lady.

“Maybe I used to, but that’s all in the past now.” Scaramouche put up the best front he possibly could. “I couldn’t care less what she has to say about any of this. She’ll never understand. She’s too weak.” His eyes, and his resolve, hardened. He can’t allow himself to become weak again. He can’t allow himself to care about her.

The Traveler turned away from him, looking out the windows to see Y/N fighting alongside the others. “I think she still cares about you too, you know. It’s not too late to fix things with her. I think she’d be grateful to see you again.”

Scaramouche clenched his fist, so much so that crescent shapes from his nails dug into his skin. Anger bubbled up inside of him. “Enough!” He yelled, a large crack of thunder reaching everyone’s ears. “A word of advice, Traveler…” He floats above them, still keeping eye contact. “Learn to mind your own business.” The thunder is almost deafening, and the lightning strikes leave no area untouched. Scaramouche disappears from sight.

—

Later in the night, Scaramouche finds himself alone with his thoughts. Is it possible that she could still care about him? Even after the treatment he put her through? What could she possibly see in him? He was a Fatui Harbinger for crying out loud. He left her without a trace, tormented her home country. And yet, Aether thinks she cares about him? How stupid have people gotten?

If he went back to her…if she still cared about him…was it worth isolating himself? Would she want to see him practically destroying any humanity he had left? If fate did exist…if the God’s decided to give him a single blessing in the form of her, why was he fighting? Why was he so against her affection, so against letting her see him again. He wanted to see her, but he was so afraid of her betraying him, just like everyone else.

He’d been betrayed three times already, he doesn’t want her to be the fourth. But maybe, just maybe, if fate were to allow them to be together…

Maybe fighting wasn’t worth it at all.

—

It turned into something bigger. Somewhere in the haze, got a sense I’d been betrayed…

…That was the night I nearly lost you. I really thought I lost you.

THE FINAL BATTLE started when Nahida, the Traveler, and Y/N finally came face to face with Scaramouche. The sight of him made Y/N sick. This wasn’t the Scaramouche you knew. This wasn’t the Kunikuzushi you loved. Scaramouche’s laugh rang throughout the room in a haunting way. “Oh, Traveler. She cares about me, you say?” Scaramouche’s eyes were so cold. “Yet here she is, to fight against me. Traitor.”

Y/N gripped her sword tighter, looking over at Aether. “Aether, what did you tell him?”

Before Aether even has the chance to respond, Scaramouche cuts him off. “Why, that you cared about me, of course! Did you not hear what I just said?” Scaramouche’s gaze was menacing, staring down at the group with anger evident in his eyes. “But obviously, that’s not true. I’m glad the feelings are mutual, dearest Y/N.” Hurt flashed across Y/N’s eyes, but it disappeared quickly as Scaramouche descended further into this spiral of madness.

The fighting felt endless. Aether’s breathing became heavy, and his arms were so, so tired. Y/N was holding up only slightly better, but she could feel her strength giving out. Scaramouche taunted her. “C’mon Y/N, you can do better than that, can’t you? I expected better from you.” Scaramouche stopped in front of her, all his attention on her. Y/N had an idea pop into her head, and as much as it hurt to execute, it was for the better…right?

Y/N slowly straightened her posture. “Kunikuzushi…” Scaramouche froze in shock at his real name. She said his name like a prayer, and for that moment, time felt like it had stopped. She couldn’t see any of his expressions, but she could tell that he was caught off guard. “I’m sorry.” She whispered, more to herself than to him. “Aether, now!” She yelled out.

Aether rushed, giving the final blow. Scaramouche fell to his knees. For Scaramouche, the world went quiet. Nahida floated up, slowly taking away the Gnosis from his grasp. “No!” He screamed. “Wait, please!” His pleading hurt Y/N’s heart. “Anything but the Gnosis! That’s mine, don’t even try!” She winced at the pain in voice.

“I'll never go back!”

Scaramouche reached out, unable to touch the Gnosis. His eyes found Y/N’s, and whispered her name like a plea. “Y/N…” Scaramouche began to plummet towards the ground.

Her eyes widened, and she immediately dropped her sword, running as fast as she could to try and catch him. She barely made it before he hit the ground, knees scratching against the ground. Scaramouche landed in her arms, unconscious. “No, please no.” She muttered, frantically checking for a pulse. She let out the biggest sigh of relief upon feeling a little heartbeat. It was slow, but it was there. And in that moment, there was nothing else she was more grateful for.

We can plant a memory garden. Say a solemn prayer, place a poppy in my hair. There’s no morning glory, it was war, it wasn’t fair.

Days passed, and Scaramouche still had yet to wake up. Every single day was spent with Y/N by his side, only leaving to grab food, use the washroom, or bathe. Other than that, Y/N stayed with him the entire time. At that point, Aether and Paimon were beginning to get worried.

“Y/N?” Paimon called as the pair entered the room. Y/N shot up in her seat, despite being in her sleep deprived state. She waved with as much energy she could muster.

“Oh, hello you two!” She says with faux energy.

“Y/N, are you okay?” Aether asks.

“I’m fine. Did you two need something?”

“Um..” Paimon looked at Aether with a ‘what do I do’ look. “Y/N, don’t you think maybe…you should go home?” Paimon suggested.

Y/N shook her head. “No, I’m okay! I’ll stay here in case he wakes up.”

Aether sighed. “Y/N, you need to rest. You’ve been here for days.”

She looks at Scaramouche in his comatose state sadly. “But, I need to stay here. If he wakes up, I need to apologize to him.” Her eyes are sad.

“Y/N-”

“Please.” She cuts him off. “Just let me stay. I’ll eat and sleep after. Just a little longer.”

Paimon and Aether share a look. “Okay.” Aether finally spoke after a period of silence. “Just remember to take care of yourself, okay?” The two left the room.

“Finally, they’re gone.”

Y/N’s head snaps towards the direction of the voice. There he was, slowly sitting up in his bed and rubbing his eyes. “I hate that Paimon thingy, her voice sounds like squeaks.” Scaramouche complained, crossing his arms. He looked at Y/N, who was wide eyed with her jaw dropped. He scoffed at her. “Are you seriously this shocked to see me awake?” He asked with a teasing tone in his voice.

The tears welled up in Y/N’s eyes, and she immediately lurched forward to hug him. He was taken aback by the affection, but he returned it nonetheless. “I’m so glad you’re okay.” She muttered. “I haven’t hugged you like this in so long. I missed you.” Her tears wet his shoulder, but he didn’t mind as much as he thought he would.

“I’m sorry I left so abruptly,” He started. “I was-”

“Shh.” She cut him off. “We’ll talk about it later. Just let me make up for everything we missed out on. I missed you so bad. I know we were apart but…my heart has always been yours.”

Scaramouche’s eyes widened at the blossoming feeling in his chest. Years of being apart, years of being in a constant war of feelings. All of it led to this. All of it led to them being in eachothers arms, here to stay. They wouldn’t have to be separated again.

Always remember, uh huh, we’re burned for better. I vowed I would always be yours, ‘cause we survived the Great War.

[pretty-house-pretty-garden]

Queerplatonic (media) Partner Appreciation!!

Hehehe I was feelin silly!!

Giggles!!

I loooove love love Krow so so much! So much!

I neeeed to see my husband (krow canonmate) again grrr

But anyways! A few memories and art i wanted to share

One time in B clearing we were all making bracelets and other crafts around the campfire.. we used a few pretty rocks and such for them too, and it aproached me with a shiny smooth-ish rock.. vaguely shaped like a heart. It said it had found it there while looking for other stuff to use.. and thought I should have it :)! I put said rock on a bracelet and wore it all the time <3

We started "dating" in B clearing aswell. Back then we didnt really have the right terms but kinda confessed and explained to eachother how we felt and how it was like weirdly not romantic but also not like friends and everyone just agreed "ah yes secret third thing!" ... it was queerplatonic- lmao. Also we had more of a situationship than a relationship cause how we behaved around eachother really depended on our situation n such..

It wasnt big on PDA. Actually it hated it... and I respected that honestly! But there was the occasional hand holding... sometimes it just defending me verbally was enough. Yes, it was quick to violence which I didn't agree with, but I honestly felt genuinly safe around it. It would always stand up for me and defend my name with tooth and nail. (Pun intended..) Made me feel really appreciated :]! So loyal <3

It was such a good friend, too. Super fun to have around! But specially can always trust it with things, it was super helpful and made all my duties as a leader so much more easier! It was rlly community oriented and I really appreciated it for that. Specially cause I could tell it put the efford into being so nice to others, and it really liked our friends.

I remember in one timeline where admitedly halo boy was way more okay than in other of my canons- I was still mad at him for being rude and an asshole to my sister... He treated Graecie so horrible and she didn't even realize cus he acted all "nice" and stuff afterwards.. grr... ANYWAYS but about Krow.. Yeah so I was mad and taking my anger out on a training dummy Owen had outside his house. Krow found me and offered to go into the maze to kill some monsters and get my rage out for real!! So we did :D! We were okay dw. But erm yeah I hope Owen doesnt see this (we legit went in w/o telling anyone or flipping our levers.. oops..) BUT I HAD SO MUCH FUN!! It was a great way to let out my emotions without harming anyone :]

I remember watching the stars with it.. specially back in our clearing, but even in A we sat down sometimes together and would cuddle with a blanket and hot cocoa outside and just watch the night sky, away from everyone else..

We were one of those more "rom looking" qprs... cus in our more private and affectionate moments we'd hold hands, hug, cuddle and even kiss.. yes on the lips... it was so soft tho<3 hehehe

Owen, even before going crazyyyyyy, didn't rlly like Krow... he didnt want us to hang out too much at times cus of how violent and opinionated Krow was.. oh boy who's gonna tell him... giggles!!

Anyways look! Art i did of us!!

Also have art of Krowella (i call her Ella). Cause i also have a canon where she existed and I met her.. giggles! Oh and also a canon where both existed? Which is rlly funny cus I was a bit sad but kind of accepted Krow didn't care about loosing me as much as I cared about it.... and then Ella showed up and started being all flirty with me and bro was like OH GIRL ITS ON SIGHT. Giggles...

+ last picture is a doodle i did of krow and I for yuri day! And my silly lil bracelets hehe, including the one with the rock krow have me :]

[mxthtea]

Hi could I ask for aaaaaaaa

Gn!servant!readerXkiana/HoV where the servant is a very trusted person in the Herrscher of the void's eye and over time in their journey they start to have feelings for eachother but neither of them can make the first move until one day the reader almost died in a dangers mission and next day the reader wakes up feels that someone is holding their hand seeing its the HoV.

Im going full detail on this one XD. I hope I didnt break any rules with the servant reader type if its not good than you can change it from servant to right hand man if its better for you.

you didn't break any rules so dw anon ! ty for the req <3

request info

kiana/hov x gn!servant!reader warnings: blood/injuries, death mentions, servant reader, grammar + spelling mistakes, lowercase writing, tell me if i forgot any. description:

the warmth in your hand is what stirred you back awake. was it kiana? was it the enemy? was this a trick being played on you? despite your eyelids feeling heavier than boulders, you slowly opened them.

word count: 864

for sometime you had been along side kiana. before she had even gone to st. freya, you were beside her through all of the good and hard times she's been through. when the herrscher of the void, or void as you started to call her, had taken over kiana, you still swore you'd stay by her side.

even when kiana fled and disappeared for months, even when mei had found her and the news that she only had two months left struck you, no matter what, you'd always stay by kiana.

yet you never really considered yourself a close friend of her. back when you first met the white-haired girl, you had been tasked by some unknown man to watch over her at all costs. so you did.

and through all the time you had spent with kiana, you found yourself wanting to be her friend. maybe even more to her. but you never admitted the feelings you held for kiana, you never did.

"all enemies are down, i'm heading in." you talked over the comm connected to kiana's as you walked into the building.

the mission you were on with the girl was a dangerous one. a building was suspected of being linked to several cases on enraged mechs on the lose. they seemed to be almost identical to the ones that tesla made for anti-entropy so she had been framed with being at fault for weeks on end. einstein discovered the building as a suspected origin point, which made tesla basically force you two to investigate.

"be careful, y/n. we don't know what to expect here," kiana replied.

the comms went silent as you carefully walked through the hallways of the building. several scouts were placed out, human and robotic ones, that you had taken down for the sake of the mission. the twisting hallways seemed like a maze as you continued to search for some kind of area that would house a robotics room. for a place not so extravagant on the outside, it was a wonder how they fit so many rooms in one place.

the sound of a crackling noise filled one of your ears as kiana's voice break through, though hard to hear.

"y/n there's-" static, "- moving-" static "be ca-" the line went dead.

"kiana? kiana are you there?" you tried to speak to your partner but there was no answer.

you continued to struggle with your comms device. even as something was moving behind you.

you only realized what was happening when a searing pain erupted in your shoulder, a bullet piercing right through. your vision started to grow dark as a familiar orange spear-like shape landed by you.

the room smelled of disgusting chemicals that she had yet to grow used to despite being in so many of them. an off-white bandaged was wrapped around your injured shoulder, it matched the blanket you were placed under. the room felt so cold to her and she doubted that the thin blanket that barely covered you was helping either.

she sighed, taking off one of her gloves carefully and set it in her lap. to take off the other one she'd have to remove the entire sleeve of it too, but she didn't mind. she just wanted you to feel warm after being so cold for so long.

moving her hand towards yours, she held it in hers. your hands felt rough, and as she expected, cold. she hoped that hers would warm you up.

the warmth in your hand is what stirred you back awake. was it kiana? was it the enemy? was this a trick being played on you? despite your eyelids feeling heavier than boulders, you slowly opened them.

"void…?" your scratchy voice got her attention.

the familiar orange eyes looked up at you. "quiet human, you could have gotten yourself killed. if i didn't step in once i saw that pathetic mortal then you would have to be worried about more than an injured shoulder."

despite what void had said to you, she still held onto your hand. she might've even held it tighter than before. it brought a small smile to your face as you realized that void did indeed like you a bit at least. to anyone else she wouldn't have cared, but she seemed to care about you at least.

"thank you, void."

the herrscher looked down at you, "and for what?"

"for saving me, and staying by me while i was still out."

void huffed in response, "tell that to my host. she's the one who wanted to stay here until you recovered fully. i just decided to take over to finally get her stop rambling out loud about you, it's all she does by now. even at night i can hear her talking about you under her breath."

"she does?"

"of course she does."

you sat up, turning your hand so you could hold void's hand back.

"what do you think about me then?"

"me?"

you nodded to void as she looked up at the barren ceiling.

"i think of you the same way my host does. i'm just more silent on how i feel about you."

[riversofmars]

Interrupting my usual broadcast of DW fic to bring you another British gay mess: Please enjoy my first attempt at Caroline/Gillian! And as if I haven't got enough WIPs on, this is gonna be four parts, as it turns out! I don't know why I'm like this :D Anyway here we are due to popular demand!

Gillian takes Caroline up on her offer of moving in together and pooling their resources. A month has gone by and Caroline is surprised at how easy and comfortable life on the farm has become. The arrangement works for both of them: Gillian's financial struggles are a thing of the past and while it isn’t exactly the traditional family set-up Caroline would have wanted, Gillian turned out to be exactly what she needed in a partner to help raise her daughter. Adding romance to the otherwise perfect set-up is a pipe-dream on the headteacher's part, but the more time she spends with the sheep farmer, the more drawn she is to her. Rating: M (language & sexual themes)

Home Is Not A Place - Part 1: The Dinner

“For goodness sake,“ Caroline groaned, as she stepped out of her SUV and right into a puddle. Resigned to her changed situation, she decided from now on she would have to switch shoes after work, from her favourite heels, to a lesser loved pair. There was no two ways about it. But at least then there would be absolutely no danger of ruining a two-hundred pound pair of Jimmy Choos, upon her arrival at Greenwood farm. Of course she wouldn’t mention this to Gillian, God no, otherwise her Christmas present to her might end up a new pair of wellingtons.

In the open court yard of the farm, the wind was biting cold and encouraged the headteacher to hurry up the stairs to the relative safety and comfort of the house. Caroline cursed under her breath as the wind wreaked havoc with her hair, and the cold crept up her legs, underneath her woefully-inappropriate-for-farm-life pencil skirt. The British weather was really giving its all this year to live up to its reputation. Well in the grip of Winter already, it only took Caroline to stay late at work by an hour - like today - and night had already fallen. Preparations for this year’s Nativity were gathering steam and - being the hands-on headmistress she was - there was no way Caroline would allow the theatre department to shoulder the burden all on their own. Working late would usually have required a lot of planning for a single parent such as herself, but things had gotten a lot easier, recently.

“Hiya Caz,“ Gillian called from the lounge, when Caroline closed the front door of the farm house behind her and smiled at the chipper greeting.

“Hiya!“ She called back and pushed her soaked shoes into a corner. With any luck, Gillian wouldn’t spot them and she could deal with them later. The sheep farmer would only get suspicious if she lingered in the hallway for too long. “Evening,“ Caroline smiled as she stepped into the living room. Flora and Calamity were sitting on the sofa in front of the tv, dressed in pyjamas. She walked over to them, pressing a kiss to her daughter’s head and then, for good measure, repeated the gesture on Calamity. The girls were the closest of friends and since Caroline and Flora had moved in at the farm, they had become closer still - almost like real siblings - and Caroline had found herself treating them as such with increasing frequency.

“Wet out, is it?“ Gillian smirked, observing Caroline’s dishevelled head of hair, drawing her attention. The sheep farmer was leaning against the kitchen counter, mug in hand, assessing her over the rim of it.

“What’s this?“ Caroline raised her eyebrows, as she spotted two - and only two! - places set at the kitchen table, complete with wine glasses.

“Girls have eaten. Just having a bit of telly before bed,“ Gillian explained, nodding towards the pre-schoolers that were engrossed in their cartoons. “Lasagne is in oven, thought you might be hungry, with your long day n’all.“

“You made lasagne?“ Caroline asked, though it sounded more bewildered than she had intended. It wasn’t uncommon that Gillian would cook for all of them. She was the one at home, her work was here, it made sense. Caroline was a woman of science, of hard facts, so she liked things to make sense. But for some reason, coming home to Gillian Greenwood - who had cooked for her and looked after her daughter - was still something of curiosity, despite empirical evidence to the contrary. Caroline was still not quite used to it, no matter how much sense it made.

Caroline had managed to convince Gillian of the sense behind them pooling their resources not long after she had floated the idea for the first time. Her and Flora moved in at the farm a month ago, and much to everyone’s surprise - and her mother’s dismay - it worked surprisingly well. This was not the first time she had come home to a cooked meal, it was becoming a regular occurrence, so Caroline was at a loss as to why this time, it felt different. Perhaps it was the absence of Raff and Ellie who - as Caroline now remembered - had been invited to Ellie’s mother’s to parade around the little one. Perhaps it was because there were only two places set at the table. Or perhaps it was the warmth of Gillian’s chuckled as she replied:

“Well, had to make something.“

“You really didn’t have to, I don’t… expect to come home to a home cooked meal every day,“ Caroline felt obliged to state, just for the record, though she knew that Gillian would do whatever the bloody hell she wanted anyway. It wasn’t like Caroline - or anyone else for that matter - had any bearing on what this infuriatingly independent and bull-headed woman did or didn’t do.

“Nice though, innit,“ the sheep farmer shot back with surprising enthusiasm. “Guess that was part of the deal. Least I can do, mind the kids and cook you some tea.“ She gave a shrug like it was nothing; when to Caroline, it was a huge deal. This wasn’t something she would have admitted to, of course; just as she wouldn’t have admitted that there was something very appealing about coming home to Gillian.

“I’m not expecting you to pretend to be my stay-at-home housewife or something, Gillian,“ Caroline tried to brush it off with a joke.

“You better not. Cause that’s not me,“ Gillian retorted with good-natured humour, and it struck Caroline that she was a far cry from the tense, short-fused woman she’d met seven years ago. It was moments such as these, that the headteacher realised how much she had changed. Healing would be too strong a word for it; Caroline couldn’t imagine how anyone could possibly heal from what Gillian had been through, but she seemed to be doing, better. She seemed more comfortable in her own skin, and more comfortable with her life. Secretly, Caroline hoped she had contributed to her wellbeing in some small way; even if it was just by giving her the security that she wouldn’t have to give up the farm.

“Don’t I know it,“ Caroline chuckled. “Wine, too, is it?“ She picked up the bottle on the table and checked the label. It was one of her favourites and for a moment, she wasn’t sure whether Gillian had remembered, or if they’d still had that bottle lying round somewhere. “Is there a special occasion? One month since we moved in?“ It wasn’t like she had been counting…well, she had. But only to be able to lord it over her mother about how long they had managed to stay under the same roof, without tearing each other’s heads off…or each other’s clothes…she added as an after thought. But only for her own amusement, not for public consumption.

“I guess I just…wanted to say thank you…for agreeing to this,“ Gillian huffed, suddenly appearing self-conscious, as if she wondered whether she had made a mistake. Caroline felt guilty immediately. For someone with self-esteem as fragile as Gillian, doubts came quickly, and cut deep.

“It was my idea! It’s to both of our advantage. I couldn’t have carried on the way it was, particularly now that our parents aren’t…able…to help as much as before…“ Caroline was quick to assure her. It had made a lot of sense, and she was glad she had managed to persuade Gillian of the proposal’s merit. Even once their parents had volunteered the money to pay for the work on the roof, it didn’t change the fact that Gillian was barely breaking even financially. Certainly not with the sheep that had escaped a few months ago, and once Raff and Ellie moved out - which was only a matter of time - they wouldn’t be contributing anymore, either. Gillian needed someone with her, and Caroline was more than happy to be that person, for numerous reasons. Some of them she cared to discuss, like the practicalities of it, some she would keep to herself, thank you very much.

“Just wanted to say, I do appreciate it, Caz,“ Gillian interrupted and held her hands up, as if she just had to get that out there - and would shut up now that it was said. “And I hope you’re not gonna regret it.“

“Gillian, we’ve known each other seven years now,“ Caroline couldn’t help but point out, as she set the bottle of wine back down on the table. “Yes, we’ve had our ups and downs, but all things considered, I think we’re about as steady as our parents, don’t you think?“ She gave her a soft smile. They really had come an incredibly far way since they first laid eyes on each other. To this day, Caroline was still embarrassed about her behaviour on the day they’s met, and was beyond relieved that with time, Gillian had come to see the funny side of the whole thing.

“Suppose so. Just without the sex,“ Gillian snickered and took a sip of her tea, hiding her grin in her mug as she seemed to relax again.

“I don’t want to think about our parents having sex, thank you very much!“ Caroline exclaimed, mortified, and quickly turned to check the girls hadn’t accidentally overheard. To her relief, she found them still very much engrossed in their tv show.

“God no. I don’t know if they still can, I mean, at their age…“ Gillian huffed, matter-of-factly. “And with his heart too, better mind his blood pressure hadn’t he… Mind you, probably wouldn’t be worst way t’go. Right in throes of…“

“Yes, right. That’s it, change of subject please!“ Caroline shook her head vehemently and Gillian laughed.

“Go and get changed, didn’t mean to ambush you, it’ll keep.“ She gestured to the oven. “I’ll get little ones in bed.“

“If you’re sure.“ Caroline glanced at the clock. She hadn’t realised how late it was. “How about bath time?“

“All this fun stuff you miss out on when you work late. It’s done and dusted. Go on. You don’t wanna be throwing lasagne down that fancy blouse o’ yours,“ Gillian observed, nodding towards her cream blouse.

“Right.“ Caroline gave a soft smile and watched the sheep farmer gulp down the rest of her tea, before sitting it down in the sink.

“You want me to make you a cuppa first?“ Gillian asked, seemingly confused as to why Caroline hadn’t taken her up on the offer yet, instead lingering in the kitchen.

“No, no, it’s fine, I’ll have wine if that’s going,“ Caroline answered quickly, snapping out of her moment of marvelling at how bloody perfect life was right about now to retrieve the corkscrew.

“Well, you know where everything is by now, don’t you. It’s your home too,“ Gillian observed, with an ease that astounded Caroline, that Gillian didn’t seem to think anything of. She just headed to the sofa where she put an arm around each of the girls from behind. “Right you two monsters, show’s over, off to bed wi’ you,“ she announced, leaving Caroline to forget all about the wine. She just watched the display of perfect family life in awe.

——

“Is it bad that I’m sort of looking forward to Raff and Ellie moving out?“ Caroline mused, watching Gillian’s reaction over the rim of her wine glass. “With the baby and everything, the walls aren’t exactly thick.“

“You knew that before moving in,“ Gillian pointed out. She wasn’t unkind about it, she was amused if nothing else.

“Yes, and I’m not complaining. I just didn’t think I’d be doing this still, at gone fifty, I mean…I’m just glad Flora is through the worst of it now.“ Even now, there were still times where Caroline wondered whether she was too old for all this. She had two grown up sons, starting again with Flora and doing it all on her own had been tough. Thankfully, finally, she wasn’t alone anymore. It wasn’t exactly the traditional family set-up she would have longed for, but she knew Gillian would be everything Flora needed in a second parent. She could also be everything Caroline needed in a partner, but that was just wishful thinking on the headteacher’s part. She would content herself with the way things were, as it was shaping up to be everything she wanted, just sadly minus the romance.

“Nowt saying William or Lawrence couldn’t have started early,“ Gillian retorted and Caroline laughed:

“William? Please!“ They were on their third glass of red and Caroline was feeling warm and relaxed. Her reactions had lost the restraint and reservedness she usually maintained with people, even the ones closest to her. “And Lawrence needs to seriously work out whatever he is doing with his life. And with Angus!“ She had often wondered about his relationship with his best friend. At this point, things could go either way.

“Fair. Not much of a chance of getting knocked up there,“ Gillian chuckled.

“Raff’s done alright though, hasn’t he. Becoming a dad so young and still seeing through his education and getting a good job at the end of it, it’s quite the accomplishment,“ Caroline smiled and delighted in the way Gillian’s face brightened with pride.

“He’s a good boy, our Raff,“ she commented, and Caroline was determined to push the matter over the finish line:

“That’s a credit to you. He couldn’t have done it without your support,“ she added kindly, as she put her cutlery down. Dinner had been a delight, but then by this point, Gillian could have probably fed her anything and she would have thanked her with a dreamy eyed smile. Caroline felt the warmth radiating from her cheeks; a combination of wine, the fire going in the adjoining room, and her own conflicted feelings towards her step sister. For the sake of her own sanity, she refused to refer to her as that whenever possible, particularly in her own head.

“More like in spite of me,“ Gillian huffed, her mood swinging like a pendulum. She had been much more steady in recent years, but that wasn’t to say she was free of the crippling self-doubt that always chose the most inopportune moments to rear its ugly head. “Never would’ve happened wi’ someone else. Not like your boys went and knocked up their girlfriend, is it.“

“Don’t be ridiculous,“ Caroline cut in quickly, but Gillian just downed the rest of her wine and carried on:

“You know it’s true, ‘as bad as his mother’ is what they were saying, and if they weren’t, they were thinking it.“ She gave a bitter laugh that stood in stark contrast to the carefree atmosphere they had enjoyed.

“You have many flaws, Gillian, it’s part of your charm, but being a bad mother? That’s certainly not one of them.“ Caroline was quick and decisive, in intervening. There had been times where she had been quite happy to shoot a snide comment her way herself, but not anymore.

“Hm.“ Gillian’s response was minimal, which indicated to Caroline that she hadn’t listened or taken in what she’d said.

“It’s not!“ She insisted firmly.

“Alright!“ Gillian exclaimed, exasperated.

“Do you think I’d have come here, to live with you, having you help look after my daughter, if I didn’t think you were a good mother and a good person?“ Caroline leaned forward onto her elbows, regarding the farmer with a stern look that she had perfected in many years of teaching.

“’suppose not.“ Gillian folded, just as one of Caroline’s six-formers would have done.

“Well then.“ The headteacher straightened herself up again and proceeded to divide the rest of the bottle in between their two glasses.

“Their faces. When you told them.“ Gillian suddenly burst out laughing and Caroline grinned, recalling the conversation in vivid detail. The pendulum that was Gillian’s emotional well-being, had swung back around.

“Of all the stupid, stupid videos Lawrence has done… that would have been the moment to capture,“ she shook her head to herself, remembering how comical and surreal the whole thing had been.

“It was your Mum more than me Dad, that face she pulled!“ Gillian couldn’t stop laughing; it was infectious and prompted Caroline to launch into a scarily accurate imitation of her mother:

“Caroline, you can’t really be considering moving to a farm, and HER farm of all places. Is that any way for Flora to grow up? What if she…catches something or…“ Caroline could hardly breathe for laughing. “Honestly Mum, what is she gonna catch? Fresh air?“

“Touch of the common farmer, more like,“ Gillian grimaced, but she didn’t seem to care, not really.

“Like she’s never stayed here herself.“ Caroline rolled her eyes at the hypocrisy.

“I think she was more concerned with me, than the farm,“ Gillian pointed out, taking a deep breath to calm herself down - but her face continued cracking up and gave her away.

“Well obviously.“ Caroline just waved it off. They were both used to her mother’s strong opinions, and readily chose to ignore them.

“What will you be doing with Gillian around all the time?“ Gillian tried herself at Celia’s accent which caused Caroline to launch into another laughing fit.

“I don’t know, Mum, maybe we will have a wild sapphic love affair,“ she reprised her witty response with tears of laughter in her eyes.

“You nearly gave her a heart attack an’all,“ Gillian snickered.

“Well, it’s none of her business.“ Caroline took a deep breath, regaining some small measure of self control. “And really, she only has herself to blame. If she hadn’t been on at your Dad about lending you that money, and then telling me they wouldn’t be picking up Flora anymore, none of this would have happened.“

“So really, we should be thanking her, shouldn’t we.“ Gillian grinned after brief contemplation. “To your mother.“ She raised her glass and Caroline toasted her:

“I’ll drink to that.“

The evening wore on, and just as they contemplated opening a third bottle, Raff and Ellie returned with the baby, who was sleeping soundly in his car seat. Thank God for small favours, Caroline thought. They had cleared up from dinner and were lounging on the sofa with the telly on.

“Mum. Caz. Alright?“ Raff greeted them.

“Had a good evening?“ Gillian asked, looking around.

“Yeah great thanks,“ Ellie smiled in response and made her way up the stairs with the little one.

“You watching University Challenge, Mum?“ Raff asked, bemused, as he noticed the program they were watching.

“Through no fault of my own!“ Gillian was quick to point out. She shot Caroline a look who was sitting to the other end of the sofa.

Caroline considered it a safe distance, but not as safe as the other sofa would have been. It was one small thing she allowed herself. It was innocent enough, and Gillian didn’t seem to think twice when their legs intertwined on the two-seater.

The sheep farmer carried on explaining their television agreement to her son: “We compromise, see, she gets to watch something she wants and then I get to watch something I want.“

“Trust her to chose the most obnoxious thing she can possibly find, just to wind me up,“ Caroline interjected but without averting her eyes from the screen. She mumbled the answer to yet another obscure question under her breath.

“Sounds about right,“ Raff chuckled and Gillian leaned over the back of the sofa to slap her son’s arm.

“Remember, it’s a school night,“ she pointed her finger at him.

“Bit rich coming from you.“ He eyed their empty wine glasses. “I feel like the alcohol consume in this house has sky rocketed in the past month.“

“Yeah, well, got to knock ourselves out somehow between the baby crying and you two going at it,“ Gillian quipped, and returned her attention to the television as well.

“You’re just jealous cause you haven’t go a fella right now,“ Raff teased.

“Yeah well, I’m over that for the time being,“ Gillian gave a dismissive wave of her hand.

“Think you’ve finally gone through all the eligible bachelors in West Yorkshire?“ Caroline saw an opportunity to jump in and tried her best to keep the smallest twang of jealousy from her voice.

“And some of the ineligible ones too,“ Raff added, with a smirk.

“OI!“ Gillian exclaimed, shooting him a glare and kicked Caroline’s leg for siding with him.

“I’d better see if Ellie needs some help…“ Raff was quick to make his escape.

“Yeah, you’d better,“ his mother shouted after him.

“I have to say, you have come a long way since we met. From having three blokes you’re shagging staying over in this place,“ Caroline couldn’t help but comment, recalling the fateful night their parents had gone missing and they had stayed at the farm with Gillian’s three merry men - Paul, John and Robbie - all crammed onto these sofas.

“Bet you wouldn’t have come to stay then, would’ya,“ Gillian hummed, her voice surprisingly neutral.

“Could have joined that exclusive club,“ Caroline smirked, the alcohol loosening her tongue enough to make a joke, one too close to the truth for comfort. She forced herself not to think about what else she could be doing with her tongue right about now.

“Caz!“ Gillian exclaimed, and the headteacher couldn’t quite tell whether she was offended, self-conscious or flattered.

“It really is easy to tease you,“ Caroline back-peddled to safer waters.

“Yeah well, you’re living with Yorkshire’s greatest slapper so jokes on you,“ Gillian huffed. “Watch your f-bloody University Challenge.“

“Hm, yes, what will people think,“ Caroline chuckled and did as she was told.

[tillthelandslide]

The Perfect Trio: Henry Cavill / Anya Chalotra Fake Instagram

A/N: Hi everyone, this is a little bit of a different fake instagram post that I’ve made. I hope you like it.

Tag List: @harrysthiccthighss @thereisa8ella @magdelen69 @henrythickcavill @hc-geralt-23 @kissthatlifeaway @darkbooksarwin @august-w-princess @speakerforthedead0 @pixie1484 @constip8merm8 @tigerbroadwaybaby @agniavateira @summersong69 @aestheticallywinchester @stephartrave @al-wiisa @henrycavillfanpage @intenselikes @anat2507 @ellixthea @aguspalazzo @1ookatthestars00 @wintersoldierslut @michelehansel @cavill-sass @thecavillstache @xelizabethvalentinex @sesamepancakes @tumblnewby @thefangirlsblog @sugarmelonwater @madbaddic7ed  @bakika @abundanceofsoph @noisymist @mis-lil-red @runawayolives @kellbell44

(if you would like to be added to my tag list, feel free to message me,    if you are new to my blog then I post Henry Cavill fanfics and make   Henry Cavill fake Instagram posts, my requests are open so feel free to request anything and I will try my best to make your vision come to  life. Edit: requests are still open but there might be a delay as I am working my way through the current ones and all other stories I am  writing)  

your_username:

your_username This was the moment Henry found out that the Witcher got picked up for another season! Beyond proud of you @henrycavill and also excited for everyone, I know it’ll be amazing. The Witcher Season 1 is now out on Netflix and I highly recommend you watch it, you’ll get to see the amazing work @laurenhissrich has done and the amazing characters that @henrycavill @anyachalotra @freyaallan and @joeybateyofficial and many more have brought to life

Liked by henrycavill, laurenhissrich, freyaallan, joeybateyofficial and 329,928 others

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henrycavill So excited!!

    ↳ your_username me too baby!!

anyachalotra Thank you so much for all of your support and love, so glad to have a friend like you

freyaallan Thank you! ALSO this is so cute

fan8 The way he’s squeezing her, adorable... literal definition of a bear hug

joeybateyofficial This is sweet

laurenhissrich woohoo!

your_username:

your_username Happy Anniversary @anyachalotra you absolute beauty. No we are not dating to those who do not know us 😂. But exactly one year ago today, I met you on the set of the Witcher... Henry had told me all about his amazing co-stars and about how lucky he felt to be working with such talented and upcoming actors. I met you and my life changed, you became my best friend quicker than anything else. I am so lucky to have a friend like you and I am so grateful to my love @henrycavill for introducing us

Liked by anyachalotra, henrycavill and 376,419 others

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anyachalotra I love you so much. Thank you @henrycavill

  ↳ henrycavill You're welcome, but please don't take her from me

  ↳ anyachalotra No promises

henrycavill I love you

  ↳ your_username Love you more

freyaallan Beautiful 😍 happy anniversary 😂😘 @anyachalotra @your_username

  ↳ your_username Love you 💙 @freyaallan

  ↳ anyachalotra Love you 💜 @freyaallan

user902 This friendship is so stupid wtf. Who would want to become best friend with someone their boyfriend kisses ??

  ↳ user1 I 100% agree, so stupid, I dont like her anyway, would rather anya and henry get together

anyachalotra:

anyachalotra Today marks one year of knowing the absolute beautiful, wonderful, amazing, phenomenally talented and caring @your_username. The Witcher truly changed my life, I not only got the opportunity of a lifetime to play such a fantastic role, but I met some of the best people I have ever met. Working with Henry was an absolute joy but when he introduced me to you (whom he loves very much🥺) I knew I had met a lifelong best friend💕

Liked by henrycavill, your_username, freyaallan and 432,117 others

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your_username So glad I met you 💕 also I love this picture 💕

    ↳ anyachalotra Me too 💕 best wrap party ever

Fan8 There friendship is cute don't get me wrong... But how can Yn be okay with Henry having to kiss her (now) best friend

    ↳ your_username I trust them both very much and its there job 💕

    ↳ hoeforhenry We stan a trusting queen

lovehenryandyn SO SO cute

user902 not really... so weird... bet henry is cheating on her with anya

   ↳ lovehenryandyn this is so rude, they trust each other, stop hating on them

anyachalotra:

anyachalotra two peas in a pod. @your_username forced Henry to take this 😂

Liked by freyaallan, your_username, henrycavill and 872,782 others

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your_username My wife 💕

     ↳ henrycavill excuse me?

     ↳ your_username metaphorically speaking. You're my one and only Hen💕 sorry @anyachalotra (you're my wifey still dw)

     ↳ anyachalotra Jealous much @henrycavill 😂

     ↳ henrycavill I mean yeah? Have you seen her? Met her? She's the best

henrycavill You're welcome @anyachalotra

     ↳ anyachalotra For the photo or for introducing me to the @your_username

     ↳ henrycavill Both

     ↳ your_username @henrycavill you're the best

freyaallan So cute. Wish I was there with you guys 💕

     ↳ your_username Me too 💕 we love you and miss you

henrycavill :

henrycavill As you all know, there are certain things in my life that I like to keep private. One of those things has always been my relationships. But then I met @your_username and I wanted everyone to know her, I wanted all of my fans to see how amazing she was. I wanted everyone I worked with to know that I was the lucky guy that got to call her my partner. One of the things I love most about her is her laugh and her smile. This week I haven't seen much of that smile because some people have left her, the love of my life, some truly awful messages. This is my Yn, she is beautiful, loving, caring, talented, a good friend, truly supportive and the most important person in my life. Please love her as much as I do and stop the nasty comments. Yn has taught me that everyone can be a little kinder 💕

Liked by joeybateyofficial, anyachalotra and 1,128,837 others

View all 121,738 comments

truefan The fact he had to post this in the first place, breaks my heart. I don't think people understand that by hurting his loved ones, you're hurting him

     ↳ fan19 Why did she get hate?

     ↳ truefan Not 100% sure. I know some of it was about her and anyas friendship. Some people were hating on her for being with Henry and being best friends with anya which is so stupid.

anyachalotra The best person around 💕 @your_username

joeybateyofficial The kindest person I had ever met. You're a lucky man and she deserves to smile like that everyday

 henrycavill thanks man 💙

freyaallan Will never forget the day I met you, you were so supportive, kind and sweet and not a single day goes by when you are anything but that 😘💕

hoeforhenry Makes me so sad to see this post. And then you look at the amazing comments and Yn hasn't replied to any of them, probably because she's too upset to come on here now. Wishing you the best ❤️

     ↳ henrycavill She's taking a little break. Appreciate the support though 👍🏼 and so does Yn

laurenhissrich I will always remember when I met Yn, we spoke about her obsession with the Witcher books and games and she told me that she was beyond excited for the show to come out. She said that from what Henry had told her she knew she was going to love it and love our interpretation of it. Since that day she has showed me and everyone working on this project, nothing but support and love, she is always the first to be complimentary and honest and she deserves the very best 💜🤗

fanofhenry These comments are so adorable. Everyone just telling there own stories of her 💜 the haters can f off

your_username:

your_username

My wonderful Henry and my amazing best friend Anya. Nobody will make me feel bad for having these two gems in my life. Thank you everyone who sent me lovely messages and comments. The support means the world to me and I’ll never forget it

Liked by henrycavill, anyachalotra and 653,271 others

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henrycavill Proud of you my love

anyachalotra Stay positive and remember you are the best

fan8 So glad she’s back on here now, the haters are rude and nasty and their comments are ridiculous. This is the perfect trio right here

  your_username Glad to be back! Thanks for this sweet comment

[hottestthingalive]

If the fake fic titles are still open: id like to suggest “its too quiet” as a fic title (if they arent open feel free to delete this)

ooooohhhhh this is gonna be fun

-It’s quiet when Logan wakes up.

-Far too quiet, he thinks, because he lives in a castle, and there’s always some noise by the time he wakes up, even if it’s just the birds or the wind or the creaking of an old building in the winter. 

-He cannot hear any of these things. 

-Logan is the advisor to royalty. He did not get this job by having bad instincts, and so he sits up and gets dressed immediately. 

-The castle is empty, he thinks at first, because it’s almost past noon (and why oh why did he sleep in so late?) and no one is there. The throne room, the kitchens, the gardens, the library, even the town outside -- not a single person seems to be there but himself. 

-And then he checks the rooms, and he understands. 

-They’re asleep. Everyone in the castle (and he can guess the town outside, too, and possibly the whole land) is fast asleep, and no matter what he does, he cannot wake them. He does his best, desperately tries to wake King Thomas, but he fails. 

-He fails, and it is so, so quiet. 

-And then there is noise. 

-��Get away from our father, witch!” yells a familiar voice, though one he has never heard quite so desperate, and the twin princes crash into him, dragging him to the floor, knocking his head against the tiles as they stand over him with swords they must have pilfered from the guards and helmets and shields that are too large for them. 

-“Roman? Remus?” he says, because he cannot believe they are awake, and the five-year old crown princes’ eyes widen in recognition. 

-“Lolo?” Remus says first, and tears up, and he drops his sword to fall into Logan’s arms, already sobbing. “What’s happening? Why is everyone asleep?” Roman joins the hug quickly, and Logan sits up holding them both, and does not care that his tunic is soaked with their tears because he is so glad to see them. 

-“I don’t know,” he admits. 

-They leave the castle, eventually. Though the food does not rot and everything still works, they are all getting sad and scared and angry staying in this empty palace, and besides, Logan says they must look for a cure for whatever this is. Once they have waited two weeks, and know the sleepers do not need food or water or cleaning (once they have waited two weeks, and have been alone with just each other for so long, the quiet creeping into their bones and hearts and souls) they leave the castle.

-Everywhere has been affected, Logan starts to think. Nothing rots, nothing decays, but every living thing they see in their travels is fast asleep. They take food with them, and when they run out they borrow it from the more affluent homes they pass. Roman and Remus change from their princely attire to clothes better for traveling, and though Logan does his best to seem respectable at all times, he does as well, too. The twins grow out their hair, and he teaches them to braid it, keeping his own tied up as best he can. 

-It is months before they meet Virgil and Patton and Janus, before Logan wanders into a pub when the princes are fast asleep to try and get a drink, Virgil popping up from behind the bar with wide eyes, a confused expression, and a sleeping baby in his arms. Patton is a toddler, who calls Virgil “Ver!” and Janus is so young, barely old enough to eat foods other than milk. Logan does not question the scales that cross one side of Janus’ face, nor Patton’s green-tinged skin and webbed fingers, or Virgil’s sharp teeth and purple and green eyes, but his princes do, incessantly. Virgil does not seem to mind. 

-“Are Janus and Patton our new brothers?” Roman asks one day, whispering it to Logan as he and Patton play “Patton-cake” (A name Logan despises, for the record) and Virgil rocks Janus to sleep, Remus tracing the scales on the baby’s left side with careful curiosity. 

-Logan exchanges looks with Virgil (Virgil who has begun to sit closer to him when the children are asleep, who exchanges stories and points out stars and is a shoulder for Logan to cry on, who he thinks is quite pretty and maybe, just maybe, could be something a tad different from a friend to him) and smiles, soft and sad. “They might as well be,” he says, and the young prince just grins, and takes Patton’s chubby hands in his own, and says “You hear that, Pat? We’re brothers, now!”

-Patton giggles, and says “Ro!” and “Re!” and “Lo!” and “Ver!” and “Ja!” and then “Mily!” 

-Virgil looks over, still holding Janus, and frowns. “What’s ‘Mily’?” he asks, stepping closer. 

-Logan might have guessed that it had been Patton’s family, before, but Virgil had told him one night, in a hushed whisper, that Patton had never met his parents, Virgil’s brother and his partners, that they had died when he was a baby and Virgil had taken him in. Janus was a more recent addition to their little band, a changeling left to die in the forest before Virgil had rescued him. 

-“Family,” Remus says, in the way of his that almost seems unnatural, how he and his brother always seem to know what one is thinking, and perhaps they do. (This correlates to Logan’s theory -- that they remain awake because of magic in their blood. Virgil has confessed that he is a witch, a healer, primarily, that his brother had had the gift too and had thus given magical blood to Patton. Then there is Janus’ changeling nature, and Logan’s own magical descent from a human father and faerie mother. No one knows where the twins came from, just that the king and his partner had adopted them, and they could very well have power running through their veins, enough to know a toddler’s thoughts, or when someone is not looking so they can steal cookies from the kitchen, or to tease Logan about his ‘crush’ on Virgil.)

-“Family?” Logan says, and Patton repeats it; “Mily!” 

-They find a way to break the curse, eventually, after three years, after they find the Dragon Witch and she warns them of a sorcerer who had plunged the world into an endless sleep. They have been living in a cottage built by Logan and Virgil and Janus’ budding telekinesis for years, now, the princes nine and strong and fast and brave, Patton six and an unusually fast swimmer and so, so kind, Janus nearly four and in awe of his brothers, toddling along after them at any opportunity. Virgil insists that they need to find this sorcerer, break the curse, when the children have been put to bed and he and Logan and the Dragon Witch sit at the kitchen table. The Dragon Witch (DW, as she insists they call her, refusing to give her real name, wary of Logan and Janus and their fey descent) says it is too dangerous, alone, and he reminds her they are three, seven with the children too. Logan sides with DW, though he sees Virgil’s point, and eventually he is swayed. 

-Logan has long since fallen in love with Virgil, though he has not told him. He hopes Virgil knows that the long hours sitting on the bench under the willow tree outside their cottage and the mornings of cooking together and sleepy conversations and the nights spent in the same bed after the nightmares from being alone became too much for them both mean more to him than anything else in the world, save for the children they raise together. Sometimes, he thinks his feelings might be returned, and those are the days he feels like he might be glowing from the inside out. 

-And when the sorcerer aims a spell at Virgil, says “If you are so lonely without the human-kind, you may sleep with them!” Logan jumps in the way, finds himself staggering and falling backwards into Virgil’s arms, sees horrified glowing purple and green eyes just before his eyes close. “I love you,” he whispers, and then he drifts away. 

-And then he wakes up, and Virgil is clutching his face in his hands, eyes wide with shock, tears wet against his cheeks, and he says “Logan Logan Logan!” like it is a prayer and pulls him into a hug.

-“What happened?” he asks, and Virgil turns a furious shade of red, and DW laughs and laughs. “True love’s kiss!” Patton exclaims, eyes wide and shining with glee, and Logan finds himself blushing too. 

-As in every fairy tale, true love’s kiss does indeed break the spell. The king is shocked, to see his sons so grown, but he is also more than happy to accept his new ones. “I do not want to make it seem like you are not their parents, as well,” Thomas tells Logan and Virgil, “for you are, and it would be selfish of me to think otherwise. Thank you, for saving me, and for caring for my sons.” He and Logan are rather good friends, after that, and when Logan is made a lord (and a rather powerful one, at that) it is only surprising to him. 

-Virgil lives in the palace with them, and Logan finds himself flirting and holding hands and blushing far too often. They kiss again a few months later. They are married when Roman and Remus are eleven, Patton nine, and Janus five, and the king himself performs the ceremony. Patton scatters flower petals when they walk up the aisle hand in hand, Roman and Remus ties the long black and purple and blue ribbons around their wrists, binding them together, and Janus presents them with the knives they had given each other, as tradition dictates, to put in marriage sheaths at their sides. The Dragon Witch (who has long since told them her name, by now) makes the sky explode in color for them, and watches the children while Virgil and Logan dance together. 

-Logan finds his family in the quiet, and yet he loves them for the noise they bring into his life. And in the end, he would not have had it any other way, even for all the hardship, for he cannot imagine a world without them. 

I really do have a brand, and it is Analogical™. But I loved loved loved writing this piece, and I might expand on it in the future for funsies because sometimes family is a half-fey advisor to the king, a witch/healer, two slightly magical princes, a small frog child and the witch’s nephew, a tiny baby changeling, the king and his partner, and a dragon witch pretending to be mean who’s really just a big softie. 

Send me a fake fic title and I’ll tell you what I’d write for it!

[broccoliboix5peepeeman]

hello!!!!!!! (dw i have not broken my fingers, i feel like i should reassure you of that first XDDD) but mayhaps could you write a oneshot for this here prompt?- "a breathy demand 'kiss me'- and what the other does to respond"

(Asdfghjkl I’m so glad honestly bahaha! XD And of course!!! Allow me to just sprinkle in a nice, healthy dose of needy Shoto and we’re good to go! ;))

 

Shoto's soba slipped from his chopsticks and landed on the table with a large squelch, albeit he hardly even noticed; his eyes were glued to the screen.

'I can’t believe what I'm seeing! The building is completely aflame, it looks like it could collapse at any moment! Several civilians are still trapped inside!'

The screen cut to a view of the building across town. When the initial report had come on, Shoto had told himself that he would let the other heroes deal with it. After all, it was his day off and he was under strict orders not to come in unless specifically called upon - not that that had ever stopped him before. However, as the fire blazed on, the right side of his body ached with the knowledge that his ice could drastically help the situation.

'Wait! What was that?!' The reporter suddenly gasped, effectively distracting Shoto from his thoughts of getting up to find his hero costume; his eyes widened as a flash of green shot across the tv screen and flew into the building before disappearing completely.

The chopsticks snapped under Shoto's grip.

'Izuku.' He breathed.

'Is that-?! It is! I've just had confirmation that the number one hero is on the scene! That's right, everyone, Deku is here!'

Shoto leaned forward in his seat, waiting for the flash of emerald to reappear from within the cloud of smoke surrounding the building. For several moments though, there was no movement; Shoto felt his heart beat rapidly against his chest, the anticipation almost unbearable.

He knew his husband was number one for a reason. He knew that Izuku could handle it.

But what if? The thought gnawed at Shoto. I should be there with him.

His eyes started to sting but blinking simply wasn’t an option. He had to see it for himself: the moment Izuku emerges from that flaming wreck.

Frost crept up Shoto’s body when one of the remaining windows shattered, orange flames slithering out and dancing in the air. Distantly, he registered that the reporter was still commentating in the background, but he could hardly hear her for the drumming in his ears. 

‘Come on, Izuku.’ He whispered, the living room suddenly feeling incredibly lonely. ‘Come back to me.’

The moment the words were out of his mouth, there was a loud explosion and the camera shook violently. However, the bright emerald light that suddenly started glowing from the smoke was unmistakable.

Izuku had burst out through the top of the building, carrying a dozen civilians in his arms, while Black Whip had secured several others with its long appendages. Shoto watched in awe as his husband carefully lowered himself and those he had saved to the ground, towards the awaiting ambulance. His trademark smile was plastered to his face, telling everyone that he was here.

'Izuku…' Shoto sighed, both proud and relieved, and allowed himself a small smile.

Then the smoke alarm went off.

☼ ☽

'I’m baaaack! Izuku called out as he stepped into the apartment, closing the door behind him and kicking off his shoes. After the fire incident that evening, he had been forced to stay behind at the agency to fill out the mandatory paperwork.

Izuku loved being a hero, he really did, but that didn’t make paperwork any less of a bitch.

As he wandered down the hallway towards the bedroom, a yawn escaped him and he rubbed at his sticky eyes. However, the moment he opened the door, a husband-sized object barrelled into him unexpectedly. Izuku let out an incredibly unheroic scream and stepped back to prevent them both from falling over, his back hitting the wall opposite with a loud thud.

‘Shoto!’ Izuku squeaked as his partner wrapped his arms around his shoulders and started nuzzling into his neck. He immediately relaxed into the familiar touch and sighed contentedly, bringing his hands up to rest on Shoto’s hips.

However, his sigh quickly escalated into a shocked gasp when Shoto started to press open-mouthed kisses along his neck.

His husband explored him fervently, before eventually settling just below his jawline, where he began to suck hungrily - his warm lips and tongue dragging across sensitive skin and causing Izuku to inhale sharply. Subconsciously, he tilted his head to the side to give him better access, his eyes fluttering shut.

‘You’re late.’ He finally heard Shoto mumble against him, licking his handiwork affectionately. ‘Missed you.’

‘Mmm… Missed you too.’ Izuku breathed, hands tightening around Shoto’s hips as he pulled him flush against him. His husband gasped at the sudden movement and lifted his head to stare at him through heavy-lidded eyes.

‘Kiss me.’ Shoto demanded in a voice barely above a whisper, licking his lips longingly.

‘I could never refuse you, my love.’

Izuku brought one of his hands up to his husband’s face, cupping his chin as he ran his thumb across his bottom lip, relishing in the way a cool tongue darted out to lick his digit. Heat pooled in his stomach and Izuku tilted Shoto’s chin as he leant forwards and captured his husband’s lips in a heated, open-mouthed kiss. 

The moment their lips met, a flood of euphoria filled Izuku in his entirety and was only exacerbated when Shoto moaned into his mouth, hands coming up to tug at his curls.

‘Saw you on the news earlier.’ Shoto murmured when they finally broke apart, eagerly lifting his arms so Izuku could remove his Deku-themed pyjama top. Scarred hands traced his torso as he lifted the material, exposing his husband's athletic frame.

Once shirtless, Shoto braced his hands against Izuku's still-clothed chest. ‘You worried me - you spent way too long in that building.’

‘I had to get everybody out, you know that, Sho. You should also know by now that I’ll always come back to you.’ Izuku rubbed their noses together as Shoto hummed in response, clearly satisfied.

Suddenly feeling playful, Izuku grinned and lowered his hands to unabashedly knead his husband’s arse. ‘Anyway, I’ve been meaning to ask, what did you think of my exit? Brave? Inspiring? Reckless?’

Shoto jumped up and wrapped his legs around Izuku’s waist, leaning down for yet another passionate kiss.

‘Mmm, vey hot.’ He admitted, biting on Izuku’s lower lip and eliciting a loud hiss from him.

‘Well, there was a fire, Sho.’ He replied easily, smirking against his husband’s mouth as he began to carry him towards their bedroom.

‘Shut the fuck up.’ Shoto sighed, completely uninterested in his pun, and shut him up with a kiss. However, he let out an undignified yelp when Izuku responded by throwing him onto the bed with no prior warning, before moving his hands to the hem of his shirt and swiftly removing the garment.

Admiring the prominent flush coating Shoto’s face, Izuku then crawled onto the bed and trapped him between his large arms. He stared down at his husband, admiring his kiss-bruised lips, his long hair in disarray and the way he stared right back at him with dichromatic eyes that shone like the sky.

‘Izuku.’ Shoto uttered his name like a prayer and Izuku felt his heart melt just that little bit more. His vision blurred slightly as fresh tears formed and he bent his head, smiling against Shoto’s mouth as he tasted his lips once more.

‘I love you so fucking much.’ He laughed, moving to plaster his husband’s neck with hickeys as an act of fair vengeance and thoroughly enjoying the way Shoto moaned in response.

‘I love you too, Izu.’ Shoto grasped Izuku’s biceps and ran his hands along the bulging muscles. ‘Stay with me?’

Izuku grinned as he nuzzled his husband’s neck.

‘Forever.’

[nodesiretogrowup]

alright y’all, time for a Melissa play-by-play. I have a theory about this episode but it will get it’s own post:

And we dive right into spy time

That statue in the fountain was very upsetting :’)

GODDAMN U LAUNCHPAD, U SEXY BEAST

I like that LP says spiffy because I use the word spiffy

DEW-ble O Duck

“What I Dewey best” God I love Dewey and his love of puns

SONG TIME!!!

Ben is a really good singer

I like how the song was foreshadowing things to come

How is she wearing earrings?

A ham on cheese sandwich sounds really good rn

“I can’t remember when I’m hungry” A man after my own heart

YOU DIED

Ok, that game is WAAAAAY too advanced. It has the whole building mapped out and those glasses are WAAAY to small and lightweight to handle all that. Is it all through wi-fi? Am I overthinking the logic of a video game in a cartoon? Probably

“I had a sassy quip and everything.” He has the makings of a superhero in him

“It’s a little too real.” FORESHADOWING! Or the game was already REALLY immersive. OR BOTH

OH GOD LAUNCHPAD IS ALREADY FEELING BAD ABOUT HIMSELF!

“Haven’t you ever wanted to plug into a high-stakes, thrilling adventure?” He’s already done the spy-thing. Though it would have been cool to see Scrooge in a sexy suit

UNCLE MCDEE! I LOVE IT

Then an Uncle Scrooge from Webby. TOO CUTE!

There is A LOT of winking in this episode ;)

“We’re a team” DEWEY IS SO ADORABLE AND WHOLESOME!

Aw, Launchpad

I didn’t notice it the first time, but I love that Steelbeak is using one of those plastic swords to pick his teeth. It’s the little things

Is the theme song gonna be the short version for every episode this season?

I really dig Jason Mantzoukas’ take on Steelbeak. He’s just so cocky yet insecure at the same time. I like his voice cracking when he gets embarrassed or excited 

And I ADORE how UTTERLY STUPID he is. I think he’s dumber than Launchpad because Launchpad is aware that he’s not exactly the smartest guy but Steelbeak GENUINELY thinks he’s smart. Plus he feels the joke. That’s just dumb and unfunny (in-universe at least. out of universe it’s great)

“The Sat-a-Lighthouse. Classic villain lair.” Well we know that’s gonna show up

Bradford’s neck bothers me. It makes my neck hurt looking at it

Intelli-ray. You guys are a bit on the beak nose when it comes to naming things

GADGET!

“Rat’s are dumb, right?” YOU STUPID BEAUTIFUL MAN

THE OTHER RANGERS! And Monterey already has his mustache

Ok how did her hair grow so fast? And did she shave her fur? How did she get a more human-esque figure? I NEED THIS INFORMATION

They Secret of Nimh’ed her!

Heron acts like an annoyed/done mom with Steelbeak and he acts like a snotty kid. It’s great

EVIL LAUGH

“Did that rat make that jumpsuit on a regular sewing machine, or did it build its own tiny sewing machine?” STEELBEAK ASKING THE REAL QUESTIONS HERE

I legit thought she was about to pull off his beak

“I’ll go. Not because you told me.” He’s such a punk-ass kid, I LOVE IT

CHOMP CHOMP

DON’T EXPLAIN THE JOKE, BRO

“I pay for the privilege of doing someone else’s yard-work?” THAT’S WHAT I THOUGHT YOU’D SAY, YOU RICH, PRIVILEGED MAN. Whack-a-Mole is actually about expressing all the rage and fury inside you

Video graphic adventures

SKEE BALL! I FUCKING LOVE SKEE BALL

That kid didn’t even take his tickets

Ticket-rich. I love it

LET’S STRETCH BITCHES

“Can’t let Dewey down. Gotta be smart, gotta win the game.” OH LAUNCHPAD, SWEETHEART

“Calm down, LP. It’s only a game.” Dewey is SUCH a GOOD friend!

“But don’t overthink it.” That’s just good life advice in general

I love how tiny Dewey is when compared to LP. It’s ADORABLE

“THEN WE GET PIZZA.” “Yes, pizza.” I don’t know why, but the way Ben delivers that line is hilarious to me

“Pad. Launchpad. McQuack. My name is Launchpad McQuack.” I love you so much

Ok, was there an actual dude there? How could’ve Steelbeak thrown a digital person?

“Yes, I do as well.” YOU DUMB HOE, I LOVE YOU

That card game was great. Truly a battle of wits. And Dewey just being like...what. Beautiful

“Well played.” “It was?”

“Look’s like you’ve been out-smart guyed.” The dialogue in this episode is top notch 

I too do not understand smanzy card games

“But how about a game of 52 pickup...YOUR TEETH!”

“THE PAIN FEELS SO LIFELIKE!”

The sound Steelbeak makes when Dewey pulls on his...hair(?) is great

One day you’ll get to quip Dewey, one day

The cuts between the game reality and actual reality are so great

Is that the Phantom Blot or the normal Funzo? Is there even a normal Funzo?

The neck cracking also made my neck hurt

All the kids gathering around Scrooge is too cute

“Not now lass, I’m on a roll.” SKEE BALL IS A GATEWAY DRUG TO GAMBLING

“I think they just have nachos.” They have pizza too

Steelbeak pecking at Launchpad...brilliant

The little pug/bulldog kid is so cute

The scream when he’s hit with the pizza is gold

That ballpit is terrifying

Yet again Launchpad falls on someone

HE FUCKING PUNCHED A KID! WTF BRO?!

“WE MADE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL!”

Those jumpsuits are pretty nice, ngl

“Nerp”

Launchpad had the right idea, he just fumbled on the execution

Rubix cubes-shorthand for intelligence levels

She is so done with him it’s great

“We can make Scrooge SO HUNGRY, he’ll EAT all the toys!” Solid logic

“Duh, that ain’t smart.” OO, BURN

Whenever anyone/anything grabs Steelbeak’s beak I feel like it’s gonna come off

THE THEME SONG PLAYS! I LOVE IT! IT’S GREAT

How did the others get smart? Where did THEIR clothes come from?! I NEED ANSWERS FRANK!!

Launchpad is always ready to lend a helping hand

HOW DID THE GLOVE FLOAT?! I HAVE SO MANY UNANSWERED QUESTIONS!!!

“The answer was to build a tiny plane and teach a mouse to fly it?” “Yes, I figured that out.”

Is Gadget a rat or a mouse? She looked more mouse-like before she got smartified but Heron called her a rat. EVEN MORE UNANSWERED QUESTIONS! She’s probably a mouse though because that’s what she was in the original show

I don’t know why but I love when people call Launchpad LP. Maybe it’s because he has nicknames for everyone else so him having a nickname is cute

So Steelbeak was in prison in St. Canard. Perhaps he had a run in with a certain terror that flaps in the night? That would be hilarious if the two had met before but now Steelbeak is more focused on Launchpad. That would be a blow to DW’s ego

I kind of feel bad for Steelbeak. Sure he’s dumb but that was uncalled for. No wonder he snapped

“You bird-brained...” Aren’t you ALL bird-brains though? You are birds and you have brains therefore you have bird-brains. That almost feels like it could be a racist comment in this world

“I’M THE RICHEST DUCK IN THE ARCADE!” You were the richest duck in the arcade the moment you walked in

I love when Scrooge gets obsessed with something and loses his goddamn mind

WEBBY YOU CREATED A MONSTER!

“Ticket bin?” “YES!”

322 DAYS WITHOUT AN ACCIDENT. Good for them

Launchpad just LEEROY JENKENS’ed his way in

His hand is as big as Dewey’s HEAD

LP and Steelbeak have great fight dialogue. It reminds me of Megamind and Metro Man

LAUNCHPAD PUSHES DEWEY TO SAFETY! At that point he didn’t even KNOW what the ray did! But he heroically saved his best friend, not matter what would happen to him! WE STAN! 

 This episode cemented my headcanon that Chris Evans would be the perfect human LP

“I SHALL AVENGE YOU, MY FRIEND” 

This scene, the climax, and the end of the episode gave me a theory, but it will have its own post

British accent=smart?

First thing he does is slick back the hair. Classy

“That cad, Steelbeak” We should call more people cads

How did LP fit into that much smaller man’s uniform? Are they extra stretchy? Because I can totally see that being something FOWL would do. It’s practical

“I don’t know what any of those words mean.” Same

“Heavens, you don’t want them to think you don’t know what you’re doing!” My constant struggle

The supersious guy is adorable

“Well, it’s certainly proving to be bad luck FOR YOU!”

KARATE CHOP ACTION

He still calls him Mr McDee. I just think that’s cute

Dear Dewford. Aww

“I won’t let him down again.” AAAAWWWWWWW

“Can’t go out there looking like this.” You can’t fight crime if you ain’t cute (or sexy in LP’s case)

LAUNCHPAD, YOU SEXY MOTHERFUCKER

That is an old-ass phone you got there, LP

Scrooge is 2 for 2 in missing important calls. Probably should turn his ringtone on

Webby is just so done

“Ah yes, you’d like that wouldn’t you, sonny.” God, Scrooge can get downright FERAL

Blink-and-you’ll-miss-it DW cameo. It looks like Drake’s DW. Does he have merch now? Does he get a cute of the sales? Who makes the merch?

WEBBY WILL FUCKING END YOU

Dewey is SO precious this episode. His cute little bounces

“I’m actually afraid and a little dehydrated, this game is AWESOME” GET THAT BOY SOME JUICE STAT

I love when shows realistically portray sound

“No time for a...crash course” YEEEEEAAAAAAAH

How’d he get a grappling hook?

“THAT’S MY PARTNER!” DEWEY LOVES LP SO MUCH!!

“How is he doing this?” The power of sexy? I don’t know either, bro

“There goes your pal LURCH-POUND! HA! You know, because he just got lurched into that POND OVER THERE?!” “That’s technically a bay.” “I’M NOT STUPID!”

“Classic villain lair!” I can appreciate a man who knows what he’s about

Why do villains alway jump INSTANTLY to the world? You gotta take baby steps. Start with a city, then a state, then the tri-state area a country, THEN the world. Gotta pace yourself

“And Uncle Scrooge only gives us like a nickel each week.” Do they do chores to earn that allowance? I mean, probably. Do Donald and Della have to do chores as well? Give them at least a dime, Scrooge!

MORE SEXY LAUNCHPAD! DAMN YOU, YOU BEAUTIFUL MAN!

“Waaaaiiiit a minute, is that my suit?!” “It suits me better.” DAMN STRAIGHT IT DOES! LP fills the jacket out

I like Steelbeak adding on his fingers

“Your fancy speak won’t work on me, Dummy-O-Duck. Ha-ha, classic.”

“That was totally my plan the whole time” Sweetie, just...no

“I guess you’re not as smart as *voice crack* ME.” “Not as smart as I.” NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR CORRECTING GRAMMAR!

THEY’RE BACK! AND THE THEME SONG! SO BEAUTIFUL!

Again, I thought Steelbeak’s beak was coming off

I like that Steelbeak went into pray position while being shocked

I’m gonna pretend the Rangers were off on their own adventure the whole time’

“Thanks for the...rescue.” AND GADGET SALUTES BACK AND WINKS! BEAUTIFUL!

“No person could survive being that stupid”

Launchpad, always willing to take one for the team

“There’s so much more I could accomplish! Stop the evil conspiracy out to get us! Solve world hunger! Land a plane!” No matter how smart he is, Launchpad still can’t stick the landing

“Launchpad, why are you overthinking this?” “Because I want to be good enough for you!” SOB

“Of course you’re good enough for me. You’re my best friend.” SOOOOOOOOOOB

“For Dewey, and Duckburg.” He put Dewey first, daaaaawwwww

HIM CATCHING DEWEY AND HOLDING HIM TIGHT TO HIS CHEST?! SO WHOLESOME!!

First thing LP does after things go back to normal? Fix his hair. Hair is very important to your state of mind, I guess

“Was it all a game?” Life is just a game

“Wait until I tell Huey I...YOU beat the game.” AAAAWWWWWW

“I’m not playing with anyone but you.” MY HEART!!!!

Scrooge is so broken. And the ticket to prize ratio, too true

“How much money did you spend to get those tickets?” Don’t play skee ball, kids. It will ruin your life

“I don’t think we should bring you here anymore.” Donald should probably be the one picking you up because Della would TOTALLY get hooked on a game/get too aggressive and I could see Beakley falling into the same trap

The comb just sticks there

The subtitles call him Suave-Pad, I LOVE IT!

“I like purple. A lot. Ha! Man, I’m glad I got that off my chest.” A DW reference or a CODEWORD?

“WARM THEM, YOU OLD FOOL! WAAAAARN THEEEEEM! Oh, dash it all, I’m going for a soak.”

“Restoring your ‘intelligence’ as it were.” BURN

She’s on a first-name basis with him...interesting

“OR ANY KINDS OF RAYS!” No mad sciencing here

“Who’s stupid now?” Gloating is very unbecoming

There are...certain people I wish I could force to shut up like that

His muffled screaming is great

Again, Rubix cube solving proves intelligence

How did he not notice it was wet when he picked it up?

I NEED THE SONG IN FULL SOMEWHERE TO DOWNLOAD

This one was super fun and emotional. I was not expecting this to be the episode that the Rescue Rangers would make their debut in but I’m glad they were here. Dewey and Launchpad’s friendship is so pure and adorable. I almost wish there hadn’t been a b-plot but it was fun. I know other people are upset over Steelbeak/the Rescue Rangers being different but I like them. This show is different from those shows. Steelbeak was repurposed into being Launchpad’s nemesis so he needed to match him. Plus we already have a bunch of smarties in FOWL. And this Steelbeak seems younger and less experienced so it would make sense that he’s not as clever. The Rangers didn’t really change that much from their show, just got a new origin that helps them fit into the world that has already been set up. I think this episode is going in the top 5.

[paihocoolpa1984-blog]

The accolades brought Desir newfound attention and opportunities. She partnered with the nonprofit Haiti Health Initiative on a mission trip to the small village of Timo. When she asked the people of the community what they needed most, the resounding answer was a school. It's still a huge lifestyle adjustment esp with a high energy dog. I regularly wish I had a lazy breed hehe. I am now forced to be a morning person and try to get to bed by 11every day to be up by 6 7 (so not my norm) to make sure her needs are met.. But yeah. She might not have an Official Therapeutic Relationship with any of the contestants that's billable to insurance and shit, but she is acting in that capacity with these couples. The questions she asks and suggestions she makes are like straight off the pages of my counseling skills textbook. Additionally, employers may pay employees with payroll cards. An employer must give each current employee an explanation of all fees connected with the payroll card account in writing at least 30 days before the payroll card is active. This notice must be given to new employees at the time of hire. We bought a house recently in a similar situation. They had only lived on the property for a little over a year before splitting. They did some shady stuff and we had to pay a little more for repairs since the person who did inspection on something we required to be inspected as part of our offer "felt bad" for them but we can prove it past all the pieces kind of falling into place once we hired someone else and realized what was not disclosed.. He was absolutely intended to be seen as not just a mirror of Vader, but Anakin because in many ways, that all anybody in that universe could see him as. Imagine Han and Leia not necessarily surprise, but just, reaction when they learned their son was as potent as their uncle, and their grandfather perhaps, with The Force. How soon, their natural ability might need to be tamed. I have decided to start planning products, because my collection 군포출장샵 has grown its starting to give me anxiety when i started to do makeup to have fun. And making a dedicated pan basket i can them focus 군포출장샵 on items that are old or i would like to use up, its helped me make decisions about which item to choose. I don't deliberately pan an item just to say I've panned it, I've noticed since panning I'm also wasting less makeup and by default money. Reading here actually helps make me a bit bolder about some of the massages and stretches I give her. There a spot on her inner wrist that can be a bit of a key stone to suddenly removing background pain. First time I did it she wasn even cognizant of the pain until I removed it.. But now?? I'm back to how I used to be. Had one of everything. And I will replenish and try new things when I NEED something. 9 points submitted 2 days agoEver bought a new car only to notice that car is everywhere? It one of those biases we have as humans. The more we look at a thing the easier it is for our brains to recognize it.Secondly, /r/drums gets more and more popular with international drummers everyday. Europeans are more likely to use Meinl or Paiste than Zildian or Sabian because the added cost of shipping and importation, from Germany and Switzerland vs US and Canada.Third, yes, hipsters and trends are going in Meinl favor at the moment.And finally, I heard John Good of DW drums talk about how he started with the intent of making drums beautiful.

[reconditarmonia]

Dear Yuletide Author

Edit 3:10pm Eastern Time 10/23/18: All prompts added now, thank you for your patience.

Hello, lovely writer!

I’m reconditarmonia here and on AO3 (and have been since LJ days, but my LJ is locked down and I only have a DW to see locked things). I have anon messaging off, but mods should be able to contact me if you have any questions.

Far From the Madding Crowd | Harlots | Monstrous Regiment | Simoun | Spinning Silver

General likes:

– Relationships that aren’t built on romance or attraction. They can be romantic or sexual as well, but my favorite ships are all ones where it would still be interesting or compelling if the romantic component never materialized.

– Loyalty kink, whether commander-subordinate or comrades-in-arms, and the trust associated with it. Sometimes-but-not-always relatedly, idealism. I guess the two combined might be, in general, the idea of nobility of character and what that means.

– Heists, or other stories where there’s a lot of planning and then we see how the plan goes.

– Femslash, complicated or intense relationships between women, and female-centric gen. Women doing “male” stuff.

– Stories whose emotional climax or resolution isn’t the sex scene, if there is one.

– Uniforms/costumes/clothing.

– Stories, history, and performance. What gets told and how, what doesn’t get told or written down, behavior in a society where everyone’s consuming media and aware of its tropes, how people create their personas and script their own lines.

– Eucatastrophe.

General DNW: rape/dubcon, torture, other creative gore; unrequested AUs, including “same setting, different rules” AUs such as soulmates/soulbonds; PWP; food sex; focus on pregnancy; Christmas/Christian themes.

—

Fandom: Far From the Madding Crowd

Character(s): Bathsheba Everdene

One thing that always sticks in my mind about this novel is the way Hardy calls Bathsheba “the young farmer” just as he refers to the men as farmers - which, just saying, is more than most people writing about this story can do - and so, that being the case, what I’m most interested in is something about Bathsheba as farmer. One day in the life or four seasons in the life or five plantings/harvests in the life, or pseudo-academic fic about a case study of a woman farmer in the Victorian era, or a conflict between the farm and nature that Bathsheba has to decide how to solve.

Feel free to bring in other characters if it suits what you’re trying to do, but what I’m really looking for is a focus on Bathsheba’s work, determination, and process of learning. Other ideas: something like a merchant ship AU (as the first alternate setting that came to mind where it would be not exactly the done thing for her to captain her inherited ship and make commercial decisions herself - although I do have to point out that contrary to popular belief, there were a lot of women on shipboard in the age of sail, may this be useful - but also where nature and luck/fate are as influential as they are in the original setting); something in which the land, superstition, and ritual are more overtly magical; or interactive fiction!

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Fandom: Harlots

Character(s): Margaret Wells

So Harlots almost immediately became one of my favorite shows of all time, for its strong and complex female characters, all major plots/conflicts being between women, and the feminist ethos informing both the filming (with this premise there could have been a LOT of actress nudity and titillating rape, in other hands) and the writing - I find the scene in s2 where Margaret leads the crowd in turning their backs on Nancy’s whipping very moving, because it’s one moment that emphasizes that the show’s feminism isn’t just “look, horrible things happening to women, whatcha gonna do” but instead thinks about the next step of women supporting each other against the system. (Kitty’s thoughts about a collective are another one.) I wasn’t sure at first what I wanted to request here, but starting to explain for you why I like the show made me think wherever you take the idea of writing about Margaret, I’d want to see her in the context of other women. This could be pre-canon (I’m not particularly interested in very young Margaret, but Margaret beginning to establish her own house, hiring her own girls for the first time, and contending with Lydia Quigley as a rival, I’d love to see; or deciding to move to Greek Street?) or post-canon (who does she meet? what does she do???) She’s such a powerful character but also so morally ambivalent - what kinds of positions can you put her in where she has to choose how or whether to protect those under her authority, or further her own ambition and that of the people she chooses? What is loyalty, anyway? (I'd be up for post-canon fic with her and Charlotte, but I don’t think I would want to read an expansion of her selling Charlotte in the canon backstory.) Throw in anyone you like if that helps you tell the story - it’s such a good ensemble show.

If you, like me, ship Margaret with Nancy and were psyched when they got to kiss and Nancy told Charlotte she loved Margaret, I have some prompts for the ship in a previous letter. TL;DR: I’m especially interested in Margaret/Nancy as partners-as-family and what that means to them, and in how Margaret fits into Nancy’s relationship to intimacy.

If you’d prefer to write this instead of writing about Margaret, I would also be 100% just as happy with fic about the whole fucked-up relationship between Charlotte and Lydia in season 2 (I LOVE “ultra-loyal and beloved henchman secretly plotting revenge” plots, their scenes together are so good! I was sorry that that plot didn’t carry on for longer - honestly, you could write a canon divergence AU where the secret isn’t revealed so soon and Charlotte becomes more and more compromised and I would be delighted), something focusing on either of those two individually (pre-canon Lydia setting up her house? choosing her aesthetic? post-canon Lydia manipulating her way out of Bedlam?), or something about Nancy (her lifestyle is so unconventional but it works for her and people around her mostly roll with it). Again, preferably with reference to other women, rather than men.

Something that I really like about the show, which would be neat to see in fic somehow, is that it feels real and lived-in. So many costume dramas feel costumed, but at least to me, the sets and costumes of Harlots feel like houses people live and work in and clothes people wear; we occasionally see a shift under the dress, women put on a fichu over a dress or deal with their corsets, they move like they’re used to wearing this. I love daily-life type history, and people being people in history, so those sorts of details would make me really happy. (I have tags “documents” and  “history” for stuff that might interest you if you also like that sort of thing.) I also really like the moments of theatricality and ritual like Mary Cooper and Kitty Carter’s funeral processions.

Fandom-Specific Exception to DNW: I recognize that rape and dubcon are endemic to the canon and I don’t expect you to avoid all reference to them, but would prefer not to have them described in detail, or to dwell on specific instances.

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Fandom: Monstrous Regiment

Character(s): Any (Polly “Ozzer” Perks, Maladict, Jackrum, Mildred Froc)

I’m not going to lie, Polly is one of my all-time faves. I like that this could have been a generic coming-of-age or women-in-war story, where the protagonist learns that she’s brave or worthwhile and then the crisis is past, but instead Polly learns that she’s a cunning bastard and a hell of a sergeant, and being a one-off hero in a country that’s at peace and making slow social progress isn’t good enough for her. That said, just because I’m better able to articulate what I like about Polly doesn’t mean I’d be less excited for fic about anyone else! Honestly, one of the things I like best about the story as a whole is the varying degrees of competence porn - people learning what they’re good at and doing it - and that’s something that could apply to any character here. What are they good at? What lets them fulfill their potential? What do they want when their hand isn’t being forced? So, say, how’d Jackrum go from enlisting for Reasons to being the career sergeant of canon? Any other adventures worth recounting? What are Polly or Mal’s long-term plans, since their original goals seemed so short-term - or, what led Froc to enlist and stay? What can Mal do with the intimidating coolness and/or the potential berserker rage?

There’s a lot of potential for romantic and/or platonic loyalty kink with this character set, and I’d love something that went there. Characters rescuing each other from peril, risking themselves (their safety, reputation, position, ethics, secrets, goals, honor) to defend each other (ditto ditto), accomplishing the impossible or sacrificing things without even thinking twice because one trusts the other’s orders or judgment. Or A not going off the leash or into danger to defend B because B said not to (the "call off your dog" thing), to protect A’s conscience or life or reputation. Polly sends Mal on a dangerous mission; Mal goes off-leash rescuing Polly; something about the post-canon rank difference on top of the class difference (Mal is wealthy and cultured and typical commission material and yet is a corporal under Sergeant Perks’s command); Polly protects Jackrum’s secret/s from someone who could reveal them; an expansion of Jackrum and Froc’s backstory; anything about Froc’s whole relationship to the Duchess over the years as one of the few left who met her in person... Or for Polly/Mal in particular, I’d be into high sexual tension and/or mutual pining whether from near (if they continue serving in the same regiment, essentially together all the time and unable to act on it) or from far (what if the job separated them - LDR, epistolary?).

This is a perennial request for me and I have previous letters in the “dear author letters” tag if you’d like more info.

Fandom-Specific DNW: gender headcanons (I'm sorry, I can't figure out the right way to phrase this, but I'm happy to provide clarification via mod question or whatever); vampire romance tropes (such as turning or immortality) as focus.

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Fandom: Simoun

Character(s): Any (Aeru, Amuria, Dominuura, Halconf, Limone, Mamiina, Neviril, Onasia, Paraietta, Plumbish Priestesses, Rodoreamon, Yun)

Simoun is another one of my perennial requests. I love how, in the mold of all my favorite epic yuri/shoujo animes, Everything Is Beautiful And Then Shit Gets Real, and that's not just an out-of-universe fact of the show but something that the characters themselves, who are "supposed" to be priestesses and not an air force, have to deal with. (Neviril's scene in the hearing is one of my favorites.) I enjoy that everyone comes in for different reasons - religious, patriotic, ambitious, interpersonal, gender-related - and has different ways of solving problems, their very deep flaws but also very deep nobility, and how everyone gets character development in the sense of growing and changing.

I'd love to see something that worked with that military aspect of the canon and the in-story tension of it - if you focus on more than one character, the way that the superior-subordinate dynamics or comrades-in-arms dynamics, and the different ways they behave under pressure (cheerful Aeru when she encounters the downed enemy pilot), sit alongside other dynamics (like Mamiina and Rodoreamon's childhood backstory/class thing) and don't always develop at the same pace, but single-character fic about the choices they have to make and how they think about them, as their situation changes, would be great too. What about more of Yun's backstory, for example? Hell, what's going on in Halconf's life and mind as someone who used to be a sibylla but now has quite a different role in the war as the sibylla position has changed? Or, what about in the post-canon where war is brewing again but Paraietta and Rodoreamon can't fly the Simoun anymore, and Neviril and Aeru might be able to but Neviril has no one to lead, unless it's a whole new crop of maidens? What do they want to do, and what skills are they still able to use? (Feel free to re-unite characters that are separated by canon - resurrect Mamiina, bring characters back from other worlds - if that's what you want to do with the story, although I think I'd prefer for that to be something that's acknowledged in-story as due to magic or alternate worlds rather than tacitly retconned.)

As with some of the other fandoms I've requested, I'm interested in the different permutations of loyalty - loyalty to a position or an ideal over loyalty to a side, such as the Plumbish priestesses'; something fleshing out the chorus's devoted loyalty to and trust in Neviril in a high-stakes situation where she's able to return it; interpersonal loyalty and how that interacts with love, requited or articulated or not (Mamiina and the braid, Paraietta's everything); loyalty that develops before liking or friendship does. Femslash is great, gen is great. This is a fandom where sexual first times would tie into the canon's themes in a lot of ways, if you're interested in writing that. Other things that would be cool: time loops or other timespace play, to go with the magic and timespace warping in the show? Interactive fiction? Have our leads learn more about Argentum and Plumbum and meet people from there?

Fandom-Specific DNW/Exception: I don't need you to retcon the attempted assault(s), but please don't dwell on them. No Dominuura/Limone, please.

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Fandom: Spinning Silver

Character(s): Miryem Mandelstam

So there's definitely a common theme in a lot of my prompts and it's that I like hard-headed, practical, ambitious women who get into adventures because of, rather than in spite of, those qualities. I really like Miryem's good sense, pride, and rules-lawyering, and the way her power in the world becomes magic power in the Staryk world. In general, I also really like the way the book integrates various fairytales with one another and with the situation of Jews in Eastern Europe. What happens when Miryem is back in the human world, post-canon? I never got the impression that she'd be happy just avoiding the whole question of the town's contempt for her by finding power elsewhere - what's it like if she comes back a queen? (Can she use the mirror from Irina to do an end run around the whole Persephone setup and travel back and forth whenever she wants, and if so, what sorts of plot would make that fun to play with? If not, that's still fine.) Or, what are some adventures in the Staryk world where she could use her Accounting Powers, other than the post-war rebuilding the book talks about? Or tell me more about Miryem practicing Judaism in the Staryk world, and the application of Judaism to that world and those customs that we get some hints of (that's a hell of a diaspora - what would the rabbis think of it?)

I would be delighted by Miryem/Irina. Two queens with very different kinds of power, and different ideas of where their commitment lies - Miryem's to "her people" whether that's her family/other Jews/the Staryk who have bound themselves to her, Irina's to "Lithvas" - and what's consistent with their own ethics to fulfill those commitments. Widow them both and have the ultimate human world-Staryk world power marriage? A more serious rivalshippy thing where you make Miryem and Irina deal with the fact that they're respectively a Jewish queen of a super-powerful magic country and the queen of a largely anti-Semitic country who's not totally free from those beliefs herself? (I should mention that I am explicitly okay with the story touching on anti-Semitism or having anti-Semitism as a central issue.) What about different court traditions, when they visit each other? I would be delighted by Miryem/Wanda. I liked the early development of their relationship and wished we'd had more of that later in the story. How would Wanda's gratitude to Miryem and the Mandelstams play in a land that views gratitude so differently from the human world? Might Wanda's real-world "magic", like the reading and writing Miryem gave her, manifest differently in the Staryk world too? Do you want to go full Tam Lin and have Wanda rescue Miryem from the Staryk world? Would Wanda ever consider converting to Judaism? What if she's less settling into comfortable forest retirement and more becoming a magical gatekeeper of Miryem's land in her own way? I would be delighted by Miryem/f!Staryk Lord! What changes if the otherworldly monarch who claims Miryem's hand, bringing her into a new world of customs unfamiliar to her and power she hasn't known before, is also a woman?

Feel free to include Wanda or Irina even if it's not a femslash story, Tsop or Flek, or anyone else you need. (Rule 63 Mirnatius could also be really interesting, although I know that's potentially a lot to just throw into the background of a story about Miryem, so male Mirnatius or male Staryk Lord are fine too, if they're not the focus of the story.) Or, ignore all the characters, including Miryem, and tell me another fairytale, or combination of fairytales, about the Staryk and the Jews.

Fandom-Specific DNW: I don't need you to retcon Miryem/Staryk or Irina/Mirnatius if you'd rather not (including if you're writing any of the femslash options - plenty of historical royalty had lovers), but I'm not interested in those ships unless genderswapped to f/f, and would not like fic About them.

[theyrejustbehindtheveil]

ML Secret Santa

Merry (belated) Christmas @nayawata it is I, your gifter for the @mlsecretsanta with a fic about the OTP

Paris, France | July

She graduates. One day, she is at université, and the next, she is not. The morning after her final exam, she slips downstairs for breakfast and instead finds an envelope.   

Her parents' latest attempt to stop her from being so easily scared is three months in a city she doesn't know with a language she barely speaks. All expenses paid. She leaves in three months. Merde. 

Sydney, Australia | October 

It’s a jarringly young city. Everywhere Mylène looks she expects to see historic architecture and instead sees nothing beyond the nineteenth century. Her auntie chatters good-naturedly from the drivers seat which is on the wrong side of the car. Everything is strange and it feels a little like she can’t breathe and she cant make a sound and she is so so glad when the car stops and she can get inside the house and play her song and feel like she is still at home. 

The first two weeks she only leaves the house with one of her cousins or aunts, too scared to venture outside without some kind of security net. They take her on outings every few days, doing the tourist shtick at what is probably their attempt to make her feel welcome. The multiple trips to the city aren’t too bad, but when they head anywhere else she feels off kilter. The ocean is too big and the countryside is too foreign. The suburbs are too sprawling and quite frankly she doesn’t even know where to start with the birds. 

November

She goes for a walk alone the first week of November. Three pictures of the waterfront reflecting the clear blue sky later and she realises she is lost. Very lost. She isn’t even sure which way is home. She would like to say she was brave enough to find her own way home but the truth is that pedestrian’s hassle her along until she crashes into something large and solid with an eep of surprise. 

The large and solid something responds with a grunt that shocks her into leaping back. And looks up. And up a little more to find the something’s face shuffled into a terrifyingly grumpy glare. She shrieks and cowers a little before the glare retreats into something a little closer to concern.   

She’s fumbling out an apology as best she can manage and trying desperately not to give in to the urge to flee when the man in front of her guides her gently to a bench. “Are you okay?” he asks and she can’t help but suck in a breath at his accent because it is wonderfully, blessedly French. 

“T’es Français?” She hopes he understands what she is trying to say. 

He starts in surprise. “Oui.” She can’t help the wave of relief that sweeps over her and switches to French for a more coherent apology. 

The guy’s name is Ivan and he doesn’t know how to get back to her aunts’ place, but his english is much better than hers and he is brave enough to ask for help and big enough to hide behind when the strangers get to be too much. Mylène thinks she quite likes this arrangement. It takes a full hour to find home, and she is glad for Ivan’s company.

He slips her his phone number moments before she shuts the door. Merde.

Three days pass before she even has the courage to save the string of numbers to her phone. Two more before she sends through a safe, neutral, hi this is mylene :) 

Ivan replies twenty-seven anxious minutes later.  hey mylene good to hear frm u  glad u hadnt lost my no

sorry, she replies 

dw i was jst disappted i might not get to see u again

oh i d like that

me too this wknd?

Deep breath.  yeah i d like that

sat 1pm we can try tht walk again?

yes please

He arrives at the front door at five minutes to the hour. She’s been ready for the past ten minutes, but she still jumps at the sound of the doorbell. 

This second walk is far better than the first, even if there are more people out on the weekend. They find their way to a market near a library and Mylène can’t help but feel a little nervous but Ivan is quietly reassuring. He buys her a little pin for her bandana and his face when she pins it straight to the fabric is something she really wants so see again.

She learns a lot about Ivan that day. He likes heavy metal, hates the heat, tries to be gruff and intimidating but cares too much to pull it off convincingly.   

She tells him about Paris, how scared she is of just about everything because so much of it is just too much a lot of the time, that she likes cats better than dogs, about her dad’s job, and that her deepest desire is to be brave.   

Ivan returns her confidences with the slightly ashamed admission that he is really not a cat person and Mylène giggles at his despondency before rushing to reassure him that she doesn't hold it against him. 

Later, she texts him. the cat thing is mostly because they re quieter  also because of the superhero he was kinda sweet

hte who

chat noir the paris superhero a couple years back in the news a lot both him and his partner total badasses in spandex

oh that superhero

i met him a few times he was at our school on superhero business n stuff he was really kind little dorky

that school that was awlays in the papers was urs?francis dupain or smth i almost went there

francois dupont yeah that was a crazy time scary too wait what dieu we might have been classmates thats so weird i was turned into one of the monsters one time

oh no

there was this mean girl she teased me and i ended up a monster

you could never be a monster mylene

no like an actual monster type creature monstrous from a horror movie pink jelly thing horrificater i scared people and kidnapped them i don t remember what happened much but everyone was really nice to me for a while after

wait the first time that was u in there

yeah that was me

wow working through that must have been hard

i had help chat noir came and talked to me a few times my parents really helped im glad u had that

December

There is no snow for Christmas this year. She gets a second summer instead, of the kind that Paris rarely sees. Ivan texts her every other day to complain about the heat. Her aunt takes her to the beach, and Ivan shows up in a pair of stupidly bright shorts that apparently were a gift from his sister. They make her laugh, and he grins. 

 you re really easy to talk to ivan um thanyk u no really it s really nice i like it

…

sorry if i made it weird i just mean t like we re friends i like talking to you

mylene its fine im sorry i dont take compliments v well it means a lot that u can say that thank u

He hands her a parcel a few days before Christmas. Inside is a pin she recognises from - oh. Its Ivan’s. From his favourite band. “You’re giving me this? Haven’t you had it since you were a teenager?” 

“I… I want you to have it, to remind you that you can be brave.” 

“Zombie Skull Crushers is going to remind me to be brave?” She hates the plaintive note that her voice holds.

“Yeah, doesn’t it just sound brave and badass, just like I know you can be?” 

She hugs him, tight and grateful.

“Thankyou, Ivan,” she chokes out. “It’s the best present anyone’s ever given me.” He hugs her back, gentle and easy as breathing. 

She almost forgets the parcel tucked into her bag but presses it into his hands right before she leaves. “Joyeux Noël, Ivan." 

Her parents fly in for Christmas itself. She goes to meet them at the airport and the moment she sees them both she runs for them. Her dad catches her as she leaps and her mum folds into the both of them and she burrows in between both of them and doesn't leave their side if she can help it from that point on.

Paris, France | January

She leaves for home with her parents. The plane lands and she gets off and everything is so wonderfully familiar but she feels strangely untethered. Her home is still much as it was when she left, and her room is identical save for more dust than normal. 

And she can’t quite work out what is missing until her phone buzzes insistently and she drops her unpacking to fumble for her phone and check the screen. 

They’re all from Ivan, and she realises as she reads through them it’s him she’s missing. He’s worked his way under her skin, going form imposing to reassuring too easily. 

miss u already mylene

Oh, merde 

i rly had a great time with you when i go back home to chatres in abt a month can i see u on the way thru

What?

Two months and it had never come up how close he lived to Paris. To her. And she want’s to see him again and isn't that incredible. Mylène doesnt know what she ever did to deserve such a gift but there’s only one thing she can do 

of course i want to see you too i didn t know you lived so close

His response is almost immediate  yeah crazy huh

A month of of texting back and forth follows. Ivan is beautifully poetic when he tries, and Mylène learns ever more about her new friend. When Ivan returns to France, he knocks on her door when she’s the only one home. 

“Hey,” he says, like. a month of separation hasn't stood between them like anticipation. She stretches her arms around his waist as far as she can and laughs with joy at the tidal wave of affection swamping her chest. He curls his much longer arms carefully, fondly, around her back.   

“I missed you. Please don’t ever stay away that long ever again,” she mutters earnestly into his chest. His arms tighten a fraction, before he shifts one hand to tilt her chin up so he can look her straight in the eye.   

“Never. I promise, Mylène, I won’t ever stay away from you for very long anymore. I don’t think I could.” 

She believes him when he looks at her like that, like he wants to see right through her eyes into her soul and know it intimately. Three days later he asks her on a date. 

She says yes 

They go for a walk.   

She tucks her hand in his and the world feels a little less terrifying when she does.

[killcapitalizm]

the louvre (no tw); peter parker

request; can you do an imagine where reader has a crush on peter even though he and michelle were dating in high school (which makes the reader distance themselves from the group) and after they graduate, peter finds them and says that he and michelle didn’t work out? then the reader finds out it was because he liked the reader the whole time. sorry if this is confusing and super long!!

word count; 2,981

warnings; angst, this wasnt edited

a/n; SSCREAMS IM SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG ugh im disappointed in myself.. theres gonna be more parts to this im currently writing the next one dw. listened to the louvre by lorde while writing this. love u

tags; @kaliforniacoastalteens

Your name: submit What is this?

You had supposedly gotten over Peter a few months ago, when you'd accepted the fact that he and MJ– or rather, Michelle, you remembered, she's Michelle to me now, isn't she– were dating and you'd finally ceased intentional contact with him after painfully long weeks of being too busy, too sick, too tired, too hurt; and you have yet to admit that last one. With Peter's absence of course came Michelle's, they were a couple and therefore somewhat of a packaged deal. That was no surprise to you, when you regretfully unwound yourself from Peter you had known that you'd lose Michelle, too. What you hadn't expected was the sudden absence of Ned– someone who you had grown quite close to. Even Liz was separated from you, so subtly you nearly hadn't noticed she was gone. In the first few seconds of hurt and loneliness and confusion, you were awfully lost. But then you considered: you met Ned and Liz through Peter and indeed they were closer to him than you'd ever be, ever been. And so you start from scratch.

You tried your absolute best to make some friends in each of your classes. You swallowed that familiar feeling of fear-filled blankness and managed to talk to one person in each of your classes. They all had their own pre-established friend groups that you knew you wouldn't be able to be a part of, but you gratefully settled for acquaintances that would give you a partner in class and someone to ask for notes when you were out for a day or two. You lived without a friend for the last four months of your senior year, right up to graduation where you saw Peter and Michelle kiss under the shade of a city tree in front of the school and then you caught Ned's eye later and his mirrored yours, but softer. Never before had you weeped over being unable to text a friend about how entirely shitty you felt because your mother was angry again and, more importantly, you missed them, but in that summer you stained your pillow at midnight as your back and legs and chest ached as if they were holding your bruising sorrows. Your parents weren't home that night when you were crying, crying for hours into the early, early morning. You cried until you had no more tears to cry, and you simply wailed to yourself, exhausted an drowsy but unable to sleep because you felt too terrible to be able to rest. Those kinds of nights don't happen often but you hate that they happen at all.

On your first day of your new job at a popular bookstore, you were glad it was chilly so that your red eyes and nose and cheeks were excusable. You brought eye drops and hoped the red would drain from your face before anybody noticed that it wasn't the cold causing it and you told yourself that if it did fade then you wouldn't have that night for another two months, and when you walked in you saw no one you knew until you turned your head and saw Ned, you saw Ned in the soft yellow light of the morning and you nearly cried because you saw him like that many times before, with Peter at sleepovers when you'd wake up early and again with Peter again when you'd walk to school with them. He saw you and smiled at you, and didn't look away in that don't-talk-to-me way but instead he glanced down at the empty area next to him behind the register then back up at you. You were terrified in that anxious, empty way but you yearned for a familiar friendship, so you walked over to him and spoke too much right away.

"I've missed you." You didn't sound polite or happy and that's what made it sincere.

"Oh, thank god," Ned says. "I thought it was one-sided."

"Is it?" You ask still, but you're smiling brightly for the first time since you cleared your phone contacts.

Ned snorts. "I would assume you'd infer from what I said that it's not, but whatever. I've missed you, too."

It was in that moment that Ned forgave you; in the same moment he realized there was anything to forgive you for. While Peter had dejectedly told him you were probably avoiding him because of something he did (Ned knew it was because he was together with MJ), he had still missed you without an answer, missed you in the same way you'd miss a friend the night after a sleepover, when you turn in your bed in heavy solitude and whisper to the wall that they hadn't slept next to, because if you'd look to the space where their mumbles had been then you wouldn't sleep all night. Your absence had him turn over to the wrong wall, and that hurt him.

You remember the time Ned had accidentally tripped you in gym class back in your junior year and you saw him nearly cry, then you spoke again. "I'm sorry." For what, Y/N? You try again, "I'm sorry for leaving you and not talking to you. That you had to miss me. I missed you a lot. I'm sorry."

"It's okay," says Ned, "I forgive you." He forgave you twice, because he hadn't realized how satisfyingly pleasant it feels when someone doesn't have to apologize but they do with their heart.

"Thank you," you say, because he welcomed you after you had cut him off for so long and he shouldn't have smiled so dearly at you, and you're grateful.

Ned helps you with your new job that day, then that week, and into the next week. You add his number back onto your phone and write it down in your journal that you've stopped writing in ever since Peter told you with so much joy and love that he was dating Michelle. You try not to think of them, just of how much you missed him and her each as their own. If you think of them, then that night you'd weep and weep until you felt so pained and sick that you shook, curling up and holding yourself as you hoped you'd fall asleep. You don't tell Ned about those nights and you don't ask about them, you don't ask about Peter at all but you know he's talking about him when he says "my friend," or more often, "a buddy of mine."

But Ned is smart, and he knows you had liked Peter back then and because you never ask about his friend (he knows that you know who he's talking about), he knows you like him now. He also knows that Peter and MJ broke up, he knows why and how and when and where and the boy was a boy of the Earth, he is rooted to the ground and because of that he knows it's not his place to tell you all of that. Ever-growing with the kindest smile, he knows that Peter needs to tell you himself if you're to ever know. And he wants you to know, so he decides that five weeks of talking daily with you, after reattaching yourself to him and him to you, that he'd start to reconnect you and Peter. He starts off conveniently.

"Look, dude, just get it over with and you'll feel better… What? Peter, no, you need a job, you're eighteen now–" Ned spots you walk in early one Thursday morning and talks just loud enough into his phone so that you could hear him say Peter. Surely enough, you duck your head as if you hadn't been listening. His name out of Ned's mouth, so bright like you remembered it, twists your heart. "Hey, man, I gotta go and you do too. You got this, I know you do. See ya'."

You stop beside Ned as he hangs up and tucks his phone into his back pocket. As always, you greet him with the biggest smile you can manage. These days, it's been some of your brightest, full ear-to-ear grins, but today you barely show your teeth. He notices and for a second he rethinks his plan, but you still love Peter and he knows he loves you too so he keeps going. "What was that all about?" You instantly regret that, but it flew out of your mouth before you could think of another conversation starter.

"Peter, actually," he does his best to sound gentle, but you inhale sharply at his name anyway. "He's going for a job interview later today and he's panicking again. As always. But I know he'll do just fine."

You were silent for a second too long, quickly spitting out something when you realized it. "Uh, yeah. Yeah, he was always like that… panicky. 'N stuff. Before things. He always did good and… yeah." You straighten your back and shift your weight from leg to leg, a poor attempt at looking casual that really just made you look just as nervous as you felt. You were looking down at Ned's shirt with a pleading gaze that he surely saw, begging him silently to just leave it be, to change topics, to not say his name again. He saw all of that, but he knew he had to.

He looked sympathetically at you as he spoke again, "Speaking of him, I think we should all meet up sometime or whatever. It's been a really long time since we hung out." He sounded like he was hurt, feeling awful for putting this on you but knowing it'll end up better in the end if you're willing to work with him.

You, on the other hand, sounded genuinely wounded. "Y-Yeah." You nearly wheezed. Unconsciously, your hand rested on your hip, angled so that your palm was more on the back of your hip. Ever since you could remember, emotional stress would center at your back and slowly start to crawl down your limbs. Always starting in your lower back, it ached with whatever you felt, then burned its way up, making the spot between your shoulders sore, then shooting down to your legs. If Ned insisted on talking about this for very long, you'd have to bring a stool to the register with you today. "I mean, I don't really think… he'd want to see me. After what I did."

"Actually, he really misses you." Gosh, he was trying so hard to be soft, but it felt like he was smothering you with a pillow. While he wasn't lying, he hadn't actually told Peter he's been hanging out with you. "He'd love to meet up sometime– I'll ask him later today. You can set the date."

"He…" misses me? you finish in your head. You can hear your heartbeat in your ears, blood rushing up your neck and kicking your brain, then rushing back down before starting again. You were growing a bit of a headache, maybe from staying up late last night but maybe the aches were skipping your limbs today and getting right to your head, towards the back where it wouldn't let you lay down on your back later. "Uh… Yeah. Y-Yeah, I'll– I… Sure. Sometime."

Ned watched your discomfort with a wince that went unnoticed. He reminded himself it would get worse before it got better. "Anyway, we should start preparing. We open in an hour," he said, trying to edge you away from the topic, although it was too late to stop the images and memories of Peter from firmly planting themselves in your head. You nodded once, slightly, then again with more motion. That day, you made sure to never be seen without a water bottle so that you had an excuse when someone asked you why you were going to the bathroom so much. You'd go when your started thinking too much, to the point that it interfered with your ability to shelve books and even think to yourself a single, coherent thought. You'd excuse yourself, rush in, and find yourself gasping for air that you hadn't realized you lost.

You went home that day feeling more alone than not, despite the sudden vague reconnection with Peter. But you shouldn't be surprised, the thought of the boy has been a presence of loneliness for a while now. When you think of him, it's as if you're thinking yourself into a void, where you detach from the Earth, as if you exist in your body but your body does not exist in the world and it simply moves around in it. Sometimes you suspect that because you feel something so drastic and real that Peter wasn't the only cause of it, but it did you better to not think too deeply so that you don't return to work the next day with red eyes and darkish bags that hung underneath them. You went home that day and asked Ned to call you, because you hid your tears from him and knew that if he were with you in any way that you would be able to keep your promise of two months of freedom. When Ned was gone, you moved to the TV to distract you. Then you pulled out your phone and decided to read something, then opened up your laptop to watch a YouTube video, and after a minute you retrieved a book to read and a comic to look at– you were doing everything and nothing at once but what you weren't doing was sobbing and that was, in the end, what you wanted. You trembled a bit when you settled in bed that night, your body detached from the Earth for a while when you panicked in your (too) many thoughts of Peter and other things, although you don't remember what those other things are because its easier to just say one thing, despite him being the hardest thing to say at all. You had to stumble out of bed and lay on the ground– on your side because the very back of your head still hurt– look at things in your room one at a time, then listen to things outside one at a time, tell yourself what apricots and your favorite tea taste like before you could finally feel the carpet beneath you again. Your head spun with busyness and contradictions as you got back in bed, but you slept right away and that was all left to touch in the morning.

And Ned was true to his word; when he had to hang up to catch a bus, he made sure to text Peter when he got a seat. It took him ten tries, but he decided to bluntly tell Peter that he's been talking to you, and then gently ease into his proposal of hanging out again. Then, because he stayed with Peter in those months you were gone, he felt it was right to hook another text onto that one: he knew you felt something for him, and he told Peter that he didn't knew exactly what you were feeling (and that you probably didn't either) but that it was something reminiscent of strong love, broken love, fear, and a lot of missing him. You had looked bewildered at the mention of Peter, and he told him that, too. Told him that he should try with you. Told him that you needed him to try with you, or, at the very least, you needed him (not him, but him there, you needed his nearness, the familiarity Ned had fulfilled had to be filled by more than just him). And Peter answered with time, so he went back to the usual, being the Earth boy he always was, sleeping close to the ground on the first floor of a cheap apartment that looked magical later that week when he taped up all of his posters and switched out the bright, fluorescent white lights for the yellowed lights he always preferred because they look more like sunlight.

So Peter, in his dress shirt and nice pants and new shoes, sitting with his back straight against the wall near the entrance of his apartment, still sweating from the conversation that had happened hours earlier, closed his eyes and remembered you in the moonlight like you had remembered him and Ned in the sunlight, he remembered those many late night conversations he had with you in which he was filled to the brim with nothing but nerves and stress and anxiety, he remembered how you'd remind him all night and day and week that he was important and needed and okay and here, on this planet, in this town, living and breathing and growing and that he's not as small as he felt nor as big as he fears. He remembered how you'd call him sunshine, sunshine and he told Ned that he needs you because he wants to hear that again. A sky boy he was– he was constricted and bound by his own breathing so he threw off his clothes, pulled on his suit of red and blue, and sprinted across the roof of a long, tall building so he could jump off and then web himself to the next building. He toppled over and rolled along the hard surface of what was probably some apartment complex, he stared up at the last sky blues for the day and panted. His throat burned with his wheezes, but soon he smelled the city and smiled, deep in his mind he was sure that you'd call him sunshine, sunshine again soon. He slept long after you and Ned had fallen to slumber, after flying around buildings and waving at an infant and helping an older couple catch their bus.

[blueyesandleatherjacket]

October rec n°5: The Return to Satellite 5

The Return to Satellite 5, Merrianna.

Number of chapters: 23/23.

Language: English.

Genre: Adventure/Romance.

Subjet: Doctor Who.

Pairing: Ninth Doctor/Rose Tyler/Jack Harkness.

Synopsis: Rose laughed along with the Doctor and Jack as they ran for the TARDIS. Kyoko, Japan, in the year 1336 was one of the more interesting adventures they'd had so far. It would have been nice to stay a little longer but Jack just couldn't stay out of trouble. So they were on the run again, but at least the last month of awkwardness after the Planet Sarkios was gone.

Links: fanfiction.net.

My opinion

Introduction:

Last month, I've recced The Quest for Damara and mentioned that I was reading the sequel that would have its own rec later. I've finished it a few days ago and now is the time for a new rec.

About the story:

The Return to Satellite 5 starts one month after the end of The Quest for Damara. Rose still has no memories of what has happened, but the Doctor still feels guilty for what has been done to her, for not being able to protect her. Their relationship has improved though and something new is floating between the two of them. Untold feelings that are eating them up. And Jack is a powerless witness of them holding back their feelings as he keeps secret the terrible events of Sarkios to protect Rose. And so far it works.

But then, the events of Satellite 5 happen. They're all transmatted in different lethal games and have to find their way out. Basically, it's a rewriting of the double episode Bad Wolf and Partying of the ways with a plus: we can see what happens in the characters' minds, and with the previous events of Sarkios keeping a close eye on Rose and the Doctor is important. Especially when something new enters the game and makes the Doctor's decisions a bit harder than they were in the original episode.

If the Doctor and Jack find themselves stuck in the same game they are in the show, Rose is sent into Ballroom X, a sort of Dancing with the stars contest - more lethal though as we know - and has real difficulties to cope with his unpalatable partner, her sudden sickness and the infernal rhythm of the competition. She's confused and has the feeling that her sickness might be connected to her lack of memories from Sarkios but since the Doctor and Jack didn't want to tell anything...

Saying more about the subtle changes there are in this fiction would be spoiling your reading. It's better to find by yourself. There is that small detail though: the locket Rose carries around all the time, the one who has been given to her by her dead father, seems to have a greater importance than we thought it had. It's only one of the many things you have to retain about this story. Be attentive.

In conclusion:

I had some difficulties to finish reading this sequel because of the complete rewriting of the double final episode that closes the end of season one. Not because it changes everything, but because it's the exact same thing, minus some few details. But in the end, I continued and it was worth it. We all know the end of series one and how heartbreaking it has been for lots of us. The end of this story though contains a big surprise. And for a surprise, it's a good surprise. But I don't say more...

I've read that there was a third part to that story, but I've seen that the story is not completed unfortunately so there won't any rec on it.

Favorite excerpt::

Beware of the spoilers beyond this line.

Rose surged off her perch, advancing on the Doctor. Her right hand cracked across the unsuspecting Time Lord's face. The Doctor reeled back from the well placed slap. He immediately covered the abused area, shocked at Rose's attack. Any doubts that he'd entertained were effectively squashed: whatever changes happened to Rose, she remained Jackie Tyler's daughter. "You arrogant git! Who gave you the right to send me home or mess about with my memeories?!" Rpse screamed angrily not giving the Doctor a chance to interrupt. "Oh, yeah, I remember that and what just happened on the space station. You're very lucky that me and the TARDIS care so much for ya." Jack watched in awe and no small amount of caution. "Rose, you know the Doctor usually has a very good reason." "Oh, ya stay out of this, Jack Harkness, you're not much better letting him!" Rose turned her wrath on the former time-agent, which quickly vanished as hr brown eyes landed fully on the Captain. "Oh... Oh... Jack. I'm so... so... sorry." Rose closed her eyes backing away, as a wave of nausea hit her, taking a few deep breaths the feeling slowly went away. Just when Rose thought she could continue berating the Doctor, a different sensation replaced it, a painful tingling began to spread out from under her skin. The Doctor Jack and Lynda stood looking at Roseas the blonde woman had gone very pale. A light glow began to emanate from her; a sheen of silver-gold shone over her exposed skin... "Doc, what's going on?" Jack didn't comprehend why Rose apologized but at that second it didn't really matter because the woman, who had taken a chance on him, appeared to be in jeopardy. "No... No... This is impossible. The Vortex energy couldn't... shouldn't be able to do that!" The Doctor exclaimed even as he took out his sonic screwdriver to find a setting that would give the Time Lord some idea if his theory was correct. "Doctor... um, she's getting brighter." Lynda screeched in fright; she clutched her arm tight, wincing at the pain. She seemed to be in a never ending stream of bizarre events since she met these people. "Got it." The Doctor yelled. At the same instant, Rose began to whimper. "Doctor... ow... Doctor, help." He hurriedly gave Rose a once over scan, checking the readings, the Doctor frowned and gave a low moan. "It's going to be all right, Rose. Just let it happen." "Let what happen, Doctor?" Jack growled, tired of being ignored, he pulled the Time Lord around to face him. The Doctor tensed under the Captain's grip, but forced himself to look into the man's blue eyes. "She's regenerating."

N/A: I'm trying to rec a DW fic every sunday on my Instagram. I'll most likely post them all here (if they're Nine/Rose fictions), or on Pinstriped suit and Converses (for Ten/Rose or Tentoo/Rose fictions), or Two hearts and a screwdriver (for the other Doctors and pairings).

If there's a story you'd like me to read and review/rec, you can send it to me through my ask box. I mainly read Doctor/Rose fictions, but I won't say no to a Whouffaldi one.

[andrewmoocow]

Fooly Falls 2 Chapter 6: Ride on Shooting Star (originally posted on June 25, 2019)

AN: Parting is such a sweet sorrow as they always say. Welcome my friends to the final chapter of Fooly Falls 2: Ride on Shooting Star, where we'll have to say goodbye to Gwen, Tyrone, Arnold, Haruko, Jinyu, Dipper, Mabel, Stan, Ford and all the others. It's certainly been a fun ride with laughs, tears and Rick & Morty references all around, but all good things must come to an end.

D JDODFWLF SKRHQLA WRZHUV DERYH

RQH JLUO ZDQWV WR VKRZ LW KHU ORYH

EXW LW ZLOO FRPH DW WKH FRVW RI VR PDQB OLYHV

DQG VKH'OO ILQDOOB NQRZ KRZ WR FUB

--

"What's going on?! What is this?" Gwen asked as Atomsk's crimson hue began to wash all over the Oregon town while she came face to face with Haruko, who was sadistically ecstatic to see him again. "It's here, it's here! IT'S FINALLY HERE!"

"So wait, is that the big bird Haruko is constantly on about?" Tyrone asked his great-grunkle Ford. "It must be. Who else could give off energy that insane?!" Stanford exclaimed shielding his eyes. "We have to split up everyone! Juan, Jorge, Wendy, you go find a way to stop this chaos! Ezra, get Pacifica, Soos, Melody & Abby to safety at the Mystery Shack! The rest of us will-"

Ford didn't have enough time to give further instructions before Haruko smacked her bass on the coaster tracks and making them contort into the shape of a birdcage that she stood proudly atop of.

"Hop on my chair everyone, we're going up!" Stan commanded. Tyrone, Ford, Dipper, Mabel, Kanda, Ian and Leia clung onto his flying wheelchair when Leia felt Ezra's hand touch her shoulder. "Something up Ez?" she asked Candy's son before he grabbed her hand. "If either of us don't make it out alive, I just want you to know," Ezra confessed. "that yes. I did indeed find you attractive in that bathing suit."

The two teens kissed each other on the lips while Ian and Tyrone watched proudly. "My man." the pair declared in unison. "One last kiss in the middle of the apocalypse before the heroine goes off to help save the world. That sounds like a good scene for a post-apocalyptic romance." Ian muttered to himself. "Kinda like that old zombie movie."

Meanwhile, Gwen clung onto the giant birdcage still angry at Haruko when her newfound mechanical half began reacting to Medical Mechanica. The factory and the theme park castle emitted red energy waves that vibrated all the way to the cage, causing Atomsk to appear and begin absorbing everything in its path.

"Are you satisfied now?" Gwen asked finally reaching Haruko. "All this! This is what you wanted, right? Your dream's being fulfilled, so just go back and leave us alone! And give Arnold back. Please."

"And if you don't wanna leave, I'll make you leave myself!" Stan snarled catching up to her great-great niece with the others clinging onto his futuristic wheelchair. "Ford, gimme the formula!" he ordered his brother. "But I haven't even finished mixing yet! It's still highly experimental so it could kill you!" Ford exclaimed stirring his superhuman formula in its beaker with a popsicle stick. "Or give you that bad stomachache I've talked about earlier. Who knows?"

"Oh Gwennie, didn't I teach you anything?" the Vespa Woman mockingly scolded the younger girl. "Give this back! Give that back! Oh give it back please, because it's all about what I want! I want everything to be mine! Give it to me! More! You're like a child throwing a tantrum. You think you can get things by asking, that if you're crying and stomping on the floor, people will simply give you what you want."

"Look who's talking rosado-scalped broad!" Stan jeered coming to Gwen's defense. "Say that again Fezhead." Raharu snarled back. "LOOK. WHO'S. TALK. ING." Stan repeated very slowly, putting extra emphasis on his wrinkled lips. "Instead of bitching and moaning until you get what you want, you instead commit full-blown genocide so that you can have a bird put his spirally dick into your honeypot."

"If I can't just ask, what should I do?!" Gwen cried pounding her fist on the ground. "Hand it over." Haruko suggested holding out her hand. "If you want something you don't have, then you must hand over whatever you do hand. That's called balance."

"You're making a deal?" Gwen wondered. "My dad has bad experiences with making deals." she added. "Don't worry squirt, just give your power to me and the status quo will be god again." Haruhara affirmed. "Is that your final answer?" Gwen continued, and Haruko just smirked. "You're responsible for your own responses."

"Despite what you think, we all learned something." Gwen declared standing up. "It's time to stop acting childish, open ourselves up to others, let old grudges go, build our own purposes in life, be more patient, love who we are and not let negativity catch up to us. And that's why, I'M JUST GOING TO TAKE IT!"

"YOU GET A GOLD STAR!" Haruko declared with a snap of her fingers when she was met with a punch to the face from Gwen while red energy burst from the younger girl's head. "That's it, give it to me!" Haruko exclaimed swiftly dodging all of Gwen's attacks. "More! More!"

"I think Gwennie might need our help. Ford, gimme the formula now!" Stan shouted to his brother. "Okay fine, but don't say I didn't warn you!" Ford resigned dropping the vial in the con-artist's hand. The old man just gazed at the beaker in his palm for a few precious seconds before smashing it in his grip and chugging down the fluid within. Stan felt something change within his elderly body, and he was loving it. "Time to swat some wasps, SUPER STAN STYLE!"

Bursting out of his wheelchair, Stan roared at the top of his lungs while his muscles bulked up, his pupils turned pure white, his whitening hair dying itself golden brown while growing down to his waist and his eyebrows becoming completely nonexistent. "Now, let's finish what I started last chapter!" he roared zooming towards the two fighting girls and punched his former friend in the face, sending her flying into the mountainside. "You wanna fight now?!"

"COME ON!" Haruko screamed charging at her ex-partner with her Mustang in hand and the pair clashed. "I ain't letting you take Atomsk away from me you old hag!" she shouted beaning Stan in his nose. "I don't want Atomsk, I just want you to leave my family alone!" Stan replied with a nasty piledriver into the streets. "At this rate, I might as well report you for full-blown pedophilia!"

"Whoa-ho, do NOT go there Fezhead!" the Vespa Woman exclaimed stabbing Stan in his pectoral-covered chest with the head of her guitar. "Ain't no government gonna hold me down, because chances are they'd be too stupid to actually keep me down!"

Atomsk's eyes gleamed and fired a large red beam from his beak at the brawling duo, briefly consuming them in crimson energy. When the blast subsided, the pair were motionless. Then, they roared ferociously and their battle began once again, the two of them wearing the Pirate King's chains to beat each other with. "THIS POWER, IT'S JUST WHAT...I'VE WANTED!" Haruko snarled overflowing with Atomsk's awesome power while clawing at Stan's face. "I NO LONGER NEED YOU OR YOUR FICKLE FAMILY! I'LL JUST LET THIS PLANET BECOME NOTHING BUT DUST WHILE ME AND MY HUBBY TRAVERSE THE STARS!"

"NO! WHEN I'M DONE KILLING YOU AND YOUR HUBBY TO DEATH, I CAN LIVE QUIETLY ONCE MORE!" Stan replied shrieking and grabbing Haruko by the neck. "ALL ABOARD THE EVISCERATION EXPRESS!" he boomed preparing to grind his enemy's face on the pavement. "NEXT STOP, PUNISHMENT PLAINS!"

"Just when we thought things couldn't get any worse, they got even worse than any worse!" Dipper panicked lighting up six cigarettes in his mouth. "We've been over this Dipper, you need to lighten up on the nicotine!" Ford exclaimed. "I know Ford, but after these six I am done." Dipper responded. "Besides, it's helping me think up a plan to save Stan & Raharu from Atomsk!" He lightly scratched his chin for a few moments in deep thought before an idea kicked down the door in his mind. "Wait, that's it! We need music! Gwen, go back home and fetch Mabel & I some guitars! It's the only way we can save the world!"

"O-okay dad." Gwen complied hugging her father with her single metallic hand before jumping off the factory and running back home. While running amongst the panicking townsfolk trying to flee from both the battle of the tricksters, the war on Medical Mechanica and Atomsk, the cyborg girl became cornered by several lanky black robots with what looked like television sets for heads that displayed one message: "LEAVE NO EVIDENCE."

"I've got your evidence right here!" Gwen shouted sending all the robots flying while spawning red energy waves that zipped their way to the birdcage, but more of them just kept coming. Gwen just rolled her eyes in exasperation before running off and paying them no mind. But she also unknowingly caused the energy she emitted to attract Medical Mechanica and create little turrets that launched giant balls of mochi raining from the sky.

--

Unlike the rest of the fleeing citizens, Aiko strolled down the street with a very full backpack ready to leave Gravity Falls before she turned around to see the mochi falling from above. Knowing what she has to do, Aiko went about-face and returned to her father.

"Hurry, we need to evacuate!" Masurao panicked packing up a large bag ready to leave town while Eyepatch practiced some punches. Suddenly a pumpkin bounced down the stairs in front of him before mochi destroyed their house.

As for Gwen, she finally returned home and searched high and low for any guitar-like instruments her father had kept hidden. However a large ball of mochi came whizzing downward to her house and when she heard the noise of it falling, she searched even faster. "Shit! SHIT SHIT SHIT, QUADRUPLE-DECKER SHIT!"

Fortunately, Gwen found Haruko's old Rickenbacker and the Mustang she gave Dipper & raced outside just as the mochi destroyed their house. "Quintuple shit." she groaned in defeat looking back at the destroyed cabin before turning her gaze back to the chaotic iron. "Hang on everyone, I'm coming!"

In the town square, Stan and Raharu held each other back by their fists and screamed so loud that their combined volume caused the street beneath them to crack apart with rubble gently floating in the air. Ian and Leia watched from afar with binoculars and popcorn on top of the birdcage. "So who do you think'll scream the loudest?" Ian asked his eldest younger sister. "I'm more concerned about the tiny rocks they're making fly off the ground." Leia responded. "We're gonna have to try that sometime."

"Maybe we could stick it in this new movie I'm pondering. I feel like I've found my calling in life and mostly resolved my character arc!" Ian exclaimed. "Wanna join me and become the next Wachowskis?" he offered his sister, who comedically burst into tears and gave her brother a slap on the back. "Of course I will! Thank you for helping me put an end to my arc!"

"We can discuss character development later you two, Gwen's back!" Tsukata announced calling attention to Gwen returning to her family and friends with the two guitars. "Oh thank you so much pumpkin!" Dipper cried snatching the Rickenbacker out of his daughter's hand while Mabel took the Mustang. "So why did you want these bro?" Mabel asked. "It's like on TV, music should definitely be the answer." her brother answered feeling sure of himself. "Now come on, or else we're all doomed!"

While tuning up their instruments, Stan's wheelchair began setting up a microphone and sound system that Dipper used to transmit his message to the battle between Stan & Haruko. "Testing one two three, found an elephant in my pajamas, Topeka Kansas." he began warming up before making a speech. "Uh, hello people of Gravity Falls. I know what you're all thinking, how can I be doing something like this when everyone we love is turning to delicious treats?" he asked the remains of the crowd not turned to mochi. "Well, I'm mostly doing this to help out two people who are currently fighting so that they can cooperate in helping us not die. And so, I dedicate this song to those people. I give you all, Ride on Shooting Star."

"ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR!" Mabel screamed into the mic and opening with a guitar solo. "Sitting up on this orange slide, it reflects the sky. Kind of like sponging off some pride, being dangled high." Dipper began singing. "SPIDER! I'm trapped in this web, so apprehensive! But it's okay so I won't hide it. I just wanna dream, in color TV!"

"Oh yeah, yeah, yeah!" Mabel picked up for her brother. "Ride on shooting star! This voice that lives in my heart! Loud like the sound of a shotgun, I'll just keep singing on!"

Surprisingly enough, Dipper's plan worked and their song interrupted the fighting. "K-kids?" Stan snarled in wonder at his greatnephew and niece. "T-Takkun?" Haruko hissed in addition not even bothering to strike her opponent from behind.

"Think we should join them?" Ford asked the others during the ensuing second solo when his brother's wheelchair produced an entire array of musical instruments for them to play. "Is there anything that thing can't do?!" Tyrone shouted picking up a triangle. Gwen sat down with a pair of bongos. Leia picked up a tambourine that she shook in her hands. Ian sat himself down at the drumset and bravely grasped a pair of drumsticks in his hands. Kanda was handed an electric piano and finally, Ford was granted the Jazzmaster that once belonged to Jinyu. "This one'll be for you Jinyu."

"Oh you silly little hamster, it's time to grow up. And that vengeful, little lobster, go bring it along." Ford joined his relatives, turning the duet into a trio. "Sniper! I'll say it out loud, "So what can you see? Stuck in that world, locked up with no key." Just give me one touch, before I take aim!"

"Oh yeah, yeah, yeah! Ride on shooting star! I've searched everywhere for you!" the three Pines began harmonizing. "I'm in withdrawal, it's true! I just told you a lie!" As the song reached its climax, the Medical Machines took notice of the impromptu concert and rocketed towards the birdcage. "Ride on shooting star! This voice that lives in my heart! Loud like the sound of a shotgun, I'll just keep singing on! Oh yeah, yeah yeah yeah!"

Something began to tingle within Haruhara and Stanley thanks to the song. As if they never transformed at all, the power of Atomsk began to fade away from within them, and they were left aghast in the forest. "What the hell kinda cliché did that!?" Haruko exclaimed staring at the iron. "Hey Haruko. Little help?" Stan asked now lying on the ground without his wheelchair anywhere nearby. "I know we had some serious differences throughout this tale to the point where we tried to kill each other a few minutes ago, but can you just give me a boost so that we can go back to the kids?"

"Hmmmmm." Haruko pondered. "Hehe, looks like there is some decency inside ya after a-" Stan chuckled in satisfaction when he noticed she had disappeared without warning.

"Oh goody." he groaned. "Bo-bo-bo-bo-bo. Bo-bo-bo-bo-bo." the great-great uncle began making noises. "Seriously, did people ask for this sequel? I mean, it was teased at the end of the original Fooly Falls when they were originally announced, but people have said they were kinda disappointing. Meanwhile, the only criticism that was given to this was one reader getting angry probably because their shipping wasn't confirmed. If only my mystical wheelchair would somehow pull something out of its butt to help me up."

And indeed, his wheelchair suddenly appeared without him even noticing. "Oh, well what do you know."

--

The red energy connecting Medical Mechanica to the birdcage suddenly ceased just as Haruko finally made her way back up top. "Come on, I'm right here!" the Vespa Woman cackled victoriously. Gwen tried to punch the older woman in the face, but Haruko quickly dodged. "Thank you once again Pines family!" Haruko thanked mockingly. "The time has finally come. Come to me Atomsk!"

Instead, the birdcage began to be slowly absorbed into the Pirate King's glowing plumage. "OH WHAT IS GOING ON NOW!?" Dipper screamed. "I can definitely agree! IT'S SO BIG!" Haruko shouted in reply as the birdcage rocketed upwards into Atomsk's body, along with the Medical Machines and Stan trying to return to the others on his wheelchair. "Hey guys, what did I mi-AAAAAAHHHH!"

The giant iron began spiraling out of control firing mochi everywhere that consumed the citizens. Juan and Jorge manned Jinyu's Bel-Air while driving like mad trying to escape. "Someone, help me!" Sammy Determined begged before he was petrified by the dangerous sweets. "This is not how I wanted to go out." Tarot Turner groaned in exasperation as he joined the other people in becoming one with the mochi.

"This is bad, we have to get out of here captain!" one of Tonkichi's subordinates suggested in a panic. "No, we can't!" Tonkichi shouted defiantly. "Gather round men, listen to me! You young'uns are the ones who will fuel space!" he exclaimed revealing that his eyes have begun to glow a bright yellow. "I am never going to give up on you-" Before the theme park owner could finish, he accidentally stepped on some mochi and was instantly petrified.

--

"Hey, are you okay?" Masurao asked Eyepatch while struggling to free himself from the remains of his house. "The champ's alright with the champ's destructive punch!" Eyepatch answered deliriously. "It's not a-" Before Masurao could finish, Aiko finally returned to him. "Aiko. You actually came back for me." he muttered with hope while the mochi slowly consumed him. "Unfortunately, it's a bit too late now. Medical Mechanica is somehow planning to capture that monster with his own mochi. But I don't think it's possible without the potted plant. Aiko, you were going to be our last hope. Who would've guessed that when it came time, I couldn't bring myself to use my own daughter?"

Reaching back, Masurao then pulled out the same jack-o-lantern his daughter had kept in the closet. "Just take this and get outta here!" he urged Aiko, who simply let out a sharp exhale. "I don't want it."

"Just take it young lady! I know why you were saving all this money, to buy your freedom!" the capped male panicked, while the mochi continued to rain down. "You may as well take it, consider it prize money." Eyepatch added with his face covered in mochi. "There's been a knockout and the 10 count has already begun!"

"Go Aiko, you're finally free!" Masurao stuttered one last time and as soon as Aiko took the pumpkin, her father and Eyepatch were finally turned to dango. "What should I do?" Aiko pondered despondently when her phone rang, displaying multiple missed calls from Juan. "The potted plant." she realized deciding to answer one of those calls. "The trigger."

--

In another dimension located inside Atomsk, Gwen's head burst out from beneath the rubble, followed by her family, friends and Haruko. "Is this Atomsk's insides?" Mabel asked gazing in awe at the destroyed city surrounding them. "Kind of expected them to be more gross."

"Where the hell did my bat go?" Haruko wondered looking around when she discovered Older Man McGucket chatting with a familiar television set on a table. "Wassa motto with you little guy?" the hillbilly asked. "You were all hale and hearty just moments ago."

"Fiddleford?!" Ford exclaimed at the sight of his old friend. "Canti!?" Haruko, Dipper and Mabel added in unison. "Oh great, he's here too? If the others were with us, it'd be one big family reunion!" Stan snarked.

"Maybe it was something ya ate little guy." Fiddleford guessed continuing to fiddle with Canti's head in an attempt to bring him back.

--

"Is this a real date?!" Juan squealed adorably while Aiko took the driver's seat of Jinyu's car. "If you shut up, it might!" When more mochi came flying down upon the group in the hotrod, Juan romantically took the wheel from his girlfriend with a goofy giggle. "So this must be that prostitute of a girlfriend of yours." Ezra stated adjusting his glasses making the younger boy go from lovestruck to angry at his brother. "HOW MANY PEOPLE DID YOU TELL YOU DICK?!"

"Just gonna be honest. All of them." Jorge replied lowering his sunglasses. "All of them!?" Juan garbled in shock. "So all we gotta do is find some plant? Okay, but where could we find it?" Wendy asked. "I got it! It's gotta be at Arnie's place!" Juan deduced. "Think he took it home after the whole Haruko voring Jinyu thing."

Upon swerving through the piles of mochi, they arrived at a small villa that Mabel, Pacifica and Arnold called home. "Here Planty the Potted Plant, come out wherever you are!" Soos called out for the plant. "Hey Wendy, I want you to be honest with me from one mother to another." Pacifica said to Wendy. "Do you really think I'm way too overprotective of Arnold?"

Wendy tried her hardest to not dance over the issue, but she finally decided to be honest. "Yeah, you pretty much are. Maybe that's why he's such a nervous wreck all the time." she answered sheepishly. "You gotta just, I dunno, let him be a kid for just a little while longer. Heck, mine are fighting for their lives up there and they're A-OK!"

"Found it." Aiko announced holding the rediscovered pot in her hands. "Well, that was scarily quick." Ezra commended.

"Come on now little guy, rise and shine!" McGucket exclaimed hitting Canti's head and making it fly to Gwen's feet. The head turned on and changed to green static, which coincided with Aiko's eyes changing to the same pattern. "Wow, what's going on?" Soos shouted in awe before the leaves on her head and become an antenna to transmit a signal from Gravity Falls all the way to inside Atomsk.

"Hey, what's up?" Wendy asked grabbing onto Aiko. "Are you okay there?!" Coincidentally, Canti's head began to display her on its screen catching Gwen and Tyrone's attention. "Mommy?" Gwen gasped. "Hi mom, we're inside a giant space bird!" Tyrone added cheerfully. "Is that you guys? Oh thank God you're okay!" Wendy exclaimed joyously. "Listen Gwen, I've been worried sick about you!"

"So now you decide to show some concern?" Gwen coldly interrupted her mother. "You literally decided that we should move to Portland for literally no reason. You're only thinking about yourself now."

"That's not true honey! All those parenting books by Dr. Lipschitz said that maybe it would be beneficial for one's child to find somewhere new to live or something like that." Wendy assured her daughter. "Though I'm pretty sure they're just as shitty as his name implies. I only want to do what's best for you and your brother, but you're both growing up. You'll find jobs, your own homes, a husband or wife."

"Wait, Portland? I think I was offscreen when Mom said that." Tyrone interjected. "Then we'll do what's best for all of us, Dad included." Gwen suggested. "Let's go on more adventures together, work at the Mystery Shack and just be a closer family. Is that okay?"

"I was stupid." Wendy answered. "I thought that as long I was at least near you guys, we would be together. But it seems that's not enough. Maybe it really is time I become a real mother to you." She brought Aiko in for a hug as if her own children were right in front of her. "I'll see you dudes soon." At the same time, Gwen & Tyrone hugged Canti's head and the message cut off. Back at the Pines-Northwest villa, everybody else surrounding Wendy & Aiko just burst into tears following the heartwarming apology. "Wait for us." the twins declared boldly.

--

"Sorry Pinkie Pie, but it's not here." McGucket gave Haruko the bad news over some tea and orange slices. Haruko dejectedly gulped one down her mouth before resting her head on the table. "Well that's a problem." she remarked. "Or maybe it won't." Fiddleford responded. "I think you might be onto something Fidds!" Ford agreed. "Perhaps he came back to take back something that belonged to him."

In the distance, Haruko's own Mustang floated in a bubble in the distance. "High-strung, but doesn't look the part." the woman stated. "If you're lookin' for yer bat, then it's right ovah there." McGucket pointed towards the Rickenbacker stuck in some rubble.

"Haruko, we need to talk." Gwen determinedly stated. "That's my girl!" Stanley cheered for his great-greatniece. "All this power I've gained, I'm going to use it for the good of myself and the people I love!"

"Good for you squirt. Who would've guessed a kid would be so brave and selfless?" Raharu commended the Pines sister. "We're all getting out of here, and taking Arnold with us too." Gwen declared. "Good for you too." Haruhara added nervously. "That said, not knowing what could come next is still what makes you a kid. If you take that off Gwennie, you won't be able to stay human. Guess you're all alone."

"You keep that snake's tongue away from her!" Tyrone exclaimed coming to his big sister's side as she tried to take off her beanie. "Do you still wanna do it, nya?"

When Gwen began to lose her grip on her hat, a giant colorful worm creature suddenly burrowed out of the bone white ground tossing its claws around. Haruko confidently called her old blue bass back to her side and came charging towards the worm ready for a fight. She continuously slammed the red head while the blue middle section turned its gaze to the Pines, using one of its claws to try and snatch Gwen away just as Canti, now with a full body, came in to save them.

"H-hey, aren't you?" Gwen stuttered. "Canti?!" Haruko shouted in addition at the sight of the Medical Machine now whole once more. Canti quickly tore the claw hand away and tossed it at the worm without any effort before returning to the Pines. The machine tried its best to speak to the group, but all that it could make was random garbled noises and hand signals.

"What's he trying to say?" Ian asked coming out of hiding along with Leia and Kanda. "Don't worry gang, I've learned how to speak robot from all the old sci-fi movies I watched!" Leia boldly declared beginning to attempt a conversation with Canti through random beeps and screeches. "Think he's asking us if we know the Muffin Man."

"The Muffin Man?!" Ford exclaimed getting invested in the exchange much to Canti's chagrin. "The Muffin Man." Leia answered. "Yes, I've met the Muffin Man once." Ford continued. "He lives on Drury Lane!"

"Of course. She's married to the Muffin Man." Leia continued her attempted translation. "The Muffin Man?!" Ford shouted getting even more into it. "The Muffin Man!" the teenage girl squealed. "She's married to the Muffin Man." the great-great uncle muttered in complete awe, but Canti just facepalmed at it. "Guys, that's not what he's saying. In fact, I'd recognize that panicky body language anywhere!" Dipper deduced. "That's gotta be Arnold!"

Canti gave its former Takkun a thumbs up in reply before it began to remove Gwen's beanie. Even with the robot's struggling and the rising tension, the hat simply broke to pieces as if it were made of a harder material and energy beams spewed from the girl's forehead.

Gwen smiled softly as the beams disintegrated what was left of the beanie and gathered the rubble around her, becoming a sleek white machine with a pink BC Rich Bich. Meanwhile, Haruko continued whaling on the worm with her Rickenbacker when Gwen appeared to utterly destroy it. "Heh, pretty awesome." Haruko scoffed proudly. "So, shall we find a way out of this place and this story?"

"I was just gonna say the same thing buckaroo." Fiddleford stated beginning to part ways with his old friends. "Lotta garbage found its way here, so y'all be careful." With that, McGucket closed a door to the exit that confused everyone. "So we could've gotten out anytime we wanted?" a wide-eyed Tsukata asked before all the robots they fought in the past appeared for one last show.

--

Back on Earth, Pacifica drove the Bel-Air to the Medical Mechanica plant while struggling to deal with the combined weight of everyone in the backseat. "This is it everyone, the climax!" she declared finally reaching the iron when the car finally broke down. "And this has got to be the place." Juan announced when Aiko turned back to her boyfriend with a smile before she made her way to the plant. "Talk about a weird little girl." Wendy commented, making Juan embarrassed. "I think she's unique!"

Aiko quietly dropped the plant to the ground and broke the pot containing it, making her eyes glow green as the petals on her head sprouted into a full weed that overtook the iron. As she became one with the bark that began covering the factory, Aiko put on one last cute smile, satisfied that she had done what she needed to do.

"That's what you call unique?!" Melody stuttered in shock. "You wanted to make out with a plant little dude." Soos added just as astonished. "But then again, still less weird then how I met your mother while a psycho dating sim character was on the loose."

Haruko and Canti began chasing Gwen through the wormhole with everyone else once again on Stan's wheelchair following them behind. "OUTTA MY WAY!" Haruko screamed shoving all the robots away, leaving Ian & Leia to finally put their respective fencing and kickboxing skills to good use on the machines. "How come we didn't use them beforehand?" Leia asked her older brother kicking the automaton from chapter 3 away. "I have no idea either." Ian replied jabbing the one from chapter 1 with a makeshift epee. "Hey, there's a portal!"

"There it is!" Haruko shouted gazing upon the portal that Ian had just pointed out. "I, CAN, MAKE IT!" she screamed trying to go past it first, but it unfortunately closed on the party. "I was supposed to make it, that's what happens in the movies!" Haruko whined when she found another one. "There's another one!" she gasped continuing her chase.

Canti tossed the space storage unit containing McGucket through the vortex and proceeded to hold it open for everyone to get through. "TV-bot, no!" Stan shouted as the Medical Machine seemingly sacrificed itself for the others.

At the light at the end of the tunnel, the storage unit began hovering above Gravity Falls with everyone standing on top of it; and inside it in Fiddleford's case, safe and sound. "Now where is it off to?" Stan asked when they all found a bright red star shining above them the town, generated by Canti overflowing with Atomsk's power.

"Jackpot." Haruko smirked before Atomsk's trademark symbol transformed into the Northwest symbol. "Arnold!" Gwen called out for her cousin. "I knew it!" Dipper added. The two girls tried beckoning for the robot to come to them, but it instead opened its arms for a hug. "I see, I gotta take it!" Haruko realized. "That's right." Gwen replied. "If you want it, then take it!"

The two guitarists began clashing their basses while Atomsk watched silently. "I'll take this!" Haruko hissed like a cat as the duel went on. When she knocked Gwen down with a kick to her robot form's screen and leaped towards Atomsk while puckering up, the other girl just flied alongside her. "Oh go away Gwennie, quit being a cockblocker!"

The only answer she got was a punch in the face and a lost tooth. She then retaliated by smashing Gwen's screen in with her Rickenbacker and continued making her way to Atomsk, but Gwen's human arm burst out and grabbed her ankle. She kicked Haruko in the face while racing for the Pirate King herself to try and win back her cousin, angering the Vespa Woman. "DAMMIT!"

At long last, the war was won with both Haruko and Gwen kissing Atomsk, who made a heartbeat sound before they fell to the ground. McGucket had some soft things prepared to help Gwen have a safe landing while Canti was returned to normal, and Haruhara finally obtained the Pirate King's awesome might for herself.

Haruko began laughing evilly as she began feeling one with the giant bird while everyone watched in horror, but she suddenly began rejecting it while Canti got up. The Vespa Woman tried desperately to keep the energy down, but she instead violently barfed it out along with the Medical Machine ejecting some black substance from its monitor. "Morning sickness, am I right?" Stan quipped while feeling something funny in his stomach. "Uh oh."

The black ooze suddenly reformed into Arnold as Haruko's space vomit began taking shape as a humanoid form for Atomsk. "Okay, you better not run away." Haruha glowered while her bracelet began tingling one last time. "You became mine. Didn't you Atomsk?!" She reached out to the Pirate King and chains emerged from her bracelet to try and capture him, but to no avail. "Why, why? WHY THE HELL WON'T YOU?!"

"It's like I keep telling you Haruko, you can't-" Dipper attempted to urge Haruko into giving up her journey, but he was quickly interrupted by Kanda grasping his shoulder and shaking his head.

"It's been so long. So long since I turned on Rick to be with you, and even longer since you destroyed my planet." Haruko panted running up to Atomsk and fruitlessly punching him. "I've chased you forever, so why do you constantly refuse to be mine?!" She began crying as her punches also began to cease. "You are mine I'm telling you! You're mine! You're mine! You are!"

At the last punch, the normally brazen and brash Vespa Woman fully burst into tears over Atomsk seemingly rejecting her again. "Why won't you just look at me?" she asked beneath her blubbering. "Can't you see my body is overflowing?" The Pirate King answered by simply giving her a hug as comfort and she hugged back, even kissing him. Wings began sprouting out of Atomsk's back and he began to fly away, leaving behind a alive and well Jinyu in his place.

"All beautiful things eventually fade away." Arnold remembered Jinyu's speech about fireworks while the three kids gazed upon Atomsk's departure. When Haruko opened her eyes, she stared at her lover flying away and then at her other half Jinyu, who gave her a warm comforting smile. "I thought this time just this once, I thought I was gonna get what I was fighting for." Haruha sniffed accepting a hug from Jinyu. "See Haruko. You can't-" Dipper began while patting her on the back. "Yeah yeah you baka. Can't force someone to love you."

--

The Medical Mechanica factory began to collapse once more, only this time there would be no rebuilding it. "So an all-out attack didn't work, huh?" Tonkichi mused having already ate his way out of his mochi-covered vulture costume. He pulled a switch on his controller that caused the castle to open up and allow Imelda to see the light again. "Okay lass, you can go home now!"

"What was the point of all this?!" Imelda shouted completely in the dark about what had happened. "No reason little one. That thing probably didn't come for any reason either." the theme park owner answered seeing the Pirate King off.

Juan mourned his girlfriend's sacrifice while his present relatives offered him some comfort in these trying times. However, Wendy made him spot a sprout growing out of where the factory once was, and Aiko bloomed from it with only the pumpkin covering her. Juan managed to catch her fall and she just laughed. "Oh my tummy!" Aiko giggled and Juan soon joined in on the laughter.

Suddenly, the Department of Interstellar Immigration's storage unit crashed onto the ground next to them and the other important to semi-important characters falling off of it. "Yes, we're all alive!" Mabel cheered while she and Arnold were reunited with Pacifica. "Mommy!" Tyrone exclaimed racing to his mother's arms.

Amidst all the happy families being reunited, Haruko, Jinyu, Stan and Ford just watched peacefully. "Guess all's well that ends well." Stan declared with serenity. "And we all learned something today too. Just gotta-AUGH! AUGH!

"Are you okay Mr. Pines? You were just going to give a cliché moral!" Jinyu asked Stan. "What did I tell you all, killer stomachache." Ford declared, angering his brother. "I'M DYING YOU IDIOT!"

"D-d-dying?!" Dipper panicked racing to his grunkle's side in his final moments. "Please don't die on us Stan! You still got a few years left!" he began crying, but Stan shushed him by rubbing his cheek. "Just cut it out Dipper. This was inevitable, but I didn't think I would go so soon." the dying con-artist declared. "Before I go, I just have some final words for everyone. Dipper, keep on following your head but don't forget to follow your heart."

He handed Dipper a small piece of paper before turning to a devastated Mabel. "Mabel pumpkin, don't ever stop smiling no matter what." Then he gazed at an already depressed Ford who turned away to hide his tears. "Ford, you were the best brother a knucklehead like me could ever have." Stan moved onto Soos and Wendy. "Soos, Wendy, thank you for sticking by me as my employees."

"Please, this can't be. I don't want you to go." Soos began bursting into tears for his dying father figure. "Gwen, Tyrone, I'm so happy to have seen you grow up so much." Stan told the twins. "Arnold, you don't have to be super macho to be cool. Just be you. Jinyu, thanks for being a stellar maid. Haruko, I'm sorry for taking our feud so far. And to everyone else, it was great having you in my life."

"Just rest Stan. Just rest." Dipper began crying while firmly grasping his grunkle's hand as it got colder.

"So...this is what it feels like." Those were the last words that came out of the mouth of Stanley Danley Pines, beloved great-uncle, brother, boss, great-great uncle, friend and town hero before he silently passed on surrounded by his loved ones.

--

"Extra extra, read all about it! Stan Pines dead, this time for real!" Sammy Determined announced tossing newspapers around documenting the con-artist's passing. "STANLEY PINES DEAD" the headlines announced. Only this time, instead of faking his death while going incognito as his brother, Stan was officially deceased.

"Today, we gather here to honor someone near and dear to the hearts of many, bound together by the sorrow of loss." Ford announced at his younger brother's funeral. The entire town had assembled to pay their respects, from his surviving family, his old enemies, various townsfolk free from the mochi, Senator Gideon & President Kitaki, Tarot Turner, the various mystical creatures of Gravity Falls to even Ezra's inexplicable raccoon companion Bawuu. A memorial to Stan was erected to honor him with a gold nameplate at the base. "He had touched all of us in his rather bizarre fashion, through his silver tongue, showmanship and inane parlor tricks. To many he was a cheapskate, but to some he was...I can't take it anymore!"

Ford's overwhelming sadness cut him off and he ran off crying. Everyone was so dejected that they didn't make any effort to get him back while Jinyu took Ford's place. "Although I haven't known Stanley long, I have learned through word of mouth that underneath his hardened greedy shell was a caring man who would do anything for the people he loved." she finished for the scientist. "Rest easy Mr. Pines. Every time a purchase is made from the Mystery Shack, it will be in your name."

A small orchestra began playing "We'll Meet Again" while Stan's casket was lowered into the ground underneath his statue. Dipper, Mabel, Haruko and Jinyu began searching for the grieving Ford around the Mystery Shack when they found him all alone at the remains of the portal to other worlds beneath the tourist trap.

"Uh, hey Sixer." Haruko greeted the scientist. "Go away Raharu." Stanford coldly rejected the biker. "Now don't go all being a dick just because you blame me for your brother being dead!" the Vespa Woman argued back. "I'm just as torn up about it as you are! We were partners in crime back in the day!"

"What she's trying to say Stanford, is that deep down she is sorry for your loss." Jinyu translated for her other half. "Would you like to see his grave one last time?"

"Fine. Pretty sure Gwen, Tyrone & Arnold are still there too." Ford accepted the offer and he returned outside with the other four to the place where Stan was buried, at the former site of Diamond Brandy's tomb where his own memorial now resides. "Hi kids. How are you doing?" Dipper asked his children and nephew while they gazed upon Stan's statue. "Is this what losing someone for real is like?" Gwen pondered. "Like, no chance of them coming back?"

Canti suddenly appeared alongside them to mourn Stan's demise and gave Ford a gentle pat on the back. "Thank you very much Canti." he thanked the Medical Machine. "But it seems like we'll eventually have to move on."

"Move on from what you guys?" a strangely familiar voice called out and its owner materialized before them, the ghost of the late Grunkle Stan. "Yeah, it's me! Kept you guessing I was gone for good, huh?"

"Stan!" Dipper, Mabel and Ford screamed in joy racing up to hug Stan, only to pass right through his current spectral form. "BAHAHAHA! Really gonna enjoy seeing that!" the deceased great-uncle cackled loudly. "So anyway, why y'all looking so down in the-oh. Did you at least make the plaque under my statue say what I wanted it to be?"

"Yes, yes I did." Dipper answered wiping a tear. "So this is what death is actually like, huh? Kind of expected more mahogany desks and maybe a good place to rest in peace in." Stan murmured musing over his current state. "But anyways, at least I can literally be with you guys in spirit."

"You'll never let your loved ones go Stan, kinda like how I'll never let Atomsk go." Haruko stated, much to everyone's chagrin. "You pretty much didn't listen to any of the morals, didn't you?" Gwen groaned in disgust. "I kid you guys, I kid!" the Vespa Woman cackled raucously. "As a matter of fact, I think I'm gonna take a little break from the big guy and stop Medical Mechanica across the galaxy," she announced gazing at Jinyu. "with my new partner in crime!"

"You mean me?" Jinyu asked pointing at herself. "Yeah, a certain someone keeps telling me that I can't force someone to love me. But maybe I should instead force someone I already love to do what I want." Haruko replied. "And no, I only sort of love you now. Still hate how much of a buzzkill you are."

"Hey look, some actual growth from you! Good job Haruko!" Dipper celebrated Haruko's development. "Yes yes, hooray for me." the guitarist responded taking a bow. "Well Fezhead, guess this is it." she began saying her farewell to Stan. "The fact that you can't catch it just makes you wanna catch him even more. I get it now. See ya 'round Pinky." her old friend grinned and once again faded away, satisfied that the two had made peace with each other at last.

The mood was suddenly disrupted when Dipper's phone rang with a call from Soos. "One sec please." he told the others turning to speak with his fat friend on the phone. "Hey Soos, anything the matter?"

"DUDES, HOSPITAL, MELODY GIVING BIRTH, NOW!" the former handyman shouted from the other end of the line. "Well, you still have one plotline left dangling to wrap up. Me, my new buddy and I are just gonna stop Double-M and then get back to Atomsk." Haruko proclaimed hopping in Jinyu's Bel-Air with her Vespa & Rickenbacker in the backseat. "Vespa Twins, out!"

"Vespa Twins. Nice ring to it." Ford mused watching the pair fly off into the sunset. "Well what're we waiting for? We got a birth to attend!"

As the Pines and Canti raced off to the hospital, Stan materialized ontop of his memorial to watch as Haruko & Jinyu flew away from Earth. "Ride on shooting star, keep planting those spiky seeds to the stars overhead."

--

Upon bursting into the waiting room, Dipper, Mabel, Ford, Canti and the kids found the Ramirez siblings, Wendy, Pacifica, Candy & Ezra and Aiko watching as Soos panicked with mountains of empty coffee cups piling up in the trash. "Everything good Soos?" Ford asked the gopher-like manchild. "I'm so sorry dudes, it's just that this is our seventh kid and we're done!" Soos hollered nervously. "We'll have one to love each day of the week, but I'm so nervous I can't stand to actually be there for the big moment!"

"Hey, you're that guy from Little Asia!" Dipper exclaimed to Masurao. "Wait, those eyebrows." He took off the other man's cap, revealing that his brows were so tiny they were almost nonexistent. "So who was lucky enough to be your mother?"

"Can you please take him to see his wife already? We're at an all-time low on coffee for panicking parents." the elderly receptionist grumbled. Canti simply nodded its head and put on some maid gear to carry everyone into the hospital room where Melody was giving birth to her seventh child, just as she finished making the baby pop out of her you-know-what.

"It's a boy." Jinyu announced dressed as a doctor while Haruko put on her old nurse outfit and the two presented the new baby to Soos. "Mazel tov." the pair congratulated. The current Mr. Mystery gently cradled his newborn son in his arms with a smile. "One day little dude, you're gonna take my place."

"HEY! That's what you said to me when I was born you fatass!" Ian screamed feeling jealous that the new baby had just taken his birthright. "And me!" Leia added just as furious. "No, he said that to me!" Juan & Jorge responded in unison before the four siblings duked it out. "Older siblings." Imelda snarked. "Best to watch out for them, uh...what name do you choose Daddy?"

"How about," Soos suggested putting his fez on his new son's head. "Stan Jr."

--

Thirteen years go by and the Pines & Ramirez children have now succeeded in following the paths they have chosen overtime.

Gwen became inspired by her experiences with Haruko and took up guitar lessons, eventually releasing her own one-woman indie album titled Wasp in the Pine Tree. However from time to time, she would rejoin her family in Gravity Falls to solve mysteries together like the old days.

Tyrone would grow up to become an abstract artist, putting his childish energy and optimism to good use by literally splattering paint everywhere just because he could. Much like his sister, Tyrone would rejoin his parents back home to have fun.

Arnold inherited his grandfather's company, and sought to right the wrongs of the Northwests before him. He would also inherit the journals written by Ford when he eventually passed on.

Ian & Leia became world-renowned film directors famous for their co-produced flick also inspired by their experiences with Haruko titled Phoenix and the Shooting Stars. Although it received poor returns at the box office because more people were interested in their childhoods being rehashed, it was a smash hit with critics and became a cult classic. Leia's new husband Ezra was a frequent collaborator, often providing additional SFX and writing ideas.

Juan & Jorge would create & star in the reality series Manly Eye for the Wimpy Guy, where they along with Juan's fiancee Aiko and a group of macho life coaches would help inspire better self-confidence in down on their luck men & reshape their lives.

Imelda continued living in Gravity Falls helping to run the Mystery Shack as usual while working a part-time job as a lifeguard, finally experiencing all the years she missed out on having fun.

--

"Goodbye mom, we'll see you in a bit!" a thirteen-year old boy with short brown hair called to his mother before leaving their tourist trap home with his seventeen-year old sister with longer brown hair wearing a white blouse, blue skirt and black boots. "C'mon, I wanna see him again!"

"Okay little guy, hold your horses." his older sister tried to calm him down. "You're awful excited to see a dead guy on your birthday." Every year on the boy's birthday of July 16th, the two of them would visit the grave of his namesake deep within the woods of Gravity Falls.

The two finally reached a memorial to Stanley Pines with a plaque saying "I'll definitely be missed, but your aim will get better." Nearby was a large tombstone dedicated to Stanford Pines that was only slightly smaller than the statue, and it read "Stay curious, stay weird, stay kind, and don't let anyone ever tell you you are not smart or brave or worthy enough."

"Happy birthday Stan Jr." Abby smiled giving her baby brother a hug. "Thanks Abby." Stan Jr. replied and the two gazed up at the sky, where a single red star shined above the remains of the Medical Mechanica factory.

--

AAAAND scene! After nearly half a year in the works, Fooly Falls 2 is done once and for all. Thanks to all my loyal readers for sticking by my side through thick & thin and special thanks to that one guy who left this story its only review so far. I sure hope we can ride on once more but until then, stay gold.

Bang.

[jokerepair74-blog]

Links 12/8/18

P-64, the mountain lion known for his successful freeway crossings, found dead after surviving Woolsey fire Los Angeles Times :-(

‘Make better choices’: Endangered Hawaiian monk seals keep getting eels stuck up their noses and scientists want them to stop Washington Post. NT: “A species even stupider than humans.”

Fraser River chinook critical to orcas are in steep decline, new research shows Seattle Times (furzy) :-(

World’s First Insect Vaccine Could Help Bees Fight Off Deadly Disease NPR (David L)

Listen to the soothing sounds of Martian wind collected by NASA’s InSight lander Techcrunch

We Asked 105 Experts What Scares and Inspires Them Most About the Future Motherboard (resilc)

MIT researchers create a robot houseplant that moves on its own engadget (Dawn M)

Should you pass on the meat and reach for the muffins instead? Psychology Today (Guardian “report” and original study). Martha r: “The funniest and clearest debunking of a crap diet study by elite “scientists” that i have yet to see.”

Researchers Decry “Misrepresented” Findings in Fuel Efficiency Rollback Plan Scientific American (Robert M)

Bitcoin falls 10% as bad news descends like ‘cockroaches coming out of a hole’ MarketWatch (EM)

California Gives Final OK To Require Solar Panels On New Houses NPR

UPS Tries Delivery Tricycles As Seattle’s Traffic Doom Looms Wired

Huawei

Canadian Prosecutor Lays Out U.S. Allegations Against Huawei CFO Wall Street Journal. This story isn’t paywalled and has a detailed summary of the bail hearing. The points that struck me:

….the warrant for Ms. Meng’s arrest was issued by a court in New York on Aug. 22 of this year….

Mr. Martin, the attorney representing Ms. Meng, said she isn’t a flight risk, saying that she would never breach a court order.

“You can rely on her personal dignity,” he told the court, adding that she also would not flee because it would “humiliate and embarrass” her father, “who she loves.”

Huawei executive accused of hiding connection to firm violating U.S. sanctions, B.C. court told Globe and Mail (Marshall). Key section:

Final approval to extradite Ms. Meng will be up to Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould if the judge rules in favour of U.S. prosecutors. Ms. Meng, however, could appeal, which could delay a decision for years.

France: Macron scrapping fuel tax is ‘not enough,’ says man who inspired Yellow Vests DW

Brexit

From guurst. Be sure to watch the clip. It has an even more deadly quote:

“I think you would mess it all up for us, the way you have messed it all up for yourselves.”

Heidi Nordby Lunde, president of Norway’s European Movement, is sceptical about calls for the UK to strike a Norway-style deal with the EU. pic.twitter.com/uEpiO3yXPp

— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) December 7, 2018

Theresa May told to quit by Cabinet ministers if her Brexit deal falls and she fails to get better terms from EU Telegraph

No-deal Brexit: Disruption at Dover ‘could last six months’ BBC. I have trouble understanding why six months. The UK’s customs IT system won’t be ready and there’s no reason to think it will be ready even then. I could see things getting less bad due to adaptations but “less bad” is not normal

The Great Brexit Breakdown Wall Street Journal. Some parts I quibble with, but generally good and includes useful historical detail.

British MP suggests threatening Ireland with food shortages over Brexit, Twitter outrage follows RT (kevin W)

It’s crunch time for Labour. Empty posturing on Brexit will no longer do Guardian. Shreds the Corbyn op-ed we criticized yesterday.

BREAKING: UK exhausted from endless stream of Brexit bollocks so here’s a picture of some puppies. pic.twitter.com/nR9mMVbz5k

— Have I Got News For You (@haveigotnews) December 6, 2018

Big Brother is Watching You Watch

Top U.S. general urges Google to work with military Reuters. EM: “Wow, this guy is clueless even by top-brass standards. For example: Google Is Helping the Pentagon Build AI for Drones.” Moi: I assume this is intended for the great unwashed masses, to give them the impression that Google and the surveillance state are not joined at the hip.

‘Conditions met’ for Assange to leave Ecuadorian embassy Agece France-Presse (furzy). If you believe the claims made, I have a bridge I’d like to sell you

Big Brother Australia cracks open encrypted messaging

Dear Tumblr: Banning “Adult Content” Won’t Make Your Site Better But It Will Harm Sex-Positive Communities Electronic Frontier Foundation (Chuck L)

Trump Transition

Mueller says Manafort lied about contacts with Trump officials The Hill

Tucker Carlson: «Trump is not capable» Weltwoche (Anita)

Cohen’s Leniency Bid Fails; U.S. Seeks Significant Jail Time Bloomberg

Dems Who Rejected Corporate PACs Took Money from Corporate-Funded NewDemPAC Sludge. Martha : “Packed with facts. Lists of candidates and donors quite detailed.”.

A Black Perspective on GHW Bush Bruce Dixon, Black Agenda Report (Glenn F)

If @BlackSocialists weren’t championing a message of truth for The People their campaign to raise $$$ would be a dud. But LOOK!! Look at what avg, ordinary ppl hav done for them!! They’ve dug down deep & given of what little they had to help @BlackSocialists make a difference!! https://t.co/6Ga0ZYiRW5

— Kate “For the Love of Humanity VOTE” Martin 🌎🌍🌏 (@K810Mt) December 7, 2018

L.A. County Sheriff’s Department suspends operations by unit that stopped thousands of innocent Latinos on 5 Freeway Los Angeles Times

Jennifer Siebel Newsom could be California’s ‘first partner’ Mercury News. EM:

This perfectly captures the kind of substance-free identity-political virtue signaling today’s corporate Big Dollar Dems specialize in. Note that ‘partner’ even sounds like a corporate term. One wonders whether the Newsoms had the minister who officiated their wedding replace the word ‘union’ with ‘merger’.

Fake News

Former diplomat challenges ‘fake’ Guardian claims about Julian Assange meeting Paul Manafort The Canary (furzy)

Facebook to buy back additional $9 billion of shares Reuters

Millions of Americans Could Face Surprise Emergency Room Bills in January Bloomberg. Gah.

Bitter end to dismal week on Wall Street Financial Times

From Nixon to Trump: Here’s how stocks performed under each U.S. president Yahoo (resilc)

Uber Lays Groundwork for IPO Wall Street Journal

Congress may have accidentally freed nearly all banks from the Volcker Rule Yahoo (furzy)

US Regulators Have Essentially Become Do-Nothing Institutions ProMarket (Asher)

Class Warfare

Send Noncompete Agreements Back To the Middle Ages Bloomberg

Airbnb rentals in London block sparks call for action Financial Times

Welcome to Our Modern Hospital Where If You Want to Know a Price You Can Go Fuck Yourself McSweeney’s (martha r). Not his best writing but OMG the examples..

Dollar Stores Are Targeting Struggling Urban Neighborhoods and Small Towns. One Community Is Showing How to Fight Back. Institute for Local Self-Reliance (martha r)

Antidote du jour (martha r):

Bonus video. Robert H: “Household tips and cats – antidote bonus.” Moi: “What chill cats.”

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

This entry was posted in Links on December 8, 2018 by Yves Smith.

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Source: https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2018/12/links-12-8-18.html